Friday, June 14, 2024

PT-2 "The Defection of the Disciples" (Matt. 26:55-56)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/14/2024 12:21 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                   Focus:  PT-2 “The Defection of the Disciples”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 26:55-56

 

            Message of the verses:  55 At that time Jesus said to the crowds, "Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me as you would against a robber? Every day I used to sit in the temple teaching and you did not seize Me. 56 “But all this has taken place to fulfill the Scriptures of the prophets." Then all the disciples left Him and fled.”

 

            I have come to the point in this section of John MacArthur’s commentary where he is just writing things that go along with these verses and I usually just quote from the things that he has to write about different verses, and the reason that I do this is because what he has to say about these verses is much better than what I would have to say and so I learn by reading them and you learn by reading these things on my blogs.

 

            “Just as there are common marks of false disciples there are common characteristics of defective disciples, as the eleven proved to be on this occasion.  First of all, they were unprepared.  All of them, including the three Jesus chose to accompany Him into the garden, had fallen asleep at this time of Jesus’ great struggle.  Because they confused good intentions with spiritual strength, they were powerless when testing came.  They were overconfident and felt no need of prayer.  Had they taken to heart the Lord’s marvelous promises in the Upper Room discourage (John 13-17), they would have had the divinely provided wisdom and strength to meet the crisis.

 

            “But because they had paid little attention to Jesus’ teaching and had neglected prayer, the disciples discovered they were unprepared and inadequate.  It is an absolute spiritual law that a believer who neglects the study of God’s Word and neglects fellowship with Him in prayer will be unprepared (cf. Matt. 26:41).  When testing comes he will be weak, afraid, unfaithful, and ineffective.”  (Matt. 26:41 “41 “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.’”

 

            A second mark of a defective disciple is impulsiveness.  The eleven disciples, and Peter in particular, reached on the basis of emotion rather than revelation.  They did not look at the situation from the perfect perspective of God’s truth but from the imperfect and distorted perspective of their own understanding.  Therefore, instead of acting on the basis of God’s Word and in the promised power of His Spirit, they reacted on the basis of their emotions and in the weakness of their own resources.

 

            “The believer who fails to saturate himself in God’s Word and to have fellowship in God’s presence becomes a captive of circumstances.  His thinking is based on the emotions of the moment, and his actions are based on the impulses of the moment.

 

            A third mark of a defective disciple is impatience.  Because the disciples refused to take Jesus’ truth and promises to heart, they became anxious and impatient when things did not go as they thought they should.  They could not wait for the Lord’s deliverance and so devised their own.”

 

            “Many Christians take the easy route of fleeing from trouble rather than trusting God to see them through it.  Instead of trusting the Savior to deliver them, and in so doing to demonstrate His grace and power they try to avoid trouble at any cost and thereby bring reproach upon Him.

 

            A fourth mark of a defective disciple is carnality.  The disciples typified by Peter, depended wholly on their own fleshly power to protect them.  Because he refused to trust his Lord’s way and power, Peter had nothing to rely on but his sword, which was pathetically inadequate even from a human perspective.

 

            “When believers lose their fleshly weapons of discover those weapons are ineffective, they sometimes simply flee in desperation.

 

            “The major participant in this garden scene was Jesus Himself and in Matthew’s account we see His triumph even while His enemies were taking Him captive.  Through their evil plot ot put Him to death He would accomplish the divine plan for giving men eternal life.

 

            “All of His disciples deserted Him, and one betrayed Him, yet the divine work of redemption continued to be fulfilled on schedule, precisely according to God’s sovereign and prophesied plan.  As the disciples’ faithfulness decreased, Jesus’ demonstration of power and glory increased.  As the plans of His enemies seemed to  prosper, the plan of God prospered still more in spite of them.

 

            “It is not clear exactly when it happened, but perhaps right after Judas’s kiss, Jesus took the initiative and confronted the multitude.  To assure His enemies that He was not trying to hide or escape, and perhaps to strip Judas of any credit for indentifying Him, He said, Whom do you seek?’ When they replied, ‘Jesus the Nazarene,’ He said, “I am He,’ and at those words ‘they drew back, and fell to the ground’ (John 18:4-6).  ‘I am He’ translates ego eimi, which laterally means ‘I am,’ the covenant name of God (see Ex. 3:14).”

           

            There is only a little bit more to look at and I will save it for tomorrow’s SD.  I have listened to the two sermons that go along most of the rest of chapter 26, and I can say that this chapter in MacArthur’s commentary is at least 20 pages so I guess I will be camped out on that chapter for some time.  These are very important verses that we are looking at and as one looks at what Matthew has written about this difficult time in the life of our Lord one has to glance at the other gospel writers to put the picture together. 

 

            I have to say that the first part of this SD has stepped on my toes and so I need to do some praying and looking at these things that have effective me in this way so that by the power of the Holy Spirit and of the Word of God things can change for the better.

 

6/14/2024 1:03 PM

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