SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/5/2018
8:18 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “The Negative Response”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts
13:45-47
Message of the
verses: “45 But when the Jews saw
the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things
spoken by Paul, and were blaspheming. 46 Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and
said, "It was
necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate
(renounce) it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we
are turning to the Gentiles. 47 “For so the Lord has commanded us, ’I HAVE
PLACED YOU AS A LIGHT FOR THE GENTILES, THAT YOU MAY BRING SALVATION TO THE END
OF THE EARTH.’"”
We have been talking about man’s responsibility and God’s
sovereignty in this section, especially from what we read in verse 46, the
highlighted section. As mentioned these
Jewish people took it upon themselves to turn down the gift of eternal
life.
I promised to end this section with a quote from J. I.
Packer, who John MacArthur quoted in his commentary:
“The particular antinomy
which concerns us here is the apparent opposition between divine sovereignty
and human responsibility, or (putting it more biblically) between what God does
as King and what He does as Judge. Scripture
teaches that, as King, He orders and controls all things, human actions among
them, in accordance with His own eternal purpose. Scripture also teaches that, as Judge, He
holds every man responsible for the choices he makes and the courses of action
he pursues. Thus, hearers of the gospel
are responsible for their reaction; if they reject the good news, they are
guilty of unbelief.
“Man without Christ is a
guilty sinner, answerable to God for breaking His law. That is why he needs the gospel. When he hears the gospel, he is responsible for
the decision that he makes about it. It
sets before hi a choice between life and death, the most momentous choice that
any man can ever face…When we preach the promises and invitations of the
gospel, and offer Christ to sinful men and women, it is part of our task to
emphasize and re-emphasize that they are responsible to God for the way in
which they react to the good news of His grace. (Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God [Downers Grove, Ill.:
InterVarsity, 1978], 22, 25-26).”
As we have mentioned as we have studied this passage that
it is Biblical for Paul and Barnabas to talk to the Jewish people first and
then if they reject the message of the gospel they turn to the Gentiles. Many times in the book of Acts we see this
happen, and many times it is the Jews who begin the persecution of those who
are witnessing to them the truth of the gospel.
Paul ten quotes a well known Messianic passage from Isaiah 49:6 “He says,
"It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the
tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of
the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth."” The problem is that the Jews did a really poor
job in giving the light of the gospel to the Gentiles with of course the
exceptions of Paul and those who traveled with Him and the rest of the
Apostles. There has always been a
remnant of Jews being saved, and God is not done with the Jewish people as
during the tribulation period described in Revelation 6-19 we see once again
God’s focus will be on the Jewish people.
This was promised through the prophet Daniel as found in chapter nine
and verses 24-27.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: It is the duty of
every born-again believer to tell the good news of the gospel to people that
the Lord brings onto our path. We cannot
save a single soul, but we can give out the message to those God wants us to so
that the Holy Spirit can use that witness to call those who God has chosen from
eternity past. Don’t be discouraged,
just keep tell people about the saving faith they can have through Jesus
Christ.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I am trusting the Lord for a successful
surgery for my 100 year old father-in-law as he broke his hip yesterday and is
to have surgery to repair it today. All
prayers will be appreciated for Elmer.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Silas” (Acts 16:19-23).
Today’s Bible
question: “How many of Paul’s epistles
were written during his missionary journeys?
Answer in our next SD.
3/5/2018 8:46 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment