EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/31/2025 9:03 PM
My Worship Tim Focus: PT-1 Intro to 3 John 9-14
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 3 John 9-14
Message of the verses: “9 I wrote
something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does
not accept what we say. 10 For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to
his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not
satisfied with this, he himself does not receive the brethren, either, and he
forbids those who desire to do so and puts them out of the
church. 11 Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who
does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God. 12 Demetrius has
received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself; and
we add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true. 13 I had many
things to write to you, but I am not willing to write them to you with
pen and ink; 14 but I hope to see you shortly, and we will speak face to face.
(1:15) Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends by
name.”
This evening I want to begin looking at the
introduction to “The Man Who Loved the Preeminence” which covers the verses
above, which will end our study of 3 John when we finis looking at all of these
verses. I have to warn you that the
introduction from John MacArthur’s commentary on 3 John 9-14 is very long and
so it will take us a few days to get through it. I will begin by quoting from his commentary
this evening and see how far I get.
“One
of the defining characteristics of every sinful human heart is pride (Prov.
21:4). Pride causes people to forget God
(Deut. 8:14; Hos. 13:6), be unfaithful to Him (2 Chron. 26:16), be ungrateful
to Him 2 Corn. 32:24-25), and become an abomination to Him (Prov. 16:5. It was through pride that sin entered the
universe, when Satan sought to exalt himself above God (Isa. 14:12; cf. 1 Tim.
3:6)”
Ezekiel
28:11-19 is seen below and it too speaks of how Satan fell, and it too speaks
of his pride. It is kind of easy to
remember these two places where Isaiah and Ezekiel write about Satan’s fall because
one (Isaiah) is chapter 14, and then Ezekiel is in chapter 28, and so I think
that 2x14 = 28.
11
Again the word of the LORD came to me saying, 12 "Son of man, take up a
lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD,
"You had the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13
“You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering:
The ruby, the topaz and the diamond; The beryl, the onyx and the jasper; The
lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; And the gold, the workmanship of
your settings and sockets, Was in you. On the day that you were created They
were prepared. 14 "You were the anointed cherub who covers, And I placed
you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst
of the stones of fire. 15 “You were blameless in your ways From the day you
were created Until unrighteousness was found in you. 16 “By the abundance of
your trade You were internally filled with violence, And you sinned; Therefore
I have cast you as profane From the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you,
O covering cherub, From the midst of the stones of fire. 17 “Your heart was
lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your
splendor. I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, That they may see
you. 18 “By the multitude of your iniquities, In the unrighteousness of your
trade You profaned your sanctuaries. Therefore I have brought fire from the
midst of you; It has consumed you, And I have turned you to ashes on the earth
In the eyes of all who see you. 19 “All who know you among the peoples Are
appalled at you; You have become terrified And you will cease to be
forever."’"
“As was the case with the Devil, pride drives people
to seek to exalt themselves. There have
always been proud, egotistical, self-promoting people, who try to usurp
authority, seize a place of preeminence, and elevate themselves over others,
even God. They tend to gravitate to and
even manipulate themselves into positions of power, influence, and prominence. Scripture
records many such people; they form a sort of ‘Hall of Shame,’ in contrast to
the heroes of the faith listed in Hebrews 11.”
5/31/2025 9:25 PM
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