Truth For Life Program
Alistair Begg Devotional
C. H. Spurgeon Devotional
One-Year Bible Reading Plan
After religious leaders falsely accused and condemned Jesus, they delivered Him to the Roman governor, hoping he’d convict Christ of a crime punishable by death. But who was really on trial? Explore the answer along with Alistair Begg on Truth For Life.
From the Sermon
Jesus Delivered to Pilate
Mark 15:1–5 Sermon • Includes Transcript • 36:23 • ID: 2938
The Cross Opens Our Eyes
We have not understood the cross unless it has changed us personally.
After Jesus “breathed his last” (Luke 23:46), Luke records for us the reactions of those who witnessed the crucifixion. “All the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts” (v 48). Yes, there was sadness, but once the spectacle was over, they left to get on with their lives. Verse 49 then informs us that “all his acquaintances … stood at a distance watching”—and we can only imagine what was running through their minds. But the most striking and the most personal reaction that Luke captures is that of the Roman centurion, who, seeing what had happened, “praised God, saying, ‘Certainly this man was innocent!’”—or, as the NIV renders it, “Surely this was a righteous man.”
Here, amid the darkness of hypocritical religious leaders, cynical rulers, and callous passersby, is a glimmer of light. Perhaps the last person we would expect to see the truth—a man with no previous connection to Jesus, no background in Old Testament studies, and no predisposition to the things of God—not only grasped what he was looking at but responded personally to it. He saw “what had taken place”—the words of Jesus, the darkness overhead, the manner of His death—and realized, Here is no ordinary man. Here is a man who is different from every other man. Here is a man who is entirely innocent, wholly righteous. Indeed, Mark adds that the centurion confessed that the man on the cross was “the Son of God” (Mark 15:39).
With his eye for detail, Luke places a clear emphasis on seeing what took place on the cross. He probably hoped that some readers would remember that when Jesus had read from the scroll of Isaiah earlier in His ministry, He had said, “The Spirit of the Lord … has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor … to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind” (Luke 4:18). Indeed, a great theme found throughout the Gospel of Luke is that of darkness being invaded by light—the confusion and hardness of people’s hearts and minds being invaded by the liberating power of God’s truth.
Any attempt to articulate Christianity that denies the centrality of the cross can never lead to saving faith. And while we do not always understand how the Spirit moves in leading men and women to be born again, our message must always and ever be the same: “Christ crucified” (1 Corinthians 1:23). It is beholding the cross that brings life for anyone who responds to the man who hung there by confessing who He is and praising God for His saving work. Unless and until the cross is personal to us, it is useless for us. So, when was the last time you simply looked at your Savior on the cross and praised God?
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?
Christ the Wisdom and Power of God
18For the word of the cross is bfolly to cthose who are perishing, but to us dwho are being saved it is ethe power of God. 19For it is written,
f“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
20gWhere is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? hHas not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach2 to save those who believe. 22For iJews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23but we preach Christ jcrucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ kthe power of God and lthe wisdom of God. 25For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26For consider your calling, brothers: mnot many of you were wise according to worldly standards,3 not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27But nGod chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; oGod chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28God chose what is low and despised in the world, even pthings that are not, to qbring to nothing things that are, 29so rthat no human being4 might boast in the presence of God. 30And because of him5 you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us swisdom from God, trighteousness and usanctification and vredemption, 31so that, as it is written, w“Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
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.
A Mournful List of Honors
O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame?
An instructive writer has made a mournful list of the honors that the blinded people of Israel awarded to their long-expected King.
- They gave Him a procession of honor, in which Roman legionaries, Jewish priests, and men and women took part, He Himself bearing His cross. This is the triumph that the world awards to Him who comes to overthrow man’s greatest enemy. Derisive shouts are His only acclamations, and cruel taunts His only songs of praise.
- They presented Him with the wine of honor. Instead of a golden cup of generous wine, they offered Him the criminal’s anesthetic potion, which He refused in order that he might, in all its unmitigated horror, taste death; and afterwards when He cried, “I thirst,” they gave Him vinegar mixed with gall, thrust to His mouth upon a sponge. What wretched, detestable inhospitality to the King’s Son.
