SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/26/2020
9:04 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “The Necessity of Spiritual Hunger”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 5:6
Message of the
verse: “6 “Blessed
are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
In this SD we want to continue to
talk about the prodigal son and compare him to some is similar situations
today. The prodigal son knew when it was
time to go home, but there are many today who desire to stay in the far
country, away from God and away from His blessings as the love to buy with
their money pleasure, power, popularity, fame and every other form of
self-satisfaction.
John
tells us in 1 John 2:15-17 “15 Love not the world, neither the things that are
in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes,
and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world
passes away, and the lust thereof: but he that does the will of God stays forever”
(AKJV).
MacArthur
writes “Seeking satisfaction only in God and in His provisions is a mark of
those who come into His kingdom. Those
who belong to the King ‘hunger and thirst for’ the King’s ‘righteousness.’ They desire sin to be replaced with virtue
and disobedience to be replaced by obedience.
They are eager to serve the Word and will of God.”
We
have mentioned that the Beatitudes are in order and spiritual hunger logically
follows the progression. We have seen in
the first three Beatitudes that they are essentially negative, that they are
commands to forsake evil things that are barriers to the kingdom of God. We saw that in poverty of spirit that we turn
away from self-seeking; in mourning we turn away from self-satisfaction; and in
meekness we turn away from self-serving.
These first three beatitudes are also costly and they are also painful
as becoming poor in spirit involves death to self. Mourning over sin involves facing up to our
sinfulness, and becoming meek involves surrendering our power to God’s control.
Now
as we look at the fourth beatitude we find it is more positive and also it is a
consequence of the other three. When we
put aside self, sin, and power and then turn to the Lord, we are given a great
desire for righteousness. The more that
we put aside what we have, the more we long for the things that God has.
John
MacArthur quotes Martyn Lloyd-Jones: “This
Beatitude again follows logically from the previous ones; it is a statement to
which all the others lead. It is the logical
conclusion to which they come, and it is something for which we should all be
profoundly thankful and grateful to God.
I do not know of a better test that anyone can apply to himself or
herself in this whole matter of the Christian profession that a verse like
this. If this verse is to you one of the
most blessed statements of the whole of Scripture, you can be quite certain you
are a Christian. If it is not, they you
had better examine the foundations again.”
As
believers we have to have a hunger and thirst for righteousness, or if we don’t
then we better look at what Paul ended his letter to the Corinthians in 2 Cor.
13:5-6: “5 Test yourselves to see if you
are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about
yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you-unless indeed you fail the test? 6 But
I trust that you will realize that we ourselves do not fail the test.”
MacArthur
adds in conclusion to this section “To have God’s life within us through the
new birth in Jesus Christ is to desire more of His likeness within us by
growing in righteousness. This is
readily clear from David’s confession in Psalm 119:97, ‘O how I love Thy law.’ Paul echoes David’s passion for righteousness
in Romans 7:22, where he testifies, ‘I joyfully concur with the law of God in
the inner man.’ The true believer
desires to obey, even though he struggles with unredeemed flesh (cf. Rom.
8:23).” “And not only this, but also we
ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan
within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the
redemption of our body.”
4/26/2020 9:33 AM
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