SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/13/2020
10:48 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “The
Context”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt. 5:1-2
Message of the verses: “1 And when He saw
the multitudes, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His
disciples came to Him. 2 And opening His mouth He began to teach them,
saying,”
The
message that the King was about to give was related to the message of the Old
Testament, in fact this was a reaffirmation of what is seen in the Old Testament. This is very important to understand for what
was said in the Old Testament was truth and so Jesus, the King reaffirms some
of the truth found there. MacArthur adds
“Yet the emphasis of the gospel (which means ‘good news’) was radically
different from the current understanding of the Old Testament—as astounding
clarification of what Moses, David, the prophets, and other inspired writers of
God’s Word had revealed. In addition to
that, Christ’s message struck violently against the Jewish tradition of His
day.” As we go through the gospels we
will see that Jesus always had a problem with the Jewish traditions when they
did not agree with the Word of God.
As
we look at the last message in the Old Testament we read “And he will restore
the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to
their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse’ (Mal. 4:6). Now if we contrast this with this first great
sermon of the NT we see that it begins with a series of blessings, that we call
Beatitudes as seen in Matthew 5:3-12.
This is quite a contrast as already stated. The Old Testament was actually characterized
by Mount Sinai, as this is where God’s laws were given to Moses, and when this
happened there was thunder and lightning, and all of its warnings of judgment
and cursing. Compare this to the New
Testament which is characterized by Mount Zion, with its grace, its salvation
and healing, along with its promises of peace and blessings as seen in Hebrews
12:18-24. Perhaps it would be a good
idea to look at this verses now to reinforce what we have been talking
about: “18 For you have not come to a
mountain that can be
touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind, 19
and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such
that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them. 20 For
they could not bear the command, "IF EVEN A BEAST TOUCHES THE MOUNTAIN, IT
WILL BE STONED." 21 And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said,
"I AM FULL OF FEAR and trembling." 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, 23 to the general assembly and
church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of
all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the
mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than
the blood of Abel.” One of the
things that I was thinking of while listening to God’s Word this morning was
the importance of the word “but” as I have highlighted in verse 22, as that
little word changes the direction and in this case from something not so good
to something wonderful. I was also
thinking of that word connected with God, “but God.” I found those words “but God” some 42 times
in the Word of God, and if I did the math correctly there 21 in the OT and 21
in the NT and one of the most important ones that I found was in Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
We
will conclude this section with a quotation from John MacArthur, and Lord
willing, we will finish this first section in our nest SD.
“The
Old Testament law demonstrates man’s need of salvation, and the New Testaments
message offers the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord had to begin with a proper
presentation of the law, so the people would recognize their sin—then could
come the offer of salvation. The Sermon
on the Mount clarifies the reasons for the curse and shows that man has no
righteousness than can survive the scrutiny of God. The new message offers blessing, and that is
the Lord’s opening offer.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today:
Studying this is a great reminder of some of the differences between the
Old and New Testaments which was refreshing to me as I begin to study this most
important part of Matthew’s gospel.
My Steps of Faith for Today: We will continue to look at “The Strategy of
Satan” in a moment. First I want to
remember each morning to do as suggested in this book and that is to give my
body to the Lord as I arise from bed, then my mind to the Lord as I study His
Word, and then my will to the Lord as I have my prayer time. I desire to continue to learn contentment, to
learn humility, and to have joy as I study His Word each day.
“When God’s Spirit is at work in us, he
produces humility and not pride. Humility is not thinking meanly of yourself (‘I’m
not worth anything! I can’t do anything!’); humility is simply not thinking of
yourself at all! The Christian must be
honest with himself and with God. That
is why Romans 12:3 is in the Bible.
‘3 For through the grace given to me I say to everyone
among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to
think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of
faith.’”
3/13/2020 11:31 AM
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