2023.05.05 Hopewell @Home ▫ Exodus 34:8–28

Read Exodus 34:8–28

Questions from the Scripture text: What did Moses hurry to do (Exodus 34:8)? What is he the more emboldened to ask now (Exodus 34:9)? Despite what? What did Yahweh make (Exodus 34:10)? To do what? What will the Lord do (Exodus 34:11)? But what must they observe to take heed not to do (Exodus 34:12)? Why? What must Israel do with the inhabitants’ worship paraphernalia (Exodus 34:13)? What can’t such things be used to worship (Exodus 34:14)? What mustn’t they make with whom (Exodus 34:15)? Why not (Exodus 34:15-16)? What mustn’t Israel make (Exodus 34:17, cf. Exodus 20:4)? What must they keep (Exodus 34:18, Exodus 12:14–28)? What else must they do (Exodus 34:18-20, cf. Exodus 13:11–16, Exodus 22:29–30)? And what else (Exodus 34:21, cf. Exodus 20:9, Exodus 23:12)?  And what else (Exodus 34:22, cf. Exodus 23:14–16)? How often (Exodus 34:23, cf. Exodus 23:17)? What will Yahweh do (Exodus 34:24)? What mustn’t they do (Exodus 34:25, cf. Exodus 23:18)? And what else (Exodus 34:26, cf. Exodus 23:19)? What does He now tell Moses to do (Exodus 34:27)? How long was Moses with Yahweh (Exodus 34:28, cf. Exodus 24:18)? What didn’t Moses do? But what did Yahweh do?

What does the Lord do for His people in His forgiveness? Exodus 34:8–28 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these twenty-one verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that in His forgiveness, the Lord restores His people as if they had never sinned. 

Moses has seen (heard!) Yahweh’s glory (cf. Exodus 34:1–7). Just as we have seen previously (cf. Exodus 33:12–23), the Lord’s Word provokes him to prayer that is in accordance with that Word. At the climax of proclaiming Himself to Moses, the Lord had described Himself as “forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Exodus 34:7). 

Now Moses responds with worship both by the action in Exodus 34:8 and by the follow-up in prayer in Exodus 34:9. He builds off of the “found grace in Your sight” language of Exodus 33:12, Exodus 33:13, Exodus 33:16, Exodus 33:17. Then he asks that the Lord would go among them, which has been the primary request throughout most of chapter 33. 

Finally, the Lord’s proclamation of Himself has given Moses encouragement to pray this. Though they are indeed a stiff-necked people (Exodus 34:9, cf. Exodus 33:3, Exodus 33:5), Moses has learned that Who God is may overrule who they are. For He is a God Who pardons iniquity and sin (Exodus 34:9, cf. Exodus 34:7). There must be a great sacrifice indeed, for the Lord leaves nothing unpunished (verse 7b). But if God is going to take any men at all as His inheritance, it must be by His forgiveness.

What follows is a series of promises and commandments that all come from the substance of the Lord’s previous dealings and covenant with Israel. The verb for “make” a covenant in Exodus 34:10 is actually a participle, describing God Himself as the One Who has cut this covenant. He promises to do wonders (verse 10), just as He had previously done in Egypt; the way that He gives them the land will continue to declare that Israel is His people. 

The prohibition against covenanting with or sparing the people of the land (Exodus 34:11-16) is originally from the Book of the Covenant (cf. Exodus 23:32–33). The prohibition against fashioning gods (Exodus 34:17) is a repetition from the ten commandments (cf. Exodus 20:4) and the emphasis upon this commandment that immediately followed (cf. Exodus 20:23). It’s also exactly the place in which they had so greatly offended in chapter 32. He then repeats (Exodus 34:18) the Passover commands of Exodus 12:2–20 in almost exactly the same words as used in the Book of the Covenant in Exodus 23:15. In Exodus 34:19-20, He repeats the command to redeem the firstborn, which was also from the Exodus (cf. Exodus 13:11–16) and had been reiterated in the Book of the Covenant (Exodus 22:29–30). Then he repeats the Sabbath commandment (Exodus 34:21, cf. Exodus 20:9) with the same connections to the ceremonial calendar as in the Book of the Covenant (Exodus 34:22-24; cf. Exodus 23:12–17). Just as in the Book of the Covenant, this is immediately followed by the regulations concerning offering with leaven, leaving anything until morning, offering the firstfruits, and boiling a kid in its mother’s milk (Exodus 34:25-26, cf. Exodus 23:18–19). 

So, when Yahweh says, “write these words, for according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel” (Exodus 34:27), He is referring not only to the particular selections from the Book of the Covenant that have been repeated here. These selections represent the whole of what has gone before. The Lord is basically saying that He is reinstituting the entire covenant. By the providence of Exodus 34:28, the Spirit confirms this for us. It is a repetition of Exodus 24:18. The Lord is giving Israel a do-over as if the calf incident had never happened!

If the Lord never leaves the guilty unpunished, how can He restore Israel like this? Why can He do it for you?

Sample prayer:  Lord, we thank You for Your longsuffering and mercy and grace. Thank You for forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin by punishing our guilt upon Yourself in the Lord Jesus Christ. Forgive us our sin, and restore us as if we had never sinned at all, we ask through Christ, AMEN!

ARP51A “God, Be Merciful to Me” or TPH276 “Jesus Paid It All”

What God Requires of Us to Escape His Wrath and Curse [Westminster Shorter Catechism 85 Simply Explained]

Pastor walks his children through Westminster Shorter Catechism question 85—especially explaining how justification is entirely by Christ’s merit and sacrifice, and everything that we do in other parts of redemption are sustained by grace, but the things that God has commanded/ordained for us to do are still absolutely necessary.

Q85. What doth God require of us that we may escape His wrath and curse due to us for sin? To escape the wrath and curse of God due to us for sin, God requireth of us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life, with the diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

God's Man, Doing God's Work, God's Way, in God's Strength [Family Worship lesson in 2Timothy 2:1–7]

What must ministers do, when almost the entire rest of the church is turning away from the truth? 2Timothy 2:1–7 looks forward to the second reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these seven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that in times of general apostasy a faithful minister must entrust the truth to faithful men for future generations, doing God’s work, God’s way, in God’s strength, by God’s grace.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2023.05.04 Hopewell @Home ▫ 2 Timothy 2:1–7

 Read 2 Timothy 2:1–7

Questions from the Scripture text: What does Paul call Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:1? What does he command him to do? How? In Whom? To what things does he refer in 2 Timothy 2:2? Among whom did he hear them? What is he to do with these things? And what are the faithful me to do with them? What must Timothy endure (2 Timothy 2:3)? As what? Of Whom? What would this mean not entangling himself with (2 Timothy 2:4)? Why not? To what illustration does he switch in 2 Timothy 2:5? To what does the athlete commit himself? To what illustration does he switch in 2 Timothy 2:6? What must this farmer do? Upon what is Timothy to think (2 Timothy 2:7)? How will he understand?

What must ministers do, when almost the entire rest of the church is turning away from the truth? 2 Timothy 2:1–7 looks forward to the second reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these seven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that in times of general apostasy a faithful minister must entrust the truth to faithful men for future generations, doing God’s work, God’s way, in God’s strength, by God’s grace.

All have turned away from the apostle (cf. 2 Timothy 1:15). This is a repeated/basic pattern of the period from Pentecost until the return (cf. 2 Timothy 3:1–9). Often, there will be a respected man in the church who succeeds in turning an entire congregation against faithful preachers and faithful preaching (cf. 2 Timothy 4:14–16). 

Those who have endured this in the two thousand years since this letter was written are grateful for the providence of God that made it the context of Paul’s last letter to his “son” (2 Timothy 2:1) in the ministry. What is a minister to do in an age of worldliness in the church and feeble appetite for the Lord and His Word, when a faithful ministry is likely to get you rejected even by those who seem to be something in the church? 

Be a strong son, training new sons, who train sons, 2 Timothy 2:1-2. Timothy is the “son” of one who has been strengthened and kept against all opposition by God’s Spirit (cf. 2 Timothy 1:3, 2 Timothy 1:7, 2 Timothy 1:8, 2 Timothy 1:9, 2 Timothy 1:12. Now Timothy is to stand strong by Christ’s own strength, resting in the same One Whose gospel he preaches (2 Timothy 2:1). 

And Timothy is to invest himself in young men by whom he hopes that the faithful will again be multiplied, across generations (2 Timothy 2:2). The Psalm 78:6–7 solution for a Psalm 78:8 generation continues to apply throughout the history of the church. What, specifically, is Timothy to commit to these faithful men, for future generations? The apostle uses three illustrations to urge Timothy to teach dedication to doing God’s assigned work, in God’s prescribed way, by God’s own strength. And he concludes with instruction to meditate upon these things in dependence upon God’s grace.

Be a soldier; follow orders, even when difficult, 2 Timothy 2:3-4. Paul, Timothy, all ministers of the gospel, and indeed all Christians have been enlisted by the Lord Jesus Christ. We’ve been conscripted by Him in the war upon the devil and his works (cf. 2 Timothy 6:10–13). But battling comes with pain (“endure hardship,” 2 Timothy 2:3). And it means that there are things in life that we won’t get to do or focus upon (2 Timothy 2:4a). We are not our own, and what we do in life must be determined not by our whim but by the war, not by our desires but by our commander’s demands (verse 4b). As a soldier, the minister or Christian must do the work that is assigned to him.

Be an athlete: follow the rules, 2 Timothy 2:5. The minister in nurturing discipleship, and the saint in pursuing discipleship, has been given the parameters by which this comes. He has been given the only way by which we come to the finish line qualified. Ministry, discipleship, is not a place for creativity but careful attention to the parameters the Lord has given us. The theology that we teach and learn is determined by God. The material from which we teach and learn is the Scriptures. The contexts in which we teach and learn are the congregation as led by the elders and the household as led by the husbands/fathers. The ministry of the Word is bolstered by and united to the ministry of prayer and the administration of the sacraments. God’s work must be done God’s way. As an athlete, the minister or Christian must purse discipleship in the way that God has prescribed.

Be a farmer: feed yourself first, 2 Timothy 2:6. As he seeks to minister by the ordained means of grace to others, Timothy mustn’t neglect to partake of the ordained means of grace for himself. The laboring farmer needs to receive nutrition if he is going to be able to put forth that labor to provide others with nutrition. What a danger there is in trying to feed a congregation or family when one’s own soul is malnourished. In the author’s day, it has become popular to speak of caregivers’ self-care, but this is not exactly analogous in spiritual things. For, the use of the means of grace is not self-care but Spirit-care—dependence upon the Lord to use His means in our lives. The minister operates not from personal strength but from the weakness that boasts only in Christ’s strength. But let him see to it that he is actually feeding upon Christ and strong in Christ. Without Christ, weakness is just helplessness, not strength. As a farmer, the minister or Christian must work in the strength that God gives.

Dependence upon God’s grace, 2 Timothy 2:7. God transforms us by the renewing of our mind. So, Paul is following his own guidelines when he tells Timothy to “consider what I say.” Christian living proceeds from Christian meditation. The Word-directed life proceeds from the Word-drenched heart, the setting of the mind on particular things that God has said by His servants.

But even this is an employing of a means of grace. The apostle joins prayer to the instruction: “may the Lord give you understanding in all things.” We use the means of grace, because we are entirely dependent upon grace. Therefore, we have good hope as we use them, because we are looking to Him to make the means effective unto grace. Timothy is to set his mind on the teaching, but it is the Lord Who will give him the understanding. 

Thus, the apostle not only helps by prayer but sets an example for Timothy’s own praying for himself. And, as Timothy teaches others, he will be praying for them that the Lord would give them understanding. And, if they have learned well, then when they proceed to teach the generation that follows, it will be with prayer. And on it goes. Do we believe that we are dependent upon grace? Well that faith has a language in which it expresses itself: prayer for the very things that the Lord has prescribed.

What does the church need in an age like ours? What are you doing, daily and weekly, to participate in God’s bringing that? What use are you making of the means of grace and the ministry of the gospel that Christ has provided for you through His servants? What else are you doing in life that may be hindering you from giving more attendance upon these means? What is the inner life of your mind like? How is prayer involved in your meditation upon God’s Word?

Sample prayer:  Lord, we thank You for Paul, Timothy, and the line of faithful ministers that You have provided even up until our own day. Even in times when church leaders turn most of the church away from faithful words and faithful preachers, You maintain for Yourself a remnant by Your strength. Forgive us, O Lord, for when we have been bad soldiers who are unwilling to suffer, or who divide our allegiance between this life and Your service. Forgive us, for when we try to run the Christian race on our own terms, rather than taking the path that You have appointed. Forgive us, for when we forget that we are as needy of Your grace as anyone else. Forgive us, for being untrained in our thought life and not setting our minds upon Your Word. Help us, O Lord! Grant that Your Spirit would give us understanding in all things, and give us to live by that understanding, in dependence upon Christ, through Whom we ask it, AMEN!

ARP23B “The Lord’s My Shepherd” or TPH464 “The Beatitudes”

2023.05.03 Hopewell @Home ▫ 2 Kings 23:1–27

Read 2 Kings 23:1–27

Questions from the Scripture text: What did Josiah send the officials to do in 2 Kings 23:1? Who all go where in 2 Kings 23:2? What does Josiah read? Where does the king stand in 2 Kings 23:3 (cf. 2 Kings 11:14)? What does he make? To do what? What do the people do for this covenant? What does the king command to be brought out in 2 Kings 23:4? What does he do to them? What does he do to whom in 2 Kings 23:5? What does he do to what in 2 Kings 23:6? What does he do to what in 2 Kings 23:7? What does he do to whom in 2 Kings 23:8a? What does he do to what in verse 8b? Who did not come up where (2 Kings 23:9a)? What did they do, where, instead (verse 9b)? What did he do to what in 2 Kings 23:10? So that no man might do what? What did he remove in 2 Kings 23:11? What did he burn? What did he do to what in 2 Kings 23:12? What did he do to what in 2 Kings 23:13? What did he do to what in 2 Kings 23:14? What else did he go tear down where in 2 Kings 23:15? What did he see in 2 Kings 23:16? What did he to what (cf. 1 Kings 13:2)? What does he ask about in 2 Kings 23:17? What is the answer? What does he say to do in 2 Kings 23:18? What does he take away where in 2 Kings 23:19? What did he do to whom in 2 Kings 23:20? Whom does the king command to do what in 2 Kings 23:21? According to what? What is unique about this (2 Kings 23:22)? When did such a Passover occur (2 Kings 23:23)? What did he do to what in 2 Kings 23:24? So that he might do what? Who before him had done this (2 Kings 23:25)? How did he turn to Yahweh? Who did so after him? Yet, what did not happen (2 Kings 23:26)? Why not? What did Yahweh say (2 Kings 23:27)? What was unique about this place? 

What does it look like to follow Yahweh with all one’s heart and soul? 2 Kings 23:1–27 looks forward to the first serial reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these twenty-seven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that following the Lord means doing whatever His Word says, even if we know that the earthly effects may not or will not last. 

When the Spirit tells us that Josiah covenanted to follow Yahweh with all his heart and soul (2 Kings 23:3), and then the Spirit Himself proceeds to affirm that Josiah “turned to Yahweh with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might” (2 Kings 23:25), the believer wants to pay close attention. For, the genuine believer wants to turn to the Lord with all his heart. What does that look like?

Public submission to God and His Word. The public aspect is inherent to Josiah’s office as king. He gathers everyone (2 Kings 23:1-2a), reads publicly (verse 2b), and covenants publicly (2 Kings 23:3). He “made a covenant before Yahweh,” but also “all the people took a stand for the covenant.” Jesus makes a big deal of this for all Christians. Specifically when the generation has been adulterous and sinful, the believer must be unashamed of Christ and His Words (cf. Mark 8:38; Luke 9:26). Believers must not only believe in their hearts that God has raised the Lord Jesus from the dead but also confess with their mouths that Jesus is the Lord (cf. Romans 10:9). 

Sometimes, people protest any emphasis upon public profession of faith, but as we see Josiah making and Jesus demanding, it is a necessary part of genuine faith and love. It honors God rightly, and it seeks to edify all who observe it. A non-public faith is a selfish faith, which is no faith at all. But a public faith includes not only that initial profession but participation in the holy assemblies of the church and the life of the body. Biblical Christians must think and act corporately.

Persevering submission to God and His Word. The middle portion of our passage (2 Kings 23:4-20, 2 Kings 23:24) is full of reforms because all of Israel was full of corruption. This devotional could be very long indeed, if it highlighted the many unique details that signify a particularly heinous offense to God. It is shocking to see how much there is, and how bad each particular idolatry/wickedness is. 

Almost certainly, Manasseh had not had time to complete reformation. And Amon seems to have done much damage in just two years of reverting back to idolatry. Then, there are even the remaining reforms to be done in what used to belong to the now-defunct northern kingdom (cf. 2 Kings 23:15-20). Perseverance is needed. Courage to begin a work that seems overwhelming. Determination to continue and not grow weary. Endurance to persist when the weariness does set in. Believers who would exterminate their sin, as they must, will need all of these: courage, determination, and endurance. Submission to God and His Word requires perseverance. 

Principled submission to God and His Word. Perseverance comes ultimately from the Spirit, but His method for giving this perseverance is by directing the heart by the principles of God’s Word. We see this in 2 Kings 23:3 (“to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes […] to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book”) and in 2 Kings 23:24-25 (“that he might perform the words of the law that were written in the book […] according to all the Law of Moses”). This is the point of the unique quality of the Passover they held (“as it is written in this Book of the Covenant,” 2 Kings 23:21). 

We see some familiar phrases here: “with all his heart and all his soul” (2 Kings 23:3) and “with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might” (2 Kings 23:25). When we recognize their connection to Deuteronomy 6:5, we realize that to love God (Deuteronomy 6) is to turn to Him according to all His Word (2  Kings 23). Indeed, this Word-controlled-heart, heart-driven obedience is what the Spirit uses to give us perseverance. We must turn to the Lord with all that we are, including the conviction that He Himself defines what love actually is by His own Word.

For Josiah, there is something that makes it all the more necessary that his submission be principled submission: his effort is guaranteed ultimately to fail. 2 Kings 23:26-27 are not a surprise. He has already received the Word of the Lord that, even despite his tender heart and being heard (cf. 2 Kings 22:19), the wrath of God that has been aroused against Judah “will not be quenched” (2 Kings 22:17). 

Some who claim faith assert that true faithfulness is only possible for those who are guaranteed the victory of their actions. But what about when God had guaranteed Josiah’s defeat? Didn’t Josiah know that all of his reforms would be overturned as soon as he was gathered to his fathers? Yes, but his obedience was not motivated by the promise of success but the principle of the heart. This is how Christian service and obedience works. The premise is love. It is love that produces the keeping of God’s commandments (cf. John 14:15; 1 John 5:3; 2 John 6). 

Biblical submission cannot come merely from a desire to please men, to feel good about oneself, or to produce a particular outcome to a situation. It must come from the principle of God’s Word defining for us love to God from the heart.

How have you made your submission to Christ public? How do you continue to do so? How do you keep your submission to God principled by His Word—what are you doing toward this end on a daily basis? On a weekly basis? How are you interacting with and depending upon God Himself in your use of His Word, to draw from Him what is necessary for perseverance?

Sample prayer: Lord, thank You for Your great mercy to Josiah, to give Him a heart for You, and to provide him Your Word to define for him what love to You looks like. And You have done the same for us, O Lord—bringing us to faith in Jesus Christ, and giving us Your Word to read and hear preached and meditate upon. Forgive us, Lord, for we have not been diligent in Your Word or devoted with our hearts. And even to the extent that we have been principled and persistent in our love for You, we often have not been so public in that love as Josiah was. Forgive us for not thinking more corporately about our Christian life. Give us Your Spirit to work in us such love for You that even if the whole world were against us, and even if we knew that any earthly effects of the good that we did would evaporate as soon as we had done them, still we would love You according to all Your Word. We ask for this in the Name of Him Who has perfectly loved and obeyed You in our place, even our Lord Jesus Christ, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP80 “Hear, O Hear Us” or TPH119M “O, How I Love Your Holy Law, O LORD”

Seeing God's Glory with Moses on the Mountains [2023.04.30 Evening Sermon in Exodus 34:1–7]

God shows His glory in the law, in the gospel, and the history of redemption—and most of all in Christ, in each of these. This is what Moses saw greatly on Mt. Sinai, even more greatly on the Mount of Transfiguration, and most greatly in Heavenly Zion, where we behold that glory with him every Lord's Day in public worship.

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

All of God's Word for All of God's People [2023.04.30 Morning Sermon in Acts 20:21]

A faithful ministry solemnly attests all of God's Word to all of God's people, and those who receive it must take all of God's Word, seriously and personally.

