Intro to “Lord of the Sabbath” (Luke 6:1-11)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/8/2026 9:15 AM

My Worship Time                                                               Focus:  Intro to “Lord of the Sabbath”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                 Reference:  Luke 6:1-11)

Message of the verses: “1Now it happened that Jesus was passing through some grainfields on a Sabbath, and His disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. 2But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 3And Jesus, answering them, said, “Have you not even read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him, 4how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests alone, and gave it to his companions?” 5And He was saying to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

6On another Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught; and a man was there whose right hand was withered. 7Now the scribes and the Pharisees were watching Him closely to see if He healed on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse Him. 8But He knew what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and come forward!” And he got up and came forward. 9And Jesus said to them, “I ask you whether it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do harm, to save a life or to destroy it?” 10And after looking around at them all, He said to him, “Stretch out your hand!” And he did so; and his hand was restored. 11But they themselves were filled with senseless rage, and began discussing together what they might do to Jesus.

            This morning I begin studying the book of Luke through John MacArthur’s second commentary book on the gospel of Luke.  I will quote from MacArthur’s introduction for this morning’s SD.

            “The initial reaction to the Lord Jesus Christ was generally positive.  Speaking of His early ministry in Galilee, Luke noted when ‘He began teaching in their synagogues [He] was praised by all’ (4:15).  The Lord was so popular that when He ‘left [Capernaum] and went to a secluded place…the crowds were searching for Him, and came to Him and tried to keep Him from going away from them’ (4:42).  After Jesus healed a leper, ‘the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sickness’ (5:15).  In the aftermath of His healing of a paralytic, the people ‘were all struck with astonishment and began glorifying God; and they were filled with fear, saying ‘We have seen remarkable things today’ (5:26).  Even the religious leaders were unable to restrain their curiosity at first (5:17).

            “But curiosity eventually turned to hostility, which by the time the events in the sixth chapter of Luke’s gospel occurred was escalating severely.  The religious leaders had come to view, Jesus as the most dangerous man in Israel, the biggest threat to their religious power and prestige.  Their fears were well-founded.  Jesus was the most powerful teacher the world had ever seen or ever will see, and He was assaulting their ritualism, legalism, and prideful hypocrisy.  Even worse, while attacking them, the Lord was associating with the tax collectors, prostitutes, and other riffraff of society.  When Jesus showed concern about their sins, since He came ‘to call…sinners to repentance’ (5:32), some of them responded with repentance and faith.  But when He confronted the Pharisees and scribes, because they were the leaders of the religious establishment and the proud, unrepentant purveyors of the damning lie that God was pleased by self-righteousness, legalism, and ritualism, they found the Lord’s discrediting of them to be intolerable and infuriating.  They also found His choosing of common men instead of members of the religious elite as His apostles insulting.

            “The Lord did not escalate the conflict by being insensitive or ungracious, but by His uncompromising proclamation of the truth.  The truth of God is the most important thing in the world (cf. Prov. 23:23).”

(cf. Prov. 23:23)

“23  Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.

“It is the message of sin, forgiveness, salvation, and the hope of eternal life.  All the truth must be proclaimed no matter what the effects are, whether people embrace it, or are offended by it; whether they accept it and are saved, or reject it, and are eternally lost.  There is no common ground between the truth and error.

            “Jesus spoke the truth in every situation, not under compulsion or against His will, but by His deliberate choice.  By doing so, He exposed error both to those who taught it, and to anyone else who might have been attracted to it.  The Lord never minced words when dealing with either false religion, or the wicked false teachers who purvey it (cf. Matt. 7:15-20; 23:1-36).  His bold preaching of the gospel, which was incompatible with the Jewish religion of His day (Luke 5:36-39), forced people to choose between the gospel of grace and the works-righteousness system of contemporary Judaism.

            “At the heart of Jesus’ conflict with the Pharisees and scribes was the Sabbath. Much of their self-righteousness attempt to earn salvation by good works focused on keeping the sabbath regulations.  Because its observance was the mainstay or anchor of first-century Judaism, the Sabbath inevitably became a major point of contention between Jesus and the Jewish leaders.  In this section of his gospel, Luke records two incidents in which Jesus boldly confronted their false view of the Sabbath, and established Himself as Lord over the Sabbath.  The first incident took place in the grainfields; the second in a synagogue.”

Spiritual meaning for My life Today:  As I look at the statement “The truth of God is the most important thing in the world,” I realize that when I write my Spiritual Diaries that I must do my very best to follow that statement so that I do not ever lead anyone astray.  I totally agree with that statement and nothing can ever change my mind about it.

My Steps of Faith for Today: I am trusting the Lord to continue to give us wisdom to fight the devilish disease of cancer that has invaded my wife’s body, to allow the Lord to give us wisdom on the steps that we must take to defeat it.

6/8/2026 9:51 AM

 

“The Illustrations” (Luke 5:36-39)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/7/2026 8:45 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                 Focus:  “The Illustrations”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                Reference:  Luke 5:36-39

Message of the verses:  “36  He also told them a parable: "No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38  But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39  And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’" (ESV)

            John MacArthur begins this last chapter in his first volume on the gospel of Luke with the following:  “To illustrate the uniqueness of the gospel, Jesus told a parable (parabole; a figurative example, metaphor, analogy, or story), or more specifically, a series of three parables.  First, He pointed out that no one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment.  To do so would be foolish for a couple of reasons. In the first place, tearing a piece of cloth from a new garment obviously would ruin that garment.  Nor would the new patch work if sewn in the old garment, since the piece from the new will not match the faded color or the pattern of the old.  Even worse, after the patched garment is washed, ‘the patch [from the new, unshrunk garment] pulls away from the [old, patched] garment, and a worse tear results’ (Matt. 9:16).

            “The Lord’s point is that the gospel cannot be patched into Judaism (or any other system of salvation by works).  His teaching was completely at odds with that of the Jewish leaders.  They viewed themselves as righteous (Luke 16:15); He preached the necessity or repentance (Luke 5:32; cf. Matt. 4:17).”

(Luke 16:15)

“15  And he said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.”

(Matt. 4:17)

17  From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

“They were proud of their supposedly exalted religious status (Luke 20:46-47); He proclaimed the need for humility (Matt. 5:3).”

(Luke 20:46-47)

“46  "Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, 47  who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.’”

(Matt. 5:3)

3 ¶  "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

“They focused on external ceremony, ritual, and outward observance of the law; He focused on the heart (Matt. 15:7-9; Luke 11:39-52).”

(Matt. 15:7-9; Luke 11:39-52)

“7  You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: 8  "’This people honors me with their lips, their heart is far from me; 9  in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’"

“39  And the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40  You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? 41  But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you. 42  "But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 43  Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. 44  Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it." 45  One of the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also.” 46  And he said, “Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. 47  Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. 48  So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs. 49  Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ 50  so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, 51  from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation. 52  Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering."

“They loved the approval of men; He offered the approval of God (Matt. 23:5-7; John 12:43).”

(Matt. 23:5-7; John 12:43)

5  They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, 6  and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues 7  and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.”

“43  for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.”

            “The old garment in the Lord’s illustration is not the Old Testament.  It is not God’s eternal law, which is holy, righteous and good (Rom. 7:12), and which Jesus came to fulfill, not to replace (Matt. 23:17-19).”

(Rom. 7:12)

“12  So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.”

(Matt. 23:17-19)

“17  You blind fools! For which is greater, the or the temple that has made the gold sacred? 18  And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ 19  You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?”

“Rather, it is the ritualistic, legalistic religion based on rabbinic tradition, with its man-made regulations (Matt. 15:3-6) that obscured the Law of God.”

(Matt. 15:3-6)

“3  He answered them, "And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4  For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 5  But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” 6  he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God.’

“Jesus did not come to patch that system, but to replace it with the garment of salvation (Isa. 61:10)—the good news of salvation by faith in Him.  No works-righteousness system can be patched into the gospel of grace and faith.”

(Isa. 61:10)

10 ¶  I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”

            “It would be just as foolish and futile to put new wine into old wineskins; because the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined.  Wine was typically stored in containers made of animal skins.  As the new, fresh wine fermented, gas would be released and the skins would expand during the fermentation process.

            “Like the first illustration, this one also highlights the futility and impossibility of mixing the gospel of grace with any system of works-righteousness.  Grace is antithetical to and not compatible with any such system (Rom. 11:6; Gal. 5:4).”

(Rom. 11:6; Gal. 5:4)

“6  But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.”

“4  You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.”

            “The Lord’s final illustration describes the tragedy of those who reject the gospel of grace and cling to their false system of works-righteousness.  Jesus likened such people to those who are content with the old wine they have been drinking, and have no desire to taste the new.  No one, Jesus said, after drinking the old wine wishes for new; for he says, “The old is good enough.”  False religion deadens the spiritual senses.  Far enough into the drinking experience, the drinker does not care about the taste of the wine.  It is one of the chief ways that the ‘god of this world [blinds] the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God’ (2 Cor. 4:4).  Like wine drinkers sloshing their familiar drink, people stubbornly cling to their comfortable religious traditions, and have little or no interest in the new, fresh saving truth of the gospel.

            “For those unwilling to leave their false religions and embrace the gospel, there is not hope of salvation (John 14:6; Acts 4:12).”

(John 14:6; Acts 4:12)

“6  Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

“12  And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.’’

“The church’s goal is not to make unbelievers comfortable in their false religious systems or to help them assimilate Jesus into those systems.  The commission the Lord gave to the church is to ‘go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age’ (Matt. 28:19-20).”

6/7/2026 9:33 PM

 

 

“The Interpretation” (Luke 5:34-35)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/7/2026 9:47 AM

My Worship Time                                                                               Focus:  “The Interpretation”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                Reference:  Luke 5:34-35

            Message of the verses: “And Jesus said to them, “You cannot make the attendants of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? But the days will come; and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days”

            It can be seen in this passage that Jesus defended His disciples’ failure to fast, interpreting their behavior in its true light.  Using a familiar experience, Jesus reminded them that the attendants, who are the close friends of the bridegroom involved in a wedding, could hardly be expected to fast while the bridegroom was with them.  For after all, no one fasts at a wedding; that would be completely inappropriate.  A wedding is a time for joyous feasting, not mournful (cf. Matthew 9:15) fasting. “15  And Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”  It is a time to laugh, not to weep; a time to dance, not to mourn (Ecc. 3:4).  The Old Testament never refers to Messiah as a bridegroom (though it refers to Israel as the bride of the Lord; e.g., Isaiah 62:4-5; Jeremiah 2:2; Hos. 2:16-20); that is a New Testament concept introduced here by Jesus (cf. Matt. 9:15; Mark 2:19-20 and John the Baptist’s use of a similar analogy in John 3:29).  Later in Revelation, the church is depicted as the bride of Christ (19:7; 21:2, 9; 22:17).  Now I will quote the verses from this section in the order that they are seen starting with the highlighted list of verses.

Isaiah 62:4-5; Jeremiah 2:2; Hos. 2:16-20)

“4  You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married. 5  For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.”

“2  "Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the LORD, "I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.”

“16  "And in that day, declares the LORD, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ 17  For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 18  And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. 19  And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20  I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD.”

(cf. Matt. 9:15; Mark 2:19-20

“15  And Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

“19  And Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20  The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.”

(John 3:29)

“29  The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete.”

(19:7; 21:2, 9; 22:17) (Revelation)

“7  Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready;”

“2  And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

“9 ¶  Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.’”

“17  The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.”

            John MacArthur then writes:  “So it was equally ridiculous to expect Jesus’ disciples to fast and mourn while He was present with them.  But the bridegroom would not always be with them.  The days will come, Jesus said, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, they then they will fast in those days.  The time of joy would end when the bridegroom was suddenly taken away in the midst of the celebration.  In the future, the Lord pointed out, He would be executed, and the disciples would lose Him. (This is the first time in Luke’s gospel that Jesus referred to His death.)  When that happened they would be overcome with fear and grief; the prophecy of Zechariah 13:7, ‘strike the Shepherd that the sheep may be scattered’ would be fulfilled (cf. Matt. 26:31; Mark 14:50).”

(cf. Matt. 26:31; Mark 14:50).

“31 ¶  Then Jesus said to them, "You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’”

“50  And they all left him and fled.”

