PT-2 "Jesus Was Accessible" (Matt. 9:18)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/31/2021 11:40 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus: PT-2 “Jesus Was Accessible” 

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Matthew 9:18

 

            Message of the verse:  “18 While He was saying these things to them, a synagogue official came and bowed down before Him, and said, "My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live.’”

 

            Sometimes we see that when a person came and bowed down to Jesus that it was not sincere, as in the case of James and John’s mother who bowed down to Jesus wanting Him to grant in His kingdom that her two sons may sit, one on the right and one on the left.  This truly was insincere on her part.

 

            This is not the case with Jairus as he proved his humility and sincerity, as what he wanted from Jesus was to bring his child back from the dead.  He was looking for Jesus power and asked him in humility.  MacArthur writes “Whatever thoughts he may have had about the reaction of his fellow religious leaders, he knew that Jesus was the only source of help for his daughter, who had just died.  Nothing else mattered as he came to the Lord in anguish and utter desperation.”  Once again we must remember that Matthew is recording this miracle and the others found in chapters 8-9 as proof that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, the King and when His kingdom came then these types of things would happen. 

 

            We mentioned that from Mark’s and Luke’s account that when Jairus first came to Jesus that his daughter was on the verge of death but not dead.  Then a short time later he got the message that she had indeed died and that he was not to trouble the teacher anymore.  However this did not stop him as we see in Matthew’s account.

 

            I want to quote the following from MacArthur’s commentary as it is something that I did not understand before.  “The daughter was twelve years old, in the first year of her womanhood according to Jewish custom.  The day after his thirteenth birthday, a Jewish boy was recognized as a man, and a day after her twelfth birthday, a Jewish girl was recognized as a woman. Jairus’s daughter had just come into the flower of womanhood, but to her father she was still his little girl, whose life was dearer to him than his own.  The sunshine of her childhood had turned into the shadow of death.”

 

            There was nothing during this time in the Jewish community that could have prevented his daughter to live, to be cured.  It seems that in the life of Jairus that he had been thinking about Jesus, knowing that He had done miracles around their town, and so it seems that the Spirit of God had been working in the heart of Jairus that he believed that Jesus could do for his daughter what needed to be done, that is raise her from the dead as he showed evidence of this when he said to Jesus “Come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live.”  His faith was without reservation or a hint of doubt.  Jairus swallowed his pride and his fear as he was not caring what his neighbors, his family, or even his fellow religionists thought.  There was nothing or nobody to stop him from coming to see Jesus.

            Jairus was neither the first nor the last that came to Jesus because of a great need.  It is often that great tragedy drives a person to Christ. There are some people who feel no need in their lives to come to Jesus as they seem to have everything taken care of on their own.  I know people like this and so perhaps it is a good time to pray that something would come into their lives to drive them to the Savior.  When a person is telling others about Christ the first step is to convince them of their need of salvation and therefore of Christ as the only means for obtaining it. 

 

            We can see that in the life of Jairus that he already was convinced that human resources could not save the life of his daughter, and he was also ready convinced of Christ’s power that He could do it.  It is possible that while she was just sick that he did not want to find Jesus, but once he found out that she would not recover that he would go to Jesus for help.  Now at this time he knew that it was only through the power of Jesus that his daughter could live again.  MacArthur adds that “he did not come primarily to adore or glorify Jesus but to seek life for his daughter and relief of pain and anguish for himself.  But he trusted in Jesus for that help, and he found Him to be accessible.”  There we have that word again, “accessible,” a word that as mentioned before has brought new insight into my life, knowing that Jesus will always have time for me, and all I have to do is talk to Him about concerns, and also to praise Him for being there for me all of the time.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful that my Lord is always accessible to me to talk to through prayer and then to praise Him for always being there for me.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to give me insights into teaching the introduction to the book of Hebrews this coming Sunday in our Sunday school class.

 

5/31/2021 12:14 PM

PT-1 "Jesus Was Accessible" (Matt. 9:18)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/30/2021 9:35 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus: PT-1 “Jesus Was Accessible”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 9:18

 

            Message of the verse:  “18 While He was saying these things to them, a synagogue official came and bowed down before Him, and said, "My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live.’”

 

            The first thing we have to do is understand the first section of this verse:  “While He was saying these things.”  This refers to the conversation that Jesus had just been having with the critical Pharisees and also the confused disciples of John the Baptist as seen in verses 11-17, and it was in these verses we could see that our Lord made clear that He had come to save only those who acknowledge and confess their sins and the ways of the old life of the flesh and then the new life of the spirit are totally incompatible. 

 

            As we look at this story found in Mark 5:22 and also Luke 8:41 we see that they explain that the man who came up to Jesus was named Jairus.  This man’s title in the Greek is archon which means a synagogue official.  Now he was not only a synagogue official but he was the chief official, or the elder of the synagogue.  MacArthur says that in the Greek archisunagogos and in the Hebrew rosh hakeneseth.”  So what this man was, was the highest ranking religious official of the synagogue.  “He supervised the worship services and over saw the work of the other elders, which included teaching, adjudicating disputes, and other such leadership duties.”

 

            In all probability this man was a Pharisee and as we have been looking at Matthew’s gospel over the last few months we can see that the scribes and the Pharisees were out to get Jesus, as the hatred of these men of Jesus was beginning to show its ugly head.  Why do I bring this up?  Well as we go on with this story we will see no hatred from Jairus, complete humility, and the reason was that his 12 year old daughter as seen in Matthew’s gospel had just died.  As we look at the other two gospels of Mark and Luke we see that this had not happened right away as he first came to Jesus to tell Him that his daughter was gravely ill and to come in a hurry and heal her.  Now as far as the opposition of the scribes and Pharisees going on against Jesus at this time Jairus could not have helped but to know about it, yet as stated there was something way more important in his life at this time.

 

            We will close this SD with a quotation from MacArthur’s commentary:  “Yet when he faced Jesus he did not seek to protect himself by going at night, as Nicodemus did, or by disguising his true motive and need with an involved and veiled religious question.  We are not told what he then thought about Jesus’ messiahship, but to have ‘bowed down before Him’ was to offer an act of great homage and reverence—and the Greek term behind ‘bowed down’ (proskuneo) is most often rendered ‘worship’ (see Matt. 4:10; John 4:21-24; 1 Cor. 14:25; Rev. 4:10; etc.).  The act involved prostrating oneself before the honored person and kissing his feet, the hem of his garment, or the ground in front of him.”  This for sure does not look like something a Pharisee would have done to Jesus, but family will cause you to do things that you would not ordinarily do.

            I may have mentioned that the title of this section “Jesus Was Accessible” has really been something that has stirred my heart in thinking in a new fresh way how much He is accessible to me, and for that I am truly thankful.

 

5/30/2021 10:01 AM   

PT-3 Intro into "Jesus Power Over Death" (Matt. 9:18-26)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/29/2021 10:09 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                Focus:  PT-4 Intro to “Jesus Power over Death”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference: Matthew 9:18-26

 

            Message of the verses:  “18 While He was saying these things to them, a synagogue official came and bowed down before Him, and said, "My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live." 19 Jesus got up and began to follow him, and so did His disciples. 20 And a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak; 21  for she was saying to herself, "If I only touch His garment, I will get well." 22 But Jesus turning and seeing her said, "Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well." At once the woman was made well. 23 When Jesus came into the official’s house, and saw the flute-players and the crowd in noisy disorder, 24 He said, "Leave; for the girl has not died, but is asleep." And they began laughing at Him. 25 But when the crowd had been sent out, He entered and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. 26 This news spread throughout all that land.”

 

            I have mentioned why it is that I understand the gospels better after studying from the gospel of Matthew for these last 18 months, and that is because it all has to do with who the person writing the gospel is writing to and what the theme of the gospel he is writing about.  Matthew is writing to Jewish people and he is writing about Jesus Christ as King and also about His Kingdom.  Now with that in mind I want to talk about why it was that even though Jesus had great compassion on the suffering and the afflicted people who came to Him, and this can be seen in Mark 1:41; Matthew 9:36; and 14:14, that He did not heal and cleanse them and raise their dead simply for their own sakes.  Here is a reason why He did these miracles, and that was to demonstrate His deity and to establish His credentials as the Messiah predicted by the Old Testament prophets.  “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’ (Matt. 8:16-17).”  “Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness” (Matt. 9:35).  “the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM”  (Matt. 11:5).

 

            We have been looking at Matthew’s writing of Jesus’ miracles in sets of three beginning at 8:22 and then 8:23-9:17—a miracle which was actually a double miracle, a miracle within a miracle.  The miracle we are looking at is His first miracle in the last set of three miracles that Matthew includes in his gospel and as stated it is a double miracle as we will see the healing of a woman with an issue of blood which she had for 12 years and a little girl of twelve years of age who died.  Jesus will heal them both and that is why we state it is a double miracle.  In these miracles He demonstrated His power to restore life to the whole body and to restore wholeness to any part of the body.

 

            MacArthur writes “The Canadian scientist G. B. Hardy one time said, ‘When I looked at religion I said, I have two questions.  One, has anybody ever conquered death, and two, if they have, did they make a way for me to conquer death?  I checked the bomb of Buddha, and it was occupied, and I checked the tomb of Confucius and it was occupied, and I checked the tomb of Mohammed and it was occupied, and I came to the tomb of Jesus and it was empty.  And I said, There is one who conquered death.  And I asked the second question, Did He make a way for me to do it?  And I opened the Bible and discovered that He said, ‘Because I live ye shall live also.’”

 

            Now as we look at Hardy’s two part question that is the two part question that all mankind faces.  Has anyone conquered death?  And if so, did he provide a way for others to conquer death?  MacArthur writes “That is the question dealt with in the present passage.

 

            “Within this text we not only see a miracle within a miracle but also a beautiful picture of Jesus’ response to people in need.  We see the dual portrayal of His power and His sensitivity, His authority and His gentleness, His sovereignty and His openness, His majesty and His loving-kindness.  We see in particular that Jesus was accessible, touchable, and impartial as well as powerful.  Of the two principal characters in this account besides Jesus, one was an influential ruler and the other an outcast.  The one was wealthy and the other poor.  Yet in common they had great needs and a great Helper.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The thing that got to me as I read over this introduction and listened to the first sermon on these two verses is that I can truly see that Jesus cares for me, and I can see it through the way that while on earth He had sensitivity and gentleness along with being touchable.  That makes a great difference to me.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to think about the truths that I have learned from this introduction into two miracles that Jesus performed.

 

5/29/2021 10:37 AM

PT-2 "Intro to 'Jesus' Power over Death'" (Matt. 9:18-26)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/28/2021 9:39 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                Focus:  PT-2 Intro to “Jesus Power over Death”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Matthew 9:18-26

 

            Message of the verses:  “18 While He was saying these things to them, a synagogue official came and bowed down before Him, and said, "My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live." 19 Jesus got up and began to follow him, and so did His disciples. 20 And a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak; 21 for she was saying to herself, "If I only touch His garment, I will get well." 22 But Jesus turning and seeing her said, "Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well." At once the woman was made well. 23 When Jesus came into the official’s house, and saw the flute-players and the crowd in noisy disorder, 24 He said, "Leave; for the girl has not died, but is asleep." And they began laughing at Him. 25 But when the crowd had been sent out, He entered and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. 26 This news spread throughout all that land.”

 

            I just wanted to mention that Matthew gives a very short version of this story and we will probably look at some of the other views as we move through this story.  One thing for sure Dr. Luke will add some more details to it, and why he being a doctor wouldn’t.

 

            We are focusing in on sin as we begin this SD this morning, and sin was not God’s purpose for man as we all know.  I mentioned in another SD that I posted on my other blog page this morning about how God created man last in His creation week, making sure everything was perfect for man once He created him, and so it was all perfect, but we know from Genesis chapter three how things turned out.  Now sure why they turned out that way, but that must have been in the overall plan of God, not that God created anything sinful or evil.  I believe that Romans 8:28 has to be looked at here to better understand this.

 

            All things in the world were created for good and the blessing of man as we have stated but sin has corrupted that goodness and blessing and brought a curse in its stead.  MacArthur may be answering the question I posed as he writes:  “In God’s time sin will one day have run its course and be forever destroyed.  ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them, and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away’ (Rev. 21:3-4).”  Now that is the time that we all certainly look forward to, but only if we are truly children of God, washed in the blood of the Lamb.

 

            I want to list a number of verses from the Old Testament to show that the OT prophets predicted that the Messiah would have power to bring back wholeness to life:  (Isa. 30:26; 35:5-6; 53:5; Mal. 4:2 as this is just a small sample).  Now we can see as we look at verses like we are looking at this morning that Jesus came into the world to demonstrate that power.  What we see in this section and also in many other NT sections from the gospels is only a sample of what will happen in the future, as Jesus fully proved His ability to fulfill them during His ministry in Palestine—where He virtually banished disease, changed water into wine, multiplied food, calmed storms, cast out demons, forgave sins, and raised the dead writes John MacArthur.  This was just samplings of the great and glorious future kingdom in which there would no longer be need for healing or food or calming of storms, or even raising the dead.  We have looked at the ministry of John the Baptist in earlier SD’s when we went through Mark and John, and I am not sure if just before John was about to die that he lost some faith that Jesus was truly the Messiah or not, but he did send some of his disciples to ask Him if He was truly the Messiah.  Jesus replies the following to them from Matthew 11:4-5 “4 Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and report to John what you hear and see: 5  the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM.”  You can notice that the NASB95 puts the quotes from the Old Testament in all caps, so that is what Jesus was quoting from in giving John’s disciples His answer. 

 

            I will quote one more paragraph from MacArthur’s commentary and then I want to do one more SD from this introduction.

 

            “Jesus’ miracles were the verification of His divine might that He would reveal some day to reverse the curse and to restore righteousness, harmony, and peace in all of His creation.  Already the people had ‘brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill in order that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, ‘He Himself took our infirmities, and carried away our diseases’ (Matt. 8:16-17; cf. Isa. 53:4).  ‘Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, ‘Jesus said, ‘even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes’ (John 5:21).”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  What a mighty God we serve.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord in times when things don’t seem to be going my way, knowing He is in charge.

 

5/28/2021 10:11 AM

 

             

 

PT-1 Intro to "Jesus' Power over Death" (Matt. 9:18-26)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/27/2021 10:30 AM

 

My Worship Time                                               Focus:  PT-1 Intro to “Jesus’ Power over Death”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 9:18-26

 

            Message of the verses:  “18 While He was saying these things to them, a synagogue official came and bowed down before Him, and said, "My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live." 19 Jesus got up and began to follow him, and so did His disciples. 20 And a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak; 21 for she was saying to herself, "If I only touch His garment, I will get well." 22 But Jesus turning and seeing her said, "Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well." At once the woman was made well. 23 When Jesus came into the official’s house, and saw the flute-players and the crowd in noisy disorder, 24 He said, "Leave; for the girl has not died, but is asleep." And they began laughing at Him. 25 But when the crowd had been sent out, He entered and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. 26 This news spread throughout all that land.”

 

            I think that it best for me to begin this SD with a quotation from John MacArthur as he begins to introduce us to these verses in Matthew chapter nine.  “Perhaps no man in modern times has seemed before the eyes of the world to have been more at peace with himself and others than Mahatma Gandhi.  He was the image of a tranquil soul who possessed perfect inner harmony.  Fifteen years before he died he wrote, ‘I must tell you in all humility that Hinduism as I know it entirely satisfies my soul.  It fills my whole being and I find a solace in the Bhagavad and Upanishad that I miss even in the Sermon on the Mount.’  But just before his death he wrote, ‘My days are numbered.  I am not likely to live very long, perhaps a year or a little more.  For the first time in fifty years I find myself in the slew of despond.’  Even the tranquil Gandhi had to face the reality of death and the inability of his man-made religion to give him answers or comfort in face of it.”

 

            Later on he writes “We live in a dying world, where before all of us looms the inevitability of death.  We are deteriorating human beings in a deteriorating world that is marked by tragedy, sorrow, pain, and death.  Since the fall, there has been a curse on the earth and that curse has sent the earth and all of its inhabitants careening and spiraling into disasters, tears, sickness, and the grave.”  (So far this SD is pretty depressing, but I think that it will get better.)

 

            Recently I found out that my first wife had gotten brain cancer, and had little time to live.  I have to say that there are many in this world who found out that their “X’s” would soon leave this earth would be happy, as I saw on Face Book lately.  However when a person becomes a born-again believer and is forgiven of all their sins, past, present, and future, that changes things as it did for me in 1974.  I happened to see her as I requested and got to share the plan of salvation with her, and was to see her again, but death came first.  We had a daughter together and so I, and my family desired to support her through this difficult time in her life as her adopted father had died in 2018 and so she was left without either, and I know that this was tough on her.  As I look at this introduction into these verses it becomes painfully true to me what death brings, and as I continue to look at Matthew’s gospel I am seeing why he puts things in the order that he puts them as he is writing about the King and His Kingdom.  Death will not be as prevalent in the Kingdom Age of Jesus Christ and Matthew wants us to realize this and that is probably why he is showing in a gradual way what Jesus Christ has power over, and as we see in this section that Matthew shows to us that He has power even over death. 

 

            I will close this first SD on the intro to these verses by talking about what is found in John chapter eleven, a chapter that is about Jesus also raising one from the dead, and this time he had been dead for four days.  In that chapter Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead and we learn also from that section another of Jesus “"I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies.”  Yes Jesus has the power over death and even when a believer dies they will be immediately in the present of the Lord as Paul states that “absent from the body is present with the Lord.” 

 

            Lord willing we will continue with this intro in our next SD.

 

5/27/2021 11:00 AM

PT-4 "The Illustration" (Matt. 9:14-17)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/26/2021 9:57 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                           Focus:  PT-4 “The Illustration”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Matt. 9:14-17

 

            Message of the verses:  “14 Then the disciples of John came to Him, asking, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?" 15 And Jesus said to them, "The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16  "But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. 17 “Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.’”

 

            The way that wine was stored in this time period may be a bit gross to us living in a day and age where bottles have been the way it is stored now.  Wine was stored in the skins of animals, and this is what you may think is the gross part, as after the animal is killed they cut off its head and then use the skin below where the head was and skin it off the animal and dry it out in order to put wine into it.  Once it was dried out they would put new wine into it which would cause the skin to stretch because of the wine being new.  If one would take an old wineskin and put new wine into it then the wine would cause it to continue to stretch and burst.  You put new wine in new wine skins and old wine into old wine skins.  MacArthur concludes:  “In the same way, the only life that can contain true righteousness is the new life given by God when a person repents of his sin and trusts in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

 

            “The pharisaical, legalistic, external, self-righteous system of traditional Judaism could neither connect with nor contain the ministry and message of Christ.  Consequently, that system had only one option—to oppose and seek to eliminate Christ, which is what they did.”

 

            There are some who believe and probably teach that once the teachings of Christ in the church came about after His death and resurrection that Law went away and only grace is what we are dealing with.  This is not true as one can read through the New Testament letters and find that nine of the Ten Commandments are taught.  As mentioned earlier Jesus did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill the law, which is exactly what He did, and He did it for us.  MacArthur writes “The ‘old wineskins’ were not the teachings of the Old Testament but the rabbinical traditions that had come to overshadow, supersede, and often contradict the divinely revealed truths of the Old Testament.”

 

            This passage can help us discover three marks of the true believer.  The first on is like Matthew, the true believer follows the Lord.  We cannot question the Lord, but do as He desires us to do and we mostly find this by reading His Word, praying, and listening to sermons to help us determine what God’s will is for us.  We have seen in our study of this section of Matthew nine that when the Lord asked Matthew to follow Him he dropped everything and followed Him.  MacArthur adds “During a postresurrection appearance, Jesus said to Peter, ‘Follow Me!’  But ‘Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them;…[and] therefore seeing him said to Jesus, ‘Lord,’ and what about this man?’  Jesus said to him, ‘If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?  You follow Me!’’(John 21:19-22).  The true believer is not always questioning God’s truth and resisting His standards for living.”

 

            Point two:  The true believe has compassion on the unsaved like Matthew, as he has a deep desire to lead others to the Lord.  I suppose it is fair to say that there are times when this desire is slowed, but the true desire to lead others to the Lord will always be true of a true believer.

 

            Point three:  A true believer forsakes legalism and ritualism.  The true believer will only fast as an expression of genuine spiritual concern, and he does not try to attach his new life in Christ to his old ritual or religion or try to fit it somehow into his old patterns.  This can happen, especially in new believers as I experienced for sometime after becoming a believer, but after a time I had to make the decision who I would hang around with in order to stay away from old habits. 

 

            At the end of MacArthur’s commentary on his chapter he quotes a song written by John Newton who in the song chronicles his own conversion which describes the transforming power of Christ.

 

“In evil long I took delight,

Unawed by shame or fear,

Till a new object struck my sight,

And stopped my wild career.

I saw One hanging on a tree,

In agony and blood;

He fixed His loving eyes on me,

As near His cross I stood.

How can it be, upon a tree

The savior died for Me?

My soul is thrilled, my heart is filled,

To think he died for me.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I can concur with that song, something I had never sung or heard of but it is certainly true in my case as it was in Newton’s.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust the Lord to send the people who have a burden for revival in our church to come to our revival prayer meeting this evening.

 

5/26/2021 10:30 AM

 

 

PT-3 "The Illustration" (Matt. 9:14-17)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/25/2021 8:55 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus: PT-3 “The Illustration”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Matthew 9:14-17

 

            Message of the verses:  “14 Then the disciples of John came to Him, asking, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?" 15 And Jesus said to them, "The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16 “But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. 17 “Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.’”

 

            John the Baptist knew that his ministry was about over as far as introducing the Messiah to Israel as he stated in the 3^rd chapter of John’s gospel.  It was his desire that his disciples become disciples of Jesus, but some of them did not do that, and this meant that they had no basis for genuine faith.  MacArthur goes on to write “But it was clear to them, as it was to the Pharisees, that Jesus’ teaching and activities were radically different from those of traditional Judaism.  Consequently, behind their question about fasting may have been a deeper concern about forgiveness.  ‘Why,’ they may really have been wondering ‘do You emphasize internal things such as forgiveness, while our recognized religious leaders only emphasize external things such as fasting?’”

 

            Now I believe that what we will be looking at next in Jesus’ next two illustrations are what could be the main point in this section of Matthew 9:14-17.  Jesus was making it perfectly clear that He was not teaching a reformed Pharisaism or a reformed rabbinicalism but an entirely different way of believing, thinking, and living. Now Jesus came to fulfill the Law as He stated in Mt 5:17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.”  However what the Pharisees were teaching was not what the Law was teaching, the One that Jesus would fulfill.  The Pharisees had added many things to the Law that were not in the Law and so that is not what Jesus came to fulfill.  In the book of Hebrews we can see that the word “better” is used many times and this speaks of how much better the New Covenant, and the New High Priest and other things are better than the things in the Old Covenant.  They were a shadow and the New Covenant is substance.  Now getting back to our text in Matthew nine we can see that Jesus did not come to improve the old system that the Pharisees were teaching but He came to renounce it and to undermine it. 

 

            MacArthur writes “To illustrate the truth that His new way cannot be connected to the old way, Jesus went on to say, ‘No one puts a patch on unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worst tear results.  Cloth’ of that day was primarily wool or linen, and both would shrink when washed.  If a patch of new, unshrunk, cloth is sewn on an old garment, Jesus reminds them, then the first time the garment is washed, the new patch shrinks and pulls away from the garment, making a worse tear than before.  In the same way, Jesus’ new and internal gospel of forgiveness and cleansing cannot be attached to the old and external traditions of self-righteousness and ritual.”

 

            Jesus then goes on to make another illustration that His new way also cannot be contained in the old way as He then says “Nor do men put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wind pours out, and the wineskins are ruined.”

 

            I want to try and finish this section in our next SD and so in that SD we will look more intently at this second illustration.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have to say that a book that I read many years ago about this section does not have many happy memories about it, but the teaching of John MacArthur has helped me to understand this very important section much better.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I am trusting the Lord to bring as many people to our revival prayer meeting tomorrow as He desires to be there, and I pray there will be more people there.

 

5/25/2021 9:24 AM

PT-2 "The Illustration" (Matt. 9:14-17)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/24/2021 8:38 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                           Focus:  PT-2 “The Illustration”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Matthew 9:14-17

 

            Message of the verses:  “14 Then the disciples of John came to Him, asking, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?" 15 And Jesus said to them, "The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16 “But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. 17 “Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.’”

 

            I can’t remember when I missed doing my Spiritual Diary, but I forgot it yesterday and so we pick up where we left of Saturday from this illustration that Jesus gave in Matthew 9:14-17.

 

            We have mentioned that the only fast that was taught in the Law of God was that of doing it on Yom Kippur which is where the High Priest would go into the Holy of Holies and offer blood as a sacrifice on the Ark of the Covenant.  This was done for the people of Israel, and if memory serves me correct this was the first day of the year in what is called the “Religious Calendar.”   “Yom Kippur, also known as the Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a day-long fast and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue services. Wikipedia”

 

            In the days of when Jesus was on the earth things were a bit different as far as fasting was concerned as fasting was done two times a week and was one of the three major expressions of Orthodox Judaism.  We have mentioned in earlier SD’s that the Pharisees loved to go around the city streets showing how terrible that they were feeling as they fasted these two days of the weeks.

 

            John MacArthur writes “Religious ritual and routine have always been dangers to true godliness.  Many ceremonies, such as praying to saints and lighting a candle for a deceased relative, are actually heretical.  But even if it is not wrong in itself, when a form of praying worshiping or serving becomes the focus of attention, it becomes a barrier to true righteousness.  It can keep an unbeliever from trusting in God and a believer from faithfully obeying Him.  Even going to church, reading the Bible, saying grace at meals, and singing hymns can become lifeless routines in which true worship of God has no part.”

 

            Jesus’ first reply to John’s disciples was the following “"The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”  I think one thing to notice from these words of Jesus was how He brought mourning and fasting together.  Many times people will mourn over someone or something and while doing that they will not have any hunger for food because of being distraught over something.  I think that is how mourning and fasting go together.

 

            In this statement Jesus is also talking about a wedding and in those days the wedding would normally last for seven days and the bridegroom would choose his best friends as his attendants who were responsible for the festivities.  MacArthur writes “The wedding celebration was not a time for them to mourn but to rejoice.  Jesus’ point was that it was inappropriate for His followers to mourn and fast while He was with them in person.  The insincere, superficial, and hypocritical fasting practiced by the Pharisees was, of course, always out of place.  But even sincere fasting was out of place as long as Jesus, the divine bridegroom, was still among His people.  Their fasting was out of harmony with what God was then doing in their midst.  There was no connection between their ritual and spiritual reality.”

 

            He goes on to write “A fast is always meaningless if it is performed from habit and does not result from deep concern and mourning over some spiritual need.  Going to church on Sunday is hypocritical if it is done apart from a genuine desire to worship and glorify God.  Singing a hymn is only a pretense of worship if it does not come from a heart that seeks to praise the Lord.”

 

            Jesus went on to say that there will be a day when the bridegroom is taken away and MacArthur explains those words “taken away” “is from apairo, which can carry the idea of sudden removal, of being snatched away violently.  Jesus was obviously referring to His crucifixion, which would abruptly and violently take Him away from His followers, His faithful attendants.  That will be the time for mourning, and then they will fast.”

 

            At this point in time Jesus was saying that fasting was inappropriate.  Why is He saying this?  When there is no reason to mourn then there is no reason to fast.  We have mentioned that fasting happens when a heart is broken.  At this point I will say that after reading a book entitled “Fasting for Spiritual Break Through” that was written by Elmer L. Towns” I was convicted by the Lord to fast over a broken heart of a sin that I was having trouble with off and on for many, many years.  I had tried many things to rid myself of this sinful problem but it seems it would always return again and again.  In this book Towns goes over a number of things to fast about as he uses Isaiah 58:6-8 as a background for the different types of fasts in his book.  The first one he describes had to do with helping to get rid of a sinful habit and so I began to follow his instructions and God answered my prayer to rid me of this sinful habit.  I am thankful to my former Pastor who showed me this book, and I am thankful to the Lord for using this fast to answer my prayers of many, many years.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Mourning over sinful things and fasting have been a spiritual lifesaver for me.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trusting in the Lord to prepare my heart and mind to begin to teach through the book of Hebrews beginning on the first Sunday of June.  My prayer is that God, through His Spirit will keep my mind and heart focused on this task that I believe came from Him and that He will teach me and those in our class many wonderful things from this wonderful book that will cause us to grow in our walk with the Lord.

 

5/24/2021 9:19 AM

PT-1 "The Illurstration" (Matt. 9:14-17)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/22/2021 8:21 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                           Focus:  PT-1 “The Illustration”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference: Matthew 9:14-17

 

            Message of the verses:  “14 Then the disciples of John came to Him, asking, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?" 15 And Jesus said to them, "The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16 “But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. 17 “Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.’”

 

            In my study of the gospel of Matthew as well as the other two gospels, Mark, and John that I have recently studied I am learning that the gospel writers put things in their writings that go along with a theme that they are writing about.  With that said I have to say that we don’t know for sure how long it was that the statements made in this section happened after the story of the calling of Matthew and the conversation with the Pharisees, but Matthew has a reason in putting this story after that conversation with the Pharisees which I hope that we will see and understand as we got through this section.  I remember studying this section when I was a very young believer from a book that I read to help me understand more about it, but my memories are not good ones as I am not sure that the author understood what was going on here too well.

 

            Now as we compare the questions of the Pharisees with the question of John the Baptist’s disciples we can see a big difference in that the Pharisees’ question was not sincere, while the questions from John’s disciples were very sincere.

 

            It may be a good idea to review some things about what happened to John’s disciples and John after he baptized Jesus back at the end of the 3^rd chapter of Matthew.  For one thing Jesus goes to the wilderness and fasts right after His baptism as described in the 4^th chapter of Matthew and shortly after that John is put into prison:  “Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee” (4:12).  Again we don’t know exactly how long this happened after Jesus came back from His fast.  In the 3^rd chapter of John’s gospel we see what John the Baptist has to say about what would happen to him where he says “30  "He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).  He was saying this to his disciples and afterwards many of them went to follow the Lord as John’s ministry was winding down and later on he would be killed. 

 

            One of the subjects in this section is about fasting as John’s disciples fasted like the tradition of the Pharisees which was two times a week, however in the OT Law the requirement was only once a year on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement as see (Leviticus 16:29, 31, where the phrase “humble your souls” [from the Heb. ‘ana, ‘to afflict or humble’] commonly included the idea or refraining from food).  But Jewish tradition had come to require fasting twice a week (see Luke 18:12), and these ‘disciples’ were careful to follow that practice.”  Now we are getting the picture of what Jesus is really going to talk about to John’s disciples which we will have to wait until our next SD to develop further.

 

5/22/2021 8:44 AM