PT-7 "The Riches of Poverty" (Matt. 19:26-29)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/31/2023 9:54 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                Focus:  PT-7 “The Riches of Poverty”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 19:26-29

 

            Message of the verses: “26 And looking at them Jesus said to them, "With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." 27 Then Peter said to Him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?" 28 And Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.”

 

            I want to begin this, with I hope to be the last SD on this subject, but talking about the thrones that His disciples would sit in during the Millennial Kingdom. I believe  the throne that Jesus will be sitting on during this time will be a literal throne, but the thrones that the disciples sit on must also be literal thrones as seen in verse 28. 

 

            MacArthur writes “The Word makes clear that in the reign of Christ over the world, He will be sovereign and rule over Jews and Gentiles with righteousness, peace, and immediate justice.  He will be worshiped as supreme Lord, and His kingdom will bring prosperity, healing, health, and blessedness.”

 

            There is more to be added to what I just quoted, but “everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.”  The ones who renounce their possessions and become poor for the sake of Christ are going to share with the apostles in His triumph and reign.  Let us now look and see what Mark reports in Mark 10:30 “but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.”  Once again as we compare this statement with the rich young ruler we will see why he turned down the truth of the gospel message, as his riches were more important.

 

            I want to conclude this section with a quotation from John MacArthur:  “When a person comes to Jesus Christ he must often have to turn his back on certain relationships, even with those who are very dear to him.  Many times his conversion turns his own family and closest friends against him, in some cases even to the point of seeking his disinheritance or even his life.  But the one who gives up everything for Christ’s sake, not only will inherit eternal life but also the family of God in this present life.  He will have a host of new fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters with whom he will forever be united in God’s divine family.  Wherever he goes, he meets spiritual loved ones, many of whom he has never seen or heard of before.  Throughout the world he finds those who will share his sorrows, encourage his spirit, and help meet his needs, material as well as spiritual.

 

            “The believer in Jesus Christ will have blessing now, blessing in the millennial kingdom, and blessings throughout all eternity.  To be poor for the sake for Christ is to rich indeed.  Jim Elliot, a young missionary martyred by the Auca Indians of Ecuador whom he was seeking to reach for Christ, wrote shortly before his death, ‘He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.’”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have mentioned before in a few of my SD’s a saying that I heard from the person who was ministering to me right after I became a believer and it seems to go along with what I am learning from this section.  My friend Fred would say to me “Ken you have to keep your emphas and the right sylivble.  Keep your emphasis on the right syllable.”  

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I want to continue to pray for a visit that I am going to make to share the gospel with two lifelong friends.  My prayer is that the Holy Spirit will be preparing them to listen to the message of the gospel and then to give them an effectual call to salvation when they hear the message of the gospel.

 

3/31/2023 10:29 AM

 

PT-6 "The Riches of Poverty" (Matt. 19:26-29)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/30/2023 9:47 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                Focus:  PT-6 “The Riches of Poverty”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matt. 19:26-29

 

            Message of the verses:  “26 And looking at them Jesus said to them, "With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." 27 Then Peter said to Him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?" 28 And Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.”

 

            The following is what God promised long ago for His Messiah, the Lord’s Anointed, as He will receive all the nations as His inheritance and have the very ends of the earth as His possessions.  “8 ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. 9 ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware’’” (Psalm 2:8-9).  Macarthur writes “Then the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, as King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev. 19:16).  This is a reference to the prophecy of Daniel 7:13-14, where God, ‘the Ancient of Days,’ gives the kingdom to the Son of Man.  Jesus is affirming the reality that He will rule in the coming kingdom.”

 

            It is at this time, the time of the Millennial Kingdom, the kingdom promised to the Jews that the redeemed of all ages will also reign with Him.  “‘Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him’” (Daniel 7:27).   There are some other verses that we can look at that go along with Dan. 7:27 “Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? (1 Cor. 6:2)  “Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years” (Rev. 20:4).  MacArthur goes on to write “The nation of Israel will be restored, and sharing Christ’s rule over her will be the Twelve apostles, who also shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.  Matthias, who took Judas’s place among the apostles shortly before Pentecost (Acts 1:26), will join the other eleven of the twelve thrones (cf. Dan. 7:22 and Isa. 1:26).”  Let us look now at these two verses.  22 until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom” (Dan. 7:22).  “"Then I will restore your judges as at the first, And your counselors as at the beginning; After that you will be called the city of righteousness, A faithful city’” (Isa. 1:26).

