SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/26/2016 11:18 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 The Nature of Peace
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 14:27a
Message of the verses: “"Peace I leave with you;”
We have
been writing about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in our last SD and want to
continue looking at that subject as we have learned that His sacrifice is the
only way to have lasting peace and that is because we are at war with God. Let me just say something that I heard on a
sermon that I was listening to that goes along with what we are talking about
here. The question comes up what are we
saved from. Some may say that we are
saved from sin; some may say we’re saved from the wrath of God, but John
MacArthur says that his friend R. C. Sproul says that we are saved from
God. Can you imagine that? Man is at war with God because of sin that
was committed by the first man which makes all of His offspring sinners, born
into sin, all still an enemy of God. God’s
desire is to have man be at peace with Him, and yet the only way that sin can
be paid for is death, death is the only way we can have peace with God. Humanly speaking we have an impossible situation;
we can never have peace with God. Well
we can be thankful that God had a plan from eternity past to solve this problem
for man to have peace with God. God would
send His Son into the world to become a man in order to die on the cross to pay
for the sin of those who would accept His sacrifice in order to save us from
God. When you think about this you have
to understand God truly love us to do something like this. I have never thought of this in this way but
I do believe what R. C. Sproul says about this.
Jesus
Christ’s sacrifice satisfies God’s holiness which was necessary so there could
be peace between sinful men and a holy God, because righteousness and peace are
inseparably linked “Lovingkindness and truth have met together; Righteousness and
peace have kissed each other (Psalm 85:10).”
God is holy and just and thus requires that a penalty be paid when
sinners have violated His Law. God was
satisfied with Christ sacrifice and this is the meaning of the word propitiation
which is seen in several NT books. “21
But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being
witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God through
faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; 23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a
gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a
propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because
in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; 26 for the demonstration, I say, of His
righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in
Jesus (Romans 3:21-26).”
John
MacArthur writes “Though perfectly righteous, Christ was punished in the place
of all who believe as though He were a sinner, so that they through faith in
Him could be treated as though they were perfectly righteous. Thus, through Christ’s substitutionary
atonement and the imputation of His righteousness to sinful men (2 Cor. 5:21),
the enemies of God can become His friends (James 2:23).
“That objective peace of
justification results in experiential peace.
This is not peace with God but ‘the peace of God, which surpasses all
comprehension,’ meaning that it transcends human insight, analysis, and
understanding. This peace ‘will guard
[believers’] hearts and [their] minds in Christ Jesus’ (Phil 4:7). The Greek word translated ‘guard’ is a
military term meaning, ‘to keep watch over.’
The peace of God protects believers from anxiety, doubt, fear, and
distress. Thus, it is not passive but
active; far from being affected by circumstances, it triumphs over them,
turning sorrow into joy, fear into boldness, and doubt into confidence. This is the peace that Jesus promised to His
followers.”
We have one more paragraph to look
at and discuss and we will leave that until tomorrow as I like to have shorter
Spiritual Diaries to do on Sunday.
11/26/2016 11:59 AM 11/26/2016 1:47 PM
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I have to believe that because John MacArthur
takes a whole chapter in his commentary on the gospel of John on verse 27 that
it has to be very important in his mind, and because of the respect that I have
for him, I believe that it is something that I need to study hard at
understanding what this is all about.
My Steps of Faith For
Today: I trust that the Lord will
help me understand more about this wonderful subject of peace.
Memory verses for the week:
(Romans 6:5-6) “5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness
of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6
knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body
of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “Mary” (Luke 1:34).
Today’s Bible question:
“On what sea was Solomon’s navy?”
Answer in our next SD.
11/26/2016 1:55 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment