Truth For Life Program
Alistair Begg Devotional
C. H. Spurgeon Devotional
One-Year Bible Reading Plan
An empty bank account is usually a clear indication of financial problems. Find out how empty words similarly reveal our spiritual poverty. That’s our focus as we continue to examine the wisdom found in Proverbs, on Truth For Life with Alistair Begg.
From the Sermon
God’s Scandalous Grace
When an accused person is brought before a judge in a court of law, they are either justified or condemned. The accused is not made righteous or unrighteous but is declared either righteous or unrighteous; the defendant is either acquitted and set free or is found guilty and punished.
Romans 3:23-24 explains to us that the sinner, who deserves condemnation, is justified through faith alone in Christ alone—not as a result of some quality inherent to them but as a result of God’s grace. At Calvary, Christ took the sinner’s place, and now, because of His finished work, God bestows upon us a declaration of righteousness.
How else could someone like the thief on the cross receive salvation? Here was a man who was in the process of “receiving the due reward of [his] deeds” (Luke 23:41). He had absolutely zero chance of making up for whatever evil he had committed which had led to his crucifixion. And yet, when he asked the Lord to remember him, Jesus was able to say in all sincerity, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (v 43).
The thief didn’t deserve such scandalous grace—and neither do we. But that is precisely the point: God justifies us “by his grace as a gift.” He doesn’t save us because we’re great or good, or even because we’re making progress. He saves those who confess and believe in Jesus Christ (Romans 10:9) because of the immensity of His own great love (5:8).
Such scandalous grace can be a stumbling block. We want to do something about our sorry condition. We want to bring something to the table and contribute to our salvation. Before we become Christians, we want to offer our sense of moral goodness. And after we have been Christians for a while, we often want to offer our Christian obedience. But the truth of the matter is that we all come before the cross empty-handed. We couldn’t hope to add even a single ounce to our worth before God. There is no reason to pat yourself on the back and every reason to praise the Lord Jesus. For it is when you realize you have nothing that you are in just the right position for Christ to be your everything:
Nothing in my hand I bring
Simply to Thy cross I cling.[1]
So, when your days in this life have drawn to a close and you reach the gates of glory, what will you say? Be sure that there is not an ounce of you that would offer your own goodness as your reason for gaining entry. Be sure that you are ready to say what we can imagine the thief on the cross said after his earthly life had ebbed away on that first Good Friday: The man on the middle cross said I could come in.
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?
By Grace Through Faith
1jAnd you were kdead in the trespasses and sins 2lin which you once walked, following the course of this world, following mthe prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in nthe sons of disobedience— 3among whom we all once lived in othe passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body1 and the mind, and pwere by nature qchildren of wrath, like the rest of mankind.2 4But3 God, being rrich in mercy, sbecause of the great love with which he loved us, 5even twhen we were dead in our trespasses, umade us alive together with Christ—vby grace you have been saved— 6and raised us up with him and wseated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable xriches of his grace in ykindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8For zby grace you have been saved athrough faith. And this is bnot your own doing; cit is the gift of God, 9dnot a result of works, eso that no one may boast. 10For fwe are his workmanship, gcreated in Christ Jesus hfor good works, iwhich God prepared beforehand, jthat we should walk in them.
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.
If…
…If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
“If.” Then this is not a matter to be taken for granted concerning every one of the human race. “If”—then there is a possibility and a probability that some may not have tasted that the Lord is gracious. “If”—then this is not a general but a special mercy; and it is necessary to ask whether we know the grace of God by inward experience. There is no spiritual favor that may not be a matter for heart-searching.
But while this should be a matter of earnest and prayerful inquiry, no one ought to be content while there is any such thing as an “if” about his having tasted that the Lord is good. A jealous and holy distrust of self may give rise to the question even in the believer’s heart, but the continuance of such a doubt would be an evil indeed. We must not rest without a desperate struggle to clasp the Savior in the arms of faith and say, “I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.”1
Do not rest, believer, until you have a full assurance of your interest in Jesus. Let nothing satisfy you until, by the infallible witness of the Holy Spirit bearing witness with your spirit, you are identified as a child of God. Do not trifle with this. Do not be satisfied with “perhaps” or “if” or “maybe.” Build on eternal truths; really build upon them. Let your anchor be cast into that which is within the veil, and see to it that your soul is linked to the anchor by a cable that will not break. Get beyond these dreary “ifs”; stay no longer in the wilderness of doubts and fears; cross the Jordan of distrust, and enter the promised land of peace, where the land ceases not to flow with milk and honey.
1) 2 Timothy 1:12
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 May 21
Men and Vows
1Moses spoke to fthe heads of the tribes of the people of Israel, saying, “This is what the Lord has commanded. 2gIf a man vows a vow to the Lord, or hswears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. iHe shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.
Women and Vows
3“If a woman vows a vow to the Lord and binds herself by a pledge, while within her father's house in her youth, 4and her father hears of her vow and of her pledge by which she has bound herself and says nothing to her, then all her vows shall stand, and every pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand. 5But if her father opposes her on the day that he hears of it, no vow of hers, no pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand. And the Lord will forgive her, because her father opposed her.
