You shall not steal.

Exodus 20:15

This eighth commandment is, on its face, a simple instruction. But like all of Scripture, the commandments reward prayerful reflection. And when we approach this command carefully, we find that it reaches further into our lives than we first imagined.

To understand the true offense of stealing, we need to see the two biblical principles that undergird the eighth commandment. One is the right to private property; the other is the sovereign ownership of God over all He has made. In other words, God owns all things, and He grants temporary stewardship to us. So to steal something from someone is an offense against God as the ultimate owner and against the person who is stewarding it.

We will not, however, fully understand this commandment until we grasp the various ways it extends into our lives. Stealing can take many forms. There are the more obvious ones:

• blatant theft

• borrowing something we fail to return

• keeping dishonest records

• misusing our employer’s time

• paying unjust wages, withholding wages, or delaying wages

But there are other, less obvious ways to steal, which this commandment also speaks to:

• slandering others, thereby stealing their reputation

• sinning sexually with another, thereby stealing their moral purity

• plagiarizing, thereby stealing someone else’s work

• cheating in the classroom

• failing to give God what we owe Him (Malachi 3:8)

The eighth commandment leaves no stone of our lives unturned, and, if we are honest, we all find ourselves guilty of breaking it in one way or another. Yet in His grace and wisdom God not only tells us what not to do; He also tells us what to pursue: “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need” (Ephesians 4:28). The right response to the eighth commandment is not merely not to steal but to commit ourselves to lives of honesty, integrity, hard work, and generosity.

This is what we see in the life of Zacchaeus. He was a tax collector and guilty of stealing, yet when he encountered the Lord Jesus, he repented of his sin and restored what he had stolen, committing himself to making things right (Luke 19:7-8). This is what repentance and obedience look like when it comes to this command. So consider first: How have I been guilty of stealing? Of what am I being called to repent? And then ask yourself: How will I now commit myself to giving and sharing where once I was stealing?

Questions for Thought

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?

Further Reading

2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Topics: Repentance Stealing Stewardship

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotional by Alistair Begg,

http://www.truthforlife.org

You shall not commit adultery.

Exodus 20:14

Of all the lies proclaimed in the world around us, one of the most widely believed is that any limits imposed on personal freedom amount to oppression. This is perhaps most clear in the realm of sexual morality, where the only thing off limits seems to be the setting of limits itself. The tragic irony is that this so-called freedom is in truth bondage to sinful desires, and it results not in wholeness but in broken bodies and broken hearts.

What God’s word tells us when it comes to sexual morality is straightforward: we are to practice chastity outside marriage and fidelity within it. This is the path not to oppression but to true liberty and blessing (James 1:25). That is why the seventh commandment is what it is: “You shall not commit adultery.” In marriage, two people enter into a covenant, becoming one. And this comprehensive union, in which husband and wife become interwoven emotionally, physically, spiritually, and in every other dimension, serves as a parable of the relationship between Christ and His bride, the church (Ephesians 5:22-33). The sacred union is not, then, to be intruded upon or broken (Matthew 19:6).

When a husband or wife commits adultery, it sets off a chain reaction of tragedies: there is sin against God, against the body, against the spouse, against the partner in adultery, and against the partner’s spouse. In other words, disaster ensues. Sex is intended for the marriage bond alone, so when you remove it from that context, it becomes monstrous, consuming, and devastating.

Yet we ought not to think that adultery is limited to just the physical act. We learn from the Lord Jesus that adultery starts internally: “I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). We know, of course, that the consequences of physical adultery far outpace those of lust, but the deserved judgment and our guilt before God are equal no matter the sin.

What can Christian men and women do to guard themselves and one another against adulterous acts and thoughts? For starters, we can practice the presence of God, communing with Him and remembering that we have no secrets before Him. We can memorize the word of God, filling our hearts with it that we might not sin against Him (Psalm 119:11). And we can stick with the people of God, pursuing fellowship in worship and accountability, all to the end of being stirred up to love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24-25).

Nevertheless, we all stand guilty before the seventh commandment. We are in no position to look down on others or see ourselves as spotless. Our lives, our hands, and our thoughts do not pass the test of purity. And yet you are never out of the reach of God’s grace in Christ, no matter how much baggage you carry. If you truly and earnestly repent of your sins, if you truly and earnestly cast yourself upon God’s mercy and grace, you will be forgiven, pardoned, cleansed, and set free—free for the Spirit of God to work in your life, enabling you to think and live in a way that pleases Him.

Questions for Thought

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?

Further Reading

1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

Topics: Adultery Lust Purity

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotional by Alistair Begg,

http://www.truthforlife.org

You shall not murder.

Exodus 20:13

If you want to cut to the chase in learning how someone views the world, ask him or her why it’s wrong to murder. The question gets at the issue of human life and its value—which is the issue addressed in the sixth commandment. It also gets past political differences and reveals what people think about life’s meaning, purpose, and origin.

A vast number of people functionally think that life has no inherent value beyond someone’s usefulness. So long as an individual contributes to society, his or her value remains intact. But this means that some deaths—abortion and euthanasia, for example—are deemed less tragic and perhaps even “good” because that person is unwanted or perceived as a drain on society and therefore, in the final analysis, of inferior worth.

This is not the way the Bible speaks. Scripture could not be clearer about the fact that men and women are valuable because they are made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26; Psalm 8:5-6). Such value does not move along a spectrum but is fixed and immovable. Only when we see human life in this way, as God does, do we understand all that is implied in the simple command “You shall not murder.”

Here are three ways unfortunately common ways we might violate the vision of life in the sixth commandment. First is homicide. God is the Giver of life, and He alone has the authority to take it. To wrongfully take someone’s life is to make an assault on the divine image (Genesis 9:5-6). Second is suicide, the act of willfully causing one’s own death. God says, “All souls are mine” (Ezekiel 18:4); we do not have the right to take our own life (though that is not to say that this cannot be forgiven). A third is abortion. From the moment of conception, the fetus in the womb is a human being (Psalm 139:13). The fact that for several months that child cannot survive outside the womb does not affect his or her right to the same protection given to other human beings (though again, there is forgiveness available for violating the sixth commandment in this way).

Perhaps you’ve made it this far and think you’re doing fine. Not so fast! Jesus does not let us off that easily, for He says that the judgment the murderer deserves is also deserved by the one with unchecked anger (Matthew 5:21-22). All of us, if we’re honest, have known murder in our hearts. We’ve harbored thoughts of contemptuous anger and its ugly bedfellows—animosity, malice, hostility, and gossip—whereby we kill people in our hearts all the time. Perhaps we are doing so right now. And so we stand condemned.

But here is the encouragement: if you are feeling the weight of guilt as you grasp the scope and gravity of this commandment, that is precisely the point! You will never conform perfectly to the perfect law of God—but He has still offered forgiveness that will wash away your sin and your guilt. Beyond that, He offers transformation—the kind that can take angry, murderous hearts and transform them into hearts of love and grace. Of what do you need to repent? For what do you need to be forgiven? In what way do you need the Spirit to change you?

GOING DEEPER

Matthew 5:21-26

Topics: Anger Death Murder

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotional by Alistair Begg, 

http://www.truthforlife.org

Honor your father and your mother.

Exodus 20:12

The fifth commandment is simultaneously a simple instruction and an indispensable element of the well-being of entire societies. When the Lord gives the command “Honor your father and mother,” He is laying down the blueprint for maintaining the stability of families, communities, and nations.

What does it mean to honor your parents? The word for “honor” carries the notion of weight and heaviness; children ought to feel the weight of respect for their parents. Parents are owed such regard because God has placed them in their roles, and the stewardship of such a role is worth its weight in honor. While children are in view here, the Bible also has much to say about parenting that honors God (see Ephesians 6:4; Colossians 3:21).

How does a child display this honor? In several ways. For one, a child ought to show practical respect to his or her parents. This can be as simple as speaking well of our parents, showing them courtesy, looking them in the eye, and addressing them with a due sense of deference. Second, it involves genuine love; there should be heartfelt expressions of affection between parents and their children. Third, unless it would involve disobeying God, a child ought to obey what his or her mom and dad say. This expectation is found all over Proverbs: for example, “Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching” (Proverbs 1:8). Fourth, a child should submit to their parents’ discipline. All good parents discipline their children (though it must not be done in anger nor vindictively or disproportionately), and children ought to trust that such discipline is for their good (Hebrews 12:5-11).

In ancient Israel, respect for parents was valued so highly that those who disregarded it flagrantly or persistently faced the death penalty (Deuteronomy 21:18-21). Why such a significant consequence? Because the home provides a vital training ground, the success of which affects how the child will relate to authorities of all kinds. We never outrun authority in our lives. There are political authorities we are called to obey (Romans 13:1-7), spiritual authorities we are to respect (Hebrews 13:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:12), and those of advanced years we are commanded to honor (Leviticus 19:32). Most significantly, when children learn to honor their parents, even despite their parents’ many imperfections, they learn what it means to honor our perfect heavenly Father. Reverence for parents is an integral part of reverence for God. Because their authority is God-given, to honor them is to honor God Himself.

So if you are a parent with children at home, it is not loving (though it may be easier) to fail to insist that your children honor you. And if you are an adult with parents still living, it is a matter of obedience to God that you show them the honor they are due, not according to how well (or otherwise) you feel they raised you but according to the position the Lord gave them. As you honor them, you will be pleasing Him and showing those around you that God-given authority, when exercised in a godly way, is a blessing to all.

GOING DEEPER

Ephesians 6:1-4

Topics: Children Discipline Parenting

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotional by Alistair Begg,

http://www.truthforlife.org

Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.

Exodus 20:9-10

Having established that the fourth commandment remains what it has always been—a commandment of the Lord—and as such is relevant to our lives, we can now think profitably about how to keep it. But we must be careful as we get specific about honoring the Sabbath. The Lord Jesus, after all, had some very strong words for the Pharisees regarding the way their moral specificity had become a means not of obedience but of self-righteousness (Mark 2:23 – 3:6).

With trembling and humility, then, let’s consider how are we to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. How do we prevent worldly concerns—those of leisure, recreation, and work—from infringing on our enjoyment and worship of God?

Let’s think first of public worship. What kinds of conversations do you typically have prior to the worship service? Are they concerned at any point with the things of God, or only ever with sports, family, and every other thing? It takes an act of the will to give eternal matters priority in our minds and mouths. If you were to determine that in your preparation for worship you would set aside every priority which looms so large on other days, I guarantee your time at church would be changed.

The same goes for after the service. When the last song has been sung and the service is over, how long does it take for your mind and conversation to return to worldly matters? If we were instead to commit to spending time after the service speaking to one another about the greatness of God, the truth of His word, and the wonder of His dealings with us, and praying with one another about the week ahead and the trials we face, then we would begin to understand better the “one another” passages in the New Testament about encouraging one another (Hebrews 10:25), speaking the truth to one another (Ephesians 4:25), and building one another up (1 Thessalonians 5:11)—for we would be living them out.

Similarly, in our private affairs on the Lord’s Day, spiritual improvement should still take priority. That may mean family worship, reading edifying books, prayer, discussion of what was preached that morning, and more—but whatever it means, we should make it our aim not to let the cares of the other six days push into our spiritual enjoyment of the first day of the week.