            I believe that I have mentioned something about what is called the amillennialism in earlier SD’s and what they believe is that there is no millennial kingdom at all.  Now I have my own theories as to what this got started, and I believe that one of the reasons for this group of believers believe that there is no millennial kingdom is that they do not like the Jews.  These people think that because the Jews sinned by not believing in their Messiah that they have lost their chance at having a kingdom.  I remember a sermon that I heard from John MacArthur who was talking about one time when he was in Jerusalem that there were some amillennialists there talking about there would not be a millennial kingdom for the Jews.  Now you have to think about this for a moment as here is a group of amillennialists saying that God was done with the Jews and a few years before this that God had given the Jews their promised land back to them as Ezekiel had predicted which happened in 1948 and they were saying that God is done with the Jews??? I don’t think so.  Now we have been talking about the twelve thrones and the twelve tribes and so what do these amillennialists have to say about that?  MacArthur writes “One such writer made no attempt to discern Jesus’ meaning but simply commented, ‘Now we have to wonder what our Lord meant by the twelve tribes of Israel.’”  Yes I suppose they do have to wonder, but don’t wonder too long because God knows where the people are who belong to each of the twelve tribes of Israel, and one more thing is that they seem to forget that Jesus is Jewish as He came from the tribe of Judah through the bloodline of King Davie.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  When the plain sense of Scripture makes sense, seek no other sense.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Listening to our guest speaker last night he was talking about how to pray for unbelievers and right before going there I was talking to a friend of mine that I have known longer that I have known my wife and ever since I became a believer I have prayed for he and his wife to come to know the Lord.  No coincidence to me that I have made arrangements to see him and his wife the week after Easter.  No coincidence that in our Sunday school class we are taking a course on evangelism using the gospel of John.  Please pray for me and for the salvation of Troy and Charlotte.  

 

3/30/2023 10:42 AM  

PT-5 "The Riches of Poverty" Matt. 19:26-29)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/29/2023 10:27 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                Focus:  PT-5 “The Riches of Poverty”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matt. 19:26-29

 

            Message of the verses:  “26 And looking at them Jesus said to them, "With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." 27 Then Peter said to Him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?" 28 And Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.”

 

            To begin with I want to kind of pick up with what I was writing about in our last SD, but do it by quoting John MacArthur:  “The earth and the world o men will be given a new nature, described in great detail by the Old Testament prophets and by John in Revelation 10:1-15.  Just as they have been given spiritual life and a new nature in Jesus Christ but are not yet perfected, so there will be a rebirth of the earth that is divinely recreated.  Although it will not yet be totally new earth (Rev. 21:1), it will nevertheless be wonderfully superior to the present fallen and unredeemed earth.  It was the belief of the Jews that Messiah would renew the earth and heavens, based on the prophecy of Isaiah 65:17 and 66:22.  Peter called it ‘the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient times’ (Acts 3:21).’

 

            “All believers will sit on the throne of Christ (Rev. 3:21), exercising authority over the people of the earth (Rev. 2:26), while the apostles are uniquely ruling restored Israel.  This cannot be the eternal state described in Revelation 21:12-14, where twelve gates in the New Jerusalem are inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes and twelve foundations are inscribed with the names of the twelve apostles.

 

            “At the time of the restoration of the earth, righteousness will flourish, peace will abound, Jerusalem will again be exalted, health and healing will prevail, the earth will produce food as never before, the lion will lay down in peace with the lamb, the deserts will blossom, and life will be long.  The age-old curse that began with the Fall will then be limited, in anticipation of its being eliminated completely in eternal state to follow (Rev. 22:3).”

