2022.10.14 Hopewell @Home ▫ Exodus 24:12–18

Read Exodus 24:12–18

Questions from the Scripture text: To whom does Yahweh speak in Exodus 24:12? To Whom does He tell him to go? Where? Who will give Moses what? What is on them? Who wrote them? What must Moses do with them? Who arise in Exodus 24:13? Who goes up where? To whom does Moses speak as they leave (Exodus 24:14)? What does he tell them to do? Whom does he leave behind? For what situation? Who goes where in Exodus 24:15? What happens to the mountain? What covers it? What rests upon it (Exodus 24:16)? For how long? On what day does what happen? What is displayed (Exodus 24:17)? What does it look like? In whose eyes? In what two ways is Moses’s ascent in Exodus 24:18 described? How long was Moses on the mountain? 

What does God show about Himself as He summons Moses to receive the Ten Commandments and other instruction? Exodus 24:12–18 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these seven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God is a personal lawgiver and a glorious lawgiver.

God is a personal lawgiver, Exodus 24:12–15. After the covenanting ceremony, the elders can come no nearer, but Yahweh tells Moses to come nearer. But it is not just proximity to a place (“on the mountain,” Exodus 24:12; “up to the mountain,” Exodus 24:13; “up into the mountain,” Exodus 24:15; “up into the mountain,” Exodus 24:18) but proximity to a Person (“Come up to me,” Exodus 24:12; “the mountain of God,” Exodus 24:13).

God, of course, is everywhere. Being is inherent to Him, and it is impossible for something else “to be” apart from His presence. But He makes His presence particularly known in particular places and times. So he tells Moses, “Come up to Me […] and be there.” Additionally, Yahweh will personally give Moses tablets of stone. And it will be Yahweh Who has personally written His law and commandments. These are not just user’s manual instructions or legal terms of a distant deity. God’s law is His personal instruction. In fact, the “torah” has as its base denotation the sense of “fatherly instruction.”

God is a glorious lawgiver, Exodus 24:16-18. There is a strong emphasis upon “glory” here. You may have heard the term “Shekinah glory.” That word is form the word translated “rested” in Exodus 24:16. It is the abiding glory that would rest upon the tabernacle and temple, and now it persists upon the mountain. The “cloud” here cannot be thought of as a cloud of darkness or gray ether but a cloud of glory. 

Yahweh calls Moses from the midst of the glory-cloud (Exodus 24:16), and Moses goes into the midst of the glory-cloud (Exodus 24:17). Verse 17 describes how the glory cloud appeared to the children of Israel as “a consuming fire on the top of the mountain.” 

For all this nearness to which He calls Moses, God does not diminish His transcendence in the slightest. It is important to see how His nearness and His glory go hand in hand. Who has had a nearer experience of God than Moses on the mountain or Isaiah in the vision of Isaiah 6? There are those who take a casual posture in prayer or worship, who are thought of as knowing God quite nearly, but this doesn’t disclose nearness to God; it exposes a lack of any true nearness to Him.

It is this glorious, holy, awesome God Who now personally instructs Moses for forty days and forty nights. In this time, between here and the end of chapter 31, He focuses almost entirely upon the tabernacle and the priesthood, and then gives Moses the two tablets of stone, written with the finger of God. That is to say: the people’s ability to be so near to such a glorious God is the great goal of the instruction.

In what times and places and ways does God present Himself as most objectively near? How are you to perceive and respond to His glory at such times? What changes might you make to follow this more faithfully?

Sample prayer: Lord, thank You for granting unto us to perceive Your glory and to come near You safely through Jesus Christ. Forgive us for taking this lightly or coming before You casually. Make us to know both Your greatness and Your forgiving us in Christ, we ask in His Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP205 “The Praises of Heaven and Earth “Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah”

Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness—Free, Costly Glory in Christ [2022.10.12 Midweek Sermon in Romans 3:23–24]

God gives His own perfect righteousness, to those who are utterly destitute without it, in Christ alone

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

What the One God and One Mediator Works through Women [Family Worship lesson in 1Timothy 2:11–15]

What special roles has God given women in salvation? 1Timothy 2:11–15 looks forward to the second serial reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that women not only bear covenant children but are both displays and instruments of God’s saving and sanctifying grace.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2022.10.13 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Timothy 2:11–15

Read 1 Timothy 2:11–15

Questions from the Scripture text: What are women to do during the praying in 1 Timothy 2:8-10? With what conduct? And what attitude? What does the apostle not permit a woman to do (1 Timothy 2:12)? And what may a woman not have over a man? What conduct is commanded instead? What is his first Bible reason for that (1 Timothy 2:13)? From what chapter does that come? What is the second (1 Timothy 2:14)? What did not happen to Adam? What did happen to Eve? With what result? What part did God give her in the solution for this (1 Timothy 2:15)? To what sort of verb does he now switch from the singular? In what four things are “they” to continue as demonstration of their salvation?

What special roles has God given women in salvation? 1 Timothy 2:11–15 looks forward to the second serial reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that women not only bear covenant children but are both displays and instruments of God’s saving and sanctifying grace.

1 Timothy 2:11 is important, coming out of 1 Timothy 2:8-10. Part of being led in corporate prayer is learning. As she is led in prayer, a woman is taught both in her head (“learn”) and her heart (“submission”) to yield to the will of God in prayer. This places a significant burden upon those who lead in prayer to do so biblically. Not just in words that are shaped by Scripture, but also in the dignified, peaceful, hopeful manner described in 1 Timothy 2:8. This means their praying must come from the heart, and from a grace-sanctified heart that itself submits to the Lord. Leading in prayer is a form of teaching. Men must practice it for their families. Elders must practice it for their congregations. The apostles’ need to emphasize its practice necessitated the diaconate (cf. Acts 6:4). 

1 Timothy 2:12 gives two prohibitions and a command. First, a woman must not teach. Second, a woman must not have authority over a man. Third, women are to be in silence. 1 Corinthians 14:34–35 makes clear that this applies only in a corporate context. At home, she is encouraged to ask questions of the man that the Lord has assigned to her as a husband to teach her. Such prohibitions and commands grate against our sinful nature, particularly in a culture that has been reinforcing the feministic tendencies of the sinful nature. One of the most common objections is that this was a cultural or circumstantial command. The apostle could hardly have reasoned in a way more designed to refute such claims.

His first reason is principial, from creation (1 Timothy 2:13). “For Adam was formed first, then Eve.” He expects us to know (or even look up and examine) Genesis 2. Even the language of “forming” pulls us into the details of the text: Adam being formed from the dirt; the woman being formed from his rib. But what happens in between those two? The Lord gives Adam instruction that he then must teach to his wife, whom the Lord has not yet formed. The Lord appoints Adam his wife’s teacher. It is not “pride of place” but “principle of providence.”

The apostle’s second reason is exemplary, from the Fall (1 Timothy 2:14). Adam was appointed teacher, but he does not step in to help his wife, though he was with her. Why? Because he was not deceived. The act of eating the fruit was the transgression that visibly violated the terms of the covenant, but the sin had already begun in his heart. He knew what was happening. But he let his wife teach herself and lead herself in this moment. For her part, the woman was deceived. At least she thought that what she was doing was right. 

So the reasoning spans all possible cultures and circumstances: God established this order in the creation, and the first time this order was not followed the result was the Fall.

But the focus in the passage is not on what women may not do. Just as the focus in 1 Timothy 2:9-10 was positively upon their adornment (modesty, propriety, moderation, good works), so the focus in 1 Timothy 2:11-15 is positively upon their learning, submitting, child-bearing, and sanctification.

Not many men are made teachers or rulers in the church, but a great many women bear children. 1 Timothy 2:15 takes us beyond creation and Fall to redemption. The woman was not just promised that from her would come the Seed Who would crush the serpent’s head, but indeed all who would be saved. Her husband even gives her the name “Eve” because she is the mother of “all the living.”

Like Eve, all believing mothers bear holy seed (cf. Ezra 9:2; Malachi 1:14–15)—even if the father is an unbeliever, the children are treated as if the father had been a believer for the believing mother’s sake (cf. 1 Corinthians 7:14). In God’s saving work in the world, this is a high calling. And it is higher than merely carrying the child for nine months and then birthing. The “she” which referred to Eve in the singular now becomes “they” referring to the children and indeed all of the believing women who are also Eve’s children. 

A mother who perseveres in godliness by God’s grace, training up children who become and continue to be godly by God’s grace, is the fruit of the work of Him Who “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (cf. 1 Timothy 2:4). None of us get to be the Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5), but whatever role He assigns to each of us (cf. 1 Timothy 2:7) is a glorious calling. 

The picture in 1 Timothy 2:15 is glorious indeed. Remember the women of godliness and good works whose character and conduct powerfully commended to God the praying that was occurring in 1 Timothy 2:8-10? Now, the picture is of them not only continuing in that godliness themselves but surrounded by an increasing multitude of those whose godliness is owed in large part, instrumentally, to those women’s giving their lives for the bearing and upbringing of these covenant children.

What a calling! Not all women receive it (and those whose calling is otherwise ought to embrace whatever their calling is—even if the season of being able to pour life into good works is past, and the only thing that remains is prayer, cf. 1 Timothy 5:5, 1 Timothy 5:9–10). But many more women receive this calling than the number of men who are called to teach and rule in the church. In ages like ours, when the church has been weak, poor teaching and shepherding is certainly one of the causes. But hand in hand with this are women who look for “women’s ministry” everywhere except the places that the Lord actually teaches it.

Who are the women in your life? What glorious callings does this passage (and possibly 1 Timothy 5:5, 1 Timothy 5:10) place upon them? What ought you to do facilitate this calling? How should you respond to any fruit the Lord gives them?

Sample prayer:  Lord, forgive us for being like Satan, who exaggerated what the woman in the garden was not allowed to do, rather than rejoicing over Your design and Your generosity and Your goodness to women and to us all. Forgive us for when we minimize the glorious roles that women have in bringing up children, lodging strangers, washing feet, relieving the afflicted, and every good work. Forgive us when we want to put them in roles of teaching or leadership. Grant that we would love them by loving You and Your beautiful design for them. Bless the labors of their hands, especially in the bearing and bringing up of Your holy seed in Your church, we ask in Jesus’s Name, AMEN!

 Suggested songs: ARP45B “Daughter, Incline Your Ear” or TPH548 “O Blest the House”

The Third Commandment and the Unforgiveable Sin: Salvation Impossible without Christ

A supplement to the earlier lesson in WSC56. Understanding Jesus's teaching about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit in light of the reason annexed to the third commandment.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

Sovereign Mercy that Overrules the Greatness of Our Folly and the Weakness of Our Faith [Family Worship lesson in 2Kings 4:38–44]

What is God showing in these two “feeding” miracles? 2Kings 4:38–44 looks forward to the first serial reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these seven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God’s mercy overrules both His servants’ folly and lack of faith.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2022.10.12 Hopewell @Home ▫ 2 Kings 4:38–44

Read 2 Kings 4:38–44

Questions from the Scripture text: Who goes where in 2 Kings 4:38? What does he find in the land there? Who were there? What were they doing? What does Elisha tell whom to do for whom? Where does the servant go in 2 Kings 4:39? What does he gather? What else does he find, and what does he gather from it? Where does he put them? What cautionary info does the end of the verse add? What do they do with the stew (2 Kings 4:40)? And what are the sons of the prophets doing? To whom do they cry out? What do they say? For what does Elisha ask in 2 Kings 4:41? What does he do with it? Then what does he say? With what result? Who comes from where in 2 Kings 4:42? What two things does he bring? What does Elisha say to do with it? How does the servant answer (2 Kings 4:43a)? Whose speech does Elisha now specifically add (verse 43b)? What does Yahweh say? What was the result (2 Kings 4:44)? According to what? 

What is God showing in these two “feeding” miracles? 2 Kings 4:38–44 looks forward to the first serial reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these seven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God’s mercy overrules both His servants’ folly and lack of faith.