If you want to profit from keeping the Sabbath, and if you want to take the fourth commandment seriously, then your conviction must fuel your action, and aspiration must turn into practice. Avoid making rules that only foster self-righteousness, but consider whether anything needs to change. How will you keep the Sabbath holy the next time Sunday comes round?

GOING DEEPER

Isaiah 58:13-14, Isaiah 59:1-2

Topics: Love of God The Sabbath Worship

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotional by Alistair Begg, 

http://www.truthforlife.org

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Exodus 20:8

Throughout history there have been well-meaning, earnest Christians who have, perhaps without knowing it, functionally believed that the Ten Commandments are really only the Nine Commandments. Somewhere along the way, some have decided that the fourth commandment is not like the rest of the commandments but rather is a relic that belongs in the past. In truth, though, the command to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy has abiding significance for us all, even today.

Why has this simple command fallen on such hard times? Some have claimed that its regulations and penalties were tied to the old covenant, so it must no longer be relevant. Yet we don’t treat the other commandments this way. Others have said that the way Jesus spoke of being “lord of the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:8) diminished the commandment’s significance and force. But what Jesus sought to overturn was not the Sabbath itself but the external rules of the Pharisees.

I suspect that what keeps most Christians from thinking of the fourth commandment as we ought to is simply that we don’t like its implications. We don’t like the way it intrudes into our lives, our leisure, and whatever else takes precedence in our hearts. And so we act as though this command is in a different category from the other nine.

If we want to grasp the significance of the Sabbath and respond to it in a God-honoring way, we must embrace, as a conviction, the truth that God has set aside the Sabbath day as distinct from the rest. This was the case in the week of creation, with God resting on the seventh day and declaring it sanctified. The church, in the age of the new covenant, then changed the day from the seventh of the week to the first to mark the resurrection of Christ. In both cases, we see that the distinction of the day is woven into God’s work of creation and redemption.

With that conviction in place, we can see that the day is not simply a day set apart from other days, but it is a day set apart to the Lord. If we don’t see it this way, we will be tempted to view our spiritual exercises on the Lord’s Day as something to “get over with” in order to “get on with” our week. If this is our mentality, we stand condemned by the fourth commandment.

The Sabbath ought to be treasured for what it is: a gift of a day on which we enjoy, uninterrupted by leisure commitments or (if at all possible) by employment, the privilege of God’s presence, the study of God’s word, and the fellowship of God’s people. Seen like that, this command becomes an invitation: not only something we should do but something we will love to do. If this is not how you have been viewing God’s Sabbath, then ask yourself: What’s preventing you from honoring the Lord’s Day? Take stock of your habits and receive the gift of the Sabbath. From next Sunday, be sure that your priority is not to make the Lord’s Day convenient but to keep it holy.

GOING DEEPER

Hebrews 4:1-11

Topics: Christian Living The Sabbath

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotional by Alistair Begg, 

http://www.truthforlife.org

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

Exodus 20:7

If we were to take a poll asking people which of the Ten Commandments they regard as the least significant, I wonder if the “winner” would be the third. When compared to false gods and graven images, the third command doesn’t seem like such a serious offense. But if the one who wrongly uses the name of God incurs guilt, then it must be important—and we need to understand why.

Scripture is clear that God’s name is precious and powerful. One place where we see this is in the encounters between God and Moses. In Exodus 33, Moses asks God to reveal His glory. His request invites a death sentence because it is not possible to see God’s glory and live. But God graciously grants the request in a way that prevents Moses’ demise, for He demonstrates His glory not by a physical manifestation but by revealing His name: “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious” (Exodus 34:6; emphasis added). His name reveals His character, which in turn reveals His glory.

Earlier, in Exodus 3, God had revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush. Moses had been tasked with a weighty mission and wanted to know what to say when people asked who had sent him. God told Moses to say, “I AM has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14). By using a form of the verb to be to name Himself, God declared that He is self-existent, self-sufficient, and sovereign, depending on no one and nothing. Who else can claim such a name?

In declaring and disclosing Himself, God does not merely identify Himself; He reveals the wonder of who He is. So to misuse God’s name is to misunderstand His greatness and glory. Only when we grasp this can we understand why the third commandment is so significant.

In what ways, then, might we break this commandment? For one, we break it every time we use God’s name to strengthen our vows and promises, bringing down the name of divinity in order to make ourselves sound more believable (James 5:12). We also blaspheme God when we use His name in anger, in arrogance, or in defiance of who He is. We misuse His name when we utter falsehoods and use it to back them up. Perhaps closer to home, in every worship service we attend where we worship God with our lips only and not from our heart, we break the third commandment.

Only when we see the glory of God’s name and when we use it in praise, love, prayer, obedience, and gratitude do we understand why our Lord Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name” (Matthew 6:9, KJV, emphasis added). His name is to be hallowed because it proclaims who He is, reveals His character, and is a strong refuge for all who call on it (Proverbs 18:10). And it is to be hallowed in the lives of His people—including in your life, as you bear the name of Christ and take it on your lips with reverence and love.

GOING DEEPER

Exodus 3:1-22

Topics: Character of God Glory of God Law

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotional by Alistair Begg

http://www.truthforlife.org

You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

Exodus 20:4

If the first commandment—“You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3)—deals with the object of our worship, the second commandment deals with the manner of our worship. What the second commandment tells us is that it is not enough that we worship the correct God; we must also worship Him correctly.

The clear and immediate meaning of the command is that God is to be worshiped without any visual symbols of Him. Why the prohibition? Because God is spirit: infinite and unfathomably great. No physical representation could ever do justice to His glory and grandeur. The problem with statues, shrines, and pictures is not that they don’t look good but that no matter how good they look, they will inevitably blur the truth about God’s nature and character. Such images tend to distract men and women from worshiping the true and living God, instead leading them to worship whatever representation is before them.

