Tuesday, January 28, 2025

PT-4 "The Preeminence of the Lord" (2 Tim. 2:8)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/28/2025 9:29 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus: PT-4 “The Preeminence of the Lord”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  2 Timothy 2:8

 

            Message of the verse:  “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel.”

 

            This morning we continue to look at Jesus Christ, but this morning we want to look at His humanity descendant of David.  Here we find in His humanity His identification with fallen mankind, for we read in Romans 1:3 the following “concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh.”  Now before Jesus was born, at His conception the angel proclaimed the following to Mary “32 "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; 33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.’” Our Lord’s human descent from David not only speaks of His humanity as our sympathetic and merciful High Priest who knows all our suffering and has felt all our pain (Heb. 2:14, 18), but also of His royalty and majesty which is seen in the verses above from Luke’s gospel.  MacArthur writes “In his last direct words to the apostle John on Patmos, Jesus spoke of Himself as ‘the root and offspring of David, the bright morning star’ (Rev. 22:16).”

 

            Now as I think about God becoming a man in order to understand what sinful man has to go through, although I know it is impossible for Him to sin, but by living among sinful men He understood what it was like, and that is something for me to think about as I realize that Jesus did not have to become a man, He did not have to leave heaven and He did not have to save us, but because of love HE DID.

 

            MacArthur then goes on to write “Therefore, if Jesus Christ is our divine Savior and sovereign Lord, why should we worry about what happens to us in this life?  As our perfect High Priest, He is able to ‘sympathize with our weaknesses,’ because He ‘has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.  Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need’ (Heb. 4:16).”  Now in a sense these verses from Hebrews go along with what I wrote in the paragraph above.

 

            More from MacArthur’s commentary:  “As our sovereign Lord, Jesus Christ controls everything that we are and everything that happens to us.  We must resist temptation, but we need not fear ti, because our Lord will not allow [us] to be tempted beyond what [we] are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that [we] may be able to endure it’ (1 Cor. 10:13).  We have no need to worry about the depts. of our troubles or our sorrows.  Isaiah gives comfort to all those who belong to the Messiah, Jesus Christ.  ‘Like a shepherd He will ten His flock, in His arm He will gather the lambs, and carry them in His bosom’ (Isa. 40:11).  ‘Surely our griefs He himself bore, and our sorrows He carried’ (53:4), the prophet later writes.”

 

            Now here is something that I have written about recently and that is as true believers we have no need to fear the loss of salvation, because our Lord assures us of our perfect and absolute security in Him.  I mentioned 1 John 5:13 as proof of this, which I will quote now and then some other verse from John’s gospel after that.  “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.”  “27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:27-28).  “25Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25).  “19"After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also” (John 14:19).  “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).  Now if you are having trouble realizing that you salvation in Christ is secure read over these verses again and take some time to think and to meditate on them which will give you confidence in the Lord that what is written in these verses is true.

 

            MacArthur concludes this section by writing “According to my gospel does not refer to Paul’s personal opinion about the gospel but to the divinely revealed message of Jesus Christ entrusted to him and that he proclaimed as ‘an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God’ (2 Tim. 1:1).  It was the One who was the theme of the gospel he was referring to when he said, ‘Timothy, keep your eyes on the preeminent Jesus Christ as the Son of God as well as the Son of man, and as Savior as well as Lord and King.”

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am so very thankful that I can know for sure that when the Lord saved me 52 years and 2 days ago that He saved me for eternity.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust the Lord through His Holy Spirit to use me in the way that He has planned to use me in eternity past as seen in Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”  It is my prayer that I will do all the things that He has planned for me to do for the cause of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

1/28/2025 10:19 AM

 

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