Category Archives: Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – The Truth of God

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Alistair Begg

Because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever.

2 John 2

Once the truth of God has obtained an entrance into the human heart and subdued the whole man to itself, no power, human or infernal, can dislodge it. We entertain it not as a guest but as the master of the house. This is a Christian necessity, and whoever does not believe this is not a Christian.

Those who feel the vital power of the Gospel and know the strength of the Holy Spirit as He opens, applies, and seals the Lord’s Word would rather be torn to pieces than be torn away from the Gospel of their salvation. A thousand mercies are wrapped up in the assurance that the truth will be with us forever, will be our living support, our dying comfort, our rising song, our eternal glory. This is Christian privilege, and without it our faith is worth little. Some truths we outgrow and leave behind, for they are but rudiments and lessons for beginners, but this is not so with divine truth, for though it is sweet food for babies, it is in the highest sense strong meat for men. The painful truth that we are sinners is with us to humble us and make us watchful; the more blessed truth that whoever believes on the Lord Jesus will be saved remains with us as our hope and joy. Experience, far from loosening our hold on the doctrines of grace, has tied us to them more and more firmly; our grounds and motives for believing are now stronger and more numerous than ever, and we have reason to expect that it will remain this way until in death we clasp the Savior in our arms.

Wherever this abiding love of truth can be discovered, we are bound to share in fellowship and to exercise our love. No narrow circle can contain our gracious sympathies; our communion of heart must be as wide as the ocean of grace. Error may be found mingled with truth received; let us go to war with the error but still love the brother for the measure of truth that we see in him. Above all let us love and spread the truth ourselves.

 

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Alistair Begg – Water Reflections

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Alistair Begg

The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly.

Psalms 104:16

Without water the tree cannot flourish or even exist. Vitality is essential to a Christian. There must be life-a vital principle infused in us by God the Holy Spirit-or we cannot be trees of the Lord. Being a Christian merely in name is a dead thing; we must be filled with the spirit of divine life.

This life is mysterious. We do not understand the circulation of the water, by what force it rises, and by what power it descends again. So the life within us is a sacred mystery. Regeneration is performed by the Holy Spirit entering into man and becoming man’s life; and this divine life in a believer afterwards feeds upon Christ and is in this way sustained by divine food, but how it comes and where it goes who will explain to us?

What a secret thing the water is! The roots go searching through the soil, but we cannot see them suck out the various gases or transmute the mineral into the vegetable; this work is done down in the dark. Our root is Christ Jesus, and our life is hidden in Him; this is the secret of the Lord. The source of the Christian life is as secret as the life itself.

How permanently active is the water in the cedar! In the Christian the divine life is always full of energy-not always in fruit-bearing, but in inward operations. The believer’s graces are not always constant motion, but his life never ceases to palpitate within. He is not always working for God, but his heart is always living in Him. As the water reveals itself in producing the foliage and fruit of the tree, so with a truly healthy Christian, his grace is externally displayed in his walk and conversation. If you talk with him, he cannot help speaking about Jesus. If you notice his actions, you will see that he has been with Jesus. He is so full of Christ that He must fill his conduct and conversation.

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Past, Present, Future

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‘Do you want to go away as well?’

John 6:67

Many have forsaken Christ and have walked no more with Him; but what reason do you have to make a change? Has there been any reason for it in the past? Has Jesus not proved Himself all-sufficient? He asks you this morning, “Have I been a wilderness to you?” When your soul has simply trusted Jesus, have you ever been defeated? Have you not until now found your Lord to be a compassionate and generous friend to you, and has simple faith in Him not given you all the peace your spirit could desire? Can you even dream of a better friend than He has been to you? Then do not change the old and tried for the new and false.

As for the present, can that compel you to leave Christ? When we are hard-pressed with this world or with the severer trials within the church, we find it a most blessed thing to rest our head upon the shoulder of our Savior. This is the joy we have today-that we are saved in Him; and if this joy is satisfying, why would we think of changing? Who trades gold for dross? We will not renounce the sun until we find a better light, nor leave our Lord until a brighter lover shall appear; and since this can never be, we will hold Him with an immortal grasp and bind His name as a seal upon our arm.

