SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/31/2021 9:38 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “Intro to Matt. 7:13-14 “Which Way
to Heaven”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
7:13-14
Message of the verses: “13 “Enter through
the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to
destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 “For the gate is small
and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
John
MacArthur writes “In perfect harmony with His absolute sovereignty, God has
always allowed men to choose Him or not, and He has always pleaded with them to
decide for Him or face the consequences of a choice against Him. Since mankind turned their backs on Him in
the Fall, God has ben every effort and spared no cost in wooing His creatures
back to Himself. He has provided and
shown the way, leaving nothing to man but the choice. God made His choice by providing the way of
redemption. The choice is no man’s.”
Let
us now look at what the Lord instructed Moses to tell the people of Israel
while they were in the wilderness: “19 “I
call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you
life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you
may live, you and your descendants, 20 by loving the LORD your God, by obeying
His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of
your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers,
to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them’” (Deut. 30:19-20).
As
we move on in the Old Testament we move to when Joshua had led the people to
victor in the Promised Land, and at the end of that campaign Joshua tells them “13
’I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities which you had not
built, and you have lived in them; you are eating of vineyards and olive groves
which you did not plant.’ 14 “Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in
sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the
River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 "If it is disagreeable in your
sight to serve the LORD, choose
for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers
served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land
you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD’”
(Joshua 24:13-15).
We
keep moving forward in the Old Testament as we look at what Elijah said to the
people while on Mt. Carmel “Elijah came near to all
the people and said, "How long will you hesitate between two
opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." But
the people did not answer him a word” (1 Kings 18:21). One more from the OT, from the book of
Jeremiah “"You shall also say to this people, ’Thus
says the LORD, "Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of
death” (Jer. 21:8).
Now
we move to the NT as we continue to look at choices from the Word of God: “66 As a result of this many of His disciples
withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve,
"You do not want to go away also, do you?" 68 Simon Peter answered
Him, "Lord, to whom
shall we go? You have words of eternal life. 69 “We have believed and
have come to know that You are the Holy One of God’” (John 6:66-69).
MacArthur
concludes “That is the call that God has been making to men since they turned
away from Him, and it is the supreme appeal of His Word.
We
conclude this SD with a poem that MacArthur puts in his commentary from the
British poet John Oxenham who wrote:
“To
every man there openeth
A Way,
and Ways, and a Way,
And the
High Soul climbs the High Way.
And the
Low Soul gropes the Low.
And in
between, on the misty flats,
The rest
drift to and fro.
But to
every man there openeth
A His
Way and a Low,
And
every man decidet
The Way
his soul shall go.”
1/31/2021 10:03 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment