SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/3/2020
9:59 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
“The Message”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 3:2
Message of the verse: “2 “Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand."
We
see that John’s message was to repent.
John MacArthur writes “The Greek word (metanoeo) behind ‘repent’ makes more than regret or sorrow (cf.
Heb. 12:17); it means to turn around, to change direction, to change the mind
and will. It does not denote just any
change, but always a change from the wrong to the right, away from sin and to
righteousness. In his outstanding
commentary on Matthew, John A. Broadus observes that ‘wherever this Greek word
is used in the New Testament the reference is to changing the mind and the
purpose from sin to holiness.’
Repentance involves sorrow for sin, but sorrow that leads to a change of
thinking, desire, and conduct of life. ‘The
sorrow that is according to the will of God,’ Paul says, ‘produces a repentance
without regret, leading to salvation’ (2 Cor. 7:10; cf. v 9). John’s command to repent could therefore be
rendered ‘be converted.’”
Judas
was sorrowful, but not to the point of repentance while Peter was devastated over
denying the Lord three times and did have a desire to repent.
As
we look at this message that John had, to repent this would pave the way for
the coming King. The people needed to
have a completely different kind of life in order to serve the coming King, the
kind of life that all believers should have today. Many of the Jewish people of that day, and
people today believe that they will be alright, that a loving God would not
send anyone to hell, and all would go to heaven. This is not what the Bible teaches, as we see
that since the sin of Adam and Eve that everyone is born into sin and have the
need of a Savior to make them right with God.
John wanted the people ready for the coming King and this involved
repentance.
I
mentioned that baptism in the Jewish religion took place only to proselytes,
those came into the Jewish religion that were not born Jewish, and John looked at
the Jewish people in the same way he looked at gentiles, the need to repent and
to prove that they wanted to do this he would baptize them. This is different than the baptism with water
that believers are to go through in order to join the local congregation,
become a member of a Bible believing church.
Baptism with water demonstrates what happened to Jesus as He died on the
cross, then was placed in a cave to be buried, and then rose again.
Jesus
began His ministry speaking about repentance:
“"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent
and believe in the gospel’” (Mark 1:15).
In Peter’s concluding part of his message on the Day of Pentecost he
stated “Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in
the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive
the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).
Repentance is the beginning of the life of the born-again believer, and
it is also one of the things that a believer has to continually do once he has
sinned after become a believer. “If we
confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
John
MacArthur concludes this section “The close connection between repentance and
conversion is also indicated in texts that do not specifically use the word
repentance, yet convey the same idea (see Matt. 18:3; Luke 14:33). The best summary statement may be that of
Paul in Acts 26:20, where he states that the objective of his ministry was that
men ‘should repent and turn to God performing deeds appropriate to repentance.’”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: It is, and always has been my desire to keep
a short list with the Lord, meaning if I sin that I need to confess that
sinfulness to the Lord right away.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Confessing my sin to the Lord does bring joy
to my heart, knowing that I am clean.
Today’s quotation from “Love in Action”
comes from David Jeremiah’s short comments on our verses yesterday from the 46th
Psalm.
“When you are discouraged, the best
friend you have apart from your personal prayer relationship with God is His
Word.”
1/3/2020 10:31 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment