Truth For Life Program
Alistair Begg Devotional
C. H. Spurgeon Devotional
One-Year Bible Reading Plan
The Bible confronts us with the grim diagnosis that we’re all dead in our sins. But the good news is that God has provided us with the remedy! So what has He done, and what does that mean for us? Hear the answer on Truth For Life with Alistair Begg.
From the Sermon
Imitating the Father’s Mercy
“Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful” is a summary statement of Jesus’ famous teaching in the Beatitudes (Luke 6:20-23) and indeed would be a good motto for every believer’s life. These words underscore all that Jesus has previously said concerning how we are to treat others—especially those who hate us on account of our faithfulness to Him (v 22).
This should, however, prompt us to ask: what does being merciful actually look like? As our wise and tender Shepherd, Jesus does not leave us to figure out this principle for ourselves. Rather, He gives us specific instructions on what it means to imitate our merciful heavenly Father.
God “is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.” As His children, we must realize that we are called to demonstrate this same kindness by loving our enemies, returning good for evil, and giving to others without expecting anything in return. Notice Jesus lists no exemptions or get-out clauses here.
Having called us to be vessels of God’s kindness, Jesus then immediately says that we are not to judge others (Luke 6:37). He is not asking us to suspend our critical faculties in our relationships; we have to use our minds to discern between truth and error or good and evil. Likewise Jesus is not teaching that we are to turn a blind eye to sin or refuse to point out errors. Rather, when Jesus commands us not to judge, He is condemning a spirit of self-righteous, self-exalting, hypocritical, harsh judgmentalism—an approach which seeks to highlight the faults of others and always brings with it the flavor of bitterness.
An unkind spirit completely violates Jesus’ exhortation to overflow with mercy towards both friend and enemy. Each of us needs to identify any spirit of judgment we may be harboring, to root it out, and to replace cruelty with kindness and harshness with understanding.
This is how we show to others the kind of mercy that God has shown to us. A (possibly apocryphal) story is told of how, when Queen Elizabeth II was a girl, she and her sister, Margaret, would be told by their mother before they went to a party, “Remember: royal children, royal manners.” Their behavior would not make them members of the royal family, but it would demonstrate their membership in that family.
Christian, you and I are members of the royal family of the universe, with the King of creation as our Father. Be sure that your manners reflect who you are and whose you are. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
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?
Ephesians 4:25–32
25Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you uspeak the truth with his neighbor, for vwe are members one of another. 26wBe angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27and xgive no opportunity to the devil. 28Let the thief no longer steal, but rather ylet him labor, zdoing honest work with his own hands, so athat he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29bLet no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give cgrace to those who hear. 30And ddo not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, eby whom you were sealed for the day of fredemption. 31gLet all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32hBe kind to one another, tenderhearted, iforgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Ephesians 5:1–2
Walk in Love
1jTherefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2And kwalk in love, las Christ loved us and mgave himself up for us, a nfragrant ooffering and sacrifice to God.
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.
No “Ifs”
And Jesus said to him, “If you can! All things are possible for one who believes.”
A certain man had a deeply troubled son who was afflicted with a spirit that struck him dumb. The father, having seen the futility of the attempts of the disciples to heal his child, had little or no faith in Christ. Therefore, when he was invited to bring his son to Him, he said to Jesus, “If You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Now there was an “if” in the question, but the poor trembling father had put the “if” in the wrong place. Jesus Christ, therefore, without commanding him to retract the “if,” kindly puts it in its legitimate position. “Actually,” He seemed to say, “there should be no ‘if’ about My power, nor concerning My willingness; the ‘if’ lies somewhere else. If you can believe, ‘all things are possible for one who believes.’”
