PT-3 "The Test Started" (1 John 2:3)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/30/2024 11:03 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                         Focus:  PT-3 “The Test Started”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                           Reference:  1 John 2:3

 

            Message of the verse:  “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.”

 

            I begin this SD by talking about the word that is rendered keep which is a form of the verb tereo, which stresses the idea of an observant, watchful obedience.  This can also be translated “guard,” and in this context would mean guarding His commandments. MacArthur writes “Since keep is a present, active subjunctive, it conveys the sense of believers continually safeguarding the commandments because they consider them precious (5:3; Ezra 7:10; Pss. 19:7-8; 119:1, 34, 77, 97, 113, 165; Rom. 7:22).  John did not want his readers to settle for a marginal or minimal standard of righteousness.  Rather, the apostle emphasized an extensive obedience that stems from a genuine reverence for God’s commands (Ps. 119:66, 172; cf. Acts 17:11; James 1:25).”

 

            The next word “Commandments” is from entole, MacArthur adds (‘Injunction,’ ‘order,’ or ‘command), not nomos (‘law’).  The term refers not to the Mosaic law, but to the precepts and directives of Christ (cf. Matt. 28:19-20).  But of course the moral and spiritual precepts the Lord taught were consistent with these revealed to Moses (cf. Matt. 5:17-18; John 5:46), all reflective of God’s immutable nature.”

 

            Now under the new covenant God accepts believers’ loving and sincere, albeit imperfect obedience, and forgives their disobedience (cf. Pss. 65:3; 103:3; Isa. 43:25).  Now it is by His grace they display a consistent, heartfelt devotion to the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16; cf. Hos. 6:6) as revealed in the Word.  That willing obedience to Scripture in daily living is a reliable indicator both to self and others that one has come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  It differentiates the unregenerate from the regenerate; Paul called the unregenerate “sons of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2), whereas the apostle Peter identified the regenerate as “obedient children” (1 Peter 1:14).

 

            MacArthur concludes this section by writing “God-honoring obedience is really reflective of genuine love; as John wrote later in this epistle, ‘we love God and observe His commandments.  For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome’ (5:2b-3).  But the principle was not new to John, as he had heard it from Jesus years earlier in the upper room and recorded it in his gospel:

 

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” (John 14:15)

 

“He who has My commandments and keeps them is one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” (14:21).

 

"If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. 24  "He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me” 14:23-24).

 

If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love” (15:10).

 

9/30/2024 11:28 PM

 

           

PT-1 "Compassion" (Matt. 28:1)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/30/2024 8:56 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                Focus:  PT-1 “Compassion”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Matthew 28:1

 

            Message of the verse:  “1 Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave.”

 

            Let us begin this SD by looking at the words after the Sabbath, as this translates an unusual construction in the Greek, opse de sabbaton.  MacArthur writes “The phrase could be rendered, ‘well after the Sabbath,’ indicating that a considerable amount of time had elapsed since the Sabbath ended.  The actual time was from sundown the previous evening, when the Sabbath had ended, until it began to dawn the following day, which was Sunday, the first day of the week, totaling perhaps ten hours.  John states specifically that when the women came ‘it was still dark’ (20:1).”

 

            I can say that I am happy that the New Testament has four gospels in it, especially now as I am studying what happens during and after the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It is good to look at all of them in order to get the complete picture of what went on right after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the only way that can be done is by studying all of them.  It is my recollection that Jesus did not go back to heaven, as described in the first chapter of Acts until 40 days after His resurrection from the dead, so there were different things that He did before going back to heaven to sit at the right hand of God interceding for those who belong to Him. 

 

            MacArthur continues to explain “The first day of the week also translates an interesting Greek phrase, which literally means, ‘day one with reference to the Sabbath.’  The Jews did not have names for days of the week, such as Monday, Tuesday, and so on, but simply numbered them in relation to the Sabbath.  Sabbath means ‘seventh,’ and although it was the end of the week, because it was the central and holy day, all other days were reckoned by it—as the first, second, third, and so forth, day after the Sabbath.”  I can tell you that I for one am happy to learn this as it is new to me, as I did not know that the Jews did not have names for the days of the week like we have now.

 

            Now in studying for a long time the 28^th chapter of Matthew one of the things that was learned was that because Jews considered reference to “a day” as meaning any port of that day, and this came important when one looks at how long Jesus was dead, and in the tomb.  Sunday was the third day of Jesus’ interment, the day which He had repeatedly predicted would be the day of His resurrection:  “From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day” (Matthew 16:21).  There are other references that speak of this including Matt. 17:23; 27:64; Mark 10:34; and Luke 18:33.

 

            MacArthur explains that “The phrase ‘after the Sabbath’ could also refer figuratively to the new day of rest for God’s people.  As a commemoration of God’s resting after creation, the Sabbath was to be a day of rest and worship for Israel (Ex. 20:8-11).  But the day before Jesus arose from the grave was the last divinely ordained Sabbath for His people, because on the followed day the New Covenant in Jesus Christ was ushered in.  That Sunday was the dawning not only of a new day but of a new era in redemptive history.

 

            “It is because of the resurrection that Christians worship on Sunday rather than on the Sabbath.”

 

            Lord willing we will continue to look at this section tomorrow. 

 

            I want to say that I am not one to predict when the Rapture of the Church will happen, but a long time ago, and I have to say that I don’t remember who I was studying, but remember studying that this person, and I only use qualified people to help me in my studies, said that it is possible that the Rapture of the Church could happen on what is called Rosh Hashana, which is the Jewish New Year.  “Rosh Hashana, which translates from Hebrew to mean ‘the head of the year,’ is one of Judaism’s holiest days.  The two-day celebration marks the start of the Jewish New Year and is filled with traditions, like eating a round challah and saying prayers near a body of water.”  “Rosh Hashana” “Evening of Wed, Oct. 2, 2024—Fri, Oct 4, 2024.”

 

9/30/2024 9:27 AM

PT-2 "The Test Started" (1 John 2:3)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/29/2024 8:51 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                         Focus:  PT-2 “The Test Started”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                           Reference:  1 John 2:3

 

            Message of the verse:  “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.”

 

            Paul in writing to Titus emphasized the difference between false knowledge and true knowledge as he wrote the following in Titus 1:16 “They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.”  Comparing this verse with our verse from 1 John we can see that a person who is a true believer will keep the commandments of the Lord.  I know that when a person becomes a true believer that they still have the old nature in them and that means that there is a battle between the new nature that God gives a true believer and so as stated there is a battle that goes on and so that means that there are times when a believer will not follow the law of the Lord but that does not mean that he or she is not a true believer. 

 

            MacArthur writes something similar:  “But this is not true of the Christian faith that John and the other apostles taught.  The people who truly know God are those who pursue holy lives, consistent with God’s new covenant.  The prophet Jeremiah spelled out the nature of that covenant: 

 

31 “Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. 33 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34  "They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more’’ (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

 

            In my understanding of this passage from Jeremiah it is speaking of both the New Testament believers and also those who will belong to the Millennial Kingdom which comes after the Tribulation Period.  Now New Testament believers do have the Holy Spirit of God in their hearts the moment that they become true believers, and this was not the case of Old Testament believers where the Spirit could come and go as was in the case of King Saul as when the Spirit left him we read that the Holy Spirit came into David, but when David sinned with Bathsheba he wrote in Psalm 51 the following:  “Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me” (Ps. 51:11). 

 

            I will quote another rather long paragraph from John MacArthur’s commentary that has a lot of Bible references in it, but it goes along with what I have been writing about above.  “Now covenant people have God’s law written on their hearts, and what is in a person’s heart controls how he or she lives.  As the writer of Proverbs observed, ‘For as [a person] thinks in his heart, so is he’ (Prov. 23:7, NKJV; cf. 2:10; 3:1; 4:4, 23; Pss. 40:8; 119:10-11; Matt. 6:21; 12:34-35; Rom. 6:17).  Israel illustrated will the connection between knowing God and obeying Him.  Even though the nation claimed to know Him, she demonstrated the emptiness of that claim by her continual disobedience (Ex. 32:9; Num. 14:11; 25:3; Deut. 9:7, 24; 32:16; Isa. 1:2, 4; 2:8; 29:13; Jer. 2:11-13; 3:6-8; 6:13; 8:5; 31:32; Ezek. 16:59; 33:31; Matt. 15:7-9; Acts 13:27; Rom. 10:3; 2 Cor. 3:13-15).  Of course, the obedience that accompanies salvation is not a legalistic obedience, imposed externally or observed superficially and hypocritically; it is a gracious attitude of obedience that flows from the truth embraced internally, following the Holy Spirit’s revealing of it through the Word.  Even though believers still wrestle with sin (cf. Job 13:23; Ps. 19:13; Rom. 8:13; Heb. 12:1, 4), they can agree with Paul, who wrote,

 

21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. 22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin” (Rom. 7:21-24).

 

            These verses go along with what I was writing about earlier when I was talking about the battles that we go through as believers.

 

9/29/2024 9:21 PM

 

PT-4 "Intro to Matthew 28:1-10"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/29/2024 7:37 AM

 

My Worship Time                         Focus:  PT-4 “Intro to Matt. 28:1-10” “Resurrection of Christ”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Matthew 28:1-10

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. 2 And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. 3 And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. 5 The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. 6 “He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. 7 “Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you." 8 And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me.’”

 

            In these Spiritual Diaries on the introduction of Matthew chapter 28 I have mostly been quoting from the commentary of John MacArthur so that we will know where he is going in explaining these verses.

 

            “Even the most irreligious person who knows anything about Christian history and doctrine knows that Christians believe Jesus Christ rose from the dead.  But the unbelieving world has many reactions to that belief, most of them negative and all of them wrong.

 

            “One of the most common modern reactions is that of rationalism, which rejects the idea of resurrection and all other supernatural elements of Scripture because such things cannot be explained by scientific observation and human reason.  This humanistic philosophy considers man’s mind to be the ultimate reality, and only that which his own mind can perceive and comprehend is recognized as true or significant.

 

            “Many people are simply indifferent to the resurrection, not caring whether it is true or not.  Religion in general, and Christianity in particular, are of no concern to them.  Other people do not believe in resurrection because of ignorance about its nature and meaning.  They may never have heard of such a thing or never have heard it explained accurately and clearly.

 

            “Some people are intentionally hostile.  They do not reject the resurrection because it seems unprovable to human reason or because they hate the things of God.  Some people even seem to consider in their role in life and history to try to discredit the resurrection.

 

            “The gospel writers, however, and every other leader in the early church realized that their supreme role in life and history was to proclaim the reality of the resurrection and the many other truths about Jesus Christ.  Although the disciples, and mot of Jesus’ other followers, were slow to believe their Lord actually rose from the dead, they soon became so overwhelmed by its reality that they could think or talk or little else.

 

            Although they reveal the same divine truths in perfect harmony with one another, each of the gospel writers presents the resurrection from a distinctive perspective.  Matthew does not approach the resurrection from a scholarly, historical, analytical, or evidential perspective but focuses rather on the emotional reaction of a group of women who loved Jesus deeply.”

 

            In the next SD. Lord willing I will begin to look at the first verse of Matthew chapter 28.  Now I want to write to those of you who have perhaps “stumbled” onto my blog and may even be reading about the resurrection of Jesus Christ for the first time in your life and have great wonder of what it is all about.  Well let me begin to tell you that the doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of if not the most important truths in all of the Word of God.  Jesus Christ came to earth in order to die on the cross for the sins of the world, and since He is the Son of God come in human flesh He was able to take the place of sinners on the cross in order to pay for their sins so that they could be forgive of their sins.  Being a sinner is an offense to God and God cannot let any person into His heaven without being perfect, and because all people are born with a sin nature they sin and on their own cannot ever enter heaven, so by the grace of God He sent His Son to die in the place of everyone, but everyone has to realize that they are sinners and cannot make themselves right with God on their own.  Once a person realizes they can do nothing on their own to be forgiven of their sin, (sins) they can then realize that Jesus paid for all their sins, past, present and future and humbly ask Him to come into their life and forgive all their sins.  He will do this to every sincere person who comes to Him and asks for forgiveness.  At that time their “address” will change from hell to heaven and will go to be with the Lord to heaven when they die or even better will go to be with Him in the clouds of the earth at what is called the rapture of the church.  If you look at my Spiritual Diaries on the letters to the Thessalonians you will then understand what the rapture of the church is.  Let me tell you it is something that I have been looking forward to for over fifty years.  Think about this and I pray that the Lord will deal with you in a gracious way so you can come to Christ and then He will become your Savior and your Lord.

 

9/29/2024 8:02 AM

 

PT-1 "The Test Started" (1 John 2:3)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/28/2024 8:23 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                         Focus:  PT-1 “The Test Started”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                           Reference:  1 John 2:3

 

            Message of the verse:  “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.”

 

            Tonight we begin to try and understand this verse and I think that it will take me several SD”s to get through this, and I begin by looking at the first two words “By this,” as this is a transitional phrase that John used to introduce a new set of tests that verify salvation and also encourage assurance, something that we have been looking at for some time now.  John is presenting his readers with some additional ways they could verify that they were indeed walking in the light and had a genuine relationship with God.

 

 

            It is with certainty that John states the case, as he does not say something like “we hope” or perhaps “we think” or even “we wish” but he says “we know,” meaning he is certain about what he is writing.  John MacArthur writes “We know translates the present tense form of the very ginosko, and means to continually perceive something by experience.  Assurance comes from obeying God’s commandments in Scripture.  Those who fail to do so will and should wonder if they are converted and the Holy Spirit is truly leading them.  But obedient believers can be assured that they have come to know Him (Christ).  The perfect tense of the verb ginosko (have come to know) looks back on a past action (savingly believing in Jesus Christ) that has continuing results in the present.”    I think that the phrase “Once you are saved you are always saved” comes into play hear. 

 

            John that John is sharing here is not the mystical “hidden” knowledge of Gnosticism “(which promoted a secret, transcendent knowledge whose possessors were members of an elitist religious fraternity), the rationalistic knowledge of Greek philosophy (which taught that unaided human reason could unlock the mysteries of the universe, both natural and supernatural), or the experiential knowledge of hedonism (which claimed that ultimate truth was discovered through experiencing the pleasures of the physical world).  Instead, it is the saving knowledge of Christ that comes from being in a right relationship with Him. John’s point, then, is that external obedience provides evidence for whether or not an internal, transforming reality—that of coming to know Jesus Christ in salvation—has taken place,” writes John MacArthur.

 

9/28/2024 8:45 PM

PT-3 "Intro to Matthew 28:1-10"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/28/2024 8:54 AM

 

My Worship Time                         Focus:  PT-3 “Intro to Matt. 28:1-10” “Resurrection of Christ”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Matthew 28:1-10

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. 2 And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. 3 And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. 5 The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. 6 “He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. 7 “Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you." 8 And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me.’”

 

            I want to continue looking at the introduction to these first 10 verses in Matthew chapter 28, by writing quoting from John MacArthur’s commentary.  “It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the first sermon on the day the church was born focused on the resurrection of Christ.  After charging his hearers with Jesus’ death, Peter declared, ‘And God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power’ (Acts 2:23-24).  Peter continued to preach the resurrection to his fellow Jews (Acts 4:10) as well as to Gentiles (10:40).

 

            “Paul preached the resurrection continuality. In the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia he declared that ‘God raised [Jesus] from the dead’ and ‘He whom God raised did not undergo decay’ (Acts 13:30, 37).  He proclaimed the resurrection before the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem (23:6), before the governor, Felix (24:15, 21), and before King Agrippa (26:8).  The resurrection is a central and strongly emphasized theme of Paul’s epistles.  He declared that Christ ‘was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scripture’ (1 Cor. 15:4), that ‘He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you’ (2 Cor. 4:14; cf. Gal. 1:1), and that the Father ‘raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places’ (Eph. 1:20; Col. 2:12).  Paul longed to know Christ ‘and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings’ (Phil.3:10).  

 

            “Peter spoke of our ‘living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven’ (1 Pet. 1:3-4).  In his vision of Patmos, John beheld the Lord Jesus Christ, who declared, ‘I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore’ (Rev. 1:17-18).

 

            “The foundation of all our hope is expressed in Jesus’ own words:  ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies’ (John 11:25), and ‘Because I live, you shall live also’ (14:19).”

 

            Lord willing I will complete this introduction to these verses in the next SD.

 

9/28/2024 9:17 AM

PT-6 "The Certainty of Christian Assurance" (1 John 2:3-6) (Morning)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/28/2024 8:22 AM

 

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  PT-6 “The Certainty of Christian Assurance”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                        Reference:  1 John 2:3-6

 

            Message of the verses:  “3 By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 5  but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: 6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.”

 

            I did not get my evening Spiritual Diary done last night and so I thought that I would do one from 1 John this morning in order to finish up was what really the introduction to the verses listed above is.

 

            The following comes from John MacArthur’s commentary:  “The witnesses of this assurance entails the Holy Spirit’s working in believers’ conscience and emotions so that they feel the joy of their forgiveness and long to be in God’s presence, like the children with a beloved father.”  (The verses that he is talking about come from Romans 8:14-16, which were quoted on the last SD that I did on 1 John two days ago.)  “They sense how the Spirit leads and directs them (1 Cor. 2:14-16; Gal. 5:16-18; 25; cf. Luke 24:44-45; Eph. 1:17-19; 3:16-19; Col. 1:9), not through their own wisdom and discernment, but through granting them the desire to live godly lives and obey the Scripture.

