March 12: Psalm 88; Psalm 95; Psalms 91–92; Jeremiah 11:1–8; Jeremiah 11:14–20; Romans 6:1–11; John 8:33–47 - a podcast by Crossway

Psalm 88 (Listen)

I Cry Out Day and Night Before You

A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. To the choirmaster: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil¹ of Heman the Ezrahite.

88   O LORD, God of my salvation,
    I cry out day and night before you.
2   Let my prayer come before you;
    incline your ear to my cry!


3   For my soul is full of troubles,
    and my life draws near to Sheol.
4   I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
    I am a man who has no strength,
5   like one set loose among the dead,
    like the slain that lie in the grave,
  like those whom you remember no more,
    for they are cut off from your hand.
6   You have put me in the depths of the pit,
    in the regions dark and deep.
7   Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
    and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah


8   You have caused my companions to shun me;
    you have made me a horror² to them.
  I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
9     my eye grows dim through sorrow.
  Every day I call upon you, O LORD;
    I spread out my hands to you.
10   Do you work wonders for the dead?
    Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah
11   Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
    or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
12   Are your wonders known in the darkness,
    or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?


13   But I, O LORD, cry to you;
    in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14   O LORD, why do you cast my soul away?
    Why do you hide your face from me?
15   Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,
    I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.³
16   Your wrath has swept over me;
    your dreadful assaults destroy me.
17   They surround me like a flood all day long;
    they close in on me together.
18   You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;
    my companions have become darkness.⁴

(ESV)

Psalm 95 (Listen)

Let Us Sing Songs of Praise

95   Oh come, let us sing to the LORD;
    let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
2   Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
    let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
3   For the LORD is a great God,
    and a great King above all gods.
4   In his hand are the depths of the earth;
    the heights of the mountains are his also.
5   The sea is his, for he made it,
    and his hands formed the dry land.


6   Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
    let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!
7   For he is our God,
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    and the sheep of his hand.
  Today, if you hear his voice,
8     do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
    as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
9   when your fathers put me to the test
    and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
10   For forty years I loathed that generation
    and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,
    and they have not known my ways.”
11   Therefore I swore in my wrath,
    “They shall not enter my rest.”

(ESV)

Psalms 91–92 (Listen)

My Refuge and My Fortress

91   He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
    will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
2   I will say¹ to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress,
    my God, in whom I trust.”


3   For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
    and from the deadly pestilence.
4   He will cover you with his pinions,
    and under his wings you will find refuge;
    his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
5   You will not fear the terror of the night,
    nor the arrow that flies by day,
6   nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
    nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.


7   A thousand may fall at your side,
    ten thousand at your right hand,
    but it will not come near you.
8   You will only look with your eyes
    and see the recompense of the wicked.


9   Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place—
    the Most High, who is my refuge²—
10   no evil shall be allowed to befall you,
    no plague come near your tent.


11   For he will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you in all your ways.
12   On their hands they will bear you up,
    lest you strike your foot against a stone.
13   You will tread on the lion and the adder;
    the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.


14   “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
    I will protect him, because he knows my name.
15   When he calls to me, I will answer him;
    I will be with him in trouble;
    I will rescue him and honor him.
16   With long life I will satisfy him
    and show him my salvation.”

How Great Are Your Works

A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath.

92   It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
    to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
2   to declare your steadfast love in the morning,
    and your faithfulness by night,
3   to the music of the lute and the harp,
    to the melody of the lyre.
4   For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work;
    at the works of your hands I sing for joy.


5   How great are your works, O LORD!
    Your thoughts are very deep!
6   The stupid man cannot know;
    the fool cannot understand this:
7   that though the wicked sprout like grass
    and all evildoers flourish,
  they are doomed to destruction forever;
8     but you, O LORD, are on high forever.
9   For behold, your enemies, O LORD,
    for behold, your enemies shall perish;
    all evildoers shall be scattered.


10   But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox;
    you have poured over me³ fresh oil.
11   My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies;
    my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.


12   The righteous flourish like the palm tree
    and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13   They are planted in the house of the LORD;
    they flourish in the courts of our God.
14   They still bear fruit in old age;
    they are ever full of sap and green,
15   to declare that the LORD is upright;
    he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

(ESV)

Jeremiah 11:1–8 (Listen)

The Broken Covenant

11 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 “Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 3 You shall say to them, Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man who does not hear the words of this covenant 4 that I commanded your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Listen to my voice, and do all that I command you. So shall you be my people, and I will be your God, 5 that I may confirm the oath that I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day.” Then I answered, “So be it, LORD.”

6 And the LORD said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: Hear the words of this covenant and do them. 7 For I solemnly warned your fathers when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, warning them persistently, even to this day, saying, Obey my voice. 8 Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.”

(ESV)

Jeremiah 11:14–20 (Listen)

14 “Therefore do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble. 15 What right has my beloved in my house, when she has done many vile deeds? Can even sacrificial flesh avert your doom? Can you then exult? 16 The LORD once called you ‘a green olive tree, beautiful with good fruit.’ But with the roar of a great tempest he will set fire to it, and its branches will be consumed. 17 The LORD of hosts, who planted you, has decreed disaster against you, because of the evil that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done, provoking me to anger by making offerings to Baal.”

18   The LORD made it known to me and I knew;
    then you showed me their deeds.
19   But I was like a gentle lamb
    led to the slaughter.
  I did not know it was against me
    they devised schemes, saying,
  “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,
    let us cut him off from the land of the living,
    that his name be remembered no more.”
20   But, O LORD of hosts, who judges righteously,
    who tests the heart and the mind,
  let me see your vengeance upon them,
    for to you have I committed my cause.

(ESV)

Romans 6:1–11 (Listen)

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

6 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self¹ was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free² from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

(ESV)

John 8:33–47 (Listen)

33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave¹ to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. 38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”

You Are of Your Father the Devil

39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, 40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. 41 You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” 42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 46 Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

(ESV)