Hopewell ARP Church is a Biblical, Reformed, Presbyterian church, serving the Lord in Culleoka, TN, since 1820. Lord's Day Morning, set your gps to arrive by 11a.m. at 3886 Hopewell Road, Culleoka, TN 38451
Read Matthew 10:24–33
Questions from the Scripture text: Who is not above whom (Matthew 10:24a)? Who else is not above whom? What is enough for a disciple (Matthew 10:25)? For a servant? What have they called Whom? How much more will they do that to whom else? What command does Christ conclude from this (Matthew 10:26)? What will happen to everything that is covered? What will happen to everything that is hidden? What were they to do with what Jesus told them in the dark (Matthew 10:27)? What were they to do with what was whispered in the ear? Whom are they not to fear (Matthew 10:28)? What can’t those people do? Whom should they fear? What is He able to do? What question does the Lord ask in Matthew 10:29? What doesn’t happen to them apart from Whose will? What else is done by Him (Matthew 10:30)? What command does Christ conclude from this (Matthew 10:31)? Why? What must we do with Christ (Matthew 10:32)? Before whom? What will He be doing with us? Before Whom? Where? But what will some be doing with Christ (Matthew 10:33)? Before whom? And what will He be doing with them? Before Whom? Where?
How can we resist fear of man? Matthew 10:24–33 looks forward to the morning sermon in public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these ten verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that fear of God cures fear of man.
This passage includes three commands not to fear, and divides rather handily into three sections around them.
Fellowship with Christ (“Do not fear them”) (Matthew 10:24-26). They had already taken to calling Him Beelzebub (Matthew 9:34, cf. Matthew 12:24). So, they shouldn’t be surprised when such spiritual accusations are made against them too (cf. Matthew 10:17). The accusations against Christ would culminate in His being delivered up to crucifixion, so it is not surprising that many of the disciples were executed in similar manner, or that thousands of believers have been executed for the faith.
Yet, just as Christ’s glory was hidden at the time, but will be majestically revealed later, so also His students and servants appear humble now and will be revealed in glory later (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:7–9; Romans 8:21, Romans 8:9–30). Do not fear them. They know not what they do, and it will be revealed later! When you are persecuted, enjoy the fellowship that you have with Christ now, in your persecutions. And relish the fellowship that you will have with Him soon, in glory.
Final Judgment (“Do not fear those who can kill the body”) (Matthew 10:27-28). When we have knowledge of Christ that others need, we mustn’t keep it to ourselves or be ashamed of it. After all, there will come a day when those whom we knew, and are then perishing, will know that we had the knowledge that would have prevented it. So, it is important to let them know now—even if they might kill you for it! They cannot kill your soul.
But there is a judgment coming, for which the ungodly will be resurrected unto destruction. They have sinned against God’s glory, body and soul (cf. Romans 1:18–23, Romans 3:23) and His glory will be expressed upon them forever, body and soul (Matthew 10:28b; cf. Mark 9:48; 2 Thessalonians 1:8–9). For the believer, His glory is experienced as favor. For the unbeliever, His glory is experienced as fury. If we fear Him, we will give much more weight to what He has delivered us from than to what they might inflict upon us. And if we love our enemy in fear of God, then we will be urgent even with our enemy to flee the wrath to come.
Fatherly Care Mediated by Christ’s Continual Intercession (“Do not fear therefore”) (Matthew 10:29-33). The Lord changes tone very quickly. Matthew 10:29-31 feel like they belong at the end of chapter 6, not the middle of chapter 10. Believers have a Father Who is continually, sovereignly superintending very subatomic particle in creation. Our Father’s will governs all, keeping track of every hair on our head. What’s more, the Lord Jesus promises that, as we are confessing Him before men, He will be confessing us to His Father (Matthew 10:32, cf. Hebrews 7:25). Notice that He switches from “your Father” to “My Father.” How great is His intercession for us!
But there is one sort of person who cannot take comfort in God’s sovereign government, and for whom Christ won’t be interceding: the one who denies Christ before men (Matthew 10:33). Even believers like Peter can go through a moment or a season of being ashamed of Christ. But someone whose “Christianity” is indetectable, non-verbal, and hidden from others, has good reason to believe that he is no true Christian at all. What a thing it is to be a Christian, and what consolation they have in the Father, Son, and Spirit! And how sadly this consolation is rejected by those who reject fear of God in Christ for the fear of men. Dear reader, I hope you are enjoying that consolation.
In what sufferings have you had fellowship with Christ? Whom do you know that is in danger of Hell? Before whom are you in danger of concealing Christ? What comfort do you take from Father’s care and Christ’s intercession?
