Tuesday, January 31, 2023

True Repentance Comes from God's Sincerity and Power, by Means of His Spirit's Use of His Word [Family Worship lesson in Psalm 78:32-48]

Why are we so needy of God’s means? Psalm 78:32–48 looks forward to the opening portion of morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these seventeen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that we are needy of God’s means because our self-deceiving hardness of heart has no remedy other than converting grace.
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2023.01.31 Hopewell @Home ▫ Psalm 78:32–48

Read Psalm 78:32–48

Questions from the Scripture text: Despite all of the wonders, blessings, and warnings, how did Israel continue to respond (Psalm 78:32a)? In what most fundamental way (verse 32b)? With what two things did the Lord respond by filling their lives (Psalm 78:33)? How did they seem (cf. Psalm 78:36a) to respond to His slaying them (Psalm 78:34)? What did they seem to remember (Psalm 78:35)? But what was the problem with this response (Psalm 78:36)? Why weren’t their words to God true (Psalm 78:37)? But what is He full of (Psalm 78:38a)? So that He did what? What didn’t He do (verse 38b)? How often (verse 38c)? How do verse 38c–d describe this forgiveness? Why did He forgive them (Psalm 78:39)? What about them did He remember? What did they do to Him, where, and how often (Psalm 78:40-41)? To Whom did they do this (Psalm 78:41)? Though He remembered their weakness (Psalm 78:39), what reality (Psalm 78:42a) and event (verse 42b) didn’t they remember? What had He done, where (Psalm 78:43)? What specific actions do Psalm 78:44-48 specifically describe? What effect should the vividness of these have had upon their memory and their response? 

Why are we so needy of God’s means? Psalm 78:32–48 looks forward to the opening portion of morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these seventeen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that we are needy of God’s means because our self-deceiving hardness of heart has no remedy other than converting grace. 

Why we need God’s means/grace: self-deception. God has given to His church His own testimony and law (Psalm 78:5). He uses the teaching of these from one generation to the next (Psalm 78:5-6) to bring future generations to hope in God (Psalm 78:7a) and not forget His works (verse 7b) but keep His commandments (verse 7c). Today’s portion of the Psalm underlines why this is so necessary: the hardness and deceitfulness of our hearts. Even after God’s blessing them with manna (Psalm 78:23-25) and striking them by plague with the quail (Psalm 78:26-31), still they sinned (Psalm 78:32a). They still did not hope in His salvation (verse 32b, cf. Psalm 78:22b). 

Alarmingly, however, they thought that they had repented (Psalm 78:34-35). They thought that their repentance was earnest (Psalm 78:34b). They thought that they remembered God as their Rock and Redeemer (Psalm 78:35), but it was all ideas and feelings to them, and not an act of the will to put their trust in Him. For, Psalm 78:42 states plainly that they did not, in fact, remember His power.

The more that we know our capacity for self-deception, the less weight we will give to moments in which we thought that we had earnestly sought and remembered God. We will know that the final analysis of such moments may well be that of Psalm 78:36-37: that all of that religious fervor and zeal was ultimately mere flattery and lying that would not stand fast unto faithfulness.

God’s remembering is better hope than ours. If our seeming to remember God cannot be a good basis of hope, what can? God’s remembering us! His remembering in Psalm 78:39 is set over-against their “ remembering” in Psalm 78:35Psalm 78:42. We may not remember His strength, but He remembers our weakness. Praise be to God Who is full of compassion (Psalm 78:38a)! Here is a lesson for those who struggle with whether they have been sincere with God: look away from yourself and to Him! Whatever repenting we have is only by His grace, and it is muddled with much insincerity and self-deception that comes from our flesh. But His power is sure, and His compassion is great, and His knowledge of us is perfect. 

Wonders can’t melt hard hearts, but God has given His Word to do so. What does the Lord know about us? He knows exactly what He puts on Abraham’s lips in the story of the rich man and Lazarus. If we do not listen to Moses and the prophets, then neither will we be persuaded if someone rises from the dead (cf. Luke 16:31). So hard is the sinfulness of the heart that wonders will not melt it. But God has given His Word for that very purpose! The abundant mercy which spared Israel corporately and covenantally has also given the preaching of His testimony and law as a means by which the sinner may be given a heart of flesh, born again unto a living hope (cf. 1 Peter 1:3). Only the power of God can melt the heart and bring us at last into His rest (cf. 1 Peter 1:5), and it is especially through His Word that He exercises this power (Psalm 78:5, cf. 1 Peter 3:10–14).

If ever we thought that there could be a demonstration of God’s works that would be enough to eliminate our unbelief, that idea dies at the feet of Psalm 78:43-48 (and indeed Psalm 78:49-51 from the next portion). As the poetry uses words to paint pictures, we remember the events of Exodus 7–12 and realize just how great and vivid the experience of these wonders must have been. There is no amount or intensity of evidence that can bring a dead heart to faith!

What might you feel is keeping you from believing? What is really keeping you from faith or stronger faith? What is the only power that can overcome this? What is the primary means by which He does it?

Sample prayer:  Lord, thank You for the many, marvelous displays of Your power. Forgive us for how deceitful and hard our hearts are. In Your great compassion, remember our weakness! Truly, there is no wonder so great as the death and resurrection of Christ. But, left to ourselves we will not benefit from our intellectually recollecting what You have done. Give us to attend upon the preaching of Your Word, and attend our hearing of it by the ministry of Your Spirit, we ask through Christ, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP78F “They’d Turn and Seek God Eagerly” or TPH78 “O My People, Hear My Teaching”

Monday, January 30, 2023

Theology Simply Explained, WSC72—Guarding Against Undisciplined Desires or Pleasures, Especially Romance

Pastor walks his children through Westminster Shorter Catechism question 72—especially explaining and applying how the seventh commandment forbids romantic thoughts or feelings that are not directed and disciplined by love for God and pleasure in God.

WSC72: What is forbidden in the seventh commandment? The seventh commandment forbiddeth all unchaste thoughts, words, and actions.
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The LORD Our Possessor, Protector, and Provider [2023.01.29 Evening Sermon in Exodus 30:11–16]


We belong to the LORD, Who is our only sure protection and provision.

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Strengthened by the Lord to Strengthen His Church [2023.01.29 Morning Sermon in Acts 18:11–23]


The Lord loved and strengthened His servant, giving him a love for the church and a desire to strengthen her.

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Biblical Theology of the Diaconate (21): Seeking to Prosper Our Brother in Dignity, Materially, and Spiritually [2023.01.29 Sabbath School]

The Lord's instructions for slavery among Israelites showed that they were to seek that their brother would prosper in dignity, materially, and especially in spiritual things. As the Lord's People do this, such love is fostered among them that they wish to become literal family.
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Glorying in Salvation: Past, Present, and Future [Family Worship lesson in Romans 5:9–11]

What confidence and joy come from knowing God’s love to us in Christ? Romans 5:9–11 looks forward to the sermon in this week’s midweek meeting. In these three verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that as the Spirit increases believers’ knowledge of God’s love for them in Christ, He increases their confidence and joy.
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2023.01.30 Hopewell @Home ▫ Romans 5:9–11

Read Romans 5:9–11

Questions from the Scripture text: How does the assurance attained in Romans 5:9 compare to the hope that what came before it? What has happened to us to make it “much more”? Through what have we been justified? What can we be even more sure will happen to us? From what will we be saved? Through what (Whom!) will we be saved from wrath? What was our status, when we were justified by His blood (Romans 5:10)? What did this justification do between us and God? Through what? How does our confidence about the second half of the verse compare with the confidence we might have had for the first? What sure thing is yet to come? By what shall we be saved? What are we now able to do in God, rather than fear His wrath (Romans 5:11)? Through Whom? What have we received through Him?

What confidence and joy come from knowing God’s love to us in Christ? Romans 5:9–11 looks forward to the sermon in this week’s midweek meeting. In these three verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that as the Spirit increases believers’ knowledge of God’s love for them in Christ, He increases their confidence and joy. 

Being made right with God through faith (Romans 5:1a) has brought us into a new condition of life. Not a condition of sin and misery, but a condition of holiness and joy. We have seen that these come not through comfort and ease, but through sufferings. But they come! As tribulation produces endurance, we see the first shoots of the tree of everlasting holiness that the Lord is growing. So despite believers’ troubles, their life is a life of rejoicing, a life of glorying: glorying in the hope of the glory of God (Romans 5:2), glorying in tribulations (Romans 5:3), and now glorying in God Himself (end of Romans 5:11). 

Justification was just the beginning. We say “beginning,” but it really comes in the middle. As we have been hearing, when the Lord brings us to faith in Jesus Christ, we discover that this gift of faith itself proceeds from eternal, electing love (Romans 5:5b). And the height of the display of that love was Christ’s dying for the powerless, the ungodly, the sinner (cf. Romans 5:6-8). Indeed, He still demonstrates that once-for-all love, whenever Christ is preached.

So, justifying a sinner by bringing him to faith in Christ is not the end of his salvation. Christ will save completely. He will bring to completion that salvation which eternal love has purposed. He Who began the work, having determined to do so from eternity, will most certainly complete that work by and on the great day, the day of Christ Jesus (cf. Philippians 1:6). Our passage makes this point twice: “we shall be saved” (Romans 5:9) and “we shall be saved” (Romans 5:10).

More of our salvation is coming in the day of wrath. There is coming a “day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each one according to his deeds” (cf. Romans 2:5–6). But believers look forward to that very day with joy as the day upon which their conformity to Christ is completed by the redemption of their bodies in the resurrection (cf. Romans 8:20–23). There is a salvation yet to come. How we shall feel and know ourselves to have been delivered with a great deliverance, when many are being cast body and soul into Hell; but, through totally free and entirely unmerited grace, our happiness is being perfected! 

We can be even more sure of future salvation than we are of present justification. “Much more then” says Romans 5:9. We have not only been justified through faith (Romans 5:1); we have been justified by Christ’s blood (Romans 5:9). Our justification came via the mechanism of believing in Jesus, but its motivation was shown by the bleeding of Jesus. God has demonstrated everlasting love. And if this love was already sure in Jesus for sinners under condemnation, how much more sure we can be of that love for those who are righteous in Jesus. The love is from Jesus and in Jesus, and now we have been united to Him through faith. Much more then we shall be saved!

But we are not only united to the Son; we are reconciled to the Father. God gave Jesus to die for His enemies. Now that we are His reconciled children, can we imagine that He would do less for us? Much more shall we be saved, due to our reconciled status. And Jesus is not now dead but risen, and living, and interceding for us (cf. Hebrews 7:25). Much more shall we be saved, due to our Savior’s resurrected/living status. Much more shall we be saved!

The trifecta of rejoicing. Romans 5:11 brings us to the last of three rejoicings/gloryings in Romans 5:1–11. Now, we are rejoicing in God Himself. This is that glory, the mere hope of which was worth rejoicing in, back in Romans 5:2. This is that usefulness of sufferings, which made them worth glorying in, back in Romans 5:3—that our holiness will be fully functional, enabling us to take full joy in God Himself. 

But we already have God Himself. We are united to the Son. We are the reconciled children of the Father. We are the subjects of the Spirit’s continual love-drenching work. We rejoice in God.

For the believer, the moment of justification is past, and the moment of salvation from wrath is future. But in between, now in the present, we have already God Himself. “We have now received the reconciliation.” And since we have Him, it is Him Himself that is our great joy and glory!

How do you have the Father? How do you have the Son? How do you have the Spirit? By what exercises/disciplines do you keep this on the forefront of your mind and heart so that you glory in Him?

Sample prayer:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we praise You for the everlasting love by which You have purchased us in time by the blood of Christ. Now that You have reconciled us to Yourself, we pray that You will make us absolutely sure of the salvation that is coming, but that even now in the present, You would make us to know that we have You already, so that we may rejoice and glory in You, Our God, in Jesus’s Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP32AB “What Blessedness” or TPH433 “Amazing Grace”

Saturday, January 28, 2023

Loving with the Lord's Love and Strengthening with the Lord's Strength [Family Worship lesson in Acts 18:11–23]

What is the apostle Paul doing when he’s not church planting? Acts 18:18–23 looks forward to the morning sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these six verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the apostle Paul set an example of edifying and encouraging all of the known churches at the time, that all might be unified in Christ.
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2023.01.28 Hopewell @Home ▫ Acts 18:18–23

Read Acts 18:18–23

Questions from the Scripture text: After Paul completed his year and half in Corinth, where did he go (Acts 18:18)? With whom? What does he do where, and why? To where does he come in Acts 18:19? Whom does he leave there? Where does he go? With whom does he dialogue? What do they ask him to do (Acts 18:20)? How does he respond? What does he want to do (Acts 18:21)? What does he promise for when that is over? Where does he land (Acts 18:22)? What does he go up to Jerusalem and do? Then to where does he go down? What does he do in Antioch (Acts 18:23)? Then where does he go (repeating stops from his first missionary journey)? Doing what? 

What is the apostle Paul doing when he’s not church planting? Acts 18:18–23 looks forward to the morning sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these six verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the apostle Paul set an example of edifying and encouraging all of the known churches at the time, that all might be unified in Christ. 

When the apostle’s year and half in Corinth are completed, the apostle bids farewell to the brethren. The mention of Cenchrea probably indicates that he is the founder of that church where Phoebe was a servant (cf. Romans 16:1), and that the ministry at Corinth had borne fruit in the region and not only in that city. 

It seems also that Silas and Timothy stay back, with the mention of Priscilla and Aquila going with him (Acts 18:18) until they part ways upon arrival in Ephesus (Acts 18:19). The Greek of Acts 18:18 allows for it to have been Aquila who had taken the vow and had his head shaved, but we will find later that even Paul has not given up so much of the ceremonial law as he should have (cf. Acts 21:23–26). 

At any rate, he is on his way back to Syria, and there the city of Antioch (cf. Acts 18:22), which was his sending church. But he continues to dialogue with Jews at synagogue (Acts 18:19), perhaps being put in mind of them again by the completion of the Nazirite vow and by his arrival in a new location. Amazingly (for it is amazing, after his general treatment by the Jews on this missionary journey), those in Ephesus actually wish for more of this instruction. 

But it is perhaps even their response that has stirred up this one who loves his brethren according to the flesh to wish to have opportunity to minister to a great many of them in Jerusalem, when the population there would swell greatly, and there would be people there from every nation under heaven (Acts 18:21, cf. Acts 2:5). 

Here, the large-hearted apostle is an example of a man full of the Spirit. For, his interest in souls goes in all directions: not only to the throng and church (cf. Acts 18:22) in Jerusalem, but also to the Ephesians (to whom he promises to return), and to the churches of his second missionary journey. To these, he returns on his way back, that he might further strengthen them, as he had done with the churches at the end of his first missionary journey, Acts 18:23 (cf. Acts 14:21–22, Acts 16:6). 

Here, we may see that one in whom the mind of Christ is being formed will care for all saints in all places, and will do good to however many the Lord will enable and permit him (cf. Acts 18:21). As the mind of Christ is formed in you, dear Christian, you will care more and more for believers around the world. And, you will be seeking to strengthen those among whom the Lord places you in whatever ways that He permits you.

Among what saints has the Lord placed you? What opportunities do you already have for strengthening them that you are not taking up? What further opportunities might you produce, God enabling you? What place do saints around the world have in your thoughts and prayers? What else might you be able to do for them?

Sample prayer:  Lord, we thank You for Your church, which You are building for Your glory. We thank You that Your saints are precious for Your sake, and even in themselves by virtue of their union with You. Grant unto us to love and serve them in every way that we can, we ask through Christ, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP87 “The LORD’S Foundation Has Been Set” or TPH405 “I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord”

Friday, January 27, 2023

Christ Shown Forth in Divine Strength, Righteousness, and Love [2023.01.25 Midweek Sermon in Romans 5:6–8]


The gospel is not only the power of God for salvation and the revelation of the righteousness of God through faith, but the demonstration of God's love, and the display of Christ as this God!

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The LORD Our Possessor, Protector, and Provider [Family Worship lesson in Exodus 30:11–16]

What is the most important way to muster the men of Israel? Exodus 31:11–16 looks forward to the p.m. sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these six verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that when the men were numbered for census, it was not so much that they could be mustered for war as to be memorialized before the Lord; Israel would be protected by atonement, not by military size.
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2023.01.27 Hopewell @Home ▫ Exodus 30:11–16

Read Exodus 30:11–16

Questions from the Scripture text: How does this passage begin, for the first time since Exodus 25:1 (Exodus 30:11)? What is he to take of the people (Exodus 30:12)? What must every man give, when he is counted? What will happen if every numbered man does not give the ransom price? How much must every counted man give (Exodus 30:13)? What does this half-shekel become? Which males, specifically, are to be numbered (Exodus 30:14)? Who are not to give more (Exodus 30:15)? Who are not to give less? What does this ransom offering do for them? What are the priests to use the ransom money for (Exodus 30:16)? What would putting it into the tabernacle service do?

What is the most important way to muster the men of Israel? Exodus 31:11–16 looks forward to the p.m. sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these six verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that when the men were numbered for census, it was not so much that they could be mustered for war as to be memorialized before the Lord; Israel would be protected by atonement, not by military size. 

Dangerous business. Census-taking is risky. When Yahweh is angry with Israel in 2 Samuel 24, He provokes David to number the people. In the passage before us, we see the danger involved. It requires a ransom (Exodus 30:12). It may induce a plague (verse 12). It requires an offering (Exodus 30:13). It requires an offering (Exodus 30:14). It requires making atonement (Exodus 30:15). The money is atonement money (Exodus 30:16). To make atonement for yourselves (verse 16).

Indeed, all of this atonement and ransom language isn’t new. The redemption of the firstborn taught this in Exodus 13:11–16. All of the sacrifices and furniture and atonement/ordination in the priesthood have communicated this. But why such danger associated with a census? 

The word translated "number" in Exodus 30:12-13 is derived from the lifting up of heads and has military connotations —a headcount of mustered troops. Exodus 30:14 corroborates this; it is only males over 20 whose heads are counted. 

