SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/10/2022 9:11 AM
My Worship Time
Focus: PT-3
“The Danger of Reformation”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt.
12:43-45
Message of the verses: “43 “Now when the
unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places, seeking
rest, and does not find it. 44 “Then it says, ‘I will return to my house
from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put
in order. 45 “Then it goes, and takes along with it seven other spirits more
wicked than itself, and
they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse
than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.’”
We want to look first of all at the highlighted
section from verse 45, and in particular the word “live.” In the Greek the word is katoikeo and this carries the idea of dwelling and settling
down. This is the same verb that Paul
used as he prayed for the Ephesians, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts
through faith” (Eph. 3:17). MacArthur
adds “Where Christ does not live, demons are free to live. Satan’s emissaries can go in and live in a
reformed but Christless life in a settled and secure way, because in his religious
delusion their host may be oblivious to their presence. The last state of that man becomes worse than
the first, but he does not know it. He
is like a leper who rubs off his fingers and toes because he feels no
pain. In an infinitely more tragic way,
self-righteousness desensitizes a person to sin to the point that he is not aware that his very
soul is rotting away under demonic corruption.”
As
we have studied this gospel of Matthew and have lately been looking at the
scribes and Pharisees we have learned a lot about their religious legalism, and
one of the things we can learn from that is that one of the worst aspects of it
is that it tends to get progressively more ungodly from generation to
generation, and so thinking about this we can say that these scribes and
Pharisees were at the end as within the next 40 years you will not find them
again as Jerusalem and the temple in it will be burnt to the ground and that
will end their reign of false religion.
In regard to the statement that this gets worse from generation we want
to now quote from 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 concludes “A
person who is disciple into legalism often becomes more zealous and
self-righteous than his teacher.”
Now
think about the following quotation: “To
preach morality, even according to biblical standards of behavior, but not
salvation through Christ, promotes a religion that drives men further from God
than they were before they reformed. It
is much easier to reach someone who is overwhelmed with a true sense of his sin
than someone who is overwhelmed with a false sense of righteousness. That is what Jesus mean when He said, ‘I did
not come to call the righteous, but sinners’ (Matt. 9:13). It was not the immoral and irreligious people
of Israel who put Jesus to death but the religious leaders who prided
themselves in their goodness. Christ
could not reach them, because they thought they had no need of any spiritual
help, least of all salvation from sin.” As
one thinks about this statement one may want to take inventory of themselves to
find out if what they believe in is a man-made religion or understand that they
can do nothing in and of themselves to bring about salvation other than to
throw themselves at the mercy of God who sent His Son to take their place on
the cross to purchase them out of the slave market of sin. Yes false religion that tells you that you
have to do something to earn salvation by doing good works is false. Let look at the progression that Paul used in
Ephesians 2:8-10 “8 For by grace you have been saved through
faith; and that not
of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works,
so that no one may boast.
10 For we are His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand so that we would walk in them.” Salvation is a gift, and no one can earn
it. The scribes and Pharisees were great
boasters of what they do, and as we see in verse nine “no one may boast.” In verse ten we see the word for the Lord
first of all comes after salvation, and second it has been prepared for
believers beforehand so we can have the power through the filling of the Holy
Spirit to accomplish that work for the cause of Christ as we live out our
Christian lives here on earth.
We
now want to look at what Peter had to say about this from 2 Peter 2:20-22. “20 For if, after they have escaped the
defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become
worse for them than the first. 21 For it would be better for them not to have
known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the
holy commandment handed on to them. 22 It has happened to them according to the
true proverb, "A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT," and, "A sow, after
washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.’” These verses fit perfectly into the verses
that we are looking at from Matthew at this time.
We
have mentioned that Jesus was speaking a parable and this parable applies to
Israel as a nation, and to this evil generation, as well as to individual Jews,
and probably in particular the “religious” scribes and Pharisees. As we look at a short history of the people
of Israel we know that God brought them out of Egypt where they actually
learned to worship idols. God destroyed
Egypt and brought Israel into the Promised Land where they were to drive out
and destroy the idol worshipers that lived there. God gave them a good start through the
leadership of Joshua, but then they got lazy and did not get the job done and
so they fell into the practices of worship idols. Finally God allowed the Babylonians to
conquer Judah in 586 B. C. and sent them to Babylon for seventy years. This is where they learned their lessons
about worshiping idols as the Jews forsook idolatry, and in the more than two
thousand years since then, they have never, as a people, fallen back into
it. However by the time their Messiah
came, they had become so satisfied with their reformation and their religious
ceremonies and their moral traditions that they saw no need for a Savior, and
so in the end times, that people will find themselves in league with the
Antichrist during the tribulation. It
will not be until towards the end of the tribulation period that what Paul
writes about them in Romans 11:26 “All Israel will be saved.”
MacArthur
concludes “Whether in the broad range of history, or in an individual life, the
same principle applies; outer reformation without inner transformation brings
susceptibility so even worse evil than that from which one turned away.”
Lord
will we will begin looking at “The Power of Relationship” as found in Matthew
12:46-50 in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: There is a verse in Colossians that says “Therefore
as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” I have talked in the very SD how to receive
Christ Jesus, and also how to walk in Him from Ephesians 2:8-10. The question can be answered on how to walk
in Christ from the last part of Ephesians 5:18, but I will quote all of it “And
do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.” To be filled with the Spirit is a command for
all believers and when a person is filled with the Holy Spirit then they will
live their Christian life in the power of the Spirit and not try to do things
to please God in the flesh. Remember it
is a command.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I want to remember what I believe is the key
to pleasing the Lord and that is to live my life in a way that the Spirit of
God will fill me in order to do the works that He has planned for me to do from
eternity past.
3/10/2022
10:08 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment