PT-4 "Intro to Matt. 9:33b-35

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/25/2021 10:16 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-4 Intro to Matt. 9:33b-35

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 9:33b-35

 

            Message of the verses:  “and the crowds were amazed, and were saying, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel." 34 But the Pharisees were saying, "He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons."

 “35 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.”

 

            I stated in our last SD that we would be looking at what the Apostle Paul has to say about the theme that the human race is divided into believers and unbelievers—into the heaven bound and the hell-bound, also the blessed and the cursed, the glorified and the damned—and that the determining issue between them is their response to the Lord Jesus Christ.  “12 Now when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ and when a door was opened for me in the Lord, 13  I had no rest for my spirit, not finding Titus my brother; but taking my leave of them, I went on to Macedonia. 14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. 15 For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; 16 to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?”  Now focus in on the highlighted verses as I only put verses 12 and 13 to better understand the passage.  As believers “we are to touch all the world with the fragrance of God, but that fragrance is a pleasant blessing only to fellow believers.  The more the saved hear and understand and fellowship with those who also believe the gospel that redeemed them, the more they rejoice and grow in their new life in Christ.  But to those who are doomed to hell, who reject the good news about Chris, all that believers are and teach carries only the smell of death.  The more they hear the gospel and see it manifested, the more repulsive it becomes to them and the deeper they entrench themselves in their lostness.  Their continual rejection of the gospel serves to confirm their spiritual deadness.”

 

            I want now to quote from what the author of Hebrews had to say about this:  “How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:29).  I think that there is an example of this found in the book of Exodus and it has to do with Pharaoh where we read that as the judgments of God continued to come upon Egypt that Pharaoh’s heart became harder and harder until there was no hope for him and then we read that God hardened his heart.  God was done with him, and this can certainly happen to those that the author of Hebrews is writing about in our verse above.  MacArthur adds “The more the saving gospel of Jesus’ sacrificial atonement for sin is denied and purposely rejected, the deeper become the spiritual darkness and the severer the punishment of eternity.”  Now in speaking of the punishment in hell there are different degrees to that punishment just as there are different degrees of glories to those who will enter into heaven.  The Bible speaks of some believers who are saved actually have a smoke smell on their robes as they have not done much for the Lord.  I have mentioned time and again about Ephesians 2:10 stating that God has given us in eternity past works to do for Jesus Christ while in the body, and these can only be done through the work of the Holy Spirit, but we must desire to have Him do those works through us in order to have more “stars in our crown” in heaven.  Now as far as the different punishments of hell I have to believe that the one who will have the “hottest” place in hell will be Judas as He spent three years with the Lord Jesus Christ and then only thought of himself and betrayed Him.  The more exposure that a person has to the gospel, and then refuses it the stiffer the punishment will be in hell.

 

            John MacArthur concludes “In Matthew 9:33b-35 we are first shown two superficially different but basically similar responses to Jesus’ miracles, and then we are given a brief summary of His Galilean ministry, which is also a summary of His entire ministry until time of His crucifixion.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There is nothing wrong with having a desire to have great rewards in heaven as that can motivate me to desire to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit to do the things God planned for me to do in eternity past.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord to bring revival to me, to my family, to our church and to the church around the world so that the number of believers who are to be in the church will come and then the Lord will come in the clouds to receive His bride and we will then be with the Lord forever.

 

6/25/2021 10:47 AM