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 2nd 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
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