SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/18/2023 9:46 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “The Pattern for True Greatness”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matthew 20:28
Message of the verses: “28 just as the Son
of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom
for many.’”
I want to begin this SD to talk about what every
person is when he or she is born. First
of all we are all born as unbelievers. I
think that I have told the story of an old friend of mine that I use to work
with who when I ask him how he was doing he would tell me that he was born
wrong. He was not saying this in the
biblical way, but that is the truth of all people who are born, as we are all
born wrong. Unbelievers are slaves to sin, the flesh, Satan, and death, and it
was to redeem men from those slaveries that Jesus gave His life a ransom in
exchange for sinners. “There is
therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” Paul
explained to believers in Rome. “For the
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin
and of death. For what the Law could not
do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the
flesh” (Rom. 8:1-3). Earlier in Romans
6:18 Paul wrote, “Having been freed from sin you became slaves of righteousness.” Christ’s sacrifice brought us back from the
slavery of sin. I suppose the logical
question is “why do believers still sin?”
My answer is that believer’s sin because of the flesh that still lingers
when a person has been born-again. There
is what is called our position that a believer has, and that position is what
God sees us in, cleansed by the blood of Christ. I for one am anxiously awaiting the return of
Jesus Christ as the rapture of the church so that I will then never have to
deal with the flesh again, as it will be totally gone.
John
MacArthur writes “And although the noun Lutron
is used only twice in the New Testament, other forms of the root word are used
frequently, as are numerous synonyms. “For you have been bought with a price,” Paul
reminded the worldly Corinthian believers; therefore glorify God in your body”
(1 Cor. 6:20). To the Galatians he
wrote, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law having become a curse for
us” (Gal. 3:13; cf. 4:5; to the Ephesians he wrote, “In Him we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches
of His grace” (Eph. 1:7; cf. v. 14; 4:30); and to Titus he wrote, “[Christ]
gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify
for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds’ (Titus
2:14). Peter reminds believers that they
“were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold,…but with
precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (1
Pet. 1:18-19). In John’s magnificent
vision on Patmos he heard the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders
proclaim of Christ, “Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to break its seals;
for Thou was slain, and didst purchase for God with Thy blood men from every
tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9).”
The question is to whom was Jesus’ ransom paid
to? Jesus ransom was paid to God to
satisfy His holy justice, and it was more than sufficient to cover the sins of
everyone who has ever lived and will ever live.
His death was sufficient for “the whole world,” says John in 1 John
2:2. It is not the Lord’s will “for any
to perish but for all to come to repentance” writes Peter in 2 Peter 3:9. Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Tim. 2:3-4 “3 This
is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved
and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” MacArthur writes “Although His ransom is
sufficient for every person, it is valid only for those who believe in
Him. It is in that sense that His
redemption is for many, rather than for all.”
He
goes on to write “The basic idea behind anti
(for) is that of being set over against something else, and the word was often
used to denote an exchange or substitution.
In becoming a ransom for many, Jesus exchanged His life for the lives of
the many who would believe in Him. It
became His death for the deaths of those many, His undeserved punishment for
the punishment they deserved. As Isaiah
had predicted 700 years earlier, “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our
sorrows He carried;…He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was
crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
and by His scourging we are healed” (Isa. 53A:4-5).”
The bottom line is that Christ, then, is the pattern
for all to follow in being servant leaders.
By giving His life He gained the eternal glory and esteem of God and men. This is the path to greatness.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I desire to tell others of this great truth
as God leads me to those who are ready to hear the truth of the gospel.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Remember that I am a new person in Christ
and desire to through the power of the Spirit and the Word to not fall to the
flesh.
5/18/2023 10:34 AM
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