Truth For Life Program
Alistair Begg Devotional
C. H. Spurgeon Devotional
One-Year Bible Reading Plan
You’ve likely enjoyed good books that entertained you or maybe taught you something new. Well, the Bible is superior to any book you’ve ever read. In fact, it’s superior to all of them combined! Listen to Truth For Life with Alistair Begg to find out why.
From the Sermon
Saying No to Neglect — Part Two
Nehemiah 9:38–10:39 Sermon • Includes Transcript • 42:25 • ID: 1744
Prophecy Fulfilled
One of the most powerful aspects of the Gospel accounts of the crucifixion of Christ is the way that again and again and again they record how the events of the day fulfilled Old Testament prophecies made hundreds of years before.
When the chief priests and scribes delivered Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor was perplexed at His choice not to publicly defend Himself. When Pilate asked, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus replied enigmatically, “You have said so” (Matthew 27:11). When the religious leaders continued making accusations, Pilate asked again, “Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you” (Mark 15:4-5). Yet Christ did exactly as Isaiah 53:7 had foretold: He “opened not his mouth,” but instead waited in silence to be sentenced to death.
Later that day, only hours before Jesus breathed His last, the noonday sun was suddenly and dramatically swallowed up in darkness (Matthew 27:45). The Jewish people who were present ought to have understood the significance of that event from what had happened at the first Passover. They knew that in Egypt, the ninth plague, which preceded the death of the firstborn, was the plague of darkness (Exodus 10:21-29). The darkness on the day of crucifixion mirrored that very plague, identifying the need for blood to be shed, for a lamb to be slain, and for provision of shelter from the judgment of which the darkness itself spoke.
The Gospels show us that Jesus knew He was the one who had been promised, the one who would bear our sin to win our salvation. He lived out the prophetic words of Isaiah 53, and He operated of His own will according to the plan of Almighty God, expressing God’s love and sacrificing everything for those who deserve nothing except judgment.
As Old Testament prophecy was fulfilled before their eyes on the day that Christ was crucified, the biggest question that Pilate and the Jews each faced was essentially “What shall I do with Jesus?” And that is the great question that we all face every day. By our very nature, we neglect His wisdom, rebel against His authority, and doubt His goodness. That is why “it was the will of the LORD to crush him,” for God had purposed that He Himself would “bear [our] iniquities.” The realization that God had planned His Son’s sin-bearing death centuries before He hung on the cross—in fact, had planned it before the creation of the world—ought to bring us to our knees in awe, not just at the sovereignty of God’s plan but also at the love that brought it into being, the love that wrought its climax at Calvary. Christ remained silent as He stood before Pilate; there is no reason or excuse for us to remain silent as we kneel before Him and consider all He has done for us.
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?
Jesus Rejected at Nazareth
16sAnd he came to tNazareth, where he had been brought up. And uas was his custom, vhe went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up wto read. 17And xthe scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
18y“The Spirit of the Lord zis upon me,
because he has anointed me
to aproclaim good news to the poor.
bHe has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and crecovering of sight to the blind,
dto set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19eto proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”
20And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and fsat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were gfixed on him. 21And he began to say to them, “Today hthis Scripture ihas been fulfilled in your hearing.”
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.
What We Receive
Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord …
The life of faith is represented as receiving—an act that implies the very opposite of anything like merit. It is simply the acceptance of a gift.
As the earth drinks in the rain, as the sea receives the streams, as night accepts light from the stars, so we, giving nothing, partake freely of the grace of God. The believers are not by nature wells or streams; they are just cisterns into which the living water flows; they are empty vessels into which God pours His salvation.
The idea of receiving implies a sense of realization, making the matter a reality. One cannot very well receive a shadow; we receive that which is substantial: So is it in the life of faith—Christ becomes real to us.
Until we come to faith, Jesus is just a name to us—a person who lived a long time ago, so long ago that His life is only a history to us now! By an act of faith Jesus becomes a real person in the consciousness of our heart. But receiving also means grasping or getting possession of. The thing that I receive becomes my own: I appropriate to myself that which is given.
When I receive Jesus, He becomes my Savior, so much so that neither life nor death will be able to rob me of Him. All this is to receive Christ—to take Him as God’s free gift, to realize Him in my heart, and to appropriate Him as mine.
Salvation may be described as the blind receiving sight, the deaf receiving hearing, the dead receiving life; but we have not only received these blessings—we have received Christ Jesus Himself. It is true that He gave us life from the dead.
He gave us pardon from sin; He gave us imputed righteousness. These are all precious things, but we are not content with them; we have received Christ Himself. The Son of God has been poured into us, and we have received Him and appropriated Him. What a heart-full Jesus must be, for heaven itself cannot contain Him!
