PT-5 "Intro to Matt. 7:21-29

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/1/2021 11:03 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-5 “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 have been looking at causes for self-deception in our last SD’s and today we begin with the third reason.  The third reason is inordinate concentration of religious activity is how MacArthur explains it.  It can be explained by events that people who think that they are believers do as they attend their church services and also do things in their church like singing in the choir or working in the nursery, like reading their Bibles or even attending Bible studies.  MacArthur writes that “Those things can cause a believer to think he is being faithful and obedient, when in reality he may not be; and they can cause an unbeliever to think he is saved, when in reality he is not.”  I want to add again 2 Corinthian 13:5 “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you — unless indeed you fail the test?”  There is a man who is a retired Pastor in our church who said a couple of weeks ago that he went all the way through Bible College and was working doing what he thought was work for the Lord and then was convicted that he truly was not a believer and then he gave his life to Christ, so things like this can happen and so from time to time it is good to just look over that verse from 2 Corinthians.

 

            We move to the forth cause of self-deception and that is what may be called the fair exchange, or balancing out, approach is how MacArthur explains it.  This fourth cause happens when a so-called believer does not confess his sins, but he will give himself the benefit of the doubt and in doing this he will rationalize his salvation by thinking that the good things that he does outweigh the bad things that he does.  Well I gave a good size offering to the church so this ought to cover those sinful things that I have done and I am ahead of the “game.”  Now all true believers came to realize that there is nothing in and of themselves that will cause them to go to heaven and be in the presence of our Holy God, but realize that they cannot do anything and then realize that Jesus did it all.  Paul writes in Romans 3:12 “there is none who does good, there is not even one.”  MacArthur writes “In the second place, it is the sin itself-not an excuse or imbalance of it—that separates us from God and brings death and damnation (Rom. 5:12; 6:23).  Whatever good we might somehow accomplish would not cancel those consequences of sin, any more than eating right and exercising will save the life of a person infected with a deadly disease.  His only hope is in receiving a cure for the disease, not in trying to balance off its deadly effect by keeping his body otherwise healthy.  Isaiah said that the best deeds of men before God are as ‘a filthy garment,’ that is, a menstrual cloth (Isa. 64:6).

 

            When we look at people who are outright hypocrites and then the blatantly disobedient, which we know are not true believers there are two other common kinds of deceived people who believe that they are Christians when truly they are not.  The first is the superficial person, who is the one who has had little or no instruction in the gospel and he is the one who thinks that because of his attending Sunday school when he was a child, and then being baptized, and then becoming a church member, or other such things that they him in good standing with God.

 

            Now we want to look at the other type of person and he is the one who is much more knowledgeable about the Bible and the gospel, and this person is more apt to be involved in church activities of various sorts.  However he lives in a constant state of sinfulness, and has no desire or thought of confessing and forsaking his sin or of even seeking after righteousness.  He is the one who looks to feelings, experiences, healings, angels, earthly material blessing, promises, and a host of other external things for proof of his salvation.  This person is not concerned with God’s commands, or God’s standards.  He does not care about increasing sins that he commits.  MacArthur quotes Martyn Lloyd-Jones who suggest “he is more concerned about the by-products of the faith than the fruit itself.”

 

            This person may belong to something like what they think is a church organization like the Masons or Knights of Columbus, but neither are groups who really know what salvation is all about, and probably are more controlled by Satan than many people think.  MacArthur writes “There is almost no limit to the means by which men can be deluded by Satan, by other men, and by themselves.  In every case there is failure to come through the narrow gate with repentance, submission to the Lord, humility, and a desire for holiness.  It is therefore of immeasurable importance to recognize and be on guard against beguiling of every sort.  But the most important objective is not to identify all of the many deceitful ways but to find and follow the one true way.

 

            “The many delusions found in the broad way of destruction are evidenced in two basic manifestations, which Jesus focuses on here:  empty words and works and empty hearts.  Those in the first group make mere verbal profession of faith and works.  Those in the second have mere intellectual knowledge of the gospel they hear.  Those in the first group say but do not do; those; those in the second hear but do not do.”

 

            Well we finally got through the introduction to these remaining verses of the greatest sermon every preached, “The Sermon on the Mount,” and now we will begin to look at the first three verses in more detail, verses 21-23 as we think about “Empty Words” in our next SD, Lord willing.  I listened to a sermon on these three verses yesterday morning as MacArthur has a number of sermons in these entire last nine verses of Matthew chapter seven.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is my desire to know everything about true salvation.  When a person who begins to work in a bank is not taught about every type of counterfeit bills but is taught about everything about what are real genuine money they are able to spot a counterfeit bill easily.  The same is true with real Christianity. 

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust the Lord to prepare me to be an active part in a prayer group that I want to put together in order to pray for revival in our lives, our churches life, and in our countries life.

 

3/1/2021 11:55 AM