PT-1 "Peace with God and With His People" (Eph. 3:14-17)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/5/2019 10:11 AM

 

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  PT-1 “Peace with God and With His People”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                             Reference:  Ephesians 2:14-17

 

            Message of the verses:  “14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. 17 AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE

NEAR;”

 

            We looked at Ephesians 2:13 in our last SD, and not today we begin what will probably be a rather long time in these very important verses found in Ephesians 2:14-17.

 

            John MacArthur begins this section with the following:  “The Greek text has only one pronoun, autos (‘He’), but it is in the emphatic position, as reflected by the addition of ‘Himself’ in many English translations.  The writer emphasizes that Jesus alone is our peace) cf. Isa. 9:6); there is no other source.  What laws, ordinances, ceremonies, sacrifices, and good deeds could bring men into harmony with God or with each other.  In the sacrifice of ‘Himself’ on the cross, Jesus accomplished both.”

 

            Let us look at now at is sin, the cause of all conflict and division? It certainly is, and it is also the enemy of all peace.  I have mentioned in a few SD’s since the beginning of this year that one of my goals for this year is to memorize and meditate on Romans 12:3 which actually speaks of selfishness, and selfishness is basically divisive and disruptive.  I know people that are the most selfless people, doing things at the drop of a hat to care for others, not looking out for themselves.  I think that it may be a gift from the Lord, and others like me have to really work hard at it.  Selfishness is sin for when we look out for ourselves when we should be looking out for others it certainly does not bring about a peaceful environment. 

 

            Let us look at what James said about this:  “1 What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures (James 4:1-3).”

 

            Well how then do we get peace?  Peace can only come when self dies, and there is only one place where self can die, and that is at the foot of the cross of Christ.  Paul writes the following in Galatians 2:20 “"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.’”

 

            I will close with a short story from the pages of John MacArthur’s commentary on Ephesians:  “During World War II a group of American soldiers was exchanging fire with some Germans who occupied a farm house.  The family who lived in t he house had run to the barn for protection.  Suddenly their little three-year-old daughter became frightened and ran out into the field between the two groups of soldiers.  When they saw the little girl, both sides immediately ceased firing until she was safe.  A little child brought peace, brief as it was, as almost nothing else could have done.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life:  I am thankful for the verses in James and also in Galatians as I believe that it is the Lord who is the One who wants me to dwell on selflessness this year and then continue to learn more about it in future years if the Lord tarries.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to continue to work in my heart to make me a more selfless person.

 

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Jesus” (Matthew 9:12).

 

Today’s Bible question:  “The Holy City is referred to as the new what?”

 

Answer in our next SD.

 

1/5/2019 10:40 AM

Intro to "Unity in Christ" (Eph. 2:13-18)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/4/2019 12:11 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Intro to “Unity in Christ”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Eph. 2:13-18

 

            Message of the Verses:  “13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. 17 AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR; 18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.”

 

            We have spent a few days looking at the alienation that we had with God, the social and spiritual alienation.  As we now move to these verses in which we will begin to look at how Jesus Christ cared for our alienation when He came to earth and then died on the cross for those who have believed.

 

            Notice the highlighted words “who formerly were far off” as seen in verse thirteen.  This speaks of the Gentiles who had come to know Christ.  The words “far off” were common words used by Jewish Rabbis to talk about Gentiles, speaking of those who were far away from the true God.  “Creating the praise of the lips. Peace, peace to him who is far and to him who is near," Says the LORD, "and I will heal him’ (Isa. 57:19).”  “"For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself’ (Acts 2:39).”   By the way this was from Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost, so he had to be talking about Gentiles coming to salvation also.  John MacArthur writes “Jews on the other hand, considered themselves and their converts to be ‘brought near’ to God because of their covenant relation with Him and the presence of His Temple in Jerusalem.  But ‘in Christ’ every person, Jew and Gentile alike, are ‘brought near’ to God ‘by the blood of Christ.  And that nearness is not an external dispensational, national, geographic, or ceremonial nearness—but is a spiritual intimacy of union with the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 1:24).”  “But to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

 

            If we had to name the biggest problem of disunity and divisions it would have to be sin, for sin causes people to have conflict with others because of things like where they live, or what color is their skin, or what religion they follow.  When we think of the Godhead and the reason that there is no disunity in it is because there is no sin there.  I heard a sermon one time where the speaker said that if there was only One person in the Godhead then there would be no love.  This makes sense to me, for as we look at the different functions in the Godhead there is love between the Persons of the Godhead.  Think for a moment about salvation and the different functions that each Person of the Godhead had to do with it.  The Father chose individuals for salvation before the earth was formed, the Son came to earth to purchase His bride by dying on the cross, and the Holy Spirit is the One who gives an effectual call to those that God chose and Christ died for.  Now when you think about this truth it is apparent that God is the One who receives all the glory for our salvation.  The same is true with the creation of the world as all members of the Godhead were also involved. 

 

            Jesus made it possible to have perfect unity in the sight of God for all believers by dying on the cross for our sins as He shed His own blood as seen in verse 13.  All who trust Him for salvation are freed from sin now in their new nature and they will be practically and then permanently freed from sin in their new bodies when they meet the Lord, what a day that will be.  MacArthur adds “The cleansing value of the blood of Christ immediately washes away the penalty of sin and ultimately washes away even its presence.”  I for one am truly very much looking forward to that.

 

            It is because of the fact that we are “in Christ” that the great foundational barrier of sin has been removed, and then every other barrier has also been removed.  Those of us who are in Christ are one in each other even though many times we don’t really live like it or even totally understand it.  “17 But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17).”

 

            It is because our sin is removed that Christ gives us peace not only with others but we then also have access to God.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I suppose that if all believers did not have the “old nature” (or as some call it the “flesh”) then there would be no disunity with the body of Christ.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To continue to fight the good fight, and to remember the truth of Romans 12:3, and to remember that truth is more important than emotions.

 

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:9-15).

 

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘They that be whole need not a physical but they that are sick’?”

 

Answer in our next SD.

 

1/4/2019 1:07 PM

 

           

 

 

PT-3 "Spiritual Alienation" (Eph. 2:12-13)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/3/2019 11:15 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-3 “Spiritual Alienation”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Eph. 2:12-13

 

            Message of the verses:  “12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

 

            The fourth reason that the Gentiles were spiritually alienated was because they were hopeless, as seen in verse 12 “having no hope.”  As we combine the first three reasons for alienation, which are “Those who have no Christ, no commonwealth, and no covenants of promise also have no hope.”  I have mentioned a few times when teaching the Word of God that many times in the Word of God “hope” is a noun, and not a verb.  We hope for something that we have in Christ because we know that it is true.  John MacArthur writes “True hope can be based only on a true promise, on confidence in someone who can perform what he promises.  Hope is a profound blessing that gives meaning and security to life.  Living without hope of future joy and enrichment reduces man to a piece of meaningless protoplasm.  [‘the living part of a cell that is surrounded by a plasma membrane’]. Hope is the consummation of life, the confident assurance that we have a blessed future in the plan of God.  The saddest feature of Job’s great lament is found in these words:  ‘My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and come to an end without hope’ (Job 7:6).  The opposite of that pessimistic outlook is the joyous truth celebrated among the Jews and stated succinctly in Psalm 146:5—‘How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God!’  ‘The hope of Israel’ (Acts 28:20) was the hope of eternal salvation and glory.”  It is my desire (hope) that this quote will help you have a better understanding of exactly what the word “hope” means to believers in Jesus Christ.  Oh we can say something like “I hope that the sun will shine today” and if you live in Northeast Ohio like I do then that is truly a verb and not a noun for we have the second least amount of sunshine in the U. S.

 

            If someone offered to give you a lot of money, money that you needed and then when it came down to them giving it to you they could not do it because they didn’t have the means then that would be false hope.  Israel was able to have supreme confidence in the promises of God because He is able to do what He says He will do.  Not the case with the Gentiles, as they had no such promises and therefore had no ground for hope.  In Paul’s day not too much unlike our day people have little idea what will happen to them once they die, and this is not the case with believers in Jesus Christ.  These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life (1 John 5:13).” 

 

            We have one more reason for alienation of the Gentiles and it is probably the most important one and that that they “were without God in the World.”  Paul spoke of this in Acts 17 when he preached on Mars Hill in Athens as he told the Greeks that they worshiped many gods, and yet in order not to miss out they also worshiped the “unknown God” which Paul based his sermon on telling them who this unknown God was, but unfortunately not many listed to him. 

 

            Why were the Gentiles without God?  They were without God because they did not want Him.  The Lord did not reject the Gentiles as Paul points in Romans 2:11 “For there is no partiality with God.”  They did not want anything to do with God, and not the other way around.  The Jews had the Word of God written on stones as seen in Exodus, but the Gentiles had it written in their hearts in the form of their conscience, but they did nothing with it.  “19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse (Romans 1:19-20).”

 

            One of the reasons that God called the Jews was to be a missionary to the Gentiles, which sadly they did not do, but how about us as believers in Jesus Christ are we falling short of giving out the Gospel to those who need it?

 

            John MacArthur concludes this section by writing:  “There will never be an end to alienation until Christ returns and by His own power breaks down the barriers of separation.  Apart from Christ there not only can be no harmony with God but no harmony among men.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:   “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence (1 Pet. 3:15).

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  It is my desire to learn more about Romans 12:3.

 

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Faith, utterance, knowledge, diligence, love” (2 Corinthians 3:9-15).

 

Today’s Bible question:  “What is the rock foundation on which we should build?”

 

Answer in our next SD.

 

1/3/2019 12:31 PM

 

 

 

 

 

.

PT-2 "Spiritual Alienation" (Eph. 2:12-13)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/2/2019 10:14 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-2 “Spiritual Alienation”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Ephesians 2:12-13

 

            Message of the verses:  “12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

 

            We are talking about five ways we were spiritually alienated from God when we were unbelievers, and today we look at the second one and that is that we were “excluded from the commonwealth of Israel.” 

 

            When you think about Israel you remember that Israel was a special nation that the Lord began in order to accomplish a number of things.  They were God’s chosen people in order to bless the whole world with as He gave them His Law, and He was actually their King as the nation was a theocracy.  God gave that nation His special blessing, protection, and love.  He gave them His covenants, including the Abrahamic, Davidic covenants.  Not only did He give them His Law, but also a priesthood, His promises, His sacrifices, and also His guidance as seen in Deut. 32:9-14; 33:27-29; Isaiah 63:7-9 and also Amos 3:2).  Let us look at Psalm 147:20 “He has not dealt thus with any nation; And as for His ordinances, they have not known them. Praise the LORD!”  John MacArthur writes “Ezekiel’s description of God’s special care of Israel is powerful.”  We will now look at that from Ezekiel 16:4-14:

 

4  "As for your birth, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing; you were not rubbed with salt or even wrapped in cloths. 5 “No eye looked with pity on you to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you. Rather you were thrown out into the open field, for you were abhorred on the day you were born.  6 "When I passed by you and saw you squirming in your blood, I said to you while you were in your blood, ’Live!’ Yes, I said to you while you were in your blood, ’Live!’ 7 “I made you numerous like plants of the field. Then you grew up, became tall and reached the age for fine ornaments; your breasts were formed and your hair had grown. Yet you were naked and bare. 8 “Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, you were at the time for love; so I spread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness. I also swore to you and entered into a covenant with you so that you became Mine," declares the Lord GOD. 9 “Then I bathed you with water, washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil. 10 “I also clothed you with embroidered cloth and put sandals of porpoise skin on your feet; and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. 11 “I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck. 12 “I also put a ring in your nostril, earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 “Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your dress was of fine linen, silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey and oil; so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. 14 “Then your fame went forth among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of My splendor which I bestowed on you," declares the Lord GOD.”

 

            I have a book which is a commentary on the book of Ezekiel entitled “All Things Weird and Wonderful,” and it is written by Stuart Briscoe.  I like the title of the book and after reading this portion from Ezekiel 16 perhaps you can understand why Briscoe entitled it as he did.

 

            I would suppose that there are two reasons why the Gentile nations did not accept the true God, and one of them, is of course their own fault, but the other is the fault of Israel who thought because that they were so special that their God was theirs alone and therefore did not want to share Him with anyone else.  However if the Gentiles would have accepted the true God then they too could have been a part of that blessed nation and thus would have been a part of all the blessings that God gave to them.  The Gentiles did not receive any special blessing or protection, and the reason for this was because they were outside the dominion of God.  This was the second spiritual alienation that Paul discusses in these verses.

 

            The third alienation was that the Gentiles were without a covenant with God as they were “strangers to the covenants of promise.”  Let us look at the supreme covenant of promise that was given to Abraham:  “I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse.  And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3).”  There are additions from these verses to better help us understand this covenant seen in Genesis 17:7 “7  "I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.”  Genesis 26:3-5 “3 “Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. 4 "I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; 5 because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws.’”  Genesis 28:13-15 “13 And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. 14 "Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.’”  MacArthur adds “Inherent within that one great covenant were the Mosaic, Palestinian, and Davidic covenants—and even the New Covenant (Jer. 31:33).  The covenant with Abraham surrounded and determined all of God’s dealing with Israel.”

 

            I realize that as we look within the covenants that God gave and also renewed His promises were to bless, prosper, multiply, save, and redeem Israel.  However this is a great example where one has to go by truth and not by their emotions, for as we look at the history of Israel we probably don’t see all of these things happening, but in the future they will because God is immutable, and this means that He can never change His mind.  There are other things in these covenants that God promised, and they are to give His people a land, a kingdom, and a King, and to those who believed in Him God promised eternal life and also heaven.

 

            This too is one of the things that Gentiles were alienated from that Paul reminds us of.  There are two more which God willing we will look at least one of them in our next SD.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I continue to learn from the things that I was alienated from and to have some time to think about how wonderful the Lord is, for even though I was alienated from these things God through His great love, faith, and mercy saved me.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I want to continue to look at Romans 12:3 and also remember truth and not emotion as they change but truth does not.

 

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Thirty” (Genesis 41:46).

 

Today’s Bible question:  “List five things in which Paul hoped the Corinthians would abound.”

 

Answer in our next SD.

 

1/2/2019 11:05 AM

PT-1 "Spiritual Alienation" (Eph. 2:12-13)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/1/2019 2:17 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-1 “Spiritual Alienation”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                             Reference:  Ephesians 2:12-13

 

            Message of the verses:  “12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

 

            We move from “Social Alienation” to “Spiritual Alienation” in today’s SD and we will be looking at five different sub-sections from this section, “Separate from Christ;” “Excluded from the commonwealth of Israel;” “Strangers to the covenants of Promise;” “Hopeless, Having no Hope;” fifth and most important “The Gentiles were without God.”  Needless to say this will take some time to go through these different sub-sections.

 

            I think it best to quote the first paragraph of John MacArthur’s commentary on this section to help us see where we will be going:  “A much more important Gentile alienation was spiritual:  ‘remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.’  Although there was no moral difference between Jew and Gentile (as vv. 1-10 show), there was a difference in God’s dealing with them as men.  Before Christ came, the Jews were the people of promise from God, but the Gentiles as a people were cut off from God in five different ways.”  As mentioned this is what we will be looking at for a while.

 

The Gentiles were Christless (“Separate from Christ).

 

            We can now read of how our Savior came to planet earth, and how we believe that He will return to the clouds to take His bride with Him, and then how He will come back to planet earth to end the battle of Armageddon, and then set up His kingdom, this truly gives us hope.  However before Christ came to planet earth, the Gentiles had no hope of any Messiah.  MacArthur adds “The popular Stoic philosophers taught that history repeated itself in three-thousand-year cycles.  At the end of each cycle the universe is burned up and then reborn to repeat the same futile pattern.”

 

            When we think of the goddess Diana, or Atremis which were the gods that the Ephesians worshipped as seen in the book of Acts we can say that these pagan deities were but extensions of men’s own weakness and sins.  Some may get the idea that Diana was a beautiful looking goddess, but that would not be the truth.  This goddess was an ugly beast, with nipples hanging down on which her brood of little beasts suckled. (From MacArthur’s Commentary and from pictures that I looked at.)

 

            We will continue looking at the next sub-section in our next SD, Lord willing.

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today: Looking back from how I was alienated spiritual from the Lord is a good thing to see.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I really don’t make New Year’s resolutions so to say, but I do have goals that I would like to do better at for 2019, and the first one comes from Romans 12:3 which I will publish here “For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.”  There is one more thing that I have added to my prayer list for me and that is that I will do a better job in looking at truth as opposed to emotions.

 

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “1 Corinthians 13.”

 

Today’s Bible question:  “How old was Joseph when he interpreted Pharaoh’s dream?”

 

Answer in our next SD.

 

1/1/2019 2:46 PM

 

 

Social Alienation" (Eph. 2:11-13)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/31/2018 11:00 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  “Social Alienation”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Eph. 2:11-13

 

            Messages of the verses:  “11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called "Uncircumcision" by the so-called "Circumcision," which is performed in the flesh by human hands- 12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

 

            I have mentioned that the past SD’s that these verses were actually an introduction as we talked much about alienation, and so today we want to look at the first part of alienation, and that is “Social Alienation,” and we can see this from verse one where we read that “formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called ‘Uncircumcision’ by the so-called, Circumcision,’ which is performed in the flesh by human hands.”  In this section we see that Paul calls his readers “the Gentiles in the flesh,” and he does this in order to emphasize the physical, and eternal nature of the distinction, and he also calls on them to “remember” exactly who they were before coming to Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.  The Jews used the term “uncircumcision” as a term of ridicule, denouncement, and they use it also as a reproach.  We can see this even from the great OT King, David who called Goliath an “uncircumcised Philistine” as seen in 1 Samuel 17:26.  Circumcision is something that came about as far as the Jewish people are concerned with Abram, when this became part of the covenant that God made with him.  I believe that we can say that this is similar to what Christian baptism is.  I will try to explain:  Both acts are physical, and both acts have a spiritual meaning, which is the most important.  God wanted the hearts of the Jewish people to be circumcised and not just their bodies.  Having their bodies circumcised did not do anything for their spiritual condition, and neither does an unbeliever have anything happen to them as a result of baptism.  I for one have been baptized three times, and the third time that I was baptized it was done n the NT church where I joined as a result of being baptized.  When a person is baptized it should only be done after they became believers, after they are saved.  Standing in the waters of baptism gives us a picture of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  I remember when I was baptized in April of 1978 and as I went under the water I saw in my mind me lying in a casket.   It took me a while to tell my Pastor about this and his reply was “I didn’t see it.”  I guess he did not want to talk about my experience, but going under the water pictures the death of Christ and being raised up pictures the resurrection, and so it seemed kind of normal to me.

 

            It was because that the Gentiles did not have the physical mark of circumcision that they thought that they were better than Gentiles, and looked down at them.  John MacArthur writes “Paul carries a tone of disdain for such Jewish hatred, as evidenced in his choice of words to describe Jews—the so-called ‘Circumcision’ (lit., ‘in the flesh, made by hand’).  He thereby takes exception to Jewish boasting by emphasizing that circumcision is also only external (cf. Lev. 26:41; Deut 10:16; Jer. 4:4; Ezek. 44:7).” 

 

Lev. 26:41 “41 I also was acting with hostility against them, to bring them into the land of their enemies-or if their uncircumcised heart becomes humbled so that they then make amends for their iniquity, “

Deut. 10:16 “"So circumcise your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer.”

Jer. 4:4 “4 “Circumcise yourselves to the LORD And remove the foreskins of your heart, Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Or else My wrath will go forth like fire And burn with none to quench it, Because of the evil of your deeds.’”

Ezek. 44:7 “7  when you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary to profane it, even My house, when you offered My food, the fat and the blood; for they made My covenant void-this in addition to all your abominations.”

 

            I want, now to look at a few verses in the NT to show that circumcision was never a mark of personal relationship to God:  “28  For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. 29 But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God (Rom. 2:28-29).”

Gal. 5:6 & 6:15 “6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.”  “15 For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.”

 

            As we look further into the book of Romans Paul points out that Abraham was saved before he was circumcised, making the point that physical circumcision was not the important part, but spiritual circumcision was.

 

            In our next SD, the first one of the New Year we will begin to look at the “Spiritual Alienation,” which will take several days to go through.

 

            I wanted to mention, and will probably mention again that the Bible questions that I ask at the end of my Spiritual Diaries come from a game I have entitled “Bible Challenge” and each card has seven questions and answers on it, making it good for one week.  I tried to find the first time that I stated this and it was started on March 12, 2013.  I only have a couple of cards left and then this will end this portion of my SD.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful that Jesus paid it all for I could never pay for the salvation that He gives to me freely.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust that the Lord will give to my family a very blessed 2019.

 

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Gideon” (Judges 7:15-16).

 

Today’s Bible question: Which chapter of the Bible is called “The Love Chapter?”

 

Answer in our next SD.

 

12/31/2018 11:48 AM

PT-2 "Alienation Apart From Christ" (Eph. 2:11-12)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/30/2018 9:22 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                    Focus:  PT-2 “Alienation Apart From Christ”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Ephesians 2:11-12

 

            Message of the verses:  “11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called "Uncircumcision" by the so-called "Circumcision," which is performed in the flesh by human hands- 12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”

 

            We have been looking at what we could call an introduction to these two verses in our last SD, and that will continue in this SD as we continue to talk about the things that causes divisions which we stated as being predigest and I will give a definition from something that I found while searching for the meaning of this word: 

 

Prejudice

“Prejudice is an affective feeling towards a person or group member based solely on that person's group membership. The word is often used to refer to preconceived, usually unfavorable, feelings towards people or a person because of their sex, gender, beliefs, values, social class, age, disability, religion, sexuality, race/ethnicity, language, nationality, beauty, occupation, education, criminality, sport team affiliation or other personal characteristics. In this case, it refers to a positive or negative evaluation of another person based on that person's perceived group membership.”

 

            We have mentioned the problems that Israel had because they misunderstood their call from the Lord and a good example of how they felt about Gentiles comes from the prophet Jonah as he typified the common Jewish attitude toward Gentiles.  Most people know the story of Jonah as he was told by the Lord to go to Nineveh which was the capital of the Assyrian Empire. Assyria would eventually conquer the Northern Tribes of Israel.  They were a very mean spirited people and so the Lord wanted Jonah to preach to them.  Jonah went the opposite way in a ship and so the Lord caused a great storm to come upon the ocean and Jonah knew that the storm was caused because of his running away.  He was thrown overboard and the storm stopped.  He was prepared to die until swallowed by a very large fish and was in the belly of this fish for three days.  God directed the fish to vomit him out near Nineveh.  While in the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord and wanted to be forgiven.  Jonah probably looked a different color since he was in the belly of the fish and so when he got to Nineveh he began to preach to the people there and they repented because of his preaching.  Jonah told them if they did not repent that God was going to destroy them.  Jonah became upset with the Lord because the people of Nineveh repented and this was because even after being in the belly of a fish for three days it did not cure his prejudice as he still thought Gentiles were below the people of Israel in stature.

