2022.11.05 Hopewell @Home ▫ 2 Samuel 5:17–25

Read 2 Samuel 5:17–25

Questions from the Scripture text: Who heard what in 2 Samuel 5:17 (cf. 2 Samuel 5:3)? What did they do? And who heard of that? And what did he do? Where else did the Philistines go (2 Samuel 5:18)? Of Whom does David inquire (2 Samuel 5:19)? What two specific questions does he ask? What combined answer does Yahweh give? What does 2 Samuel 5:20 now call the Valley of Rephaim? How did it get that name? What did the Philistines abandon as they were fleeing (2 Samuel 5:21)? Who did what with them? What did the Philistines do (again!?!) in 2 Samuel 5:22? What did David do again (2 Samuel 5:23)? What was Yahweh’s answer this time (2 Samuel 5:23-24)? What was the result (2 Samuel 5:25)?

What attributes of God shape the actions of a man after God’s own heart? 2 Samuel 5:17–25 looks forward to the morning sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these nine verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that people after God’s own heart live in response to God’s truth, power, and wisdom. 

The spiritual background to the passage. Saul tried to do things his own way (1 Samuel 13, 15), and Israel suffered. So God provided for Himself a man after His own heart (1 Samuel 13:14, 1 Samuel 15:28), by whom He promised to save His people (cf. 2 Samuel 3:18). Now, in 2 Samuel 5:17–25, we get our first taste of that salvation by the hand of the newly anointed (cf. 2 Samuel 5:3) king. 

The military background to the passage. The Philistines have heard about the anointing (2 Samuel 5:17a) and think they’d better make a preemptive strike against this newly united Israel. They go hunting for David (verse 17b), David takes up a fortified position, the Philistines hole up in Rephaim (2 Samuel 5:18), and the ensuing conflict teaches us several remarkable things about our God.

Our God is the speaking, guiding God. First, David is the anti-Saul. Saul trusted his own wisdom, either neglecting to ask God or directly disobeying Him. We have seen David inquire of Yahweh several times (e.g., cf. 1 Samuel 23:2, 2 Samuel 2:1), and as king he continues to do the same. One of the ways that God works in our lives is by giving us the guidance of His Word and giving us the desire to seek that guidance. He reminds us here that He is the speaking, guiding God.

Our God is the powerful, delivering God. It was Yahweh who broke through the Philistines like a breakthrough of water (2 Samuel 5:20). It was Yahweh who went before David to strike the camp of the Philistines (2 Samuel 5:24). David “defeated” them in 2 Samuel 5:20, and “drove back the Philistines” in 2 Samuel 5:25, but these battles are reminiscent of the conquest, in which the Lord gave victory that exceeded human means and even without human means.

Finally, our God is the wisely and creatively planning God. Idols are the creations of man (2 Samuel 5:21), but God Himself is the great Author and Creator. So, when David faces an identical situation (2 Samuel 5:22, cf. 2 Samuel 5:18), Yahweh gives a very different answer (2 Samuel 5:23, cf. 2 Samuel 5:19). Who is dull and wicked enough to find the Lord boring? Even the cue of “the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees” (2 Samuel 5:24) is so interestingly creative! 

God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And His truth is always the same. But His work can be marvelously varied. And even having saved us by David’s greater Son, God still guides and delivers His people in His wise and interesting plan! He is worthy of your inquiry, and your trust, and your praise.

Where can you find God’s Word? How should you respond to His power? To His wisdom/creativity?

Sample prayer:  Lord, thank You for teaching us in Your Word. We praise Your providential, redeeming power, and Your marvelous, inexplicable wisdom. Grant that we may ever seek from You instruction about what we should do, and ever give to You praise for whatever You do, in Jesus’s Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP23B “The Lord’s My Shepherd” or TPH195 “Shine Thou Upon Us Lord”

The Grace-Dependent Duty of Edifying, Forgiving Fellowship [Family Worship lesson in Luke 17:1–10]

What challenges does remaining sin pose to relationships among believers? Luke 17:1–10 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 remaining sin means that believers’ relationships take vigilance, forgiveness, faith, and humility(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2022.11.04 Hopewell @Home ▫ Luke 17:1–10

Read Luke 17:1–10

Questions from the Scripture text: To whom is Jesus speaking (Luke 17:1)? What does He say is impossible? Upon whom does He pronounce woe? What would be better than causing a little one to stumble (Luke 17:2)? What does He say to do to themselves (Luke 17:3)? What should they do if a brother sins against them? And what if the response to this rebuke is repentance? How many times might this happen in a day (Luke 17:4)? And if he returns saying “I repent”? What do the apostles ask for, from Whom, when they hear this instruction (Luke 17:5)? What size faith does the Lord talk about in response (Luke 17:6)? With that much faith, what could they tell to do what, and be obeyed? What might one of their servants be doing before coming in from the field (Luke 17:7)? What wouldn’t the say to this servant? What does Jesus say that they would say instead (Luke 17:8)? When could the servant think of himself? What wouldn’t they do to the servant (Luke 17:9)? How much of what we are commanded should we do (Luke 17:10)? What should we say when we have done this? Why—what have we done, when we have obeyed all his commands? 

What challenges does remaining sin pose to relationships among believers? Luke 17:1–10 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 remaining sin means that believers’ relationships take vigilance, forgiveness, faith, and humility.

In this section, the Lord turns from warning the Pharisees that they are missing out on the kingdom altogether (Luke 16:14–31) to instructing His disciples around some of the hazards of kingdom living. For believers, we’re reminded that even after God has done that saving work of bringing us to faith in Christ, there is a long way to go as we grow in grace.

We must take heed to our brothers’ soul, Luke 17:1-2. “Offenses” and ”offend” here translate a word that refers to when someone falls into sin, or error, or even rejects the Christianity to which they once claimed to hold. Jesus knows that, since this will inevitably happen, we might think that lets us off the hook a little bit if it was our hypocrisy or sin or loose doctrine that became the occasion by which someone else did so. But that’s a great mistake. Even if it was bound to happen, and even though they are to blame for their own stumbling (and will pay for it themselves), this doesn’t reduce our responsibility. 

Being the occasion for someone else falling into sin and error is worse than being dragged down headfirst, through more water than we can easily picture, with our helpless feet pointing toward the surface, because a several thousand pound stone keeps pulling, pulling, pulling on our neck so that struggling chokes us more, until all struggling ultimately fails and the water fills our lungs as we suffocate on the way down, buried alive in a watery grave. 

A little graphic for a warm fuzzy devotional? Sure. But Jesus meant to be graphic, and wrestling with the Word of our holy God often isn’t warm and fuzzy. We should be scared to death of helping people stumble. And Jesus sets the example, not willing to cause us to stumble by soft-peddling how dreadful such sin is.

Therefore, we must take heed to our own soul, Luke 17:3-6. “Take heed to yourselves,” Jesus says at the beginning of Luke 17:3. And we need the reminder, because we rarely obey the command, “If your brother sins against you, rebuke him.” It’s a rebuke that seeks the fruit of repentance rather than the moment of confrontation through which it comes, but while a few perverted hearts enjoy the confrontation, many more are willing to deny their brother the opportunity to repent, rather than go through the discomfort of confronting.

It’s important that we learn to enjoy the sweetness of reconciliation, because we might have to eat that cookie seven times in a day (Luke 17:4). If we’re just going through the motions, the bitterness of counting how many times we have had to do something will leave an increasingly bad taste in our mouths. The disciples immediately confirm the anticipated difficulty, asking for the increased faith that they will need to obey such instruction (Luke 17:5). Rather than suggest that it’s not as hard as it seems, Jesus proceeds to underline just how impossible it is to do what He is commanding—and that the faith that He is working in them is sufficient to the task (Luke 17:6)!

And we mustn’t be impressed with ourselves for either one, Luke 17:7-10. Because God grants us to do the impossible by His grace, our remaining sin puts us in danger of being self-impressed. God indeed will reward us for the good works that His grace produces in us, and Jesus even says that He will serve us in the kingdom (cf. Luke 12:37)! But this just underlines the astonishing generosity and grace of our Master. 