Yet the second commandment takes us beyond mere images and idol-making and into our own thought life. Our hands may be innocent of making graven images, but our imaginations seldom are. Any conception of God in our minds and hearts that is not derived from Scripture runs foul of this command.

When God gave instructions for the building of the temple, He ordered that the ark of the covenant, on which His presence would dwell, should reside in the Most Holy Place (Exodus 26:34). What was inside the ark? Perhaps most significant is what was not in it: it contained no visible representation of God. Instead, there were the two tablets of the Ten Commandments. It was as if God was saying to His people, as He says to us, Don’t look for Me in shrines, paintings, or statues. I’m not there. Look for Me in My word.

And so we take our cues from God. If we want to worship Him—if we want to meet with Him and know what He is like—we must conform our minds to His word. Our own attempts to conceive of God apart from divine revelation will invariably fail. He has published His truth in His word, and so we are to tether ourselves to what is revealed there.

What’s at stake in this is the integrity not only of our worship but also of our lives—because when people go wrong in their worship, they end up wrong in their living. Anything and anyone that encourages us to worship the correct God incorrectly will prove to be a detriment to our spiritual growth. What a tragedy it would be to embrace an image and miss the person of Christ, to sit at a shrine and miss the Savior, to worship a misconception and fail to know Jesus. Instead, resist the urge to modify God in your mind or conform Him to your own image, and be sure to know Him as He has revealed Himself.

GOING DEEPER

Isaiah 40:12-25

Topics: Character of God God’s Word Worship

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotional by Alistair Begg,

http://www.truthforlife.org

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.

Exodus 20:2-3

Perhaps the most basic truth about the God of Scripture is that He is the only one. There is no other. This truth ought to simplify things for us because it teaches us that there is only one who is the worthy object of our love, loyalty, and devotion. But the hearts of men and women are not so easily instructed. And so it is necessary for God to give us the first commandment: “You shall have no other gods before me.” The danger is not that there are actual other gods for us to worship but that we have a proclivity for making them.

On first glance, this first command is straightforward. To live for a god other than the true God would be like taking a second spouse while your first spouse is still alive and still happy to be your spouse. Worse, it would be like taking a second spouse who is in truth a figment of your imagination. It would be a breach of an exclusive relationship.

We must not kid ourselves that we are immune from the possibility of breaking this commandment. Many of us read it and picture people bowing down before statues or going through elaborate rituals, and those mental images assure us that we’re not in danger of violating it. Yet the commandments are not restricted to outward actions but also relate to the disposition of our minds and hearts. From this perspective, we may not be as far from those mental images as we assume. We may not have statues to which we bow down, but maybe we have segments of our lives that we keep away from God, preserving them under the authority of some other little “deity”—ourselves, perhaps.

Ask yourself: “Do I joyfully acknowledge God’s comprehensive claim on my life? Is God in charge of my family, my work, my relationships, my money, my dating, my use of time?” Take a close and honest look to see if there are portions of life you try to keep from Him.

In addition to keeping things away from God, another form of danger is functionally replacing Him. When we put our family, our job, our hobbies, or anything else in the place that is God’s alone, we violate the first commandment. To the degree that we allow anyone or anything besides obedience to God to direct our course day to day, we defy His law.

So we are not so safe from the possibility of breaking this commandment as we may think! While we must acknowledge the truth that there is one God, we must also beware our own ability to put things in His place. If we do not daily submit ourselves to Him and entrust the entirety of our lives to Him, something will take His place. We are made to worship. The question is, are you going to worship the living God or are you going to pretend there is another?

GOING DEEPER

1 John 1:8-10, 1 John 2:1-3

Topics: Idolatry Worship

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotional by Alistair Begg

http://www.truthforlife.org

God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”

Exodus 20:1-2

To faithfully read and respond to the Ten Commandments, we must first understand what they are and are not. We find clarity in the truth that lies at their head: “I am the LORD your God.” This reminder of who God is precedes the instructions that follow. In other words, the I am of God’s person grounds the you shall of His commands. He can command us because of who He is. The psalmist further expresses this: “Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his” (Psalm 100:3). God created us, and His being our Creator grants Him rights and authority over His creation. Regardless of the efforts of our world to reject the creational handiwork of God and thus His authority over our lives, His role as our Ruler remains unthreatened. He has made us; we are His.

When we remember who spoke the law, we are in a position to grasp the purpose of the Ten Commandments as well as to understand what they are not.

First, the commandments are not a formal list of dos and don’ts given to restrict our personal freedoms. God is not some cosmic killjoy. In fact, if you wanted to provide a heading for the Ten Commandments, you could call them “Guidelines to Freedom.” They do not restrict our freedom but rather give us a blueprint for joy, showing us how life works best. Second, the commandments are not intended as a ladder up which we climb to attain acceptance with God. No such ladder has ever existed! God brought His people out of slavery—from Egypt in the exodus, and from sin and death at the cross—before He called us to obey Him. So we obey because we’ve been “brought out,” not in order to persuade Him to do so. Rather than being rules that save us, the Ten Commandments serve as a mirror in which we see ourselves, revealing the depth of our sin and our need for a Savior—and they show how we can live to please our Savior. Third, the Ten Commandments have not been rendered obsolete by the coming of Christ. When Jesus said that the two greatest commandments were to love God and love our neighbor, He was summarizing the Ten Commandments (Mark 12:28-31). What does it mean to love God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength? The first four commandments tell us. What does it look like to love our neighbor as ourselves? The final six commandments flesh that out. Jesus, master teacher that He was, summed up the ten with the two.