 

            As I look around at the world today, realizing that the things that are happening seem to me to be a prelude of the tribulation period, as in our country Christians are beginning to be persecuted, the LGBQ are killing Christians just because they are Christians, the weather seems to be getting stranger each passing season.  I then look at the prophetic promises and am thankful to the Lord for saving me and for giving me the hope of what I have been, along with these quotations from John MacArthur.  Yes things are getting worse and worse in this world we are living in, but the  truth is that after the Rapture of the church that things will get so bad, and billions of people will die that the Lord tells us later on in Matthew that if He did not come back when He comes back that the entire world would be destroyed.  Take heed believers the best is yet to come, and it will be so much better than what we are exercising today that it is hard to even comprehend what it will be like in the future when the Lord will sit on David’s throne during the Millennial Kingdom and rule over all the earth.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I like the use of the word “hope” and how it is used in the Word of God, for hope is a noun, meaning a sure thing, and what I am writing about and have written about in my last SD will truly happen because the Lord will make it happen, because He is in control.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord, because He is in control in these very uncertain times that I live in.

 

3/29/2023 10:53 AM  

PT-4 "The Riches of Poverty" (John 19:26-29)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/28/2023 1:42 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus: PT-4 “The Riches of Poverty”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 19:27-29

 

            Message of the verses:  “27 Then Peter said to Him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?" 28 And Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29  "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.”

 

            I said at the end of yesterday’s SD that I wanted to begin by looking at 28b in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

 

            John MacArthur writes “The term palingenesia  (regeneration) literally means new birth.  It was used by Josephus for the new birth of the Jewish nation after the Babylonian Captivity and by Philo of the new birth of the earth after the Flood and after its destruction by fire.  It is used only twice in the New Testament, here and in Titus 3:5, where Paul uses it to refer to the personal new birth of believers.” “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,” (Titus 3:5).  “In the present passage, however, Jesus uses it to represent the rebirth of the earth under His sovereign dominion at the time of His second coming.  It will be paradise regained and a global Parallel to the individual rebirth of Christians.”

 

            I can’t help myself in talking about what I have studied about the future things that are going to happen, things that it seems that Jesus is referring to here in verse 28b.  We are living in what the Bible calls the church age, and it began on the Day of Pentecost seen in the second chapter of Acts.  The church age will end at what is called “The Rapture of the Church” and this is seen in a number of places in the New Testament.  “13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words (1 Thes. 4:13-18).

 

            The highlighted portion of these verses explains the Rapture, and it is also seen in 1 Cor. 15:52-27.  After the Rapture, and I believe it will be a very short time after the Rapture that the prophesied Antichrist will come on the scene and as soon as this man makes a covenant with the nation of Israel for seven years that will begin what is called the Tribulation period.  The Tribulation period will consist of seven 360 day years and in the middle of that the Antichrist will break his peace treaty and he will go into the rebuilt Jewish temple and declare himself to be god, and this is what is called the Great Tribulation period.  Many billions of people will die during this time period which will end with the return of the Lord Jesus Christ as seen in Revelation chapter 19:11-21.  Now comes the time when the rebirth of the world will take place and I want to quote from the 12^th chapter of Daniel to help us to understand this.  “11 “From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. 12 “How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days! 13 “But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age.’”  Notice the number in verse eleven is 1290 days, which is 3.5 years, and then notice the number in verse 12 which is 1335 days.  Jesus returns at the end of the tribulation period of seven years and after He returns there will be things that He does which will take 45 days.  He will separate the sheep from the goats, the saved from the unsaved.  He will cast the devil, the antichrist, and the false prophet into the lake of fire.  I believe that those unsaved people will go into the place where all unbelievers are which is what is called Abraham bosom, and this story can be seen in Luke chapter 12 where Jesus tells the story of the rich man and Lazarus.  There are two parts of this place and as you read through this story, (not a parable) you can see that the rich man is in the hot part of it, while Lazarus in with Abraham.  The rich man is not there because he is rich, but because he is lost.  When Jesus died on the cross, I believe that He went into this place and took all the OT believers to heaven with Him because their sins have been paid for, and the rest remain there until the thousand years of the Millennial Kingdom is over as seen in the first part of Revelation chapter 20.  Then in the last part of chapter 20 we see what is called the Great White Throne Judgment will take place where all unbelievers will stand before Christ and be judged, sent into hell for eternity. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14). 

 

            Now back to the verses in Daniel 12 and why I believe there is a difference between the number of days, and that is because as said Jesus had things to do of which we have talked about.  I believe it is at this time when the Lord will bring restoration to planet earth and make it like it was when He first created it, so the earth will be perfect during the Millennial Kingdom, and yet there will still be rebellion against the Lord, so it is not the environment that causes people to sin.

 

Sorry that this took so long to document, but like I said I can’t help myself when it comes to end time prophecy.

 

3/28/2023 2:33 PM

PT-3 "The Riches of Poverty" (Matt. 19:26-29)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/27/2023 9:29 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                Focus:  PT-3 “The Riches of Poverty”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matt. 19:27-29

 

            Message of the verses:  “27 Then Peter said to Him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?" 28 And Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.”

 

            I want to continue to talk about the eleven disciples as I begin this SD this morning.  When Jesus was about to be crucified and told the twelve that one of them would betray Him the disciples did not realize who He was talking about, even when Jesus told Judas to do what he had to do.  They still did not get it, but would later on.  The point is that even the eleven despite their small faith and slowness to understand Jesus’ teaching, had truly given themselves to Him.  They shared with Judas many of the common Jewish misconceptions about the Messiah and His kingdom.  The truth is that they may still have been expecting Him to establish the kingdom during their own lifetime, and therefore could not bring themselves to accept the idea that Jesus had to suffer, and then die.  Even after Jesus was resurrected from the dead and was about to go back to heaven that these same eleven disciples asked Him when the kingdom would start up, when would He return and He answered them:  "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority” (Acts 1:7b).  The disciples continued to follow and obey Jesus even though they did not truly understand all that was going on.  The truth of what was going to happen was actually written in the OT prophets and Psalms, as they told exactly what was going to happen to the Messiah.  As mentioned the disciples only knew what the Jewish leaders, that is the scribes and Pharisees had taught them, and it was not all the truth that is found in the Old Testament.  These eleven disciples, even though they did not realize all that was going to happen still had great faith in the Lord as Peter had said in John 6:68-69 “68 Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. 69 “We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.’”

 

            John MacArthur writes:  “Although Peter and the others were still confused about much of Jesus’ message and mission, they knew they truly belonged to Him and that He truly loved them and would not forsake them.  They were certain He had something divinely good in store for them, even if they had a distorted idea of what it was.  Peter therefore asked to hear from Jesus’ own lips concerning what then will there be for us?  ‘What are the benefits of Your kingdom for us?’ they wanted to know ‘What do we have to look forward to as Your disciples?’

 

            “Some have criticized Peter for his expectation of blessing and reward.  But Jesus gave no hint of dissatisfaction with the question.  Instead, He acknowledged that they were indeed His true and sincere disciples, referring to them as you who have followed Me.  The Greek aorist participle characterizes them as His followers.”

            I don’t really want to get into the next section today as it will take some time to explain, but I can say that it is very important and actually looks to the future when after the tribulation period of seven years is over and then the one thousand year reign of Jesus Christ is on the earth Jesus will explain the role of the disciples during that time.

 

3/27/2023 10:02 AM

 

           

PT-2 "The Riches of Poverty" (Matt. 19:27-29)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/26/2023 6:46 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                Focus:  PT-2 “The Riches of Poverty”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 19:27-29

 

            Message of the verses:  “27 Then Peter answered and said to Him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?" 28 And Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29  "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, shall receive many times as much, and shall inherit eternal life.”

 

            The first thing that I want to address is that as of yet I have not located the song by Michael Card but if and when I get it I will post it in one of my Spiritual Diaries.  For whatever reason I had a very difficult time sleeping last night and therefore I am writing this SD a little later than usual and also it will not be as long either for that same reason.  I really don’t like to miss doing my devotions and there are a couple of milestones coming up for me, and the first one is that total Spiritual Diaries looked at will soon reach 300,000 and total Spiritual Diaries written will soon reach 10,000.

 

            We are trying to understand what the context of  Peter is asking Jesus in verse 27, trying to find out what his motive was for asking the Lord this question. I think that it is fair to say the Peter at this time has a good motive in asking the Lord this question, but one has to remember that it was not until the Day of Pentecost after Jesus had been resurrected that the disciples and all believers since then have received the Holy Spirit, which will make a big difference in Peter’s life and should make a big difference in every believer’s life.  Now because we have learned that Peter is the spokesman for all the disciples, that he is asking this for all of them.  Again I want to repeat at this time that Peter, nor any of the other disciples realized that Judas was not a true believer, as he was only in it for the money and the power.  I think it is fair that all of the other eleven disciples minus Judas were actually looking for what Judas was looking for but once they realized after the resurrection that this was not going to happen for a while, and it has been almost 2000 years, that they went out and preached the gospel to others.  I am reading a book to my wife in the evening about Moses’ life and we are in the part that tells of Moses going to Pharaoh and telling him to let the people go,  we can see that Pharaoh had some similarities that Judas had.  MacArthur writes of Judas:  “Judas was much further from the kingdom than the rich young ruler, who at least knew he needed eternal life and had a certain desire for it.  Judas, on the other hand, was totally concerned with his present, earthly life.”

