"The Problem: Danger of Failure" (Matt. 5:13b)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/30/2020 10:34 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  “The Problem:  Danger of Failure”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 5:13b

 

            Message of the verse:  “but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again?  It is good for nothing anymore, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.”

 

            In Palestine much of the salt used there was found along the Dead Sea and it was contaminated with gypsum along with other minerals that can make the taste of it flat and even repulsive.  When people got some of this bad tasting salt they would not just throw it out of their house on the dirt around it for that would kill the dirt and they could not plant anything there.  They would throw it on a path of on a hole in the road where it would get ground up into the dirt there. 

 

            MacArthur writes “There is a sense in which salt cannot really become unsalty.  But contamination can cause it to lose its value as salt.  Its saltiness can no longer function.”

 

            We can be sure that Jesus is not talking about losing salvation as God does not allow any of His own to be taken from Him.  Let us look now at John 10:27-30 “27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 “My Father, who has given them

to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”  Salt cannot lose its saltiness as true believers cannot lose their salvation.  However Christians can lose their value and effectiveness in the kingdom when sin and also worldliness contaminate their lives.  In a similar way when salt becomes tasteless when it is contaminated so when Christians are involved in the world and sinfulness they too can lose their testimony to those around them.  This truth can be seen in Romans 7:15-25 and also 2 Peter 1:9-10 “9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;”

 

            The following two paragraphs from John MacArthur’s commentary I have highlighted and believe that they are very important to me and hopefully will be for you as I quote them:  “With great responsibility there is often great danger.  We cannot be an influence for purity in the world if we have compromised our own purity.  We cannot sting the world’s conscience if we continually go against our own.  We cannot stimulate thirst for righteousness if we have lost our own.  We cannot be used of God to retard the corruption of sin in the world if our own lives become corrupted by sin.  To lose our saltiness is not to lose our salvation, but it is to los our effectiveness and to become disqualified for service (see 1 Cor. 9:27).

 

            “Pure salt does not lose its saltiness, that which makes it valuable and effective.  Christians who are pure in heart do not become ‘tasteless,’ ineffective and useless in the kingdom of God.”

            Now we want to move onto looking again at light as it too is in danger of becoming useless.  Similar to salt light cannot lose its essential nature.  Even if a light is hidden it is still light, but a hidden light is a useless light.  This is why people do not “light a lamp, and put it under the peck-measure, but on a lampstand; and it gives light to all who are in the house.”   One of the great proverbs is Proverbs 31 and we see in verse 31 that the woman does not let her lamp go out at night “She senses that her gain is good; Her lamp does not go out at night.”  This gave illumination for anyone in her household who wanted to get up at night.  A hidden light cannot even be used to read by; as it helps neither the person who hides it nor anyone else.

 

            MacArthur concludes “Whether we hide our light because of fear of offending others, because of indifference and lovelessness, or because of anything else, we demonstrate unfaithfulness to the Lord.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I surely learned something about salt in this SD and it is a good lesson to learn when compared to my salvation which is a gift from God that cannot be taken away, but it can be tarnished if I don’t tell others about it or if I am sinful and worldly.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Confess my sin and keep a short list with the Lord and tell others about the gift of salvation.

 

6/30/2020 11:14 AM

 

           

PT-2 "Being Light" (Matt. 5:14)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/29/2020 9:08 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  PT-2 “Being Light”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 5:14

 

            Message of the verse:  “14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden;’”

 

            God’s people are to follow the example of why Jesus came to earth to do as seen in Luke 1:79 “TO SHINE UPON THOSE WHO SIT IN DARKNESS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH, To guide our feet into the way of peace.’”  Jesus Christ is the true light and all believers are His reflection.  MacArthur states “He is the Sun and we are His moons.  A free rendering of 2 Corinthians 4:6 could be, ‘God, who first ordered the light to shine in the darkness, has flooded our hearts with His light.  We now can enlighten men only because we can give them knowledge of the glory of God as we have seen it in the face of Jesus Christ.’  God sheds His light on the world through those who have received His light through Jesus Christ.”

 

            The Jewish people had long claimed to have God’s light, as God had long called them to be His light, however because they had ignored and rejected His light, they could not be His light.  The Jews were confident that they were guides “to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,” However Paul told them that they were blind guides and lamps without light.”  Let us look at Romans 2:17-21 focusing in on verses 19-22 “17 But if you bear the name "Jew" and rely upon the Law and boast in God, 18  and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, 19  and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20  a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, 21  you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal?  22 You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?”  As believers we are to prove ourselves “so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world” (Phil. 2:15).

 

            I think that you will agree that by its nature and also by definition light must be visible in order to illuminate.  In the same way Christians must be more than the largely indirect influence of salt; as they must also be the direct and noticeable instruments of light.

 

            As we move onto looking at verse fifteen we can learn that both in the daytime and also at night, “a city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”  That city is exposed for all to see.  MacArthur writes that “By day its houses and buildings stand out on the landscape, and at night the many lights shining out of its windows make it impossible to miss.  A secret Christian is as incongruous as a hidden light.  Lights are to illuminate not to be hidden; to be displayed, not to be covered.  Christians are to be both subtle salt and conspicuous light.”

 

            Let us look at John 1:9 “There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.”  This verse helps us understand that God did not give the gospel of His Son to be the secret, hidden treasure of a few but He gave Him to enlighten every persons as this verse tells us.  The problem is that many reject the Light and those who are telling people about the Light.  God has offered His Light to the world and so the church must give out the light to the entire world.  The gospel is not our gospel but it is God’s and He gives it to us not only for our own sakes but also for the entire world. As true believers we have learned that we are salt and light and we must fulfill that identity.

 

6/29/2020 9:36 AM

PT-1 "Being Light" (Matt. 5:14a)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/28/2020 8:23 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                  Focus: PT-1“Being Light”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 5:14a

 

            Message of the verse:  “14 “You are the light of the world.”

 

            It is Jesus who is calling us light, and we have mentioned earlier that there is a difference between salt and light.  Salt is hidden whereas light is obvious.  I remember studying the book of John some years ago and at the beginning of that gospel we see that Jesus is called “The Light.” One of the things that I got from that statement when I was writing my Spiritual Diary was that light involves power.  You cannot have light without power.  Even when Moses descended from Mt. Sinai and his face was very bright it was because of being around the power of God, and of course that is power.  We get light from the sun because of the powerfulness of the sun.  We turn on a light in a dark room and that is because of the power of the electric.  There is another thing different between salt and light and that is that salt is more the indirect influence of the gospel, while light is more its direct communication.  Salt works more because of our living while light works primarily through what we teach and what we preach.  Salt is largely negative as it can retard corruption, however it cannot change corruption into incorruption.  Now as mentioned light is positive as it not only reveals what is wrong and what is false but helps produce what is righteous and what is true.

 

            John MacArthur writes “In his introduction to the book of Acts, Luke refers to his gospel as ‘the first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach’ (1:1).  Christ’s work always has to do with both doing and speaking, with living and teaching.”

 

            I want to now move onto some of the things other biblical authors had to say about light and because of it being Sunday I will end this SD with these quotes.  Psalm 36:9 David writes “For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.”  1 John 1:5-7 “5 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6  If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7  but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”  Next we look at a very familiar verse from Psalm 119:105 as the author of that Psalm writes “105 Nun. Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.”  MacArthur adds “God’s light is to walk by and to live by.  In its fullest sense, God’s light is the full revelation of His Word—the written Word of Scripture and the living Word of Jesus Christ.”

 

6/28/2020 8:46 AM

 

 

           

PT-4 "Being Salt" (Matt. 5:13)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/27/2020 10:23 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                   Focus:  PT-4 “Being Salt”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 5:13

 

            Message of the verses:  “13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.”

 

            It is my desire to finish this sub-section “Being Salt” in this SD this morning. I realize that this has been a long section to look at but I believe that it was surely worth taking the time to look at it. 

 

            Being a child of God it is important to remember that we are the temples of the Holy Spirit, as Christians represent God’s presence here on earth.  Christians are the salt that prevents the entire earth from degenerating even more rapidly than it is at this time.  As I think about all the troubles that are happening in our country I have to believe that if it were not for believers in this country that things would be far worse.  All I have to do is read from the book of Revelation in chapters 6-19 to find out what it will be like without the church in the world.

 

            John MacArthur tells the story of a lady from Scotland which I will quote at this time.  “Helen Ewing was saved as a young girl in Scotland and gave her life completely to the lordship of Christ.  When she died at the age of twenty-two it is said that all Scotland wept.  She had expected to serve God as a missionary in Europe and had become fluent in the Russian language.  But she was not able to fulfill that dream.  She had no obvious gifts such as speaking or writing, and she had never traveled far from home.  Yet by the time she died she had won hundreds of people to Jesus Christ.  Countless missionaries mourned her death because they knew that a great channel of their spiritual strength was gone.  She had risen every morning at five in order to study God’s Word and to pray.  Her diary revealed that she regularly prayed for over three hundred missionaries by name.  Everywhere she went the atmosphere was changed.  If someone was telling a dirty story, he would stop if he saw her coming.  If people were complaining, they would become ashamed of it in her presence.  An acquaintance reported that while she was at Glasgow University she left the fragrance of Christ wherever she went.  In everything she said and did she was God’s salt.”

 

            A wonderful story of a girl who was filled with the Holy Spirit and was herself salt, something that any believer would like to be like.

 

            Our next sub-section will be entitled “Being Light” and that section is not nearly as long as the one we just finished. 

 

6/27/2020 10:41 AM

PT-3 "Being Salt" (Matt. 5:13)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/26/2020 9:11 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                   Focus:  PT-3 “Being Salt”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                             Reference:  Matthew 5:13

 

            Message of the verse:  “13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.”

 

            I mentioned that I would give what John MacArthur’s comments were on what Jesus was talking about in this SD.  He believes that the primary characteristic Jesus emphasizes is that of preservation.  To understand this we must look at what Believers are to do while on planet earth, and that is to having a preserving influence in the world as they retard moral and spiritual spoilage.  I have to say that there is a lot of that going on in our world today, which means that the church has a lot of work to do in order to retard all of the moral and spiritual spoilage that is going on.  MacArthur writes “When the church is taken out of the world in the rapture, Satan’s perverse and wicked power will be unleashed in an unprecedented way (see 2 Thess. 2:7-12).  Evil will go wild and demons will be almost unbridled.  Once God’s people are removed it will take only seven years for the world to descend to the very pits of hellishness (see Dan. 9:27; Rev. 6-19).”  Let me say that Revelation chapters 6-19 are the chapters that describe the “Tribulation” period on earth where three out of four people who are in this period will die, so this is what MacArthur is speaking about when the church is gone from the earth.   Yes, people will be saved, perhaps more than at any time in the history of the world, but many of them will die for their faith, being killed by those who hate God.  Let us look at 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12 “7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. 8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; 9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. 11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.”  I want for just a moment to talk about what Paul states in verses 11 and 12 as I have been mulling this over in my mind for some weeks not.  The question is that, especially in the United States even unbelievers have heard of the rapture of the church and when that event happens I was wondering how those unbelievers who heard the truth about the rapture would not help but understand what just happened when billions of people on the earth disappear.  My thoughts came to what is seen in verses 11-12, and that is that once this happens those whom the Lord will call to salvation will believe, realizing that if they would have accepted Christ as their Savior and Lord that they would be in heaven at that time.  However those who reject what just happened will believe the lie that will be taught after this event by the antichrist.  My thoughts are that the lie that will be stated is that aliens came and took all of the troublemakers off the earth.  Ok back to being salt after we look at Daniel 9:27 “"And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.’”  (The “he” is speaking of the antichrist.)

 

            Right now we believers are in the world being salt.  John MacArthur quotes Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and with that quotation we will end this SD.  “Most competent historians are agreed in saying that what undoubtedly saved [England] from a revolution such as that experienced in France at the end of the eighteenth century was nothing but the Evangelical Revival.  This was not because anything was done directly, but because masses of individuals had become Christians and were living this better life and had this higher outlook.  The whole political situation was affected, and the great Acts of Parliament which were passed in the last century were mostly due to the fact that there were such large numbers of individual Christians found in the land.”  Oh that this would happen in our country today.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Being salt in this world may not seem like I am doing much, but in the end when I get to heaven perhaps I will see that being salt did effect both believers and unbelievers alike.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  It surely is my desire to be salt in a very tasteless world.

 

6/26/2020 9:47 AM

           

PT-2 "Being Salt" (Matt. 5:13)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/25/2020 11:11 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                   Focus:  PT-2 “Being Salt”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 5:13

 

            Message of the verse:  “13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.’”

 

            I want to begin with a truthful quote from John MacArthur; truthful in that he is telling a story about Oliver Wendell Homes reason why he did not enter into the ministry.  “Oliver Wendell Holmes reportedly once said that he might have entered the ministry if certain clergymen he knew had not looked and acted so much like undertakers.  Sometimes the world is turned away from the church because Christians are hypocritical, self-righteous, judgmental, and truly boring by any standard.  But even when the church is faithful—indeed, especially when it is faithful—the world does not value whatever taste or aroma it sees in Christianity.  Paul reminds us that Christians are an ‘aroma from life to life’ and ‘a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved,’ but are an ‘aroma of death to death’ among ‘those who are perishing’ (2 Cor. 2:15-16).”

 

            I don’t think that I have ever put salt in a wound, but I understand that it stings, and because of this some interpreters believe that Jesus meant to illustrate just the opposite characteristic to that of flavor.  However Christians are to sting the world, we are to prick its conscience, and make it uncomfortable in the presence of God’s holy gospel.  A tall order, but possible with the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

 

            The analogy certainly has merit, for when we look at the church today in general we will find that it frequently is so concerned with trying to please, attract, and excuse that its witness against sin is obscured and pretty much lost.  Now we may be so concerned that we don’t offend others that we fail to confront them over the fact that they are lost and unless they come to Christ, confessing that they are sinners and that they sin, they will spend eternity in hell.  MacArthur adds “A gospel that does not confront sin is not the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

 

            In his commentary John MacArthur tells of a couple who came into his office to receive marriage counseling before they got married.  He found out that the woman had put in for a divorce of her current husband because he was unfaithful, and she was not sleeping with the man she wanted to marry.  She and her boyfriend both said that they were believers and though that God brought them together.  MacArthur told them that God had not brought them together because of the sinfulness that they were living in.  They stormed out of the office and were offended by what he said, but he was only telling them what was in the Word of God.  He then goes on to write “The church cannot stand for the Lord if it does not stand for His Word, and when it stands for His Word its witness will often sting.”

 

            There is another element that salt does, and that is that it causes thirst.  This happens partly because it increases the body’s craving for water, salt tablets often are given to those who hard work in excessive heat.  I am very familiar with this having worked in a foundry where in the summer temperatures could climb well over one hundred degrees and working in that heat for eight hours or more brought on thirst and we often used salt-tablets.  If we did not drink a lot of liquids then this could cause much trouble.  I remember one time I went to see the nurse because I seemed to be overheated and she would not let me leave until my pulse was down to the correct level that is what heat can do to a person without drinking enough liquids.  So what does this have to do with us being salt in the lives of the unbelievers?  We as believers must show unbelievers their need of being hydrated as in their case they are having spiritual dehydration and this causes a great deal of danger in their lives if they are not taking in the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Perhaps a person may see our peace in trying circumstances, or our confidence in what we believe, and thereby be persuaded to try our faith.  As we look at what the world is going through at this time this is a good time for believers to show their faith and not be fearful.

 

            Lord willing we will try and get to exactly what our Lord was saying about believers being salt in our next SD.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have to remember that when I give out the gospel that I show people from the Word of God that they are sinners and that there is a way to have their sins taken away.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust that the Lord will give me people to talk to about the gospel as I live my life today and continue to give me opportunities.

 

6/25/2020 11:46 AM

PT-1 "Being Salt" (Matt. 5:13)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/24/2020 11:08 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                   Focus:  PT-1 “Being Salt”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 5:13

 

            Message of the verse:  “13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.”

 

            Today we begin to talk about salt and in the ancient world it was more valuable than it is in today’s world.  In the Greek history the word they called salt theon and this word means divine.  In the Roman world soldiers were sometimes paid with salt thus the saying “not worth his salt” came about.

