PT-2 Intro. To “The Boldness of John the Baptist”

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/27/2026 7:15 PM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  Introduction to Luke 3:18-20

My Worship Time                                Focus: PT-2 Intro. To “The Boldness of John the Baptist”

            Message of the verses:  “So with many other exhortations he preached the gospel to the people.  But when Herod the tetrarch was reprimanded by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the wicked things Herod had done, Herod also added this to them all: he locked John up in prison.” 

            It is my desire to complete John MacArthur’s introduction to these verses above.

            “Among the hundreds of  Protestants martyred in England during the reign of Mary Tudor (‘Bloody Mary’) was the great preacher Hugh Latimer.  As he was about to be burned at the stake along with fellow reformer Nicolas Ridley, Latimer said to him, ‘Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace in England as I trust.

            “In modern times many faithful preachers of God’s Word have faced persecution or martyrdom in such places as China, the Middle East, parts of Africa and India, and elsewhere.  Nevertheless, as Paul wrote during his own imprisonment for the cause of Christ, ‘the word of God is not imprisoned’ (2 Tim. 2:9).

            “The first of many through the ages who would be martyred for faithfully testifying to Christ was His forerunner, John the Baptist.  By human standards, John’s career does not appear to have been very successful.  His brief ministry of about a year was spent in the Judean wilderness, and ended with a long stretch in prison followed by his being beheaded.

            “But such an evaluation of John’s career is misguided.  The truth is, he was eminently used by God to accomplish the task for which he was born (Luke 1:13-17, 76)—so much so that Jesus said of him, ‘Truly I say to you, among those born of women there was not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist!’(Matt. 11:11).  John accomplished precisely what God purposed him to.

            “Having given examples of his preaching and interacting with the crowds in verses 7-17, Luke closed out the story of John the Baptist with this brief summary of his ministry.  It should be noted that Luke’s insertion of this  section here was not chronological, but thematic.  John was not actually imprisoned until later in Jesus’ ministry, but Luke pulls his imprisonment back to this point to conclude his account of John’s ministry and set Jesus on center stage.  For the rest of Luke’s gospel John appears only in reference to Him.

            “Three Words, ‘preaching,’ ‘personalizing ,’ and ‘persecution,’ help unfold John’s impact.”

4/27/2026 7:27 PM

 

PT-1 Intro. To “The Boldness of John the Baptist” (Luke 3:18-20)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/27/2026 9:55 AM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  Introduction to Luke 3:18-20

My Worship Time                                Focus: PT-1 Intro. To “The Boldness of John the Baptist”

            Message of the verses:  “So with many other exhortations he preached the gospel to the people.  But when Herod the tetrarch was reprimanded by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the wicked things Herod had done, Herod also added this to them all: he locked John up in prison.” 

            The following introduction to these verses comes from the pen of John MacArthur:  “Throughout redemptive history fearless preachers have paid the price of boldly confronting sin.  It should come as no surprise then that the Lord Jesus Christ, the greatest preacher who ever lived (John 7:46; cf. Matt. 7:28-29), was executed by His enemies.” 

(John 7:46; cf. Matt. 7:28-29)

“46  The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!””

“28  And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29  for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.”

“According to traditions (of varying reliability) handed down from the early church, the same fate befell all of the apostles except for John, who was exiled to Patmos.  Peter was crucified (upside down, at his request, because he felt unworthy to be crucified as his Lord had been [Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, ILL, 1]). His brother Andrew reportedly was also crucified; tied instead of nailed to the cross to prolong his suffering.  James the brother of John is the only apostle whose death is recorded in Scripture’s he was executed by Herod Agrippa I (Acts 12:1-2).  Philip was said to have been stoned to death in Asia Minor, but not before multitudes came to faith in Christ through his preaching.  The traditions vary concerning how Philip’s close companion Nathanael (Bartholomew) died.  Matthew may have been burned at the stake.  Thomas likely reached India, where some traditions say he was killed with a spear.  According to the apocryphal Martyrdom of James, James the son of Alphaeus was stoned to death by the Jews for preaching Christ.  Simon the Zealot, according to some traditions, preached the gospel in Egypt, North Africa, and Persia, where he was martyred by being sawn in to.  Other traditions place his ministry in Britan, where he was eventually crucified by the Romans.  Thaddeus (also known as Judas the son of James [Luke 6:16) reportedly took the gospel message to what is now modern Turkey, where he was clubbed to death.  Paul was likely beheaded at Rome during Nero’s persecution of the church.  The New Testament also records the martyrdoms of the fearless evangelist Stephen (Acts. 7:58-60) and Antipas, a faithful pastor of the church at Smyrna (Rev. 2:13).

            “In the postapostolic era faithful preachers continued to face martyrdom, Ignatius was martyred at Rome early in the second century.  Diligently carrying out his ministry to the end, he wrote a series of letters to various churches while he was being taken to Rome for execution, exhorting them to stand firm in the faith.  Polycarp, martyrdom at Smyrna in the middle of the second century, refused to renounce Christ.  ‘Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury’ he replied.  ‘How then can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?’  When the proconsul threatened to burn him alive Polycarp fearlessly replied, ‘You threaten me with fire which burns for an hour, and after a little is extinguished, but are ignorant of the fire of coming judgment and of eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly.  But why tarry you? Bring forth what you will.’

            John Chrysostom, fourth-century bishop of Constantinople, was perhaps the greatest preacher of the early church (the nickname Chrysostom means ‘golden-mouthed’).  He was exiled when his bold, uncompromising preaching offended many of the rich and powerful in Constantinople (especially the vain Empress Eudoxia).  No longer able to preach, Chrysostom turned to writing.  So powerful and effective was his continuing ministry that he was banished to a more remote location.  Treated harshly by the soldiers escorting him, Chrysostom became ill and died along the way.  Historian Justo Gonzalez describes the scene: ‘When he perceived that death was near, he asked to be taken to a small church by the roadside.  There he took communion, bid farewell to those around him, and preached his briefest but most eloquent sermon: ‘In all things, glory to God. Amen’’ (The Story of Christianity [Peabody, Mass.” Prince, 1999), 1:199-200).

            “Two notable medieval forerunners to the Reformation were John Wycliffe and Jan Huss.  Wycliffe (1339-1384) sometimes called the ‘Morning Star of the Reformation,’ was an English reformer who affirmed the Bible to be the only authority in matters of doctrine and practice.  He sought to translate it into English, so more people could read it.  Wycliffe taught that Christ, not the pope, was the head of the church, denied the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation and (like Luther later would) opposed the granting of indulgences (remissions of some or all of the punishments of purgatory, often sold in the Middle Ages to raise money for the Catholic Church).  Wycliffe and his followers, the Lollards, helped pave the way for the Reformation in England.  For his bold opposition to the false teaching of his day, Wycliffe was condemned and forced to leave his position at Oxford. 

            “Wycliffe’s younger contemporary, the Czech reformer Jan Huss (1373-1415) paid a steeper price for opposing some of the false teaching of the Roman church.  Huss, like Wycliffe, taught that the Bible, not the pope, was the supreme authority.  He also rejected indulgences.  When the pope, was issued a decree that forbade preaching in chapels such as the one Huss preached in, Huss ignored it and continued to preach.  For doing so, he was excommunicated.  Huss was summoned to appear before the Council of Constance (1415) and was promised safe conduct to and from the council by the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.  But Huss was condemned and burned at the stake, the emperor’s guarantee of safe conduct notwithstanding.”

Spiritual Meaning for My Life today:  I am thankful to the Lord to be able to have the freedom in our country to be able to study the Word of God, to go to the church of my choice, and to be able to write my Spiritual Diaries, and put them onto the internet so the Holy Spirit  of God will then send them around the world to use for the glory of Jesus Christ, my Savior and Lord.

My Steps of Faith for Today.  To continue to write my Spiritual Diaries each day so that the Lord can use them to bring glory to my Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.

4/27/2026 10:46 AM   

“TRUE REPENTERS RECEIVE THE MESSIAH” (Luke 3:15-17)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/26/2026 8:51 PM

My Worship Time                       Focus:  “TRUE REPENTERS RECEIVE THE MESSIAH”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                 Reference:  Luke 3:15-17

            Message of the verses:  “¹⁵ Now while the people were in a state of expectation and they all were thinking carefully in their hearts about John, whether he himself perhaps was the Christ, ¹⁶ John responded to them all, saying, “As for me, I baptize you with water; but He is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the straps of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷ His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.’”

            This will be the last Spiritual Diary in this 18^th chapter of John MacArthur’s commentary, something that I rely on in order to write these Spiritual Diaries.

            As mentioned this is the final point and it moves beyond the things that accompany salvation to the One who alone can save, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.  John’s words are very powerful and so they attest that the coming one, the Messiah, is God, since He does things only that God can do.  This should be something that people are involved in any kind of cult or even in the Roman Catholic church because it seems their Pope tries to act like He is the Messiah.

            Now for centuries the Jewish people had longed for and eagerly anticipated the coming of the Messiah, but now is seems that the people were in a heightened state of expectation because of John’s ministry, as some thought he was the Messiah.  Their speculation as to whether he was the Christ, though understandable, was misguided, and John would tell them that.  It is true that John was a prophet as seen in Luke 20:6, and the greatest man who had ever lived up to his time as seen in Matthew 11:11.  However John was not the Messiah, look at John 1:6-8), nor did he ever claim to be.  On the contrary, “When the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ [John] confessed and did not deny, but confessed, ‘I am not the Christ’” (John 1:19-20; cf. 3:28).” “John 3:28 “28  You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’”

            John’s disclaimer, As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the throng of His sandals not only made it clear that he was not the Messiah, but also that he was inferior to Him.  John baptized them in the water of the Jordan River as an outward confession of their repentance.  However the Messiah, the one who is coming, or “the Expected One’ (Luke 7:19-20) is mightier than John.  So superior is the Messiah that John deemed himself that he was unfit even to untie the thong of His sandals—a menial task that was performed by the lowliest of the slaves as John points out in John 1:27.  The Messiah would baptize them with the Holy Spirit and fire.  Now that demonstrates the Messiah’s superiority to John, for those two supernatural acts can only be performed by God.  It is God and God alone who dispenses the Holy Spirit to those who repent and judgment to those who do not.

            MacArthur writes “The Jews were well aware that under the New covenant, God would send the Spirit to indwell those who repent (Ezekiel 36:27; 37:14). Nor does any human have the authority to immerse unrepentant sinners in the  fire of eternal judgment.  The Jews also knew that the Old Testament frequently associates fire with divine judgment (cf. Isaiah 29:6; 30:33; 31:9; 66:15-16; Ezek. 38:22; Zeph. 1:18; 3:8).  Malachi wrote that Messiah would come (3:1) bringing judgment, which caused the prophet to exclaim, ‘But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears?  For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fuller’s soap’ (v. 2).  In 4:1, God used the metaphor of fire to picture future judgment:  ‘For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.’” The New Testament also uses fire in reference to diving judgment (Matt. 7:19; 13:40, 42, 50; 18:8; 25:41; Luke 9:54; 12:49; 17:29; John 15:6; 2 Thess. 1:7; Heb. 10:27; 2 Peter 3:7; Jude 7; Rev. 14:10; 19:20; 20:10, 14-15; 21:8).

            “John’s powerful call for true repentance is just as relevant and needed today as when he first gave it.  It is the duty of every true preacher of God’s Word to warn his hearers of the danger of false, shallow, non-saving repentance; repentance that is grounded in selfish regret over sin’s consequences instead of desire to be delivered from sin fails to subdue the love of sin and initiate a passion for holiness, leads to further sin in a hypocritical attempt to maintain the façade of self-righteousness, produces self-deception, leads to a deadly false security, and ultimately hardens the heart, and sears the conscience.”

            In tomorrow morning’s SD, Lord willing I will begin looking at chapter 19 of MacArthur’s first commentary on the gospel of Luke which is entitled “The Boldness of John the Baptist and this chapter will only cover three verses (3:18-20).

4/26/2026 9:27 PM

 

 

“The Repenters Renounce Ancestry” (Luke 3:8b)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/26/2026 8:07 AM

My Worship Time                                                     Focus: “The Repenters Renounce Ancestry”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                       Reference:  Luke 3:8b

            Message of the verse:  “and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.”

            It seems to me that I have heard that people have said that they had a free ticket to heaven because they were a part of some organization and now we see here that the Jews thought that they also had a free ticket into heaven because they were children of Abraham.  Both are not true for God has no grandchildren, He only has children as each person who comes to the Lord for salvation is a child of God.  This includes all the Jewish people too.  Now I am not saying that the Jewish people are not special people for it is them who God used for many wonderful things including having the bloodline of the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.  These Jews said to Jesus in John 8:33 “We are Abraham’s descendants” and then again in verse 39 “Abraham is our father.”  One has to be a spiritual child of Abraham and not a physical child of Abraham to be a believer in Jesus Christ for salvation.

            John MacArthur writes “But salvation is individual, not corporate.  Jesus challenged those who claimed to be Abraham’s children, ‘If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham’ (John 8:39).  ‘For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly,’ Paul wrote, ‘but he is a Jew who is one inwardly’ (Rom. 2:28-29).  Later in the epistle he added, ‘For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but ‘Through Isaac your descendants will be named’’’(Rom 9:6-7).  To the Galatians he wrote, ‘Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham…And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise (Gal. 3:7, 29).  Being a descendant of Abraham is no defense against divine judgment, Jesus warned:

24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.25 Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin standing outside and knocking on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ and He then will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’26 Then you will begin saying, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets!’27 And yet He will say, ‘I do not know where you are from; leave Me, all you evildoers.’28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out”

“Nor was the rich man in the story of the rich man and Lazarus delivered from hell by claiming Abraham as his father (Luke 16:24-26).

            “In keeping with that biblical truth, John cautioned his hears not to begin to say to themselves, We have Abraham for our father.  Then John pointed out that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.  His caustic statement was a severe blow to their over-weening pride.  There was nothing worthy or deserving about them; God from repentance and salvation, their hearts were hearts of stone anyway (Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26).”

(Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26)

“19  And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,”

“26  And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”

“John’s harsh tone, reminiscent of his earlier denunciation of them as snakes (v. 7), was warranted by the seriousness of the situation.  Those who trust in their ethnic or religious heritage for salvation are deceived and headed for the fire of eternal judgment.”

Spiritual Meaning for my Life Today:  I am thankful that the Lord Jesus Christ saved me on the 26^th,  of January, 1974, after listening to several sermons by the late Hal Lindsey as he spoke about how the world was going to end which was a fear of mine, and then the Holy Spirit of God brought me to faith In Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord as this week may be the key to find out if better treatment can be given to my wife for her cancer.

4/26/2026 8:37 AM

PT-2 “True Repenters Reveal Spiritual Transformation” (Luke 3:8a-14)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/25/2026 6:47 PM

My Worship Time     Focus:                  PT-2 “True Repenters Reveal Spiritual Transformation”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                  Reference:  Luke 3:8a-14

            Message of the verses:  “Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance…Indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”  And the crowds were questioning him, saying, “Then what shall we do?”  And he would answer and say to them, “The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.” And some tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?”  And he said to them, “Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.”  Some soldiers were questioning him, saying, “And what about us, what shall we do?”  And he said to them, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages.”

            I continue to look at this section that I began this morning, and will see how far I can get this evening.

            Picking up from where I left off this morning I can see that the judgement pictured here is on individuals, as the singular every tree  suggests.  However if enough individuals fail to repent, it becomes a national issue, and that is what is happening here in Israel at this time period when both John and Jesus began their ministries.  Most of the people during this time period of their preaching did not follow the message of salvation, and the reason was, at least one of the reasons is that they thought that they were ok because they were born Jews.  What happened after the Lord was crucified sometime around 30 A.D. was that the church age began, but because the Jewish people had rejected the Lord, and also rejected being a part of the church so much that they were persecuting the church, that the Lord brought the Romans into their country and they defeated them and tore their temple down and slaughtered thousands of Jewish people, who were cast into the fire of eternal damnation.  The same axe of divine judgment will fall on all who fail to repent, both Jew and Gentiles alike (cf. Joel 3:1-2, 12-14; Zeph. 3:8).

            John had a sobering message and it prompted at least some in the crowd to reflect on their sinful lives.  Wanting to know what specific actions they needed to take to manifest genuine repentance, they began questing him, saying, “Then what shall we do?”  John would habitually, and MacArthur then adds the following (as the imperfect tense of the verb translated say indicates) answer them by giving practical advice.  He told the crowds in general, ‘The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.’  Though seemingly trivial, sharing such basic necessities as clothing and food with those in need fulfills the command to love one’s neighbor (10:27; cf. Lev. 19:18; Romans  13:8-10; Gal. 5:14; James 2:8)—which is second in importance only to the command to love God (Matt. 22:37-38).

            “Luke then recorded the questions of two specific groups.  When some tax collectors also came to be baptized and asked him, ‘Teacher, what shall we do?  John said to them, ‘Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.’  Tax collectors were hated vilified, and scorned because they collected taxes for the Roman oppressors.  Despised as traitors and robbers, they were cut off from Jewish religious life and forbidden to testify in court.  John did not order them to give up their jobs, since it is not wrong for a government to collect taxes (Matt. 22:17-21; Rom. 13:7).  But he did tell them not to collect any more than what they had been ordered to collect.  Tax collectors normally increased their profits by extorting exorbitant tools beyond what was mandated by Rome (Luke 19:8), and demanding kickbacks and bribes.  They could manifest true repentance by treating people fairly and honestly and not abusing their authority.  Some of the tax collectors took John’s message to heart and repented (Matt. 21:31-32; Luke 19:1-10).

            Soldiers were another group prone to abusing their authority for selfish gain.  These soldiers could have been under the authority of Herod Antipas or Rome and may also have included some members of the Judean police.  John gave them three ways to manifest genuine repentance.  First, they were not to take money from anyone by force.  The verb translated take money by force literally means ‘to shake violently.’ The soldiers were not, to use contemporary idiom, to shake people down for money through intimidation or force.  Nor were they to accuse anyone falsely.  They were not to abuse their authority to twist and pervert the evidence in any attempt to extort money from the innocent.  Finally, John charged the soldiers to be content with their wages, since failing to do so might motivate them to abuse their power.”

            MacArthur concludes this section by writing “By selecting tax collectors and soldiers as examples of those who repented, John was making the general point that true repentance produces a life that is transformed from being characterized by sin to being benchmarked by virtue.”

4/25/2026 7:17 PM

 

“True Repenters Reveal Spiritual Transformation” (Luke 3:8a-14)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/25/2026 9:57 AM

My Worship Time                               Focus:  “True Repenters Reveal Spiritual Transformation”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                  Reference:  Luke 3:8a-14

            Message of the verses:  “Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance…Indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”  And the crowds were questioning him, saying, “Then what shall we do?”  And he would answer and say to them, “The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.” And some tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?”  And he said to them, “Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.”  Some soldiers were questioning him, saying, “And what about us, what shall we do?”  And he said to them, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages.”

            I suppose that everyone who has been reading my Spiritual Diaries lately on the gospel of Luke have noticed that the theme is “repentance.”  It does not stop here as one can see in the title of this SD, and true repentance is something that every person who claims to be a born-again believer in Jesus Christ needs to understand fully.  Genuine repentance will inevitably manifest itself in changed attitudes and behavior; therefore John challenged those coming to be baptized to bear fruits in keeping with their professed repentance.  This certainly was not just true with those who John was talking to, but for everyone who claims to follow Jesus.  Now the apostle Paul also challenged people to prove the reality of their repentance as He described his ministry as one of “declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance” (Acts 26:20).  Because the evidence of the repentance that leads to salvation is a changed life, God “will render to each person according to his deeds” (Rom. 2:6).  MacArthur adds “That does not mean, of course, that people can earn salvation by good works, but rather that good works are the inevitable result of repentance.  The repentance that God grants (Acts 11:18; 2 Tim. 2:25) does not take place in a vacuum, but in the context of the transformation brought about by conversion and regeneration (2 Cor. 5:17).”  Let us take a moment to look at these verses.

(Acts 11:18; 2 Tim. 2:25)

“18  When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.’”

“25  correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,”

(2 Cor. 5:17)

“17  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

“As a result, the redeemed ‘are [God’s] workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them’ (Eph. 2:10).

            “None of this was new to the Jewish people.  In Isaiah 1:4-5 the prophet lamented concerning Israel,

“Alas, sinful nation, people weighed down with iniquity, offspring of evil-doers, sons who act corruptly!  They have abandoned the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away from Him.  Where will you be stricken again, as you continue in your rebellion?  The whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint.”

“In verses 16 and 17, God commanded the people, ‘Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from My sight.  Cease to do evil, learn to do god; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow’  If the presence of those deeds confirmed the genuineness of their repentance, God promised that ‘though [their] sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool’ (v. 18).  In 2 Chronicles 7:14, God declared, ‘[If] My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land’ (cf. Ezek. 33:19; Jonah 3:10).” 

(cf. Ezek. 33:19; Jonah 3:10)

“19  And when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he shall live by this.”

“10  When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.”

            “John followed his exhortation to repent with a warning of the severe consequences of failing  to do so.  Indeed, he declared, the axe is already laid at the root of the tree; so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  (Jesus used the same graphic imagery to depict judgment in Matthew 7:19).”

(Matthew 7:19)

“19  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

“God’s judgment was imminent, John warned; His axe was already laid at the root of the trees.  And every tree that does not bear good fruit would be cut down and thrown into the fire.  Those trees symbolize people whose repentance is demonstrably false, since they do not bear good fruit—the attitudes and actions that manifest righteousness, love for God, and obedience to His word.  They will be thrown into the fire; ‘the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels’ (Matt. 25:41; cf. 18:1; Jude 6-7).”

(Matt. 25:41; cf. 18:1; Jude 6-7)

“41  "Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

“8  And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire.”

“6  And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— 7  just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.”

Spiritual Meaning for my Life Today:  Repentance is not just for those who become true believers in Jesus Christ, it is for all believers, for we all sin and we need to confess our sins before the Lord in order to continue to walk with Him in the way He desires us to.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust that the Lord will be with our family in a very special way as we all continue to pray for my wife’s recovery from her cancer.

4/25/2026 10:42 AM

 

“True Repenters Reject Religious Ritual” (Luke 3:7b)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/24/2026 9:04 PM

My Worship Time                                             Focus:  “True Repenters Reject Religious Ritual”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                       Reference:  Luke 3:7b

            Message of the verse: “who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

            Here is something that I think I have already mentioned in an earlier SD, perhaps more than one, and that is that the Jews hoped to gain right standing before God through their own self-righteous achievements, and I think that I am right in saying that is true with most peoples today and for a long time.  Keeping the Sabbath, celebrating the annual feasts, offering formal prayers, giving alms to the poor, and observing the law, and I have to add (at least eternally), was the essence of their religion.  So thus it was just natural for them to see John’s baptism as just another ritual to perform.  However perhaps a number of them did realize something was different about John, something they needed to follow.

            But that legalistic, external approach was antithetical to true repentance, and John boldly confronted them.  He said to them “Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” in this manner, he demanded.  Did they think they could escape the inferno of God’s wrath by slithering into the Jordan River like snakes fleeing a brush fire?

            John MacArthur writes “God detests mere outward, ritualistic, hypocritical religion.  In Isaiah 29:13 He said to Israel, ‘This people draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me, and their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote.’  Later in Isaiah God rebuked His people because they ‘swear by the name of the Lord and invoke the God of Israel, but not in truth nor in righteousness’ (48:1).  Jeremiah lamented to God concerning his fellow Jews, ‘You are near to their lips but far from their mind’ (Jer. 12:2; cf. Ezekiel 33:31-32).  In His masterful discourse on salvation commonly known as the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), the Lord Jesus Christ destroyed any hope of salvation through human achievement.”  Now let me just add a thought of my own here.  The more a person when they become believers knows about God the more they learn that He has to be the One to bring about salvation on His own, and He did that by sending His Son, the second person of the godhead, to planet earth to become the God/man in order to preach and teach for three years, and then to die on the cross in order to provide salvation to those who will come to Him realizing that they can do nothing on their own to become true believers in Jesus Christ for salvation.  It’s all about God.  “He attacked the works-righteousness religion of His day, denouncing its prayers as nothing but vain repetition, its almsgiving as the parading of self-righteous pride, and its outward keeping of the law while ignoring the inner attitudes of the heart as rank hypocrisy.  In short, He pointed out the utter inability of all their ceremonies and rituals to earn salvation.  After his conversion the zealous (Gal. 1:14), outwardly blameless Pharisee Saul of Tarsus acknowledged that all his self-righteousness amounted to nothing more than a heap of rubbish (Philippians 3:4-8).”

(Philippians 3:4-8)

“3  Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. 4  Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5  Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6  do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8  Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

            “Like the crowds that flocked to hear John, churches today are filled with people merely going through the motions.  They may be baptized as infants, attend services, perform rituals, pray, read their Bibles, even serve as pastors and leaders in the church.  But superficial penitence will not deliver anyone from divine wrath and judgment.”

4/24/2026 9:27 PM