SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/23/2023 11:10 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-6 “The Appropriation”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matt. 19:10-12
Message of the verses: “10 The disciples said
to Him, "If the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is
better not to marry." 11 But He said to them, "Not all men can
accept this statement, but only those to whom it has been given. 12 “For
there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb; and there
are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are also eunuchs who
made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able
to accept this, let him accept it.’”
I mentioned in our last SD that John MacArthur never
mentions what I had learned about the Apostle Paul, who I said that I heard on
a Christian radio station from someone who I think is very reliable who said
that because Paul was a Pharisees that he had to be married for that was one of
the qualifications of being a Pharisee.
John MacArthur writes “Paul had the gift of celibacy and strongly
exhorted others who had the gift to be content with it and to use its obvious
advantages for God’s glory. ‘One who is
unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the
Lord,’ he said; ‘but one who is married is concerned about the things of the
world, how he may please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the woman who is unmarried, and the
virgin, is concerned about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in
body and spirit; but one who is married is concerned about the things of the
world, how sh may please her husband’ (1 Cor. 7:32-34).”
“He
who is able to accept this, let him accept it, Jesus
said. In the narrowed and most specific
sense the Lord was saying that those who by God’s gift are able to accept a
life of celibate singleness should accept it as God’s will for them. But He seems also to have been speaking more
broadly about the disciples’ accepting everything He had just taught about
marriage, divorce, remarriage, and singleness.
They were to put aside the false ideas and practices they had inherited
from the humanly-devised and unscriptural rabbinical traditions. In other words, accept what I have been
teaching as God’s Word and live accordingly.”
The truth is that the unsaved person
cannot accept Jesus’ standards for marriage and divorce, for they would not
have the resources to live up to those standards if he did accept them, the
reason is that unsaved people do not truly understand the things of God
totally. The idea of self-giving,
unconditional, and life-long commitment in any area of life, including marriage,
runs completely against the grain of fallen human nature. The truth of God has no authority in an
unredeemed life because God Himself has no place in that life.
Things are worse off in our country
since our country began over 200 years ago as what is going on now with the
sexes is so much against what the Word of God has to say that we are much in
danger of having the wrath of God fall upon our nation. God made man and out of man He made woman,
only two genders and that is the truth.
God hates homosexuality very much and in the Word of God in the first
chapter of Romans we learn the downwardness of mankind: “18 For the
wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who suppress the
truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them;
for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His
invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly
seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For
even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but
they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the
incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and
four-footed animals and crawling creatures. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts
to impurity, so
that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged
the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than
the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions;
for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the
natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another,
men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the
due penalty of their error. 28 And just as they did not see fit to
acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things
which are not proper, 29 being filled
with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder,
strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant,
boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy,
unloving, unmerciful; 32 and although they know the
ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they
not only do the same, but also give
hearty approval to those who practice them.” Italics
added.
The
last part seen in verse 32 I believe is where we are in our nation today. Billy Graham said years ago that if God did
not deal with sinful America that He would have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.
I
realize that this whole section has been talking about marriage and marriage
and remarriage, but the worse off our country is becoming the worse our
marriages are becoming and that is why I quoted the section from Romans
1:18-32.
2/23/2023 11:46 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment