PT-2 "Intro into Matthew chapter Four"

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/31/2020 10:40 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-2 “Intro to Matthew 4”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Matthew 4:1-11

            Message of the verses:  “1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." 4 But He answered and said, "It is written, ’MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.’" 5 Then the devil took Him into the holy city; and he had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God throw Yourself down; for it is written, ’HE WILL GIVE HIS ANGELS CHARGE CONCERNING YOU’; and ’ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, LEST YOU STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.’" 7 Jesus said to him, "On the other hand, it is written, ’YOU SHALL NOT

PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.’" 8 Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain, and *showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory; 9 and he said to Him, "All these things will I give You, if You fall down and worship me." 10 Then Jesus said to him, "Begone, Satan! For it is written, ’YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’" 11 Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.”

            In our last SD we were looking at how different people were attempting to deal with temptation and John MacArthur in his commentary talks about others that I don’t think I will include here as I think that they are all kind of useless to look now as we will want to focus in how the Lord teaches us how to deal with temptation as we continue looking at these eleven verses in the future.

            MacArthur writes:  “In Matthew 4:1-11 one of the most monumental and mysterious spiritual battles of all time is recounted—the personal confrontation between Jesus Christ and Satan.  The devil’s temptations directed at Jesus in the wilderness of Judea were observed by no other human being.  He was entirely alone, and it is therefore obvious that we could know nothing of what transpired there unless Jesus Himself had told His disciples of it.  Here He reveals the victory secret, as it were, of His momentous struggle with Satan.”  I don’t suppose that I have ever thought about these events not being seen by any other human being before, but that is the truth, for Jesus, Satan, and eventually the angels who came to help him were the only ones there. 

            After studying about the baptism of Jesus Christ the last several days we come to the very next event of His life and this is also seen in Mark and Luke’s gospel writing, so that means that it was a very important thing that happened.  We learned in His baptism that this was His coronation, His commissioning to be King, and so after His proclamation as King comes the test of His kingliness.  God the Father had just said that “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased” (3:17), and in this wilderness test we can see why He was well-pleased.  MacArthur adds “He shows that, even in the extreme of temptation, He consistently lived in perfect harmony with the divine plan.  Here He first demonstrated His power over hell.  His absolute sovereignty forbad Him to bow to the ‘god of this world,’ so He face the full force of Satan’s wicked deception, yet remained untouched and uncontaminated.  Evil at is lowest was overcome by Him, and goodness at its highest commended Him.  The combination of both accredited Him as King.”  I suppose that we will continue all the way through the gospel of Matthew talking about Jesus as King for that is one of the great themes in this book.

            We will be able to learn from our Lord’s temptation how He dealt with it as we are given clean and applicable insights into Satan’s strategy against God and His people and also into Christ’s way of victory over the tempter.  We will see side by side the way of danger and the way of escape from that danger.  We will see the way that leads to defeat and death and the way that leads to victory and life and in short, the way of Satan and the way of God.

            I have mentioned that some time ago that I read a couple of books about Satan, one by Warren Wiersbe, “The Strategy of Satan,” and the other by Charles Stanley, “When the Enemy Strikes.”  Both were very insightful and while and after reading them it seems that many things seemed to go wrong in our lives as things kept breaking down one right after another and other things seem to still be going wrong.  I have learned some things about how Satan attacks believers and I believe that I will learn more things as we go through this section in Matthew, things that will help in having victories over temptation, something we all face each day of our lives.

            MacArthur brings up two reasons why Matthew includes this section in his gospel, and the first we have already mentioned which has to do with the Lord’s Kingship as He will win the battle over Satan in this first skirmish showing He is King of kings and Lord of lords.  Satan was trying to conquer the newly commissioned King, to overthrow the Messiah, and to claim all His royal rights and prerogatives for himself.

            MacArthur then talks about the other purpose and that “was to demonstrate the pattern found in Jesus’ human victory over sin, a pattern that He longs to share with all who belong to Him.  When we face testing and temptation in the same way our Lord did, we too can be victorious over the adversary’s attempts to corrupt us and to usurp the Lord’s rightful place in our lives.

            “The momentous encounter that Matthew here describes, and from which believes can gain such help and encouragement, may be divided into three parts for study:  the preparation, the temptation, and the triumph.”  Now we have the three different man-sections we will be looking at in this very important subject, as I hope all will be eager to look at them.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Realizing that defeating temptations that come into my life I am ready to study this section of Scripture, and I believe that God has brought this section of Scripture into my life at just the right time.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I pray that God will open my heart wide as He, through His Holy Spirit teaches me wonderful things from this section of Matthew, that I will truly have joy in my heart as I study His Word and that it will also bring about humility.

1/31/2020 11:22 AM

             

PT-1 "Intro to Matthew 4:1-11"

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/30/2020 12:15 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  “The Crisis of Temptation”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Matthew 4:1-11

            Message of the verses:  “1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." 4 But He answered and said, "It is written, ’MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.’" 5 Then the devil took Him into the holy city; and he had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God throw Yourself down; for it is written, ’HE WILL GIVE HIS ANGELS CHARGE CONCERNING YOU’; and ’ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, LEST YOU STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.’" 7 Jesus said to him, "On the other hand, it is written, ’YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.’" 8 Again, the devil *took Him to a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory; 9 and he said to Him, "All these things will I give You, if You fall down and worship me." 10 Then Jesus said to him, "Begone, Satan! For it is written, ’YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’" 11 Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.”

            The name that I have in the focus portion of this SD is actually the title to the chapter that we will be looking at that is covered in John MacArthur’s commentary.  I have just completed listing to a sermon by John MacArthur on the first verse in this section, something that I believe was just his introduction to this section and I learned some important things that I will be sharing with those who will read this Spiritual Diary on the internet.

            If I were to ask the question “what is the thing that we believers have the most trouble with,” I wonder how many would say temptation.  Well think about how your life would be if you were never tempted again.  I can say that if this was to happen to me then my life would be so much easier than it is now.  MacArthur says that “temptation has been a constant, unrelenting part of human life.  Men have tried to avoid and resist it with self-inflicted pain to make themselves uncomfortable and presumably humble, or by insolating themselves from other people and from physical comforts.  But no person has ever found a place or a circumstance that can make him safe from temptation.”

            I remember a sermon that I heard probably back in the 1970’s, probably from Hal Lindsey who was talking about some monks who went on a retreat for an extended amount of time and the first thing that one of the monks said after coming back from the retreat was “I never thought of a women the whole time that I was on the retreat.”  To that I thought to myself, “boy is he lying.”

            John MacArthur quotes a fifth-century Christian who wrote about temptation:

“Fly from all occasions of temptation, and if shall tempted, fly further still.  If there is no escape possible, then have done with running away and show a bold face and take the two-edged sword of the Spirit.  Some temptations must be taken by the throat as David killed the lion; others must be stifled as David hugged the bear to death.  Some you have better keep to yourselves and not give air.  Shut them up as a scorpion in a bottle.  Scorpions in such confinement die soon, but if allowed out for a crawl and then put back into the bottle and corked down, they will live a long while and give you trouble.  Keep the cork on your temptations, and they will die to themselves.”

            There are a couple of more ways that people have tried to stop temptations that perhaps we will look at as we begin our next SD in order to finish this introduction to these first eleven verses found in the forth chapter of Matthew.  One thing I continue to remind you and that is that the theme of Matthew’s gospel is that Jesus is the King, and that he was writing mostly to the Jewish people. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  One of the ways that I knew that God had saved me was that He took away swearing from my vocabulary.  I am ever thankful for that however there are times when I wish that He would have take other temptations away from me. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Keep my eye on the Saviour, continue to seek to be humble, and to constantly find joy from the Word of God as I read and study it each day.

1/30/2020 12:42 PM

           

PT-2 "Confirmation by the Father" (Matt. 3:17)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/29/2020 11:19 AM

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-2 “Confirmation by the Father”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Matthew 3:17

            Message of the verse:  “17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.’”

            We have been talking about how Jesus brought joy to the heart of His Father, and also that believers also bring joy to the heart of the Father.  Now we want to look at Hebrews 1:1-8 to show us that Jesus Christ is the heart of the gospel, but before we do that I want to talk about something that I suppose that I have talked in other SD’s.  Jesus Christ is the reason that this universe and especially why this world was created as we can see from the 2^nd Psalm.  It is all about Jesus and because God loves us so much we get to be a part of His plan that was made up before the world began.  Again it is all about Jesus.  Now we will look at Hebrews 1:1-8, a very powerful section of Scripture: 

“1  God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. 5 For to which of the angels did He ever say: "You are My Son, Today I have begotten You"? And again: "I will be to Him a Father, And He shall be to Me a Son"? 6 But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: "Let all the angels of God worship Him." 7 And of the angels He says: "Who makes His angels spirits And His ministers a flame of fire." 8 But to the Son He says: "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your Kingdom” (NKJV).

            John MacArthur writes “Jesus Christ is the fullest expression of God, superior to and exalted above everything and everyone else.  He is the beginning of all things, Creator; the middle of all things, Sustainer and Purifier; and the end of all things, Heir (see Rom. 11:36; Col. 1:16).

            “The Son is the manifestation of God, the radiance of God’s personal glory, the image of God (2 Cor. 4:4).  In Him all deity dwells (Col. 1:15-19; 2:9).  Because of His deity, He is superior to the angels who worship Him…

            “Even God’s title as Father is a reference to His essential relationship to Jesus Christ.  God is presented in the New Testament more as the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 11:27; John 5:17-18; 10:29-33; 14:6-11; 17:1-5; Rom. 15:6; 2 Cor. 1:3; Eph. 1:3, 17; Phil 2:9-11; 1 Pet. 1:3; 2 John 3) than as the Father of believers (Matt. 6:9).  

            “When Jesus called God ‘Father,’ He was not emphasizing primarily submission or generation but sameness of essence—that is, deity.  John 5:23 sums it up by demanding ‘that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.’  No one can worship God unless he worships Him as the God who is one with King Jesus—‘the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

            These are some powerful thoughts, something that I would never get from just reading Matthew 3:17.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  We say sometimes at Christmas times that “Jesus is the reason for the season,” but Jesus is the reason for every season as He is the One who truly deserves my worship at all times.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I am thankful to the Lord that He has given me joy in the study of His Word this morning.

1/29/2020 11:45 AM

PT-1 "Confirmation by the Father" (Matt. 3:17)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/28/2020 9:58 AM

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-1 “Confirmation by the Father”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Matthew 3:17

            Message of the verse:  “17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.’”

            As we look at verse 17 we can determine that all three Persons of the trinity participated in Jesus’ baptism.  Jesus, the Son had confirmed His own kingship by saying “It is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” as seen in verse 15, and then the Holy Spirit had confirmed His right of messiahship by resting on Him as seen in verse 16.  Now the final aspect of Jesus’ coronation or we could say commissioning, was the Father’s confirming word.  Not often do we hear the Father speak from heaven, but He does here as seen in verse 17, our verse for this SD.  MacArthur writes “For a sacrifice to be acceptable to God it must be pure, spotless, without blemish (Ex. 12:5; Lev. 1:3; Deut. 17:1; etc.).  Of this One who willingly identified Himself with sinners by His baptism and who was marked by the Holy Spirit as the dove of sacrifice, the Father now said, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.’”

            When we think about the Old Testament sacrifices we know that none of them were perfect, and at best their blood was only symbolic as seen in Hebrews 10:4 “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”  Let us also look at Hebrews 9:12 “and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”  However the sacrifice that Jesus would make on the cross would be as Peter describes in 1 Pet. 1:19 “but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”  So the result would be that the Father could say that He was well pleased with the perfection of Jesus Christ.  I mentioned that the Father did not speak from heaven much, but we can see Him speak from heaven from Matthew 17:5; and John 12:28.

            John MacArthur writes “Beloved’ (agapetos) connotes a deep, rich and profound relationship.  It is use here of the Father’s great love for His Son, but it is also used elsewhere of His love for believers (Rom. 1:7) and for what believers’ love toward each other should be (1 Cor. 4:14).  Jesus is the Father’s beloved above all those He loves, the beloved apart from whom no other could ever be beloved (cf. Eph. 1:6).  Only in His Son could the Father ever be fully ‘well pleased’ (eudokeo).  God had examined, as it were, His beloved Son, who would offer Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of those with whom He was willing to identify Himself.  No imperfection could be found in Him, and God was delighted.”