Sample prayer: Lord, thank You for giving us such encouragement to fear You, and such strong help against the fear of man. Grant that Your Spirit would communicate to us our fellowship with Christ and comfort us with Father’s care and Christ’s intercession. And grant that we would interact with others in the awareness that there is a frightful hell to pay for all who remain in themselves and in their sin. Give us to see many brought into the safety and comfort of Christ, we ask in His Name, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP34C “O Sons and Daughters, Come, Give Ear” or TPH470 “When This Passing World Is Done”
Read Numbers 18
Questions from the Scripture text: To whom does YHWH speak in Numbers 18:1? Regarding whom? Of what two things will they bear the iniquity? Whom else is he to bring (Numbers 18:2)? That they may do what? What mustn’t they come near (Numbers 18:3)? To whom are they joined (Numbers 18:4)? Who mustn’t come near the house of Aaron? What must Aaron’s house attend to (Numbers 18:5)? For what purpose? To Whom did the Levites belong (Numbers 18:6)? To whom did He give the Levites? What specific places are Aaron’s house to serve (Numbers 18:7)? How does verse 7 describe this priesthood? What if someone else tries to serve at one of these places? To whom does YHWH speak in Numbers 18:8? What else has He given to Aaron and his sons (Numbers 18:8-9)? Where may they eat it (Numbers 18:10)? Why? What else has He given them (Numbers 18:11)? Who may eat it with them? What else has He given them (Numbers 18:12-13)? Who may eat it with them? What else is theirs (Numbers 18:14)? What are some examples (Numbers 18:15-17)? For which must money be given in its place (Numbers 18:15-16, and what must be done to the others (Numbers 18:17-18)? How does Numbers 18:19 summarize the provision? For whom? How does He describe the preservative/unbreakable nature of this provision? To whom does YHWH speak in Numbers 18:20? What won’t he have? Why; what (Whom!) will he have? What do the Levites have (Numbers 18:21)? What can the rest of Israel not do (Numbers 18:22)? Why not? Who will do the work there (Numbers 18:23)? Instead of having what? What has YHWH given to the Levites instead of land (Numbers 18:24)? To whom does YHWH speak in Numbers 18:25? To whom is he to speak (Numbers 18:26)? What must they do from the tithes they receive? How are they to treat the portions that they receive (Numbers 18:27)? To whom do they give YHWH’s tithe (Numbers 18:28)? Which part (Numbers 18:29-30)? What may they do with the rest (Numbers 18:31)? What will they be doing if they do not tithe (Numbers 18:32)?
What is the purpose and privilege of the priesthood? Numbers 18 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these thirty-two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the priesthood exists to save the lives of God’s people, and obtains the high privilege of having God Himself as their portion.
Iniquity, guilt, must be borne. Ultimately, this would come not by the blood of bulls and goats but of Christ (cf. Hebrews 9:12, Hebrews 10:4). But under the Mosaic administration, the Lord brought the people near by sacrifices that looked forward to Christ at the altar, and a fellowship of His presence that looked forward to Christ in the Holy of Holies. So, even the altar had to be atoned for, and even the Holy of Holies had to be atoned for, and even the priesthood had to be atoned for.
This meant that only whom God had chosen, the house of Aaron, could come near and bear this guilt (Numbers 18:1). And the Lord added an extra buffer of the rest of the house of Levi as those who could come near to the house of Aaron and their work (Numbers 18:3-4). The Levites were the Lord’s, and He gave them to the house of Aaron (Numbers 18:6). Still, the work at the altar and behind the veil were exclusive to the house of Aaron (Numbers 18:5, Numbers 18:7). Death would be the consequence for any Levite who intruded upon Aaronic duties (end of Numbers 18:3, Numbers 18:7). Just as death would be the consequence for any of the children of Israel who intruded upon Levitical duties (Numbers 18:22).
Don’t you see, dear reader? Even if it were possible for you to atone for your sin or make your way to God (it’s not!), it still wouldn’t be acceptable. Priestly duties are only for them whom the Lord has appointed, and He has honored His Son with the true, ultimate, and everlasting priesthood!
YHWH Himself is the portion of the priests (Numbers 18:20), so the Lord gives them no competing earthly portion. Still, He provides for all of their families’ needs (Numbers 18:8-19). He is conveys the certainty of His faithfulness in providing for them by calling it a “covenant of salt forever” (Numbers 18:19). Salt, as a preservative, indicates the persistence and permanence of this covenant.
