PT-2 "The Challenge" (Matt. 12:38b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/28/2022 10:14 AM

 

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

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 12:38b

 

            Message of the verse:  “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”

 

            I want to begin this SD with a quotation from a parallel passage from Matthew chapter sixteen where we learn the following from verse one:  “The Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Jesus, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven.”  Perhaps they forgot that they had already asked Jesus for a sign, or perhaps these were different Pharisees than were there from chapter twelve.  We know that there no Sadducees there in chapter twelve, and probably because the Sadducees and Pharisees did not get along in their spiritual thinking.  MacArthur writes “A sign from heaven’ would be a vast and spectacular sign, one that came from heaven and perhaps could be seen in the heavens, such as those just mentioned relating to the sun, moon, and stars.”  (We mentioned this in our last SD.)

 

            As we read through the history of the Old Testament, and that part of the Old Testament goes from Genesis to Nehemiah we find that there were rarely many miracles that were done by the prophets.  We know Moses did miracles and then in the era of Elijah and Elisha we saw miracles done, but other than those two eras there were not many miracles done.  The question then is why do these Pharisees and later on the Sadducees want to see a miracle.  “For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom” is what Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 1:22, the Jews must have come to the conclusion at some point that they wanted to see a sign from their prophets.

 

            MacArthur writes “According to fallacious Jewish tradition, a certain Rabbi Eliezar was challenged in regard to the authority of his teaching.  To prove his genuineness, he is said to have made a locust tree move 300 cubits and a stream of water flow backward.  When he caused the wall of a building to lean forward, it was returned upright only by the bidding of another rabbi.  Finally Eliezar exclaimed, ‘If the law is as I teach let it be proved from heaven.’  At that moment, the story goes; a voice came out of the sky, saying, ‘What have you to do with Rabbi Eliezar?  The instruction is as he teaches.’”

 

            I don’t know whether or not the scribes and Pharisees had heard this story, but it sounds like they did and so this may have been the reason that they were asking for a celestial sign from Jesus—a spectacular, sensational demonstration of supernatural power.  Perhaps they were looking for one that Joel wrote about   ‘”The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood Before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes’” (Joel 2:31).  Perhaps they wanted Jesus to bring a great procession of angels to descend a heavenly stairway into the temple heralding Him with anthems of praise as they came.  The point in all of this is that even if Jesus would have done these things, and make no mistake He certainly could have done them, the scribes, Pharisees would not have believed in Him, as remember that they had just committed the unpardonable sin.

 

            The Jewish leaders really did not expect Him to perform any such sing, and the reason is because their very purpose was to prove He could not do such a thing and thereby all they wanted to do was discredit Him in the eyes of the people.  As one searches the Old Testament they will not find that the Messiah would perform a sign of the type they demanded, the leaders gave the impression to the people that such was the case.

 

            Lord willing, we will look at the reply from our Lord in our next SD, at least begin to look at it.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I certainly did not see any sign from the Lord when He saved me, but I did receive a new language from Him as He caused me to not want to say anymore of those four letter curse words again.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to continue to give me wisdom in my teaching through the book of Hebrews, and I can say that after I was put onto the Wednesday night prayer list asking for wisdom to teach this wonderful book that I truly believe that the Lord is answering those who are praying for me.

 

2/28/2022 10:43 AM

 

 

PT-1 "The Challenge" (Matt. 12:38a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/27/2022 8:04 AM

 

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

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                        Reference:  Matt. 12:38a

 

            Message of the verse:  “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”

 

            I mentioned in my last SD that we will be looking at some sub-sections under that main section I wrote about yesterday entitled “The Last Sign,” and today’s sub-section is entitled “The Challenge.”

 

            I also mentioned that in this section the people who were probably talking to Jesus were a group of scholars and religious leaders and they considered no person outside their own ranks to be qualified to teach them the least truth about Jewish law and tradition.  Tradition was certainly a problem with these Jewish leaders teaching as they many times forgot about the truth from the Scriptures and put more emphasis on tradition, something that was really not in God’s covenant with them.  Now as these leaders were addressing our Lord as “Teacher” it was both sarcastic and hypocritical.  Now it was sarcastic in that they really considered Jesus to be a heretic and also a blasphemer, and we will see that their intention here, similar to previous occasions, to expose Him as a false teacher.  Also it was hypocritical in that they used the title to show mock respect for Him in front of the crowd and possibly to try to put Him off guard by flattery, but the truth is that this could not happen, that is putting the Son of God off guard as He knew what they were thinking and what they were planning to do to Him.

 

            John MacArthur writes “The request we want to see a sign from You amounted to an official demand for Jesus to prove Himself to be the Messiah.  For the sake of the people, the question was posed in a seemingly courteous and respectful form, but its purpose was to prove that Jesus was not the Messiah but a blasphemous imposter.  Because the scribes and Pharisees were the uncontested experts on the law, the people would expect them to know how to properly test the claims of anyone who posed as the Messiah.  The implication of the question was that , if Jesus was the Messiah, He would have no trouble performing an appropriate sign to validate His identity.”

   

            These “leaders of Israel” did not specify the kind of sign they wanted, but it must have been an absolutely extraordinary one and of perhaps worldwide magnitude, something like causing the sun to stand still or a constellation to change its configuration, or perhaps the moon to race across the sky.  The truth is that Jesus had already performed thousands of public miracles of healing, casting out demons, and even raising the dead.  The additional sign now demanded was therefore obviously meant to be an even on a grander scale.

 

            Whenever I had read this passage before I truly had a difficult time in understanding why these men were asking for a sign as mentioned above Jesus had done things that no human had ever done on such a large scale, like raising many people from the dead, and healing people who could not talk or walk, but after listening to John MacArthur’s sermon on this section I learned that these false leaders were asking for things like we see in the quote that he gave above.  They were not looking for a Messiah they were looking for someone to do tricks that they wanted Him to do, and they would get none of it.  There was enough evidence that Jesus gave to show that He was their Messiah, and the point is they did not want this man to rule over them as they said the night that they had one of their mock trials for Jesus.

 

2/27/2022 8:25 AM

The Last Sign (Matt. 12:38-40)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/26/2022 9:26 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                      Focus:  “The Last Sign”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matt. 12:38-40

 

            Message of the verses:  “38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You." 39 But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; 40 for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

 

            What we will actually be looking at in today’s SD is an introduction to these verses and then we will move onto two sub-points as we move through them.  “The Challenge” is the first sub-point which, Lord willing, we will begin tomorrow, and then the last one is “The Reply.”

 

            As we look at the words “some of the scribes and Pharisees” in verse 38 it is possible that this refers to a special committee delegated to present this final challenge to Jesus.  A “scribe” had to be at least thirty years old and he had to have spent many years in intensive study of the Hebrew Scriptures, especially the Torah, or law, and of the rabbinic traditions as set forth in the Talmud is how John MacArthur explains this.  Scribes were known as the supreme interpreters and teachers of the law.  “One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him” (Matt. 22:35).  “And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’” (Luke 10:25).  MacArthur writes “Although some scribes belonged to the party of the Sadducees, most of them were Pharisees, which explains their frequently being mentioned together in the Gospels.  They were the authorized interpretive scholars and lawyers of Judaism and were generally held in great honor.

            “That they answered Jesus’ scathing accusations by asking Him a seemingly forthright and nondefensive question indicates they were biting their tongues, as it were, determined to give the impression of civility and patience until the appropriate moment to condemn Him.”

 

2/26/2022 9:42 AM

PT-2 "Intro to Matt. 12:38-42

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/25/2022 9:53 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                               Focus:  PT-2 “Intro to Matt. 12:38-42”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 12:38-42

 

            Message of the verses:  “38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You." 39 But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; 40 for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 “The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. 42 “The Queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.’”

