1 John (Program #3) – The Divine Life (1)

The apostle John was one of the primary contributors to the New Testament.   Of course, best known was his gospel which was rightly called the gospel of life.  But he also give us 3 epistles and a concluding word to the entire canon of scripture, the book of Revelation.  They all have their unique place and function in the Bible but they bear a common thread or emphasis and that is the divine life which is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.  Listen to his marvelous opening to his first epistle, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life.”  Stay with us today as we enjoy this tasty appetizer and see how it typifies the focus and burden of all of John’s crucial writings.

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1 John (Program #2) – A Word Concerning the Writings of John (2)

Here is a question to ponder that may not be as simple as it first sounds – what is a Christian?  Well, may be you may a Christian is a good person or a Christian is a kind person or a humble person. But if you look carefully at the Bible and especially the writings of the apostle John, you have to conclude firstly that a Christian is altogether a mysterious person. Why mysterious you ask. Mysterious because a genuine Christian like Jesus Christ Himself is both human and divine.

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1 John (Program #1) – A Word Concerning the Writings of John (1)

In all of the New Testament the writings of the apostle John are perhaps the most striking.  They are also the most mysterious because more than any of the other New Testament books, John’s gospel, epistles and his concluding book Revelation unveiled to us many of the divine and mystical things. His books are mysterious because they focus not on historical facts or on doctrines or on teachings but rather on the divine and mystical realm revealing Christ as the very divine life available for us to receive and experience day by day.

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2 Peter (Program #12) – The Divine Government (5)

The apostle Peter’s writings are short but they are packed with God’s economy.   Today we come to the last life study program from Peter.

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2 Peter (Program #11) – The Divine Government (4)

The apostle Peter tells us in chapter 3 of his second epistle that the day of the Lord will come as a thief  and that we should expect and hasten the day of God.  The apostle Paul on the other hand refer to today as “man’s day” in 1 Corinthians 4:3, where man is put in the place of judgment.  But the day is coming where the Lord will judge and that day is called the day of the Lord or the day of God in 2 Peter chapter 3.

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2 Peter (Program #10) – The Divine Government (3)

No doubt we have all heard and said that one day to the Lord is like a thousand years.   Actually, this is a rough quotation from 2 Peter 3, a chapter that speaks both of the Lord’s second coming and the righteous and just judgment that will occur at the time of His coming.  Of course, to us it seems as if the Lord has delayed His coming already for two thousand years, but to Him, it’s just a couple of days.  Actually Peter tells us that this delay is not motivated by the Lord’s indifference or because He is arbitrary about the timing, but rather because He is long-suffering  towards us.  That means He is mercifully granting us more time, more time to be mature and to be prepared for His coming so that none will unnecessarily perish.

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2 Peter (Program #9) – The Divine Government (2)

2 Peter chapter one is one of the most profound chapters in the New Testament.  It is full of solid, nourishing words conveying the central thought of the entire New Testament teaching.  In this chapter, Peter touches both life and truth as he speaks concerning the precious faith that we all have received.  He also strongly points us to the sure word of the Scripture.  But then in chapter two, he turned dramatically back to God’s governmental judgment, a major theme of his first epistle.  But here the righteous judgment of God that Peter described in great details is not general or vague but rather it is intensely focused on the false teachers who had begun to permeate the church and lead God’s people away from the very item that Peter had poured out in chapter one.

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2 Peter (Program #8) – The Divine Government (1)

The apostle Peter had a strong reaction to the apostasy that were spreading into the church near the end of his life.   In fact he wrote his two epistles largely as an inoculation against the heretical teachings that were gradually corrupting the  faith of the saints.  Especially regarding the matter of the Lord’s second coming in glory.

In 2 Peter, he first gives an eye-witness account of seeing the Lord Jesus revealed in glory as a foreshadow of His promise return .   Then he points the believers to the word of God, specifically the Old Testament prophecies concerning Christ, as he says in chapter 1:19 “and we have the prophetic word made more firm, to which you do well to give heed as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;”   But after these two strong encouragements he goes on to speak of the coming judgment of the righteous God especially on those false teachers who were defiling the saints and leading them astray.

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2 Peter (Program #7) – The Divine Provision (7)

The book of 2 Peter continues the thought of his first epistle; God’s governmental judgment.  But it also stresses God’s divine provision for His people to enable them to live under such divine ruling.  The first chapter of 2 Peter describes this provision in its various aspects such as the divine power and all things pertaining to life and godliness, the divine promises and even partaking of the divine nature.

These provisions  are all on the side of life.  But Peter also details  provisions on the side of the divine truth.  First we have the testimonies of the apostles themselves who were actual eye-witnesses of the glory and majesty of Christ.  Second we have the prophetic word shining as a lamp in a dark place to enlighten us until the morning star rises in our hearts.

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2 Peter (Program #6) – The Divine Provision (6)

Second Peter chapter one is one of the most weighty and profound passages in all of scripture. Phrase after phrase in these few verses convey the progression and development of the divine life as it germinates, matures and comes to full growth.

Along this long progression or path all of the attributes of God divine life become the virtues that developed and are ultimately expressed through us. Of course while God supplies the divine power according to Peter which enables us to escape the corruption of the world that work through lust and to become partakers of the divine nature, there are some basic conditions that we need to meet, such as having a full knowledge of all the divine things pertaining to life and godliness.  And in addition we need to add all diligence to co-operate with the divine power operating within us.  The result of  this marvelous development is that God is expressed through us and we in turn are supplied a rich and unshakable entrance into God’s kingdom.

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