Truth For Life Program
Alistair Begg Devotional
C. H. Spurgeon Devotional
One-Year Bible Reading Plan
The Pharisees were sticklers for enforcing legal technicalities. Focused on condemning Jesus’ behavior on the Sabbath, they failed to grasp the greater lessons. Discover the spiritual dangers of legalism, then and now, on Truth For Life with Alistair Begg.
From the Sermon
The Immensity of Forgiveness
Nothing will corrupt our hearts and our thinking faster than an unforgiving heart. But the reverse is also true: nothing grants freedom, joy, and peace of heart and mind more quickly than the genuine experience of offering forgiveness. Indeed, our readiness to forgive is a litmus test of our spiritual status; when we forgive from the heart, we provide evidence that we actually are sons and daughters of the Most High (Luke 6:35).
Jesus often places our being forgiven and our willingness to forgive next to each other (see Luke 11:4). So when we think about practicing forgiveness, we first have to ask where we can find it. The answer is that the source of all true forgiveness is found in God alone. Indeed, out of the abundance of God’s mercy comes forgiveness.
That forgiveness is as indispensable to the life and health of our souls as food is to our physical bodies. Scripture is filled with reminders that point to God as one who forgives. The psalmist says, “If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness” (Psalm 130:3-4). Similarly, the prophet Daniel says, “To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness” (Daniel 9:9). The divine Son of God, as He was spat upon and mocked, stripped of His clothes, beaten, nailed to a cross between two criminals, and abandoned in agony declared, “Father, forgive them” (Luke 23:34). God’s spirit of forgiveness knows no rival.
As God’s children by faith in Christ, we are to imitate our Father and our Lord by practicing forgiveness. It is so integral to the life of the true Christian that Jesus goes as far as to say that if we are not willing to forgive, then we should ask ourselves very seriously whether we are truly forgiven: that is, whether we have really grasped the gospel in our hearts (see Matthew 6:14-15). If you are harboring unforgiveness in your heart, do not excuse or belittle it. Instead, bring the gospel to it. Reflect on the immensity of what you have been forgiven through Christ. Reflect on the forgiving nature of your Father, whom you are called to reflect in your life. Recognize the corrupting, life-draining burden of unforgiveness. Specify what you need to do, and for whom. That is the path to enjoying the peace and freedom of forgiving just as you have been forgiven.
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 Sinful Woman Forgiven
36uOne of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and reclined at table. 37vAnd behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, 38and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wwiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. 39Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If xthis man were ya prophet, he zwould have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” 40And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.”
41“A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred adenarii, and the other fifty. 42bWhen they could not pay, he ccancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” 44Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; dyou gave me no water for my feet, but eshe has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45fYou gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to gkiss my feet. 46hYou did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47Therefore I tell you, her sins, iwhich are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48And he said to her, j“Your sins are forgiven.” 49Then those who were at table with him began to say among8 themselves, k“Who is this, who even forgives sins?” 50And he said to the woman, l“Your faith has saved you; mgo in peace.”
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 Source of Wisdom
Whom God made our wisdom.
Man's intellect seeks for peace and by nature seeks it apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. Men of education are apt, even when converted, to look upon the simplicities of the cross of Christ with too little reverence and love. They are trapped in the old net in which the Greeks were taken and have a hankering to mix philosophy with revelation.
The temptation with a man of refined thought and high education is to depart from the simple truth of Christ crucified and to invent, as the term is, a more intellectual doctrine. This led the early Christian churches into Gnosticism and bewitched them with all sorts of heresies. This is the root of unorthodoxy and the other high-sounding notions that in the past were so fashionable in Germany and are now so enthralling to certain classes of divines. Whoever you are, good reader, and whatever your education may be, if you are the Lord's, rest assured that you will find no peace in philosophizing divinity.
You may receive the dogma of one great thinker or the dream of another profound reasoner, but what the chaff is to the wheat is what these notions are to the pure Word of God. Reason at its best can only discover the ABCs of truth, and even that lacks certainty, while in Christ Jesus there is treasured up all the fullness of wisdom and knowledge. All attempts on the part of Christians to be content with the systems that Unitarian and liberal-church thinkers approve of must fail; true heirs of heaven must come back to the grandly simple reality that makes the plowboy's eye flash with joy and rejoices the pious pauper's heart—“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”1 Jesus satisfies the most elevated intellect when He is believingly received, but apart from Him the mind of the regenerate discovers no rest. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.”2 “All those who practice it have a good understanding.”3
1) 1 Timothy 1:15
2) Proverbs 1:7
3) Psalm 111:10
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 25
David Avenges the Gibeonites
1Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David zsought the face of the Lord. And the Lord said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” 2So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel but aof the remnant of the Amorites. Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah. 3And David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And how shall I make atonement, that you may bless bthe heritage of the Lord?” 4The Gibeonites said to him, “It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.” And he said, “What do you say that I shall do for you?” 5They said to the king, “The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us, so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel, 6let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them before the Lord at cGibeah of Saul, dthe chosen of the Lord.” And the king said, “I will give them.”
7But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Saul's son Jonathan, because of ethe oath of the Lord that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. 8The king took the two sons of fRizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Merab1 the daughter of Saul, whom gshe bore to hAdriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite; 9and he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the Lord, and the seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, iat the beginning of barley harvest.
10jThen Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until rain fell upon them from the heavens. And she did not allow the birds of the air to come upon them by day, or the beasts of the field by night. 11When David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done, 12David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, kwho had stolen them from the public square of lBeth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, on the day the Philistines killed Saul on Gilboa. 13And he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan; and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged. 14And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin in mZela, in the tomb of Kish his father. And they did all that the king commanded. And after that nGod responded to the plea for the land.
War with the Philistines
15There was war again between the Philistines and Israel, and David went down together with his servants, and they fought against the Philistines. And David grew weary. 16And Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants oof the giants, whose spear weighed three hundred shekels2 of bronze, and who was armed with a new sword, thought to kill David. 17But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid and attacked the Philistine and killed him. Then David's men swore to him, p“You shall no longer go out with us to battle, lest you quench qthe lamp of Israel.”
18rAfter this there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. Then sSibbecai tthe Hushathite struck down Saph, who was one of the descendants uof the giants. 19And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob, and vElhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath the Gittite, wthe shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.3 20And there was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number, and he also was descended xfrom the giants. 21And when yhe taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David's brother, struck him down. 22These four were descended xfrom the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.
Greeting
1Paul, an aapostle—bnot from men nor through man, but cthrough Jesus Christ and God the Father, dwho raised him from the dead— 2and all ethe brothers1 who are with me,
To fthe churches of Galatia:
3gGrace to you and peace hfrom God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4iwho gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present jevil age, according to the will of kour God and Father, 5to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
No Other Gospel
6I am astonished that you are lso quickly deserting mhim who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to na different gospel— 7onot that there is another one, but pthere are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8But even if we or qan angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, rlet him be accursed. 9As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, rlet him be accursed.
10For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying sto please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a tservant2 of Christ.
Paul Called by God
11For uI would have you know, brothers, that vthe gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel.3 12wFor I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it xthrough a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13For you have heard of ymy former life in Judaism, how zI persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 14And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely azealous was I for bthe traditions of my fathers. 15But when he cwho had set me apart dbefore I was born,4 and who ecalled me by his grace, 16was pleased to reveal his Son to5 me, in order fthat I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone;6 17nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
18Then gafter three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. 19But I saw none of the other apostles except James hthe Lord's brother. 20(In what I am writing to you, ibefore God, I do not lie!) 21jThen I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22And I was still unknown in person to kthe churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24And they glorified God because of me.
Prophecy Against the Prince of Tyre
1The word of the Lord came to me: 2h“Son of man, say to ithe prince of Tyre, Thus says the Lord God:
j“Because your heart is proud,
and kyou have said, ‘I am a god,
I sit in the seat of the gods,
in the heart of the seas,’
yet lyou are but a man, and no god,
mthough you make your heart like the heart of a god—
3nyou are indeed wiser othan pDaniel;
no secret is hidden from you;
4by your wisdom and your understanding
qyou have made wealth for yourself,
and have gathered gold and silver
into your treasuries;
5by your great wisdom in your trade
you have increased your wealth,
and jyour heart has become proud in your wealth—
6therefore thus says the Lord God:
rBecause you make your heart
like the heart of a god,
7therefore, behold, I will bring sforeigners upon you,
the most ruthless of the nations;
and they shall draw their swords against tthe beauty of your wisdom
and defile tyour splendor.
