SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/18/2016 8:36 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Burning of Non-Abiding Branches
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 15:2a, 6
Message of the verses: “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit,
He takes away;…If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch
and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are
burned.”
Well we
have been looking at what I would say was the good news in the last four SD’s,
even though we see that true believers are “pruned” by the Lord to make them
into what He wants them to be, and that is so much better than the fate of
those who truly do not abide in the Lord, they seem like at first they are a
part of Him, but as John says in his epistle they went out from us because they
were not one of us, which is what happened to Judas, and so John MacArthur has
called the branches that we are looking at in today’s SD “Judas branches.” Now remember that the branches that are His,
that abide in Him always produce fruit.
Now remember the parable that Jesus told about the different kind of
ground that the seeds fell into? There
was nothing wrong with the seed, but there were problems as to where the seed
fell, and only one ground ended up producing a good crop and that was the seed
that fell into the good ground. There is
nothing wrong with the message of the gospel, for that message is clear and
true, but if it goes to a soul that is unwilling to accept it then that soul
will be like the different kinds of soil that are described in the parable
mentioned above. Jesus also told a
parable that had two different kinds of seed thrown into the soil which speaks
of people like Judas. At the end of that
soil the farmer told his servant not to go out and try and get rid of the bad
seed, but wait until they both, the good and bad seeds, grew up and then they
would gather the bad seed (darnel, a plant that looks like wheat until it
produces no crop), and then they would burn it up. This is similar to what we are talking about
with the bad branches.
Now in the
case of the bad branches the Vinedresser cuts them off because they are not
producing any fruit which is detrimental to the health of the vine as it slows
down the growth of the good branches that are producing fruit as it takes up
space on the vine and energy from the vine and so it is removed.
John
MacArthur writes “The
reference here is not, as some imagine, to true Christians losing their
salvation, nor are these fruitless but genuine Christians (an impossibility, as
we have seen), false disciples since, as noted previously all true Christians
bear fruit. Further, Jesus promised that
He will not cast out any true disciples:
‘All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to
Me I will certainly not cast out’ (John 6:37).
“The phrase
‘in Me’ in this case cannot have the Pauline connotation of believers’ union
with Christ; it merely describes those who outwardly attach themselves to Him (cf.
Matt. 13:20-22; Rom. 9:6-8; 11:16-24; 1 John 2:19). Such people will always be present with the
true church. The New Testament describes
them as tares among the wheat (Matt. 13:25-30); bad fish that are thrown away
(Matt. 13:48); goats condemned to eternal punishment (Matt. 25:33, 41); those
left standing outside when the head of the house shuts the door (Luke
13:25-27); foolish virgins shut out of the wedding feast (Matt. 25: 24-30);
apostates who, eventually leave the fellowship of believers (1 John 2:19),
manifest as evil, unbelieving heart by abandoning the living God (Heb. 3:12),
continue to sin willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth (Heb.
10:26), and fall away from the truth to
everlasting destruction (Heb. 10:39).
Although they imagine that they are on their way to heaven, they are
actually on the broad path leading to hell (Matt. 7:13-14).”
These are
very serious things for us to consider and we, as believer in Jesus Christ are
to test ourselves to make sure that we are in the faith: “5 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).”
Now remember what happened at the Last Supper when Jesus told His
disciples that they had a trader among them and all of the disciples ask the
question “is it I.” No one thought it
was Judas, but Jesus knew from the beginning that it was Judas, as we cannot always
tell whether or not a person is a true believer, but Jesus always can.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: This truly is a hard passage to write about,
but a necessary passage to learn the truth from so that I can be aware of it in
order to pass it on to others.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: “But I trust that you will
realize that we ourselves do not fail the test (2 Cor. 13:6).”
Answer to yesterdays Bible question: “Rome” (Acts 28:14-15).
Today’s Bible question:
“Who purposed in his heart that eh would not defile himself?”
Answer in our next SD.
12/18/2016 9:10 AM
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