 

            I think a fair question to ask is why was it that Jesus did not give them the sign that they were looking for?  We will talk later on about what sign that they may have been looking for from Jesus.  MacArthur writes “Had Jesus not come into their midst and declared to them God’s truth and demonstrated God’s power, their true evil natures would not have surfaced so dramatically.  But Jesus left them no out as He confronted them with truth and righteousness incarnate.  To reject Him is to reject truth, and to despise Him is to despise righteousness.  To hate Jesus is to hate God; to hate the Son is to hate the Father (John 15:23).”  “"He who hates Me hates My Father also.’”

 

            Let us look for a moment at 1 Tim. 5:24 “The sins of some men are quite evident, going before them to judgment; for others, their sins follow after.”  As we look at this verse we can see that Paul is telling Timothy that a person may successfully hide his sin for a long time, but when he rejects Jesus Christ, he reveals his true corrupt nature, and this is the point that we are making here as we also spoke about this in our last SD.  Here is what a person must do in order to become a child of God and that is to accept the lordship and saviorhood of Christ, and this proves that that person is a true believer.  No matter how “righteous” a person acts if he denies the Lord’s provision for his salvation then there is no hope for him.

 

            We have been studying the life of Jesus Christ through the pages of Matthew’s gospel and thus far the Pharisees have not been as aggressive in their hatred for Him, but as more and more people are following Him then they are losing their control over the masses and so they are not beginning to confront Jesus in a harsher way, like saying He does miracles in the power of Satan. 

 

            Now the truth is that the attitude that the scribes and Pharisees had is generally characteristic of any person who maintains an appearance of godliness but who does not have saving trust in Jesus Christ, as that was the issue back then and still is today, and will continue to be the issue until the end of the Millennial kingdom.  I have to say that one of the verses from John’s gospel which came from the lips of John the Baptist divides up humanity into two groups, not many groups but two:  “"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.’”  Now as we look at the truth that is in this verse and think about the many cults that are in the world today then we will understand that although many of the cults speak of Jesus they do not stress that one must believe in the Son for eternal life, and that makes them just like the scribes and Pharisees.  The scribes and the Pharisees were showing the people that they loved God, but in reality they hated Him because they were not accepting the One that God sent to earth to care for their sin problem, and in fact as we look at John 14:8-11 we will see that Jesus Christ is showing people that when they see Him they see the Father.  “8  Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." 9  Jesus said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. 11 “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves.”  Notice in verse eleven that Jesus is talking about the miracles that He had done, and as we look at what the scribes and Pharisees were asking Him to do it is evident that Jesus did so many miracles that just as He told Philip to “believe because of the works themselves.”

 

            John MacArthur writes “By the time the scribes and Pharisees asked Jesus to show them a special sign, their opposition to Him had already hardened into implacable hatred.  Even before Jesus accused them of blaspheming the Holy Spirit and thereby eternally forfeiting God’s forgiveness, they had been planning ‘how they might destroy Him (12:14).  He then told them they were corrupt trees bearing corrupt fruit, were a brood of spiritual vipers, and that the evil of their words proved the evil of their hearts, for which they faced God’s condemnation (vv. 33:37).  Jesus had castigated them as strongly and unequivocally as possible.”

 

            The scribes and Pharisees had been humiliated by Jesus and they certainly did not like that so they went on to try and prove that He was an imposter by asking for a sign, which they will be humiliated once again. 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I suppose that during my Christian life that I have asked for a sign from my Lord on different occasions to find out what His will for my life is at that particular moment, but it is my desire to ask the Lord’s direction and have faith enough to trust Him to do what He has planned for me, even though at times I may not be totally happy about it.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord with what is going on in our world today as we see that things are getting very difficult for believers in many parts of the world today. 

