Alistair Begg Reflects on God’s Gift: The Scriptures

Dear Friend,

Carved into the stone at the entrance to our building are these words from Isaiah 40:8: “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”

Scripture is God’s gift to us through the Holy Spirit. In it we have both an accurate record of God’s revelation and an accurate interpretation of the person and work of Jesus. Only in Scripture do we have what God says in permanent and written form. We become convinced of the authority of Scripture by Scripture itself.

When I was fifteen and our family was moving from Glasgow to live in Ilkley, Yorkshire, I was given a Bible from my Sunday school. It was inscribed with 2 Timothy 2:15, where Paul urges Timothy to rightly divide the Word of Truth. It never crossed my mind then, as a teenager, that one day I would need to take that to heart. Here I am, fifty years on from ordination to Gospel ministry, and together at Truth For Life, we have been committed to the same objective for the past thirty years.

When younger pastors enquire about my approach to the Bible, I encourage them to join me in studying it diligently, trusting it entirely, and proclaiming it fearlessly. We are old clay pots—men with all the natural faults and passions that plague humanity. It is right and necessary that we ask God to save us from ourselves and from any harm we may cause in seeking to bless others.

This is where our Truthpartners come to the fore. Truthpartners uphold the work to which we are committed—teaching the Bible with clarity and relevance so that unbelievers are converted, believers are established, and local churches are strengthened.

I feel very much in need of your partnership as I step aside from the Parkside pulpit and engage in a new and more focused role at Truth For Life.

When speaking at a conference this week, I was once again humbled by meeting those who have stood by us both prayerfully and financially for all these years. Let me encourage you to join this important company that makes the proclamation of the Gospel through Truth For Life possible—and perhaps you might invite others to do the same.

Our program this month affirms all we believe and is reinforced by the materials we’re offering. Sinclair’s book The Christian Life is a treasure and one you won’t want to miss. The Basics of the Christian Faith is a discipleship course designed by our team to help you lead someone who’s either new to Christianity or exploring Christianity through the foundational truths in Scripture. It’s a helpful resource to use when sharing the Gospel. Just this week, a man from Iran who was converted from a Muslim background told me that he is using this course with young men in the church he attends.

So I end where I began: The Word of God does the work of God by the Spirit of God. What a privilege we have all been given to be stewards of the mysteries of grace!

With my love in the Lord Jesus,

Alistair