SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/11/2018
6:57 AM
My Worship Time Focus: “Toward the Lost—Evangelism”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 20:21
Message of the
verse: “21 solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward
God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
What we have been talking about in our last few days is a
review of Paul’s ministry as he spoke of to the elders of the Ephesian church,
and in today’s SD we are looking at a review of Paul’s ministry toward the lost
and he told them about the gospel of Jesus Christ.
This was the first thing that Paul had to do when he came
to Ephesus, and that was to tell the lost how they can be saved through faith
in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins, and Paul did that in every
place that he went. He had spent three
years ministering to the lost in Ephesus, along with his ministry to those who
had become believers so that they could grow in their faith, but the first
thing was to speak to the lost, both the Jews and the Greeks or Gentiles. In
keeping with that theme Paul wrote in Romans 1:14, 16 the following:
14 I am under obligation
both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it
is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek.”
In First Corinthians
9:19-23 we see that Paul reveals his passionate desire to fulfill that mandate:
“19 For though I am free
from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. 20 To the
Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the
Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might
win those who are under the Law; 21 to those who are without law, as without
law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so
that I might win those who are without law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that
I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all
means save some. 23 I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may
become a fellow partaker of it.”
Paul was so intense in
spreading the gospel that he wrote in 1 Corinthians 9:16 “16 For if I preach
the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach
the gospel.” In Romans 9:3 we see
that Paul was so willing to see the unredeemed Jews saved that he writes “ For I could wish that I myself were accursed,
separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the
flesh.” He was willing to give up his
own salvation for the salvation of the Jews, but we know that would not happen.
John MacArthur writes “Paul’s intense zeal for
proclaiming the gospel compelled him to make his presentation of it thorough
and complete. ‘Testifying’ is from diamarturomai, a compound word made up
of a verb intensified by the addition of a preposition. Paul’s gospel presentations were never shallow
or partial but detailed and comprehensive (cf. vv. 20, 27). As the apostle of the Gentiles (Rom. 11:13;
cf. 1 Tim. 2:7), he evangelized ‘both Jews and Greeks.’”
As we move along in our verse for today we learn that a
biblically sound gospel presentation must contain two components. The first must include ‘repentance toward
God,” and John MacArthur writes “Metanoia
(‘repentance’) is a rich and important New Testament word, meaning ‘to change
one’s mind or purpose.’ It describes a
change of mind that results in a change of behavior; it is the conscious act of
a sinner turning from his sins to God.
Nineteenth-century theologian Heinrich Heppe defined repentance as ‘a
gracious power, bestowed only on the elect, by which they lay aside the life of
sin and busy themselves with righteousness .’”
There is a difference between remorse is different than repentance as
seen in the fact that both Saul and Judas were remorseful, but not repentant as
repentance involves sorrow for the act of sin, remorse sorrow for its
consequence. A truly repentant person is
sorry he sinned, whereas a remorseful person is sorry that he got caught.
An example for true repentance is found in Peter’s first
sermon on the day of Pentecost as seen in Acts chapter two. Peter presented the gospel to the listening
Jews stating that they had been a part of killing the Lord Jesus Christ “36 "Therefore let all the house of Israel
know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ-this Jesus whom you
crucified."” We see the result of
this preaching in verse 37 “37 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to
the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what
shall we do?"” As we look at verse
37 we see that their repentance involved their entire person, intellect,
emotion and their will. They were truly
repentant as was proven by what they asked, and then we know from studying this
passage earlier that on that day 3000 people had trusted Christ and were the
beginnings of the NT church.
Repentance is the first step to salvation. A person has to know that they are sick
(sinful) before they call a doctor (the preacher of the gospel). Once they realize that they were born a
sinner and that they sin because of that fact, and once they have heard the
gospel and repentant of their sin, then they can accept the forgiveness that
Jesus Christ offers for them to be saved, and this is the part that Paul
reminds the Ephesian elders of when he says that he not only preached about
repentance but also “faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
MacArthur concludes this section by writing “Paul saw
himself not only as a servant, feeding the household of God, but as a herald,
announcing to lost sinners the good news of salvation. Those tow essential aspects of ministry must
be the concern of all believers.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: To make clear the
gospel message to those whom the Lord brings onto my path.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to trust the Lord for His peace to
be with me as I prepare to go for a procedure in the morning.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Saul” (1 Samuel 19:10).
Today’s Bible
question: “What book of the Bible
contains letters to seven churches?”
Answer in our next SD.
7/11/2018 7:39 AM
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