PT--3 "The Principle" (Matt. 16:24)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/30/2022 8:42 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  PT-3 “The Principle”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matthew 16:24

 

            Message of the verse:  “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”

 

            In order for me to make sense of this section, and to make those who read it make sense I think that once again that I should just quote from MacArthur’s commentary.

 

            “The believer is made acceptable before God when he trust in Jesus Christ and he stands before the Lord in perfect righteousness, clothed in ‘the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth’ (Eph. 4:24).  But as Paul also declared, even after salvation a believer has no more goodness in himself, ‘that is in [his] flesh,’ than he had before salvation.  To deny self is to ‘make no provision for the flesh’ (Rom. 13:14) and to ‘put no confidence in [it]’ Phil 3:3).  To deny self is to subject oneself entirely to the lordship and resources of Jesus Christ, in utter rejection of self-will and self-sufficiency.

 

            Jesus proclaimed that the first requirement for entering the kingdom is to be ‘poor in spirit’ (Matt 5:3), to have the spirit of utter poverty in regard to one’s own goodness, righteousness, worth, and merit.  It is to humbly recognize one’s spiritual destitution.  It is only the person who realizes how poor he is who will ever know the riches of Christ.  It is only the person who realizes how sinful and damned he is who will ever come to know how precious the forgiveness of God is.  ‘The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit’ (Ps. 34:18).  It is the broken and contrite heart that God loves and will never despise (Ps. 51:17).  It is not the self-righteous and self-satisfied but the penitent and humble whom God saves.  It was not the proud Pharisee who had such a high image of himself, but the brokenhearted tax collector who asked God for mercy, who Jesus said ‘went down to his house justified’ (Luke 18:14).

 

            The whole purpose of the Old Testament, reflected pointedly in the law of Moses, was to show man how spiritually and morally destitute and powerless he is in himself.  The law was not meant to show men how they could work their way into God’s favor but to show them how impossible it is to live up to God’s holy standards by their own resources.

 

            Arthur Pink wrote, ‘Growth in grace is growth downward; it is the forming of a lower estimate of ourselves; it is a deepening realization of our nothingness; it is a heartful recognition that we are not worthy of the least of God’s mercies.’

 

            To be saved calls for a sinner to deny self so as to ‘consider the members of [his] earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry (Col. 3:15).  It is  to ‘lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and…be renewed in the spirit of [one’s] mind’ (Eph. 4:22-23).”  9/30/2022 9:03 AM

 

PT-2 "The Principle" (Matt. 16:24)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/29/2022 10:23 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  PT-2 “The Principle”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 16:24

 

            Message of the verse:  “24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”

 

            We first want to look at the highlighted word “himself” but only want to talk about “self” and describe what Jesus is referring to when He uses this word.  First of all Jesus is not referring to one’s personal identity as a distinct individual.  The truth confirmed in Scripture is that every person is a unique creation of God, and the heavenly Father knows each of His children by name.  He has every believer’s name “recorded in Heaven” as seen in Luke 10:20:  “"Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.’”  So what is Jesus referring to when He speaks of “self” in this verse?  “The self which Jesus is speaking is rather the natural, sinful, rebellious, unredeemed self that is at the center of every fallen person and that can even reclaim temporary control over a Christian” writes John MacArthur.  He goes on “It is the fleshly body, the ‘old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit’ (Eph. 4:22).”  “That, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit.”  “And is yet to be redeemed in glorification (cf. Rom. 8:23).”  “And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.”  “To deny that self is to confess with Paul, ‘I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh’ (Rom.7:18).  To deny that self is to have the sincere, genuine conviction that one has nothing in his humanness to commend himself before God, nothing worthwhile to offer Him at all.”

 

            I have to say that this is “heavy truth” for me, something that I certainly need to better understand as I go through my life at this time, something that I need to remember and put to use as I walk with the Lord.  It is good to remember that God loves me, for when I sin then because of my humanness it seems to me that God is disappointed in me and this bothers me, but as I look at stories from the Old Testament of believers when they sin that God still loves them and still uses them for His glory.  I know that this is true because of my study in the 11^th chapter of Hebrews which I am teaching in my Sunday school class.  In that wonderful chapter which is sometimes called God’s Hall of Faith you never see any of the sins that these Old Testament saints had committed because the sins that they committed are all under the blood of Jesus Christ when He died on the cross for all who had and will come to Him in faith. 

 

            This is all the further I want to go in this SD as I want to think about what I have learned and have been reminded of already.

 

9/29/2022 10:50 AM

 

 

PT-1 "The Principle" (Matt 16:24)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/28/2022 11:50 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus: PT-1 “The Principle”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matthew 16:24

 

            Message of the verse:  “24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” 

 

            In Luke’s gospel which speaks of this same thing going on in Matthew’s he adds to take up his cross “daily.”

 

            I think that it is possible that when Jesus said to His disciples "If anyone wishes to come after Me, that they may have thought about two and a half years earlier when He called them.  I think about 48 and a half +years  earlier when the Lord called me to follow Him as that is when He saved me.  That was without doubt the very best day of my life as it changed everything.

 

            According to Mark 8:34 we know that there were also unbelievers present there and so that call that went out to them was to become His followers by believing in Him, the initial surrender of the new birth, when a person comes to Christ for salvation and the old life of sin is exchanged for a new life of righteousness.  However to the believers there, including His disciples the come after Me reiterated the call to the life of daily obedience to Christ.

 

            John MacArthur writes these insightful words:  “It is sadly possible for believers to lose the first love they had when they received Christ as saving Lord and surrendered all they were and had to Him (see Rev. 2:4) It is a constant temptation to want to take back what was given up and to reclaim what was forsaken.  It is not impossible to again place one’s own will above God’s and to take back rights that were relinquished to Him.  It is especially tempting to compromise our commitment when the cost becomes high.  But the fact that believers sometimes succumb to disobedience does not alter the truth that the character of a true disciple is manifest in obedience.  Although imperfect obedience is inevitable because of the unredeemed flesh, the basic desire and life-direction of the true Christian is obedience to the Lord.

            “Discipleship is on God’s terms, just as coming to Him is on His terms.  The Lord here reminds us that the key discipleship principle of winning by losing involves self-denial, cross-bearing, and loyal obedience. “

 

            Here is the first requirement of discipleship: self-denial. A person who is not willing to deny himself cannot claim to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.  MacArthur writes “Deny is from aparneomai, which means to completely disown, to utterly separate oneself from someone.  It is that word Jesus used to describe Peter’s denial of Him while He was being questioned by the high priest (Matt. 26:34).  Each time he was confronted about his relationship to Jesus, Peter more vehemently denied knowing Him (vv. 70, 72, 74).  He disowned His Mater before the world.”

 

            This type of denial that Peter did to the Lord is exactly the kind of denial a believer is to make in regard to himself.  He is to utterly disown himself, to refuse to acknowledge the self of the old man.  MacArthur adds “Jesus’ words here could be paraphrased, ‘Let him refuse any association or companionship with himself.’  Self-denial not only characterizes a person when he comes in saving faith to Christ but also as he lives as a faithful disciple of Christ.”

 

Lord willing we will continue to look at this very important subject in our next SD.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  David wrote in Psalm 51:12 “ Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit.”  This is the thing that I need today, and every day that involves some kind of sin in my life.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to deny myself the things that were in my life before the Lord saved me to His glory.

 

9/28/2022 12:27 PM

Intro to Matt. 16:24-27

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/27/2022 9:04 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                     Focus: Intro to Matthew 16a:24-27

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matt. 16:24-27

 

            Message of the verses:  “24  Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, (daily) and follow Me. 25  "For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it. 26 “For what will a man be profited, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and WILL THEN RECOMPENSE EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.”

 

            John MacArthur entitles this chapter in his commentary “Winning by Losing: the Paradox of Discipleship”  He begins his introduction with these important words “This passage sets forth the heart of Christian discipleship and it strikes a death blow to the self-centered false gospels that are so popular in contemporary Christianity.  It leaves no room for the gospel of getting, in which God is considered a type of utilitarian genie who jumps to provide a believer’s every whim. It closes the door to the gospel of health and wealth, which asserts that if a believer is not healthy and prosperous he has simply not exercised his divine rights or else does not have enough faith to claim his blessings.  It undermines the gospel of self-esteem, self-love, and high self-image, which appeals to man’s natural narcissism and prostitutes the spirit of humble brokenness and repentance that marks the gospel of the cross.”  (I have to say that this paragraph will take some time to go over and understand what he has said.)

 

            He goes on to write:  “To come to Jesus Christ is to receive and to keep on receiving, forever.  But Jesus, through His direct instruction during His earthly ministry and through His apostles in the rest of the New Testament, repeatedly makes clear that there musb be a cross before the crown, suffering before glory, sacrifice before reward.  The heart of Christian discipleship is giving before gaining, losing before winning.”

 

            Let us now look at some verses to show us that this was not the first time that Jesus spoke of the high cost of discipleship.  “37 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it” (Matt. 10:37-30).  “26 "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. 27 “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26-27).  Now we will look at what Jesus said to the wealthy young man in Perea as seen in Mark 10:21 “Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, "One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.’”  Here is what Jesus said to the Greeks who asked to see Him in John 12:24-25 “24  "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.’”

 

            We have talked at length about what kind of Messiah the Jews were looking for, a Messiah who would take on Rome and defeat it, a Messiah who would then rule over the Jews so that they would not have any enemies.  This goes along with the health and wealth gospel that is seen in our world today, and both of them are wrong.  Now we know that the next prophetic thing to happen is the rapture of the church, and then shortly after that will come the seven year tribulation period ending with the second coming of Jesus Christ where He will separate the sheep from the goats and then re-do our planet earth, then will go into Israel and sit on David’s throne ruling the world from Jerusalem.  However before all of this could happen Jesus had to die for the sins of those in the world, but not all will accept His death, burial, and then resurrection for themselves. 

 

            I have to say that there were some Jews who did realize that Jesus would be born to take away the sins of the world, but this did not become clear to even His disciples until after Jesus was resurrected, and in particular on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was given to them.  At this time His disciples, and in particular Peter had not gotten these statements that Jesus was making in Matthew 16:22 “And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.’”

 

            MacArthur concludes his introduction:  “They did not accept the truism that it is impossible for God, whether incarnate in His son or living in the hearts of believers, to come into the midst of an anti-God society without there being hostility, reproach, and oppression.  When holiness meets Unholiness, a violent reaction is inevitable.   “And indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,” Paul said (2 Tim. 3:12).

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have not seen a time in our country and in many places around the world that there has been such a great division between those who name the name of Christ and those who hate the name of Christ.  I think it will continue to get worse.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust that the Lord will very soon come to get His bride and take them to be with Him forever.

 

9/27/2022 10:01 AM

 

           

           

           

PT-2The Principle for Us" (Matt. 16:23b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/26/2022 11:34 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-2 “The Principle for Us”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 16:23a

 

            Message of the verse:  “for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”

 

            MacArthur writes “From Peter’s rebuke and Jesus’ counter rebuke, Christians can learn two important lessons.  The first is that God’s way of salvation does not correspond to men’s.  His kind of Messiah is not man’s kind.  Therefore the person who insists on his own kind of Savior and on coming to God on his own terms finds himself opposing God and moving away from Him.  Men’s ways never lead to God.”  I think that if people would just listen to this truth then they would understand that in and of themselves they have no way to come to God on their own.  God’s plan is for them to trust what Jesus Christ did for them on the cross as He took their sins on Himself during those three dark hours and paid for them completely so that when one realizes this, realizes that they are sinners, born sinners and sin because they are born sinners, and then agree with God of this truth and then realize that Jesus died for their sins, then they will be saved.  Men cannot have Christ on their own terms, and to reject the way of the cross is to reject Christ, no matter how much He may be professed and praised.

