Category Archives: Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Examine Yourself

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You have become like us!

Isaiah 14:10

What must be the apostate professor’s doom when his naked soul appears before God? How will he bear to hear that voice telling him that he is banished forever from His presence and that he will not be the recipient of mercy?

“Depart from Me, you cursed; you have rejected knowledge, and I reject you.” What will be this wretch’s shame at the last great day when, before the assembled crowds, the apostate shall be unmasked? See the profane, and sinners who never professed faith, lifting themselves up from their beds of fire to point at him. “There he is,” says one; “will he preach the gospel in hell?” “There he is,” says another; “he rebuked me for cursing and was a hypocrite himself!” “Aha!” says another; “here comes a psalm-singing Methodist–one who was always at his meeting; he is the man who boasted of his being sure of everlasting life, and here he is!”

No greater eagerness will ever be seen among satanic tormentors than in that day when devils drag the hypocrite’s soul down to perdition. Bunyan pictures this with massive but awful grandeur of poetry when he speaks of the back way to hell. Seven devils bound the wretch with nine cords and dragged him from the road to heaven, in which he had professed to walk, and thrust him through the back door into hell.

Watch out for that back way to hell, professors! “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith.”1 Pay attention to your condition, and see whether you are in Christ or not. It is the easiest thing in the world to give high marks when grading your own paper. Be honest and fair. Be gracious to all, but be rigorous with yourself. Remember, if you are not building on the rock, your house will collapse. May the Lord give you sincerity, constancy, and firmness; and in no day, however evil, may you be led to turn aside.

1) 2 Corinthians 13:5

Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

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Alistair Begg – Climbing a Mountain

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Get you up to a high mountain. Isaiah 40:9

Our knowledge of Christ is somewhat like climbing one of the mountains in Wales. When you are at the base you see only a little: the mountain itself appears to be only half as high as it really is. Confined in a little valley, you discover scarcely anything but the rippling brooks as they descend into the stream at the foot of the mountain. Climb the first rising knoll, and the valley lengthens and widens beneath your feet. Go higher, and you see the country for four or five miles around, and you are delighted with the widening prospect. Higher still, and the scene enlarges; until at last, when you are on the summit and look east, west, north, and south, you see almost all of England lying before you. There is a forest in some distant county, perhaps two hundred miles away, and here the sea, and there a shining river and the smoking chimneys of a manufacturing town, or the masts of the ships in a busy port. All these things please and delight you, and you say, “I could not have imagined that so much could be seen at this elevation.”

Now, the Christian life is of the same order. When we first believe in Christ, we see only a little of Him. The higher we climb, the more we discover of His beauty. But who has ever gained the summit? Who has known all the heights and depths of the love of Christ that passes knowledge? When Paul had grown old and was sitting gray-haired and shivering in a dungeon in Rome, he was able to say with greater emphasis than we can, “I know whom I have believed,”1 for each experience had been like the climbing of a hill, each trial had been like ascending another summit, and his death seemed like gaining the top of the mountain, from which he could see the whole panorama of the faithfulness and love of Him to whom he had committed his soul. Get up, dear friend, into a high mountain.

1) 2 Timothy 1:12

Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

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Alistair Begg – Who is Privileged?

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A woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” Luke 11:27-28

It is fondly imagined by some that it must have been a very special privilege to be the mother of our Lord, because they suppose that she had the benefit of looking into His very heart in a way in which we cannot hope to do. There may be an appearance of plausibility in this notion, but not much. We do not know that Mary knew more than others; what she did know she did well to store in her heart; but she does not appear from anything we read in the Gospels to have been a better-instructed believer than any of Christ’s other disciples. All that she knew we also may discover.

Are you surprised by this? Here is a text to prove it: “The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.”1 Remember the Master’s words–“No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”2

The Divine Revealer of secrets tells us His heart, and He keeps nothing back that is needful for us. His own assurance is, “If it were not so, would I have told you . . . ?”3 Does He not today reveal Himself to us in a way that He does not to the world? And since this is so we will not ignorantly cry, “Blessed is the womb that bore you,” but we will intelligently bless God that, having heard the Word and kept it, we first of all have as real a communion with the Savior as His mother had, and in the second place as true an acquaintance with the secrets of His heart as she can be supposed to have obtained. Happy soul to enjoy this privilege!

1) Psalm 25:15

2) John 15:15

3) John 14:2

Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg

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Alistair Begg – Cooked Evenly

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Ephraim is a cake not turned.

Hosea 7:8

A cake not turned is uncooked on one side; and so Ephraim was, in many respects, untouched by divine grace: Though there was partial obedience, there was too much rebellion left. My soul, I charge you to see whether this is true of you. Are you thorough in the things of God? Has grace gone to the very center of your being so that its divine operation is felt in all your powers, your actions, your words, and your thoughts? To be sanctified, spirit, soul, and body, should be your aim and prayer; and although sanctification might not be complete in you, still it must be at work in you. There must not be the appearance of holiness in one place and reigning sin in another; otherwise you will also be a cake not turned.

A cake not turned is soon burnt on the side nearest the fire, and although no man can have too much religion, there are some who seem burnt black with bigoted zeal for that part of truth that they overemphasize; others are charred to a cinder with a self-congratulatory pharisaic performance of those religious activities that suit their mood. The assumed appearance of superior sanctity frequently accompanies a total absence of all vital godliness, and the saint in public is a devil in private. He deals in flour by day and in soot by night. The cake that is burned on one side is dough on the other.

This is true of me, Lord Jesus; turn me! Turn my unsanctified nature to the fire of Your love, and let it feel the sacred glow, and let my burnt side cool a little while I learn my own weakness and lack of heat when I am removed from Your heavenly flame. Let me not be a double-minded man, but one who is entirely under the powerful influence of reigning grace. I know only too well that if I am left like a cake unturned, and am not on both sides the subject of Your grace, I will be consumed forever in everlasting burnings.

Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

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Alistair Begg – Christ the Builder

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It is he who shall build the temple of the Lord and shall bear royal honor. Zechariah 6:13

Christ Himself is the builder of His spiritual temple, and He has built it on the mountains of His unchangeable affection, His omnipotent grace, and His infallible truthfulness. But as it was in Solomon’s temple, so in this: The materials need to be prepared. There are the cedars of Lebanon, but they are not framed for the building; they are not cut down and shaped and made into those planks of cedar whose fragrant beauty will make glad the courts of the Lord’s house in paradise. There are also the rough stones still in the quarry, which must be hewn out and squared.

All this is Christ’s own work. Each individual believer is being prepared and polished and made ready for his place in the temple; but Christ’s own hand performs the preparation-work. Afflictions cannot sanctify, except when they are used by Him to fulfill His purpose. Our prayers and efforts cannot make us ready for heaven, apart from the hand of Jesus, who fashions our hearts correctly.

As in the building of Solomon’s temple, where “neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard”1 because it all arrived perfectly ready for the exact spot it was to occupy, so is it with the temple that Jesus builds; the preparation is all done on earth. When we reach heaven, there will be no sanctifying us there, no squaring us with affliction, no maturing us with suffering.

No, we must be made ready here–and all that Christ will do He will do now; and when He has done it, we will be ferried by a loving hand across the stream of death and brought to the heavenly Jerusalem, to live as eternal pillars in the temple of our Lord.

Beneath His eye and care,

The edifice shall rise,

Majestic, strong, and fair,

And shine above the skies.

1) 1 Kings 6:7

Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

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Alistair Begg – A Picture of Beauty

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You are the most handsome of the sons of men.

Psalm 45:2

The entire person of Christ is like one diamond, and His life in every dimension leaves one lasting impression. He is altogether complete, not only in His various parts, but as a gracious all-glorious whole. His character is not a mass of bright colors mixed confusedly, nor a heap of precious stones laid carelessly on top of each other; He is a picture of beauty and a breastplate of glory. In Him, all the things of good repute are in their proper places and assist in adorning each other. Not one feature in His glorious person attracts attention at the expense of others; but He is perfectly and altogether lovely.

