Strong Hearts for Forgiving (Family Worship lesson in James 5:7–11)

For what, and how, can believers strengthen their hearts? Pastor leads his family in today’s “Hopewell @Home” passage. James 5:7–11 prepares us for the opening portion of Morning Public Worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these five verses, the Holy Spirit teaches us that until Jesus comes, part of the misery through which we will need to be patient is our brethren’s sin and weakness. But remembering that this comes in the providence of our greatly compassionate and merciful God is how to strengthen our hearts so that we can be forgiving, rather than grumbling or bitter.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2022.01.11 Hopewell @Home ▫ James 5:7–11

Read James 5:7–11

Questions from the Scripture text: What does the apostle call us (James 5:7)? What are we to be? Until when? Who is an illustration of this? What must we establish (James 5:8)? Why? What aren’t we to do against one another (James 5:9)? Why not? How imminently? What does he call us a third time in James 5:10? Whom should we consider? What did they do? Of what were they an example? Whom, then, do we count blessed (James 5:11)? Of what have we heard? What have we seen? What did this show us about Whom?  

Next week’s Call to Worship, Prayer for Help, and first song all come from James 5:7–11 so that we will see that we are singing God’s thoughts after Him with Be Still My Soul.

The prophet, Jesus’s brother, began chapter five warning the rich for what is about to come upon them. Now in James 5:7, the prophet turns to believers and addresses them as brethren. Just as with the rich, the brethren have something that is about to come: their Lord. But for them, it seems like quite a long time until he comes, so the command in verse 7, and again in James 5:8, is “be patient.” The farmer can do his tasks, but he must wait upon the time appointed by the Lord. So also believers must be patient for the time appointed by the Lord for His return.

But what are we to do in our patience? James 5:8 answers, “establish your hearts.” Strengthen/fix/set your hearts. Whatever our lot now, there is something it can never undo: the coming of our Lord. If He, and His compassion and mercy (James 5:11c), are ours then it is only a matter of time until we come into full possession and enjoyment of all that He has determined for us. We are to use this truth, this reality, to establish our hearts.

And what are we not to do? We are not to grumble (James 5:9a).  We are not to groan. Not against the Lord’s providence. And not against one of the most difficult parts of that providence: one another. Yes, believers delight in one another’s sweet fellowship (cf. Psalm 16:3, Ephesians 2:14–19), and it is in fact a fellowship with our Lord and our heavenly Father (cf. 1 John 1:3). But until the Lord comes, believers in this world will also be sinners, and as such will have much to forgive (cf. Ephesians 4:32, Colossians 3:12–13) as they give one another much cause to groan (James 5:9, cf. Ephesians 4:31). Still, we must forgive, since an unforgiving heart is a reliable indicator that one is condemned (James 5:7, cf. Matthew 18:35).  Our passage today doesn’t pretend to us that this blessed enduring (James 5:11a) will be easy. Look at the examples it uses: Job (verse 11b)!! Not just the patience of the prophets but their suffering (James 5:10)!!

Over-against such pain, the Lord sets His own extreme compassion and mercy (James 5:11c). In the end intended by the Lord, Job knew it was so (verse 11b). And you will see that compassion and mercy soon. He is at hand. He is coming. He is very compassionate and merciful. By these things, establish your hearts, be patient, and do not grumble.

What pain are you enduring? Who has hurt you? What truth and reality do you need to bring to bear upon your heart in order to forgive? How have you seen the Lord’s compassion and mercy?

Sample prayer:  Lord, Your compassion and mercy are very great. And great they must needs be to overcome our sin and establish our hearts. Forgive us our sin, and make us forgiving of others. Grant unto us a clear and confident sight of Your soon return, and so strengthen our hearts in Jesus Christ, in Whose Name we ask it, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP80 “My Heart Is Not Exalted, Lord” or TPH532 “Be Still, My Soul”

2022.01.10 Hopewell @Home ▫ Acts 1:4–8

Read Acts 1:4–8

Questions from the Scripture text: With whom was Jesus assembled (Acts 1:4a)? What did He command them not to do (verse 4b)? What did He command them to do instead (verse 4c)? What had John done with what (Acts 1:5a)? Now what would happen to them with Whom (verse 5b)? When (verse 5c)? What did they ask Him when they assembled (Acts 1:6)? What was not for them to know (Acts 1:7)? What would they receive (Acts 1:8a)? When what happened (verse 8b)? And what would they be by this power (verse 8c)? Where? 

In this passage, we have the Father’s promise and plan, the Son’s pouring, and the Spirit’s empowering. The Lord Jesus emphasizes the Triune collaboration that occurs in the ministry of the apostles. 

First, there is the promise of the Father. God had promised the sending of the Christ since the garden. And from the beginning, it was apparent that He would be One Who was more powerful even than the devil (cf. Genesis 3:15). Eventually, it would be plain that He would be God Himself (cf. Isaiah 9:6). Now, in the fullness of time, God had sent His Son (cf. Galatians 4:4). But God had also promised to pour out His Spirit (cf. Isaiah 44:3; Ezekiel 36:27; Joel 2:28; Galatians 4:6). Although in all of His actions, God operates as One, Christ highlights to us the Father in these promises and in the planning of Acts 1:7—when to send the Son, when to send the Spirit, and when to restore the kingdom.

Then, there is the Son’s pouring. John baptized with water (Acts 1:5a), and John promised that Jesus would do the same but with the Holy Spirit and with fire (verse 5b, cf. Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33). Here is the amazing thing: Yahweh said that He would pour out His Spirit. And it is Jesus Who pours out the Spirit as He baptizes with the Spirit (cf. Luke 24:49), as which is how we know that water baptism is rightly, biblically administered by pouring water (cf. Acts 10:44–48, Acts 11:15–16). Surely, Jesus is Yahweh, and the Spirit is His Spirit. It is God Who has died and risen again for us. It is God the Son Who pours out upon us God the Spirit.

Finally, there is the Spirit’s empowering. The disciples were still looking for a particular kind of earthly power. They wanted to be able to take control of the government and the culture. “Lord will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). 

But this is a much lesser power than what Jesus was promising. Jesus’s point in Acts 1:7-8 is clear. What power the Father gives to others by His power isn’t the disciples’ business. On the other hand, by contrast, there is far greater power that is their business. “Not many days from now” (Acts 1:5b) “you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon You” (Acts 1:8a). 

And this power is not merely for the political takeover of one kingdom, but for the Spiritual and eternal takeover of all of the kingdoms. Yes, Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria (the southern and northern kingdoms of Israel), but far beyond that: to the end of the earth. For, they will be witnesses who proclaim repentance and remission of sins in Christ’s Name to all nations (cf. Luke 24:47–48). Christ gives God Himself, the Spirit, to His people in order to apply to them and work out through them all that He has earned for them.

How does the involvement of each of Person of the Trinity move and encourage you?

Sample prayer:  Our Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—we bless Your Name for how You have loved us from before the world began, and in the redemptive work of Christ, and still now and forever by Your Spirit. Forgive us for when we think about salvation in an impersonal way, or as something that depends upon ourselves. Grant instead that we would know Your great love for us and great power upon us by Your Spirit, through Jesus Christ, AMEN! 

Suggested songs: ARP25A “To You I Lift My Soul” or TPH212 “Come, Thou Almighty King”

Happy New (Salvation) Year! (2022.01.09 Evening Sermon in Exodus 12:1–28)

The Lord established the Israelite New Year as a commemoration of His salvation, so that they would teach that salvation to their children and live their whole lives in response to it.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this sermon)

Triune Conspiracy of Salvation (2022.01.09 Morning Sermon in Acts 1:4–8)

The Triune God who planned our salvation from outside of time, and promised that salvation in the prophets, and accomplished that salvation in Christ, and announced that salvation by His Spirit in the apostles, is still the One applying that salvation through the apostolic witness.

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

WCF 16.7.5, Unbelievers' Works Sinful and Powerless (2022.01.09 Sabbath School in Haggai 2:10–14; Romans 9:14–18; Titus 1:15–16; Titus 3:4–8)

Unbelievers' works cannot please God precisely because they are unbelievers. And, they cannot make them more fit for grace, because their works all deserve wrath.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2022.01.08 Hopewell @Home ▫ Acts 1:4–8

Read Acts 1:4–8

Questions from the Scripture text: With whom was Jesus assembled (Acts 1:4a)? What did He command them not to do (verse 4b)? What did He command them to do instead (verse 4c)? What had John done with what (Acts 1:5a)? Now what would happen to them with Whom (verse 5b)? When (verse 5c)? What did they ask Him when they assembled (Acts 1:6)? What was not for them to know (Acts 1:7)? What would they receive (Acts 1:8a)? When what happened (verse 8b)? And what would they be by this power (verse 8c)? Where? 

In this passage, we have the Father’s promise and plan, the Son’s pouring, and the Spirit’s empowering. The Lord Jesus emphasizes the Triune collaboration that occurs in the ministry of the apostles. 

First, there is the promise of the Father. God had promised the sending of the Christ since the garden. And from the beginning, it was apparent that He would be One Who was more powerful even than the devil (cf. Genesis 3:15). Eventually, it would be plain that He would be God Himself (cf. Isaiah 9:6). Now, in the fullness of time, God had sent His Son (cf. Galatians 4:4). But God had also promised to pour out His Spirit (cf. Isaiah 44:3; Ezekiel 36:27; Joel 2:28; Galatians 4:6). Although in all of His actions, God operates as One, Christ highlights to us the Father in these promises and in the planning of Acts 1:7—when to send the Son, when to send the Spirit, and when to restore the kingdom.

Then, there is the Son’s pouring. John baptized with water (Acts 1:5a), and John promised that Jesus would do the same but with the Holy Spirit and with fire (verse 5b, cf. Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33). Here is the amazing thing: Yahweh said that He would pour out His Spirit. And it is Jesus Who pours out the Spirit as He baptizes with the Spirit (cf. Luke 24:49), as which is how we know that water baptism is rightly, biblically administered by pouring water (cf. Acts 10:44–48, Acts 11:15–16). Surely, Jesus is Yahweh, and the Spirit is His Spirit. It is God Who has died and risen again for us. It is God the Son Who pours out upon us God the Spirit.

Finally, there is the Spirit’s empowering. The disciples were still looking for a particular kind of earthly power. They wanted to be able to take control of the government and the culture. “Lord will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). 

But this is a much lesser power than what Jesus was promising. Jesus’s point in Acts 1:7-8 is clear. What power the Father gives to others by His power isn’t the disciples’ business. On the other hand, by contrast, there is far greater power that is their business. “Not many days from now” (Acts 1:5b) “you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon You” (Acts 1:8a). 

And this power is not merely for the political takeover of one kingdom, but for the Spiritual and eternal takeover of all of the kingdoms. Yes, Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria (the southern and northern kingdoms of Israel), but far beyond that: to the end of the earth. For, they will be witnesses who proclaim repentance and remission of sins in Christ’s Name to all nations (cf. Luke 24:47–48). Christ gives God Himself, the Spirit, to His people in order to apply to them and work out through them all that He has earned for them.

How does the involvement of each of Person of the Trinity move and encourage you? 

Sample prayer:  Our Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—we bless Your Name for how You have loved us from before the world began, and in the redemptive work of Christ, and still now and forever by Your Spirit. Forgive us for when we think about salvation in an impersonal way, or as somethingthat depends upon ourselves. Grant instead that we would know Your great love for us and great power upon us by Your Spirit, through Jesus Christ, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP25A “To You I Lift My Soul” or TPH429 “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”

