2Timothy 2:15: PT-2 of "The Dishonor" (John 8:48-51)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/29/2016 9:47 AM

My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 of “The Dishonor”

Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John 8:48-51

Message of the verses: “48 The Jews answered and said to Him, "Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?" 49 Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. 50 "But I do not seek My glory; there is One who seeks and judges. 51"Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death.’”

What we will begin with is how Jesus responds to the charges that were given against Him, and it is amazing to me how He does respond. Jesus says “I do not have a demon,” and then He goes on to say exactly the opposite “I honor my Father.” He then goes on to tell them that “you dishonor Me.” Now here is some food for thought: These Jews who thought they were so righteous as they spent time reading the Scriptures and thinking that they were honoring God were actually dishonoring the very God they thought they were honoring by dishonoring their Messiah who was God come in the flesh. Now another verse that I have run into over the last few days goes along with this section and that is John 5:23 “so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.” Let us look at John 15:23 “"He who hates Me hates My Father also.” 1 John 2:23 says “Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.”

As we look at verse fifty we see “But I do not seek My glory,” and when you look at His opponents you will find out that that is exactly what they do, do, seeking their own glory. Jesus came to fulfill the plan that God had for Him to do, and He was doing it through the power of the Spirit to bring honor and glory to His Father, so the entire trinity was involved, but let us look at another section that comes from Paul’s writings “5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:5-11).”

Charles Wesley wrote “Left His Father’s throne above, so free, so infinite His grace, emptied Himself of all but love, and bled for Adam’s helpless race.” This comes from his song “And Can it Be That I Should Gain.”

I want to now quote from an OT Psalm, 2:6-12 which goes along with the passage from Philippians “6 "But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain." 7 "I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ’You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. 8 ’Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. 9 ’You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’" 10 Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth. 11 Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling. 12 Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!”

Psalm 110:2 says “The Lord says to my Lord; ‘Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.’” Isaiah 52:13 speaks of the Father declaring of the Son “Behold, My servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted.”

MacArthur writes “To those who honor and glorify Him by obedience to His call to salvation Jesus promised, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death.’ Amen, amen (‘truly, truly’), as it always does in John’s gospel introduces a statement of major significance. The one who ‘keeps’ His ‘word’ (i.e., obeys it; cf. v.55; 14:15, 21, 23-24; 15:10, 20; Matt. 5:19) is a true child of God (John 1:;12), in His kingdom (3:3-5), and is His true disciple (8:31), who will never experience eternal separation from God (Rev. 2:11; 20:6 cf. 20:14; 21:8). To Nicodemus Jesus declared, ‘For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life’ (John 3:16). In 5:24 He reiterated that truth: ‘Truly, truly, I so to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.’ Jesus is ‘the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die’ (6:50). Comforting Martha after the death of her brother Lazarus, the Lord declared, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyon who lives and believes in Me will never die’ (11:25-26).

“Jesus statement here is merely another way of expressing the truth that eternal life results from humbly and obediently believing in His Word and following Him….Even to those who scornfully rejected His gospel and dishonored Him, Jesus still graciously offered eternal life—another offer that intensified the severity of their eternal judgment if they rejected it (Luke 12:47-47).”

Spiritual meaning for my life today: I have to echo the words of Charles Wesley once again.

And Can It Be Lyrics

And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain—
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?