PT-2 "Eternal Life" (1 John 5:13)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/31/2025 9:11 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                Focus:  PT-2 “Eternal Life”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  1 John 5:13

 

            Message of the verse:  “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.”

 

            I have to admit that I really thought that this verse would only take one SD to finish, but I have to do things in my Spiritual Diaries that I believe the Lord is guiding me to write, especially when it comes to the end times sections that come to mind when I am studying a passage.

 

            John MacArthur writes “As has been clear throughout, the blessings of salvation and assurance are only for those who believe in the name of the Son of God (cf. the discussion of 3:23 in chapter 13 of this volume).”  My Spiritual Diaries from chapter 13 of MacArthur’s commentary begin on 1-23-2025 to 1-31-2025).  “God has guaranteed these blessings to Christians by giving them the Holy Spirit as a pledge (Eph. 1:14).”  “14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.”  “John’s uncompromising presentation of the truth in absolute, unqualified terms, the relentless attacks of the false teachers, and the departure of some of the false believers (2:19) had shaken his readers.  The apostle assured them that if they passed the doctrinal and practical tests, they could know for certain that they had eternal life. 

 

            “In its most basic sense, eternal life is liven forever with God in heaven (Matt. 25:46; Mark 10:30).  But as noted in the discussion 5:11 in the previous chapter of this volume, the term does not refer primarily to duration of life, but to quality of life.  Eternal life is to know Jesus Christ (John 17:3), who Himself is eternal life (1 John 5:20), and to share in His life.  It is a present possession, not merely a future hope (John 3:36; 5:24; 6:47, 54; 10:28; 1 John 3:15), though it is not fully manifested in this life.  But there will come a day in the future when the eternal life believers already possess will no longer be incarcerate in their sinful, fallen flesh. On that glorious day, they will experience their “adoption as sons, the redemption of [the] body’ (Rom. 8:23; cf. Phil. 3:21; 1 John 3:2).  Then the glory of eternal life—the power of the Trinity that works within them (cf. Eph. 3:16-19)—will shine through them unclouded by their mortal bodies.”

 

            All I can say that this has begun in my life on the 23^rd day of January in the year of our Lord 1974, and for my wife it was sometime in April of 1974, and praise the Lord my two adult children became believers when they were very young, and not all of my seven grandchildren are believers, and I have to say that there is no greater feeling than that. 

 

            Once again I am asking for worldwide prayer for wife as we have found out that she now has cancer and is to be operated on at the end of April.  My prayer is that God will be glorified through this as we fight this battle, praying for wisdom to win this battle with her cancer.

 

3/31/2025 9:32 PM

 

 

PT-3 "Difficult Times" (2 Timothy 3:1)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/31/2025 9:06 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus: PT-3 “Difficult Times”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  2 Timothy 3:1

 

            Message of the verses:  “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.”

 

            I have mentioned that when Paul is writing about “last days” that he is writing about the church age, and all one has to do is look at the history of the church to see many difficult days have happened.  I believe by looking at the second and third chapters of the book of Revelation where we find that the Lord is Himself writing to seven churches that these churches are in the order of things that go on during the church age, and if you look at the last church He writes to we see the following:  “14 "To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this: 15 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit (vomit) you out of My mouth. 17 ‘Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, 18  I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. 19 ‘Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. 20 ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. 21 ‘He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 22 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’’”  There are two churches that the Lord has nothing good to say about them, and this is the second one.  Notice ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.  We see from this verse that Jesus is outside of this church.  If you have ever seen the picture of Jesus knocking at the door of this church you will notice that there is no door handle in the picture which signifies that those on the inside of the church have to let the Lord in.  I truly believe that we are and have been in the age of the Laodicean church for most of if not all of my life time, and Friday of this week I will turn 78 years old. 

 

            In this verse Paul is telling Timothy about difficult times and a couple of weeks ago we got the news that my wife of going on 52 years has cancer, and yes I can understand about difficult times, but I do know that the Lord is in charge and it is our desire that the Lord will receive glory from this difficult time in our lives.  I covet your prayers for my wife Sandy and for myself as we go through this difficult time in our lives.

