PT-1 "Difficult Experiences" (2 Timothy 3:11-13)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/14/2025 11:58 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  PT-1 “Difficult Experiences”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  2 Timothy 3:11-13

 

            Message of the verses:  “11 persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! 12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 13 But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

 

            I have just posted a Spiritual Diary on my other blog which came from my study of Psalm 34, and in that Spiritual Diary I wrote about a butterfly and that story goes well with what Paul is telling to his son in the faith, Timothy.

 

            “It makes me sad and also it makes me angry when I see on TV from time to time that a “preacher” will come on and say that if you send me some money then I will pray over your letter and the Lord will heal you.  I have also heard them say that once you become a believer that your life will be wonderful and that you will not have any more problems.  These are lies that come from the enemy.  To illustrate what I am talking about I want to tell a story about a butterfly and the struggle that it takes for a butterfly to get out of the cocoon.  This story begins with a worm and the worm will begin its life eating and will continue to eat and then it will be time for the worm to make a cocoon for itself.  We can see in this story something that pictures a person who is born into this world and then is transformed into a new life once they realize that he is a sinner and then believes in his heart that Christ died for their sins and we see in 2 Cor 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”  Now back to the butterfly and we mentioned that it is a struggle for the butterfly to get out of the cocoon and this is a good thing for the struggle will make it strong in order for it to accomplish the things that butterflies do.  If someone would see the butterfly struggling and decide that it would be better for them to help it out of the cocoon then the butterfly would probably die because it would not have the strength to live because it did not build up its strength by getting out of the cocoon on its own.  Now what can we learn from this story is actually seen in this section of Psalm 34?  We can see that God allows us to go through difficult times, we have seen this when we looked at the book of Job, and we know that God has a plan for our lives and will see us through the difficult times so that we can bring glory to Him, and also so we can help others who will go through perhaps the same trouble that we are going through.  Paul writes about this in 2 Cor. 1: 3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. 6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer.”

 

            Struggling is not fun, and never will be but the truth is that God can use struggling to make you like a butterfly in this story just seen in this SD.  Paul would have never been the man that he became in the Lord without going through struggles.  When the Lord called Paul while he was going up to Damascus where He blinded Paul for three days, and then the Lord called a man to go and place his hands on him so that his eyes would be opened.  Here is the story from Acts 9 beginning in verse 10.  “10 Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Here I am, Lord." 11 And the Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, 12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight." 13 But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem; 14 and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name." 15 But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; 16 for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake." 17 So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." 18 And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized; 19 and he took food and was strengthened.”

 

            The highlighted portion of the verses above is the point that I want to make and now at the end of his life Paul is telling Timothy that he suffered much for the cause of Christ and now Timothy will be taking his place, he too will suffer for the cause of Christ.

 

Spiritual Meaning for my Life Today:  Suffering for the cause of Christ is what believers may have to do, but suffering can cause a person to grow in the Lord.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord for wisdom in taking the next step in what will be the next step in dealing with the cancer issues that my wife has.  The surgery was successful, but there is still more steps to make sure it will not return.

 

5/14/2025 12:25 PM

 

PT-6 "Truth: "The Test of Christian Hospitality" (2 John 9-13)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/13/2025 9:44 PM

My Worship Time                      Focus: Focus:  PT-6 “Truth: “The Test of Christian Hospitality”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  2 John 9-13

            Message of the verses:  “9 Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.

    10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11 for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.

             12 Though I have many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, so that your joy may be made full. 13 The children of your chosen sister greet you.

 

            I continue to quote from John MacArthur’s sermon in this evening’s Spiritual Diary, and just to let you know with this SD we are just over a third through this rather long sermon.  It is best to look at the previous Spiritual Diaries on this sermon so that you can follow what is being taught in this sermon.

 

            “This is the dilemma the sinner has. He reaches out in his rational mind to that Creator he knows is there, that moral lawgiver he knows is there, and he gropes to try find Him. And he’s not far away because verse 28 says, “We’re actually living and moving and existing right in His presence.”

            “What do we conclude? Verse 29, “That the divine nature is gold or silver or stone, some image formed by art and the thought of men?” Verse 30 describes this as the times of ignorance. Forget all that. All that religious effort going on in the epitome of human culture in Athens, the pinnacle of Greek learning, all of that ended up in ignorance. And verse 30 says, “God is now declaring to men that all men everywhere must repent.” Whatever your religion, turn from it. It’s taking you in the wrong direction. That’s the point. You have to repent of your religion.

            “God isn’t going to say, “Ah, you’re going down the right path, you’re nearly there, just another step.” He says, “Repent of it all,” which means to turn and go the other way. You’re going entirely in the wrong direction and you better repent because God has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a man whom He has appointed having furnished proof to all men by what? Raising Him from the dead. It was the resurrection that proved that Jesus was the Savior. It was the resurrection that proved He was God.

            “And so what does Paul say on Mars Hill? “Oh, you guys are doing really well.” Does he get up there and say, “Oh, hey, guys, what’s God been saying to you lately? Has God been here before I arrived?” He says, “Whatever it is that you believe in, whatever your religion, repent, turn around and go the other direction, go in the direction of that man.” And you can believe this isn’t the whole sermon. He told them who that man was. “In the direction of the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Savior and the judge as proven by His resurrection from the dead.”

            “We know Paul said more because verse 32 says, “When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, they began to sneer and others said, ‘We’ll hear you again concerning this.’ Paul went out of their midst but some men joined him and believed” - and believed. The full message of Christ was there and it was given. Some believed. Natural reason is incapable, natural reason is ignorant. Natural reason is idolatrous. Natural reason is hopeless. You have to repent of it.

            “First Corinthians chapter 10 takes it a step further. If you want to know where people get without the gospel, this is the last word on it. First Corinthians 10:19. Paul says, “A thing sacrificed to idols,” talking about pagans who gave their offerings to idols, something that had gone on through the centuries. Is an idol anything? What are you doing when you do that? What are you doing? There’s no god there because there’s only one God. So this idol that you think is God, like the people down at the other end of the block who bring food and put it at the feet of the fat Buddha, who is that? There is no god Buddha, there’s only one true and living God.

            “So the thing sacrificed to that god, what is that? Who is that god? What are they really doing? Verse 20, “I say the things which the gentiles” - which the heathen - “sacrifice, they sacrifice to” - whom? - “demons” - demons - “not to God.” You can’t get there by human reason. You can’t get there by the wrong religion. All you end up with is demons and Satan. No one comes to the true God through human reason, no one comes to the true God through human wisdom, no one comes to the true God through false religion, no one comes to the true God apart from the message of the cross. Church has always known that.

            “And there’s another reason why it can’t happen. Romans 3. I keep thinking of other passages, pardon me. Romans 3:9 and 10. Well, verse 10 would be enough, “There’s none righteous, not even one. There’s none who understands, there’s none who seeks for God.” That’s enough, isn’t it? Whatever they’re doing, they’re not seeking the true God. Whatever they’re learning, they don’t understand what they need to understand. And however good they are, they’re not good enough. So if you can’t be good enough and you can’t really understand and you’re not really looking for the true God, why would you think God would save you?

            “It’s just the opposite. They’re not seeking God. They’ve turned aside. Even that which they knew about God, they rejected, Romans 1. “They turned aside. Together they’ve become useless. There’s none who does good, there’s not even one. Their throat is an open grave. With their tongue, they keep deceiving. The poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their paths and the path of peace have they not known. There’s no fear of God before their eyes.”

5/13/2025 9:54 PM

 

"Ministry Duties" (2 Tim. 1:10b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/13/2025 10:06 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                  Focus:  “Personal Virtues”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  2 Timothy 3:10b

 

            Message of the verse:  “faith, patience, love, perseverance”

 

            These are also some of the things that Paul wanted Timothy to continue in faith.  MacArthur adds “As noted in the discussion of 2:22, pistis (faith) is here better rendered ‘faithfulness,’ as it is in referring to God in Romans 3:3 and to the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22 (cf. 1 Tim. 2:15; 4:12).  The apostle is not referring to saving faith but to the faithfulness and trustworthiness of those who are already saved.  The idea is that of faithfully living the truth that is professed.”

 

            Now we move onto a second personal virtue of Paul known to Timothy as patience, and here is the Greek word for patience: makrothumia, rather than hupomone, the more common term for ‘patience’ in the New Testament.  MacArthur explains:  “Makrothumia carries the additional ideas of steadfastness and long-suffering.  Paul is speaking of the resolute and persistent spirit of the servant of Christ who never gives up and never gives in, regardless of the cost.  Such patience is more than an attitude; it is a determined way of life and is a certain work of the Christian who lives in uncompromising devotion to his Lord and to the work of the kingdom.

 

            “Because God Himself is loving, no devoted servant of His can be without love.  This is the volitional, purposeful, unselfish love (agape) that is superior even to faith and hope (cf. 1 Cor. 13:13) and is the first fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22).  We are to ‘walk in love, just as Christ also loved [us], and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma’ (Eph. 5:2).  We are to ‘love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God’ (1 John 4:7).  Love, in fact, is so crucial to the Christian life that ‘the one who does not love does not know God, for God is love’ (v. 8); and, on the other hand, ‘the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him’ (v. 16).  Jesus’ final petition to the Father on our behalf was ‘that the love wherewith Thou didst love Me may be in them, and I in them’ (John 17:26).”  Looking at these two things that believers are to do, be patience, and love, it shows me that neither one of them can be accomplished in and of ourselves.  The filling of the Holy Spirit which according to the Greek rendering of it is to be continually and not just at certain times in our lives, is how patience and love are shown in the life of a believer.

 

            “As noted above, hupomone is commonly translated ‘patience,’ but is in this context the idea is more that of perseverance, not so much with difficult people (as earlier in this verse, ‘patience’ makrothumia) as with difficult circumstances.

 

            Hupomone carries the idea of remaining under, and it sometimes is translated ‘endurance.’  In 2 Corinthians 6:4, Paul reminds his readers of his own ‘endurance’ [hupomone], in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses.’ The writer of Hebrews reminds every believer of the ‘need of endurance [hupomone], so that when [we] have done the will of God, [we] may receive what was promised’ (Heb. 10:36), referring to ‘great reward’ from the Lord (v. 35).

 

            Just a thought about receiving rewards, which will be done at the “Judgment Seat of Christ” which goes on in heaven after the rapture of the church while the Tribulation Period is going on, on the earth, and Christian rewards is something that believers will receive on how they accomplished what the Lord has given them to do.  The power to do those things that the Lord calls us to do comes from the Holy Spirit, and I believe that is part of the reason that believers will thrown down their rewards at the feet of Jesus Christ who died in their place and gave them the Holy Spirit, so in essence it is all by the power of God that they receive these rewards.

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I realize that love and patience in my life has to come through the power of the Holy Spirit, because it really is not natural for me to do this on my own.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To be continually filled with the Holy Spirit, that is I need to confess any sins so that I don’t stop the power of the Holy Spirit, so that I can do what He has called me to do for the cause of Christ.

 

5/13/2025 10:41 AM

 

           

PT-5 "The Test of Christian Hospitality" (2 John 9-13)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/12/2025 7:00 PM

My Worship Time                                  Focus:  PT-5 “Truth: “The Test of Christian Hospitality”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  2 John 9-13

            Message of the verses:  “9 Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.

    10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11 for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.

             12 Though I have many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, so that your joy may be made full. 13 The children of your chosen sister greet you.

 

            I continue to quote from John MacArthur’s sermon in this evening’s Spiritual Diary, and just to let you know with this SD we are about one third through this rather long sermon.  It is best to look at the previous Spiritual Diaries on this sermon so that you can follow what is being taught in this sermon.

            “Now, you’re in 1 Corinthians 2, go down to verse 11. Let me show you another very important portion of Scripture. First Corinthians 2:11. Well, verse 10, we need that one. “For to us God revealed them” - “them” meaning the things that God has prepared for us in salvation, God revealed these saving realities through the Spirit. Of course, this is in the Scripture, “For the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God, for who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, the thoughts of God knows no one except the Spirit of God.”

            “You can’t know God’s mind, you can’t know God’s thoughts, you can’t read God’s mind, you cannot know what God requires through intuition, through human wisdom, through religion. You don’t get to God, you get to Satan. The best that men can do cannot reveal to them the mind of God. The only one who knows the thoughts of God is the Spirit of God. Verse 12 says, “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God that we might know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit.”

            “What Paul is saying is this: We have to have words from God brought to us by the Spirit to know what God thinks, what God wants, what pleases God. You can’t know God through human wisdom. You can’t get there. Only the Spirit of God knows the mind of God. You are dependent upon the Spirit of God conveying to you the words of God, not in words taught by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit. And that’s what the Bible is; it is words taught by the Spirit. It is combining spiritual realities with spiritual words.

            “But you know what? Even if you have that, even if you have a Bible, verse 14 says, “A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, they’re foolishness to him and he can’t understand them because they’re spiritually appraised.” You can’t get there - listen to this - you can’t get there through human wisdom. You can’t even get there through divine revelation as a natural man. Not only will natural theology, wider mercy, trans-dispensationalism, or any other term, not only will they not get you there, you can’t get there on your own even with this because your mind is so darkened by sin, compounded, you are blinded by Satan, and naturally do not accept the things of the Spirit of God.

            “You see, what the Bible teaches is absolutely the opposite. You can’t get there by your own wisdom, your own intuition, your own insight, your own rationality. You can only get there by the revelation of the Holy Spirit, and you can’t even get there by the revelation of the Holy Spirit on your own. Man, in his natural capacity, no hope - no hope. Holy Spirit has to go beyond the Scripture and illuminate the soul - right? - and awake the dead and regenerate the corpse.

            “Look at Acts 17 - Acts 17. I’m preparing you for a eureka when you hit 2 John. It’s all going to be clear. Acts 17, Paul’s on Mars Hill. He stood in the midst of the Areopagus. I’ve preached there several times, it’s quite an experience. He said, “Men of Athens” - in fact, I preached on this very text - “I observe that you’re very religious in all respects. You’re a very religious group.” This is the religious elite of the great city of Athens, where the most erudite (learned) and brilliant people were. And this is the philosophical ground, the high ground, the high place where the philosophers and religionists gather.

            “You’re very religious in all respects. While I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.” Here’s your problem, you’re worshiping the God you don’t know because you can’t know Him. So I’m here to tell you about Him. “He is the God” - verse 24 - “who made the world and all things in it. Since He is Lord of heaven and earth, doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands.”

            “Neither is He served with human hands as though He needed anything since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things.” Your whole religious thing has got it all wrong. You’ve got all these temples, He doesn’t need that. You’ve got all these people taking food to serve these imaginary gods, He doesn’t want that. He is the God who gives to all life and breath and all things. He gives, He doesn’t need. “He made from one every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they should seek God if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He’s not far from each of us.”

5/12/2025 7:12 PM

PT-2 "Ministry Duties" (2 Tim. 3:10a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/12/2025 9:49 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                          Focus:  PT-2 “Ministry Duties”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  2 Timothy 3:10a

 

            Message of the verse:  “my teaching, conduct purpose.”

 

            In this short section from 2 Timothy 3:10a we can see three ministry duties that are described by Paul that Timothy was to do, and we looked at the first one, teaching, in yesterday’s SD and so now we move on to look at conduct, and then purpose in today’s SD.

 

            Timothy was learning from Paul as he observed him and thus was to continue to follow Paul’s conduct, his lifestyle, his pattern of daily living.  Like Paul’s, Timothy’s living had been consistent with his teaching.  He had lived what he preached, and for some preachers that is not the case.  I mention that it was the Lord who taught Paul, and now Paul is teaching his student Timothy, and then Timothy will teach others and so on down the line of teaching from one believer to another.  I have mentioned those four years after I became a believer a little over 51 years ago that there was a man who taught me and also my wife, and then when our first child was born my wife began to attend a church near us and then I also joined that church and we were taught by our Pastor.  Like I said this continues on and it did in our household as both of our children became believers, then years later got married to believing spouses, had had their own children who became believers, and now we have two of the seven grandchildren who will graduate from Christian high schools to which this certainly makes us very happy and blessed of the Lord.  It all started back on January 26^th 1974 when the Lord used some audio tapes by Hal Lindsey to open my heart to the salvation of the Lord.  What a great day that was.

 

            MacArthur writes “That combination is imperative for any effective ministry.  God is able to bring good out of any preaching and teaching of His authentic Word.  Even through some preachers and teachers ‘proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, rather than from pure motives,’ Paul nevertheless rejoiced that ‘whether in pretense or in truth,’ Christ was proclaimed (Phil. 1:17-18).  Yet the work of Christ is subject to ridicule and is seriously hindered when an ungodly life contradicts a godly message.  Only the Lord knows how much damage to His kingdom and to His name is caused by the moral failure of those He entrusts with proclaiming and demonstrating the gospel.”

 

            Now we move onto a third ministry duty that Timothy had observed in Paul was that of having a godly purpose.  Now as I look at these three characteristics that Paul is writing about here I can say that as I have written over eleven thousand Spiritual Diaries that have been put onto my two blogs and I also post them on my FB story page, I can say that it is my desire to please the Lord and bring glory to His name, and it is also my desire to write the truth so that those who read these can be assured that I strive to make sure what I write can be backed up by Scripture.  I desire to write and teach the truth.

