2024.04.20 Hopewell @Home ▫ Matthew 7:7–12

Read Matthew 7:7–12

Questions from the Scripture text: What is the first command in Matthew 7:7? What will happen if you do so? What is the second? What will happen? What is the third command? What will happen? How many who do these things will have these outcomes (Matthew 7:8)? What scenario does Matthew 7:9 ask about? About what sort of response, from the father in question, does it ask? What is the implied answer to this rhetorical question? What other scenario does Matthew 7:10 ask about? What response? What implied answer? What does Matthew 7:11 say about Jesus’s disciples? But what do they still know how to give? To whom? To Whom does the verse compare them? Where is He? What will He give? To whom? How does the beginning of Matthew 7:12 connect it to the previous verse? How much of their desires should they act upon? Which desires? What are they to do with all that they desire to be done t them? What does this fulfill? What do the law and prophets tell us about God’s intentions? What do the law and prophets tell us about God’s requirements? 

What should believers do about their ongoing spiritual shortcomings? Matthew 7:7–12 prepares us for the morning sermon on the Lord’s Day. In these six verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that believers should seek from God their progress in holiness and lovingly participate in His giving it to their brothers.

Two great errors that Matthew 7:1-6 corrected are judgmentalism (Matthew 7:1) but also failing to value sanctification for ourselves and others (Matthew 7:5-6). But it is hard on us to know both that we are not holy and that holiness is priceless. If we are examining ourselves (cf. Galatians 6:4), and aiming at sowing to the Spirit rather than the flesh (cf. Galatians 6:8), we may grow weary (cf. Galatians 6:9a). The Lord Jesus now teaches us about not losing heart (cf. Galatians 6: 9b) and serving one another in the same vein (cf. Galatians 6:10). Growing in sanctification, growing in grace, must be marked by:

Neediness. The asker knows that he needs something. The seeker knows that he is missing something. The knocker knows that he is on the outside of something. The judgmental person who feels that he has arrived. The believer’s view of himself is marked by poverty, mourning, lowliness, hunger (cf. Matthew 5:3–6).

Dependence. In our foolish inconsistency, we often respond to our neediness by trusting in how sincerely we wish to change, or how hard we intend to try. But asking, seeking, and knocking from Father is exactly opposite that. Growth in holiness is obtained primarily by prayer. Even the use of all other means is, essentially, joined to prayer, because we are looking to the Lord to give the increase. Although, in our sanctification, we are instructed to work, the holiness comes not by achievement but by God’s loving gift.

Persistence. “Ask… seek… knock…” are imperatives in a tense that communicates an ongoing command. They are not something that are done once and disposed of. Asking, seeking, and knocking is always the way of life, the way forward, for the believer.

Confidence. Prayer doesn’t just ask and seek; it obtains and finds (cf. Hebrews 4:16). Each who asks receives, seeks finds, and knocks gains entry (Matthew 7:8). Why? Because of Whom it is that we are asking: our Father Who is in heaven (Matthew 7:11). Just as He sustains food to the birds and beauty to the flowers, He sustains even to the wicked world a sense of responsibility for their children. If He had not extended common grace so that fallen man gives his children bread and fish instead of stones and serpents, humanity would soon have perished altogether. And as the very one who grieves over his remaining sin still provides for his dear children, he must conclude that his heavenly Father will most assuredly give him every good thing.

Affection. Partially sanctified men, and even unregenerate men, feel not only a responsibility to their children but natural affection. By extending this to us in both common grace and special grace, God gives us an inkling of His Fatherly affection toward us. Coming to Him as dearly loved children brings forth from our own hearts a reciprocal affection.

Submission. Treating God as Father means more than just knowing His love. It also means trusting His wisdom. We trust His wisdom about what to ask for (cf. Matthew 6:8–13), and we trust His wisdom in how He answers. The law and the prophets teach us both what our Father has intended toward us and what our Father requires of us.

