Monday, May 16, 2016

Different Responses PT-1 "Conviction" (John 7:40-41a)


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/16/2016 10:22 AM

My Worship Time                                                    Focus:  Different Responses PT-1 Conviction

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  John 7:40-41a

            Message of the verses:  “40 Some of the people therefore, when they heard these words, were saying, "This certainly is the Prophet." 41 Others were saying, "This is the Christ."”

            I want to begin with the OT Scripture that has to do with the Prophet that is spoken about in verse 40, as it is the Prophet that Moses spoke of in Deuteronomy 18:15-18 “15 "The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him. 16 "This is according to all that you asked of the LORD your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ’Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, let me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die.’ 17 "The LORD said to me, ’They have spoken well. 18  ’I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.  This is speaking of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, and some of the people who listened to the words Jesus spoke knew about this prophecy and were convinced that it was Jesus.

            Now as we move to verse 41a we see that others had a clearer understanding of who Jesus was as they said “This is the Christ,” and that word means Messiah.  MacArthur writes “They earlier had been intimidated into silence by fear of the Jewish authorities (7:13; cf. 9:22; 12:42; 19:38; 20:19).  But now, having become convinced of Jesus’ identity, they boldly proclaimed it.  These individuals were part of the believing remnant of Israel…members of the ‘little flock’ (Luke 12:32); those who entered through the narrow gate that leads to eternal life (Matthew 7:13-14); thirsty people who had accepted Christ’s invitation and come to Him, drinking of the living water that He provides.” 

            These are the ones who had been called by the Father, given a call from the Spirit, trusting in the finished work that Jesus would do six months from this time as He would be accused of blasphemy, have mock trials before the High Priest, Herod, and Pilate and then placed on a cross where during three dark hours God the Father would pour out His wrath upon Him to pay for the sins of those who would believe in Him.  Now if a person does not accept the forgiveness that Jesus offers he will spend eternity in hell, however in that three hours of darkness when the Father poured out His wrath on Jesus, that accomplished the payment for spending eternal life in hell, and although I surely do not understand it, by faith I truly believe it with all of my heart as Jesus Christ has changed my life as He has given me eternal life for which I will always be thankful for.  “Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I remember the power of the words of Jesus as seen in verse 40 where it says “when they heard these words,” it reminds me of what we will see in verse 46 “"Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks."  It also reminds me of what Peter said in chapter six “"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.”  It is the words of Jesus that I want to listen to and learn from.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I want to begin again to add some memory verses to my Spiritual Diary that God has brought to my heart from reading an older Spiritual Diary, and I want to begin to memorize 2 Cor. 12:7-10 in order to begin to do as Paul wrote “to boast in my weaknesses.”

Memory verse for this week:  2 Cor. 12:7 “Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself!”

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Gold, frankincense, and myrrh” (Matthew 2:11).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘My son, my son…would God I had died for thee?’”

Answer in our next SD.

5/16/2016 10:51 AM

No comments:

Post a Comment