SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/24/2015
10:26 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 Introduction to John 1:37-51
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
John 1:37-51
Message of
the verses: 37 The two disciples heard him speak, and
they followed Jesus. 38 And Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to
them, "What do you seek?" They said to Him, "Rabbi (which
translated means Teacher), where are You staying?" 39 He said to them, "Come,
and you will see." So they came and saw where He was staying; and they
stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. 40 One of the two
who heard John speak and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.
41 He found first his own brother Simon and said to
him, "We have found the Messiah" (which translated means Christ). 42
He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon the
son of John; you shall be called Cephas" (which is translated Peter).
“43 The next
day He purposed to go into Galilee, and He found Philip. And Jesus said to him, "Follow Me." 44 Now
Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael
and said to him, "We
have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote-Jesus
of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." 46 Nathanael said to him, "Can any
good thing come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." 47
Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite
indeed, in whom there is no deceit!" 48 Nathanael said to Him, "How
do You know me?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip
called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." 49 Nathanael
answered Him, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of
Israel." 50 Jesus answered and said to him, "Because I said to you
that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things
than these." 51 And He said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you
will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on
the Son of Man.’”
In John
MacArthur’s commentary on this section he writes in his introductory commentary
about certain paradoxes that are found in the Word of God, things that are
difficult at best for us to understand, but they are there nonetheless. He ends with the paradox of salvation,
something people have fought and argued over for centuries, as there are even
two groups of people named after two people whose belief’s they follow. “Arminianism is based on theological
ideas of the Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius (1560–1609) and his
historic supporters known as the Remonstrants.”
“Calvinism (also called
the Reformed tradition, Reformed Christianity or the Reformed faith) is a major
branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of
Christian practice of John Calvin and other Reformation-era theologians.” I have thought about these two camps for many years and have come to the
conclusion that the Bible teaches both and as stated earlier this is one of the
paradoxes found in Scripture. Paul
writes the following at the end of Romans chapter eleven: “33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom
and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond
tracing out! 34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his
counsellor?" 35 “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay
him?" 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be
the glory forever! Amen (Rom. 11:33-36 NIV).”
I will take the time to list a couple of the
paradoxes that MacArthur goes over as he begins this chapter in his commentary
which he entitles “The Balance of Salvation.”
As I stated earlier I have come to believe in what both of these camps
teach and once you do that then you do have the balance of salvation.
The first paradox MacArthur mentions is of Judas’s
betrayal of Jesus which the Bible tells us was part of God’s predetermined plan
found in Luke 22:22. This however did
not excuse his sin which he entered into willingly as found in Matthew 26:14-16
and John 12:4.
The next paradox he mentions is the authorship of
Scripture. We know that the Bible claims
that God is the author of all Scripture as found in 2 Timothy 3:16 and also 2
Peter 1:21. However Jesus introduced a
quote from the OT with the following
words “Moses said” which is found in Mark 7:10 and we can also compare Mark
10:2; 12:26 and Matthew 8:4 and there are others, with the point being made
that Jesus credits Moses for writing the books of Moses and yet other Scripture
says that God is the author.
I will mention one more and that is that the Bible
teaches us that it is impossible for believers to live the Christian life, and
I don’t suppose that there are any true believers which will disagree with that
statement. However Paul tells us to “work
out our own salvation with fear and trembling.”
MacArthur writes “But of all the issues involving
the relationship of divine sovereignty to human responsibility, the most basic
is that of salvation. The biblical
teaching that salvation is a divine act that demands a human response may be
likened to a clearly marked, but narrow path between two chasms. To err on either side of that path is to
plummet to spiritual ruin.
“Scripture clearly reveals that salvation is a
divine act. Unbelievers are ‘dead in
[their] trespasses and sins’ (Eph. 2:1), ‘separate from Christ,…having no hope
and without God in the world’ (Eph. 2:12), ‘alienated and hostile in mind,
engaged in evil deeds’ (Col. 1:21), ‘enemies of God’ (Rom. 5:10), ‘hostile to
God’ (Rom. 8:7), ‘unable to pleas Him’ (Rom. 8:8), ‘darkened in their
understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is
in them, because of the hardness of their heart’ (Eph. 4:18), ‘foolish…disobedient,
deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending [their lives] in
malice and envy, hateful, hating one another’ (Titus 3:3), ‘pursu[ing] a course
of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable
idolatries’ (1 Peter 4:3).’ Obviously, such people are utterly unable to save
themselves.
“Given fallen humanity’s total depravity, complete
helplessness, and utter lack of spiritual resources, there would be no
salvation unless God provided it. Thus,
the Bible teaches that salvation is wholly by God’s grace and not by human
works. Further, God Himself chose the
redeemed for salvation in eternity past (Acts 11:18; 13:48; Rom. 8:28-30; Eph.
1:4-5; Col. 3:12; 1 Thess. 1:4; 2 Thess. 2:13; 2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 1:1; 1 Peter
1:1-2; 2:9).
“But the Bible is equally clear that no one is saved
apart from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Implicit in the biblical commands that sinners repent and believe in
Christ.
“In a passage that perfectly illustrates the biblical
balance between divine sovereignty and human responsibility, John records the
call of Jesus’ first disciples to salvation.
We meet first the seeking souls, and then the seeking Savior.”
Now remember what it is that John includes this in
his writing of his gospel message and something that we will see throughout
this entire book as to why he writes what he writes is found in John 20:31 our
theme verse that will be mentioned many times as we go through this wonderful
book that tells us much about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: “but these have been written so that you may
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may
have life in His name.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I am thankful for the salvation that has been
given to me through Jesus Christ my Lord, thankful for the perfect plan that
God had for me as He saved me and also thankful that as we will learn that I
can tell others of this wonderful, perfect salvation so that they can be saved
and then that they can go on to tell others too.
My Steps of Faith
for Today: Be ready to tell others of the hope that is in me.
Answer
to yesterday’s Bible question: “Second Timothy.”
Today’s Bible question: “After crossing the Red Sea, how many days di
the Israelites go without water?”
Answer in our next SD.
12/24/2015 11:56 AM
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