8uThey shall thrust you down into the pit,
vand you shall die the death of the slain
in the heart of the seas.
9wWill you still say, ‘I am a god,’
in the presence of those who kill you,
though lyou are but a man, and no god,
in the hands of those who slay you?
10xYou shall die the death of the uncircumcised
by the hand of foreigners;
yfor I have spoken, declares the Lord God.”
A Lament over the King of Tyre
11Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me: 12z“Son of man, araise a lamentation over bthe king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord God:
“You were the signet of perfection,1
cfull of wisdom and dperfect in beauty.
13You were in eEden, the garden of God;
fevery precious stone was your covering,
gsardius, topaz, and diamond,
beryl, onyx, and jasper,
sapphire,2 femerald, and carbuncle;
and crafted in gold were your settings
and your engravings.3
iOn the day that you were created
they were prepared.
14You were an anointed jguardian cherub.
I placed you;4 you were on kthe holy mountain of God;
in the midst of the stones of fire you walked.
15You were blameless in your ways
lfrom the day you were created,
till unrighteousness was found in you.
16In the abundance of myour trade
you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned;
so I cast you as a profane thing from kthe mountain of God,
and I destroyed you,5 jO guardian cherub,
from the midst of the stones of fire.
17nYour heart was proud because of oyour beauty;
you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.
I cast you to the ground;
I exposed you before kings,
to feast their eyes on you.
18By the multitude of your iniquities,
in the unrighteousness of your trade
you profaned your sanctuaries;
so pI brought fire out from your midst;
it consumed you,
and I turned you to ashes on the earth
qin the sight of all who saw you.
19All who know you among the peoples
are appalled at you;
ryou have come to a dreadful end
and shall be no more forever.”
Prophecy Against Sidon
20The word of the Lord came to me: 21s“Son of man, tset your face toward uSidon, and tprophesy against her 22and say, Thus says the Lord God:
“Behold, vI am against you, O Sidon,
and wI will manifest my glory in your midst.
And xthey shall know that I am the Lord
ywhen I execute judgments in her
and zmanifest my holiness in her;
23for I will send apestilence into her,
and blood into her streets;
and the slain shall fall in her midst,
by the sword that is against her on every side.
Then they will know that I am the Lord.
24“And for the house of Israel bthere shall be no more a brier to prick or ca thorn to hurt them among all their neighbors dwho have treated them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the Lord God.
Israel Gathered in Security
25“Thus says the Lord God: eWhen I gather the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and zmanifest my holiness in them in the sight of the nations, fthen they shall dwell in their own land that I gave to my servant Jacob. 26gAnd they shall dwell securely in it, and they shall build houses and plant vineyards. They shall dwell securely, hwhen I execute judgments upon all their neighbors dwho have treated them with contempt. xThen they will know that I am the Lord their God.”
In the Day of Trouble I Seek the Lord
To the choirmaster: according to yJeduthun. A Psalm of zAsaph.
1I acry aloud to God,
aloud to God, and he will hear me.
2bIn the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;
in cthe night my dhand is stretched out without wearying;
my soul erefuses to be comforted.
3When I remember God, I fmoan;
when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah
4You hold my eyelids open;
I am so gtroubled that I cannot speak.
5I consider hthe days of old,
the years long ago.
6I said,1 “Let me remember my isong in the night;
let me jmeditate in my heart.”
Then my spirit made a diligent search:
7“Will the Lord kspurn forever,
and never again lbe favorable?
8Has his steadfast love forever ceased?
Are his mpromises at an end for all time?
9nHas God forgotten to be gracious?
oHas he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah
10Then I said, “I will appeal to this,
to the years of the pright hand of the Most High.”2
11I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
yes, I will qremember your wonders of old.
12I will ponder all your rwork,
and meditate on your smighty deeds.
13Your way, O God, is tholy.
uWhat god is great like our God?
14You are the God who vworks wonders;
you have wmade known your might among the peoples.
15You xwith your arm redeemed your people,
the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah
16When ythe waters saw you, O God,
when the waters saw you, they were afraid;
indeed, the deep trembled.
17The clouds poured out water;
the skies zgave forth thunder;
your aarrows flashed on every side.
18bThe crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
cyour lightnings lighted up the world;
the earth dtrembled and shook.
19Your eway was through the sea,
your path through the great waters;
yet your footprints fwere unseen.3
20You gled your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
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