            We as believers are a delight to the Father also, and the reason is because we are now in the Son.  Because the Father finds no imperfection in His Son, He now by His brace will find no imperfection in those who trust in Him.

            We will continue to look at this section in our next SD, Lord willing.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I read that there is no imperfection in my because I am in Christ, and I believe it, but at times, like most believers I don’t act like it all of the time.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I have a test to go through this afternoon, something I have had before, but something I am not looking forward to and so I pray that the Lord will give me peace, and that there will be no issues in the results of it.

1/28/2020 10:26 AM

"Anointing of the Spirit" (Matt. 3:16)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/27/2020 12:54 PM

My Worship Time                                                                     Focus:  “Anointing of the Spirit”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 3:16

            Message of the verse:  “16  And after being baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon Him,”

            We have talked about John’s baptism, which is similar to what Jesus’ disciples did when they were baptizing as seen in John 4:1-2, and that is a baptism of repentance, cleansing, or washing, from sin.  This is different from Christian baptism which represents the believer’s identification with Christ’s death and resurrection as can be seen in Romans 6:4; and Col. 2:12.  MacArthur adds “In both cases the significance of the act is lost if it does not involve immersion.  Sprinkling or pouring does not fit either the symbolism or cleansing or of dying and being raised.”

            It has been many years ago that I learned the Greek word that is actually a transliteration into the English and that word is “baptize.”  This word literally means to dip an object into water or other liquid.  If you have a donut with your morning coffee and you dip the donut into your coffee that is what this word means. 

            It was not until the Middle ages that the Christian church began to sprinkle those being baptized, before that even in the catholic church immersion was used.  The Bible is very clear about how one is to be baptized.  We can see in our verse for today that Jesus went up immediately from the water, meaning that He was in the water in order to be baptized, and so He went under the water and then came up out of the water.  It is said of John the Baptist in “Joh 3:23  John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there; and people were coming and were being baptized-.”  In the desert there is not a lot of water and so John had to go where there was “much water” in order to baptize people.

            As soon as Jesus came up out of the water we read “behold, the heavens were opened.  We only see a few places in the Bible where the heavens were opened and this is one of them.  Others can be seen in Ezekiel 1:1-19 and then in Acts 7:56, and then we see a number of times in the book of Revelation:  4:1; 11:19; 19:11.  One more time and even though we don’t see the words “the heavens were opened” it happened for the Apostle Paul as he recounts his experience in 2 Corinthians 12:2-4.

            John MacArthur writes “As on commentator suggests, ‘Just as the veil of the Temple was rent in twain to symbolize the perfect access of all men to God, so here the heavens are rent asunder to show how near God is to Jesus , and Jesus is to God.’”

            Next Matthew talks about what John the Baptist saw “he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon Him.”  John writes in John 1:33, speaking of John the Baptist, “I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ’He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’”

            In John MacArthur commentary he states that this is the only instance in which the Holy Spirit was ever so represented.  I have looked at this passage many times and one of the things that I have learned is that the word “as” is a simile and that to means that the Spirit came down like a dove lands which is very gentle.  I am not sure that a dove was seen, and if it was this is the only time that it happened.  Doves do not represent the Holy Spirit like some believe that they do today.

            John MacArthur writes “Why did the Holy Spirit come upon Jesus?  When He became a man, Jesus did not lose His divinity.  He was still fully God in every way.  In His deity He needed nothing.  But in His humanity He was here beign anointed for service and granted strength for ministry.  The Spirit anointed Him for His kingly service, as Isaiah had predicted:  ‘The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, and freedom to prisoners’ (Isa. 61:1).  Among other things, the Spirit of God came upon Jesus in His humanness in a special way (John 3:34) that empowered Him to cast out demons (Matt. 12:28), to do miraculous signs and wonders (Acts 2:22), and to preach (cf. Acts 10:38).  Like every human being, Jesus became tired and hungry and sleepy.  His humanness needed strengthening, and that needed strength was given by the Holy Spirit (cf. Matt. 4:1; Luke 4:14).”

            Jesus’ anointing with the Holy Spirit was unique.  As seen above it was given to him to empower in His humanness, however it was also given as a visible, confirming sign to John the Baptist and also to everyone who was watching at that time.  MacArthur concludes “Jesus was indeed the Messiah; the great King who’s coming the Lord had called John to announce and to prepare men for.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There were no mistakes in what happened to our Lord as He came to earth, and now as He would shortly begin His ministry anointed by the Holy Spirit.  One of the things in my life I can learn from this is to have better planning in my life.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to be with me as I fight the good fight every day, and to seek much joy in my study of the Word of God.  To Love the Lord, and to be a humble servant of His.

1/27/2020 1:31 PM

PT-4 "Baptism of the Son" (Matt. 3:13-15)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/26/2020 9:35 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-4 “Baptism of the Son”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 3:13-15

            Message of the verses: “13 Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. 14 But John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?" 15 But Jesus answering said to him, "Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he permitted Him.”

            It is time for us to allow John MacArthur to tell us why Jesus was baptized.  “Jesus came into the world to identify with men; and to identify with men is to identify with sin.  He could not purchase righteousness for mankind if He did not identify with mankind’s sin.  Hundreds of years before Christ’s coming Isaiah had declared that the Messiah ‘was numbered with the transgressors, yet He himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors’ (Isa. 53:12).  Jesus’ baptism also represented the willing identification of the sinless Son of God with the sinful people He came to save.”

            Humaningly speaking one could say that God had a problem, and yet He worked it out because of His great love for us.  In our Sunday school class two weeks ago I was teaching through Psalm 22, and Psalm 22:1-21 show the reader the crucifixion of Jesus Christ with the most descriptive way found in the Word of God.  I talked about Jesus in the garden sweating great drops of blood and gave two reasons why He did this.  First Jesus had never been separated from His Father and second Jesus was about to be made sin for us.  I believe as we look at the reason that Jesus was baptized in order to identify with sinful men comes to fulfillment at the cross.  To think of the holiness of God becoming sin is hard for me to imagine, and yet He did this for you and for me because of His great love for us. 

            John MacArthur writes “That was the first act of His ministry, the first step in the redemptive plan that He came to fulfill.  He who had no sin took His place among those who had no righteousness.  He who was without sin submitted to a baptism for sinners.  In this act the Savior of the world took His place among the sinners of the world.  The sinless Friend of sinners was sent by the Father ‘in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh’ (Rom. 8:3); and He ‘made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him’ (2 Cor. 5:21; cf. Isa. 53:11).  There was no other way ‘to fulfill all righteousness.’”

            The baptism of Jesus was not only a symbol of His identity with sinners but it was also a symbol of His death and resurrection, and therefore a prefigurement of Christian baptism.  At this point I have to say something that happened this evening.  First of all the Lord seemed to remind me that today was my 46^th spiritual birthday, and on this occasion my grandson Matthew was baptized this evening at church.  My daughter said that this was awesome, and I said it surely was cool.  Needless to say it was a blessing. 

            As Jesus was going to Jerusalem for the very last time He told His disciples that “I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!” (Luke 12:50).  This was of course the cross that He was speaking of.  MacArthur concludes “Jesus’ supreme identification with sinners was His taking their sin upon Himself, which He did at Calvary.  Though John, having been given such a brief explanation, could not possibly have comprehended the full meaning of Jesus’ baptism, he accepted his Lord’s word and obeyed.  ‘Then he permitted Him.’”

1/26/2020 10:06 PM

PT-3 "Baptism of the Son" (Matt. 3:13-15)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/25/2020 10:12 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-3 “Baptism of the Son”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 3:13-15

            Message of the verses:  “13 Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. 14 But John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?" 15 But Jesus answering said to him, "Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he permitted Him.

            Before we get started on these verses I wanted to mention that in verse fifteen we see the first words spoken by Jesus since He was twelve years old found in the book of Luke when He told his parents that He had to be about His Father’s business.

            Now we have been talking about John’s reluctances to baptize Jesus in our last SD and we want to continue with that subject.  John knows of the sinlessness of Jesus as we can be sure that his mother told him about who Jesus was when he was a young boy, and so he tells Jesus that he has need to be baptized by Him.  John is saying something like “I am only a prophet, and a sinful prophet at that, but You are the Son of God and You are sinless.  I know you are not a sinner and my baptism is for sinners, that is why God sent me out here.”  I realize that John did not know what the writer of Hebrews had to say when he wrote in 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin,” however this is what John was saying.  MacArthur writes “So even in his reluctance to baptize Christ, John was fulfilling the role of a herald and the office of a prophet by proclaiming the perfection of the Savior.” 

            A question comes up about why would Jesus want to be baptized by John when He was certainly aware of His own sinlessness, as He was more aware of this than John, yet He wanted John to baptize Him.  We went over some reasons as to why Jesus wanted to be baptized in an earlier SD so I see no need to go over them again.  The fact remains that Jesus desired for John to baptize Him and we will see what the best reason is for His request as Jesus Himself tells John why there was a need from His baptism when he states “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”   

            Jesus is saying to John to permit it as this time and this was an idiom meaning according to MacArthur “that the act of His baptism, though not seemingly appropriate, was indeed appropriate for this special ‘time.’  Jesus understood John’s reluctance and knew that it came from deep spiritual commitment and sincerity.  He gave permission for John to do what, without divine instruction, he would never have been willing to do.  He assured the prophet that ‘in this way it is fitting,’ and went on to explain to John that His baptism was important for both of their ministries, ‘for us to fulfill all righteousness.’  For God’s plan to be perfectly fulfilled, it was necessary for Jesus to be baptized and to be baptized specifically by John.”  So now we see the answer to the question as to why Jesus was to be baptized by John, “to fulfill all righteousness,” but now we have to figure out exactly what that means.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Sometimes we really don’t understand why things happen, and I have to believe that John was put into that position when it came to baptizing Jesus.  I have been looking at the 9^th chapter of Daniel as I am putting those Spiritual Diaries onto my other blog and at the end of the one I posted today I found a quote from Warren Wiersbe who quotes Dr. Robert A. Cook who used to say, ‘If you can explain what’s going on in your ministry, God didn’t do it.”  I think that is certainly applies to John the Baptist, and I have to say that it also applies to me in writing these Spiritual Diaries that are a part of my ministry to the Lord, and what He is doing with them I certainly can’t explain, but I trust Him to use them to bring glory to the Lord.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to fight the fight, continue to trust the Lord to give me victories, and to continue to pray that God will continue to teach me humility and bring joy to me as I study His Word.  I trust that the Lord will work in my heart as I go over my Sunday school lesson for tomorrow that it too will bring honor to the Lord.

1/25/2020 10:47 AM

PT-2 "Baptism of the Son" (Matt. 3:13-15)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/24/2020 12:20 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-2 “Baptism of the Son”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Matthew 3:13-15

            Message of the verses:  “13 Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. 14 But John tried to prevent Him, saying, ‘I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?" 15 But Jesus answering said to him, "Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he permitted Him.

            I mentioned that we would discuss whether or not Jesus knew John the Baptist before this event, and the short answer is that because they were cousins that they probably did play together when they were kids.  John’s mother Elizabeth knew that Mary’s child was the Messiah and so we can be sure that she talked to John about this. 

            John MacArthur writes “Jesus came ‘to John’ specifically ‘to be baptized by him,’ as indicated by the aorist passive infinitive (baptishenai), which emphasizes purpose.  But the idea of Jesus’ being baptized by him was unthinkable to John.  He not only knew Jesus’ human identity but His divine identity.  The apostle John tells us that John the Baptist ‘saw Jesus coming to him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God!’ ‘(John 1:29).  John knew that this was God’s own anointed Messiah, come to fulfill God’s redemptive purpose.  The Baptist’s first reaction to Jesus’ request for baptism was ‘I have need to be baptized by You.’”

            John said that because he knew that he was a sinner, and because he knew that Jesus was the sinless Lamb of God and I suppose that this probably frightened him.  We do know that John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance and that Jesus was not a sinner, the only Person every born of woman who could say that.  John wondered then, and people since still wonder why Jesus had the need to be baptized.

            Some think that Jesus needed to be baptized in order to show that John’s baptism was right.  Others think that because Gentiles were baptized in order to get into the faith of Judaism. Others thought that because Him ministry was about to begin that this is why He was going to be baptized.  There is little to no support with these speculations. 