 

            We can say that Peter failed totally on that occasion in Caesarea Philippi, he came to understand and love the way of the cross.  That is exactly the way that he preached on Pentecost as found in the 2^nd chapter of Acts, as he came to understand and love the way of the cross.  Peter wrote the following in 1 Peter 2:4 which came years later than this incident found in Matthew 16.  “and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”

 

            We now want to look at the second point that MacArthur brings up:  “The second important lesson is that there is pain in God’s refining process.  As Jesus went on to explain in the next verse, He calls His disciples to share His suffering and His cross.  They are called to deny themselves and take up their own crosses as they follow Him (Matt. 16:24).  There is no crossless obedience to Christ.

            “To make spiritual gold of His children, the Father must burn off the sinful dross.  On His redeemed remnant He says, ‘I will…refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested.  They will call on My name, and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, the Lord is my God’ (Zech. 13:9).”

 

Someone has written,

 

“Man judgeth man in ignorance,

He seeth but in part;

Our trust is in our Maker, God,

Who searheth every heart;

And every wrong and every woe,

When put beneath our feet,

As stepping-stones may help us on

To His high mercy-seat.

Then teach us still to simile, O Lord,

Though sharp the stones may be,

Remembering that they bring us near

To Thee, dear Lord, to Thee!

 

9/26/2022 11:52 AM

 

 

           

The Principle for Us (Matt. 16:23b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/25/2022 8:50 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  “The Principle for Us”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 16:23b

 

            Message of the verse:  “for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but mans.”

 

            In this last part of verse 23 we see that Jesus gives the reason that Peter fell into Satan’s trap and found himself trying to lure his Lord into it as well and that is that Peter was not setting his mind on God’s interest but mans.  Now because he is fallen and sinful, man’s ways are not the Lord’s his interests are not God’s.

 

            Here is what Peter was doing wrong, and I have to say that this is probably what many born-again believers do wrong in their lives, and that is that Peter was reasoning from his own finite and sinful mind, as he found himself siding with Satan and opposing God.  Like I have said in earlier SD’s from this section of Matthew that Satan is tricky trying to get believers to fall into his traps, doing sinful things and then after doing them he will use those sinful things to accuse us of doing something wrong.  Peter did not continue to submit to the leading of the Father as seen in verse 17; he lost the Father’s perspective.  In his human wisdom he could not fathom why his Lord, the Messiah, had to go to the cross, which of course was the Father’s will for Him.  Peter was thinking like an unredeemed, fleshly man and found himself becoming “hostile toward God” (Romans 8:7). 

 

            I will close this short SD with a quotation from John MacArthur’s commentary:  “When believers focus on their present pain or potential distress rather than on the Lord who has allowed that pain, they are easy prey for Satan’s traps and can even become his traps for ensnaring others.  James therefore says, ‘Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of you faith produces endurance.  And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing’ (James 1:2-4).  ‘Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial,’ he goes on to say:  ‘for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him’ (v. 12).”

 

9/25/2022 9:06 AM

PT-2 "The Protest of Christ" (Matt. 16:23a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/24/2022 10:16 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-2 “The Protest of Christ”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 16:23a

 

            Message of the verse:  “But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan!  You are a stumbling block to Me;”

 

            We have been talking about how Satan was the one who caused Peter to say what he said to Jesus, and the fact that this happened after a great victory when Peter stated that Jesus was the Messiah that God had sent into the world.  So it was Satan who put the rebuke in Peter’s mind as the Father had put the confession in his mind.  MacArthur adds “Whether by obsession, oppression, or simply by supernatural influence, Satan managed to prompt Peter to oppose Christ’s way and try to lure Jesus into disobeying God’s will.”  There is no mention in the text how this temptation came about, but it does give the source, Satan.  We see that Peter succumbed and found himself opposing the very plan of God in the very same way that Satan did in the wilderness, which we looked at in our last SD.  Peter found himself speaking for Satan, but at the time I am certain that he did not realize this until, perhaps when Jesus rebuked him.