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

The Diaconal Impact of the Spirit-Given Priorities of the Church [2023.04.30 Sabbath School; Biblical Theology of the Diaconate #32]

Biblical Theology of the Diaconate (#32): the pouring out of the Spirit and the gathering of believers into Christ produced a worship-obsessed people who lived worship-transformed lives in what they did with their time, wealth, and homes.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2023.05.02 Hopewell @Home ▫ Psalm 88

Read Psalm 88

Questions from the Scripture text: What kind of poem is this (superscript)? Who wrote this Psalm? Into whose hands was it entrusted? To what is it set? How else is it titled? Who does Psalm 88:1 address? What does it call Him? What has the Psalmist been doing? When? What does he ask would happen to his prayer (Psalm 88:2a)? What does he ask God to do in verse 2b? What is full of what (Psalm 88:3a)? To what does his life draw near (verse 3b)? With whom is he counted (Psalm 88:4a)? Who is he like (verse 4b)? Who else (Psalm 88:5a, 5b)? What does God do to them (Psalm 88:5c–d)? How far down has the Lord lain him (Psalm 88:6)? What lies heavy upon him (Psalm 88:7a)? With what has God afflicted him (verse 7b)? What has God done with his acquaintances (Psalm 88:8a)? What has He done with the psalmist in relation to them (verse 8b)? What is his situation (verse 8c)? What is happening to him (Psalm 88:9a)? Why? Whom does he re-address in verse 9b? What has he done, how often? With what posture to indicate its intensity (verse 9c)? What questions does he ask about whom, doing what, in Psalm 88:10-12? What has he been doing that dead people don’t do (Psalm 88:13)? What question is the fundamental question of both Psalm 88:14a and verse 14b? What is his condition (Psalm 88:15a, c)? Since when? On account of what (verse 15b–16)? Who has done what to him (Psalm 88:17)? And who has(n’t) done what (Psalm 88:18)?

What is the worst part of facing deadly trouble for a believer? Psalm 88 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 the worst part of facing deadly trouble for a believer is the prospect of being hindered from receiving and praising the providential mercies of God. 

This song of instruction (“contemplation”) reflects very closely the experience of Job, teaching us how a believer may bring before God the worst of the difficulties that he faces when he is in a deadly trouble.

It seems like God is not listening, Psalm 88:1–2, Psalm 88:9, Psalm 88:13. One of the great comforts of the believer is that he knows that he has the ear of God. But sometimes, this must become something that we know entirely by faith, rather than experience. The psalmist has cried out day and night (Psalm 88:1b). He is pleading that his prayer would be noticed by God (Psalm 88:2). His eyes are about to expire from crying (Psalm 88:9a). His praying has been daily (verse 9b). His praying has been intense—with hands stretched out (verse 9c). This crying out has shaped his days, setting the tone of his heart every morning (Psalm 88:13). For all of this, his situation hasn’t changed. But he is still praying! Why? Because the reliable measure of what God is like and what God is doing is not how things seem, but what He has said.

He's running out of opportunities to bring God praise in this world, Psalm 88:3-6, Psalm 88:10-12. He’s drawing near to the grave (Psalm 88:3), like those who go down into the pit (Psalm 88:4), among the dead like the slain who lie in the grave (Psalm 88:5)—in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the depths (Psalm 88:6). Many such Psalms turn to hope, but this one literally ends in darkness (Psalm 88:18).

But if he does leave this world, he will run out of opportunities for God to be glorified by remembering him and acting for him with His hand (Psalm 88:5). It will bring to an end the count of the wonders that God has worked for him (Psalm 88:10a, Psalm 88:12). And that means that he won’t be able to praise and know those wonders in this world (Psalm 88:10b, Psalm 88:12). He will have run out of opportunities in this world to declare God’s lovingkindness and faithfulness (Psalm 88:11). When God’s praise is our purpose, our distress over death will be distress at the end of our opportunities to bring Him praise in this world.

It’s God Himself Who is doing it, Psalm 88:6-8, Psalm 88:14, Psalm 88:15-18. The doctrine of sovereign providence is a comfort when we think about what the future holds. But it can be deeply distressing in the middle of present troubles. God is never the author of sin or the author of evil. And He never treats us unjustly. But since He works all things according to the counsel of His will (cf. Ephesians 1:11), we know that He has ordained whatever trouble we are in. 

The psalmist feels the pain of this keenly. The Lord is the One who has laid him in the pit (Psalm 88:6a). The Lord is the One whose wrath lies heavy on him and all around him (Psalm 88:7a, cf. Psalm 88:15-17). The Lord is the One Who has afflicted him (Psalm 88:7b). The Lord is the One who has isolated him (Psalm 88:8, Psalm 88:18). Yahweh is the One Who is casting him away (Psalm 88:14). 

