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Sept 21 | The Fruit of the Spirit (Sept 21) · 1 Year Audio Bible Podcast

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Welcome to the Daily Audio Torah. Today is September
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21st. Now let's continue our journey reading through the entire
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Bible in one year. This week we are reading from the New
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Living Translation for the Old Testament and for the New Testament.
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Deuteronomy 29:21-29.
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The Lord will separate them from all the tribes of Israel to
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pour out on them all the curses of the covenant recorded in
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this Book of Instruction. Then the generations
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to come, both your own descendants and the foreigners who come
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from distant lands, will see the devastation of the land and the diseases
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the Lord inflicts on it. They will exclaim,
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the whole land is devastated by sulfur and salt!
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It is a wasteland with nothing planted and nothing growing,
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not even a blade of grass. It is like the cities of Sodom and
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Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which Lord destroyed
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in His intense anger. And all the surrounding nations
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will ask, why has the Lord done this to this land?
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Why was He so angry? And the answer will be, this happened
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because the people of the land abandoned the covenant that the Lord,
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the God of their ancestors, made with them when He brought them
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out of the land of Egypt. Instead, they turned away
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to serve and worship gods they had not known before.
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Gods that were not from the LORD. That is why
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the LORD's anger has burned against this land, bringing down on it
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every curse recorded in this book.
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In great anger and fury, the LORD uprooted His people
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from their land and banished them to another land,
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where they still live today. The LORD our God
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has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them.
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But we and our children are accountable forever for
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all that He has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the
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terms of these instructions.
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Isaiah 37:1-38:22.
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When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes and
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put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord to pray. And he
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sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the
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court secretary, and the leading priests, all dressed
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in sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.
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They told him, This is what King Hezekiah says: This
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is a day of trouble, insult, and disgrace. It is
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like when a child is ready to be born, but the mother
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has no strength to deliver it. But perhaps the Lord your God
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has heard the Assyrian representative defying the living God and will punish
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him for his words. Oh, pray for those of us who
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are left! After King Hezekiah's officials delivered
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the king's message to Isaiah, the prophet replied, Say to your
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master, This is what the Lord says: Do not be disturbed
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by this blasphemous speech against me from the Assyrian king's messengers.
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Listen! I myself will make sure that the king will
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receive a report from Assyria telling him,
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that he is needed at home. Then I will make him want
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to return to his land, where I will have him killed with
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a sword. Meanwhile,
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the Assyrian representative left Jerusalem and
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went to consult his king who had left Lachish and was attacking Libnah.
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Soon afterward, King Sennacherib received word that King Tirhakah of
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Ethiopia was leading an army to fight against him.
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Before leaving to meet the attack, he sent this message back to Hezekiah
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in Jerusalem: This message is for King Hezekiah
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of Judah. Don't let this God you trust deceive
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you with promises that Jerusalem will not be captured by
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the king of Assyria. You know perfectly well what the kings
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of Assyria have done wherever they have gone. They have crushed
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everyone who stood in their way. Why should you be any
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different? Have the gods of other nations rescued them?
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Such nations as Gozan, Haran, Reseph,
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and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? The former kings of Assyria
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destroyed them all. What happened to the king of Hamath and the king
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of Arpad? What happened to the kings of Sepharvaim,
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Hena, and Eva?
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After Hezekiah received the letter and read it, he went up to the Lord's
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Temple and spread it out before the Lord. And Hezekiah
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prayed this prayer before the Lord: O Lord Almighty, God of
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Israel, You are enthroned between the mighty cherubim. You alone
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are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone
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created the heavens and the earth. Listen to me, O Lord,
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and hear. Open Your eyes, O Lord, and see.
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Listen to Sennacherib's words of defiance against the living
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God. It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed
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all these nations, just as the message says,
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and they have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them.
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But of course the Assyrians could destroy them.
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They were not gods at all, only idols of wood and stone
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shaped by human hands. Now, O Lord God,
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rescue us from his power. Then, All the kingdoms
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of the earth will know that You alone, O Lord
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our God. Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent this
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message to Hezekiah: This is what the Lord, the God of
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Israel, says: This is My answer to your prayer concerning
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King Sennacherib of Assyria. This is the message that the
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Lord has spoken against him: The virgin daughter of
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Zion despises you and laughs at you. The daughter of Jerusalem
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scoffs and shakes her head as you flee.
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Whom do you think you have been insulting and ridiculing?
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Against whom did you raise your voice? At whom did you
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look in such proud condescension? It was the Holy
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One of Israel. By your messengers you have mocked
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the Lord, You have said, with my many chariots I have conquered the highest
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mountains, yes, the remotest peaks of
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Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars
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and its choicest cypress trees. I have reached
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its farthest corners and explored its deepest forests. I have
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dug wells in many a foreign land and refreshed myself
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with their water. I even stopped up the rivers of Egypt so
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that my armies could go across. But have
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you not heard? It was I, the Lord, who decided this
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long ago. Long ago I planned what I am now
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causing to happen, that you should
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crush fortified cities into heaps of rubble. That is
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why their people have so little power and are such
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easy prey for you. They are as helpless as the grass,
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as easily trampled as tender green shoots.
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They are like grass sprouting on a housetop, easily scorched
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by by the sun. But I know you well, your comings and goings and all
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you do. I know the way you have raged against me, and because of
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your arrogance against me, which I have heard for myself, I will put
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my hook in your nose and my bridle in your mouth.
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I will make you return by the road on which you came.
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Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, here is the proof that
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the Lord will protect this city from Assyria's king.
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This year you will eat only what grows up by itself,
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and next year you will eat what springs up from that. But in
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the third year you will plant crops and harvest them,
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you will tend vineyards and eat their fruit. And you who are left
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in Judah, who have escaped the ravages of the siege, will take root
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again in your own soil, and you will flourish and multiply.
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For a remnant of My people will spread out from Jerusalem, a group
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of survivors from Mount Zion. The passion of the Lord
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Almighty will make this happen. And this is what the Lord says
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about the king of Assyria: His armies will not enter
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Jerusalem to shoot their arrows. They will not
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march outside its gates with their shields and build banks of earth against its
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walls. The king will return to his own country
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by the road on which he came. He will not enter the
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city, says the Lord. For my own honor and for the sake of my servant
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David, I will defend it.
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That night the angel of the Lord went out to the Assyrian camp
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and killed 185,000 Assyrian troops.
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When the surviving Assyrians woke up the next morning,
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they found corpses everywhere. Then King Sennacherib
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of Assyria broke camp and returned to his own land.
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He went home to his capital of Nineveh and stayed there.
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One day, while he was worshipping in the temple of his god,
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Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer
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killed him with their swords. They then escaped to
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the land of Ararat, and another son,
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Esarhaddon, became the next king of Assyria.
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About that time, Hezekiah became deathly ill. And the
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prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to visit him. He gave the king this
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message: This is what the Lord says: Set your
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affairs in order, for you are going to die. You will not recover from
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this illness. When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his face
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to the wall and prayed to the Lord: Remember, O Lord, how I have always
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tried to be faithful to you and do what is pleasing
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in your sight. Then he broke down and wept bitterly.
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Then this message came to Isaiah from the Lord: Go back
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to Hezekiah and tell him, This is what the Lord,
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the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and
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seen your tears. I will add 15 years to
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your life, and I will rescue you and this city from the king
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of Assyria. Yes, I will defend this
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city. And this is the sign that the
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Lord will give you to prove he will do as he promised: I
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will cause the sun's shadow to move 10 steps backward on
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the sundial of Ahaz. So the shadow on the sundial
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moved backward 10 steps.
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When King Hezekiah was well again, he wrote this poem about his experience:
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I said, in the prime of my life must I now enter the place of
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the dead? Am I to be robbed of my normal years? I said,
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Never again will I see the Lord God while still in the land of the
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living. Never again will I see my friends or laugh with
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those who live in this world.
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My life has been blown away like a shepherd's tent in a storm.