 

            Ok I finally found the song by Michael Card that I was looking for yesterday and I will not post it on this SD and then we will continue looking at these verses in our next SD.  “Trader’s Look” is the name of the song.

 

 

Michael Card
How did it feel to take the place
Of honor at the meal
To take the sup from His own hand
A prophesy to seal
Was it because He washed your feet
That you sold Him as a slave
The Son of Man, the Lamb of God
Who'd only come to save
The silver that they paid to you
From out their precious till
Was meant to buy a spotless lamb
A sacrifice to kill
How heavy was the money bag
That couldn't set you free
It became a heavy millstone
As you fell into the sea
Now Judas don't you come to close
I fear that I might see
That traitor's look upon your face
Might look too much like me
Cause just like you I've sold the Lord
And often for much less
And like a retched traitor
I betrayed Him with a kiss

 

3/26/2023 7:28 PM

PT-1 "The Riches of Poverty" (Matt. 19:27-29)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/25/2023 10:34 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                Focus:  PT-1 “The Riches of Poverty”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matt. 19:27-29

 

            Message of the verses:  “27 Then Peter answered and said to Him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?" 28 And Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, shall receive many times as much, and shall inherit eternal life.”

 

            I begin a new section in our SD for today as I finally got through the first section and if you compare the two names, "The Riches of Poverty," of these sections they are not really what a person would think is true, but I think that as we go through tis section which should not take as long then you will understand that spiritually speaking that both of these titles are correct.

 

            The first thing that I want to look at is what Peter asked Jesus, and perhaps when Peter asked this question he probably was uncertain as to what the Lord would say to him. 27 Then Peter answered and said to Him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?"   Peter was saying to the Lord that we came on our own terms, didn’t we?  Do we therefore then qualify for eternal life?  Once again I want to reference the rich young ruler who refused to surrender his possessions and his life to the Lord, therefore he forfeited the kingdom.  However Peter is saying that we have risked everything to follow You, and we left our families while on the road with you, and we also left our work, remember when we left our fishing boats to follow You.  Peter may have also been thinking that we have repented of our sins and surrendered to Your lordship.  I think that is safe to say that Peter and all the rest of the disciples minus Judas have at sometime along their time with Christ had confessed their sins, unlike the rich young ruler.  So Peter is saying in effect “Doesn’t that qualify us for a place in Your kingdom?”

 

            Now remember that Peter was the disciple in charge and so he was in effect speaking for all the disciples, as none of them had any idea about Judas. Judas would soon make it evident of who he really was, that is not unlike the rich young ruler Judas had not forsaken everything for Christ but was instead seeking to use Him for his own ends.  I think that there are times when as a believer that I too are similar in doing the things that Judas did, no that will not cause me to lose the gift of salvation, for it is a gift of God and cannot be taken away.  I am thinking about a song that Michael Card wrote and I want to see if I can find the lyrics to it and put it on this SD.

 

Michael Card
Why did it have to be a friend
Who chose to betray the Lord
Why did he use a kiss to show them
That's not what a kiss is for
Only a friend can betray a friend
A stranger has nothing to gain
And only a friend comes close enough
To ever cause so much pain
And why did there have to be thorny
Crown pressed upon His head
It should have been the royal one
Made of jewels and gold instead
It had to be a crown of thorns
Because in this life that we live
For all who seek to love
A thorn is all the world has to give
And why did it have to be
A heavy cross He was made to bare
And why did they nail His feet and hands
His love would have held Him there
It was a cross for on a cross
A thief was supposed to pay
And Jesus had come into the world
To steal every heart away
Yes, Jesus had come into the world
To steal every heart away

 

            Well the first part of this song speaks of Judas, but I will have to search and see if there is another song, and if I find it I will put it on my next SD.

 

3/25/2023 11:08 AM