The Perfection of the New Man (Col. 3:14)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/9/2017 4:36 PM

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  The Perfection of the New Man

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Colossians 3:14

            Message of the verse:  “Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.”

            I was not feeling well last night and so did not get my SD done and so will try and get two done this afternoon as both are rather short subjects.

            We have been talking about how Paul is writing about taking things off and putting thing on and he continues with this in verse fourteen telling his readers to put on love.  The following comes from my Online Bible Greek/English dictionary:

“1) (Singular) brotherly love, affection, good will, love, benevolence {#Joh 15:13 Ro 13:10 1Jo 4:18 }

1a) Of the love of men to men; esp. Christians towards Christians which is enjoined and prompted by their religion, whether the love be viewed as in the soul or expressed {#Mt 14:12 1Co 13:1-4,8 14:1 2Co 2:4 Ga 5:6 Phm 5,7 1Ti 1:5 Heb 6:10 10:24 1Jo 4:7 Re 2:4,19 } etc.

1b) Of the love of men towards God {#Lu 11:42 Joh 5:42 1Jo 2:15 3:17 4:12 5:3 }

1c) Of the love of God towards man {#Ro 5:8 8:39 2Co 13:14 }

1d) Of the love of God towards Christ {#Joh 15:10 17:26 }

1e) Of the love of Christ towards men {#Joh 15:8-13 2Co 5:14 Ro 8:35 Eph 3:19 }

2) (Plural) love feasts expressing and fostering mutual love which used to be held by Christians before the celebration of the Lord’s supper, and at which the poorer Christians mingled with the wealthier and partook in common with the rest of the food provided at the expense of the wealthy. {#Jude 12 2Pe 2:13 Ac 2:42,46 1Co 11:17-34 }

 

Syn.: φιλία 5373 ἀγάπη, signifying properly (v. s. αγαραω 25) love which chooses its object, is taken from the LXX, where its connotation is more general, into the NT, and there used exclusively to express that spiritual bond of love between God and man and between man and man, in Christ which is characteristic of Christianity. It is thus distinct from φιλία, friendship (#Jas 4:4 only), στοργη, natural affection (in the NT only in its compounds, v. s. ἄστοργος 794) and ερως sexual love, which is not used in the NT, in its place being taken by επιηυμια 1939.”

            John MacArthur writes that “Love is the most important moral quality in the believer’s life, for it is the very glue that produces unity in the church.  Believers will never enjoy mutual fellowship through compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, or patience; they will not bear with each other or forgive each other unless they love one another.  In fact, the way to sum up the commands of 3:12-13 is to say, ‘Love one another.’”  Let us look at what is called the “love chapter” which is 1 Cor. 13 and look at the first three verses:  “1  If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.” This shows us that nothing is acceptable to God if not motivated by love.”  Now if one tries to practice without love they will end up with legalism, and that is what the Pharisees were doing.  Where would we be without the love of God?  We would all be in hell, that is where we would be.

            “The Priorities of the New Man.”   Colossians 3:15-17 “15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”

            John MacArthur writes “Paul concludes his look at the qualities that should mark the lifestyle of the new man by giving three priorities.  They are the outermost garments of the new man, those which cover all the others.  The new man is concerned with the peace of Christ, the word of Christ, and the name of Christ.”

            Those are the things we will be looking at beginning in our next SD.

5/9/2017 4:56 PM

 

PT-5 "The Performance of the New Man" (Col. 3:12-13)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/7/2017 8:57 PM

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  PT-5 “The Performance of the New Man”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Col. 3:12-13

            Message of the verses:  “12 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.”

            The next word we look at is “gentleness” “mildness of disposition, gentleness of spirit, meekness.”  The Greek word is “Prautes.”  This word is closely related to humility, the last word that we looked at in our previous SD.  John MacArthur writes “It is not weakness or spinelessness, but rather the willingness to suffer injury instead of inflicting it.  The gentle person knows he is a sinner among sinners and is willing to suffer the burdens others’ sin may impose on him.  This gentleness can only be produced by the Holy Spirit (cf. Gal. 5:22-23) and should mark the Christian’s behavior at all times, even when restoring a sinning brother (Gal. 6:1), or defending the faith against attacks from unbelievers (2 Tim. 2:25; 1 Pet. 3:15).”  For us to truly understand this virtue we must as MacArthur writes, remember it comes from the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

            The next word is “patience” which is translated (makrothumia).  William Barkley writes “This is the spirit which never loses its patience with its fellow-men.  Their foolishness and their un-teachability never drive it to cynicism or despair; their insults and their ill-treatment never drive it to bitterness or wrath.”  MacArthur says that patience is the opposite of resentment and revenge.  Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:16 “Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.”  Peter tells us “and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you (2 Peter 3:15).”

            Next we look at “bearing with one another” “and this means to endure, to hold out in spite of persecution, threats, injury, indifference, or complaints and not retaliate.”  Paul writes in 1 Cor. 4:12 “and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure.”  The Corinthian’s were not modeling this as we see in the sixth chapter of 1 Corinthians as they were taking each other to court.  

            MacArthur concludes “Believers are to be marked not only by endurance, but also by ‘forgiving each other.’  The Greek charizomenoi literally means ‘to be gracious’ and the text uses a reflexive pronoun, so it literally reads, ‘forgiving yourselves.’  The church as a whole is to be a gracious, mutually forgiving fellowship.  By including the phrase ‘just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you’ Paul makes Christ the model of forgiveness.  Because He has forgiven us, so also must we forgive others (Eph. 4:32; cf. Matt. 18:21-35).  The phrase ‘whoever has a complaint against anyone’ refers to times when someone is at fault because of sin, error, or debt.  The Lord Jesus is our pattern for forgiveness, because He forgave all our sins, errors, and debts.  He is also the model for the rest of the virtues discussed in this section.”

5/7/2017 9:22 PM

PT-4 "The Performance of the New Man" (Col. 3:12-13)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/6/2017 9:58 PM

My Worship Time                                             Focus:  PT-4 “The Performance of the New Man”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Colossians 3:12-13

            Message of the verses:  “12 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.”

            We begin this evening looking at the word “kindness.”  Chrestotes, (Kindness) “1) moral goodness, integrity 2) benignity, kindness” (Greek/English Dictionary).”    This Greek word is closely related to the word “compassion” as it refers to the grace that pervades the whole person, mellowing all that might be harsh.  The person who is compassionate and kind is concerned as much about his neighbor’s needs as he is his.  MacArthur adds “God is kind, even to ungrateful and evil people (Luke 6:35).  In fact, it was His kindness that led us to repentance (Rom. 2:4; cf. Titus 3:4).  Jesus’ kindness was expressed in His invitation to ‘take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy, and My load is light’ (Matt. 11:29-30).  Kindness was epitomized by the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), whose example we should follow.”

            Tapeinophrosune (humility) is a word that when used in classical Greek, along with all of its related words always had a negative connotation.  Once Christianity came along it was then elevated humility to a virtue.  This word is the antidote for self-love that poisons relationships.  MacArthur adds “Paul advocates genuine humility, in contrast to the false humility of the false teachers (cf. 2:18, 23).  Humility characterized Jesus (Matt. 11:29), and it is the most cherished Christian virtue (Eph. 4:2; Phil. 2:3ff.; 1 Peter 5:5.”

            We will look at gentleness, patience, and bearing with one another, in our next SD.

5/6/2017 10:20 PM

PT-3 "The Performance of the New Man" (Col. 3:12-13)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/5/2017 11:15 PM

My Worship Time                                             Focus:  PT-3 “The Performance of the New Man”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Colossians 3:12-13

            Message of the verses:  “12 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.”

            We have been talking about God choosing believers which comes from verse twelve and we left of looking at Romans 9:13-16, 19-22. Now we want to next look at Romans 11:4-5 “4 But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace (ESB).”  What we want to look at from these verses is God’s gracious choice.  The verses actually describe God telling Elijah something to a comment Elijah made to God which was not true, but he did not know it was true.  Elijah was kind of feeling sorry for himself thinking that he was the only believer in Israel, so God answered him in verse four and Paul picks up on this by bringing it into New Testament times “at the present time.”  Now another verse that speaks of God choosing believers is Ephesians 1:4 “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.”  We could also look at 2 Thess. 2:13 and also 2 Timothy 1:8-9 “8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, 9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.” 

            John MacArthur writes “The doctrine of election crushes human pride, exalts God, produces joy and gratitude to the Lord, grants eternal privileges and assurance, promotes holiness, and makes one bold and courageous, for one who has been chosen by God for eternal life has no need to fear anything or anyone.”