When you see all this, you are ready to read the Ten Commandments and let them transform your life. You must see the sin that the commandments reveal and respond in repentance and faith in the one who fulfilled the law and offers Himself as your Savior. He, the Lord Jesus Christ, will ensure that this law is not merely etched into your conscience but also inscribed on your heart. Give yourself to the Lord and His ways, and you’ll find everlasting joy and liberty.

GOING DEEPER

Exodus 20:1-17

Topics: Grace of God Law Obedience

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotional by Alistair Begg,

http://www.truthforlife.org

They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind.

John 9:13

The great tragedy of John 9 is not that a man had been blind for years until he met Jesus, but that a group of men were left spiritually blind despite having seen the work of Jesus.

The healing and transformation of the life of the man born blind caused a great stir in his community. Presumably he had been so much a part of people’s surroundings that it was easy to disregard him. Yet suddenly their normal daily experience was disrupted. The man who was once blind could now see perfectly well, and he was no longer asking for money (John 9:8-10).

Unable to solve this mystery, they presented the formerly blind man to the religious leaders, the Pharisees, to see if they could shed some light on what had occurred. What followed was not a conversation between the man and the Pharisees so much as an interrogation. Instead of rejoicing in his story, they challenged his testimony.

The reason for the Pharisees’ harsh reaction, at least on the surface, was that the man had been healed on the Sabbath (John 9:14-16). The religious leaders were unable to rejoice in the restoration of his sight because they were blinded by their religious formalism. The forms and structures of religion that they boasted in were the very things that proved to be a barrier to their faith in Jesus. They kept their lists of what was acceptable, and so they were unable to recognize the work of the God they claimed to worship, even when the evidence was quite literally (and miraculously) looking them in the face.

Religious formalism cannot face the dramatic impact that Jesus makes when He takes a person and turns him or her upside down—which is actually to turn them the right way up! Unwilling to acknowledge their own need for transformation—and the truth that only a radical internal transformation gives significance to the religious life—religious formalists hide behind maintaining appearances. Nothing challenges the religious formalist more than coming face-to-face with someone who has had their eyes opened to the salvation that is found in Jesus.

The Pharisees’ reaction to the blind man’s healing teaches us, then, to beware of the dangers of religious formalism. A blind commitment to religion has the potential to keep us from Jesus, just as it did with them.

Have your eyes been opened to the salvation found only in Jesus? Or has your focus on religious performance prevented you from rejoicing in the wonder of God’s amazing grace? Are you weighed down by religion’s burden or rejoicing in the awesome, often surprising work of the Lord Jesus? Look to Him alone for salvation and accept that He will not be constrained by your assumptions, for then you’ll find a joy, a transformation, and an excitement in the gospel that no amount of rule-keeping could ever provide.

GOING DEEPER

Philippians 3:1-11

Topics: Jesus Christ Judgmentalism Legalism

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotional by Alistair Begg,

http://www.truthforlife.org

By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.

Hebrews 11:30

If we desire to see fortresses fall, to see the gates of hell unhinged and laid in the dirt, to see pagan philosophies dismantled and the rampages of evil in our world torn down, we need to hear God’s word, believe it, and act in obedience to it. In other words, we need to learn from Joshua and the Israelites at the walls of Jericho.

When God’s people crossed into the promised land and reached the strategically vital city of Jericho, it was “shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in” (Joshua 6:1). Jericho was an impenetrable city. But the Lord came to Joshua and said, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor” (v 2). The means by which He would deliver the city to His people were detailed, and peculiar: they were to march round the city for six days and then seven times more on the seventh day, this time with the priests blowing their trumpets. In response to God’s promise, Joshua called the priests and armed men of Israel before him and conveyed the Lord’s word to the people, who then “went forward, blowing the trumpets, with the ark of the covenant of the LORD following them” as they marched around the city (v 8).

Why would anybody in their right mind do such a thing? The only plausible explanation is that the people had heard the word of the Lord spoken, believed that it was true, and acted in obedience. If this plan had been absent the word of God, it would have been nonsensical. If it had been heard by people who lacked real belief, they would never have carried it out. Because, and only because, Joshua and his men heard God’s message and put their faith in Him, they responded in obedience.

God’s way so often is to make a promise and then issue a command that makes no sense without that promise. He promised Noah that a flood was coming and commanded him to build the ark. He promised Abram that He would give him a family and land and commanded him to leave almost everything he had ever known. He promised Moses that He would rescue the people from Egypt and commanded him to make demands of the most powerful monarch in the world. Faith hears the promise, hears the command, believes both, and acts in obedience.

If we want to exercise faith on a daily basis in order that, like a muscle, it may grow to maturity, we have to abide in God’s word. We have to read it and ask, “What am I being promised? What am I being commanded? What will obedience look like in my life today?” This kind of daily communion with the Lord through His word strengthens our faith and produces steadfast obedience so that as we live our Christian lives, as we persevere through trials, as we obey God simply and only because we believe His promises to us, God says, I’ll bring the walls down.

GOING DEEPER

Joshua 6:1-20

Topics: The Bible Faith God’s Word

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotional by Alistair Begg

http://www.truthforlife.org

I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance.

Philippians 1:19

Your prayers change things.

The apostle Paul understood this well. The book of Acts charts the rapid expansion of the church throughout the eastern Mediterranean world, fueled in large part by his three great missionary journeys. Yet it concludes with Paul living under house arrest at his own expense for two whole years (Acts 28:30). From a human perspective, it would seem that by this point his situation was hopeless. The Jews had been trying to kill him for years. He’d been in a series of trials because of trumped-up charges. He’d faced shipwreck, beatings, and hardships. And now he was chained to a Roman soldier, with no freedom to come and go as he pleased. His circumstances seemed to indicate that everything was against him and against what God might accomplish through him.

