Truth For Life Program
Alistair Begg Devotional
C. H. Spurgeon Devotional
One-Year Bible Reading Plan
When does a proper show of respect and honor become an inappropriate display of favoritism? Join us as we take a closer look at the dangers of favoritism within the church. We’re beginning a study in the book of James, on Truth For Life with Alistair Begg.
From the Sermon
A Name Like No Other
God has made Himself known to us by making His name known to us. When we think of God’s name, we ought to think of His nature—His essence, His character, and His attributes. His name sets Him apart from everyone and everything else, representing all of who He is.
God’s encounter with Moses at the burning bush, recorded for us in Exodus 3, underscores the relationship between God’s name and His character. As Moses approached the bush, God instructed him to take off the shoes from his feet, as he was standing on holy ground. In the ensuing dialogue, after being commanded to go to Pharaoh and demand the Israelites’ release, Moses understandably asked, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God’s answer? “I am who I am” (Exodus 3:13-14).
God uses the verb to be—“I am” to convey His name. By using this verb, He distinguishes between Himself and all false gods, which ought to call themselves “I’m not.” Idols are made by human hands—or, in our day, often within our hearts. Craftsmen fashion them out of wood, stone, or ivory and fasten them on pedestals. Nevertheless, they inevitably topple over and need to be righted again. An idol demands our service, but it cannot save. It never delivers what it has promised.
But for the Creator of the ends of the earth, it is justifiable and right that He should be known as I am, for He is like no one else. He was not created. He is completely self-existent. He is completely self-fulfilled. He is in need of no one and nothing. That which He has always possessed, He still possesses. He knows neither beginning nor end. He fulfills all of His promises. He is the God of limitless life and power.
We are to exalt His name, and His name alone, for this is what we were made for. All of us struggle not to bow down before idols—those created things that we worship and make sacrifices for because we think they will bring us life. But if we would worship Him as we ought to, our idols must fall before Him. He is the only Creator, the only I am—the only one who rules earth and heaven.
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?
3“Listen to me, O house of Jacob,
all the remnant of the house of Israel,
qwho have been borne by me from before your birth,
carried from the womb;
4reven to your old age I am he,
and to gray hairs I will carry you.
I have made, and I will bear;
I will carry and will save.
5s“To whom will you liken me and make me equal,
and compare me, that we may be alike?
6tThose who lavish gold from the purse,
and weigh out silver in the scales,
hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god;
uthen they fall down and worship!
7vThey lift it to their shoulders, they carry it,
they set it in its place, and it stands there;
wit cannot move from its place.
If one cries to it, it does not answer
or save him from his trouble.
8“Remember this and stand firm,
recall it to mind, xyou transgressors,
9remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me,
10ydeclaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, z‘My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
11acalling a bird of prey from the east,
the man of my counsel from a far country.
bI have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;
I have purposed, and I will do it.
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.
The Reward of Careful Walking
All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins.
Nazirites had taken, among other vows, one that debarred them from the use of wine. In order that they might not violate the obligation, they were forbidden to drink the vinegar of wine or strong liquors; and to make the rule even clearer, they were not to touch the unfermented juice of grapes, nor even to eat the fruit either fresh or dried. In order to secure the integrity of the vow, they were not even allowed anything that had to do with the vine; they were, in fact, to avoid the appearance of evil.
Surely this is a lesson to the Lord's separated ones, teaching them to come away from sin in every form, to avoid not merely its grosser shapes but even its spirit and likeness. Such strict walking is much despised in these days, but rest assured, dear reader, it is the safest and happiest path. He who yields a point or two to the world is in fearful peril; he who eats the grapes of Sodom will soon drink the wine of Gomorrah. A little crevice in the seawall in Holland lets in the sea, and the gap soon swells until a province is drowned.
Worldly conformity, in any degree, is a snare to the soul and makes it more and more liable to presumptuous sins. The Nazirite who drank grape juice could not be completely certain whether or not it had fermented and consequently could not be clear in heart that his vow was intact. In a similar way the yielding, vacillating Christian cannot have a clear conscience but is constantly aware of his double standard. Doubtful things we need not wonder about; they are wrong for us. Tempting things we must not play with, but run from them speedily. Better to be sneered at as a Puritan than to be despised as a hypocrite. Careful walking may involve much self-denial, but it has pleasures of its own that are more than a sufficient reward.
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 August 29
1 Samuel 21
David and the Holy Bread
11 Then David came to vNob, to wAhimelech the priest. And Ahimelech xcame to meet David, trembling, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one with you?” 2And David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has charged me with a matter and said to me, ‘Let no one know anything of the matter about which I send you, and with which I have charged you.’ I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place. 3Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.” 4And the priest answered David, “I have no common bread on hand, but there is yholy bread—zif the young men have kept themselves from women.” 5And David answered the priest, “Truly women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition. The vessels of the young men are holy even when it is an ordinary journey. How much more today will their vessels be holy?” 6So the priest gave him ythe holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, awhich is removed from before the Lord, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away.
7Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord. His name was bDoeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul's herdsmen.
