All Authority Is God's [Family Worship lesson in Deuteronomy 16:18–18:22]

Who was the authority in Israel? Deuteronomy 16:18–18:22 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word read in the public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these forty-seven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the ultimate authority in Israel was God Himself by means of His Word. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) Summary of the transcript of the audio: This passage presents a comprehensive application of the Fifth Commandment—honoring God as the ultimate authority—within the life of Israel as they enter the Promised Land. It establishes a divinely ordered hierarchy of authority: prophets, who speak God’s Word directly; priests, who teach and uphold the law; kings, who are to rule according to God’s law rather than worldly ambition; and judges, who administer justice impartially in every community. Each office is grounded in obedience to God’s revealed Word, with strict prohibitions against idolatry, false prophecy, and corrupt practices such as bribery or unjust judgment. The text emphasizes that true authority is not self-asserted but derived from God, and that rebellion against His appointed authorities—whether judicial, royal, or prophetic—invites divine judgment. Ultimately, the passage points forward to Jesus Christ, the final and supreme Prophet, whose Word alone is to be heeded, and whose authority supersedes all human institutions, calling believers to live in humble, faithful submission to God’s revealed truth.

2025.11.05 Hopewell @Home ▫ Deuteronomy 16:18–18:22

Read Deuteronomy 16:18–18:22

Questions from the Scripture text: Whom are they to appoint (v18)? How shall they judge (v19–20)? How mustn’t they make judgments (v21–17:1)? What sort of case is used for a case study (v2–3)? What are they to do in such a case (v4–7)? What about a case that is too difficult to decide locally (v8-11)? What if someone does not submit to this procedure (v12–13)? What other official may they have (v14–15)? Which man? What mustn’t he do (v16–17)? What law does he write (v18)? To do what with it (v19)? Why (v20)? What other office are they to have (18:1)? Wha aren’t they to have (v1–2)? How are they to be cared for (v4–5)? Who else, besides the house of Aaron can be priest and receive this portion (v6–8)? What hasn’t YHWH appointed for revelation of the divine will (v9–14)? Whom will the Lord raise up instead (v15)? Consistent with what (v16–17)? How will prophecy work (v18)? And what must they do with His words (v19)? What must they watch against, and do about it (v20–22)?  

Who was the authority in Israel? Deuteronomy 16:18–18:22 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word read in the public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these forty-seven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the ultimate authority in Israel was God Himself by means of His Word.

In this passage, we have the application of the fifth commandment to the life of Israel in the land. They are to have judges, who enforce and adjudicate the law that God gives. They may have a king, who establishes God's law as the law of the land. They are to have priests, a big part of whose office it was to teach the people the law of God. And God will give them prophets, the ones who firs speak  the law of God to the people. 

So, as the fifth commandment is applied to the nation of Israel, the main idea is that God is the ultimate authority in Israel. He speaks His Word through the prophets, the priests teach the people the law, the king establishes that law as the law of the land, and then the judges apply that law in particular cases.

Judges in Israel were decentralized. Everywhere that there was a town with gates, the judges would hear cases and administer judgment (16:18). They were to do so not the way that the world does, out of self-interest, receiving bribes and so forth, but judging with righteous judgment (v19–20). And they were not to use the way of the nations around them, setting up something like an Asherah (translated “wooden image” in v21), or a sacred pillar, which they would have as a superstitious way of divining their god’s verdict. And of course, to such so-called gods, you could offer a blemished sacrifice (17:1). But Israel's judges were to do none of this. Israel's judges were to judge according to YHWH’s Word. 

As for the procedure that the judges are to follow, the text teaches this via case study: the most extreme violation of the law—one who turns away from YHWH Himself, transgresses the covenant, goes and serves other gods, and worships them (v3). Investigation is to be made, and if it is indeed true and certain (v4), then they are to be stoned to death (v5), upon the testimony of at least two or three witnesses (v6).

There will sometimes be a case that is too difficult for the local judge at the local city to decide (v8). That case is to be taken to the place where the Lord puts His Name, where the Aaronic priesthood acts as the higher court. In this way, the Lord establishes among His people a pattern that has been used effectively in other nations, most notably our own: a system of lower and higher judiciaries, where the decision of a lower judiciary may be appealed to a higher judiciary. And when they do send to those Levites, who are priests in the place which Yahweh chooses (v9), then when the sentence comes back from that place to the town (v8), they must do according to the sentence which they pronounce (v10–11). If they fail to follow the judgment that God has put in place in Israel, then they are to be executed (v12–13). And so, we see in the office of the judge, the authority of God in applying the law.

Next, v14–20 cover the office of the king. Truly, YHWH is the king of Israel, and we see that applied here in several ways in these seven verses. First of all, the sort of king that they are to have is to be not like the kings of the nations (v14). They should not say, “I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me.” No, if they are to have a king, they must have a king whom YHWH their God chooses (v15). He is to be a humble king (v20), who does not to try to be the savior of the nation according to his own schemes and devices by making treaties, for instance, with Egypt, or multiplying horses or chariots, or multiplying greatly silver and gold (v16–17). And this king does not establish his own law or decrees. He copies down God's law, which is already written (v18–19). 

The great mistake in 1Sam 8, when Israel asked for a king, was not that they wanted a king. God had made provision for the type of king that He would give them, as part of the fifth-commandment-observing authority that He would set up in the nation of Israel. The great mistake, if you read 1Sam 8 carefully, is that they specifically wanted a king like the other nations. They specifically wanted a king who would deliver them. they wanted a king who was in the place of YHWH. And that's why YHWH says to Samuel, “they have not rejected you, they have rejected Me.” Rejecting YHWH as the one who delivers them and rules over them, to have a king who is exalted above his brethren, and to have a king who rules by his own will, and to have a king whom they trust to deliver them—which is all to say, to have a king who is like the kings of the other nations—that was the great wickedness.

The third office, then, is the priests. From the enforcement of God's law in the judges, to the establishing of God's law in the king, we're ascending to higher offices. Prophet is the highest—the one who is the mouth of God and the pen of God, to give the law of God.  Then the priest who teaches the law of God, and then the king who establishes that law that has been revealed and taught as the law of the land, and then the judges who apply it.

18:1–8 condenses the duties of the priests, which came to the forefront in the wake of the execution of Nadab and Abihu. The people, because of the nearness of God's holiness, urgently needed someone to teach them to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the clean and the unclean, so that they would not incur the wrath of God upon them. And so the YHWH at that point established this teaching ministry of the priesthood among all of Israel (cf. Lev 10:10–11).

So the Levites were to teach the people of Israel the law of God. They also had the ministry of offering unto God atoning and cleansing sacrifices by which Israel drew near to God. And, God giving them this great privilege to be near to Him, He was their inheritance. Not all Levites were priests. But a Levite who is not from the house of Aaron, if he desires to be a priest, he can set aside other callings (v6), and he can go and he can minister just like a son of Aaron. Since they don't have the same land and wealth inheritance as the rest of Israel, v3–4 establish the necessity of taking good financial or material care of the priests that the Lord has given them to teach them the law of God.

That brings us to the chief office in Israel’s application of the Fifth Commandment: the prophets of the Word. The Word of God is that authority by which He rules and governs His people. So, the prophet is the highest office (v9–22). Israel are not to try to get the Word of God in any other way (v9–14). All of these are illegitimate ways of trying to obtain secret knowledge or divine knowledge, rather than the spoken Word of God (which God has exalted above all His name): witchcraft, soothsaying, omens, sorcery, spells, mediums, spiritists, necromancers who call up the dead. The great wickedness of all of those things is that they are substitute ways of finding out divine knowledge, rather than the plain, preached word of God from the prophets. God has chosen the way of communicating Himself and telling us everything that we need to know. And that is with His plain, clear, spoken Word. If Israel tried to get information in any other such way, the Lord would destroy them.

