Truth For Life Program
Alistair Begg Devotional
C. H. Spurgeon Devotional
One-Year Bible Reading Plan
Do you struggle with anxiety? Well, even Christ’s disciples often expressed fears and concerns! So how does Jesus instruct us to deal with worry? Hear the answer in a popular message, on Truth For Life with Alistair Begg.
From the Sermon
Why Worry? God’s in Charge!
Luke 12:22–34 Sermon • Includes Transcript • 38:04 • ID: 2186
God Is Big Enough
We cannot declare the gospel of Jesus without understanding the doctrine of God. As J.B. Phillips writes in his book Your God Is Too Small, “Many men and women today are living, often with an inner dissatisfaction, without any faith in God at all … They have not found with their adult minds a God big enough to ‘account for’ life.”[1] We must spare no fitting word, then, when we speak of God’s character, of His grandeur, and of His glory made known.
When Paul shared the gospel, he went to the religious, the commoners, and the intelligentsia alike, because he recognized that the good news of God was all-encompassing and sufficient for each of their concerns (Acts 17:24-31). We can learn from his approach, which was one that introduced listeners to God by identifying five key aspects of His nature:
• God is the Creator. He made the world, while He Himself is uncreated, standing distinct from His creation and outside of time. He is not a force—not even the greatest force of all—nor can He be contained or manipulated into a form of our own design.
• God is the Sustainer. He is the one who gives life and breath. The Sustainer of life is not served by human hands, nor does He have need of sustenance.
• God is the Ruler. He commands the nations. History, geography, governments—the whole universe!—are under His control. No event takes our God by surprise; He sweeps into His purposes even the sinful acts of man. Furthermore, as Ruler, He has put everybody in a certain place, in a moment in history, that we might seek Him, find Him, and praise His holy name.
• God is the Father. Men and women are His “offspring” (Acts 17:28) and, in the sense that He has given life to each human, starting with Adam, He is every human’s Father (Luke 3:38). He has created each of us in His image. We are moral beings, made with a sense of right and wrong, and we are able truly to flourish only in relationship with Him.
• God is the Judge. He has authority over all the earth. There will be a judgment day that is fair and final, when every injustice will be dealt with and all wrongs be put right. Indeed, God has already intervened in His Son Jesus, and in Jesus’ resurrection He has declared Jesus’ divine appointment as Judge. It is God’s kindness and forbearance that announces judgment so that before then we might repent and find forgiveness from Him.
God is big enough for—indeed, far bigger than—anyone’s interest in mere religion. He’s big enough for you and me, for all our cares and our sorrows. He’s big enough to satisfy every intellectual quest and big enough to deal with every emotional longing—and ultimately, big enough to live for. To the extent that you know God as He truly is, so will you live in glad obedience to Him and speak with joyful confidence about 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?
Besides Me There Is No God
6Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel
and ihis Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:
j“I am the first and I am the last;
besides me there is no god.
7kWho is like me? Let him proclaim it.1
Let him declare and set it before me,
since I appointed an ancient people.
Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen.
8Fear not, nor be afraid;
have I not told you from of old and declared it?
lAnd you are my witnesses!
mIs there a God besides me?
There is no nRock; I know not any.”
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.
Dwell in Your Hearts
… So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
It is desirable beyond measure that we, as believers, should keep the person of Jesus constantly before us, to stir up our love for Him and to grow in our knowledge of Him. I would to God that my readers were all entered as diligent scholars in Jesus’ college, students of Corpus Christi, or the body of Christ, resolved to get a good degree in the learning of the cross. But to have Jesus ever near, the heart must be full of Him, welling up with His love and even running over; so the apostle prays “that Christ may dwell in your hearts.” Look at how close he wants Jesus to be! You cannot get a subject closer to you than to have it in your heart. “That Christ may dwell”; not that He may call upon you sometimes, as a casual visitor may stay overnight, but that He may dwell; that Jesus may become the Lord and permanent resident of your inmost being, never to leave again.
