EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/14/2024 11:22 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-7 “Because of What the World Does”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 1 John 2:16
Message of the
verse: “For
all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and
the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”
It is important for you to look at the verses that I
posted on the last SD in order to understand what I am about to write on this
SD. I won’t post these verses but will
give the references for them. Genesis
3:1-7 and Luke 4:1-13 are the verses posted in the last SD and in both cases
Satan utilized the same threefold temptation to attack his target. Now in the verses from Genesis we see that Adam
and Eve succumbed to the temptation as seen in Genesis 3:6 “When the woman saw
that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and
that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit
and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.” This plunged the human race into sin. The devil appealed to Eve’s desire for food
which is the lust of the flesh, her desire to have something attractive the
lust of the eyes, and her desire to have wisdom, pride of life. Now her husband Adam accepted the same
enticements without protest, and so he ate the fruit that his wife gave him,
and Satan’s kingdom gained its initial foothold on planet earth.
Now we move to the verse found in
Luke 4:1-13 and comment on them. In this
second account we see Satan using a similar approach as he sought to derail
Jesus’ redemptive mission. Satan
appealed to the Lord’s humanity (His hunger for bread, next His eyes (His
appreciation of the world’s splendor), and lastly His perceived pride (His
jumping from the temple’s pinnacle would have presumed on God’s protection and
gained extra prestige when He landed safely).
I suppose that this last one may be the hardest to understand, but this
was something that surely Jesus did not come to earth to do. MacArthur writes “But all three of the Devil’s
sinister approaches were unsuccessful as the Lord refuted each appeal by
quoting Old Testament truth (Deut. 8:3; 6:13; cf. 10:20).” Now for a moment I want to write about
something that I wrote about in an earlier SD, and that is if Israel when they
came out of Egypt had not sinned then they would not have had to spend 40 years
walking around the desert but would have gone into the Promised Land. Since they did sin and walked around the
desert for 40 years it was necessary for Moses to write the book of
Deuteronomy, which means “the renewing of the Law.” Israel’s sin was that they did not believe
God that they could conquer the enemies that were at that time occupying the
Promised Land at that time.
MacArthur concludes this rather long
section by writing “It is not surprising, then, to see that the world, under
Satan’s leadership, continues to assault sinners through those same three
pathways of temptation. The Devil plays
on the corruptibility of the fallen human heart to achieve the maximum impact
for evil and chaos in the world. But believers
are not slaves to the diabolical, corrupt world system (Rom. 6:5-14; James 4:7;
1 Peter 5:8-9; 1 John 4:1-6). Like their
Lord who has redeemed them, they possess the ability to successfully resist the
temptations of the world (cf. Rom. 8:1-13; James 4:7).”
Let
us look at these verses as we close this SD.
1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for
those who are in Christ Jesus. 2
For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh,
God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as
an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who
do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things
of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the
Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death,
but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it
does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,
8 and those who are in the flesh cannot
please God. 9 However, you are not in the flesh but in
the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not
have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. 10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet
the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 But if
the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised
Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through
His Spirit who dwells in you. 12
So then, brethren, we are
under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh —13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if
by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the
devil and he will flee from you.
11/14/2024
11:50 PM
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