PT-2 “Their Irreverence” (Jude 8d-10)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/31/2025 7:44 PM

My Worship Time                                                                         Focus: PT-2 “Their Irreverence”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                          Reference:  Jude 8d-10

            Message of the verse: “and revile angelic majesties. 9 But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" 10 But

these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.”

            “defy authority, and scoff at supernatural beings. 9 But even Michael, one of the mightiest of the angels, did not dare accuse the devil of blasphemy, but simply said, “The Lord rebuke you!” (This took place when Michael was arguing with the devil about Moses’ body.) 10 But these people scoff at things they do not understand. Like unthinking animals, they do whatever their instincts tell them, and so they bring about their own destruction.”

 

            I want to continue to look at these verses in this evening’s SD.  I pick this up where Jude writes about the seriousness of the apostates’ irreverence as he contrasts their behavior with that of Michael the archangel.  Now according to what I read in John MacArthur’s commentary Michael is God’s most important angel and the protector of God’s people as seen in (Dan. 10:13-21; and 12:1).  Michael did not demonstrate irreverence when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses.  Michael knew that God could grant him power over Satan (Rev. 12:7-9), yet he also understood that he was not to act beyond God’s prescribed limits.  Now I want to look at Revelation 12:7-9; “7 And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, 8 and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” Not to get too far off the track, but before this Satan and his angels did have access to heaven.  Note the first two chapters of Job, and then there was a place in 2 Chronicles where we see that too.  This came to an end after a battle between Satan and his angels, and Michael and his angels during the tribulation period.  John MacArthur writes “Out of respect for Satan’s status and power as the highest created being, Michael did not dare pronounce against him (Satan) a railing judgment as if he possessed sovereign dominion over him.  In fact, he did nothing more than utter the words, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’”

 

            Now Michael’s response anticipated the example of the Angel of the Lord in Zechariah 3:2: “The LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?"  Now in the prophet Zechariah’s vision, Joshua the high priest—who along with Zerubbabel led the first group of Jews back from Babylonian captivity—was standing in heaven before the Angel of the Lord, now I think that could be the Lord Jesus Christ as this was used in the Old Testament at times to describe the pre-incarnated 2^nd Person of the Godhead, but I am not positive this is who is described here.  Now the devil was also there, at the right hand of Joshua, accusing Joshua  and the nation of Israel whom he represented.

            Now the argument that Satan was giving was based on Israel’s sinfulness, and that was that God should break His covenant promises (now compare this with Gen. 12:3, 7; 26:3-4; 28:14; Deut. 5:1-21; 2 Samuel 7:12; Psalm 89:3-4; cf. Rom. 9:4; Gal. 3:16).  Now in response, the Angel of the Lord which John MacArthur describes Him as the preincarnate Christ, defended Israel by deferring to God the Father and then asking Him to rebuke Satan (cf. 1 John 2:1), “1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”  And the Father honored the preincarnate Son.  Now instead of breaking His covenant with His chosen people, God reaffirmed His commitment to Israel’s future justification, promising to forgive Israel’s sin and then clothe Israel with garments of righteousness as seen in Zechariah 3:3-5.  “3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel. 4 He spoke and said to those who were standing before him, saying, "Remove the filthy garments from him." Again he said to him, "See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes." 5 Then I said, "Let them put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments, while the angel of the LORD was standing by.”

 

            Lord willing I will continue to look further at these verses from Jude in tomorrow evening’s SD.

 

7/31/2025 8:17 PM

 

“The Future: The Crown, with Which He Will Be Rewarded” (2 Timothy 4:8)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/31/2025 9:40 AM

My Worship Time               Focus: “The Future: The Crown, with Which He Will Be Rewarded”  

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  2 Timothy 4:8

Message of the verse: “In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing. (4:8)

            This section is the last section in MacArthur’s commentary for this chapter.  In this chapter there are not really a lot of words that Paul wrote to Timothy, but each verse is full of wonderful things for the reader to learn.  In the last section which was on 4:7 it took seven days to go over that one little verse, little in words, but full of meaning, and perhaps this one will take that long too.  I have mentioned that John MacArthur’s commentaries are very long, and very deep with meaning, and that is why I like reading from his commentaries on the wonderful Word of God.  I am still saddened that he is gone from planet earth, never to preach in the church he pastured for over 50 years, but at the same time I am happy to know that he is with His Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ in heaven, and perhaps one of the first things he did was have a conversation with the Apostle Paul, the man who he truly loved while here on planet earth.

            MacArthur begins by talking about the Greek word that is translated in the future.  “Loipos, translated in the future, refers generally to what remains, that which is left to come.  What yet remained for Paul, after the past and present were finished, would be by far the most glorious part of his life in Christ.”  Now as I just wrote about how MacArthur loved Paul and is now in the presence of the Lord what he had just written about Paul’s end, he is not exercising now too.

            Paul knew where he would be going once he died, for one thing he had already been there and was not allowed to talk about any of the details of that visit to heaven, but he knew what it would be like.  He was certain as he had the Spirit-inspired assurance that in the future there [was] laid up for [him] the crown of righteousness. After he had fought the good fight, finished the course, and also kept the faith, he would be given the victor’s reward.”  Now what I am about to write is something that I have been thinking about for a while, and that is how believers will win the rewards that Paul is writing about in this section, a reward that he knew he would receive.  When would Paul receive this reward?  Well as one reads about what will happen in what the Bible calls the “end times” they will learn that once the rapture of the church happens, and that happens at the end of the church age, as that will actually end the church age, that all believers in the church age will receive their new heavenly bodies, those alive who are raptured will receive theirs on the way up to the clouds where Christ will be there.  Then I believe He will take his “bride” those in the church age, to heaven where we will be with the Lord forever, however back on planet earth the “tribulation” will be going on, and this is written about in Matthew 24-25, along with Mark 13 and also in Luke 21, however in Revelation 6-19 gives the most detailed look at what will be going on during the tribulation period.  Now as mentioned the church will be there in heaven and one of the things that we will experience is the receiving of rewards at the “Judgment Seat of Christ.”  Now how do we receive those rewards?  Well it is my belief, and I believe that the Bible backs this up that in eternity past before there was an earth, angels, or mankind as only the trinity was there, that God chose those who would be with Him in heaven, and I know that some have a problem with this and the reason is that they believe that God chose others to be in hell, but that is not the case at all.  God knows all things, and if He didn’t He would not be God, and we as believers do not know everything that God knows, and never will because we are not God.  Now read this verse that has always helped me to understand more about God:  “"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.”  This verse was written by Moses, and it is Deuteronomy 29:29. Now one of those things that are secret is what I have been writing about, and so what I do is believe what the Bible teaches and not be concerned with what I don’t understand, for they are The secret things belong to the LORD our God.

            Now what I do know is that at the end of the Church age, ended by the rapture of the church, that all who have been born-again through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ will go to meet Christ in the air, and then go to heaven for the seven years of the tribulation period, and then according to Revelation 19 will return with Him and then shortly after that the Millennial Kingdom will begin and last for 1000 years, and then after that the earth will be completely destroyed along with all planets that God created.  In heaven there will be another judgment, and this judgment is only for believers, “The Great White Throne Judgment” is what it is called.  Only unbelievers will be there, and after that they will all be sentenced to hell.  I believe that each person will have the opportunity to say what he or she has done while on planet earth, but to no avail.  After that even heaven will be destroyed and there will then be a new heaven and a new earth and a New Jerusalem where believers of all ages will be with the Lord forever serving Him, and worshiping Him.  And for certain no one will be bored.

            Sometimes lately I get to writing about the end times and kind of go off scrip of the verses that I am looking at, but I believe that is a good thing, as I believe we are getting very close to the rapture of the church, something I greatly look forward to.

Spiritual Meaning for My Life Today:  I like Paul am looking forward to what will be my experience in heaven.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust the Lord to continue to give me the ability to write my Spiritual Diaries each day, and that the Lord will use them for His glory as people around the world are reading them.  It is my desire that souls will be saved and believers will grow as they read these Spiritual Diaries.

7/31/2025 10:25 AM

PT-1 “Their Irreverence” (Jude 8d-10)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/30/2025 10:21 PM

My Worship Time                                                                         Focus: PT-1 “Their Irreverence”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                          Reference:  Jude 8d-10

            Message of the verse: “and revile angelic majesties. 9 But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" 10 But

these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.”

            “defy authority, and scoff at supernatural beings. 9 But even Michael, one of the mightiest of the angels, did not dare accuse the devil of blasphemy, but simply said, “The Lord rebuke you!” (This took place when Michael was arguing with the devil about Moses’ body.) 10 But these people scoff at things they do not understand. Like unthinking animals, they do whatever their instincts tell them, and so they bring about their own destruction.”

 

            In this evening’s SD we will begin to look at the introduction of Jude’s third indictment of the apostates’ character as this beings with the phrase “revile angelic majesties.  Now the word revile which comes from blaspheme, and this can mean “to slander,” or “to speak evil of,” especially to speak profanely of sacred matters, including God Himself, and here are some examples (cf. 2 Kings 19:22; Ps. 74:22; Isa. 65:7; Ezek. 20:27; Matt. 12:31-32).  Now the false teachers were not just irreverent in only some mile sense; they were blasphemers, and specifically of angelic majesties.

 

            John MacArthur writes “The New American Standard translates the single Greek word doxa (‘glory’) as angelic majesties.  Although it is possible to interpret the word as a reference to God’s majesty, the translation angelic majesties is best in light of the parallel passage in Peter’s epistle (2 Peter 2:10).  In his letter, Peter used the same word to identify angels as the objects of such blasphemy.” Now Lord willing we will begin to look at Peter’s second epistle after we are done with Jude, and it makes it easy for me because both letters are in the same commentary written by John MacArthur.

 

            “Throughout redemptive history, holy angels, who are devoted to God’s holy glory, have had a special role in establishing God’s moral order.  For instance, God gave them the ministry of helping communicate His law (Deut. 22:2; cf. Acts 7:53; Gal. 3:19; Heb. 2:1-2).  The holy angels will also be involved in the ultimate judgment of the wicked:  Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of Holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him’ (Jude 14b-15).  By their lawless immorality and insubordination, apostates not only blaspheme the holy angels; they also blaspheme God Himself.” 

 

             I have mentioned in earlier SD’s on Jude that apostates began their false doctrines way back in the Old Testament, and they were also around in the time when Jesus walked the earth, and now we find them in the church age, and the closer we get to the time when Jesus returns in the Rapture to take His bride to heaven, the worse thing will get, and means the worse things get I believe the closer we are to the Rapture of the Church, something I have been looking forward to for over 51 years, when the Lord saved me on January 26, 1974.  And as I look back on those 51 years plus I have seen things in our country, and around the world continue to get worse.

 

7/30/2025 10:50 PM    

 

PT-7 “The Past: The Course, In Which He was Faithful” (2 Tim. 4:7)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/30/2025 9:52 AM

My Worship Time                      Focus: PT-7 “The Past:  The Course, In Which He was Faithful”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  2 Timothy 4:7

Message of the verse:  “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;”

            Today we begin to look at the 5th part of the third of five principles which are expressed or implied in this verse that were foundational to Paul’s life and service.

            I will again quote from John MacArthur’s commentary in order for all to understand what is going on in this verse that we have been looking at for over a week.  This is the kind of Bible Study that I like so very much, and this is why I miss John MacArthur so much, but very happy that he is in heaven with his Lord Jesus Christ, whom he served all of his life.

            “A fifth foundational principle of Paul’s life and ministry was recognizing his sacred trust regarding the Word of God, the controlling element of everything he said an did.  We should all want to be able to say with the apostle’s truthfulness and sincerity, I have kept the faith.

            “Have kept is from tereo, which carries the various ideas of watching over, heeding, or preserving.  Jesus used the verb three times in His high priestly prayer.  He lovingly asked His Father to ‘them [His people] in Thy name, the name which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as We are,’ remembering that ‘while I was with them, I was keeping them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me; and I guarded them, and not one of them perished.’  A few verses later, He asked that the Father would ‘keep them from the evil one’ (John 17:11-12, 15 emphasis added; cf. 1 John 5:18).  Jude speaks of believers as those ‘who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ’ (Jude 1:1, emphasis added).

            “On our part, keeping the faith involves ‘being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace’ (Eph. 4:3, emphasis added) and keeping ourselves ‘free from sin’ (1 Tim. 5:22).  Using a different verb but giving the same admonition, Paul charged Timothy to guard the Word of God, which had been entrusted to him (1 Tim. 6:20; 2 Tim. 1:14).  Regardless of the obstacles or cost, we are to preserve and proclaim the immeasurable treasure of the Word.

            “The first requirement for keeping that treasure is to recognize that it is a treasure.  A beautiful and touching story is told of a young French girl who has been born blind.  After she learned to read by touch, a friend gave her a Braille copy of Mark’s gospel.  She read it so much that her fingers became calloused and insensitive.  In an effort to regain her feeling, she cut the skin from the ends of her fingers.  Tragically however, her callouses were replaced by permanent and even more insensitive scars.  She sobbingly gave the book a good-by kiss, saying ‘Farewell, farewell, sweet word of my heavenly Father.’  In doing so, she discovered that her lips were even more sensitive than her fingers had been, and she spent the rest of her life reading her great treasure with her lips.  Would that every Christian had such an appetite for the Word of God!

            “In 1904, William Borden, a member of the Borden dairy family, finished high school in Chicago and was given a world cruise as a graduation present.  Particularly while traveling through the Near East and Far East, he became heavily burdened for the lost.  After returning home, he spent seven years at Princeton University, the first four in undergraduate work and the last three in seminary.  While in school, he penned these words in the back of his Bible:  ‘No reserves.’  Although his family pleaded with him to take control of the business, which was foundering, he insisted that God’s call to the mission field had priority.  After disposing of his wealth, he added ‘No retreat’ after ‘No reserves.’  On his way to China to witness to Muslims there, he contracted cerebral meningitis in Egypt and died within a month.  After his death, someone looking through his Bible discovered these final words:  ‘No regrets,’ He knew that the Lord does not require success, only faithfulness.

            “We should be constantly aware that our lives are a spiritual struggle, because that is what God’s Word repeatedly teaches.  We know we are engaged in the most noble of causes, because that is how the Word defines it.  We are to labor with self-discipline, because that is what the Word requires.  We know our time is precious and limited and we know our calling is a sacred trust, because that is what the Word declares to be true.”

Spiritual Meaning for My Life Today:  Being reminded that my spiritual life is a struggle it gives me confidence that I am not the only one who faces this issue.  I read a book back in 1999, the year that I retired from my job at Ford Motor Company, and went to a cabin in the woods where I fasted for a week or so to find out what the Lord wanted me to do.  The book was entitled “Three Steps Forward, Two Steps Back,” it was written by Charles Swindoll and he was the perfect one to write this book.  In our Christian life this is usually what happens to us as we move forward in our walk with the Lord (3 steps forward), and then something happens where we move (2 steps back).  In looking at what John MacArthur wrote in the last paragraph of his commentary it made me think of this book.  The Christian life is not easy, it is impossible for us on our own to move forward in it, but with the aid of the Holy Spirit and also the Word of God, and Pastors it can be done.

            My Steps of Faith for Today:  Keep moving forward in my walk with the Lord even though it is a struggle at times.

7/30/2025 10:28 AM

“Their Immorality” THEIR INSUBORDINATION (Jude 8b-c)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/28/2025 8:07 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                  Focus: “Their Immorality”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                Reference:  Jude 8b

            Message of the verse:  “defile the flesh”

            In yesterday’s SD we looked at what I stated was an introduction to Jude 8-10, and I stated that in this evening’s SD would look at two short sections that come out of this introduction, and then in tomorrow’s SD, Lord willing, I will look at the last sub-section to these verses.  The first one is from Jude 8b as seen above.

            Let us first look at the word flesh, which is “sarx in the Greek and this refers her to the physical body, and not the essence of depravity.  Now had Jude intended the later, he would have used another word, sarkinos, which Paul used in Romans 7:14, “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.” Now the word translated defile is from the verb miaino, which means to dye or stain something, such as clothing or glass.  Now in addition, it can mean “to pollute,” “to contaminate,” “to soil,” or “to corrupt.”  Now when it is linked with sarx, the reference is to moral and physical defilement, or sexual sin.

            John MacArthur writes “Apostate teachers are inevitably immoral, even if their immorality is not publicly known.  After all, they have no ability to restrain their lusts, and they are generally characterized as those who live in the passion of lust because they do not know God. (cf. 1 Thess. 4:5). Later in this letter, Jude wrote that false teachers are ‘devoid of the Spirit’ (v. 19), as is evidenced in their abandonment of the truth (cf. 1 John 2:19-23).  Thus they have no divine power to control their own sinful impulses (cf. Rom. 6:20-21; 8:7-8; Gal. 5:19), left instead to ‘indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires’ (2 Peter 2:10; cf. 2:18).  In time, the truth about their immorality will inevitably emerge (cf. 2 Tim. 3:1-9).”

THEIR INSUBORDINATION

“and reject authority, (8c)

            Now we have one more short section this evening, and then a larger section in tomorrow evening’s SD.

