PT-3 "Because They Had Believed in His Son" (John. 17:7-8)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/6/2017 8:20 AM

My Worship Time                                    Focus:  PT-3 “Because They Had Believed in His Son”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  John 17:7-8

            Message of the verses:  “7 "Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; 8 for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.”

            We continue looking at this first reason of why Jesus knew that His Father would grant His prayer requests for His disciples and that is because they had believed in His Son.

            I want to begin by looking back at the first century Jewish leaders and the false “religion” that they had taken out of the Old Covenant.  They sincerely believed that what they believed was a way to serve God, and that of course involved good works in order for the to secure salvation.  They believed in it so much that they were responsible in killing Jesus Christ and after they did this they believed that all of these things that Jesus taught would go away after His death.  We know that it did not go away and after Pentecost we can see the proof of the disciple’s faith as it would be demonstrated in some dramatic ways as they went out and proclaimed Jesus as Lord to everyone who would listen to them.  They did this even though in the end many of them died in martyrdom, they knew that what they had believed about Jesus was true and death or the threat of death could not take away their convictions that had been given to them because they believed in Jesus Christ as being the Son of God, the Savior who had taken away their sins.  The book of Acts has much to say about the suffering of first century believes including the death of some of them like James the brother of John.  It also tells of the threats and persecution of the early church leaders and members along with Paul in his writings, especially to the Corinthians about his own persecutions.

            MacArthur writes that “Through their obedience, they demonstrated that they were among those whom the Father had elected as a love gift for His Son.  Their works did not save them, but they did evidence that true saving faith was alive in their hearts.  James Montgomery Boice posed the question,

‘How does one tell who are the elect of God?  How do we judge who are Christians and who are not? … There is only one answer, the answer given by the Lord Jesus Christ [speaking] of those who were truly His disciples [in John 17:6-8].  According to these verses, the only way to tell whether one is a Christian or not is to see whether he or she believes and continues in the words of the Lord Jesus Christ.’”

            We continue to talk about the twin truths of those who come to salvation, the ones that God chose in eternity past to give to His Son as a love gift, and the same ones who have accepted this wonderful gift of salvation after the Holy Spirit give them an effectual call to salvation.  John MacArthur writes “One the one hand, this perseverance requires diligent effort on the part of believes (Phil. 2:12; 1 Tim. 4:7-8; Heb. 5:9).  On the other hand, it is a work that God ultimately does through believers (Phil. 2:13; Heb 13:21).  In fact, all of the Christian life (including the desire to pursue godliness) is a result of God’s grace (cf. 1 Cor. 15:10; 2 Cor. 3:5).”

            As we look at the history of His disciples we see that they received, believed, and also persevered in the truth, which is a wonderful example for all believers today, and in doing this we answer the question posed by Boice that is quoted above.  MacArthur writes “Of the Twelve only Judas Iscariot was not chosen, betraying the Lord ‘so that the Scripture would be fulfilled’ (John 17:12; cf. 13:21-30).”

            The next reason why Jesus knew that the Father would grant His request for His disciples is “Because they were given to Him from the Father” which will be covered in verses 8-10 and we will begin to look at it in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Looking at the lives of the disciples it causes me to desire to follow the Lord in the ways that they did especially overcoming the power of the flesh which Paul speaks of in Romans seven.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to give me understanding as I continue with my devotions this day.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Ananias” (Acts 9:13).

Today’s Bible question:  “In what country did the plagues occur?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/6/2017 8:53 AM