Imitation. Having learned from Father what to desire from Him, we understand what to desire from other men. We become grateful for assistance with the planks in our eyes. The “therefore” in Matthew 7:12 shows us that, in this context, the so-called “golden rule” is specifically about loving our neighbor with evangelism and loving our brother by fellowship in one another’s sanctification. We learn from the goodness of Father both the goodness that we should desire for ourselves and the goodness that we should desire to show to others. 

Behold how good and wise Father is! He has infused our lives with much sweetness in our interactions with Him, just by making this interaction to be the necessary heart of our pursuit of sanctification. Let us learn from Him what is best, and imitate His goodness with others. 

What place does sanctification have in your prayer life? What place does prayer have in what else you are doing for sanctification? How does the biblical way of sanctification force you into the sweetness of interaction with your heavenly Father? How does knowing and desiring such sweetness for yourself shape how you interact with your brothers?

Sample prayer:  Father in heaven, we feel our great neediness! Thank You for also making us to know Your grace and the sweetness of coming to You for that grace, and depending upon You for that grace. You know how to give good things to those who ask You. Help us to aim at the same good in loving our brethren, we ask through Christ, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP51B “From My Sins, O Hide Your Face” or TPH518 “Come, My Soul, with Every Care”

Ordained to Logistical Service in Support of Worship [Family Worship lesson in Numbers 8:5–26]

What are we to see in the ordination and work of the Levites? Numbers 8:5–26 prepares us for the evening sermon on the Lord’s Day. In these twenty-two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that in Christ, our High Priest, all of His saints are designated by God for priestly service as living sacrifices.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2024.04.19 Hopewell @Home ▫ Numbers 8:5–26

Read Numbers 8:5–26

Questions from the Scripture text:  Who spoke to whom in Numbers 8:5? To whom was Moses to do what (Numbers 8:6)? By what three steps (Numbers 8:7)? Then what are they to bring (Numbers 8:8) where (Numbers 8:9)? Whom are they to gather with them (Numbers 8:9-10)? What are the children of Israel to do (Numbers 8:10)? Then who is to do what in Numbers 8:11? After themselves being presented as an offering, what are the Levites to do (Numbers 8:12)? What do they do again in Numbers 8:13? From whom does this separate the Levites (Numbers 8:14)? Unto Whom? What can the Levites then do (Numbers 8:15)? What two things are repeated a third time to conclude this section? Of what do Numbers 8:16-18 remind us (cf. Numbers 3:12–13, Numbers 3:45)? Of what does Numbers 8:19 remind us (cf. Numbers 3:9)? What three purposes does Numbers 8:19 add? How do the various people and groups respond to YHWH’s command (Numbers 8:20)? How does Numbers 8:21 summarize the preparation? What followed (Numbers 8:22)? Who speaks to whom in Numbers 8:23? About whom (Numbers 8:24)? At what age do they enter into the service of the tabernacle? At what age do they stop supporting the worship (Numbers 8:25)? What may they continue to do (Numbers 8:26)? What mustn’t they continue to do?

What are we to see in the ordination and work of the Levites? Numbers 8:5–26 prepares us for the evening sermon on the Lord’s Day. In these twenty-two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that in Christ, our High Priest, all of His saints are designated by God for priestly service as living sacrifices.

Preparation: cleansing and presentation—cleansing, ordination, separation (Numbers 8:5-15). First things first. Before even speaking of the purposes of their service (Numbers 8:19), the Lord directs how the Levites are to be prepared properly for that service. There is the cleansing (sprinkling, shaving, laundry) of Numbers 8:7—anticipating when Jesus is baptized upon His entrance into His earthly ministry. Then there is the ascension bull with its tribute, together with the sin-offering bull, in Numbers 8:8. 

But before the atonement part of this cleansing can be completed, the Levites are ordained. The same leaning/resting that they are going to enact upon the animals in Numbers 8:12, the children of Israel enact upon the Levites in Numbers 8:10. 

Throughout their service, and their whole life, a Levite would remember when an Israelite household came and leaned upon them in the place of their head of household. The very memory of the pressure would recall them to the significance of their calling and the fact that the Lord Himself is the One Who designated them for their ministry. This procedure would continue in ordination to church office in the Christian church (cf. Acts 6:6; 1 Timothy 4:14, 1 Timothy 5:22). 

With the cleansing and ordination (laying on of hands) completed, the Levites are presented as a wave offering. This is important enough to be mentioned before (Numbers 8:11), during (Numbers 8:13), and after (Numbers 8:15) the actual standing-presentation of them. The significance is that they are separate. They are separated from among the children of Israel (Numbers 8:14a). More emphatically, they are separated unto YHWH Himself (verse 14b).

We must be cleansed in Christ, and atoned for by Christ as our substitute, before we can enter into service. All of us are baptized into Christ and serve under His high priesthood. Just as the Levites were presented as living sacrifices, every Christian is called to live that way (cf. Romans 12:1). And especially those who are called to office in the church ought to remember both the necessity of their cleansing in Christ as a prerequisite to their call and the weightiness of being designated for that call by God Himself.

Purpose: substitution, work, plague prevention (Numbers 8:16-22). As we learned back in Numbers 3:12–13, the Levites were substitutes in the place of Israel as a whole—sanctified unto God against the backdrop of the plague of the firstborn (Numbers 8:16-18). Here, they are saving Israel from a different sort of plague. They are a “gift to Aaron and his sons” (Numbers 8:19), because the priesthood must administer Israel’s coming near to the holiness of God. (“sanctuary,” verse 19). 

This is a weighty assignment indeed, because by those who come near, YHWH must be regarded as holy (cf. Leviticus 10:3), and it is especially Aaron and his sons who distinguish the holy and the unholy, and between the clean and the unclean (cf. Leviticus 10:10).  When Nadab and Abihu added in the slightest to what God had commanded, they were incinerated with miraculous fire (cf. Leviticus 10:1–2). 

So the priests have their hands full administering the drawing near itself. But there’s so much demanding logistical work to support the tabernacle service. This is the work for which the Lord gives the rest of the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons. The word translated “work” in Numbers 8:19 (and Numbers 8:22, Numbers 8:24, Numbers 8:26) is actually the word for “service,” which can mean other types of service, but most often means “worship” and is usually the original language word behind “worship” in our English Old Testaments. The Levitical labor in earthly things is very much in service of the worship that is conducted for Israel by Aaron and his sons. 

This is similar to the purpose of the diaconate and the eldership in the New Testament. The difference there is that the Great High Priesthood of Jesus has ushered in the priesthood of all believers. So every believer now comes into the holy of holies; Christ’s spiritual-worship-officers (elders) oversee this worship, especially by prayer leadership and the ministry of the Word (cf. Acts 6:4). Similarly, every believer has a duty to serve the Lord as they can in His church’s earthly maintenance and earthly mercies. The deacons are set over all of that business (cf. Acts 6:3) as a gift to the apostles (and, later, the elders) in much the same way that the Levites are a  gift to the priests in Numbers 8. What a blessing YHWH’s command was for the priests, and what a blessing was the people’s and Levites’ obedience (Numbers 8:20-22).

Prime: service done in the prime of life (Numbers 8:23-26). Finally, Numbers 8:23-26 indicate to us the mental and physical strenuousness of the work. They had to be 30 years old to participate in transport or setup/takedown (cf. Numbers 4:3, Numbers 4:23, Numbers 4:30, Numbers 4:35). But at the age of 25 they were strong enough and wise enough to enter into the regular service (Numbers 8:24). Then, at the age of 50, they were forced into a semi-retirement (Numbers 8:25) in which they could do other things to help keep what God had commanded, but they would no longer provide labor for the actual worship acts administered by the priests.  

There are important principles here. We see the duty to train in anticipation of serving the Lord. We see the wisdom of waiting patiently to ordain or be ordained (cf. 1 Timothy 3:10, 1 Timothy 5:22). We see how important it is to give the Lord’s service the prime of our life, the years of sharpest mind and strongest body. We see that those whose abilities for particular tasks have diminished should find less taxing ways to serve and make room for the next ones that the Lord has raised up. 

