Romans (Program #15) – The Freedom of the Spirit in Our spirit (1)

When we come to Romans chapter eight, we have to say “Hallelujah!” because here, Romans 8 is not a refrigerator, but a dining table and the Lord is saying “Come and dine!”

We have come to one of the landmark chapters in the entire divine revelation today; that is Romans 8. You will not want to miss this life-study.

It’s no accident that Romans 8 follows Romans 7, both in the sequence of the Bible and more significantly in our experience. When you look at Romans 7, you say “Oh what a mess” because it just ends with a wretched man – “Wretched man! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?”  We just see a person who is doing his best to respond to God’s law.  more…

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Romans (Program #13) – The Bondage of the Law in Our Flesh (1)

Today we come to the wonderful truth in Romans chapter 7. Though a little difficult to understand, if any Christian sees the truth in this chapter, his Christian life will be liberated and revolutionized and he will know the real way to experience Christ.

Today we are coming to one of the most critical and striking of all the messages in this life study of Romans.  We will be brought into a view today that will surprise and enlighten us very much.

Romans chapter 7 is a continuation of Paul’s explaining to the Romans how they can live in grace… Abraham was justified by faith, but then God expected him to enjoy grace to bring forth Isaac, and this Isaac is the experience of Christ. This is a continuation of explaining how you can practically experience living this kind of life and grace. And in particular, in this chapter, he stresses how we are free from the law…

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Romans (Program #12) – Identification with Christ

In this life study of Romans, we see that all that we have in Adam. We also see all that we have in Christ. All we have in Adam is but sin and death; I in Christ inherit life and righteousness – what a debit in Adam, what a credit in Christ!

From time to time, the Bible gives us a heavenly accounting lesson. Today is one of those lessons from the book of Romans.

We have been seeing there is a major shift in Romans chapter 5. A shift from the realm of man’s doings and deeds to the man himself, his person.  Romans 5:12 is a very clear verse – “Therefore just as through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin, death; and thus death passed on to all men because all have sinned.”  This book marks a great turn in the book of Romans.  more…

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Romans (Program #1) – A Foreword

Our God is a God of newness and we enjoy Him and apply Him for this new start in the Life-Study series.

Historically, Romans has been presented and studied as one of the great books of Christian doctrine and theology. Certainly we will recognize it in this way and touch these bulwarks of the truth in the weeks ahead, but that will not be our primary emphasis in this Life-Study of Romans. Although we in no way intend to minimize the significance of Romans as a basic book of doctrine and theology – more…

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John (Program #52) – Life in Resurrection (3)

The seeking ones among God’s people need to know the Lord as life, and they need to experience Christ as life, and they need to study the Bible in the way of life. It is for those seekers that we commend the life study of the Bible. Listen and enjoy Christ as life.

The Gospel of John is simply profound. It’s simple. The words, the vocabulary, the expressions appear so simple. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was God. The Word became flesh. But, it’s profound also. If you’ve had the opportunity to follow us through the heart of chapters 14 through 17, you perhaps have some sense of appreciation of the profound depths of the Gospel of John.

The Gospel of John is a Gospel of life and building. We need to really dwell on these two crucial words: life and building. Life is God Himself. Life is Christ. He said “I am the life”, “I came that you may have life”, and “life is the Spirit.” Eternal life is not merely an eternal state of existence in another realm. Eternal life is God dispensed into us. It cannot reasonably be denied that the Gospel of John is the Gospel of eternal life.

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John (Program #48) – Life Processed for Multiplication (3)

I really like this marvelous term here. “Go tell my brothers.” In the Gospel of John, He was with these disciples a lot, but He never referred to them as brothers. He always called them either by name or referred to them as friends. But, after His resurrection for the first time, He calls them brothers.

In this Gospel, the presentation of the crucifixion is really more complete and more meaningful than you have it in the other three Gospels. First, the account here brings out the two aspects of the Lord’s death by mentioning two substances, which came out of the Lord’s side when the soldier pierced Him. When the soldier pierced Him, out came blood and water. The blood of Christ there is to answer to our need for the dealing with sin. The blood of Christ cleanses us from every sin. And, the water that came out is really meeting the need for our life. Water in the scripture is often a picture of life. There’s the water of life that’s in the book of Revelation. And, there’s the water that flowed out of the rock in the Old Testament. So, water really means life, the imparting of life.

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John (Program #45) – Life’s Prayer (4)

Because of the deceit of religion and the darkness of politics, He was delivered to death. He was proved to be without fault, but religion and politics were exposed to be dark, deceitful, and corrupt.

We’ve come today to the section of John 18 through 20 dealing with the Lord’s death on the cross and His resurrection. Generally, we consider the Lord’s death in relationship to the work of redemption. But we will see once again today that this Gospel, though certainly not minimizing the redemptive aspect, has another emphasis; the release and multiplication of life which resulted from Christ’s death.

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John (Program #34) – The Dispensing of the Triune God for the Producing of His Abode (2)

Most Christians think that the Father’s house is heaven, or a heavenly mansion. But, I hope that those who are listening would come to the Word again to see what the Bible says that the Father’s house is.

In the last message, we saw that there are two major sections to the Gospel of John. The first section is the eternal Word incarnated to bring God into man. And, this is a marvelous section. Especially we saw from Johns 3 through John 11 how when God as the Word becomes flesh to bring God into man. He is the very divine, eternal, uncreated life of God to meet the need of every man’s case.

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John (Program #32) – Life’s Washing in Love to Maintain Fellowship (2)

We need to be those who actually experience Christ as life meeting our various needs.  The more we experience Him this way the more we are constituted with Him as the life that washes our brothers and sisters.

Here at a certain point, as the Lord was acutely aware that He was leaving the world and going to the Father, He engaged in a very particular, significant, and touching action.  He laid aside His garments.  That’s a sign.  He girded Himself with a towel, another sign.  And, He began to wash the disciples’ feet.  This is still yet another sign.  And in particular He said, “What I have done to you, you should do to one another.  If I, who am your Lord and master, has washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet”.

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John (Program #30) – Life’s Issue and Multiplication (2)

We need to praise the Lord for the redeeming aspect of His death.  We need to praise thee Lord for the Satan destroying aspect of His death and we need to praise Him for the life-releasing aspect of His wonderful death on the cross.

We’ve seen thus far from John chapter 3 to John chapter 11 is a long section showing us how Christ as the divine eternal life of God meets the need of every man’s case.  We went through all those cases in a marvelous way.  Then when we come to John chapter 12, we see the issue of life.  What is the issue of Christ as life meeting the need of every man’s case?  The issue of life is a house of feasting.  This house of feasting is a miniature of what our church life should be…

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