If we allow ourselves to feel like we deserve God’s notice or gratitude, we will only hinder ourselves from amazement at His grace. Jesus says to neutralize such wrongheaded spiritual pride or self-satisfaction by remembering that God gains nothing from us; the best that we ever do is only what was already our duty.

How have you been caring for others’ souls? And for your own? How do you respond to doing your duty? 

Sample prayer: Lord, thank You for taking upon Yourself the punishment for all of our offenses. Thank You for forgiving us, and for enabling us to forgive others. Give us to serve You in our relationships, and in every other way. For, it is our duty as Your servants, for the honor of Your Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP197 “Christian Unity” or TPH408 “For All the Saints” 

Theology Simply Explained — WSC59 (2) — Weekly Sabbath, Like All Creation Ordinances, Applies as Long As We Are in This World

Pastor walks his children through Westminster Shorter Catechism question 59—especially explaining how the language of “from the beginning of the world […] to the end of the world” captures that the Sabbath is a creation ordinance which, like marriage and work, continue so long as we are in this world.

WSC59: Which day of the seven hath God appointed to be the weekly sabbath? From the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly sabbath; and the first day of the week ever since, to continue to the end of the world, which is the Christian sabbath.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

The Famous God Who Saves a People for the Glory of His Name [Family Worship lesson in 1Samuel 17]

What are we to learn from great battle victories? 1Samuel 17 looks forward to the second reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these fifty-eight verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the purpose of great battle victories is not to impress us with the men who fight them but to impress us with God, Who gives all victories.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2022.11.03 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Samuel 17

Read 1 Samuel 17

Questions from the Scripture text: What was the arrangement of the camps of the Philistines and Israelites in 1 Samuel 17:1–3? Who went out from the Philistines (1 Samuel 17:4)? What was he like (1 Samuel 17:4-7)? What challenge did he make (1 Samuel 17:8-10)? How do Saul and Israel respond (1 Samuel 17:11)? What is Jesse’s condition (1 Samuel 17:12b)? What are his sons doing at this time (1 Samuel 17:12-14)? What did David sometimes do (1 Samuel 17:5)? What does Jesse have him do on one of these occasions (1 Samuel 17:12-19)? What is happening when David arrives (1 Samuel 17:20-23)? How do the men of Israel respond (1 Samuel 17:23-24)? What additional info do they give us in 1 Samuel 17:25, 1 Samuel 17:27, 1 Samuel 17:30? Why is David incredulous at this reward offer (1 Samuel 17:26)? Who is irritated at this, and what does he say (1 Samuel 17:28-29)? Who hears and sends for David (1 Samuel 17:31)? What does David say to him (1 Samuel 17:32)? But what does Saul say (1 Samuel 17:33)? What has David done (1 Samuel 17:34-36), and why is he certain that this will be the same (1 Samuel 17:36-37a)? How does Saul respond (verse 37b)? What does Saul try to give him, and why doesn’t it help (1 Samuel 17:38-39)? What does David take instead (1 Samuel 17:40)? What does the Philistine think of David (1 Samuel 17:41-42)? What does he say to/about him (1 Samuel 17:43-44)? How does David respond in 1 Samuel 17:45? What does he say Yahweh will do, and what does David say that he himself will do (1 Samuel 17:46)? What will this assembly then know (1 Samuel 17:47)? How does David respond when the Philistine approaches (1 Samuel 17:48)? What does he do in 1 Samuel 17:49? But what did David not have (1 Samuel 17:50)? So, whose does he use to do what in 1 Samuel 17:51? And how do the Philistines respond? How do the Israelites respond (1 Samuel 17:52-53)? What does David do with the Philistine’s head (1 Samuel 17:53, 1 Samuel 17:57)? Armor (1 Samuel 17:54)? What (kind of odd, considering chapter 16) question does Saul ask Abner in 1 Samuel 17:55 and David in 1 Samuel 17:58?

What are we to learn from great battle victories? 1 Samuel 17 looks forward to the second reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these fifty-eight verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the purpose of great battle victories is not to impress us with the men who fight them but to impress us with God, Who gives all victories.

Famous me and famous victories. This is one of the most famous stories in the Bible. That’s a challenge for us: is what we see here the  famousness of the details, the actors, the actions, and the outcomes? Or is what we see here the honor and glory of God Himself? All of Scripture, 1 Samuel as a whole, and this passage all urge us to see that God Himself is the real story.

We’ve had Saul (1 Samuel 9:2) and Eliab (1 Samuel 16:6–7) described to us as physically impressive, so the Holy Spirit has prepared us not to be as impressed with Goliath as everyone else is. Israel (1 Samuel 17:24), Philistia (1 Samuel 17:51b), Saul (1 Samuel 17:25), Eliab (1 Samuel 17:28), and Goliath himself (1 Samuel 17:43) all seem quite impressed with him. 

David’s famous God. But David’s big problem is that none of them seem to be impressed enough with God (1 Samuel 17:26, 1 Samuel 17:36). Goliath, Saul, and Eliab may be on different sides, but they all seem to agree about David, because they’re all failing to see the greatness of David’s God.

Let us not make the same mistake—whether with Goliath, or with David. It’s God with Whom David was impressed when it came to the lion and the bear (1 Samuel 17:39), and it’s God with Whom David expects us all to be impressed by the time this is over (end of 1 Samuel 17:46). 

If we come away content to be impressed with David, 2 Samuel is going to end up to be a rather deflating experience in the deficiencies of our hero. But, if we come away impressed with God, we will come away impressed by far more than the courage He worked in David through faith in Himself. 

If it is God Himself Who is impressing us in this passage, we will come away sobered that He does not take despising Him lightly. We will come away encouraged that He destroys all of His and our enemies. We will come away remembering that this was one event, among many, by which God Himself was coming in Christ to be our Savior. We will come away reverencing and trusting and worshiping. 

1 Samuel 17 is not telling us to identify our Goliaths, or even so much to be swift and courageous like David. 1 Samuel 17 is inviting us to behold our God, and trust in Him, and honor and serve Him, regardless of what faces us or comes to us in the process.

How is God being underestimated by the culture? By the church? By your own heart?

Sample prayer:  Lord, forgive us for not having our hearts tuned to see Your glory and greatness in every circumstance, let alone in great battles and victories. We grieve that our hearts are so easily impressed with others, and even with ourselves, but not easily enough impressed with You. Give us adoration and admiration for You, through Christ Who has adored You perfectly, we ask in His Name, AMEN!

 ARP45A “My Heart Is Greatly Stirred” or TPH45A “My Heart Is Greatly Stirred”

Our Pattern of Sound Words: the Westminster Confession’s View of Itself in the Light of Scripture

The following is our pastor's latest contribution to Seventeen82.

As we’ve seen from Scripture, the Lord’s people must remember Him and His Word to themselves and their children for perpetual generations. And the Spirit’s method for this features the use of patterns of sound words (e.g. confessions and catechisms). As ARPs, we obviously think that the Westminster Confession and Catechisms are such patterns. What makes them so?

The first answer is that our confession acknowledges that Scripture alone is the rule of faith and practice. The reason that the truth in chapters 2–33 is sound and profitable is found in chapter 1, “Of the Holy Scripture.” This little article will be most helpful to you if read side-by-side with that chapter.

Holy Scripture is God’s Self-revelation. WCF 1.1 teaches that God has committed His revelation

God Regards His Own Glory and Avenges Himself upon False Worship and Religion [Family Worship lesson in 1Samuel 4:1–11]

Why did God kill thirty-four thousand (and two!) Israelites? 1Samuel 4:1–11 looks forward to the first reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these eleven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that in all things, God acts for His own glory, especially avenging Himself upon manmade worship and religion.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2022.11.02 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Samuel 4:1–11

Read 1 Samuel 4:1–11

Questions from the Scripture text: What did Israel go out to do (1 Samuel 4:1)? Where did each army encamp? What happened in the battle (1 Samuel 4:2)? What did the people ask (1 Samuel 4:3a)? What did they think would change the outcome, and what did they think would save them (verse 3b)? Who dwelt between the cherubim (1 Samuel 4:4)? Who else were right there, when they were retrieving it? How did Israel respond when the ark arrived (1 Samuel 4:5)? What did the Philistines ask in 1 Samuel 4:6? What did they understand? What did they call the ark in 1 Samuel 4:7? Where did they assume that God was not, before? What did the Philistines think of this new development at first (1 Samuel 4:7-8)? But how did they determine to respond (1 Samuel 4:9)? How did the outcome of this battle compare to the outcome of the earlier one (1 Samuel 4:10, cf. 1 Samuel 4:2)? What was captured (1 Samuel 4:11a)? Who died (verse 11b)?

Why did God kill thirty-four thousand (and two!) Israelites? 1 Samuel 4:1–11 looks forward to the first reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these eleven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that in all things, God acts for His own glory, especially avenging Himself upon manmade worship and religion.

God acts for the honor of His own glory. We do a dreadful thing, when we take God lightly or treat Him as an easily manipulated genie in a bottle. Israel asks an important question in 1 Samuel 4:3, “Why has Yahweh struck us down”? 

The answer (or at least a significant part of it) is buried way down in 1 Samuel 4:11: “and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.” Their death is a sign that we have been expecting for the desecration of God’s worship ever since 1 Samuel 2:34, and especially after 1 Samuel 3:12, 1 Samuel 3:19, 1 Samuel 4:1a. So, if we have been paying attention, the answer is, “Out of respect for His own honor in His own worship!”

That God cares so much about right worship may be startling to us, if we live in a day of worship chaos, where “everyone does what is right in his own eyes, and there is no king in Israel.” If that’s true of our worship situation in the churches, then we can see the parallel with Samuel’s situation, coming out of the period of the Judges.

Yet, we have seen that this is the answer to the “why” the army of God’s people was defeated and slaughtered: “Out of respect for His own honor in His own worship!”

Worshiping according to our will belongs to a superstitious approach to God. Israel was treating Yahweh as a deity that could be easily manipulated. His worship was being desecrated, but this was not their answer to why they lost. Instead, they concluded that they had forgotten the magical furniture (1 Samuel 4:3-4). It was as if the ark had God’s power infused in it in such a way that God would have to give them what they wanted. It turns out, from 1 Samuel 4:7, that this was also the Philistine view of how deities work.

The Lord punishes Israel’s superstitious, manipulative approach to Him with a defeat more than seven times as bad as before (cp. 1 Samuel 4:4 with 1 Samuel 4:10). He takes from them that symbol of His presence that they had treated as more important than Him Himself (1 Samuel 4:11a). And He crowns the defeat with the fulfillment of His judgment (verse 11b).

We must recognize and refuse those compromises by which we provoke God in His worship. The question for us, then, is where we might be doing such things. 

Are we bowing to God’s complete authority over His worship, or do we seek to modify worship to be more pleasing to ourselves or others? 

In those things that God has given us as means by which He works, are we trusting in Him and interacting with Him, or are we trusting the means and using them in a way that is not mindful of Him? 

If Scripture teaches us that God acts in such a way as to vindicate His glory and honor over against the church’s cavalier approach to the means of grace, then let us bow and worship and repent and confess that He is righteous and just and holy to bring upon us whatever judgments that He determines.

What are some manmade additions to God’s worship that are widely tolerated and approved in the churches? What are some judgments in which the church has been defeated by the world around it? What does this passage teach us might be the connection between those things?

Sample prayer: Lord, forgive us for doing in Your worship that which pleases us instead of that which You have prescribed. Truly, You are righteous in the devastating defeats that Your church has been losing to the world around it, just as You were righteous in the slaughter of Israel, the loss of the ark, and the deaths of Eli’s sons. Grant repentance to Your church and the purification of her worship we ask, in Christ’s Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP32AB “What Blessedness” or TPH130A “Lord, from the Depths, to Thee I Cry”

Christ in the Holy of Holies: Our Ark, Mercy Seat, and Reconciled God [2022.10.30 Evening sermon in Exodus 25:10–22]

The most important furnishing of the tabernacle is a box, and especially its "atonement-cover" because the most important "furnishing" of the tabernacle is God Himself in Christ.

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