 

            “To be sure, the Bible clearly teaches that those who are truly saved can never lose their salvation (cf. John 10:28).”  “And I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”  “They have been permanently sealed with the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13), and nothing can separate them from the love of their Savior (Rom. 8:38-39).  At the same time, however, God’s Word also commands every professing Christian to examine his or her life, to see if the salvation that is claimed is actually authentic (2 Cor. 13:5).  “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you — unless indeed you fail the test?”  “If salvation is indeed genuine, there will be signs of the Spirit’s working in that person’s life, both in attitude and behavior.  The Bible refers to these attitudes as the ‘fruit of the Spirit.’  Paul lists them in Galatians 5:22-23:  ‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.’  Assurance of salvation, in the subjective sense, comes by examining one’s life to see if there is evidence of the Spirit’s working in one’s attitudes.  Such spiritual dispositions manifest themselves in corresponding acts of ‘love, joy. Peace,’ and so forth, in submission to the commands of Scripture.

 

            “John’s purpose in writing this epistle is clearly stated in 5:13 ‘These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.’  It is to give assurance of salvation to those who might otherwise be led to doubt.  So again in verses 3-6 of chapter 2, John addresses manifest assurance—from the perspective of obedience, which constitutes visible, objective evidence that someone is a Christian.  That is a crucial element in John’s moral test for believers, an aspect that he divides into three parts:  the test stated, the test applied, and the test exemplified.”

 

            Lord willing I want to begin the fairly long section “The Test Stated” in my evening SD for tonight.

 

9/28/2024 8:43 AM

 

 

PT-2 Intro to Matt. 28:1-10 "Resurrection of Christ"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/27/2024 9:15 AM

 

My Worship Time                         Focus:  PT-2 “Intro to Matt. 28:1-10” “Resurrection of Christ”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Matthew 28:1-10

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. 2 And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. 3 And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. 5 The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. 6 “He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. 7 “Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you." 8 And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me.’”

 

            As the title of this SD states we are looking at the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but it is tragically true, however, that throughout history many have denied, despised, and mocked the truth of the resurrection, especially Christ’s.  MacArthur adds “But only a fool tries to explain away resurrection, because the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are man’s only hope of salvation and eternal life.”  Think about that statement of Christ’s resurrection is the only hope of salvation and eternal life for a moment.  Humaningly speaking it is difficult to believe that anyone has risen from the dead, but once a person truly becomes a believer then this truth completely makes sense to them.  The resurrection of Jesus Christ is proof that the sacrifice made of Himself on the cross was accepted by His Father, and therefore those who put their trust in Him, and the sacrifice that He made for the world’s people is the most important event that has ever happened in the history of mankind.  Please take some time to think about this, and take some time in reading about Christ’s resurrection, and then ask God to show you that this is true, and once you accept this truth, confess that you are a sinner, born a sinner, and in need of total forgiveness which can only come from what Christ did for you on the cross, and ask Jesus to come into your heart and forgive you.  There is no other decision that you can make in your entire life that is more important that that one, and it is because of Christ’s resurrection from the dead that makes it all possible for you.

 

            MacArthur continues in his introduction by writing “An early Protestant missionary to the Ryukyu Islands in the western Pacific discovered a strange mass grave.  The grave marker revealed that more than 11,000 heads taken from bodies of Christians were buried there.  On further investigation he learned that in 1637 the Japanese government, which then controlled the Ryukyus, ordered all Christians in the empire exterminated.  Because they knew Christians believed in the resurrection, the heads of martyred believers were buried a great distance from the bodies, in the belief that their resurrection would thereby be prevented.

            “The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the single greatest event in the history of the world.  It is so foundational to Christianity that no one who denies it can be a true Christian.  Without resurrection there is no Christian faith, no salvation, and no hope.  ‘If there is no resurrection of the dead,’ Paul explains, ‘not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, your faith also is vain’ (1 Cor. 15:13-14).  A person who believes in a Christ who was not raised believes in a powerless Christ, a dead Christ.  If Christ did not rise from the dead, then no redemption was accomplished at the cross and ‘your faith is worthless,’ Paul goes on to say:  ‘you are still in your sins’ (v. 17).”

 

            I have been putting my Spiritual Diaries onto my blogs since sometime in 2001, and I have to say that when I first started doing this that I was not nearly as faithful in putting them onto my blogs as I am now.  I also can say that the truth of the resurrection that is being written about as I begin this 28^th chapter of Matthew’s gospel are some of the, if not the most important truths that are found in the over 10,000 posts that I have posted.  I am not saying that I have never written about the resurrection of Jesus Christ before, and those too were very important SD’s too.  Again the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important event that has ever taken place in the history of the world.

 

9/27/2024 9:41 AM

 

PT-5 "The Certainty of Christian Assurance" (1 John 2:3-6)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/26/2024 11:57 PM

 

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  PT-5 “The Certainty of Christian Assurance”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                        Reference:  1 John 2:3-6

 

            Message of the verses:  “3 By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 5  but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: 6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.”

 

            I have to say that I did not finish the quote that I was ending with last night and so I want to finish that quote that comes from John MacArthur’s commentary on 1 John.

 

“Moving beyond some of the earlier Reformers (who had primarily focused on refuting Rome), the Westminster divines addressed the antinomian tendencies of their day by stressing subjective assurance in addition to John Calvin’s (and Scripture’s) teaching on objective assurance.  They emphasized personal examination that would lead believers to recognize practical evidences in their lives of obedience to God’s moral law and commands.  But some in the church pressed to the extreme the Westminster idea ‘that a true believer may wait long, and conflict with many difficulties’ before gaining full assurance.  For example, the seventeenth-century English Puritans’ sober, searching preaching caused many people to be generally lacking in assurance, unable to enjoy the confidence even of the evident fruit of salvation.  As a result, some became frightened, insecure, and obsessed with morbid introspection, stringent self-examination, and heavy doubts as to whether or not they were elect, or even could be.  Puritan pastors wrote many treaties to exhort, encourage, and comfort such troubled souls, especially expositing what the apostle Paul wrote concerning the Spirit’s witness:

 

14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,” (Rom. 8:14-16).

 

            Now I want to comment something that is personal to me, and that has to do with my very early Christian life.  I have to say that my testimony is probably different than many, if not all true believers. It was in January of 1974, five months after my wife and I got married, that I went by myself to visit a high school, and neighbor friend of mine in Casselberry Florida.  I have mentioned in earlier SD’s that I was married soon after high school and the marriage lasted only four years.  We had a daughter and soon after the divorce I allowed my ex-wife and her husband to adopt our daughter.  (There is more to that story which I will get into later.)  I meet my wife who has been married to me for 51 years + on the 11^th of March in 1973 and we were married on the 11^th of August 1974.  While I was visiting my friend in January of 1974 he asked me if I would want to listen to some sermons which were on tapes by a man named Hal Lindsey on the end times.  I listened to one each day and it was during that time period that the Lord saved me.  Like I said my testimony is different than most believer’s testimonies.  At any rate the sermons that I listened to were on the end times, and it is the end times that has been a theme of many of my Spiritual Diaries that I write about.  The point that I want to make here is that it took me a few years to believe that I have assurance knowing that I am saved, and that, I can say from being a believer for over fifty years has brought great peace to my heart.  It took a while, but it was the work of the Holy Spirit using preaching and reading from the Word of God and also from great Christian Pastors to show me that I truly have assurance of my salvation.

 

            Looks like I will finish this section in the next SD.  I hope that my testimony about salvation and assurance will be helpful to some who read this SD.

 

9/27/2024 12:47 AM

 

 

 

PT-1 Intro to Matthew 28:1-10 "The Resurrection of Christ"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/26/2024 9:23 AM

 

My Worship Time                         Focus:  PT-1 “Intro to Matt. 28:1-10” “Resurrection of Christ”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Matthew 28:1-10

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. 2 And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. 3 And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. 5 The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. 6 “He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. 7 “Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you." 8 And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me.’”

 

            OK I finally made it to the very last chapter in the book of Matthew.  I am not sure how many pages that I wrote as I went through the gospel of Matthew, but it has to be over 2000 pages.  The best thing is that I have learned a lot from this study of Matthew, and am happy that the Lord has used what I wrote to go around the world to places that I have not even heard of in order to spread the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

 

            I begin by quoting from John MacArthur’s commentary as he begins to talk about these verses.  “Like every piece of good literature, Matthew’s gospel is not a random collection of facts or ideas or stories but has a specific plan and purpose.  Chapter 28 is not simply a closing group of anecdotes about the life of Christ but is the powerful climax of everything else he has written under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.”  That last sentence is a very important sentence to understand, that is the Bible was written by the Holy Spirit giving its writers the knowledge of what to write, but also using the personality of all of the writers that have written what we call the Bible.  I have been listening to the Bible on my walks each day and it takes me about an hour and forty-five minutes to walk my five miles each day, and so I can listen to many verses as I walk.  Moses is the human author of the first five books of the Bible and it was God who gave him the things to write, for Moses did not come along to probably close to three-thousand years after God created the earth, and so Moses spent a lot of time up on Mt. Sinai getting all the things from the Lord that He wanted him to write and that is how we got the first five books of the Bible. 

 

            I move on with MacArthur’s thoughts from his introduction to these verses:  “The central event of that climax, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is also the central event of God’s redemptive history.  The resurrection is that cornerstone of the Christian faith, and everything that we are and have and hope to be is predicted on its reality.  There would be no Christianity if t here were no resurrection.”  Now think about this last sentence as it is a very, very important truth, “No resurrection: No Christianity.” Now that means that every person that has ever been born would spend eternity in hell, away from the presence of God.  Thank God for the grace that He has as He did send His Son to pay for our sins on the cross, to die in our place so that when we accept this truth we can become a believer in Jesus Christ, and we will change our place where we will spend eternity.  Confess that you are born a sinner and because of that you sin, and then receive the forgiveness that Christ offers to you through His shed blood on the cross, remembering that He rose from the dead in order to show us that God accepted the sacrifice that He offers. 

 

            I will now quote one more paragraph from MacArthur’s introduction which will end this SD for today.  “The message of Scripture has always been a message of resurrection hipe, a message that death is not the end for those who belong to God.  For the believer, death has never been an end but rather a doorway that leads to eternity with God.  Abraham willingly obeyed and then declared, God’s command to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, because, in faith, ‘he considered that God is able to raise men even from the dead’ (Heb. 11:19).  The psalmists declared, ‘God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol; for He will receive me’ (Ps.  49:15) and that ‘with Thy counsel Thou wilt guide me, and afterward receive me to glory’ (Ps. 73:24).  Isaiah proclaimed, ‘Your dead will live; their corpses will rise’ (Isa. 26:19).  Through Daniel the Lord assures His people, that although they die, one day they ‘will awake…to everlasting life’ (Dan. 12:2).  Hosea assures believers that the Lord will raise up all believers to live before Him (Hos. 6:2).  Job asked rhetorically, ‘If a man dies, will he live again?’ and then declared ‘All the das of my struggle I will wait, until my change comes’ (Job. 14:14) That ancient man of God even foresaw the reality of resurrection, proclaiming to his three friends, Bildad in particular:  ‘I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth.  Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God’ (Job 19:25-26).

 

            “Such has been the promised hope of God’s people throughout history, a hope predicated on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is His resurrection that guarantees ours.  ‘Now Christ has been raised from the dead,’ Paul declares, ‘the first fruits of those who are asleep.  For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive’ (1 Cor. 15:20-22).”

 

9/26/2024 10:02 AM   

PT-4 "The Certainty of Christian Assurance" (1 John 2:3-6)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/25/2024 11:37 PM

 

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  PT-4 “The Certainty of Christian Assurance”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                        Reference:  1 John 2:3-6

 

            Message of the verses:  “3 By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 5  but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: 6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.”

 

            I begin this SD by talking about the 16^th century Protestant Reformers who recovered the true gospel from the Roman harlot and reasserted the biblical doctrine of salvation; they also accurately expounded the issue of assurance.  Assurance, as seen in the “Focus” part of this SD is what we have been looking at over the past 3+ SD’s and it is a very important issue for us to understand.  Now contrarily to Roman theology, they were convinced by Scripture that believers can and should enjoy the confident hope of salvation.  John Calvin correctly taught that such confidence is not some addition to but is actually the essence of faith—since those who truly trust the gospel do so because they inherently enjoy a measure of assurance in it.  Now let me just say that when I use the word “Roman” I am speaking of the Roman Catholic church, and not the old Roman empire. When people experience saving faith, they recognize both the truth of the gospel and the wickedness of their sinful condition.  4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5  even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6  and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” (Eph. 2:4-6). After seeing the truth that these believers were sinful people they repent of their sins and embrace Jesus Christ as their Savior and their Lord.  When that divine work (of conversion and regeneration) takes place, which is energized by the Holy Spirit, believers sense their new-found faith and are assured of their salvation based on Scripture’s promises.  (Luke 18:13; Acts 2:37-39; cf. 8:35-37; 16:27-34.)   By setting forth the promises of God upon which salvation rests, the Word of God provides believers with an objective source of certainty and, additionally, the Holy Spirit gives subjective assurance through manifest spiritual fruit. 

