SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/11/2016 9:12 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Unbelief, a Part of John’s Gospel
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 9:13-34
Message of the verses: In this SD we will actually be looking at an
introduction to this section (John 9:13-34), but since this section focuses on
unbelief we will be looking at what we have already seen as far as unbelief in
John’s Gospel and then preview what we will be looking at in this section. Now remember that the focus of John’s Gospel can
be found in John 20:30-31 “30 Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed
in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 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.” This is the focus, but that does not mean
that there are not other things in this gospel that we will study about, and
one of them is unbelief, and ask the question why the people of Israel did not
believe that their Messiah, Jesus Christ came to visit them, came to die for
them, came to do miracles right in front of them, and yet they did not believe
He was who He said He was. One of the reasons
that they did not believe Him is exactly what we are studying in the 7th
and 8th chapters of Zechariah, and that is traditions, things that
the Pharisees added to the Law of Moses that were not there in the first place,
things like not being able to put saliva on anyone’s eye on the Sabbath for it
might cure them from an eye problem.
Things like not being able to minister health aid to a person on the Sabbath
only do things that could save their lives, but not make them all better. Yes as we look at these things we would say that
they are silly, but they believed them, and that is why the Pharisees said that
Jesus was not from God because He was breaking their silly rules that were not
found in the Word of God.
The following is a quote from John MacArthur’s sermon “When Unbelief Investigates a Miracle.” “We follow that up, starting in verse 13 this morning, and we begin to see the religious leaders, the Pharisees in particular, investigating a miracle. They’re going to investigate this dramatic demonstration of divine power. And as we watch this, we can just read the story, and the story is dramatic and dynamic on its own. But as we go through the story, what strikes me as I read through this story is I see the character of unbelief. I see the nature of unbelief. Now, unbelief comes in many forms. But in all of its forms, it demonstrates these kinds of components. So, they’re going to unfold for us. This is one of the, I think, one of the challenging things as we study the Bible is to make sure that we don’t just read the history and maybe miss the revelation that it’s giving to us that’s not immediately on the surface. And while, as I said, the story is enough to sustain our interest and have an impact on us, if we look a little deeper and examine what’s going on, we begin to get a better understanding of how unbelief functions and how it operates.
“And if you’re wondering why that’s important, I
want to tell you its very important so that you know what to expect.
Because, your responsibility is to carry on the gospel ministry, to preach
Jesus Christ. You’re going to confront unbelief. Most all of the
people to whom you give the Gospel will reject it. You will, your whole
life, confront unbelief, and you need to know how unbelief operates.
Now, this is a very important section from, believe
it or not, we’re going to go from verse 13 to 34. We did it in the first
hour, so we have to do it in this hour. This is a narrative story, so
it’s simple, it doesn’t take a lot of explanation. It’s not some kind of
a dense, comprehensive compound argument of theology or anything. It’s
just a story. So we’re going to cover the story and try to extract out of
it the characteristics of unbelief that can prepare us for what we’re going to
face. So, primarily, I would say, this story instructs us on what to expect
when we confront unbelievers. The characteristics of unbelief are
exposed.
“There’s a second feature here, though, that is
historic. It’s historic, and it is this. It is in this event, and
in this conversation that the blind man has, with these leaders, that we see in
graphic demonstration, the schism between Christianity and Judaism; between, if
you will, the church, which is latent in these believers, and the
synagogue. This is where the Jews and Christians divide into two
antagonistic, separated realms. And that comes out. On the one
hand, the Jews affirmed Moses. On the other hand, the believers affirm
Christ. And it is that division that has existed ever since, even to this
very hour. So, we will see that schism, which has perpetuated itself
through history and will until Israel turns to see the Christ they rejected,
and embrace Him for who He is. And that will happen someday in the
future.”
Now we will look at MacArthur’s commentary on John
to show us where we are going as we look at these verses: “Jesus’ amazing healing of a man who had been
blind from birth was not enough to soften the hardened hearts of the
Pharisees. Verses 13-34 expose the
character of their stubborn unbelief and record the first overt break between
Jesus’ followers and the Jewish religious establishment. The blind man is the first person known to
have been put out of the synagogue because of loyalty to Christ (cf. 16:2).
“Four characteristics of willful unbelief
emerge from this passage: unbelief is
inconsistent, intractable, irrational, and insolent.” We will begin to look at these in order
beginning with “Unbelief is Inconsistent” in our next SD.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: By
understanding the traits of unbelief, perhaps it will help me when I have
opportunity to talk to unbelievers.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to continue to help me prepare for our Sunday school classes, that all done will glorify the Lord.
Memory verses for the week (Romans 6:1-3): “1. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2. May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3. Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “The living God” (Hebrews 10:31).
Today’s Bible question: “John the Baptist said that Jesus would baptize his disciples with what?
Answer in our next SD.
7/11/2016 9:44 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment