SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/27/2021 8:26 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “The Response of the Multitude”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
9:33b
Message of the
verses: “and the multitudes
marveled, saying, ‘nothing like this was ever seen in Israel.’”
If one studies the gospels, the book of Acts, the letters
of the New Testament, and also church history you will find that people who
heap high praise on Jesus but who give no evidence of submitting to Him and in
many cases flagrantly oppose the truth He taught. This is a true statement. Here is an example we probably all know
about. In front of Jesus’ sworn
enemies, Pontius Pilate declared Him to be innocent of all wrong and then in a
very short time he approved of having Jesus crucified. MacArthur writes “The French philosopher
Diderot said Jesus was the unsurpassed, and the great French Emperor Napoleon
said He was the emperor of love. D. F.
Strauss, the liberal German theologian, said Jesus was the highest model of
religion. The English philosopher and
economist John Stuart Mill called Him the guide of humanity. William Leckey, the Irish historian, said He
was the highest pattern of virtue, and James Martineau, the English theologian
and philosopher, called Him the divine flower of humanity. The French historian Joseph Renan
acknowledged Jesus to be the greatest among the sons of men. Theodore Parker, an American Unitarian
clergyman, referred to Jesus as the youth of God in His heart, and the Welsh
social reformer Robert Owen said He was the irreproachable. A popular musical refers to Him as a
Superstar. Those are lovely sentiments,
but they all fall short of saving truth.”
Another example comes from the Pharisees of Jesus’ day
who praised the prophets of the Old Testament, but their counterparts who lived
when the prophets were alive were the ones who put the prophets to death—just as
these false teachers will cause the Lord to be crucified.
Here is the truth of what we are trying to say and that
is as long as Jesus can be kept at arm’s length, and as long as His demanding
and confrontational teachings are ignored or denied, He is often acceptable to
the world. It is kind of like when a political person can say something good about
Jesus in order to gets some votes, but who cares nothing about Jesus and the people
who truly worship Him as their Savior and Lord.
MacArthur concludes “When man’s need for salvation is preached and Jesus’
claims of lordship are pressed, that is another matter. Those who once praised Him become His
critics, and those who once marveled at Him become His enemies. People will often give the highest praise to
Jesus, even acknowledge His divinity and perfection—as long as no mention is
made of His condemning to hell the liar, murderer, adulterer, homosexual,
thief, and every other sinner who refuses to repent and receive Him as Savior
and Lord.”
Lord willing in our next SD we will look at “The
Rejecting Religionists,” as this will also be a rather short SD.
6/27/2021 8:46 PM
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