 

            We know that Satan knew that if Jesus went to the cross that it would stem defeat for him.  I know that in this world we live in we have a hard time in realizing that Satan is a defeated foe.  I have heard it said that Satan is like a chicken who just had his head cut off and when that happens a chicken can still run around even though the chicken is dead.  Not sure how good of an example that this is?  It is because those who are unbelievers that they are spiritual children of the devil as Jesus explained in John 8:44 as He was talking to the scribes and Pharisees.  Paul writes the following to the Corinthians:  “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”  “but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,” (1 Cor. 1:18, 23).  The only path of mans deliverance from darkness into the Light is through the cross and Satan knows this, and that is why he was trying so hard to keep Jesus from going to the cross, but Jesus going to the cross was God’s plan and Satan could not stop it.  MacArthur adds “After Christ died on the cross, Satan tried to keep Him dead; but the grave had no power over Him, just as it would have no power over His church (Matt. 16:18), the redeemed fellowship of those who put their trust in Him.”

 

            We can see that the temptation to avoid the cross was a real temptation to Christ, because He knew the cross meant inconceivable agony to Him.  Psalm 22 gives us a picture of this agony that Christ went through.  This temptation culminated in the Garden of Gethsemane where we actually read of Christ sweating drops of blood.  I have read that this can happen to a person, but in order for that to happen one has to be extremely stressed.  “Bloody sweating is

called hematohidrosis; true hematohidrosis occur in bleeding disorders. [1] It may occur in individuals suffering from extreme levels of stress. Around the sweat glands, there are multiple blood vessels in a net-like form, which constrict under the pressure of great stress.”  (Google). 

 

            Now it was because Peter had taken the side of Satan, he became a stumbling block to Christ.  MacArthur explains “Stumbling block is from skandalon, a word originally used of an animal trap, in particular the part where the bait was placed.  The term eventually came to be used of luring a person into captivity or destruction.  Satan was using Peter to set a trap for Jesus.”  Michael Card has a song by that name.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wf8OGTqiSw  This is the youtube site to listen to this song.

 

9/24/2022 10:57 AM  

The Protest of Christ (Matt. 16:23a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/23/2022 11:12 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                           Focus:  “The Protest of Christ”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 16:23a

 

            Message of the verse:  “23 But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me,

Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me;”

 

            I suppose that it would be right to say that Peter was shocked by what the Lord said to him, for hearing “get behind me Satan!” surely would have been a great shock to Peter.  I have to say that Peter, on the surface, was saying something that seems honorable and even loving and compassionate, but that was on the surface and what we can learn from this is something I guess that most of us know and that is that Satan is tricky among other harmful things.  As we look at Peter’s statement we know that Peter did not want his Lord and friend to die, but that had to happen and later on Peter would completely understand it.  Perhaps it was a selfish reason that Peter and the rest of the twelve did not want Jesus to die as they had dependent on Jesus for almost everything since they had been walking with Him.

 

            MacArthur writes “As on commentator has observed, Peter ‘could hardly have understood that by his attempt to dissuade Jesus from the cross he was placing arrows in the bow of Satan to shot at his beloved Savior.’”

 

            It is possible that Peter had put an arm around Jesus before he said what he said to him, that is "God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You."  It is not hard to imagine that Jesus was looking straight into the eyes of Peter as we read He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan!  This statement was surely a stinging, devastating response that must have shaken Peter to the core of his being.  Peter did not even have a chance to finish his objections as Jesus abruptly cut him off and accused him of being the mouthpiece for His adversary, Satan.

 

            Let us go back to some of the things that Jesus said to Satan just after He had begun His ministry, and see if they are similar to what He just said to Peter.  “Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve’” (Matt. 4:10).  “When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13).  Perhaps what we see in Matthew 16:23a show that Satan was using an opportune time to tempt Jesus through the voice of Peter. 

