Truth For Life Program
Alistair Begg Devotional
C. H. Spurgeon Devotional
One-Year Bible Reading Plan
Audio PlayerYou’ve most likely heard the saying “Beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing!” But how do you recognize a “wolf” in disguise? And what should you do if you find one in your congregation? Hear the answers when you listen to Truth For Life with Alistair Begg.
From the Sermon
Seeing Christ in the Scriptures
With each passing year, I’ve developed a greater tendency to wake up in the middle of the night. Worry often sweeps in when I am stirred from sleep—and, as is fitting for a pastor, one of my concerns is this: Am I seeing and teaching Christ in and from all the Scriptures?
It is possible to study the Bible without Christ as our focus. We may pride ourselves on understanding it in a very systematic fashion, but in doing so, we run the risk of becoming so enamored with our method that we fail to see Christ.
In Acts 2, when Peter addresses the crowd, he says, “Men of Israel, hear these words.” (His tone seems authoritative, doesn’t it?) And then notice what follows: “Jesus of Nazareth…” Peter doesn’t begin by appealing to the people’s felt needs or by presenting to them all the practical benefits of the gospel, nor does he embark on laying out a set of doctrines or setting forth a series of propositions. Rather, he proceeds to say who Jesus is, why Jesus came, and what Jesus did.
Peter’s teaching was directed to the heart, rooted in grace, and focused on Christ. Such teaching comes at a cost—one that not everybody is prepared to pay. It is much easier to talk about the issues of the day than to truly know and share Christ. Sometimes, in churches that hold the Bible in high regard, we find it more comfortable to talk more of our favored doctrines than of the Christ who often unsettles us and challenges our lifestyles. The hard thing to do, however, is also the right thing to do. What a dreadful waste of energy, to gain insight or provide instruction about almost everything but the saving story of Jesus!
Scripture finds its focus and fulfillment in Christ. The real test of how deeply God’s word is dwelling within us is not our ability to articulate a story line but to see Jesus in all the Scriptures. He is not just the start of the Christian faith but the sum total of it. Aim to go deeper into Christ, not to move beyond Him.
Perhaps this should be our prayer whenever we open the pages of our Bible:
More about Jesus would I know,
More of His grace to others show;
More of His saving fullness see,
More of His love, who died for me.
More about Jesus let me learn,
More of His holy will discern;
Spirit of God, my teacher be,
Showing the things of Christ to me.[1]
How is God calling me to think differently?
How is God reordering my heart’s affections — what I love?
What is God calling me to do as I go about my day today?
On the Road to Emmaus
13That very day ytwo of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles1 from Jerusalem, 14and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. 16zBut their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. 18Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” 19And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was aa prophet bmighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20and chow our chief priests and drulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. 21But we had hoped that he was ethe one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now fthe third day since these things happened. 22Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. gThey were at the tomb early in the morning, 23and hwhen they did not find his body, they came back saying that ithey had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. 24jSome of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.” 25And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26kWas it not necessary that lthe Christ should suffer these things and enter into mhis glory?” 27And nbeginning with oMoses and pall the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
28So they drew near to the village to which they were going. qHe acted as if he were going farther, 29but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and rthe day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. 30When he was at table with them, he took the bread and sblessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31tAnd their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And uhe vanished from their sight. 32They said to each other, v“Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he wopened to us the Scriptures?” 33And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they xfound the eleven and ythose who were with them gathered together, 34saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and zhas appeared to Simon!” 35Then they told what had happened on the road, and ahow he was known to them in bthe breaking of the bread.
Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotionals by Alistair Begg, published by The Good Book Company, thegoodbook.com. Used by Truth For Life with permission. Copyright © 2021, 2022, The Good Book Company.
An Exploit of Climbing
Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord.
It is exceedingly beneficial to our souls to rise above this present evil world to something nobler and better. The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches are apt to choke everything good within us, and we grow fretful, desponding, perhaps proud and carnal. It is good for us to cut down these thorns and briers, because heavenly seed sown among them is not likely to yield a harvest.
Where will we find a better scythe with which to cut them down than communion with God and the things of the kingdom? There are places in the world where the lowlands are a breeding ground for sickness. Doctors will often suggest that their patients head for the mountains where they can breathe the clear, fresh air. Heeding such advice, the valley dwellers leave their homes among the marshes and the fever mists to inhale the bracing elements upon the hills.
It is to such an exploit of climbing that I invite you this evening. May the Spirit of God assist us to leave the mists of fear and the fevers of anxiety and all the ills that gather in this valley of earth, and to ascend the mountains of anticipated joy and blessedness. May God the Holy Spirit cut the cords that keep us here below and enable us to climb! We are too often like chained eagles fastened to the perch, and even worse, unlike the eagle, we begin to love our chain and might even, if it came to the test, be loath to have it snapped.
