Truth For Life Program
Alistair Begg Devotional
C. H. Spurgeon Devotional
One-Year Bible Reading Plan
You’ve likely heard the saying “Save for a rainy day.” It refers to tucking some money away for an unforeseen need. Careful planning isn’t the same as wrongful hoarding, though. Learn how to distinguish between them on Truth For Life with Alistair Begg.
From the Sermon
Ill-Gotten Gain — Part One
James 5:1–6 Sermon • Includes Transcript • 39:09 • ID: 2609
Humble Faithfulness
Here is one of the Bible’s great jaw-dropping moments.
Haman was a proud and presumptuous man, and this led him to make a huge miscalculation. His assumption, upon hearing that there was a “man whom the king delights to honor,” was to assume that he must be that man. So he outlined a plan for exaltation involving royal robes, a royal horse, a crown, and public praise with no one in mind other than himself (Esther 6:8-9). We can imagine Haman’s heart swelling as he heard the king say to him, “Hurry, take the robes and the horse, as you have said…” And then he heard… “And do so to Mordecai the Jew.”
How that name must have struck Haman’s heart when he heard it!
Haman had set out that day to hang Mordecai (Esther 6:4). And now he was being told to parade the man through the public square, announcing the king’s generous reward for the one person Haman most despised. What a picture! What a performance!
By contrast, the humility and normality of Mordecai’s existence is established in just a single sentence: “Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate” (Esther 6:12). Mordecai didn’t blow his trumpet as Haman had done when he came from Queen Esther’s first banquet (5:11-12). Though he was paraded through the town—an unsought exaltation, an unsought ride on the king’s horse—he just went back and sat down where he had always sat.
There’s something compelling about humble faithfulness—doing what we do, day in and day out, not in hope of praise but because it is the right thing to do. It doesn’t seem like much at the time. Yet often when children and grandchildren reflect on the lives of their faithful parents and grandparents, they say things like “She always did this,” “He always sat there,” “This is when she always prayed,” or “This is where his Bible always was.”
Mordecai did what was right because it was right, not because he wanted to be recognized and exalted. Today, let it be enough that you do what is right in God’s eyes, whether you’re honored by those around you, as Mordecai was, or you’re quickly forgotten like so many faithful believers throughout history. One day, all the scales will be reset, and honor will be given where honor is due. In the meantime, set aside any prideful endeavor for distinction, and continue in the normality of your daily routine with faithfulness and humility.
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?
The King Honors Mordecai
1On that night the king could not sleep. And he gave orders to bring othe book of memorable deeds, the chronicles, and they were read before the king. 2And it was found written how pMordecai had told about qBigthana1 and rTeresh, two of the king's eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, and who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. 3And the king said, “What honor or distinction has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?” The king's young men who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.” 4And the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered sthe outer court of the king's palace to speak to the king about having Mordecai hanged on tthe gallows2 that he had prepared for him. 5And the king's young men told him, “Haman is there, standing in the court.” And the king said, “Let him come in.” 6So Haman came in, and the king said to him, “What should be done to the man uwhom the king delights to honor?” And Haman said to himself, “Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?” 7And Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king delights to honor, 8let royal robes be brought, which the king has worn, vand the horse that the king has ridden, and on whose head wa royal crown3 is set. 9And let the robes and the horse be handed over to one of the king's most noble officials. Let them dress the man whom the king delights to honor, and let them lead him on the horse through the square of the city, xproclaiming before him: ‘Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.’” 10Then the king said to Haman, “Hurry; take the robes and the horse, as you have said, and do so to Mordecai the Jew, who sits yat the king's gate. Leave out nothing that you have mentioned.” 11So Haman took the robes and the horse, and he dressed Mordecai and led him through the square of the city, proclaiming before him, “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.”
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.
Bad News?
He is not afraid of bad news.
Christian, you ought not to be afraid of the arrival of bad news; because if you are distressed by such, you are no different from other men. They do not have your God to run to; they have never proved His faithfulness as you have done, and it is no wonder if they are bowed down with alarm and cowed with fear. But you profess to be of another spirit; you have been born again to a living hope, and your heart lives in heaven and not on earthly things. If you are seen to be distracted as other men, what is the value of that grace that you profess to have received? Where is the dignity of that new nature that you claim to possess?
Again, if you should be filled with alarm like others, you would no doubt be led into the sins so common to them under trying circumstances. The ungodly, when they are overtaken by bad news, rebel against God; they murmur and maintain that God has dealt harshly with them. Will you fall into that same sin? Will you provoke the Lord as they do?
Moreover, unconverted men often run to wrong means in order to escape from difficulties, and you will be sure to do the same if your mind yields to the present pressure. Trust in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him. Your wisest course is to do what Moses did at the Red Sea: “Stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD.”1 For if you give way to fear when you hear bad news, you will be unable to meet the trouble with that calm composure that prepares for duty and sustains in adversity.
How can you glorify God if you play the coward? Saints have often sung God’s high praises in the fires, but when you act as if there were no one to help, will your doubting and despondency magnify the Most High? Then take courage and, relying in sure confidence upon the faithfulness of your covenant God, “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”2
1) Exodus 14:13
2) John 14:27
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 September 15
David and Bathsheba
1hiIn the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged jRabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.
2It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on kthe roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. 3And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this lBathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of mUriah the Hittite?” 4So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (nNow she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. 5And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”
6So David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David. 7When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab was doing and how the people were doing and how the war was going. 8Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and owash your feet.” And Uriah went out of the king's house, and there followed him a present from the king. 9But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. 10When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?” 11Uriah said to David, p“The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths, and my lord Joab and qthe servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? As you live, and ras your soul lives, I will not do this thing.” 12Then David said to Uriah, “Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13And David invited him, and he ate in his presence and drank, sso that he made him drunk. And in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with qthe servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.
14In the morning David twrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, uthat he may be struck down, and die.” 16And as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men. 17And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite also died. 18Then Joab sent and told David all the news about the fighting. 19And he instructed the messenger, “When you have finished telling all the news about the fighting to the king, 20then, if the king's anger rises, and if he says to you, ‘Why did you go so near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? 21vWho killed Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman cast an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?’ then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’”
22So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent him to tell. 23The messenger said to David, “The men gained an advantage over us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate. 24Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall. Some of the king's servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.” 25David said to the messenger, “Thus shall you say to Joab, ‘Do not let this matter displease you, for the sword devours now one and now another. Strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it.’ And encourage him.”
26When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she lamented over her husband. 27And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and wshe became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.
The Light of the Gospel
1Therefore, having xthis ministry yby the mercy of God,1 we do not lose heart. 2But we have renounced zdisgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice2 cunning or ato tamper with God's word, but bby the open statement of the truth cwe would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. 3And even dif our gospel is veiled, eit is veiled to fthose who are perishing. 4In their case gthe god of this world dhas blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing hthe light of ithe gospel of the glory of Christ, jwho is the image of God. 5For what kwe proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with lourselves as your servants3 for Jesus' sake. 6For God, who said, m“Let light shine out of darkness,” nhas shone in our hearts to give othe light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Treasure in Jars of Clay
7But we have this treasure in pjars of clay, qto show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8We are rafflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9persecuted, but snot forsaken; tstruck down, but not destroyed; 10ualways carrying in the body the death of Jesus, vso that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12So wdeath is at work in us, but life in you.
13Since we have xthe same spirit of faith according to what has been written, y“I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, 14knowing that zhe who raised the Lord Jesus awill raise us also with Jesus and bbring us with you into his presence. 15For cit is all for your sake, so that as dgrace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, eto the glory of God.
16So we do not lose heart. fThough our outer self4 is wasting away, gour inner self his being renewed day by day. 17For ithis light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18jas we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
The Soul Who Sins Shall Die
1The word of the Lord came to me: 2“What do you1 mean sby repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, t‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge’? 3uAs I live, declares the Lord God, vthis proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. 4Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: wthe soul who sins shall die.
5“If a man is righteous and does xwhat is just and right— 6if he ydoes not eat upon the mountains or zlift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, adoes not defile his neighbor's wife bor approach ca woman in her time of menstrual impurity, 7ddoes not oppress anyone, but erestores to the debtor his pledge, fcommits no robbery, ggives his bread to the hungry gand covers the naked with a garment, 8hdoes not lend at interest hor take any profit,2 withholds his hand from injustice, iexecutes true justice between man and man, 9jwalks in my statutes, and keeps my rules by acting faithfully—he is righteous; khe shall surely live, declares the Lord God.
10“If he fathers a son who is violent, la shedder of blood, who does any of these things 11(though he himself did none of these things), mwho even eats upon the mountains, ndefiles his neighbor's wife, 12oppresses the poor and needy, ocommits robbery, odoes not restore the pledge, plifts up his eyes to the idols, qcommits abomination, 13rlends at interest, and takes profit; shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations; he shall surely die; shis blood shall be upon himself.
14“Now suppose this man fathers a son who sees all the sins that his father has done; he sees, and does not do likewise: 15he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor's wife, 16does not oppress anyone, texacts no pledge, ucommits no robbery, vbut gives his bread to the hungry vand covers the naked with a garment, 17withholds his hand from iniquity,3 takes no interest or profit, obeys my rules, wand walks in my statutes; he shall not die for his father's iniquity; xhe shall surely live. 18As for his father, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother, and did what is not good among his people, ybehold, he shall die for his iniquity.
19“Yet you say, z‘Why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done awhat is just and right, and has been careful to observe all my statutes, bhe shall surely live. 20cThe soul who sins shall die. dThe son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. eThe righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, fand the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
21g“But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does hwhat is just and right, ihe shall surely live; he shall not die. 22jNone of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness that he has done he shall live. 23kHave I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? 24lBut when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice and does the same abominations that the wicked person does, shall he live? mNone of the righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered; for nthe treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, for them he shall die.
25o“Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way not just? Is it not your ways that are not just? 26lWhen a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it; for the injustice that he has done he shall die. 27Again, pwhen a wicked person turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he shall save his life. 28Because he considered and turned away from all the transgressions that he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 29Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, are my ways not just? Is it not your ways that are not just?
30“Therefore qI will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord God. rRepent and turn from all your transgressions, slest iniquity be your ruin.4 31tCast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and umake yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! vWhy will you die, O house of Israel? 32wFor I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; rso turn, and live.”
Psalm 62
My Soul Waits for God Alone
To the choirmaster: according to xJeduthun. A Psalm of David.
1For God alone ymy soul zwaits in silence;
from him comes my salvation.
2aHe alone is my rock and my salvation,
my bfortress; cI shall not be greatly shaken.
3How long will all of you attack a man
to batter him,
like da leaning wall, a tottering fence?
4They only plan to thrust him down from his ehigh position.
They take pleasure in falsehood.
fThey bless with their mouths,
but inwardly they curse. Selah
5For God alone, O ymy soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
6aHe only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
7On God rests my gsalvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, hmy refuge is God.
8iTrust in him at all times, O people;
jpour out your heart before him;
God is ha refuge for us. Selah
9kThose of low estate are but a breath;
those of high estate lare a delusion;
in the balances they go up;
kthey are together lighter than a breath.
10Put no trust in extortion;
mset no vain hopes on robbery;
nif riches increase, set not your heart on them.
11oOnce God has spoken;
otwice have I heard this:
that ppower belongs to God,
12and that to you, O Lord, qbelongs steadfast love.
For you will rrender to a man
according to his work.
Psalm 63
My Soul Thirsts for You
A Psalm of David, swhen he was in the wilderness of Judah.
1O God, you are my God; tearnestly I seek you;
umy soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in va dry and weary land where there is no water.
2So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding wyour power and glory.
3Because your xsteadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
4So I will bless you yas long as I live;
in your zname I will alift up my hands.
5My soul will be bsatisfied as with fat and rich food,
and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
6when I remember you cupon my bed,
and meditate on you in cthe watches of the night;
7for you have been my help,
and in dthe shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
8My soul eclings to you;
your right hand fupholds me.
9But those who seek to destroy my life
gshall go down into hthe depths of the earth;
10they shall be given over to the power of the sword;
they shall be a portion for jackals.
11But ithe king shall rejoice in God;
all who jswear by him shall exult,
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