As for the future, can you suggest anything that can arise that will render it necessary for you to mutiny or desert the old flag to serve under another captain? We think not. If life be long, He doesn’t change. If we are poor, what better than to have Christ who can make us rich? When we are sick, what more do we want than Jesus to comfort and to heal? When we die, is it not written that “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come . . . will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”1 And so we say with Peter, “Lord, to whom shall we go?”2

1Romans 8:38-39

2John 6:68

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – The Body of Divinity in Miniature

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Alistair Begg

I will love them freely.

Hosea 14:4

This sentence is a body of divinity in miniature. Whoever grasps its meaning is a theologian, and whoever is able to dive into its fullness is a learned professor! It is a summary of the glorious message of salvation that was delivered to us in Christ Jesus our Redeemer.

The sense hinges upon the word “freely.” This is the glorious, the suitable, the divine way by which love streams from heaven to earth, a spontaneous love flowing out to those who neither deserved it, purchased it, nor sought after it. It is, indeed, the only way in which God can love such as we are.

The text is a death-blow to all sorts of fitness: “I will love them freely.”

Now, if there were any fitness necessary in us, then He would not love us freely; at least, this would be a hindrance and a drawback to the freeness of it. But it stands: “I will love them freely.”

We complain, “Lord, my heart is so hard.”

“I will love them freely.”

“But I do not feel my need of Christ as I ought to.”

“I will not love you because you feel your need; I will love you freely.”

“But I do not feel that softening of spirit that I should desire.”

Remember, the softening of spirit is not a condition, for there are no conditions; the covenant of grace has no conditionality whatever. So we without any fitness may rest upon the promise of God that was made to us in Christ Jesus when He said, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned.”1 It is blessed to know that the grace of God is free to us at all times, without preparation, without fitness, without money, and without price!

“I will love them freely.” These words invite apostates to return: Indeed, the text was specially written for such-“I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely.”

Apostate, surely the generosity of the promise will immediately break your heart, and you will return and seek your injured Father’s face.

1John 3:18

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – How Much Do You Owe?

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For the love of Christ controls us.

2 Corinthians 5:14

How much do you owe to my Lord? Has He ever done anything for you? Has He forgiven your sins? Has He covered you with a robe of righteousness? Has He set your feet upon a rock? Has He established your goings? Has He prepared heaven for you? Has He prepared you for heaven? Has He written your name in His Book of Life? Has He given you countless blessings? Has He laid up for you a store of mercies, which eye has not seen nor ear heard?

Then do something for Jesus that is worthy of His love. Do not give a mere wordy offering to a dying Redeemer. How will you feel when your Master comes if you have to confess that you did nothing for Him but kept your love shut up, like a stagnant pool, neither flowing out to the poor nor to His work? Be done with that kind of love! What do men think of a love that never shows itself in action? Why, they say, “Better is open rebuke than hidden love.”1 Who will accept a love so weak that it does not stir you to a single act of self-denial, generosity, heroism, or zeal?

Consider how He has loved you and given Himself for you! Do you know the power of that love? Then let it be like a rushing, mighty wind to your soul to sweep out the clouds of your worldliness and clear away the mists of sin. For Christ’s sake let this be the tongue of fire that sits upon you: For Christ’s sake let this be the divine excitement, the heavenly empowerment to bear you up from earth, the divine spirit that will make you bold as lions and swift as eagles in your Lord’s service. Love should give wings to the feet of service and strength to the arms of industry. Fixed on God with a constancy that is not to be shaken, determined to honor Him with a zeal that is not to be turned aside, and pressing on with a passion that doesn’t waver, let us display the constraints of love for Jesus. May the divine magnet draw us toward heaven itself.

1Isaiah 40:27

 

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Alistair Begg – Are You Growing?

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Alistair Begg

We are to grow up in every way into him.

Ephesians 4:15

Many Christians remain stunted and limited in spiritual things and never seem to make progress from year to year. No surge of growth and spiritual interest is seen in them. They exist but do not “grow up in every way into him.”

Should we be content with being in the green blade when we might advance to the ear and eventually ripen into the full corn in the ear? Should we be satisfied to believe in Christ and to say, “I am safe” without wishing to know in our own experience more of the fullness that is to be found in Him?

It ought not to be so; we should long as good traders in heaven’s market to be enriched in the knowledge of Jesus. It is all very well to keep other men’s vineyards, but we must not neglect our own spiritual growth and ripening. Why should it always be wintertime in our hearts? We must have our seedtime, it is true, but oh, for a springtime-yes, a summer season that will give promise of an early harvest.

If we would ripen in grace, we must live near to Jesus-in His presence-ripened by the sunshine of His smiles. We must hold sweet communion with Him. We must leave the distant view of His face and come near, as John did, and rest our head upon His shoulder; then we will find ourselves advancing in holiness, in love, in faith, in hope-in every precious gift. As the sun rises first on mountaintops and gilds them with its light and presents one of the most charming sights to the traveler’s eye, so is it one of the most delightful contemplations in the world to observe a spiritual glow on the head of some saint who has risen in stature, like Saul, above his fellows until, like a mighty snow-capped Alp, he reflects among the chosen the beams of the Sun of Righteousness and bears the glow of His radiance high for all to see, and seeing it, to glorify his Father who is in heaven.

 

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Alistair Begg – Equal to the Greatest Christian

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Alistair Begg

Infants in Christ.

1 Corinthians 3:1

Are you mourning, believer, because your spiritual life is so weak, because your faith is so small, your love so feeble?

Cheer up because you have reason to be grateful. Remember that in some things you are equal to the greatest and most mature Christian.

•You are as much purchased with blood as he is.

•You are just as much an adopted child of God as any other believer. An infant is as truly a child of its parents as is the full-grown man. You are as completely justified, for your justification is not a matter of degree: Your little faith has made you clean every bit.

•You have as much right to the precious things of the covenant as the most advanced believers, for your right to covenant mercies does not lie in your growth but in the covenant itself; and your faith in Jesus is not the measure but the token of your inheritance in Him.

•You are as rich as the richest-if not in enjoyment, yet in real possession. The smallest star that gleams is set in heaven; the faintest ray of light has affinity with the sun. In the family register of heaven, the small and the great are written with the same pen.

•You are as dear to your Father’s heart as the greatest in the family. Jesus is very tender toward you.

You are like the faintly burning wick; a rougher spirit would say, “Put out that useless flame; it fills the room with an offensive odor!” But the feeble wick He will not quench. You are like a bruised reed, and any less tender hand than that of the Chief Musician would tread upon you or throw you away; but He will never break the bruised reed. So instead of being downcast by reason of what you are, you should rejoice in Christ. Am I but small and feeble in the vast company of believers? Yet in Christ I am made to sit in heavenly places. Am I poor in faith? Yet in Jesus I am heir of all things. I do not need to boast or elevate myself; even as an infant in Christ I will rejoice in the Lord and glory in the God of my salvation.

 

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Alistair Begg – Overflowing with Abundance

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Your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.

Psalms 65:11

Many of the Lord’s tracks overflow with abundance, but a special one is the track of prayer. A believer, who is often in private prayer, will not need to cry, “My leanness has risen up against me.”1 Starving souls live at a distance from the mercy-seat and become like the parched fields in times of drought. Consistent wrestling in prayer with God is sure to make the believer strong-if not happy. The nearest place to the gate of heaven is the throne of heavenly grace. Often alone, you will have plenty of assurance; seldom alone with Jesus, your faith will be shallow, polluted with many doubts and fears and not sparkling with the joy of the Lord. Since the soul-enriching path of prayer is open to the very weakest saint, since no high achievements are required, since you are not invited to come because you are an advanced saint but freely invited if you are a saint at all, see to it, dear reader, that you are often in the place of private devotion. Be regularly on your knees, for in this way Elijah drew the rain upon Israel’s famished fields.