 

2/25/2022 10:29 AM

PT-1 "Intro to Matt. 12:38-42

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/24/2022 9:18 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                          Focus:  PT-1 “Intro to Matt. 12:38-42”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 12:38-42

 

            Message of the verses:  “38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You." 39 But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; 40 for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 “The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. 42 “The Queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.’”

 

            I want to let you know that this introduction to these verses from Matthew will take a few days to look at, but I think that we will all learn from what we will be looking at here.

 

            As we begin to look at the introduction to these verses we want to talk about what it is that an unsaved person may look like and do and how they live that can show that they are not believers and then talk about the one thing that they will not do in order to become a true believer in Jesus Christ.  Many people can look like believers, but are not.  People can live lives that in some cases look better than true believers’ lives.  They may go to church on Sunday’s and perhaps even teach Sunday school, treat their spouses well, provide for their families, give to the church on a regular basis, but what is it that they are lacking? 

 

            John MacArthur answers this question in the following paragraph.  “Although truly righteous people will manifest the godly evidence of that righteousness, some people appear to be righteous who are not, because man’s basic sinfulness is not most fully revealed by what he does or says—despite the importance of those evidences, as Jesus has just made clear (vv. 33-37).  Sin is most clearly and indisputable manifested by how a person responds to Jesus Christ.  No matter what a person’s outward life is like, his innate spiritual nature and his true attitude toward God are seen with absolute certainly in his attitude toward Jesus Christ.  The person who rejects Christ is dead spiritually and an enemy of God, no matter what religious profession he may make or how morally and selflessly he may appear to live.  The issue of sin becomes perfectly focused when a person confronts Christ, and the crux of damning sin is rejection of Him.  Men are convicted of ‘sin because they do not believe in Me,’ Jesus said (John 16:9).”

 

            I want to now talk a bit about what went on in the last hours of our Lord’s life as seen from the pen of John in chapter fifteen.  By this time the plans of the crucifixion of our Lord were already set in motion and Jesus is giving His final talks to His disciples in the upper room. 

 

            Jesus spoke to the disciples in this occasion as mentioned and He revealed many deep insights into His divine plan and gave wonderful promises of encouragement and strength for the time after He would be gone.  It was in addition to such positive and appealing promises as the Holy Spirit’s being with them to teach and to empower them, something seen in the 16^th chapter of John’s gospel.  Jesus would then give to His disciples the less appealing but just as certain promise that the world would hate them just as it hated Him.  “"Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also” (John 15:20).  Next we see that Jesus would give them the reason behind the persecution:  “21 “But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. 22 “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 “He who hates Me hates My Father also. 24 "If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well” (John 15:21-24).

 

            We will conclude this SD with another quotation from John MacArthur’s commentary.  “Jesus’ words on that occasion applied to everyone who had seen and rejected Him, but they applied with direct force to the Jewish religious leaders, those who represented the nation of Israel, God’s specially chosen, blessed, and enlightened people.  On the surface, those leaders appeared to be righteous men of God, dedicated to His service and to His Word.  They wore their religion on their sleeves for all men to see as a supposed testimony to their devotion to God.  But when Jesus confronted them, their masks of godliness were ripped off and their real spiritual condition and their devotion to self were laid bare.  Despite religious and moral pretensions, their hatred and rejection of Jesus proved their hatred and rejection of God.  Both spiritually and morally, they were ‘whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.  Even so you too outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness’ (Matt. 23:27-28).  They were a brood of spiritual snakes (Matt. 12:34).”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful to the Lord that His Holy Spirit opened my eyes to the truth about who Jesus Christ is and what He has done for me as before that I can say at times I was “religious” but nonetheless lost.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to continue to give me wisdom as I prepare my Sunday school lesson on the 8^th chapter of Hebrews.

 

2/24/2022 10:06 AM

PT-2 "The Punishment" (Matt. 12:36-37)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/23/2022 10:07 AM

 

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

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 12:36-37

 

            Message of the verses:  “36 “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the Day of Judgment. 37 “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.’”

 

            We want to continue to talk about the important topic of the Christian’s speech as we begin this section, and the Christian’s speech is going to reflect God’s transforming work in the heart; but because of our unredeemed humanness, it still needs to be constant care if it is to be increasingly spiritual, along with being wholesome, fitting, kind, sensitive, loving, purposeful edifying and also truthful.  Let us look at what the Psalmist had to say in Psalm 141:3 “Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.”

 

            The words that come from the unbeliever’s mouth, which come from his unredeemed heart are worthless as far as any spiritual value is concerned.  His evil words are obviously worthless.  Now among those words that come from his mouth we will find lustful words as seen in Proverbs 5:3-4 “3 For the lips of an adulteress drip honey And smoother than oil is her speech; 4  But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword.”  Now we will look at some more things that the unbeliever speaks and will just give the reference for them.  First is deceit (Jer. 9:8); next cursing and oppression (Ps. 10:7); lying (Pr. 6:12; 12:22); destruction (Prov. 11:11); vanity (2 Pet. 2:18); flattery (Prov. 26:28); foolishness (Prov. 15:2); verbosity (Ecc.es. 10:14); falsehood (Titus 1:11); pride (Job 35:12); vulgarity (Col. 3:8); hatred Ps. 109:3; and finally gossip (Prov. 26:20).  This list came from John MacArthur’s commentary.

 

            MacArthur writes “For the unbeliever, careless and worthless words also include those that are otherwise good.  Although his words of love, encouragement, comfort, and kindness may be sincere and greatly helpful to others, they are of no spiritual value to him because they do not come from a redeemed and righteous heart.  No spiritually good thing can come from a heart that is spiritually evil—as Jesus has just pointed out.”

 

            The truth is that a person can get a good indication of his spiritual condition by just listening to his own words.  A Christian can fall into evil words just as he can fall into evil deeds, and to me that is not only true but scary.  A believer’s customary speaking will be pure just as his customary activities will be righteous.

 

            As we have been studying this section from the 12^th chapter of Matthew on what Jesus is saying, we can determine that it has value and truth to both the believer and the unbeliever, however Jesus thrust here is directed to unbelievers, represented in the extreme by the blaspheming Pharisees.

 

            Now we want to address The Day of Judgment, and for unbelievers this culminates as the great white throne judgment, which is the ultimate and eternal judgment at which all unbelievers shall be condemned.  If one wants more information on this subject of the Great White Throne Judgments I have written about it in our study of Revelation in which can be found on both of my blogs.  Now as far as the believer’s sins, they will have all been dealt with at Calvary, dismissed by the atoning blood of Christ applied on behalf of their faith, and we know that all believers have sinned with his tongue after salvation, but Christ’s sacrifice is sufficient to cover that and every other sin that he commits.  MacArthur adds “The evil words and deeds of unbelievers, however, will remain to stand in evidence against them.  Like the unfaithful slave in Jesus’ parable, unbelievers will be judged by their own words (Luke 19:22).”

 

            Let us now look at some of the vision that the Apostle John saw about the Great White Throne Judgment as found in Revelation chapter twenty.  “11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”  I mentioned that there is more to say, as far as commentary on these verses from my SD’s from the book of Revelation found on both of my blogs.

 

            John MacArthur concludes this section from Matthew 12 by writing “Scientists theorize that sound waves are never completely lost but gradually fade beyond detection.  With sufficiently sensitive instruments, every word ever spoken in the history of mankind presumably could be retrieved.  How much more certain can we be that in God’s infallible records every word and deed of mankind is perfectly preserved for us as evidence in the coming judgment!

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There is much food for thought here especially as I am to take note on all of the words that I speak, and then think about them, and confess my sinfulness to the Lord if my words are sinful.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Going back to the introduction to this section where we learned how many words the average persons speaks a day I will certainly need the help of the Holy Spirit to convict me when necessary of the harmful words that I speak each day.

