SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/1/2017
8:33 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “The World Hates Believers Because
it Does Not Know God”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John
15:21-25
Message of the
verses: “21 "But all these
things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One
who sent Me. 22 "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have
sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 “He who hates Me hates My
Father also. 24 "If I had not done among them the works which no one else
did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My
Father as well. 25 “But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written
in their Law, ’THEY HATED ME WITHOUT A CAUSE.’”
We begin this SD by focusing in on verse 23, a short
verse that tells us that the ones who hated Jesus also hated His Father. Paul writes in Romans 10:2 “For I testify
about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.” Paul here is talking about the Jews, and it
was the Jews in Jesus’ day who hated Him and would eventually kill Him. Paul speaks of their zeal, a zeal without
having knowledge and we have been looking at that word “knowledge” in our study
of Colossians learning that the knowledge that is spoken of in the Word of God
comes from the Word of God, and a lot of it comes from the doctrines that are
in the Word of God. The Jews through they
knew the Bible, but in fact they relied more on their traditions and knowledge
of the Word of God. Now we have
mentioned the truth that those who reject Jesus Christ for who He is also
reject God His Father. Jesus, knowing
all things told the Jews in John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and
you want to do the desires of your father (John 8:44).
The Jews, and for that matter many people today do not
understand who Jesus was, but we are talking about those Jews who were alive
when Jesus was on the earth in this section and as we look at verse 24 Jesus
mentions the works that He had done, for Jesus did many works including casting
out demons, giving the blind sight, healing the sick and lame, and raising the
dead, and He did those right in front of the Jews, yet they still did not
believe in Him. Jesus was and claimed to
be God, equal with the Father and that is the reason that they would kill Him
that following afternoon. It was very
plain and still is very plain that Jesus Christ is Gods, eternal God who made
the heavens and the earth.
In verse 25 we see a quote from two Davidic psalms, 35:19
and 69:4 according to John MacArthur. “His
point is that if David, a mere man, could be so hated by his enemies, how much
more the sinless Son of God? The world
hated Jesus because He exposed their sin and confronted them with the reality
of who He is. But in light of Jesus’
words and works, there was and is no valid cause to hate Him. That the world continues to do so graphically
reveals the vileness of sin.
“For those who have been delivered from sin by the power
of the cross, and who subsequently encounter opposition for their commitment to
the Savior, there is supreme joy in the Lord’s promise:
‘10 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the
sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you
when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil
against you because of Me. 12 “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in
the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Matthew
5:10-12).”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I am so glad that
I am a part of the family of God, thankful for the blood of Christ which
cleanses me from all of my sin.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
I trust the Lord to give my family and
me a wonderful 2017.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Queen of Sheba” (1 Kings
10:7).
Today’s Bible
question: “What two cities were
destroyed by fire and brimstone?”
Answer in our next SD.
1/1/2017 8:56 AM
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