Observe the words: that He may dwell in your heart, the best room in the house! Not in your thoughts alone, but in your affections; not merely in the mind's meditations, but in the heart's emotions. We should long to love Christ in an enduring way—not a love that flames up and then dies out into the darkness of a few embers, but a constant flame, fed by sacred fuel, like the fire upon the altar that never went out.
This cannot be accomplished except by faith. Faith must be strong or love will not be fervent; the root of the flower must be healthy or we cannot expect the blossom to be glorious. Faith is the plant's root, and love is the plant's blossom. Now, reader, Jesus cannot be in your heart's love unless you have a firm hold of Him by your heart's faith; and, therefore, pray that you may always trust Christ in order that you may always love Him. If love is cold, be sure that faith is faltering.
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 23
The Lord Rejects Saul
1And Samuel said to Saul, c“The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord. 2Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel din opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. 3Now go and strike Amalek and edevote to destruction1 all that they have. Do not spare them, fbut kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”
4So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand men on foot, and ten thousand men of Judah. 5And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. 6Then Saul said to gthe Kenites, “Go, depart; go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. hFor you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. 7iAnd Saul defeated the Amalekites from jHavilah as far as kShur, which is east of Egypt. 8And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive land devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. 9mBut Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves2 and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.
10The word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11n“I regret3 that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and ohas not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night. 12And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, “Saul came to pCarmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.” 13And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, q“Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” 14And Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?” 15Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, rfor the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction.” 16Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me this night.” And he said to him, “Speak.”
17And Samuel said, s“Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. 18And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ 19Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? tWhy did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” 20And Saul said to Samuel, u“I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. 21vBut the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” 22And Samuel said,
w“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, xto obey is better than sacrifice,
and to listen than the fat of rams.
23For rebellion is as the sin of divination,
and presumption is as iniquity and yidolatry.
Because zyou have rejected the word of the Lord,
ahe has also rejected you from being king.”
24Saul said to Samuel, b“I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 25Now therefore, please pardon my sin and creturn with me that I may bow before the Lord.” 26And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. dFor you have rejected the word of the Lord, eand the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.” 27fAs Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore. 28And Samuel said to him, g“The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. 29And also the Glory of Israel hwill not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.” 30Then he said, “I have sinned; yet ihonor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, jand return with me, that I may bow before the Lord your God.” 31So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul bowed before the Lord.
32Then Samuel said, “Bring here to me Agag the king of the Amalekites.” And Agag came to him cheerfully.4 Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.” 33And Samuel said, k“As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the Lord lin Gilgal.
34Then Samuel went mto Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in nGibeah of Saul. 35oAnd Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, pbut Samuel grieved over Saul. qAnd the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.
Submission to the Authorities
1Let every person pbe subject to the governing authorities. For qthere is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you rwill receive his approval, 4for she is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, tan avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also ufor the sake of conscience. 6For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7vPay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
Fulfilling the Law Through Love
8wOwe no one anything, except to love each other, for xthe one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9For the commandments, y“You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: z“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore alove is the fulfilling of the law.
11Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you bto wake from sleep. cFor salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12dThe night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us ecast off fthe works of darkness and gput on the armor of light. 13hLet us walk properly as in the daytime, inot in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, jnot in quarreling and jealousy. 14But kput on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, lto gratify its desires.
The Fall of Jerusalem Recounted
1cZedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 2And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, daccording to all that Jehoiakim had done. 3For because of the anger of the Lord it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his presence.
And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 4eAnd in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem, and laid siege to it. And they built siegeworks all around it. 5So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 6On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. 7Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled and went out from the city by night by the way of a gate between the two walls, by the king's garden, and the Chaldeans were around the city. And they went in the direction of the Arabah. 8But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him. 9Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him. 10The king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and also slaughtered all the officials of Judah at fRiblah. 11gHe put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in chains, and the king of Babylon took him to Babylon, and put him in prison gtill the day of his death.
The Temple Burned
12hIn the fifth month, on ithe tenth day of the month—that was jthe nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, who kserved the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem. 13And he burned the house of the Lord, and the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. 14And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls around Jerusalem. 15And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive some of the poorest of the people and the rest of the people who were left in the city and lthe deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the artisans. 16But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.
17And the mpillars of bronze that were in the house of the Lord, and the stands and the nbronze sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and ocarried all the bronze to Babylon. 18And they took away pthe pots and the shovels and the snuffers and the basins and the dishes for incense and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service; 19qalso the small bowls and the fire pans and the basins and the pots and rthe lampstands and sthe dishes for incense sand the bowls for drink offerings. What was of gold the captain of the guard took away as gold, and what was of silver, as silver. 20As for the two pillars, the one sea, tthe twelve bronze bulls that were under the sea,1 and the stands, which Solomon the king had made for the house of the Lord, the bronze of all these things was beyond weight. 21As for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits,2 uits circumference was twelve cubits, and its thickness was four fingers, and it was hollow. 22On it was a capital of bronze. The height of the one capital was vfive cubits. A network and pomegranates, all of bronze, were around the capital. And the second pillar had the same, with pomegranates. 23There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates were a hundred upon the network all around.
The People Exiled to Babylon
24And the captain of the guard took wSeraiah the chief priest, and xZephaniah the second priest and the three keepers of the threshold; 25and from the city he took an officer who had been in command of the men of war, and yseven men of the king's council, who were found in the city; and the secretary of the commander of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the midst of the city. 26And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at zRiblah. 27And the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at zRiblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was taken into exile out of its land.
28This is the number of the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: ain the seventh year, 3,023 Judeans; 29bin the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem 832 persons; 30in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Judeans 745 persons; all the persons were 4,600.
Jehoiachin Released from Prison
31cAnd in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, graciously freed3 dJehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison. 32And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of ethe kings who were with him in Babylon. 33So Jehoiachin put off his prison garments. And every day of his life he dined regularly at the king's table, 34and for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, according to his daily needs, until the day of his death, as long as he lived.
Into Your Hand I Commit My Spirit
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
1oIn you, O Lord, do I ptake refuge;
qlet me never be put to shame;
in your rrighteousness deliver me!
2Incline your ear to me;
rescue me speedily!
a strong fortress to save me!
3For you are my rock and my fortress;
and for your uname's sake you lead me and guide me;
4you vtake me out of wthe net they have hidden for me,
for you are my xrefuge.
5yInto your hand I commit my spirit;
you have redeemed me, O Lord, zfaithful God.
6I ahate1 those who pay bregard to worthless cidols,
but I trust in the Lord.
7I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love,
because you have seen my affliction;
you have dknown the distress of my soul,
8and you have not edelivered me into the hand of the enemy;
you have set my feet in fa broad place.
9Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am gin distress;
hmy eye is wasted from grief;
my soul and my body also.
10For my life is spent with sorrow,
and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my iniquity,
and imy bones waste away.
11Because of all my adversaries I have become ja reproach,
especially to my kneighbors,
and an object of dread to my acquaintances;
those who see me in the street lflee from me.
12I have been mforgotten like one who is dead;
I have become like na broken vessel.
13For I ohear the whispering of many—
terror on every side!—
pas they scheme together against me,
as they plot to take my life.
14But I qtrust in you, O Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”
15My rtimes are in your hand;
srescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!
16tMake your face shine on your servant;
save me in your steadfast love!
17O Lord, ulet me not be put to shame,
for I call upon you;
let the wicked be put to shame;
let them go vsilently to Sheol.
18Let the lying lips be mute,
which wspeak xinsolently against the righteous
in pride and contempt.
19Oh, how abundant is your goodness,
which you have stored up for those who fear you
and worked for those who take refuge in you,
yin the sight of the children of mankind!
20In zthe cover of your presence you hide them
from the plots of men;
you astore them in your shelter
from the strife of tongues.
21Blessed be the Lord,
for he has wondrously bshown his steadfast love to me
when I was in ca besieged city.
“I am ecut off from fyour sight.”
But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy
when I cried to you for help.
23Love the Lord, all you his gsaints!
The Lord preserves the faithful
but abundantly hrepays the one who acts in pride.
24iBe strong, and let your heart take courage,
all you who wait for the Lord!
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