Truth For Life Program
Alistair Begg Devotional
C. H. Spurgeon Devotional
One-Year Bible Reading Plan
A bodyguard on duty doesn’t wander aimlessly or stare blankly into space. He’s on high alert—even during routine activities. Learn why you need to be equally vigilant when it comes to protecting your marriage, on Truth For Life with Alistair Begg.
From the Sermon
Marriage: A Covenant, Not a Contract
Matthew 19:1–12 Sermon • Includes Transcript • 42:50 • ID: 1885
Justice, Kindness, and Humility
When John Newton, the eighteenth-century hymn writer and pastor, preached on this verse, he entitled his sermon “No Access to God but by the Gospel of Christ.” Why would he use a title that seems to lack any connection to the verse?! Newton himself commented, “There is hardly any one passage in the Bible more generally misunderstood.”[1] His sermon title, it seems, was aimed at correcting the common misunderstandings.
Newton’s title alerts us to the danger of reading the virtues described here and then attempting to live them out without the gospel, or proclaiming them in place of the gospel, as a means of access to God. Neither of these does justice to what the prophet—and the Lord—intended. The best way to understand Micah 6:8 is not as a list of things that contribute to our justification but as evidences of our justification. When we view it this way, with the proper motivation and goals established, we can understand what the Lord was calling Israel, and is calling us, to do.
The Lord, through Micah, tells us first to “do justice.” This means a commitment to act in accord with God’s will and purpose. For example, in Deuteronomy, Moses says that God “executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing” (Deuteronomy 10:18). We want to care about the things God cares about, which means taking such priorities seriously, seeking to “do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10).
Second, the Lord tells us to “love kindness.” If doing justice is the action, then loving kindness is the heart attitude that fuels it. It’s warm-hearted compassion, ensuring that we pursue justice not as a performance of some duty but as a glad action of benevolence.
Third, we are to “walk humbly.” In other words, we are to walk in submission to God’s will, embracing our utter dependence on Him every step of the way. Why does Micah end this verse with humility? First, because humility is what is required to acknowledge that we do not perfectly obey the call to love kindness and do justice—and so we need the Lord’s forgiveness and not just His commands. And second, because even as we do obey Him in the way Micah 6:8 calls us to, the fruitfulness of our labors is ultimately not up to us.
You and I cannot fix the world; we must instead entrust the solution to the world’s King and Judge. Doing so both motivates and sustains us, with God’s help, to live out the gospel that has saved us, through expressions of justice, kindness, and humility, for the good of our neighbors, for the witness of the church, and for the glory of Christ. Across the centuries, Micah calls you today to reflect humbly on your need for the gospel, to look to your heart and ask the Spirit to grow it in Christlike kindness, and then to look to your world and actively pursue fairness and justice.
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?
The Indictment of the Lord
1qHear what the Lord says:
Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
and let the hills hear your voice.
2rHear, you mountains, sthe indictment of the Lord,
and you enduring foundations of the earth,
for the Lord has an indictment against his people,
and he will contend with Israel.
3“O my people, twhat have I done to you?
uHow have I wearied you? Answer me!
4For vI brought you up from the land of Egypt
and wredeemed you from the house of slavery,
and I sent before you Moses,
Aaron, and xMiriam.
5O my people, remember ywhat Balak king of Moab devised,
and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from zShittim to Gilgal,
that you may know athe righteous acts of the Lord.”
What Does the Lord Require?
6b“With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before cGod on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
7dWill the Lord be pleased with1 thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
eShall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
8He has told you, O man, what is good;
and fwhat does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,2
and to gwalk humbly with your 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.
Christ at the Center
It is they that bear witness about me.
Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega of the Bible. He is the constant theme of its sacred pages; from beginning to end they bear witness to Him. At the creation we immediately recognize Him as one of the sacred Trinity; we catch a glimpse of Him in the promise of the woman's seed; we see Him pictured in the ark of Noah; we walk with Abraham as He sees Messiah's day; we live in the tents of Isaac and Jacob, feeding upon the gracious promise; and in the numerous types of the law, we find the Redeemer abundantly foreshadowed. Prophets and kings, priests and preachers all look one way—they all stand as the cherubs did over the ark, desiring to look within and to read the mystery of God's great propitiation. Even more obvious in the New Testament we discover that Jesus is the one pervading subject.
