EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/27/2025 10:20 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-4 “Gratitude For God’s Grace”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
1 John 3:19-20
Message of the verses: “19 We will know by
this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him 20 in
whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.”
John MacArthur writes “Believers enjoy an assurance
based not only on what Scripture promises to those who believe (Ps. 4:3; Phil.
1:6; 2 Tim. 1:12), but, on a practical level, based on the presence of a
serving love for fellow believers (cf. vv. 13-18) and a desire to live in
holinesses (cf. vv. 4:-12). These
qualities, because they come from God, cannot exist in a person who is still
unregenerate. Assure comes from the
future active indicative of the verb peitho
and means ‘will persuade.’ Some
lexicographers give ‘to tranquilize’ as a possible definition, which could have
an interesting connotation in this context.
Even though believers stand before Him, in the awesome, intimidating
presence of the absolutely holy God (Ex. 15:11; 1 Sam. 2:2; Rev. 15:4), they
can have a calm, tranquil, confident heart and an affirming conscience (Acts
23:1: 24:16; 2 Cor. 1:12; 1 Tim. 1:5; 3:9; 2 Tim. 1:3).”
Now I have talked as I looked at these verses about a
person can be assured about their salvation, which is what John is talking
about here, and will continue to talk about this letter as in the fifth chapter
he writes: “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.” This is just one of the different verses that
John uses in the different letters that he wrote that are in the Word of
God. John wrote the gospel of John, 1st,
2nd, and 3rd John along with Revelation, so he wrote a
good portion of the New Testament, and it is my belief that he wrote most of
this very late in his life, sometime late in the first century, probably in the
90’s. I have written about how I came to
the Lord which was 52 years ago, yesterday, and because I did not attend church
until some four years later I was involved in Bible studies and also a lot of
reading as the Lord was grounding me in the faith. It took me a couple of years to realize that
my salvation was secure and that I could not lose it, and this makes a great difference
in my life and in the lives who realize this truth.
“Being in the presence of God terrified even the noblest
of saints. Moses ‘hid his face, for he
was afraid to look at God’ (Ex. 3:6). The
prophets Isaiah (Isa. 6:1-5) and Ezekiel (Ezek. 1:26-28) also felt great fear
as they stood in the presence of holiness.
After witnessing one of His miracles, the apostle Peter ‘fell down at
Jesus’ feet, saying ‘God away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!’’
(Luke 5:8). He and fellow apostles James
and John were traumatized on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:1-8), as
was John when he saw the glorified Christ (Rev. 1:12-18). Although believers are no longer slaves to
sin but to righteousness (Rom. 6:16-18), the remaining sin within their
unredeemed humanness (cf. Rom. 7:14-25) could make God’s holy presence very frightening
were it not for the gracious gift of assurance.”
I want to quote one more paragraph from MacArthur’s
commentary and then we will be done with this section, a very important
section, and a very important paragraph for us to understand, to help us
understand what John was writing here.
“Those who have been justified by faith are a peace with God (Rom. 5:1) and enjoy the peace of God (Phil 4:7). Nevertheless, a believer may experience unnecessary guilt as his heart condemns him. But there is a higher court than the human heart, for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. If he has declared believers righteous in Christ, then they are righteous. Thus Paul wrote, ‘Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ Ro’m. 8:1). And no one can ever separate them from the saving love of God in Christ (8:31-39). He sees believers’ greatest, most profound failures, and He knows far more about their weaknesses than even their consciences do (Pss. 1:6; 103:14; 139:1-6; Prov. 24:12; Heb. 4:13). Yet God has forgiven those who by faith in Christ have been adopted into His family (Rom. 8:14-17). Moreover, He is at work in their hearts, continuing to cleanse them from the sin that still lingers there (cf. Phil.2:12-13). He looks beyond the remaining sin and sees the holy affections He has planted in them that demonstrate the transformed natures of His children. Therefore even when overwhelmed by their sinfulness believers can say with Peter, ‘Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You’ (John 21:17b; cf. Rom. 7:14-25).”
As
I close this very important section please look at the following God is greater than
our heart and knows all things.” Think about this when you are doubting your
salvation and realize that God does know all things which includes if you have
been born-again that God has saved you forever, and now one can snatch you out
of His hands. Also if you are in the
United States or Europe, as I have already mentioned, you can go to www.gty.org and ask for the free booklet about
the assurance of salvation.
1/27/2025 11:02 PM
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