SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/16/2024 8:49 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “The
Religious Wicked”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
27:41-44
Message of the verses: “41 In the same way
the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him
and saying, 42 "He saved others; He
cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross
and we will believe in Him. 43 “HE TRUSTS IN GOD; LET GOD RESCUE Him
now, IF HE DELIGHTS IN HIM; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’" 44 The
robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same
words. 45 Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the
ninth hour. 46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying,
"ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" that is, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE
YOU FORSAKEN ME?" 47 And some of those who were standing there, when they
heard it, began saying, "This man is calling for Elijah.’”
Today we begin to look at the last section of verses
that is found in the chapter entitled “The Wickedness of the Crucifixion,”
which is the 20th chapter of John MacArthur’s fourth book on the
gospel of Matthew. I have been looking
at Matthew’s gospel for over five years and have learned many things from it,
but my study of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ has affected me in a way that
has caused me pain as I realize that it was because of my sin that Jesus had to
endure what He went through, not only on the cross, but the awfulness of what
led up to the cross during His trials.
As
we look at the title of this section “The Religious Wicked” I think that we
will be able to see that by far this is the most wicked of those who harassed
Jesus at the cross, made up of in particular the chief priests and the scribes
and elders. Jesus predicted in Mark
8:31; Matt. 20:18 that this group will be the primary instigators of the
crucifixion. MacArthur adds “The
Pharisees had been Christ’s earliest and most persistent critics, and they had
begun to plot His death many years before (Matt. 12:14) and were involved in
His arrest (John 18:3). But apparently
they played a somewhat secondary role in His trials and condemnation, not being
mentioned again until the day following the crucifixion, when, with the chief
priests, they asked Pilate to order the tomb sealed (Matt. 27:62-64).”
As
I think about these religious leaders I believe that false religious leaders
are very dangerous people. I have not
really liked that word “religious” because it seems to me that it involves
works that must be done in order to be right with God. It is my desire to be a committed Christian
realizing that it was God who chose me in eternity past, and to answer the
question “WHY” I cannot answer it as it is a mystery that perhaps will be
answered in heaven, but may never be answered.
The Lord Jesus Christ in eternity past knew that He would become a man
and live for 33 years on planet earth and His purpose was to die for the sins
of the world, to make it possible to have sins forgiven which could not be done
any other way. The Holy Spirit is
involved in the salvation process by giving an effectual call to a person so that
they will accept this salvation that is offered to them. The person who receives this call is involved
by accepting this effectual call. Like I
say this is a mystery. I took many years
of being a believer to have some kind of understanding of what happened to me a
little over 50 years ago. While visiting
a high school friend of mine who lived near Orlando Fl. I was introduced to a
series of tapes by Hal Lindsey on what will happen in the future. He wrote the very popular book “The Late
Great Planet Earth,” and these tapes were from his ministry as he went around
the country talking about what was going to happen in the future from which he
learned by studying the Bible. Hal
Lindsey had a similar testimony of coming to the Lord that I had. He was a tug boat captain on the Mississippi
River in New Orleans. He would work a
week and then have a week off which he used for partying, getting drunk as
hunting single girls. One night it was very foggy on the river and he was asked
to go out into the fog to tow a boat, and in crossing the river a very large
boat which he did not see ran into the side of his tug boat and the boat
scrapped along the side of this very large boat. As one may expect he was frightened and once
he got back to land he was interested in why he was here on planet earth and
what his purpose was. He fished out a Glidden’s
New Testament which he carried in his sea bag for a good look charm and just
happened to open to the third chapter of the Gospel of John, where the words “born
again” are found. He said that that was
what he needed because he was born the wrong way the first time. Well life went on in a similar way with the
exception of on his week’s off he did not party like he did before. One day a lay Pastor, who could not get a job
ended up talking to Hal and once Lindsey told him the story of reading about “born
again” this man said something strange to him.
“You are the reason that I could not get work where I was living.” This kind of made Lindsey wonder why he said
what he said. This man spoke of what happened
to Lindsey on that night when he almost was killed on the Mississippi River,
and explained more thoroughly about what it meant to be born again. The rest is history as he went to school to
become a minister of the gospel and became interested in the “end times” which
the Bible speaks of and part of that was writing “The Late Great Planet Earth”
and tapes of what he wrote about were what I was listening to while visiting my
friend in Orlando.
One
of the things that bothered me about my unsaved life was that I could not say
very many sentences without swearing. I
promised the Lord if He would get me out of the army that I would stop
swearing. That is another story, but I
got drafted during the Vietnam war time and through a miracle was sent back
home because I had a medical problem which I never had before getting drafted
and once I got home I never had it again.
Now while listening to this series of tapes the Lord used the gospel
message which was on each of them to save me, and how I knew that I was saved
was because I lost the desire to swear, and haven’t done that for over fifty
years. I had a great desire to begin
studying the Bible and in the 1990’s met a doctor who taught me how to do “Spiritual
Diaries” which I began posting on my blogs about ten years ago. Salvation is the greatest thing that has ever
happened to me, and although there are struggles in my life I know that I am
saved and one day will see the Lord to be able to thank Him for what He has
done for me.
8/16/2024 9:34 AM
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