2022.09.13 Hopewell @Home ▫ Psalm 67

Read Psalm 67

Questions from the Scripture text: Upon whom does Psalm 67:1 ask God to be merciful and to cause His face to shine? But then among which nations does Psalm 67:2 hope this will make His salvation to be known? And how many of the peoples do Psalm 67:3, Psalm 67:5, and Psalm 67:7 expect will come to praise God? How will all these come to feel about all this (Psalm 67:4)? What else will respond well at the time when all the peoples have been brought to saving (and praising!) faith (Psalm 67:6a)? Whose God is the God that blesses us, if we are believers (verse 6b)?

What causes people from all nations to praise the Lord? Psalm 67 looks forward to the opening portion of morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these seven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that among all the nations, God will be praised by those whom He blesses without compromising the righteousness of His judgment.

The end of the Psalm is God blessing us as a result of all the nations and people having been brought to faith. But how does the Psalm get to that end?

There is a desire in this Psalm that God’s mercy and blessing to us would be so great that everyone would hear about it. I wonder, when we pray for such blessing, how much of our desire is looking forward to the Lord’s missionary use of it.

But that is the great desire here: for God’s way and salvation to be known. Isn’t that a wonderful way of putting it? It places the priority of emphasis right were it belongs: on the desire for God to be glorified. Yes, love of neighbor means that we rejoice in his salvation. But that is the secondary love. 

Even more than thinking, “Oh that men might be saved!,” we ought first to be thinking, “Oh that God would be glorified!” The two are not mutually exclusive; the Lord delights to save. But the way we think about it reveals the priorities of our hearts. Would we pray for a friend’s salvation, “that Your way may be known in that house, and Your salvation among all the families of that neighborhood!”?

But God isn’t just glorified in the fact of saving people, He’s also the object of all of their praise. Psalm 67:3 and Psalm 67:5 are bookends of praise around the crown jewel of Psalm 67:4. Four times, in these two book ends, comes the great shout, “Let the peoples praise You!!”

Why will they praise like this? Psalm 67:4 gives the answer: because God has made them glad, and the praise that they sing, they sing out of the joy of their hearts. God has preserved and vindicated His righteousness while saving us. This is the great marvel of the cross!

Do we praise like that—out of richly felt joy, and focused on the rich doctrine of His judgement, righteousness, and justice (cf. Romans 3:25-26)?

What is a higher priority for you, your comfort or God’s glory? What makes you glad?

Sample prayer:  Lord, You have been merciful to us and blessed us and made Your face to shine upon us in Jesus Christ. Now, receive us through Him as we come to worship You. Put away our sin by His sacrifice. Count us worthy with His worthiness. Make Your way and Your salvation known to us. Make us to know You as our very own God, Who blesses us in every way, but especially in this way: that Your face shining upon us would make us to be glad and sing for joy. For, we ask this through Jesus Christ, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP67 “O God Give Us Your Blessing” or TPH66B “Come, All Ye People, Bless Our God”

Theology Simply Explained — WSC52 The Reasons Annexed to the Second Commandment

Pastor walks his children through Westminster Shorter Catechism question 52: What are the reasons annexed to the second commandment? The second commandment forbiddeth the worshiping of God by images, or any other way not appointed in His Word.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

Laying Hold of Christ by Christ, for Which Christ Has Laid Hold of Us [Family Worship lesson in Philippians 3:7–4:1]

Forgetting all else, by which we cannot lay hold of anything, it is by Christ that we are to lay hold of the greatest possible spiritual and material blessing—knowing Christ! We must aim at nothing less, for it is this for which Christ Himself has laid hold of us!(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2022.09.12 Hopewell @Home ▫ Philippians 3:7–4:1

