EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/13/2024 8:44 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-6 “Intro
to ‘The Purifying Hope’
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
1 John 2:28-3:3
Message of the verses: “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. 29 If you know that He is righteous, you
know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him. 1 See how great a love the Father has
bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we
are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2
Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we
will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see
Him just as He is. 3 And everyone who
has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”
I continue looking at hope in today’s SD as I have
been looking at the features of hope that John MacArthur outlines in his
commentary.
I
begin this evening by looking at the ninth reason for hope which is the source of the believer’s
greatest joy and blessing. Now
we want to look at Psalm 146:5 “How blessed is he whose help is the God of
Jacob, whose hope
is in the Lord his God.” We can compare
this verse with Jeremiah 17:7 “"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD And
whose trust is the LORD.” MacArthur
writes “Because of who the sovereign God is and what He does for His own,
nothing can supersede hope in Him as a source of lasting joy. Those who hope in Him are able to endure the
most difficult circumstances of this life without losing their joy.” I wish at this time to write a little bit
about the word joy and how it is used in different places in the Bible.
“ What Is The Biblical Definition Of Joy? Examples &
Importance
Posted November 4, 2022
Joy is a beautiful emotion to experience. It’s the feeling
you get when you’re ecstatic about going on vacation, when you’re laughing with
friends, or when you’re simply with a loved one. Joy is just a feeling,
however, and it can leave us in an instant depending on our circumstances in
life. But, biblical joy is a different kind of joy.
What is the biblical definition of joy? The biblical definition of joy says that joy is a feeling of good
pleasure and happiness that is dependent on who Jesus is rather than on who we
are or what is happening around us. Joy comes from the Holy Spirit, abiding in God’s presence and from hope
in His word.
Biblical joy can be a confusing thing,
especially since it’s something that doesn’t come just in the best of times.
Because it is dependent on who Jesus is and God’s presence in us as the Holy
Spirit, biblical joy is accessible to us even in the worst of times, and it can
never be taken away from us.”
Now I have one verse
that I want to quote here, and it comes from the book of Hebrews: “Heb 12:2 “fixing
our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the
cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of
God.” Now take a moment to think about this verse as you realize that what
Jesus Christ did on the cross for you brought Him joy even though He went
through the worst moments in those six hours that any human being has ever
endured. In particular the three hours
of darkness where He was separated from His Father, and He did it for us.
Now
I want to go back where I left off with the quote from John MacArthur: “After all, no matter how uncertain this life
seems, God always remains the same—the all-powerful King of the universe and
the loving Father of His children, who will bring them all to glory. Consistent with the Father’s purpose, the Son
will keep all the Father gives Him and raise them ‘on the last day’ (See John
6:39-40) to eternal glory.”
Well
we have only two more things to look at in this introduction to these verses
from 1 John 2:28-3:3. After that we will
at the first sub-section. I have said
that this is really a long chapter in MacArthur’s commentary on 1 John, but the
subject of “HOPE” is a wonderful thing to focus in on.
12/13/2024 9:15 PM
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