            MacArthur writes “It was because John the Baptist was fully aware of Jesus’ deity and sinlessness that he ‘tried to prevent Him.’  The Greek verb is in the imperfect tense (diekoleuen) and suggests a continued effort by John—‘he kept trying to prevent Him.’  The verb is also a compound, whose prepositional prefix (dia) intensifies it.  The pronouns in John’s statement are all emphatic, giving evidence of his bewilderment.  ‘I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?’  He did not directly contradict Jesus, as Peter would do (Matt. 16:22), but he thought that somehow he surely misunderstood what Jesus intended, that He could not possibly mean what He seemed to be saying.”

            Think for a moment back to when we were looking at the Pharisees and Sadducees, and why was it that John did not want to baptize them?  Well the answer is the exact opposite as to why he did not want to baptize Jesus.  John called the Pharisees and Sadducees a “brood of vipers,” and yet he knew that Jesus was the sinless Son of God, perfect Son of God and that is why he did not want to baptize Jesus.  He knew that his baptism for repentance for sin was totally inappropriate for Jesus, and this is why John attempted to prevent it from happening.  Again John knew that Jesus was sinless.

            We will continue talking about John’s trying to prevent Jesus from being baptized by him in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life:  We talked a bit about Peter message to Jesus in the 16^th chapter of Matthew and then Jesus had to rebuke him later on in that chapter.  When I sin knowing that it is wrong I need to be rebuked by Jesus, or perhaps His Spirit, but I suppose there are times when I sin and not realizing that I have sinned.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to fight the good fight in the power of the Spirit, to continue to seek to be humble, and to find joy in the reading and studying of God’s Word.

1/24/2020 12:48 PM

           

PT-1 "Baptism of the Son" (Matt. 3:13-15)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/23/2020 12:04 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-1 “Baptism of the Son”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 3:13-15

            Message of the verses:  “13 Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. 14 But John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?" 15 But Jesus answering said to him, "Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he permitted Him.”

            I mentioned in our last SD that there have been many theories into why Jesus was baptized, and as we go through this section over the next few days I believe we will really find out why our Lord was baptized by John the Baptist, however we will first look at some of the details of the baptism and then at the significance.

            The first word we see in verse thirteen is the word “then” and so as we look at that word we are pretty clueless as to when the baptism of Jesus took place.  We know it had to be when John was baptizing, but whether or not it took place right after the events we have been looking at we don’t know.  My thoughts that it probably did not happen when the Pharisees and the Sadducees were present, so that would mean that it happened some time after they left.  This is just my theory, and when one thinks about it I don’t suppose it really matters.  Let us look at what Dr. Luke has to say about this:  “1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, 2 in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness.”  This tells us when John the Baptist began his ministry in the wilderness and so it had to be around that time while he was baptizing that Jesus came to be baptized by John.  Some has speculated that because John was six months older than Jesus and Jesus began his ministry when he was thirty that perhaps John began his ministry six months before Jesus.  Some scholars suggest that the age of thirty was the generally acceptable age for Jewish religious leaders to begin their ministry writes John MacArthur.  If thirty was the perfect age for Jesus to begin His ministry then I have to think that it was the same for John.

            We see from verse thirteen that “Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan.”  Jesus did not come for a private ceremony.  Now as I think of this statement that it was not private I am thinking about my oldest grandson who will be baptized this coming Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020.  He will be the first of my daughter and son-in-laws children to be baptized as my son and his wife’s children have already been baptized.  That means only three more to be baptized for these proud grandparents.  Sorry, but these things are very important to me.  This statement that Jesus did not have a private ceremony is an important clue as to why Jesus was baptized.

            Jesus was baptized in the Jordan, but as far as the spot we do not know where in the Jordan this happened.  John states in John 1:28 “These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.”  Now you probably want to know what things John is talking about here in verse 28.  “19 This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" 20 And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ." 21 They asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" And he *said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No." 22 Then they said to him, "Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?" 23 He said, "I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ’MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,’ as Isaiah the prophet said." 24 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25 They asked him, and said to him, "Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" 26 John answered them saying, "I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know. 27 “It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.’”  Now we know what “these things are.”  As far as where Jesus was baptized we have to terrorize that it was near the Dead Sea.

            In our next SD we will look at whether or not Jesus knew John before this event.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Baptism is an important event in the life of a believer and it was in mine.  I have to say that I was baptized when I was 12 years old, well if you count being sprinkled baptism.  It came after I was to join the Lafayette Methodist church which took place after catechism which I took twice because I did not get it the first time.  Next I was baptized in a swimming pool after I became a believer by a very young and inexperienced Pastor.  The third time was the charm when I was about to join Grace Baptist church of Westlake Ohio.  I spoke with the pastor and he told me that when you join a church being baptized was the right way to do it according to what the Scriptures teach.  It was April of 1978 when I went into the waters of baptism and when I was under the water I actually saw in my mind me lying in a casket.  I later told Pastor Burns about this and he told me that he did not see it.  Not sure what he was trying to tell me.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to fight the good fight, to continue to have the Lord teach me humility, and to pray that I always have joy in studying the Word of God.

1/23/2020 12:38 PM

           

Short Intro "The Coronation of the King" (Matt. 3:13-17)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/22/2020 10:05 AM

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  Introduction to Matthew 3:13-17

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Matthew 3:13-17

            Message of the verses:  13 Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. 14 But John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?" 15 But Jesus answering said to him, "Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he permitted Him. 16 And after being baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon Him, 17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.’”

            A reminder of a couple of things we have stated earlier and that is that the gospel of Matthew was primarily written to the Jews and second the gospel of Matthew is about the King, which of course is Jesus Christ.  Remember this we can see from this section that this is the commissioning or the coronation of the King.  In our study so far we have seen that Matthew has given us the King’s ancestry in 1:1-17, next His arrival in 1:18-25, next His adoration in 2:1-12, next His attestation 2:13-23 and then in chapter three 1-12 we saw His announcement and now the rest of chapter three we see His anointing, or His coronation.  The King will begin His ministry after this section which will begin in chapter four where He will go out into the wilderness to fast for forty days in final preparation for the beginning of what He will do as He ministers for three years before He goes to the cross, which is why the King came.

            John MacArthur writes “There is something strikingly majestic about this great event that brings all the preceding events into focus.  Here, for the first time, the Lord Jesus Christ comes fully onto the stage of the gospel story.  Here is where His ministry and work truly begin.  Everything before this, even those events which directly involved the young Jesus were introductory and preparatory.  Bethlehem, Egypt, and Nazareth are all behind.  From this day on the Son of Man would call no place His earthly home (8:20), but was to move about fulfilling His mission.

            After an eternity of glory in heaven and some thirty years of virtual obscurity on earth, the Messiah-King is manifested publicly for the world to see and know.  As ‘the voice of one crying in the wilderness,’ John the Baptist had faithfully prepared the way for the King even as Isaiah had prophesied (3:3; Isa. 40:3).  The herald of the King had announced the coming of the King, and now the King Himself appears for His coronation.”

            One of the questions that will be raised as we begin this section has to do with the first section we will be looking at which is the baptism of the Son which goes from verses 13-15, is why was Jesus baptized.  We will tackle that issue as we move through these verses.  The next section from verse16 is entitled “The anointing of the Spirit.”  The last section we will look at is the “Confirmation by the Father.”   These are some exciting verses to look at as we continue to look at the King coming to earth to do the will of the Father.  “7 "I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ’You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. 8 ’Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. 9 ’You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware’’” (Psalm 2:7-9).  This comes from the wonderful 2^nd Psalm which when studied one can see exactly why the Lord came to earth, and what He will do the next time He returns.  We see here that it is all about the Son and in verse 17 of our text today we see that Father saying “"This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.’”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ is the most important three years in the history of planet earth.  Without His coming mankind would have destroyed this planet many years ago, but as I look at the 2^nd Psalm I know that would not happen because it was in the Father’s plan for Jesus to come, to die, to be raised again, to return to heaven, and then to come back in what is called the rapture of the church, and then a little over seven years later come to rule and reign for the last 1000 years of the earth’s history, followed by taking all of His to be in heaven with Him for eternity.  What we will do there is to worship the Lord, and we will just have to wait for what our great God has planned for us to do, but one thing I am sure of, it will be amazing.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I am thankful for the joy that God has given me as I studied His Word this morning, and I pray that it will continue. 

1/22/2020 10:56 AM