Oh, Jesus, Your power, Your grace, Your justice, Your tenderness, Your truth, Your majesty, and Your immutability combine to make a man, or rather a God-man, whom neither heaven nor earth has ever seen elsewhere. Your infancy, Your eternity, Your sufferings, Your triumphs, Your death, and Your immortality are all woven into one gorgeous tapestry, without seams or tears. You are music without discord; You are all things, and yet not diverse. As all the colors blend into one resplendent rainbow, so all the glories of heaven and earth meet in You and unite so perfectly that there is no one like You in all things; indeed, if all the virtues of the most excellent were bound in one bundle, they could not rival You, mirror of all perfection. You have been anointed with the holy oil, which Your God has reserved for You alone; and as for Your fragrance, it is the holy perfume that cannot be matched even with the chemist’s skill; each spice is fragrant, but the compound is divine.

Oh, sacred symmetry! oh, rare connection

Of many perfects, to make one perfection!

Oh, heavenly music, where all parts do meet

In one sweet strain, to make one perfect sweet!

Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

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Alistair Begg – Sifted by the Lord

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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.

Amos 9:9

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.

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Alistair Begg – The Spirit’s Blessings

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And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:4

The blessings of today would be rich if all of us were filled with the Holy Spirit. It would be impossible to overestimate the consequences of this sacred filling of the soul. Life, comfort, light, purity, power, peace, and many other precious blessings are inseparable from the Spirit’s gracious presence.

  • As sacred oil, He anoints the head of the believer, setting him apart to the priesthood of saints and giving him grace to execute his office properly.
  • As the only truly purifying water He cleanses us from the power of sin and sets us apart to holiness, enabling us to desire and then to do what pleases the Lord.
  • As the light, He revealed Himself to us in our darkness, and now He reveals the Lord Jesus to us and in us and guides us in the way of righteousness. Enlightened by His pure celestial ray, we are no longer in darkness but light in the Lord.
  • As fire, He purges us from dross and sets our consecrated nature ablaze. He is the sacrificial flame by which we are enabled to offer our whole souls as a living sacrifice unto God.
  • As heavenly dew, He removes our barrenness and fertilizes our lives. How we long for Him to come upon us from above at this early hour! Such morning dew would be a sweet beginning to the day.
  • As the dove, with wings of peaceful love He broods over His Church and over the souls of believers, and as a Comforter He dispels the cares and doubts that spoil the peace of His beloved. He descends upon the chosen as He did upon Christ at His baptism and bears witness to their sonship by working in them a filial spirit by which they cry, “Abba, Father.”
  • As the wind, He brings the breath of life to men; blowing where He wills, He performs the quickening operations by which the spiritual creation is animated and sustained.

Would to God that we might feel His presence this day and every day.

Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

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Alistair Begg – Jesus Your Redeemer

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Your Redeemer. Isaiah 54:5

Jesus, the Redeemer, is altogether ours and ours forever. All the offices of Christ are held on our behalf. He is King for us, priest for us, and prophet for us. Whenever we read a new title of the Redeemer, let us appropriate Him as ours under that name as much as under any other. The shepherd’s staff, the father’s rod, the captain’s sword, the priest’s miter, the prince’s scepter, the prophet’s mantle–all are ours. Jesus has no dignity that He will not employ for our exaltation, and no prerogative that He will not exercise for our defense. His fullness of Godhead is our unfailing, inexhaustible treasure-house.

His manhood also, which he took upon Him for us, is ours in all its perfection. To us our gracious Lord communicates the spotless virtue of a stainless character; to us He gives the meritorious efficacy of a devoted life; on us He bestows the reward procured by obedient submission and unceasing service. He makes the perfect garment of His life our covering beauty, the glittering virtues of His character our ornaments and jewels, and the superhuman meekness of His death our boast and glory.

He bequeaths us His manger, from which we learn how God came down to man, and His cross to teach us how man may go up to God. All His thoughts, emotions, actions, utterances, miracles, and intercessions were for us. He walked the path of sorrow on our behalf and has left to us as His heavenly legacy the full results of all the labors of His life. He is now as much ours as He will be; and He does not shrink to acknowledge Himself “our Lord Jesus Christ,” though He is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords. Christ everywhere and in every way is our Christ, forever and ever most richly to enjoy.

O my soul, by the power of the Holy Spirit, call Him this morning “your Redeemer.”

Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

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Alistair Begg – A Prayer

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Save, O Lord. Psalm 12:1

This prayer is remarkable for its brevity, but it may be offered humbly, regularly, and profitably. David was saddened that the numbers of the faithful were so small, and therefore he lifted up his heart in supplication: When the creature failed, he flew to the Creator. He evidently felt his own weakness, or he would not have cried for help; but at the same time he obviously intended to give himself for the cause of truth, for the cry “save” is inapplicable where we do not exert ourselves.

Note the directness, clearness of perception, and distinctness of utterance in this petition of few words, distinguishing it from the long, rambling outpourings of certain professors. The psalmist runs straight toward his God with a well-considered prayer; he knows what he is seeking and where to seek it. Lord, teach us to pray in the same direct manner.

The occasions when prayer is needed are constant. In providential afflictions how necessary prayer is for tested believers who find all other helpers failing them. Students in doctrinal difficulties will find help by lifting up this cry of “Save, O LORD” to the Holy Spirit, the great Teacher. Spiritual warriors in inward conflicts may send to the throne of grace for reinforcements, and this will be a model for their request. Those who are engaged in heavenly toil may in this way obtain grace in time of need. Seeking sinners, in doubts and alarms, may offer up the same simple supplication; in fact, in all these cases, times, and places this will serve the turn of needy souls. “Save, O LORD” will suit us in living and dying, suffering or working, rejoicing or sorrowing. In Him our help is found; let us not be slow to cry to Him.

The answer to the prayer is certain, if it is sincerely offered through Jesus. The Lord’s character assures us that He will not leave His people; His relationship as Father and Husband guarantee us His help. God’s gift of Jesus is a pledge of every good thing; and His sure promise stands, “Fear not, I will help you.”

Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

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Alistair Begg -The Danger of Unbelief

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I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. John 10:28

The Christian should never think or speak lightly of unbelief. For when a child of God mistrusts His love, His truth, His faithfulness, it is greatly displeasing to Him. How can we ever grieve Him by doubting His upholding grace?

Christian, it is contrary to every promise of God’s precious Word that you would ever be forgotten or left to perish. If it could be so, how could He be true who has said, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.”1 What would be the value of the promise–“‘The mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,’ says the LORD, who has compassion on you”?2 What truth would there be in Christ’s words–“I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand”?3 What value would there be in the doctrines of grace? They would be all disproved if one child of God should perish. What value could be placed in the veracity of God, His honor, His power, His grace, His covenant, His oath, if any of those for whom Christ died, and who have put their trust in Him, should nevertheless be cast away?

Banish then those unbelieving fears, which so dishonor God. Arise, shake yourself from the dust, and put on your beautiful clothes. Remember, it is sinful to doubt His Word in which He has promised you that you will never perish. Let the eternal life within you express itself in confident rejoicing.

The gospel bears my spirit up:

A faithful and unchanging God

Lays the foundation for my hope,

In oaths, and promises, and blood.

 

1) Isaiah 49:15

2) Isaiah 54:10

3) John 10:28-29

Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

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Alistair Begg – Are You Laughing?

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And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.”

Genesis 21:6

It was far above the power of nature, and even contrary to its laws, that the aged Sarah should be honored with a son; and even so it is beyond all ordinary rules that I, a poor, helpless, undone sinner, should find grace to carry in my soul the indwelling Spirit of the Lord Jesus. I, who once despaired, as well I might, for my nature was as dry and withered and barren and accursed as a howling wilderness, even I have been made to bring forth fruit unto holiness. Well may my mouth be filled with joyous laughter, because of the singular, surprising grace that I have received from the Lord, for I have found Jesus, the promised seed, and He is mine forever. Today I will sing psalms of triumph to the Lord who has remembered my low estate, for “my heart exults in the LORD; my strength is exalted in the LORD. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation.”1

My desire is that all those who hear of my great deliverance from hell and my most blessed visitation from heaven will laugh for joy with me. I want to surprise my family with my abundant peace; I want to delight my friends with my ever-increasing happiness; I want to edify the church with my grateful confessions, and even impress the world with the cheerfulness of my daily conversation.

Bunyan tells us that Mercy laughed in her sleep, and no wonder when she dreamed of Jesus; my joy should not be less than hers while Christ is the theme of my daily thoughts. The Lord Jesus is a deep sea of joy: My soul shall dive in and shall be swallowed up in the delights of His company. Sarah looked on Isaac and laughed without restraint, and all her friends laughed with her. And you, my soul, look on Jesus, and invite heaven and earth to unite in your unspeakable joy.

1) 1 Samuel 2:1

Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

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Alistair Begg – Delight Yourself in the Lord

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Delight yourself in the Lord. Psalm 37:4

The teaching of these words must seem very surprising to those who are strangers to vital godliness, but to the sincere believer it is only the reminder of a recognized truth. The life of the believer is described as a delight in God, and we are reminded of the great fact that genuine faith overflows with happiness and joy.

Ungodly persons and mere professors never look upon religion as a joyful thing; to them it is service, duty, or necessity, but never pleasure or delight. If they attend to religion at all, it is either because of what they might get or because they are afraid of the consequences of neglect. The thought of delight in religious exercise is so strange to most men that no two words in their language stand further apart than holiness and delight.

But believers who know Christ understand that delight and faith are so wonderfully united that the gates of hell cannot manage to separate them. Those who love God with all their hearts find that His ways are ways of pleasantness, and all His paths are peace. The saints discover in Christ such joy, such overflowing delight, such blessedness that far from serving Him from custom, they would follow Him even though the whole world rejected Him. We do not fear God because of any compulsion; our faith is no shackle, our profession is no bondage, we are not dragged to holiness, nor driven to duty. No, our piety is our pleasure, our hope is our happiness, our duty is our delight.

Delight and true faith are as interwoven as root and flower, as indivisible as truth and certainty; they are, in fact, two precious stones glittering side by side in a setting of gold.

‘Tis when we taste Thy love,

Our joys divinely grow,

Unspeakable like those above,

And heaven begins below.

Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

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Alistair Begg – Who’s Going Thirsty?

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Let the one who desires take the water of life without price. Revelation 22:17

The invitation is to “take . . . without price.” Jesus wants no payment or preparation. He seeks no recommendation from our virtuous emotions. If you have no good feelings, but if you are willing, you are invited; therefore come! If you have no belief and no repentance, come to Him, and He will give them to you. Come just as you are, and take without money and without price. He gives Himself to the needy.

In nineteenth-century Britain the drinking fountains at the corners of the streets were valuable institutions; it would have been a strange and foolish sight to see someone standing at the fountain declaring, “I cannot drink because I do not have any money.” However poor an individual may be, there is the fountain, and just as he is, he may drink of it without cost. Thirsty passengers, as they go by, whether they are dressed poorly or expensively, do not look for any authorization to drink; the existence of the fountain is sufficient warrant for taking its water freely. The generosity of some good friends has put in place the refreshing supply, and we take it and ask no questions.

Perhaps the only people who go thirsty through the street where there is a drinking fountain are the fine ladies and gentlemen who are in their carriages. They are very thirsty but cannot think of being so vulgar as to get out to drink. It would demean them, they think, to drink at a common drinking fountain: so they ride by with parched lips.

How many there are who are rich in their own good works and cannot therefore come to Christ! “I will not be saved,” they say, “in the same way as the prostitute or the blasphemer.” What! Go to heaven in the same way as a chimney sweep? Is there no pathway to glory but the path that led the dying thief there? I will not be saved that way. Such proud boasters must remain without the living water; but “Let the one who desires take the water of life without price.”

Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

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Alistair Begg – Getting on the Scales

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You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting. Daniel 5:27

It is good to regularly weigh ourselves on the scale of God’s Word. You will find it a holy exercise to read some Psalm of David and, as you meditate upon each verse, to ask yourself, “Can I say this? Have I felt as David felt? Has my heart ever been broken on account of sin, as his was when he penned his penitential psalms? Has my soul been full of true confidence in the hour of difficulty as his was when he sang of God’s mercies in the cave of Adullam or in the holds of Engedi? Do I take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord?”

Then turn to the life of Christ, and as you read, ask yourself how far you are conformed to His likeness. Endeavor to discover whether you have the meekness, the humility, the lovely spirit that He constantly urged and displayed. Then take the epistles, and see whether you can go with the apostle in what he said of his experience. Have you ever cried out as he did, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death”? Have you ever felt his self-abasement? Have you seemed to yourself the chief of sinners, and less than the least of all the saints? Have you known anything of his devotion? Could you join with him and say, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain”?

If in this way we read God’s Word as a test of our spiritual condition, we will often have good reason to pause and say, “Lord, I feel I have never yet been here. O bring me here! Give me the true penitence about which I am reading. Give me real faith; give me warmer zeal; inflame me with more fervent love; grant me the grace of meekness; make me more like Jesus. Do not allow me to be ‘found wanting’ when weighed in the balances of the Bible, in case I be found wanting in the scales of judgment.” “Judge not, that you be not judged.”

Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

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Alistair Begg – The Origin

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We love because he first loved us.

1 John 4:19

There is no light in the planet but that which proceeds from the sun; and there is no true love for Jesus in the heart but that which comes from the Lord Jesus Himself. From this overflowing fountain of the infinite love of God, all our love to God must spring.

This truth is foundational, that we love Him for no other reason than because He first loved us. Our love for Him is the result of His love for us. When studying the works of God, anyone may respond with cold admiration, but the warmth of love can only be kindled in the heart by God’s Spirit.

What a wonder that any of us, knowing what we’re like, should ever have been brought to love Jesus at all! How marvelous that when we had rebelled against Him, He should, by a display of such amazing love, seek to draw us back. We would never have had a grain of love toward God unless it had been sown in us by the sweet seed of His love for us.

Love, then, has for its parent the love of God shed abroad in the heart: But after it is divinely born, it must be divinely nourished. It is not like a plant, which will flourish naturally in human soil–it must be watered from above. Love for Jesus is a flower of a delicate nature, and if it received no nourishment but that which could be drawn from the rock of our hearts, it would soon wither. As love comes from heaven, so it must feed on heavenly bread. It cannot exist in the wilderness unless it be fed by manna from on high. Love must feed on love. The very soul and life of our love for God is His love for us.

I love Thee, Lord, but with no love of mine,

For I have none to give;

I love Thee, Lord; but all the love is Thine,

For by Thy love I live.

I am as nothing, and rejoice to be

Emptied, and lost, and swallowed up in Thee.

Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Why Are We Here?

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We live to the Lord.

Romans 14:8

If God had willed it, each of us might have entered heaven at the moment of conversion. It was not absolutely necessary for our preparation for immortality that we should linger here. It is possible for a man to be taken to heaven and to be found fit to partake in the inheritance of the saints in light, even though he has only just believed in Jesus. It is true that our sanctification is a long and continued process, and we shall not be perfected until we lay aside our bodies and enter within the veil; but nevertheless, if the Lord had wanted to, He could have changed us from imperfection to perfection and have taken us to heaven at once.

Why then are we here? Would God keep His children out of paradise a single moment longer than was necessary? Why is the army of the living God still on the battlefield when one charge might give them the victory? Why are His children still wandering here and there through a maze when a single word from His lips would bring them into the center of their hopes in heaven?

The answer is–they are here that they may “live to the Lord” and may bring others to know His love. We remain on earth as sowers to scatter good seed, as plowmen to break up the fallow ground, as heralds publishing salvation. We are here as “the salt of the earth,”1 to be a blessing to the world. We are here to glorify Christ in our daily life. We are here as workers for Him, and as workers together with Him. Let us see that our life fulfills this purpose. Let us live zealous, useful, holy lives, to “the praise of his glorious grace.”2

Meanwhile we long to be with Him and daily sing–

My heart is with Him on His throne,

And ill can brook delay;

Each moment listening for the voice,

“Rise up, and come away.”

1) Matthew 5:13

2) Ephesians 1:6

Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Look at the Positives

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The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad. Psalm 126:3

Some Christians are sadly prone to look on the dark side of everything, and to dwell more upon what they have gone through than upon what God has done for them. Ask for their impression of the Christian life, and they will describe their continual conflicts, their deep afflictions, their sad adversities, and the sinfulness of their hearts, but with scarcely any reference to the mercy and help that God has provided them.

