Intro to “True Repentance: God’s Highway to the Heart” (Luke 3:7-17)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/22/2026 7:33 PM

My Worship Time                    Focus:  Intro to “True Repentance: God’s Highway to the Heart”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                   Reference:  Luke 3:7-17

            Message of the verses:  “So he began saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸ "Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, 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. ⁹ "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."

¹⁰ And the crowds were questioning him, saying, "Then what shall we do?" ¹¹ 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." ¹² And some tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?" ¹³ And he said to them, "Collect no more than what you have been ordered to." ¹⁴ 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."

¹⁵ Now while the people were in a state of expectation and all were wondering in their hearts about John, as to whether he was the Christ, ¹⁶ John answered and said to them all, "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 thong 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."

            I will copy from John MacArthur’s commentary as he writes the following introduction to the verses above:  “Having set the scene for John’s ministry in 3:1-6, Luke gave an illustration of it in verses 7-17.  The message John preached, and his dialogue with the crowd, the tax collectors, and the soldiers were not one-time occurrences but were typical of what John routinely did.  This brief look at the ministry and message of the one whom Jesus called the greatest man who had ever lived up to his time (Matt. 11:11) is invaluable.  John’s blunt, forceful, and uncompromising preaching is a model for all who proclaim the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ.

            “First and foremost, John was a preacher of repentance, calling on the people of Israel to turn from their sin and embrace the Messiah.  Repentance is at the heart of the gospel message; salvation is granted only to those who repent of their sin and acknowledge Jesus Christ as the only Savior and Lord (Acts 4:12).  It is impossible to truly preach the good news of forgiveness and grace without calling sinners to repent, and a gospel message devoid of the call to repentance is foreign to the New Testament (cf. 15:7, 10; 24:47; Acts 5:31; 11:18; 17:30; 2 Peter 3:9).

            “John’s message stands in sharp contrast to the ‘cheap grace’ and ‘easy-believism’  that characterizes much watered-down contemporary preaching.  Such deficient preaching strips the gospel of its warning that sinners have violated God’s law and face His wrath and judgment in eternal hell unless they repent.  The predictable result of a shallow, superficial gospel presentation devoid of a biblical call to repentance is a shallow, superficial, non-saving response.  As a result, churches are filled with many who profess to know Jesus Christ, but since they have never repented, the Lord will say to them, ‘I never knew you; depart form Me, you who practice lawlessness’ (Matt. 7:23).  Although they imagine themselves to be on the narrow way that leads to eternal life, they are in reality on the broad way that leads to eternal destruction (vv. 13-14; cf. 25:12; Acts 8:13, 18-23; 2 Tim. 3:5; Titus 1:6).

            “Even most who heard the powerful preaching of John the Baptist and underwent his baptism failed to manifest genuine repentance.  The vast crowds (Matt. 3:5) came to see John and listen to his preaching because they were eagerly anticipating the Messiah.  Many even wondered if John himself might be the Messiah, a notion that John quickly dismissed (vv. 16-17).  But when Jesus did appear and was announced by John as the Messiah and the ‘Lamb of God’ (John 1:29), in spite of being baptized by John, the people ultimately rejected Him.

            “In light of the ever-present danger of false repentance, it is crucial to be able to distinguish it from true repentance.  Six progressive marks of true repentance emerge from this passage as necessary.  True repenters must reflect on personal sin, recognize divine wrath, reject religious ritual, reveal spiritual transformation, renounce ancestry, and receive the Messiah.”

4/22/2026 7:58 PM

“The Prophetical Setting” (Luke 3:4-6)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/22/2026 9:54 AM

My Worship Time                                                                      Focus:  “The Prophetical Setting”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                     Reference:  Luke 3:4-6

            Message of the verses:  “as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.  Every ravine will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be brought low; the crooked will become straight, and the rough roads smooth; and all flesh will see the salvation of God.’”

            I realize that not all people who read the Bible believe what is says, but there is nothing more convincingly that demonstrates God’s control over history than fulfilled prophecy.  Prophecy about the end of the world is what led me to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord.  I have studied prophecy, taught prophecy, and written about prophecy on and off for over 52 years, and prophecy that is fulfilled is something that proves to me that the Word of God is TRUTH.  Seeing Israel become a nation on May 5, 1948, is the first thing that I learned about fulfilled prophecy.  Let me tell you a true story that I was reading in a novel last evening that warmed my heart.  The book is about Israel and in the story there was an older man talking to a younger man about how this younger man’s grandfather was his friend.  The date he refers to is June 14^th 1946, almost two years before Israel would become a nation, and he was in Israel and the times were bleak.  He looked up into the night sky and there was a blood moon.  Let me just quote from this book entitled “On the Mountain of the Lord” written by Ray Bentlley and Bodie Thoene.  Bodie Thoene and her husband have written many books that I have read.  Here we go with the quote:  “Sol nodded, “I believe everything means something.  The day I heard your grandfather had not survived was June 14, 1946.  That very night there was a Blood Moon over Jerusalem.  I was gathered with a small band of Haganah resistance fighters.  It seemed somehow to me this eclipse was a sign from heaven that one day we would be free—that Israel would truly be a Jewish homeland—that Jerusalem must be our capital city again after 2,000 years.  I did not know what it meant until just recently.  Now I have learned your American President [Donald J. Trump]  was born on June 14, 1946—on that very night.  As the Blood Moon appeared over Jerusalem the future president of America—who would one day declare Jerusalem as the eternal, undivided capital of Israel—was born.  Yes.  That fulfillment somehow softens the memory of the terrible night when I grieved your grandfather’s death.”  I will stop here because you would have to understand the plot of the story if I went on.  Now after I read this I asked my smart phone when Donald Trump was born, and it was June 14, 1946, and then I asked my phone if there was a blood moon that evening in Israel, and it said that there was.   

            I will now quote from John MacArthur’s commentary “One such prophecy is Isaiah 40:3-5, the subject of these verses.  It was written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet seven centuries before John’s birth, and has immense theological and historical significance.  John’s fulfillment of the prophecy also shows the continuity between his ministry and the Old Testament, something critically important if the Jewish people were to accept him as a prophet of God.” 

(Isaiah 40:3-5)

“3 ¶  A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4  Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5  And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.’”

            Now remember I have written before that Isaiah’s book has 66 chapters in it, and chapters were added later on, but the first 39 chapters speak mostly about Old Testament things, while the last 27 beginning with verse 40 speak more of what will happen in the New Testament.

            Back to MacArthur’s comments “John perfectly fulfilled this prophecy. He was the voice…crying in the wilderness, where he lived most of his life and where he ministered.  In keeping with his role as Messian’s forerunner, John called on the people to make ready the way of the Lord,  to make His paths straight.  The imagery is of an Oriental monarch on a journey sending a messenger ahead of him to make sure the roads were cleared of debris or other hazards.  In the process ravine[s] would be filled in mountain[s]s and hill[s] brought low, crooked paths made straight, and…rough roads made smooth.

            “Chapter 40, the source of this prophecy, is a pivotal point in the book of Isaiah.  The first thirty-nine chapters focus largely on God’s coming judgments on Israel and the surrounding nations.  The opening words of chapter 40, ‘Comfort, O comfort My people,’ says your God,’ mark a dramatic change in tone.  The message of Isaiah’s prophecy changed from judgment to salvation, which is the them of the rest of the book.”  (It seems that MacArthur agrees with me in what I wrote about the book of Isaiah.)  “The same God who judged Israel for her sins will one day have mercy on her; His ultimate purpose for the nation is not judgment but the salvation of the believing remnant, based on His unmerited grace (cf. Rom. 11:1-32).  The theme of God’s comforting of Israel runs throughout the last half of Isaiah’s prophecy (cf. 40:6-11, 28-32; 41:8-10, 13; 49:14-16; 51:1-3, 12; 52:9; 54:4-8; 57:18; 61:12-13).