 

            I will not quote a couple of paragraphs from John MacArthur’s commentary on this verse and I have to say that he has written a lot of information on this short verse.

           

            “Near the end of His ministry, Jesus expanded the warning cited above from Matthew 7.  ‘Many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many,’ he said.  ‘And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold….For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect’ (Matt. 24:11-12, 24).”  Now because chapter 24 of Matthew is about the tribulation period seen in Revelation chapters 6-19 I have to believe that these false prophets will come about in that time period, but in our world today there are many false prophets and false churches, and false religions found, so application to these verses are seen in our time period too. 

 

            “Similar warnings are given in the epistles.  Peter warned that ‘false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.  And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned’ (2 Peter 2:1-2).  John warned, ‘Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen; for this we know that it is the last hour.  They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, in order that it might be shown that they all are not of us’ (1 John 2:18-19).  Jude warned that ‘certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ (Jude 4).’”

 

            MacArthur then goes on to say something that I wrote about earlier:  “Those warnings were about the contemporary as well as the future condition of the church.  The dangers that plagued the New Testament church would continue and become worst throughout the church age, as ‘evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived’ (2 Tim. 3:13)

 

            “The twin dangers are the closely related evils of ungodly teaching and ungodly living, of false doctrine and sinful lifestyle.  As Jesus pointed out in the quotation above from Matthew 24:11-12, as false prophets will arise,…lawlessness is increased,’ and as Jeremiah predicted, ‘the committing of adultery and walking in falsehood’ are companion evils (Jer. 23:14).  Those enemies of God and of God’s people originated at the Fall and will continue to thrive until the Lord returns and takes back the world for Himself.  In the meanwhile, the alliance of false teaching and ungodly living will continue to afflict the church.

 

            “The conjunction but indicates a change of direction, from the admonition to the godly ‘vessel for honor,’ one characterized by kindness, patience, and gentleness (2:21-25), to the admonition to be responsible and fearless guardian of God’s people, protecting them from false doctrine and immoral living.”

 

Spiritual Meaning for My Life Today:  There are many advantages of living in the 21^st century, but because of the great technological advantages much evil can come about too.  The best cure for this is to be insulated with the Word of God in my heart to counter the things that are going on around me.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  “Thy Word I have hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee.

 

3/31/2025 9:45 AM  

PT-1 "Eternal Life" (1 John 5:13)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/30/2025 10:35 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                               Focus:  PT-1 “Eternal Life”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  1 John 5:13

 

            Message of the verse:  “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.”

 

            I have to say in the beginning of this SD that 1 John 5:13 is one of my very favorite verses in all of the Word of God.  The highlighted portion of the verse is what makes it so very special.

 

            Now the phrase these things sweeps backward to encompass the entire letter, as is evident from several considerations.  The first one, the shift from the second person in verse 12 (“He who has the Son…he who does not have the Son…”) to the first person (These things I have written…) and this suggests that verse 13 does not merely continue the flow of thought from the previous verse.  Now second, in 1:4 John announced his purpose in writing:  (“These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete”), now in verse 13 he looks back on what he had written.  Together, the two verses state John’s purpose in writing, since it is assurance of eternal life that produces fullness of joy as seen in 1 John 1:4.  Now John 20:31 says “these things have been written so that believing you may have life in His name.”  Since that verse unquestionably refers back to the entire gospel of John, the parallel expression found in 1 John 5:13 most likely refers back to the entire epistle.  Now it is my belief from my studying of the Bible that all of John’s letters were written about the same time in history that would be in the A.D. 90’s.  Now remember when the Lord was restoring Peter in the 21^st chapter of John that he told Peter how he was going to die for the cause of Christ, and would be by crucifixion, and the story that I heard about that event was that Peter’s wife was crucified before Peter, and Peter had to watch that event.  Then Peter was crucified upside down because he did not want to be crucified like his Lord was.  During that time in the 21^st chapter of John we read:  18 "Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go." 19 Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, "Follow Me!" 20 Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; the one who also had leaned back on His bosom at the supper and said, "Lord, who is the one who betrays You?" 21 So Peter seeing him said to Jesus, "Lord, and what about this man?" 22 Jesus said to him, "If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!" 23 Therefore this saying went out among the brethren that that disciple would not die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but only, "If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?" 24 This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true. 25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.”  These are the last verses found in the gospel of John, so take your time and read over them as they will show what I have been writing about. 

            It looks like that I will finish this section in my next SD.

 

3/30/2025 10:58 PM

PT-2 "Difficult Times" (2 Tim. 3:1)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/30/2025 8:12 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus: PT-2 “Difficult Times”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  2 Timothy 3:1

 

            Message of the verses:  “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.”

 

            This is the second time that Paul has written a prediction to Timothy and the first time was in his first letter to him in which he gives a similar warning, “The Spirit explicity says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron” (1 Tim. 4:1-2).

 

            Now that problem was not new to God’s people, as Jeremiah wrote, “The Lord said to me, ‘The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name.  I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision divination, futility and the deception of their own minds’” (Jer. 14:14).  Then later he relates that “among the prophets of Jerusalem I (the Lord) have seen a horrible thing:  The committing of adultery and walking in falsehood: and they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one has turned back from his wickedness.  All of them have become to Me like Sodom, and her inhabitants like Gomorrah” (Jer. 23:14)  The prophet then warned, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you.  They are leading you into futility; they speak a vision of their own imagination, not from the mouth of the Lord” (v. 16).

 

            MacArthur writes “The most serious and lamentable aspect of such rejection of God and His Word is that the danger comes from within the church.  As noted several times, near the end of his third missionary journey Paul sent for the Ephesian elders to meet with him at Miletus.  Pouring out his heart to them, he warned, “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock: and from among your disciples after them” (Acts 20:29-30), emphasis added).

 

            “Although our Lord assures us, ‘I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it’ (Matt. 16:18), He did not promise that His people would be free from spiritual danger and harm.  Much to the contrary.  Near the beginning of His ministry, in the Sermon on the Mount, He warned, ‘Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s cloghint but inwardly are ravenous wolves’ (Matt. 7:15).  In the guise of spiritual shepherds and prophets, who were noted for wearing wool garments, they devour and destroy the very ones they profess to lead and protect.  Zechariah spoke of such men as those who ‘put on a hairy robe in order to deceive’ (Zech. 13:4).  Eariler in His revelation to that prophet, the Lord declared, ‘For behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for the perishing, seek the scattered, heal the broken, or sustain the one standing, but will devour the herd who leaves the flock!  A sword will be on his arm and on his right eye His arm will be totally withered, and his right eye will blind’ (11:16-17).”

            Lord willing more next SD.

 

3/30/2025 8:36 AM

 

PT-3 Introduction to "Christian Certainties" (1 John 5:13-21)

                                 EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/28/2025 9:03 PM

 

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  PT-3 Introduction to “Christian Certainties”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  1 John 5:13-21

 

            Message of the verses:  “13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him. 16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death. 18 We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him and the evil one does not touch him. 19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. 20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding, in order that we might know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. 21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols.”

 

            I want to continue to quote from John MacArthur’s introduction to the verses above, remembering that once we get done with these verses that we will be done with 1 John.  Before I begin to quote from his commentary I want to quote the last paragraph that I wrote last night in order to help us best understand where we are going. Now as we begin this last SD on the introduction of the verses above, I want to say that the first paragraph will have many Scriptural references in it.

 

            “Scripture is filled with absolute certainties, including the reality that sin has consequences (Num. 32:23); that the Bible is true (Ps. 19:7; 111:7; Luke 1:4; 2 Peter 1:19); that righteousness brings a reward (Prov. 11:18); that God alone is God (Deut. 4:39; Isa. 43:10-12; 45:6), can do all things (Job 42:2), will not act wickedly (Job 34:12), judges according to truth (Rev. 16:7; 19:2; cf. Ps. 119:75), is faithful (Deut. 7:9), punishes sin (Rom. 2:2), created everything (Isa. 48:13)—including humans (Ps. 100:3), sorrows (Isa. 53:4), is the Messiah, the Holy One of God (John 6:69; cf. Matt. 14:33; Acts. 2:36), knows all things (John 16:30; 21:17), was sent by the Father (John 17:8; cf. 2 Tim. 2:19), has entered into God’s presence on believers’ behalf (Heb. 1:19-20), and will return (Rev. 22:20); that God’s promise of salvation is guaranteed (Rom. 4:16); that there will be a resurrection (Job. 19:25-27); that God causes all things to work together for good for those who love Him (Rom. 8:28); that sinners do not inherit the kingdom of God (Eph. 5:5) that the Day of the Lord will come (1 Thess. 5:2); and that God will help and support His people (Isa. 41:10; cf. 2 Tim. 1:12).

 

            “John wrote this epistle to provide his readers with certainty about all that God has revealed concerning salvation.  The formal argument of the letter ended in 5:12, and verses 13-21 are its postscript.  John’s concluding remarks are not a collection or random thoughts, however, but form a powerful climax to all he has written.  Throughout the letter, John has recycled tests to identify who is a true Christian.  Those tests serve a polemic purpose; the expose the phony believers and the false teachers—the deceiving antichrists.  But they also serve a pastoral purpose, giving increasingly stronger confidence and assurance to the genuine believers.

 

            “As the epistle builds to a great, if familiar, crescendo, John focuses on five things that genuine Christians can be certain of:  eternal life, answered prayer, victory over sin, that they belong to God, and Christ’s deity.”

 

            Now we have the outline that will take us through the finish verses in the great letter that John wrote, sometime in AD 90’s.

 

3/29/2025 8:26 PM

 

PT-1 "Difficult Times" (2 Timothy 3:1)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/29/2025 9:49 AM

 

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

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  2 Timothy 3:1

 

            Message of the verses:  “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.”

 

            I think that it is best to understand that when Paul writes “last days” that he is referring to the church age, and in these past 2000 years the apostle’s divinely revealed prediction of difficult times has come true.  We have seen heresies which have become progressively more characteristic of nominal Christianity.  MacArthur writes “In this passage he gives the most serious possible command to avoid, expose, and oppose spiritual impostors in the church.”

 

            MacArthur goes on to write:  “Throughout church history the full counsel of God has been unpalatable (foul tasting) to many who have claimed the name of Christ.  In his book Damned Through the Church (Minneapolis: Bethany, 1970), John Warwick Montgomery discusses the difficult times as he offers a list of what he calls ‘the damnable epochs of church history.’  He identifies and discusses seven specific movements or theological orientations—from the sacramentalism of the Middle Ages (also called the Dark Ages) to the subjectivism that is so rampant in our own day—that are clearly unbiblical, ungodly, and destructive of the body of Christ.  As the title of the book implies, these false gospels are damning to their adherents.”

 

            Now in each of those difficult times, it was true that men’s ideas were substituted for God’s truth and therefore for God Himself, and that surely is going on in today’s world.  “It is under sacramentalism, the church replaced God, and under rationalism, reason was god; under orthodoxism, god was sterile, impersonal orthodoxy; under politicism, god was the state; under ecumenism, god was uncritical fellowship and cooperation among nominal Christians, under experientialism, god became personal experience; and under subjectivism, which still reigns in much of Christendom, self has become god” (MacArthur’s commentary).

 

            MacArthur goes on, and I will end this rather short SD with this quote:  “It would be appropriate to add to Montgomery’s list the current emphases of mysticism, which seeks to determine truth about God by intuition and feeling, and on pragmatism, which attempts to determine what is true by what produces desired effects.  These movements to not come and go but come to stay, so that as the years go on, the church accumulates them, and the battles continue.”

 

3/29/2025 10:12 AM

PT-2 "Introduction to 'Christian Certainties'" (1 John 5:13-21)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/28/2025 9:03 PM

 

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  PT-2 Introduction to “Christian Certainties”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  1 John 5:13-21

 

            Message of the verses:  “13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him. 16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death. 18 We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him and the evil one does not touch him. 19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. 20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding, in order that we might know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. 21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols.”

 

            I want to continue to quote from John MacArthur’s introduction to the verses above, remembering that once we get done with these verses that we will be done with 1 John.  Before I begin to quote from his commentary I want to quote the last paragraph that I wrote last night in order to help us best understand where we are going. 

 

            “In a world of uncertainty, relativism, and deception, the Bible proclaims absolute truth.  Five words, based on biblical absolutes, frame the (paradigm)” (model or example).

 

            “The first word is objectivity.  Truth is object, not subjective.  It exists independently outside of the human mind, having its origin in God, and coming to us by revelation in Scripture (John 17; cf. Ps. 119:151, 160, 2 Tim 2:15).

 

            “The second word is rationality.  The revelation of God is intelligible; it is not mystical, nor does it contain hidden meanings accessible only to the religious elite.  Scripture yields its meaning to the mind that approaches it reasonably.

 

            “The third word is veracity.  The Bible, properly interpreted in a normal, rational faction, yields divine truth.

 

            “The fourth term is authority.  The divinely revealed truth of Scripture bears God’s authority, and hence it is binding in all that it affirms.

 

            “A final word is incompatibility.  Because the Bible contains divine truth, anything that contradicts it is wrong.  Biblical Christianity’s commitment to absolute truth makes it exclusive in an inclusive world.

            “The Bible reveals the truth about how the universe began, and how it will end; about why people behave the way they do; and what is right and what is wrong; about heaven and hell, and how people get to those places; about what makes for good human relationships; about God’s promises; and, most significant, about the Lord Jesus Christ, including His virgin birth, sinless life, unparalleled teaching, substituionary death, literal resurrection, bodily ascension, and second coming.”

 

            Looks like one more Spiritual Diary will finish this introduction.  Perhaps it would be a good idea to read this last paragraph again because it is filled with truth.

 

3/28/2025 9:17 PM

 

           

 

"Intro to 2 Timothy 3:1-9"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/28/2025 10:12 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                         Focus:  Intro to 2 Timothy 3:1-9

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  2 Timothy 3:1-9

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. 6 For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, 7  always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. 9 But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.”

 

            The following is the quotation from John MacArthur’s commentary on these first nine verses of 2 Timothy chapter three and he entitles this 7^th chapter in his book “Danger in the Church.”

 

            “The full counsel of God has been displeasing, unacceptable, and even repugnant to self-centered, self-serving, and worldly mankind through the ages.  But even in the professing church today there is greater confusion, apostasy, moral decay, and tolerance for things that are clearly unscriptural than ever before. Sermons on current issues, selectively using Bible passages that are ‘relevant’ and ‘positive,’ are attracting many hearers, including genuine but misled and worldly believers.  ‘The time will come,’ Paul writs later in this epistle, ‘when [many in the church] will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; (2 Tim. 4:3).’”

 

3/28/2025 10:23 AM  

 

PT-1 Introduction to "Christian Certainties" (1 John 5:13-21)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/27/2025 9:36 PM

 

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  PT-1 Introduction to “Christian Certainties”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  1 John 5:13-21

 

            Message of the verses:  “13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him. 16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death. 18 We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him and the evil one does not touch him. 19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. 20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding, in order that we might know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. 21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols.”

 

            I have to say that with what is going on with my wife, (cancer) that the first sentence from John MacArthur’s commentary is something that surely hits home for me.  “Life in this fallen world is filled with uncertainty, with few guarantees and little that can be depended on.  ‘Man, who is born of woman,’ Job lamented, ‘is short-lived and full of turmoil’ (Job 14:1), being ‘born for trouble, as sparks fly upward’ (5:7).  Illness, an accident, violence, or old age catches up with everyone in the end, because all people ‘are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away’ (James 4:14; cf. Pss 39:5; 90:10).  In the mean time, life’s journey is fraught with doubts, questions, and uncertainties.  Jobs vanish as companies downsize and outsource.  The volatility of the stock market, the fluctuations of the economy, and increasing taxes create further uncertainty.  Relationships come and go, with people’s faithfulness often lasting only as long as their felt needs are being met—or until they find someone more attractive.  The uncertainty of relationships has made prenuptial agreements commonplace, as people attempt to protect themselves being exploited by their erstwhile (one-time) partners. On a larger scale, natural disasters, such as earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, and floods, can sweep away in an instant the accumulated treasures of a lifetime.”

 

            Now as you once again look at the title to this introduction to these last verses in the book of 1 John you probably get an idea of where we are heading to in this SD, but I guess the bad news had to come first as this is the way that MacArthur has chosen to deal with this introduction, but I don’t think that anyone can disagree with the things that he is talking about in this introduction. 

 

            MacArthur continues:  “Uncertainty over what the future holds drives people to spend a significant percentage of their income on insurance, as they attempt to safeguard against all of the potential negative contingencies.  Car insurance provides a measure of security in the event of an accident.  Uncertainty about fire, theft, and natural disasters leads people to buy coverage to protect their homes.  Health insurance provides money should the breadwinner in a family die.

 

            “But the most profound uncertainty with the most disastrous results exists not in the material realm, but in the spiritual and eternal realm.  Because they reject the gospel and are without God, people are also without hope (Eph. 2:12), or protection from divine wrath and eternal hell.  Most people put their hope in false religions or personal ideologies to get them into a happy eternal state.  And it is popular believed that all religions lead to heaven and most people are good, thus they are headed there.  What is not popular is the reality that only the Bible is the true Word of God, the gospel the only way to heaven, and all who do not believe it go to hell forever.

 

            “In a world of uncertainty, relativism, and deception, the Bible proclaims absolute truth.  Five words, based on biblical absolutes, frame the paradigm.”  Now Lord willing we will begin to look at these five words in the next SD.

 

3/27/2025 10:03 PM

 

PT-2 "A Compassionate Attitude" (2 Timothy 2:25b-26)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/27/2025 11:30 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                         Focus:  PT-2 “A Compassionate Attitude”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                            Reference:  2 Timothy 2:25b-26

 

            Message of the verses:  “correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.”

 

            I have been talking about believers correcting others which is relevant to what Paul is writing to Timothy in these verses.  Paul wants Timothy to know what to do in certain situations in the church at Ephesus where he has been the Pastor.  MacArthur writes “The motivation of such correction should be the sincere desire that perhaps God may grant them repentance.  That is always the motivation of a humble and compassionate heart.  Paul told the immature, worldly believers in Corinth, ‘I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, in order that you might not suffer loss in anything through us’ (2 Cor. 7:9).  Even when those who are corrected are resentful of us and unrepentant, as some in Corinth were in Corinth were in regard to Paul, there is never a place in godly correction for personal animosity or judgmental self-righteousness.”

 

            I have to say that ever since I have become a believer that the men that I have set under as my pastors, with the exception of one, have been godly men looking out for the flock that God has entrusted to them.  However the one that caused me to leave a church where I had attended for over 25 years was just the opposite of the others.  The incident that I remember well was one that some men were accused of doing something wrong and as soon as he found out that what he thought was wrong behavior this pastor immediately screamed out we have to take this to the board of deacons right away.  I guess that was kind of the straw that broke the camel’s back for soon after that my wife and I left that church which was a heart breaking thing for us as we were young believers when we first joined that church and raised our two children as they were babies when we first started to go there.  I was the custodian there and needed that job to help pay our bills, and so it was a very difficult time for us, but we left and eventually our married daughter left too and now we are all in the same church.  God worked it all out for our good and for His glory.

 

            MacArthur goes on to write “The hope that God may grant them repentance is not a last resort.  The idea is not that we must try to persuade them to repent by their own efforts and in their own power and that, if they fail, we then hope that perhaps God will grant them the repentance they were unable to achieve for themselves.  Metanoia (repentance) does not mean simply being sorry for what we have done.  It signifies a genuine change of mind, change of heart, and change of direction.  It is for that reason that all genuine repentance must be the product of God’s sovereign grace, just as is every aspect of salvation—‘in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus’ (Eph. 2:7).  Now person, no matter how sincere and determined, can truly repent and change his own sinful thoughts and ideas and correct his own sinful life.  Only God can work that miracle in the heart.  In the same way, we are able to love only ‘because [Christ] first loved us’ (1 John 4:19), ‘because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us’ (Rom. 5:5).  God works repentance in the willing heart of one who truly desires holiness.”

 

3/27/2025 1:01 PM

 

            I am kind of having a problem finishing this Spiritual Diary, as I am concerned about what is going on with my wife and the fact that she has been diagnosed with cancer and so I am not really thinking as well because of that, but I will try and conclude this SD.

 

            Let us talk about repentance which leads disobedient believers out of their sin and falsehood into knowledge of the truth.  MacArthur explains “Epignosis represents more than mere factual information.  It is deep, thorough spiritual knowledge of God’s truth, which, as with repentance, only He can supply.”

 

            He goes on to write “It is only through God’s gracious provision of repentance and knowledge of His truth that anyone, including sinning believers, may come to their spiritual senses.  Ananepho (come to their senses) literally means to return to soberness, indicating that falsehood and sin produce what might be called a type of spiritual inebriation, a stupor resulting in loss of judgment and proper control of one’s faculties.  The destructive effect of false teaching and sin numbs the conscience, confuses the mind, erodes conviction, and paralyzes the will.

 

            “God’s provision of genuine repentance and knowledge of His truth enable a believer to escape from the snare of the devil, after having been held captive by him to do his will.  As Paul apprised Timothy in the previous letter, even an overseer can ‘fall into reproach and the snare of the devil’ (1 Tim. 3:7).  It is a fearful thing that, because of sin and unfaithfulness, the devil can actually snare and hold a believer captive…to do his will.  The vessel of dishonor becomes a pawn of Satan to work his evil will within the very body of Christ.  Such is the terrible and tragic power of sin.”

 

            Now we get to the good part of this section:  “But our gracious ‘God is faithful,’ Paul assures us.  He ‘will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it’ (1 Cor. 10:13).  Not only does the Lord know ‘how to rescue the godly from temptation’ (2 Peter 2:9), but He even promises His unfaithful, dishonorable vessels that ‘if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness’ (1 John 1:9).

 

Spiritual Meaning for my life Today:  Stay close to the Lord, His Word and His people.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to work in my heart to be able to trust Him through this difficult thing that we are going through.

 

3/27/2025 1:19 PM  

"The Response to God's Testimony" (1 John 5:10,12)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/26/2025 8:50 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  The Response to God’s Testimony” 

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  1 John 5:10,12

 

            Message of the verses:  “The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son…He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.”

 

            I begin this Spiritual Diary with a statement from John MacArthur’s commentary which quite possibility could be the most important statement facing a person who does not know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord:  “What people do with God’s testimony to Jesus Christ determines their eternal destiny.” (Effects added)  I go on by stating that there are only two possible responses: 1) to believe God’s testimony or 2) reject it.  There is no one who can remain neutral, for as Jesus said, “He who is not with me is against Me” (Matt. 12:30).  The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in Himself.  Now saving faith in Jesus Christ results in a lifelong hold on eternal life, (cf. 3:23; 4:2, 15; 5:1, 4-5).  Since true faith perseveres, those who turn away from the gospel that they were never saved in the first place.  MacArthur goes over this in an explanation found in his commentary on 1 John 2:19, something I went over then while looking at that verse.

