Truth For Life Program
Alistair Begg Devotional
C. H. Spurgeon Devotional
One-Year Bible Reading Plan
Christians are commanded to let nothing take God’s place. That seems like an easy law for believers to uphold—but did you know that even good things and good people can compromise our relationship with God? Hear more on Truth For Life with Alistair Begg.
From the Sermon
Who Takes First Place?
Exodus 20:3 Sermon • Includes Transcript • 50:44 • ID: 1686
Living in the Spirit’s Fullness
At certain times in life, such as the birth of a new child or a cross-country move, a lot seems to happen all at once. The beginning of a new life in Christ is perhaps the greatest example. When we believe in Jesus, a number of changes occur simultaneously: we are justified by faith, we are adopted into God’s family, we’re given a new status as His sons and daughters, and—as this verse highlights—we’re indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
When someone believes in Jesus, the Holy Spirit begins residing in them, providing them with the desire and the power to do what God desires. This fullness of the Spirit is fundamental to the reality of Christian experience. It is the birthright of all who have come to trust in Christ. And yet the truth is that even as believers we do not always live in the fullness of God’s Spirit. It remains possible to grieve the Spirit who lives in us by our disobedience (Ephesians 4:30). It remains possible for us to be more influenced by something other than Him—which is why, here, Paul underlines that we cannot be under the influence both of alcohol and of the Spirit.
We must understand that if we are God’s children, we can never remove ourselves from the fatherhood of God; however, living in disobedience can remove us from the sense of His fatherly blessing, presence, and enjoyment of us. A child who flat-out disobeys his mom and dad may still sit at the breakfast table, knowing that they are still his parents and he is still their son, but the enjoyment of the relationship will be diminished. So it is with us: we cannot live in disobedience—we cannot allow some other consideration, priority, or substance to guide us—and simultaneously live in the fullness of the Spirit.
This is not a problem we can remedy ourselves. We do not fill ourselves with the Holy Spirit. We not only receive the Spirit’s fullness from God; our very enjoyment of His fullness is because of God. We cannot fill ourselves, but we can and must open ourselves to being filled. The expectation for every Christian life is that this evidence of being filled—what Paul calls “the fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22)—will gradually become more and more apparent.
The great need of your life, and of every gathered church, is to be filled with the Spirit—to be directed by Him rather than by anything else. That is what brings true transformation, and joy and peace and love. That is what overflows into songs which praise Christ in our hearts as well as with our lips when we gather together. So, pray for Him to fill you anew:
Spirit of God, descend upon my heart;
Wean it from earth; through all its pulses move;
Stoop to my weakness, mighty as Thou art,
And make me love Thee as I ought to love.[1]
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?
Israel's New Heart and Spirit
14And the word of the Lord came to me: 15q“Son of man, your brothers, even your brothers, your kinsmen,2 the whole house of Israel, all of them, are those of whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, r‘Go far from the Lord; to us this land is given for a possession.’ 16Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: Though I removed them far off among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet sI have been a sanctuary to them for a while3 in the countries where they have gone.’ 17Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: tI will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, tand I will give you the land of Israel.’ 18And when they come there, uthey will remove from it all its vdetestable things and all its abominations. 19wAnd I will give them one heart, and xa new spirit I will put within them. yI will remove the heart of stone from their flesh zand give them a heart of flesh, 20athat they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. bAnd they shall be my people, and I will be their 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.
One at a Time
So she gleaned in the field until evening.
Let me learn from Ruth, the gleaner. As she went out to gather the ears of corn, so must I set out for the fields of prayer, meditation, the ordinances, and hearing the Word to gather spiritual food. The gleaner gathers her portion ear by ear; her gains are little by little: So I must be content to search for single truths, if they come just one at a time. Every ear helps to make a bundle, and every gospel lesson assists in making us wise for salvation.
The gleaner keeps her eyes open: If she stumbled dreamlike among the stubble, she would have no load to carry home rejoicingly at evening. I must be careful in religious exercises in case they become unprofitable to me; I fear I have lost quite a bit already. I need to estimate my opportunities properly and glean with greater diligence.
The gleaner stoops for all she finds, and I must do the same. Proud minds criticize and object, but humble minds glean and receive benefit. A lowly heart is the key to profitably hearing the Gospel. The soul-saving Word is not received except with meekness. A stiff back makes for a bad gleaner. Pride is a vile robber and must not be tolerated for a moment.
What the gleaner gathers, she keeps: If she dropped one ear to find another, the result of her day's work would be but meager; she is as careful to retain as to obtain, and so at last she makes great gains. How often do I forget all that I hear; the second truth pushes the first out of my head, and so my reading and hearing end in much ado about nothing! Do I understand the importance of storing up the truth?
Hunger helps to make the gleaner wise; if she has no corn in her hand, there will be no bread on her table; she works under a sense of necessity, and consequently she moves swiftly and her grasp is firm. My need is even greater, Lord; help me to feel it, that it may urge me onward to glean in fields that yield to diligence a plenteous reward.