2022.01.07 Hopewell @Home ▫ Exodus 12:1–28

Read Exodus 12:1–28

Questions from the Scripture text: Who spoke to whom where (Exodus 12:1)? What did He establish (Exodus 12:2)? What were they to do on what day of this month (Exodus 12:3)? How many (Exodus 12:4)? What kind (Exodus 12:5)? How long was it to stay in the house (Exodus 12:6)? Then what were they to do? How many of them? At what time? What were they to do with some of the blood (Exodus 12:7)? How were they to cook it (Exodus 12:8a, Exodus 12:9)? With what were they to eat it (Exodus 12:8b)? How much had to be consumed in what two ways (Exodus 12:10)? In what manner were they to eat (Exodus 12:11)? What did the Lord call this meal? Who would pass through where (Exodus 12:12a)? What will He do to whom (verse 12b)? And against whom would he execute judgment (verse 12c)? Why (verse 12d)? What will the blood be (Exodus 12:13a)? How will the Lord respond to it (verse 13b)? With what result (verse 13c)? How long would this nation keep this feast (Exodus 12:14)? As what and to whom? How many days would they eat what (Exodus 12:15a)? What would they do the first day (verse 15b)? What would be done to non-compliers (verse 15c)? What would happen on the first day of the feast (Exodus 12:16a)? And what on what other day (verse 16b)? What mustn’t be done (verse 16c)? What will the Lord have done on this same day (Exodus 12:17a)? How long will the people thus delivered from Egypt observe it (verse 17b)? What are the exact dates of the feast (Exodus 12:18)? What must not be found where for how long (Exodus 12:19a)? And what will happen to whom if he does what (verse 19b)? Of what may they eat nothing during the feast (Exodus 12:20a)? What must they eat where (verse 20b)? Whom did Moses call in Exodus 12:21? What did he tell them to do? And then what were they to do (Exodus 12:22)? What would the Lord do to the Egyptians (Exodus 12:23a)? But what would the Lord do to Israel (verse 23b)? And who was to observe this for how long (Exodus 12:24)? Where else would they keep this service (Exodus 12:25)? Who were to say what to whom (Exodus 12:26)? And what were the parents to say (Exodus 12:27)? How did the people respond to this instruction (end of verse 27)? Then what did they do (Exodus 12:28a)? In what manner (verse 28b)?

Happy New Year! The “shall be” in Exodus 12:2 is supplied by the translators, but “is” would have been a more natural rendering. Whether the Lord chose to deliver them at (their) New Year’s time or changed the time to New Year’s by delivering them, the point is the same: God wants His people to punctuate new seasons in their lives by the commemoration of His salvation. The Lord has done the same for us by beginning each week with the Lord’s Supper. Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed. He brings us to His feast to drive home the reality of His salvation in His body and blood, so that we will live out of that reality all week long.

One of the interesting things about this commemoration is how much it seems to aim at children. Part of this is implied. The year (or less) old lamb (Exodus 12:5) was to be taken into the house on the tenth day. For four days, a young lamb would be in the home. You can imagine how attached the children would grow to it before they were required to attend its killing at twilight on the 14th day (Exodus 12:6).  Three times (Exodus 12:14, Exodus 12:17, Exodus 12:24) in the passage, the Spirit emphasizes that this observance is to take place throughout their generations, and with their sons, forever. One of the great features of the observance is when the children ask the parents what the parents mean by the service of the Passover (Exodus 12:26). 

What is it that God wants the children to know? That God is their greatest danger, and that God is their only salvation. Notice that it is the Lord Himself Who executes judgment. Not only against man and also against beast but against all the purported “gods” of Egypt (Exodus 12:12). This judgment is a display of Himself, “I am Yahweh.” Not only is the lamb to be killed, as a spotless substitute, but then it must be burned (Exodus 12:8). Only burned (Exodus 12:9). All of it burned (Exodus 12:10). For we deserve not just death but the fire of God’s wrath in Hell. But it is the Lord Himself Who saves Israel (Exodus 12:13, Exodus 12:27). He is the One Who gives them the substitute. He is the One Who spares them from the plague. He is the One Who would Himself come and bear death and Hell in our place as the Lamb of God.

Let us learn to live our lives out of the commemoration of God’s saving us. And let us learn to focus upon teaching the next generation in these commemorations. And let us learn that at the heart of this commemoration is remembering that God Himself is our greatest danger, and God Himself is our only hope of salvation.

