SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/22/2021 11:32 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “Humility and Dependence”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
11:25b-26
Message of the verses: “that You have
hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them
to infants. 26 “Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.”
We begin to look at the phrase “wise and intelligent”
as this includes both the religious and the nonreligious people, who in their
love of human wisdom are much more alike than different. Now when I am talking about a “religious”
person that does not mean that I am talking about a true born-again believer,
so with that in mind whether religious or irreligious, the proud person will
not submit to God’s wisdom and truth and therefore excludes himself from the
kingdom. The religious man who relies on
tradition or good works to please God is just as far from God as is the
atheist.
So
how does God “hide these things” from such people? It is the darkness of their proud, unregenerate
hearts, which prevent them from seeing what God desires them to know and to
accept. We read the following from the
Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 “9 but just as it is written, "THINGS
WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED
THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM." 10
For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches
all things, even the depths of God.”
John MacArthur writes that “God’s spiritual truth is not empirically,
objectively knowable. It cannot be
externally discovered but must be willingly received through man’s heart as God
reveals it. As someone has said, ‘The
heart and not the head is the home of the gospel.’ No amount of human reasoning or speculation
can discover or explain God’s saving truth, because, as Paul continues to say, ‘14
But a natural man does not accept the
things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot
understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.’”
The receiving of the Gospel into a person’s heart is
can only happen through a miracle from the Holy Spirit as He gives an effectual
call to the person to understand and to believe that Christ died for them on
the cross, and that is the greatest miracle any person can receive from
God. You cannot get it exclusively from
your own self even though when this first happens that may be the way you felt
like it happened. When you grow in your
relationship with the Lord, and this comes from studying the Word of God, and
listening to sound Biblical preaching then you will realize that the reason
that you accepted the Lord into your heart was because of the Spirits effectual
call that you cannot say no to. MacArthur
goes on to write “No amount of evidence is sufficient to convince the confirmed
unbeliever. John says of such people,
that though Jesus ‘had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not
believing in Him; that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which
he spoke, ‘Lord, who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?’ For this cause they could not believe, for
Isaiah said again, ‘He has blinded their eyes, and He hardened their heart;
lest they see with their eyes, and perceive with their heart, and be converted,
and I heal them’ (John 12:37-49). Those
who hear God’s Word and refuse to receive it are subject to God’s judicial
confirmation of that choice.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I am thankful for the memories that come back
to me when I got saved through what my Lord did for me on the cross. It will soon be 48 years ago that the Holy
Spirit of God gave me an effectual call which I accepted on the 26th
of January 1974. I did not really know
what happened to me with the exception that most four letter words were not a
part of my vocabulary. God has been very
patience with me and for that I will be eternally grateful.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I pray that by God’s grace that He will get
me through the battle that I face along with my wife as it seems that a second
round of Covid has come our way.
12/22/2021 12:14 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment