PT-3 "Historical Context" (Matt. 5:8)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/14/2020 10:03 AM

My Worship Time                                                                      Focus:  PT-3 “Historical Context”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 5:8

            Message of the verses:  “"Happy are the utterly sincere, for they will see God!’”

            I have to say at the outset of this Spiritual Diary that I have been thinking about parts of yesterday’s SD a great deal and the part that I have been thinking about was Jesus conversation with Nicodemus.  A couple of things that I have been thinking about and the first is that I can have conversations with the Lord are similar ways and I really think that He likes that very much.  I suppose some of my most rewarding conversations with the Lord are when I am in my car alone and sometimes the conversations from me are out loud.  Next thing that was something that I was thinking about was that Jesus knew exactly what Nicodemus wanted to ask Him even though it was not really what Nicodemus was asking Jesus.  We went over that in yesterday’s SD.  Jesus knows what I need at every moment of my life and so all I have to do is to make sure that I talk to Him much more often than I have been.  There is a gospel song entitle “Just a little talk with Jesus” that comes to my mind as I think about yesterdays SD.

            After Jesus had fed the five thousand which is seen in all four gospel accounts the people ask a question that is recorded in John 6:28 “’What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?’”  This is the same question that was troubling Nicodemus:  “How can a person get right with the Lord, and what must I do to please Him?”  These people were like Nicodemus and others during that time, and frankly there are still those around today who believe that they have to do many rituals in order to get right with the Lord, but that is not the case as Nicodemus eventually found out.  Like Nicodemus these people knew something was missing.

            Luke tells of a lawyer in 10:25 who asked “’Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’”  When the lawyer asked Jesus this question he was testing Jesus and so after Jesus gave him an answer the man tried to justify himself as seen in verse 29 “But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?’”  The man had wrong motives but the question was real and the answer from Jesus gave us the story of the Good Samaritan.” 

            Another historical context is seen in Luke 18:18 “A ruler questioned Him, saying, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’”  This man, unlike the lawyer was sincere, however he was unwilling to pay the cost as he wanted to keep his wealth was too high for him and he walked away very sad as seen in verse 23.  MacArthur adds “He knew he needed something more than outward obedience to the law, at which he had been diligent since childhood (v. 21).  He knew that, with all his devotion and effort to please God, he had no assurance of possessing eternal life.  He was seeking the kingdom, but he was not seeking it first (Matt. 6:33).”  “"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

            There were more asking similar questions, but at this time I want to quote the last paragraph from this section of MacArthur’s commentary from him, and then move onto the very short last sub-section that follows.

            “It was to answer that need that Jesus came to earth.  It was to answer that need that He gave the Beatitudes.  He shows simply and directly how sinful man can be made right with God.

The Literary Contest:

            “At first glance this beatitude seems out of place, inserted indiscriminately into an otherwise orderly development of truths.  Because of its supreme importance, a more strategic place—either at the beginning as the foundation, or at the end as the culmination—might seems more appropriate.

            “But the sixth beatitude, like every part of God’s Word, is in the right place.  It is part of the beautiful and marvelous sequence of truths that are here laid out according to the mind of God.  It is the climax of the Beatitudes, the central truth to which the previous fife lead and from which the following two flow.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  John MacArthur talks about having this beatitude in the right place, and also goes on to talk about the Bible being in the right order.  What I can take from this is that I have to believe that God is having me study the right book at the right time to bring glory to Him through what I am studying.  Perhaps there is someone who is reading this SD on the internet from my blog who the Spirit of God is using this SD to open their heart to receive the greatest gift every given, that is the gift of salvation provided by Jesus Christ.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I want to trust the Lord to continue to give me contentment and also teach me more about humility, and to continue to give me joy as I study His Word each day.

5/14/2020 10:51 AM

PT-2 "Historical Context" (Matt. 5:8)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/13/2020 8:20 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-2 “Historical Context”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 5:8

            Message of the verse:  “’Happy are the utterly sincere, for they will see God!’”

            Yesterday we looked at an introduction to this beatitude, and then a quote from John MacArthur on the first main section, and then we began to look at the first sub-section “Historical Context” which we will continue to look at this morning.  Also we mentioned that we were going to briefly talk about John the Baptist as we begin this SD today.

            John the Baptist was sent from God as a forerunner of the Messiah and his ministry was in the wilderness of Judah where he must have been something to look at and to hear what he had to say.  Perhaps it was because the people of Israel were tired of listening to the Pharisees and others about something that they knew that they could never do that they came to listen to John the Baptist.  John was actually different from the scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and priests, and it was obvious that he did not bother to observe most of the religious traditions that these “leaders” said must be done.  John was a breath of fresh air in what was a stifling, never-ending system of demands and prohibitions.  My thoughts are that in this prophet’s teachings that those who came to him would find relief, that is those who were really looking for relief could find some.  These people looking for relief surely did not want another rabbi with another law for them to find out that they could not keep, and then end up feeling guilty all over again.  These people who came to John the Baptist wanted to know the real way of salvation, the real way to please God, the true way of peace and relief from sin.  I believe that those who came to John knew that from the study of God’s Word that there was coming the Messiah who would come not simply to demand but to redeem, not to add to their burdens but to help them carry those burdens, not to increase the guilt but to remove it.  I believe that many of those who came to hear the preacher from the wilderness thought that he could be the Messiah that they were longing for and hoping to see.   

            I want to look at a prophecy from Ezekiel that perhaps some of these people coming to hear John were thinking of:  “25"Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:25-26).  After being in that oppressive “religion” these people were in thinking of these two verses and finding John the Baptist must have surely brought joy to their hearts.  There is another verse from the 32^nd Psalm that David wrote after his sin with Bathsheba that they may have been thinking of “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered! 2 How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit!”  MacArthur adds “They knew of those truths, and they longed to experience the reality of them.” 

            Now we move onto look at another OT person, and this time a Pharisee, who actually was looking for the truth.  Nicodemus was a Pharisee and he was a ruler of the Jews, in fact when we see what happened when he came to Jesus we see “Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews;” and it is believed that he was a very high ranking rule of the Jews, as he was a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish high court.  As we look at his story in John chapter three we see that when he first comes to Jesus that he does not ask a question but a testimony about Jesus.  We also see that he came at night which suggests he was ashamed of being seen with Jesus.  Even though he came by night he seems to be sincere as he speaks to Jesus as he was looking for spiritual insight.  As believers we have probably read or heard this story many, many times, but think about having a spiritual question and being able to go to the creator of the universe, the Savior of the world and being able to talk to Him about what was going on in your heart.  MacArthur adds “Nicodemus knew that, whatever else Jesus might be, He was a teacher truly sent from God.”

            Nicodemus was looking at how a person can be right with God, although he did not directly ask that question he was implying it, and we know this was on his heart because of the answer that Jesus gives him as found in John 3:3 “Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’”  I wish to look at the word “see” in my Greek/English dictionary to better understand what Jesus was saying here:  “AV-see 51, take heed 5, behold 1, perceive 1, not tr 1; 59

1) to see with the eyes

2) to see with the mind, to perceive, know

3) to see, i.e. become acquainted with by experience, to experience

4) to see, to look to

4a) to take heed, beware

4b) to care for, pay heed to

5) I was seen, showed myself, appeared.”  Notice especially the highlighted portions of this definition.

            Nicodemus was asking the same questions that many that many of us have already asked or perhaps are asking now.  “How do I please God?”  How can I be made Righteous?”  “How can I be redeemed and become a child of God?”  “How can I become part of God’s Kingdom?”  MacArthur adds “Had he not had a deep, compelling desire to know God’s will, he would not have risked coming to Jesus even at night.  Nicodemus was honest enough to admit his sinfulness.  He was a Pharisee, a teacher of the law, and a ruler in the Sanhedrin; but he knew in his heart that all of that did not make him right with God.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  “I can come to Jesus in my heart and ask Him questions that I have and just like when He was talking to Nicodemus He can talk to me in my heart, through His Word, or from His spiritual leaders that I listen to. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Come to Jesus with questions that I have.  Continue to learn contentment, to seek humility, and to have joy as I study His Word.

