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 16th
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 8th chapter of Hebrews.
2/24/2022 10:06 AM
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