SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/17/2022 9:20 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Intro to “The
Blind Who Are Made to See”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matthew 16:5-12
Message of the verses: “5 And the
disciples came to the other side and had forgotten to take bread. 6 And Jesus
said to them, "Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and
Sadducees." 7 And they began to discuss among themselves, saying, "It
is because we took no bread." 8 But Jesus, aware of this, said,
"You men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you
have no bread? 9 “Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves of the
five thousand, and how many baskets you took up? 10 “Or the seven loaves of the
four thousand, and how many large baskets you took up? 11 “How is it that you
do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But beware of
the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." 12 Then they understood that
He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the
Pharisees and Sadducees.”
In Today’s Spiritual Diary we begin looking at a new
set of verses from the 16th chapter of the book of Matthew and we
will be looking at some comments from John MacArthur’s commentary on these
verses as we make our way through them.
He entitles this section “The Blind Who Are Made to See,” and it looks
like to me after reading over these verses that Jesus is speaking about His
disciples’ blindness in these eight verses, but we will see as we move our way
through them.
MacArthur’s
commentary begins with what seems to me like a tragic story which I will quote
at this time. “When he was a college
student, Thomas Steward accidently jabbed himself in the eye with a knife,
causing permanent blindness in that eye.
Fearing that the good eye might be harmed, the doctor recommended
removal of the damaged eye. As Thomas
was recovering from the anesthetic, however, it was discovered that the surgeon
had removed the wrong eye, thereby plunging the young man into total blindness.
“Undaunted
by the tragedy, Thomas determined to continue his law study at McGill University
in Montreal, Canada. He completed the
course at the top of his class, and his brother William was second. For four years William not only had pursued
his own studies in law but had acted as his brother’s eyes, accompanying him to
classes, reading the assigned material to him, and writing his tests and
papers. Understandably, Thomas’s
gratitude to his brother uas unbounded, because without that help, his own
degree and career in law would have been impossible.”
I
have been a believer for over 48 years and one thing that I have learned that a
good Pastor seems to always have a good example that he brings through a story,
and this story that MacArthur brings to us this morning from his commentary
certainly has a spiritual meaning as all good Pastors will use stories from
time to time. So what spiritual message
can we learn from this lesson about a person who was accidently blinded and
then through the mishap of a surgeon became permanently blinded? I think that we can see from the Bible that
all people are born spiritually blind, and this is far worse than being
physically blind. Like some physical
blindness that can be corrected by surgery or other methods spiritual blindness
can be corrected through the Lord Jesus Christ, but it is up to a person as to
whether or not he wants to remain spiritually blinded or not. Being spiritually blinded is far worse that
being physically blinded, for if one does not realize that he or she is
spiritually blind and refuses to do something about it then they will spend eternity
in hell, far worse that being physically blind.
“The
famous seventeenth-century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes was totally godless
and anti-Christian. When he was about to
die it is said that he loudly declared ‘I am about to take a leap into the
dark.’ The truth was that he had been
deep in darkness all his life.”
We
have one more story and then I want to try and talk about where we will be
heading as we study these eight verses from Matthew chapter sixteen.
“The
French philosopher Voltaire openly mocked God and was especially antagonistic
against Christianity. When he felt he
was near death, he was overcome with grief and despair. But instead of asking his believing friends
to lead him to Christ, he gathered them together and told them bitterly, ‘Begone!
Begone! It is you that have brought me to my present condition. Leave me, I say. Begone! What a wretched glory is this which
you have produced for me.’ Having
something of a change of mind, he later hoped to allay his anguish by making a
written recantation of his unbelief. For
two months he alternated between railing against God and calling on the name of
Christ. But his heart was too long
hardened and had become impervious to God’s love and light. Among his last words were, ‘I die abandoned
by God and man.’”
Jesus
spoke a lot about hell being referred to as “outer darkness.” He did this because it is the eternal
perpetuation of the spiritual darkness that unbelieving man refuses to forsake
while he is on planet earth. MacArthur
writes “Matthew 16:1-4 pictures spiritually blind persons who will never see,
epitomized by the unbelieving Pharisees and Sadducees who refused to receive
the light and life that Jesus offered.
“In
contrast, verses 5-12 give a picture of the spiritual blind who, by God’s
sovereign grace, are made to see. The
four characteristics of these persons are the reverse sides of the
characteristics of the blind who will never see: they seek the light, curse the darkness, receive
still greater light, and are taught by the Lord.” This is what we will be looking at as we go
over these four characteristics of people coming to the light.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Praise the Lord that “I saw the Light.” Praise the Lord for calling me into His
glorious Light and mading me His child forever.
My Steps of Faith for Today: It is my desire to be open to tell others
about the salvation that is available to them through what Jesus Christ has
done for them on the cross.
8/17/2022 10:01 AM
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