SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/6/2025 9:28 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 Intro to “The Danger of False
Teaching”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 2 Timothy 2:14-19
Message of the verses: “14 Remind them of these things, and
solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words,
which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers. 15 Be diligent to
present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed,
accurately handling the word of truth. 16 But avoid worldly and empty
chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, 17 and their talk will spread
like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 men who have gone
astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and
they upset the faith of some. 19 Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God
stands, having this seal, "The Lord knows those who are His," and,
"Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.’”
I can say that this section has some of my favorite
verses in it so I am ready to look into these verses and see what the Lord has
for me as I study them.
There
are many times when I read over the introduction to a set of verses like the
ones that I am looking over this morning that I have no idea where John
MacArthur is taking me as I read his introduction, but at the end of his
introduction it makes sense. In the beginning
of his comments on the introduction MacArthur talks about truth and the fact
that the Bible affirms that God is truth, as Jesus testified of His Father, “Thy
word is truth” (John 17:17). In John
14:6 we read of what Jesus said of Himself “Jesus said to him, "I am the
way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” And of the Holy Spirit, He “is the Spirit of
Truth (John 14:17).
Now in his commentary MacArthur goes from writing
about God being the truth to the fact that Scripture affirms that Satan is a
liar, and that he is the father of lies “"You are of your father
the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer
from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever
he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” Satan’s very nature is to lie and deceive. MacArthur writes “Since he fell from his
exalted position in heaven, he and the angels who rebelled with him against God
and became demons have been at complete, unredeemable enmity with God and
separation from Him. That enmity has brought
uninterrupted conflict between God and Satan.
His evil angels have been in continual conflict with the holy angels of
God, and on earth there has been relentless conflicts between the truth of God
and the lies of Satan.” Now it is easy
to see where MacArthur is going with this introduction, however this
introduction in his commentary is fairly long so it will take us a few days to
get through it. I will now quote two
more paragraphs from his commentary and then will continue in tomorrow’s SD,
Lord willing.
“God’s
own people have not escaped the plague of falsehood. False prophets were the bane of ancient
Israel. Likewise, false teachers,
preachers, and even false Christs have been the bane of the church, and will
continue to be until the Lord returns.
Jesus predicted that, in the last days, ‘false Christs and false
prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if
possible, even the elect’ (Matt. 24:24).
“Satan
attempts to obliterate God’s truth with his own falsehood. He attempts to keep the fallen world in
spiritual darkness and to confuse and discourage God’s people. It was Satan’s deceit that lured Eve and then
Adam to distrust God, which brought sin and death into His perfect creation and
separated now-sinful mankind from the holy God.
Since that time, humanity has existed in the muck and morass of sin and
deceit. Through the centuries, the
steady stream of falsehood has become a deeper, wider, and increasingly more
destructive sea of ungodliness. False
teaching about God, about Christ, about the Bible, and about spiritual reality
is pandemic. The father of lies is
working relentlessly to pervert and corrupt the saving and sanctifying truth of
God’s written Word in the Bible, and of the living Word, His Son, Jesus Christ.”
Spiritual
Meaning for My Life Today: Be diligent to present yourself approved to
God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.
My
Steps of Faith for Today: I desire to do as verse 15 says to do, to
keep studying the Word of God each and every day.
2/6/2025 10:03 AM
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