There is another special track overflowing with abundance to those who walk in it. It is the secret walk of communion that affords the delights of fellowship with Jesus! Earth has no words that can convey the holy calm of a soul leaning on Jesus. Few Christians understand it; they live in the lowlands and seldom climb to the top of the mountain; they live in the outer court and fail to enter the holy place; they do not take up the privilege of priesthood. They see the sacrifice from a distance, but they do not sit down with the priest to eat the meal and enjoy the overflowing abundance.

But, reader, learn to sit under the shadow of Jesus; come up to that palm tree, and take hold of its branches. Let your Beloved be to you as the apple tree among the timber, and you shall be satisfied with goodness and abundance. Come, Lord Jesus, and visit us with Your salvation!

1 Job 16:8

 

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Argue from the Past

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Alistair Begg

Then David said in his heart, ‘Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul.’

1 Samuel 27:1

The thought in David’s heart at this time was a false thought, because he certainly had no ground for thinking that God’s anointing him by Samuel was intended to be left as an empty, unmeaning act. On no occasion had the Lord deserted His servant; he had often been placed in perilous positions, but not one instance had occurred in which divine intervention had not delivered him. The trials to which he had been exposed had been varied; they had not assumed one form only, but many-yet in every case He who sent the trial had also graciously ordained a way of escape. David could not put his finger on any entry in his diary and say of it, “Here is evidence that the Lord will forsake me,” for the entire course of his past life proved the very reverse. He should have argued from what God had done for him that God would be his defender still.

But is it not in the same way that we doubt God’s help? Is it not mistrust without a cause? Have we ever had the shadow of a reason to doubt our Father’s goodness? Hasn’t His loving-kindness been marvelous? Has He ever once failed to justify our trust? Our God has never left us at any time. We have had dark nights, but the star of love has shone out amid the blackness; we have been in tough battles, but over our head He has held high the shield of our defense. We have gone through many trials but never to our detriment, always to our advantage; and the conclusion from our past experience is that He who has been with us in six troubles will not forsake us in the seventh.

What we have known of our faithful God proves that He will keep us to the end. Let us not, then, reason contrary to the evidence. How can we ever be so ungenerous as to doubt our God? Lord, throw down the Jezebel of our unbelief, and let the dogs devour it.

 

 

 

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Alistair Begg – Breakfast with Jesus

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Alistair Begg

Jesus said to them, ‘come and have breakfast.’

John 21:12

In these words the believer is invited to enjoy a holy nearness to Jesus. “Come and eat” implies the same table, the same food, and perhaps it means to sit side by side, and even lean our head on the Savior’s shoulder. It is being brought into the banqueting-house, where the banner of redeeming love waves in welcome.

This invitation gives us a vision of union with Jesus, because Christ Himself is the only food that we can feast upon when we eat with Him. What union is this! It has a depth that reason cannot fathom. Ponder His words: “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.”1

It is also an invitation to enjoy fellowship with the saints. Christians may differ on a variety of points, but they all have one spiritual appetite; and if we cannot all feel alike, we can all feed alike on the Bread of Life sent down from heaven. At the table of fellowship with Jesus we are one bread and one cup. As the loving cup goes around, we commit our lives to one another. Get nearer to Jesus, and you will find yourself linked more and more in spirit to all who like yourself are supported by the same heavenly manna. If we were nearer to Jesus, we would be nearer to one another.

We also see in these words the source of strength for every Christian. To look at Christ is to live; but for strength to serve Him, you must eat what He provides. We work too often in a sense of unnecessary weakness because we neglect this perception of the Master. None of us need to put ourselves on a low diet; on the contrary, we should fatten ourselves in the Gospel so that we may derive strength from it and extend every power to its limit in the Master’s service. Then if you would realize nearness to Jesus, union with Jesus, love to His people, and strength from Jesus, “come and have breakfast” with Him by faith.

1 John 6:56

 

 

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Alistair Begg – Who can Endure?

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Alistair Begg

But who can endure the day of his coming . . . ?

Malachi 3:2

Christ’s first coming was without external pomp or display of power, and yet in truth there were few who could endure its test. Herod and all Jerusalem with him were stirred at the news of the wondrous birth. Those who supposed themselves to be waiting for Him showed the fallacy of their professions by rejecting Him when He came. His life on earth was like a winnowing fan that sifted the great heap of religious profession, and only a few could survive the process.

But what will His second coming be? What sinner can endure to think of it? “He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.”1 In Gethsemane when He said to the soldiers, “I am he,” they fell backward. What will happen to His enemies when He will reveal Himself more fully as the “I Am”?

His death shook earth and darkened heaven. What will be the dreadful splendor of that day when as the living Savior He will summon the living and the dead before Him? O that the terrors of the Lord would persuade men to forsake their sins and kiss the Son in case He is angry!

Though a lamb, He is still the lion of the tribe of Judah, tearing the prey in pieces; and though He does not break the bruised reed, yet He will break His enemies with a rod of iron and dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel. None of His foes shall stand before the tempest of His wrath or hide themselves from the sweeping hail of His indignation.

But His beloved blood-washed people look for His appearing with joy; in this living hope they live without fear. To them He sits as a refiner even now, and when He has tested them they shall come forth as gold. Let us examine ourselves this morning and make our calling and election sure, so that the coming of the Lord may not be the cause of fearful expectations. O for grace to discard all hypocrisy, and to be found of Him sincere and without rebuke on the day of His appearing.

1 Isaiah 11:4

 

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – What is Spiritual Knowledge?

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Alistair Begg

I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

Philippians 3:8

Spiritual knowledge of Christ will be a personal knowledge. I cannot know Jesus through another person’s acquaintance with Him. I must know Him myself; I must know Him on my own account.

It will be an intelligent knowledge-I must know Him not as in the visionary dreams of Him, but as the Word reveals Him. I must know His natures, divine and human. I must know His offices (Prophet, Priest and King)-His attributes-His works-His shame-His glory. I must meditate upon Him until I “comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.”1

It will be an affectionate knowledge of Him; indeed, if I know Him at all, I must love Him. An ounce of heart knowledge is worth a ton of head learning. Our knowledge of Him will be a satisfying knowledge. When I know my Savior, my mind will be full to the brim-I will feel that I have that which my spirit longs for. This is the bread that satisfies all hunger.

At the same time it will be an exciting knowledge; the more I know of my Beloved, the more I will want to know. The higher I climb, the loftier will be the summits that invite my eager footsteps. I shall want more as I get more. Like the miser’s treasure, my gold will make me covet more.

To conclude, this knowledge of Christ Jesus will be a most happy one; in fact, so elevating that sometimes it will completely lift me above all trials and doubts and sorrows; and it will, while I enjoy it, make me something more than “Man . . . born of a woman . . . few of days and full of trouble,” for it will throw about me the immortality of the ever-living Savior and cover me with the golden cloak of His eternal joy. Come, my soul, sit at Jesus’ feet, and learn of Him all this day.

1 Ephesians 3:18-19

 

 

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Alistair Begg – Ponder the Things of God

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I will meditate on your precepts.

Psalms 119:15

There are times when solitude is better than company, and silence is wiser than speech. We would be better Christians if we were alone more often, waiting on God and gathering through meditation on His Word spiritual strength for service in His kingdom. We ought to ponder the things of God, because that is how we get the real nutriment out of them.

Truth is something like the cluster of the vine: In order to have wine from it, we must bruise it; we must press and squeeze it many times. The bruiser’s feet must come down joyfully on the bunches or else the juice will not flow; and the grapes must be properly tread or else much of the precious liquid will be wasted. So we must, by meditation, tread the clusters of truth if we desire the wine of consolation from them.

