PT-1 "Knowing When We Are Humble" (Matt. 5:3)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/31/2020 2:29 PM

My Worship Time                                                              Focus:  Knowing when we are Humble

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 5:3

            Message of the verse:  “3 ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

            We continue to look at humility and the question arises “how do we know when we are humble when we are poor in spirit?”  We will begin to look at this question and hopefully find an answer to our question in our SD for today.

            In John MacArthur’s commentary he tells us that Thomas Watson gives seven principles that we may apply in determining humility, and we will begin to try and unwrap this principles.

1.     If we are humble we will be weaned from ourselves:  “Like a weaned child rests against his mother, My soul is like a weaned child within me” (Psalm 131:2b).  The one who is poor in spirit loses his self-preoccupation, as self becomes nothing, and then Christ is everything.  In Galatian 2:20, a familiar verse we can see Paul’s humility when he writes “"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”  Then to the Philippians he wrote “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

2.     Humility will lead us to the lost in the wonder of Christ, as seen in 2 Corinthians 3:18 “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”  That word transformed is the word metamorphous, an ugly worm into a beautiful butterfly.

3.     Third we will not complain about our situation, no matter how bad it may become,  (OUCH).  Think about what would happen to us if we were not poor in spirit and then realized this and did not come to Christ.  If that were true then we would not ever in the time after death have as good of a situation that we think we are in now.  I read or heard in a sermon we are not to ask the question “Why Me Lord?”  Sometimes it is hard not to ask that question.  Sometimes a person has to suffer for Christ’s sake and then we think about all the suffering that He went through for us while on the cross.  Peter talks about this truth in 1 Peter 4:16.  He sates there that if we suffer for the sake of Christ that we will also be glorified with Him.  Paul declares in Romans 8:17-18 the following: “17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

4.     We will more clearly see the strengths and virtues of others as well as our own weaknesses and sins.  Paul says with “humility of mind’ we will ‘regard one another as more important than [ourselves]’ (Phil. 2:3) and will ‘give preference to one another in honor’ (Rom. 12:10).

5.     We will spend much time in prayer.  The reason can be compared with the physical beggar begs for physical sustenance, the spiritual beggar begs for spiritual.  Then we will knock often at heaven’s gate because we are always in need.  This can be compared with Jacob wrestling with the angel because he wanted a blessing from Him.

            I want to, Lord willing, finish the last two principles in our next SD and then take up the last short sub-section after that. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  When thinking about humility I never realized what I am learning in this section.  Grace is surely what I need.

My Steps of Faith For Today:  Continue to learn contentment, humility, and continue to ask the Lord to give me joy as I study His Word each day.

3/31/2020 2:59 PM

PT-2 "Achieving Humility" (Matt. 5:3)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/30/2020 11:26 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-2 “Achieving Humility”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 5:3

            Message of the verse:  “3 ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

            We have been looking at this third verse from Matthew chapter five for some days now and one of the things that I want to review about this verse and for that matter the entire Sermon on the Mount is that no one can keep all of the things that Jesus is preaching about in this sermon, which is exactly what we are suppose to learn from it.  We are all “poor in spirit” when it comes to obeying the Lord Jesus Christ.  The only way that a person becomes a believer is by realizing that they are poor in spirit and can do nothing at all to make themselves good enough to stand before God in order to be accepted by Him.  Pride will certainly keep billions of people from entering the kingdom of God for that is the opposite of being poor in spirit. 

            We have been also talking about humility a lot and a person who realizes that he is poor in spirit has become humble.  I keep thinking about Colossians 2:6 when it comes to believers walking in humility before the Lord:  “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.”  How did we receive Christ Jesus?  Well we became humble as the Spirit of God gave us an effectual call, and therefore accepted the gift of salvation which Christ provided for us.  So how do we walk in Him?  We have to be humble knowing that we can only please the Lord in our walk with Him by obeying what the Spirit of God calls and enables us to do as seen in Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” 

            We left of yesterday’s SD stating that there are three steps in experiencing humility but did not name those three steps.  I will again quote from John MacArthur in order for us to understand what he says these three steps are.

“The first step in experiencing humility is to turn our eyes off ourselves and to look to God.  When we study His Word, seek His face in prayer, and sincerely desire to be near Him and please Him, we move toward being ‘poor in spirit.’  It is the vision of the infinitely Holy God in all His sinless purity and perfection that allows us to see ourselves as sinners by contrast.  To seek humility, we do not look at ourselves to find the faults, but at God Almighty to behold His perfection.

“Second, we must starve the flesh by removing the things on which it feeds.  The essence of the fleshly nature is pride, and to starve the flesh is to remove and avoid those things that promote pride.  Rather than looking for praise, compliments, and popularity, we should be wary of them.  Yet because our human sinfulness has a way of turning even the best intentions to its advantage, we need to be careful not to make an issue of avoiding praise and recognition.  The evil is not in being given praise but in seeking it and glorying in it.  When without having sought it, we are praised or honored; to ungraciously reject the recognition may be an act of pride rather than humility.

“The third and balancing principle is coming to humility is asking God for it.  With David we should pray, ‘Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me’ (Ps. 51:10).  Humility, like other good gift, comes only from God.  Also as with every other good thing, He is more willing to give it than we are to ask for it, and He stands ready to give it long before we ask for it.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Perhaps after all of this time seeking to learn more about humility I have never asked the Lord for it, to be given it from Him, so that is what I ask for today, and for that matter every day for the rest of my life that God would give me humility.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  For God to give me Humility, contentment, and joy as I study His Word each day.

3/30/2020 11:51 AM

Achieving Humility (Matt. 5:3)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/29/2020 9:40 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Achieving Humility

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 5:3

            Message of the verse:  “3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

            The question to how do we achieve humility goes along with the question “how do we become poor in Spirit?”  As we look at this 3^rd verse in Matthew chapter five we can see almost by the definition of happy are the poor in spirit we can determine that it cannot start with us, as with anything we can do or accomplish in our own power.  That is the answer but it is like other things found in the Scripture that happen to us and we realize that we can’t do it on our own, but then in our humanness we try to do it on our own and kind of mess it up.  Now we have talked about what humility is not when we looked at Dr. Wiersbe’s book “The Strategy of Satan,” when he writes that humility is not thinking putting ourselves down.  We are already down; humility according to John MacArthur “simply recognizes the truth.  And simply being hopeless, helpless, and in need obviously is no virtue.  That is not God’s will for anyone.  His will is to get us out of that condition and into blessing.  The fulfillment of that goal depends on His sovereign, gracious work of humbling.”

            He goes on to write that “Humility is not a necessary human work to make us worthy, but a necessary divine work to make us see that we are unworthy and cannot change our condition without God.  That is why monasticism, asceticism, physical self-denial, mutilation, and other such self-efforts are so foolish and futile.  They feed pride rather than subdue it, because they are works of the flesh.  They give a person a reason to boast in what he has done or not done.  Such self-imposed efforts are enemies of humility.

            “Yet even through genuine humility is produced by the Lord as an element of the work of salvation, it is also commanded of men.  There are numerous divine commands to humble oneself (Matt. 18:4; 23:12; James 4:10; 1 Pet. 5:5), which the Lord perfectly harmonizes with His sovereign work of humbling.  Sovereign saving work is never without personal cooperation.  Because of that it is helpful to look at some of the steps from the human side of the divine paradox.”

            MacArthur then goes on to talk about different steps from the human side of what he calls a divine paradox.  My smart phone gives this example of a paradox “in a paradox, he has discovered that stepping back from his job has increased the rewards he gleans from it.”  The definition of paradox (noun) is “a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true.”

            Now because this is Sunday and even though we are not able to go to church we are about to listen to our service online and so it is my desire to wait until our next SD to give these three steps we are talking about today.  I also kind of want to savor this as it is something that I have been looking for answers for some time now. 3/29/2020 10:03 AM

Why Humility is First (Matt. 5:3)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/28/2020 10:17 AM

My Worship Time                                                                         Focus:  “Why Humility is First”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 5:3

            Message of the verses:  “3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

            Humility is first in line of these beatitudes because without it one cannot be saved:  “1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" 2 And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, 3 and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 “And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; 6  but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” The highlighted verses are the ones that I want you to look at in detail, but I put the others here to help understand the entire story.

            Pride has absolutely no part in Christ’s kingdom, and so until a person surrenders pride he cannot enter the kingdom.  Those, like the Pharisees who though that they could enter the kingdom of God all by themselves will not make it there.  I am going to quote all of the times you find the word pride in the book of Proverbs, and surprisingly it is a short list:

“Pr 8:13 “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverted mouth, I hate.

 Pr 11:2 When pride comes, then comes dishonor, But with the humble is wisdom.

Pr 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling.

Pr 21:24 “Proud," "Haughty," "Scoffer," are his names, Who acts with insolent pride.

Pr 29:23 A man’s pride will bring him low, But a humble spirit will obtain honor.”

            John MacArthur writes “The door into His kingdom is low, and no one who stands tall will ever go through it.  We cannot be filled until we are empty; we cannot be made worthy until we recognize our unworthiness; we cannot live until we admit we are dead.  We might as well expect fruit to grow without a tree as to expect the other graces of the Christian life to grow without humility.  We cannot begin the Christian life without humility, and we cannot live the Christian life with pride.”  Last week I was watching a question and answer “sermon type” from John MacArthur’s church and I don’t remember what the question was about but I do remember him saying that humility was still something that he is learning, and I suppose that did offer me some hope. 

            For those of you who have been reading some of my Spiritual Diaries you know that my desire is to learn more about humility and to live my life through the power of the Holy Spirit as He continue to teach me humility.  I don’t think that this is the case in many churches today as they don’t teach humility.  While talking to my Pastor about this he gave me a little booklet about humility and perhaps in the future I will quote from that book at the end of my Spiritual Diary.  I have read most all of it and it is one of those books that steps on my spiritual toes.

            MacArthur goes on to write “Until a soul is humbled, until the inner person is ‘poor in spirit,’ Christ can never become dear, because He is obscured by self.  Until one sees how doomed he is, he cannot see what a Redeemer that Lord is.  Until one sees his own poverty he cannot see God’s riches.  Only when one admits to his own deadness can Christ give him His life.  ‘Everyone who is proud in heart is an admonition to the Lord’ Pr. 16:5).”

            We studied the book of Revelation a few years back and as we looked at the different churches in chapters 2-3 we saw a downfall in five of the churches, a downfall spiritually beginning with the loss of their love for Christ in the Ephesian church and then ending up with a church that would not even let Christ in.  Here is the problem with that church as Jesus writes to them saying in 3:17 “’Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked” Now I want to quote from what Jesus said to the church in Smyrna, the suffering church whom Christ had nothing bad to say about them.  He states “9 ’I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich),” (Rev. 2:9b).  Financially they were poor, but spiritual they were rich because they were a humble church.

            We will conclude by quoting the last paragraph from MacArthur’s commentary on this sub-section we are looking at today:  “Where self is exalted, Christ cannot be.  Where self is king, Christ cannot be.  Until the proud in spirit become ‘poor in spirit,’ they cannot receive the King or inherit His kingdom.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I think that it is pretty obvious that for the rest of my days on planet earth that I will need to remember to learn humility.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  It is my desire to learn contentment, humility, and to have joy in my heart when I study His Word even though at times His Word steps on my spiritual toes.

3/28/2020 11:26 AM  

PT-2 "The Meaning of the Poor in Spirit" (Gen. 5:3)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/27/2020 10:59 AM

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  PT-2 “The Meaning of the Poor in Spirit”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 5:3

            Message of the verses:  “3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

            I want to continue to talk about why the verse that we are looking at is talking about people being poor in spirit and not just poor in a financial way.  And to do that we want to look at the public ministry of our Lord as found in Matthew 8:20 “20 Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.’”  We can be sure as we look through the gospel writings that neither He nor any of His disciples were not destitute and never begged for bread.  Paul was beaten, imprisoned, shipwrecked, stoned, and often economically hard pressed; but Paul never had to beg for bread.  It was like a badge of honor for Paul that he worked as a tentmaker to help pay for his own expenses while in the ministry.  He talks about this in Acts 20:34 and also in 1 Cor. 9:6-18.  I am also thinking about another section from his letter to the Philippians when they had sent him a gift and Paul was thankful for the gift, but he was even more thankful for those who sent it to him as he knew that God would reward them for doing this.