Read Philippians 3:7–4:1

Questions from the Scripture text: What has the apostle counted as loss (Philippians 3:7)? For Whom? What else does He count as loss (Philippians 3:8)? For what? Who is Christ Jesus to Him? What has the apostle suffered for his Lord? As what does he count them? In order to gain what (Whom)? What else does the apostle want to do with Christ (Philippians 3:9a)? Of what does the apostle have none of his own? What is the only righteousness that he can have? From Whom is this righteousness? By what is this righteousness? What three things does the apostle come to know/have through the knowledge of Christ (Philippians 3:10)? Of what is the knowledge of Christ the only means to the attaining (Philippians 3:11)? What hasn’t the apostle already done (Philippians 3:12)? What hasn’t already been done to him? So what does he do? In order to lay hold of what? What doesn’t he count himself to have done (Philippians 3:13)? Upon how many things does he focus? What does he forget? In order to reach for what? Toward what does he press (Philippians 3:14)? What is the prize? Whom does the apostle now address (Philippians 3:15)? Whom does he include in this group? What are they to have? Who will do what if they think otherwise? What are they to do with whatever they have already attained (Philippians 3:16)? By what should they walk? What should they be? Now whom does the apostle address in Philippians 3:17? What does he tell them to do? And at whom else to look? For what purpose has God given the apostle and such other men? Who walk (Philippians 3:18)? When has the apostle told them? What is he doing as he writes this now? As what do they walk? What is their end (Philippians 3:19)? What is their god? What is the true nature of that in which they glory? Upon what do they set their mind? Where is our citizenship (Philippians 3:20)? What else is in heaven? For what are we eagerly waiting? Who is that Savior? What will He do to what (Philippians 3:21)? What will He make our body like? What is He using the same power to do? How many things is He subduing to Himself? What four things does the apostle call them in Philippians 4:1? What does he command them to do? 

The things that “were gain” in Philippians 3:7 and the “all things” that are loss but counted as rubbish in Philippians 3:8 are the religious things of Philippians 3:5-6. Some of them were gifts/commands of God, but there is just no spiritual value apart from Christ Jesus. Whatever we must lose in order to gain Him is worth it. And only those things which God commands, by which to look to Christ for life, are worth doing.

The greatest spiritual treasure is knowing Christ (Philippians 3:8), because it is through faith in Him that we get righteousness from God (Philippians 3:9). Whatever superficial spirituality or religiosity is lost in order to gain this is worth it in order to have Him. Even with respect to physical/material blessing, Christ is all. Christ is the greatest thing that we can have even in a physical sense because we will be conformed to His resurrection and enjoy the new heavens and new earth—emphasis here on “earthy”—in resurrected bodies that are glorious like unto His. Certainly, an eternity of that enjoyment is an almost infinite physical/material treasure compared to whatever we might lose, or whatever we might suffer, in this world. Christ prevailed by suffering and prevailed by dying. The believer should be glad to do the same (Philippians 3:10-11). 

The apostle is determined to lay hold of that all that is in Christ (Philippians 3:12-14). Why so urgent? Certainly not for the possibility of failing to obtain it. This is what Christ has laid hold of him for (end of Philippians 3:12). Who can take him out of Christ's hand? Was it not Jesus himself Who said that no one could take us out of His Father's hand or His own hand (cf. John 10:28–29)? Instead, the greatness of the urgency is because of how gloriously valuable it is. If it what Christ wants for him, then it is something that he wants for himself.

Not just the apostle, but all mature believers, have this mindset (Philippians 3:15). And all genuine believers, even if they are immature, God will reveal to them whether they are valuing what he values (end of verse 15). What a great encouragement to us who know that we are not going after it or valuing it like we should! And how humble the mature ought to be, since it is God Who gives maturity. But this determination should be the mindset of all believers (Philippians 3:16). 

Not everyone in the church who thinks that he is mature is actually mature. Some, like in Philippians 3:17, are given to us as examples like the apostle; they do not think that they have attained to anything yet. Ironically, the self-satisfaction of those whom he describes in Philippians 3:18-19 itself exposes that they are not mature in Christ. For they are satisfied enough, though they are not yet resurrected (“their god is their belly”), and they are proud enough, though they are not yet sinless (“they glory in their shame”). This is all the satisfaction and glory they will have. “Their end is destruction.” Not only do they show that they are too easily satisfied with their fools’ gold in spiritual things, but also that they have an inordinate love for the things of this world. Rather than receiving them as good gifts from God, Who will give them so much better, these enemies of the cross of Christ (Philippians 3:18) too happily settle for less than Christ earned on that cross.

Those who are mature in Christ identify not with earth, but with heaven (Philippians 3:20). In heaven, saints are already sinless and enjoy the immediate presence of the Redeemer. And they are no more satisfied with physical imperfection than they are with spiritual perfection. They are eager not just to be sinless but for Christ’s return (verse 20b), and for the physical perfection that comes on that day (Philippians 3:21).

And what treasures will we then be able to take from this life, besides our sanctification? Besides Christ Whom we have by His spirit? We will take with us only other believers, and the fruit which God gave them through our edification and fellowship in the Lord… not carnal fellowship, but gracious fellowship that is actually aimed at edification. This is why the apostle calls them his “joy and crown,” and this is why in this life, our greatest investment ought to be in serving God in the gathering and building up of His saints.

Upon what do you spend discretionary time? Upon what do you spend discretionary funds? At what do you aim in fellowship? What is the Lord showing you about your mindset by comparison to His?

Sample prayer:  Lord, forgive us for being puffed up about ourselves or satisfied with this world. And forgive us for when our effect upon others is to bring them down to such things. Make us to press toward the goal for the prize of Your upward call, and to be examples and helpers to others, that they may be our joy and crown with You in glory, which we ask in Your Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP73C “Yet Constantly, I Am with You” or TPH446 “Be Thou My Vision”

A Prototypical Apostolic Preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ [Family Worship lesson in Acts 13:13–41]

What was apostolic preaching like? Acts 13:13–41 looks forward to the morning sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these twenty-nine verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that apostolic preaching of the gospel announces that the Old Testament promises of salvation have been fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus, Who was shown to be the God-Man by the resurrection, and through Whom we can have forgiveness of sin and the righteousness of God. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2022.09.10 Hopewell @Home ▫ Acts 13:13–41

Read Acts 13:13–41

Questions from the Scripture text: Who set sail from where (Acts 13:13)? To where do they come? Who departs from them? To go where? From where do Paul and Barnabas depart in Acts 13:14? To where do they come? Into where do they go? On what day? What was read (Acts 13:15)? Who send to them? What do they invite Paul and Barnabas to do? What does Paul do in Acts 13:16? What two groups does he address? What three things does he begin by saying God did for Israel (Acts 13:17)? And what three further things in Acts 13:18-19? And then what sequence of leadership did He give them in Acts 13:20-22? What had God said about David? What did God raise up from David’s seed (Acts 13:23)? According to what? Whom did God send before Him (Acts 13:24)? Preaching what? To whom? But what does Paul refer to John doing in Acts 13:25? What did he say about himself? Whom did he say was coming? To whom does Paul readdress himself in Acts 13:26? What does he say has been sent to them? About what two groups does he speak in Acts 13:27? What didn’t these two know? Despite what? What did they fulfill? By doing what? What didn’t they find (Acts 13:28)? But for what did they ask whom? What had they fulfilled (Acts 13:29)? Then what did they do? But what did God do? What then happened for how long (Acts 13:31)? By whom? To whom do these witness? And now who is declaring it (Acts 13:32)? What do they call the declaration? To whom had these glad tidings been promised? For whom had God fulfilled the promise (Acts 13:33)? By doing what? As written where? What did this show about Jesus (cf. Romans 1:4)? How can we be sure that this blessedness is forever (Acts 13:34, cf. Isaiah 55:3)? But what had David himself undergone (Acts 13:36, cf. Psalm 16:10)? But what hadn’t happened to Jesus (Acts 13:37)? What did Paul proclaim to them through Jesus (Acts 13:38)? Who receives this forgiveness (Acts 13:39)? Into what standing with God does this bring them? What couldn’t do this? But how does Paul end the sermon (Acts 13:40)? What does he call them if they do not respond by believing (Acts 13:41)? What will happen to them if they do not believe (cf. Habakkuk 1:5)?