Similarly, the Lord provides Israel’s tithes for the Levites (Numbers 18:21), since they cannot have a land inheritance like the rest of the children of Israel (Numbers 18:23-24). From the best tenth, which the Levites receive, they are to give the best tenth to the house of Aaron as their own tithe (Numbers 18:28). Just like the rest of the ministry of the house of Aaron and of the Levites, this tithing and tithing of tithing was a life-saving measure. If the Levites did not offer it, they would die (Numbers 18:32)!
In the New Testament, there is just the one, Great High Priest forever. But, in union with Christ, every single believer comes into the Holy of Holies—not just a shadow on earth, but the true one in glory (cf. Hebrews 10:19–21). Jesus, as our Priest, has obtained the Lord Himself as His portion and ours. But, we are not deprived of other inheritance. A New Heavens and New Earth forever, as well as all things working together for the present—all are ours in Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:21–23)!
How are you safe with God? How does God being your ultimate portion show up in your life?
Sample prayer: Lord, thank You for atoning for our sin in Your Son, our Lord Jesus, Whom You have given as our Great High Priest. Grant that Your Spirit would make us to count You as our great Portion, we ask through Christ, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP73C “Yet Constantly, I Am with You” or TPH508 “Jesus, Priceless Treasure”
Read 1 John 5:20–21
Questions from the Scripture text: Who knows something (1 John 5:20)? About Whom do we know something? What two things do we know that He has done? What (Whom!) has the understanding that He has given us enabled us to know? What does this verse twice call Him? What is our relation to “Him Who is true”? How (in Whom!) can we be in Him? What two things does verse 20 proceed to call His Son Jesus Christ and union with Him? What does the apostle call them in 1 John 5:21? From what does he warn them to keep themselves? How does the letter conclude?
What do we know? 1 John 5:20–21 looks forward to the second serial reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God is triune, and Jesus is God.
Certainty about Christ is of the essence of saving faith, while certainty about being in Christ is assurance of faith. But even in an epistle that is about assurance of faith (cf. 1 John 5:13), it is certainty about Christ Himself that gets the last Word:
“We know that the Son of God has come.” Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has come in the flesh (cf. 1 John 4:2–3).
He “has given us an understanding, that we may know Him Who is true.” How many false gods and false teachings about God and Christ there are! One of the main purposes of Christ’s coming was so that we would not know a false god or know God falsely. He came that we would know “Him Who is true.”
“And we are in Him Who is true.” The knowledge of God that Jesus gives is not just intellectual knowledge but relational knowledge. And it is of such a relationship that we come to be “in Him.” How is that possible? Because faith in Christ is faith into Christ. We come to be united with Him. And yet Christ is not two persons with two natures, but one divine person with an unchangeable divine nature (to which nothing can be added) and a human nature (that He add to His person).
“This is the true God.” It is because Jesus Christ is the true God that to know Him and to be in Him is to know the true God and to be in the true God. He is not only the “Son of God.” He is “God the Son”!
This is “eternal life.” This is what Jesus was praying about in John 17:3, when He said, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom You have sent.” And then, later in that prayer, He prayed that we would be one in the Father and the Son (cf. John 17:21) and “that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me” (cf. John 17:22–23). The true eternal life is to be brought into the fellowship (obviously not the being/nature) of the triune God, through being united to Christ, Who is the true God.
Why we need this confession of faith: we are little children. The apostle has addressed them this way many times with fatherly affection, but in this context, there is also an important application: in learning about the glories of the triune God, the incarnation, and union with Christ, we are but little children. We have barely begun to understand and prattle about these glorious truths. But they are indeed true!
So, we need clear, concise statements like 1 John 5:20, because we are still little children. We are still in danger of being carried away by our own fantasies or by others’ false teachings. In the context, “keep yourselves from idols” means especially keeping away from anything other than belief in the triune God. “Keep yourselves from idols” means keeping away from anything other than belief in Jesus Christ, the God-Man, one divine person with two distinct and complete natures that are joined in His person, without becoming confused or conflated in His person.
Little children, keep yourselves from idols!
What sorts of lies are told against the doctrine of the trinity? What sorts of lies are told against the doctrine of the divinity of Christ? What are some ways that people think about “eternal life” that are different than union with Jesus Christ, God the Son, the God-Man? What are some specific things that you are doing to keep yourself away from any and all of these lies?
Sample prayer: Lord, forgive us for letting our minds run free about Your identity and about Christ’s identity, rather than sticking closely to what You have told us in Your Word. Forgive us for leaving ourselves open to speculations that contradict Your revelation of Yourself as triune, or that contradict Your revelation of Christ as God the Son, fully God and fully man in one divine Person. Forgive us for not having been more diligent to keep ourselves from idols, we ask in the Name of God the Son, Jesus Christ, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP110B “The LORD Has Spoken to My Lord” or TPH268 “Of the Father’s Love Begotten”