            “Ultimately, God’s comfort of Israel will culminate in the millennial kingdom.  Human history will end when the Lord Jesus Christ establishes His earthly kingdom and reigns over the entire world (Ps. 2:6; Isa. 2:2; Jer. 33:15; Ezek. 34:23-24; Dan. 2:44-45; Hos. 3:5; Rev. 20:4-6).  Politically, the millennial kingdom will be characterized by Christ’s universal, absolute, and righteous rule.  Physically, the curse will be lifted, resulting in abundant provision, health, and long life for all.  Spiritually, knowledge of the Lord will be universal (Isa. 11:9), and the believing remnant of Israel will be saved (Zech. 13:1, 8).”  One more thing and that is that the raptured saints of the Lord will help in ruling the earth during this time, and I look forward to that as I will have a new body.

            “The words of Isaiah’s prophecy quoted here also serve as an analogy of the repentance John preached.  The wilderness pictures the sinful heart, and repentance involves bringing to light the deep, dark things of the heart, pictured by filling in the ravines, and humbling human pride, depicted in the imagery of bringing low the mountains and hills.  The crooked, deceitful, devious perverse things must be made straight, and any other rough places in the heart, whether self-love of the world, the lust of the flesh, indifferences, or unbelief, must be smoothed out.  Only then will the truly repentant see the salvation of God.”

Spiritual Meaning for my Life Today:  Knowing all these things will take place, and I believe it will be soon, gives me great hope, and I praise the Lord for His Truth.

My Steps of Faith for Today: Trusting the Lord at my wife’s appointment with her doctor as there need to be some decisions made.

4/22/2026 10:47 AM

PT-4 “The Theological Setting” (Luke 3:3b)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/21/2026 8:56 PM

My Worship Time                                                            Focus:  PT-4 “The Theological Setting”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                      Reference:  Luke 3:3b

            Message of the verse:  “preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins;”

            In this evening’s SD we will be talking about the baptism and it is not Christian baptism, which symbolizes the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, because it had not yet been instituted, so what we are talking about is the baptism that John did to those who came out into the wilderness to hear him preach.  John’s baptism did not produce forgiveness, for no ritual can accomplish that.  And while there were various ceremonial washings in Judaism as seen in Hebrews 6:2 “2  and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.”  Now there was no baptism of Jews.  But while there was no baptism of Jews in Judaism, the Jews did baptize Gentile converts to Judaism.  Thus, those who “were being baptized by [John] in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins” (Matt. 3:6), were publicly acknowledging that they were no better than the Gentiles.  Their sins had separated them from the true and living God (cf. Isaiah 59:2) and cut them off from the covenant blessings.  For Jewish people to place themselves on the same level as the despised Gentiles was astonishing, and demonstrated the power of John’s preaching.

(Matt. 3:6)

“6  and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.”

(cf. Isaiah 59:2)

“2  but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.”

            MacArthur goes on to write “Unfortunately, few being baptized by John were truly repentant.  The nation would later reject Jesus when He failed to meet their expectations of a political Messiah, who would deliver them from the Romans.  Others were superficial from the start.  Thus when John

‘saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our fathers’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham (cf. John 8:37-40]. The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. (Matt. 3:7-12)  Now we will go back to look at John 8:37-40.

“37  I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. 38 ¶  I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father." 39  They answered him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, 40  but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did.”

            MacArthur concludes this rather long section from his commentary on Luke:  “But those few (Matt. 7:13-14) who acknowledged their sinful condition and alienation from God and turned to Him in repentant faith were saved.”

(Matt. 7:13-14)

“13  "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14  For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

            At the end of his commentary on this section MacArthur mentioned two books that he has written, “The Gospel According to Jesus, and The Gospel According to the Apostles.”

            Looks like I can finish this chapter in tomorrow morning’s SD.

4/21/2026 9:18 PM

 

PT-3 “The Theological Setting” (Luke 3:3b)

 

MORNNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/21/2026 8:36 AM

My Worship Time                                                            Focus:  PT-3 “The Theological Setting”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                      Reference:  Luke 3:3b

            Message of the verse:  “preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins;”

            “Repentance is not merely an intellectual change of the mind about who Christ is, or superficial remorse over the consequences of sin.  It is a radical turning from sin to God; a repudiation of the old life and a turning to God for salvation from the penalty and dominion of sin.  In 1 Thessalonians 1:9, Paul wrote that the Thessalonians ‘turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God.’  Those who come to him broken in spirit, humble, and mourning over their sins will experienced God’s forgiveness.”

            I  think that the paragraph above was worthy of having it highlighted because of the great truth that is found in it.  Repentance is not just for when a person come to salvation through Jesus Christ, but when a person who is a believer sins and  thus is in need of cleansing from their sin even though God has already forgiven them from that sin they still need to agree with God that they have sinned.

            “Saving repentance never exists except in partnership with faith.  It is impossible to have true faith in Jesus Christ apart from t rue repentance from sin or tur repentance from sin apart from true faith.  They are two sides of the same work of the Holy Spirit to convict sinners of their sin and draw them to Christ.

            “It must be clearly understood that  repentance is not a human work that earns salvation.  Repentance is not a pre-salvation effort by sinners to set their lives right that God rewards by saving them.  In repentance sinners recognize their dire condition, acknowledge that they are unable to save themselves, and turn to Jesus Christ as the only One who can save them.  Left to themselves, the unregenerate will never come to that conclusion, since they love darkness rather than light (John 3:19), and are dead in their trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1).”

(John 3:19)

“19  And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.”

(Eph. 2:1)

“1 ¶  And you were dead in the trespasses and sins”

            MacArthur goes on: “The conviction that produces repentance is a work of the Holy Spirit, who ‘convict[s] the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment’ (John 16:8).  In Acts 5:31, Peter declared that, ‘God exalted [Jesus] to His right and as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.’ Acts  3:26; 11:18; and 2 Timothy 2:25 also affirm that God grants repentance to sinners.

            “In 2 Corinthians 7:9-11, the apostle Paul captures the essence of repentance:

“I not rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us.  For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.  For behold what earnestness this very thing, theis godly sorrow, had produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong!  In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter.”

MacArthur goes on:  “He began by distinguishing remorse over sin’s consequences from the sorrow that produces repentance, noting that the Corinthians ‘were made sorrowful to the point of repentance.’  Their sorrow was ‘according to the will of God’; that is, they viewed their sin the same way God does. That in turn ‘produce[d] a repentance without regret, leading to salvation.’ As opposed to the ‘sorrow of the world [that] produces death.’  Remorse over sin’s consequences, which is little more than wounded pride stemming from being caught in a sin, cannot produce the genuine repentance thar results in forgiveness.

            “Paul closed his description of true repentance by defining it in a series of words or phrases.  The first mark of repentance is ‘earnestness,’ an eager pursuit of righteousness that ends a person’s indifference to sin and complacency about his or her lost condition.  ‘Vindication’ describes the desire to clear one’s name of the stigma attached to sin.  ‘Indignation’ is righteous anger at the dishonor sin brings to God’s holy name.  It goes hand in hand with ‘fear’ of God’s just judgment on sin and a ‘longing’ to have one’s relationship with Him restored.  Repentance also produces ‘zeal,’ a passionate desire for righteousness that causes sinners to long to see justice done and the wrong of their sins avenged and atoned for.  The Corinthians’ desire ‘to be innocent in the manner’ shows that the one who is truly repentant aggressively pursues holiness.”

            It is my belief that this is enough for this morning’s SD as there is a lot to “digest” here and so I think that I will just go ahead and leave the rest of this section to this evening’s SD.

Spiritual Meaning for My life today:  To be thankful that the Lord Jesus Christ called me to salvation a little over 52 years ago as He certainly changed my path and caused me to repent of the sinful life that I was living and caused me to begin to grow in His grace by giving me a desire to study His Word and then to share what I have learned with others.

My Steps of Faith For Today:  To trust the Lord to show Sandy the path for healing that He desires for her to take, as she is not really doing will on the procedures that she is taking at this time.

4/21/2026 9:11 AM

 

PT-2 “The Theological Setting” (Luke 3:3b)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/20/2026 8:16 PM

My Worship Time                                                            Focus:  PT-2 “The Theological Setting”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                      Reference:  Luke 3:3b

            Message of the verse:  “preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins;”

            I want to continue to quote from MacArthur’s commentary as I begin this evening’s SD, as this morning when I stopped I was in the middle of a paragraph and so I will pick up where I left off:  “Iniquities prevail against me,’ David lamented, but then added, ‘as for our transgressions, You forgive them’ (Ps. 65:3).  In Psalm 86:5, he affirmed, ‘You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive.’  In Psalm 1-3:12, he expressed the magnitude of God’s forgiveness when he declared, ‘As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us,’ and in Psalm 130:3-4, he added, ‘If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?  But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.’  Daniel took comfort in the knowledge that ‘to the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness’ (Dan. 9:9).  Isaiah pictured God’s forgiveness as washing sin so thoroughly that they are white as snow or wool (1:18), casting them behind His back (38:17; cf. Ps. 51:9), refusing to remember them (43:25), and covering them with a thick cloud and a heavy mist (44:22); Micah depicts forgiveness as God’s trampling sins under His feet and casting them into the depts of the sea (Mic. 7:19).”

            This ends the paragraph that I began in this morning’s SD.  4/20/2026 10:17 PM

            Now we want to talk about the father of John the Baptist, as His father, Zacharias, had prophesied in Luke 1:76-77, the Baptist proclaimed God’ forgiveness.  His message offered hope to a people staggering under the weight of sin and guilt. As a result, there were multitudes who flocked to the wilderness to hear the strange prophet with the profound, penetrating message that their burdened hearts so desperately needed to hear.

            However forgiveness comes only to those who acknowledge and turn from their sins; so hence John also proclaimed the need for repentance.  That concept was also familiar to the Jewish people.  In Isaiah 55:6-7 we see that God commanded, “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near.  Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” Next we will look at Ezekiel 18:30-32 also called upon the people to repent:

30 ¶  "Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. 31  Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? 32  For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live.’”  Also I want to look at 33:19 “19  I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and be careful to obey my rules.”

            I really want to write more, but things have not gone well with me or with my wife this evening, so I will hopefully pick up tomorrow morning where I left of this evening.

4/20/2026 10:25 PM

 

PT-1 “The Theological Setting” (Luke 3:3b)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/20/2026 10:10 AM

My Worship Time                                                                     Focus:  “The Theological Setting”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                      Reference:  Luke 3:3b

            Message of the verse:  “preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins;”

            This morning I begin a rather long section that mostly will come from what John MacArthur writes about this short half of a verse.  It’s amazing to me how he can get so much out of the verses in the Word of God, but I suppose that is why I like using his commentaries in order to learn more from the Word of God.  This morning we begin to write about John’s message of repentance and forgiveness which is the one proclaimed by every true preacher of God’s truth.  Now It is the good news that alone provides hope to a sin-cursed world, and John’s message would be readily understandable had he been preaching to Gentiles, but he now has this message for the Jews of his day who mostly were very far from their Lord.  This message he is preaching should seem unnecessary for the children of Israel, whose people were steeped in the Old Testament.  Now let me say that while John was preaching to mostly Jews, there were also Roman soldiers who came out into the wilderness to hear what he had to say.

            Unfortunately the truth is that Israel was religiously bankrupt and desperately need to hear John’s call to repentance.  The Jewish people were cured of their penchant for idolatry because of their Babylonian captivity, however in its place arose a legalistic religion, whose followers believed they could gain a right relationship to God by means of their own efforts, something that many people around the world still believe, but God is a jealous God and you can only come to Him by the way that He has provided, that is through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ who took the place of sinners on the cross, as He became sin for us while on the cross so that we can accept that forgiveness as we invite Him into our hearts to save us, and they we will have a great desire to follow Him through Bible study and the preaching of the Word.  If you have not done this then ask the Lord to save you now admitting you are a sinner in need of His precious and free salvation He offers to you.