5/13/2020 9:36 AM

Intro to Matthew 5:8

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/12/2020 11:24 AM

My Worship Time                                                                               Focus:  Intro to Matthew 5:8

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 5:8

            Message of the verse:  “’Happy are the utterly sincere, for they will see God!’”

            Let me begin by saying that the intro to the verse will be very short and will be quoted from MacArthur’s commentary and then we will move right into the first sub-section under the main section entitled “The Content.”

            “Here is one of those passages of Scripture whose depths are immeasurable and whose breadth is impossible to encompass.  This incredible statement of Jesus is among the greatest utterances in all of the Bible.

            “The subject of holiness, of purity of heart, can be traced from Genesis to Revelation.  The theme is infinitely vast and touches on virtually every other biblical truth.  It is impossible to exhaust its meaning or significance, and the discussion in this chapter is nothing more than introductory.”

            The first main section is entitled “The Context” and in this main section we will look at two sub-sections of which the first, “The Historical Context” will take us a few days to look at and then the last sub-section is only one or two paragraphs.

THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT

            We have written in earlier SD’s about the shape that the nation of Israel was in by the time that Jesus came on the scene, how Israel was in desperate condition, that is in their political, economically, and spiritual conditions.  If we go back to when Israel was defeated by the Babylonians we saw that Israel never owned the Promised Land from that time until May of 1948 when as Ezekiel prophesied Israel would return to their land.  This all had to do with sin, as Israel was defeated by Babylon because of their sin, and then as we move forward to 70 A.D. we see that Israel was defeated again because they had turned their back on their Messiah and Israel moved from one country to another as they were scattered in different places around the world.  At this point in history we see that the majority of Jews live in Israel, but man still live in other countries around the world including the United States. 

            As we look at when Jesus was on the earth we can see that Israel was not in good shape as they did not own the land they lived on as Rome took control of the Promised Land and the people had to pay a large amount of taxes to Rome.  These were the problems that every person could see and also feel.

            There were less obvious problems, and they were far worst.  This problem was unlike their political and economic problems as Israel had suffered spiritual weakness and faithlessness.  However this problem was not really recognized by many of the Jews.  The Jewish leaders thought that their religion was in great shape, and they believed the Messiah would soon solve the political and economic problems.  However when He came, His only concern was for the Spiritual problem, which was the problem of their hearts.  I have heard Warren Wiersbe write “The heart of the problem is the problem of the heart.”  This was surely true of Israel during the time when their Messiah came to earth.

            We have talked earlier about who was the most influential religious force in Judaism at the time when Christ was on earth and that would be the Pharisees.  MacArthur adds “They were the chief managers and promoters of the pervasive legalistic and ritualistic system that dominated Jewish society.  Over the centuries various rabbis had interpreted and reinterpreted the Jewish Scriptures, especially the law, until those interpretations—known as the traditions of the elders—became more authoritative than Scripture itself.  The essence of the traditions was a system of dos and don’ts that gradually expanded to cover almost every aspect of Jewish life.”

            Most Jews who were conscientious realized that it was impossible to observe all the religious requirements that were in place at this time.  What really happened to these Jews was that because they couldn’t keep all the requirements that they ended up with a terrible guilty conscience.  They had as said feelings of guilt frustrations, and also anxiety, which are not good for anyone to continually have.  To these Jews their religion was their life, but they could not fulfill everything their religion demanded.  What happened next was something that was not good then and still not good now, and that is that the religious leaders devised te idea that, if a person could perfectly keep the law in just a few of the laws, that God would understand.  However when even that proved impossible, some even narrowed the requirements to one law perfectly kept. 

            This idea may have been in the mind of the lawyer who tested Jesus with this question from Matthew 22:36 “’Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?’”  Perhaps this lawyer wanted to know which of the many laws would be the one to keep that would satisfy God, even if a person failed to keep the others.

