1 Peter (Program #5) – The Full Salvation of the Triune God and Its Issues (3)

In his first epistle, the apostle Peter compared the testing or proving of our faith with the refining process that purifies gold.   Gold, precious and valuable as it is,  is still a perishable commodity.  Yet our faith must stand the test even of eternity.  Surely if something temporary such as gold must pass through the fire of refinement, our faith which is a far more precious possession must also be tested, refined, purified and proved.

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1 Peter (Program #4) – The Full Salvation of the Triune God and Its Issues (2)

In his epistles the apostle Peter frequently mentions the matter of salvation.   but he does so in a context that somewhat different than how most Christians normally think of salvation.  For example  in chapter 1:5 he say “a salvation ready to be revealed at the last time.”  Of course, our common thought is that salvation was revealed to us when we believed and received Christ as our Savior.  Then in chapter 2:2, Peters says that salvation is something that we grow into.  Once again, the typical thought is that salvation is what we received once for all at the moment we believed.  Well in fact there is a real measure of truth to the salvation that we received when we first expressed our faith in the Lord Jesus.  But, and this is a crucial but,  the salvation that Peter refer to repeatedly in his writings involves much more than just our initial salvation.

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1 Peter (Program #3) – The Full Salvation of the Triune God and Its Issues (1)

In the books of 1 & 2 Peter often a single word can add much richness and meaning to what is being said.  For example, Peter begins his first epistle by pointing  us to the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus.  This word sprinkling was surely used to remind the Hebrew believers that he was writing to of how the sprinkling of the blood of goats and sheep that they were familiar with in the Old Testament Jewish religion was simply or merely a type, a foreshadowing of the real eternal offering of the blood of Christ.  His was the sprinkling that accomplished far more than the temporary atonement of the sacrifices in the Old Testament.  For this sprinkling guarantees our full possession of all the benefits and blessings of the entire new covenant from now and for eternity.

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1 Peter (Program #2) – The Operation of the Triune God Upon the Elect for Their Participation in His Full Salvation

The story of the Lord’s calling of the apostle Peter as is recorded in the gospel of John includes and intriguing unusual component; he changes his name from Simon to Cephas which literally means a stone. This is John chapter 1: 40-42
1:40 “One of the two who heard this from John and followed Him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.”

41 “He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, We have found the Messiah (which translated means Christ).”

42 “He led him to Jesus. Looking at him, Jesus said, You are Simon, the son of John; you shall be called Cephas (which is interpreted, Peter).”

Of course nothing of God’s genuine work is accomplished merely in name only. And so the changing of this poor Galilean fisherman’s name from Simon to something so solid and permanent, as Peter, a stone for God’s building is full of meaning. And it implies that God has much more in mind for Peter than simply saving him from his sins. For both Peter’s transformation and the accomplishment of God’s very eternal purpose is hinted at in this symbolic act.

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1 Peter (Program #1) – An Introductory Word

Of all the disciples called by the Lord Jesus in the gospels, probably the one we can most readily identify with is Peter. Simon Barjona as he was known before the Lord changed his name to Peter. In John chapter 1 was as impetuous as he was fervent and often found himself as the target of the Lord Jesus’ reprove.

Recall for example in Matthew chapter 16, Peter’s sympathetic suggestion to the Lord that He should keep Himself from the suffering of death that He knew awaited Him. “get behind Me, Satan” was the Lord’s reply. “You are a stumbling block to Me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.” How could Peter possibly recovered from such a stinging rebuke?

And of course it was also Peter, who denied the Lord three times during the hour of trial preceding the actual crucifixion. Yet only days later it was this same Peter who stood on the day of Pentecost and usher thousands into the kingdom with his powerful and dynamic speaking.

And not only so, in his two epistles, Peter uses language and phrases so rich and full of high and profound meaning that we can’t help but marvel at the power of God’s full salvation. That this unlearned fisherman could write such thing. Listen to his word in 1 Peter,

1:18 “Knowing that it was not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, that you were redeemed from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers,”

19 “But with precious blood, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot, the blood of Christ;”

Welcome to our first life-study of the book of 1 Peter.

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James (Program #11) – A Life Not Fully According to and for God’s New Testament Economy (2)

The book of James has many wonderful expressions and utterances that many Christians love to quote.  His exhortation on bridling an evil tongue for example, and on other various Christian virtues are the stuff of many good Sunday school lessons.  In chapter 4, we have another admirable example of the practical Christian perfection that James espoused.   He says in verse 13 “Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit; Whereas you do not know the matter of tomorrow, what your life will be; for you are a vapor, which appears for a little while and then disappears. Instead you ought to say, If the Lord wills, we will both live and do this or that. ”  Who could argue or take issue that such an expression “if the Lord wills”?  But by comparison we must consider another angle, another perspective. It’s the perspective of the dominant New Testament writer, the apostle Paul, who did not exhort the believers simply to follow God’s will in an objective outward way, but rather to be those that live moment by moment under the influence and direction of the indwelling Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Romans 8:14, “or as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.“

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James (Program #10) – A Life Not Fully According to and for God’s New Testament Economy (1)

In Acts chapter 2, the apostle Peter spoke boldly to his Jewish kinsman, “be saved from this crooked generation.”   Some time later, the apostle  Paul reminded the Jewish believers that God had rescued them out of the present evil age.  The context of both passages makes it clear that these strong words, “the crooked generation” and “the present evil age” both refer to the religious system that had become modern Judaism at the time when God was ushering the New Testament economy.

Peter and Paul made it very clear God was calling people out of that religious system.  Yet in other New Testament passages, it is equally clear that the apostle  James was not only comfortable receiving the Jews into the fellowship of believers, he was even willing to accommodate the major practices of Judaism into the church.  Well what lessons can we glean from this confused situation today?

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James (Program #9) – Practical Virtues of Christian Perfection (9)

Most Christians today view the Lord’s coming in an altogether objective way. In a way that has nothing to do with our spiritual condition or our spiritual growth. Their expectation is that one day the Lord will suddenly come and that His coming will have nothing to do with their maturity. It may be that the concepts many Christians hold regarding Lord’s coming back are actually causing Him to delay His coming.

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James (Program #8) – Practical Virtues of Christian Perfection (8)

This is actually the 8th radio program we’ve done in the life study of James and is covering printed message number 10. We have seen a lot so far,  life study of James is a little bit different than other life studies because James was not fully clear about God’s New Testament economy.

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James (Program #7) – Practical Virtues of Christian Perfection (7)

The Apostle James was a man of tremendous Christian character and virtue. He was genuinely pious and godly, and he obviously possessed great human wisdom. His epistle was perhaps the most practical in the New Testament in terms of Christian perfection. But as we have seen repeatedly in this current life-study of the book of James, when we compared his writing with that of the other New Testament writers, it becomes quite clear that for all his virtue and piety, James lacked a clear view of God’s goal and God’s way. A goal and a way that Paul described as God’s economy. All we need to do is consider how each of these two important figures in the New Testament present the matter of wisdom. In James 1:5 he said, “But if any one of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and does not reproach, and it will be given to him“.

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