SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/6/2022 8:06 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Introduction to Reformation Versus
Relationship
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matt. 12:43-50
Message of the verses: “43 “When an
unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and
finds none. 44 “Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’
And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45 “Then
he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and
they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than
the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”
46 While He was
still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside,
seeking to speak with Him. 47 Then one said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your
brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You.” 48 But He answered
and said to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” 49
And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here are My
mother and My brothers! 50 “For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is
My brother and sister and mother.’”
As we begin this section we want to first of all
talk about what was happening back a bit earlier in our country when there was
a great issue in morality and ethics, of returning this nation to the religious
and moral standards of its founding fathers.
There were at that time many denominations, cults, and special interest
groups that were having become highly visible and vocal in their national, and
even sometimes international efforts to promote or oppose certain customs,
laws, or practices, and they ranged from civil rights and capital punishment to
abortion and divorce. I am not sure how
many people remember the “Moral Majority” group that was trying to get people
in our government who were moral, thus making our government more moral than
they were.
John
MacArthur writes the following: “Christians
cannot but be concerned about moral and ethical issues, because God’s Word is
unequivocal and unmatched in its standards of righteous living, justice and
social responsibility. But Scripture
also makes clear that morality by itself, without a right relationship to God,
is in many ways more dangerous than immorality.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus repeatedly emphasizes that mere
outward righteousness is one of the greatest hindrances to the gospel.” I have always believed that you cannot pass
laws to make people moral because morality has to begin from the inside when a
person becomes a believer in Jesus Christ who will change them from the inside
out.
Now
as we go through this introduction in the next day or so, (today is Sunday and
I don’t do long SD’s because of other things I have to do), we will be looking
at the Scribes and the Pharisees, people we have been looking at as we have
been studying this 12th chapter of Matthew, and we will find out and
realize that they were moral people, but morality without knowing God is really
not morality at all.
3/6/2022 8:23 AM
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