Truth For Life Program
Alistair Begg Devotional
C. H. Spurgeon Devotional
One-Year Bible Reading Plan
To win a battle, whether physical or spiritual, we need to know our enemy and recognize his tactics. So what are Satan’s most common lines of attack? And what is our best line of defense? Find out when you listen to Truth For Life with Alistair Begg.
From the Sermon
Together Is Where We Belong
Every so often, someone may ask you, “Do you belong here?” It’s usually asked in relation to a country club, a gym, or something similar. They’re wondering, “Is this a place that identifies you as being on its lists? Do people here know you and accept you, and would they miss you if you were absent?”
Paul often uses the illustration of the body to describe the church. We don’t have to stretch our imagination to make sense of it. We all have a body that is made up of a variety of parts, and each part has a unique function. Not all parts are seen, but all of them are important. If one part is not working or is missing, it makes a difference to all the rest. The effectiveness of someone’s entire body depends on its control by the head. This holds true as well in the body of Christ, each local church: the spiritual body functions properly only when it works together under Jesus’ headship. When that happens, we function with…
• unity, because we’re not living in isolation from each other.
• plurality, because we’re made up of different bits and pieces.
• diversity, because the functions of the body are necessarily varied.
• harmony, which we enjoy when things are working in cohesion.
• identity, showing that each of us cannot ultimately be ourselves when we are by ourselves.
In other words, when as an individual you understand the nature of the body of Christ, you better understand who you are and where you fit. As a member of the body of Christ, you do belong somewhere. When God’s grace has transformed us, we should find that it matters increasingly to us that we have been called into relationship with one another—into community. We’re diverse in the gifts that have been given; none of us can make up the body individually but only together. Each of us belongs to one another. We gather as church, then, in order to give of ourselves both to each other and, ultimately, to our Lord. We contribute to the body by our presence, our songs, our prayers, and our fellowship. As Isaac Watts wrote:
My tongue repeats her vows,
“Peace to this sacred house!”
For there my friends and kindred dwell.[1]
Church is not a place for you merely to show up at and attend. It is a body. It is your kin—your family. You need your church; and your church needs you. The more committed to your church you are, the more blessed by it you will be; for few things in life are better than when God puts His people together, because together is exactly where we belong.
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?
One Body with Many Members
12For just as ithe body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, jso it is with Christ. 13For kin one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—lJews or Greeks, slaves4 or free—and mall were made to drink of one Spirit.
14For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18But as it is, nGod arranged the members in the body, each one of them, oas he chose. 19If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts,5 yet one body.
21The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, pall rejoice together.
27Now qyou are the body of Christ and individually rmembers of it.
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.
Being His
My beloved is mine, and I am his; he grazes among the lilies. Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle or a young stag on cleft mountains.
Surely if there is a happy verse in the Bible it is this—"My beloved is mine, and I am his." It is so peaceful, so full of assurance, so overflowing with happiness and contentment, that it might well have been written by the same hand that penned the Twenty-third Psalm. Yet though the prospect is very bright and lovely—as fair a scene as earth can display—it is not an entirely sunlit landscape. There is a cloud in the sky, which casts a shadow over the scene. Listen: "Until the day breathes and the shadows flee."
There is a word, too, about the "cleft mountains," or "the mountains of division," and to our love, anything like division is bitterness. Beloved, this may be your present state of mind. You do not doubt your salvation, you know that Christ is yours, but you are not feasting with Him. You understand your vital interest in Him, so that you do not have a shadow of a doubt about being His and of His being yours, but still His left hand is not under your head, nor does His right hand embrace you. A shade of sadness is cast over your heart, perhaps by affliction, certainly by the temporary absence of your Lord, so that even while exclaiming, "I am his," you are forced to take to your knees and to pray, "Until the day breathes, and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved."
"Where is He?" asks the soul. And the answer comes, "He grazes among the lilies." If we would find Christ, we must get into communion with His people, we must come to the ordinances with His saints. Oh, for an evening glimpse of Him! Oh, to eat with Him tonight!