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It has been cut short as when a weaver cuts cloth from a loom.
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Suddenly my life was over. I waited patiently
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all night, but I was torn apart as though by lions.
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Suddenly my life was over. Delirious, I chattered
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like a swallow or a crane, and then I moaned like a mourning dove.
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My eyes grew tired of looking to heaven for help. I am in
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trouble, Lord, help me! But what could I say?
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For He Himself had sent this sickness. Now I
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will walk humbly throughout my years because of this anguish
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I have felt. Lord, your discipline
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is good, for it leads to life and health. You have restored my health
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and have allowed me to live. Yes, it was good for me to suffer this
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anguish, for you have rescued me from death and
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have forgiven all my sins.
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For the dead cannot praise you, they cannot raise their voices
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in praise. Those who go down to destruction can no longer hope.
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In Your faithfulness. Only the living can praise You
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as I do today. Each generation can make known Your
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faithfulness to the next. Think of it!
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The Lord has healed me! I will sing His praises with instruments
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every day of my life in the Temple of the
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Lord. Isaiah had said to Hezekiah's servants,
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Make an ointment from figs and spread it over the boil,
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and Hezekiah will recover. And Hezekiah had asked,
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What sign will prove that I will go to the temple of the Lord 3
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days from now.
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Galatians 6:1-18.
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Dear brothers and sisters, if another Christian is overcome by
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some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person
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back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same
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temptation yourself. Share each other's troubles and problems,
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and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you
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think you are too important to help someone in need, you are
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only fooling yourself. You are really a nobody.
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Be sure to do what you should, for then you will enjoy the
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personal satisfaction of having done your work well, and you won't
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need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each
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responsible for our own conduct.
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Those who are taught the Word of God should help their teachers by paying
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them. Don't be misled. Remember that you cannot
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ignore God and get away with it. You will always reap what
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you sow. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful
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desires will harvest the consequences of decay and
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death. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest
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everlasting life from the Spirit. So don't get tired of doing
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what is good. Don't get discouraged and give up,
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for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the
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appropriate time. Whenever we have the opportunity, we should
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do good to everyone, especially to our Christian brothers and
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sisters. Notice what large letters I use As I write
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these closing words in my own handwriting, those who are trying
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to force you to be circumcised are doing it for just one
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reason. They don't want to be persecuted for teaching that
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the cross of Christ alone can save. And even those
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who advocate circumcision don't really keep the
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whole Law. They only want you to be
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circumcised so they can brag about it and claim you as their disciples.
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As for me, God forbid that I should boast about anything
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except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Because of that cross, my interest in this world died
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long ago, and the world's interest in me is also
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long dead. It doesn't make any difference
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now whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether
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we really have been changed into new and different
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people. May God's mercy and peace be upon
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all those who live by this principle.
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They are the new people of God.
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From now on, don't let anyone trouble me with these things,
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for I bear on my body the scars that I show—
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that show I belong to Christ. My dear brothers and
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sisters, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with
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you all.
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Amen. Psalm 65:1-13.
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What mighty praise, O God, belongs to You in Zion!
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We will fulfill our vows to You, for You answer
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our prayers. And to You all people will come.
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Though our hearts are filled with sins, You forgive
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them all. What joy for those You choose to bring near,
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those who live in Your holy courts! What joy awaits
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us inside Your holy temple! You faithfully
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answer our prayers with awesome deeds. O God,
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our Savior, You are the hope of everyone on earth,
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even those who sail on distant seas. You formed
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the mountains by Your power and armed Yourself with mighty strength.
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You quieted the raging oceans with their pounding waves
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and silenced the shouting of the nations. Those who live at
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the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your wonders. From where the sun
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rises to where it sets, you inspire shouts of joy.
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You take care of the earth and water it, making it rich
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and fertile. The rivers of God will not run dry.
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They provide a bountiful harvest of grain, for you have ordered
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it so. You drench the plowed ground with rain,
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melting the clods and leveling the ridges. You soften the
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earth with showers and bless its abundant crops.
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You crown the year with a bountiful harvest.
