SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/3/2024 9:34 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-5 “The Inheritance of the Saved”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
25:34-40
Message of the verses: “34 "Then the
King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. 35 ‘For I was hungry, and you
gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something
to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed
Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’
37 "Then the righteous will answer
Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something
to drink? 38 ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked,
and clothe You? 39 ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’
40 “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent
that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of
them, you did it to Me.’”
I have been quoting from John MacArthur’s commentary on
what he wrote about these verses, and I have mentioned that when he has a lot
of things to write about these verses that I like to quote what he has written
in order for the readers of these SD’s to get the best understanding of them.
“When the King’s self-effacing servants ask, “Lord, when did we do all those things for You? The King will answer and say to them, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’”
The King’s addressing these people as brothers of mine gives still further evidence that they are already children of God and do not become so because of their good works. The writer of Hebrews declared ‘For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them (Heb. 2:11). ‘The one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him,’ Paul says (1 Cor. 6:17), and because of that union a believer can say, ‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me’ (Gal. 2:20).
“When the disciples were arguing about which one of
them was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, Jesus set a small child in
front of them and said, ‘Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and
become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven’ (Matt.
18:3). A person who does not come to
Christ in the humble trustfulness that is characteristic of small children will
have no part in His kingdom at all, much less be considered great in it. Jesus continued, ‘Whoever then humbles
himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives on such child in My name
receives Me’ (vv. 4-5). The physical
child standing before them represented the spiritual child of God, the person
who is converted (v. 3) by believing in Christ (v. 6). The person who lovingly serves the children
of God proves himself to be a child of God.
“He who receives you receives Me, ‘Jesus told the disciples on another occasion, ‘and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me’ (Matt. 10:40). Whatever believers do for each other they also do for their Lord Jesus Christ, and the person who genuinely receives and serves Christians in Christ’s name proves he himself is a Christian. The self-giving service of Christians to each other in Christ’s name is a key external mark that identifies them as God’s people. Jesus said ‘By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another’ (John 13:35).
“It is to the practical manifestations of such love
that Christ the King will call attention as He ushers the Tribulation saints
into His millennial kingdom. Believers
during those seven years, especially during the devastating last three and
one-half years, will have great need for the basics Jesus has just
mentioned. Because of their identity
with Christ they will often be hungry,, thirsty, without decent shelter or clothing,
sick, imprisoned, and alienated from the mainstream of society.
“Those who will have met the needs of fellow believers
will themselves have suffered great need.
Few, if any, believers during the frightful days of the Tribulation will
be able to give out of abundance. Most
of them will have resources hardly sufficient to meet their own needs. Their divinely inspired generosity to each
other will have set them apart as the Lord’s people even before, as returning
King, He publicly declares them to be His own.”
With this SD we end this second to last section in
Matthew chapter 25. There is one more
section, verses 41-46 which is entitled “The condemnation of the Unsaved,”
which surely will be a sad thing to write about, but it will be shorter than
the good news we have been writing about.
Remember that John in the book of Revelation had to eat a scroll, which
was the title deed to planet earth, and when he ate it, it became sweet in his
mouth, but when it got to his stomach it became sour. Salvation and judgment is what that
described, and salvation and judgment is what will happen when Jesus comes
again to planet earth. One can be sure
of salvation right now by admitting that you are a sinner, that you were born a
sinner and that is why you sin, and then remember that God sent His Son into
the world to pay for you sins so that if you admit that you are a sinner and
then ask Jesus to forgive you that He will and you will not have to go through
judgment like those who are unbelievers will have to. Time may be short before the Lord returns for
His church and after that the tribulation period will begin and will last for
seven years in which three out of four people will die before the Lord returns
to judge those who are still unbelievers and send the believers into the
Millennial kingdom.
4/3/2024 10:08 AM
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