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

 

 

PT-1 “Rejecting The Righteous” (Luke 5:30-32)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/4/2026 6:29 PM

My Worship Time                                                          Focus:  PT-1 “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.”

            Today was a very sad day for my wife and I as we know now that if there is not a miracle from the Lord, or better yet, the rapture takes place that in the not to distance future she will go home to be with the Lord.  I will do my best to continue to write my Spiritual Diaries.

            It was their haughty disdain for the riffraff that are inside prevented them from attending Matthew’s banquet, but that did not mean that the Pharisees and their scribes weren’t aware of what was going on inside.  They expressed their disapproval by grumbling (gogguzo; and onomatopoetic word) at Jesus’ disciples.  They would not deign to speak to any of the tax collectors and sinners attending the banquet.  But they evidently expected the Lord and His disciples to follow the prescriptions of the rabbinic law, hence their anger and resentment toward them.

            MacArthur writes “Their question, ‘Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?’ reflects the scribes’ and Pharisees’ outrage that Jesus and His disciples would associate with those unclean outcasts.  Their question was a rhetorical one, intended as a stinging rebuke for what they viewed as outrageous behavior on the part of the Lord and His disciples.  The question exposes the scribes and Pharisees as proud, focused on externals, and hypocritical.  Imagining themselves to be the religious elite, they were in reality void of grace and strangers to salvation.  Jesus turned His back on the outwardly moral, and focused on transforming repentant sinners into a holy people.”

            Now Jesus was overhearing the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus answered their challenge.  (My thoughts that He did not really have to hear what they were saying, as He knew what was going on in their hearts without hearing what they said.  Jesus’ reply consisted of three parts.  The Lord first gave an analogy, pointing out the self-evident fact that it is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick.  The scribes and Pharisees could not dispute that the tax collectors and sinners were spiritually sick; they were the sickest of the sick.  How could they argue that the Great Physician should not minister to them? The Lord’s reply was a powerful indictment of their cold hearts, wickedness, and hatred of the very downtrodden sinners they should have sought to help  They saw no sin in themselves, probably because they were not looking for it, and they saw no good or value in others, which actually shows their sinfulness.

            MacArthur then writes “Second, Jesus answered them from Scripture.  Matthew 9:13 records that He also told the scribes and Pharisees to ‘go and learn [an expression used by the rabbis to rebuke unwarranted ignorance] what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice.’’ The quote is from Hosea 6:6, and declares that God does not want external sacrifices but a heart that shows mercy (cf. Prov. 21:3; Isa. 1:11-17; Amos 5:21-24; Mic. 6:8).”

(Hosea 6:6)

“6  For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.’

(cf. Prov. 21:3; Isa. 1:11-17; Amos 5:21-24; Mic. 6:8).”

“3 ¶  To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.”

“11  "What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. 12  "When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? 13  Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. 14  Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. 15  When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. 16 ¶  Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, 17  learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.”

“21 ¶  "I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 22  Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. 23  Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. 24  But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

“8  He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

“Those who show mercy to others as the Lord commanded (Luke 6:36) will themselves receive mercy from God (Matt. 5:7), but ‘judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy’ (James 2:13).  The scribes and Pharisees, who prided themselves on their rigid adherence to the law, had no excuse for failing to show mercy to those who so desperately needed it.”

(Luke 6:36)

“36  Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.’

(Matt. 5:7)

“7  "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”

            “Finally, Jesus answered them from His own personal authority as God incarnate, declaring, ‘I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.’  It is a statement full of irony, even sarcasm (cf. Paul’s sarcastic deflation of the conceited Corinthians in 1 Cor. 4:8).”

(1 Cor. 4:8).

“8  Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you!”

“Accepting on the surface the scribes’ and Pharisees’ evaluation of themselves as righteous and hence not in need of a Savior, Jesus judicially left them to their self-righteous folly (cf. Matt. 15:14).”

(cf. Matt. 15:14)

“14  Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.’”

“Later He would again make this point when He told His hearers that ‘there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need not repentance’ (Luke 15:7).  God seeks the truly repentant heart, not the hardened, self-exalting, self-righteous one.  It was the humble, repentant tax collector, not the self-exalting, self-righteous Pharisee who Jess said was justified (18:14).  It was His classifying of them as sinners in need of repentance that inflamed the Pharisees’ hatred of Jesus.”

            There is just a little more to look at in this section which Lord willing, I will look at in the morning.

6/4/2026 7:19 PM

 

  

 

 

PT-3 “Calling A Wretched Sinner” (Luke 5:27-29)

 

MORNNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/4/2026 9:48 PM

My Worship Time                                                        Focus:  PT-3 “Calling A Wretched Sinner”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                Reference:  Luke 5:27-29

Message of the verses:  “27 ¶  After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” 28  And leaving everything, he rose and followed him. 29  And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them.” (ESV)

            “A significant indication of the reality of Matthew’s transformed life is that he gave a big reception for Jesus in his house.  That it was able to accommodate a great crowd suggests that Matthew’s house was a large one, and is a further indication of the lucrative position he was walking away from.  Having experienced the joyous, liberating experience of having his sins forgiven and his heart transformed, he wanted to expose everyone he knew to the Savior.  Matthew did not invite the proud, elite, religious leaders (who would never have accepted an invitation from a tax collector), but his companions—the outcasts of society with whom he worked and lived daily.  There were, of course, many of Matthew’s fellow tax collectors, along some whom Luke tactfully referred to as other people (Matthew called them ‘sinners’ [Matt. 9:10]).  This group undoubtedly included thieves, thugs, enforcers, drunks, prostitutes—the very people whom the “Son of Man came to seek and save (Luke 10:10).  They had probably all heard of Jesus, and perhaps some had receptive hearts like Matthew’s.

            “Luke’s not that they were reclining at the table indicates that this was a lengthy meal, with lots of time for extended conversation among friends.  No self-respecting Jew would eat a meal with the likes of this crowd.  Meals were important social statements of acceptance in Israel, and Luke describes several in his inspired record of Jesus’ ministry (cf. 7:36; 10:38-40; 11:37; 14:1; 22:14; 24:30).  This one not only celebrated the end of Matthew’s old life and the beginning of his new one, but was also an evangelistic outreach, with the Savior as guest of honor.  It is an amazing picture of Jesus receiving lost sinners.”

6/4/2026 10:00 AM

 

PT-2 “Calling A Wretched Sinner” (Luke 5:27-29)

 

EVENNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/3/2026 8:16 PM

My Worship Time                                                        Focus:  PT-2 “Calling A Wretched Sinner”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                Reference:  Luke 5:27-29

Message of the verses:  “27 ¶  After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” 28  And leaving everything, he rose and followed him. 29  And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them.” (ESV)

            “All of that was anathema to the Jewish people, who believed God was the only one to whom they should pay taxes.  Tax collectors were viewed as traitors to them people, where classified as unclean, and were barred from the synagogues.  They were also forbidden to give testimony in a Jewish court, because they were considered to be liars.  Repentance was deemed especially difficult for tax collectors” writes John MacArthur.

            He goes on to write “The Talmud listed two types of tax collectors, the gabbai, who collected the more general taxes such as the land, poll, and income taxes, and the mokhes, who collected the more specific taxes mentioned above (Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974], 1:5515-18).  There were two kinds of mokhes, the great mokhes, and the little mokhes.  The great mokhes did not himself collect taxes but employed others as substitutes.  The little mokhes would be employed by the great mokhes to actually sit in a tax booth and collect taxes.  Because they were the ones in contact with the people, they were the most despised of all tax collectors.  Since Jesus found him sitting in the tax booth, Matthew would have been a little mokhes—one of the most hated men in Capernaum.  That his booth was located near the shore (Mark 2:13-14) suggests that he collected taxes from the fishermen, which would have made him even more despised by them than the average little mokhes.

            “Undeterred by Matthew’s status as a social outcast Jesus stopped at his tax booth and said to him, ‘Follow Me.’  The Lord knew his heart.  He saw that Matthew was wretched and miserable; that he was distressed and burdened by his sin and hungering and thirsting for righteousness.  Matthew undoubtedly knew of Jesus, since the Lord had made Capernaum His home base (Matt. 4:13) and the word of His powerful preaching and the miracles He performed had spread far and wide (Luke 4:37).  Although he may not have understood at this point that Jesus was God, Matthew certainly recognized Him as a great prophet and preacher of God’s Word.  Like the Old Testament saints, Matthew knew that he was a sinner, and that his only hope for forgiveness lay in God’s mercy…In time Matthew, like the rest of the Twelve, would come to understand and fully believe the truth that Jesus is God.  Jesus forgave him based on his repentant heart and called him to be a disciple, and later to be an apostle (6:15).

            “Matthew’s immediate response revealed the genuineness of his desire for righteousness and salvation: he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Jesus.  The change in his life was miraculous.  The tough, hard-nosed little mokhes became a humble man; in fact, there is no record in the Gospels of him speaking.  In his gospel, Matthew refers to himself only in his account of his calling (Matthew 9:9) omits any reference to leaving everything behind further indicates his humility.  His willingness to forsake everything and follow Jesus is in stark contrast to the rich young ruler.  When the Lord said to him, ‘Go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me’ (Mark 10:21), he ‘was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property’ (v. 22).”

            Now as we look at this passage of Matthew’s conversion we see that his decision was final; as he was abandoning his career.  The great mokhes for whom he worked would have someone else manning his tax booth almost instantly.  Matthew, therefore, made a far more drastic break with his past than the other disciples of Jesus as they were fishermen and could go back to their job, in fact there were who did that as seen in the end of John’s gospel, but the Lord reminded them (mostly Peter) that they were forgiven for leaving Him at the cross, and in Peter’s case for denying that he knew the Lord. 

            Now the aorist tense of the verb anistemi (got up) coupled with the imperfect tense of the verb akoloutheo  (began to follow) illustrates Matthew’s response.  There was a decisive decision to break with his past, then a continual patter of following Christ.  Matthew began to experience then a continual pattern of following Christ.  He began to experience new longings, and also new aspirations, new affections, a new mind, and a new will; so in short, he became a new creature:  “17  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).  The traitor, extortioner, robber, and outcast sinner became the apostle and evangelist of Jesus Christ, and he would later on become the author of the first book in the New Testament, although he probably did not know that.  Matthew lost a temporal career, but gained an eternal destiny; he forfeited material possessions, but he gained “an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven” (1 Peter 1:4); he lost sinful companions, but gained the fellowship of the Son of God.

6/3/2026 9:08 PM

 

PT-1 "Calling A Wretched Sinner" (Luke 5:27-29)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/3/2026 11:06 AM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  “Calling A Wretched Sinner”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                Reference:  Luke 5:27-29

Message of the verses:  “27 ¶  After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” 28  And leaving everything, he rose and followed him. 29  And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them.” (ESV)

            The first thing I want to say is that this SD will not be too long this morning as I am needed to help care for my wife this morning.  Next this section will probably take a number of days to complete as it is very long.

            Now after healing the paralytic found in 5:17-26, Jesus went out of the house where He had been teaching.  Then the Lord was followed by a huge crowd that dogged His steps in fascination and wonder, and He continued to teach them as He was walking along a road near the shore of the Sea of Galilee as seen in Mark 2:13.  But Jesus had a divine appointment to keep, and He noticed (lit., gazed intently at’) a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth.  Levi is better known as Matthew, who is the author of the Gospel that bears his name.  Now since Capernaum was the largest city on the lake and was a crossroad for the east-west and the north-south trade, he likely had a flourishing enterprise.

            Matthew’s occupation as a tax collector made him one of the most hated and despised men in Israel.  Tax collectors were the dregs of Jewish society; that were the lowest of the low on the social scale, and symbolized the worth sinners.  (cf. v. 30; 7:34; 18:11; Matt. 18:17; 21:31)  That Jesus would save a tax collector, and then make him an apostle, was utterly inconceivable to the scribes and Pharisees.

            I will not quote a paragraph from MacArthur’s commentary to end this morning’s SD.

            The Roman occupation of Israel involved more than just a military presence; the nation was also subject to Roman taxation.  The taxes in Galilee, for example, were forwarded by tax collectors to Herod Antipass, and by him to Rome.  Antipas sold tax franchises to the highest bidder, and such franchises were a lucrative business.  Tax collectors had a certain amount that they were required to collect, and whatever they collected beyond that they were permitted to keep (cf. Luke 3:12-13).  In addition to the pool tax (on everyone, including slaves), income tax(about 1 percent), and land tax (one tenth of all grain, and one fifth of all wine and fruit), there were taxes on the transport of goods, letters, produce, using roads, crossing bridges, and almost anything else the rapacious greedy minds of the tax collectors could think of.  All of that left plenty of room for larceny, extortion, exploitation, and even loan sharking, as tax collectors loaned  money at exorbitant interest to those who were unable to pay their taxes.  Tax collectors also employed thugs to physically intimidate people into paying, and to beat up those who refused.”

6/3/2026 11:28 AM