SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/16/2023 10:13 AM
My Worship Time PT-2
"False Leaders Are Cursed For Their Exclusion"
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matthew 23:13
Message of the
verse: “13
"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off
the kingdom of heaven from men; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you
allow those who are entering to go in.”
In today’s SD we continue to look at Matthew 23:13,
and the picture that Jesus gives here suggests the idea of the scribes and
Pharisees standing just outside the gates of the kingdom and slamming them shut
in the faces of those who were about to go in.
The problem is that when people who came to those religious leaders for
direction and help in finding God were actually being shut off from the Lord
even while they were on the verge of coming to salvation. Now I have mentioned before and it bears
repeating that people, for the most part will imitate their spiritual
leaders. It happens every once in a
while when the cults send people around our neighborhood to pedal their poison,
and the poison that they are pedaling is the same poison that their spiritual
leaders are teaching. I remember a long
time ago when some spiritual leaders had told their followers to drink poison
on some island and many of them did just that and all of them died, and it does
not seem like any of them were true believers and so they all ended up in hell,
with maybe the exception of the young children whose parents gave them the
poison. Think about all the trouble that
is going on in the Middle East at this time and those who started the fight
against Israel were taught from their youth that by killing Jews that they would
receive a reward in the afterlife, but those older ones who believe by killing
Jews will have a great number of virgins awaiting them will find out that they
are going to a place that they will be completely surprised, and they won’t be
with any virgins.
John MacArthur writes “In the
immediate historical context, Jesus was saying that He had come to Israel to
proclaim the kingdom of God and to provide entrance for all who would believe
in Him. But as soon as a Jew showed interest in the gospel, the scribes and
Pharisees would step between that person and Christ, as it were. Tragically,
they succeeded in turning many seekers away.
They had done the same things to those who were drawn to God through the
preaching of John the Baptist, and they would soon do the same thing to those
who were drawn to God through the preaching of the apostles.”
I
can’t help but think of the man born blind as seen in the ninth chapter of the
gospel of John, as after healing the blind man the Pharisees first of all did
not that he was ever blind and so they went and found his parents and
questioned them. The parents were so
brain washed by the Pharisees did say that he was their son, but did not know
how he received his sight. The former
blind man was then questioned by the Pharisees who said to the man that although
he could now see the Man who healed him was not a good man. This young man testified that the Man who
healed him had to be a good man for never before had anyone been healed of
blindness before had been healed and so this Man had to be good. He was finally thrown out of the synagogue,
thrown out for life, but his parents who were afraid of being thrown out
because they believed their so called spiritual leaders did not know how their
son had received his sight. Later on in
the story Jesus found him and asked him if he believed in the Son of Man and he
asked who the Son of Man was and Jesus told him that He was now looking at the
Son of Man, and so the young man became a believer. The story shows to me that everyone is born
spiritually blind and only the Lord Jesus, through His Word and the Holy Spirit
can open the spiritual eyes of those born spiritually blind so that they could
then see who Jesus is and therefore after accepting His forgiveness then could
see who their real Redeemer is.
Salvation is a miracle that happens each and every day to people in the
world who receive the forgiveness of the Lord Jesus Christ after realizing that
they were spiritually blind, but now can see.
35 Jesus heard that they had put him out, and
finding him, He said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" 36 He
answered, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?" 37 Jesus said
to him, "You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with
you." 38 And he said,
"Lord, I believe." And he worshiped Him.
39 And Jesus
said, "For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see
may see, and that those who see may become blind." 40 Those of the
Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, "We are
not blind too, are we?" 41 Jesus said to them, "If you were blind,
you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains” (John
9:35-41).
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: Like the formerly blind man I said "Lord, I believe," on January 26, 1974 and have been
worshiping Him for almost 50 years.
My
Steps of Faith for Today: To continue to tell others through talking to
them or to continue to writing my blogs the story of how I was once blind, but
now I can see.
10/16/2023 10:48 AM
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