Recovering Biblical Faith and Fellowship [2024 Reformation Conference Session #5 in Hebrews 10:19–25]

Christ gives us to hold onto Him together by holding onto His truth together, especially in the public worship that strengthens our faith and stirs up our love.

(click here to DOWNLOAD video/mp3/pdf files of this sermon)

Why It's Important that Elders Be Able to Stop the Mouths of Unauthorized Teachers in the Church [Family Worship lesson in Titus 1:10–16]

Why is it so important to have sound teachers as elders? Titus 1:10–16 looks forward to the second serial reading of in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these seven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that elders must be sound teachers in order to overcome theological error that arises within a congregation. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

Biblical Mandate for Systematic Theology [Family Worship lesson in 2Timothy 1:13–14]

What is the purpose of the official ministry of the church? 2Timothy 1:13–14 looks forward to the second reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that a great part of the official ministry of the church is to guard patterns of words.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

Guarded by Christ by Guarding What Is Christ's [Family Worship lesson in 1Timothy 6:20–21]

What endangers our doctrine, and what does this endanger us of doing? 1Timothy 6:20–21 looks forward to the second reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that it is critically important for us to maintain biblical truth and reject the temptation to think that we have come into some secret knowledge of our own.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

The Holy Spirit’s Method for Transmitting and Preserving the Faith [from Seventeen82]

The following is our pastor's latest contribution to Seventeen82

[Photo: Emmet E. Hakim]

Last month, we considered from Psalm 78 the duty and necessity of each generation’s remembering God’s Word both unto itself and unto the next generation. Christ promised that the Spirit would complete the things that He had to say to His apostles, and through them to us:

¹² “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³ However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. ¹⁵ All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you. (Jn 16:12–15, NKJV)

Declaring what is Christ’s
It was the apostles to whom He had already spoken. It was the apostles to whom the completion of that was promised. And, through the apostles, we have received in Scripture everything that Jesus intended to say to His church.

Since Psalm 78 has shown us how important it is, both for ourselves and for our children, to remember God’s Word and works, this raises an important question. What is the apostolic method for preserving and transmitting the faith? What is the method that the Spirit taught them? What is the method that is from the Father, and from the Son, and from the Holy Spirit (cf. v14–15 above)?

The REAL Apostles' Creed (Family Worship lesson in 1Timothy 3:14–16)

What is the great mystery of godliness? Pastor leads his family in today’s “Hopewell @Home” passage. 1Timothy 3:14–16 prepares us for the opening portion of morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these three verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God has revealed the glorious truth that is His household policy; the means by which He works; and, the treasure that the church is to preserve, pass on, and proclaim. Namely, He has given us the truth of God's incarnation, Redemption accomplished, Redemption proclaimed, Redemption applied, and Reigning in glory(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

"Jesus took all our Hell on the cross" (what the descent clause really means) -- Pastoral Letter from the 2019.02.14 Hopewell Herald

If you are interested in receiving the Herald, please send a request to be added to the list to church@hopewellarp.org

Dear Congregation,

When we come to the table on the coming Lord’s Day, one of the things that we will want to come having done is examine ourselves. “Am I believing in Christ as He is offered to me in the gospel?” That’s a question that we need to be asking ourselves, and indeed, it is a question that we answered publicly, when we first professed our Christian faith.

This is the focus of the Athanasian Creed, which begins, “Whosoever desires to be saved should above all hold to the catholic faith,” and ends, “This is the catholic faith, that one cannot be saved without believing it firmly and faithfully.”

One of the many blessings of our new Psalter-Hymnal is having the Athanasian Creed ready to hand. Up to this point, we have been confessing the Nicene Creed at the table. The Athanasian creed is more developed than that of Nicaea (325) and declares carefully those truths about the Trinity that we have been studying from Scripture in the Education Hour, as acknowledged by the elders who gathered at the councils of Ephesus (431) and Chalcedon (451).

In the Reformation, reforming churches wished to demonstrate that they were not inventing some new religion, but still confessed the same historic, biblical faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. So, they retained and confessed such creeds as the Athanasian Creed.

One problem, however, was that as a result both of Roman Catholic contentment to keep the masses (pun intended) in the dark, and the accumulation of contra-biblical Roman Catholic teachings, many in the churches had come to believe that Christ’s human soul went to Hell upon His burial, rather than being dismissed to the paradise of His Father’s hands from the cross.

So, would the Reformed improve the language of the creed, at the cost of appearing to introduce new doctrine in order to correct this erroneous thinking? They chose instead to retain the language, and correct misconceptions by teaching.

So, we are again blessed to have the Trinity Psalter Hymnal. When you read the “descent clause” in the Athanasian Creed on p854 on the Lord’s Day, you may notice a footnote referring you to Heidelberg Catechism 44 (p879), Canons of Dort 2.4 (p904), and Westminster Larger Catechism 50 (p945).

Heidelberg and Dort explain the descent clause the same way that Calvin did—that the confessing of Christ’s humiliation in the “Apostles’ Creed” was not ordered by chronology but rather by intensity—that although He finished (as He Himself declared) enduring Hell upon the cross before He was buried, yet that pouring out of God’s wrath was His humiliation’s greatest extent and so it is named last.

Westminster explains the descent clause historically, basically saying that this was the language used to describe not a place that He went, but His body’s spending three days in the grave under the power of death.

It is vitally important that we believe these two things—that Christ suffered all of the Hell that our souls deserved by the time that He said “it is finished,” and that He indeed continued under the power of death for three days, and on the third day rose again.

As we approach the table, confessing this together, let each of our hearts resoundingly say, “I believe this!” And let us show forth Christ’s death, as we feed upon Him by faith.

Looking forward to Word, sacrament, and prayer with you,

Pastor