Truth For Life Program
Alistair Begg Devotional
C. H. Spurgeon Devotional
One-Year Bible Reading Plan
Audio PlayerWhat does it take to be saved? Is it perfect church attendance? Moral living? Leading a Bible study? While these are all good things, they’re useless if we miss one crucial element. Find out what it is and why we need it, on Truth For Life with Alistair Begg.
From the Sermon
A Pleasing Sacrifice
Here is an amazing notion when you pause to consider it: you are able to bring God pleasure.
It is a mind-blowing thought: that our Creator would be pleased by our actions. Yet Scripture encourages us to see that this is a reality. As Christians, we strive to live under the smile of our heavenly Father. One of the great biblical motivators for obeying God is that the way we live can “please God … more and more” (1 Thessalonians 4:1)—and one of the ways we can do this is through our generous giving, which is “a sacrifice pleasing to God.”
Paul described the giving of the Philippian church in terminology that reflected the Old Testament practice of animal sacrifice. When God’s people in the Old Testament brought their burnt offerings, the burning of incense accompanied these sacrifices. Therefore, the sacrifice produced an attractive smell. In some sense, this represented the acceptability and sweetness of the offering in God’s sight. In the same way, God says to His people in the first century and in the twenty-first, When your giving comes from a heart that is in tune with Mine, it produces a beautiful aroma, and your sacrifice brings Me pleasure.
When considering this kind of giving, we should not pass over the word “sacrifice” too quickly. Sacrificial giving is not necessarily the same as generous giving. It is quite possible for us to be generous—as, in fact, many believers are—without feeling an impact on our lives or circumstances.
In making this same point for His disciples, Jesus drew their attention to a poor widow as she was putting her tithe into the offering box in the temple. As He watched this woman deposit two copper coins, which were worth next to nothing, and compared them with the gifts of the rich people near her, He said, “This poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on” (Luke 21:2-4). The wealthy were generous; the widow was sacrificial. She gave up in order to give away. And her Lord noticed and was pleased by what He saw.
We are not by nature sacrificial givers. But the whole Christian journey—in receiving and in giving, in caring and in sharing—is filled with grace from start to finish. When we give sacrificially from a heart that desires to please God, He promises to “supply every need … according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). It is reflecting on all that God has given, and all that God is giving, and all that God will give, that unlocks our hearts and enables us to give both sacrificially and joyfully. And when we do so, we bring God pleasure.
The Philippians’ actions, and their bank statements, showed that they truly believed this. To what extent do yours?
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?
A Life Pleasing to God
1Finally, then, brothers,1 we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you dreceived from us ehow you ought to walk and fto please God, just as you are doing, that you gdo so more and more. 2For hyou know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3For this is the will of God, iyour sanctification:2 jthat you abstain from sexual immorality; 4that each one of you know how to control his own kbody3 in holiness and lhonor, 5not in mthe passion of lust nlike the Gentiles owho do not know God; 6that no one transgress and pwrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is qan avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 7For rGod has not called us for simpurity, but in holiness. 8Therefore twhoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, uwho gives his Holy Spirit to you.
9Now concerning vbrotherly love wyou have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been xtaught by God yto love one another, 10for that indeed is what zyou are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to ado this more and more, 11and to aspire bto live quietly, and cto mind your own affairs, and dto work with your hands, as we instructed you, 12so that you may ewalk properly before foutsiders and be dependent on no one.
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.
Cut Them Off!
In the name of the Lord I cut them off!
Our Lord Jesus, by His death, did not purchase a right to just a part of us, but to all of us. He pondered in His passion our complete sanctification—spirit, soul, and body, that in every area He Himself might reign supreme without a rival. It is the business of the newborn nature that God has given to the regenerate to assert the rights of the Lord Jesus Christ.
My soul, insofar as you are a child of God, you must conquer all the rest of yourself that remains unblessed; you must subdue all your powers and passions, and you must never be satisfied until He who is King by purchase also becomes King by gracious coronation and reigns in you supreme. Seeing, then, that sin has no right to any part of us, we are involved in good and lawful warfare when we seek, in the name of God, to drive it out. Since my body is a member of Christ, shall I tolerate subjection to the prince of darkness?
My soul, Christ has suffered for your sins and redeemed you with His most precious blood; do not allow your memory to store up evil thoughts or your passions to be the occasion of sin. Do not allow your judgment to be perverted by error or your will to be led in chains of iniquity. No, my soul, you are Christ's, and sin has no right to you.
Be courageous concerning this, O Christian! Be not dispirited, as though your spiritual enemies could never be destroyed. You are able to overcome them—but not in your own strength—the weakest of them would be too much for you; but you can and shall overcome them through the blood of the Lamb. If you wonder how to dispossess them since they are greater and mightier than you, go to the strong for strength, wait humbly upon God, and the mighty God of Jacob will surely come to your rescue, and you will sing of victory through His grace.
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 6
The Lord Accepts Aaron's Offering
1rOn the eighth day Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel, 2and he said to Aaron, s“Take for yourself a bull calf for a sin offering and ta ram for a burnt offering, both without blemish, and offer them before the Lord. 3And say to the people of Israel, u‘Take a male goat for a sin offering, and a calf and a lamb, both a year old without blemish, for a burnt offering, 4and an ox and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice before the Lord, and va grain offering mixed with oil, for wtoday the Lord will appear to you.’” 5And they brought what Moses commanded in front of the tent of meeting, and all the congregation drew near and stood before the Lord. 6And Moses said, “This is the thing that the Lord commanded you to do, that the glory of the Lord may appear to you.” 7Then Moses said to Aaron, “Draw near to the altar and xoffer your sin offering and your burnt offering and ymake atonement for yourself and for the people, and bring the offering of the people and make atonement for them, as the Lord has commanded.”
8So Aaron drew near to the altar and killed the calf of the sin offering, which was for himself. 9zAnd the sons of Aaron presented the blood to him, and he dipped his finger in the blood and aput it on the horns of the altar and poured out the blood at the base of the altar. 10bBut the fat and the kidneys and the long lobe of the liver from the sin offering he burned on the altar, cas the Lord commanded Moses. 11dThe flesh and the skin he burned up with fire outside the camp.
12Then he killed the burnt offering, and Aaron's sons handed him the blood, and he ethrew it against the sides of the altar. 13fAnd they handed the burnt offering to him, piece by piece, and the head, and he burned them on the altar. 14gAnd he washed the entrails and the legs and burned them with the burnt offering on the altar.
15hThen he presented the people's offering and took the goat of the sin offering that was for the people and killed it and ioffered it as a sin offering, jlike the first one. 16And he presented the burnt offering and offered it kaccording to the lrule. 17And he presented the mgrain offering, took a handful of it, and burned it on the altar, nbesides the burnt offering of the morning.
18Then he killed the ox and the ram, othe sacrifice of peace offerings for the people. And Aaron's sons handed him the blood, and he threw it against the sides of the altar. 19But the fat pieces of the ox and of the ram, the fat tail and that which covers pthe entrails and the kidneys and the long lobe of the liver— 20they put the fat pieces on the breasts, qand he burned the fat pieces on the altar, 21but the breasts and the right thigh Aaron waved rfor a wave offering before the Lord, as Moses commanded.
22Then Aaron slifted up his hands toward the people and tblessed them, and he came down from offering the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings. 23And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting, and when they came out they blessed the people, and uthe glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. 24And vfire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, wthey shouted and xfell on their faces.
Why Do You Hide Yourself?
1Why, O Lord, do you stand kfar away?
Why ldo you hide yourself in mtimes of trouble?
2In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor;
let them nbe caught in the schemes that they have devised.
3For the wicked oboasts of the desires of his soul,
and the one greedy for gain pcurses1 and qrenounces the Lord.
4In the pride of his face2 the wicked does not qseek him;3
all his thoughts are, r“There is no God.”
5His ways prosper at all times;
your judgments are on high, sout of his sight;
as for all his foes, he tpuffs at them.
6He usays in his heart, “I shall not be moved;
throughout all generations I vshall not meet adversity.”
7wHis mouth is filled with cursing and xdeceit and yoppression;
zunder his tongue are amischief and biniquity.
8He sits in ambush in the villages;
in chiding places he murders the innocent.
His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;
9he lurks in ambush like da lion in his ethicket;
he flurks that he may seize the poor;
he seizes the poor when he draws him into his gnet.
10The helpless are crushed, sink down,
and fall by his might.
11He says in his heart, “God has forgotten,
he has hhidden his face, he iwill never see it.”
12jArise, O Lord; O God, klift up your hand;
lforget not the afflicted.
13Why does the wicked mrenounce God
and say in his heart, “You will not ncall to account”?
14But you do see, for you onote mischief and vexation,
that you may take it into your hands;
to you the helpless pcommits himself;
you have been qthe helper of the fatherless.
15rBreak the arm of the wicked and evildoer;
scall his wickedness to account till you find none.
16tThe Lord is king forever and ever;
the unations perish from his land.
17O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
you will vstrengthen their heart; you will incline your ear
18to wdo justice to the fatherless and xthe oppressed,
so that yman who is of the earth may strike terror no more.
1Be not uenvious of evil men,
nor desire to be vwith them,
2for their hearts wdevise violence,
and their lips xtalk of trouble.
3By ywisdom a house is built,
and by understanding it is established;
4by knowledge the rooms are filled
with all zprecious and pleasant riches.
5aA wise man is full of strength,
and a man of knowledge enhances his might,
6for by bwise guidance you can wage your war,
and in cabundance of counselors there is victory.
7Wisdom is dtoo high for a fool;
in ethe gate he does not open his mouth.
8Whoever fplans to do evil
will be called a schemer.
9gThe devising1 of folly is sin,
and hthe scoffer is an abomination to mankind.
10If you ifaint in the day of adversity,
your strength is small.
11jRescue those who are being taken away to death;
hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.
12If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,”
kdoes not he who lweighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who mkeeps watch over your soul know it,
and will he not repay man naccording to his work?
13My son, oeat honey, for it is good,
and pthe drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste.
14Know that wisdom is such to your soul;
if you find it, there will be qa future,
and your hope will not be cut off.
15rLie not in wait as a wicked man against the dwelling of the righteous;
do no violence to his home;
16sfor the righteous falls tseven times and rises again,
but uthe wicked stumble in times of calamity.
17vDo not rejoice when your enemy falls,
and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles,
18lest the Lord see it and be displeased,
and turn away his anger from him.
19wFret not yourself because of evildoers,
and be not xenvious of the wicked,
20for the evil man has no qfuture;
ythe lamp of the wicked will be put out.
21My son, zfear the Lord and the king,
and do not join with those who do otherwise,
22for disaster will arise suddenly from them,
and who knows the ruin that will come from them both?
More Sayings of the Wise
23These also are sayings of athe wise.
bPartiality in judging is not good.
24Whoever csays to the wicked, “You are in the right,”
dwill be cursed by peoples, abhorred by nations,
25but those who rebuke the wicked will have delight,
and a good blessing will come upon them.
26Whoever gives an honest answer
kisses the lips.
27ePrepare your work outside;
get everything ready for yourself in the field,
and after that build your house.
28fBe not a witness against your neighbor without cause,
and do not deceive with your lips.
29Do not say, g“I will do to him as he has done to me;
I will pay the man back for what he has done.”
30hI passed by the field of a sluggard,
by the vineyard of a man ilacking sense,
31and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns;
the ground was covered with nettles,
and its stone jwall was broken down.
32Then I saw and kconsidered it;
I looked and received instruction.
33lA little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,
34and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want like an armed man.
1Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing dto be left behind at Athens alone, 2and we esent Timothy, four brother and God's coworker1 in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith, 3that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that gwe are destined for this. 4For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, hjust as it has come to pass, and just as you know. 5For this reason, iwhen I could bear it no longer, iI sent to learn about your faith, jfor fear that somehow kthe tempter had tempted you and lour labor would be in vain.
Timothy's Encouraging Report
6But mnow that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of nyour faith and love and reported othat you always remember us kindly and plong to see us, as we long to see you— 7for this reason, brothers,2 in all our distress and affliction qwe have been comforted about you through your faith. 8For now we live, if you rare standing fast in the Lord. 9For swhat thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, 10as we pray most earnestly tnight and day uthat we may see you face to face and vsupply what is lacking in your faith?
11Now may wour God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, xdirect our way to you, 12and may the Lord ymake you increase and abound in love zfor one another and for all, as we do for you, 13so that he may aestablish your hearts blameless in holiness before wour God and Father, at bthe coming of our Lord Jesus cwith all his saints.
Get the Program, Devotional, and Bible Reading Plan delivered daily right to your inbox.