- He was provided with a guard of honor, who showed their esteem of Him by gambling over His clothes, which they had seized as their treasure. The bodyguard of Jesus was a quaternion of brutal gamblers.
- A throne of honor was found for Him upon the bloody tree. The cross was, in fact, the full expression of the world’s feeling toward Him. “There,” they seemed to say, “you Son of God, this is the manner in which God Himself should be treated, could we reach Him.”
- The title of honor was nominally “King of the Jews,” but this was distinctly repudiated. They really called Him “King of thieves” by preferring Barabbas and by placing Jesus in the place of highest shame between two thieves. In this way His glory was turned into shame by the sons of men, but it shall nevertheless still gladden the eyes of saints and angels, world without end.
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 April 7
The Death of Nadab and Abihu
1Now yNadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, zeach took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered aunauthorized1 fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. 2And fire bcame out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. 3Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Among cthose who are near me dI will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’” eAnd Aaron held his peace.
4And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of fUzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, “Come near; carry your brothers away from the front of the sanctuary and out of the camp.” 5So they came near and carried them in their coats out of the camp, as Moses had said. 6And Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar his sons, g“Do not let the hair of your heads hang loose, and do not tear your clothes, lest you die, and hwrath come upon all the congregation; but let your brothers, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning that the Lord has kindled. 7iAnd do not go outside the entrance of the tent of meeting, lest you die, jfor the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you.” And they did according to the word of Moses.
8And the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, 9k“Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. 10You are to ldistinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, 11and myou are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them by Moses.”
12Moses spoke to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his surviving sons: “Take the ngrain offering that is left of the Lord's food offerings, and eat it unleavened beside the altar, for oit is most holy. 13You shall eat it in a holy place, because it is your due and your sons' due, from the Lord's food offerings, for pso I am commanded. 14But the qbreast that is waved and the thigh that is contributed you shall eat in a clean place, you and your sons and your daughters with you, for they are given as your due and your sons' due from the sacrifices of the peace offerings of the people of Israel. 15rThe thigh that is contributed and the breast that is waved they shall bring with the food offerings of the fat pieces to wave for a wave offering before the Lord, and it shall be yours and your sons' with you as a due forever, as the Lord has commanded.”
16Now Moses diligently inquired about sthe goat of the sin offering, and behold, it was burned up! And he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the surviving sons of Aaron, saying, 17t“Why have you not eaten the sin offering in the place of the sanctuary, since oit is a thing most holy and has been given to you that you may bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the Lord? 18Behold, uits blood was not brought into the inner part of the sanctuary. You certainly ought to have eaten it in the sanctuary, vas I commanded.” 19And Aaron said to Moses, “Behold, wtoday they have offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord, and yet such things as these have happened to me! If I had eaten the sin offering today, xwould the Lord have approved?” 20And when Moses heard that, he approved.
Psalm 11
The Lord Is in His Holy Temple
To the choirmaster. Of David.
1In the Lord I take refuge;
how can you say to my soul,
z“Flee like a bird to your mountain,
2for behold, the wicked abend the bow;
bthey have fitted their arrow to the string
to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart;
3if cthe foundations are destroyed,
what can the righteous do?”1
4dThe Lord is in his holy temple;
the Lord's ethrone is in heaven;
his eyes see, his eyelids ftest the children of man.
5The Lord gtests the righteous,
but hhis soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.
6Let him rain coals on the wicked;
ifire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be jthe portion of their cup.
7For the Lord is righteous;
he kloves righteous deeds;
lthe upright shall behold his face.
Psalm 12
The Faithful Have Vanished
To the choirmaster: according to The Sheminith.1 A Psalm of David.
1Save, O Lord, for mthe godly one is gone;
for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.
2Everyone nutters lies to his neighbor;
with oflattering lips and pa double heart they speak.
3May the Lord cut off all oflattering lips,
the tongue that makes qgreat boasts,
4those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail,
our lips are with us; who is master over us?”
5“Because rthe poor are plundered, because the needy groan,
sI will now arise,” says the Lord;
“I will place him in the tsafety for which he longs.”
6uThe words of the Lord are pure words,
like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
purified seven times.
7You, O Lord, will keep them;
you will guard us2 from this generation forever.
8On every side the wicked prowl,
as vileness is exalted among the children of man.
More Proverbs of Solomon
1These also are mproverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied.
2It is the glory of God to nconceal things,
but the glory of kings is to osearch things out.
3As the heavens for height, and the earth for depth,
so the heart of kings is punsearchable.
4Take away qthe dross from the silver,
and rthe smith has material for a vessel;
5take away sthe wicked from the presence of the king,
and his tthrone will be established in righteousness.
6Do not put yourself forward in the king's presence
or stand in the place of the great,
7for uit is better to be told, “Come up here,”
than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.
What your eyes have seen
8wdo not hastily bring into court,1
for2 what will you do in the end,
when your neighbor puts you to shame?
9xArgue your case with your neighbor himself,
and do not reveal another's secret,
10lest he who hears you bring shame upon you,
and your ill repute have no end.
11yA word fitly spoken
is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.
12Like za gold ring or an ornament of gold
is a wise reprover to aa listening ear.
13Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest
is ba faithful messenger to those who send him;
he refreshes the soul of his masters.
14Like cclouds and wind without rain
is a man who dboasts of a gift he does not give.
15With epatience a ruler may be persuaded,
and a soft tongue will break a bone.
16If you have ffound honey, eat gonly enough for you,
lest you have your fill of it and vomit it.
17Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor's house,
lest he have his fill of you and hate you.
18A man who hbears false witness against his neighbor
is like a war club, or ia sword, or a sharp arrow.
19Trusting in a treacherous man in time of trouble
is like a bad tooth or a foot that slips.
20Whoever jsings songs to a heavy heart
is like one who takes off a garment on a cold day,
and like vinegar on soda.
21kIf your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat,
and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink,
22for you will heap lburning coals on his head,
and the Lord will reward you.
23The north wind brings forth rain,
and a backbiting tongue, angry looks.
24mIt is better to live in a corner of the housetop
than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife.
25Like cold water to na thirsty soul,
so is ogood news from a far country.
26Like pa muddied spring or a polluted fountain
is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.
27It is qnot good to eat much honey,
nor is it glorious to rseek one's own glory.3
28A man swithout self-control
is like ta city broken into and left without walls.
A Life Pleasing to God
1Finally, then, brothers,1 we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you dreceived from us ehow you ought to walk and fto please God, just as you are doing, that you gdo so more and more. 2For hyou know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3For this is the will of God, iyour sanctification:2 jthat you abstain from sexual immorality; 4that each one of you know how to control his own kbody3 in holiness and lhonor, 5not in mthe passion of lust nlike the Gentiles owho do not know God; 6that no one transgress and pwrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is qan avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 7For rGod has not called us for simpurity, but in holiness. 8Therefore twhoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, uwho gives his Holy Spirit to you.
9Now concerning vbrotherly love wyou have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been xtaught by God yto love one another, 10for that indeed is what zyou are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to ado this more and more, 11and to aspire bto live quietly, and cto mind your own affairs, and dto work with your hands, as we instructed you, 12so that you may ewalk properly before foutsiders and be dependent on no one.
The Coming of the Lord
13But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, gthat you may not grieve as others do hwho have no hope. 14For isince we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him jthose who have fallen asleep. 15For this we declare to you kby a word from the Lord,4 that lwe who are alive, who are left until mthe coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16For nthe Lord himself will descend ofrom heaven pwith a cry of command, with the voice of qan archangel, and rwith the sound of the trumpet of God. And sthe dead in Christ will rise first. 17Then we who are alive, who are left, will be tcaught up together with them uin the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so vwe will always be with the Lord. 18Therefore encourage one another with these words.
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