SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/20/2021 11:03 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “The
Context”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
11:25a
Message of the
verse: “25
At that time Jesus said, "I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth.”
We have been looking at the first
part of Matthew 11:25a and as we begin this SD I want to talk about the phrase “Answered
and said.” This is a Hebrew idiom that means
to speak out openly, as opposed to privately or confidentially. Here we see Jesus’ invitation to follow Him
was universal and open to everyone who would come on God’s terms, and not on
man’s terms.
This prayer that Jesus is praying to
His Father was meant to be heard by prospective believers. He is praying "I praise You, Father,
Lord of heaven and earth.” In doing this
Jesus is calling attention both to His unique relationship to the Father and to
the Father’s sovereign control over salvation.
Salvation is a provision of the “Lord of heaven and earth,” and is not a
result of man’s wisdom, plans, purposes, or power; and for that truth Jesus
gives praise to the Father.
John MacArthur writes “Every
faithful pastor, evangelist, and witness is sometimes disappointed that more
people do not respond. He asks himself, ‘What
more can I do? What new approach can I
take? How can I make the message clearer
and more persuasive?’ Yet he also knows
that some people will reject Christ no matter how clear, loving, and powerful
the presentation of the gospel may be.
If men could reject salvation from the very lips of the Lord Himself—and
in the midst of awesome, authentication miracles—we can hardly expect every
person who hears our imperfect witness to fall at Christ’s feet.” For most of my Christian life I have believed
that the entire trinity has been involved in the salvation of a person. The Father calls those who will receive
salvation in eternity past, the Son comes to pay for their sins as He dies on
the cross, and then the Holy Spirit give an effectual call to the person who
cannot say no to that call. The next
step has to do with the person who is being saved, and that person will then
accept the call that the Holy Spirit gives to him.
It is true that as a believer I have
weep over the one who has not received Christ as their Savior and Lord after
being witnessed to, perhaps many times. Any believer who loves the Lord and
desires to see others saved will do the same thing, especially when it comes to
the end of a person’s life and then it is believed that they have not received
Christ into their lives before dying.
When my wife’s mother died, and we did not believe that she was a
believer, I knew that it would upset my wife.
I was listening to a sermon from the book of Romans by John MacArthur
and then asked her to listen to it too.
MacArthur pointed out that when a person dies they bring glory to the
Lord no matter where they go after dying.
MacArthur writes from our section of Scripture today “We weep over those
who refuse to be saved, just as our Lord wept over Jerusalem when it would not
receive Him. But also like Christ, we
should praise our heavenly Father that
all things are under His divine control ad that His sovereign plan for the
world and for His own people cannot be frustrated. Men’s rejection of Christ proves their
failure, not God’s.
“God’s sovereignty should be the
foremost thought in the mind of every witnessing believer. We should remember with confidence that His
plan is always on course and that even the most unrepentant, wicked,
vindictive, and cynical rejection of our testimony does not alter God’s
timetable or thwart His purpose. Our
responsibility is simply to make our witness faithful (1 Cor. 4:2); it is God
responsibility alone to make it effective.
“Because Jesus had an unyielding
trust in His Father’s perfect will, He could rest in that will and give Him
praise no matter what responses people made to Him.
“As Jesus compassionately invited
His hearers to come to Him and be saved, He set forth the five essential
elements that constitute a genuine invitation to salvation.”
Those five essential elements are
what we will begin to look at as we go through Matthew 11:25-30 in the days to
come, with only a break for Christmas as it is my desire to put a special
Christmas SD onto my blogs.
Spiritual
diary for life today: I have to say
that many times I experience a guilty conscience, and sometimes it is
justified, but other times it is not as Satan wants to give me a guilty conscience. When a person does not receive the gift of
salvation after I witness to them I have at times had a guilty conscience. After looking at this section I realize that
all I can do is to pray for that person and also trust that I have given them a
clear presentation of the gospel.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the
Lord for the healing of several friends of mine who have some difficult issues
going on in their lives at this time.
12/20/2021
11:34 AM
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