            John MacArthur writes “On the other hand, no New Testament believer is condemned for being rich.  Nicodemus, the Roman centurion of Luke 7, Joseph of Arimathea, and Philemon were all wealthy and faithful.  That ‘not many mighty, not many noble’ are called (1 Cor. 1:26) is not because they are rejected due to their positions or possessions but because so many of them trust only in those things (1 Tim. 6:6-17).

            “That is the point of the first beatitude.  The ‘poor in spirit’ are those who recognize their total spiritual destitution and their complete dependence on God. They perceive that there are no saving resources in themselves and that they can only beg for mercy and grace.  They know they have no spiritual merit, and they know they can earn no spiritual reward.  Their pride is gone, their self-assurance is gone, and they stand empty-handed before God.”

            What is talked about in this highlighted paragraph is something that is genuine and not fake, as someone acting like a spiritual beggar, but recognizing what one really is.  This is talking about something that I have put on my “steps of faith” each day most of last year and much of this year and that is humility.  Isaiah 66:1-2 states “1 Thus says the LORD, "Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? 2 “For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being," declares the LORD. "But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.”  I want to look at one more verse here and it comes from Psalm 51, a psalm of David that he wrote about his sin with Bathsheba and her husband and how he is humbled over his sinfulness:  “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”

            There is a story by Jesus from the 18^th chapter of the gospel of Luke where He tells the story of a Pharisee and a tax collector and in this story He tells the difference between these men.  One was bragging about all he did and then the other who could not even look up to the Lord because of his sin and asked the Lord to be merciful to him a sinner.  The Lord states that only one went away justified and it was not the Pharisee, as the tax collector was poor in spirit.

            There are many other stories that show this point to be true, and many of them are in the pages of the Old Testament, and for time sake I will not go over all of them.  One story has to be with the Law given at Mt. Sinai.  And with that we must understand what the Law was given in the first place as there are different reasons.  Paul states that the Law was a tutor to bring people to Christ.  Another thing Paul writes about this subject is found in Romans 5:20 “The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”  Think about that for a moment that the Law came in so that the transgression would increase.  Paul writes the following in Romans 7 “Ro 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, "YOU SHALL NOT COVET.’”  The Law is perfect and only God could live on this earth completely keeping the Law, but we can’t and so we understand that because the Law is perfect that we cannot keep it on our own, but only through the power of the Holy Spirit.  However before we became believers we have to understand that we cannot keep it and therefore as our verse states we are “poor in spirit,” and therefore we should come to Christ as Savior and Lord.

            I will conclude this SD with another quote from John MacArthur, the last paragraph that he wrote from this sub-section:  “If God’s Old Testament standards are impossible for man to meet by himself, ho much less attainable by one’s own power are the standards of the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus here teaches not only that people must love God but that they ‘are to be perfect, as [their] heavenly father is perfect’ (5:48), and that unless their righteousness exceeds the external, man-originated ‘righteousness…of the scribes and Pharisees, [they] shall not enter the kingdom of heaven’ (5:20).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful that the Lord is showing me more about humility, and that He humbled me in order to accept Him as my Savior and my Lord.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to learn contentment, humility, and to find joy in the studying of His Word.

3/27/2020 12:02 PM

PT-1 "The Meaning of the Poor In Spirit" (Matt. 5:3)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/26/2020 9:46 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-1 “The Poor in Spirit”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 5:3

            Message of the verse:  “3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

            We will begin with a short introduction from John MacArthur and then we will be first looking at the sub-point “The Meaning of Poor in Spirit” as we continue this SD.

“Discussion of this first beatitude demands that it be looked at from five perspectives:  the meaning of ‘poor in spirit,’ the location of this virtue in the list, the way to achieve that attitude, how to know if we have that attitude, and the result promised for having it.”

THE MEANING OF POOR IN SPIRIT

            “Ptochos (‘poor’) is from a verb meaning ‘to shrink, cower, or cringe,’ as beggars often did in that day.  Classical Greek used the word to refer to a person reduced to total destitution, who crouched in a corner begging.  As he held out one hand for alms he often hid his face with the other hand, because he was ashamed of being recognized.  The term did not mean simply poor, but begging poor.  It is used in Luke 16:20 to describe the beggar Lazarus.”