Most importantly, this entire ordination teaches us important things to appreciate about Christ’s ministry. He properly prepared for it, was called to it, and consecrated Himself for it. He was all of the offerings, all at once, that atoned for us and brought us near. He gave Himself up in the prime of earthly life and even now in glorious, eternal prime, He always lives to intercede. Hallelujah!

What service would lie ahead of you in this life, in God’s ordinary providence? How are you training for it now? How can one be cleansed and atoned for, for the service of the Lord? How have you availed yourself of this cleansing? How do you continue to lay hold of it before the Lord? In what season of life are you right now (pre 25, prime years, or post 50)? How are you applying the lessons of this chapter to that? What implications does the priesthood of all believers have for your duty to serve the church in earthly maintenance and earthly mercy? What officers has Christ given you to oversee that service?

Sample prayer:  Lord, thank You for giving to us Christ as our Great High Priest, and giving a priesthood, under Him, to every member of His church. Cleanse us and atone for us by Him, and give us to train and to serve in a manner appropriate to every season of our life. Grant that the proper earthly maintenance of Your church would result in blessed worship that draws near to You in the way that You Yourself define as properly hallowing You. And grant all of this, we ask, in Jesus’s Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP15 “Within Your Tent, Who Will Reside” or TPH404 “The Church’s One Foundation” 

Trinitarian, Sanctifying Grace [Family Worship lesson in 1John 2:28–3:3]

What do God's children do? 1John 2:28–3:3 prepares us for the second serial reading in public worship on the Lord's Day. In these five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God's children abide in Christ and purify themselves as He is pure.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2024.04.18 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 John 2:28–3:3

Read 1 John 2:28–3:3

Questions from the Scripture text: What does the apostle call them (again) in 1 John 2:28? What does he tell them to do? How does this relate to their anointing from Christ (cf. 1 John 2:27)? What is He going to do? What will those who are abiding in Him have, when He appears? What won’t they be? Before Whom? At what time? What do they know about Him (1 John 2:29)? What is His righteousness the only explanation for? How do those who practice righteousness come to do so? With what command does 1 John 3:1 begin? What are they to behold about God’s love? What does he call God, as a clue to what sort of love this is? With what verb does he describe the extension of this love from the Father to them? What does this love bring about—what does the bestowing of Fatherly love cause them to be called? Who do not know/acknowledge/understand them? Whom else does the world not know/acknowledge/understand? Now what does the apostle call them in 1 John 3:2? How does their name relate to their current status? What aspect of their adoption has not yet been appeared (cf. Romans 8:23)? But what do we know about that aspect at the time of His appearing? What will we be like? In order to do what? Again, in 1 John 3:3, what do all children/beloved already have? In Whom? What does each of them do to Himself? According to what standard?

What do God’s children do? 1 John 2:28–3:3 prepares us for the second serial reading in public worship on the Lord’s Day. In these five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God’s children abide in Christ and purify themselves as He is pure.

There are two great commands here that produce the same result in the life of the believer. The commands are with respect to the Son and the Father, and each is sustained by a special work of the Holy Spirit. 

Abide in the Son, 1 John 2:28-29. It is from out of the Son that we were born (end of 1 John 2:29), which is the only way that someone comes to practice (more literally, “work”) righteousness. We were originally born out of our first father, Adam, so we do not begin as those who work righteousness. But we know that Christ is righteous (verse 29a). Everyone who works righteousness has a new birth from Christ and in Christ. There is no other way that this happens, and no other working is “righteous.” 

Those who have had this beginning of being born of Christ will have the sweet ending, at His coming, of not being ashamed before Him (1 John 2:28). How extraordinary! It is one thing to be in a condition in which you will not be ashamed before men. But what is it to be in a condition in which we will not be ashamed before the glorified Jesus?! The only way that this can happen is to “abide in Him.” And we know from 1 John 2:27 how that happens. The anointing that we have received from Christ (His Holy Spirit) abides in us, teaches us, and makes us to abide in Him (cf. verse 27). 