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 19
Laws Concerning Divorce
1“When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and ehe writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house, 2and if she goes and becomes another man's wife, 3and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies, who took her to be his wife, 4then fher former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the Lord. And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.
Miscellaneous Laws
5g“When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or be liable for any other public duty. He shall be free at home one year hto be happy with his wife1 whom he has taken.
6“No one shall take a mill or an upper millstone in pledge, for that would be taking a life in pledge.
7i“If a man is found stealing one of his brothers of the people of Israel, and if he jtreats him as a slave or sells him, then that thief shall die. kSo you shall purge the evil from your midst.
8“Take care, in la case of leprous2 disease, to be very careful to do according to all that the Levitical priests shall direct you. As I commanded them, so you shall be careful to do. 9Remember what the Lord your God did to mMiriam non the way as you came out of Egypt.
10“When you make your neighbor a loan of any sort, you shall not go into his house to collect his pledge. 11You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you make the loan shall bring the pledge out to you. 12And if he is a poor man, you shall not sleep in his pledge. 13oYou shall restore to him the pledge as the sun sets, that he may sleep in his cloak and pbless you. And qit shall be righteousness for you before the Lord your God.
14“You shall not roppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns. 15sYou shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), tlest he cry against you to the Lord, and you be guilty of sin.
16u“Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.
17v“You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, wor take a widow's garment in pledge, 18but xyou shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this.
19y“When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, zthat the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. 21When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. 22xYou shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.
Psalm 114
Tremble at the Presence of the Lord
1When pIsrael went out from Egypt,
the house of Jacob from qa people of strange language,
2Judah became his rsanctuary,
Israel his dominion.
3sThe sea looked and fled;
tJordan turned back.
4uThe mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs.
5What vails you, O sea, that you flee?
O Jordan, that you turn back?
6O mountains, that you skip like rams?
O hills, like lambs?
7wTremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
8who turns xthe rock into ya pool of water,
zthe flint into a spring of water.
Psalm 115
To Your Name Give Glory
1aNot to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory,
bfor the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!
2Why should the nations say,
c“Where is their God?”
3dOur God is in the heavens;
ehe does all that he pleases.
4fTheir idols are silver and gold,
gthe work of human hands.
5They have mouths, hbut do not speak;
eyes, but do not see.
6They have ears, but do not hear;
noses, but do not smell.
7They have hands, but do not feel;
feet, but do not walk;
and they do not make a sound in their throat.
8iThose who make them become like them;
so do all who trust in them.
9O jIsrael,1 ktrust in the Lord!
He is their lhelp and their shield.
10O jhouse of Aaron, trust in the Lord!
He is their help and mtheir shield.
11You nwho fear the Lord, trust in the Lord!
He is their help and their shield.
12The Lord has remembered us; he will bless us;
he will bless othe house of Israel;
he will bless othe house of Aaron;
13he will pbless those who fear the Lord,
qboth the small and the great.
14May the Lord rgive you increase,
you and your children!
15May syou be blessed by the Lord,
twho made heaven and earth!
16The heavens are the Lord's heavens,
but the earth he has given to the children of man.
17uThe dead do not praise the Lord,
nor do any who go down into vsilence.
18But wwe will bless the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore.
xPraise the Lord!
The Lord's Comfort for Zion
1d“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,
you who seek the Lord:
look to the rock from which you were hewn,
and to the quarry from which you were dug.
2Look to Abraham your father
and to Sarah who bore you;
for ehe was but one when I called him,
that I might bless him and multiply him.
3For the Lord fcomforts Zion;
he comforts all her waste places
and makes her wilderness like gEden,
her desert like hthe garden of the Lord;
ijoy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the voice of song.
4j“Give attention to me, my people,
and give ear to me, my nation;
kfor a law1 will go out from me,
and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.
5lMy righteousness draws near,
my salvation has gone out,
and my arms will judge the peoples;
mthe coastlands hope for me,
and for my arm they wait.
6nLift up your eyes to the heavens,
and look at the earth beneath;
ofor the heavens vanish like smoke,
the earth will wear out like a garment,
and they who dwell in it will die in like manner;2
pbut my salvation will be forever,
and my righteousness will never be dismayed.
7q“Listen to me, you who know righteousness,
the people rin whose heart is my law;
sfear not the reproach of man,
nor be dismayed at their revilings.
8tFor the moth will eat them up like a garment,
and the worm will eat them like wool,
pbut my righteousness will be forever,
and my salvation to all generations.”
9uAwake, awake, vput on strength,
O warm of the Lord;
awake, xas in days of old,
the generations of long ago.
Was it not you who cut yRahab in pieces,
who pierced zthe dragon?
10aWas it not you who dried up the sea,
the waters of the great deep,
who made the depths of the sea a way
for the redeemed to pass over?
11bAnd the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
12“I, I am he cwho comforts you;
who are you that you are afraid of dman who dies,
of the son of man who is made elike grass,
13and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker,
fwho stretched out the heavens
and glaid the foundations of the earth,
and you fear continually all the day
because of the wrath of hthe oppressor,
when he sets himself to destroy?
And where is the wrath of hthe oppressor?
14iHe who is bowed down shall speedily be released;
he shall not die and go down jto the pit,
neither shall his bread be lacking.
15I am the Lord your God,
kwho stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
the Lord of hosts is his name.
16lAnd I have put my words in your mouth
mand covered you in the shadow of my hand,
and olaying the foundations of the earth,
and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”
17pWake yourself, wake yourself,
stand up, O Jerusalem,
qyou who have drunk from the hand of the Lord
the cup of his wrath,
who have drunk to the dregs
the bowl, rthe cup of staggering.
18sThere is none to guide her
among all the sons she has borne;
there is none to take her by the hand
among all the sons she has brought up.
19tThese two things have happened to you—
who will console you?—
devastation and destruction, famine and sword;
who will comfort you?4
20uYour sons have fainted;
they lie at the head of every street
they are full of the wrath of the Lord,
the rebuke of your God.
21xTherefore hear this, you who are afflicted,
who are drunk, but not with wine:
22Thus says your Lord, the Lord,
your God ywho pleads the cause of his people:
“Behold, I have taken from your hand rthe cup of staggering;
the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more;
23zand I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,
awho have said to you,
‘Bow down, that we may pass over’;
and byou have made your back like the ground
and like the street for them to pass over.”
The New Heaven and the New Earth
1Then I saw ya new heaven and a new earth, for zthe first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2And I saw athe holy city, bnew Jerusalem, ccoming down out of heaven from God, dprepared eas a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, fthe dwelling place1 of God is with man. He will gdwell with them, and they will be his people,2 and God himself will be with them as their God.3 4hHe will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and ideath shall be no more, jneither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
5And khe who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I lam making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for mthese words are trustworthy and true.” 6And he said to me, n“It is done! oI am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. pTo the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7qThe one who conquers will have this heritage, and rI will be his God and she will be my son. 8tBut as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, utheir portion will be in vthe lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is wthe second death.”
The New Jerusalem
9Then came xone of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of ythe seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you zthe Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10And ahe carried me away in the Spirit to ba great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, 11chaving the glory of God, dits radiance elike a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12It had a great, high wall, fwith twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed— 13on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. 14And the wall of the city had twelve gfoundations, and hon them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15And the one who spoke with me ihad a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. 16The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia.4 Its length and width and height are equal. 17He also measured its wall, 144 cubits5 by jhuman measurement, which is also kan angel's measurement. 18The wall was built of ljasper, while the city was pure gold, like lclear glass. 19mThe foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. 21And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and nthe street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
22And oI saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23And the city phas no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for qthe glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24By its light rwill the nations walk, and the kings of the earth swill bring their glory into it, 25and tits gates will never be shut by day—and uthere will be no night there. 26They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27But vnothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's wbook of life.
Get the Program, Devotional, and Bible Reading Plan delivered daily right to your inbox.