 

            Peter was basically saying something like this “My way is better than Yours and the Father’s” which is similar to what Satan was saying to Jesus while he was tempting Him as we have just looked at.  Here is the sad truth and that is that the one whom the Father had just inspired to give that confession as seen in verse 17, was now inspired by Satan. 

 

            I will close this SD by quoting an important paragraph from John MacArthur:  “If such a thing could happened to Peter, it can happen to any believer.  The same Christian who extols the plan of God can be lured into extolling the plan of Satan.  When he follows his own wisdom instead of the Spirit’s the same one who has strongly taken the side of God can find himself unwittingly taking the side of Satan.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am reminded once again how tricky Satan is as it seems that Satan comes after people right after they have climbed on top of the mountain spiritually that he will then tempt us and then fail the Lord.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I am reminded of the need of the Spiritual Armor that I am to use when I am tempted by the evil one.

 

9/23/2022 11:41 AM

The Presumption of Peter (Matt. 16:22)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/22/2022 8:39 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                    Focus:  “The Presumption of Peter”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 16:22

 

            Message of the verse:  “22 And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.’”

 

            What Peter said to the Lord here was certainly wrong, but the reason that he said this was because it was so utterly contrary to what he himself strongly believed, so Peter took him aside and began to rebuke Him.

 

            We certainly can see the humanness of Jesus in this section as to what Peter spoke to Him these words.  Had Jesus been a mystical and demanding Lord of the kind the Jews expected the Messiah to be, Peter would never have dared address Him as he did here and on many other occasions that we see in the gospels.  Peter many times had what is called “foot in mouth” problem.  We can certainly tell that in spite of what Peter said that he and Jesus were close friends as well as his Lord.  Peter showed no fear in speaking this rebuke to Jesus, demonstrating the reality of their intimate relationship as men.

 

            I suppose that there are many believers throughout the church age that have read this section and have been quick to rebuke Peter for such incredible presumption, but they themselves have done similar things to what Peter has done.  MacArthur writes “The believer who complains about his sufferings and trials and asks, ‘Why me Lord?’ shares in Peter’s presumption.  It is easy to accept God’s blessings, but not His testings.  It is easy to accept prosperity and health as part of God’s plan for us, but not hardship and sickness.  When joy comes to us, that seems to be our proper lot as a child of God, but when sorrow comes we are inclined to doubt our heavenly Father’s wisdom and love.

 

            “Rebuke translates the same word (epitimao) Matthew used of Jesus warning the disciples not to tell no one He was the Christ (v. 20).  The word carried the idea of authoritative judgment, normally used by an official or leader against someone under his jurisdiction.  The present infinitive form suggests that Peter made the rebuke repeatedly.

 

            “Perhaps Peter’s presumption came out of the officiousness that sometimes comes with age, or out of his being the acknowledged leader of the apostles.  It was to him that Jesus had just declared the Father had given special revelation (v. 17), and Peter may now have considered himself a spokesman for God.  Or perhaps the response was simply typical of Peter’s self-confident personality.  Certainly his deep love for and dependence on the Savior made the thought of His death a fearful prospect, so that both love and fear entered into Peter’s response.  In any case, his sinful pride led him to place his understanding above Christ’s.”

 

            “The words God forbid it translates a Hebrew colloquialism that literally meant “gracious to you’ or ‘merciful to you’ or ‘May God in His mercy spare you this.’  In the context of Peter’s rebuke, the phrase is here translated in its negative connotation,  God forbid it.  Consequently, Peter’s addressing Jesus as Lord rings hollow, because Peter was placing his own human will above the divine will of Christ.”

 

            “To reinforce his rebuke, Peter said, ‘This shall never happen to You,’ completely contradicting what Jesus had just declared was necessary.  Because he could not understand or accept the idea of a humiliated, abused, and crucified Messiah, Peter rejected God’s plan for redemption.  The wisdom of the best of men is typically antagonistic to the wisdom of God.”

 

            I am sorry for this long quotation but I did this because the great importance of this verse, and I am thankful to better understand what went on here in a newer light.

