SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/13/2016 10:18 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1
The Pathway to Freedom; Believing in Christ
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 8:31a
Message of the verses: “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had
believed Him,”
The
following is a quote from John MacArthur as he previews this first main
section: Through His response to those
who professed faith in Him, the Lord delineated the program that brings true
spiritual freedom: believing in Him,
continuing in His Word, knowing truth, and being made free.” These are the sub-sections we will be going
over in our next Spiritual Diaries.
Leon Morris
whom we have frequently quoted in our Spiritual Diaries on John writes, “This
section of [the] discourse is addressed to those who believe, and yet do not
believe. Clearly they were inclined to
think that what Jesus said was true. But
they were not prepared to yield him the far-reaching allegiance that the real
trust in him implies.” We have to think
a bit about that statement ‘those who believe and yet do not believe,” for that
to me is one of the biggest problems with what we have called the “health and
wealth gospel” that is going on in our world today making some so called “pastors”
rich and their followers poor. Morris
continues “This is a most dangerous spiritual state. To recognize that truth is in Jesus and to do
nothing about it means that in effect one ranges oneself with the enemies of
the Lord.”
Belief in
Jesus is the first step, but one can believe in Him and not truly be
saved. Think about the verse from 2
Corinthians 13 that we looked at if there is any doubt that you are saved. Remember what we studied in the second
chapter of John’s gospel “23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover,
during the feast, many
believed in His name, observing
His signs which He was doing. 24 But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, 25
and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself
knew what was in man.” Later on in this
8th chapter we will see of these same people that they were still
slaves to sin, and although a true believer will still sin, yet he is not a
slave to sin. The following verse from
Matthew is what Jesus will say to those who just have this shallow faith “Mt 7:23
“And then I will declare to them, ’I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE
LAWLESSNESS.’”
Remember
those whom Jesus feed in chapter six who wanted to make Him their King and yet
He realized that they truly did not believe in Him. As we proceeded through that chapter most of
those who followed Jesus turned their backs on Him because the price was too
steep to pay, we read “As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and
were not walking with Him anymore.” The
problem was that their belief stopped short of saving faith. Look at the parable of the seed that fell on
different kinds of soil and at the end of that we only see that the seed that
fell in the good ground was the only one which produced a crop, all the other
places where it fell produced nothing showing that there were some who believed
but afterwards we see their belief fell short of true belief. There are other
places in the NT that speak of this “by which also you are saved, if you hold
fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain (1 Cor.
15:2).” “Test yourselves to see if you
are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about
yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you-unless indeed you fail the test? (2
Cor. 13:5).” But my righteous one shall
live by faith; And if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him (Heb.
10:38 Philips).”
John
MacArthur writes “Saving faith consists of three elements, commonly referred to
by theologians with the Latin terms notitia,
assensus, and fiducia. Notitia (knowledge) is the intellectual
component of faith. It involves an
understanding of the basic biblical facts regarding salvation. Assensus
(assent) goes one step beyond notitia
and confidently affirms those facts to be true.
Fiducia (trust) acts on them by personally appropriating
Jesus Christ as the only hope for salvation.”
He goes on
to explain “The classic biblical definition of faith in Hebrews 11 embraces all
three of those elements: notitia (‘by faith we understand’; v.
3); assentsus (faith is the assurance
of things hoped for’; v. 1), and fiducia
(‘[faith is] the conviction of things not seen’; v. 1). In saving faith the entire the entire person—the
intellect (knowledge), the emotions (assent), and the will (trust)—embraces Jesus
Christ as Savior and Lord. The write of
Hebrews goes on in the remainder of chapter 11 to give examples of those whose
saving faith never wavered despite suffering, persecution, and death. The pattern of their lives reinforces the
truth that genuine saving faith involves trust and commitment, not merely
knowledge and assent.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I think that it is a great idea to do as Paul
exhorts his readers to do from time to time and take inventory of my life to
make sure that I am in the faith. I do
not have any reason to believe that I am not in the faith, but still should
think about it from time to time.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Praise the Lord for a good
Sunday school class yesterday and for the wonderful salvation He has provided
for me.
Memory verses for the week:
2 Corinthians 12:7-10 “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. 8. Concerning this I implored
the Lord three times that it might leave me.
9. And He said to me ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is
perfected in weakness,’ most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast in my
weakness, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I am well content with weakness,
with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s
sake; for when I am weak then I am strong.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “Woman with issue of blood” (Matthew
9:20-22).
Today’s Bible question:
“Who said, ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife’?”
Answer in our next SD.
6/13/2016 11:23 AM
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