The man's trust was strengthened; he offered a humble prayer for an increase of faith, and instantly Jesus spoke the word, and the devil was cast out, with an injunction never to return. There is a lesson here that we need to learn. We, like this man, often see that there is an “if” somewhere, but we are continually blundering by putting it in the wrong place. “If Jesus can help me”; “if He can give me grace to overcome temptation”; “if He can grant me pardon”; “if He can make me successful.” No; if you can believe, He both can and will. You have misplaced your “if.” If you can confidently trust, even as all things are possible to Christ, so will all things be possible to you. Faith stands in God's power and is robed in God's majesty; it wears the royal apparel and rides on the King's horse, for it is the grace that the King delights to honor. Girding itself with the glorious might of the all-working Spirit, it becomes, in the omnipotence of God, mighty to do, to dare, and to suffer. All things, without limit, are possible to one who believes. My soul, can you believe your Lord tonight?
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 23
Joab Rebukes David
1It was told Joab, “Behold, the king is weeping and mourning for Absalom.” 2So the victory that day was turned into mourning for all the people, for the people heard that day, “The king is grieving for his son.” 3And the people stole into the city that day as people steal in who are ashamed when they flee in battle. 4The king pcovered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, q“O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!” 5Then Joab came into the house to the king and said, “You have today covered with shame the faces of all your servants, who have this day saved your life and the lives of your sons and your daughters and the lives of your wives and your concubines, 6because you love those who hate you and hate those who love you. For you have made it clear today that commanders and servants are nothing to you, for today I know that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, then you would be pleased. 7Now therefore arise, go out and speak rkindly to your servants, for I swear by the Lord, if you do not go, not a man will stay with you this night, and this will be worse for you than all the evil that has come upon you from your youth until now.” 8Then the king arose and took his sseat in the gate. And the people were all told, “Behold, the king is sitting in the gate.” And all the people came before the king.
David Returns to Jerusalem
Now Israel had tfled every man to his own home. 9And all the people were arguing throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, u“The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies and vsaved us from the hand of the Philistines, and now whe has fled out of the land from Absalom. 10But Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now therefore why do you say nothing about bringing the king back?”
11And King David sent this message to xZadok and Abiathar the priests: “Say to the elders of Judah, ‘Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his house, when the word of all Israel has come to the king?1 12You are my brothers; yyou are my bone and my flesh. Why then should you be the last to bring back the king?’ 13And say to Amasa, z‘Are you not my bone and my flesh? aGod do so to me and more also, if you are not bcommander of my army from now on in place of Joab.’” 14And he swayed the heart of all the men of Judah cas one man, so that they sent word to the king, “Return, both you and all your servants.” 15So the king came back to the Jordan, and Judah came to Gilgal to meet the king and to bring the king over the Jordan.
David Pardons His Enemies
16And dShimei the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, from Bahurim, hurried to come down with the men of Judah to meet King David. 17And with him were a thousand men from Benjamin. And eZiba the servant of the house of Saul, with his fifteen sons and his twenty servants, rushed down to the Jordan before the king, 18and they crossed the ford to bring over the king's household and to do his pleasure. And Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king, as he was about to cross the Jordan, 19and said to the king, f“Let not my lord hold me guilty or remember how your servant gdid wrong on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. Do not let the king take it to heart. 20For your servant knows that I have sinned. Therefore, behold, I have come this day, the first hof all the house of Joseph to come down to meet my lord the king.” 21Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered, “Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because ihe cursed the Lord's anointed?” 22But David said, j“What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should this day be as an adversary to me? kShall anyone be put to death in Israel this day? For do I not know that I am this day king over Israel?” 23lAnd the king said to Shimei, “You shall not die.” And the king gave him his oath.
24And mMephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king. He had neither taken care of his feet nor trimmed his beard nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came back in safety. 25And when he came to Jerusalem to meet the king, the king said to him, n“Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?” 26He answered, “My lord, O king, my servant deceived me, for your servant said to him, ‘I will saddle a donkey for myself,2 that I may ride on it and go with the king.’ For oyour servant is lame. 27pHe has slandered your servant to my lord the king. But my lord the king is qlike the angel of God; do therefore what seems good to you. 28For all my father's house were but men doomed to death before my lord the king, but ryou set your servant among those who eat at your table. What further right have I, then, to cry to the king?” 29And the king said to him, “Why speak any more of your affairs? I have decided: you and Ziba shall divide the land.” 30And Mephibosheth said to the king, “Oh, let him take it all, since my lord the king has come safely home.”
31Now sBarzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelim, and he went on with the king to the Jordan, to escort him over the Jordan. 32Barzillai was a very aged man, eighty years old. tHe had provided the king with food while he stayed at Mahanaim, for he was a very wealthy man. 33And the king said to Barzillai, “Come over with me, and I will provide for you with me in Jerusalem.” 34But Barzillai said to the king, u“How many years have I still to live, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem? 35I am this day veighty years old. Can I discern what is pleasant and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats or what he drinks? Can I still listen to the voice of singing men and singing women? Why then should your servant be wan added burden to my lord the king? 36Your servant will go a little way over the Jordan with the king. Why should the king repay me with such a reward? 37Please let your servant return, that I may die in my own city near the grave of my father and my mother. But here is your servant xChimham. Let him go over with my lord the king, and do for him whatever seems good to you.” 38And the king answered, “Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do for him whatever seems good to you, and all that you desire of me I will do for you.” 39Then all the people went over the Jordan, and the king went over. And ythe king kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and he returned to his own home. 40The king went on to Gilgal, and Chimham went on with him. All the people of Judah, and also half the people of Israel, brought the king on his way.
41Then all the men of Israel came to the king and said to the king, “Why have our brothers the men of Judah stolen you away and zbrought the king and his household over the Jordan, and all David's men with him?” 42All the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, “Because the king is aour close relative. Why then are you angry over this matter? Have we eaten at all at the king's expense? Or has he given us any gift?” 43And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, “We have bten shares in the king, and in David also we have more than you. Why then did you despise us? Were we not the first to speak of bringing back our king?” cBut the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.
Paul's Visions and His Thorn
1I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and xrevelations of the Lord. 2I know a man yin Christ who fourteen years ago was zcaught up to athe third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, bGod knows. 3And I know that this man was caught up into cparadise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, bGod knows— 4and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. 5On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, dexcept of my weaknesses— 6though if I should wish to boast, eI would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. 7So fto keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations,1 ga thorn was given me in the flesh, ha messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8iThree times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9But he said to me, j“My grace is sufficient for you, for kmy power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that lthe power of Christ may rest upon me. 10mFor the sake of Christ, then, nI am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For owhen I am weak, then I am strong.
Concern for the Corinthian Church
11pI have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I was qnot at all inferior to these super-apostles, reven though I am nothing. 12sThe signs of a true apostle were performed among you twith utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works. 13For in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches, except that uI myself did not burden you? Forgive me this wrong!
14Here vfor the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for wI seek not what is yours but you. For xchildren are not obligated to save up for their parents, but yparents for their children. 15zI will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If aI love you more, am I to be loved less? 16But granting that bI myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit. 17Did I take advantage of you cthrough any of those whom I sent to you? 18dI urged Titus to go, and sent ethe brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps?
19Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? It is fin the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ, and gall for your upbuilding, beloved. 20For I fear that perhaps hwhen I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. 21I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those iwho sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, jsexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced.
Prophecy Against Tyre
1iIn the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 2j“Son of man, because kTyre said concerning Jerusalem, l‘Aha, the gate of the peoples is broken; it has swung open to me. I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste,’ 3therefore thus says the Lord God: mBehold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will bring up nmany nations against you, oas the sea brings up its waves. 4They shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers, and I will scrape her soil from her and pmake her a bare rock. 5She qshall be in the midst of the sea a place for the spreading of nets, rfor I have spoken, declares the Lord God. And she shall become plunder for the nations, 6and her daughters on the mainland shall be killed by the sword. sThen they will know that I am the Lord.
