In this final stop on our “Journey to Repentance” Alistair begins with a word of caution and concludes with words of encouragement, promise and assurance. I trust that the “souvenirs” you’ve gathered on your journey these past few days have blessed you as they have me. Sandra

Many actors think they’re fit to play the role of Hamlet. In many instances, though, they’re simply not. They just don’t have the ability and experience to do it—though, of course, that doesn’t necessarily stop them trying!

Similarly, all men and women are at some point tempted to challenge God’s authority over their lives, wrongly believing that they can play a role for which He alone is suited. We often fail to trust His divine hand in our circumstances. Instead, we question His sovereign will. We try to steal the part for which only the Creator God is fit. 

Resistance to God’s authority is nothing new. While Jesus came down to earth in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, throughout His ministry He was unwelcomed by His own people. Israel had been waiting for the Messiah—but once He arrived, they questioned His authority and rejected His identity. They knew these prophecies, yet they were blind to their fulfillment.

Days before He died at the hands of Jewish religious leaders as well as Gentile rulers, Jesus told His parable of the wicked tenants who rejected the vineyard owner and killed his son. The Lord was graciously and boldly pointing out the blindness of the chief priests, scribes, and elders, who were demanding that He justify His actions (Mark 12:1-12). They understood that Jesus was claiming to be God’s Son. Yet having just been warned by Jesus that they were acting like the tenants who had seized the owner’s son, these men then (with tragic irony) immediately wanted to arrest Him.

It is tempting to think, “How presumptuous of those religious leaders to confront the King of the universe and challenge His authority!” But each of us was once no different from them. In our own sinful nature, we didn’t want to receive the Son whom God sent. We were inclined to live in darkness. Actually, we quite liked the darkness! John captures it well when he says that light has come into the world, but people love darkness instead of light because their deeds are evil (John 3:19). People by nature are not sitting by and waiting for the light of the gospel to come into their hearts. Yet by His grace, God opens blind eyes to see the identity of His Son so that people trust and worship Him. 

That is why the Bible always speaks in the “now.” There is no day better than today to live for Christ. Even as believers, we are called to continual repentance and restoration in our walk with the Lord rather than choosing to play God in our own lives. As our hearts grow more sensitive to our sin and we experience His continued patience towards us, His kindness will lead us to holiness. And when you live with God at the center of your life, with Him playing the part that only He can, you find that you are able joyfully and confidently to fulfill the role He has given you—to live out the life He has gifted you and the purpose for which He invited you onto the “stage”: a life spent enjoying, knowing, and serving Him. 

GOING DEEPER

Mark 12:1-12

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotional by Alistair Begg, published by The Good Book Company, thegoodbook.com. Used by Truth For Life with permission. Copyright © 2021, The Good Book Company.

In today’s devotional Alistair reminds us that the repentant’s acceptance is solely dependent on God’s grace. Repentance is necessary for forgiveness, but it does not earn it. Sandra

Can you imagine your president or prime minister making a national broadcast in which they call for the nation to give up their violent deeds, turn away from the evil that they have embraced, and seek God’s mercy so that He might come and save them from His judgment? This is essentially what happened in Nineveh, before Jonah’s very eyes.

It’s quite remarkable that the Ninevites believed God as quickly and as completely as they did. As they listened to Jonah’s warning of coming judgment, their reaction was widespread and heartfelt, as evidenced by their garments of penitence. And this public response was more than matched by the royal response. The king changed his garments, replacing his royal robes with sackcloth; he changed his place, exchanging his throne for a seat in the dust; and he changed his tune, issuing a proclamation of repentance. 

This stands in contrast to many people of Jesus’ day, and perhaps our own. As Jesus Himself taught, the Ninevites “repented at the preaching of Jonah,” whereas countless people He spoke to refused to recognize that “something greater than Jonah”—namely, Christ—was now proclaimed (Luke 11:32). They rejected what the Ninevite king had grasped when he said, “Let everyone turn from his evil way … Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish” (Jonah 3:8-9). He recognized that the Ninevites’ repentance did not necessarily mean that God would be forbearing in His reaction. He was still uncertain about whether their turning would be accompanied by a divine turning. 