“The disciples did not understand Jesus’ repeated predictions of His death (cf. Mark 9:31-32), since it did not fit into their preconceived notion that the Messiah would conquer Israel’s enemies and set up His kingdom.  Even their leader, Peter, missed the point. When

Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.  Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord!  This shall never happen to You’’ (Matt. 16:21-22).

But what Isaiah had predicted centuries earlier concerning the Messiah, ‘By oppression and judgment He was taken away’ (53:8), would come to pass.  After Jesus was taken from them, His disciples did fast (cf. Matt. 6:16-18; Acts 13:2-3; 14:23).”

(cf. Matt. 6:16-18; Acts 13:2-3; 14:23)

“  16 ¶  "And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17  But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18  that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

“2  While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3  Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.”

“23  And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.”

Spiritual Meaning for my Life Today:  Fasting is something that I have done before and actually am doing it now to help me focus in on what I can be doing for my wife who has cancer and it is a very difficult situation we find ourselves in, so I thought about fasting will help clear my mind to focus better on what I can do for her.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to give grace to my wife who is in a great deal of pain at this time, for something that will help her pain but not be too hard to take as there are side effects on some pain medicine.

6/7/2026 10:34 AM

 

 

“The Inquisition” (Luke 5:33)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/6/2026 8:30 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                   Focus:  “The Inquisition”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                       Reference:  Luke 5:33

            Message of the verse:  “And they said to Him, “The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do the same, but Yours eat and drink.”

            I have to begin with a quotation from John MacArthur because he has puts some words in his commentary that I am not all that familiar with:  “Luke’s failure to specify the antecedent of they further links this passage to the previous one.  If this incident took place at a different time, Luke would have needed to identify the people who were speaking.  According to Matthew’s account, the disciples of John the Baptist were the ones asking the question (Matt. 9:14).”

(Matt. 9:14)

“14 ¶  Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”

There is no contradiction between Matthew and Luke, however, since Mark 2:18 records that both the Pharisees and John’s disciples approached Jesus.  No doubt individuals from both groups fired the same question to the Lord.”

Mark 2:18

“18 ¶  Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”

            “That the disciples of John appeared with the scribes and Pharisees is surprising.  After all, John was Jesus’ forerunner, who pointed Him out as ‘the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’  (John 1:29; cf. v. 36) and pointed his own disciples be associated with Jesus’ bitter enemies?”  I would say that these are some good questions to be asked.

            “It must be remembered that not all of those who followed John were present when Jesus was baptized, or when John pointed Him out as the Lamb of God.  Nor were they all convinced that Jesus was the Messiah; even John had his moment of doubt (Luke 7:19), as years later Paul encountered some disciples of John who did not even then know that Jesus was the Messiah

(Acts 19:1-7) 

“1 ¶  And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. 2  And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3  And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.” 4  And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” 5  On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6  And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. 7  There were about twelve men in all.”

(Luke 7:19)

19 ¶  calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’”

“Since John was by this time in prison (Luke 3:20), he was not available to confirm to his disciples that Jesus was the One he heralded.”

(Luke 3:20)

“20  added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison.”

“Many of John’s followers who did not believe Jesus was the Messiah and nonetheless made a serious spiritual confession when they were baptized.  They had acknowledged their sin and sought forgiveness, in an effort to prepare themselves for Messiah’s coming kingdom.  It was natural for such committed people to associate with the religious elite, the Pharisees and scribes.

            “John’s disciples and the Pharisees reproached Jesus’ disciples for violating Jewish religious custom by failing to fast and offer ritual prayers.  Fasting was one of the three major practical expressions of Jewish piety, along with prayer and giving alms.  All three were done publicly and ostentatiously by the religious elite to showcase their supposed godliness before men.  In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus warned against such hypocrisy:

2  "Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3  But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4  so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.  5 ¶  "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you,, they have received their reward. 6  But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you… 16 ¶  "And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17  But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18  that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6:2-6, 16-18)