What has God given you for commemorating His salvation? How can you participate/foster the transmission of this knowledge to the next generation? Who is your greatest danger? Who is your only hope of salvation? Are you “covered by the blood”? What, then, will come of you?

Sample prayer:  Lord, You are righteous, and we deserve death and Hell. So we praise and thank You for giving us Christ as our substitute and covering us by His blood. Forgive us for when we order our lives around something other than You and Your salvation. Grant unto us not only to live out of the knowledge of Your salvation, but to communicate this to our children. Save them, too, we pray in Jesus’s Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP51B “From My Sins, O Hide Your Face” or TPH196 “At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing”

The Great Speech Competition (2022.01.05 Prayer Meeting Lesson in Psalm 35:17–28)

Some mouths want to boast over evil, and others want to boast in the Lord, and the Lord will speak out in order to silence the former and fulfill the desires of the latter.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this sermon)

2022.01.06 Hopewell @Home ▫ Colossians 3:9–11

Read Colossians 3:9–11

Questions from the Scripture text: What mustn’t we do to one another (Colossians 3:9a)? Why not—whom have we put off (verse 9b)? What else have we put off? Whom have we put on (Colossians 3:10a)? What is new about him (verse 10b)? In accord with what? What eight factors no longer shape what believers are like (Colossians 3:11)? What one factor shapes what a believer is like? How many believers have Him in them?

A man once tried to explain away how he often lost his temper by saying that he was just a hot-blooded Middle Easterner. But Jesus was from what we now call the Middle East. Did He lose His temper? Of course not (cf. Colossians 3:8). 

Whenever He was angry, it was always because it was right for Him to be angry, and He was in control of His anger rather than His anger controlling Him. Neither was He hateful or bitter (“malice,” verse 8). Neither did He speak lightly, or even offensively, of God (“blasphemy,” verse 8). And filthy language had no place in His mouth. Neither did Jesus lie (Colossians 3:9a). This is not surprising, since God cannot lie (cf. Titus 1:2), and Satan is the father of lying (cf. John 8:44). 

When a believer has put off the “old man” that he was in Adam (Colossians 3:9b), he hasn’t just become a new person than before; he has become a new kind of person. He has “put off the old man with his deeds” (verse 9b). The new man that the believer has put on is a man that has Christ in him—for believers, Christ is “in all” (Colossians 3:11b). 

And Christ completely shapes the character of this new man. Nationality or cultural tradition or social class might previously have shaped a man’s character. But for the new man, none of these shape him, “but Christ is all” (Colossians 3:11b). Some mistakenly think that passages like this one, or its parallel in Galatians 3:27–28, mean that believers no longer recognize these distinctions and should do away with ideas like nationality or family traditions. Not only does this lead to the nonsensical (and greatly immoral) idea that there is no longer a distinction between male and female (Galatians 3:28), but it misses the point in both passages: believers have put on Christ!

And in Christ, they have been renewed “in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him” (Colossians 3:10). The word for “knowledge” here refers to the substance of what is known. Not only are believers renewed in comprehending concepts; they are renewed in their personal experience and exercise of those things. They not only know about being in the image of God; they are renewed into imaging God. No longer do we carry the character of Adam; we are renewed and restored into the character of Him Who created Adam (verse 10b).

This is another blessed consequence of the incarnation. Because God Himself became the last Adam in Jesus Christ, when we put on the new man, we are renewed into imaging the character of God, as we were originally created to do. If you have put on Christ, you are a new man; act like Christ, not Adam! 

What are some Adam-like characteristics or habits that you tend to excuse on the basis of nationality, gender, or tradition? How can you be able to put these off? Are you, then, one who is able? Will you?

Sample prayer:  Lord, we bless Your Name for creating us new in Christ Jesus and making Him to dwell in our hearts through faith. Forgive us, for when we act according to the old man whom we have put off. Make us to embrace our new identity in Christ and to enjoy our union with Him by growing in likeness to Him, which we ask in His Name, AMEN!