Our bodies are not supported by merely taking food into the mouth, but the process that really supplies the muscle and the nerve and the sinew and the bone is the process of digestion. It is by digestion that the outward food becomes assimilated with the inner life. Our souls are not nourished merely by listening for a while to this and then to that and then to the other part of divine truth. Hearing, reading, marking, and learning all require inward digesting to complete their usefulness, and the inward digesting of the truth lies mainly in meditating upon it.

Why is it that some Christians, although they hear many sermons, make only slow advances in the Christian life? Because they neglect their closets and do not thoughtfully meditate on God’s Word. They love the wheat, but they do not grind it; they want the corn, but they will not go out into the fields to gather it; the fruit hangs on the tree, but they will not pluck it; the water flows at their feet, but they will not stoop to drink it.

Deliver us, O Lord, from such folly, and may this be our resolve this morning: “I will meditate on your precepts.”

 

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Alistair Begg – The Praying Believer

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Alistair Begg

Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven.

Lamentations 3:41

The act of prayer teaches us our unworthiness, which is a very salutary lesson for proud people like us. If God gave us favors without constraining us to pray for them, we would never know how poor we are, but a true prayer is an inventory of wants, a catalog of necessities, a revelation of hidden poverty.

While prayer is an application to divine wealth, it is also a confession of human emptiness. The most healthy state of a Christian is always to be empty of self and constantly depending upon the Lord for provision; to be consistently poor in self and rich in Jesus; to be weak as water personally, but mighty through God to do great exploits. This is where prayer comes in, because while it adores God, it puts the creature where it should be-in the dust.

Prayer is in itself, apart from the answer that it brings, a great benefit to the Christian. As the runner gains strength for the race by daily exercise, so for the great race of life we acquire energy by the holy exercise of prayer. Prayer thins the feathers of God’s young eaglets, so that they can learn to soar above the clouds. Prayer readies God’s warriors and sends them out to combat with their sinews braced and their muscles firm. The praying believer comes out of his closet, even as the sun rises from the chambers of the east, rejoicing like an athlete about to race. Prayer is the uplifted hand of Moses that defeats the Amalekites more than the sword of Joshua; it is the arrow shot from the prophet’s chamber announcing defeat to the Syrians. Prayer equips human weakness with divine strength, turns human folly into heavenly wisdom, and gives the peace of God to troubled souls.

We do not know what prayer cannot do! We thank You, great God, for the mercy-seat, a wonderful evidence of your marvelous loving-kindness. Help us to use it properly throughout this day!

 

 

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Alistair Begg – Blameless

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Alistair Begg

Blameless before the presence of his glory.

Jude 24

Let your mind revolve around that wonderful word “blameless”! We are far from it now; but since our Lord never stops short of perfection in His work of love, we will reach it one day. The Savior who will keep His people to the end will also present them finally to Himself as “the church . . . in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.”1 All the jewels in the Savior’s crown are pure and without a single flaw. All the maids of honor who assist the Lamb’s wife are pure virgins without spot or stain.

But how will Jesus make us blameless? He will wash us from our sins in His own blood until we are as white and fair as God’s purest angel; and we will be clothed in His righteousness, that righteousness that makes the saint who wears it positively blameless-yes, perfect in the sight of God. We will be unblameable and unreprovable even in His eyes. Not only will His law have no charge against us, but it will be magnified in us. Moreover, the work of the Holy Spirit within us will be altogether complete. He will make us so perfectly holy that we will have no lingering tendency to sin. Judgment, memory, will-every power and passion will be set free from the tyranny of evil. We will be holy even as God is holy, and in His presence we will dwell forever. Saints will not be out of place in heaven; their beauty will be as great as that of the place prepared for them.

Oh, the intense delight of that hour when the everlasting doors will be lifted up, and we, being made fit for the inheritance, will dwell with the saints in light. Sin gone, Satan shut out, temptation past forever, and ourselves “blameless” before God-this will be heaven indeed!

Let us be joyful now as we rehearse the song of eternal praise that will soon sound forth in full chorus from all the blood-washed host; let us copy David’s exultings before the ark as a prelude to our ecstasies before the throne.

11 Ephesians 5:27

 

 

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Alistair Begg – No More Dangerous Road

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Alistair Begg

. . . Able to keep you from stumbling.

Jude 24

In some ways the path to heaven is very safe, but in other respects there is no more dangerous road. It is surrounded with difficulties. One false step (and how easy it is to take that if grace is absent), and down we go. What a slippery path some of us have to tread! How many times do we have to exclaim with the psalmist, “My feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.”1

If we were strong, surefooted mountaineers, this would not matter so much; but in ourselves, how weak we are! On the best roads we soon falter; in the smoothest paths we quickly stumble. These feeble knees of ours can scarcely support our tottering weight. A feather may divert us, and a pebble can wound us. We are mere children taking our first trembling steps in the walk of faith; our heavenly Father holds us by the arms or we would soon be down.

If we are kept from falling, how we should bless the patient power that watches over us day by day! Think how prone we are to sin, how apt to choose danger, how strong our tendency to stumble and fall, and these reflections will make us sing more sweetly than we have ever done, “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling.” We have many enemies who try to put us down. The road is rough, and we are weak; but in addition to this, enemies hide in ambush and rush out when we least expect them and try to trip us up or throw us over the nearest cliff.

Only an almighty arm can preserve us from these unseen foes who are seeking to destroy us. Such an arm is involved in our defense. He is faithful who has promised, and He is able to keep us from falling, so that with a deep sense of our utter weakness, we may cherish a firm belief in our perfect safety and say with joyful confidence

Against me earth and hell combine,

But on my side is power divine;

Jesus is all, and He is mine!

1Psalm 73:2

 

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Alistair Begg – Miraculous Catch of Fish

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Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.

Luke 5:4

We learn from this narrative the necessity of human activity. The catch of fish was miraculous, but neither the fisherman nor his boat nor his fishing tackle were ignored; they were all were used to take the fish. So in the saving of souls, God works by means; and while the present economy of grace shall stand, God will be pleased by the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe. When God works without instruments, He is glorified; but He has selected this plan of human involvement as being that by which He is most magnified in the earth.

The means themselves can accomplish nothing. “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!” What was the reason for this? Were they not experienced fishermen going about their business? They were not novices; they understood the work. Was the problem that they lacked skill? No. Were they lazy? No; they had worked. Did they lack perseverance? No; they had worked all night. Was there a lack of fish in the sea? Certainly not, for as soon as the Master came, they swam to the net in large numbers. What, then, is the reason? It is because there is no power in the means themselves apart from the presence of Jesus. Without Him we can do nothing. But with Christ we can do all things.

Christ’s presence confers success. Jesus sat in Peter’s boat, and His will, by a mysterious influence, drew the fish to the net. When Jesus is lifted up in His Church, His presence is the church’s power-the shout of a king is in the midst of her. “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”1 Let us go out this morning on our work of soul-fishing, looking up in faith, and around us at the great opportunity. Let us work until the night comes, and we will not labor in vain, for He who tells us to let down the net will fill it with fish.

1John 12:32

 

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Testing Our Faith

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Alistair Begg

Why have you dealt ill with your servant?

Numbers 11:11

Our heavenly Father sends us frequent troubles to test our faith. If our faith is worth anything, it will stand the test. Gilt is afraid of fire, but gold is not: The imitation gem dreads being touched by the diamond, but the true jewel fears no test. It is a poor faith that can only trust God when friends are true, the body is healthy, and the business profitable; but it is true faith that rests in the Lord’s faithfulness when friends are gone, the body is ailing, spirits are depressed, and the light of our Father’s face is hidden. A faith that can say, in the deepest trouble, “Though he slay me, I will hope in him”1 is heaven-born faith.