6“If she marries a husband, while under her jvows or any thoughtless utterance of her lips by which she has bound herself, 7and her husband hears of it and says nothing to her on the day that he hears, then her vows shall stand, and her pledges by which she has bound herself shall stand. 8But if, on the day that her husband comes to hear of it, he opposes her, then he makes void her jvow that was on her, and the thoughtless utterance of her lips by which she bound herself. kAnd the Lord will forgive her. 9(But any vow of a widow or of a divorced woman, anything by which she has bound herself, shall stand against her.) 10And if she vowed in her husband's house or bound herself by a pledge with an oath, 11and her husband heard of it and said nothing to her and did not oppose her, then all her vows shall stand, and every pledge by which she bound herself shall stand. 12But if her husband makes them null and void on the day that he hears them, then whatever proceeds out of her lips concerning her vows or concerning her pledge of herself shall not stand. Her husband has made them void, and lthe Lord will forgive her. 13Any vow and any binding oath to afflict herself,1 her husband may establish,2 or her husband may make void. 14But if her husband says nothing to her from day to day, then he establishes all her vows or all her pledges that are upon her. He has established them, because he said nothing to her on the day that he heard of them. 15But if he makes them null and void after he has heard of them, then mhe shall bear her iniquity.”
16These are the statutes that the Lord commanded Moses about a man and his wife and about a father and his daughter while she is in her youth within her father's house.
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!
An Oracle Concerning Jerusalem
1The voracle concerning wthe valley of vision.
What do you mean that you have gone up,
all of you, to the housetops,
2you who are full of shoutings,
tumultuous city, xexultant town?
Your slain are ynot slain with the sword
or dead in battle.
3zAll your leaders have fled together;
without the bow they were captured.
All of you who were found were captured,
though they had fled far away.
4Therefore I said:
“Look away from me;
alet me weep bitter tears;
do not labor to comfort me
concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
5bFor the Lord God of hosts has ca day
of tumult and dtrampling and econfusion
in wthe valley of vision,
a battering down of walls
and a shouting to the mountains.
6And fElam bore the quiver
with chariots and horsemen,
and gKir uncovered the shield.
7Your choicest valleys were full of chariots,
and the horsemen took their stand at the gates.
8He has taken away hthe covering of Judah.
In that day you looked to ithe weapons of the House of the Forest, 9and you saw that jthe breaches of the city of David were many. kYou collected the waters of the lower pool, 10and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. 11kYou made a reservoir between lthe two walls for the water of mthe old pool. But nyou did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago.
12In that day othe Lord God of hosts
called for weeping and mourning,
for pbaldness and qwearing sackcloth;
13and behold, joy and gladness,
killing oxen and slaughtering sheep,
eating flesh and drinking wine.
r“Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.”
14The Lord of hosts shas revealed himself in my ears:
“Surely tthis iniquity will not be atoned for you uuntil you die,”
says the Lord God of hosts.
15Thus says the Lord God of hosts, “Come, go to this steward, to vShebna, who is over the household, and say to him: 16What have you to do here, and whom have you here, wthat you have cut out here a tomb for yourself, you xwho cut out a tomb on the height and carve a dwelling for yourself in the rock? 17Behold, the Lord will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. yHe will seize firm hold on you 18and whirl you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a wide land. There you shall die, and there shall be zyour glorious chariots, you shame of your master's house. 19aI will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your station. 20In that day I will call my servant bEliakim the son of Hilkiah, 21and bI will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your sash on him, and will commit your authority to his hand. And he shall be ca father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. 22And I will place don his shoulder ethe key of the house of David. fHe shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. 23And I will fasten him glike a peg in a secure place, and he will become ha throne of honor to his father's house. 24And they will hang on him the whole honor of his father's house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons. 25In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, gthe peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off, for the Lord has spoken.”
The Day of the Lord Will Come
1This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them gI am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2hthat you should remember the predictions of ithe holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come jin the last days with scoffing, kfollowing their own sinful desires. 4lThey will say, “Where is the promise of mhis coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth nwas formed out of water and through water oby the word of God, 6and that by means of these the world that then existed pwas deluged with water and qperished. 7But by the same word rthe heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and sdestruction of the ungodly.
8But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and ta thousand years as one day. 9uThe Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise vas some count slowness, but wis patient toward you,1 xnot wishing that any should perish, but ythat all should reach repentance. 10But zthe day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then athe heavens will pass away with a roar, and bthe heavenly bodies2 will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.3
11Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, cwhat sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12dwaiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and ethe heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13But according to his promise we are waiting for fnew heavens and a new earth gin which righteousness dwells.
Final Words
14hTherefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him iwithout spot or jblemish, and kat peace. 15And count lthe patience of our Lord as salvation, just as mour beloved brother Paul also wrote to you naccording to the wisdom given him, 16as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. oThere are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, pas they do the other Scriptures. 17You therefore, beloved, qknowing this beforehand, rtake care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 18But sgrow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. tTo him be the glory both now and to the day of ueternity. Amen.
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