            Now we have learned that these apostate teachers love their immorality, as it follows that they reject authority.  Reject is from the verb atheteo, which refers to destroying something established, such as existing authority.  MacArthur writes that “the word rendered authority (kuriotes) is related to the more familiar term kurios (‘lord’).  Because they demanded to rule their own lives, apostates refuse to submit to Christ’s lordship over them (cf. v. 4).”  “For 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.”

            “The reality, however , is that they are much like the scribes and Pharisees whom Jesus confronted in Matthew 23:27-28:  ‘You are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.  So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”   

7/29/2025 8:18 PM

 

PT-6 “The Past: The Course, In Which He was Faithful” (2 Tim. 4:7)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/29/2025 9:52 AM

My Worship Time                      Focus: PT-6 “The Past:  The Course, In Which He was Faithful”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  2 Timothy 4:7

Message of the verse:  “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;”

            Today we begin to look at the 4th part of the third of five principles which are expressed or implied in this verse that were foundational to Paul’s life and service. 

            “A fourth foundational principle of Paul’s life was recognizing the need to treasure time,” writes John MacArthur.  He goes on to write “We have only the time allotted by God, and none of us knows when it will run out.  Every Christian life runs by His divine timetable and against His divine clock.  We do not know how long He will hold open the door of a given opportunity or of our entire time of service. ‘Be careful how you walk, ‘ Paul therefore counsels, ‘not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil’ (Eph. 5:15-16).  God gives us many things without limit—His love, His grace, and many others. But His gift of time is strictly measured.

            “In 490 B.C., the Athenians won a crucial and decisive battle over the forces of King Darius I of Persia on a plain near the small Greek costal village of Marathon.  One of the Greek soldiers ran nonstop from the battlefield to Athens to carry the news of victory.  But he ran with such unreserved effort that he fell dead at the feet of those to whom he delivered the message.  The marathon races that are so popular today are named for that battlefield.  They also are a tribute to that soldier, the length of the run being based on the approximate distance (Just over 26 miles) he ran in his last maximum effort for his country.  He had completed his course, and there is no nobler way for a man to die.”

            I don’t think that I have ever heard that story before, but perhaps I did a long time ago.  Lord willing I will look at the fifth foundational principle of Paul’s life and ministry in my next SD.

Spiritual Meaning for My Life Today:  This section about how long a person has to live is meaningful to me in light of my wife’s battle with cancer issues.  I am thinking about Psalm 139:16  “Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.”  This tells me we all have an expiration period, which we don’t know when that will be, but God does.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  It is my prayer that the Lord will give my wife and I life on this earth until He brings on the rapture so we can both go to meet Him in the air together where we will be changed into our new bodies so we can then serve the Lord together forever.

7/29/2025 9:23 AM

 

PT-2 Characteristics of the Apostate’s Nature” (Jude 8-10)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/28/2025 8:07 PM

My Worship Time                                     Focus:  PT-2 Characteristics of the Apostate’s Nature”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Jude 8-10

            Message of the verses:  “8 Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties. 9 But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" 10 But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.”

            “8 In the same way, these people — who claim authority from their dreams — live immoral lives, defy authority, and scoff at supernatural beings. 9 But even Michael, one of the mightiest of the angels, did not dare accuse the devil of blasphemy, but simply said, “The Lord rebuke you!” (This took place when Michael was arguing with the devil about Moses’ body.) 10 But these people scoff at things they do not understand. Like unthinking animals, they do whatever their instincts tell them and so they bring about their own destruction” (NLT).

 

            I know that I got a little off the subject in last night’s SD, but I do believe that what I wrote can be helpful to those who read it.  Now this evening I will probably just stick to quoting John MacArthur’s comments on these verses, and perhaps will have some things to say also.

 

            “False teachers often claim dreams as the authoritative, divine source for their ‘new truths,’ which are really just lies and distortions.  Such claims allow apostates to substitute their own counterfeit authority for God’s true scriptural authority.

 

            “Dreaming surely also includes apostates’ perverted, evil imaginations.  Rejection the Word of God, they base their deceptive teachings on the misguided musings of their own deluded and demonized minds.  In the Old Testament, the term ‘dreamer’ was virtually synonymous with false prophet, as in Moses’ warning:

 

1 "If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you to find out if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 “You shall follow the LORD your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. 5  "But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the LORD your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you (Deut. 13:1-5; cf. Jer. 23:25-32).