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Even the hard pathways overflow with abundance.
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The wilderness becomes a lush pasture, and the hillsides
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blossom with joy. The meadows are clothed
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with flocks of sheep, and the valleys are carpeted with
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grain. They all shout and sing for joy.
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Proverbs 23:24. The father of
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godly children has cause for joy. What a pleasure
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it is to have wise children.
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I want to speak to you today from Galatians chapter 5,
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a rewind from yesterday, and also from chapter 6
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as we are concluding the closing chapters of Galatians.
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And in Galatians chapter 5, A real gem
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of truth comes from chapter 5, verse 18: But
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when you are directed by the Spirit,
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you are not under obligation to the Law of Moses.
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And really think on that. Reflect on that.
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When you're directed by the Spirit, you're not under obligation
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to the Law of Moses. So you
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have liberty instead of having to
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follow the dietary laws that are talked about in Leviticus
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chapter 23 or 26. You have
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liberty. You can keep
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fellowship with other believers on Saturday, on Shabbat,
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or on Sunday, and there's no condemnation whatsoever.
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If you meet with other believers on Sunday and not on Sabbath,
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Saturday. There is no obligation to
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the Law of Moses when you are directed by the
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Holy Spirit. Now, does that mean you live as a lawless
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person? No. The Word of God,
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the Torah, the Bible, is written upon
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your heart. It's internal. By the very
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finger of God because your heart has been circumcised.
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He takes out the heart of stone. He gives you a heart of flesh.
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He begins to write the Word of God upon your heart. And so now when
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you're led by the Spirit, you're doing things to
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walk in obedience to Jesus because you love Him,
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not because of compulsion or because of mechanical
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rote trying to externalize the
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rules and regulations, but it's love. It's the love of Christ
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that compels you. Now let's continue on.
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Galatians 5:19. When you follow the desires
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of your sinful nature, the results are clear: sexual immorality,
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impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry,
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sorcery, hostility, quarreling,
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jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition,
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dissension and division, envy,
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drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these.
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Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of
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life will not inherit the kingdom of God.
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And here's the contrast, verse 22: But
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the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit
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in our lives: love, joy,
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peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
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gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against
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these things. Now, the fruit of the Spirit
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has to do with godly character in our lives,
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and it's different from the gifts of the Spirit. So fruit
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or character takes time to grow. If you
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take an apple seed or an orange seed and
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you plant it in your backyard, you're not going to expect to have
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apples or oranges the next day or even the next week or the next month.
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It takes years for an apple tree
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to grow from a seed and then to produce apples. It takes
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years for an orange seed to grow into a tree and then produce oranges.
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Similarly, the fruit or the character in our life
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takes years for God to shape that in us.
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And so the fruit is what gives us godly character
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and stability in Christ.
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That is in contrast to the list
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of qualities or behaviors of somebody who's living
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in their sinful nature. The idolatry,
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jealousy, outbursts of anger, dissension and division,
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etc. So another thing about the fruit
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of the Spirit, I'll share this with you. Many years ago, I had
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a vision that was very powerful, and I'll never forget it.
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And I was really struggling
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with having self-control in
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that I had teenagers in the house, and I
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had to get them up early and out the door early because I was dropping
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them off at school and going to work. And my
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daughter back then, it would
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take a freight train to wake her up in the morning. She just wouldn't wake
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up. And I
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was inevitably about 15 or 20 minutes late
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to work every day. And it was extremely stressful. I would arrive to work with
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my stomach in knots because I was always being there late
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because I couldn't get my daughter to wake up in the morning. And Honestly,
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I blew it and I would yell at her and I just didn't have very
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good self-control. So at
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that time, I had a vision in a worship environment
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at church. And in this vision, I saw a staircase.
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And at the very top of the staircase, Jesus was standing
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there and I was at the bottom step.
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And he said, oh, come up to me. And each step
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had a name. And I wasn't allowed
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to ascend to the next step until I had mastered the step that
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I was on. And the bottom step that I was on was
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self-control. And he spoke to my heart and said,
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these are all the ingredients of love,
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like the ingredients for making a cake. Or making cookies.
