EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/24/2024 08:27 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-4 “Hope
Is Secured by Abiding”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 1 John 2:28
Message of the
verse: “28
Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have
confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.”
I find it interesting that in my Spiritual Diaries
on 2 Timothy and also what I am looking at in 1 John that there seems to be a
thread that weaves its way through both epistles. In 2 Timothy I am looking at the theme of not
being ashamed of Jesus Christ, and here in 1 John he is writing that we should not
shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.
Well if a person lives his life being ashamed of Jesus Christ then they
will shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.
Ok
I want to pick up in this SD from where I left of in last evenings Spiritual
Diary on this subject as I ended by looking at Romans 8:38-39. “38 For I am convinced that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to
come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will
be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Now I mentioned that once a person is saved by
grace, that after that they are to then do the things that God has called them
to do, so you don’t work to be saved, but you do then rely on the Holy Spirit
to empower you to do the things that God has called for you to do for the cause
of Christ.
John
MacArthur writes “The seemingly opposite truths of eternal security and
perseverance actually work together in perfect harmony. It is not unlike salvation, when God
sovereignly saves sinners, but not apart from their personal faith; or
sanctification, when God supernaturally conforms believers to His Son, yet not
apart from their obedience. In the
Christian life, God always provides the power and means for believers to win
the spiritual battle. Thus Jesus told
Peter, ‘Simon, Simon, behold Satan had demanded permission to shift you like
wheat; but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail’ (Luke
22:31-32a). And Paul encouraged the
Corinthians with this divine promise: ‘No
temptation has overtake you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful,
who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the
temptation will provide the way of escape also so that you will be able to
endure it’ (1 Cor. 10:13; cf. John 17:15; Heb. 2:18). But believers must also actively persevere;
they must ‘fight the good fight of faith’ (1 Tim. 6:12), knowing that, ‘Blessed
is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he receive
the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him’ (James
1:12). Perhaps nowhere in Scripture is
the balance between God’s work and the believer’s work more clearly expressed
than in Paul’s words to the Philippians:
‘So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my
presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with
fear and trembling; for it is God who is a work in you, both to will and to
work for His good pleasure’ (2:12-13; cf. Col. 1:29).”
I have to say a couple of things that are going on
with me, as I mentioned for the last week plus I have been very much fighting a
kind of flu virus that has not only caused me physical problems, but this one
actually has affected me mentally too and has made it very difficult for me to
concentrate on try to do my Spiritual Diaries.
I am a person who over the past four plus years has a regiment of things
that I try and do each day. I post three
Spiritual Diaries for my blog and then copy one to put on my Facebook story
page. I also work on a Sunday school class
which I teach, but that is all already taken care of as I worked on that last
summer. I also walk five miles each day
to help me stay healthy, but after this flu hit me early last week all of those
things came to a halt and all of this has affected me badly. I am still fighting the effects but over the
last couple of days am beginning to walk outside which seems to clear the
cobwebs somewhat.
I
really want to finish that MacArthur has written as he completes his message on
this verse, and then in tomorrow’s SD I will post a Christmas SD which I try
and do each year on Christmas.
“As
noted earlier, a crucial aspect of Christian hope is that it will culminate
when Jesus Christ comes again, which give believers strong incentive for godly
living (3:3; cf. Col. 3:4; 1 Tim. 6:14; 2 Tim. 4:8; 2 Peter 3:14). When He appears, faithful saints will have confidence
and not shrink away from Him. The
appearance of Christ refers especially to the gathering of the church at the
rapture (cf. John 14:1-6; 1 Cor. 15:51-54; 1 Thess. 4:13-18) and the activities
that will follow at Christ’s judgment seat (cf. 1 Cor. 4:5; 2 Cor.
5:9-10). Confidence translates a Greed
word (parresian) that means ‘outspokenness’
or ‘freedom of speech.’ Elsewhere in the
New Testament it refers to believers’ boldness in approaching God (Heb. 4:16;
10:19; 1 John 3:21; 5:14). In this verse
it indicates an assurance derived from a holy life of abiding in Christ (cf.
Eph. 5:27; Col. 1:22; 1 Thess. 3:13; 5:23).
In contrast, nominal Christians, who are actually unbelievers, will shrink
away from Him in shame because they are not genuine children of God (Matt.
13:20-22; cf. John 8:31; 15:6; Heb. 3:6, 12; 6:4-6; 10:39)—their hypocrisy
having been evidenced by the fact that they did not persevere in the faith they
initially professed.
“By
God’s sovereign grace believers are saved and sanctified, and that same
powerful grace will in the resurrection bring them to their full eternal reward
at His coming (Titus 2:11-14; Rev. 22:12).”
12/24/2024 9:22 PM
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