SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/21/2025 8:13 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1
“False Teaching Upsets The Faith of Some”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 2 Timothy 2:17b-18
Message of the verses: “Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and thus they upset the faith of some.”
Hymenaeus has already been denounced
in Paul’s first letter to Timothy so we can be sure he had been a threat to the
Ephesian church for some time. Paul had
actually put him out of the church when he was at Ephesus, having “delivered
[him] over to Satan,” Hymenaeus obviously persisted in his efforts to mislead
believers there in Ephesus, and Philetus had replaced Alexander as his coconspirator
(see 1 Timothy 1:20). “Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed
over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.”
John MacArthur writes “Those men were apostates,
like those of whom the writer of Hebrews wrote:
4 For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have
tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and
have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then
have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since
they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame”
(Heb. 6:4-6). They have ‘trampled under
foot the Son of God, and [have] regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant
by which [they were] sanctified, and [have] insulted the Spirit of grace’ (Heb.
10:29). As Jesus said to Judas (Matt.
26:24), it would have been better if those men had not been born.”
A
couple of things, and first is that I have chosen to split this section into
two parts even though it is not that long.
Second when I taught the Sunday school class on the book of Hebrews
there were some who were upset over what I taught about some of these verses
that we have just gone over. Let me say
that it is my belief, and the belief of those who I trust in helping me to
understand the Bible better that if a person is genuinely saved that they can
never lose their salvation, so if the Bible speaks about those who are not
saved, even though it seemed that they were at one time then they never were.
Jesus
began to speak in parables in Matthew chapter 13, and the reason was that He
was accused of being Beelzebul in chapter 12, who is Satan.
Jesus told them that they could not ever come to salvation because of
what they were saying about Him. Now
because of this Jesus then began to speak in parables and the first parable was
about the sower and the seeds. Now I
will quote this in two parts, just like it is written in Matthew, and the
reason that I am quoting this parable is because to tells of how people
seemingly come to the Lord for salvation, but there is only one of the “seeds”
that were planted that represents true salvation.
“3
And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, "Behold, the sower
went out to sow; 4 and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and
the birds came and ate them up. 5 “Others fell on the rocky places, where they
did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no
depth of soil. 6 “But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because
they had no root, they withered away. 7 “Others fell among the thorns, and the
thorns came up and choked them out. 8 “And others fell on the good soil and yielded
a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. 9 “He who has ears,
let him hear." (Matt. 13:3-9).
17 “For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous
men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what
you hear, and did not hear it. 18 “Hear then the parable of the sower. 19
“When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil
one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the
one on whom seed was sown beside the road. 20 "The one on whom seed was sown on the
rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it
with joy; 21 yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only
temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word,
immediately he falls away. 22 "And
the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the
word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the
word, and it becomes unfruitful. 23 "And the one on whom seed was sown on the
good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed
bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty”
(Matt. 13:17-23).
2/21/2025 8:47 AM
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