SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/10/2021 9:51 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “Differences”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt. 7:24-27
Message of the verses: “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.’”
We
continue to mention that this story that Jesus is telling here as He ends His
Sermon on the Mount is not really about houses, but it is about people, about
those who truly are believers, and those who only think that they are
believers. Now as we look at the words
about the “wise man” who is building “his house upon a rock,” it is believed
that the rock that Jesus is referring to is the Word of God. This wise builder is the one who hears Jesus’
“words…and acts on them.” MacArthur adds
“Building on the ‘rock’ is equivalent to obeying God’s Word.”
Most
of us are familiar with what happens in the sixteenth chapter of Matthew where
we see Peter’s confession of who Jesus is as he states “"But who do you say that I am?" 16 Simon
Peter answered, "You
are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 And Jesus said to him,
"Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this
to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 “I also say to you that you are
Peter, and upon this rock
I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” MacArthur writes “This ‘rock’ (petra)
is the same ‘rock’ as that in Matthew 7:24-25.
It is the bedrock of God’s Word, His divine revelation. It is the divine revelation such as was given
to Peter by the ‘Father who is in heaven,’ and is the only ‘rock’ on which the
Christian life can be built.”
As
we look at what the mark of true discipleship is, it is not simply hearing and
believing, but believing and doing. This
was not happening in the case of the scribes and the Pharisees to whom Jesus
seems to be point out in this sermon as ones who were not obeying the Lord, but
actually doing their own thing and thinking they were doing the will of God. Let us look at what the half-brother of Jesus
has to say about this: “22 But prove
yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 23 For
if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at
his natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at himself and
gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.” Yes the Word of God is a mirror that we must
look into each and every day of our lives.
MacArthur adds “In other words, a person who professes to know Christ
but does not obey Christ, has no lasting image of what the new life is all
about. He glimpses Christ, and glimpses
what Christ can do for him, but his image of Christ and of the new life in
Christ soon fade. He experience with the
gospel is shallow, superficial, and short-lived.” I believe that the parable of the sower and
the seed found in the 13th chapter of Matthew is something that we
need to understand as it goes along with what we are talking about here. Remember in that parable there is only one
who is truly a believer.
Now
we want to look at what the apostle John has to say about this in 1 John 2:3-6 “3
By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 The one who says,
"I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a
liar, and the truth is not in him; 5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has
truly been perfected. By
this we know that we are in Him: 6 the one who says he abides in Him ought
himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” In his letter to Titus Paul powerfully and
convincingly asserts this same thing: “15
To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving,
nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. 16 They
profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable
and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.”
We
will conclude with another quotation from John MacArthur: “To profess knowledge of God and His truth
but not follow God obediently and live His truth is to be deceived. It is to have entered by the wide gate and to
be walking on the broad way that leads to destruction. It is to have a ‘house’ built ‘upon the sand.’
“The
only validation we can ever have of salvation is a life of obedience. That is the only proof Scripture mentions of
our being under the lordship of Jesus Christ.
Obedience is the sine qua non of salvation.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Following the commands of Jesus is not to be
burdensome, but to be happy, happy that He cares enough for me that He has
given me commands to follow.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I trust that the Lord will give me victory
over some things that I am working on and that fasting will be a Biblical
solution.
3/10/2021 10:22 AM
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