SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/17/2020 10:08 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-4 “The
Permanence of Scripture”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 5:18
Message of the verse: “18 "For truly
I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or
stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”
I
want to begin this SD by stating that as we continue to look at Matthew 5:18
the “Focus” will be the same throughout the entire study of this verse.
One
of my favorite sections in the Bible, and I have many favorite sections, is
from the 4th chapter of Matthew, also repeated in Mark 1, and Luke
4, is the temptation of Christ by Satan.
How did Jesus confront Satan’s temptations? Well the answer is that He used the Word of
God, and all of His rebukes were from the OT book of Deuteronomy. Now let me talk for just a moment about
Deuteronomy. If the children of Israel
had gone into the Promised Land without marching around the desert for 40 years
then there would have been no need for Deuteronomy to be written, for that word
means “the renewing of the law,” and was given to the second generation of the
children of Israel, for all the first generation had died in the wilderness
because they did not believe God would bring them victory in their battles
against those who were living in the Promised Land at that time. By the way Caleb and Joshua were the only
ones from the first generation to leave Egypt to enter the Promised Land
because they believed God would give Israel victory over those living in the
Promised Land.
Getting
back to Jesus’ temptations, He could have used other methods to stop Satan’s
temptations, but chose to use the Word of God, which certainly gave a wonderful
example to all of His children.
John
MacArthur writes “I heard a preacher once say, ‘The one thing I’ve learned is
that when you get into the pulpit you’ve got to somehow communicate without
using the Bible, because the Bible turns people off. I’ve spent a long time developing the ability
to communicate to people without ever using the Bible. I started out in my ministry saying this
verse says this and this verse says that, and I finally realized that wouldn’t
get me anywhere. Now I say it in my own
way and people will accept it.’
“What
that preacher said is true. Many people
today are very much turned off by the Bible.
But men’s being turned off by God’s Word is hardly a new
phenomenon. It has been turning off
unbelievers for thousands of years. Many
people today, just as in Jesus day—and in the day of Moses and the prophets—would
much rather hear the opinions of men than the Word of God. But those opinions cannot lead them to the
truth or to salvation. Opinions that do
not square with Scripture will often leave men superficially contented and
satisfied, but they will also leave them in darkness and sin.” I have to say that I would never sit under
the teaching of any preacher who did not teach from the Word of God.
The
following is what happened after Jesus’ temptations: 16 And He came to
Nazareth, where He had been brought up;
and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to
read. 17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened
the book and found the place where it was written, 18 “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD
IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS
SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE
BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, 19 TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR
OF THE LORD." 20 And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and
sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He
began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your
hearing.” Now I want to compare these
verses with Isaiah 61:1 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the
LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to
bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to
prisoners.”
What
can we learn from these verses? We can
learn that the Lord Jesus Christ used Scripture’s authority to establish His
own authority. Do you remember what
happened when John the Baptist sent some of his disciples to question Jesus
about whether or not He was the Messiah?
Here is the answer that Jesus gave to them from Matthew 11:2-6 “2 Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the
works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to Him, "Are You the Expected
One, or shall we look for someone else?" 4 Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and
report to John what you hear and see: 5 the
BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed
and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the POOR
HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM. 6 "And blessed is he who does not take
offense at Me.’” Now we can see from
this reply that Jesus gave to John’s disciples that Jesus again referred to the
same passage from Isaiah which predicted the Messiah and His work.
Remember
when Jesus cleared the temple the second time, which was right before He would
go to the cross to die for my sins and all those who would accept him that He referred
again to Scripture when He said the following from Mark 11:17 “And He began
to teach and say to them, "Is it not written, ’MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A
HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL THE NATIONS’? But you have made it a ROBBERS’ DEN.’”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I have been listening to the Word of God in
the same way that Warren Wiersbe used to read it, and that is one chapter from
the Old Testament, one chapter from Psalms, and one chapter from the NT each
day. Today I listened to Numbers 15,
Psalm 119, and Hebrews 5. Psalm 119 has
176 verses in it and every verse but three has a word that describes the Word
of God. It is all important and we are
very fortunate to have the Word of God to read, to listen to, and to learn from
each day.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I desire to continue to study and learn from
the Word of God.
7/17/2020 10:52 AM
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