 

            The story goes that in the ancient society’s salt was used as a mark of friendship.  Sharing salt meant you were friends with someone. Even if your enemy and you shared salt you were obliged to treat him as a friend.

 

            In the Near East salt was used to bind a covenant, similar in the way an agreement or contract is notarized in our society today.  It went like this:  When the parties of the covenant ate salt together then the covenant was given special authentication.  In 2 Chronicles 13:5 we read that God made a covenant of salt with Davie, but there are no particulars given in that account.  “"Do you not know that the LORD God of Israel gave the rule over Israel forever to David and his sons by a covenant of salt?’”  John Gill writes the following on the last part of this verse:  “even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt? that is, a perpetual one, which was inviolable, and never to be made void; called so, because salt preserves from corruption and putrefaction, and because made use of in sacrifices offered when covenants were made.”  I have been going through the OT in my Bible reading or I should say I am listening to the OT on a DVD, and one of the things that I have seen is that God prescribed that all sacrificial offerings in Israel were to be offered with salt “so that the salt of the covenant of your God shall be lacking” (Lev. 2:13).

 

            MacArthur writes “In numerous ways Jesus’ hearers—whether Greek, Roman, or Jewish—would have understood ‘salt of the earth’ to represent a valuable commodity.  Though most could not have understood His full meaning, they knew He was saying that His followers were to have an extremely important function in the world.  Whatever else it may have represented, salt always stood for that which was of high value and importance.”

 

            There are some who think that because salt is, for the most part, white that Jesus may have intended to associate this with purity, as seen in verse eight “having a pure heart.”  Believers are to influence the world because of their purity helping to get rid of the corruptness in the world.  This idea is probably not what Jesus was talking about because saltiness, not the color of salt is the issue.

 

            Then there are some who talk about the flavor of salt to add divine flavor to the world.  Many foods need salt to give them a flavor in the same way the world is drab and tasteless without the presence of Christians.  MacArthur adds:  “Someone has even said, ‘We Christians have no business being boring.  Our function is to add flavor and excitement to the world.’  Christians are a means of God’s blessing mankind, including unbelievers, just as He sends His sun and rain on the righteous and unrighteous alike.” 

 

            There are some senses in which that principle is true as we see in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians that an unbelieving spouse is sanctified by a believing spouse (1 Cor. 7:14).  Then there was the story of Sodom that if ten righteous people were found that it would have been saved.

 

            There is a problem with this view as seen in the early life of the church as Christianity was considered to be anything but attractive and flavorful.  “It has, in fact, often found the most spiritual Christians to be the most unpalatable.  In the world’s eyes, Christians, almost above all others, take the flavor out of life.  Christianity is stifling, restrictive, and a rain on the world’s parade.” 

 

            Christianity became a recognized “religion” in the Roman Empire later on after the church was established and MacArthur quotes Emperor Julian who lamented, “Have you looked at these Christians closely?  Hollow-eyed, pale-cheeked, flat-breasted, they brood their lives away unspurred by ambition.  The sun shines for them, but they don’t see it.  The earth offers them its fulness, but they desire it not.  All their desire is to renounce and suffer that they man come to die.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I continue looking at this subject it is my desire to learn how to be salt in a very tasteless world, to have influence on the unsaved world.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to live my life in a way that I can do the will of my Lord, to do the things that He has planned for me to do in eternity past.

 

6/24/2020 11:46 AM

The Plan: The Dominion of His Disciples (Matt. 5:13-16)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/23/2020 10:51 AM

 

My Worship Time                                 Focus:  PT-2 “The Plan: The Dominion of His Disciples”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                               Reference:  Matthew 5:13-16

 

            Message of the verses:  “13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. 14 “You are the light of the world; A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

 

            I stated at the end of our last SD that we would begin this one by looking more at the word “are.”   “Are stresses being rather than doing.  Jesus is stating a fact, not giving a command or request.  Salt and light represent what Christians are.  The only question, as Jesus goes on to say, is whether or not we are tasteful salt and effective light.  The very fact that we belong to Jesus Christ makes us His salt and light in the world.”

 

            Looking at this last quotation from John MacArthur we can come to the conclusion that it is Jesus Christ who is the source of our savor and also of our light.  John 1:9 tells us “There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.”  John 9:5 states “"While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.’”  Since Jesus has left the world, and since we are His body here on earth, and since Jesus stated that it was better that He left this world so that His followers would give out the good news, we are to shine forth the reflected light of Christ.  In Ephesians Paul tells us “walk as children of light” (Eph. 5:8), and then in Colossians 1:13 Paul writes “Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son” (AKJV).

 

            Let us take a more closely look at salt and light, which we as believers are.  Salt retards corruption as we have stated, and light reveals truth.  One of the functions is negative, and the other is positive.  One of them is silent, while the other is verbal.  By the indirect influence of the way that we live we can retard corruption, and then by the direct influence of what we say we manifest light.  Perhaps in the country that I live in believers are not using enough salt and light, and perhaps the reason is that Christians are having too much fun and not being serious enough to what is going on around us. 

 

            John MacArthur writes “But salt and light are unlike that which they are to influence.  God has changed us from being part of the corrupted and corrupting world to being salt that can help preserve it.  He has changed us from our own darkness to be His agents of giving light to others.  By definition, and influence must be different from that which it influences, and Christians therefore must be different from the world they are called in influence.  We cannot influence the world for God when we are worldly ourselves.  We cannot give light to the world if we revert to places and ways of darkness ourselves.

 

            “The great blessings emphasized in verses 3-12 lead to the great responsibility of verses 13-16.  The blessings of heaven, comfort, inheriting the earth, being filled with righteousness, being given mercy, being called God’s children, and being given heavenly reward bring the responsibility of being His salt and light in the world.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life:  I am salt and I am light and so it would be best if I use both salt and light as I live my life in this very evil world that I am living in.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to remember what I have learned from the eight Beatitudes as seen in the last paragraph that I quoted from John MacArthur. 

 

6/23/2020 11:22 AM  

PT-1 "The Plan: The Dominion of His Disciples" (Matt. 5:13-16)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/22/2020 8:40 AM

 

My Worship Time                                Focus:  PT-1 “The Plan:  The Dominion of His Disciples”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 5:13-16

 

            Message of the verses:  “13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

 

            It is God’s desire that the church influence the world so that those in the world can see the truth of the gospel and come to a saving knowledge in Jesus Christ.  Sadly the opposite seems to be true in the church today as we live our lives in 2020.

 

            John MacArthur explains “In both verse 13 and 14 the pronoun you is emphatic. The idea is ‘You are the only salt of the earth,’ and ‘You are the only light of the world.’  The world’s corruption will not be retarded and its darkness will not be illumined unless God’s people are its salt and light.  The very ones who are despised by the world are persecuted by the world are the world’s only hope.

 

            The ‘you’ in both verses is also plural.  It is His whole body, the church, that is called to be the world’s salt and light.  Each grain of salt has its limited influence, but it is only as the church collectively is scattered in the world that change will come.  One ray of light will accomplish little, but when joined with other rays a great light is created.”

 

            In his commentary John MacArthur tells the story about a magazine article that had a series of pictures in it from the state of Kansas where a house is seen in the middle of a very large wheat field.  In the house was a mother who had a missing small son who wandered out into the wheat field.  The mom and dad looked but could not find the young boy who was too short to be seen in the taller wheat field.  The next day many of their neighbors, along with the couple held hands and made their way through the field finally finding the young boy who had died of exposure.  The caption under the last picture read “God, if only we had joined hands sooner.”

 

            As believers we know that the world is full of lost souls who cannot see their way above the distractions and the barriers of the world, so they cannot find their way to the Father’s house until Christians join together as salt and light and sweep through the world in search of them.  As believers our work is not simply as individual grains of salt or as individual rays of light but as the whole church of Jesus Christ.

 

            In our next SD, Lord willing we will begin by looking at the word “are.”  After that we will begin to look at sub-sections that go along with this main section.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I did not realize that what Jesus was talking about here was the church in action, but after seeing this it all makes sense as being a part of a local church can give much more help than trying to do things on my own.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  As part of my local church I want to be salt and light to the world.

