PT-4 “The Seriousness of His Commission” (2 Tim. 4:1)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/29/2025 7:54 AM

 

My Worship Time                                         Focus:  PT-4 “The Seriousness of His Commission”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  2 Timothy 4:1

 

            Message of the verse:  “1 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom:”

 

            This morning I continue looking at this first verse of the 4^th chapter of 2 Timothy, and as already noted, this particular judgment will be the bema seat judgment of all believers, both the living and the dead, after Christ Jesus takes them to be with Himself at the Rapture (1 Thess. 4:13-18).  I have to say again that when the Lord Jesus Christ, through His Holy Spirit was beginning to work seriously in my life the Rapture was one of those things that He used to bring me to Himself, to save me from my sins.  I had never heard about the Rapture before that winter day in Casselberry Florida where I was listening to Hal Lindsey’s sermons which had to do with his very famous book “The Late Great Planet Earth.”  Let us take a moment and look at 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 “13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.”  I have to say that this is a perfect way to bring comfort to a person who is a believer, and I suppose that this section has been used at the funerals of many, many believers who have passed away, and the hope they have is that when the Rapture happens that they will be the first ones who meet the Lord in the air, as those believers who are alive will then soon follow.

 

            Now the apostle exults a few verses later that “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” (2 Tim. 4:8).  It was in light of that same judgment and reward that, in his previous letter, the Apostle Paul admonished Timothy to “keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Tim. 6:14).  Now in his letter to his fellow believer, Titus which was written perhaps a year before he wrote 2 Timothy, Paul wrote, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great “God and Savior, Christ Jesus” (Titus 2:11-13).

 

            John MacArthur writes “A preacher’s ultimate accountability is not to a board, a local church, a denomination, or any other human institution, no matter how doctrinally sound and godly it may be, but to the Lord, who has called and empowered him and who one day will judge him.  Paul both preached and lived in the light of that truth.  He could therefore ask Galatian believers rhetorically, ‘Am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God?  Or am I a bond-servant of Christ’ (Gal. 1:10).  For the sake of example, a faithful minister is concerned about the things in his life and ministry that others can see.  But he is supremely concerned about the things that only the Lord can see.  And probably more often than not, the quality of the things that only God can see will eventually become evident in the quality of the things that men can see.”

 

Spiritual Meaning for my Life Today:  I have never in my life said that I was a Pastor, but those things that are highlighted in yellow above surely can fit into my life, as it can in all believers’ lives.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust the Lord through His Holy Spirit to write the things in my Spiritual Diaries that are always the truth, and then use that truth in the lives of those who read them.  I never ever want to hurt anyone’s walk with the Lord by writing lies, only the TRUTH.

 

6/29/2025 8:23 AM

PT-4 “Introduction to Jude”

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/28/2025 7:15 PM

 

Focus:  PT-4 “Introduction to Jude”

           

            I explained in yesterday evening’s SD that I am pretty much starting over in the book of Jude as when I ordered the commentary from John MacArthur on 2 Peter that Jude was included in the book, and since I had studied Jude using Dr. Warren Wiersbe’s commentary about 12 years ago I decided to use MacArthur’s commentary to help me better understand this second to last chapter in the New Testament.

 

            In this evening’s SD I want to continue to quote from John MacArthur’s commentary’s introduction to the book of Jude.  I think that is very important to understand what a book in the Word of God is about before one takes the time to study it, and that is why I am taking the time to quote from John MacArthur’s commentaries introduction so we can best understand what we are about to study.  I have been doing some studying on this next to the last book of the Bible and the more that I look into it the more I can understand the importance of this letter, a letter that was written by our Lord’s step brother who came to know Jesus as his Lord and Savior after the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave.  As I think about this I wonder how much his mother Mary had to do with this, along with the salvation of her son James too.  I guess that will be something that we may find out in heaven.

 

DATE AND PLACE OF WRITING

 

            “There is nothing in the epistle itself that indicates when it was written.  Those who deny that Jude wrote it usually date it in the second century.  In support of that late date, they argue that Jude 17 speaks of the apostolic age as long past.”  “17 But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  “They also argue that the false teachers described in the epistle were second-century Gnostics.  But Jude 17 merely suggests that most of the apostles (perhaps all except John) were dead; it says nothing about how long ago they had died.  In fact, verse 18 implies that Jude’s readers had heard some of the apostles preach, so they could not have been dead very long.”  “18 that they were saying to you, "In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.’”  “Nor were the false teachers of Jude’s day second-century Gnostics (see the discussion under ‘Occasion’ below).  A second-century date is also difficult to harmonize with the early attestation to Jude in the writings of the church fathers (see ‘External Attestation’ above).

 

            “Others place Jude in the apostolic age (i.e., before the deaths of Peter and Paul), possibly as early as the midfifties of the first century.  But since Jude was probably written after 2 Peter (see ‘The Relation of Jude to 2 Peter’ below), it was not likely to have been written before Peter’s death (see ‘Date, Place of Writing, and Destination’ in the Introduction to 2 Peter in this volume).  Since Jude does not use the destruction of Jerusalem (A.D. 70) as an illustration of God’s judgment of the ungodly, he probably wrote his epistle before that event.  The most likely date for Jude, then, is the period between Peter’s death and the destruction of Jerusalem (C. A. D. 68-70).

 

            “It is not known where Jude was when he penned this epistle.  Since his brother James headed the Jerusalem church, it is possible that though Jude traveled in his ministry, Jerusalem was his home base.  If that were the case, he may have written his epistle from there.” 

 

            Above MacArthur asks us to look at “Date, Place of Writing, and Destination” from 2 Peter’s introduction and so I will quote that here and then I want to look at one more small section before I stop this evening. 

 

DATE, PLACE OF WRITING, AND DESTINATION (2 PETER)

 

            “According to tradition, peter suffered martyrdom near the end of Nero’s persecution.  Because Nero died in A.D. 68, Peter’s death must have taken place before that time.  Second Peter appears to have been written shortly before the apostle’s death (1:14), perhaps in A.D. 67 or 68.  Peter does not say where he was when he wrote this epistle.  But since his death was imminent, and he was martyred in Rome, he probably wrote it while in prison there.  Unlike the first epistle, 2 Peter does not name its recipients.  However, since this was the second letter he had written them (3:1), they were likely the same people (or at least some of the same people) to whom 1 Peter was addressed, believers who lived in ‘Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia’ (1 Peter 1:1), provinces located in Asia Minor (modern Turkey).”

 

RECIPIENTS

 

            “The specific church or churches to which Jude addressed his epistle are not known.  In light of his choice of illustrations from the Old Testament and the Jewish apocrypha, his readers likely were predominantly Jewish believers.”

 

            There are two more parts to MacArthur’s introduction on Jude and so it looks like I will do one tomorrow, and one on Monday, Lord willing.

 

6/28/2025 7:48 PM  

 

PT-3 “The Seriousness of His Commission” (2 Timothy 4:1)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/28/2025 9:20 AM

 

My Worship Time                                         Focus:  PT-3 “The Seriousness of His Commission”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  2 Timothy 4:1

 

            Message of the verse:  “1 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom:”

 

            I have been thinking about the name that John MacArthur gives to this first verse of the fourth chapter of 2 Timothy, thinking about the word “seriousness” and to me that makes this verse very important, very important to Timothy for sure, and then very important to all believers who read this verse.  Paul is charging Timothy in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and that makes it very serious.

 

            I will now begin with a quotation from John MacArthur’s commentary:  “In marked contrast to human courts, in the bar of divine judgment—whether for reward, separation, or condemnation—there will be no argument, no new evidence to be revealed, no cross-examination, no witnesses to cal, no excuses, no jury of peers, and no appeal.  In the most absolute way, the Judge’s decision will be final.”  Now I don’t usually disagree with what I find in MacArthur’s commentaries, but let me just say something that I have learned a long while ago and it has to do with the “Great White Throne Judgments,” the judgment that all who come to are lost and will very soon go into hell.  What I learned and I don’t know if this will happen, but it does seem like it may come about, and that is that each person in this judgment will have an opportunity to say why they think they should not be there.  There could be comments like “I was very helpful to my neighbors when they needed my help.”  Things like that, however the thing that all who are at this judgment is that they never truly confessed that they were sinners, and then called upon the Lord Jesus Christ to save them from their sins, so that they could then follow Him, doing the works that He had planned for them.  I am about to put a fairly long quote on my SD which comes from the 25^th chapter of the book of Matthew, which is a part of the Olivet Discourse, actually the last part of it and I think that this is where I got the idea of unbelievers being able to tell the Lord what they had done for Him.

 

31 "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 “All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33  and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37 "Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ 41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ 44 “Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ 45 “Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’”

 

            Now I am not sure if this will happen after the Tribulation ends or if this is a part of the Great White Throne Judgment, as when the Lord returns to planet earth at the end of the Tribulation period there will be a separation of the believers and the non believers, as the believers will go into the kingdom, the Millennial Kingdom and the unbelievers will go to sheol, and once the Great White Throne judgment happens then all of those unbelievers from the beginning of time will then go into hell.

 

            Well I did not get too far this morning into this first verse in 2 Timothy four, and as I look at this commentary there is still pretty much to get to, and so I will end this SD with two more paragraphs from MacArthur’s commentary.

 

            “When we stand before our omniscient Lord, He already will know, far better than we ourselves can know even in our most honest moments, exactly how faithful and godly our life has been.  Not a year or a month, not an hour, minute, or second escapes His notice or His judgment.  Paul could say with complete honesty, ‘I am conscious of nothing against myself.’  Nonetheless, he went on to say, ‘Yet I am not by this acquitted; but one who examines me is the Lord.  Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God’ (1 Cor. 4:4-5).

 

            The grammatical construction of 2 Timothy 4:1 suggests the idea of imminency, that Christ Jesus…is about to judge momentarily, and gives a second reason for Paul’s solemn charge to Timothy.

 

Spiritual Meaning for my Life Today:  I realize the imminency of getting the Gospel out and that surely is one of the main reasons that I spend time in studying the Word of God and writing these Spiritual Diaries each day as I am now doing three each day.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust that the Holy Spirit will get these Spiritual Diaries to those He desires to get them in order to bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

6/28/2025 10:13 AM

PT-3 “Introduction to Jude”

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/27/2025 10:05 PM

 

Focus:  PT-3 “Introduction to Jude”

           

            I explained in yesterday evening’s SD that I am pretty much starting over in the book of Jude as when I ordered the commentary from John MacArthur on 2 Peter that Jude was included in the book, and since I had studied Jude using Dr. Warren Wiersbe’s commentary about 12 years ago I decided to use MacArthur’s commentary to help me better understand this second to last chapter in the New Testament.

 

            In this evening’s SD I want to continue to quote from John MacArthur’s commentary’s introduction to the book of Jude. 

 

AUTHOR

 

            “The New Testament lists eight men named Judas (‘Jude’ is an English form of the Greek word ‘Judas,’ which translates the Hebrew name ‘Judah’).  The name was extremely popular, both because of Judah, the founder of the tribe of Judah, and because of Judas, the hero of the Maccabean revolt against the Greek ruler Antiochus Epiphanes in the second century B. C.  Of the eight mentioned in the New Testament, only two are associated with a man named James (v. 1) and hence plausible candidates to have written this epistle:  the apostle Jude, and Jude the half brother of the Lord.  The apostle Jude can be ruled out, since he was the son, not the brother of James (Luke 6:16; Acts 1:13; the KJV translation ‘Judas the brother of James’ in those two verses is incorrect [the NASB correctly renders the same Greek construction ‘James the son of Alphaeus’ in keeping with normal Greek usage]).  Further, if Judas the son of James were the author, he would have identified himself as an apostle, since he was one.  The writer of Jude, however, distinguished himself from the apostles (v. 17).

 

            “The James with whom Jude identified himself was the Lord’s brother (Gal. 1:19), the head of the Jerusalem church and author of the epistle of James.  After the martyrdom of the apostle James (Acts 12:2) there was no other James in the early church who could be referred to simply by name without further qualification.  Thus Jude is the only New Testament writer who identifies himself by family relationship.

 

            “Ironically, the man who penned the sharpest condemnation of apostates in Scripture shares the same name as the most notorious of all apostates, Judas Iscariot.  That  may help explain why nearly all modern English translations use ‘Jude’ instead of ‘Judas’ in this epistle.

 

            “Jude’s deep humility is reflected in the fact that he, like his brother James (James 1:1), referred to himself as a ‘bond-servant of Jesus Christ’ (v. 1) rather than ‘the brother of Jesus.’  Like his other brothers (including James), Jude did not believe in the deity and messiahship of Jesus until after the Resurrection (John 7:5; Acts 1:14; cf. 1 Cor. 15:7, where ‘James’ may be the Lord’s half brother). After the resurrection, Jesus’ relationships with His siblings changed from brother to Lord and Messiah (cf. Mark 3:32-35; John 2:4).

 

            “Little is known about Jude apart from this epistle.  According to 1 Corinthians 9:5 he was married and had an itinerant ministry as an evangelist.  Church history relates the story (possibly legendary) of how Jude’s grandsons were brought before the Roman emperor Domitian.  The emperor questioned their loyalty because they were descendants of the Davidic royal line.  But upon learning that they were simple farmers, the emperor contemptuously dismissed them (Eusebius Ecclesiastical History, 3. 19-20).  Apart from that account, tradition is silent regarding Jude.

 

            “Some critics deny that Jude the brother of James wrote this epistle, claiming there is internal evidence that the book dates from after his lifetime.  But that is not the case (see the discussion under ‘Date and Place of Writing’ below).  It is highly unlikely that a forger would write a book impersonating a relatively unknown figure such as Jude; pseudepigraphic works were attributed to well-known apostles, such as Peter or Paul.  Nor would a forger pretending to be Jude have failed to identify himself as the Lord’s brother.

 

            “Other unbelieving critics insist that the Greek of the epistle is too good for a simple Galilean peasant to have composed it.  But as noted in the introduction to 2 Peter, Galilee was near the predominantly Gentile region known as the Decapolis, which was east and south of the Sea of Galilee.  There is also evidence that Greek was commonly spoken throughout Palestine in the first century, (cf. Robert L. Thomas and Stanley N. Gundry, ‘The Languages Jesus Spoke,’ in A Harmony of the Gospels [Chicago: Moody, 1978], 309-12).  Thus, dogmatic presumptions regarding Jude’s competency in Greek (or lack thereof) are simply unwarranted.  It is also possible that Jude worked with an amanuensis, as Peter did when he wrote 1 Peter (1 Peter 5:12).

 

            “Still others, especially in the early church, questioned Jude’s use of apocryphal material (1 Enoch and possibly the assumption of Moses).  But the mere fact that Jude cited those works does not imply that he endorsed everything in them.  Paul quoted Greek poets (Acts 17:28; 1 Cor. 15:33; Titus 1:12) and alluded to extrabiblical Jewish tradition (1 Cor. 10:4; 2 Tim. 3:8).  Yet he obviously did not endorse everything in those works; neither did he consider them to be inspired Scripture.  Jude, like Paul, cited the familiar apocryphal works by way of illustration.  There is no indication that he regarded them as divinely inspired.”

 

            Lord willing, we will look at “Date And Place of Writing” in tomorrow evening’s SD.

6/27/2025 10:51 PM

 

PT-2 “The Seriousness of His Commission” (2 Tim. 4:1)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/27/2025 8:20 AM

 

My Worship Time                                         Focus:  PT-2 “The Seriousness of His Commission”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  2 Timothy 4:1

 

            Message of the verse:  “1 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom:”

 

            I want to begin this SD by looking at the phrase in the presence of as this parallels a common format used in Roman courts and legal documents and would have been familiar to Timothy, and also others of that day.  Now a typical summons might have begun: “The case will be drawn up against you in the court at Hierapolis, in the presence of the honorable judge Festus, chief magistrate.”

 

            Now service of Christ Jesus is not only done before His constant watchful eye but it also will be subject to the judgment of this infinitely greater Magistrate, who is to judge the living and the dead.  Here are some verses that go along with that: (Matt. 25:34-41; Acts 10:42; 17:30-31).

 

            John MacArthur writes the following in his commentary on 2 Timothy 4:1 “In the New Testament, krino (to judge) has numerous shades of meaning, ranging from the broad and usually positive sense of forming an opinion or of resolving an issue (as in Luke 7:43; Acts 4:19) to the immeasurably more serious and negative sense of condemning or damning (as in John 12:48; Acts 13:27; 2 Thess. 2:12).

 

            “The New Testament reveals three distinct judgments of human beings that Christ will conduct:  the bema seat judgment of believers only (1 Cor. 3:12-15; 2 Cor. 5:10); the sheep and goats judgment of the nations, in which believers will be separated from unbelievers (Matt. 25:31-33); and the great white throne judgment of unbelievers only (Rev. 20:11-15).”  I have to say that the only judgment for believers in the church age will be the bema seat judgment, and that will go on in heaven right after the rapture, and will take place in heaven while the Tribulation period is going on, on the earth.  So what will believers be judged for at this bema seat judgment?  My thoughts are that in eternity past God has set forth things that the believers are to do, and then once a person is saved he or she is given gifts of the Holy Spirit in order to aid believers in doing what God has called for them to do in eternity past.  How believers do what they are called to do for the cause of Christ will determine what kind of rewards they will receive during this period in heaven, as stated right after the rapture.

 

            Now in this present text that we are looking at, Paul’s focus is on the Lord’s judgment of believers, all of whom one day will “appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10; cf. 1 Cor. 3:12-15).  These are the verses of what I wrote about in the previous paragraph.  MacArthur adds that “the emphasis is not so much on the preacher’s proclaiming of his own ministry in light of that judgment.”

 

            That is as far as I am going to go in this SD, as Lord willing I will pick up where I left off in tomorrow’s SD.

 

Spiritual Meaning for My Life today:  It is my desire to continue to write these Spiritual Diaries and continue to put them onto my blogs so that the Holy Spirit of God will use them to bring glory to my Lord Jesus Christ.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  It is my desire to please the Lord by doing what God has called me to do in eternity past, as I seek to understand how I can bring glory to my Lord Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit as He leads me in doing what I was called to do.

 

6/27/2025 8:47 AM

 

 

 

           

 

PT-2 “Introduction to Jude”

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/25/2025 9:40 PM

 

Focus:  PT-2 “Introduction to Jude”

           

            I explained in yesterday evening’s SD that I am pretty much starting over in the book of Jude as when I ordered the commentary from John MacArthur on 2 Peter that Jude was included in the book, and since I had studied Jude using Dr. Warren Wiersbe’s commentary about 12 years ago I decided to use MacArthur’s commentary to help me better understand this second to last chapter in the New Testament.

 

            I continue to quote from his introduction to Jude and am taking it one section at a time, and tonight I will look at “External Attestation.”

 

“External Attestation.”

 

            “The external evidence for the existence and authenticity of Jude is more complete than it is for 2 Peter.  There are even possible allusions to it in the Apostolic Fathers (The Didache, Clements’s Epistle to the Corinthians, The Epistle of Barnabas, The Shepherd of Hermas, and Polycarp’s Epistle to the Philippians), but they are too vague in conclusive.  By the late second century, however, the evidence is undeniable.  For example, the Muratorian Canon (a late second-century list of New Testament books) includes Jude as canonical.  At about the same time, the Christian philosopher Athenagoras reflected an awareness of Jude’s epistle in his defense of Christianity (which he addressed to Emperor Marcus Aurelius).  Theophilus of Antioch, a contemporary of Athenagoras, was also familiar with the letter.  

 

            “Later in the second century or early in the third, Tertullian referred to the epistle as Scripture and Jude as its author.  At about that same time, Clement of Alexandria wrote a commentary on the Scriptures, including Jude (cf. the discussion in the Introduction to 2 Peter in this volume).  Clements’s student, Origen, acknowledged that some in his day had doubts about Jude authenticity.  Origen, however, did not share those doubts.  Instead, he quoted Jude frequently.  The third-century Bodmer papyrus P72 also contains Jude, indicating that the third-century church affirmed it to be part of the canon.

 

            “In the fourth century, Eusebius included Jude among the books whose authenticity was questioned by some (he did the same with 2 Peter).  He did not, however, list it as one of the spurious books. Eusebius also acknowledged that Jude was accepted by many in the church.  Later in the fourth century, Didymus the Blind (who headed the Christian training school at Alexandria) defended Jude’s authenticity against its detractors.  Those who questioned the epistle primarily did so because it quotes from the Jewish apocrypha.  Nonetheless, the book was commonly accepted by the fourth-century church—as evidenced by the testimonies of Athanasius, the Council of Laodicea, Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory of Nazianzus, Epiphanius, and Jerome (each of whom regarded Jude as canonical).”

 

            I have to say that this section of MacArthur’s commentary tested my typing skills with all of those names that I have not heard of many of them.  MacArthur puts much time in writing his commentary and I appreciate his hard work.  Looks like tomorrow I will talking about the Author and I am looking forward to that, hope you are too.

 

6/26/2025 9:29 PM

 

 

 

PT-1 "The Seriousness of his Commision" (2 Timothy 4:1)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/26/2025 9:36 AM

 

My Worship Time                                         Focus:  PT-1 “The Seriousness of His Commission”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  2 Timothy 4:1

 

            Message of the verse:  “1 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom:”

 

            I mentioned in my last SD on 2 Timothy that I did not know how I would go after taking a lot of time in quoting from John MacArthur’s sermon, but I have decided to go back to looking at his commentary beginning with the first verse of the fourth chapter of 2 Timothy.

 

            Now it is good to remember that this is the last letter that Paul would write that would go into the Bible, as he may have written other letters after this but would not go into the Word of God.  Also remember that Paul would soon die after writing this letter so I think that he would want to write some very meaningful things to his son in the faith who would be doing things to further the gospel of Jesus Christ is similar ways that Paul did.  So please keep this in mind as you think about this last chapter of the last letter by Paul that is found in the Word of God.

 

            As I look at this verse I can see that Paul first points out the seriousness of Timothy’s divine commission.  Solemnly charge translates a form of the verb diamarturomai, which here carries the idea of giving a forceful order or directive, according to John MacArthur. Paul has twice before used the verb to admonish Timothy found in 1 Timothy 5:21; and 2 Timothy 2:14 and we can compare 1 Timothy 6:13.  Paul was what could be called the aged warrior of the faith, for whose godly life was totally committed to the service of Christ, and this certainly can be seen as we go through the last half of the book of Acts, and also from his other letter found in the New Testament.  Paul here seeks to capture Timothy’s undivided attention for what he is about to say to him in this letter.  The devotion of Paul himself was not unlike that of a more recent Pastor, John Knox, who prayed the following “Give me Scotland or I die,” and yet who when later compelled to preach locked himself in his room and wept for day because of the fearful seriousness of that calling.  Paul’s deepest desire for Timothy was for him to share that seriousness and devotion.

 

            John MacArthur writes “The solemnity of Paul’s charge is drawn from the fact that it is tied directly to the awesome majesty of the One who commissions men to divine service.  Those who are called to proclaim and interpret the Word of God have the most profound responsibility that the Lord places on any man. It is for that reason that James warns, ‘Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter judgment.  For we all stumble in many ways.  If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well’ (James 3:1-2).  No human being apart from Jesus has ever spoken perfectly, not even the prophets or apostles, except when recording God’s revealed Word.  James readily included himself (‘for we all stumble’) among those who speak imperfectly and who therefore must take special care to prevent their imperfections from clouding their testimony and besmirching their Lord’s name.”  The problem as to why we stumble is because of what happened in the Garden of Eden many years ago when Eve was tempted and fell after Satan tricked her, and then her husband followed, and this every one born has what the Bible describes as a sin-nature.

 

            MacArthur goes on to write “That responsibility is especially fearsome in that it is carried out in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus.  The Greek construction also allows the rendering ‘in the presence of God, even Christ Jesus.’  That wording seems especially appropriate in this context because of Paul’s following reference to Christ as Judge.  Jesus said, Not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son’ (John 5:22; cf. vv. 26-27).  It is not, of course, that a believer ever lives or ministers apart from the presence of the Father and the Holy Spirit.  But Paul here emphasizes the believer’s unique accountability to the Son—not as Savior and Lord but as Judge.  The point of the first half of the sentence is that every minister who is called by Christ Jesus, the Son, constantly ministers under the omniscient scrutiny of His divine presence.”  Now as I looked at the verse that is mentioned above from John’s gospel my thoughts are that it was because of the death of Jesus Christ to pay for all sins, however one has to confess that they are a sinner, and recognize the Jesus Christ died to pay for their sins, that He thus has the right to all judgment. 

 

            Spiritual Meaning for My Life Today:  Knowing that Jesus Christ has paid for my sins and that the Holy Spirit has called me to His salvation, then I desire to do what He called me to do in eternity past.  As I look at what Paul is writing to Timothy then I think that is what Paul is telling him to do, to do what the Lord called him to do.

 

            My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust that the Lord through His Spirit will guide me to do the things that He called me to do.

 

6/26/2025 10:15 AM