SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/4/2020
10:36 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Intro to
Matt. 4:23-25
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
4:23-25
Message of the verses: “23 And Jesus
was going about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming
the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of
sickness among the people. 24 And the news about Him went out into all Syria;
and they brought to Him all who were ill, taken with various diseases and
pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them. 25 And great
multitudes followed Him from Galilee and Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from
beyond the Jordan.”
Today
we begin looking at the last three verses in the 4th chapter of
Matthew. John MacArthur entitles this
chapter in his commentary “The King’s Divine Credentials.” I have to say that after we complete this
fourth chapter of Matthew that we will be looking at perhaps the longest
section of Scripture that I have ever looked at; that would be what is called “The
Sermon on the Mount,” as it covers chapters 5, 6, and 7 of Matthew. To give you an idea of how long we will be
looking at this sermon from our Lord in John MacArthur’s commentary he devotes
less than 130 pages of his first book on Matthew on the first four chapters and
then the rest of the 488 pages he devotes to the “Sermon on the Mount.”
In
these last three verses we will be talking about miracles that our Lord did
towards the beginning, and throughout His ministry on Planet earth. These miracles demonstrated His divine
character and power, which served as messianic credentials. John the Baptist was very concerned with
those credentials as he would later send messengers to Jesus to make sure that
He was indeed the Messiah. Jesus would
tell those messengers about all the miracles He was doing along with His
preaching.
John
the apostle would write at the end of his gospel the following about what Jesus
did “many other signs therefore Jesus also performed in the presence of the
disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written that
you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing
you may have life in His name” (John 20:30-31).
We also will see in Matthew that he confirms that through His mighty
works Jesus presented Himself as the Messiah, the great coming King, which as
we have stated many times that this is the theme of Matthews gospel, presenting
Jesus to the Jews as their King, and also to us who read his gospel today.
John
MacArthur writes “The primary purpose of all four gospels writers was to
present Jesus as being more than a man.
He was the very Son of God. Apart
from that central truth everything else about Him would be of little
consequence. It would be of absolutely no
consequences as far as salvation is concerned.
But in light of that truth, everything
about Him is of supreme significance.
What He said was the Word of God, and what He did was the work of God.
44 And Jesus cried out and said, "He who
believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me. 45 "He who
sees Me sees the One who sent Me. 46 "I have come as Light into the
world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness. 47 “If
anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did
not come to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 “He who rejects Me and
does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what
will judge him at the last day. 49 “For I did not speak on My own initiative,
but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what
to say and what to speak. 50 “I know that His commandment is eternal life;
therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.’”
As
one looks at Jesus claims they may think like the enemies of Jesus said of Him
that He had a demon. In today’s world
people are being killed each and every day for believing that Jesus is indeed
the Messiah, the only way for anyone to get into heaven as Jesus stated in John
chapter 14. Jesus still has many enemies
in today’s world and His enemies are still involved in killing innocent people,
people who have put their faith for salvation in Jesus, but Jesus is in heaven
so His enemies take out their frustrations on His people. In the days when Jesus walked on planet earth
there were those who believed in Him and those who did not believe in Him and
the same is true in today’s world. In
the end all those who do not accept Jesus as their Savior and Lord will end up
in the lake of fire. Polycarp a first
century martyr told those who were killing him by burning him alive that the
fire that they were using to burn him would only last for an hour, but the fire
that his enemies would face would last forever in hell.
John
MacArthur concludes his introduction writing “Matthew focuses both on Jesus’
words and His works as, in 4:23-25, he introduces His ministry of teaching,
preaching, and healing. He has already
demonstrated that Jesus came at the right time and place and with the right
message (4:12-17), and that for His work He chose the right partners (vv.
18-22). Now he shows that He came with
the right plan—to establish His deity by His words and His works.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I have been re-reading for the third time “The
Strategy of Satan” which is something that our Pastor has begun a series on in
our Wednesday evening service. Dr.
Wiersbe, the author has stated in this book about the plan that Jesus had from
His Father as He was on this earth and states that He too has a plan for
believer’s lives. I see in our study of
Matthew parts of that plan that God had for His Son and this encourages me to
believe that He has a plan for my life.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Nothing much has changed in this section for
me as I desire to continue to learn humility, and to also have great joy as I
study and learn from the Word of God each day.
3/4/2020 11:17 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment