EVENING
SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/23/2025 6:34 PM
My
Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “Remember”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Jude 17-19
Message of the verses: “17 But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken
beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, 18 that they were saying
to you, "In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own
ungodly lusts." 19 These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded,
devoid of the Spirit.”
Now Christ and His apostles were
repeatedly saying that false teachers would infiltrate the church and oppose
the truth, and it surely happening in our world today. Now in light of that, Jude quoted Peter’s
warning, “In the last time there will be
mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts (2 Peter 3:3). Now the word translated mockers appears in the New Testament
only here and in 2 Peter 3:3, which suggests that Jude quoted Peter, now
remember that I have said that the commentary from John MacArthur with the book
of Jude in it also has 2 Peter in it which Lord willing we will look at next
after completing Jude.
Now
the technical phrase the last time refers
to the period between Christ’s first and second comings and there are a list of
verses to look up that help us to understand this: Acts 2:17; Gal. 4:4; 2 Tim. 3:1; Heb. 12:2; 1
Peter 1:5, 20; 1 John 2:18-19; James 5:3).
Let us now look at 2 Peter 3:3-4 “3 Know this first of all, that in the last
days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own
lusts, 4 and saying, "Where is the
promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all
continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.’” Now here Jude
implied that they mocked the law of God and we have written earlier about the
word “grumblers” so no need to repeat it.
It is easy to see that Both ideas, of course, are parallel since those
who mock the law of God will also mock Christ’s return; they do not want to be
accountable to the divine Judge for their sins, either in the present or the
future.
I will now quote from John MacArthur’s
commentary in order to finish up this SD: “Such mockers will be following after their own ungodly lusts, a
fact Jude already established in verses 4, 15, and 16. They will give free reign to their passions
and dissipations because they have no capacity for holiness. Since their hearts are not transformed, all
they can do is pursue their own ungodly desires.
“Jude further described the false
teachers as the ones who cause
divisions. The word apodiorizo (divisions) refers to the motivation behind the false teachers’
behavior, as well as its divisive effect.
The term means ‘to make a distinction’ and, in the case of the
apostates, the truth. Like the
Pharisees, they were arrogant (Luke 16:15; 18:9, 11) and condescending (Matt.
23:4-5), adhering to their self-styled set of standards (cf. Mark 7:5-8)—their own
elite understand of ‘the truth’ (cf. Matt. 16:6, 11-12). Instead of putting others before themselves
(which is the key to true spiritual unity—cf. Phil. 2:1-4), they exalted
themselves and their own agendas.
Naturally, the end result was division and strive in the body.
“Worldly-minded (psuchikos,
lit. ‘soulish’) is more accurately translated ‘sensual persons’ (NKJV). With a certain deference to Greek philosophy,
Jude depicted the false teachers in strictly physical terms. His materialistic description exposed them
for who they really were—religious terrorists who lacked such internal
qualities as a proper self-perception, the ability to reason, and a true
knowledge of God. Even though the false
teachers claimed a transcendental understanding of God, they did not know Him
at all—they were devoid of the Spirit
(cf. John 3:5; Rom. 8:9; 1 John3:24; 4:13).
The truth is that they were physically alive but, because they had never
been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, they were spiritually dead. They were religious frauds who paid lip
service to faith and spiritual life but denied such claims by their
actions. As Paul told Titus, ‘They profess to know God, but by their
deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any
good deed’ (Titus 1:16).”
I would like to say that I watched
most of the service that they had for John MacArthur this afternoon, and it was
a really good remembrance of his life.
John MacArthur was ready to go to heaven to meet His Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ, and even though it was very painful for his family, they also had
great joy to realize that he would be in heaven. I am thankful for the life of John MacArthur
as although I don’t go along with everything that he taught, I do most of it
and so the differences mean little to me.
He left a wonderful family as we got to hear two of his sons speak and
others too. I will miss the fact that he
is not teaching and preaching in his church building, but thankful for the many
sermons and books that I can read and listen to in order to help me pass the
things that I learn around the world through my two blogs.
8/23/2025 7:18 PM
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