SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/27/2025 10:17 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-3
“Scripture Provides Instruction for Sanctification”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 2 Timothy
3:16-17
Message of the verses: “16 All Scripture is
inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for
training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped
for every good work.”
I continue looking at these favorite verses of mine
in this morning’s SD. I have a lot of
favorite verses and this certainly ranks near the top. 2 Timothy 2:15 is another favorite verse and
that is the verse that I have used to name my blogs after: “Study to show yourself approved to God, a
workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
As I look at some of the different men who wrote
Scripture, men like Moses and Paul as these men were highly trained in human
knowledge and wisdom, however that learning was not the source of the divine
truth that they recorded. Another one
who wrote Scripture that is found in our Bible would be David. Now David was a man who was a great poet as
can be seen in the beauty of the Psalms, but it is not the source of the divine
truths revealed in those Psalms, as that certainly came from the Spirit of God,
the Author of the Bible.
“Scripture
first of all and above all is from God and about God, His self-revelation to
fallen mankind. From Genesis through Revelation,
God reveals His truth, His character, His attributes, and His divine plan for
the redemption of man, whom He made in His own image. He even foretells the eventual redemption of the
rest of His creation, which ‘also will be set free from its slavery to
corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God’ and which ‘groans
and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now’ (Rom. 8:21-23), writes
John MacArthur.
Now
MacArthur goes on to explain the following, something very important to know: “The
Bible is not a collection of the wisdom and insights of men, even of godly
men. It is God’s truth, His own Word in His own words. The psalmist declared, ‘Forever, O Lord, Thy
word is settled in heaven’ (Ps. 119:89).
God’s Word is divinely revealed to men on earth and divinely
authenticated (true) in heaven. Peter declares unequivocally, ‘know this first
of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation,
for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but moved by the Holy
Spirit spoke from God’ (2 Peter 1:20-21).
Those God-given, humanly recorded words became God’s written Word
inerrant and authoritative as originally given.
Propheteia (‘prophecy’) is not
used here in the sense of prediction but in its basic and broader meaning of
speaking forth, or proclaiming a message.
It carries the same inclusive idea as ‘the oracles of God,’ with which
ancient Israel had the marvelous privilege of being entrusted (Rom. 3:2). ‘Interpretation’ (2 Peter 1:20b) translates epilusis, which refers to something that
is released, sent out, or sent forth. In
this verse the Greek noun is a genitive of source, indication origin. In other words, no message of Scripture was originated
and sent forth by men’s own wisdom and will.
Rather, the godly men through whom Scripture was revealed and recorded
were divinely instructed and carried along by the Holy Spirit.
“Within
the Bible itself, ‘God’ and ‘Scripture’ are sometimes used almost
interchangeably. Referring to words
spoken directly by God to Abraham (Gen. 12:3), Paul wrote that ‘the Scripture,
foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel
beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the nations shall be blessed in you’’ (Gal.
3:8). Later in that same chapter the apostle again personifies Scripture as
God, declaring that ‘Scripture has shut up all men under sin, that the promise
by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe’ (v. 22). In his letter to the church at Rome, Paul
wrote, ‘For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I raised you
up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed
throughout the whole earth’’(Rom 9:17).
“When he first preached in Galatia, many years
before he wrote his epistle to the churches there, the apostle had declared,
32 “And we preach to you the good news of the
promise made to the fathers, 33 that God
has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus,
as it is also written in the second Psalm, ‘YOU ARE MY SON; TODAY I HAVE
BEGOTTEN YOU.’ 34 "As for the fact that He raised Him up from the
dead, no longer to return to decay, He has spoken in this way: ‘I WILL GIVE YOU
THE HOLY and SURE blessings OF DAVID.’ 35 "Therefore He also
says in another Psalm, ‘YOU WILL NOT ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO
DECAY.’’
There
are many times as I am studying difficult and important passages, not that all
the Bible is important, that I rely on quoting from the person that I am
reading to help me better understand the Bible, and in this case in the New
Testament I usually refer to John MacArthur, while in my study of the Old
Testament I often used comments from the late Dr. Warren Wiersbe, a man who
puts the cookies on the table where one can reach them. It is important to me that when I write my
Spiritual Diaries that I put on the truth, as these Spiritual Diaries go
throughout the world as I put them onto my blogs, and I realize that it is the
power of the Holy Spirit who sends them to where He wants them to go.
Spiritual
Meaning for my Life Today: To understand how the Bible was written is
very important to me because I stake my life on the accuracy of the Word of
God, not only my life but my eternal life, given to me when the Lord saved me
on Jan. 26, 1974.
My
Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to show me what His Word
means, and how I can apply it to my life each day. This morning as I was going over my older
Spiritual Diary from Psalm 41, which I posted on my other blog, the Lord truly
spoke to my heart through that Psalm, and for that I am thankful. I remember the words that Dr. Warren Wiersbe
us to quote in his “Be Books” written by an older Scottish Bible teacher “The
successful Christian life is a series of new beginnings.”
5/27/2025 10:59 AM
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