 

9/22/2022 9:12 AM

 

 

PT-3 "The Plan of God" (Matt. 16:21)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/21/2022 10:32 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                         Focus:  PT-3 “The Plan of God”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 16:-21

 

            Message of the verse: “21 From that time Jesus Christ began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.”

 

            Let us begin by looking at Psalm 137:5-6 “5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, May my right hand forget her skill. 6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth If I do not remember you, If I do not exalt Jerusalem Above my chief joy.”  I believe that this Psalm was written after the Babylonian captivity and the point here is that even though the Jews were not in Jerusalem they still considered it their place because of the spiritual things that are attributed to Jerusalem.  Before the Jews were given back their land in May of 1948, for almost 1900 years when the celebrated the Passover they would always say “next year in Jerusalem.”  That happened during the June 1967 war when Israel again had Jerusalem in their control.

 

            We know from the gospels that when Jesus came to earth that Jerusalem was far from living up to its title of the city of God.  It was during the first Passover after Jesus began His ministry that He took a whip and drove out the money changers and the animals from the temple area as seen in John 2:13-16 “13  The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15 And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; 16 and to those who were selling the doves He said, "Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.’”  Now in the next Passover that took place during His ministry He did something that was against the Jewish “religion” but maybe I should say “tradition.”  During the third Passover Jesus stayed away because of the hatred of Him there.  Later, when He attended the Feast of Booths, the Jewish leaders again tried to arrest Him and have Him put to death as seen in John 7:1-19, 44-45.

 

            John MacArthur writes “Because of its rejection of Jesus, Jerusalem was given a new and pagan name, ‘the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified’ (Rev. 11:8)…One day the city will deserve the name Jerusalem, because ‘it will come about in that day that living waters will flow out of Jerusalem,…[it] will rise and remain on its site from Benjamin’s Gate as far as the place of the First Gate to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s wine presses.  And people will live in it, and there will be no more curse for Jerusalem will dwell in security’ (Zech. 14:8, 10-11).”

 

            It was determined before the world began that Messiah would die in Jerusalem, and we know that is exactly what happened.

 

            Now we want to look at the second “must” in God’s great plan was that His Son, the Messiah would suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes.  It was those three groups of religious leaders who comprised the Sanhedrin, the Jewish high council, whose headquarters was in Jerusalem.  The elders were primarily the leaders of the various tribes scattered throughout Israel, then the chief priests were largely Sadducees, and the scribes were largely Pharisees, which means that these two groups rarely got along.  It was because of their unbelief and rejection, as well as their political power, Jesus would “suffer many things’ at the hands of those men.

 

            We conclude with the third “must” in God’s plan, and that was that Jesus “be killed.”  MacArthur writes “The Greek word behind killed was used of legal executions, and in this context the meaning is that of murder.  Jesus was not legally tried or proved guilty of any wrongdoing but was sentenced to death on the false and vindictive charges of the Jewish leaders, who were determined to be rid of Him at any cost.  It was in God’s plan that at the hand of man He was to be murdered (Acts 2:22-23).”

 

            There is one more “must” which is the last and it was that Jesus would be raised up on the third day.  The disciples did not seem to really hear this last must as they were greatly distressed because of the other three musts.  However this was truth that made the others bearable, and that was because it was the truth of victory that would conquer those seemingly defeats.  This was the “must” of triumph and glory.

 

            It was Peter’s reply (v-22) that makes clear that he and his fellow disciples had not really heard Jesus’ words about His being “raised up on the third day,” any more than they had really heard Him say that “the gates of Hades,” that is death, would not overcome His church as seen in verse 18.  They had see Him raise the daughter of Jairus and the son of the widow of Nain.  However if he Himself were to die, they probably reasoned, who would raise Him?  How could a dead Messiah deliver and rule His people?  Well we know the answer to that question as Jesus did arise on the third day, and then a bit later on at Pentecost the Holy Spirit would begin to reign into all believers so that they could understand these truths as seen in Peter’s first sermon.