It’s a reminder to us of this: even the repentant have no case to argue for God’s acceptance. They remain solely dependent on God’s grace. Repentance is necessary for forgiveness, but it does not earn it. Like the Prodigal Son, the person with a genuinely repentant heart says, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son” (Luke 15:18-19). Repentance begins with acknowledging that we are truly deserving of God’s judgment and with declaring our desperate need for His mercy.

Because “something greater than Jonah” is now here, we can know and declare that repentance will always be met by forgiveness, for “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). But we should learn from this pagan king that we do not manipulate God’s hand by our repentance or obedience, and that true repentance is not skin deep but heartfelt, always involving a change of attitude and of behavior. This is a lesson we must heed every day of our Christian lives—for, as Martin Luther said, “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ‘Repent,’ he intended that the entire life of believers should be repentance.”[1]

GOING DEEPER

Luke 11:29-32

FOOTNOTES

1 The Ninety-Five Theses, First Thesis

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotional by Alistair Begg, published by The Good Book Company, thegoodbook.com. Used by Truth For Life with permission. Copyright © 2021, The Good Book Company.

We continue our “Journey of Repentance”, Alistair Begg’s four part devotional. May God richly bless you. Sandra

Those who work in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, and social services are often confronted with a strong correlation between what is happening in a person’s heart and mind and what is being displayed in that person’s body. God’s word speaks into this connection and then goes deeper, for it tells us that there is a connection between the state of our body and the state of our soul.

In Psalm 32, David speaks very personally to God, acknowledging the heaviness he experienced when he hid in the shadows and refused to confess his sin against Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah (see 2 Samuel 11). And through David, the Spirit teaches us that there is a link between a tortured conscience and lack of repentance, and our physical wellbeing. Those who were in David’s immediate company may not have been aware of what was going on inside him spiritually, but they could not have avoided the indications of what was happening to him physically. 

The description he provides adds to the account he gives elsewhere: “My heart throbs; my strength fails me, and the light of my eyes—it also has gone from me. My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague, and my nearest kin stand far off” (Psalm 38:10-11). It’s a quite devastating picture. 

David recognized his condition for what it was: a punishment. The Bible makes it clear that there is a natural outcome to lust, excess, and a disregard for the commands of God (see Romans 1:24-25)—all of which David was guilty of. Frailty, weight loss, sleeplessness, a sense of rejection, melancholy, anxiety, and despair often haunt individuals who are seeking to hide their sin from God and deny it to themselves. 

What restored David was not a health kick or getting to bed earlier but rather dealing with the root cause—his sin: “I acknowledged my sin to you … and you forgave the iniquity of my sin” (Psalm 32:5). God kept His hand heavy upon David until David placed his sin into God’s hands and asked Him to deal with it. It is a blessing to us when God does not allow us to forget our sin—when we feel physical heaviness because of our spiritual sickness. It is His means of bringing us to do what we most need: to confess it and ask for forgiveness for it.

Are you harboring sin? Do not cloak it; confess it. David experienced liberating relief from his pain and distress when he sought God’s forgiveness. You too can know that joy, for the promise of God’s word is that “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). 

GOING DEEPER

Psalm 51

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotional by Alistair Begg, published by The Good Book Company, thegoodbook.com. Used by Truth

Beginning today I am pleased to share with you Alistair Begg’s four part devotional on repentance. I trust it will be an encouragement to you. Sandra

Christianity hinges on the message of forgiveness. Other religions may offer moralism. They may offer methods that will help us tidy up our lives or make us feel that we are good people. Christianity, however, is for the unworthy, the lost, the beleaguered, and the sinful. It’s for people who need to hear that they can be forgiven. In other words, it’s for everyone.

From first to last, the gospel is about what God does, not about what we must do. It is God, by His mercy, who gives us the desire to even want to be forgiven—and it is only when we put our faith in Jesus that we are fully pardoned. When we turn to Him in repentance and faith, we are able to look back and say we have been saved from sin’s penalty. All that was against us, all that kept us from knowing God, all that kept us from discovering His love and His goodness—all of the penalty that we deserve—has been eradicated, erased through the saving work of God’s Son on the cross.

As believers, then, we can—we should—rejoice in the fact that sin no longer rules over us. Yet the reality is that in our earthly lives, we still sin. We still miss the mark; we still fail to reach God’s standard. And when we do, the Evil One loves to whisper, “Are you really saved? Will God really forgive you this time?” To which we must answer, “Yes, I am; and yes, He will, for the one who died for me is at this moment advocating for me.” 

Knowing forgiveness is not a license to sin; indeed, John wrote with the purpose “that you may not sin.” When we sin, the joy we have found in God begins to fade. While He remains our heavenly Father, it should be no surprise that if we harbor sin, we will fail to enjoy all the blessings He intends for us. 

And so we seek to live in obedience to our Lord, and yet, since we will not do so perfectly, we also must live in repentance to our Lord. Jesus underscored the need for and importance of daily repentance in John 13 when, while He was in the midst of washing His disciples’ feet, Peter protested and said, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus responded, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me” (13:8). Forgiveness is not ours until we are washed by Jesus, and then He continues to wash us through our daily repentance and faith. 

One day, you will be taken to heaven and saved from sin’s presence. But until that great day, your Christian life is to be a journey of repentance. You have been saved. You will be saved. But for now, day by day, you are mercifully being saved as you repent and turn back to Jesus. 

GOING DEEPER

Romans 7:7-25, Romans 8:1-2

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotional by Alistair Begg, published by The Good Book Company, thegoodbook.com. Used by Truth For Life with permission. Copyright © 2021, The Good Book Company.

Nothing confronts us with our creatureliness quite like the watch that we wear on our wrist or the clock that ticks on our wall. Try and think about no time. It’s virtually impossible for us to do. God, who is outside of time, created time so that we might live each moment that He has given to us for His glory.

We don’t like to face it, but Scripture frequently calls us to face life’s brevity. It tells us that our life is “a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes” (James 4:14). The Bible confronts us with transience in this way not to manipulate us or crush us but in order that we might be sensible. We need to be reminded of how quickly time passes, especially when we are young, because we tend to think that we have more time than we really do. 

The Bible almost always addresses us in the now: “Now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” Now, in other words, is the time to be reconciled to God. Now is the time to take heed—not someday over the horizon. Now is the time to hold out the gospel message to those around you. You are not to live dominated by the regrets of yesterday or the anxieties of tomorrow. You are not to live as though you will always have a tomorrow in which to do what you should be doing today. You are to face the fact squarely, head on, that the future comes in at the rate of 60 seconds a minute.

The time that God has allotted you is quickly passing by. If you are not careful, it will be gone before you realize it. In Psalm 90, the psalmist prays, “Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). May this prayer become your own, and may God enable you to be a good steward of the time that He has given to you. Today is a great day to enjoy your salvation and to speak of it. Now is the time. Be sure to use it.

GOING DEEPER.

Ephesians 5:15-20

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotional by Alistair Begg, published by The Good Book Company, thegoodbook.com. Used by Truth For Life with permission. Copyright © 2021, The Good Book Company.

There is no greater communication of love than proclaiming the gospel of God. Such a love forfeits lesser benefits—being well thought of, meeting the expectations of others, holding a prestigious title, enjoying a comfortable life, and so on—for the sake of making the good news of Jesus known. Not that those blessings can’t be given to us by God, but they are not primary.

Notice that Paul and his missionary partners sought to share both the gospel and themselves. The gospel is best communicated within a loving friendship. But a loving friendship is not the same as gospel communication. No one declares the gospel passively; it must be actively shared.

And so we see that while Paul labored to build strong relationships, he also “proclaimed to [the Thessalonians] the gospel of God” (1Thessalonians 2:9). The word “proclaimed” in this verse denotes the action of a herald, who declares what is given to him to say. A herald’s job is not to make things up, to respond to all the felt needs of those around them, or to make people feel good; it is to stand up and to speak up.

If you are a gospel believer, you are a gospel herald. The only question is: How effective a herald are you? We cannot replace the God-given message of the cross with our own views. If we get caught up in the desire to impress others, then we will quickly neglect what’s most important. We are meant to go into the throne room of the King, to receive His message, to enter our little spheres of influence, and to share what He has said—nothing more and nothing less. As John Stott writes, “Every authentic Christian ministry begins here, with the conviction that we have been called to handle God’s Word as its guardians and heralds. We must not be satisfied with ‘rumors of God’ as a substitute for the ‘good news from God.’”[1]

Some of us, then, need to love others enough to spend time with them, serving them and demonstrating that we are for them, so that we might love them by sharing the gospel of love with them. Others of us, though, need to use the friendships and networks we already enjoy as bridges for the gospel. What will gospel-sharing love for others look like for you, in the place and among the people God has set you today? Whatever the answer, remember this: there is no better way you can love and care for others than to tell them the good news of Jesus Christ.

1. The Message of 1 and 2 Thessalonians, The Bible Speaks Today (InterVarsity, 1991), p 68.

Devotional material is taken from Truth For Life: 365 Daily Devotions by Alistair Begg. Copyright © 2021, The Good Book Company, thegoodbook.com. Used by Truth For Life with written permission.

By nature, we do not see any beauty in Jesus. Of our own accord we do not declare that Jesus is wonderful, that Jesus is beautiful, that Jesus is incomparable. Left to ourselves, we are in utter darkness, having rejected what God has made obvious to us.

Spiritual darkness, noted the 17th-century Puritan Thomas Watson, is worse than natural darkness, yet “natural darkness affrights,” whereas “spiritual darkness is not accompanied with horror” and “men tremble not at their condition; nay, they like their condition well enough.”[1] We love darkness rather than light because the inclination of our hearts, and of our deeds, is actually evil (John 3:19-20).

Is there any light for our darkness? Is there any freedom from our bondage to self? The answer, of course, is an emphatic yes—namely, in the person of Jesus Christ! And as we consider how it is that Christ brings light and life, by God’s grace we are moved all over again to praise Him as wonderful, as beautiful, and as incomparable.

Consider, for example, how Jesus is the greatest and final prophet (Hebrews 1:1-3). God’s sending of His prophets, and finally His Son, represents an implicit judgment on us, since it is our shortcomings that make prophets necessary. We are by nature ignorant of God. We need divine help in order to grasp life’s most important truths.

Old Testament prophets were anointed and sent by God to speak into the people’s ignorance and blindness. These prophets, however, only spokethe word of God. When God came to us in the person of Jesus, He came as the Word of God, to speak into our ignorance, to unstop our deaf ears, and to open our blind eyes. Here is the greatest of the prophets.

We find in the Gospels that as Jesus began His ministry, He was almost immediately viewed as a prophet. So it was that following the raising of the widow of Nain’s son, the people responded, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” Similarly, in John 6, when the 5,000 were fed, the response was “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” (John 6:14). Indeed, Jesus Himself acknowledged this role when, in Luke 4, He pointed out in Nazareth that “no prophet is acceptable in his hometown” (Luke 4:24).

Jesus came as the very Word of God. And so, in Him, the prophetic word has found its fulfillment, and in Him we discover the ultimate expression of truth—the truth contained not only in His teaching but also in His person. We need Jesus to teach our hearts, to dispel our darkness, to reach us in a way that no one else can. Until He teaches us, we will never learn about Him. Until we see Him as the Word of God, we will never be wise for salvation. But when this greatest of the prophets speaks truth to our hearts, we say, “This is truth”—and we praise the one who is all truth as our wonderful, beautiful, incomparable Teacher and Savior.

1. “Christ’s Prophetic Office” in A Body of Divinity (Banner of Truth, 2015), p 169.

Devotional material is taken from Truth For Life: 365 Daily Devotions by Alistair Begg. Copyright © 2021, The Good Book Company, thegoodbook.com. Used by Truth For Life with written permission.

When Isaiah anticipated Christ’s advent, he said that God had given Him to be a Leader and Commander to the people. He has the pre-eminence, not only because of His original glory, as Son of God, but since He has won it in His obedience as Man.

Never has the will of God been wrought out so perfectly as by our Lord; and in this we are called upon to obey and follow Him. He was made perfect through sufferings, so shall we be; and as He is now crowned with glory and honour, so shall we be.

The only way in which Christ could bring us to share in His glory was to submit to suffering and death. In no other way could He act as the Mediator of the Divine life to us who are His brethren.

Similarly, if we would become the mediators of help and blessing to others, we also must be prepared to suffer. We must learn to do despite to our own will and way. The way of the Cross is the only path to the Throne. We can only reach our highest by the constant saying no to self-life. This will involve suffering and pain; but only so can we follow our Captain.

PRAYER

Teach us, O Lord, not only to bear, but to love Thy Cross. As we take and carry it, may we find that it is carrying us. AMEN.

Adapted from “Our Daily Walk” devotional by F.B. Meyer

I HAVE READ somewhere that when Michael Angelo was in the height of his fame, a boy named Raphael—destined to be his worthy successor—was introduced to him as a promising pupil. At first the lad was employed in the simplest duties of the studio, cleaning brushes and mixing paints, but as he developed the qualities of exactness, punctuality, and sympathy, he became entrusted with increasing responsibility, until the master made him his friend and confidant. So we come to Christ, first, as redeemed from the slavery of Satan, to be His servants, and He calls us His friends.

A friend will reveal himself. All the world may suppose that it knows a famous man, but after all, if he calls me his friend, I expect to get closer to him and hear from his own lips items of confidential information. Thus it is with the Lord Jesus. He manifests Himself to those who love Him, and keep His word, as He does not to the world.

A friend will interest his friends in his undertakings. It is a joy to Christ when those whom He loves are able to take a share in His world-wide redemptive schemes. For us, of course, it is a high honour, but it is as great a pleasure and delight to Him as it is for some loving soul to have the pleasure of working with that other twin-soul, to which it is attached. It is wonderful that Jesus is glad to have us as His fellow-workers.

A friend will be interested in our failures and successes. Not otherwise is it with our Lord. When He sees some peril menacing us, does He not make the trial-hour one of special intercession? If we fail, He meets us with the same tender affection, not alienated from us, but only intensely sorry, ready to point out the cause of our failure and to encourage us to try again. If we stand our ground, He meets us as we come forth from the fight, glad for us, eager to refresh us in our weariness, careful to heal any wound that we may have received.

Such is the Friendship of Jesus. He is always the same, His love never wanes, its manifestations are never remiss. Is it not worthwhile to make every effort so to keep His commandments that our entire abandonment to Him may induce His entire abandonment to us?

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, we pray that Jesus Christ may become dearer to us. May we love Him as a personal Friend, and hide ourselves in the hourly consciousness of His presence. May we have no taste or desire for things which He would disapprove. Let His love constrain us not to live unto ourselves, but to His glory. AMEN.

Reprinted from”Our Daily Walk” by F.B. Meyer

“We are not from round here.” That is what the residents of the first-century Greek city of Philippi—even those who were born there—might have said, for they lived by Roman laws, wore Roman clothes, and wrote their documents in Latin. They were Roman citizens. The whole place looked like Rome—but it wasn’t Rome. Citizens of Philippi were in Greece, but living as citizens of Rome.

Being a Christian, Paul told them, is similar: we’re living the Christian life while absent from the Christian capital—which, you will be relieved to know, is not Washington, DC, or London! The true “Capitol steps” are far higher and far grander. Our citizenship is in heaven, and when we live as aliens here—as people who don’t belong—we’ll make a difference in the world around us.

As Christians, our great daily opportunity is to walk out into another day and be different—to be what we are: citizens of heaven, people who are not from round here. We should find people saying, “Hey, I can tell by the way you walk and talk that there is something different about you.” This means that when you think about your life, you need to ask yourself some questions: What is the object of my devotion, the thing that makes me tick and drives my existence? Is it my appearance? Is it my portfolio? Is it passion and pleasure? What am I living for?

The Bible warns that if we live to “enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25), eventually they’ll eat us up and squeeze the life out of us. Instead, we are to live in expectation of future glory. We are going to be transformed; we will have new bodies “like his glorious body.” Our heavenly bodies won’t be weakened by sin, by selfish desire, or by disintegration. We are going to be home one day, and it is going to be wonderful!

If people suspect from your life and discover from your speech that you have a citizenship in heaven, that you serve a living God, and that you are looking forward to going home, where your life will be utterly transformed, then sooner or later some of them will ask you to give them “a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15).

So, remember where you are from. The impact of the gospel, under God, is directly related to your willingness to live like Christ. Allow the wonder of your heavenly citizenship to make you sensitive and compassionate as you move among those who are “enemies of the cross” (Philippians 3:18). Christ will return—and when He does, the day you get home will have arrived. If that proves not to be today, then today is a day of opportunity for you to be different. How will you take that opportunity?

Devotional material is taken from the Truth for Life daily devotional by Alistair Begg, published by The Good book Company, thegoodbook.com. Used by Truth for Life with permission, copyright©️2021, The Good Book Company.