God Makes Us to Remember Him by Teaching Us to Ask Him to Remember Us [Family Worship lesson in Psalm 70]

What can ‘helpless’ believers under attack pray? Psalm 70 looks forward to the opening portion of morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that for believers, who know Who God is and what He will do for them, the right way to pray is often “make haste!” (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2022.10.18 Hopewell @Home ▫ Psalm 70

Read Psalm 70

Questions from the Scripture text: Into whose hands was this Psalm committed (superscript)? Who wrote it? What does the Psalm aim to do? What basic request is made twice in Psalm 70:1a, b? What two things is he asking God to make haste to do? By what two Names does he call Him? What three things are the enemy in Psalm 70:2-3 doing? What five things does David ask God to do to them? By what two activities are the people in Psalm 70:4 identified? What three things does he ask these godly ones to be enabled to do? Among the godly what is his own condition (Psalm 70:5a)? What request does he repeat in verse 5b? In what form will the two requests from Psalm 70:1 be fulfilled (Psalm 70:5c, cf. Psalm 70:1a, b)? What final request does he make in Psalm 70:5d?

What can ‘helpless’ believers under attack pray? Psalm 70 looks forward to the opening portion of morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these five  verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that for believers, who know Who God is and what He will do for them, the right way to pray is often “make haste!” 

The Spirit has titled this a Psalm of “causing remembrance.” In it, David is crying out for God to remember—to act in a manner consistent with His character and His promises. Since we know that God is true to Himself and to His Word, praying for His remembrance of us in our distress is actually a means by which He reminds us of His character and promises. Specifically, David is asking God to take action with regard to himself, with regard to his enemies, and with regard to believers.

David’s request that God take action with regard to himself is the main request of the Psalm. David needs deliverance and help (Psalm 70:1), and the Lord Himself is that deliverance and help (Psalm 70:5). This, David already knows. So, the form of the request isn’t so much “deliver me and help me” as, “Make haste!” This plea actually appears only once, at the end of Psalm 70:1: “God, to deliver me—Yahweh, to help me—make haste!” Then Psalm 70:5 concludes the Psalm with another request to “make haste” with the added plea, “O Yahweh, do not delay.”

We might have thought it irreverent to ask God to hurry, and if we did so by venting our own spirit it would be. But God has given us His own Word by which to ask Him to hurry. He has put that into our heart and into our mouth, which enables us to make holy cries for divine hastening. 

In Psalm 70:2-3, David requests that God take action with regard to his enemies. They are seeking his life, desiring his hurt, and ridiculing him. David asks that they be ashamed, confounded, thwarted in confusion, and returned to their place in shame. All of these things will indeed happen. The Lord is patiently restraining His hand from wrath for many good reasons (cf. Romans 9:22–23). The wicked think themselves safe, but they shall be suddenly and devastatingly proved wrong. The believer knows this, but it is a helpful reminder to him, when he calls upon God to remember and act.

In Psalm 70:4, David requests that God take action with regard to other believers, those who seek God and love His salvation. It is God’s plan and promise that these will have fullness of joy in God’s presence and pleasures at God’s right hand forevermore (Psalm 70:4a, cf. Psalm 16:11). It is their destiny to magnify and praise God forever (Psalm 70:4b–c, cf. Psalm 73:26–28). Those who rejoice over God and love to praise His salvation are much strengthened and gladdened by new occasions to praise that salvation. As David prays that God would give them occasions for praise, he remembers that God indeed will do so.

The Psalm ends with David still asking God to hurry. The situation has not changed, and David is still “poor and needy.” But the Psalm itself has not just given him words by which to ask God to remember. This Spirit-given prayer and song has brought God’s remembering to David’s remembrance. And we may hope that the Spirit would use it to do so in us and for us as well.

What situation has you needing to remember that God remembers? What do you hope the lovers of God will end up doing in response to your situation? How is that shaping the way you pray?

Sample prayer:  Lord, You are our Help and our Deliverer. By Your grace, we seek You; help us to seek You more. Make us to rejoice and be glad in You. By Your grace, we love Your salvation; make us to love Your salvation more. Today, and forever, make us to say continually, “Let God be magnified!” In Jesus’s Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP70 “Hasten, God, My Rescue” or TPH559 “The Lord’s Prayer”

The God Who Brings Us Immanently Near to His Transcendent Glory [2022.10.16 Evening Sermon in Exodus 24:12–18]

The Lord brought Moses so very near to His very great glory, but in Christ and by His Spirit, believers come even nearer to a greater expression of God's glory.

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

Christ's Ordained Way of Making and Gathering Disciples [2022.10.16 Morning sermon in Acts 14:21–28]

The Lord makes and gathers disciples by preaching, follow-up, sessions, presbyteries, and congregations.

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

Diaconal Expression of Grace in the Noahic Administration of the Covenant of Grace [2022.10.16 Sabbath School in the Biblical Theology of the Diaconate series]

The progression of the covenant of grace includes progressive expression of that grace in material provision and creation care—both from the God of grace and imaged in the people of grace.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

Theology Simply Explained — WSC57, The Fourth Commandment: Training for Delighting in Jesus

Pastor walks his children through Westminster Shorter Catechism question 57—especially equipping them to show from Scripture how so far from being abrogated in Christ, this commandment is especially for Christians. WSC57: Which is the fourth commandment? The fourth commandment is, Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

Three Demonstrations in the Gospel that Drive Us to Christ for Righteousness [Family Worship lesson in Romans 3:25–26]

What was being exhibited at the cross? Romans 3:25–26 looks forward to the sermon in the midweek prayer meeting. In these two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that in Christ’s fully atoning work, God displayed the greatness of His righteousness, the very righteousness that is accounted to those who believe in Jesus.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2022.10.17 Hopewell @Home ▫ Romans 3:25–26

Read Romans 3:25–26

Questions from the Scripture text: Who set forth Whom (Romans 3:25)? As what? By what? Through what is this propitiation applied? To demonstrate what? What attribute of God had necessitated this demonstration? What had He done in His forbearance? Which sins had He passed over? At what time did demonstration occur (Romans 3:26)? What was demonstrated? What two things was He in this righteousness? Of whom? 

What was being exhibited at the cross? Romans 3:25–26 looks forward to the sermon in the midweek prayer meeting. In these two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that in Christ’s fully atoning work, God displayed the greatness of His righteousness, the very righteousness that is accounted to those who believe in Jesus.

The gospel is, in some respects, a matter of “Show and Tell.” We read back in Romans 1:17 that in it the righteousness of God is revealed. And then more recently in Romans 3:21, we read that “now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed.” In the two verses now before us, the Spirit emphasizes three aspects of God’s glorious righteousness that is revealed and offered to us in the gospel: Christ Jesus, Propitiation, and Justness.

Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24) is the One Whom God “set forth as a propitiation.” This word means that Jesus has completely satisfied the wrath of God so that all that is left is the favor of God. He has made God entirely propitious toward all Who are in Him. The phrase “set forth” is borrowed from the language of the judicial trial and refers to exhibiting something as evidence. In this case, it is Christ Who is exhibited as a propitiation.

But what does His propitiating demonstrate about Him? That He is as valuable as the glory of God. It is the glory of God against which man has sinned in unrighteousness and ungodliness. And it is this sin against God’s glory against which His wrath has been revealed (Romans 3:18)? What could atone for offense that is as great as the glory of God? The answer is that Christ Jesus can. By His full atonement (propitiation), Christ Jesus is exhibited to be as glorious as God. For He is, of course, God. 

Propitiation itself is a display of God’s righteousness because He had exercised forbearance and not poured out His wrath against the sins of believers previously committed. But those who had believed (“through faith,” Romans 3:25) have now been fully atoned for by Jesus’s blood. God has not compromised His justice at all. The righteousness of God that we get in the gospel is an absolute, perfect, uncompromised righteousness.

Finally, God demonstrates His righteousness not only with respect to past believers but also at the present time. When one believes in Jesus now, he knows that God is just, for He has demanded and executed already full punishment of sin. A believer knows that this justice means that, apart from Christ, God would display that justness by punishing Him forever in Hell. But a believer also knows that the justness of God is also demonstrated by declaring to be righteous whoever has faith in Jesus. And it is this very justness of God, this very righteousness of God, that is counted as one’s own when he believes in Jesus.

How do you respond, in your life, to the glory of Jesus? How does God’s righteousness at the cross encourage you about your standing before Him? Who should not be encouraged by it?

Sample prayer:  Lord, thank You for displaying Christ, Your uncompromised justness at the cross, and Your justness in justifying those who believe in Christ. Grant that we would do so and thus know ourselves to be reckoned as having Your perfect righteousness, which we ask in Christ’s own Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP32AB “What Blessedness” or TPH435 “Not What My Hands Have Done”

2022.10.15 Hopewell @Home ▫ Acts 14:21–28

Read Acts 14:21–28

Questions from the Scripture text: What had they done in Derbe (Acts 14:21)? What did they make by this preaching? How many? To where do they return? What are they doing (Acts 14:22)? To whom? Strengthening what of theirs? In what were they exhorting them to continue? Through what must they enter the kingdom? How many? Whose kingdom? How sure is this entering? Through where did they pass to where in Acts 14:24? Then what did they do where (Acts 14:25)? Before going down to where? From there, where did they sail (Acts 14:26)? What had been done to them there? For what? What is the status of the work? What do they do when they come (Acts 14:27)? What do they do with the gathered church? Whom do they say has done the work? How do they describe what He did? What did they do after this report (Acts 14:28)?

How does the first great missionary journey conclude? Acts 14:21–28 looks forward to the morning sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these eight verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the first great missionary journey concluded with strengthening follow-up, the ordaining of a presbytery, and return/report to the sending church. 

Strengthening follow-up, Acts 14:21–22. The description of the ministry in Derbe is succinct: they preached the gospel and made many disciples. They then follow up with all of the disciples that the Lord had made in the area “strengthening [their] souls” (Acts 14:22). This strengthening had two components. First, they exhorted them to continue (to remain, abide, persist) in the faith. This exhortation would be necessary if the “only” opposition that we were facing was our own remaining sin. But it is all the more necessary because of the truth about the reality of the Christian life in this world.

The telling of that truth is the second part of the strengthening. It may not sound strengthening to say that we will have many tribulations. But, it would be far worse to tell someone that the Christian life will be easy, if it will actually be full of tribulations. And, it is a great encouragement to know that these tribulations come in the wisely, lovingly determined providence of God. Furthermore, the word translated “must” does refer to something that is absolutely necessary. If they are believers, if they are disciples, then they must enter the kingdom of God. It is certain. He Who started the work will complete it. Glorious encouragement!

Ordaining of a presbytery, Acts 14:23. Why wait to appoint elders until there were congregations (“church” in verse 23) in four cities, and possibly several in each? One reason is so that the elders of the congregations in the regions will have a mutual accountability, and none of them will have primacy. When we get to chapter 15, we will find elders on the same footing as apostles in the general synod/assembly that occurs. Mutual accountability and collaboration by a plurality of elders in a region had already been established, apparently, in Judea. 

And mutual accountability and collaboration by a plurality of elders in a region was established here as the form of church government among the congregations of the first great (apostolic!) missionary journey. A second reason is related: because it is God’s way of shepherding His church. These elder appointments are not because the churches are in the care of the elders, but because they are in the care of God Whose appointed method is the elders. Thus we see the praying to the Lord, fasting before the Lord, and commending them to the Lord in Whom they had believed (Acts 14:23). This began as the Lord’s work (cf. Acts 14:26 and “commended to the grace of God”), and it would continue as His work in their absence.

Returning and reporting, Acts 14:24-28. They had been commended to God’s grace in Antioch in Acts 13:2–3. Undoubtedly, Simeon, Lucius, Manaen, and the congregation there had been praying for them and would be eager to learn how things went. Now, Paul and Barnabas make their way back, preaching as they go (Acts 14:25). They gather the congregation together in Acts 14:27, and report. Note that it was not a report on what they had done but about “all that God had done with them” (verse 27). He was the One Who “opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.” The implication is that the congregation was gathered for worship, and testimony to what God had done was offered unto the glory and praise of the God Who did it. When we send and pray, we are participants in ministry. And, when the Lord blesses it, we have the privilege of participating in praising Him for that ministry.

What tribulations are you going through? How does this passage strengthen you in them? How has Jesus chosen to shepherd His church on earth? Whom has He specifically selected for you? In whose ministry are you participating? For what sort of fruit do you hope to participate in praising God?

Sample prayer:  Lord, thank You for the mission of Your saving work that has extended to saving us. Grant that we would have strength to persist in the faith and to participate in Your mission work. Make us to submit to Your Word and Your ways in Christ’s church, which we ask in His Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP23B “The Lord’s My Shepherd” or TPH231 “Whate’er My God Ordains Is Right” 

The Immanent Nearness and Transcendent Glory of Our God [Family Worship lesson in Exodus 24:12–18]

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.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)