 

            MacArthur writes “On the other hand, the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar.  To deny that Jesus Christ is who God said He is, to refuse to believe in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son, renders God a liar—which is the severest of all blasphemies since God is perfect truth and cannot lie (cf. Num. 23:19; 1 Sam. 15:29; Titus 1:2; Heb. 6:18).  Rejecting God’s witness concerning His Son is not a misfortune to be pitied, or overlooked in the name of tolerance.  It is a heinous, damning sin and an affront to God’s holy nature.  Those guilty of it must not be patronized, comforted, or reassured, but confronted and called to repentance.  This is no trivial issue; the integrity of God is at stake.”

 

            We have been looking at this section in 1 John for a while and not John closes this section by setting out the eternal results of the only two possible responses to God’s witness to Jesus Christ:  He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.  That is another statement that needs to be looked at and thought about, for the way it is answered may be the most important thing a person can do in his life.  MacArthur writes “Here again the exclusivity of the gospel is evident.  Only those who believe the Father’s witness to the Son and acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior have eternal life; all who refuse to do so do not have the Son, and consequently do not have eternal life.”

 

            Now the wonderful, glorious promise to those who believe God’s testimony is that “as many as received [Jesus], to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12).  However there is a sobering warning to the ones who reject it and that is “How will [you] escape if [you] neglect so great a salvation?” (Heb. 2:3).        3/26/2025 9:13 PM

PT-1 "A Compassionate Attitude" (2 Tim. 2:25b-26)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/26/2025 9:57 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                         Focus:  PT-1 “A Compassionate Attitude”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                            Reference:  2 Timothy 2:25b-26

 

            Message of the verses:  “correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.”

 

            We have been writing about the qualities of an honorable vessel and bond-servant of the Lord, and in this last one we see that the servant of the Lord will have a compassionate attitude.  Paul here focuses on the expression of compassion and meekness when correcting those who are in opposition.

 

            MacArthur explains “Correcting is from paideuo, which means to instruct, educate, or give guidance.  Because the objects of this instruction are those who teach false doctrine and live ungodly lives, this particular instruction is the form of correction.

 

            “Much of the self-righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was based on their carefully following human tradition that had no basis in Scripture and often was in contradiction to it.  They ‘invalidated the word of God for the sake of [their] tradition,’ Jesus said (Matt. 15:6).  But the godly Christian has no reason for being self-righteous even when he is humbly obeying Scripture, because he knows that his obedience is the product of the Holy Spirit rather than his own goodness.  Consequently, when confronting believers who are teaching falsehood and living sinfully, one must never do so with an attitude of personal superiority.  Christians are to have compassion for them in their sin just as the Lord has compassion.”

 

            What is Paul actually writing about here?  Well he is not speaking of personal differences of opinion but of the opposition of disobedient believers.  The opposition may pertain to “foolish and ignorant speculations’ (v. 23) or perhaps to the more serious matters of doctrine or morals they lead to.  Every minister encounters situations in the church that demand correction and sometimes rebuke.  “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,” Paul reminded Titus, “instructing us [that is, every believer] to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus” (Titus 2:11-13).  MacArthur goes on “the faithful believers, whatever their position in the church, who persist in ‘ungodliness and worldly desire’ and to admonish them to live ‘righteously and godly in the present age.’

 

            “The motivation of such correction should be the sincere desire that perhaps God may grant them repentance.  That is always the motivation of a humble and compassionate heart. Paul told the immature, worldly believers in Corinth, ‘I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, in order that you might not suffer loss in anything through us’ (2 Cor. 7:9).  Even when those who are corrected are resentful of us and unrepentant, as some in Corinth were in regard to Paul, there is never a place in godly correction for personal animosity of judgmental self-righteousness.”

 

3/26/2025 10:25 AM