 

            John MacArthur writes “Nearly a century after Calvin, the writers of the Westminster Confession of Faith (1648) composed the following paragraph:

 

This infallible assurance doth not so belong to the essence of faith, but that a true believer may wait long, and conflict with many difficulties before he be partaker of it; yet, being enabled by the Spirit to know the things which are freely given him of God, he may, without extraordinary revelation, in the right use of ordinary means, attain thereunto.  And therefore it is the duty of everyone to give all diligence to make his calling and election sure, that thereby his heart may be enlarged in peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, in love and thankfulness to God, and in strength and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience, the proper fruits of this assurance; so far is it from inclining men to looseness. (Chapter XVIII, Article III).”

 

9/25/2024 11:59 PM

 

 

 

PT-3 "Chief Priests and Pharisees" (Matt. 27:62-65)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/25/2024 9:42 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                        Focus:  PT-3 “Chief Priests and Pharisees”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 27:62-65

 

            Message of the verses:    “62 Now on the next day, the day after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate, 63 and said, "Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I am to rise again.’ 64 "Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day, otherwise His disciples may come and steal Him away and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first." 65 Pilate said to them, "You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how." 66 And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone.”

 

            I hope to finish this section this morning as it is the last section on the 27^th chapter of Matthew’s gospel, something I started in July of this year. (It’s a long chapter.)

 

            I begin with this: “give orders for the grave to be made secure” which is a part of verse 64 and this shows again how these Jewish religious leaders had control over Pilate because of his fear they would report him to Caesar and cause his downfall.  It is ironic that their fear was that the disciples might come and steal Him away and say to the people, “He has risen from the dead.”  Now if you think about the fact that all of His disciples ran away after Jesus was taken to His false trials, with the exception of Peter and John, and Peter denied Him three times and then ran away, but John was there for most of the crucifixion.  So the fears of the religious leaders were totally unfounded.

 

            MacArthur writes “After the transfiguration, Peter, James, and John were puzzled about what Jesus had just told them about Him rising from the dead (Mark 9:10).  It was not that they did not understand the meaning of resurrection, because that was a commonly held doctrine among most Jews of the day.  But because they could not conceive of the Messiah’s dying, they obviously could not conceive of His rising from the dead (cf. 9:32).  Even when Peter and John came to Jesus’ tomb and found it empty, ‘as yet they did not understand the Scriptures, that He must rise again from the dead (John 20:9).”

 

            We don’t really know how much these “religious leaders” knew about this truth, but somehow they knew something and so that is why they went to Pilate to tell him their fears about what would happen if people thought that Jesus was actually raised from the dead.

 

            If this would happen they feared te last deception will be worse than the first.  The implication was that Jesus’ claim to kingship would then be verified in the eyes of the gullible people and, though dead, He would become an even werse threat to Rome than before.  They were actually saying, in effect, “If the multitudes hailed Him as their Messiah and King on His entry into Jerusalem a few days ago, think how much more they will acclaim Him as their King if they are led to believe He has conquered death and risen from the dead.  Even though the idea is preposterous, if they really believe He is alive, they will also believe Rome has no power over Him and that He is invincible.  Then you will really have an uprising on your hands.”  (Last quote in dark letters came from MacArthur’s commentary.)

 

            My thoughts is that Satan had a great part in the thinking that these religious leaders were having, and yet it will all fall into the hands of God who will work it out to His glory as seen in Romans 8:28.  Pilate did not want to take any risks, either of offending the Jewish religious leaders or of facing another insurrection, Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how.”  It was no doubt they were pleased with themselves for once again making the powerful Roman governor bow to their demands, they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone.  It is very possible that the seal was given to them by Pilate.

 

            The purpose of not only the Jewish leaders but Pilate also is that this would prevent a hoax.  However the Lord’s purpose was to take even their unbelieving antagonism and use it to prove the reality of Christ’s resurrection and deity.  MacArthur writes “Even Jesus’ enemies helped assure that, in order for His resurrection to be genuine.  He would have to be supernaturally raised.  Despite their later efforts to spread the rumor that the disciples did indeed steal Jesus’ body (Matt. 28:11-14), they knew that they themselves had made that impossible.

 

            “Those remarkable truths about the burial of our Lord should deepen every Christians appreciation of Paul’s declaration that ‘God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose’ (Rom. 8:28).  When we cannot see why we are going through trouble and conflicts, we need to hold on to the certainty that God’s sovereign, providential power enlists every circumstance and happening in the universe for His glory and for our good.”  And to that I say AMEN!!  

 

            Lord willing tomorrow I begin looking at the very last chapter of Matthew’s gospel, and may the Lord direct me as I continue to write my Spiritual Diaries so that the Holy Spirit will continue to spread the truth of the gospel around the world, one country at a time.

 

9/25/2024 10:10 AM