But a Christian whose soul is in a healthy state will come forward joyously and say, “I will not speak about myself, but to the honor of my God. He has brought me up out of a horrible pit and out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings; and He has put a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God. The Lord has done great things for me–I am glad.”

This summary of experience is the very best that any child of God can present. It is true that we endure trials, but it is just as true that we are delivered out of them. It is true that we have our corruptions, and sadly we acknowledge this, but it is just as true that we have an all-sufficient Savior who overcomes these corruptions and delivers us from their dominion. In looking back, it would be wrong to deny that we have been in the Slough of Despond and have crept along the Valley of Humiliation, but it would be equally wicked to forget that we have been through them safely and profitably; we have not remained in them, thanks to our Almighty Helper and Leader, who has “brought us out to a place of abundance.”1

The deeper our troubles, the louder our thanks to God, who has led us through them all and preserved us until today. Our griefs cannot spoil the melody of our praise; we consider them to be the “bass line” of our life’s song, “The LORD has done great things for us; we are glad.”

1) Psalm 66:12

Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Stand Up!

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For many fell, because the war was of God.

1 Chronicles 5:22

Warrior, as you fight under the banner of the Lord Jesus, observe this verse with holy joy, for as it was in the days of old, so is it now: If the war is of God, the victory is sure. The armies of God could barely muster forty-five thousand fighting men, and yet in their war with the enemy, they captured “a hundred thousand men,” “for they cried to God in the battle, and he granted their urgent plea because they trusted in him.”

The Lord saves not by many, nor by few; it is ours to go in Jehovah’s name even if we are only a handful of men, for the Lord of Hosts is with us as our Captain. They did not neglect their weapons, but neither did they place their trust in them; we must use all fitting means, but our confidence must rest in the Lord alone, for He is the sword and the shield of His people. The great reason for their extraordinary success lay in the fact that “the war was of God.”

Beloved, in fighting with sin in us and around us, with error doctrinal or practical, with spiritual wickedness in high places or low places, with devils and the devil’s allies, you are waging Jehovah’s war, and unless He himself can be defeated, you do not need to fear defeat. Do not tremble before superior numbers; do not shrink from difficulties or impossibilities; do not flinch at wounds or death; strike with the two-edged sword of the Spirit, and the dead shall lie in heaps.

The battle is the Lord’s, and He will deliver His enemies into our hands. With steadfast foot, strong hand, dauntless heart, and flaming zeal, rush to the conflict, and the hosts of evil will fly like chaff before the gale.

Stand up! stand up for Jesus!

The strife will not be long;

This day the noise of battle,

The next the victor’s song:

To him that overcometh,

A crown of life shall be;

He with the King of glory

Shall reign eternally.

Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Love the Lord, Hate Evil

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O you who love the Lord, hate evil! Psalm 97:10

You have good reason to “hate evil,” for just consider what harm it has already caused you. What a world of mischief sin has brought into your heart! Sin blinded you so that you could not see the beauty of the Savior; it made you deaf so that you could not hear the Redeemer’s tender invitations. Sin turned your feet into the way of death and poured poison into the very fountain of your being; it tainted your heart and made it “deceitful above all things, and desperately sick.”1

What a creature you were when evil had done its utmost with you, before divine grace intervened! You were an heir of wrath just like others; you ran with the crowd to do evil. We were all like this, but Paul reminds us, “but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”2

We have good reason, indeed, for hating evil when we look back and trace its deadly workings. We were in such a sorry state that our souls would have been lost if omnipotent love had not intervened to redeem us. Even now it is an active enemy, always looking for ways to harm us and to drag us to perdition.

Therefore “hate evil,” Christian, unless you desire trouble. If you want to cover your path with thorns and plant nettles in your pillow, then fail to “hate evil”; but if you would live a happy life and die a peaceful death, then walk in all the ways of holiness, hating evil right to the end. If you truly love your Savior and want to honor Him, then “hate evil.” We know of no cure for the love of evil in a Christian like daily communion with the Lord Jesus. Be often with Him, and it is impossible for you to be at peace with sin.

Order my footsteps by Thy Word,

And make my heart sincere;

Let sin have no dominion, Lord,

But keep my conscience clear.

1) Jeremiah 17:9

2) 1 Corinthians 6:11

Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.