 

2/23/2022 10:47 AM

PT-1 "The Punishment" (Matt. 12:36-37)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/22/2022 12:30 PM

 

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

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matt. 12:36-37

 

            Message of the verses:  “36 “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the Day of Judgment. 37 “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.’”

 

            In our last SD we spoke about how what a person is thinking will come out eventually in the words that they speak, and it is because men’s words are an accurate gauge of their hearts, they shall render account for their words in the Day of Judgment. A person is either justified or condemned by the words that they speak.  MacArthur adds “Salvation and condemnation are not produced by words or deeds, but they are manifested by them.  Words and deeds are objective, observable evidence of a person’s spiritual condition.  In the Day of Judgment, that future general time when the Lord evaluates who belongs in and out of His eternal kingdom, the criteria will include the speech of every person.”

 

            Now matter whether or not you look in the Old Testament or the New Testament there is a consistent teaching of salvation is by God’s grace working through man’s faith.  The point Jesus is making here is not that words are the basis of salvation or condemnation but that they are reliable evidence of the reality of salvation.  So it is that the speech of a redeemed person will be different, and the reason is because it comes from his renewed heart.  Pure, wholesome, praising speech is what shows a new heart.

 

            I have mentioned that Ephesians 2:10 is one of my very favorite verses and this shows us as we begin in verses 2:8-9 how a person has been saved, and then in verse 10 it shows us that we will be working after we have become saved, not working to be saved.  Romans 10:10 says “for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”  Then in Romans 15:18 we see that what we saw in 10:10 in turn results in “obedience…beyond and deed.”  Salvation will produce good works, and it is for that very reason and in that sense that words bring justification or condemnation.

 

            The ungodly will be forever condemned for their speech.  I have to say that while going to high school and then going to work at a foundry for over 35 years that the speech of the ungodly was something that I certainly noticed after becoming a believer some nine years after beginning my work at the foundry.  I once had a person who had something against me as far as work related and he wrote something that he said I said and in that paper were many swear words to which people knew that I would have not said anything like that.  Now back to our lesson and we can see that Jesus does not limit this warning to extremes such as blasphemy but H makes explicit that men will render account for every careless word that they speak whether or not it is immoral, vulgar, cruel, or even blasphemous.  They will have to at that time of judgment render account even for words that are careless.

 

            John MacArthur writes “The basic meaning of argos (careless) is useless, barren, unproductive, or otherwise worthless.  Such words include those that are flippant, irresponsible, or in any way inappropriate.  Hypocritical words are among the most careless and worthless that men speak and are, unfortunately, among the most common.  When men self-consciously keep their vocabulary orthodox, moral, and evangelically acceptable while among fellow Christians—for the sake of impressing them or to keep from embarrassing ourselves—those words are careless and worthless in God’s sight, and He will render them against their account.  The calculated hypocrisy of such ‘holy talk’ is a stench in His nostrils.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I trust that the Lord is teaching me things that I need to realize from this very convictive passage.

 

2/22/2022 1:01 PM

PT-2 "The Principle" (Matt. 12:34b-35)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/21/2022 10:08 AM

 

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

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                          Referenced:  Matthew 12:34b-35

 

            Message of the verses:  “For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. 35  "The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil.”

 

            We have been talking about the things that go on in the inside of a person will eventually come out in their speech, and so the person who harbors ill will against someone will eventually express those feelings.  Also the person who is filled with lustful thoughts will eventually express those in crude or suggestive remarks.  There is more to this as the person who is persistently angry and hateful will sooner or later put those feelings into words, and in the same way, the person who is genuinely loving, kind, and considerate cannot help expressing those feelings in words and also in actions.  That is the good side, and this is much better than the bad side, but we have to remember that even those of us who are believers still have that old nature or flesh that we have to deal with each and every day of our lives.

 

            There is a story in the story of Job from a man named Elihu, and he was one of the youngest of those who came to confront Job, and so he had to wait a long time before the other three older ones stopped talking to and about Job.  He says the following in Job 32:18-20 “18 “For I am full of words; The spirit within me constrains me. 19 “Behold, my belly is like unvented wine, Like new wineskins it is about to burst. 20 “Let me speak that I may get relief; Let me open my lips and answer.”  Elihu was bursting in side as he waited his turn to turn on Job about his supposable sin.

 

            John MacArthur writes “What the heart, or the mind, dwells on and feeds on is what it is full of; and that which fills the heart it is that which the mouth inevitably speaks.  A person may carefully monitor his words most of the time, but the pressure of evil thoughts, anger, stress, pain, or the association with vulgar friends will sometimes force his real thoughts and attitudes to the surface in the form of words.”

 

            If you have ever read through or studied the book of James you will know that he understood that principle and gave several powerful warnings about the tongue.  “If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless” (James 1:26).  “But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison” (James 3:8).  The apostle Paul also has some things to write about in summing up his description of men’s depraved nature he writes “13 “Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; 14  “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness’” (Romans 3:13-14 NKJV).  One more illustration comes from Proverbs 23:7 “For as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, "Eat and drink!" But his heart is not with you.”

 

            Jesus then expands on the principle that He just stated, as He then gives the positive and the negative aspects of it: "The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil.”

 

            MacArthur explains “Treasure is from thesaurus, which means storehouse or treasury and is the term from which we get the English thesaurus, a treasury of words.  A person’s heart is the treasury of his thoughts, ambitions, desires, loves, attitudes, and loyalties.  It is the reservoir from which the mouth draws its expressions.  It is axiomatic that a good treasure brings forth what is good, and an evil treasure brings forth what is evil.  ‘Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? James asked (James 3:11).

            “A common expression in the computer world is GIGO, which stands for ‘Garbage in, garbage out.’  In other words, the quality of data entered determines the quality of the results produced from that data.  In exactly the same way, the quality of what is in a person’s heart determines the quality of speech his mouth produces.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I suppose one could say after reading this that their toes may have been stepped on.  I can learn from this to monitor what comes out of my mouth and then seek the Lord to change me more and more from the inside so the outside will reflect the new changes.  2Co 3:18  But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to see 2 Corinthians 3:18 working in my life.

 

2/21/2022 10:55 AM

 

PT-1 "The Principle" (Matt. 12:34b-35)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/20/2022 8:06 AM

 

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

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 12:34b-35

 

            Message of the verses:  “For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. 35  "The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil.”

 

            Now as we look at the Scriptures we will find different principles in them and what we are looking at in this verse and a half is one of the most basic principles of Scripture regarding men:  the mouth speaks what is in the heart.  What a person is on the inside the mouth will certainly reveal, that is give evidence on the outside.  Our Lord’s half brother James says that one who did not sin with his mouth would be “a perfect man” which is seen in James 3:2.  As we have been looking at this section in the 12^th chapter of Matthew we have seen that the Pharisees’ hearts are very evil which made them blaspheme the Holy Spirit by accusing Jesus of casting out demons by Satan’s power.  We have gone into detail about this in our past SD’s and said what they did was what is called the unpardonable sin.  These Pharisees’ spoke evil because their hearts were filled with evil, and by their words they condemned themselves as they sought to condemn Jesus.

 

            John MacArthur writes “In Scripture the heart represents the seat of thought and will, rather than the seat of emotions (represented by the bowels, or stomach area, as indicated in the KJV renderings of Song of Sol. 5:4; Jer. 31:20; Phil. 1:8; 2:1; Philem. 7, 12, 20; and 1 John 3:17).  The heart represents the character of a person, and therefore to say that words reveal what the heart is like is to say they reveal what the person is like.  When it speaks, the mouth simply reproduces verbally what is in the heart.  Using that same figure, Jesus explained on a later occasion that ‘the things that proceeded out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.  For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders’ (Matt. 15:18-19).”