May God now grant us grace, if we cannot escape from the chain as to our flesh, yet to do so as to our spirits; and leaving the body, like a servant, at the foot of the hill, may our soul, like Abraham, reach the top of the mountain, so that we can enjoy communion with the Most High.
Devotional material is taken from Morning and Evening, written by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg. Copyright © 2003, Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org. Used by Truth For Life with written permission.
Daily Bible Reading for April 4
1j“This is the law of the kguilt offering. lIt is most holy. 2mIn the place where they kill the burnt offering they shall kill the guilt offering, and its blood shall be thrown against the sides of the altar. 3And nall its fat shall be offered, the fat tail, the fat that covers the entrails, 4the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins, and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove owith the kidneys. 5The priest shall burn them on the altar as a food offering to the Lord; it is a guilt offering. 6pEvery male among the priests may eat of it. It shall be eaten in a holy place. qIt is most holy. 7The rguilt offering is just like the sin offering; there is one law for them. The priest who makes atonement with it shall have it. 8And the priest who offers any man's burnt offering shall have for himself the skin of the burnt offering that he has offered. 9And severy grain offering baked tin the oven and all that is prepared uon a pan or a griddle shall belong to the priest who offers it. 10And every grain offering, mixed with oil or dry, shall be shared equally among all the sons of Aaron.
11“And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings that one may offer to the Lord. 12If he offers it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the thanksgiving sacrifice vunleavened loaves mixed with oil, unleavened wafers smeared with oil, and loaves of fine flour wwell mixed with oil. 13xWith the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving he shall bring his offering with loaves of leavened bread. 14And from it he shall offer one loaf from each offering, as a ygift to the Lord. zIt shall belong to the priest who throws the blood of the peace offerings. 15And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings afor thanksgiving shall be eaten on the day of his offering. He shall not leave any of it until the morning. 16But bif the sacrifice of his offering is a vow offering or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice, and on the next day what remains of it shall be eaten. 17But what remains of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burned up with fire. 18If any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offering is eaten on the third day, he who offers it shall not be accepted, neither shall it be credited to him. It is ctainted, and he who eats of it shall bear his iniquity.
19“Flesh that touches any unclean thing shall not be eaten. It shall be burned up with fire. All who are clean may eat flesh, 20but the person who eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of the Lord's peace offerings dwhile an uncleanness is on him, that person shall be cut off from his people. 21And if anyone touches an unclean thing, whether ehuman uncleanness or an funclean beast or any gunclean detestable creature, and then eats some flesh from the sacrifice of the Lord's peace offerings, that person shall be cut off from his people.”
22The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 23“Speak to the people of Israel, saying, hYou shall eat no fat, of ox or sheep or goat. 24The fat of an animal ithat dies of itself and the fat of one that is torn by beasts may be put to any other use, but on no account shall you eat it. 25For every person who eats of the fat of an animal of which a food offering may be made to the Lord shall be cut off from his people. 26Moreover, jyou shall eat no blood whatever, whether of fowl or of animal, in any of your dwelling places. 27Whoever eats any blood, that person shall be cut off from his people.”
28The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 29“Speak to the people of Israel, saying, kWhoever offers the sacrifice of his peace offerings to the Lord shall bring his offering to the Lord from the sacrifice of his peace offerings. 30lHis own hands shall bring the Lord's food offerings. He shall bring the fat with mthe breast, that the breast may be waved as a wave offering before the Lord. 31nThe priest shall burn the fat on the altar, but othe breast shall be for Aaron and his sons. 32And othe right thigh you shall give to the priest as a contribution from the sacrifice of your peace offerings. 33Whoever among the sons of Aaron offers the blood of the peace offerings and the fat shall have the right thigh for a portion. 34For the breast that is owaved and the thigh that is ocontributed I have taken from the people of Israel, out of the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and phave given them to Aaron the priest and to his sons, as a perpetual due from the people of Israel. 35This is the portion of Aaron and of his sons from the Lord's food offerings, from the day they were presented to serve as priests of the Lord. 36The Lord commanded this to be given them by the people of Israel, qfrom the day that he anointed them. It is a perpetual due throughout their generations.”
37This is the law rof the burnt offering, of the grain offering, of the sin offering, sof the guilt offering, tof the ordination offering, and uof the peace offering, 38which the Lord commanded Moses on Mount Sinai, on the day that he commanded the people of Israel vto bring their offerings to the Lord, in the wilderness of Sinai.
Psalm 7
In You Do I Take Refuge
A lShiggaion1 of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush, a Benjaminite.
1O Lord my God, in you do I mtake refuge;
nsave me from all my pursuers and deliver me,
2lest like oa lion they tear my soul apart,
rending it in pieces, with pnone to deliver.
3O Lord my God, qif I have done this,
if there is rwrong in my hands,
4if I have repaid smy friend2 with evil
or tplundered my enemy without cause,
5let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it,
and let him utrample my life to the ground
and lay my glory in the dust. Selah
6vArise, O Lord, in your anger;
wlift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;
xawake for me; you have appointed a judgment.
7Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you;
over it return on high.
8The Lord yjudges the peoples;
zjudge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness
and according to the integrity that is in me.
9Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
and may you establish the righteous—
you who atest bthe minds and hearts,3
O righteous God!
10My shield is cwith God,
who saves dthe upright in heart.
11God is ea righteous judge,
and a God who feels findignation every day.
12If a man4 does not repent, God5 will gwhet his sword;
he has hbent and ireadied his bow;
13he has prepared for him his deadly weapons,
making his jarrows kfiery shafts.
14Behold, the wicked man lconceives evil
and is lpregnant with mischief
and gives birth to lies.
15He makes ma pit, digging it out,
and falls into the hole that he has made.
16His nmischief returns upon his own head,
and on his own skull his violence descends.
17I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness,
and I will osing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.
Psalm 8
How Majestic Is Your Name
To the choirmaster: according to The pGittith.1 A Psalm of David.
1O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your qname in all the earth!
You have set your rglory above the heavens.
2sOut of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established tstrength because of your foes,
to still uthe enemy and the avenger.
3When I vlook at your heavens, the work of your wfingers,
the moon and the stars, xwhich you have set in place,
4ywhat is man that you are zmindful of him,
and athe son of man that you bcare for him?
5Yet you have made him a little lower than cthe heavenly beings2
and crowned him with dglory and honor.
6You have given him edominion over the works of your hands;
fyou have put all things under his feet,
7all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
9O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
1pA good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,
and favor is better than silver or gold.
2qThe rich and the poor meet together;
the Lord is rthe Maker of them all.
3sThe prudent sees danger and hides himself,
but the simple go on and suffer for it.
4The reward for humility and fear of the Lord
is triches and honor and life.1
5uThorns and snares are in the way of the crooked;
whoever vguards his soul will keep far from them.
6wTrain up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it.
7xThe rich rules over the poor,
and the borrower is the slave of the lender.
8Whoever ysows injustice will reap calamity,
and zthe rod of his fury will fail.
9aWhoever has a bountiful2 eye will be blessed,
for he bshares his bread with the poor.
10cDrive out a scoffer, dand strife will go out,
and equarreling and abuse will cease.
11He who floves purity of heart,
and whose gspeech is gracious, hwill have the king as his friend.
12The eyes of the Lord keep watch over knowledge,
but he ioverthrows the words of the traitor.
13jThe sluggard says, “There is a lion outside!
I shall be killed in the streets!”
14The mouth of kforbidden3 women is la deep pit;
mhe with whom the Lord is angry will fall into it.
15Folly is bound up in the heart of a child,
but nthe rod of discipline drives it far from him.
16Whoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth,
or gives to the rich, owill only come to poverty.
Words of the Wise
17pIncline your ear, and hear qthe words of the wise,
rand apply your heart to my knowledge,
18for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you,
if all of them are ready on your lips.
19That your trust may be in the Lord,
I have made them known to you today, even to you.
20Have I not written for you sthirty sayings
of counsel and knowledge,
21to tmake you know what is right and true,
that you may give a true answer to those who sent you?
22uDo not rob the poor, because he is poor,
or vcrush the afflicted at wthe gate,
23for xthe Lord will plead their cause
and rob of life those who rob them.
24Make no friendship with a man given to anger,
nor go with a wrathful man,
25lest you learn his ways
and entangle yourself in a snare.
26Be not one of those who ygive pledges,
who put up security for debts.
27If you have nothing with which to pay,
why should zyour bed be taken from under you?
28Do not move the ancient alandmark
that your fathers have set.
29Do you see a man skillful in his work?
He will bstand before kings;
he will not stand before obscure men.
Greeting
1Paul, aSilvanus, and Timothy,
To the church of the bThessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
cGrace to you and peace.
The Thessalonians' Faith and Example
2dWe give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly1 ementioning you in our prayers, 3remembering before four God and Father gyour work of faith and labor of hlove and isteadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4For we know, jbrothers2 loved by God, kthat he has chosen you, 5because lour gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and min the Holy Spirit and with full nconviction. You know owhat kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 6And pyou became imitators of us qand of the Lord, for ryou received the word in much affliction, swith the tjoy of the Holy Spirit, 7so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8For not only has the word of the Lord usounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth veverywhere, so that we need not say anything. 9For they themselves report concerning us the kind of wreception we had among you, and how xyou turned to God yfrom idols to serve the living and ztrue God, 10and ato wait for his Son bfrom heaven, cwhom he raised from the dead, Jesus dwho delivers us from ethe wrath to come.
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