Truth For Life Program
Alistair Begg Devotional
C. H. Spurgeon Devotional
One-Year Bible Reading Plan
Evangelism: Dealing with Difficulties (Part 2 of 3)
Selected ScripturesSuffering is a fact of life. Everyone faces trials—even Christians. So why does a good God allow suffering? Learn how to respond biblically to this challenging question and more when you study along with Alistair Begg on Truth For Life.
From the Sermon
Evangelism: Dealing With Difficulties — Part Two
Selected Scriptures Sermon • Includes Transcript • 43:09 • ID: 1523
What Will You Do With Jesus?
As governor over Judea, Pontius Pilate was responsible for maintaining order and quelling civil disruption within his jurisdiction. He was accustomed to using his power and influence to determine the outcome for those awaiting their sentence. But Jesus’ arrival in his courtroom confronted Pilate with the greatest dilemma of his life.
Accompanied by a large crowd of religious officials, Jesus was brought before Pilate. When Pilate pressed the mob and asked them explicitly, “What evil has he done?” all they seemed able to do was to raise their voices louder. (A raised voice is often indicative of a weak argument.) Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent, and so he essentially declared to those assembled, I find no guilt in this man. But the cries of the crowd grew more demanding and more insistent, and Pilate must have started asking himself, What can I do with this Jesus of Nazareth?
Pilate wanted to release Jesus. He knew that he should release Jesus. But Pilate capitulated to his desire to placate the crowd and to maintain favor with the religious leaders, and the voices of the frenzied throng prevailed.
Pilate’s dilemma is not unfamiliar. In fact, it is the great dilemma that confronts men and women: what to do with Jesus of Nazareth. Pilate came face-to-face with the Son of God and heard His testimony from His own lips—and still he chose the world and all of its noise over bending his knee to the King of kings.
In Jesus’ sentencing, God’s eternal plan of salvation unfolded in a moment in time. Jesus was not accused and condemned for His own sin. He was not dying for Himself. He was dying for us. He who was totally innocent became totally guilty in order that we who are totally guilty might be declared completely innocent.
All of Pilate’s attempts to dismiss Jesus, to turn Him over for other officials to pass judgment, to wipe his hands clean of the matter, didn’t work. Neither will ours. Our only hope in life and death is to respond in our hearts to the glory of what happened on the cross. Like Pilate, we face a choice: either we bow our knee to Christ and His lordship or we capitulate to the pressures of the surrounding culture. And while that is a decision we make in the privacy of our hearts, it is one that reveals itself, as it did with Pilate, in what we say when those around us are urging us to deny the rule or goodness of Christ. However loud those voices become, if you are His, then be ready to stand for Him.
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?
Personal Instructions
9dDo your best to come to me soon. 10For eDemas, fin love with gthis present world, hhas deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia,2 iTitus to Dalmatia. 11hLuke alone is with me. Get jMark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry. 12kTychicus I have sent to Ephesus. 13When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments. 14lAlexander the coppersmith did me great harm; mthe Lord will repay him according to his deeds. 15Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message. 16At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. nMay it not be charged against them! 17But othe Lord stood by me and pstrengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and qall the Gentiles might hear it. So rI was rescued sfrom the lion's mouth. 18The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. tTo him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
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.
Sifted by the Lord
For behold, I will command,
and shake the house of Israel among all the nations
as one shakes with a sieve,
but no pebble shall fall to the earth.
Every sifting comes by divine command and permission. Satan must ask permission before he can lay a finger upon Job. In actual fact, in some sense our siftings are directly the work of heaven, for in the text God says that He will “shake the house of Israel.” Satan, like a slave, may hold the sieve, hoping for the worst; but the overruling hand of the Master is accomplishing His purpose by the very process that the enemy hopes will be destructive. Precious children of God, even though you are shaken, be comforted by the blessed fact that the Lord directs the whole process for His own glory and for your eternal profit.
The Lord Jesus will graciously and yet firmly divide that which is precious from that which is of little account. All are not Israel that are of Israel; the grain on the barn floor is not clean and pure, and so the shaking process must be performed. In the sieve, husks and chaff fly before the wind, and only solid substance will remain.
Observe the complete safety of the Lord’s wheat; even a pebble has a promise of preservation. God Himself sifts, and therefore it is stern and terrible work; He sifts them in all places, “among all the nations”; He sifts them in the most effective manner, “as one shakes with a sieve”; and yet in all this, not the smallest, lightest, or most shriveled grain is permitted to fall to the ground.
Every individual believer is precious in the sight of the Lord. A shepherd would not lose one sheep, nor a jeweler one diamond, nor a mother one child, nor a man one limb of his body; nor will the Lord lose one of His redeemed people. However little we may be, if we are the Lord’s, we may rejoice that we are preserved in Christ Jesus.
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 20
1“If there is a adispute between men and they come into court and the judges decide between them, bacquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty, 2then if the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with a number of stripes in proportion to his offense. 3cForty stripes may be given him, but not more, lest, if one should go on to beat him with more stripes than these, your brother be degraded in your sight.
4d“You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.
Laws Concerning Levirate Marriage
5e“If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her fhusband's brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. 6And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that ghis name may not be blotted out of Israel. 7And if the man does not wish to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall hgo up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband's brother refuses to perpetuate his brother's name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband's brother to me.’ 8Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, and if he persists, saying, i‘I do not wish to take her,’ 9then his brother's wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders and jpull his sandal off his foot and kspit in his face. And she shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who does not lbuild up his brother's house.’ 10And the name of his house1 shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal pulled off.’
Miscellaneous Laws
11“When men fight with one another and the wife of the one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of him who is beating him and puts out her hand and seizes him by the private parts, 12then you shall cut off her hand. mYour eye shall have no pity.
13“You nshall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large and a small. 14You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, a large and a small. 15A full and fair2 weight you shall have, a full and fair measure you shall have, othat your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 16For pall who do such things, all who act dishonestly, qare an abomination to the Lord your God.
17r“Remember what Amalek did to you son the way as you came out of Egypt, 18how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary, and tcut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you, and he did not fear God. 19Therefore uwhen the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall vblot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget.
I Love the Lord
1I ylove the Lord, because he has zheard
my voice and my pleas for mercy.
2Because he ainclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
3bThe snares of death encompassed me;
the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
I suffered distress and anguish.
4Then cI called on the name of the Lord:
“O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!”
5dGracious is the Lord, and erighteous;
our God is fmerciful.
6The Lord preserves gthe simple;
when hI was brought low, he saved me.
7Return, O my soul, to your irest;
for the Lord has jdealt bountifully with you.
8For kyou have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling;
9I will walk before the Lord
lin the land of the living.
10mI believed, neven when1 I spoke:
“I am greatly afflicted”;
11oI said in my alarm,
p“All mankind are liars.”
12What shall I qrender to the Lord
for all his benefits to me?
13I will lift up rthe cup of salvation
and scall on the name of the Lord,
14I will tpay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.
15uPrecious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of his vsaints.
16O Lord, I am your wservant;
I am your servant, xthe son of your maidservant.
You have yloosed my bonds.
17I will zoffer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving
and scall on the name of the Lord.
18I will tpay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people,
19in athe courts of the house of the Lord,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
bPraise the Lord!
The Lord's Coming Salvation
1cAwake, awake,
put on your strength, O Zion;
dput on your beautiful garments,
O Jerusalem, ethe holy city;
ffor there shall no more come into you
the uncircumcised and the unclean.
2gShake yourself from the dust and arise;
be seated, O Jerusalem;
hloose the bonds from your neck,
O captive daughter of Zion.
3For thus says the Lord: i“You were sold for nothing, and jyou shall be redeemed without money.” 4For thus says the Lord God: k“My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing.1 5Now therefore what have I here,” declares the Lord, “seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail,” declares the Lord, “and lcontinually all the day my name is despised. 6Therefore my people shall know my name. mTherefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here I am.”
7nHow beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him who brings good news,
who publishes peace, owho brings good news of happiness,
who publishes salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
8The voice of pyour watchmen—they lift up their voice;
together they sing for joy;
qfor eye to eye they see
the return of the Lord to Zion.
9rBreak forth together into singing,
syou waste places of Jerusalem,
for tthe Lord has comforted his people;
he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10uThe Lord has bared his holy arm
before the eyes of all the nations,
vand all the ends of the earth shall see
the salvation of our God.
11wDepart, depart, go out from there;
touch no unclean thing;
go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves,
xyou who bear the vessels of the Lord.
12For you shall not ygo out in haste,
and you shall not go in flight,
zfor the Lord will go before you,
aand the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
He Was Pierced for Our Transgressions
13Behold, bmy servant shall act wisely;2
he shall be high and lifted up,
and shall be exalted.
14As many were astonished at you—
chis appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
15so dshall he sprinkle3 many nations.
eKings shall shut their mouths because of him,
ffor that which has not been told them they see,
and that which they have not heard they understand.
The River of Life
1Then the angel1 showed me xthe river of ythe water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2through the middle of zthe street of the city; aalso, on either side of the river, bthe tree of life2 with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were cfor the healing of the nations. 3dNo longer will there be anything accursed, but ethe throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and fhis servants will worship him. 4gThey will see his face, and hhis name will be on their foreheads. 5And inight will be no more. They will need no light of lamp jor sun, for kthe Lord God will be their light, and lthey will reign forever and ever.
Jesus Is Coming
6And he said to me, m“These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of nthe spirits of the prophets, ohas sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”
7“And behold, pI am coming soon. qBlessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
8I, rJohn, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, sI fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, 9sbut he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those mwho keep the words of this book. Worship God.”
10And he said to me, t“Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. 11uLet the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”
12“Behold, vI am coming soon, wbringing my recompense with me, xto repay each one for what he has done. 13yI am the Alpha and the Omega, zthe first and the last, athe beginning and the end.”
14Blessed are those who bwash their robes,3 so that they may have the right to cthe tree of life and that dthey may enter the city by the gates. 15eOutside are fthe dogs gand sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
16h“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things ifor the churches. I am jthe root and kthe descendant of David, lthe bright morning star.”
17The Spirit and mthe Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And nlet the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the owater of life without price.
18I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: pif anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, 19and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in qthe tree of life and in rthe holy city, which are described in this book.
20He who testifies to these things says, “Surely sI am coming soon.” Amen. tCome, Lord Jesus!
21The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.4 Amen.
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