March 7: Psalm 93; Psalm 96; Psalm 34; Jeremiah 6:9–15; 1 Corinthians 6:12–20; Mark 5:1–20 - a podcast by Crossway

Psalm 93 (Listen)

The Lord Reigns

93   The LORD reigns; he is robed in majesty;
    the LORD is robed; he has put on strength as his belt.
  Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.
2   Your throne is established from of old;
    you are from everlasting.


3   The floods have lifted up, O LORD,
    the floods have lifted up their voice;
    the floods lift up their roaring.
4   Mightier than the thunders of many waters,
    mightier than the waves of the sea,
    the LORD on high is mighty!


5   Your decrees are very trustworthy;
    holiness befits your house,
    O LORD, forevermore.

(ESV)

Psalm 96 (Listen)

Worship in the Splendor of Holiness

96   Oh sing to the LORD a new song;
    sing to the LORD, all the earth!
2   Sing to the LORD, bless his name;
    tell of his salvation from day to day.
3   Declare his glory among the nations,
    his marvelous works among all the peoples!
4   For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised;
    he is to be feared above all gods.
5   For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,
    but the LORD made the heavens.
6   Splendor and majesty are before him;
    strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.


7   Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples,
    ascribe to the LORD glory and strength!
8   Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
    bring an offering, and come into his courts!
9   Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness;¹
    tremble before him, all the earth!


10   Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns!
    Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved;
    he will judge the peoples with equity.”


11   Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
    let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
12     let the field exult, and everything in it!
  Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
13     before the LORD, for he comes,
    for he comes to judge the earth.
  He will judge the world in righteousness,
    and the peoples in his faithfulness.

(ESV)

Psalm 34 (Listen)

Taste and See That the Lord Is Good

¹ Of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.

34   I will bless the LORD at all times;
    his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2   My soul makes its boast in the LORD;
    let the humble hear and be glad.
3   Oh, magnify the LORD with me,
    and let us exalt his name together!


4   I sought the LORD, and he answered me
    and delivered me from all my fears.
5   Those who look to him are radiant,
    and their faces shall never be ashamed.
6   This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him
    and saved him out of all his troubles.
7   The angel of the LORD encamps
    around those who fear him, and delivers them.


8   Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!
    Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
9   Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints,
    for those who fear him have no lack!
10   The young lions suffer want and hunger;
    but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.


11   Come, O children, listen to me;
    I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
12   What man is there who desires life
    and loves many days, that he may see good?
13   Keep your tongue from evil
    and your lips from speaking deceit.
14   Turn away from evil and do good;
    seek peace and pursue it.


15   The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous
    and his ears toward their cry.
16   The face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
    to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
17   When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears
    and delivers them out of all their troubles.
18   The LORD is near to the brokenhearted
    and saves the crushed in spirit.


19   Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
    but the LORD delivers him out of them all.
20   He keeps all his bones;
    not one of them is broken.
21   Affliction will slay the wicked,
    and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
22   The LORD redeems the life of his servants;
    none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

(ESV)

Jeremiah 6:9–15 (Listen)

9   Thus says the LORD of hosts:
  “They shall glean thoroughly as a vine
    the remnant of Israel;
  like a grape gatherer pass your hand again
    over its branches.”
10   To whom shall I speak and give warning,
    that they may hear?
  Behold, their ears are uncircumcised,
    they cannot listen;
  behold, the word of the LORD is to them an object of scorn;
    they take no pleasure in it.
11   Therefore I am full of the wrath of the LORD;
    I am weary of holding it in.
  “Pour it out upon the children in the street,
    and upon the gatherings of young men, also;
  both husband and wife shall be taken,
    the elderly and the very aged.
12   Their houses shall be turned over to others,
    their fields and wives together,
  for I will stretch out my hand
    against the inhabitants of the land,”
      declares the LORD.
13   “For from the least to the greatest of them,
    everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
  and from prophet to priest,
    everyone deals falsely.
14   They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
    saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
    when there is no peace.
15   Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
    No, they were not at all ashamed;
    they did not know how to blush.
  Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
    at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,”
      says the LORD.

(ESV)

1 Corinthians 6:12–20 (Listen)

Flee Sexual Immorality

12 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. 13 “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined¹ to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin² a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

(ESV)

Mark 5:1–20 (Listen)

Jesus Heals a Man with a Demon

5 They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.¹ 2 And when Jesus² had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. 3 He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, 4 for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. 6 And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. 7 And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” 8 For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” 9 And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” 10 And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. 11 Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, 12 and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” 13 So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.

14 The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. 15 And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed³ man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. 16 And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. 17 And they began to beg Jesus⁴ to depart from their region. 18 As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. 19 And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” 20 And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.

(ESV)