8Then David said to Ahimelech, “Then have you not here a spear or a sword at hand? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required haste.” 9And the priest said, c“The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you struck down in dthe Valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it, for there is none but that here.” And David said, “There is none like that; give it to me.”
David Flees to Gath
10And David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to eAchish the king of Gath. 11And the servants of Achish said to him, “Is not this David the king of the land? fDid they not sing to one another of him in dances,
‘Saul has struck down his thousands,
and David his ten thousands’?”
12And David gtook these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. 13So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard. 14Then Achish said to his servants, “Behold, you see the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to me? 15Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?”
1 Samuel 22
David at the Cave of Adullam
1David departed from there and escaped to hthe cave of iAdullam. And when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him. 2jAnd everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul,1 gathered to him. And he became commander over them. And there were with him kabout four hundred men.
3And David went from there to Mizpeh of Moab. And he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother stay2 with you, till I know what God will do for me.” 4And he left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him all the time that David was in the stronghold. 5Then the prophet lGad said to David, “Do not remain in the stronghold; depart, and go into the land of Judah.” So David departed and went into the forest of Hereth.
Saul Kills the Priests at Nob
6Now Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men who were with him. Saul was sitting at Gibeah under mthe tamarisk tree on the height with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him. 7And Saul said to his servants who stood about him, “Hear now, people of Benjamin; will the son of Jesse ngive every one of you fields and vineyards, will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, 8that all of you have conspired against me? No one discloses to me owhen my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you pis sorry for me or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, qto lie in wait, as at this day.” 9Then answered rDoeg the Edomite, who stood by the servants of Saul, “I saw the son of Jesse scoming to Nob, to tAhimelech the son of Ahitub, 10uand he inquired of the Lord for him and vgave him provisions and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”
11Then the king sent to summon Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father's house, the priests who were at Nob, and all of them came to the king. 12And Saul said, “Hear now, son of Ahitub.” And he answered, “Here I am, my lord.” 13And Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread and a sword and uhave inquired of God for him, so that he has risen against me, wto lie in wait, as at this day?” 14Then Ahimelech answered the king, “And who among all your servants is so faithful as David, who is the king's son-in-law, and captain over3 your bodyguard, and honored in your house? 15Is today the first time uthat I have inquired of God for him? No! Let not the king impute anything to his servant or to all the house of my father, for your servant has known nothing of all this, xmuch or little.” 16And the king said, “You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father's house.” 17And the king said to ythe guard who stood about him, “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because their hand also is with David, and they knew that he fled and did not disclose it to me.” But the servants of the king would not put out their hand to strike the priests of the Lord. 18Then the king said to Doeg, “You turn and strike the priests.” And Doeg the Edomite turned and struck down the priests, zand he killed on that day eighty-five persons who wore the linen ephod. 19And Nob, the city of the priests, he put to the sword; aboth man and woman, child and infant, ox, donkey and sheep, he put to the sword.
20But one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named bAbiathar, escaped and fled after David. 21And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the Lord. 22And David said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day, cwhen Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have occasioned the death of all the persons of your father's house. 23dStay with me; do not be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks your life. With me you shall be in safekeeping.”
Divisions in the Church
1But I, brothers,1 could not address you as aspiritual people, but as bpeople of the flesh, as cinfants in Christ. 2dI fed you with milk, not solid food, for eyou were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3for you are still of the flesh. For while there is fjealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 4For gwhen one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” hare you not being merely human?
5What then is Apollos? What is Paul? iServants through whom you believed, jas the Lord assigned to each. 6kI planted, lApollos watered, mbut God gave the growth. 7So nneither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8He who plants and he who waters are one, and each owill receive his wages according to his labor. 9For we are pGod's fellow workers. You are God's field, qGod's building.
10rAccording to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled2 master builder I laid a sfoundation, and tsomeone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 11For no one can lay a ufoundation other vthan that which is laid, wwhich is Jesus Christ. 12Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13xeach one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed yby fire, and zthe fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, ahe will receive a reward. 15If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, bbut only as through fire.
16cDo you not know that you3 are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 17If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For dGod's temple is holy, and you are that temple.
18eLet no one deceive himself. fIf anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. 19For gthe wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, h“He catches the wise in their craftiness,” 20and again, i“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” 21So jlet no one boast in men. For kall things are yours, 22whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23and lyou are Christ's, and mChrist is God's.
Ezekiel in Babylon
1aIn the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by bthe Chebar canal, cthe heavens were opened, and I saw dvisions of God.1 2On the fifth day of the month (it was ethe fifth year of fthe exile of King Jehoiachin), 3the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel gthe priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by bthe Chebar canal, and hthe hand of the Lord was upon him there.
The Glory of the Lord
4As I looked, behold, ia stormy wind came jout of the north, and a great cloud, with kbrightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, las it were gleaming metal.2 5And from the midst of it came the likeness of mfour living creatures. nAnd this was their appearance: they had a human likeness, 6obut each had four faces, and each of them had four wings. 7Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf's foot. And they sparkled plike burnished bronze. 8Under their wings qon their four sides rthey had human hands. And the four had their faces and their wings thus: 9their wings touched one another. sEach one of them went straight forward, qwithout turning as they went. 10As for the likeness of their faces, teach had a human face. The four had the face of a lion on the right side, the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four had the face of an eagle. 11Such were their faces. And their wings were spread out above. Each creature had two wings, each of which touched the wing of another, while utwo covered their bodies. 12sAnd each went straight forward. vWherever the spirit3 would go, they went, without turning as they went. 13As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was wlike burning coals of fire, wlike the appearance of torches moving to and fro among the living creatures. xAnd the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. 14And the living creatures ydarted to and fro, zlike the appearance of a flash of lightning.
15aNow as I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them.4 16aAs for the appearance of the wheels and their construction: their appearance was like bthe gleaming of beryl. cAnd the four had the same likeness, their appearance and construction being as it were a wheel within a wheel. 17dWhen they went, they went ein any of their four directions5 fwithout turning as they went. 18And their rims were tall and awesome, gand the rims of all four were full of eyes all around. 19hAnd when the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; iand when the living creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose. 20jWherever the spirit wanted to go, they went, and the wheels rose along with them, jfor the spirit of the living creatures6 was in the wheels. 21hWhen those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; iand when those rose from the earth, the wheels rose along with them, jfor the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
22Over the heads of the living creatures there was kthe likeness of an expanse, shining like awe-inspiring lcrystal, spread out above their heads. 23And under the expanse their wings were mstretched out straight, one toward another. nAnd each creature had two wings covering its body. 24And when they went, I heard the sound of their wings olike the sound of many waters, like pthe sound of the qAlmighty, a sound of tumult rlike the sound of an army. When they stood still, they let down their wings. 25And there came a voice from above sthe expanse over their heads. When they stood still, they let down their wings.
26And above the expanse over their heads there was tthe likeness of a throne, tin appearance ulike sapphire;7 and seated above the likeness of a throne was va likeness with a human appearance. 27And wupward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were xgleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and ythere was brightness around him.8 28Like the appearance of zthe bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around.
Such was the appearance of the likeness of athe glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, bI fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.
He Will Not Forsake His Saints
1 Of David.
1uFret not yourself because of evildoers;
be not venvious of wrongdoers!
2For they will soon wfade like xthe grass
and wither ylike the green herb.
3zTrust in the Lord, and do good;
adwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.2
4bDelight yourself in the Lord,
and he will cgive you the desires of your heart.
5dCommit your way to the Lord;
ztrust in him, and he will act.
6eHe will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as fthe noonday.
7gBe still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;
hfret not yourself over the one who iprospers in his way,
over the man who carries out evil devices!
8jRefrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
hFret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
9kFor the evildoers shall be cut off,
but those who wait for the Lord shall linherit the land.
10In mjust a little while, the wicked will be no more;
though you look carefully at nhis place, he will not be there.
11But othe meek shall inherit the land
and delight themselves in pabundant peace.
12The wicked qplots against the righteous
and rgnashes his teeth at him,
13but the Lord slaughs at the wicked,
for he sees that his tday is coming.
14The wicked draw the sword and ubend their bows
to bring down the poor and needy,
to slay those whose vway is upright;
15their sword shall enter their own heart,
and their wbows shall be broken.
16xBetter is the little that the righteous has
than the abundance of many wicked.
17For ythe arms of the wicked shall be broken,
but the Lord zupholds the righteous.
18The Lord aknows the days of the blameless,
and their bheritage will remain forever;
19they are not put to shame in evil times;
in cthe days of famine they have abundance.
20But the wicked will perish;
the enemies of the Lord are like dthe glory of the pastures;
they vanish—like esmoke they vanish away.
21The wicked borrows but does not pay back,
but the righteous fis generous and gives;
22for those blessed by the Lord3 shall ginherit the land,
but those cursed by him hshall be cut off.
23The isteps of a man are jestablished by the Lord,
when he delights in his way;
24kthough he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,
for the Lord lupholds his hand.
25I have been young, and now am old,
yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
or his children mbegging for bread.
26He is ever nlending generously,
and his children become a blessing.
27oTurn away from evil and do good;
so shall you pdwell forever.
28For the Lord qloves justice;
he will not forsake his rsaints.
They are preserved forever,
but the children of the wicked shall be scut off.
29The righteous shall inherit the land
and pdwell upon it forever.
30The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,
and his tongue speaks justice.
31tThe law of his God is in his heart;
his usteps do not slip.
32The wicked vwatches for the righteous
and seeks to put him to death.
33The Lord will not wabandon him to his power
or let him xbe condemned when he is brought to trial.
34yWait for the Lord and keep his way,
and he will exalt you to inherit the land;
you will look on zwhen the wicked are cut off.
35aI have seen a wicked, ruthless man,
spreading himself like ba green laurel tree.4
36But he passed away,5 and behold, che was no more;
though I sought him, he could not be found.
37Mark the blameless and behold the upright,
for there is a future for the man of dpeace.
38But etransgressors shall be altogether destroyed;
the future of the wicked fshall be cut off.
39gThe salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;
he is their stronghold in hthe time of trouble.
40The Lord helps them and idelivers them;
jhe delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they ktake refuge in him.
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