March 4: Psalm 31; Psalm 95; Psalm 35; Ezekiel 18:1–4; Ezekiel 18:25–32; Philippians 4:1–9; John 17:9–19 - a podcast by Crossway

Psalm 31(Listen)

Into Your Hand I Commit My Spirit

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

31   In you, O LORD, do I take refuge;
    let me never be put to shame;
    in your righteousness deliver me!
2   Incline your ear to me;
    rescue me speedily!
  Be a rock of refuge for me,
    a strong fortress to save me!
3   For you are my rock and my fortress;
    and for your name’s sake you lead me and guide me;
4   you take me out of the net they have hidden for me,
    for you are my refuge.
5   Into your hand I commit my spirit;
    you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.
6   I hate¹those who pay regard to worthless idols,
    but I trust in the LORD.
7   I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love,
    because you have seen my affliction;
    you have known the distress of my soul,
8   and you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy;
    you have set my feet in a broad place.
9   Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am in distress;
    my eye is wasted from grief;
    my soul and my body also.
10   For my life is spent with sorrow,
    and my years with sighing;
  my strength fails because of my iniquity,
    and my bones waste away.
11   Because of all my adversaries I have become a reproach,
    especially to my neighbors,
  and an object of dread to my acquaintances;
    those who see me in the street flee from me.
12   I have been forgotten like one who is dead;
    I have become like a broken vessel.
13   For I hear the whispering of many—
    terror on every side!—
  as they scheme together against me,
    as they plot to take my life.
14   But I trust in you, O LORD;
    I say, “You are my God.”
15   My times are in your hand;
    rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!
16   Make your face shine on your servant;
    save me in your steadfast love!
17   O LORD, let me not be put to shame,
    for I call upon you;
  let the wicked be put to shame;
    let them go silently to Sheol.
18   Let the lying lips be mute,
    which speak insolently against the righteous
    in pride and contempt.
19   Oh, how abundant is your goodness,
    which you have stored up for those who fear you
  and worked for those who take refuge in you,
    in the sight of the children of mankind!
20   In the cover of your presence you hide them
    from the plots of men;
  you store them in your shelter
    from the strife of tongues.
21   Blessed be the LORD,
    for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me
    when I was in a besieged city.
22   I had said in my alarm,²
    “I am cut off from your sight.”
  But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy
    when I cried to you for help.
23   Love the LORD, all you his saints!
    The LORD preserves the faithful
    but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.
24   Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
    all you who wait for the LORD!

(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)

Psalm 35(Listen)

Great Is theLord

Of David.

35   Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me;
    fight against those who fight against me!
2   Take hold of shield and buckler
    and rise for my help!
3   Draw the spear and javelin¹
    against my pursuers!
  Say to my soul,
    “I am your salvation!”
4   Let them be put to shame and dishonor
    who seek after my life!
  Let them be turned back and disappointed
    who devise evil against me!
5   Let them be like chaff before the wind,
    with the angel of the LORD driving them away!
6   Let their way be dark and slippery,
    with the angel of the LORD pursuing them!
7   For without cause they hid their net for me;
    without cause they dug a pit for my life.²
8   Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it!
  And let the net that he hid ensnare him;
    let him fall into it—to his destruction!
9   Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD,
    exulting in his salvation.
10   All my bones shall say,
    “O LORD, who is like you,
  delivering the poor
    from him who is too strong for him,
    the poor and needy from him who robs him?”
11   Malicious³witnesses rise up;
    they ask me of things that I do not know.
12   They repay me evil for good;
    my soul is bereft.⁴
13   But I, when they were sick—
    I wore sackcloth;
    I afflicted myself with fasting;
  I prayed with head bowed⁵on my chest.
14     I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother;
  as one who laments his mother,
    I bowed down in mourning.
15   But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered;
    they gathered together against me;
  wretches whom I did not know
    tore at me without ceasing;
16   like profane mockers at a feast,⁶
    they gnash at me with their teeth.
17   How long, O Lord, will you look on?
    Rescue me from their destruction,
    my precious life from the lions!
18   I will thank you in the great congregation;
    in the mighty throng I will praise you.
19   Let not those rejoice over me
    who are wrongfully my foes,
  and let not those wink the eye
    who hate me without cause.
20   For they do not speak peace,
    but against those who are quiet in the land
    they devise words of deceit.
21   They open wide their mouths against me;
    they say, “Aha, Aha!
    Our eyes have seen it!”
22   You have seen, O LORD; be not silent!
    O Lord, be not far from me!
23   Awake and rouse yourself for my vindication,
    for my cause, my God and my Lord!
24   Vindicate me, O LORD, my God,
    according to your righteousness,
    and let them not rejoice over me!
25   Let them not say in their hearts,
    “Aha, our heart’s desire!”
  Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up.”
26   Let them be put to shame and disappointed altogether
    who rejoice at my calamity!
  Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor
    who magnify themselves against me!
27   Let those who delight in my righteousness
    shout for joy and be glad
    and say evermore,
  “Great is the LORD,
    who delights in the welfare of his servant!”
28   Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness
    and of your praise all the day long.

(ESV)

Ezekiel 18:1–4(Listen)

The Soul Who Sins Shall Die

18 The word of the LORD came to me:2 “What do you¹mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’?3 As I live, declares the Lord GOD, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel.4 Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.

(ESV)

Ezekiel 18:25–32(Listen)

25 “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way not just? Is it not your ways that are not just?26 When a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it; for the injustice that he has done he shall die.27 Again, when a wicked person turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he shall save his life.28 Because he considered and turned away from all the transgressions that he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die.29 Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, are my ways not just? Is it not your ways that are not just?

30 “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin.¹31 Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel?32 For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live.”

(ESV)

Philippians 4:1–9(Listen)

4 Therefore, my brothers,¹whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.

Exhortation, Encouragement, and Prayer

2 I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord.3 Yes, I ask you also, true companion,²help these women, who have labored³side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.5 Let your reasonableness⁴be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.9 What you have learned⁵and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

(ESV)

John 17:9–19(Listen)

9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.¹16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.17 Sanctify them²in the truth; your word is truth.18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.19 And for their sake I consecrate myself,³that they also may be sanctified⁴in truth.

(ESV)