SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/9/2020 8:55 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-3
“The Principle of the Mosaic Law”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matthew 5:33
Message of the
verse: “33
“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear
falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord’” (NKJV).
I
want to now look at a very dark time in the life of Peter who made an oath that
was not true, and this is seen later on in the book of Matthew. “69 Now Peter was sitting outside in the
courtyard, and a servant-girl came to him and said, "You too were with
Jesus the Galilean." 70 But he denied it before them all, saying,
"I do not know what you are talking about." 71 When he had gone out
to the gateway, another servant-girl saw him and said to those who were
there, "This man was with Jesus of Nazareth." 72 And again he denied it with an oath,
"I do not know the man." 73 A little later the bystanders came up and
said to Peter, "Surely you too are one of them; for even the way
you talk gives you away." 74 Then he began to curse and swear, "I do
not know the man!" And immediately a rooster crowed. 75 And Peter remembered
the word which Jesus had said, "Before a rooster crows, you will deny Me
three times." And he went out and wept bitterly.” In the book of Luke we learn that when this
third denial happened that Jesus looked at Him.
There must have been a great deal of love in Peter’s heart for the Lord;
otherwise all of this would not have bothered him so much. It bothered him so much that he decided not
to have anything to do with the ministry that Jesus called him to do as seen in
the last chapter of the gospel of John.
The point in looking at this now is that just because a person makes an
oath that does not make it true as seen here.
I
mentioned a couple of vows that I made back in the fall of 1980 in our last SD,
and the question is where they done in a foolish way as we see some found in
the Word of God were. I will list some
verses that talk about foolish vows and the first one come from Joshua 9:15 “Joshua
made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live; and the
leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them.” I will list the name and the Scripture verse
where the foolish vow is found “Jephthah [Judges 11:30-31]; Saul [1 Samuel
14:24]; Herod [Matthew 14:7]).
In
the Old Testament we find that the law shows that oaths were to be made only in
God’s name “"You shall fear only the LORD your God; and you shall
worship Him and swear by His name” (Deut. 6:13). "Because he who is blessed in the earth
Will be blessed by the God of truth; And he who swears in the earth Will swear
by the God of truth; Because the former troubles are forgotten, And because
they are hidden from My sight!” (Isa. 65:16).
Even the Gentiles were to swear only by God’s name, and of Israel’s
wicked neighbors, the Lord said, “Then it will come about that if they will
really learn the ways of My people, to swear by My name, ‘As the Lord lives,’…then
they will be built up in the midst of My people” (Jer. 12:16).
MacArthur
concludes this section by writing “God established the seriousness of keeping
an oath. Even ‘if a person swears
thoughtlessly with his lips to do evil or to doe good, in whatever matter a man
may speak thoughtlessly with an oath, and it is hidden from him, and then he
comes to know it,…he shall confess that in which he has sinned. He shall also bring his guilt offering to the
Lord for his sin which he has committed’ (Lev. 5:4-6). Joshua 9:20 punctuates how essential keeping
an oath is: ‘…lest wrath be upon us for the oath which we swore.’”
Now we move to the fourth section of “The
Battle of the Ages” and the third point under this fourth section “The Battle
of the Incarnation.”
3 “But although the Devil left Him at
that time he was not far away. He was
soon to renew the conflict. The third
attack upon the Saviour was in The
Synagogue at Nazareth. He had returned to Nazareth at the beginning of His
publice ministry and he preached in the synagogue where He had worshipped as a
boy. As He charges home to their hearts
the sin of unbelief, the spirit of the serpent comes upon them and they are
filled with diabolic wrath. As one man
that listening congregation rises to its feet.
Every heart boils with Satanic hatred.
A peaceful Sabbath morning congregation suddenly becomes a raging,
howling mob. Violent hands are laid on
Jesus. He is dragged out of the synagogue;
He is carried bodily along the street.
Now they come to the edge of the cliff on which the city was built. They are about to hurl Him headlong, when
suddenly something happens! Jesus turns
and faces His would be murders. Their
hands fall helpless to their sides.
Jesus quietly walks through the midst of them and goes His way. Satan’s third attack upon Him has failed.”
9/9/2020 9:48 AM
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