SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/7/2023 10:32 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-3 “The
Intruder Expelled”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
22:11-14
Message of the verses: “11 "But when
the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not
dressed in wedding clothes, 12 and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in
here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. 13 “Then the king
said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer
darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 “For
many are called, but few are chosen.’”
Think with me back to the very first book of the
Bible and what happened shortly after Adam and Eve sinned against the Lord. I want to focus in on the story of Cain and
Able to make a point that since that time men have been just like Cain and what
he tried to do to get close to the Lord.
I have to believe that the Lord had told both brothers how they were to
offer a sacrifice to the Lord, but Cain, like the old song that Frank Sinatra
sang “I Did It My Way,” and that is what Cain did, and people have been doing
it their way ever since. Able did it God’s
way, the way that God had instructed him to do, and today if anyone ever wants
to get to heaven then they have to do it the way that God has provided. Jesus Christ came to earth to provide a way
for people to be saved; He did it God’s way to provide salvation for those who
will accept it. To understand that
because of Adam and Eve’s sin that we are all born sinners and we sin because that
is the way that we are born. I had a
friend who when you would ask him how he was doing he would always say that “I
was born wrong.” What he said was true,
but I don’t think that he really knew what he was saying. I was born wrong because I was born a sinner
and so when Jesus died He died for the sin that I was born with and the sins
that I commit. The man in this story was
trying to get to God on his own merits just like Cain was trying to do.
I
wonder how many people that I know that say that they are believers are really
trying to get to God their own way. “They
may fellowship with believers, join the church, become active in the leadership,
give generously to its support, and speak of devotion to God. Like the tares among the wheat, they freely
coexist for with God’s people. But in the Day of Judgment their falsehood will
become obvious and their removal certain.
Some will dare to say to God ‘on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not
prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform
many miracles?’ And then [Christ] will
declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness’’”
(Matt. 7:22-23). (MacArthur’s
commentary)
We
have mentioned that the King had given these guests of His wedding garments to
wear to the wedding of His Son. What
kind of wedding garment does a true believer have? The answer to this question is “God-imputed
righteousness.” Without which no one can
enter or live in the kingdom. Jesus said
the following in Matthew 5:20 “"For I say to you that unless your
righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not
enter the kingdom of heaven.” “The only
acceptable wedding garment is the genuine ‘sanctification without which no one
will see the Lord’ (Heb. 12:14).” (MacArthur’s commentary)
Perhaps some of our Lord’s hearers who were listening to this parable would have had their thoughts go to a passage in Isaiah 61:10 “I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”
As
we look at this wonderful verse in Isaiah we can conclude that this is all done
by the Lord for us and all we have to do is accept those wedding clothes of
righteousness in order to live with Him forever. I have mentioned in earlier SD’s that a
believer can be known by the fruit that he produces, and the fruit that he
produces comes from the Holy Spirit living in him. “For we are His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). You can see in this verse that it is God who
beforehand prepared fruit for those who belong to Him, and as a believer I must
find out what it is that the Lord has prepared for me to do, and then by the
power of His Holy Spirit, and the understanding of His Word do what He has
prepared me to do.
8/7/2023 11:08 AM
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