MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/16/2026
9:20 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-6
Intro to “The Character of a True Christian”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Luke 6:20-26
Message of the verses: “20 And turning His
gaze toward His disciples, He began to
say, “Blessed are [a]you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 Blessed are [b]you who hunger now, for you shall
be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall
laugh. 22 Blessed are you when men hate you,
and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the
sake of the Son of Man. 23 Be glad in that day
and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven.
For in the same way their fathers used to [c]treat the prophets. 24 But
woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in
full. 25 Woe to you who [d]are well-fed now, for you shall be
hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and
weep. 26 Woe to you when all men speak
well of you, for their fathers used to [e]treat the false prophets in
the same way.”
It is my desire to finish this introduction to these
verses in this morning’s SD as I continue to quote from John MacArthur’s
introduction.
“Jesus’ message shocked and outraged
the self-righteous religious people of Israel.
This was not what they expected from their Messiah. They imagined that He would be pleased with
their righteousness and religious ritual, and welcome them into the
kingdom. Instead, Jesus scathingly
denounced them as hypocrites (Matt. 23:1-33), and compared them unfavorably to
the despised outcasts of Jewish society (Matt. 21:31-32).” I will only quote Matthew 21:31-32 as Matthew
23:1-33 will be too long for this SD.
(Matt. 21:31-32)
“31 Which of the two did the will of his father?”
They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax
collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of
righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the
prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward
change your minds and believe him.”
“His
message was unacceptable and intolerable, leading His nation to reject and
murder Him.
“Luke presents a condensed account
of the Sermon on the Mount, which Matthew 5-7 recorded in more detail. However, neither gospel writer recorded
everything Jesus said on this occasion.
(Although the Lord undoubtedly repeated the themes of this sermon
throughout His ministry, the Sermon on the Mount is one continuous message,
preached on one occasion, and not a collection of Jesus’ sayings.) Even Matthew’s longer account can be read in
about ten minutes, and the Lord surely preached much longer than that. There are minor variations in Matthew’s and
Luke’s accounts, but those are to be expected in the process of translating
(the Lord spoke in Aramaic and Matthew and Luke wrote in Greek) and condensing
Jesus’ message. (For a defense of the
view that Matthew and Luke recorded the same sermon see William Hendriksen, Exposition
of the Gospel According to Luke, New Testament Commentary [Grand Rapids:
Baker, 1978], 334-335; D. A. Carson, Matthew, in Frank E. Gaebelein,
ed. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary (Grand
Rapids: Zondervan, 1984), 8:125-26.)
“Jesus closed this sermon by
dividing those who hear (or read) it into two groups…He likened those who hear
and obey His teaching to a man who builds a house on a solid foundation of
rock. Such people are untouched by the
storm of divine judgment (John 5:24). On
the other hand, those who reject His teaching are like a man who built his
house on the sand. They will be swept away
to damnation by the flood of divine judgment (John 3:36).” I will now quote these verses in the order
seen above.
(John 5:24)
“24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my
word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into
judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
(John 3:36)
“36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life;
whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains
on him.”
“Jesus had the same two groups in
view as He opened His message, describing them with the terms ‘blessed’ and ‘woe.’
Makarios (‘blessed’) refers to those in most beneficial, favored
position, who experience the true well-being that comes from a right
relationship with God. Quai (‘woe’) refers to those in the worst, most
unfavorable condition, who experience the calamity, disaster, and damnation
reserved for the wicked. Everyone falls
into one of those two categories; there is no middle ground.
“The Lord’s use of these terms was
not a wish, nor was He merely praying for God’s blessing or cursing on
people. On the contrary, they are
absolute statements of fact; divine verdicts rendered by God’s authoritative
judgment. The concept of divine blessing
and cursing was well-known to Jesus’ audience from the Old Testament (cf. Deut.
27-28).
“Luke’s account of the Beatitudes
reveals four blessings bestowed on the righteous, and four woes pronounced on
the wicked. Each blessing has a promised
benefit connected to it, while each woe has a corresponding threat. As noted above, the blessings and woes seem
backwards from the perspective of self-righteous sinners. But the Lord’s words paint His composite
portrait of the blessed and the cursed.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I surely am thankful for the blessings of the
Lord, as I know that I do not deserve those blessings, but because Jesus Christ
took my place on the cross in order to bring salvation to me I will receive
these blessings from the Lord. It was
all about Him, doing for me what I could not do for myself.
My
Steps of Faith for Today: Trusting in the Lord to give mercy to my wife
as she battles cancer, and thankful to the Lord for all the many, many people
who are praying for her and for me too.
7/16/2026
10:18 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment