SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/7/2022 9:11 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “Intro
to Matt. 12:43-50
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.’”
We
begin this SD by talking about the Pharisees, people we have been talking about
for most of this 12th chapter of Matthew. The Pharisees were classic moralists. Now we mentioned in our last SD about this
not being something good. The Pharisees
standards of religion, morality, ethics, and daily living were committed to
very unyielding commitment. No other
groups of people have had such strict standards. The problem is that these man-made standards,
purportedly based on the Law of God, and His Word, had led them further and
further from God. I am thinking about a
very famous song that Billy Graham used at the end of his evangelistic messages
entitled “Just As I Am,” and this song speaks of how the Lord will take people
just like they are. People who know that
they are in need of salvation can come just like they are and God will forgive
them. People like the Pharisees who
think that they are ok with God will have a much more difficult time coming to
God. A person has to know that they are
ill before they seek a doctors’ help. A
person has to realize that they are lost before they can come to Christ for
salvation.
As
we look at the life of our Lord while on earth we see that He had very little
trouble reaching prostitutes, thieves, extortioners, murderers, and the
outcasts of society. However He had an
almost impossible time reaching religious and moral people who were under the
delusion that outward propriety made them acceptable to God.
John
MacArthur writes “In His series of woes against the scribes and Pharisees in
Matthew 23, Jesus repeatedly called them hypocrites and charged them with possessing
only spurious righteousness.” We will
now look at Matthew 23:25-33.
“25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup
and of the dish, but
inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. 26 “You blind
Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the
outside of it may become clean also. 27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but
inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 “So you, too,
outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of
the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, ‘If we had
been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with
them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 "So you testify
against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 “Fill
up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. 33 “You serpents,
you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?”
MacArthur
then writes “There has never been a group of men more committed to a demanding
religious and moral code than the Pharisees and never a group of men so far
from God.
As
we have already mentioned a person who is far from God and knows that is better
off than the ones like the Pharisees, for they know they have a sickness of
sinfulness and therefore are much more likely to seek the Lord for Salvation.
MacArthur
concludes: “Matthew 12:43-50 presents
another of Jesus’ many warnings to the people not to listen to or follow the
example of their moralistic but ungodly religious leaders but to come to
Him. Their need was not for the outer
reformation offered by the scribes and Pharisees but their inner transformation
that could be theirs only as they gained a right relationship to God the Father
by trusting in His Son for salvation from sin.”
There
are only two main sections in these verses that we will be looking at, and both
of them are rather long. “The Danger of
Reformation” and then “They Power of Relationship” are the two we will be
looking at.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: “20 The Law came in so that the transgression would increase;
but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Rom. 5:20).
My Steps of Faith for Today: Remember:
where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”
3/7/2022 9:44 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment