SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
2/2/2017 9:40 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “Faith”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John
16:27b-32
Message of the
verses: “and have believed that I
came forth from the Father. 28 "I
came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world
again and going to the Father." 29 His disciples said, "Lo, now You
are speaking plainly and are not using a figure of speech. 30 “Now we know that
You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by this we
believe that You came from God." 31 Jesus answered them, "Do you now
believe? 32 "Behold, an hour is
coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home,
and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.”
In our last SD we were looking at and comparing human
faith with Biblical faith, true saving faith which the Bible has much to say
about, and in particular John who also writes about false faith in his first
epistle along with his second epistle.
“7 For many
deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus
Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch
yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may
receive a full reward. 9 Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the
teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he
has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring
this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a
greeting; 11 for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil
deeds (2 John 7-11).”
I suppose that verse ten may remind you of those cults
who come to your house spreading their false teachings and condemning you that
you believe that the trinity truly does exist and that Jesus Christ is truly
Creator God come in the flesh. I have
heard that some believers have allowed them to come into their house to tell
them the truth, but most of the time as for me I kindly tell them that I am not
interested.
As we look back at the time after Jesus ascended into
heaven and the disciples were dealing with the Jewish spiritual leaders they
too had similar problems that believers have to day in trying to explain that
Jesus Christ is who He claims to be, that He was sent by the Father as He told
the Jewish leaders in John 8:14;
“14 Jesus answered and said to them,
"Even if I testify about Myself, My testimony is true, for I know where I
came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from or where
I am going.” In John 9:29 we can an
example of how the Jews placed themselves under the judgment of God by
stating: “29 “We know that God has
spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from."”
Now as I look at the subject of “faith” that we are
looking at in this section of John, I am once again amazed that in my evening
devotions from the book of Colossians, actually towards the end of chapter one,
I am studying about redemption and redemption is exactly what our Lord came to
planet earth. When we go back to the
third chapter of Genesis we find the sin of Adam and Eve and because of that
sin they were not able to come into the presence of God like they did before
that sin and so God was far off from them and they were far off from God. When Jesus came to planet earth for the
purpose of redemption it is a two way street for God is brought back into
fellowship with those who receive Christ as Savior and Lord and those that
receive Him as Savior and Lord are brought back into fellowship with God
through the blood of Christ, and so redemption is received through faith in
Christ as those who are called by the Holy Spirit receive by grace through
faith the salvation that Christ has provided for them.
John MacArthur writes “The reason Christ came into the
world was to do the work of redemption.
Before His birth the angel told His earthly father, Joseph, ‘[Mary] will
bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from
their sins’ (Matt. 1:21). The Lord
defined His mission when He said, ‘The Son of Man did not come to be served,
but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many’ (Matt. 20:28). A few days earlier at the triumphal entry,
Jesus had said, ‘Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father,
save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose
I came to this hour…I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world’ (John
12:27, 47).” Now I can help but to say
that when we first began to study the book of Revelation a little over two
years ago we looked at the first chapter and we saw Jesus Christ as the Judge
and as we moved along in the book we realized that when He comes back at the
end of the Tribulation Period, He will be coming to judge the world.
MacArthur writes “The rest of the New Testament
reiterates the truth that Christ came to redeem lost sinners. John wrote, ‘By this love of God was manifested
in us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live
through Him…We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the
Savior of the world’ (1 John 4:9, 14).
It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance,’ Paul
affirmed, ‘that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners’ (1 Tim.
1:15). To the Galatians he wrote, ‘But
when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born
under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we
might receive the adoption as sons’ (Ga. 4:4-5).”
Now as we look at the last statement from verse 28 “I am
leaving the world again and going to the Father,’” we can see that this
completes a remarkably concise summary of the gospel. Jesus came to do the will of the Father as
seen in Luke where he told His earthly parents “How is it that ye sought me?
wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business? (KJV)” We see here that
He came to do the work of the father and right before He died on the cross He
stated “it is finished.” Salvation had
been paid for, it had been paid in full which is the Greek meaning of that
word. And with that we will complete this SD and try
and finish this section in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Whenever I think
of the plan that God had to send His Son to save me I am amazed and overwhelmed
at that thought. I praise the Lord for
the salvation He has given to me through Jesus Christ completing the work of
salvation when He came to earth.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Because of God’s plan in saving me I want to
live for Him.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Heaven” (Genesis 1:8).
Today’s Bible question: “Whom did Paul especially entreat to have
sound speech?”
Answer in our next SD.
2/2/2017 10:33 AM
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