Tag Archives: the love of Jesus

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Christ’s Surprising Choice

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Alistair Begg

He had married a Cushite woman.  Numbers 12:1

Moses made a strange choice, but not as surprising as the choice of Him who is a prophet like Moses but greater than him—even our Lord Jesus! It is the wonder of angels that the love of Jesus should be set upon poor, lost, guilty men. Each believer must, when filled with a sense of Jesus’ love, also be overwhelmed with astonishment that such love should be lavished on an object so utterly unworthy of it. Knowing as we do our secret guiltiness, unfaithfulness, and halfheartedness, we are dissolved in grateful admiration for the matchless freeness and sovereignty of grace.

Jesus must have found the cause of His love in His own heart; He could not have found it in us, for it is not there. Even since our conversion we have been poor, though grace has made us rich. Holy Rutherford said of himself what we must each subscribe to: “His relation to me is that I am sick, and He is the Physician of whom I stand in need. Sadly how often I play fast and loose with Christ! He binds, I loose; He builds, I tear down; I quarrel with Christ, and He agrees with me twenty times a day!”

Most tender and faithful Husband of our souls, pursue Your gracious work of conforming us to Your image, until You will present even us in our poverty to Yourself without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Moses met with opposition because of his marriage, and both himself and his spouse were the subjects of disapproval. Can we be surprised if this empty world opposes Jesus and His church, and particularly when notorious sinners are converted? For this is always the basis of the Pharisee’s objection: “This man receives sinners.”1 Of course He does; after all, He did not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.

1) Luke 15:1

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The family reading plan for October 6, 2014 * Ezekiel 39 * Psalm 90

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

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Reflections on the Evening

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Alistair Begg

At evening withhold not your hand.  Ecclesiastes 11:6

In the evening of the day opportunities are plentiful: Men return from their work, and the zealous soul-winner finds time to share widely the love of Jesus. Do I have no evening work for Jesus? If I have not, let me no longer withhold my hand from a service that requires wholehearted endeavor. Sinners are perishing for lack of knowledge; he who loiters may find his shoes red with the blood of souls. Jesus gave both His hands to the nails. How can I keep back one of mine from His blessed work? Night and day He toiled and prayed for me. How can I give a single hour to the pampering of my body with luxurious ease? Up, lazy heart; stretch out your hand to work, or lift it up to pray. Heaven and hell are serious; so must I be, and this evening I should sow good seed for the Lord my God.

The evening of life also has its calls. Life is so short that a morning of manhood’s strength and an evening of decay make up the whole of it. To some it seems long, but a dollar is a great sum of money to a poor man. Life is so brief that no man can afford to lose a day. It has been well said that if a great king were to bring us a great heap of gold and bid us take as much as we could count in a day, we would make a long day of it; we would begin early in the morning, and in the evening we would not withhold our hand.

Winning souls is far nobler work; so how is it that we quit so soon? Some are spared to a long evening of green old age; if such is my case, let me use any talents I still retain and serve my blessed and faithful Lord to the final hour. By His grace I will die with my boots on and lay down my commission only when I lay down my body. Age may instruct the young, cheer the faint, and encourage the despondent. If evening has less stifling heat, it should have more calm wisdom; therefore in the evening I will not withhold my hand.

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The family reading plan for September 20, 2014 * Ezekiel 23 * Psalm 70, 71

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

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Christ’s Comprehensive Love

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Alistair Begg

The Lord takes pleasure in his people.

Psalms 149:4

How comprehensive is the love of Jesus! There is no part of His people’s interests that He does not consider, and there is nothing that concerns their welfare that is not important to Him. He doesn’t merely think of you, believer, as an immortal being, but as a mortal being too. Do not deny it or doubt it: “Even the hairs of your head are all numbered.”3 “The steps of a man are established by the LORD, when he delights in his way.”4

It would be sad for us if this covering of love did not tackle all our concerns, for what mischief might be done to us in that part of our lives that did not come under our gracious Lord’s protection! Believer, rest assured that the heart of Jesus cares about your smallest concerns. The breadth of His tender love is such that you may turn to Him in every case; for in all your afflictions He is afflicted, and just like a father cares for his children, so He cares for you. The smallest interests of all His saints are all borne upon the heart of the Son of God.

And what a heart He has, which does not merely understand the nature of His people but also comprehends their diverse and innumerable concerns. Do you think, Christian, that you can measure the love of Christ? Consider what His love has brought you—justification, adoption, sanctification, eternal life! The riches of His goodness are unsearchable; you will never be able to convey them or even conceive them.

Oh, the breadth of the love of Christ! Shall such a love as this have only half our hearts? Shall it have a cold love in return? Shall Jesus’ marvelous loving-kindness and tender care be met with only faint response and delayed acknowledgment? My soul, tune your harp to a glad song of thanksgiving! Go to your rest rejoicing, for you are not a desolate wanderer but a beloved child, watched over, cared for, supplied, and defended by your Lord.

3Matthew 10:30 4Psalm 37:23

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

The family reading plan for  April 29, 2014  Song 4 | Hebrews 4

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Your Faith Has Saved You

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Alistair Begg

Luke 8:47

One of the most touching and instructive of the Savior’s miracles is before us tonight. The woman was very ignorant. She imagined that virtue came out of Christ by a law of necessity, without His knowledge or direct will. Moreover, she was a stranger to the generosity of Jesus’ character, or she would not have gone behind to steal the cure that He was so ready to provide.

Misery should always place itself right in the face of mercy. Had she known the love of Jesus’ heart, she would have said, “I need only to put myself where He can see me–His omniscience will teach Him my case, and His love will immediately work my cure.”

 

We admire her faith, but we marvel at her ignorance. After she had obtained the cure, she rejoiced with trembling: She was glad that the divine virtue had worked a marvel in her; but she feared in case Christ should retract the blessing and negate the grant of His grace. Little did she comprehend the fullness of His love! We do not have as clear a view of Him as we could wish; we do not know the heights and depths of His love. But we know of a certainty that He is too good to withdraw from a trembling soul the gift that it has been able to obtain.

But here is the marvel of it: Although her knowledge was small, her faith, because it was real faith, saved her, and saved her at once. There was no tedious delay–faith’s miracle was instantaneous. If we have faith as a grain of mustard seed, salvation is our present and eternal possession. If in the list of the Lord’s children we are described as the feeblest of the family, yet, being heirs through faith, no power, human or devil, can eject us from salvation. If we dare not lean our heads upon His bosom with John, yet if we can venture in the crowd behind Him and touch the hem of his garment, we are made whole. Take courage, timid one! Your faith has saved you; go in peace. “Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God.”1

1 Romans 5:1

The family reading plan for February 14, 2014 Job 13 | 1 Corinthians 1