Yet in the midst of Paul’s difficult circumstances, he was confident in the power of prayer. During his Roman imprisonment, Paul wrote to the Philippian church, “I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance.” He also wrote a letter to his friend Philemon that contained the following words: “Prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping that through your prayers I will be graciously given to you” (Philemon 22, emphasis added).

Paul’s letters indicate that he was confident that he would be released from prison, and he believed that his deliverance would come by means of the prayers of his believing friends. And though Acts never mentions Paul’s release, we can be fairly confident, from reading his other letters and Acts side by side, that he was indeed allowed to leave.

Paul was convinced that God was sovereign and that He was working everything out according to the eternal counsel of His will (Ephesians 1:11). But at the same time, he was not a determinist—he did not believe that nothing we do matters because nothing we do changes anything. That is because he knew that very often God works His plans out through means—through people. So Paul didn’t think that God’s sovereignty made prayer irrelevant, because he understood that God had ordained not only the end to which he was moving but also the means that would bring him there—means that included the prayers of God’s people.

God commands and expects you to pray. In a mysterious way that you cannot fully comprehend, your prayers are enfolded into the great outworking of His purposes. So when your life ceases to make sense and everything appears to be against you, don’t assume that God’s purposes for you have been thwarted. Direct your gaze to Him and ask others to join you in prayer. It may be that their prayers are the sovereign means that God will use to bring about your deliverance—for in His kindness, God has ordained that the prayers of His people really do change things.

GOING DEEPER

Luke 11:1-13

Topics: Christian Living Prayer Sovereignty of God

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotional by Alistair Begg

http://www.truthforlife.org

In the Lord I take refuge; how can you say to my soul, “Flee like a bird to your mountain”?

Psalm 11:1

When it comes to crises in life, it is not a matter of whether they will come but when. And when they do, our response will be to flee to a refuge—somewhere or something or someone we trust will keep us safe and protect us from the storms. So the question then will not be whether we flee but where we flee.

Some of us will take the advice of David’s friends in Psalm 11. These advisors urged him to “flee like a bird to your mountain.” Difficulty had come for David, seemingly in the form of threats to his life, with wicked people preparing to aim their arrows at him (Psalm 11:2). The counsel he received was essentially to head for the hills, to get away, to go somewhere that removed him from adversity.

David did not heed this advice. But what about you? While you likely will not face armed foes threatening you with violence, crisis will come to you someday, in one form or another. It could be social pressure to compromise biblical convictions, an unwanted diagnosis, or intense relational strife. Where will you flee? Will you head for the hills, finding some form of escapism, be it numbing yourself with endless media consumption or abusing a substance, or throwing yourself into frenetic activity in another part of your life? Or will you be able to say with David, “In the LORD I take refuge”?

David had seen God deliver him from bears, lions, and a Philistine giant. The Lord had proven Himself to be a trustworthy refuge, and David took that to heart. David knew the Lord was a mighty refuge; that had been borne out again and again in his life. His trust in God was grounded in experience, making it sturdy enough to withstand life’s darkness and the Evil One’s darts.

Have your eyes been opened to God’s trustworthiness? Have you trusted Him in response? If you are a Christian, remember that your new life began by taking refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ. You were facing the wrath of an eternal God, with no hope to be found. The only hope you had was to cast yourself on God’s mercy and embrace the salvation offered in Christ. And so you fled to Him and found eternal refuge.

God desires for you to seek refuge in Him not only at the beginning of the journey but until Christ returns or calls you home, and not only for eternal salvation but in the storms of this life. Trouble will come—and when it does, you can either head for the hills or you can lift up your eyes beyond the hills and to the Lord “who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:2), facing the crisis with confidence and, yes, even joy.

GOING DEEPER

Psalm 11

Topics: Faithfulness of God Suffering Trusting God

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotional by Alistair Begg

http://www.truthforlife.org

Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision … Then the Lord called Samuel.

1 Samuel 3:1, 1 Samuel 3:4

The chaos at the end of Judges, when “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25) and there was an absence of effective leadership, indicated the spiritual darkness at that time among God’s people. And what caused this darkness? Faithful proclamation of the word of God was becoming increasingly rare. Yet such silence is not reserved to that one era. Throughout the generations, the people of God have experienced periods of this silence and darkness.

But God is a God of clarity and of grace—and so He has never left people without His word. So it was that, despite the faithlessness of the people during the time of the judges, God was preparing to bring His words to them through “the boy Samuel.”

God always ensures that, one way or another, His people can hear His word; and today in the West we can never claim that His word is “rare.” It is our privilege to have easy access to God’s word in the Scriptures. Only in the last few centuries has a minister been able to say to the congregation, “Please take your Bible and turn to…” because prior to the printing press, few people had a Bible to turn to, nor could they have read it themselves if they had had one. In the 18th century, when John Newton was addressing his congregation, he noted, “I account it my honour and happiness that I preach to a free people, who have the Bible in their hands.”^[1] And there are still many places in the world where Bibles are removed and destroyed and must be smuggled in. To receive even a portion of the Scriptures means a tremendous amount to many of our brothers and sisters in such countries.

Yet while many of us have the honor and privilege of owning a Bible, we nevertheless live in effective silence, allowing the word of God to become increasingly rare in our lives. Is the Bible truly present in your daily life and in your place of worship—that is, not only physically present but also audibly proclaimed and intently listened to? What matters is not simply owning a Bible, or even merely reading and knowing it, but living by it and loving the one to whom it points: the Lord Jesus.

Alec Motyer writes, “Have we got a Bible still in our hands? Let us prize it, read it and commit precious truths to heart and mind. It is not an inalienable possession; it may not be ours forever.”^[2] Let these words challenge you to seek out God’s word and treasure it so that you may walk in the light of hearing from God, about His Son, by the work of His Spirit.

GOING DEEPER

Psalm 119:17-24

Topics: The Bible God’s Word

FOOTNOTES

¹ “Of a Living and a Dead Faith,” in The Works of John Newton (1820; reprinted Banner of Truth, 1985), 2:558.

² The Message of Amos: The Day of the Lion, The Bible Speaks Today (InterVarsity, 1984), p 187.

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotional by Alistair Begg, 

http://www.truthforlife.org

Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.

Philippians 1:15-18

In his missionary letter to the Philippian church, Paul gets real. Though he shares encouraging news, the picture is not all rosy. The motivations some people had for sharing the gospel were downright bad—they were driven not by good will so much as by rivalry and a desire to stir up trouble for the apostle.

The wrong motives of other people didn’t become the determining element in Paul’s attitude, however. Their selfishly motivated preaching did not keep him awake at night or mar his commitment to seeing the kingdom advance. He passionately wanted the true gospel to be preached, so he wasn’t primarily concerned about the reasons others had for preaching, as long as they were still preaching Christ. His concern was for the Lord’s glory, not for his own stature or even for his safety.

Perhaps we find ourselves relating to Paul, surrounded by those who share their faith out of false motives. But if we allow these failings to determine our own attitude or actions, it will cripple us. We will spend too much of our time and energy either constantly questioning the intentions of others or continually refuting and rebutting what they’re doing. That would be to give the devil a great gain, in that we would then be distracted from proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ. It’s a huge temptation! But Paul didn’t fall into that trap.

Alternatively, you and I may wrestle with our own wrong motives for sharing the gospel. One of the most significant challenges we all face is the potential for dreadful self-centeredness and pride. Even in matters of our faith, we often wrongly want others to recognize us, and so we do the right thing but for the wrong reasons (or, more usually, a mix of right and wrong reasons). At the same time, we find that envy prevents us from rejoicing in the fruitfulness of another’s life and ministry. But thanks be to God: He still uses broken vessels like us to carry forth the great gift of His message.

So, like Paul, fix your eyes on the goodness of Jesus and the advancement of His gospel, no matter the circumstances surrounding you or the flawed motives you suspect in others or see in yourself. Seek to set aside your own pride and ambition so that your greatest concern will be the Lord’s glory—and as you do so, continue to share Him with those around you. What matters most is that Christ is preached, and in that we can all rejoice.

GOING DEEPER

Isaiah 52:7-10

Topics: Glory of God Gospel Preaching

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotional by Alistair Begg,

http://www.truthforlife.org

The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.

Proverbs 21:1

Here is a picture of the doctrine of providence.

When men and women go about their business, God’s hand is always involved. Question 2 of the New City Catechism includes a helpful summary of this doctrine: “Nothing happens except through him and by his will.” The Bible is clear in its teaching that God is sovereign over every detail of every part of the universe. In creation, God exercised His divine energy to bring the world into being. In His perfect providence, He continues to exercise His divine energy to sustain the universe and bring all things to their appointed end—uniting all things in heaven and earth under Christ (Ephesians 1:9-10).

There is some mystery in how God directs the course of events without violating the nature of what or who is involved. Charles Bridges provides helpful insight on the way this unfolds: “In inert matter he acts by physical force; in brute animals, by instinct and appetite; in intelligent beings, by motives suited to their faculties; in his redeemed people, by the influence of grace.”^[1] In God’s economy and purposes, the causality of natural events, circumstances, and free decisions is used by Him in order to achieve His glorious ends. Throughout Scripture this pattern is repeated, whether it’s through Nebuchadnezzar, Pharaoh, Herod, Pilate, or other figures. Though earthly rulers set themselves against the Lord as they exercised their rebellious wills, they were at the same time part of God’s foreordained plan of salvation (Psalm 2:1-2; Acts 4:25-26). He turns all plans, even the desires of the heart of the most powerful men and women, “wherever he will.”

For those of us who belong to Jesus, God’s providence brings security. When we become disheartened because it is obvious that the wicked flourish and that bad is called good, the Bible reminds us that God is sovereign over all affairs. These things neither surprise nor defeat Him; indeed, He has made use of the wicked often, sometimes to protect and shield His people and at other times to purify and refine them. After the event, we may sometimes discern His purpose; during the event, we are simply to trust His providence.

God is the heavenly Father who seeks to draw you to Himself and make you His own. It is likely that even now you are thinking of circumstances that seem contrary to God’s will and that confuse you. Remember His sovereignty, rehearse His purpose, and sing:

I trust in God, I know He cares for me,
On mountain bleak or on the stormy sea;
Though billows roll, He keeps my soul,
My heav’nly Father watches over me.^[2]

GOING DEEPER

Acts 4:24-31

Topics: Character of God Free Will Providence of God

FOOTNOTES

¹ An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs, 3rd ed. (London, 1850), 2:43.

² William C. Martin, “My Father Watches Over Me” (1910).

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotional by Alistair Begg, 

http://www.truthforlife.org

When your children ask in time to come, “What do those stones mean to you?” then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.

Joshua 4:6-7

The Christian life is, in a sense, one big call to remember. Our Lord Jesus, speaking of the new-covenant meal of Communion, told us, “Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19, emphasis added). Every Lord’s Supper, then, offers us the opportunity to remember together all that is pictured in the bread and wine.

Deuteronomy similarly envisions a scenario in which a son asks his father, “What is the meaning of the testimonies and statutes and the rules that the LORD our God has commanded you?” (Deuteronomy 6:20). The father responds by telling Israel’s story of redemption, highlighting that what God instructs is “for our good always” (v 24). The book of Joshua, too, commends the same kind of commemoration when the Lord instructs the people to set up twelve memorial stones at the Jordan River, so that the stones would be “to the people of Israel a memorial forever.” God wanted His people then—and wants His people today—to ever remember His faithfulness and to tell others what He has done.

Such remembrances and memorials have always been significant. But in a day with endless competing claims on our attention and affections, we perhaps need more reminders of God’s faithfulness than ever before. It’s notable that the examples above are concrete and interpersonal. We participate in the Lord’s Supper together, and it offers us a multisensory experience to help us remember. The twelve stones at the Jordan River constituted a physical memorial. The instruction of Deuteronomy encourages us to have conversations about God’s faithfulness and goodness in our homes.

For today’s Christians, every Sunday presents us with the opportunity to gather and remember with God’s people. But we are going to need more than a weekly touchpoint to sustain ourselves. Ask yourself: What habits can I cultivate to remember God’s goodness? How can I catalog His faithfulness to me and share that with others? What “memorials” can I set up so that I can remember how God delivered me?

Opportunities to see and recall God’s faithfulness abound. All we need to do is look and remember.

GOING DEEPER

Luke 22:14-20

Topics: Faithfulness of God The Lord’s Supper The Sabbath

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotional by Alistair Begg,

http://www.truthforlife.org

I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

Philippians 1:12-14

What must have looked like a tragedy turned out to be just the opposite.

When the Philippian church learned that Paul had been imprisoned in Rome, they were surely greatly concerned. Some may have even panicked, worrying that the gospel’s influence would decline because its great teacher and apologist was shut away, unable to travel. It was a disaster for the gospel—wasn’t it?

Paul himself had a radically different perspective on his imprisonment. Underpinning all that he wrote was an unshakable confidence in God’s providence, for, as he wrote to the church in Rome, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). Understanding that he had been placed in prison according to God’s plan (Philippians 1:16), Paul was able to be an optimistic prisoner and a joyful servant, looking to the well-being of the church and not to his own predicament.

For Paul, it was imperative for the church to understand that his imprisonment was not hindering the gospel but furthering it. Being a prisoner was simply another opportunity to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. What had happened had “really served to advance the gospel.” Roman soldiers were unlikely to seek out a converted Jew who was gathering crowds with his preaching—yet God wanted His good news to reach them. He therefore prepared a different method of ministry and sent Paul to them, albeit in chains. As a result, the good news spread among the entire guard and even went on to break into the very household of the Roman emperor himself. And the news of Paul’s success in turn emboldened other believers. As they realized that God was able to provide for Paul in his circumstance, they grew in their trust that God could provide for them in their own circumstances. And so they became “much more bold to speak the word without fear.”

Perhaps we, too, need the confidence that comes from remembering that God is in control. We tend to assume that circumstances have to be right if we’re going to be effective Christians. But God’s thinking is different from ours. He’s not waiting for the circumstances to be right. He’s committed to using His people for His glory, even when the circumstances appear less than ideal. And He’s able to use those circumstances to further the cause of the gospel.

We would do well to spend less time trying to change our circumstances and more time growing in boldness and speaking the word without fear. We would do well to consider how we might be in danger of using our circumstances as an excuse not to speak rather than as an opportunity to do so. Perhaps then the good news of Jesus Christ will spread through us in some strange and wonderful way, just as it did through Paul.

GOING DEEPER

Acts 8:1-8

Topics: Courage Gospel Jesus Christ

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotional by Alistair Begg

http://www.truthforlife.org

I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath.

Lamentations 3:1

In the popular series of British children’s books Where’s Wally? (or, as it’s known in North America, Where’s Waldo?), readers find themselves scurrying all over the page looking for a funny-looking fellow wearing red-and-white striped clothes who nonetheless is hard to spot in his suspiciously similarly-colored surroundings. In a similar manner, when we read our Bibles, we can find ourselves doing a comparable exercise, only instead of searching for a man in a red-and-white striped sweater and glasses, we ask ourselves, “Where am I?” We wonder which character we are like, or how a verse speaks directly of us and about us.

Yet the real question we should be asking is “Where’s Jesus?”—for He is the primary focus of the Bible.

The truth is that if we really want to find ourselves in Scripture, we will discover that a large part of the story is about us. Yet that part is not very flattering. The Bible reveals us to be wretched sinners, who need a Savior. This is why we must train our eyes to look for that Savior when we read our Bibles. As has been said, in the Old Testament Jesus is expected, in the Gospels He’s revealed, in Acts He’s preached, in the Epistles He’s explained, and in the book of Revelation He’s anticipated.

When we read Lamentations 3 with Jesus as our focus, seeking Him rather than looking for ourselves, we will discover that He is clearly present. The chapter opens with the prophet Jeremiah declaring, “I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath” (Lamentations 3:1). Who is more fit to utter those words than Jesus? On the cross, Jesus bore the wrath of God so that those of us who rightly deserved God’s condemnation might be saved through the judgment that He endured in our place. That’s the story of the gospel: another has done for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves. In truth, then, as you read this verse, you do not see yourself here at all, even though you should—for you do see Christ here. He “redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). Whatever trials you face as a Christian in this life and however inexplicable they feel, of one thing you can be sure: God is not punishing you in His wrath. All that was poured out upon another, on the cross.

As you read of God’s persevering faithfulness to His downtrodden people in Lamentations 3, remember that “he who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all” is also the one who will “graciously give us all things” (Romans 8:32). And as you read of the man who saw affliction under the rod of God’s wrath, rejoice that this verse speaks not of you but of Him.

GOING DEEPER

John 19:17-30

Topics: The Cross Gospel Jesus Christ

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotional by Alistair Begg, 

http://www.truthforlife.org