            “Though the Pharisees fasted twice a week (Luke 18:12) on Monday and Thursday, there is only one fast mandated in the Old Testament.  On the Day of Atonement, the Lord commanded the people of Israel to humble or afflict their souls (Lev. 16:29, 31), which is a reference to fasting (cf. The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, s.v. ‘Fasting’).  The rabbinical writings forbade eating—even as much as a single date—or drinking on the Day of Atonement.  On a day set aside for mourning over and repenting from sin, eating was deemed inappropriate.  There are nonrequired fasts mentioned in the Old Testament (e.g., Judg. 20:26; 1 Samuel 7:6; 31:13; 2 Samuel 1:12; 12:16; 1 Kings 21:27; 2 Chronicles 20:3; Ezra 8:21, 23; Neh. 1:4; 9:1; Ester 4:1-3; Ps. 69:10; Dan. 9:3; Joel 1:13-14; 2:12, 15), but they were spontaneous, associated with grief, mourning, and humbly seeking God.

            “What outraged the scribes, Pharisees, and disciples of John was that the disciples of Jesus ignored the tradition ritual fasts and continued to eat and drink. Accosting Jesus, they demanded an explanation for that egregious breach of Jewish custom.

6/6/2026 9:09 PM

I have to say that if a person is looking for an answer to prayer, and it does not come to him or her, that fasting is a good way to come to the Lord.  When a person fasts their mind is clearer and then they can have a better understanding of the Word of God.  After I retired from my regular job I went to a cabin to fast and read God’s Word and other good spiritual books in order to see what the Lord wanted me to do after I retired, after all I was 52 years old.  Fasting is good for you body and good for your soul, and the best part is that after three days without food you are not hungry at all, however if you fast for a very long time and become hungry it is time to eat.  You can see this in the life of our Savior as He fasted for forty days after His baptism, and I think that was in order to reflect on what His mission was on earth.

 

 

PT-2 “Intro to ‘The Uniqueness of the Gospel’” (Luke 5:33-39)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/6/2026 8:43 AM

My Worship Time                                   Focus:  PT-2 “Intro to ‘The Uniqueness of the Gospel’”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                 Reference:  Luke 5:33-39

            Message of the verses:  “³³ And they said to Him, "The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do the same, but Yours eat and drink." ³⁴ And Jesus said to them, "You cannot make the attendants of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? ³⁵ "But the days will come; and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days." ³⁶ And He was also telling them a parable: "No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. ³⁷ "And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. ³⁸ "But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. ³⁹ "And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, 'The old is good enough.'"

            I continue quoting from John MacArthur’s introduction to these verses in this morning’s SD.

            “Such agnosticism regarding biblical truth is the antithesis of true faith. It is nothing more than love of self and sin in religious garb, masquerading as humility.  Scripture teaches that absolute truth  exists and that every person is accountable to it.  As Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 2:10, failing to live the truth is the mark of unbelievers, who are damned by their unbelief.”

(2 Thessalonians 2:10)

“10  and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.”

“On the other hand, believers are those who know the truth and have been set free by it (John 8:32).”

(John 8:32)

“32  and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’”

“In the prologue to his gospel Luke declared that he hand done careful research (1:3) so that his readers ‘may know the exact truth about the thing’ of which he wrote (v.4).  Jesus taught that acceptable worship of God must be consistent with the truth (John 4:23-24), that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth (John 14:17; 15:26 16:13), that God’s Word is truth (John 17:17, 19), and that He came into the world to testify to the truth (John 18:37).”

(John 4:23-24)

“23  But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’”

(John 14:17; 15:26 16:13)

“17  even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”

“26 ¶  "But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.”

13  When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”

(John 17:17, 19)

“17 ¶  Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”

“19  And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.”

(John 18:37)

“37  Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.’”

“Paul taught that those who refuse to obey the truth will face God’s wrath (Rom. 2:8), that the gospel is ‘the message of truth’ (Eph. 1:13) that the ‘truth is in Jesus’ (Eph. 4:21), that salvation comes through ‘faith in the truth’ (2 Thess. 2:13; cf. 1 Tim. 2:4), that the church is ‘the pillar and support of the truth’ (1 Tim. 3:15), that unbelievers are ‘deprived of the truth’ (1 Tim. 6:5), ‘have gone astray from the truth (2 Tim. 2:18), are ‘always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth (2 Tim. 3:7), ‘oppose the truth’ (2 Tim. 3:8), and turn away their ears from the truth’ (2 Tim. 4:4; cf. Titus 1:15).

            “The scandal of the gospel is, as Francis Schaeffer said years ago, that Christians preach and exclusive Christ in an inclusive age.  But now, as noted above, the world’s inclusivism and pluralism has infiltrated the church.  Shockingly, some voices within the church are even suggesting that adherents of other religions can follow Jesus Christ without leaving their religions or identifying with Christianity.  In fact, some argue that those in non-Christian religions may actually be aided in coming to God by those false religions.  Clark Pinnock writes,

When we approach the man of faith other than our own, it will be in a spirit of expectancy to find how God has been speaking to him and what new understanding of the grace and love of God we may ourselves discover in this encounter.  Our first task in approaching another people, another culture, another religion is t take off the shoes, for the place we are approaching is holy…we may forget that God was here before our arrival. (Cited in Erwin Lutzer, Christ Amng Other gods [Chicago: Moody, 1994], 185)

Then, shockingly, he adds,

God…has more going on by way of redemption than what happened in first-century Palestine. (Lutzer, 185)

            “The theme of this closing section of chapter 5 is an appropriate one in this age where diversity of belief, openness to other religious views, and inclusivism are seen as the primary religious virtues.  In His confrontation with the Jewish religious leaders over the question of fasting, the Lord Jesus Christ set forth clearly the uniqueness and exclusivity of the gospel. He did not come as merely another rabi within the framework of contemporary Judaism.  Nor did He come to make a few minor tweaks to contemporary Judaism. Nor did He come to make a few minor tweaks to the existing religious system of His day.  Jesus came to preach the gospel, which fulfilled the Old Testament and was incompatible with the Jewish religion of His day.  Judaism was concerned with self-righteousness; Judaism was concerned with what men thought (Matt. 6:2, 5, 16; 23:5), the gospel with what God thinks; Judaism was concerned with external behavior (Matt. 13:25-28), the gospel with internal attitudes.”

(Matt. 6:2, 5, 16; 23:5)

“2  "Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.”

“5 ¶  "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you,, they have received their reward.”

“16 ¶  "And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.”

“5  They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long,”

(Matt. 13:25-28)

25  but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26  So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27  And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28  He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’”

            “It was Jesus’ uncompromising insistence of the gospels exclusivity that lay at the heart of His ongoing conflict with the Jewish religious leaders.  That hostility, already evident in two earlier incidents in chapter 5, the healing of the paralytic (vv. 17-26) and the confrontation at Matthew’s banquet (vv. 30-32), escalates in this passage.  All three Synoptic Gospels place this incident immediately after the banquet given by Matthew, suggesting that it happened shortly afterward.  The text contains three simple elements:  the inquisition, the interpretation, and the illustrations.”

Spiritual Meaning for my life today:  It is my desire to continue to put into my Spiritual Diaries the truth, the truth about the gospel of Jesus Christ which is the only way that a person can become a true believer in Jesus Christ.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust that the Lord will give me peace through this very difficult situation that I am going  through with my wife as she has given up on any treatment to help her with her cancer as she does not want to suffer from treatments that do not help.

6/6/2026 9:37 AM

 

 

 

PT-1 “Intro to ‘The Uniqueness of the Gospel’” (Luke 5:33-39)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/5/2026 9:09 PM

My Worship Time                                   Focus:  PT-1 “Intro to ‘The Uniqueness of the Gospel’”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                 Reference:  Luke 5:33-39

            Message of the verses:  “³³ And they said to Him, "The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do the same, but Yours eat and drink." ³⁴ And Jesus said to them, "You cannot make the attendants of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? ³⁵ "But the days will come; and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days." ³⁶ And He was also telling them a parable: "No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. ³⁷ "And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. ³⁸ "But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. ³⁹ "And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, 'The old is good enough.'"

            The following is part of the introduction to John MacArthur’s 29^th chapter of his first volume of his commentary on the Gospel of Luke:  He writes “In an age of religious pluralism and postmodernist relativism, the Christian gospel is unique.  It stands alone, and is incompatible with any and all other religions.  Any form of syncretism is unacceptable; the Christian gospel, the ‘gospel of God’ (Mark 1:14; Rom. 1:1; 15:16; 2 Cor. 11:7; 1 Thess. 2:2, 8, 9; 1 Peter 4:17), cannot be mixed with any man-made religion or humanistic philosophy.”

