SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/6/2025 9:42 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “The Teaching Scripture”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 2 Timothy 3:16b
Message of the verse: “for teaching”
One of the things that enjoy about John MacArthur’s
teaching and preaching is that he turns every rock over to find out what is
under it when it comes to preaching the Word of God. I have to say that I almost always get more
from the Word of God listening to and reading his commentaries than I do at any
church that I have ever went to. The Bible is a book written by God and
therefore you can read it every day and study it every day for a life time and
never understand perfectly what is in it.
“12 For the word
of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing
even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow,
and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). “Study to
shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth.” This
is 2 Timothy 2:15, and it is the theme of my Blogs.
Now earlier in looking at these two
words from 2 Timothy 3:16 it was noted in regard to verse 10, didaskalia does not refer to the process
or method of teaching but to its content, however in this context, as in most
others found in the New Testament, didaskalia
refers specifically and exclusively to divine instruction, or doctrine,
given to believers through God’s Word, which included not only the Hebrew
Scriptures found in the Old Testament and also the teaching of Jesus during His
time spent on earth in His incarnation, but also the inspired teaching of the
apostles and New Testament authors.
Let
us now look at 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 which says “14 But a natural man does not
accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he
cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 15 But he who
is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. 16
For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we
have the mind of Christ.” MacArthur
explains “It is not that the unsaved person is intellectually inferior, but
that truths ‘are spiritually appraised.
But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is
appraised by no man. For who has known
the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him. But we have the mind of Christ.” This comes from the verses written at the
beginning of this paragraph.
Now we want to move into some things
that the apostle John has recorded in 1 John 2:20, 24, and 27. He is warning believers about the dangerous
teaching and work of antichrists, and John assures his readers in these verses: “20 But you have an anointing from the Holy
One, and you all know.” “24 As for you,
let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard
from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the
Father.” “27 As for you, the anointing
which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to
teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and
is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.”
MacArthur writes “When it comes to godly living and
godly service, to growing in ‘the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Eph.
6:4), God-breathed Scripture provides for us the comprehensive and complete
body of divine truth necessary to live as our heavenly Father desires for us to live. The wisdom and guidance for fulfilling
everything He commands us to believe, think, say, and do is found in His
inerrant, authoritative, comprehensive, and completed Word.
“Even after conversion, trust in
one’s own wisdom is a severe hindrance to correct understanding of Scripture
and to full usefulness in the Lord’s service.
The counsel to ‘trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean
on your own understanding’ (Prov. 3:5) is every bit as valid for Christians as
it was for Old Testament saints.”
Now after reading this quote from MacArthur’s commentary I find it interesting that in my study of Psalm 46 which I put onto my other blog this morning it gives a great example of trusting the Lord completely as this Psalm was most likely written about what happened during the reign of Hezekiah and when the Assyrians were about to destroy Jerusalem. Let me begin by quoting what Dr. Warren Wiersbe said ““God’s people have always depended on the hidden spiritual resources that come from God alone. Whenever Israel turned to a pagan nation for help, they ended up in worse trouble.”
“We see in verse ten the words “Cease striving” and in the KJV we read “Be still.” Dr. Wiersbe states “Be still’ literally means ‘Take your hands off! Relax!’ We like to be ‘hands-on’ people and manage our own lives, but God is God, and we are but His servants.” I have to say that this is a lot easier to write about than to do. Let us look at how Hezekiah prayed to the Lord when faced with the problem of the Assyrians, “"Now, O LORD our God, I pray, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God.’” (2 Kings 19:19) On June 16, 2011 as I looked at this verse and several other verses that went along with this one I wrote these words in my Spiritual Diary, “I have heard that when trouble comes your way that one should not go to the phone, but go to the throne, the throne of God. Hezekiah is seen in yesterday’s SD as a person who went to the prophet of God, Isaiah, but in today’s SD he is seen as a prayer warrior.”
I believe that Hezekiah learned the lesson of
trusting in the Lord, and it is a lesson that I desire to learn, and keep
learning whenever I fail in trusting the Lord.
6/6/2025 10:26 AM
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