7“For thus says the Lord God: tBehold, I will bring against Tyre ufrom the north Nebuchadnezzar1 king of Babylon, vking of kings, with horses and chariots, and with horsemen and a host of many soldiers. 8He will kill with the sword wyour daughters on the mainland. xHe will set up a siege wall against you and throw up a mound against you, and raise ya roof of shields against you. 9zHe will direct the shock of his battering rams against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers. 10His horses will be so many that their dust will cover you. Your walls will shake at the noise of the horsemen and wagons and chariots, when he enters your gates as men enter a city that has been breached. 11With the hoofs of his horses he will trample all your streets. He will kill your people with the sword, and your mighty pillars will fall to the ground. 12They will plunder ayour riches and loot ayour merchandise. They will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses. Your stones and timber and bsoil they will cast into the midst of the waters. 13cAnd I will stop the music of your songs, and dthe sound of your lyres shall be heard no more. 14pI will make you a bare rock. qYou shall be a place for the spreading of nets. You shall never be rebuilt, rfor I am the Lord; I have spoken, declares the Lord God.
15“Thus says the Lord God to Tyre: Will not ethe coastlands shake at the sound of your fall, fwhen the wounded groan, when slaughter is made in your midst? 16Then all gthe princes of the sea will step down from their thrones and hremove their robes and strip off their embroidered garments. They will clothe themselves with trembling; ithey will sit on the ground and jtremble every moment and kbe appalled at you. 17And they will lraise a lamentation over you and say to you,
“‘How you have perished,
you who were inhabited from the seas,
O city renowned,
mwho was mighty on the sea;
she and her inhabitants nimposed their terror
on all her inhabitants!
18Now the coastlands tremble
on the day of your fall,
and the coastlands that are on the sea
are dismayed at your passing.’
19“For thus says the Lord God: When I make you a city laid waste, like the cities that are not inhabited, owhen I bring up the deep over you, and the great waters cover you, 20then pI will make you go down with those who go down to the pit, to the people of old, and I will make you to dwell in the world below, among ruins from of old, pwith those who go down to the pit, so that you will not be inhabited; but I will set beauty qin the land of the living. 21I will bring you rto a dreadful end, and you shall be no more. sThough you be sought for, you will never be found again, declares the Lord God.”
Arise, O God, Defend Your Cause
A Maskil1 of rAsaph.
1O God, why do you scast us off forever?
Why does your anger tsmoke against uthe sheep of your pasture?
2vRemember your congregation, which you have wpurchased of old,
which you have xredeemed to be ythe tribe of your heritage!
Remember Mount Zion, zwhere you have dwelt.
3Direct your steps to athe perpetual ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!
4Your foes have broared in the midst of your meeting place;
cthey set up their down signs for esigns.
5They were like those who swing faxes
in a forest of trees.2
6And all its gcarved wood
they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
7They hset your sanctuary on fire;
they iprofaned jthe dwelling place of your name,
bringing it down to the ground.
8They ksaid to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;
they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
9We do not see our lsigns;
mthere is no longer any prophet,
and there is none among us who knows how long.
10How long, O God, nis the foe to scoff?
Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
11Why odo you hold back your hand, your right hand?
Take it from the fold of your garment3 and destroy them!
12Yet pGod my King is from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13You qdivided the sea by your might;
you rbroke the heads of sthe sea monsters4 on the waters.
14You crushed the heads of tLeviathan;
you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
15You usplit open springs and brooks;
you vdried up ever-flowing streams.
16Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you have established wthe heavenly lights and the sun.
17You have xfixed all the boundaries of the earth;
you have made ysummer and winter.
18zRemember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
and aa foolish people reviles your name.
19Do not deliver the soul of your bdove to the wild beasts;
cdo not forget the life of your poor forever.
20Have regard for dthe covenant,
for ethe dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
21Let not fthe downtrodden gturn back in shame;
let hthe poor and needy praise your name.
22Arise, O God, idefend your cause;
jremember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!
23Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
kthe uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!
Get the Program, Devotional, and Bible Reading Plan delivered daily right to your inbox.