            Now we want to begin looking at the rest of verse twelve and we will be looking at different words and there meanings from the Greek.  We begin with “put on” and this word in the Greek is enduo, “to sink into (clothing), put on, clothe one ’s self.”  John MacArthur writes that “the qualities that follow are to cover the new man.”

We will only look at the first one this evening which is “A heart of compassion” as it is the first character trait that is to mark the new man.  The following is from the Greek/English dictionary “1) bowels, intestines, (the heart, lungs, liver, etc.)  1a) bowels 1b) the bowels were regarded as the seat of the more violent passions, such as anger and love; but by the Hebrews as the seat of the tenderer affections, esp. kindness, benevolence, compassion; hence our heart (tender mercies, affections, etc.) 1c) a heart in which mercy resides.”  John MacArthur adds “As already noted in the discussion of 2:2, however, it is often used in the New Testament to speak figuratively of the seat of the emotions.  That is its use here.  Oiktirmos (compassion) means ‘pity,’ ‘mercy,’ ‘sympathy,’ or ‘compassion.’  Taken together, the phrase could be translated, ‘put on heartfelt compassion,’ or ‘have a deep, gut-level feeling of compassion.’  That divine quality (Luke 6:36; James 5:11), so perfectly exhibited by Jesus (Matt. 9:36), was sorely needed in the ancient world.  For example, sick, injured, or elderly people were often left to fend for themselves.  As a result, many died.  Believers must not be indifferent to suffering, but should be concerned to meet people’s needs.”

5/5/2017 11:42 PM

PT-2 "The Performance of the New Man" (Col. 3:12-13)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/4/2017 9:48 PM

My Worship Time                                              Focus: PT-2 “The Performance of the New Man”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Colossians 3:12-13

            Message of the verses:  “12 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.”

            We wrote about those whom God chose before the world began in our last SD, and it is because of God’s election that believers are holy and beloved.  (Gior) is the Greek word translated holy and it means “set apart” or “separate.”  God has chosen believers out of what could be called the mainstream of mankind and drew them to Himself.  Believers are different from the world.  However when believers do not act differently from the world they violate the very purpose of their calling.

            MacArthur writes “That believers are ‘beloved’ of God means they are objects of His special love.  Election is not a cold, fatalistic doctrine.  On the contrary, it is based in God’s incomprehensible love for His elect:  ‘In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will’ (Eph. 1:4-5).”

            When we look at the two words “chosen” and “beloved” we can see them used in the Old Testament as they are used of Israel.  We see a change in the economy of God as once these words were used of the nation Israel is now true of all who come to faith in Christ.  There are a number of places found in both the Old and New Testaments that show that it is God’s plan to set Israel aside as He now deals with the church.  Now that does not mean that God has completely abandoned the Jewish people as there are some from that nation who are being saved, and that does not mean that God will not come back and once again focus on Israel after the church has been completed. 

            Let us look at what is said in Acts 13:46-48 about those ordained by God to eternal life:  “46 Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, "It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. 47 “For so the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, That you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.’" 48 Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.” 

Paul wrote to the Romans in 9:13-16 and 19-22 as he expressed God sovereignty in choosing whom He will: 

“13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.”

“19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honored use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction.”

            We will continue this difficult if probably not impossible truth that is found in the Word of God in our next SD.  We will never understand this, but as verse 20 says “But who are you, O man, to answer back to God?”

5/4/2017 10:12 PM

PT-1 "The Performance of the New Man" (Col. 3:12-13)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/3/2017 10:19 PM

My Worship Time                                             Focus:  PT-1 “The Performance of the New Man”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Colossians 3:12-13

            Message of the verses:  “12 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.”

            We mentioned when we were looking at verse 3:5a that Paul instructed believers what they should take off, and now in verse 12 we see that Paul instructs the believers what they should put on.  Now in verses 3:9a-11 Paul tells the believers what God has done for them, and then in 3:12-17 he describes what God expects of the believer in response.  Now when God saves a person He changes things from the inside out, and although there are struggles with living a life the way we have been changed when God saves us during the sanctification process God will begin to change us from the inside out.  I remember listing to a sermon shortly after I first became a believer entitled “Becoming What You Are,” and the sermon was about what we are in Christ once we have been saved and then living that way.

            We have mentioned many times in these Spiritual Diaries that God is the One who has chosen believers in eternity past and as MacArthur states “No one becomes a Christian solely by their own choice. Rather, believers are ‘those who have been chosen of God.’”  Now I have mentioned a sermon that is one of my all time favorite sermons entitled “Twin Truth” and it is a sermon by John MacArthur who tells us that the Bible talks about the Sovereignty of God and also the Responsibility of Man as mentioned in this sermon.  These truths run parallel and do not ever run together, but alongside like the two tracks of a railroad track.  No man can totally understand this, but this sermon I mentioned helps us better understand the facts that we don’t understand how these truths work.  Some things you have to take by faith.  I don’t believe that anyone who is born of woman, with the exception of our Lord Jesus Christ can make a choice of becoming a believer without the effectual call of the Holy Spirit.  The reason is that we are all born spiritually dead.  It would be like an undertaker asking a dead person what kind of clothes they wanted him to put on to bury him in.  He would get no response.  Think of Lazarus lying dead in a tomb for four days and you going up to him and telling him to come out of the tomb.  Likewise, nothing would happen, however when the Lord Jesus said “Lazarus come forth” Lazarus came walking out of the tomb alive.  This pictures the effectual call of the Holy Spirit when He calls someone to salvation.

            We will pick up looking at the phrase “holy and beloved” in our next SD.

5/3/2017 10:43 PM

PT-2 "The Partnership of the New Man" (Col. 3:11)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/2/2017 8:07 PM

My Worship Time                                          Focus: PT-2 “The Partnership of the New Man”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Colossians 3:11

            Message of the verses:  “a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.”

            The following is found in my Online Greek/English dictionary that defines the word “barbarian”:  “1) one whose speech is rude, rough and harsh

2) one who speaks a foreign or strange language which is not understood by another

3) used by the Greeks of any foreigner ignorant of the Greek language, whether mental or moral, with the added notion after the Persian war, of rudeness and brutality. The word is used in the N.T. without the idea of reproachfulness.

 

Next we look at the “Scythians” and this quote comes from William Hendriksen which is found in the MacArthur commentary for Colossians:

 

“The invaded Asia, after they had driven the Cimmerians out of Europe…and made themselves masters of all Asia.  From there they marched against Egypt; and when they were in that part of Syria which is called Palestine, Psammethichus, king of Egypt, met them and with gifts and prayer persuaded them to come no farther…They ruled Asia for twenty-eight years; and all the land was wasted by reason of their violence and their arrogance…The greater number of them were entertained and made drunk and were slain by Cyaxares and the Medes.  They drank the blood of the first enemy killed in battle, and made napkins of the scalps, and drinking bowls of the skulls of the slain.  They had the filthiest habits and never washed with water.”

 

MacArthur adds “The Jewish historian Josephus added, ‘The Scythians delight in murdering people and are little better than wild beasts.’  The early church Father Tertullian could think of no greater insult to the heretic Marcion than to describe him as ‘more filthy than any Scythian.’”

            Think about having a fellowship with Greeks, Jews, and Scythians as we described some of them.  This is precisely what happened in the Church.  This kind of reminds me of a couple of the disciples that Jesus had, and yet you don’t hear of any fighting between Simon the Zealot, and Matthew the tax collector, and that was about as opposite as you can get. 

            As we look next at the slave and the freeman we know that the slave had masters over them, and yet there were times when the slave may have had the position as a deacon and the master might not have any position in the church at all.  I just finished reading a book that John MacArthur wrote entitle “Slave” and in that book he shows that all believers in Jesus Christ are slaves, and that in the book of Philippians we see Jesus as a slave.  When Israel came out of Egypt where they were slaves to the Egyptians, they then became slaves to the Lord, which is far better. 

            MacArthur concludes this section by writing “There is no place for man-made barriers in the church since ‘Christ is all, and in all.’  Because Christ indwells all believers, all are equal.  He breaks down all racial, religious, cultural, and social barriers, and makes believers into one man (Eph. 2:15).”

5/2/2017 8:34 PM

 

PT-1 "The Partnership of the New Man" (Col. 3:11)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/1/2017 9:30 PM

My Worship Time                                             Focus:  PT-1 “The Partnership of the New Man”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Colossians 3:11

            Message of the verses:  “11 a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.”

