SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/15/2018
9:05 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Intro to Acts 1:11-14
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 1:11-14
Message of the verses: “11 also we have obtained an
inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works
all things after the counsel of His will, 12 to the end that we who were the first to hope
in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. 13 In Him, you also, after listening to the
message of truth, the gospel of your salvation-having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the
Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption
of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.”
“11
Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God,
for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his
plan. 12 God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ
would bring praise and glory to God. 13 And now you Gentiles have also heard
the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ,
he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised
long ago. 14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised
and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would
praise and glorify him (NLT).”
John
MacArthur entitles this fourth chapter in his commentary on Ephesians “Divine
Inheritance Guaranteed,” and as we can see the word inheritance is used two
times in these last verses that make up the longest sentence (in the Greek)
that is found in the New Testament. We
began looking at this sentence (Eph. 1:3-14) on the 19th of October
and now we will begin to look at the remaining verses as we work our way
through verses 11-14. There is so many
truths found in this sentence that it is difficult, at least for me, to not
only understand them, but to put them into my mind in order to better
understand how they apply to my life. In
a word they are “overwhelming.”
In
the beginning of his commentary on this section he talks about a Christian camp
he attended where there was a young man who had a deformed hand and leg, who
stood far away from everyone as games were played and other things done at the
camp. MacArthur talked to the young man
who was very bitter to what God had done to him, and so he prayed for wisdom on
what to say to this young man. He told
him that what he was living in at this time was not really him, but just the
shell that God had given him while on planet earth. He went on to talk about a rich inheritance
that God offers him if he would accept the forgiveness that Christ offers Him
if he would receive Christ as His Savior.
The young man did and after that his life was changed, as he even was
not embarrassed to play ping-pong with MacArthur.
I
have a number of quotes from MacArthur’s introductory commentary which will
review what we have been studying and preview what we will be studying in this
section.
“In
this passage Paul shows us the awesome and wonderful potential of Christian believers. That for which every person in one way or
another yearns, the Christian already possess or is one day assured of
possessing. The apostle gives us a
glimpse of the glorious blessings God has planned for and promised to those who
come to Him through His Son, Jesus Christ.”
MacArthur
goes on to talk about human nature and how we as humans break promises either
on purpose or for some other reason, and yet God never breaks a promise that He
makes. The promises that we see God made
in the Bible will be fulfilled, perhaps not when we want them to be fulfilled,
but He will fulfill all of His promises.
“At
the completion of this longest sentence in the Bible (Eph. 1:3-14), in which
Paul pours out his heart in praise to God for His immeasurable grace, he
presents to us the Father’s guarantee of His divine promise to His
children. They are certain to receive
the full, undiminished inheritance of Jesus Christ. Just as we have been blessed ‘with every
spiritual blessing,’ chosen ‘in Him before the foundation of the world,’ ‘predestined…to
adoption as sons,’ given ‘redemption through His blood,’ and shown ‘the mystery
of His will’ (vv. 3-5, 7, 9)—so we have also obtained an inheritance.
“Our
inheritance is the aspect of salvation which is primarily future. We were elected, or predestined, before the
world or time existed; we have been redeemed in this present age; and we will
receive our completed inheritance in the ages to come, when we enter fully into
the Father’s eternal heavenly kingdom.
“Here
we are shown the ground, the guarantee, and the goal of our incomparable
inheritance in Jesus Christ.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I am looking forward to look at the
inheritance that God has for me, understanding that most of it will happen
during the time after I leave this earth, hopefully at the Rapture of the
church as seen in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to give our family a good day
as we celebrate my wife’s father’s 101st birthday.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “He asked Solomon what he
wanted God to give him” (1 Kings 3:5).
Today’s Bible question: “What has been put in subjection under the
feet of Jesus?”
Answer in our next SD.
11/15/2018 9:59 AM
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