Israel needed safety from her enemies, but it would be the Lord Who is her protection. Even when He uses her fighting men, it is still He Who gives victory. And, as we see throughout the history of Israel, He does not even need to use them to give victory! But before she needs safety from her enemies, Israel needs safety from her God. His holiness among her is dangerous. And the tabernacle is the presence of that holiness.

All God’s people, equally invested and equally safe in Christ. The amount of the atonement could never be high enough. (indeed, we know that eventually the amount of the atonement must be Christ). The Lord sets it low enough that even the poor can afford it to communicate that the same atonement is necessary for every single man. For women and children, there would be a man through whom that fellowship was covenantally represented, but they would know that God was their God and had protected them through their man. And by taking this census at the beginning of the tabernacle project, the Lord communicates to the people that each of them is equally invested in the Lord and in His presence among the people. The rich are not more invested, and the poor are not less invested.

God’s presence among us a reminder of the payment of our atonement. Exodus 30:16 calls this investing of the census money in the tabernacle service “a memorial for the children of Israel before Yahweh.” Every single man of military age, rich or poor, would know that he has an equal share in that atonement, an equal share in that presence. And he would know that the Lord wanted him to know. There isn’t just safety here, there is fellowship.

God doesn’t just give His people safety in Christ. He gives us fellowship with Himself in the knowledge of that safety in Christ. He is our strength and protection from all enemies, and from His own wrath. Even more, He means for us to remember the cost of that atonement every time we know His presence to us in Christ.

When do you see or know God’s presence to you in Christ? What did that presence cost? Why? What habit have you made of remembering this?

Sample prayer: Lord, thank You for being our alimghty shield and infinitely great reward. And thank You for atoning for us by Christ, so that we could have You as our prize and our projection. And thank You for bringing us into Your presence always through Christ, so that we might remember the glorious cost of our atonement. Grant that Your Spirit would continually bring these home to our hearts, we ask in Christ’s Name, AMEN!

 Suggested songs: ARP141A “I Call You, Lord” or TPH522 “Behold, the Throne of Grace!”

Thursday, January 26, 2023

Establishing a Roll (and Payroll!) of Full-Time, Praying Widows [Family Worship lesson in 1Timothy 5:5–10]

How does one who has “learned to show piety at home” show that piety when she becomes a widow? 1 Timothy 5:5–8 looks forward to the second reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these six verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that a true widow is left only with God, but has learned a fellowship with Him that gives her more than enough to do with her time/life.
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2023.01.26 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Timothy 5:5–10

Read 1 Timothy 5:5-10

Questions from the Scripture text: What woman is 1 Timothy 5:5 talking about? In what condition has she been left (verse 5, i.e., without children or grandchildren, cf. 1 Timothy 5:4)? What is her security? What is her occupation? When does she do this supplicating and praying? What does 1 Timothy 5:6 call the life of a widow who does something else? What condition is she in? What is the church to do with this teaching (1 Timothy 5:7a)? With what desired result for widows and families (verse 7b)? For whom is one to provide (1 Timothy 5:8)? Especially which ones? If he doesn’t, then what does he deny? What condition does this put him in? What widows mustn’t be put on the list (1 Timothy 5:9a)? For those over 60, what must they have done (1 Timothy 5:9-10)? Which good works in specific? Which others?

How does one who has “learned to show piety at home” show that piety when she becomes a widow? 1 Timothy 5:5–10 looks forward to the second reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these six verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that a true widow is left only with God, but has learned a fellowship with Him that gives her more than enough to do with her time/life. 

Piety begins at home for the minister (or congregant) who wishes to speak respectfully in the congregation (1 Timothy 5:1). Piety begins at home for children and grandchildren whom God gives the opportunity to repay their parents (1 Timothy 5:4). And piety begins (1 Timothy 5:5) and stays (cf. 1 Timothy 5:13) at home for true widows.

Whom do they have left at home? If they’re a true widow(?)… none. She who is really a widow has been left alone. But not entirely alone. She hopes (better translation than “trusts”) in God. She’s content with Him; she isn’t hoping for more than Him. So, she doesn’t need more to have.

She also doesn’t need more to do. She might not have a husband to obey and serve (1 Timothy 5:9b, cf. 1 Timothy 5:14a, Titus 2:4a). She might not have children to love and rear (cf. 1 Timothy 5:14b, Titus 2:4b). She might no longer be equipped to take strangers in to lodge them, particularly road-weary saints whose feet to wash (1 Timothy 5:10, Titus 2:5a). But she still has One upon Whom to attend. And she loves to make every sort of prayer (summarized under the pair “supplications and prayers”) at every sort of time (summarized under the pair “night and day”), 1 Timothy 5:5.

This life of piety finds its pleasure not in indulging itself but in God. There are those who would rather indulge themselves than take the God-given opportunity to provide for their own, and especially of their own household. This living unto self is denounced by 1 Timothy 5:8 as “denying the faith and worse than an unbelievers.” And there are those who would rather indulge themselves than live night and day in supplications and prayers. This living unto self is denounced by 1 Timothy 5:6 as being “dead while she lives.”

The apostle’s concern is that the minister’s and church’s concern would be the spiritual well-being of all. That they would Titus 2:5 all learn to have their hope in God, that they would all learn to live unto Him instead of unto self (cf. Psalm 78:7Titus 2:5b). “Command and teach these things that they may be blameless” (1 Timothy 5:7, cf. Psalm 78:5–6).  The church is not to help children/grandchildren deny the faith, nor is it to help widows who don’t care to live a life of prayer end up with too much time on their hands and live in a dead way.

It takes years of maturing through a life in which there is little time for much else but service to get her to this point. In fact, even in a congregation where this kind of godliness for younger women and wives is practiced, the assumption is that it will still take those decades to mature her to the spiritual place of 1 Timothy 5:5. The apostle flatly says not to enroll any woman who is under 60 (1 Timothy 5:9a). 

Indeed, being put on the list would be a crown of dignity, attesting the Lord’s gracious work in her and through her over the course of a lifetime. And what an opportunity that then becomes for the church that has the privilege of providing a dignified life for such a royal lady in Israel. For wives and mothers (and single ladies who are commanded to seek marriage and children, cf. 1 Timothy 5:14), it is much-needed to have such royal older ladies in the church, who are godly examples (cf. Titus 2:3) unto the admonishment of the younger (cf. Titus 2:4). May these much-needed ladies be accordingly treasured and cared for by their churches!

What older ladies do you know who live in the contentment and service described in this passage? How are they being taken care of? How are you (or the younger ladies in your life) living a sort of life that makes progress toward that level of maturity by the age of 60? Who has been assigned to you in your life? What do your roles/relations to them require of you? How are you fulfilling them as a life-mission of service unto God?

Sample prayer:  Lord, thank You for putting us in our places and relations so that we may practice our piety first at home. Forgive us for begrudging our service to them. For doing that service half-heartedly and half-way. Truly, we know constantly the tendency toward denying the faith and being worse than unbelievers. Forgive us for how we are not contented with You. In truth, very few of us can endure in prayer for an hour, let alone night and day. How close we come to living for pleasure, how close to being dead even while we live! But You have not only atoned for us in Christ, but You work in us by Your Spirit over the course of our lives to work in us that contentment and love and service. Continue and complete that work in us we pray, through Christ, AMEN!

ARP128 “How Blessed Are All Who Fear the Lord” or TPH128B “Blest the Man That Fears Jehovah”

Wednesday, January 25, 2023

How Amaziah's Limitations Press Home to Us That the King that We Need Is Jesus [Family Worship lesson in 2Kings 14:1–22]

Why do we need a perfect King? 2Kings 14:1–22 looks forward to the first serial reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these twenty-two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that because Amaziah was an insufficient king, his reign was limited in its godliness, power, and longevity; the King that we need is Jesus.
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2023.01.25 Hopewell @Home ▫ 2 Kings 14:1–22

Read 2 Kings 14:1–22

Questions from the Scripture text: In what year of the north does 2 Kings 14:1 take place? Who became king in the south? How old was he (2 Kings 14:2)? How long did he reign? Who was his mother? What did he do (2 Kings 14:3)? With what limitation? Like whom (2 Kings 14:3-4, cf. 2 Kings 12:3)? What was his first royal act (2 Kings 14:5, cf. 2 Kings 12:20)? What didn’t he do (2 Kings 14:6)? Why (cf. Deuteronomy 24:16)? What victories did the Lord give him (2 Kings 14:7)? Then whom did he want to take on (2 Kings 14:8)? With a parable about what did Jehoash reply (2 Kings 14:9)? What happens to the thistle in the parable? How does he explain the parable (2 Kings 14:10)? How effective is this message (2 Kings 14:11)? What action follows? With what outcome for Judah (2 Kings 14:12)? And what outcome for Amaziah (2 Kings 14:13a)? And what outcome for Jerusalem (verse 13b)? What did he take (2 Kings 14:14, cf. 2 Kings 12:13, 2 Kings 12:18)? Whose summary from the north is repeated in 2 Kings 14:15-16 (cf. 2 Kings 13:12–13)? Who outlived him in the south, by how long (2 Kings 14:17)? What does 2 Kings 14:18 imply weren’t important enough to this account to record here? How did he die (2 Kings 14:19, cf. 2 Kings 13:20–21)? With whom was he buried (2 Kings 14:20)? Whom did they make king in his place (2 Kings 14:21)? How old was he? What port town did he immediately rebuild (2 Kings 14:22)?

Why do we need a perfect King? 2 Kings 14:1–22 looks forward to the first serial reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these twenty-two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that because Amaziah was an insufficient king, his reign was limited in its godliness, power, and longevity; the King that we need is Jesus. 

The Davidic dynasty is still going strong (2 Kings 14:3). The promise that will be completed when the resurrected Christ rises from the dead and sits upon the throne of glory is still eking along. From a human perspective, it seems like northern Jehoash stomped on the thistle that was Amaziah in 2 Kings 14:9-13. But the surprise twist of repeating Jehoash’s death summary (2 Kings 14:15-16, cf. 2 Kings 13:12–13) reminds us that political, military, and economic power of this world lasts but a moment. 2 Kings 14:17 drives the point home: Amaziah lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash. So, the persistence of God’s promise is the subtext of the passage.

Upon the foundation of this subtext, the Spirit tells a history that emphasizes the various comings-up-short of Amaziah.

He came up short spiritually2 Kings 14:1-4. We’re looking for the David-like king that is greater than David, who will have the Psalm 72:5–7 effect upon the piety of his people. But even Amaziah’s placement in the “did what was right” column (2 Kings 14:3a) comes with an asterisk. He’s less than David. Like father Joash (and many others), like son; the high places remain.

He came up short politically/militarily2 Kings 14:5-14. Again, there are promising things. He serves biblical justice in 2 Kings 14:5-6 and has a David-like victory over the Edomites (2 Kings 14:7, cf. 1 Chronicles 18:12). But he bites of more than he can chew when he confronts the northern king whose throne is in Samaria (2 Kings 14:8-14). Not until the Son of David sits upon the throne of glory will the Davidic kingdom gather Samaria back to Judea. And then, with Samaria, will follow the ends of the earth! But not so for thistle-ish Amaziah.

He came up short in longevity2 Kings 14:15-22. Amaziah’s reign coincides almost exactly with northern Joash’s, starting in the second year of the latter (2 Kings 14:2). And despite Joash’s besting him so badly in battle, Amaziah just about doubles him in length of reign (2 Kings 14:17). But he dies in much the same way as his father (2 Kings 14:17-20) whom he had avenged (2 Kings 14:5, cf. 2 Kings 12:20–21). His son, Azariah/Uzziah (2 Kings 14:21) makes a Solomonic-like start (2 Kings 14:22, cf. 1 Kings 9:26; 2 Chronicles 8:17), but more on him later, when he (like all the others before him) stir up in us a longing for king Jesus!

What leadership in the church comes up short? What leadership doesn’t?! What leadership in the nation comes up short? What leadership won’t? What events (should?) stir up your longing for Him?

Sample prayer: Lord, thank You for keeping Your promise to David. Forgive us for being those who serve You in half-measures like Amaziah. Forgive us for becoming proud, like he did, after You gave him some small victories. Thank You that Jesus has obeyed You in full on our behalf. Thank You that He humbled Himself to win full and forever victory. Forgive us for His sake, and give us to Him as His due, we ask in His Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP72A “God, Give Your Judgments to the King” or TPH72A “O God, Your Judgments Give the King” 

Tuesday, January 24, 2023

God's Way of Training Us to Hope in His Salvation So That We Obey Him [Family Worship lesson in Psalm 78:9–31]

How quickly and shockingly can God’s people forget Him and rebel? Psalm 78:9–31 looks forward to the opening portion of morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these twenty-three verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that our sinful natures are like those of that wilderness generation, who had been saved by glorious works but almost immediately sinned, rebelled against, spoke against, and tested God in their hearts.
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2023.01.24 Hopewell @Home ▫ Psalm 78:9–31

Read Psalm 78:9–31

Questions from the Scripture text: Who had what in Psalm 78:9a? But did what anyway (verse 9b)? What two other things (Psalm 78:10)? And what fourth (Psalm 78:11)? What was one of these great wonders (Psalm 78:12-13)? What was another (Psalm 78:14a)? And a third (verse 14b)? And a fourth (Psalm 78:15-16)? How had Israel responded then (Psalm 78:17)? Especially by what (Psalm 78:18-20)? Who heard them saying this (Psalm 78:21)? What was His triply-described response? What was the most offensive part of their insulting questions (Psalm 78:22)? What did God do for these rebels, who spoke against Him and did not trust Him (Psalm 78:23-25)? Which doors did He open (Psalm 78:23, cf. Genesis 7:11)? What rained down instead of a flood (Psalm 78:24a)? What sort of grain did He give them (verse 24b)? What sort of food (Psalm 78:25a)? How much of it (verse 25b)? What else did He give them (Psalm 78:26-27)? How much? And how easily obtained (Psalm 78:28)? To what purpose (Psalm 78:29-30)? But what came upon them in the midst of this (Psalm 78:31a)? With what results (verse 31b–c)?

How quickly and shockingly can God’s people forget Him and rebel? Psalm 78:9–31 looks forward to the opening portion of morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these twenty-three verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that our sinful natures are like those of that wilderness generation, who had been saved by glorious works but almost immediately sinned, rebelled against, spoke against, and tested God in their hearts. 

The Lord established a testimony in Jacob (Psalm 78:5a) in order that fathers should make them known to their children to succeeding generations (Psalm 78:5-6). The goal was that they would remember the works of God and keep His commandments (Psalm 78:7). But the problem was that the fathers to whom this charge was given did not even remember God’s works for themselves (Psalm 78:8). This week’s passage recounts their forgetting God’s works for themselves.

Why did Ephraim fail in battle (Psalm 78:9b) despite their weaponry (verse 9a)? Because victory is not by might nor by strength, but by the Spirit of God. And they had rebelled against Him. They did not keep His covenant (Psalm 78:10a). They refused to walk in His law (verse 10b). 

His works and wonders did not move them (Psalm 78:11). Such rebellion came even from those who saw the marvelous plagues by which He delivered them in Egypt (Psalm 78:12), the marvelous deliverance that He gave them through the sea (Psalm 78:13), the marvelous display of His presence to them in the glory cloud and pillar of fire (Psalm 78:14), and marvelous provision of water in the desert (Psalm 78:15-16). The greatness of the wonders. The number of the wonders. The quickness with which they forgot them. All of these are shocking!

Let us not flatter ourselves that we would be more affected toward God if we could only see many great wonders from Him. He has appointed not the works themselves but the repeated telling of the testimony (Psalm 78:5a) and the law (verse 5b) as the means by which He overcomes our sinful nature. It doesn’t come from our fathers, for they were rebellious. It doesn’t come from the wonders, for even those wonders could not bring the fathers to trust the Lord or obey Him. 

It's not that they forgot the wonders themselves. They remembered the water from the rock (Psalm 78:20a–c). They just didn’t believe in Him or trust Him (Psalm 78:22). All of our doubtings and grumblings are rebellion and sin against Him Who has proved Himself repeatedly. And He has proven Himself most at the cross!

Despite their rebellion against Him, He gave them more reason to love and wonder, with the raining down of bread enough to fill them all (Psalm 78:23-25). And He gave them more reason to pause and fear with the great plague that came with the quail meat (Psalm 78:26-31, cf. Numbers 11:33). How great is the mercy of God! And how great the stubbornness and persistence of man’s sinfulness! Desperately, then, we need to make use of His Word in the way that He has prescribed, so that generations of His people will set their hope in Him by grace, and remember Him by grace, and obey Him by grace.

When do you tend most to grumble? What, from God’s Word, applies directly to those situations? What, from God’s actions, reminds you that He must surely be doing you good even at those times?

Sample prayer:  Lord, we thank You that You Yourself have given a testimony in Jacob and a law in Israel, so that by Your almighty Word, we might be made those who hope in You and remember You and obey You. We praise You for Your mighty and merciful work at the cross of Jesus Christ. Surely, this is the greatest of Your wonders! But help us now, by Your Spirit, we pray. In our flesh, we are often forgetful even of Your cross, and we induldge grumbling hearts. Grant that Your Spirit’s blessing upon Your Word would make us a thankful, worshiping, loving, serving people this day unto You, our God, we ask in Jesus’s Name, AMEN! 

Suggested songs: ARP78D “Yet in the Desert Still They Sinned” or TPH78 “O My People, Hear My Teaching”

Monday, January 23, 2023

Theology Simply Explained, WSC71—Regulating and Renovating Pleasure by Pleasure in God

Pastor walks his children through Westminster Shorter Catechism question 71—especially explaining and applying how finding our ultimate pleasure in God must limit, shape, and drive all of our other pleasures, especially our pleasure in the person of our spouse.

WSC71: Which is the seventh commandment? The seventh commandment is, Thou shalt not commit adultery.
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The Lord Who Makes Himself Known As the Continual Hearer and Answerer of Prayer [2023.01.22 Evening Sermon in Exodus 30:1–10]


God not only meets with His people to speak with them, but also even to hear them.

