SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/9/2016 9:32 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Be Worldly
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 8:23
Message of the verses: “23 And He was saying to them, "You are
from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.” “23 And he said to them, You are of the
earth; I am from heaven: you are of this world; I am not of this world.” (Bible
in Basis English)
We begin by
looking at 1 Peter 2:23 “and while being reviled, He did not revile in return;
while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who
judges righteously;” This shows us that
Jesus did not argue with these people about committing suicide but went on
telling them the truth as He elaborated on His warning in verse 21 “Then He
said again to them, "I go away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your
sin; where I am going, you cannot come."”
John MacArthur writes “The Lord pointed out that their origin, like
their destiny, was altogether different than His. They were from a completely different realm;
they were ‘from below’; that is, they were part ‘of this world.’
Kosmos (‘world’) is an important New
Testament term. It refers in this
context to the invisible spiritual system of evil that opposes the kingdom of
God, comprises ‘every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God’ (2
Cor. 10:5), and is controlled by Satan (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; 1 John 5:19). The world does not recognize Jesus’ true
identity (1:10), or that of believers (1 John 3:1). It is also ignorant of the Holy Spirit whom
Jesus sent (14:17). Those engulfed in
the world ‘[love] the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds [are]
evil’ (John 3:19). As a result, they are
utterly blind to spiritual truth (2 Cor. 4:4; cf. Matt. 13:11; John 12:39-40;
Rom. 8:5; 1 Cor. 2:14)—having filled themselves with hatred toward Jesus (and
His followers; John 15:18-19; 17:14; 1 John 3:13) for confronting their sin
(John 7:7; 15:18). Because it hates God
the world rejoices in the death of His Son (16:20; cf. Matt. 21:37-39).”
As we look
at what we could call the world’s hallmarks as seen in 1 John 2:15-16 we read “15
Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world,
the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and
the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father,
but is from the world.” As we
look at what is going on in our country, especially in the political realm and
also what is seen on the TV we can see these things John mentions about the
world in verse 16. As I posted one of my
older Spiritual Diaries from July 31, 2002 on my other blog I saw that Paul
gave his son in the Lord, Timothy some good advice to pass on to other
believers and that is we are not to argue with false teachers, however Jesus
certainly could do this as He is God and can do as He pleases, for He is all
knowing, knowing what is in the hearts of man as we have learned earlier in the
2nd chapter of John. Proverbs
14:7 teaches us “Leave the presence of a fool, Or you will not discern words of
knowledge.” As stated this does not
include our Lord who is the author of Scripture. The people (Jews) that Jesus was talking too
fit the category of what Proverbs 14:7 talks about.
MacArthur
writes “The source of the Jews’ antagonism and hostility to Christ was hell
itself; they were, as Jesus would forcefully declare in verse 44, children of
the devil, walking ‘according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons
of disobedience’ (Eph. 2:2). Their ‘friendship
with [the Greek word could also be translated ‘affection for’ or ‘love for’]
the world’ marked their ‘hostility toward God,’ because ‘whoever wishes to be a
friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God’ (James 4:4). ‘If anyone loves the world,’ John added, ‘the
love of the Father is not in him (1 John 2:15).”
As we continue
looking at verse 23 we see a very sharp contrast as Jesus is ‘from above’ that
is heaven, and so is not a part of this world system. He goes on to say that they are from this
world system which we have been discussing, thus making up this great contrast. Now how do we go from the realm of this world
system? The answer is to receive Jesus
Christ as Savior and Lord, realizing that He is the Way, the Truth and the
Life, and is the only way for anyone to go to heaven through His shed blood,
His death, and resurrection which He did for us.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: There are times when is seems to me that the
differences between a true believer and a person of the world are very hard to
detect and we as believers need great discernment in seeing the difference so
we can tell others about the way of Salvation.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Trust the Lord to help me to
understand the truth of Psalm 119:27 and follow it. “Make me understand the way of Your precepts,
So I will meditate on Your wonders.”
Memory verses for the week:
2 Corinthians 12:7-9 “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 is 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 weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “Jonah’s” (Luke 11:32).
Today’s Bible question:
“What was the purpose for John writing his gospel?” (Everyone should
know the answer to this one.)
Answer in our next SD.
6/9/2016 10:25 AM
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