The Lord afflicts His servants to glorify Himself, for He is greatly glorified in the graces of His people, who are His own handiwork. When “suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope,”2 the Lord is honored by these growing virtues. We would never know the music of the harp if the strings were left untouched, nor enjoy the juice of the grape if it were not trodden in the winepress, nor discover the sweet perfume of cinnamon if it were not pressed and beaten, nor feel the warmth of fire if the coals were not completely consumed. The wisdom and power of God are discovered by the trials through which His children are permitted to pass.

Present afflictions tend also to heighten future joy. There must be shade in the picture to bring out the beauty of the light. Could we be so supremely blessed in heaven if we had not known the curse of sin and the sorrow of earth? Will peace not be sweeter after conflict, and rest more welcome after labor? Will the recollection of past sufferings not serve to enhance the bliss of the glorified?

There are many other comfortable answers to the question with which we opened our brief meditation; let us think upon it all day long.

1Job 13:15 2 Romans 5:3-4

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Never Be Thirsty

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Alistair Begg

But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever.

John 4:14

The person who believes in Jesus finds enough in his Lord to satisfy him now and to content him forevermore. The believer is not the man whose days are weary for lack of comfort and whose nights are long on account of the absence of heart-cheering thought. The believer finds in faith such a spring of joy, such a fountain of consolation that he is content and happy. Put him in a dungeon, and he will find good company; place him in a barren wilderness, and he will eat the bread of heaven; drive him away from friendship, and he will meet the “friend who sticks closer than a brother.”1 Destroy all his shade, and he will find shadow beneath the Rock of Ages; erode the foundation of his earthly hopes, but his heart will still be fixed, trusting in the Lord.

The heart is as insatiable as the grave until Jesus enters it, and then it becomes a cup full to overflowing. There is such a fullness in Christ that He alone is the believer’s sufficiency. The true saint is so completely satisfied with the provision of Jesus that he no longer thirsts-except perhaps to drink more deeply at the living fountain.

In that sweet manner, believer, you will thirst; it will not be a thirst of pain, but of loving desire; you will find it a sweet thing to be longing for a deeper enjoyment of Jesus’ love. An old saint once declared, “I have been lowering my bucket into the well so often, but now my thirst for Jesus has become so insatiable, that I long to put the well itself to my lips and drink right out of it.”

Is this the feeling of your heart now, believer? Do you feel that all your desires are satisfied in Jesus and that you have no need now except to know more of Him and to have closer fellowship with Him? Then come continually to the fountain, and take the water of life freely. Jesus will never think you take too much but will always welcome you, saying, “Drink; yes, drink abundantly, loved one.”

1Proverbs 18:24

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Meant for Service

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Alistair Begg

And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights.

1 Kings 19:8

All the strength supplied to us by our gracious God is meant for service, not for indulgence or pride. When the prophet Elijah found the cake baked on the coals and the jar of water placed at his head as he lay under the juniper tree, he was not being given a special treat that he could lie back and enjoy–he was being sustained so that he could fulfill his responsibilities for the next forty days and forty nights. When the Master invited the disciples to come and eat with Him, after the meal was over He said to Peter, “Feed my sheep,” then added, “Follow me.”

It is the same for us; we eat the bread of heaven so that we can expend our strength in the Master’s service. We come to the table and eat of the paschal lamb in a spirit of readiness, so that we may leave as soon as we have satisfied our hunger.

Some Christians are for living on Christ but are not so anxious to live for Christ. Earth should be a preparation for heaven; and heaven is the place where saints feast most and work most. They sit down at the table of our Lord, and they serve Him day and night in His temple. They eat of heavenly food and offer perfect service.

Believer, in the strength you daily gain from Christ, work for Him. Some of us have a lot to learn concerning the design of our Lord in giving us His grace. We are not to hide the precious grains of truth without giving that truth an opportunity to grow: We must sow it and water it. Why does the Lord send the rain upon the thirsty earth and give the sunshine? Is it not in order that sun and rain may help the fruits of the earth to yield food for us? Even so the Lord feeds and refreshes our souls so that we may use our renewed strength in the promotion of His glory.