 

            MacArthur writes “A leader’s purpose relates to his personal motive for service, the driving passion of his heart.  Paul was under compulsion, confessing, ‘Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel’ (1 Cor. 9:16).  Yet his was an inner compulsion, a voluntary yielding of all that he had to the Lord, to the Lord’s worship, the Lord’s service, and the Lord’s people.  He was not forced by God to minister but willingly and gladly served everywhere just as he had at Ephesus.  He reminded the elders of the church, ‘You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials,…how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Acts 20:18-21).  Wherever Paul ministered, he could say what he said to them:  ‘I testify to you this day, that I am innocent of the blood of all men.  For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God’ (vv. 26-27).  He continually discharged his responsibility to proclaim, without compromise or deflection, the gospel of Jesus Christ and the full counsel of God’s Word.

 

            “That driving inner force creates a life of integrity and faithfulness, a life in which professed truth is lived truth.  Such things as creature comforts, self-love, self-fulfillment, self-promotion, and self-preservation had been of no consequence to Paul, nor should be they be to Timothy.  The single great motive of their lives was the unreserved passion to fulfill the purpose of their divine calling to the glory of God.”

 

Spiritual Meaning for My Life Today:  I think that the last sentence from above is certainly a worthy goal to have for my life. 

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord as my wife and I are seeking the direction that He desires her to go for treatment of possible cancer after her surgery on the 29^th of last month.  We desire to do what do His will and to bring glory to our Lord through this “test” that He is allowing us to go through.

 

5/12/2025 10:27 AM

 

PT-4 "The Test of Christian Hospitality" ( 2 John 9-13)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/11/2025 7:33 PM

My Worship Time                                  Focus:  PT-4 “Truth: “The Test of Christian Hospitality”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  2 John 9-13

            Message of the verses:  “9 Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.

    10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11 for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.

             12 Though I have many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, so that your joy may be made full. 13 The children of your chosen sister greet you.

 

            I continue to quote from John MacArthur’s sermon in this evenings Spiritual Diary, and just to let you know with this SD we are about one third through this rather long sermon.

 

            “Natural revelation will only take you far enough to be inexcusable when God judges you. It’s not enough to save you; it’s only enough to damn you. And to see why that’s true, go to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. First Corinthians chapter 1 unfolds why that is so. No one through the rational pursuit of God who is the Creator can achieve salvation, it doesn’t get you there, it just makes you inexcusable when God judges you. And the reason is, you have to go beyond that.

            “Verse 18, 1 Corinthians 1: “For the word of the cross is, to those who are perishing, foolishness, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God, for it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the cleverness of the clever I’ll set aside. Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?’” This is an amazing diagnosis of man. They think they’re wise - they’re fools. The conclusion of the wise, the conclusions of the scribes or the scholars, the conclusions of the debaters of this age all together, the sum of them is foolishness. Why?

            “Verse 21, here’s the key: “For since in the wisdom of God the world, through its wisdom, didn’t come to know God.” There’s the bottom line. You can’t get there through human wisdom because God determined that that’s how it would be. In God’s wisdom, people can’t be saved through their wisdom. “Rather” - verse 21 says - “God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.” The only people who will ever be saved are those who believe the message preached.

            “And what is the message? Well, verse 22, “The Jews ask for signs, the Greeks search for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. To Jews a stumbling block, to gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

            “The only way you can be saved is through the message of the cross. That’s why in chapter 2 of this same book, verse 1, Paul says, “When I came to you, brethren, I didn’t come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” That’s all I ever preached. Down in verse 5, “So that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men but on the power of God.” And that power is released only through the gospel.

            “So Romans 1 says man by reason only brings himself to maximum culpability. He is inexcusable because by himself, in his own reason, he will suppress the truth because he is so dominated by sin. And he will twist that truth, end up dishonoring God, refusing to be thankful, developing empty ideas, finding himself in the dark, a proud, idolatrous, and wicked fool. And here we further understand that the reason the wisest of the wise and the scholars and the debaters don’t ever find God through their own wisdom is because God designed it to be impossible.

            “The only way you can ever come to God is through the message preached. And what is the message? We preach Christ crucified. Only the message of the cross can save. And that takes you back to verse 18 in 1 Corinthians 1, “For the Word or the message of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.” Man, left to himself, left to his own wisdom, lowers God, elevates himself, denies the truth, believes lies. And so it is absolutely critical that men never be thought capable of attaining to the knowledge of God through human reason.

            “In 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 3, Paul says, “If our gospel is veiled” - and it is - “it is veiled to those who are perishing.” Why so? Because the god of this world, Satan, has blinded the minds of the unbelieving that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God. Double blindness. They’re blind by virtue of their nature and they’re blind by virtue of Satan. It is a compounded stone blindness. The highest achievements of human wisdom will be destroyed along with the most meager achievements of human wisdom.

            “The wisdom that is from below - that is, earthly wisdom - is characterized in James this way, “This wisdom that is from below is earthly, natural, demonic.” Earthly, natural, demonic. The only supernatural connection you make through human reason is with Satan. No person by natural reason, no person by religious intuition can come to know God and be saved from hell.

5/11/2025 7:46 PM

 

PT-1 "Ministry Duties" (2 Tim. 3:10a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/11/2025 7:49 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                          Focus:  PT-1 “Ministry Duties”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  2 Timothy 3:10a

 

            Message of the verse:  “my teaching, conduct purpose.”

 

            As mentioned on many Sunday mornings my Spiritual Diaries are shorter due to the fact of getting ready to go to our Sunday school class where I have been the teacher since 2016, with time off for covid when people did not go to church but watched the service on TV with an empty audience. 

 

            Didaskalia (teaching) is a general term referring to instruction, or “doctrine,” as it is sometimes rendered. MacArthur writes that “The reference here is to the specific, divinely inspired, apostolic teaching that Timothy had heard expounded so often and so carefully by Paul (my), his beloved mentor.  A few verses later he reminds Timothy that ‘all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching [Didaskalia], for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness’ (v. 16).  This teaching included all ‘the things which [Timothy had] heard from [Paul] in the presence of many witnesses,’ truths he, in turn, was to ‘entrust to faithful men, who [would] be able to teach others also’ (2:2).”

 

            Now it was because Paul was ‘an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God’ (1:1), that Paul’s teaching was apostolic teaching and so therefore divine teaching.  We know that what was written in the Word from the very beginning when Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible all the way until the apostle John penned the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible that it was all inspired by the Holy Spirit of God and as verse sixteen above states  all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching [Didaskalia], for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.’  The term means that it was “God breathed.”  We can be assure that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, and therefore can trust it, and this should cause us to read and study from it each and every day of our lives.

 

            MacArthur writes “The time would soon come when Timothy’s hearers would ‘not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they [would] accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires’ (4:3). For that reason Paul had just commanded, ‘I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction’ (vv. 1-2).”

 

5/11/2025 8:08 AM

PT-3 "Truth: "The Test of Christian Hospitality" (2 John 9-13)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/10/2025 7:39 PM

 

My Worship Time                                  Focus:  PT-3 “Truth: “The Test of Christian Hospitality”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  2 John 9-13

            Message of the verses:  “9 Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the

teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.

    10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11  for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.

             12 Though I have many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, so that your joy may be made full. 13 The children of your chosen sister greet you.

 

            This evening I will continue quoting from the sermon by John MacArthur that I spoke about in the last SD, and as I mentioned this will take a while to get through it as I don’t want to put too much on each day so it will be easier to understand what is written.

 

            “You ask, “How can people believe this?” Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me.” Acts 4:12, “Neither is there salvation in any other, there’s no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved.”

            “Then there’s that view called trans-dispensationalism which says, well, God saves people without the gospel by treating them as if they lived in some other dispensation before there was a revelation from God. Sort of pre-Mosaic or pre-Abrahamic.

            “Does God save people without the truth? Does God save people without the gospel, without the knowledge of Jesus Christ? Does He take just whatever they’ve got to give? That’s not what the Bible teachers. That’s not what Protestant, biblical, orthodox Christianity has ever believed. And this is such a tragic, tragic moment for us to come to such conclusions, just when we have the greatest potential to spread the message. We’re not sure what it is. We’re not sure we want to offend with it. We’re not sure it’s even necessary.

            “Does the Scripture support these concepts? Does it support the idea that you can be saved without the gospel? Let me remind you of some passages briefly. Romans 1, this is a very important Word that I’m giving you tonight, very important for us, and you’ll see its connection to our text. We’ll get there. Romans 1:18: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness because that which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them through reason and moral law.

            “For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks. They became futile in their speculations. Their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools.”

            “What happens is, built into man is the reason that would take you to the conclusion there is a God. The moral law that would take you to the conclusion that that God is a holy and just and righteous God and lawgiver. While that truth about God is evident within us and verified by the creation around us that there is a great and powerful Creator, even though we know that, where man goes with that isn’t where he should. He doesn’t honor God as God. He doesn’t give Him thanks. He becomes empty in his speculations. His foolish heart is darkened.

            “He thinks he’s wise. He becomes a fool. He exchanges the glory of the incorruptible God for an image or an idol in the form of corruptible man, of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Man has ample evidence for God in the creation, but it doesn’t lead him to God. It only makes him inexcusable when God judges him. And his problem is back in verse 18: he suppresses the truth in unrighteousness.

            “The bottom line is his unrighteousness, his depravity, his wretchedness negates the possibility of reason leading him to God. His depraved passion leads him to dishonor the Creator, to refuse to be thankful, to develop empty ideas, to end up in the dark, a fool, proud, idolatrous, and even wicked. Verse 24 and following, “God gave them over to lusts because” - as verse 25 says - they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever.”

5/10/2025 7:51 PM

 

 

PT-3 "A Strong Example As Spiritual Mentor" (2 Tim. 3:10-13)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/10/2025 9:48 AM

 

My Worship Time                                     Focus:  PT-3 “A Strong Example As Spiritual Mentor”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  2 Timothy 3:10-13

 

            Message of the verses:  “10 Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, 11 persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! 12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 13 But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

 

            I want to begin with a quotation that I ended my last SD with in order to better understand what I am going to write in this SD.

 

“It means to follow a person physically; to stick by him through thick and thin, to be by his side in fair weather and in foul. It means to follow a person mentally, to attend diligently to his teaching, and fully to understand the meaning and the significance of what he says.  It means to follow a person spiritually, not only to understand what he says, but also to carry on his ideas, and to be the kind of person that he wishes us to be. (The Letters to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon [Philadelphia: Westminster 1957], 224)”

 

            John MacArthur speaks of this statement:  “That comprehensive meaning certainly represents what Paul had in mind.  He meant for Timothy to pattern his beliefs, his thinking, and his lifestyle after him.  Although in more detail, he was telling his disciple, beloved friend, and spiritual son what he had told believers in Corinth some ten years earlier: ‘I exhort you therefore, be imitators of me’ (1 Cor. 4:16).  ‘For this reason,’ he continued, ‘I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church’ (v. 17).  Even at that earlier date, he had great confidence in Timothy.  Just as he had trusted him to minister faithfully in Corinth he now trusted him to minister faithfully in Ephesus.”

 

            I once heard a statement that seems to fit into what is going on in these verses and that is if God were not using sinners to get His work done then His work would not get done for as the Bible says “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  “So like all of us, Timothy had temptations to weakness and vacillation, and he may have been in such a struggle when Paul wrote him this second letter.  Still, the apostle was certain that, with proper encouragement and reliance on the Lord, Timothy would regain his former commitment and zeal,” writes John MacArthur.

 

            He goes on to explain “In the Greek text, the definite article precedes each of the descriptive nouns in verses 10 and 11, grammatically connecting each to the possessive pronoun my and thereby giving it repeated emphasis.

 

            “The idea is, But you followed my teaching, [my] conduct, [my] purpose, and so on.

 

            “Every church, Christian college, Bible school, seminary, and other Christian organization should be led by and, in turn, reproduce leaders who not only are orthodox in doctrine and moral in lifestyle but also are courageous and committed defenders of the faith.  They should be willing to follow the Lord and lead His church in dangerous times and circumstances and at any cost steadfastly hold up the banner of God’s divine revelation is Scripture.”  This is the way that it is suppose to be, but there are times when Satan gets into what is going on and then in generations of new leadership things start to slip and you end up with things like are going on in places like Harvard which began as a Christian college.  I think with fondness of the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, and how the Lord’s teachings have been faithfully taught for many, many years.  I think about the church that I attend, First Baptist Church, Elyria, Ohio which opened its doors before the civil war began in our country.  From those humble beginnings the Lord used our church to begin two different mission agencies and a Christian school, which was almost lost a number of years ago, but people prayed and the Lord answered and now the school is strong again.  I have four grandchildren who attend this school, and a daughter who teaches Spanish there and also coaches a volleyball team, something she loves. 

 

            MacArthur concludes “The nine leadership qualities, or characteristics, mentioned in 3:10-13 can be divided into three categories; ministry duties (teaching, conduct, purpose, v. 10 a), personal virtues (faith, patience, love, perseverance, v. 10b), and difficult experiences, summarized by persecutions and sufferings (vv. 11-13).”

 

Spiritual Meaning for My Life Today:  “Study to show yourself approved to God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

 

My Steps of Faith for Today: “Study to show yourself approved to God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

 

5/10/2025 10:18 AM  

 

 

 

PT-2 "The Test of Christian Hospitality" (2 John 9-13)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/9/2025 7:39 PM

 

My Worship Time                                  Focus:  PT-2 “Truth: “The Test of Christian Hospitality”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  2 John 9-13

            Message of the verses:  “9 Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the

teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.

    10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11  for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.

             12 Though I have many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, so that your joy may be made full. 13 The children of your chosen sister greet you.

 

            This evening I will continue quoting from the sermon by John MacArthur that I spoke about in the last SD, and as I mentioned this will take a while to get through it as I don’t want to put too much on each day so it will be easier to understand what is written.

 

            “And in fact, the latest wave is aw, the whole deal might not even be necessary. Might not even be necessary. I can’t resist reviewing something that I said to you - couple of years ago. This view has risen to the forefront in evangelical theology. This idea - we have these people who aren’t sure what the gospel is. We have these people who are embarrassed by the gospel and they’re trying to tweak it and take out anything that’s offensive. And then we have the people who aren’t sure we need to even bother with the gospel. And they all call themselves evangelical Christians.”  I assure that I am not one of these people, as I know what the gospel is and know how to tell others the truth of the gospel, and that is why I take time each day to write my Spiritual Diaries and put them onto my blogs each day.  Jesus gave us this order 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20  teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age’” (Matt. 28:18-19).”

            “And this last group has come up with a view called “natural theology,” and that says that man by his natural reasoning powers, apart from written revelation, apart from Scripture, apart from the gospel, man by his natural reasoning powers can discern that there is a God. And if he can discern there is a God and desires to know that God, God will accept his rational effort to know Him without requiring belief in the gospel, without requiring the knowledge of the name of God or any of His revelation, without requiring any knowledge of Jesus Christ. Sinners can get to heaven without the Bible and without the knowledge of the gospel.

            “Now, this has always been Roman Catholic theology, but it’s never been Protestant evangelical theology. It was Pope John Paul II who said, “All who live a just life will be saved, even if they do not believe in Jesus Christ.” That’s Catholic theology. The new Roman Catholic catechism says, “The biblical teaching that salvation only comes in response to faith in Jesus Christ is to be rejected. It is unreasonable and cruel. The heathen are saved if they just live good lives.”

            “Well, that’s Catholic theology and yet I told you a couple of years ago that well-known evangelists have said this: They may not even know the name of Jesus, but they know in their hearts that they need something that they don’t have and they turn to the only light they have, and I think they’re saved and they’re going to be with us in heaven. Even though they don’t know Jesus? Or His name? This is a sort of “natural theology” idea that you ascend as high as you can get and God says that’s good enough. You sort of crawl up this rational ladder to the point where you believe there’s a God.

            “There’s another view that even goes beyond that, it’s called the “wider mercy” view. And this view, the advocates of this view say people can actually be saved through non-Christian religions. The first view would say that they sort of have to believe there’s a God up there and come to that God. And the second view says that they may be aided by their false religion.

            “Clark Pinnock says, and I quote, “When we approach the man of faith other than our own” - another faith - “it will be with a spirit of expectancy to find out how God has been speaking to him and what new understanding of the grace and love of God we may ourselves discover in this encounter. Our first task in approaching another people, another culture, another religion is to take off our shoes, the place where approaching is holy. We may forget that God was there before our arrival.”

            “What in the world are you saying? These people who are engaged in non-Christian and false religions know God? That God is speaking to them? And God has been there before we arrived with the gospel? He adds, “God has more going on by way of redemption than what happened in first-century Palestine.” He does? He has more going on by way of redemption than what happened in first-century Palestine? Are you trivializing, minimizing the work of Christ?”

5/9/2025 7:52 PM