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 August 2
Samson and Delilah
1Samson went to zGaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her. 2The Gazites were told, “Samson has come here.” And they asurrounded the place and set an ambush for him all night at the gate of the city. They kept quiet all night, saying, “Let us wait till the light of the morning; then we will kill him.” 3But Samson lay till midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts, and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron.
4After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 5And bthe lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, c“Seduce him, and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to dhumble him. And we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.” 6So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one could dsubdue you.”
7Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, ethen I shall become weak and be like any other man.” 8Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she bound him with them. 9Now she had men lying in ambush in an inner chamber. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he snapped the bowstrings, as a thread of flax snaps when it touches the fire. So the secret of his strength was not known.
10Then Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have mocked me and told me lies. Please tell me how you might be bound.” 11And he said to her, “If they bind me with fnew ropes that have not been used, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” 12So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And the men lying in ambush were in an inner chamber. But he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.
13Then Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me how you might be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web and fasten it tight with the pin, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” 14So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head and wove them into the web.1 And she made them tight with the pin and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled away the pin, the loom, and the web.
15And she said to him, g“How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and you have not told me where your great strength lies.” 16And hwhen she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death. 17And he told her all his heart, and said to her, i“A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.”
18When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up again, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought jthe money in their hands. 19She made him sleep on her knees. And she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began kto torment him, and his strength left him. 20And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that lthe Lord had left him. 21And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. mAnd he ground at the mill in the prison. 22But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.
The Death of Samson
23Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to nDagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.” 24And when the people saw him, othey praised their god. For they said, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.”2 25And pwhen their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, that he may entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars. 26And Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them.” 27Now the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and qon the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained.
28Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “O Lord God, rplease remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.” 29And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. 30And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life. 31Then his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him sbetween Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had judged Israel twenty years.
Paul in Macedonia and Greece
1After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and qdeparted for Macedonia. 2When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. 3There he spent three months, and when ra plot was made against him by the Jews1 as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. 4Sopater the Berean, son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; and of the Thessalonians, sAristarchus and Secundus; and sGaius of Derbe, and tTimothy; and the Asians, uTychicus and vTrophimus. 5These went on ahead and were waiting for wus at xTroas, 6but we sailed away from Philippi after ythe days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we came to them at Troas, where we stayed for seven days.
Eutychus Raised from the Dead
7zOn the first day of the week, when we were gathered together ato break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. 8There were many lamps in bthe upper room where we were gathered. 9And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he cfell down from the third story and was taken up dead. 10But Paul went down and dbent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, e“Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” 11And when Paul had gone up and fhad broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. 12And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.
13But going ahead to the ship, we set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for so he had arranged, intending himself to go by land. 14And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and went to Mitylene. 15And sailing from there we came the following day opposite Chios; the next day we touched at Samos; and2 the day after that we went to Miletus. 16For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hastening gto be at Jerusalem, if possible, hon the day of Pentecost.
Paul Speaks to the Ephesian Elders
17Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called ithe elders of the church to come to him. 18And when they came to him, he said to them:
j“You yourselves know khow I lived among you the whole time jfrom the first day that I set foot in Asia, 19lserving the Lord mwith all humility and with ntears and with trials that happened to me through othe plots of the Jews; 20how I pdid not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and qteaching you in public and from house to house, 21rtestifying both to Jews and to Greeks of srepentance toward God and of tfaith in our Lord Jesus Christ.3 22And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained uby4 the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23except that vthe Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that wimprisonment and xafflictions await me. 24But yI do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only zI may finish my course and athe ministry bthat I received from the Lord Jesus, cto testify to dthe gospel of ethe grace of God. 25And now, behold, fI know that none of you among whom I have gone about gproclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. 26Therefore hI testify to you this day that iI am innocent of the blood of all, 27for jI did not shrink from declaring to you kthe whole counsel of God. 28lPay careful attention to yourselves and to all mthe flock, in which nthe Holy Spirit has made you ooverseers, pto care for qthe church of God,5 which he robtained swith his own blood.6 29I rknow that after my departure tfierce wolves will come in among you, unot sparing the flock; 30and vfrom among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31Therefore wbe alert, remembering that xfor three years I did not cease night or day yto admonish every one zwith tears. 32And now aI commend you to God and to bthe word of his grace, which is able to cbuild you up and to give you dthe inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 33eI coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. 34fYou yourselves know that gthese hands ministered to my necessities and hto those who were with me. 35In all things iI have shown you that jby working hard in this way we must khelp the weak and lremember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed mto give than to receive.’”
36And when he had said these things, nhe knelt down and prayed with them all. 37And othere was much weeping on the part of all; pthey embraced Paul and pkissed him, 38being sorrowful most of all because of qthe word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And rthey accompanied him to the ship.