As we continue in the section of 2 Kings where the LORD is showing the power of His Word by recording twice as many miracles through Elisha as through Elijah. Now the focus of the blessing shifts to the sons of the prophets. God is going to bless His servants! This is exactly as we would expect from God. What is perhaps surprising is that in these two mercy miracles, God displays that His grace overcomes His servants’ folly and lack of faith. 

God’s mercy overrules His servants’ folly, 2 Kings 4:38-41. In time of famine, we sympathize with wanting to make the stew stretch. What we don’t appreciate is slicing a lapful of gourds from unidentified vine into the stew. 

Now, the Lord could have overruled the folly and made it safe and nutritious from the start. It’s not like the flour adds that quality or that the Lord would need it to. But he allows us to feel the folly through the intensity of the cry, “death in the pot!” 

And He makes the miracle and its mercy more memorable with the flour-sprinkling. It adds drama and visuals to the moment so that those sons of the prophets (and careful students of the Word) will have the incident ingrained in their memories. God’s mercy overrules His servants’ folly!

God’s mercy overrules His servants’ lack of faith. 2 Kings 4:42-44. Well, the seminary of the faithful has had stew in time of famine. What about bread? There’s a miracle here in both the source of the bread and the stretching of the bread. Where does it come from? A man from “Baal Shalisha.” Not an auspicious place name. Also, it’s time of famine, and this man’s “firstfruits” includes twenty loaves of barley and a knapsack of ripened grain. 

This is great wealth while the land is under chastening. And this wealthy man, from the Baali-ish place, does what with his firstfruits? Brings it to the man of God. This is faith. He not only knows that he owes God the first and best, but he trusts God that what remains will be enough, and he is willing to give up the wealth that it might have brought. That’s a miracle!

By contrast, there’s the faithlessness of the servant. Elisha tells the servant to feed the loaves to “the people,” but the servant doesn’t think there’s enough to feed the hundred that are there. Even more, he voices his unbelief by questioning the command. The Word of Yahweh responds not with punishment but promise. Not only will there be enough, but there will be leftovers! 

Of course, the key to God’s grace is the One Who not only fed 100 on 20 loaves with leftovers but fed 5000 on five loaves and two fish, with 12 baskets of leftovers. This is not mercy for those who are wise enough or have enough faith. It’s mercy that overrules our folly and lack of faith!

What are examples of your own foolishness or lack of faith? How can you still hope to obtain mercy?

Sample prayer: Lord, forgive us for when we are zealous to serve, but foolish in not doing it according to knowledge. Forgive us for when we doubt Your provision or power and even question Your instructions. Thank You for making Christ our wisdom and righteousness. Make us to be like Him we ask in His Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP109D “I Am Very Poor and Needy” or TPH551 “We Plow the Fields”

What to Ask God for When Persecuted [Family Worship lesson in Psalm 69:19–36]

How does David’s affliction end in worldwide praise? Psalm 69:19–36 looks forward to the opening portion of morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these eighteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God demonstrates that He hears the poor by delivering David and other believers, but especially by the resurrection of Christ. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2022.10.11 Hopewell @Home ▫ Psalm 69:19–36

Read Psalm 69:19–36

Questions from the Scripture text: What does David say God knows in Psalm 69:19a? What else is before God (verse 19b)? How has David experienced all of this (Psalm 69:20a–b)? For what two things did David look (verse 20c–d)? How many did he find? What have those whom he hoped would be comforters done instead (Psalm 69:21)? What does David pray will be God’s commensurate response to their food and drink (Psalm 69:22a)? What does he pray will trap them (verse 22b)? What two curses does he pray in Psalm 69:23? As a result of what (Psalm 69:24)? With what earthly ultimate result (Psalm 69:25)? Why, what two things have they done (Psalm 69:26)? To those that Who has struck and wounded? To what does David pray that God would give them over (Psalm 69:27)? With what eternally ultimate result (Psalm 69:28)? What is David’s current condition (Psalm 69:29a)? For what does he ask (verse 29b)? What two things is he going to do, both now and in that condition (Psalm 69:30)? What will these two things do (Psalm 69:31)? Better than what? Who else will be glad about this (Psalm 69:32a)? What effect will it have upon them (verse 32b, cf. Psalm 69:6)? Of what will believers be reminded in David’s deliverance (Psalm 69:33)? Who, from where, will respond to this in what way (Psalm 69:34)? What further five things will God do to provoke this praise (Psalm 69:35-36)?

How does David’s affliction end in worldwide praise? Psalm 69:19–36 looks forward to the opening portion of morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these eighteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God demonstrates that He hears the poor by delivering David and other believers, but especially by the resurrection of Christ. 

Psalm 69:19–21 function as a sort of recap of the first half of the Psalm. David is under reproach (Psalm 69:19a, cf. Psalm 69:7-10) from many, mighty enemies (Psalm 69:19b, cf. Psalm 69:4) that has brought him into deep grief (Psalm 69:20a–b, cf. Psalm 69:2-3). And those who should have been a comfort to him turned out to be attackers instead (Psalm 69:20c–21, cf. Psalm 69:8-12). Psalm 69:21 reminds us, as we had seen in Psalm 69:9, that David’s experience is not just characteristic of believers but ultimately prophetic of Christ. Now, what does David ask for?

Justice, Psalm 69:22. “Their table” becoming a snare is a just retribution for their giving him gall and vinegar in the place of food and drink in Psalm 69:21. The “well being a trap” from Psalm 69:22b fleshes this out a bit. Though they be blessed in material things, yet they may fall suddenly and eternally like the prosperous wicked whom Asaph envies in Psalm 73.

Wrath, Psalm 69:23-28. Suddenly, the trap is sprung, and the adversary is devastated (Psalm 69:23) not just by pain but by the personal nature of the fury (Psalm 69:24). Not only do they die, but their generation is cut off (Psalm 69:25). Rather than being brought to repentance, they are given over to more sin (Psalm 69:27), that sinks them lower than the grave (Psalm 69:28). The nature of the wicked’s affliction stands in stark contrast to that of the righteous in Psalm 69:26. The Lord strikes and wounds His servants in His chastening love, but those who interpret this as an opportunity to pile on or gossip will find themselves on the receiving end of God’s vengeance.

Worship from himself, Psalm 69:29-31. He is eager for salvation to put him in a place where he can praise from his soul. “Horses and hooves” aren’t the sacrifices that please God (cf. Psalm 40:6–8; Hebrews 10:5–7). The ultimate sacrifice, of course, is Christ. And it is through Christ that saints offer spiritual sacrifice (cf. 1 Peter 2:4–5; Hebrews 13:15). 

Worship from believers, Psalm 69:32-34. Earlier, David’s great concern was that he would respond foolishly or sinfully, and that this would bring other believers down (cf. Psalm 69:5-6). Now, he’s asking that the Lord’s deliverance would give the humble who seek God opportunity to rejoice from the heart (Psalm 69:32). Whenever we are afflicted, we want all to discover that “Yahweh hears the poor and does not despise His prisoners.” The greatest instance of this is the resurrection of Christ. By His resurrection, we are sure that for the sake of Him Who took our sin and was still resurrected as righteous, the Lord will hear us also.

Worship from all creation, Psalm 69:34-36. The blessing in Psalm 69:36 is opposite the curse pronounced in Psalm 69:25. Here is the great reason for all creation (Psalm 69:34) to praise God: His delivering and blessing His people (Psalm 69:35). When believers find themselves in trouble, let them seek that praise of God from all creation that will ultimately come out of the trouble.

What affliction are you in? What do you hope its ultimate result will be? How are you praying for that?

Sample prayer:  O Lord, You hear the poor. Save Your Zion and build her up, so that we may see it and be glad. By Your Spirit, cause us to seek You. Give life to our hearts that we may praise Your Name with song and magnify You with thanksgiving, we ask through Christ, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP69A “Save Me, O God” or TPH69B “Thy Lovingkindness, Lord, Is Good and Free”

Theology Simply Explained — WSC56 The Reason Annexed to the Third Commandment

Pastor walks his children through Westminster Shorter Catechism question 56: What is the reason annexed to the third commandment? The reason annexed to the third commandment is that however the breakers of this commandment may escape punishment from men, yet the Lord our God will not suffer them to escape his righteous judgment.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)