It is not that He is mentioned every so often or that we can find Him in the shadows; no, the whole substance of the New Testament is Jesus crucified, and even its closing sentence sparkles with the Redeemer's name. We should always read Scripture in this light; we should consider the Word to be like a mirror into which Christ looks down from heaven; and then we, looking into it, see His face reflected—darkly, it is true, but still in such a way as to be a blessed preparation for one day seeing Him face to face.
The New Testament contains Jesus Christ's letters to us, which are perfumed by His love. These pages are like the garments of our King, and they all bear His fragrance. Scripture is the royal chariot in which Jesus rides, and it is paved with love for the daughters of Jerusalem. The Scriptures are like the swaddling clothes of the holy child Jesus; unroll them, and there you find your Savior. The essence of the Word of God is Christ.
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 June 10
The Sabbatical Year
1“At the end of jevery seven years you shall grant a release. 2And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the Lord's release has been proclaimed. 3kOf a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release. 4lBut there will be no poor among you; mfor the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess— 5nif only you will strictly obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today. 6For the Lord your God will bless you, oas he promised you, and pyou shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and qyou shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.
7“If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, ryou shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, 8but syou shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. 9Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your teye look grudgingly1 on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he ucry to the Lord against you, and vyou be guilty of sin. 10You shall give to him freely, and wyour heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because xfor this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. 11For ythere will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, s‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’
12z“If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold2 to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. 13And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. 14You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. aAs the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. 15bYou shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today. 16But cif he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he is well-off with you, 17then you shall take an awl, and put it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your slave3 forever. And to your female slave4 you shall do the same. 18It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you, for at half the cost of a hired worker he has served you six years. So the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.
19d“All the firstborn males that are born of your herd and flock you shall dedicate to the Lord your God. You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. 20eYou shall eat it, you and your household, before the Lord your God year by year at the place that the Lord will choose. 21fBut if it has any blemish, if it is lame or blind or has any serious blemish whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. 22You shall eat it within your towns. gThe unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or a deer. 23hOnly you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.
Do Not Hide Your Face from Me
A Prayer of one afflicted, when he is xfaint and ypours out his complaint before the Lord.
1zHear my prayer, O Lord;
let my cry acome to you!
2bDo not hide your face from me
in cthe day of my distress!
dIncline your ear to me;
eanswer me speedily fin the day when I call!
3For my days gpass away like smoke,
and my hbones burn like a furnace.
4My heart is istruck down like grass and jhas withered;
I kforget to eat my bread.
5Because of my loud groaning
my lbones cling to my flesh.
6I am like ma desert owl of the wilderness,
like an owl1 of the waste places;
7I nlie awake;
I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop.
8All the day my enemies taunt me;
those who oderide me puse my name for a curse.
9For I eat ashes like bread
and qmingle tears with my drink,
10because of your indignation and anger;
for you have rtaken me up and sthrown me down.
11My days are like tan evening shadow;
I jwither away like grass.
12But you, O Lord, are uenthroned forever;
you vare remembered throughout all generations.
13You will warise and have xpity on Zion;
it is the time to favor her;
ythe appointed time has come.
14For your servants hold her zstones dear
and have pity on her dust.
15Nations will afear the name of the Lord,
and all bthe kings of the earth will fear your glory.
16For the Lord cbuilds up Zion;
he dappears in his glory;
17he eregards the prayer of the destitute
and does not despise their prayer.
18Let this be frecorded for ga generation to come,
so that ha people yet to be created may praise the Lord:
19that he ilooked down from his holy height;
from heaven the Lord looked at the earth,
20to hear jthe groans of the prisoners,
to set free kthose who were doomed to die,
21that they may ldeclare in Zion the name of the Lord,
and in Jerusalem his praise,
22when mpeoples gather together,
and kingdoms, to worship the Lord.
23He has broken my strength in midcourse;
he nhas shortened my days.
24“O my God,” oI say, “take me not away
in the midst of my days—
pyou whose years endure
throughout all generations!”
25qOf old you laid the foundation of the earth,
and rthe heavens are the work of your hands.