(Mark 1:14; Rom. 1:1; 15:16; 2 Cor. 11:7; 1 Thess. 2:2, 8, 9; 1 Peter 4:17)

“14 ¶  Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God,”

“1 ¶  Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,”

“16  to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.”

“7  Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached God’s gospel to you free of charge?”

“2  But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict.”

“8  So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. 9  For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.”

17  For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”

“That is clear teaching both of the Lord Jesus Christ and the apostles.  Jesus said, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me’ (John 14:6; cf. 1:17).”

(cf. 1:17)

“17  For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

“On trial before Israel’s supreme court, the Sanhedrin, Peter and John fearlessly testified that ‘there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved’ (Acts 4:12).  When it comes to salvation, ‘no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ’ (1 Cor. 3:11).  There are not many paths to the top of the mountain, as those who maintain the essential unity of all religions falsely imagine; on the contrary there is ‘one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus’ (1 Timothy 2:5).

            “Un fortunately, many who claim to be evangelicals seem to have forgotten those foundational, nonnegotiable truths.  Embracing the radical skepticism about the possibility of absolute truth that marks post-modernism, many in the emerging church movement apply that skepticism  to biblical truth.  The idea that there could be certainly regarding what Scripture teaches makes them uncomfortable; they, to accommodate their sinful indulgence, view the Bible’s meaning as vague, indistinct, uncertain, and probably ultimately unknowable.  Further, under the guise of religious tolerance, they are scornfully intolerant of those who hold to biblical absolutes.  Such uncertainty leads to apathy.  Since truth either does not exist or cannot be discovered, why bother about it?  They prefer instead to focus on fulfilled living and social causes.  But without a commitment to the clear truth of Scripture, there can be no standard by which to fulfill God’s priorities.”

6/5/2026 9:33 PM

PT-2 “Rejecting The Righteous” (Luke 5:30-32)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/5/2026 9:48 AM

My Worship Time                                                           Focus:  PT-2 “Rejecting The Righteous”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                 Reference:  Luke 5:30-32

            Message of the verses:  “The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?”  And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

            I mentioned in my Spiritual Diary last evening that there was not much left in this section to write about, but I will finish this SD this morning and then, Lord willing begin the last chapter in MacArthur’s first commentary on the gospel of Luke this evening.  I ordered the next volume a while ago and I hope that it will get here before I finish this volume.

            Now the truth is that God cannot save those who refuse to see themselves as sinners, the ones who ignore, gloss over, or trivialize their sin.  It is only those who understand by the grace of God and the convicting work of the Holy Spirit that they are the poor, prisoners, blind, and oppressed, headed for a Christless, Godless eternity in hell, and trust in Christ’s work on the cross as payment in the full for their sins (Col. 2:13-14) can be saved.  Now as James wrote, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).

(Col. 2:13-14)

“13 ¶  And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14  by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

            John MacArthur writes “The Scribes and Pharisees had badly misunderstood God’s purpose in giving the law.  He did not give the law as a means of achieving self-righteousness, but to provoke self-condemnation, awareness of sin, conviction, repentance, and pleading to God for mercy.  The law is ‘our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith’ (Gal. 3:24).  As Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 1:9-10,

[God’s] law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching.

Only those who recognize themselves to be in the latter group can embrace the glorious gospel of forgiveness.  Such a one was Paul, the self-proclaimed foremost of all sinners (1 Tim. 1:15), who nevertheless found that ‘the grace of our Lord was more than abundant’ to save even him (v. 14).”

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  This reminds me of when the Lord saved me in January of 1974 in a Lums restaurant in Casselberry Florida after listening to a series of tapes from Hal Lindsey on the end times as taught in the Word of God.  My testimony has a lot more in it than this but I suppose this is the most important part of it as this happened on January 26, 1974.  I have to say the most important date of my life as the Lord saved my wife in April of that year and then our two children when they were very young, and then their children and spouses too, all seven grandchildren, actually one is in heaven as a stillborn child.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trusting the Lord to give grace to my wife as she continues to deal with cancer.

6/5/2026 10:10 AM