SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/14/2024 8:39 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-4 “The Disciples’ Ignorance”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matt. 26:33-35
Message of the verses: “33 But Peter said
to Him, "Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never
fall away." 34 Jesus said to him, "Truly I say to you that this very
night, before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times." 35 Peter said
to Him, "Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You." All
the disciples said the same thing too.”
I
want to continue to quote from MacArthur’s commentary on this SD, which will be
the last one in this section and this chapter.
“The
presence of the now-indwelling Holy Spirit within them doubtless was the source
of the power in the apostles’ new-found courage and dedication. But even the power of the indwelling Spirit
of Christ is no guarantee of faithfulness.
Long after he had been indwelt by the Spirit, Peter discovered again ho
spiritually unreliable and impotent he was when he acted in the flesh rather
than in the Spirit. Having been
intimidated by the Judaizers, he refused for a while to have fellowship with
Gentile believers and was severely rebuked face to face and publicly by Paul
for his hypocrisy (Gal. 2:11-14).
“It
therefore seems certain that another factor besides the indwelling Spirit contributed
to the apostles’ later faithfulness—namely, the lesson they learned so bitterly
at the end of the Lord’s ministry about their own ignorance and foolish
self-sufficiency and about Christ’s divine omniscience and gracious
sufficiency. They remembered His patient
love and mercy in pulling them back to Himself, despite their cowardly and
despicable defection. They had experienced His mercy so intimately and so
profoundly that they were determined never to forsake Him again. But they knew that, in themselves, they were
as weak as ever and that their only prospect for faithfulness was total
obedience to the dependence on Him.
“Could
they have known it, the restored disciples would joyously have sung the beloved
hymn “How Firm a Foundation,” two of the stanzas of which are:
“Fear not, I
am with thee; O be not dismayed,
For I am they God, and will still
give thee aid;
I’ll
strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent
hand.
The soul that
on Jesus hath learned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its
foes;
That soul, through
all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no, never no, never
forsake!”
A
very precious hymn, for sure. 5/14/2024
8:55 AM
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