Thanking, Trusting, and Triumphing Forever [Family Worship lesson in Psalm 118:1–14]

What does the life of the redeemed look like? Psalm 118:1–14 prepares us for the opening portion of public worship on the Lord’s Day. In these fourteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the life of the redeemed is one of thankfulness, trust, and triumph.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

The Spirit's Disruptive, Pervasive, Subtle, Sovereign Work in Building the Kingdom [2023.03.26 Morning Sermon in Acts 19:23–41]

As Jesus unstoppably builds His kingdom by His Spirit, He does so disruptively, pervasively, subtly, and sovereignly.

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

Kings and Rulers Take Counsel Together—Just as God Said, and Just as God Purposed for His Glory in Redemption (2021.09.19 Morning Sermon in Luke 23:1–12)

Nations still rage, peoples plot vanity, and kings and rulers still conspire. But our Lord does whatever His almighty hand and His redeeming purpose determined before to be done.

(click audio title within player for a page where you can download video/mp3/pdf files of this sermon)

Avoiding Wrath by Respecting Real Authority (Family Worship lesson in Proverbs 20:2)

Pastor leads his family in a verse from “the Proverb of the day.” In this one verse of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that authority is an institution of God and must be honored out of reverence for Him.(click audio title within player for a page where you can download mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

Authority and Economics When All Is Christ's (Family Worship lesson in Proverbs 16:10–15)

Pastor leads his family in six verses from “the Proverb of the day.” In this Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that because all authority is Christ’s, those who have it must rule in submission to Him, and those who are under it must be ruled in submission to Christ; and, because all property is God’s, and the means of gaining it appointed by Him, we must honor Him with all our property and economic dealings.(click audio title within player for a page where you can download mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

The Real Danger of Difficult and Unstable Times (Family Worship in 2Samuel 4)

What is the greatest danger in difficult times? Pastor leads his family in today’s “Hopewell @Home” passage. In these twelve verses, we find that the difficulty of their times led Baanah and Rechab into self-deception, thinking that they were being wise when they were really being cowardly, and that they were advancing the kingdom when they were really being wicked. Our own sin is our greatest danger, but we may look to the Lord to protect us from it by humble trust in Him and simple submission and obedience to Him.

From Raging to Rejoicing by Submission to Christ (2021.01.13 Prayer Meeting Lesson in Psalm 2)

Kings, nations, and people rage because they are resisting Christ's unthwartable reign. But those for whom He prays and whom He subdues by His Word and power go from trembling in rage to trembling with awe as they rejoice in the sweetness of submitting to Him and belonging to Him.

Victorious Praying to the Wrathful King over the Nations (2020.12.09 Prayer Lesson in Rev 11:15–18)

Those who live in light of the current reign and coming wrath of Christ ought to pray to and praise Him in light of both—rejoicing in His victory, present and future!

God's Marvelous Patience with the Church (2020.11.07 Pastoral Letter and Hopewell Herald)

Hopewell Herald – November 7, 2020

Dear Congregation,

I've been in Old Testament narrative a lot lately, so humanly speaking, it wasn't hard to guess what was happening when officials from the counties that contain Atlanta saw that the vote wasn't going well and suddenly said, "y'all just look so tired... wink wink... just go home... wink wink... get some rest... wink wink... and we'll see what the total is in the morning"

And, humanly speaking, it wasn't difficult to guess what was happening when NC, PA, MI, and WI followed suit. Knowing man from God’s Word fosters a certain, biblical incredulity.

Because the Bible is honest about what men are like, it gives us a healthy suspicion of men. Our Lord Jesus entrusted Himself not to men, because He knew what was in them (John 2:24). Especially when it comes to the rise and fall of earthly rulers, these OT narratives teach us that while not all conspiracy theories are true, the fact of conspiracy is a Bible truth rather than a mere theory, especially as touches resisting the reign of Christ (Psalm 2:1–3).

But one of the things that OT narrative also teaches us is that it's utter folly to consider the rise and fall of earthly reigns in a merely “humanly speaking” manner. These reigns do not rise and fall upon the success and failure of the conspiracies.

World history is guided especially as a function of God’s response to the purity or impurity of His church on earth. It is especially the purity of worship (first great commandment) and execution of righteous justice (second great commandment) with which the Lord is concerned, and especially as touches His church.

To put it bluntly: an honest reading of the Bible will bring you to the conclusion that all those Reformed distinctives—no images, the necessity of weighty/reverent worship, consecration of the entire Lord’s Day—that take a hammering in (ostensibly) Reformed credentials exams for pastors (across multiple denominations now) are actually the things that God cares about the most. The sins with which He is most furious. The things for which we most needed Christ to die.

It is not true that, as one famous pastor recently claimed, pride in the heart is not as bad as murder in the hand. But, when we read God’s own responses in Scripture, we find that lawlessness (5^th commandment), murder (6^th), perversion (7^th), theft (8^th), falsehood (9^th), and coveting (10^th) are less offensive to God than Sabbath-breaking (4^th), blaspheming (3^rd), or creativity in worship (2^nd).

It is for the violation of those first-table sins that He gives men over to the second table sins. It is time for churches like ours to be honest and to repent. He has given us over to second-table sins on a large scale, and the church’s response has been to begin by indulging unbelievers in the church for generations (seeker-oriented, or nominal-friendly worship), until those unbelievers became our preachers, and actually began scrupling those first table sins in their Presbytery exams.

We are right to think that it is a calamity that a post-Christian nation’s “election” may go to the candidate who can lie, cheat, and steal the best. But, we must not allow this to blind us to the fact that what is happening in the churches is a much greater calamity. Huge chunks of the church are papist (antichrist), mainline liberal (pagan), and charismatic (spiritist/new-age/superstitious).

But of them to whom much has been given much is required. There is a real sense in which the decline in the Reformed, Presbyterian churches is the most calamitous of all. That part which ought to have been the most sound has descended for generations into those things which God most hates.

How astonishing has God’s patience been! Yes, alas, how far America has fallen. And even more, alas, how far the churches have fallen—and especially the Reformed churches! But, let us consider Him who yet bears with us, and who has even granted some measure of reformation to our own congregation.

And let us rejoice over His patience, and be stirred up to greater love to Him who has so loved us, and greater joy and peace in His patient persistence and powerful grace toward us!

God’s Word is brutally honest enough to enable us to think plainly about what is going on in the world. We can smell the dishonesty a mile away (and not think, by the way, that those who are most skilled at it are the only ones engaged in it).

But how tragic it will be if we use this characteristic of Scripture only as a window to the world and forget that it is a mirror for the church (cf. James 1:19–25). This is a far more important use of Scripture.

And if we do not make use of it now for humiliation and repentance before God, the calamity that is coming will make the calamity of American politics pale by comparison, in its comparative smallness.

Looking forward to rendering unto our patient and powerful God that glorious worship which is His due,

Pastor

The Difference That Death Makes: Living in the Light of Your and Christ's Deaths (2020.11.01 Morning Sermon in Gen 35:16–36:43)