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The Presence, Providence, and Purpose by Which the Lord Reassured His Servant [2023.01.22 Morning sermon in Acts 18:9–10]


The Lord sustained His servant by reassuring his apprehensions and restraining his enemies. Let all believers seek these things from the Lord, that they may be sustained in their callings!

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Biblical Theology of the Diaconate (20): Slavery that Valued Marriage and Family More Than Our Contemporary Context [2023.01.22 Sabbath School]

The Lord has established a principle for His people that situations of financial lack are opportunities to show generosity in a way that prioritizes marriage and family the way that God does.
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The Gospel As Demonstration of Christ's Strength, Righteousness, and Love [Family Worship lesson in Romans 5:6–8]

What keeps us glorying in God’s glory and even in our tribulations? Romans 5:6–8 looks forward to the sermon in this week’s midweek meeting. In these three verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that our total dependence upon Christ's strength, righteousnes, and love in the gospel keeps us from glorying in self.
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2023.01.23 Hopewell @Home ▫ Romans 5:6–8

Read Romans 5:6–8

Questions from the Scripture text: What was our condition at the beginning of Romans 5:6? Who did what (that we didn’t have enough strength to do)? For whom (what else was our condition)? For whom would one scarcely do what (Romans 5:7)? But for whom would someone perhaps dare to? But Who is the One Who acts in Romans 5:8? What is He demonstrating? Toward whom? What was our condition? What did Christ do?

What keeps us glorying in God’s glory and even in our tribulations? Romans 5:6–8 looks forward to the sermon in this week’s midweek meeting. In these three verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that our total dependence upon Christ in the gospel keeps us from glorying in self. 

In the gospel, God has exhibited Christ as a propitiation (Romans 3:25). This display of Christ, this demonstration of Christ, is key to keeping us from glorying in ourselves. As we have seen in Romans 5:2-3, faith glories in God’s glory and even in tribulation, not in itself. But it is the experience of many believers that we do not glory in Christ, as we ought, but still very much rather in ourselves.

Now, Romans 5:6 begins with “for…” giving us a foundation upon which to build the proper sort of glorying in the Christian life. Here, the Spirit demonstrates to us three realities that will keep us glorying only in God and glorying abundantly in God.

Demonstration of Christ’s strength to die, when we had not strength to die. “When we were still without strength… Christ died.” A death was necessary for our sin, but we weren’t strong enough to do the dying. It had to be Christ Who died. Now, we must daily die to sin and live to righteousness, and it is still only Christ Who is strong enough. He has died our judicial death, and we died there in union with Him. But if we are going to die to sin and die to self, we need it to be by Him with us in our lives, by the strength of His resurrection. The gospel is good news of God’s power, from start to finish.

Demonstration of Christ’s righteousness and goodness, when we were ungodly. Having reminded us that we are ungodly (Romans 5:6), Romans 5:7 proceeds to talk about the hypothetical righteous man and the hypothetical good man. But there is none righteous, no, not one (Romans 3:10). And there is no one who does good, no, not one (Romans 3:12). The only One is the Christ Who died (Romans 5:6). If there is to be any righteousness, any goodness in the Christian life, it must come from Christ.

Demonstration of Christ’s love, when we were sinners. Here, then, is not merely justice or noble generosity. It is abounding, unfathomable love. The ones for whom the death was died were sinners. The One Who died is the alone righteous and good One. But He has so loved those sinners that He died for them. This is a demonstration of God’s love, because Christ is God. If He weren’t, it would not be particularly loving of God for someone else to have died for us. But God the Father has so loved the world that He gave the Son (Romans 5:8, cf. John 3:16), and the Son has so loved us that He laid His life down for us (cf. 1 John 3:16; John 10:11, John 10:17–18). Love in the Christian life, even our love for God, does not come from our loving God but from His loving us (cf. 1 John 4:10, 1 John 4:19)!

Strength in the Christian life is from Him, not from us. Goodness in the Christian life is from Him, not from us. Love in the Christian life is from Him, not from us. Let us learn to glory only in Christ, not ourselves!

For what, in your life, do you need strength, goodness, and love for God? Where can it be had? 

Sample prayer:  Lord, thank You for being our strength and goodness and love—both perfectly in Yourself as counted for us, and presently and effectively by Your Spirit’s working in us. Grant that we would see and know this and glory in You, not in ourselves, for we ask it through Christ, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP32AB “What Blessedness” or TPH433 “Amazing Grace”

Saturday, January 21, 2023

How the Lord Reinvigorated and Sustained His Servant [Family Worship lesson in Acts 18:1–18, n.b. especially vv8–18]

What happens when the Lord wants to sustain a ministry? Acts 18:9–18a looks forward to the morning sermon on the coming Lord’s Day, as we complete this portion from last week. In these eleven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Lord reassures His servants' apprehensions and restrains His servants' enemies.
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2023.01.21 Hopewell @Home ▫ Acts 18:8–18a

Read Acts 18:8–18a

Questions from the Scripture text: Who comes to faith at this point (Acts 18:8)? Whom else does the Lord save? And many of whom? And what is now done with them? Who now appears to Paul (Acts 18:9)? What does He tell him not to be? What does He tell him to do? What does He tell him not to do? Why—Who is with him, and what will no one be able to do (Acts 18:10)? Why not? How long did Paul stay there (Acts 18:11)? Doing what? But then what happened (Acts 18:12)? Who said what and where (Acts 18:13)? How does Gallio answer (Acts 18:14-15)? What does he do (Acts 18:16)? Who then do what to whom (Acts 18:17)? What does Paul do (Acts 18:18a)? 

What happens when the Lord wants to sustain a ministry? Acts 18:8–18a looks forward to the morning sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these ten verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Lord may sustain ministries through reassuring ministers’ apprehensions and restraining ministers’ opponents. 

The way things have gone thus far on the second missionary journey, the apostle might be getting ready to move on from the work in Corinth. But the Lord wishes to sustain his ministry. How will He do so?

Reassuring the minister's apprehensions, Acts 18:8–11. First, the Lord reassures the apostle of covenant reality by saving not only Crispus but also many of the Corinthians (Acts 18:8). He saves not just Crispus, but his whole household, as the covenant God Who is powerful to save according to His promises and according to the pattern that He has established. With every new believer, there is at least one baptism—and often an entire household of them. Over and over again, the fact of Christ's reign in heaven is displayed. Over and over again, the fact of His pouring out His Spirit is displayed. Over and over again, the effectiveness of His Spirit to make disciples and grow disciples is displayed. Over and over again, he sees the display of the presence of Christ with His church to build it in the age of its gathering.

Second, the Lord appears to him (Acts 18:9a) and reassures him of three things: His steady presence ("I am with you," Acts 18:10a), His sovereign providence ("and no one will attack you to hurt you," Acts 18:10b), and His saving purpose ("for I have many people in this city," Acts 18:10c). The Lord is present to the apostle always, even when not visibly so as Hs is just then in the vision. The Lord is in providential control of whether or not people attack him, and whether the attack is able to hurt him. And the Lord is superintending all things for the express purpose of bringing to faith all whom He has chosen to take as His own by salvation.

Restraining the minister’s opponentsActs 18:12-18a. We’re not sure how far into the year and six months this event takes place. It is presented as an example of that sovereign providential restraint that Jesus had promised in Acts 18:10. The Jews drag Paul before the proconsul (Acts 18:12) and present the sort of argument that has worked before in Macedonia (Acts 18:13, reasoning that Christianity should not have the same protected status as Judaism, cf. Acts 17:6–7), and the reader thinks “hear we go again.” But the Lord has raised up a proconsul who refuses to be manipulated such that Paul doesn’t even get a chance to make his own defense (Acts 18:14). Gallio denounces the Jews and drives them away, with the rod-bearers laying the stripes on the Jews’ leader all the way (Acts 18:15-17). In this way, the Lord sovereignly restrained Paul’s opponents so that Acts 18:18a might be fulfilled, “and Paul remained for many days.”

How has the Lord been restraining opposition to the work of the gospel in your area/ministry? What further restraint are you praying for?

Sample prayer:  Lord, we thank You and praise You that You rule and overrule all things for gathering to Yourself those Who are Yours by election and redemption. Grant the ongoing work of Your Spirit to sustain a renewed gospel work in our own day we pray, in Jesus’s Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP46 “God Is Our Refuge and Our Strength” or TPH400 “Gracious Spirit, Dwell with Me”

Friday, January 20, 2023

The Honor of Stopping Striving in a Quarrel [Family Worship lesson in Proverbs 20:3]

Pastor teaches his family a selection from “the Proverb of the day.” In this verse of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that as the Spirit produces His fruit in us, He advances us in honor by enabling us to hold our peace and be peacemakers.
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Glorying in Tribulations [2023.01.18 Midweek Sermon in Romans 5:3–5]


Those who are justified through faith in Christ glory not only in the hope of God's glory but even in their current tribulations.

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Prayers Set before God as Incense, and Going Up Morning and Evening, and Continually [Family Worship lesson in Exodus 30:1–10]

What does God highlight by putting the instructions for the incense altar at this point in Exodus? Exodus 30:1–10 looks forward to the p.m. sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these ten verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God does not only meet with His people to speak with them, but also even to hear them.
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2023.01.20 Hopewell @Home ▫ Exodus 30:1–10

Read Exodus 30:1–10

Questions from the Scripture text: What are they to make (Exodus 30:1)? To do what upon it? Out of what? With what dimensions (Exodus 30:2)? What will be of one piece with it? With what will it be overlaid (Exodus 30:3)? What else will border it? What will go under this molding (Exodus 30:4)? How many on each side? To hold what? For what purpose? Of what are the poles to be made (Exodus 30:5)? And overlaid with what? Where will this incense altar go (Exodus 30:6)? What is behind the veil? What is on top of the ark? What happens there? What will the high priest do on it (Exodus 30:7)? When? What else will he do at that time? And When else (Exodus 30:8)? What else will he do at that time? So, when will incense be going up? What four things must they not offer on it (Exodus 30:9)? What will the high priest do upon its horns (Exodus 30:10)? How often? Until when? Why?

What does God highlight by putting the instructions for the incense altar at this point in Exodus? Exodus 30:1–10 looks forward to the p.m. sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these ten verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God does not only meet with His people to speak with them, but also even to hear them. 

The Lord now commands the construction of another altar. It is similar in shape and materials (though smaller in size) to both the ark and the table. The Lord does not tell us exactly why He places its description here, rather than with the other furniture. But simply by its isolation here, the incense altar is highlighted. And, coming after the ordination of the priesthood and the instruction for the morning and evening sacrifices, the text intensifies the focus on the high priest’s service at this altar at those times (cf. Exodus 30:7-8).

This altar is strictly for incense, and strictly for God’s incense. No other recipe or other manner of offering incense is permitted on it (Exodus 30:9a). No other type of offering is permitted on it (verse 9). We understand that this most holy (Exodus 30:10) incense altar  is for burning sweet incense (Exodus 30:1Exodus 30:7Exodus 30:8). 

From other passages (cf. Luke 1:8–11, Psalm 141:1–2, Revelation 8:3–4) we know that this communicates the commending of our prayers to God with the sweet aroma. Apart from atonement, our prayers are offensive to God (cf. Isaiah 1:14–15; Isaiah 59:1–3; Micah 3:4; Psalm 66:19; Proverbs 28:9). But with it, they go up to Him and are received as pleasing and sweet.

Although the high priest will only go into the Holy of Holies once a year, he is to go right up to the front of it twice a day. Just as the light of the lamp is never to go out, so also the sweet smoke of the incense is never to stop going up. Aaron makes the lamps good in the morning (Exodus 30:7) and causes them to rise in the evening (Exodus 30:8) as a reminder that the light of the favor of God never stops shining down upon His people. And every time that Aaron goes in there to do that, he is to replenish the burning of the incense as a reminder that God never stops receiving Christ-atoned prayer as a sweet aroma. 

Where does this take place? Right in front of the veil. This is significant because Exodus 30:6 teaches that this connects the altar rather directly to the veil, and to the ark, and to the mercy seat, and to the Testimony. The favorable receiving of His people’s prayers, then, is an emphasized feature of God’s dwelling among His people. Not only does He meet with His people to speak to them (cf. Exodus 29:42), but so great is His grace that He also meets with His people to hear them!

In the Revelation of John, there is a golden altar before the throne (cf. Revelation 8:3). This corresponds not to the bronze altar, which pointed forward to the cross of Christ and His once-for-all sacrifice, but to this golden altar upon which incense was offered. The prayers of the saints continuously go up to God, and have a central role in the Lord’s great work upon the earth. In Jesus, the throne has become the location of our praying itself (cf. Hebrews 4:14–16), so that we may confidently join our plea with the Psalmist, “Let my prayer be set before You as incense” (cf. Psalm 141:1–2)!

Where is the “ark” now? Where is the “golden altar”? Who has access to it, and how? What use are you making of that access? How are you responding to the access that you have?

Sample prayer: Lord, we thank You and praise You for atoning for our sins in Christ. And for bringing us near in Christ. And for receiving our prayers as sweet and pleasing to you in Christ. Now, grant that Your Spirit would conform us to Christ, so that like He, we would continually lift our prayers to You, we ask in His Name, AMEN!

 Suggested songs: ARP141A “I Call You, Lord” or TPH522 “Behold, the Throne of Grace!”

Thursday, January 19, 2023

Real Honor for Real Widows from Churches that Help Families Seize their Opportunities to Practice Godliness First at Home [Family Worship lesson in 1Timothy 5:3–4]

What are we to learn from the fact that there are some widows whom the church is not to honor by putting them on the roll of receiving diaconal funds? 1 Timothy 5:3–4 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 true widow is one who has no children or grandchildren to take care of her, because the home (not the church) is the first place for showing piety.
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2023.01.19 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Timothy 5:3–4

Read 1 Timothy 5:3–4

Questions from the Scripture text: Whom are they to honor (1 Timothy 5:3)? Making what distinction? What would make her not “really” a widow (1 Timothy 5:4)? What should these children and grandchildren show? Where? By doing what to whom? Why?

What are we to learn from the fact that there are some widows whom the church is not to honor by putting them on the roll of receiving diaconal funds? 1 Timothy 5:3–4 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 true widow is one who has no children or grandchildren to take care of her, because the home (not the church) is the first place for showing piety.

“Honor widows who are really widows.” The “honor” referred to here is material provision, as shown by the word “repay” in 1 Timothy 5:4. Material provision is a great concern for a woman who loses the husband who had provided for her. Material provision for widows was the concern upon which the Spirit instituted the diaconate in the church (cf. Acts 6:1–7). 

So, it may be jarring at first to read the second part of that, “who are really widows.” What makes one “truly” do be a widow? The answer appears in 1 Timothy 5:4. The widowhood of her who has children or grandchildren is a providential gift to them: an opportunity “to repay their parents.” The widowhood of her who has no other means of provision is an opportunity for the church to take care of her as if she were their mother and grandmother. It is an opportunity for congregational obedience to the 1 Timothy 5:2 principle in the context of money rather than the context of the mouth.

“let them first learn to show piety at home.” Just as the father/brother/mother/sister language of 1 Timothy 5:1-2 implies a certain manner of speech at home as a prerequisite to godly speech in the congregation, so a proper approach to diaconal aid in the church begins with a proper approach to diaconal aid in the home.

What is this proper approach? It is seeking to be a blessing, not only spiritually but materially, to every other person in the household. We have seen in our study of wealth how a righteous man desires to provide what he can not only for his current family but even for future generations. But now we see that the reverse is also true. It is “pleasing” (what NKJ translates “acceptable”) to God for children to be on the lookout for ways to repay their parents. 

Proverbs frequently urges us to consider what gladdens a father or gladdens a mother. The head of the second table of the law is to honor father and mother. It is plainly obvious that repaying them however we can is something that pleases God. But in God’s ordinary providence, they are ahead of us in life, and we are not able to do them much material good for most of our own life. So, if the Lord takes father ahead of mother, He often opens a door for us to de-widow her widowhood. We have an opportunity to repay the father that we have lost by providing for his treasured wife, and we have an opportunity to repay the mother whom God has spared to us by being the consolation of her widowhood.

The church is not to take away spiritual opportunities. Because this may be received as hard, it is important for deacons to commend to the surviving family members the Holy Spirit’s logic in 1 Timothy 5:4: you have an opportunity to please God by repaying your parents; there is a priority upon practicing your holy religion every day in your home before you make to practice it in the church.

Even before our parents die, let us seek to do them what good we can. Spiritual good. Material good. Every good. For, this pleases God. And with not just our parents, but with our entire household, let us take to heart this principle about our practice of godliness: let us first learn to show our godliness at home. Let us pursue that godliness that pleases God, rather than the desire to be seen by the church as godly.

Whom do you have in your home? How are you practicing your godliness in love and sacrificial service to them? Whom do you know in church who does not have anyone in her/his home? What opportunities are you taking, personally, to be part of God’s consolation to them in the place of family members? 

Sample prayer:  Lord, thank You for giving us homes in which to practice our godliness first. Forgive us for how sometimes we are slowest to repay those whom You have made to be greater gifts to us than others are. Forgive us for wanting to be seen as godly by the eyes of the church rather than keeping our eyes out for the godliness that You love. Wash away our guilt by the blood of Christ, and make us holy as He is holy, for we ask it in Christ’s Name, AMEN!

ARP128 “How Blessed Are All Who Fear the Lord” or TPH128B “Blest the Man That Fears Jehovah”

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Greatness of Sin, Greaterness of Grace, Instrumental Significance of Obedience [Family Worship lesson in 2Kings 13]

What warning do the reigns of Jehoahaz and northern Joash offer us? 2Kings 13 looks forward to the first serial reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these twenty-five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that sin is exceedingly great, but God’s compassion is greater, and there is perfectly great grace in Christ.
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2023.01.18 Hopewell @Home ▫ 2 Kings 13

Read 2 Kings 13

Questions from the Scripture text: In what year of whom (cf. 2 Kings 12:6), did who become king over what nation? Where? For how long? What did he do (2 Kings 13:2)? In Whose sight? By following what? And not doing what? What was aroused in 2 Kings 13:3? Against whom? Into whose hands did He deliver them? For how long of a sentence? What did Jehoahaz do (2 Kings 13:4)? And what did Yahweh do? Why? What did He give them (2 Kings 13:5)? With what result? But what did they still do (2 Kings 13:6a)? And what else (verse 6b)? What size army did the Lord leave them (2 Kings 13:7)? What else weren’t important enough to this account to be included (2 Kings 13:8)? With whom did Jehoahaz lay down (2 Kings 13:9)? Where did they bury him? Who reigned in his place? In what year of whom in Judah did who become king over Israel (2 Kings 13:10)? How long did he reign? What did he do (2 Kings 13:11) In Whose sight? By not doing what? But doing what? What else had he done that wasn’t worth comparing to this continuation of traditional, man-made religion (2 Kings 13:12)? With whom did he lay down (2 Kings 13:13)? What was his son’s name who succeeded him? What was done with his body? What happened to whom in verse 13? Who wept over him? What did he say (cf. 2 Kings 2:12)? What did Elisha tell him to take (2 Kings 13:15)? What did he tell the king to do with the bow (2 Kings 13:16)? Then what did Elisha do to the king’s hands? What did he say to open in 2 Kings 13:17? What did he tell him to do? What did Elisha say about the shooting of the arrow? Now what does he tell him to take in 2 Kings 13:18? What does he tell him to do with the arrows? How many times does the king do this? What does Elisha think of this (2 Kings 13:19)? What does he say that he should have done? What would the result have been? What will the king do? What happens, when Elisha finishes saying this (2 Kings 13:20a)? What happened in the future (verse 20b)? What were some Israelites doing in 2 Kings 13:21? But what did they see? Where did they throw the man instead? And what happened? What did Hazael do for how long (2 Kings 13:22)? But in what three ways did Yahweh respond (2 Kings 13:23)? Because of what? What would he not yet do? Who dies in 2 Kings 13:24? Who replaces him? Then who is able to do what in 2 Kings 13:25? How many times? 

What warning does the Joash reign offer us? 2 Kings 13 looks forward to the first serial reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these twenty-five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that even those who start well by others’ faith must come to know and own the faith for himself, lest his service amount to nothing, and his end conclude in unfaithfulness and loss. 

The greatness of our sin. Jehoahaz (2 Kings 13:8) and Jehoash the northern (2 Kings 13:12) did many mighty acts that aren’t recorded here. The summary of their lives and reigns is that they did evil in the eyes of Yahweh (2 Kings 13:22 Kings 13:11). 

More specifically, their failure to end the traditional, man-made worship of Jeroboam son of Nebat was, as far as 2 Kings 13 is concerned, the story of their lives. Even worse, whereas Jehoahaz names his son after the good king from the north (2 Kings 13:10), this very Joash names his son after that wicked one who had instituted the northern kingdom’s holy days and liturgical ways (2 Kings 13:13, cf. 2 Kings 14:23). Even after Jehoahaz’s pleading in 2 Kings 13:4, and Yahweh’s relenting in 2 Kings 13:5, there is that dreadful “Nevertheless” in 2 Kings 13:6. Even the Asherah in Samaria isn’t as much of an offense as the Yahweh-worship calves, liturgy, and calendar in Bethel and Dan.

Though much goes positively for the northern kingdom in this chapter, if we miss the Lord’s own assessment that human actors as entirely wicked, then we will miss just how great is the grace that the Lord shows the northern kingdom here.

The greater-ness of God’s grace. It is against the backdrop of this wickedness that we see Yahweh listen to Jehoahaz in 2 Kings 13:4. And what reason does He Himself give for His relenting? “for He saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria oppressed them.” At the hands of Hazael and Ben-Hadad, Israel’s army had been reduced to the few particles left in the air after threshing (2 Kings 13:7). 

The Lord doesn’t note anything commendable in the pleading of 2 Kings 13:4, as He had done with Ahab(!)’s (cf. 1 Kings 21:29). There is simply the fact that Yahweh cared about the misery that He saw. We get a little bit more detail in 2 Kings 13:23, which ties for us the character of God to the covenant of God: “But Yahweh was gracious to them, had compassion on them, and regarded them, because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not yet destroy them or cast them from His presence.” 

The ”yet” there is pregnant. It will give birth to exile. But it also reminds us that there is another promise that was made in 2 Kings 10:30 to another wicked Jeroboam-follower (cf. 2 Kings10:31). Mercy would follow and employ as savior even the father of the literal Jeroboam 2.0 because of a gracious promise made to a flawed servant whose own reign was be judged evil (cf. 2 Kings10:292 Kings10:31).

Even the last great sign of Elisha’s life came from the Lord’s compassion upon a wicked king and wicked people, giving them a plural (2 Kings 13:18-192 Kings 13:25) deliverance (2 Kings 13:17, cf. 2 Kings 13:5). He was angry over the incompleteness of the obedience to even such a simple command (2 Kings 13:19), but there was great compassion from God even in this incomplete obedience of man.

The greater grace to come. That may have been the last great sign of Elisha’s life, but Elisha wasn’t done yet. Even when the living emblem of God’s Word to His people at the time had died, the work of the Word through him wasn’t done. There’s a strange-seeming anecdote tacked on in 2 Kings 13:20-21. Things deteriorate to the point that Moabites become more bold, and incursions become more common. Even burial procedure is hurriedly adjusted to clear out when marauders appear on the horizon. 

But God’s mouthpiece, though dead, still speaks (cf. Hebrews 11:4). God’s faithfulness to His Word was bringing the severity of exile, but that same faithfulness would bring resurrection Himself into the world. What the bones of one prophet would display in a small (!) way (end of 2 Kings 13:21) would be dwarfed by an astoundingly greater display of the same at the death of The Prophet (and Priest, and King, cf. Matthew 27:52–53). 

Long after Elisha died, and the wickedness of Jehu’s dynasty and Jeroboam’s religion had been punished, the message of 2 Kings was fulfilled. There was a son of David Who was the Word Himself, Who did only what was right in the eyes of Yahweh all the days of His life. And He went to the cross with the compassion of Yahweh, because through Him Yahweh was having compassion upon us. He raised up a Deliverer Whose deliverance was not just threefold or fivefold or more but as infinite as the worth of His eternally divine Person—just as Yahweh had graciously and compassionately planned from eternity and then promised in covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And all who trust in King Jesus will never be destroyed or cast from His gracious presence.

What merciful evidence is there of God’s patiently bearing with your own life, your own family, your own congregation, or the church more broadly? What does this not necessarily mean about His evaluation of the conduct of any of them? But what does this remind you to see about Him Himself? What (Who!) is your only hope for deliverance that is full and forever?

Sample prayer: Lord, forgive us for when, like Jehu’s entire royal line, we persist in the sins of those who have gone before us. Forgive us for how we fail to be moved to repentance even when You show extraordinary compassion as You did to the northern Joash. Forgive us when we give incomplete obedience even to the easiest of Your commands as with Joash and the arrows. But for the sake of the Lord Jesus, Your Son, our King, remove from us all of our guilt, count us righteous with His own righteousness, and then conform us to His righteous likeness, we ask in His Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP32AB “What Blessedness” or TPH433 “Amazing Grace”

Tuesday, January 17, 2023

Injustice Is Abominable to God [Family Worship lesson in Proverbs 17:15]

Pastor teaches his family a selection from “the Proverb of the day.” In this of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the greatest danger of injustice isn’t hostility among men but provoking the enmity of God.
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God's Prescription for Reformation from One Generation to the Next [Family Worship lesson in Psalm 78:1–8]

What is the Lord’s prescription for making one generation of His church better than the previous? Psalm 78:1–8 looks forward to the opening portion of morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these eight verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Lord employs fathers as the teachers of their children; to show them God’s character, relations, and works; that the children might be doctrinally driven to faith, worship, and obedience.
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2023.01.17 Hopewell @Home ▫ Psalm 78:1–8

Read Psalm 78:1–8

Questions from the Scripture text: To what are to give our ears and incline them (Psalm 78:1)? What will we be told (Psalm 78:2)? Where have we heard this (Psalm 78:3)? Whom will we tell (Psalm 78:4)? What will we tell? What has God established and where (Psalm 78:5)? What did He command our fathers to do? To whom else would this be communicated (Psalm 78:6)? What are the three parts of the application of this teaching (Psalm 78:7)? What had previous generations not done (Psalm 78:8)?

What is the Lord’s prescription for making a generation of His church better than the previous? Psalm 78:1–8 looks forward to the opening portion of morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these eight verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Lord employs fathers as the teachers of their children; to show them God’s character, relations, and works; that the children might be doctrinally driven to faith, worship, and obedience. 

From this Scripture, we learned God’s plan for the reformation and preservation of His church: one generation teaching another generation of generation-teachers—all of whom put that teaching into practice.

Of course, teaching begins with your ears. You can’t teach what you haven’t studied. In our flesh and our folly, we would like to skip to faith, worship, and obedience. But, the Lord’s plan for us and assignment to us begins with our minds. Listen and learn. We cannot teach the next generation until we have learned from the previous one.