26sThey will perish, but tyou will remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,
27but uyou are the same, and your years have no end.
28vThe children of your servants wshall dwell secure;
xtheir offspring shall be established before you.
The Lord's Chosen Servant
1eBehold fmy servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, gin whom my soul delights;
hI have put my Spirit upon him;
ihe will bring forth justice to the nations.
2He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
3ja bruised reed he will not break,
and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;
khe will faithfully bring forth justice.
4He will not grow faint or be discouraged1
till he has established justice in the earth;
and lthe coastlands wait for his law.
5Thus says God, the Lord,
who created the heavens mand stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
nwho gives breath to the people on it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
6“I am the Lord; oI have called you2 in righteousness;
I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you pas a covenant for the people,
qa light for the nations,
7rto open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
sfrom the prison those who sit in darkness.
8I am the Lord; that is my name;
tmy glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to carved idols.
9Behold, the former things have come to pass,
uand new things I now declare;
before they spring forth
I tell you of them.”
Sing to the Lord a New Song
10vSing to the Lord a new song,
his praise from the end of the earth,
wyou who go down to the sea, and all that fills it,
lthe coastlands and their inhabitants.
11Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice,
the villages that xKedar inhabits;
let the habitants of ySela sing for joy,
let them shout from the top of the mountains.
12Let them give glory to the Lord,
and declare his praise in lthe coastlands.
13zThe Lord goes out like a mighty man,
like a man of war ahe stirs up his zeal;
he cries out, bhe shouts aloud,
he shows himself mighty against his foes.
14For a long time I have held my peace;
I have kept still and restrained myself;
now I will cry out clike a woman in labor;
I will gasp and pant.
15dI will lay waste mountains and hills,
and dry up all their vegetation;
I will turn the rivers into islands,3
and dry up the pools.
16eAnd I will lead the blind
in a way that they do not know,
in paths that they have not known
I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness before them into light,
fthe rough places into level ground.
These are the things I do,
and I do not forsake them.
17gThey are turned back and utterly put to shame,
who trust in carved idols,
who say to metal images,
“You are our gods.”
Israel's Failure to Hear and See
18Hear, you deaf,
and look, you blind, that you may see!
19Who is blind but my servant,
or deaf as my messenger whom I send?
Who is blind as my dedicated one,4
or blind as the servant of the Lord?
20hHe sees many things, but does not observe them;
ihis ears are open, but he does not hear.
21The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness' sake,
to magnify his law and make it glorious.
22But this is a people plundered and looted;
they are all of them trapped in holes
jand hidden in prisons;
they have become plunder with none to rescue,
spoil with none to say, “Restore!”
23Who among you will give ear to this,
will attend and listen for the time to come?
24Who gave up Jacob to the looter,
and Israel to the plunderers?
Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned,
in whose ways they would not walk,
and whose law they would not obey?
25So he poured on him the heat of his anger
and the might of battle;
it set him on fire all around, kbut he did not understand;
it burned him up, lbut he did not take it to heart.
The Woman and the Dragon
1And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman eclothed with fthe sun, with fthe moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2She was pregnant and gwas crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. 3And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great hred dragon, iwith seven heads and jten horns, and on his heads kseven diadems. 4His tail swept down la third of the stars of heaven and mcast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child nhe might devour it. 5She gave birth to a male child, oone who is to rule1 all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was pcaught up to God and to his throne, 6and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for q1,260 days.
Satan Thrown Down to Earth
7Now war arose in heaven, rMichael and shis angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9And tthe great dragon was thrown down, uthat ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, vthe deceiver of the whole world—whe was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now xthe salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers2 has been thrown down, ywho accuses them day and night before our God. 11And zthey have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for athey loved not their lives beven unto death. 12Therefore, crejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But dwoe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because ehe knows that his time is short!”
13And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued fthe woman who had given birth to the male child. 14But the woman was given the two gwings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent hinto the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished ifor a time, and times, and half a time. 15The serpent poured water jlike a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. 16But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. 17Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off kto make war on the rest of lher offspring, mon those who keep the commandments of God and hold to nthe testimony of Jesus. And he stood3 on the sand of the sea.
Get the Program, Devotional, and Bible Reading Plan delivered daily right to your inbox.