What was apostolic preaching like? Acts 13:13–41 looks forward to the morning sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these twenty-nine verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that apostolic preaching of the gospel announces that the Old Testament promises of salvation have been fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus, Who was shown to be the God-Man by the resurrection, and through Whom we can have forgiveness of sin and the righteousness of God. 

To whom the preaching comes: all hearers from all nations. John Mark departs for Jerusalem, but Paul and Barnabas press on. They arrive at Antioch in Psidia and attend Synagogue. We remember from the Cornelius material that there are two groups who attend: Jews and God-fearers (a name for Gentiles who kept all the law but were still considered outsiders by the Jews, and denied fellowship.

Paul and Barnabas, of course, sit with the Jews. After the Scripture reading time, the synagogue rulers invite anyone to give a sermon (“word of exhortation”). Paul rises and volunteers. Twice—once before the exposition, and again before the application—he specifically addresses himself not just to the Jews but also to the God-fearers (Acts 13:16, Acts 13:26). And he emphasizes that the word of this salvation has been sent to them (verse 26)—the implication being that God is the sender.

What the preaching announces: God and His salvation. God is the hero of this story. He was the Chooser (Israel did not earn) and the Lifter-up (Israel did not ascend), Acts 13:17a. They were the foreigners; God was the Deliverer (verse 17b). Their travel through the wilderness is presented as 40 years of God patiently putting up with them (v18). It was not they who took the land, but God Who destroyed the Canaanites (Acts 13:19a) and handed out their land to them (verse 19b). 

The subtlety of Acts 13:20 is that the judges were necessary to deliver Israel from their repeated turning away from God. God’s answer to this was a prophet (verse 20b), but Israel wanted a king instead (Acts 13:21). God give them the prototypical Israelite hero, and the mention of his forty years ties them in theme to the wilderness. God removed the king like what their hearts wanted (Acts 13:22a) and gave them instead the sort of king that God’s hear wants (verse 22b), because He intended to raise up Salvation from David’s seed (Acts 13:23). In all of Acts 13:17-23, the point is very clear: Israel is an anti-hero, but God is the Hero, the Savior. In this, this sermon is very much like Peter’s defense in Acts 4:8–12 and Stephen’s sermon at his trial (cf. chapter 7). 

How this salvation was accomplished: Christ’s death and resurrection. There was a salvation promised (Acts 13:23), and now Paul is announcing that has arrived (Acts 13:26). How? By Israel continuing to be like they had been. They didn’t recognize Jesus, nor did they recognize the promise of the Prophets who were read every Sabbath, exactly as had just been done a few minutes prior in that synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia (Acts 13:27). But those Prophets had promised that the Savior would die a judicial death, and those who dwell in Jerusalem and their rulers became the agents of that occurring. They couldn’t bring one legitimate or provable charge against Jesus, but still demanded His execution (Acts 13:28). Christ had been promised to die, and He did.

But Christ had also been promised not to see corruption (Acts 13:35, cf. Psalm 16:10, Acts 2:34–43). The sure mercies of David that Isaiah 55:3 promised to the suffering servant (Acts 13:34) were eternal mercies. And this resurrection proved that Jesus wasn’t just the Son of David, but the eternally begotten Son of God (Acts 13:33). So, when He was raised from the dead (Acts 13:30) and seen for many days (Acts 13:31a), it became the great message of the gospel to proclaim this Savior, this crucified and risen God-Man. This was what the apostles in Jerusalem were witnessing there (verse 31b) and what Paul and Barnabas were now preaching in that synagogue (Acts 13:32). In this, this sermon is very much like Peter’s sermons at Pentecost (cf. Acts 2:14–36) and in Cornelius’s house (cf. Acts 10:36–43).

How this salvation is applied: hearing that produces faith. The apostle weaves the story of what God had done in history with what God was doing on that day of history in that synagogue. He begins by urging them to listen in Acts 13:16. He re-addresses them in Acts 13:26, emphasizing that the word of this salvation had been sent to them. He emphasizes that the glad tidings are being declared to them in Acts 13:32. After warning them that those in Jerusalem who had killed Christ did so because they did not know Him (Acts 13:27), he urges them to “let it be known to you” in Acts 13:38. It is hearing, and responding to the Word in faith, through which this salvation is applied. This too is part of the gospel message, and in this, this sermon is very much like Peter’s sermon in Solomon’s porch (cf Acts 3:12–26). 

What is offered and what is warned: forgiveness unto faith and perishing unto unbelief. What John preached was a baptism of repentance (Acts 13:24), but repentance couldn’t atone or justify (Acts 13:39b). However, in the One Whom John said was coming (Acts 13:25), forgiveness of sins was now being preached (Acts 13:38). But this forgiveness is not for all who hear. They must believe (Acts 13:39a). For the same Scriptures have prophesied about those who would hear and not believe (Acts 13:41d–e).

One way or the other, if you are hearing the gospel of Christ crucified and risen for sinners, you have been prophesied about. Either you are one who will receive salvation through faith as promised in the prophets; or, you will fail to believe, as other hearers are prophesied to do, and you will perish for having despised (treated as inconsequential) Christ and His salvation. 

Who is the hero of your story? What do you believe about Jesus? What is happening when you hear the gospel? How have you responded to Him? For who else’s response are you praying?

Sample prayer:  Lord, we thank You for promising salvation, and coming in the person of Your Son to secure that salvation. Grant Your Spirit’s work in us, that as we hear Christ preached, we would not treat Him or His gospel as inconsequential but cling by faith to the resurrected One, in Whose Name we ask it, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP98 “O Sing a New Song to the LORD” or TPH98A “O Sing a New Song to the LORD”

Acknowledging Grace Produces Interest in Others' Progress in It [2022.09.09 Pastoral Letter]

Dear Congregation,

 

Philippians 2:12–24 says:

¹² Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; ¹³ for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

¹⁴ Do all things without complaining and disputing, ¹⁵ that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, ¹⁶ holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.

¹⁷ Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. ¹⁸ For the same reason you also be glad and rejoice with me.

¹⁹ But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be encouraged when I know your state. ²⁰ For I have no one like-minded, who will sincerely care for your state. ²¹ For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus. ²² But you know his proven character, that as a son with his father he served with me in the gospel. ²³ Therefore I hope to send him at once, as soon as I see how it goes with me. ²⁴ But I trust in the Lord that I myself shall also come shortly.

 

The salvation that God is working in us to will and to work (v12–13) makes us marvelously humble and contented children of God (v14–15), refracting the light of Christ. The apostle wants to know that this is what his labors (v16) have been used to produce in them. Sonship in Christ is proven out by likeness to Him (cf. vv5–11).

 

One hallmark of those who know that all the goodness in believers comes by the grace of Christ is that they are sincerely interested in how it goes with one another’s souls. For, it is the outworking of Christ's work in them over which they rejoice.

 

A Pharisaical spirit is demonstrated, among other things, by being uninterested in how things are going with others’ souls. Pharisees “seek their own” (v21a). But if one truly believes that Christ is at work in others by His grace, then one is eager to hear about that work and praise that grace! Such people seek the “the things which are of Christ Jesus” (v21b).

 

This was what was in Paul (v19) and what was in Timothy (v20) and Paul knew to be in the Philippians (v23)—so that they were interested in how it went with him, and he is interested in how it went with them, and he is sending Timothy because he is of a similar mind.

 

Let us not be discouraged if the church in our day seems full of those who do not seem to know that all true goodness is of Christ. Paul himself acknowledges here that there are very few like him or Timothy or the Philippians (cf. v20).

 

If the Lord's work in our day looks similar to how it did the age of Paul and Timothy and the church that received this letter, then we may be encouraged that it is the same Christ working by the same Spirit and so cling to Him, rather than wallow and discouragement over the current state of the church.

