PT-5 'Intro to Matt. 8:16-22)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/6/2021 10:29 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus: PT-5 “Intro to Matt. 8:16-22”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Matthew 8:16-22

 

            Message of the verses:  “16 When evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: "HE HIMSELF TOOK OUR INFIRMITIES AND CARRIED AWAY OUR DISEASES."

    18 Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, He gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea. 19 Then a scribe came and said to Him, "Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go." 20 Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." 21 Another of the disciples said to Him, "Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father." 22 But Jesus *said to him, "Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.’”

 

            I have mentioned earlier about the uniqueness of the teaching of Jesus Christ, as we saw this in our over 12 month study of the Sermon on the Mount, and what people said at the end of that sermon.  We also spoke about what the soldiers said about Him “The officers answered, "Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks” (John 7:46).  I also think about what the former blind man of John chapter nine had to say in John 9:30-33 “30  The man answered and said to them, "Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. 31 “We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him. 32 “Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33 "If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.’”  There is another time His uniqueness comes into play found in Matt. 22:17-22 “17 “Tell us then, what do You think? Is it lawful to give a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?" 18 But Jesus perceived their malice, and said, "Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites? 19 “Show Me the coin used for the poll-tax." And they brought Him a denarius. 20 And He said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" 21 They said to Him, "Caesar’s." Then He said to them, "Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s." 22 And hearing this, they were amazed, and leaving Him, they went away.”  There certainly are other times like when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead in John chapter 11 “Nothing like this was ever seen in Israel” (John 11:33). 

 

            John MacArthur writes “Everything about Jesus was astounding, marvelous, and humanly unexplainable.  It is no wonder that, when the people marveled at Him but would not accept Him, Jesus would Himself marvel at their unbelief (Mark 6:6).  How can people witness God’s power over and over again, admit that it is marvelous and even divine, and yet refuse to accept and follow the One who does such wonderful things.”

 

            Jesus actually explains a part of the answer to this question and that is some people run from the truth because it exposes their sin, which they certainly do not want to give up.  John writes in 3:19-20 “19 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20 "For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.”  We will see as we continue to look at Matthew and have probably seen when looking at our studies from Mark and John that there were some people who just wanted to be around Jesus  because of His charisma and power, they wanted to be a part of this but not a part of who Jesus really is. 

 

            MacArthur concludes this introduction by writing “In Matthew 18:22 Matthew shows us two of the things that often kept such people from genuine conversion:  personal comfort and personal riches.”  I want to also say that while listening to the sermon that goes along with this section that MacArthur add a third which came from this same account from Luke’s gospel.

 

            Message of the verses:  Jesus is the One who has shown us the Father and so I want to remember that great love that Jesus has for me, and how much love that the Father has for me.  I sometimes forget that.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust the Lord to continue to give me insights into the subject of revival and also insights into Psalm 47 as that will be the Psalm that I teach this coming week in our Sunday school class.

 

4/6/2021 10:54 AM