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 November 8
Manasseh Reigns in Judah
1xManasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hephzibah. 2And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, yaccording to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. 3For he rebuilt the high places zthat Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made aan Asherah, bas Ahab king of Israel had done, cand worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. 4dAnd he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, e“In Jerusalem will I put my name.” 5And he built altars cfor all the host of heaven in fthe two courts of the house of the Lord. 6gAnd he burned his son as an offering1 and hused fortune-telling and iomens and dealt jwith mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. 7And the carved image of aAsherah that he had made he set in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, eand in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. 8kAnd I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander anymore out of the land that I gave to their fathers, if only they will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the Law that my servant Moses commanded them.” 9But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations had done whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel.
Manasseh's Idolatry Denounced
10And the Lord said by his servants the prophets, 11l“Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has done things mmore evil than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, nand has made Judah also to sin owith his idols, 12therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster2 that the ears of everyone who hears of it pwill tingle. 13qAnd I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria, and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. 14And I will forsake the remnant of my heritage and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies, 15because they have done what is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.”
16rMoreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin sthat he made Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
17tNow the rest of the acts of Manasseh and all that he did, and the sin that he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 18uAnd Manasseh slept with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his house, vin the garden of Uzza, and Amon his son reigned in his place.
Amon Reigns in Judah
19Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. 20And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, was Manasseh his father had done. 21He walked in all the way in which his father walked and served xthe idols that his father served and worshiped them. 22yHe abandoned the Lord, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the Lord. 23And the servants of Amon conspired against him and put the king to death in his house. 24But the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place. 25Now the rest of the acts of Amon that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 26And he was buried in his tomb zin the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son reigned in his place.
Jesus Greater Than Moses
1Therefore, holy brothers,1 you who share in ra heavenly calling, consider Jesus, sthe apostle and high priest of our confession, 2who was faithful to him who appointed him, tjust as Moses also was faithful in all God's2 house. 3For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. 4(For every house is built by someone, but uthe builder of all things is God.) 5vNow Moses was faithful in all God's house was a servant, xto testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 6but Christ is faithful over God's house as ya son. And zwe are his house, if indeed we ahold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.3
A Rest for the People of God
7Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
b“Today, if you hear his voice,
8do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness,
9where your fathers put me to the test
and saw my works for cforty years.
10Therefore I was provoked with that generation,
and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;
they have not known my ways.’
11dAs I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter my rest.’”
12Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from ethe living God. 13But fexhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by gthe deceitfulness of sin. 14For we have come to share in Christ, hif indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. 15As it is said,
b“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
16For iwho were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not jall those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, kwhose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18And to whom did he swear that lthey would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19So we see that mthey were unable to enter because of unbelief.
A Plea to Return to the Lord
1nReturn, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
for oyou have stumbled because of your iniquity.
2Take with you words
and return to the Lord;
say to him,
“Take away all iniquity;
accept pwhat is good,
and we will pay with bulls
3rAssyria shall not save us;
swe will not ride on horses;
and twe will say no more, ‘Our God,’
to the work of our hands.
uIn you the orphan finds mercy.”
4I vwill heal their apostasy;
wI will love them freely,
for my anger has turned from them.
5xI will be like the dew to Israel;
yhe shall blossom like the lily;
he shall take root like the trees zof Lebanon;
6his shoots shall spread out;
his beauty shall be alike the olive,
and his fragrance like Lebanon.
7They shall return and bdwell beneath my2 shadow;
they shall flourish like the grain;
they shall blossom like the vine;
their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
8O cEphraim, what have I to do with idols?
It is I who answer and look after you.3
I am like an evergreen cypress;
dfrom me comes your fruit.
9eWhoever is wise, let him understand these things;
whoever is discerning, let him know them;
for the ways of the Lord are right,
and fthe upright walk in them,
fbut transgressors stumble in them.
Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
1O Lord, you have psearched me and known me!
2You qknow when I sit down and when I rise up;
you rdiscern my thoughts from afar.
3You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, syou know it altogether.
5You them me in, behind and before,
and ulay your hand upon me.
6vSuch knowledge is wtoo wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
7xWhere shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where yshall I flee from your presence?
8zIf I ascend to heaven, you are there!
aIf I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10even there your hand shall blead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11If I say, c“Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12deven the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
13For you eformed my inward parts;
you fknitted me together in my mother's womb.
14I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.1
gWonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15hMy frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in ithe depths of the earth.
16Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your jbook were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
17How precious to me are your kthoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18lIf I would count them, they are more than mthe sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
19Oh that you would nslay the wicked, O God!
O omen of blood, pdepart from me!
20They qspeak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies rtake your name in vain.2
21sDo I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not tloathe those who urise up against you?
22I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.
23Search me, O God, and know my heart!
vTry me and know my thoughts!3
24And see if there be any grievous way in me,
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