 

Eager to see you and “know your state,”

 

Pastor

Honoring God's Name in Respect, Dedication, and Holiness [Family Worship lesson in Exodus 22:28–31]

What does having God’s Name upon a society require? Exodus 22:28–31 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these four verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that having God’s Name upon a society means that it honors its authorities, dedicates everything to the Lord, and keeps itself clean unto the Lord. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2022.09.09 Hopewell @Home ▫ Exodus 22:28–31

Read Exodus 22:28–31

Questions from the Scripture text: What must they not do to Whom (Exodus 22:28a)? Nor what to whom else (verse 28b)? What mustn’t they delay (Exodus 22:29)? Of what lesser things and what greater things? And with what two other things (Exodus 22:30)? When must it be given to God? And what must the people themselves be (Exodus 22:31)? What mustn’t they eat, as a symbol of this status? What shall they do with this meat instead?

What does having God’s Name upon a society require? Exodus 22:28–31 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these four verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that having God’s Name upon a society means that it honors its authorities, dedicates everything to the Lord, and keeps itself clean unto the Lord. 

Having God’s Name upon a society requires that it honors its authorities, Exodus 22:28. The beginning of verse 28 makes it plain that this verse is an application of the third commandment. God is due supreme reverence. He alone is Creator; everything else is creature. He alone is independent; everything else depends upon Him. He is infinitely, eternally, and unchangeably glorious in all of His attributes. So, verse 28 feels imbalanced by connecting the reviling (speaking/taking lightly) of God to the cursing (denouncing imprecations upon) of rulers. But that’s the connection of the fifth commandment to the third: authority comes from God.

Having God’s Name upon a society requires that it dedicate everything to the Lord, Exodus 22:29-30. This isn’t something new in Israelite society. All the way back in Genesis 4, Abel was being commended for bringing the first and best to the Lord. The word translated “juices” in Exodus 22:29 is literally tricklings—referring to pressing grapes for wine and olives for oil. 

There’s grace all over these two verses. The people who are receiving it are in the wilderness and have no crops whatsoever, but God is making them a monument of His grace for all history to consider as He brings them into vineyards and olive groves that they did not plant. 

Furthermore, the inclusion of firstborn sons reminds us of when the woman was told she would have a seed (Genesis 3:15), and of the covenant promise in Abraham’s seed (Genesis 22:18), and for this nation particularly of the killing of Egypt’s firstborn and claiming of Israel’s firstborn (Exodus 11, 13). 

Even the command to offer all firstborn animals (clean ones as sacrifice, unclean via redemption), and the prohibition against eating scavenged animals, implies that the Lord will be giving them such abundance that they won’t need these. 

Having God’s Name upon a society requires that it keep itself clean unto the Lord, Exodus 22:31. That’s the explanation for the no-scavenging law. It explains itself at the beginning of the verse. Dogs are unclean; they can have what’s unclean. But not God’s people. They are holy unto Him. And He will even set the menu for them. 

When later the Lord declares all foods clean, the principle yet continues that His people must be kept pure and clean from sin (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:6–8, etc.). Still, even in the new covenant under Christ, holiness unto the Lord goes all the way to the lunch table: whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:31). 

Israel as a society had been consecrated unto the Lord by God Himself, and they were not to take it lightly. Shall the church take it lightly, who bear the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and are baptized into the Name of the triune God?

How do you go about respecting the Name of the Lord in how you interact with authorities He has set over you? What does dedicating the first and best to the Lord look like in Your life, a household’s life, a nation’s life, or a church’s life? What efforts are you making to keep your life clean of sin? To keep your heart clean of sin?

Sample prayer: Lord, forgive us for how lightly we have taken Your Name upon us. Grant that honoring You as weighty would show forth in how we interact with authority, how we devote the first and best of what we have to You, and how we keep ourselves clean of sin. For, we ask this through Christ, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP24 “The Earth and the Riches” or TPH174 “The Ten Commandments

Jesus Christ, the King: the Blessed God in Whom There Is Inexhaustible Goodness for Those Who Have None from Themselves [Family Worship lesson in 1Timothy 1:12–17]

Why does Christ save and use sinners? 1Timothy 1:12–17 looks forward to the second serial reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these six verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the glorious God saves and uses sinners precisely to show that His alone is all the glory and goodness.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)