Jeremiah's Letter to the Exiles
1These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to ithe surviving elders of the exiles, and to jthe priests, jthe prophets, and jall the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2This was after kKing Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem. 3The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of lShaphan and Gemariah the son of mHilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said: 4“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5nBuild houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and opray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 8For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: pDo not let your prophets and qyour diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream,1 9for rit is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; sI did not send them, declares the Lord.
10“For thus says the Lord: tWhen seventy years are completed for Babylon, uI will visit you, vand I will fulfill to you my promise vand bring you back to this place. 11wFor I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare2 and not for evil, xto give you a future and a hope. 12yThen you will call upon me and come and pray to me, yand I will hear you. 13zYou will seek me and find me, when you seek me awith all your heart. 14I will be found by you, declares the Lord, band I will restore your fortunes and cgather you from all the nations and all the places dwhere I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
15“Because you have said, ‘The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,’ 16thus says the Lord concerning ethe king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsmen who did not go out with you into exile: 17‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, behold, I am sending on them fsword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like gvile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten. 18I will pursue them with fsword, famine, and pestilence, hand will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, ito be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations dwhere I have driven them, 19because they did not pay attention to my words, declares the Lord, jthat I persistently sent to you by my servants the prophets, but you would not listen, declares the Lord.’ 20Hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles kwhom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon: 21‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, lwho are prophesying a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall strike them down before your eyes. 22mBecause of them nthis curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: “The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, owhom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,” 23because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel, pthey have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and pthey have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them. qI am the one who knows, qand I am witness, declares the Lord.’”
Shemaiah's False Prophecy
24To rShemaiah of Nehelam you shall say: 25“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You have sent letters in your name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to sZephaniah the son of tMaaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying, 26‘The Lord has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to have ucharge in the house of the Lord vover every madman who prophesies, to put him in wthe stocks and neck irons. 27Now why have you not rebuked Jeremiah xof Anathoth who is prophesying to you? 28For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, “Your exile will be long; ybuild houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their produce.”’”
29sZephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet. 30zThen the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 31“Send to all the exiles, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord concerning aShemaiah of Nehelam: Because aShemaiah had prophesied to you bwhen I did not send him, and has made you trust in a lie, 32therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will punish aShemaiah of Nehelam and his descendants. He shall not have anyone living among this people, cand he shall not see the good that I will do to my people, declares the Lord, dfor he has spoken rebellion against the Lord.’”
Jesus Delivered to Pilate
1cAnd as soon as it was morning, the chief priests dheld a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. And ethey bound Jesus and fled him away and gdelivered him over to hPilate. 2iAnd Pilate asked him, j“Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, k“You have said so.” 3And the chief priests accused him of many things. 4And Pilate again asked him, l“Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you.” 5But Jesus lmade no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.
Pilate Delivers Jesus to Be Crucified
6mNow at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. 7And among the rebels in prison, who had ncommitted murder oin the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. 8And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. 9And he answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” 10For he perceived that pit was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. 11But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. 12And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with qthe man you call the King of the Jews?” 13And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” 14And Pilate said to them, “Why? rWhat evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” 15So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having sscourged1 Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.
Jesus Is Mocked
16tAnd the soldiers led him away inside uthe palace (that is, vthe governor's headquarters),2 and they called together the whole wbattalion.3 17And they clothed him in xa purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. 18And they began to salute him, y“Hail, King of the Jews!” 19And they were striking his head with a reed and zspitting on him and akneeling down in homage to him. 20And when they had bmocked him, they stripped him of xthe purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they cled him out to crucify him.
The Crucifixion
21dAnd they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. 22eAnd they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). 23And they offered him wine mixed with fmyrrh, but he did not take it. 24And they crucified him and gdivided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. 25And hit was the third hour4 when they crucified him. 26And the inscription of the charge against him read, i“The King of the Jews.” 27And with him they crucified two jrobbers, kone on his right and one on his left.5 29And lthose who passed by derided him, mwagging their heads and saying, n“Aha! oYou who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30save yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, p“He saved others; qhe cannot save himself. 32Let rthe Christ, sthe King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may tsee and believe.” uThose who were crucified with him also reviled him.
The Death of Jesus
33And when the sixth hour6 had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.7 34And at the ninth hour Jesus vcried with a loud voice, w“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” 36And someone ran and filled a sponge with xsour wine, put it on a reed yand gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” 37And Jesus zuttered a loud cry and abreathed his last. 38And bthe curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39cAnd when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he8 breathed his last, he said, d“Truly this man was the Son9 of God!”
40There were also ewomen looking on ffrom a distance, among whom were gMary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and iSalome. 41When he was in Galilee, they followed him and gministered to him, and there were also many other women who jcame up with him to Jerusalem.
Jesus Is Buried
42kAnd when evening had come, since it was lthe day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, 43Joseph of Arimathea, ma respected member of the council, who nwas also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 44Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died.10 And summoning othe centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. 45And when he learned from othe centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. 46And Joseph11 bought pa linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and qlaid him in a tomb rthat had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled sa stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47tMary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.
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