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
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