 

9/21/2022 11:19 AM

PT-2 "The Plan of God" (Matt. 16:21)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/20/2022 9:35 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                      PT-2 “The Plan of God”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 16:21

 

            Message of the verse:  “21 From that time Jesus Christ began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.”

 

            I think that we all remember where Jesus was when He was speaking what is found in this verse, as He was in Caesarea Philippi, which is as far from Jerusalem as He could be and still remain in Palestine.  He was only their a brief time and afterwards He and His disciples would move down again through Galilee and Samaria to Jerusalem, and this  is where the Twelve began to fear that death by stoning at the hands of the hostile Jewish leaders awaited Jesus, and they were probably thinking it would also happen to them too (John 11:16).  “At that point the disciples saw such a possibility not as the fulfilling of the plan of God but as the hindrance or even destruction of it” writes John MacArthur.

 

            In Matthew 15:1 we say that even when Jesus was in Galilee that it was the Jewish leaders that came from Jerusalem who gave the greatest opposition to Jesus.  The truth is that this opposition to Jesus still goes on today, only not just in Israel but all around the world and because Jesus is not here physically at this time it is taken out on the body of Christ, the church.  We know that the hypocritical, self righteous Judaism that had flourished in Jerusalem could not stand Jesus, because He exposed their wickedness and ungodliness and rejected their cherished, man-made traditions (see verses 3-9).  Once Jesus and His disciples got to Jerusalem these Jewish leaders would not have to hunt them down, especially Jesus for they would be there and this is the very place where Jesus had to be crucified in order to fulfill prophecy, and there is a lot of prophecy that would be fulfilled when He was put to death for our sins, such as things in the Psalms, especially Psalm 22, and in the prophets like in Isaiah and also Zachariah, and other places.  Jesus Himself had just related to what was going to happen to Him, and as I have stated before it was Jesus who was in charge of what took place with Him, not anyone else as they were just used to fulfill prophecy.  Jesus declared “I lay down My life that I may take it again, No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative.  I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again” (John 10:17-18).  Here is what He told Pilate, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above” (John 19:11).

 

            John MacArthur writes “The name Jerusalem means ‘foundation of peace,’ although a few times in its long history has that description been fitting.  The city is located 33 miles east of the Mediterranean Sea and 14 miles west of the Dead Sea, elevated on a plateau some 2,500 feet above sea level.  When first mentioned in Scripture it was known as Salem whose king was Melchizedek, ‘a priest of God Most High’ (Gen. 14:18) and a picture of Christ, who was ‘designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek’ (Heb. 5:10).  It was on Mount Moriah, which was near Salem, that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice to the Lord (Gen. 22:2).  At the time of David was made king, Jerusalem was in the hands of the Jebusites, and one of the first acts of the new monarch was to conquer the city and name it after himself (2 Sam. 5:5-9).  Three months later he brought the Ark of the Covenant there and Jerusalem became the city where the Lord Himself symbolically dwelled.  It was in Jerusalem that David’s son, Solomon, built the Temple, and the city therefore became the central place for Jewish worship.”

I have one more thing to say about this city and that is before Solomon would be able to build the Temple he would have to have a place to build it and this came about when David sinned greatly in numbering the people and after many thousands died because of David’s sin the Lord stopped the plague right there on Mount Moriah and David bought the place from a Jebusite where at that time David offered a sacrifice there, the very same place where Isaac was offered as a sacrifice, but the Lord saved him from dying as there was a ram caught in the thicket and Abraham offered it instead.  The future history of Jerusalem will continue to go on as right now it is in control of Israel and has been since 1967, and will continue to be so, especially during the tribulation and millennial kingdom, and then after the Lord destroys the earth and surrounding universe there will be a New Jerusalem where God’s people can dwell.  Well this is at least 1007 years away and will be 1007 years away until the tribulation period begins which will not happen until the rapture of the church which I have to say that I personally have been looking for since Jan. 26, 1074, the day that I became a born-again believer in Jesus Christ.

 

            9/20/2022 10:14 AM