            There is another Greek word which was used for ordinary poverty and that word was penicros, and this word was used of the widow that Jesus saw who gave an offering in the Temple.  She did not have much but she did have two small copper coins as seen in Luke 21:2.  This woman was poor but not begging poor.  The one who is penichros poor, does have at least some meager resources.  However the one who is Ptochos poor, is completely dependent on others for sustenance as he has absolutely no means of self-support.

            There are some who teach that the similar statement from Luke 6:20, “"Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God,’” that Matthew 5:3 is talking about material poverty.  MacArthur writes “But sound hermeneutics (the interpretation of Scripture) requires that, when two or more passages are similar but not exactly alike, the clearer one explains the other, the more explicit clarifies the less explicit.  By comparing Scripture with Scripture we see that the Matthew account is the more explicit.  Jesus is peaking of a spiritual poverty that corresponds to the material poverty of one who is ptochos.”

            Here is where we have to have some common sense in this matter.  For if Jesus were here, in this passage, advocating material poverty then He would have contradicted many other parts of His Word, which includes Matthew 5:42, a part of the Sermon on the Mount where we read “"Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.”  This verse teaches us to give financial help to the poor.  So if Jesus were teaching the innate blessedness of material poverty, then the task of Christians would be to help make everyone, including themselves, without any money at all.  Jesus did not teach that the material poverty is the path to spiritual prosperity.

            This is not to say that those who are materially poor do not have some advantages in spiritual matters as they do not have certain distractions and temptations because they are poor.  The materially rich have some disadvantage by having these certain distractions and temptations.  However material possessions have no necessary relationship to spiritual blessings as Matthew makes clear that Jesus is here talking about the condition of the spirit, and is not talking about one’s wallet.

            I have to say that this first sub-section is fairly long so we will be camped out here for a few days, but the things we are learning from this section has the potential to change lives, of both unbelievers and believers.  To change the lives of unbelievers because they can learn that there is nothing in and of themselves that they can do in order to be saved as their spiritual condition is as bad as it can be and so they must rely on the grace of God and the effectual call of the Holy Spirit to come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.  As far as believers there is a verse that comes to my mind “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,” (Col. 2:6).  This verse tells me that in the same way that I became a believer that I am to walk in my Christian life.  I was spiritual poor and depended upon the Lord to save me and now for me to please the Lord in my walk I am to realize that they only way I can do that is to depend upon the Spirit of God to lead me and therefore for me to do the things that God has planned for me to do from eternity past “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  What I see so far in this passage is something that I need to continue to learn in my life and that is humility.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To be humble because I can do nothing on my own to earn salvation or to walk with the Lord in the way He desires me to do.  To be content with what the Lord has given me and how He causes me to walk and to do the things He desires me to do.  I am finding joy as I begin this wonderful study of the Sermon on the Mount.

3/26/2020 10:27 AM

PT-4 "The Beatitudes" (Matt. 5:3)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/25/2020 11:37 AM

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  PT-4 “The Beatitudes”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 5:3

            Message of the verses:  “3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

            John MacArthur states that blessedness is on a higher level than anything in the world, and as I think about that I would have to conclude with his statement as being blessed by God is something that is so special that nothing else can compare to that for a part of that blessing is being born-again into His family.  The flowing verse was the verse that I studied back on March 18, 2006 “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD” (Gen. 6:8).”  We could say that the world grace could also be viewed as favor, and so we could say also that Noah was blessed by the Lord, and if that were not true then not one of us would be here on planet earth today.  Now as we continue to look at the Sermon on the Mount as it begins with blessed or blessing we can understand why this sermon was really spoken to believers, and as mentioned before it does have an evangelistic message too, but it is for believers.  The Sermon on the Mount is a completely new way of life, based on a completely new way of thinking, and that world thinking is important for us to understand, for it does indeed take thinking for believers to understand this wonderful sermon.  MacArthur states that this sermon “is in fact based on a new way of being.  The standard of righteousness, and therefore the standard of happiness, is the standard of selflessness—a standard that is completely opposite to man’s fallen impulses and unregenerate nature.”

            We cannot follow Jesus without having His new life within us, and that surely comes through the power of the Holy Spirit who is the author of all Scripture including this Sermon on the Mount. 

            There are some that think that this sermon if for the millennial kingdom and fulfills Isaiah’s prophecy of things like during the kingdom that the lion will lie down with the lamb.  Suppose a person goes to the zoo and talks to a lion for a long time about how the lion should not hurt the lamb and then finally puts a lamb in with the lion.  Because the lion still acts like a vicious beast it will eat the lamb as talking has done no good for the sake of the lamb.  This is the same with people as like a lion has its own nature and that is to do harm so people who are not born into the family of God still have their own nature and having that nature cannot do the things that Jesus is speaking of in this sermon.  As I have said many times before I was born again I was born wrong, but being born-again I am born right and with the help of the Holy Spirit my life has changed.  It is called sanctification, as it is a process, and it is a process to understand this sermon that Jesus gave almost 2000 years ago.

            John MacArthur writes “It is important to remember that the Beatitudes are pronouncements, not probabilities.  Jesus does not say that if men have the qualities of humility, meekness, and so on that they are more likely to be happy.  Nor is happiness simply Jesus’ wish for His disciples.  The Beatitudes are divine judgmental pronouncements, just as surely as are the ‘woes’ of chapter 23.  Makarios is, in fact, the opposite of ouai (woe), and interjection that connotes pain or calamity.  The opposite of the blessed life is the cursed life.  The ‘blessed’ life is represented by the true inner righteousness of those who are humble, ‘in spirit,’ whereas the cursed life is represented by the outward, hypocritical self-righteousness of the proud religionists (5:20).

            “The Beatitudes are progressive.  As will be seen as each one is discussed in detail, they are not in a random or haphazard order.  Each leads to the other in logical succession.  Being poor in spirit reflects the right attitude we should have to our sinful condition, which then should lead us to mourn, to be meek and gentle, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to be merciful, pure in heart, and have a peacemaking spirit.  A Christian who has all those qualities will be so far above the level of the world that his life will rebuke the world—which will bring persecution from the world (5:10-11) and light to the world )vv. 14-16).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  That is surely a lot to take in, and my thoughts are that sanctification is something like what people say about doing something difficult is like answering the question “How do you eat an elephant?”  The answer is “One bite at a time.”  Sanctification is a process that the Holy Spirit does in my life through doing things like reading and studying, and memorizing the Word of God along with meditation on it.  Listen to good preaching and also in some cases different circumstances that He brings into my life. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To continue to be open to learning contentment, humility and to continue to find joy as I study God’s Word.

3/25/2020 12:12 PM

PT-3 "The Beatitudes" (Matt. 5:3)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/24/2020 9:30 AM

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  PT-3 “The Beatitudes”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 5:3

            Message of the verse:  “3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

            I mentioned that we will see what Jesus had to say about the philosophy of the world, as we ended up looking at what Solomon had to say in yesterday’s SD.  To do this we will look at Luke 12:15 “Then He said to them, "Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.’”  Jesus is saying that the “tree of happiness” cannot grow in a cursed earth, as earthly things cannot ever bring lasting earthly happiness, much less eternal happiness.

            Now as we look at this truth we should also point out that the opposite is also true and that is that spiritual things cannot satisfy physical needs.  If someone is hungry that person needs food and not a lecture on grace.  Likewise when he is hurt he needs medical attention and not moral advice.  True spiritual concern for such people will express itself first of all in providing for their physical needs.  I have read or heard about missionaries who go to remote parts of the earth and the first thing that they do is to provide medical attention and food to those in need and then after that they are able to talk to the people about their real need, and that is having Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.  “17 But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?” (1 John 3:17)

            There is a more common danger and this is trying to meet almost every need with physical things.  This philosophy is futile and also unscriptural.  Two examples from the OT are from the life of Saul who when he was distressed, his jewels and his army could give him no help.  Then in Daniel chapter five we read about a great feast given by Belshazzar and then the famous handwriting on the wall caused his knees to begin to knock together.  “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin” is what the hand wrote and then what Daniel interpreted for him 26 “This is the interpretation of the message: ’MENE’-God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it. 27 “’TEKEL’-you have been weighed on the scales and found deficient. 28 “’PERES’-your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians." 29 Then Belshazzar gave orders, and they clothed Daniel with purple and put a necklace of gold around his neck, and issued a proclamation concerning him that he now had authority as the third ruler in the kingdom.”

            John MacArthur quotes the great Puritan saint Thomas Watson who wrote “The things of the world will no more keep out trouble of spirit, than a paper sconce will keep out a bullet.  Worldly delights are winged.  They may be compared to a flock of birds in the garden, they say a little while, but when you come near to them they take their flight and are gone.  So ‘riches make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.’’

            Now with us today in many countries is what we call the “health and wealth gospel,” and this is not the true gospel at all as this gospel puts God in a box and says that He must give health and wealth to all believers.  Jesus, while on earth lived as a very common person as when He became old enough He worked with His step-father Joseph building things like houses, and then once He began His ministry He stated that the foxes have dens but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head. 

            We will end with a quote from John MacArthur and then it is my desire to finish this section in our next SD.  “To expect happiness from the things of this world is like seeking the living among the dead, just as the women sought Christ at the garden tomb on that first Easter morning.  The angels told the women, ‘He is not here, but He has risen’ (Luke 24:6).  Paul said, ‘If then you have been raised up with Christ, kee seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth’ (Col. 1:1-2).  John said ‘Do not love the world, nor the things in the world…And the world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever’ (1 John 2:15, 17).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today: “To set my mind on the things above and not on the things that are on this earth.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to continue to teach me contentment, humility and to continue to give me joy from the study of His Word each day.

3/24/2020 10:04 AM

PT-2 "The Beatitudes" (Matt. 5:3)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/23/2020 11:06 AM

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  PT-2 “The Beatitudes” 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 5:3

            Message of the verse:  “3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

            We have been talking about how the Sermon on the Mount is for believers, although it is evangelist in nature, but the sermon is for believers.  Now blessedness is fundamentally an element of the character of God, when men partake of His nature that comes through Jesus Christ they also partake of His blessedness, and with this said we see clearly that the sermon is for believers.  MacArthur writes that “Others can see the kingdom standards and get a glimpse of kingdom blessings, but only those who belong to the kingdom have the promise of personally receiving and experiencing the blessings.  To be ‘blessed’ is not a superficial feeling of well-being based on circumstances, but a deep supernatural experience of contentedness based on the fact that one’s life is right with God.  Blessedness is based on objective reality, realized in the miracle of transformation to a new and divine nature.”  I have to believe that this highlighted statement from John MacArthur helps us understand a lot about what this sermon is about and who it is for.  No believer can keep on their own what is stated in this sermon, but the only way to keep and understand this sermon is through the Holy Spirit of God.

            Have you ever read through the Beatitudes and have them seem like the conditions and their corresponding blessings do not seem to match?  This could be called paradoxical.  When we look at things found in the sermon like mourning, desire for righteousness, mercy, and persecution, they are not the stuff of which happiness is made of.  So to the natural man, and also to the immature or to the carnal Christian, such happiness sounds like misery with another name.  We read from one commentator as he has observed, it is much “as if Jesus went into the great display window of life and changed all the price tags.” 

            MacArthur writes “In a way happiness is misery with another name; Jesus had changed the price tags.  He teaches that misery endured for the right purpose and in the right way is the key to happiness.  That basic principle summarizes the Beatitudes.  The world says, ‘Happy are the rich, the noble, the successful, the macho, the glamorous, the popular, the famous, the aggressive.’  But the message from the King does not fit the world’s standards, because His kingdom is not of this world but of heaven.  His way to happiness, which is the only way to true happiness, is by a much different route.”

            Seneca, who was a first-century Roman philosopher who actually tutored Nero, wisely wrote, “What is more shameful than to equate the rational soul’s good with that which is irrational?”  The point that he was making is that you cannot satisfy a rational, personal need with an irrational impersonal object.  External things cannot satisfy internal needs.  Sometimes I get the urge to buy something that in my mind I wrongly believe that whatever I buy will cause me great satisfaction.  It may make me feel good for a while, but when the newness of it wears off so does the so-called satisfaction.  Only things that God gives to me can truly bring satisfaction, and salvation is surely at the top of the list.  What I am talking about here is exactly the philosophy of the world.  You read stories of people who will a great deal of money in the lottery and the story that most of the time comes out is that the person who won a great deal of money whishes that they had never bought that lottery ticket as what they thought would bring happiness only brought great sorrow.

            The Old Testament story of Solomon tells us that he did not have to win the lottery as he was probably the riches man ever to live and when you read his story in the book of Ecclesiastes we read the following at the beginning of the book “1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2 “Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher, "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity." 3 What advantage does man have in all his work Which he does under the sun?”  Solomon finally gets it as we read the following from the last two verses “13The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. 14 For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”

            Lord willing we will begin our next SD with some things from the Lord from the gospel of Luke.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:   I know from the beginning of this study on the Sermon on the Mount that I have to realize what true happiness is all about.  I have to say that there are things that I really like to do including playing golf and bowling along with a bit of traveling too, and I have to realize that there is nothing wrong with doing those things as long as they are not my major focus to be happy, only that can come from the Lord.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to bring about true happiness to me as I desire for Him to continue to work in my life to bring about contentment, humility and joy as I study His Word, which He is truly doing as I study the Sermon on the Mount.

3/23/2020 12:01 PM

PT-1 "The Beatitudes" (Matt. 5:3)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/22/2020 11:38 AM

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  PT-1 “The Beatitudes”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 5:3

            Message of the verse:  “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

            When we look at Matthew 5:3-12 we see what is commonly called The Beatitudes, which is a name derived from Latin and referring to a state of happiness or bliss.  What we see here, as we have mentioned in earlier SD’s that Jesus is presenting the possibility of people being genuinely happy, and that available happiness is what we see in the opening theme of the Sermon on the Mount.  MacArthur adds “Many people, including some Christians, find that hard to believe.  How could a message as demanding and impossible as the Sermon on the Mount be intended to make people happy?  Yet the first and greatest sermon preached by Jesus Christ begins with the resounding and repeated them of happiness, a fitting start for the New Testament’s ‘good news.’”  I believe that our study, especially of verses 3-12 will be a mind changer for perhaps many of us.  At this time I want to quote verses 3-12.

  “3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. 8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 10 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12 “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.’”

            I suppose the question may come up about God as we look at these beatitudes as some have perhaps accused God of being a cosmic killjoy.  Is God a cosmic killjoy?  The answer to this question is a resounding “NO.”  It is the desire of God to save men from their tragic lostness and to give them power to obey His will, and to make them happy.  I think that the important part of that last statement is “to give them power to obey His will,” and once that is done then we will be fulfilled and happy because we are fulfilled.  MacArthur adds “In this great sermon, His Son carefully and clearly sets forth the way of blessedness for those who come to Him.”

            MacArthur teaches that “Makarios (blessed” means happy, fortunate, blissful.  Homer used the word to describe a wealthy man, and Plato used it of one who is successful in business.  Both Homer and Hesiod spoke of the Greek gods as being happy (makarios) within themselves, because they were unaffected by the world of men—who were subject to poverty, disease, weakness, misfortune, and death.  The fullest meaning of the term, therefore, had to do with an inward contentedness that is not affected by circumstances.  That is the kind of happiness God desires for His children, a state of joy and well-being that does not depend on physical, temporary circumstances (cf. Phil. 4:11-13).”  11 Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. 12 I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. 13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

            We will look at one more word in closing for this SD “The word ‘blessed’ is often used of God Himself, as when David ended one of his psalms with the declaration ‘Blessed be God!’ Ps. 68:35).  His son Solomon sang, ‘Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone works wonders’ (Ps. 72:18).  Paul spoke of ‘the glorious gospel of the blessed God ‘(1 Tim. 1:11) and of Jesus Christ ‘who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords’ (6:15).  Blessedness is a characteristic of God, and it can be a characteristic of men only as they share in the nature of God.  There is no blessedness, no perfect contentedness and joy of the sort of which Jesus speaks here, except that which comes from a personal relationship to Him, through whose ‘magnificent promises’ we ‘become partakers of the divine nature’ (2 Pet. 1:4).”

            He again we begin to understand that the Sermon on the Mount is meant for believers and through the power of the Holy Spirit of God gives us the power to obey what Jesus is preaching about.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I can only learn humility through the power of the Holy Spirit, and can also receive joy from the Spirit of God as I study His Word.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To receive humility, contentment, and joy from the Holy Spirit of God to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord.

3/22/2020 12:18 PM