Truth For Life Program
Alistair Begg Devotional
C. H. Spurgeon Devotional
One-Year Bible Reading Plan
The apostle Paul fostered unity within the church by exhorting Christians to “remember.” Listen to Truth For Life as Alistair Begg explores Paul’s letter to the Ephesians to discover what he was reminding believers and why it was—and still is—so important.
From the Sermon
Evidence of Genuine Faith
Jesus wants to see our lips and our lives align. Hence he ends His Sermon on the Plain with this most searching of rhetorical questions: “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” He saw a contrast between what people were saying and how they were behaving, and He wanted to call them to perform a serious spiritual self-examination. He wanted them, just as He wants us, to see that a verbal profession of faith in Him must be accompanied by moral obedience to Him.
Jesus did not teach that entry into the kingdom of heaven is through the good works of obedience. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, plus nothing (see Ephesians 2:8). All that we bring to Christ is the sin from which we need to be forgiven. What, then, is He teaching? Simply this: that only those who obey Him—those who express their faith by their works—have truly heard and have been transformed by the gospel. As the Reformers observed, it is faith alone that saves, but the faith that saves is not alone. The apostle John, picking up on Jesus’ words, says in his first letter, “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth” (1 John 1:6). Scripture makes it clear that the manner in which we hear and obey Jesus’ words has significance for all of eternity because it reveals the true state and reality of our faith.
No accumulation of visible religious works and no number of religious words will be able to disguise our private behavior from God. The real test of those who name the name of the Lord, says Paul—and let’s not evade for one instant the chilling demand of this—is that they “depart from iniquity” (2 Timothy 2:19). Therein lies the evidence of genuine faith.
While none of us will live a perfect life, we are all called to live changed lives. We live under the lordship of Christ; His Spirit is now within us. Will we have complete success? No. But we will be different, and our lives will increasingly demonstrate that we have “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God” (1 Thessalonians 1:9). So consider your own life. Do you call Jesus Lord? Good! But, crucially, can you point to evidence in your life—in what you do not do and in what you do, in the temptations you fight and the virtues you strive for and the forgiveness you repentantly ask for—that He is truly your Lord?
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?
Faith Without Works Is Dead
14What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith obut does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15pIf a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16qand one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good2 is that? 17So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith rapart from your works, and I will show you my faith sby my works. 19tYou believe that God is one; you do well. Even uthe demons believe—and shudder! 20Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21vWas not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22You see that wfaith was active along with his works, and faith was completed xby his works; 23and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, y“Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a zfriend of God. 24You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25And in the same way was not also aRahab the prostitute justified by works bwhen she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
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.
Go Again
And he said, “Go again,” seven times.
Success is certain when the Lord has promised it. Although you may have pleaded month after month without evidence of response, it is not possible that the Lord should be deaf when His people are serious about a matter that concerns His glory. The prophet on the top of Carmel continued to wrestle with God and never for a moment gave way to the fear that he would not be suited for Jehovah's courts. Six times the servant returned, but on each occasion no word was spoken but “Go again.”
We must not dream of unbelief but hold to our faith even to seventy times seven. Faith sends expectant hope to look from Carmel's peak, and if nothing is seen, she sends again and again. So far from being crushed by repeated disappointment, faith is quickened to plead more fervently with her God. She is humbled but not crushed: Her groans are deeper, and her sighings more vehement, but she never relaxes her hold or stays her hand. It would be more agreeable to flesh and blood to have a speedy answer, but believing souls have learned to be submissive and to find it good to wait for as well as upon the Lord. Delayed answers often set the heart searching itself and so lead to contrition and spiritual reformation: Deadly blows are then struck at our corruption, and the sinful images are cleansed. The great danger is that men should faint and miss the blessing.
Reader, do not fall into that sin, but continue to watch and pray. At last the little cloud was seen, the sure forerunner of torrents of rain; and even so with you, the token for good will surely be given, and you will rise as a prevailing prince to enjoy the mercy you have sought. Elijah was a man with passions just like us: His power with God did not lie in his own merits. If his believing prayer availed so much, why not yours? Plead the precious blood with unceasing persistence, and it will be with you according to your desire.
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 September 28
David's Census
1zaAgain the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, b“Go, number Israel and Judah.” 2So the king said to Joab, the commander of the army,1 who was with him, “Go through all the tribes of Israel, cfrom Dan to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the number of the people.” 3But Joab said to the king, d“May the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see it, but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?” 4But the king's word prevailed against Joab and the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel. 5They crossed the Jordan and began from eAroer,2 and from the city that is in the middle of the fvalley, toward Gad and on to gJazer. 6Then they came to Gilead, and to Kadesh in the land of the Hittites;3 and they came to Dan, and from Dan4 they went around to hSidon, 7and came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the iHivites and iCanaanites; and they went out to the Negeb of Judah at Beersheba. 8So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9And Joab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: in Israel there were 800,000 valiant men jwho drew the sword, and the men of Judah were 500,000.
The Lord's Judgment of David's Sin
10But kDavid's heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, l“I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done mvery foolishly.” 11And when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to nthe prophet Gad, David's oseer, saying, 12“Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the Lord, Three things I offer5 you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’” 13So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall pthree6 years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.” 14Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, qfor his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.”
15rSo the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning until the appointed time. And there died of the people from sDan to Beersheba 70,000 men. 16And when tthe angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem uto destroy it, vthe Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel uwho was working destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And tthe angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of wAraunah the Jebusite. 17Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father's house.”
