SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/30/2017
10:56 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-4 “The Plan of Reconciliation”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Colossians
1:20-21
Message of the
verses: “20 and through Him to
reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His
cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. 21 And
although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds,”
We want to begin by looking at the phrase “Hostile in
mind,” this evening. The Greek word for “hostile”
is Echitros and according to John
MacArthur this word could very well be translated as “hateful.” Unbelievers are both hatful of God by their
attitudes, but they are also hateful of God by their attitude. We can go back to the first murder recorded
in the Bible to see that Cain hated God as he resented God’s holy
standards. Cain knew what offering to
bring to God but refused to do so because He did not agree with what God wanted
him to bring thus He hated not only God but His standards. By doing this we can plug in the last part of
verse 21 for him which states “engaged in evil deeds.” That is exactly what Cain did as he killed
his brother Able. Unbelievers love the
darkness rather than loving the light and they do this because their deeds are
evil. “19 “This is the judgment, that
the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the
Light, for their deeds were evil. 20 “For everyone who does evil hates the
Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed
(John 3:19-20).” The problem with
unbelievers is not that they are ignorant but they willfully love sin.
“21
For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give
thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart
was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the
glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and
of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. 24 Therefore God gave
them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would
be dishonored among them (Romans 1:21-24).”
Let us look at Romans 1:18-19
“18 For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the
truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident
within them; for God made it evident to them.”
John MacArthur writes “The question arises as to whether
man is reconciled to God, or God to man.
There is a sense in which both occur.
Since ‘the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God’ (Rom. 8:8),
reconciliation cannot take place until man is transformed. ‘Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a
new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to
Himself through Christ’ (2 Cor. 5:17-18).”
As I look at the attributes of God, one of them that
certainly is needed in our salvation, our being reconciled to God has to be His
wisdom. We have a Holy God who is angry
with sin and we read “the wages of sin is death,” but we also have a Holy God
who loves man “For God so loved the world.”
The story is told of a man who was a judge and into his courtroom came
his guilty son, who committed a crime.
The father loved his son, but the father, being a judge also had to
uphold the law. He pronounces his son
guilty and then says that he will take off his robe and go to jail to serve his
son’s punishment. Basically that is what
God did for us to take care of what we humans would call a dilemma in order to
satisfy His wrath and love along with He being just.
Ephesians 2:16 tells us “and might reconcile them both in
one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.” This tells us that Christ’s death on the cross
reconciled us to God. John MacArthur concludes this section by writing “In
Romans 5:6-10, Paul gives four reasons for that. First, lack of strength: ‘we were still helpless’ (v. 6). Second, lack of merit: we were ‘the ungodly’ (v. 6). Third, lack of righteousness: ‘we were yet
sinners’ (v. 8). Finally, lack of peace
with God: ‘we were enemies’ (v.
10). It is only through the atoning work
of the Lord Jesus Christ that anyone can receive reconciliation (v. 11).”
For that we are blessed beyond measure!
1/30/2017 11:24 PM
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