SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/24/2017
9:03 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “Filed with Anger versus Filled with the Spirit”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Acts 7:54-55a
Message of
the verses: “54 Now when they heard this, they were cut
to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. 55 But being full of
the Holy Spirit,”
The Sanhedrin were listening intently at Stephen as he
gave the history of Israel, and this was not a problem for them as they
believed all of it and even probably told others of the history of Israel when
it benefited them. However when they
began to understand what his real point was, that is that they had rejected and
killed their Messiah we read that “they were cut to the quick.” John MacArthur writes “Diaprio (cut to the quick) literally means ‘to saw in half.’ Stephen’s words ripped apart the veneer of
their false spirituality and exposed them for the blasphemous hypocrites they
were.”
The result of this was “they began gnashing their teeth
at him.” Let us look at a couple of
verses that will help explain what “gnashing their teeth” means: Psalm 35:16 “Like godless jesters at a feast,
They gnashed at me with their teeth.”
Psalm 37:12 “The wicked plots against the righteous And gnashes at him
with his teeth.” This reminds us of a
generation of obstinate sinners to come.
This generation is spoken of in Revelation 16:8-11, 17-21 which we will
quote in a minute. The background of
these verses is when the angels pour out the bowls of God’s wrath and judgment
during the Tribulation and we will see that these sinners will also stubbornly
refuse to repent.
“8 The fourth angel poured
out his bowl upon the sun, and it was given to it to scorch men with fire. 9
Men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has
the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory. 10
Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his
kingdom became darkened; and they gnawed their tongues because of pain, 11 and
they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores; and
they did not repent of their deeds. 17 Then
the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air, and a loud voice came out
of the temple from the throne, saying, "It is done." 18 And there were flashes of lightning and
sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there
had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was
it, and so mighty. 19 The great city was split into three parts, and the cities
of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her
the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath. 20 And every island fled away, and the
mountains were not found. 21 And huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds
each, came down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the
plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe.”
John MacArthur writes “Even the severest judgments ever
to hit the earth will not cause obstinate sinners to repent. Three times in the above passage they show
their anger toward God by blaspheming Him.”
There is a difference between what we could call “religion”
and what true “Christianity” is and this difference has been fought about for centuries
beginning with when our Lord came to earth to purchase sinners as He died on
the cross. I believe that we could say
that when we are speaking of “religion” it is true that one has to do something
to earn their salvation. That is what
the people in the Sanhedrin believed.
They had this set of rules, some from the OT Scriptures and some they
made up after reading the OT Scriptures and in their mind (false as it was)
they believed by following these rules one could please God and arrive safely
in heaven. Christianity on the other
hand is looking at Jesus Christ who has paid for all of our sins, past,
present, and future, and realizing that “Jesus Paid it All” true believers
understand that the only thing they can do is trust in the Lord Jesus Christ
completely for salvation “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works,
so that no one may boast
(Eph. 2:8-9).” If anyone could ever get
into heaven by what he or she has done then there would have been no need for
Christ to come and to die for them. It
is Christ alone with no help from us and this had been heard by the Sanhedrin
at least three times now as the apostles told them twice and now Stephen tells
them and just as in the future tribulation period when people will refuse to
listen and blaspheme God the same is now true with these men.
Paul later wrote of Israel in Romans 11:7-10 “7 What
then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen
obtained it, and the rest were hardened; 8 just as it is written, "GOD
GAVE THEM A SPIRIT OF STUPOR, EYES TO SEE NOT AND EARS TO HEAR NOT, DOWN TO
THIS VERY DAY." 9 And David says, "LET THEIR TABLE BECOME A SNARE AND
A TRAP, AND A STUMBLING BLOCK AND A RETRIBUTION TO THEM. 10 “LET THEIR EYES BE
DARKENED TO SEE NOT, AND BEND THEIR BACKS FOREVER." “ MacArthur adds “Similarly,
after Pharaoh repeatedly hardened his own heart, God hardened it (cf. Ex. 8:15,
19, 32; 9:7, 34 with Ex. 10:1; 11:10).
Well does the writer of Hebrews warn,
“Therefore, just as the Holy
Spirit says, "TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, 8 DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY
PROVOKED ME, AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS, 9 WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED Me BY TESTING Me,
AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS. 10 “THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS
GENERATION, AND SAID, ’THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART, AND THEY DID NOT
KNOW MY WAYS’; 11 AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, ’THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.’"
12 Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil,
unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God (Hebrews 3:7-12).”
We will try and conclude this section in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I am thankful that
almost 41 years ago that the Lord called me to accept what the Lord Jesus
Christ did for me as He suffered and died on the cross, then was buried and
three days later was resurrected from the dead to prove that His sacrifice for
me and all who will accept it pleased God, therefore provided salvation for me
and all those who will accept this free gift of salvation.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust that the Lord will use me to tell
others of this truth so they too can be saved.
Memory verse: Philippians 4:8 “Finally brethren, whatever
is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever
is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything
worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Beersheba” (Genesis 22:32).
Today’s Bible
question: “What king went with Ahab to
fight at Ramoth-Gilead?”
Answer in our next SD.
11/24/2017 9:50 AM
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