David Builds an Altar
18And Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, raise an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of xAraunah the Jebusite.” 19So David went up at Gad's word, as the Lord commanded. 20And when Araunah looked down, he saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. And Araunah went out and paid homage to the king with his face to the ground. 21And Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague ymay be averted from the people.” 22Then Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Here are the oxen for the burnt offering and the zthreshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. 23All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God aaccept you.” 24But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels7 of silver. 25And David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. bSo the Lord responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.
Sons and Heirs
1I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave,1 though he is the owner of everything, 2but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 3In the same way we also, when we were children, cwere enslaved to the elementary principles2 of the world. 4But dwhen the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, eborn fof woman, born gunder the law, 5hto redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive iadoption as sons. 6And because you are sons, God has sent jthe Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then kan heir through God.
Paul's Concern for the Galatians
8Formerly, when you ldid not know God, you mwere enslaved to those that by nature nare not gods. 9But now that you have come to know God, or rather oto be known by God, phow can you turn back again to qthe weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? 10rYou observe days and months and seasons and years! 11I am afraid sI may have labored over you in vain.
12Brothers,3 tI entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. uYou did me no wrong. 13You know it was vbecause of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you wat first, 14and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me xas an angel of God, yas Christ Jesus. 15What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. 16Have I then become your enemy by ztelling you the truth?4 17They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. 18It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and anot only when I am present with you, 19bmy little children, cfor whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ dis formed in you! 20I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.
Example of Hagar and Sarah
21Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? 22For it is written that Abraham had two sons, eone by a slave woman and fone by a free woman. 23But gthe son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while hthe son of the free woman was born through promise. 24Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two icovenants. jOne is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia;5 she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26But kthe Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27For it is written,
l“Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear;
break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor!
For the children of the desolate one will be more
than those of the one who has a husband.”
28Now you,6 brothers, mlike Isaac, nare children of promise. 29But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh opersecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, pso also it is now. 30But what does the Scripture say? q“Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” 31So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but rof the free woman.
Pharaoh to Be Slain
1tIn the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 2u“Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to vhis multitude:
w“Whom are you like in your greatness?
3Behold, xAssyria was a ycedar in zLebanon,
with beautiful branches and aforest shade,
band of towering height,
its top among the clouds.1
4The waters nourished it;
the deep made it grow tall,
making cits rivers flow
around the place of its planting,
sending forth its streams
to all the trees of the field.
5So dit towered high
above all the trees of the field;
its boughs grew large
and its branches long
from eabundant water in its shoots.
6fAll the birds of the heavens
made their nests in its boughs;
under its branches all the beasts of the field
gave birth to their young,
and under its shadow
lived all great nations.
7It was gbeautiful in its greatness,
in the length of its branches;
efor its roots went down
to abundant waters.
8hThe cedars iin the garden of God could not rival it,
nor the fir trees equal its boughs;
neither were the plane trees
like its branches;
no tree iin the garden of God
was its equal in beauty.
9I made it beautiful
in the mass of its branches,
and all the trees of jEden envied it,
that were in the garden of God.
10“Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because kit2 towered high and set its top among the clouds,3 and lits heart was proud of its height, 11I will give it into the hand of a mighty one of the nations. He shall surely deal with it as its wickedness deserves. I have cast it out. 12mForeigners, mthe most ruthless of nations, have cut it down and left it. nOn the mountains and in all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs have been broken in all othe ravines of the land, and pall the peoples of the earth have gone away from its shadow and left it. 13qOn its fallen trunk dwell all the birds of the heavens, and on its branches are all the beasts of the field. 14rAll this is in order that no trees by the waters may grow to towering height or set their tops among the clouds,4 and that no trees that drink water may reach up to them in height. For they are all given over to death, sto the world tbelow, among the children of man,5 with those who go down to the pit.
15“Thus says the Lord God: On the day uthe cedar6 went down to Sheol I caused mourning; I closed the deep over it, and restrained its rivers, and many waters were stopped. I clothed Lebanon in gloom for it, and all the trees of the field fainted because of it. 16vI made the nations quake at the sound of its fall, uwhen I cast it down to Sheol with those who go down to the pit. wAnd all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, xwere comforted in the world below. 17They also went down to Sheol with it, yto those who are slain by the sword; yes, zthose who were its arm, awho lived under its shadow among the nations.
18b“Whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness wamong the trees of Eden? cYou shall be brought down with wthe trees of Eden to the world below. dYou shall lie among the uncircumcised, ywith those who are slain by the sword.
b“This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord God.”
How Long, O Lord?
A Psalm of yAsaph.
1O God, zthe nations have come into your ainheritance;
they have defiled your bholy temple;
they have claid Jerusalem in ruins.
2They have given dthe bodies of your servants
to the birds of the heavens for food,
the flesh of your efaithful to fthe beasts of the earth.
3They have poured out their blood like water
all around Jerusalem,
and there was gno one to bury them.
4We have become ha taunt to our neighbors,
hmocked and derided by those around us.
5iHow long, O Lord? Will you be angry jforever?
Will your kjealousy lburn like fire?
6mPour out your anger on the nations
that ndo not know you,
and on the kingdoms
that odo not call upon your name!
7For they have devoured Jacob
and laid waste his habitation.
8pDo not remember against us qour former iniquities;1
let your compassion come speedily to meet us,
for we are rbrought very low.
9sHelp us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us, and tatone for our sins,
for your uname's sake!
10vWhy should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Let wthe avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants
be known among the nations before our eyes!
11Let xthe groans of the prisoners come before you;
according to your great power, preserve those ydoomed to die!
12Return zsevenfold into the alap of our neighbors
the btaunts with which they have taunted you, O Lord!
13But we your people, the csheep of your pasture,
will dgive thanks to you forever;
from generation to generation we will recount your praise.
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