            Lord willing we will continue to look at this first sub-section in our next SD as we begin to look at why many of the Jews flocked out to see John the Baptist.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I suppose that this subject is one of the more confusing parts of my Christianity that I deal with often.  I realize that Jesus kept the whole Law for me so that I don’t have to keep it, for that is impossible.  However there are times when I have a guilty conscience for not doing something right, and perhaps that is a good thing for after all God did give me a conscience to listen to.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Be more content, be more humble, and continue to seek great joy as I study God’s Word each day.

5/12/2020 12:18 PM

The Result of Mercy (Matt. 5:7)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/11/2020 10:51 AM

My Worship Time                                                                           Focus:  “The Result of Mercy”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 5:7

            Message of the verse:  “"Happy are the merciful, for they will have mercy shown to them!”

            As we begin this section we want to think back and reflect on the fact that when we are merciful we will receive mercy, we see God’s cycle of mercy.  How is God merciful to us?  Well God is merciful to us by saving us through Christ; in obedience we are merciful to others; and God in faithfulness gives us even more mercy as He pours out blessing for other needs and then withholds severe chastening for our sin.

            We have looked at this truth before but I want to quote the following paragraph from John MacArthur because of its importance:  “As in the other beatitudes, the emphatic pronoun autos (they) indicates that only those who are merciful qualify to receive mercy.  David sang of the Lord ‘With the Lord Thou dost show Thyself kind’ (2 Sam. 22:26).  Speaking of the opposite side of the same truth, James says ‘For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy’ (James 2:13).  At the end of the disciples’ prayer Jesus explained, ‘For if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions’ (Matt. 6:14-15).  Again the emphatic truth is that God will respond with chastening for an unforgiving disciple.”

            As we look at these different passages in the beatitudes or other passages that Jesus is using speaks of our mercy gaining us salvation as we do not or cannot earn salvation by being merciful.  There is only one way to be saved and that is by God’s mercy and once we have received God’s mercy then we can truly show mercy to others.  No one should think that they can work their way to heaven even my doing a lifetime of merciful deeds, and more than by good works of any sort.  MacArthur adds “God does not give mercy for merit; He gives mercy in grace, because it is needed, not because it is earned.” 

            Jesus tells a story to illustrate the working of God’s mercy which is found in Matthew 18:21-35.  Before giving this parable Peter asked Jesus how often should he receive a person as Peter thought that seven times was good enough, and so Jesus gives this parable to answer Peter’s question.  You can read this story beginning with verse 21 or Matthew chapter eighteen to better understand how much God has forgiven us and then what we are to do to others who have wronged us.

            MacArthur adds this concerning this parable:  “In that parable Jesus gives a picture of God’s saving mercy in relation to forgiving others (vv. 21-22).  The first man pleaded with God for mercy and received it.  The fact that he, in turn, was unmerciful was so inconsistent with his own salvation that he was chastened until he repented.  The Lord will chasten, if need be, to produce repentance in a stubborn child.  Mercy to others is a mark of salvation.  When we do not show it, we may be disciplined until we do.  When we hold back mercy, God restricts His flow of mercy to us, and we forfeit blessing.  The presence of chastening and the absence of blessing attend an unmerciful believer.”  I think that I understand this parable better than I have ever understood it before and that is one of the reasons that I use aid of John MacArthur’s commentaries and sermons as it is my desire to look deeply at the Word of God.

            One more paragraph to tie all of this together:  “If we have received from a holy God unlimited mercy that cancels our unpayable debt of sin—we who have no righteousness but were poor in spirit, mourning over our load of sin in beggarly, helpless condition, wretched and doomed, meek before almighty God, hungry and thirsty for a righteousness we did not have and could not attain—it surely follows that we should be merciful to others.”  I hope that this last paragraph helps all of us to understand how all of these beatitudes tie into each other and are in the order that they are in.

            Lord willing we will look at the introduction to “Happy Are the Holy” in our next SD which is found in Matthew 5:8 “"Happy are the utterly sincere, for they will see God! (Philips).

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am truly thankful for God’s mercy for without that I would still be lost in my sin.  I want to be led by the Spirit of God to show mercy to those that I need to show mercy to.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to be taught by the Spirit of God to be content, to learn humility, and to continue to receive joy in the study of God’s Word.

5/11/2020 11:48 AM

PT-2 "The Practice of Mercy" (Matt. 5:7)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/10/2020 8:56 AM

My Worship Time                                                                Focus:  PT-2 “The Practice of Mercy”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 5:7

            Message of the verse:  “"Happy are the merciful, for they will have mercy shown to them!”

            I mentioned in our last SD that we would be looking at four ways that mercy is looked at spiritually.

1.     Mercy is shown through pity.  A quote from Augustine:  “If I weep for the body from which the soul is departed, should I not weep for the soul from which God is departed?”  As a sensitive believer we are to grieve more for lost souls than for lost bodies.  The reason for this is because we have experienced God’s mercy, we are to have great concern for those who have not received God’s mercy.

2.     We are to show spiritual mercy by confrontation.  Paul writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:25 the following “with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth.”  When witnessing to someone we as believers must be willing to confront them about their sin so that they might come to God in salvation.  Paul wrote to Titus about certain teachers “who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain” (Titus 1:11).  Paul then tells Titus in verse to 13b “reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith.”  MacArthur writes “Love and mercy will be severe when that is necessary for the sake of an erring brother and for the sake of Christ’s church.  In such cases it is cruel to say nothing and let the harm continue.”We continue this third way that mercy is looked at spiritually from something that Jude closed his letter with the encouragement to “21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. 22 And have mercy on some, who are doubting; 23 save others, snatching         them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh” (Jude 21-23).

3.     We are to show spiritual mercy by praying.  I am sure that many believing Christians have a place on their prayer list where they are praying for those who do not know the Lord, people that are in your family, and people that the Lord has laid upon your heart to pray for them to come to know the Lord for salvation.  In doing this we are giving the sacrifice of prayer for those who are without God and this is mercy on our part.  MacArthur adds “Only mercy can be measured by our prayer for the unsaved and for Christians who are walking in disobedience.”

4.     “We are to show spiritual mercy by proclaiming the saving gospel of Jesus Christ—the most merciful thing we can do.”

5/10/2020 9:22 AM

PT-1 "The Practice of Mercy" (Matt. 5:7)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/9/2020 11:36 AM

My Worship Time                                                                Focus:  PT-1 “The Practice of Mercy”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 5:7

            Message of the verses:  “Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.”

            As we look at the title of this SD I have to say that this is where the rubber meets the road as we will talk about how we as believers, are to practice mercy.  I suppose that the most obvious way we can show mercy is through physical acts, similar to what the “Good Samaritan” did, as this story that Jesus told truly shows how we are to practice mercy.  In our earlier SD we looked at Matthew 25, Jesus message about the end times, but we also stated that in verses 33-40 that these verses certainly apply to believers in all of the church age to follow which was feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and those in prison, and also give any other practical help that is needed.  As we do this, serving others in need we will be demonstrating a heart of mercy.

            Mercy and acts of mercy are not just found in the New Testament, but also it is helpful to note that the way of mercy is also found in the Old Testament.  Let us look from the Law found in Deut 15:7-8 “7  "If there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother; 8  but you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks.”   In the OT Law we see that when the land from the Promised Land was given to each tribe that there was a year of release, when all debts were canceled, Israelites were to give their poor countrymen whatever they needed.  Verse nine goes on to warn “9 “Beware that there is no base thought in your

heart, saying, ’The seventh year, the year of remission, is near,’ and your eye is hostile toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing; then he may cry to the LORD against you, and it will be a sin in you.”

            John MacArthur writes “Mercy is also to be shown in our attitudes.  Mercy does not hold a grudge, harbor resentment, capitalize on another’s failure or weakness, or publicize another’s sin.  Our great table at which he fed countless hundreds of people, Augustine inscribed,

‘Whoever thinks that he is able,

To nibble at the life of absent friends,

Must know that he’s unworthy of this table.’

            “The vindictive, heartless, indifferent are not subjects of Christ’s kingdom.  When they pass need by on the other side, as the priest and the Levite did in the story of the Good Samaritan, they show they have passed Christ by.”

            Lord willing in our next SD we will look at three ways mercy is shown spiritually.

5/9/2020 11:56 AM

The Source of Mercy (Matt. 5:7)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/8/2020 10:03 AM

My Worship Time                                                                           Focus:  “The Source of Mercy”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 5:7

            Message of the verse:  “’Happy are the merciful, for they will have mercy shown to them!’”

            I don’t think anyone would be surprised if I tell you that “pure mercy” is a gift of God as it is not a natural attribute of man as this gift comes from the new birth.  The only way that we can be merciful in its full sense and with a righteous motive is when we have experienced God’s mercy.  MacArthur adds “Mercy is only for those who through grace and divine power have met the requirements of the first four beatitudes.  It is only for those who by the work of the Holy Spirit bow humbly before God in poverty of spirit, who mourn over and turn from their sin, who are meek and submissive to His control, and who hunger and thirst above all else for righteousness.  The way of mercy is the way of humility, repentance, surrender, and holiness.” 

            An example that we surely do not want to follow comes from Numbers 23:10 “"Who can count the dust of Jacob, Or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright, And let my end be like his!"  Balaam is the one speaking here and we want to focus in on the last part of the verse to understand what a Puritan commentator observed from this statement as he observed that “Balaam wanted to die like the righteous, but he did not want to live like the righteous.  Many people want God’s mercy but not on God’s terms.”

            It was a few SD’s before this one that I wrote about a story of the Triune God getting together before the angels and the world were created.  I wish now to quote from MacArthur’s commentary that seems to go along with that story:  “God has both absolute and relative attributes.  His absolute attributes—such as love, truth, and holiness—have characterized Him from all eternity.  They were characteristic of Him before He created angels, or the world, or man.  But His relative attributes—such as mercy, justice, and grace—were not expressed until His creatures came into being.  In fact they were not manifest until man, the creature made in His image, sinned and became separated from his Creator.  Apart from sin and evil, mercy, justice, and grace have no meaning.

            “When man fell, God’s love was extended to His fallen creatures in mercy.  And only when they received His mercy can they reflect His mercy.  God is the source of mercy.  ‘For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness (mercy) toward those who fear Him’ (Ps. 103:11).  It is because we have the resource of God’s mercy that Jesus commanded, ‘Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful’ (Luke 6:36).”

            Now we will look at a quote from Donald Barnhouse who writes:

“When Jesus Christ died on the cross, all the work of God for man’s salvation passed out of the realm of prophecy and became historical fact.  God has now had mercy upon us.  For anyone to pray, ‘God have mercy on me’ is the equivalent of asking Him to repeat the sacrifice of Christ.  All the mercy that God ever will have on man He has already had, when Christ died.  That is the totality of mercy.  There could not be any more…The fountain is now opened, and it is flowing, and it continues to flow freely.”  (This quotation comes from Barnhouse’s commentary on Romans written in 1983.)

            There is no way that we can have the blessing of mercy apart from the Blesser, it just cannot happen any other way.  There is no way that we can even meet the condition apart from the One who has set the condition.  God blesses us when we are merciful to others, and we are able to be merciful to others because we have already received the mercy that came from salvation we received from God, so see it is all about God.  When we share the mercy that we have received we “shall receive mercy” even beyond what we already have.

            MacArthur concludes this section by writing “We never sing more truthfully than when we sing, ‘Mercy there was great and grace was free; pardon thee was multiplied to me; there my burdened soul found liberty, at Calvary.’”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The more that I study the Bible the more that I realize that it is all about God and His glory, that I can do nothing without His Spirit working in me to do the things that God has planned for me to do, and that makes me just the hose that the water flows through me through the power of the Holy Spirit.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to seek contentment, humility and joy as I study His Word each day, and to, by His grace show mercy to others.

5/8/2020 10:45 AM