Lamentations (Program #3) – The Third Lamentations (2)

The prophet Jeremiah in the Old Testament had much to be sorrowful for.  For all around him is God’s judgment.  This judgment fell upon God’s people Israel because of their degradation and their unfaithfulness.  It also fell upon the nations that surrounded Israel for opposing God’s people and His purpose.  And finally God’s judgment fell upon the prophet himself, not so much for his own failures and sins but rather because the prophet Jeremiah properly identified with his people Israel and thereby shared in their judgment.  It was these sufferings that brought him to pour out his heart and soul to Jehovah in the short book called Lamentations.  But in so doing, we see some wonderful passages that can be immense help to those of us in the New Testament economy.  For Jeremiah learned to practice three marvelous things that sustain him and likewise can sustain us.  We will look at these three in today’s program.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Jeremiah (Program #23) – A Supplement to the History of Captivity

After so many chapters in Jeremiah dealing with God’s judgment upon the sins of His people Israel, the prophet turns his attention to the judgment upon worldly nations and governments.  The height of this judgment is centered on the one nation throughout history that has been the greatest evil and the greatest offense to God, Babylon.  In chapter 51, Jeremiah uttered these prophetic words about what will befall this evil city. “And Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that would come on Babylon, even all these words that are written concerning Babylon. And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words; And say, O Jehovah, You have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, so that nothing should dwell in it, neither man nor animal, for it will be an eternal desolation.”  But as severe as this judgment sounds, it was not the final judgment against this mighty city and what it represents.  For at the end of the New Testament, the judgment of Babylon is once again a key factor in the events related to the end of this age.  What is this city Babylon?  What does it represent and why does it occupy such a prominent position in the history of mankind and all that stands and opposes God?  We will consider the judgment of Babylon on today’s program.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Jeremiah (Program #22) – The Spiritual Sequence in the Bible and in Jeremiah

The Bible presents God’s work and God’s plan in a marvelous sequence.  If we see the spiritual significance, we can see that right after creating man, God presents Himself to man as man’s source, only to be rejected by the very man that He had created.  But what seems to be the end of God’s plan is really just the beginning.  As God deals with the sins that besets mankind by coming Himself to be man’s righteousness and his life and ultimately to gain man fully for Himself as His enlargement and expression.  This is the sequence of the whole Bible.  And that sequence is closely parallel by the account of the prophet Jeremiah.  The sequence of the divine revelation in the Bible and the same sequences as found in Jeremiah is our topic on today’s life study.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Jeremiah (Program #21) – The Principle of Being One with God

Let me ask you, “What is sin?” As you ponder this great and universal question and before you begin enumerating any number of transgressions that would easily fall into the general category of sin, please consider that the Bible makes a clear distinction between “sin” and “sins”. Sins are the by products of the principle of sin. So, once again let me ask, “What is sin”? Well if we drop our own speculations and restrict our consideration to the clear revelation of the Bible, we realize that sin is fundamentally a matter of leaving God and doing something by ourselves and for ourselves. In other words, sin is to take anything other than God as our unique source. He desires to be the source of our life, of our living and even of our satisfaction. Any departure from taking Him as our source is sin and it will unavoidably result in innumerable sins. In that light, now let’s consider these verses from the very beginning of the Bible, Genesis 2:9, 16-17 “And out of the ground Jehovah God caused to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, as well as the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may eat freely … But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, of it you shall not eat; for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Jeremiah (Program #16) – A Full Picture of God’s Economy by His Dispensing

The book of Jeremiah reveals God’s righteous judgment upon His people, Israel, for their many sins and the idolatry that had overtaken them. But if we look carefully and consider this book in the light of the entire Bible, we see that in the midst of all this negative history, God’s economy – that is His desire to dispense Himself and His riches into His chosen people that they might be reconstituted with Him and become His very corporate expression, is also revealed. In the first pages of Jeremiah’s account, God commissions him to tell all the people that their greatest evil is that they have forsaken Him not as their Creator nor even as their God, but as the fountain of living waters.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Jeremiah (Program #13) – God’s Economy with His Dispensing in Jeremiah (2)

It seems upon casual reading of the Old Testament that the central focus of the book is the law of Moses.  When God brought Moses to the mountain and deliver the ten commandments that surely was a key moment, a key factor in God’s dealing with His people Israel.  But in the New Testament, the apostle Paul tells us that the law was not part of God’s original intention for man, rather it was something added due to man’s failures and sins.   In Galatians chapter 3 he says, “Why then the law? It was added because of the transgressions until the seed should come to whom the promise was made, it being ordained through angels in the hand of a mediator. ”  Actually God’s intention for man has never changed.  From the beginning He has desire that He Himself would be everything to man.  And Jeremiah, he lamented that His people Israel had forsaken Him, the fountain of living waters.  If we have this view of God’s eternal desire, our understanding of such Old Testament books as Jeremiah will be greatly uplifted.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Jeremiah (Program #2) – An Introductory Word

Much of the history in the Old Testament concerns the great failures and sins of the children of Israel. They were all the time disobedient to the Lord, transgressing His laws and straying far from Him in their deeds and actions. Yet in Jeremiah we get a clear window into how God interprets and evaluates the failures of His people. In chapter 2, He tells Jeremiah of the two great evils committed by Israel, His people. What would He enumerate above all the others? But the answer reveals much about God’s heart and about our own living before Him.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Isaiah (Program #21) – Christ as the Servant of Jehovah (7)

God’s plan for our redemption require a full and complete sacrifice for our sins and transgressions.  A spotless lamb was the type in the Old Testament until the real Lamb of God would arrive on the scene to take away the sins of the people and satisfy God’s righteous demands forever.  Of course, as Christians we know that Jesus Christ was such a perfect offering on our behalf.  Of all the passages of Scripture that deal with the great reality of the Christian faith, none provide a perfect and poetic narrative the chapter 53 in the Old Testament book of Isaiah.  This prophecy was written some seven hundred years before Christ, yet the description is awesome in its detail of Christ offering Himself for the transgression and iniquities of mankind.  Stay tune for our second program on Isaiah 53 on today’s life study of the Bible.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

1 John (Program #13) – The Divine Light and the Divine Truth (6)

1 John 2:2 says that Christ “.. Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for those of the whole world. ”  However this propitiation is conditional upon our receiving it by believing in the Lord. Otherwise everyone in the world will be saved.

We are going to talk about the conditions of the divine fellowship today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

1 John (Program #12) – The Divine Light and the Divine Truth (5)

The aged apostle who wrote one of the last books of the New Testament surely knew the trouble Christians have in their experience of dealing with sins. And that’s why the apostle John wrote in his first epistle in 2:1 “My little children, these things I write to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous;”

We have an outstanding life study radio program today focusing on Christ’s wonderful care for us.  If you are interested in how to deal with sin and sins after becoming a Christian, you will want to stay with us for the next half hour, as we dig into the experience of apostle John’s word to us, believers.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS