SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/19/2020
10:45 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-5 “The
Meaning”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 5:8
Message of the
verse: “8 “Blessed
are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.’”
Let us look at Isaiah 59:1-2 as we
begin this SD: “1 Behold, the LORD’S hand is not so short That it cannot
save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear. 2 But your iniquities
have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His
face from you so that He does not hear.” What we see in these two verses is that God
is the One who can forgive sins.
MacArthur writes “It is impurity of heart that separates man from God…And
just as impurity of heart separates men God, only purity of heart through Jesus
Christ will reconcile men to God.”
Here is something that most
believers can understand and that is that there are two kinds of “religion.” The first is human achievement and second is
the religion of divine accomplishment.
We say two kinds, but there are many variations of the first kind, which
includes every religion but biblical Christianity. Now in the religion of human accomplishment
there are two basic approaches, the first is “head” religion, and this means
those which trust in creeds and religious knowledge, and then the second is “hand”
religion which trusts in good deeds.
Heart “religion” is the only true
religion and this is based on God’s implanted purity. One must have faith in what God has done
through Jesus Christ as seen in Ephesians 1:17 “we have redemption through His
blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.” God has imputed not only His righteousness to
us, but also His purity, and that is wonderful news.
Now we will look at six different
kinds of purity as we continue in this section.
1.
Primal Purity. This kind only exists in God. That purity is an essential to God as light
is to the sun or wetness is to water states John MacArthur.
2.
Created
Purity. This is the purity that was created in God’s creation before it was
corrupted by the Fall as seen in Genesis chapter three. God created angels and humans in purity but tragically, some of the
angels and all of mankind fell from that purity.
3.
Positional Purity.
This is the kind of purity that all believers are given the moment that they
accept Christ as their Savior and Lord.
This happens as God imputes to us Christ’s own purity, and Christ’s own
righteousness as seen in the following verses:
“But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the
ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness” (Rom. 4:5). (Galatian 2:16 also helps us understand this
truth: “nevertheless knowing that a man
is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus,
even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in
Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh
will be justified.) From the day that
the Father sees us just as He sees the Son, which is perfectly righteous and
without blemish as see in the following two verses: “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin
on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor.
5:21). “how much more will the blood of
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God,
cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Heb. 9:14).
4.
Actual Purity. MacArthur writes “imputed purity is not just a
statement with substance; with imputed purity God grants actual purity in the new nature of the believer (Rom. 6:40-5;
8:5-11; Col. 3:9-10; 2 Pet. 1:3). In
other words, there is no justification without sanctification. Every believer is a new creation (2 Cor.
5:17). Paul affirms that when a believer
sins, it is not caused by the pure new self, but by sin in the flesh (Rom.
7:17, 19-22, 25).”
5.
Practical Purity. This section
is rather long and according to MacArthur it is also the “hard part,” “the part that does require our supreme effort.
Only God possesses or can possess primal purity. Only God can bestow created purity, ultimate
purity, positional purity, and actual purity.
But practical purity, though it too comes from God, demands our
participation in a way that the other kinds of purity do not. That is why Paul implores, ‘Therefore, having
these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh
and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God’ 2 Cor. 7:1). It is why Peter pleads, ‘As obedient
children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your
ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all
your behavior; because it is written, ‘You shall be holy for I am holy.’ (1
Pet. 1:14-16). We are not saved just for
future heavenly purity but also for present earthly purity. At best it will be gold mixed with iron and
clay, a white garment with some black threads.
But God wants us now to be as pure as we can be. If purity does not characterize our living,
we either do not belong to Christ, or we are disobedient to Him. We will have temptations, but ‘if we confess
our sins, He is faithful and righteousness to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness’ (1 John 1:9).’”
6.
Ultimate Purity.
This is the purity that all believers are looking forward to and that
will happen when we experience it when we are glorified in His presence, after
all that is what our verse in Matthew ends with “for they shall see God.” All sins
will be totally and also permanently washed away, and “we shall be like Him,
because we shall see Him just as He is” (1 John 3:2).
Spiritual meaning for my life: It is my desire to keep a short list with the
Lord, and also to look forward to having “Ultimate Purity.”
My
Steps of Faith for Today: Strive to have a practical purity that will include
me learning more about contentment, humility, and to continue to have joy as I
study His Word.
5/19/2020 11:53 AM
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