Missional Duty of the Mature [Family Worship lesson in Song of Songs 8:8–12]

In what does a healthy church desire to participate? Song of Songs 8:8–12 prepares us for the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that a healthy church desires to participate in the planting and making healthy of other churches, and in producing the fruit of mature believers, whom the Lord Jesus so highly values. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) Summary of the transcript of the audio: The passage presents the church as fulfilling her responsibility to nurture and fortify other churches and to actively engage in church planting, revitalization, and missions as co-laborers with Christ. The imagery of the vineyard underscores the immense value God places on every believer, honoring both Christ and Christ-given ministers by bringing forth the fruit that they so highly value.

2026.04.10 Hopewell @Home ▫ Song of Songs 8:8–12

Read Song of Songs 8:8–12

Questions from the Scripture text: What do the bride and bridegroom have (Song of Songs 8:8a)? What does she lack, in her spiritual immaturity (verse 8b; cf. Song of Songs 4:5, Song of Songs 7:3)? What does Song of Songs 8:8c ask about? With respect to what day (Song of Songs 8:8d)? What might she come to be (Song of Songs 8:9a)? And what would need to be done then (verse 9b–c)? What else might she come to be (verse 9d)? And what would need to be done then (verse 9e–f)? Who is already in the condition of verse 9a (Song of Songs 8:10a)? And already has the improvement of Song of Songs 8:9b–c (Song of Songs 8:10b)? What is the Bridegroom’s view of her, in this condition of maturity (verse 10c–d)? What is the earthly comparison for the Bridegroom and His bride (Song of Songs 8:11a)? How does He design to obtain her cultivated fruit (verse 11b)? How valuable is this fruit to Him (verse 11c–d)? Who else cares about her fruitfulness (Song of Songs 8:12a)? For what value to Him (verse 12b)? And what other value to whom else (verse 12c)? 

In what does a healthy church desire to participate? Song of Songs 8:8–12 prepares us for the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that a healthy church desires to participate in the planting and making healthy of other churches, and in producing the fruit of mature believers, whom the Lord Jesus so highly values. 

The Church and Her Mission (Song of Songs 8:8-9). From Song of Songs 7:11–8:4, we heard about the bride’s desire for revival of the saints, and for the church to be enabled to give more love to Christ. There is another desire that mature and faithful churches have: the recovery of backslidden churches, and the planting and growing of new churches. 

Already by the time of Solomon, there was some fracturing between the north and south in Israel (cf. 2 Samuel 20:1, 1 Kings 12:16). So, there is an obvious candidate, at the time of writing, for the “little sister.” Later, the apostles are charged by the Lord Jesus, with the subsequent building of a sequence of “little sisters”: Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth (cf. Acts 1:8). Now, we are in a season, where Israel and the remaining fullness of the Gentiles are in the place of the “little sister” (cf. Romans 11:25–26). 

Ultimately, it is Christ, Who builds His church, but He uses means. The “we” in Song of Songs 8:8-9 has nothing to do with brothers, like the editors of the NKJ have interpolated. Christ uses His present church for forming new congregations, for bringing the gospel to new nations, and indeed for bringing all the elect to saving faith in Him. It is difficult to tell whether the speaker in Song of Songs 8:8-9 is the bride, or the Bridegroom, or the two together. As the church matures, His desire is her desire, and His work is her work.

In this case, the sister is still so immature that she is unable to nourish offspring (Song of Songs 8:8b). She doesn’t yet have the capacity to disciple the offspring unto the pleasure of the Bridegroom (cf. Song of Songs 4:5, Song of Songs 7:3). 

Christ produces this maturity by His grace, but Song of Songs 8:8c asks “what shall WE do?” (emphasis mine). 

He has given His church the privilege of duty and responsibility in His mission work. If she is to come to be betrothed to Christ (Song of Songs 8:8d), something must be done. 

Christ Himself is the foundation, and He establishes her with the structural strength of a wall by building her upon Himself (Song of Songs 8:9a). Upon this foundation, the church must build a tower, a royal fortification, but only using the right materials (verse 9b). The apostle alludes to this text in 1 Corinthians 3:10–15. 

Christ Himself is the door (cf. John 10:9, John 14:6). But it is especially in and through the church that He brings the elect to Himself (cf. Ephesians 2:12–13). When a church has become a doorway of the gospel to Christ (Song of Songs 8:9d, cf. Song of Songs 5:4), she reinforces and buttresses that truth (cf. 1 Timothy 3:15), as the Bridegroom and bride do here with the boards of cedar (Song of Songs 8:9e–f).

The Church He Uses (Song of Songs 8:10). To be His instrument and partner in His work, the bride must first be mature herself, and this is what she professes in Song of Songs 8:10. She is already that wall of Song of Songs 8:9a (Song of Songs 8:10a). She already has those towers (verse 10b), that battlement of Song of Songs 8:9c. In this case, the towers are the same by which the offspring are nourished. It is the truth of the gospel by which the saints are nourished in the church. And it is the truth of the gospel that is raised as a battlement by which the church is protected. 

It is this church that the Lord Jesus sees (Song of Songs 8:10c) as her who has found peace (verse 10d). And the church that is mature in the gospel, and fortified in the gospel, is the church that should be multiplying this maturity in “little sisters” via church planting and missions. And in those daughters of Jerusalem who are as little sisters within her assemblies.

The Ministers He Uses (Song of Songs 8:11). Now, the song again uses its writer as something of a living metaphor for Christ. We saw this back on the wedding day in Song of Songs 3:6–11. Now, we see it again with reference to His kingly employment of servants to bring forth exquisite fruit. 

The Lord Jesus interprets Song of Songs 8:11 in the way that we have learned from Scripture to read the song (cf. Matthew 21:33, Mark 12:1, Luke 20:9). The great difference is between the Pharisees and the true bride—the “others” of Matthew 21:41, Mark 12:9, Luke 20:16. The true bride longs to produce for the Lord the fruit that He values at 1000 (!) silver coins. This, of course, is the opposite of an exaggeration, because the “fruit” here are redeemed, godly saints. The friends and beloved ones of the Bridegroom. 

They aren’t worth a “mere” thousand silver coins to Him. They are worth His incarnation and humiliation. They are worth His suffering and death—and that, on the cross. And it is for them that He has instituted the ministry of the gospel. It is for them that He has saved, graced, gifted, called, and ordained the particular men whom He charges with this ministry. 

Let ministers remember this. The vineyard is the Lord’s vineyard. It is the vineyard of “Baal Hamon” (master of the multitude). The fruit is the Lord’s fruit. Ministers are the Lord’s servants, appointed for bringing forth the fruit believers whose faith has matured.

And let church members remember this. The Lord has sent them their faithful ministers. So, while they give regard to their ministers out of reverence for Christ, it is ultimately Christ Who uses those ministers to produce the fruit. And it is Christ to Whom the fruit belongs. Let them make use of the ministry that the Lord has supplied to them. Let them bear fruit for Him.

The Church and Her Ministers (Song of Songs 8:12). Finally, the bride refers to her own vineyard. Even though she is mature and strong, as a wall with towers, she still needs to keep her vineyard. Near the very beginning of the song, she had admitted that she had not kept her vineyard (cf. Song of Songs 1:6e). But that is not the case now. She professes, “My own vineyard is before me” (Song of Songs 8:12a).

She knows Christ’s valuing of her fruit, and she longs to give Him that thousand.

But she knows that, though a minister cannot value the fruit as the King does, yet the minister’s cherishing of the saints comes from Christ’s own. And the bride loves for the vineyard keepers to have their share in the joy of the fruit that is produced. The laborer is worthy of his hire (cf. 1 Corinthians 9:7, 1 Corinthians 9:9–14). But what a congregation should much more desire to give him is the joy of seeing them advancing in grace and the fruit of the Spirit (cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:19, 1 Corinthians 9:2).

What part do spiritually weak churches, church plants, and missionary work have in your prayers? What part does the reformation, revival, and strengthening of your own church have in your priorities? What use are you making of the ordained ministry that the Lord Jesus uses in your own congregation, to bring forth fruit? How are you making use of His valuing the fruit as a motivation for bearing it? 

Sample prayer:  Lord, thank You for loving Your church, Your temple, Your vineyard. Grant that she would worship You, now, as a strong wall, built solidly upon the only foundation, her Lord Jesus Christ. Grant that, for her battlements, she would have the towers that nourish her by the pure milk of the Word, and guard her by the truth as it is in Jesus. We thank You for giving vineyard keepers, whom You Yourself use to make us fruitful. And, we marvel that You have so desired our mature faith, as Your fruit, that You have paid, not one thousand silver coins, but Your own blood, to redeem us. Now, grant that by Your Spirit, we would worship You by the grace that we have from Your own resurrection life, we ask in Your Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP87 “The LORD’s Foundation” or TPH405 “I Love Thy Kingdom Lord”

Christ Is the Church's Glory [2026.04.05 Evening Sermon in Song of Songs 8:5–7]

Jesus Himself is the glory of His church.

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

The Chief End of Affliction [2026.04.05 Morning Sermon in Nahum 1:12–2:2]

The Lord delivers the godly out of trials and reserves the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment.

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

Marking and Motivating the Church [2026.04.05 Sabbath School lesson in WCF 27.1.4–5—Hopewell 101]

Baptism and the Lord's Supper mark the church off from the world, and motivate the church to live unto the Lord. They say, "you belong to Me" and "live like those who belong to Me." (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) Summary of the transcript of the audio: The lesson establishes that sacraments—baptism and the Lord's Supper—are divine signs and seals of the covenant of grace, instituted by God to visibly distinguish His church from the world, and call them to live in the world as His own. The sacraments are not magical rituals but means through which God strengthens faith, reminds believers of their union with Christ, and challenges them to live in accordance with their identity in Him. Ultimately, they serve both to identify the church and to engage its members in faithful obedience to Christ according to His Word.

How God Came to Obey and Suffer [Children's Catechism 47—Theology Simply Explained]

Pastor walks his children through Children's Catechism question 47—especially explaining how the only One good enough to obey, and big enough to suffer Hell, became capable of obedience and of suffering.

Q47. How could the Son of God suffer? Christ, the Son of God, became man that He might obey and suffer in our nature. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) Summary of the transcript of the audio: The lesson explains that the Son of God could suffer only by becoming truly human. Drawing on Philippians 2 and Galatians 4, it emphasizes that Christ, though eternally God, took on human nature to live a life of perfect obedience and endure hell on the cross. Thus, Christ’s incarnation was essential not only for obedience but for substitutionary atonement, for the redemption of sinners.

Jesus Is Everything to Us [Family Worship lesson in Mark 2:13–22]

Whom does the Lord save and use? Mark 2:13–22 prepares us for the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these ten verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Lord saves and uses those who need Him and delight in Him. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) Summary of the transcript of the audio: Jesus reveals Himself as the essential qualification for service, salvation, and joy. By calling Levi, a despised tax collector, He demonstrates that true spiritual qualification comes not from moral performance but from union with Him, who transforms lives through His grace. His fellowship with sinners underscored that salvation is for sinners. The disciples’ lack of fasting is not negligence but a proper response to the presence of the Bridegroom—Jesus Himself—whose nearness calls for joy, not fasting.

2026.04.09 Hopewell @Home ▫ Mark 2:13-22

Read Mark 2:13-22

Questions from the Scripture text: Where does Jesus go in Mark 2:13? Who comes to Him? What does He do with them? Where does Jesus see Levi? What does He tell Him to do? When Jesus goes to Levi’s house who else has followed Him? How many of them? Who are surprised that Jesus would eat with tax collectors and sinners? Whom does Jesus say He came to call to repentance? Who are surprised at Jesus’ disciples in Mark 2:18? What does Jesus call Himself in Mark 2:19? How would the friends of the bridegroom feel and act at a wedding? When would those friends fast, according to Jesus? What happens to a tear if you put the wrong kind of patch on it?

Whom does the Lord save and use? Mark 2:13–22 prepares us for the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these ten verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Lord saves and uses those who need Him and delight in Him. 

In the gospel reading this week, the Lord Jesus keeps surprising us.

He surprises us by choosing as one of His disciples a tax collector (Mark 2:14), one of the most hated people among the Jews. He surprises us by welcoming the situation of being surrounded by many tax collectors and sinners (Mark 2:15-17). He surprises us by His response about fasting (Mark 2:18-22). What is He teaching us by all of these surprises?

The first thing that He teaches us is that our usefulness to Him does not depend upon our past before we knew Him. Remember, that so far in Mark, “follow Me,” means “become a trainee in man-fishing” (cf. Mark 1:17). Who is a really good candidate to be used by Christ? Anyone who follows Him. A fisherman who follows Him. A tax collector who follows Him. A sinner who follows Him. Even a scribe or a Pharisee who follows Him. 

Why doesn’t it depend upon what we were before we followed Him? Because it cannot depend upon us. When Jesus says “I did not come to call the righteous” (Mark 2:17). He’s talking about a figment of our self-deceived imaginations. His point is that the reason that He had to come in the first place is that there are no righteous. If we think that we are righteous without Him, we have sadly and terribly misunderstood both ourselves and Him. 

Another, and glorious, thing that Jesus is teaching us is that He has come to be our joy. Those who have misunderstood Sabbath-keeping consider it a burden, a drag, a way that we show God how serious we are about Him by denying ourselves of pleasure (cf. Isaiah 58:1-5). But those who understand it well consider it a most generous gift of most glorious joy, and they imitate Him by becoming generous and joy-giving to others (cf. Isaiah 58:6-14). 

Such an attitude can extend to how we respond to Jesus. We should be rejoicing over Him like a groom’s friends at his wedding (Mark 2:19). Jesus identifies Himself as the Bridegroom of the Song of Songs, and His disciples as the friends of the Bridegroom (cf. Song of Songs 5:1e). There, He had welcomed His friends and beloved ones to eat, and to drink deeply. Rejoicing with Him, over the spiritual fruit that He produces in His church, should be the longing of every believer. We should treasure moments with Him as if we’d been waiting all our lives to share that joy with Him! Of course, His disciples weren’t fasting! And neither should have been John’s or the Pharisees’. 

Do you know when you should fast? When earthly pleasures seem big and Christ seems small, then fast, as you seek His presence, and for Him to be your Pleasure. When, for any reason, He seems distant, then fast after Him. When you are feeling the weightiness of sin and the corruption and decay of this world, and You are longing for His return and the great resurrection, then fast after Him. 

We mustn’t only fast at the right time, but in the right way. We mustn’t think of fasting as a way to make ourselves miserable as a proof of our spirituality. In fact, if we fast in that way, we are telling God that turning aside from earthly things is miserable.

Whom are you more likely to consider incorrectly “not good Christian material”: yourself or others? What are you going to do about that? What kind of day should the Lord’s Day be, and how and why? When have you felt like Christ was distant (perhaps now)? How will you specifically use fasting to turn to Him and long for Him?

Sample prayer:  Lord, thank You for calling and using a tax collector as one of Your apostles. Forgive us, for when we think that usefulness to You depends upon us. And thank You for giving us to have Yourself as our joy. Forgive us for not longing for You more. Grant that we would long for You and fast for You, by Your Spirit, we ask in Christ’s Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP2 “Why Do Gentile Nations Rage” or TPH151 “Lord of the Sabbath, Hear Us Pray”

A Prophet Like Moses [Family Worship lesson in Deuteronomy 34]

How does Deuteronomy end? Deuteronomy 34 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these twelve verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Deuteronomy ends, looking forward to Christ. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) Summary of the transcript of the audio: The devotional presents a meditation on divine purpose, faithful service, and the ultimate hope found in Christ. It centers on Moses’s final moments—granted a vision of the Promised Land he cannot enter, an example of the partial yet meaningful participation of believers in God’s eternal plan, even when full fulfillment lies beyond their lifetime. The transition to Joshua, empowered by the Spirit through divinely appointed ordination, affirms the biblical doctrine of ordination as a sacred, Spirit-empowered calling rooted in God’s Word, not human preference. Yet the passage culminates in a transcendent expectation: no prophet has arisen like Moses, but the true fulfillment of all prophecy is found in Jesus Christ, Who alone knows God face to face, performs divine signs, and accomplishes redemption through His atoning sacrifice and resurrection. Thus, the entire narrative points beyond all human instruments to Christ as the sole source of hope, the author and finisher of God’s redemptive work, and the ultimate object of faith.

2026.04.08 Hopewell @Home ▫ Deuteronomy 34

Read Deuteronomy 34

Questions from the Scripture text: Who went up, from where, to where, to the top of where, across from where (Deuteronomy 34:1)? Who showed him what (Deuteronomy 34:1-3)? Who spoke to him (Deuteronomy 34:4)? How did He describe it? What has He caused Moses to do? What will Moses not do? What does Deuteronomy 34:5 call Moses? What did he do? Where? According to what? What did God then do to him (Deuteronomy 34:6)? Where? What doesn’t anyone know? How old was he (Deuteronomy 34:7)? But what had not happened? How did the children of Israel respond (Deuteronomy 34:8)? For how long? Who was full of what (Deuteronomy 34:9)? How had this happened? What did Israel do with him? In accordance with what? What has not happened since then (Deuteronomy 34:10, cf. Deuteronomy 18:15–18)? What was unique about Moses? How had YHWH testified to this uniqueness (Deuteronomy 34:11-12)? 

How does Deuteronomy end? Deuteronomy 34 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these twelve verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Deuteronomy ends, looking forward to Christ.  

The book ends with amazement at the effectiveness and honor that the Lord had given to Moses. 

Though, he is not permitted to enter the land (Deuteronomy 34:4b), he has been given the privilege of being the one through whom all this land (Deuteronomy 34:1-3) is given in fulfillment of God’s covenant promise (Deuteronomy 34:4a). 

Moses gets to see the land, then he dies—not of old age or diminished power (Deuteronomy 34:7b), but according to the decree of God. God Himself buries him (Deuteronomy 34:6—can there be a stronger commendation of Christian burial?). YHWH was (is!) his face-to-face friend (Deuteronomy 34:10b). 

But the main thrust of the passage is looking forward. This is true in a small sense with Joshua. He has been ordained to succeed Moses (Deuteronomy 34:9, cf. Numbers 27:18–23; Deuteronomy 31:1–8, Deuteronomy 31:14, Deuteronomy 31:23), and indeed the Lord uses him to lead Israel into the land, take possession of it, and allot it to the tribes. 

Yet,  the big sense in which the passage looks forward is that it is still looking forward to the “prophet like Moses” (Deuteronomy 34:10a, cf. Deuteronomy 18:15–18). 

YHWH knew Moses face to face (v10b), but Jesus is the One Who faces God from all eternity (cf. John 1:2, more literally translated), and Who is the face of God to us (cf. John 14:8–9, 2 Corinthians 4:5–6). 

YHWH used Moses to redeem by great signs and wonders (Deuteronomy 34:11), but Jesus came working many mightier signs (cf. John 7:31), and is Himself the great sign, as the resurrected One (cf. Matthew 12:39–40; Luke 11:30). 

YHWH used Moses to impress upon Israel the awe of God (Deuteronomy 34:12).  But it is through Jesus Himself that men are brought by grace into the fear of the Lord, and fully know Him (cf. John 1:17–18). 

Deuteronomy concludes, straining forward to Christ, teaching us to rejoice in Him in Whom we know the Lord Himself, in Him Who has redeemed us by signs and wonders, in Him Who brings us into true fear of the Lord. We should come away from Deuteronomy longing for Him. This is how we should come away from all of Scripture.

How has the Lord given you to know Him? To serve Him? To fear Him? Who is the Leader of your church? How does He lead it?

Sample prayer: Lord, thank You for giving Moses to Your people of old, and then Joshua after him. But thank You, far more, for giving to us Christ to be our Prophet, Priest, and King. Forgive us for taking for granted how great is our privilege to be in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And, forgive us for not being more amazed at Him Himself. Forgive us, for His sake, we ask. And, give us to know You in Him, we ask in His Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP98 “O Sing a New Song” or TPH266 “Thou Art the Way”