Behold the love of the Father, 1 John 3:1. More precisely than to behold the love itself, the command is to behold what sort of love it is. So, 1 John 3:1 is commanding not merely consideration but wonder. What sort of love is it?

• It is divine love—love that issues from the goodness of God and the fellowship of the Godhead.
• It is Fatherly love, the love of “the Father”—love that is from everlasting, with the divine Father as its fountain and the divine Son as its object; we have been brought into that love (cf. Ephesians 1:4–6).
• It is adopting love. It causes us to be called the children of God.
• It is gifted love—“bestowed,” not earned.
• It is consoling love. 

When the world refuses to acknowledge us and denounces us, it is a reminder tat this is a consequence of having been brought into the family whose Head receives the same from them (end of 1 John 3:1). What sort of love is this? Behold what sort of love! As the Spirit makes us to cry “Abba, Father,” (cf. Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6), He is pouring out this sort of love in our hearts (cf. Romans 5:5). 

Therefore, purify yourself, 1 John 3:2-3. Both instances of “revealed” in 1 John 3:2 are the same as “appears” in 1 John 2:28. Jesus will soon appear (verse 28). Only then will the full consequences of our adoption also appear (1 John 3:2b, cf. Romans 8:23). We already have status as children (1 John 3:2a), and we already have the hope (1 John 3:3, biblical/NT hope, i.e., “sure certainty”) that when He appears we shall be like Him and see Him as He is (end of 1 John 3:2). But we do not yet have the hoped-for things: glorified body and purified soul. 

So, the hope makes a difference. We are unable to “work on” a glorified body, but sanctification is for keeps. And those who live out of this hope purify themselves as He is pure. This cuts two ways. First, He is the standard of our purification. His own purity gives purity its definition and extent. Second, His purity is the outcome of our purification. We labor as those who are sure to arrive at the goal —who are sure not to be ashamed, even before Him and even at His (glorious!) coming. Both the abiding in the Son that the Spirit teaches, and the love of Father that the Spirit pours out in our hearts, have this great effect: they drive us to purify ourselves. They compel sanctification!

By what means do you abide in Christ? How is “making your home in Christ” your goal as you attend upon those means? Who tells you to do this and gives to you to do this? With what sort of love has the Father loved you? What does this guarantee about your end? What does this hope drive you to do?

Sample prayer:  Lord, if we were to stand before You in ourselves, or in our present condition, we would surely be ashamed. Forgive us, and cleanse us of our remaining sin, so that we will not be ashamed. Forgive us for how forgetful we are of abiding in You, and grant that we would rest in You and flourish spiritually. Forgive us for being too unimpressed with the greatness of the Father’s love for us. And forgive us for desiring to be acknowledged by the world. Forgive us for not keeping our eyes upon the purifying that is necessary in order to see You as You are. And grant that we would have this hope and live in this hope, we ask through Christ, AMEN!

 Suggested songs: ARP118A “Because He’s Good, O Thank the LORD” or TPH461 “Blessed Are the Sons of God”

True Love [2024.04.14 Midweek Sermon in Romans 13:8–10]

True love is unto God first, defined by God's law, and determined by God's providence.

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

Favor and Fellowship from the Throne [2024.04.14 Evening Sermon in Numbers 7:89–8:4]

For the people who know that the great thing about them is their God, their great God insists that they know His great grace to them in favor and fellowship.

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

Treasuring Sanctification with Other Saints [2024.04.14 Morning Sermon in Matthew 7:1–6]

Treasuring heaven trains us to treasure holiness and God's holy ones.

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

Resistance to Tyranny (5): Tactical Options for Individuals, Churches, or Magistrates [2024.04.14 Sabbath School]

Resistance tactic options for individuals, churches, magistrates. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2024.04.17 Prayer Meeting Live Stream [live at 6:30p]

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April 17 Prayer Meeting Folder

Romans 13:8–10 Sermon Outline

We urge you to assemble physically, if possible, with a true congregation of Christ's church. For those of our own congregation who may be providentially hindered, we are grateful to be able to provide this service.

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