            MacArthur writes “The Lord Jesus Christ denounced that pernicious, false perspective in the Sermon on the Mount. He declared that no one can earn salvation by keeping the law, since the standard is the absolutely perfect holiness of God (Matt. 5:48; cf. v. 20).”

(Matt. 5:48; cf. v. 20)

48  You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

“20  For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

“Focusing on external behavior instead of heart attitudes (vv. 21-47), making showy public displays of giving to the poor, praying, and fasting (6:1-18) all mark those on the broad way that leads to destruction (7:13).  Those counting on such self-righteous achievements to earn their salvation are foolishly building a house on sand—one that will be washed away by the flood of divine judgment (vv. 26-27).  But those who declare spiritual bankruptcy, humbly mourning their sin, yearning for a righteousness granted them by God (5:1-12 cf. Phil. 3:9), and trusting in the Lord Jesus (Matt. 10:32-33), will become sons of God and inherit the kingdom of God.  The apostle Paul reminded the Romans that

‘he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh.  But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God (Rom. 2:28-29)

            He goes on to write “Three important theological realities characterized John’s preaching.  He offered the hope of forgiveness of sins.  As noted above, the Jewish people were caught up in a system of works righteousness.  Salvation, they were taught, came from keeping the Law, observing the traditions, and performing the rituals.  But the realization that they could not perfectly do those things laid a heavy burden of guilt on them.  Jesus declared that the Jewish religious leaders, ‘tie put heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger’ (Matt. 23:4).  Defending the biblical truth that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, Peter asked his fellow Jews at the Jerusalem council, ‘Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?’ (Acts 15:10).” That is not only a good question for Jews but for all people who are focused in on ways that they think will save them, but they will not for salvation already has been provided by the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as Jesus paid it all, and then after salvation “all to Him I owe.” Notice this comes after salvation, not before.

            Macarthur then goes on:  “Yet the Jewish people knew that the New covenant promised forgiveness.  In Jeremiah 31:34, God declared, ‘I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more’ (cf. 33:8; 50:20; Ezekiel 16:60-63).”  I will now take the time to quote these verses as they are very important to our subject this morning.

(cf. 33:8; 50:20; Ezekiel 16:60-63)

“8  I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me.”

“20  In those days and in that time, declares the LORD, iniquity shall be sought in Israel, and there shall be none, and sin in Judah, and none shall be found, for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.”

“60 ¶  yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish for you an everlasting covenant. 61  Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you take your sisters, both your elder and your younger, and I give them to you as daughters, but not on account of the covenant with you. 62  I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the LORD, 63  that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I atone for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord GOD.’”

“They also understood that God is by nature a forgiving God.  The Lord described Himself to Moses as one ‘who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin’ (Ex. 34:7).  Interceding for rebellious Israel, Moses characterized God as ‘slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression’ (Num. 14:18).  Nehemiah called God ‘a God of forgiveness’ (Neh. 9:17).  In Psalm 32, David exalted,

“How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit!...I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’; and You forgave the guilt of my sin’ (vv. 1-2, 5).”

            Lord willing I will continue on this subject of forgiveness in this evening’s SD.

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am so very thankful for the Lord’s salvation as He saved me on the 26^th of January in 1974, a day that I will always remember and praise the Lord for.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to walk in the Lord and to trust in the Lord to lead and to guide me.

4/20/2026 10:55 AM

“The Geographical Setting” (Like 3:26b-3a)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/19/2026 8:35 PM

My Worship Time                                                                    Focus: “The Geographical Setting”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                 Reference:  Luke 3:2b-3a

            Message of the verses:  “the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness.  And he came into all the district around the Jordan,”

            I think that one thing we can learn about all that we have been looking at as I started looking at the book of Luke, is that God does things His ways, and it probably is not how things would be done if they were done by humans.  So one could hardly have envisioned a less auspicious location for the beginning of a public ministry of John the Baptist, the son of Zacharias, than the wilderness.  Like I said that God does things His ways, and you can be sure that they are perfect in the way He always does them, even though we don’t always understand it.  So surely the forerunner of the Messiah would be expected to make a dramatic appearance at the temple, or at least somewhere in Jerusalem.  There was no more barren, desolate region in Israel than the wilderness of Judea.  This wilderness stretched from the hill country of Judah on the west to the shores of the Dead Sea on the east, and extended north into the Jordan River valley. John MacArthur writes “According to one writer,

“It is difficult to describe adequately the foreboding desolation and howling barrenness along the shores of the Dead Sea….If there could be fixed in one’s mind the image of the almost-painful sterility of the Sahara or of Death Vallen, and then multiply that by a factor of four or more, one might come close to capturing the geographical reality to which he is exposed along the shores of the Dead Sea. (Barry, J. Beitzel, The Moody Atlas of Bible Lands [Chicago: Moody, 1985], 41).

            “It was in that harsh, unforgiving environment that John grew to manhood.  Since his parents, Zacharias and Elizabeth ‘were both advanced in years’ when he was born (Luke 1:7), John may have been orphaned at a young age, and then moved to the wilderness after the death of his parents.  Despite the claims of some, however, there is no evidence that John ever lived at the famous religious community of Qumran, which was located in that region (cf. Bock, Luke 1:9:50, 198). That John’s entire ministry was spent in the district around the Jordan (cf. Matt. 3:6, 13; John 1:28; 3:23, 26; 10:40) in no way diminished his enormous popularity (cf. Matt. 3:5; Mark 1:5).”

(cf. Matt. 3:6, 13; John 1:28; 3:23, 26; 10:40)

“6  and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.”

“13 ¶  Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him.”

“28  These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.”

“23  John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized”

“26  And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.’”

“40  He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained.”

(cf. Matt. 3:5; Mark 1:5)

“5  Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him,”

“5  And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.”

            “The phrase The word of God came to John does not imply that God revealed Scripture to him. Instead, the use of the more specific term rhema (word) as opposed to the more general term logos (cf. 5:1) suggests that Jon’s call to a prophetic ministry is in view here (cf. Jer. 1:1-2; Ezek. 1:3; Hos. 1:1; Joel 1:1; Jonah 1:1; Mic. 1:1; Zech. 1:1; Hag. 1:1).  After years of isolation, John suddenly, dramatically stepped onto the public stage.”  These verses are all pretty much the same as they show the calling of each of the prophets listed.

            “The location of John’s ministry was a rebuke to the religious establishment, located primarily in Jerusalem.  That John ministered in the wilderness symbolized God’s disdain not only for Gentile idolatry, but also for hypocritical Jewish legalism.   John kept his distance from both, remaining untouched and unpolluted by either.  It also symbolized John’s attack on the establishment (Matt. 3:7-12), and the necessity for truth seekers to leave it (Matt. 3:5-6).

(Matt. 3:7-12)

“7 ¶  But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8  Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 9  And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 10  Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11  "I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12  His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’”

(Matt. 3:5-6)

“5  Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, 6  and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.”

“Finally, like the Messiah he heralded, John was humble.  He did not minister in the temple, or a royal palace, but in the humblest of circumstances (cf. Matt. 11:8).”

(cf. Matt. 11:8)

“8  What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses.”

“That illustrates the truth that God chooses the humble and the lowly (1 Cor. 1:26-29).”

(1 Cor. 1:26-29)

“26  For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27  But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28  God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29  so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.”

“As the Jews had to be purged in the wilderness after they had left Egypt before entering the Promised Land, they would also be required to return to the wilderness again to be cleansed, baptized by John to prepare their hearts to receive Messiah’s kingdom.”

4/19/2026 9:10 PM