 

“Along those lines, the apostle Paul cautioned,

 

18 Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God (Col. 2:18-19; cf. 1 Tim. 4:1-2).

 

            “Having identified the apostates as false dreamers, Jude went on to outline three characteristic of their nature:  Immorality, insubordination, and irreverence.”

 

            Now in a way these last two Spiritual Diaries were like an introduction to these three characteristics that we will begin looking at in tomorrow’s SD, Lord willing.

 

 

PT-5 “The Past: The Course, In Which He was Faithful” (2 Timothy 4:7)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/28/2025 9:52 AM

My Worship Time                      Focus: PT-5 “The Past:  The Course, In Which He was Faithful”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  2 Timothy 4:7

Message of the verse:  “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;”

            Today we begin to look at the second part of the third of five principles which are expressed or implied in this verse that were foundational to Paul’s life and service.  Third, Paul recognized the need to avoid wandering, to have self-discipline to stay on his divinely appointed course until it was finished.  Now this is also true of all believers as from our spiritual birth until the time God calls us into His divine presence that is our divine mission.  Now we know that we are in the church age and there are two possible ways of being called into His divine presence, one through death, or two through the rapture of the church.

            John MacArthur writes that “the writer of Hebrews warns of two major hindrances that relentlessly threaten to deflect believers from their God-given course.  ‘Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us’ he says ‘let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us’ (Heb. 12:1 emphasis added).

            Looking again at the two highlighted words encumbrance and sin we can see that they obviously are not the same thing.  The following could define encumbrance: an encumbrance is not evil in itself.  Normally, it may be harmless or even it could be worthwhile.  However the danger and harm come when such things hinder our service to Christ.  What happens is it can begin to weigh us down as we are running, they can distract our attention when we should be concentrating, they move our focus from the Lord’s work to something else, and they can also sap energy that should be dedicated entirely to the Lord.  Anything unnecessary that we allow in our lives becomes a spiritual encumbrance.  In describing the works that will not become a reward for believers when they are judged Paul describes such things as “wood hay, and straw.”  These things can be burned up: 11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. 14 If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire” (1 Cor. 3:11-15).

 

                Now we move onto the second hindrance that is mentioned in Hebrews 12:1 “1   Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”  This is more obvious and much worse, and that would be sin for sin does not merely deflect us from the Lord’s work but often robs us of headway already gained, and that surely is not a good thing.  If the sin is unusually serious then the Lord Himself may pull us from the race, because our testimony and effectiveness have been undermined.  “For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep” (1 Cor. 11:30).  “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” (1 John 5:16).  MacArthur writes “The great apostle was very much aware of that potential threat to his own ministry.  He had no fear of such things as ‘bonds and afflictions,’ as long as he could ‘finish [his] course, and the ministry which [he] received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God’ (Acts 20:23-24).  But he had great concern that he might somehow do something or fail to do something for which the Lord would find him unworthy of his calling.  ‘Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim,’ he said I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified’ (1 cor. 9:26-27).”

            MacArthur goes on to write “The writer of Hebrews goes on to point us to the only protection against encumbrances and sin, namely, fixing ‘our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God’ (12:2).

            “Even after Jesus questioned Peter’s love and warned of his coming afflictions for the sake of the gospel, the disciple still did not have his eyes fixed on the Master.  Instead he become curious about John, saying ‘Lord,…what about this man?’ and received another rebuke: ‘Jesus said to him, ‘If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!’’ (John 21:22).  In other words, if the Lord allowed John to live until the Second Coming that was none of Peter’s concern.  Peter’s concern should have been about his own faithfulness.

            “Rudyard Kipling’s famous poem ‘If’ is not Christian, but it captures the essence of the mature life, the life that keeps everything in its right perspective and priority.”  Now I am about to quote this poem, and this will end this section, as Lord willing I will begin to look at the fourth foundational principle of Paul’s life in tomorrow’s SD.

If you can keep your head when all about you   

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

    But make allowance for their doubting too;   

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

 

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;   

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

 

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

    And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

    To serve your turn long after they are gone,   

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

 

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,   

    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

    If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,   

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,   

    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

 

Spiritual Meaning for My Life Today:  I am thinking about the passage in 2 Corinthians as I desire to live my life so that when I get to the judgment seat of Christ that I will hear “Well done.” It is a difficult thing to live the Christian life, especially in the world we have at this time as there is so much “stuff” going on. 

My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to trust the Lord to keep me on the path that He desires me to be on.

7/28/2025 10:47 AM