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You have to have flour and sugar and chocolate chips and eggs,
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all the different ingredients. And so the bottom step
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was self-control. And he said, you are not allowed to go up to the next
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step, which is called gentleness, until you have learned
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to practice and master self-control.
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In other words, if you're cranky
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and tired, zip your lips. Don't yell.
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Don't say anything. Just button your mouth until
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you're ready to speak in a calm, neutral voice.
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And so then once you can, you master self-control,
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then you go up to the next step, which is gentleness. It was the
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fruit of the spirit backwards,
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gentleness. And once you've mastered that and learned to be gentle
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and not harsh, then you can step up
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to the next step, which is faithfulness. And learn to
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be faithful in small things so that you're then counted worthy
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to be faithful in bigger things. And then once you've
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mastered that, you go up to the next step, which is goodness, and so on
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until finally you get to peace. And then you
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come up to the next step, which is joy. And then at
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the very top step where Jesus is standing is love.
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And so all of these steps kind of fold in upon themselves, and they're all
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ingredients in the recipe of what it really means
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to love in the way that Jesus loves.
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Love is faithful. It's kind.
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It's gentle. It's faithful.
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And love has self-control.
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So that really, really changed
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me. I'll just never forget it. The fruit of the Spirit as
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a staircase, and the bottom step is self-control, and at
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the top step is love. Now I
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want to look at Galatians chapter 6. And again,
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Paul in his whole book of Galatians, he's addressing the
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Galatians regarding their beginning to try to fall
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into works, to work and earn
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and perform to earn their salvation,
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that they have to do something. Jesus plus, and then you fill in the blank.
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Jesus plus circumcision, or Jesus plus, and then
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you fill in the blank with whatever it is.
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Jesus plus nothing.
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It's you simply put your faith in him. So he's summarizing
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and concluding here, and then Galatians chapter 6,
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verse 12. Those who are trying to
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force you to be circumcised are doing it for just one reason: they
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don't want to be persecuted for teaching that the cross of Christ
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alone can save.
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So it's not about works, it's not about performance, it's not
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about earning God's favor. He goes on
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to say in verse 14, as for me, God forbid that
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I should boast about anything except the cross
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of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest
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in this world died long ago,
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and the world's interest in me is also long dead.
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I believe in the book of 1 John it says, friendship with the world
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is hatred or enmity towards God.
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If you're a friend of the world, you have
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enmity towards God. So when we
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identify with Jesus and we become his follower and his
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disciple, we identify with him in his death.
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We die to ourselves, to our pride,
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to our flesh. We daily
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pick up our cross, which is an instrument of death,
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to follow him. And Paul says, it is no
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longer I who live, but Christ who lives in
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me. Laura has died.
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You have died. And it is no longer you
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who lives, but Jesus Christ who lives in you.
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So he says, my interest in
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this world died long ago.
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And so where does his interest lie instead? His interest
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lies in communicating and sharing the gospel with the
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Gentiles, with the nations, that they would have
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the gift of eternal life. He goes
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on to say that we have become the new people
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of God. What counts is whether we have
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really been changed into new and different
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People. People can change when
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people repent. When you or I,
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when we repent of our sin
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and we agree with God, this is sin and I hate
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it and I don't want this anymore in my life, and I confess
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it as sin, and I ask you to forgive me, and I ask you to
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change me, Jesus. The Holy Spirit changes us
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from glory to glory,
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and we be— we are to become more like Him,
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to become more like our Savior.
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Have a blessed day, and we'll see you tomorrow. Shalom.
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विहिष्मरे का
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यह है आरुणा
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है पनाविलका
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विकुन्ने का Yisrael
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Adonai,
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na'af eleka,
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vay'seh leka,
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leka shalom.
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The Aaronic Blessing from Numbers chapter 6,
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24 to 26.
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Adonai bless you and keep you. Adonai make
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his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.
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Adonai lift up his countenance upon you and give
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you peace.