 

            John MacArthur writes “Like Jonah, most Jews did not want to share their gracious and loving God with anyone else.  They accepted their divine blessings but not their divine mission—to be a light to the Gentiles nations (Isa. 42:6, 49:6; 60:3; 62:1-2).”

 

            We know that the Jews have been the most persecuted group of people to ever live, and yet for the most part they most often vented their own resentment and hatred back against their persecutors.  Similar to Jonah, they wanted Gentiles to be judged and not forgiven.  John MacArthur adds that “Some Jews believed that God created the Gentiles to use as fuel for hell.”  Some Jews even believed that God loved the Jews and hated the every other nation.

 

            There is a point in all of this writings about the feelings of the Jews towards the Gentiles as we continue this introduction, and that is to say how much trouble it was for the Jews to accept the Gentile believers as they came into the churches in the first century.  With all of the prejudices this was going to be a most difficult transition. 

 

            John MacArthur writes in his last paragraph before we move onto the first sub-point the following:  “This important section begins with the word therefore, indicating that the next line of thought regarding the new identity of these Gentile Christians is built on what Christ has done to give them life and eternal blessing, as described in verses 1-10.  It is as if Paul is calling them to be so grateful for their deliverance from their old situation that they come to fully appreciate their new situation of union with all other believers.  Nothing more inspires gratitude in a saved sinner than a look back to the pit from which he has come.”  I have mentioned in past SD’s that this word “therefore” has always been something that I like as it does take us back to previous thoughts written by the writers of the Bible and also mentioned that it is used in the NASB95 904 times in the Scriptures. 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There has been a lot of looking back for me when it comes to my Spiritual life, looking back at my salvation and how I was not looking for the Lord when He saved me.  Looking back is good for my soul as I can be ever more thankful to the Lord for saving me from the life that I was headed into.  I suppose that in some ways that is one reason that I watch each Christmas season “It’s a Wonderful Life.” 

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to look back at my life in order to see if I have sinned against the Lord so that I can ask for forgiveness.

 

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Bethlehem” (2 Samuel 23:15).

 

Today’s Bible question:  “Who led an army of 300 men carrying trumpets, lamps and pitchers?”

 

Answer in our next SD.

 

12/30/2018 10:02 AM

 

PT-1 "Alienation Apart From Christ" (Eph. 2:11-12)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/29/2018 11:22 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                     Focus: PT-1 “Alienation Apart From Christ”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Ephesians 2:11-12

 

            Message of the verses:  “11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called "Uncircumcision" by the so-called "Circumcision," which is performed in the flesh by human hands- 12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”

 

            I really can’t speculate how much trouble there is in today’s world as far as having Jewish believers in the church because I have never been in a church where there was a Jewish believer.  I can say that I think that I could really benefit from that situation as the Old Testament was a shadow of what has come when Christ came into the world and therefore if I can look at the shadow I can probably gain from the real thing.  An example of what I am trying to say comes from how the Jewish people celebrate the Passover, and when a believer looks at how they do this it is very revealing for my Christian faith. 

 

            We have been talking about disunity and also unity in the body of Christ and the biggest thing that caused the disunity in the Christian church when it began was having Gentile believers worshiping in the same church as Jewish believers.  Today it is probably having people of color worshiping with what we call Caucasian people.  I can’t help but go back to when I listened to a rather long sermon by Ken Ham as he was explaining where the different people groups came from.  He stated that when God created Adam and Eve that they were probably a bit darker than what we call Caucasians today, but that in their genes of Adam and Eve would come all the different shades of people we have today.  One of the things that he said that I always remember is that there is only one race on planet earth and that is the human race, and if you go back far enough we are all brothers and sisters for we all came from the family of Adam and Eve and then eventually Noah.  Ok that is enough of this as I want to try and understand the verses that we are looking at today, and it will take a number of Spiritual Diaries to do that.

 

            I think to better understand this section we have to understand the history of the Jewish people and understand that God called them in order to teach them about who He is.  The church owes a lot to the Jewish people for if it were not for them then we would not have a Savior, for Jesus Christ in the flesh was Jewish.  We would not even have a Bible for all of the books of the Bible were written by Jews.  The problem was that the Jews misunderstood what one of their purposes was and that was to evangelize the nations around them.  They took what God had given them and thought that they were so special that all the peoples around them were less than what they were because of what God had done for them in calling them.  I think that this same thing happen to the church today as even though people have done nothing to deserve the salvation that Christ has provided for them that they get puffed up over it and then we end up with division in our churches because of pride.  Paul is and has been taking the people who he is writing to and trying to show them once again what they were before they became believers, and I think that this is a really good thing for all believers to do, that is look back at what we were before the Spirit of God gave us an effectual call that we could not say no to and then because of God giving us faith to believe we then desired to become a believer.

 

            At the beginning of the church age there were no Gentiles in it.  When we get to Acts chapter ten we see the first Gentile come to know the Lord and it was Peter who was the one who led him to the Lord.  However Peter had to be taught a lesson and that lesson involved him going into a trance as the Holy Spirit did this to him.  While in that “trance” he saw a sheet filled with animals that Jews were not permitted to eat as it was a part of their law.  Peter was told to eat but he said that he had never done this and would not eat these kinds of animals.  God told him "What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy’ (Acts 10:15).”  The result was that he and some of his friends went to the household of Cornelius and that entire household became believers. 

 

            In Acts chapter 15 we see a meeting with all of the heads of the church in Jerusalem along with Paul and Barabbas and this was such an important meeting that if the outcome of it would have been different then the church would have stopped to exist.  Paul had been on missionary journeys and led many Gentiles to the Lord, and so some of the Jews said that these Gentiles could not become believers until they became Jews first and then they had to keep the Law before they could be saved.  This of course was not true and so at the end of the meeting there was a letter prepared telling these Gentile believers that they did not have to become Jews and keep the Law.  Peter stated the following near the end of the meeting:  “10 “Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 “But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are."   In the book of Galatians Paul tells how Peter seemed to forget what he had learned and was actually causing a division in the church:  “11 But when Cephas [Peter] came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. 13 The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, "If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews? (Gal. 2:11-14).”  It is not hard to believe these things about Peter as all of us have that old nature or flesh which can cause us to do sinful things.  I am reminded of a verse that I don’t know where it is at in the Bible that God says that we are made from dust and therefore we have a tendency to sin. 

 

            I want to write a bit about why it was that God made Israel different that is that there were laws given to them telling then what to eat, and even how to dress, laws that as believers in Jesus Christ we do not have to follow any more.  However nine of the Ten Commandments are repeated in the New Testament so that we are to follow them through the power of the Holy Spirit.  God made them different so that people would see that they were different and have a desire to want to understand who their God was.  I have heard that the Jewish children have to memorize the book of Leviticus and I suppose that is a book that many believers do not even read, let alone study.   Leviticus shows us that God is holy and that we should realize that we are different, not that that different makes us a believer, but that different makes us stand out once we become believers so that others will notice us and desire to know our God who made us different.

 

            This SD is more of an introduction than actually breaking down the verses (Eph. 2:11-12), which we hopefully will get to in our next SD.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful that I am different than what I was before I became a believer.  God did this, and continues to do this as I study His Word, listen to good sound preaching from His Word, and think about His Word.  Something I desire to do more.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to continue to cause me to grow, to continue to give me the desire to grow by staying in His Word.

 

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Paul” (Acts 23:6).

 

Today’s Bible question:  “Where was the well from which David wanted a drink?”

 

Answer in our next SD.

 

12/29/2018 1:08 PM