Truth For Life Program
Alistair Begg Devotional
C. H. Spurgeon Devotional
One-Year Bible Reading Plan
Some celebrate Christmas with decorations, gifts, and festivities without ever giving thought to Jesus. Examine Luke’s historical record of the Savior’s arrival to discover the true wonder of this holiday. Listen to Truth For Life with Alistair Begg.
From the Sermon
The Christmas Servant
At Christmas, many of us feel tremendously cozy as we think about the familiar Nativity story. Filled with all kinds of sentimentalism, it is entirely possible for us to completely disengage from the whole panorama of God’s purpose: to allow familiarity with the scene to blind us to the awe-inspiring truth that as we look at the baby in a Bethlehem manger, we are looking in on the Servant of God.
This Servant, Jesus, had a mission. Even Mary and Joseph had only an inkling about all He would accomplish—yet hundreds of years before Jesus arrived, God had announced what He would do to fulfill His purpose (Isaiah 42:1-4).
Jesus came to open the eyes of the spiritually blind. During His earthly ministry, He gave a wonderful illustration of this by granting physical healing to the blind. The greatest issue, however, concerned not the body but the soul. He came to open the eyes of men and women who were blind to God’s truth.
The Servant also came to free captives from prison. Many of us have felt the captivity of our guilt, trying countless hoped-for solutions to wash it all away. But nothing works except Jesus. He breaks our chains and sets us free. Once slaves of sin, we have now been rescued. Our Savior releases from the dungeon those who sit in darkness, if only they see His light.
The story of the Servant is a story not about what we must do but about what Jesus has done. He came down into the dungeon, into our enslavement, into our blindness, and said, You’ve failed and broken the law, and you are entirely unable to rectify your condition. But I save sinners. I open blind eyes. I release captives. I bring light. I have done everything required for you. Turn to Me in simple faith and childlike trust and you will see. You will be free, and your darkness will give way to sunshine.
The one who has done all this is the one you are gazing at as you consider that familiar Nativity scene. Never let it fail to move and inspire you to praise and worship of the divine Son, who came as our Servant.
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?
Birth of Jesus Foretold
26In the sixth month the angel xGabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named yNazareth, 27zto a virgin betrothed2 to a man whose name was Joseph, aof the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. 28And he came to her and said, “Greetings, bO favored one, cthe Lord is with you!”3 29But dshe was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for eyou have found favor with God. 31And behold, fyou will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and gyou shall call his name Jesus. 32He will be great and will be called the Son of hthe Most High. And the Lord God iwill give to him the throne of jhis father David, 33and he will reign over the house of Jacob kforever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
34And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”4
35And the angel answered her, l“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of hthe Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born5 will be called mholy—nthe Son of God. 36And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her owho was called barren. 37For pnothing will be impossible with God.” 38And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant6 of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And qthe angel departed from her.
Mary Visits Elizabeth
39In those days Mary arose and went with haste into rthe hill country, to a town in Judah, 40and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth swas filled with the Holy Spirit, 42and she exclaimed with a loud cry, t“Blessed are you among women, and ublessed is vthe fruit of your womb! 43And why is this granted to me that the mother of wmy Lord should come to me? 44For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45And xblessed is she who believed that there would be7 a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
Mary's Song of Praise: The Magnificat
46And Mary said,
y“My zsoul amagnifies the Lord,
47band my zspirit rejoices in cGod my Savior,
48for dhe has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations ewill call me blessed;
49for fhe who is mighty ghas done great things for me,
and hholy is his name.
50And ihis mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51jHe has shown strength with his arm;
khe has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
52jhe has brought down the mighty from their thrones
land exalted those of humble estate;
53he has filled mthe hungry with good things,
and the rich nhe has sent away empty.
54He has ohelped phis servant Israel,
qin remembrance of his mercy,
55ras he spoke to our fathers,
qto Abraham and to his offspring forever.”
56And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.
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.
On Whose Side Are You?
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
We anticipate the happy day when every knee will bow before Christ; when the gods of the heathen shall be cast to the moles and the bats; when empty religion will be exploded, and the crescent of Mohammed will topple, never again to cast its harmful rays upon the nations; when kings shall worship before the Prince of Peace, and all nations shall call the Redeemer blessed. Some despair of this. They look on the world as a ship breaking up and going to pieces, never to float again. We know that the world and all that is in it will one day be burned up, and afterwards we look for new heavens and for a new earth; but we cannot read our Bibles without the conviction that—
Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
Doth his successive journeys run.
We are not discouraged by the length of His delays; we are not disheartened by the long period that He assigns to the church in which to struggle with little success and much defeat. We believe that God will never tolerate this world, which has once seen Christ's blood shed upon it, remaining as the devil's stronghold. Christ came here to deliver this world from the detested sway of the powers of darkness. What a shout that will be when men and angels unite to cry "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God Almighty reigns".1
What a satisfaction it will be in that day to have had a part in the fight, to have helped to break the arrows of the bow, and to have shared in winning the victory for our Lord! Happy are those who entrust themselves to this conquering Lord, and who fight side by side with Him doing their part in His name and by His strength! How unhappy are those on the side of evil! It is a losing side, and it is a matter in which to lose is to lose and to be lost forever. On whose side are you?
1) Revelation 19:6
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 December 24
Hezekiah Reigns in Judah
1jHezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abijah1 the daughter of kZechariah. 2And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done.
Hezekiah Cleanses the Temple
3In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he lopened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. 4He brought in the priests and the Levites and assembled them in the square on the east 5and said to them, “Hear me, Levites! Now mconsecrate yourselves, and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry out the filth2 from the Holy Place. 6For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done what was evil in the sight of the Lord our God. They have forsaken him and nhave turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord and turned their backs. 7They also oshut the doors of the vestibule and put out the lamps and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the Holy Place to the God of Israel. 8Therefore pthe wrath of the Lord came on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them qan object of horror, of astonishment, rand of hissing, as you see with your own eyes. 9For behold, sour fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. 10Now tit is in my heart uto make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, in order that his fierce anger may turn away from us. 11My sons, do not now be negligent, vfor the Lord has chosen you to stand in his presence, to minister to him and to be his ministers and make offerings to him.”
12Then the Levites arose, wMahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of xthe Kohathites; and of the sons of xMerari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; and of the xGershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah; 13and of the sons of yElizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel; and of the sons of zAsaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah; 14and of the sons of aHeman, Jehuel and Shimei; and of the sons of bJeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel. 15They gathered their brothers and cconsecrated themselves and went in as the king had commanded, dby the words of the Lord, eto cleanse the house of the Lord. 16The priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it, and they brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord. And the Levites took it and carried it out to fthe brook Kidron. 17They began to consecrate gon the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the vestibule of the Lord. Then for eight days they consecrated the house of the Lord, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished. 18Then they went in to Hezekiah the king and said, “We have cleansed all the house of the Lord, the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the table for the showbread and all its utensils. 19All the utensils hthat King Ahaz discarded in his reign when he was faithless, we have made ready and consecrated, and behold, they are before the altar of the Lord.”
Hezekiah Restores Temple Worship
20Then Hezekiah the king rose early and gathered the officials of the city and went up to the house of the Lord. 21And they brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats ifor a sin offering for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah. And he commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord. 22So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests received the blood jand threw it against the altar. And they slaughtered the rams, and their blood was thrown against the altar. And they slaughtered the lambs, and their blood was thrown against the altar. 23Then the goats for the sin offering were brought to the king and the assembly, kand they laid their hands on them, 24and the priests slaughtered them and made a sin offering with their blood on the altar, lto make atonement for all Israel. For the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.
25mAnd he stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, harps, and lyres, naccording to the commandment of David and of Gad othe king's seer and of pNathan the prophet, for the commandment was from the Lord through his prophets. 26The Levites stood with qthe instruments of David, rand the priests with the trumpets. 27Then Hezekiah commanded that the burnt offering be offered on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, sthe song to the Lord began also, and the trumpets, accompanied by the instruments of David king of Israel. 28The whole assembly worshiped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded. All this continued until the burnt offering was finished. 29When the offering was finished, tthe king and all who were present with him bowed themselves and worshiped. 30And Hezekiah the king and the officials commanded the Levites to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed down and worshiped.
31Then Hezekiah said, u“You have now consecrated yourselves to3 the Lord. Come near; bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the house of the Lord.” And the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all who were vof a willing heart brought burnt offerings. 32The number of the burnt offerings that the assembly brought was 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs; all these were for a burnt offering to the Lord. 33And the consecrated offerings were 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep. 34But the priests were too few and could not flay all the burnt offerings, so until other priests had consecrated themselves, wtheir brothers the Levites helped them, until the work was finished—xfor the Levites were more upright in heart than the priests in consecrating themselves. 35Besides the great number of burnt offerings, there was ythe fat of the peace offerings, and there were zthe drink offerings for the burnt offerings. Thus the service of the house of the Lord was restored. 36And Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced because God had provided for the people, for the thing came about suddenly.
The Seven Angels with Seven Plagues
1Then rI saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, sseven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished.
2And I saw twhat appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those uwho had conquered the beast and its image and vthe number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass wwith harps of God in their hands. 3And they sing xthe song of Moses, ythe servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,
z“Great and amazing are your deeds,
O Lord God the Almighty!
aJust and true are your ways,
O King of the nations!1
4bWho will not fear, O Lord,
and glorify your name?
For you alone are choly.
dAll nations will come
and worship you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.”
5After this I looked, and ethe sanctuary of fthe tent2 of witness in heaven was opened, 6and out of the sanctuary came gthe seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright ilinen, jwith golden sashes around their chests. 7And one of kthe four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven lgolden bowls full of the wrath of God mwho lives forever and ever, 8and nthe sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and ono one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.
The Flock Doomed to Slaughter
1Open your doors, kO Lebanon,
that the fire may devour your cedars!
2Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen,
for the glorious trees are ruined!
Wail, koaks of Bashan,
for the thick forest has been felled!
3The sound of lthe wail of lthe shepherds,
for their glory is ruined!
The sound of the roar of mthe lions,
nfor the thicket of the Jordan is ruined!
4Thus said the Lord my God: o“Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. 5pThose who buy them slaughter them and go unpunished, and those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, qI have become rich,’ and their own shepherds have no pity on them. 6For rI will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land, declares the Lord. Behold, I will cause each of them to fall into the hand of his neighbor, and each into the hand of his king, and they shall crush the land, and I will deliver none from their hand.”
7sSo I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders. And I took two staffs, one I named uFavor, the other I named vUnion. sAnd I tended the sheep. 8In one month wI destroyed the three shepherds. But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. 9So I said, “I will not be your shepherd. xWhat is to die, let it die. What is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed. And let those who are left devour the flesh of one another.” 10And I took ymy staff Favor, and I broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples. 11So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep traders, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the Lord. 12Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages zthirty pieces of silver. 13Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—athe lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the zthirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, to the potter. 14Then I broke bmy second staff Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
15Then the Lord said to me, “Take once more the equipment of ca foolish shepherd. 16For behold, I am raising up in the land a shepherd dwho does not care for those being destroyed, or seek the young or heal the maimed or nourish the healthy, but edevours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.
17f“Woe to my worthless shepherd,
gwho deserts the flock!
May the sword strike his arm
and hhis right eye!
Let his arm be wholly withered,
his right eye utterly blinded!”
I Am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life
1d“Let not your hearts be troubled. eBelieve in God;1 believe also in me. 2In fmy Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that gI go to prepare a place for you?2 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you hto myself, that iwhere I am you may be also. 4And you know the way to where I am going.”3 5jThomas said to him, “Lord, kwe do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6Jesus said to him, “I am lthe way, and mthe truth, and nthe life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7oIf you had known me, you would have pknown my Father also.4 From now on you do know him and qhave seen him.”
8rPhilip said to him, “Lord, sshow us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? tWhoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10Do you not believe that uI am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you vI do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11Believe me that uI am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else wbelieve on account of the works themselves.
12“Truly, truly, I say to you, xwhoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I yam going to the Father. 13zWhatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that athe Father may be glorified in the Son. 14zIf you ask me5 anything in my name, I will do it.
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit
15b“If you love me, you will ckeep my commandments. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another dHelper,6 to be with you forever, 17even ethe Spirit of truth, fwhom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and gwill be7 in you.
18“I will not leave you as orphans; hI will come to you. 19iYet a little while and the world will see me no more, but jyou will see me. kBecause I live, you also will live. 20lIn that day you will know that mI am in my Father, and nyou in me, and oI in you. 21pWhoever has my commandments and qkeeps them, he it is who loves me. And rhe who loves me swill be loved by my Father, and I will love him and tmanifest myself to him.” 22uJudas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it vthat you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23Jesus answered him, w“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and xwe will come to him and ymake our home with him. 24Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And zthe word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.
25“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26But the aHelper, the Holy Spirit, bwhom the Father will send in my name, che will teach you all things and dbring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27ePeace I leave with you; fmy peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. gLet not your hearts be troubled, neither hlet them be afraid. 28iYou heard me say to you, j‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I kam going to the Father, for lthe Father is greater than I. 29And mnow I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. 30I will no longer talk much with you, for nthe ruler of this world is coming. oHe has no claim on me, 31but I do pas the Father has commanded me, qso that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.
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