Page 13 - The MacArthur Daily Bible

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FIFTY-TWO KEY PASSAGES OF THE BIBLE
for our sins. Who had to be satisfied? God had to be the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides for-
satisfied. After all, sin is a violation of the holy Law of ever.—1 JOHN 2:15–17, page 1228
God. Sin is a violation of God. It is an act of treachery So what is the “world”? John is saying: “Don’t love
against Him. God, then, if He is to forgive the sinner, the invisible spiritual system of evil dominated by
must have that violation and that justice satisfied. Satan, because if you love that, the love of the Father
Jesus comes to be that satisfaction. God was perfectly is not in you.” The “world” is that evil system that
satisfied in His Son. Do you remember that the Father appeals to our passions, our vision, and our pride. The
said at the baptism of Jesus, “This is My beloved Son, world comes at our self-centeredness. I want what I
in whom I am well pleased”? He said the same thing want. I want to fulfill my lust, my passion. I want what
again at the Transfiguration. The Father was perfect- I can see, what I covet, and I want what I want for my
ly satisfied with His Son so that His Son could be the own personal benefit and self-aggrandizement. That’s
perfect satisfaction for our sins. pride. That’s what the world is all about.
How satisfied are you with Jesus? That’s such an But that’s not of the Father, and so as believers we
important question and such a basic spiritual reality. don’t love that. We are tempted by it, and sometimes
The Father is perfectly satisfied with the Son; the Son we fall into sin. But when we do, we hate that sin. And
is perfectly satisfied with the Father. And how about that’s because it’s part of the passing world. We are
you? Are you perfectly satisfied with Jesus Christ? Is those, rather, who are motivated and characterized by
He your purest and truest satisfaction? Do you find doing the will of God, and, therefore, we abide forev-
your highest joy in Him? If you do, it’s going to have er. Not because we do the will of God, but because as
an impact on how you live your life. God is most we do the will of God, it is manifest that we are His
pleased with us when we are most satisfied with His and are the possessors of eternal life.
Son.
Week 29
Week 27
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not the word of truth.—2 TIMOTHY 2:15, page 1090
perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send
His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that Christians desire to have God pleased with their
the world through Him might be saved.”—JOHN 3:16,17, lives. Certainly, you want to please the One who gave
page 469 His Son for you. You want to please the One who loves
you and promises to bless you and will someday give
At the very heart of the message of God to us is a you an eternal reward and welcome you into His pres-
way to escape perishing. To “perish” connotes ever- ence. Wanting to please God is just part of being a
lasting destruction, divine judgment and wrath, horri- Christian.
ble punishment. Jesus said more about hell than He
did about heaven. He talked about a fire never But how do you present yourself to God for
quenched, about a place where people experience approval? Well, you have to be a worker who doesn’t
permanent gnashing of teeth, loneliness, darkness, need to be ashamed. And the key to that is really
weeping, and wailing. That’s perishing. important: Rightly dividing the word of truth. If I want
God to approve my work, I need to rightly divide the
But God so loved the world that He sent His Son word of truth or Scripture—all of it. To “rightly divide”
so that we don’t have to perish, but we can have ever- means to “cut it straight.” It refers to preciseness,
lasting life. And that’s not just a quantity of life; that’s exactness. For instance, if you were a leather worker
a quality of life. It isn’t this temporal life; this kind of such as Paul, cutting hides and making tents, you had
life forever. That would be a kind of hell in itself. It’s to cut according to a pattern and sew the pattern
another kind of life. God will give us eternal life, and together so that the tent was the way it should be.
that’s why we have the word “saved” used here. It’s Precision and accuracy is the idea.
the word “rescued.” We are rescued from perishing
and given not only a life different from this life, but a So if you want a life approved by God, and you
life also very different from the life of perishing. We want to be a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed,
are given everlasting life. It is God’s kind of life. We lit- then heed these words: Handle accurately the Word
erally participate in the bliss of divine immortality, the of God in how you interpret and apply it.
very life that belongs to God Himself. God gives us Week 30
His own life, the very life that exists within His being
and the being of the Son and the Holy Spirit. Rejoice Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly
always that you have been rescued by the love of God. lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the
present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious
Week 28 appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.—
TITUS 2:12,13, page 1109
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If
anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in The Bible continually calls on us to live in the light
him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the of the return of Jesus Christ. He is coming, and we
lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father should love His appearing. No matter how much we
but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and may enjoy our lives, the fact is that the world at its best

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