 

6/22/2020 9:09 AM

PT-3 "The Presupposition: Corruption and Darkness" (Matt. 5:13-16)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/21/2020 9:13 AM

 

My Worship Time                         Focus:  PT-2 “The Presupposition:  Corruption and Darkness”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Matthew 5:13-16

 

            Message of the verses:  “13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15  nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

 

            The first thing that I want to do is to wish all of you dads out there a very happy father’s day hopping that your day will be wonderful.

 

            MacArthur tells a story about a man named Bertrand Russell who spent his whole life studying philosophy, but in the end he realized that meant little or even nothing as this study did not help to deal with man’s problems which of course is being born a sinner.

 

            There are some scientist who believe that the stimulation of the brain either by surgery of some kind of electric pulse to the brain can help mankind, but in the end even if it did help some, which is really doubtful man is still dead in his trespasses and sins.  I have mentioned this before what I have written in the front of one of my Bibles about what total depravity is all about.  “Man is not as bad as he can be but he is as bad off as he can be.  Psalm 51:5 states “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.”  This Psalm is of course one of the Psalms that David wrote after he had sinned with Bathsheba and her husband Uriah.   MacArthur adds “There is no good part in man from which a better can be constructed or from which his corrupt part can be isolated.  Isaiah said, ‘The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint’ (Isa. 1:5).  Jeremiah babbled the heart as ‘more deceitful than all else’ and as desperately sick’ (Jer. 17:9).

 

            Mankind is in a downward spiral as Paul writes about in Romans 1:18-32, verses that we have looked at in different SD’s in the past but worth looking at again:  “18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. 28  And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29  being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30  slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”

 

            MacArthur concludes this section by writing “Just as every person is affected by the sin problem, every person also contributes to the sin problem.”

 

6/21/2020 9:33 AM

PT-2 "The Presupposition: Corruption and Darkness" (Matt. 5:13-16)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/20/2020 10:12 AM

 

My Worship Time                         Focus:  PT-3 “The Presupposition:  Corruption and Darkness”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Matthew 5:23-16

 

            Message of the verses:  “13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15  nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

 

            Remember that if you have not looked at yesterday’s SD, please do so, at least at the beginning of it to understand what we will be doing as we study this group of verses.

 

            We want to begin this SD by looking at some very unpleasant judgments that the Bible speaks of.  These judgments came after the fall in the garden by our first parents as seen in Genesis chapter three.  We move not too far along in human history to read about Noah as he prepared an ark for he, his wife and three sons and their wives to be kept safe as God would judge the world with a flood.  Soon after that the offspring of these eight would see another judgment from the Lord as He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah as they became so rotten that this was necessary.  God did this by fire and brimstone.  Then we read of the final judgment that is seen in 2 Peter 3:7-10 “7 But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.8 But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.”  We have written about these verses in the past and the time table for them is after the 1000 year kingdom is over the kingdom that is headed up by Jesus Christ from David throne in Jerusalem. 

 

            MacArthur writes “Man is infected with the deadly virus of sin, which has no cure apart from God.  Yet unlike their attitude toward physical disease, most men do not want their sin cured.  They love their decadence and they hate God’s righteousness (cf. John 3:19-21).  They love their own way and they hate God’s.”  “19 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20 “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God” (John 3:19-21).

 

            I mentioned what I will call a theory, but as I study the Word of God, I believe is the truth.  Yesterday I mentioned that technology causes many problems for mankind and in his commentary John MacArthur also mentions this by stating that “Man’s knowledge is increasing by quantum leaps, but his increased knowledge is mechanical knowledge, inanimate knowledge, lifeless knowledge, knowledge that has no bearing on the inner man (cf. 2 Tim. 3:7).  His knowledge does not retard his corruption but rather is used to intensify and defend it.”  “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim 3:7).   My theory is that at the tower of Babel when God confused the languages that He did so in order to stop the learning of man, and it has worked for many, many centuries until we got to the 20^th century when the computer came into existence and mans knowledge continues to grow at a rate that has not been seen before. 

 

6/20/2020 10:35 AM