            What we are seeing in this verse is that “there is no distinction” and then Paul goes on to talk about this truth for the body of Christ.  Every person ever born on planet earth is born into the human race and even though we see differences in what people look like we are all human beings.  With this said the church of Jesus Christ is not to have any differences in it do to what we have come to know as race.  I have a hard time with the word since as stated we are all in the human race, so perhaps a better distinction would be different “people groups.”  The church should never have distinctions between different people groups as Paul states we are all one in Christ as Jesus died for all.  During the time of history when the church began there was a lot of distinction between Greeks and Jews, between Jews and Gentiles, between those who were slaves and those who were free.

            MacArthur writes about the Greek and Jews, the circumcised and uncircumcised as he states that they “were separated by seemingly insurmountable racial and religious barriers.  They had nothing to do with each other.  Jewish people refused to enter a Gentile house.  They would not eat a meal cooked by Gentiles, nor buy meat prepared by Gentile butchers.  When they returned to Israel, they showed their disdain for Gentiles by shaking off the Gentile dust from their clothes and sandals.  Even the apostles were reluctant to accept Gentiles as equal partners in the church (cf. Acts 10-11).  Needless to say, the Gentiles returned those sentiments.”

            We will look at Ephesians 2:13-16 to show how Paul describes how the gospel broke those barriers down:

“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.”

In our next SD we will look at more of these people groups like the “barbarian and Scythian.”

5/1/2017 9:51 PM

           

The Process of the New Man (Col. 3:10b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/30/2017 8:56 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  The Process of the New Man

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Colossians 3:10b

            Message of the verses:  “who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him.”

            When we think of the new birth we have to think about it being like a person who is just born physically and the need to be feed so that they can grow up and be productive.  As new believers Peter tells us to in “1Pe 2:2 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.”  So just as a new born baby does not grow to physical maturity so a new born believer does not become spiritually mature instantly.  Once a person is born-again the flesh will desire that you go back to the old way of living as it tempts the new believer.  There is a spiritual battle that is going on right from the beginning of the new birth, but remember the old nature has been replaced with a new one “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come (2 Cor. 5:17).”  Paul also wrote in 2 Cor. 4:16 “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.”  He writes this to show that the inner man can cope with the decaying outer man.

            John MacArthur writes “Being renewed refers to being new in quality.  The preposition on the front of the verb (ana) makes the verb (kaioo) have the sense of contrast to what was already there.  This is a new quality of life that never before existed.”  This is why Paul stated “behold, new things have come.”  MacArthur writes “Epignosis (true knowledge) refers to a deep, thorough knowledge (1:9).  The process of renewal brings increased knowledge.  William Hendriksen writes, ‘When a man is led through the waters of salvation, these are ankle-deep at first, but as he progresses, they become knee-deep, then reach to the loins, and are finally impassable except by swimming (cf. Ezek. 47:3-6)’”  A Christian cannot grow without obtaining knowledge, and that knowledge has to come from the Word of God.  Remember what Peter wrote about new believers needing the pure milk of the Word, and then the diet begins to have food that you have to chew up as you continue to grow. The very last thing that Peter wrote also has to do with growing in the Lord “but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen” (2 Peter 3:18). Paul tells us in Romans 12:2 that we are “not to be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of you mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”  We have written about the word transformed before “(metamorphoo) to change into another form, to transform, to transfigure.”  Paul writes elsewhere in Ephesians 4:22 “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.”  MacArthur adds “From mature knowledge flows holy living.”

            What is the goal of knowledge?  It is to conform the believer “to the image of the One who created him.”  Our goal as a believer is continually, steadily becoming more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ and this is progressive sanctification.  Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:49 “Just as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.”    Look at Romans 8:29 “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.”  The new self will continue to progress toward Christlikeness until the Lord returns or the believer dies.  I have said many times that I am looking for the Upper-Taker, and not the undertaker.

4/30/2017 9:27 PM                

PT-2 "The Position of the New Man" (Col. 3:9b-10a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/29/2017 9:09 PM

My Worship Time                                                     Focus: PT-2 “The Position of the New Man”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Colossians 3:9b-10a

            Message of the verses:  “since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self.”

            We spoke of true believers as being in Christ and once this happened at their time of conversation they have laid aside the old self with its evil practices and have put on the new self, and even though at times believers do not live like they have laid aside the old self, in position they have done so.

            The Bible views all men as either in Christ or in Adam as there is no middle ground at all.  John MacArthur quotes Puritan Thomas Goodwin “There are but two men that are seen standing before God, Adam and Jesus Christ; and these two men have all other men hanging at their girdles.”  Not sure girdle is the correct term as we are living in the 21 century, but I think the point needed is made.

            Let us look at what Paul wrote to the Romans explaining the contrast between Adam and Christ:  “12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned- 13 for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. 16  The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. 17 For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. 18 So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. 19 For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. 20 The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21  so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 5:12-21).”

            John MacArthur asks “The question then arises as to why believers sin if the old self is gone.  They do so because the new self lives in the old body and must content with the flesh.  Paul shows this in the conflict described in Romans 7:14-25.  He makes it clear there that sin is not in the inner man, the “I” that loves what is holy, but is in the flesh.  ‘The flesh’ does not mean the body in and of itself; but it does mean the body as it is being used and tyrannized over by sin.  It means the body as it is possessed by sin and evil; it is the body as sin dwells in it during this earthly life.’ (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones) The flesh includes all the sinful desires, drives, and passions associated with our humanness.  The presence of the unredeemed flesh causes us to ‘groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body’ (Romans 8;23).”

  4/29/2017 9:26 PM

PT-1 "The Position of the New Man" (Col. 3:9b-10a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/28/2017 9:12 PM

My Worship Time                                                     Focus: PT-1 “The Position of the New Man”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Colossians 3:9b-10a

            Message of the verses:  “since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self.”

            We begin by looking at the word “since” which is actually in the middle of 3:9, and this perhaps could have or perhaps should have been the beginning a new verse, at least it indicates that transition to be an accomplished fact.  The accomplished fact is that the believer has laid aside the old self with it evil practices.  When we move to 3:12-17 we will see what we have put on.  MacArthur states “It bridges the chasm between the old self and the new self—a chasm that believers could never have crossed unless Jesus had made them new creatures.  We could safely say that Jesus Christ is the bridge that crosses the chasm, and the chasm was instigated when Adam and Eve sinned as seen in Genesis chapter three.”

            I think we need to also look at the following quote from MacArthur:  “The relation of the old self and the new self has been much disputed.  Many hold that at salvation believers receive a new self but also keep the old self.  Salvation thus becomes addition, not transformation.  They argue that the struggle in the Christian life comes from the battle between the two.

            “Such a view, however, is not precisely consistent with biblical teaching.  At salvation the old self was done away with.  Paul told the Corinthians, ‘If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold new things have come’ (2 Cor. 5:17).  To the Romans he wrote, ‘Our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin’ (Rom. 6:6).  Salvation is transformation—the old self is gone, replaced by the new self.  R. C. H. Lenski writes, ‘The old man is not converted, he cannot be; he is not renewed, he cannot be.  He can only be replaced by the new man.’

            “What is the old self?  It is the unregenerate self, the former manner of existence in Adam.  The old, wretched, depraved, sinful self is ‘being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit’ (Eph. 4:22).  It is that which was replaced by the regenerate self.  To argue that believers have both an old and new self is to argue in effect that the believer’s soul is half regenerate and half unregenerate.  There is no support for such a spiritual half-breed in Scripture. 

            “The new self, in contrast, is the regenerate self.  It is what believers are in Christ.  The new self is the new creature Paul refers to in 2 Corinthians 5:17.  It walks differently from the world (Eph. 4:17), in divine love (Eph. 5:1), in the light of God’s truth (Eph. 5:8), and in wisdom (Eph. 5:15), loving God’s law and God’s Son, hating sin and pursuing righteousness.” 

            I have to say that I, probably along with all believers at some time in their life have struggled with understanding this truth, and as I was reading over what John MacArthur wrote I began to think that what we have when we are born is a sinful body, or better yet called the flesh and the only way to get rid of that sinful flesh is to either die or be alive when the rapture of the church happens.  Paul struggled with this too as we can see from reading the 7^th chapter of his letter to the Romans as he stated that the things that he did not want to do, he did, and the things that he wanted to do, he did not do and then he adds the following concluding this struggle “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?”  He then answers his question in the next verse:  “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin (Rom. 7:25-26).”  Paul then begins the 8^th chapter by writing “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  Yes we struggle with sin, but because we are born from above through what Christ did for us on the cross there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and all believers are in Christ Jesus.

4/28/2017 9:39 PM

           

Intro to Colossians 3:9b-17

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/27/2017 10:19 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Intro to Colossians 3:9b-17

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Colossians 3:9b-17

      Message of the verses:  “since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him- 11 a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.  12 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. 14 Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. 15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”

            Today seems to be the day for introductions as we already did one from John’s gospel in our morning SD, and so we do one now in our evening SD.  John MacArthur entitles this 13^th chapter of his commentary on the book of Colossians “Putting on the New Man” and as noted it covers 3:9b-17 as it seems that things changed right in the middle of verse nine.  I think it best to quote from MacArthur commentary as it is only two paragraphs long.

“You can tell a lot about people in our society by the way they dress.  From baseball players to bus drivers, from postal carriers to policemen, people wear the uniform of their profession.  Who we are determines what we wear, and failing to ‘dress the part’ can sometimes have embarrassing consequences.  Many years ago a very wealthy man in a Southern California town was found wandering around the local country club wearing shabby clothes.  He was promptly seized by the country club.  He had failed to dress consistent with who he was.

“That is precisely Paul’s point in 3:9b-17.  Christians must dress themselves spiritually in accordance with their new identity.  They have died with Christ and risen to new life.  Salvation thus produces a two-sided obligation for believers.  Negatively, they must throw off the garment of the old, sinful lifestyle, as Paul pointed out in 3:5-9a.  Positively, they must put on the lifestyle of the new man.  To do that, they must understand the position, progress, partnership, performance, perfection, and priorities of the new man.”

The last sentence with the six items listed in it will be what we will be looking at over the next several Spiritual diaries. 

4/27/2017 10:35 PM

PT-3 "Sins of Wicked Hate" (Col. 3:8-9a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/26/2017 10:26 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Sins of Wicked Hate PT-3

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Colossians 3:8-9a

            Message of the verses:  “8 But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another,”

            MacArthur states “The result of anger, wrath, and malice is ‘abusive speech.’”  This kind of speech is spoken of in the Scriptures “and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks (Eph. 5:4).  “"The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil (Matthew 12:35).”  “"But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the Day of Judgment (Matthew 12:36).” 

            Now as we look at Colossians 3:9a we see that Paul is warning against a final sin by telling believers not to lie to one another.  I would have to say that one of the things that bothers me the most is when someone lies to me.  John MacArthur writes “It would be a helpful (and time-consuming) study to begin in Genesis and find every lie in the Bible.  Satan lied in deceiving Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:4-5).  Cain lied to God after murdering Able (Gen 4:9).  Abram lied, claiming Sarah was his sister instead of his wife (Gen. 12:11-19; 20:2).  Sarah lied to the three angelic visitors (Gen. 18:15), and to the king of Gear (Gen. 20:5).  Isaac lied by denying that Rebecca was his wife (Gen 26:7-10).  Rebecca and Jacob lied in their conspiracy to defraud Esau of his birthright (Gen. 27:6-24).  That list does not even get us out of Genesis.”

            In John 8:44 Jesus told the Pharisees “"You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”  We see here that lying characterizes Satan and not God “in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago (Titus 1:2).” 

            MacArthur concludes “How can we be victorious in our struggle with sin?  First, by starving it.  Do not feed anger or resentment.  Do not cater to sexual lust or covetousness.  Second, by crowding it out with positive graces:  “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these thing” (Phil. 4:8).  ‘Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you.’ (Col. 3:16).”

4/26/2017 10:44 PM

PT-2 "Sins of Wicked Hate" (Col. 3:8-9a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/25/2017 10:18 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-2 “Sins of Wicked Hate”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Colossians 3:8-9a

            Message of the verses: “8 But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another,”

            We are talking about what the meaning of these words are that are on this second list that Paul has written to the Colossian believers, and we want to look first of all how closely related anger and wrath are to each other.

            John MacArthur writes “The churning, boiling anger that often lies just below the surface gives rise to eruptions of wrath.  And many unbelievers live with a deep-seated resentment that feeds their anger.  They do not ask for their circumstances, and they do not know how to handle them.  All of that strokes the fires of their anger and makes them even more prone to explosions of wrath when exacerbated.”

Kakia (Malice):  This is a general term for moral evil.  J. B. Lightfoot defines it as “the vicious nature which is bent on doing harm to others.”  Now in the context that we are looking at in this verse it could well mean that the harm is caused by evil speech.

Blasphemia (Slander):  Now if we look at anger, wrath and malice they will often result in slander.  Notice that the Greek word is close to and is translated “Blasphemy.”  The problem is that when we slander people we are blaspheming God because all people are created in the image of God.  Jesus says the following in Matthew 5:22 “"But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ’You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ’You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.” 

Now we have two more of these words to look at and we will try to do that in our next SD, which hopefully will be done tomorrow.

4/25/2017 10:36 PM

 

PT-1 "Sins of Wicked Hate" (Col. 3:8-9a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/24/2017 10:28 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-1 “Sins of Wicked Hate”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Colossians 3:8-9a

            Message of the verses:  “8 But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another.”

            We will do things in a similar way as when we looked at the first list that Paul wrote about earlier in this chapter.  In the first list Paul reversed the order of importance as we looked from the last to the first, but not so in this list as we move from the first to the last.  The first list spoke of things personal, while this second list is more social as they are committed directly against other people.  John MacArthur states that the Greek word for “Put…aside” is from apotithemi.  He goes on to talk about that this word was used for taking off one’s clothes.  At the end of the day, after a long day of hard work people will take off their dirty clothes and get cleaned up, and so once a person is saved from their sins they are pictured of taking off their old sinful garments and as they did in the early church after being baptized, put on a clean white robe as they have put off the old life and put on the new life.

            We will now look at the definitions of these words that Paul uses in these verses.

            Orge (anger):  A person who is angry as related to this word has to work at it as it is a deep, smoldering, resentful bitterness.  No provocations do not create this persons anger, but the merely reveal that he or she is an angry person and will more than likely take it out on someone else.  Ephesians 4:31 tells us “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.”  Paul is telling us that believers have no place having this kind anger.

            Thumos (wrath):  This is not a deep seated anger, but speaks of a person blowing up at the drop of a hat so to speak, like dry straw being ignited that will flare up hot rapidly and then will be burned out just as rapidly.  Examples of this are seen in the Scriptures “23 And He said to them, "No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ’Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’" 24 And He said, "Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. 25 “But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; 26 and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 “And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian." 28 And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; 29 and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. 30 But passing through their midst, He went His way (Luke 4:23-30).” 

4/24/2017 10:49 PM

PT-2 "Reasons for PUtting Sin to Death" (Col. 3:7)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/23/2017 8:32 PM

My Worship Time                                               Focus:  PT-2 “Reasons for Putting Sin to Death”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Colossians 3:7

            Message of the verses:  “and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.”

            I mentioned in our last SD that we will be looking at sub-sections from this main section listed in the focus portion of this SD.  Today we are looking at “SIN IS A PART OF THE BELIEVER’S PAST.” 

            I have to say that when I came to Christ, and I probably mentioned this before, I could not control my swearing, and I knew that swearing was wrong, I knew it was sinful, and so when I came to Christ He took my swearing away, something that I could have never done on my own so I truly can understand this verse stating that I used to walk in sin, that I lived in sin.

            We will look at a some similar verses:  “1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2  in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.  4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) (Eph. 2:1-5).”

Now the following is a quote from C. H. Spurgeon, who asks,

“Christian, what hast thou to do with sin?  Hath in not cost thee enough already?  Burnt child, wilt thou play with the fire?  What! When thou has already been between the jaws of the lion, wilt thou step a second time into his den?  Hast thou not had enough of the old serpent?  Did he not poison all thy veins once, and wilt thou play upon the hole of the asp, and put thy hand upon the cockatrice’s den a second time?  Oh, be not so mad! So foolish!  Did sin ever yield thee real pleasure?  Dist thou find solid satisfaction in it?  If so, go back to thine old drudgery, and wear the chain again, if it delight thee.  But inasmuch as sin did never give thee what it promised to bestow, but deluded thee with lies, be not a second time snared by the old fowler—be free, and let the remembrance of the ancient bondage forbid thee to enter the net again.” 

            We conclude with Romans 6:1-2 “1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?”

4/23/2017 8:49 PM