What are we to learn in order to teach? The Lord’s testimonies and laws. His teachings and His commands. The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of man.

Psalm 78:1-4 teaches us that telling to the next generation the praises of the good, great, saving God is an obligation not an option. Psalm 78:4 refers to failure to do so as “hiding” the “praises of the LORD and His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.”

Psalm 78:5-7 tells us that God Himself established this “right” that covenant children possess, that they would receive instruction in the Word of God from one generation to the next. It is His appointed means by which successive generations would be brought to “hope in God and not forget the works of God but keep His commandments” (Psalm 78:7).

But the people of Israel up to the point of the Psalm’s writing had not been faithful to their purpose (Psalm 78:8). They had neither known what they ought nor conveyed that knowledge to their children.

There are three primary responses to this knowledge:

Faith. “That they may set their hope in God.” One generation doesn’t just teach data to the other. They put their hope in God, training the next generation, as well, by the example of their faith.

Worship. “And not forget the works of God.” Worship is the first response of faith. We fall at His feet saying, “My Lord and my God.” We don’t forget His works, but rather acknowledge and praise Him. Realizing and remembering Who He is provokes a response of adoration.

Obedience. “But keep His commandments.” Obedience is worship translated into action in the life. Having acknowledged the Lord as God, we give up our right to ourselves and live according to whatever He says.

In what situations are you listening to God’s Word? In what situations are you teaching God’s Word? What place does worship have in each of your days? In each of your weeks? What difference does it make daily that you are living a life of obedience?

Sample prayer:  Lord, You have displayed Your glorious strength in Your wonderful works—particularly in the saving work of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Since we are often forgetful of You, come now and help us by Your Holy Spirit to set our hope in You. Help us not to forget Your works, but to adore You for them. Help us to worship in the offering of the spiritual sacrifices of prayer, and praise, and hearing preaching. Feed and strengthen us at Your table, that we might be enabled to offer our bodies as living sacrifices this week. In particular, grant that our children would hear now Your praise, Your strength, and Your wonderful works. And so implant Your Word in us all that they might one day tell the same to a generation to come, we ask in Jesus’s Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP78B “O Come, My People” or TPH550 “Let Children Hear the Mighty Deeds” 

Monday, January 16, 2023

Theology Simply Explained, WSC70—Imaging and Enjoying God in Marriage and Pleasure

Pastor walks his children through Westminster Shorter Catechism question 70—especially explaining and applying the progression from the guarding of the image of God in the sixth commandment to the imaging and enjoying of God in marriage in the seventh commandment.

WSC70: Which is the seventh commandment? The seventh commandment is, Thou shalt not commit adultery.
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Full-to-Bursting-with-Joy Over Tribulations [Family Worship lesson in Romans 5:3–5]

In what do they glory, who have been counted righteous in Christ’s righteousness and being conformed to righteousness by Christ’s strength? Romans 5:3–5 looks forward to the sermon in this week’s midweek meeting. In these three verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that those who are justified through faith in Christ glory not only in the hope of God’s glory but even in their current tribulations.
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2023.01.16 Hopewell @Home ▫ Romans 5:3–5

Read Romans 5:3–5

Questions from the Scripture text: In what else do we glory/rejoice (Romans 5:3)?What does tribulation produce? What does endurance/perseverance produce (Romans 5:4)? What does character produce? What doesn’t hope do (Romans 5:5)? Whose love has been outpoured? Where? By Whom? How did we obtain Him? 

In what do they glory, who have been counted righteous in Christ’s righteousness and being conformed to righteousness by Christ’s strength? Romans 5:3–5 looks forward to the sermon in this week’s midweek meeting. In these three verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that those who are justified through faith in Christ glory not only in the hope of God’s glory but even in their current tribulations.

One who has been genuinely brought to faith in Jesus Christ is not only counted righteous (justified) only by Christ’s own righteousness (Romans 5:1), but also is now being conformed to Christ by Christ’s own strength (Romans 5:2a). We know that means that in the future, we shall surely be perfectly holy so that the everlasting experience of God’s glory will be perfectly happy for us (verse 2b). But what is the experience in this life of those who have been brought into the status of justification and the condition of standing by grace? Tribulations! (plural)! This is the circumstance of those believers in this life who are genuinely adopted children of God (cf. Hebrews 12:1–9). 

Glory in Christ’s giving us endurance. Perseverance (endurance) is not something that we can grow in without intense pain, or prolonged pain, or both. In His humanity, even our Lord Jesus grew in His capacities. His endurance grew in the wilderness, resulting in His counting the joy of His Father’s Word as better than the joy of bread (cf. Matthew 4:1–4), and His greatest endurance was at the cross, where He counted the joy of the praise of God’s glory and the securing of our glorification as weightier than His own shame or suffering (cf. Hebrews 12:2). 

Now, He grows us in endurance by giving us things to endure. We need endurance to run against sin (cf. Hebrews 12:1). We need endurance to be conformed to Christ, who endured (cf. Hebrews 12:2). And since it is tribulation through which endurance comes (Romans 5:3b), He gives us whatever tribulations we need (cf. Hebrews 12:5–8). The experience is painful (cf. Hebrews 12:11a), but since the end bears the fruit over which we rejoice in Romans 5:2 (cf. Hebrews 12:11b, Hebrews 12:14), we rejoice even over the experience and its pain. “We also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance.”

Glory in our glorification-in-progress. As we grow in perseverance, something marvelous happens to a believer. He is not what he used to be. Yes, it grieves him that he is not yet what he ought to be. And, sometimes, even the knowledge of what he will one day be brings him not only glad reflection upon his future self but sober and painful reflection upon his present self. But though he is not what he ought to be, and not what he will be, still he is not what he was. He has been changed by Christ. And He is being changed by Christ. Perseverance produces the proven character, the demonstration that he is not what he previously was. A believer might not yet be fit for glory, but he has been brought to count it as weightier to himself than present comfort or present discomfort. As we endure what is necessary for being rid of our sin, we rejoice over the fact that what Jesus does for those whom He justifies, Jesus has begun to do in our own soul. “perseverance [produces proven] character”!

Glory in the source of this progress: the eternal, electing, everlasting love of God. What is this new character that the Christian sees in his life? He was dead in his transgressions. He did not seek God. He did not do good. No one did. No not one. So what is it, and where did it come from?

What is it? It is a partial fulfillment of the thing hoped for. It is an aspect of his character that will continue to remain when all of his former fleshliness has been eradicated. It is a piece of heaven. The pure ore of the new creation. It is him being in Christ. Even better, it is evidence of Christ being in him! When Romans 5:4 says “character [produces] hope,” it does not mean that it gives us hope. We already have that hope, and that hope is already sure. Rather, the word ‘hope’ refers to the thing hoped for—to the obtaining of that hope. And this (very!) little of what we shall be will not disappoint. It will not fizzle and fade and fail. When we see what (very!) little of our proven character there is, we are yet seeing something infinitely great, and something that will everlastingly endure. “Now hope does not disappoint”!

Where did it come from? The Holy Spirit makes sure that we know. It came from God’s love for us. The Holy Spirit Himself is a gift to us. “by the Holy Spirit Who was given to us”! And He was given to us for (in part) this reason: to pour out the love of God in our hearts. The older translation, “shed abroad,” may be better here. This is the abundance and completion of pouring over the insufficiency of some other application. The heart is pictured as a surface or a region that is entirely covered and smothered by a substance. And what a substance it is: God’s love for the justified sinner!

There no place anywhere in the believer’s thinking for the idea that something has not come to him from the love of God. Even when he sins and grieves and displeases his Father. Even when the Father hates what he has done. Even when the Father chastens him painfully and severely. Why has Father done this? By the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s heart, one sure part of that answer is always, “because He loves me!”

I know that He loves me, because He gave Christ for me (Romans 5:1a). I know that He loves me, because Christ secured peace for me (verse 1b). I know that He loves me, because He gave me (end of Romans 5:5) His Spirit to teach my heart that He loves me. I know that He loves me, because His eternal, electing love is determined to make me like Christ (Romans 8:29). I know that He loves me, because He has begun the process of glorifying one whom He has justified (Romans 8:30). And how has He advanced this process? Was it through character-proving, endurance-producing, tribulation? Then I know that He troubled me because He loves me!

And if my tribulation is a palpable expression of my Father’s love, by which He is bringing me to enjoy perfectly that love, then how shall I feel about it? I will glory in it!

What tribulations are you enduring? For what sort of life should you hope, if you hope to see that you are a legitimately adopted child? What is God building in you, and what should you be aiming to build, if He brings you tribulation as His child? When you see small progress in grace, how should you feel about that progress, regardless of its smallness? What is it, and where did it come from?

Sample prayer:  Lord, we thank You for counting us righteous entirely on account of Christ’s righteousness. And we thank You for having begun to conform us to Christ and His righteousness. And we thank You that You will finish conforming us to Him. Give us to rejoice over whatever tribulations You deem necessary, and grant that Your Spirit would continually shed abroad in our hearts the knowledge of Your eternal, electing, everlasting love for us, we ask in the Name of the Only-Begotten Son, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP32AB “What Blessedness” or TPH433 “Amazing Grace”