SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/26/2021 9:11 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “Intro to Matt. 7:21-29”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt.
7:21-29
Message of the verses: “21"Not
everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he
who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 “Many
will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and
in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 "And
then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO
PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’ 24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be
compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 “And the rain fell,
and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet
it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 26 "Everyone who
hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his
house on the sand. 27 "The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds
blew and slammed against that house; and it fell — and great was its
fall." 28 When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at
His teaching; 29 for He was teaching them as one having authority, and
not as their scribes.”
We
ended up from our SD yesterday with these thoughts “Sinful man is biased in his
own favor and because of pride, tends to reject the true gospel.” Now we want to talk about two categories of
self-deception and those are of mere verbal profession and of mere intellectual
knowledge. We see the first described in
verses 21-23, and this involves those who say but do not do, and then the
second is found n verses 24-27, and this involves those who hear but do not do.
One
of the things that perhaps we have mentioned in our study of the Sermon on the
Mount is that the Lord is not speaking to irreligious people, to atheists or
even to agnostics. He is not speaking to
pagans, heretics, or apostates. However
we know that the Lord is speaking specifically to people who are devotedly religious;
however they are deluded in thinking that they are on the road to heaven when
they are really on the broad road to hell.
These people are certainly not unlike those in the last days who the
Apostle Paul says will hold a form of godliness but will deny its power as seen
in 2 Timothy 3:5).
In
polls that were taken when John MacArthur was preaching through Matthew it was
found that 50% of Americans believed that they were born-again believers. That would be wonderful if it were true, but
we know that in the late 1970’s this poll was not correct, and probably not
nearly correct. I wonder what would have
happened if Jesus gave His Sermon on the Mount sermon at that time in our
country, but of course anyone in our country could have read over it, but as we
look at this last section in it I wonder how many people really understand why
Jesus gave this sermon and who was really hearing it when He gave it.
John
MacArthur writes “The New Testament not only give extremely high standards for
judging the true Christian life, but also gives many warnings about
spiritual-deception in regard to salvation.
In Matthew 25 Jesus tells of the five foolish virgins who pretended devotion
to the bridegroom but missed meeting him because of their unpreparedness (vv.
1-12), and those professed believers (symbolized as goats) who are surprised
that the Lord rejects them because they never truly served Him (vv. 32-33,
41-46).
In
Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on Matthew 7 verses 21-29 he entitles that section “God’s
Judgment on Us,” and I want to quote his first paragraph in that section as it
is like an introduction of what these verses are saying: “From picturing two ways and two trees, our
Lord closed His message by picturing two builders and their houses. The two ways illustrate the start of life of
faith; the two trees illustrate the growth and results of the life of faith
here and now; and the two houses illustrate the end of this life of faith, when
God shall call everything to judgment.
There are false prophets at the gate that leads to the broad way, making
it easy for people to enter. But at the
end of the way, there is destruction.
The final test is not what we think of ourselves, or what others may
think. The final test is: What will God say?”
That
is a good question to end this SD on.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: The question that Warren Wiersbe asks is not
only for unbelievers but also for believes and so it is my desire to have the
Lord say to me when I meet Him face to face is “Well done my good and faithful
servant.”
My Steps of Faith for Today: As I continue to try, through the Spirit of
God, to organize a small prayer team to begin to continue to fast and pray for
revival I am going to meet with a dear friend this morning for lunch to get his
help.
2/26/2021 9:47 AM
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