If we love the Lord’s smile and fellowship above all others’, the knowledge that our hardship comes in His providence troubles us with the awareness that something may be off in our relationship with Him. Yes, it is troubling when those who were near us turn on us (Psalm 88:8, Psalm 88:18). But the frown of God Himself is a much greater trial to the believer.

Sometimes, the darkness refuses to lift (Psalm 88:18). In those times, let us remember that He has given us Christ, and let us cling to Him by the words and thoughts of this Psalm.

What is the worst trouble you have been in? What was the worst part of it for you? What does this tell you about how you think? What trouble are you in right now? What part has singing and praying had in how you cope with it? 

Sample prayer:  Lord, even in deepest darkness, we can cry out to You. Help us to know that Your Word is more reliable than our feelings as a measure of what You are like and what You are doing in our lives. As long as we are in this world, grant us to see Your wonderful working, and grant us to speak and sing Your praise. We have gathered to declare Your lovingkindness and faithfulness. Grant that we would do so by Your Spirit, in Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP88B “O LORD, I’ve Daily Called” or TPH256 “God Moves in a Mysterious Way”

2023.05.01 Hopewell @Home ▫ Romans 6:12–13

Read Romans 6:12–13

Questions from the Scripture text: What must we not let do what (Romans 6:12)? Where? Lest we should do what to sin? In what? What must we not present as what (Romans 6:13)? To what? To Whom, instead, must we present ourselves? As being in what condition? What, specifically, are we to present to Him? As weapons for what? 

In the war between sin and God, what do Christian’s do?  Romans 6:12–13 looks forward to the sermon in the midweek meeting. In these two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Christians are to offer themselves as owing God a life-debt, with every part of who they are as a weapon for righteousness.

Keep sin off the throne. Though we are spiritually alive in the risen Lord Jesus, we do not yet have resurrected bodies like His. We have mortal bodies. As long as we are in these bodies, we are afflicted with sin (cf. Romans 7:24). Not only mustn’t we continue in sin (cf. Romans 6:1–2), but we must combat sin. It has no right to the throne of our body, so must not let it usurp that throne (Romans 6:12a). 

Even though we are no longer in sin or in Adam, sin is still in us, and it is constantly offering its desires to us (“its lusts” as Romans 6:12b says). If you are a Christian, don’t you find that to be true? Isn’t sin constantly suggesting its desires to you? If you give in, if you obey these desires, then you let a horrible usurper sit on the throne of your mortal body.

Offer nothing to sin. This refusing of sin is more than a general refusal to let it be king. There is no amount of sin that is permissible while having God as King. If we even present any part of who we are to sin (Romans 6:13a), it is the same as offering a weapon to an enemy. But, having counted ourselves dead to sin, let us not give it our thoughts, our desires, our tolerance, our smile, our opportunities. Give it no room. Give it no quarter. Calculate everything to suffocate it and starve it. Do not let sin reign, and do not present your members to it!

Keep God on the throne. Finally, believers have not only counted ourselves dead to sin, but we have counted ourselves as alive unto God in Christ Jesus our Lord. We owe Him a life debt. He has both created us from nothing and now redeemed us from death, so our entire life must be dedicated to Him. But this is more than just a general condition. Just as with disavowing sin, the enthronement of the rightful King is a continuous action. If we are presenting ourselves to God as our King, then we must enlist every part of who we are as weapons in the service of righteousness. This we must do, for our rightful king is the God of righteousness!

Offer everything for righteousness. So offer every moment to God for righteousness. Offer every desire. Offer your thoughts. Offer your goals. Offer your energies. Offer your time. Offer your money. All of it. These mortal bodies will soon be consumed. A glorious, resurrected body will be ours in the last day. But there will be no battle then. Let us glorify our redeemer by enlisting our entire self, for our entire life, in our King’s service in the war against sin.

When have you found yourself sinning? What parts of your life could you combat this by offering it to righteousness?

Sample prayer:  Lord, we thank You for Your goodness and mercy to make us in Your image, and to redeem us to be Your servants and children. Forgive us for how much we still let sin usurp the throne by being negligent with one part of our life or another. Renew us by grace, and grant unto us to dedicate every aspect of who we are unto God for righteousness, by Your Spirit, through Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP24 “The Earth and the Riches” or TPH446 “Be Thou My Vision”