SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/5/2019
8:32 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “What We Were”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Eph. 5:8
Message of the
verse: “8 for
you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children
of Light”
We want to begin this SD by looking
at four basic characteristics of this spiritual darkness. First it is the work of Satan. If you are not a child of God then you are a
child of the devil. “’You are of your
father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a
murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is
no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature,
for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). “’He who believes in the Son has eternal
life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God
abides on him" (John 3:36).
As we think about two different
kinds of people in the world today, and there has always been two different kinds
of people in the world those who are children of God and those who are children
of the devil, and at times, perhaps many times it is difficult for us as
believers to imagine that the law-abiding, decent and also pleasant unbelievers
we run into every day are actually children of Satan. It is obvious that there are different
degrees of both kinds of people. I
probably have mentioned that when we get to heaven that there will be three surprises,
the first is who we see there, the second is who is not there, and the third is
that we are there. This helps us better
understand the different degrees of people on both sides.
Second, spiritual darkness not only
is the work but the domain of Satan.
MacArthur writes “The unbeliever does Satan’s work because he is under
Satan’s control (in Luke 22:53 he is called ‘the power of darkness’) as a
citizen of his ‘dominion of darkness’ (Col. 1:13; cf. Eph. 6:12; 1 John
5:19). That is why it is so foolish for
people to reject the claims of the gospel because they imagine they would have
to give up their freedom and come into a forced and unwanted obedience to
God. One of Satan’s most deceptive and
destructive lies is the idea that a person apart from God is free. The unbeliever is totally bound and
imprisoned by Satan through sin. He
cannot do anything but sin and he cannot obey anyone but Satan. Fallen man thinks he is free only because
what he wants so closely agrees with what Satan wants. But the believer’s obedience is the deepest
desire of his heart (cf. Rom. 6:17-18, 22; 7:22; Ps. 119).”
Third, spiritual darkness brings God’s
penalty. Paul just declared the following in Eph. 5:6 “the
wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience” who are “by nature children
of wrath” (Eph. 2:3). Paul also speaks
about this in the book of Romans where we read in 1:18 “The wrath of God is
revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who
suppress the truth in unrighteousness.”
Fourth, spiritual darkness leads to
the ultimate destiny of eternal darkness.
It makes no difference whether one is a Jew or Gentile if they do not
believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, they “shall be case out into
the outer darkness; in that place where there shall be weeping and gnashing of
teeth” as seen in Matthew 8:12, this can also be seen in 1 Sam. 2:9; 2 and 2
Peter 2:17. The ones who reject Jesus do
so because they are content with the darkness that they are living in. Since they have chosen darkness over light
then they will always be in the darkness and not the light. “Eternity simply crystallizes the choice into
permanence.” (MacArthur)
Spiritual
meaning for my life today:
Understanding this truth that we have looked at in today’s SD it is my
desire to continue to pray for those on my prayer list who are in need of
salvation.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue in
my quest for learning humility as seen in places like Romans 12:3.
Today’s
quotation is from and unknown author: “The
more we trust the sovereignty of heaven, the less we fear the calamities of
earth.”
6/5/2019 9:01
AM
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