 

            Now as we look at the phrase that which fills that translates the Greek noun perisseuma, writes MacArthur “which means great abundance, fullness, or overflow.  It carries the idea of excess, which, in the terms of Jesus’ figure, spills over from the heart and out of the mouth in the form of words.  What the heart is full of will overflow from the mouth.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There is much food for thought in this section of Matthew to which I need to certainly think about, especially from what is coming out of my mouth from time to time.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust that the Lord will fill me with things from His Word in order to have the right things come out of my mouth.

 

2/20/2022 8:24 AM  

PT-2 "The Personalization" (Matt. 12:34a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/19/2022 10:11 AM

 

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

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 12:34a

 

            Message of the verse:  “"You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good?’”

 

            I mentioned yesterday that we would be talking more about vipers today as we conclude this SD.  When one thinks of vipers they will be thinking about snakes, and more than likely will be thinking about snakes that can eject poison.  One may also think about Satan for after he tempted Adam and Eve the lord cursed the animal that he was using and stated that they would crawl on their bellies from here on.  14 The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life;” (Genesis 3:14).

 

            Vipers can blend in with their surroundings and when one picks up a stick they could be picking up a snake like Paul did on the island of Malta.  Now the mother viper will normally lay a large number of eggs, and when they hatch the “brood” of the little potential killers scurry around like insects writes John MacArthur.

 

            Now it was the Pharisees who were the epitome of religious and moral corruption and danger, as they were like a “brood of vipers,” as they traveled from place to, usually in their little groups, teach in promoting their man-made traditions.  Jesus had this to say about the Pharisees in Matthew 23:15 “"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”  MacArthur adds “Their unbiblical, legalistic traditions poisoned the minds of fellow Jews against the pure and redeeming truth of God’s Word, and their hypocritical self-righteousness led countless others into that same evil attitude.  When someone reached into the woodpile of religion, thinking to pick up a stick of truth, he could be bitten to death by those soul-damning liars.”  (I like that quote.)

 

            Jesus continues in this verse by asking “How can you, being evil, speak what is good?”  For one thing we are all born sinners, and that we then have the potential of being evil to some extent or another.  These Pharisees were surely taking evil to a high level as they pedaled their poison to unsuspecting Jews.  Jesus is asking them “How can anything but blasphemy and other ungodliness be expected of you?”  There is no way that they could possibly “speak what is good.”  MacArthur adds “Being evil expresses the depravity of the natural human heart, which can produce only evil because it is only evil.  That is the legacy of fallen man because of Adam’s sin.  As Paul explained to the Roman church, ‘Both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written, There is none righteous, not even one;…there is none who does good, there is not even one,’…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ (Rom. 3:9-10, 12, 23).  He explained to the Ephesians that every person is ‘dead in [his] trespasses and sin’ until he trusts in Jesus Christ for salvation (Eph. 2:1).”

 

            In the Old Testament we see that it also clearly chronicles the evil heart of man.  From the time of Adam’s sin, mankind was henceforth characterized by hatred, corruption, murder, lying, and every other form of wickedness.  King David knew that he inherited a sin nature the moment he was conceived as seen in Psalm 51:5 where he wrote “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.”  David wrote this Psalm along with Psalm 32 after his sin with Bathsheba, and the killing of her husband.  Jeremiah declared that the human “heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick” in Jeremiah 17:9.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I think of what I posted on my other blog this morning about being reminded that even though I am a born-again believer that I still sin, and it is like walking through a mine field as I walk through this world. 

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust that the Holy Spirit will guide my steps so I don’t step on any sinful mines as I travel in this world.

 

2/19/2022 10:42 AM