They were to continue to have prophets that the Lord would raise up. Moses was the first one. The Lord would raise up others like him, and ultimately the Lord would send His own Son as the great and forever and everlasting prophet (v15–22). Multiple New Testament passages identify the Lord Jesus as this prophet. But even before the Lord Jesus came, YHWH would send prophets who speak in His Name, and whatever the prophet spoke in His Name, God would require from the people. 

One danger would be when false prophets came, who claimed to speak in the Name of YHWH. One dead giveaway was if he prophesied things, then they did not happen (v22). Another giveaway, of course, would be if he spoke things that contradicted the Word which the Lord had already spoken, for the Lord does not contradict Himself.

How has God given you His Word? Whom has He given to you to teach you that Word? Whom has He set over you to establish laws that uphold His law? Whom does He use to enforce that law?

Sample prayer: Father, we praise You for Your perfect character. We thank You for Your good law in which You apply that character to us. We thank You for this portion of your Word in which You teach us the application of the fifth commandment And we pray that You would give us, by Your Holy Spirit, to live godly and righteously under authority, especially under the authority of your Son, our Lord Jesus, the Great Prophet, which we ask in His Name. Amen!

 Suggested Songs: ARP72 “God, Give Your Judgements to the King” or TPH174 “The Ten Commandments”

2025.10.31 Hopewell @Home ▫ Song of Songs 1:12–14

Read Song of Songs 1:12–14

Questions from the Scripture text: Who is where in Song of Songs 1:12a? What sends forth what (verse 12b)? Whose? Who is what (Song of Songs 1:13a)? To whom? Whose is He? Where is it (verse 13b)? How long? What else is He (Song of Songs 1:14a)? Where (verse 14b)?

In what manner is the church sanctified? Song of Songs 1:12–14 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these three verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the church is sanctified through mutually delighted fellowship with her beloved Lord.

The bride has recognized deficiencies in herself ( Song of Songs 1:5-6), and she has looked to the Bridegroom, her Beloved, the King, to be the One Who resolves those things—particularly by feeding her (Song of Songs 1:7). So far, the image of how He would feed her has been one that is very protective and tender and generous and kind and watchful, that of a Shepherd with His flock (Song of Songs 1:8).

But the image of the feeding changes now. The Lord doesn't just govern us and protect us as One Who is infinitely greater than we are, and Who is taking care of His little creatures. Those things are all true. And that is represented here in the fact that He is referred to now not only as Shepherd, but even as King. It is in fellowship with Himself that the Lord provides for His people, feeds His people, nourishes and grows us. He feeds us at his table.

Now, this is important for how you read the Bible and how you seek to grow, how you seek to be sanctified, that it's not just a function of learning things and getting better at things. When you read your Bible, and when you listen to preaching and when you meditate upon the word, you should do so as someone whose heart is being lifted up to Him, in fellowship with Him. 

And there's a reciprocation here. You remember the fragrance of His Name, when she's giving some of her first descriptions of him back in Song of Songs 1:3. Now, His love for His bride makes her to know that she is pleasing to Him; her spikenard sends forth now to Him (Song of Songs 1:12). We are pleasing to Him, and we should love to please Him: being pleased to be pleasing to Him. 

And reciprocation continues in these verses, for not only does the bride's spikenard sends forth its fragrance to Him, but He also is a bundle of myrrh (Song of Songs 1:13)—again, a different kind of fragrant perfume. And here, not just a small amount, but an abundance. It's not just a sprig of myrrh or a blossom of myrrh, it's a bundle of myrrh. Similarly, the cluster of henna is an abundance (Song of Songs 1:14). Not only is there abundance and sweetness and pleasantness in the cluster of henna, but the Lord's presence to us makes everything pleasant. It turns his banquet table into the vineyards of En-Gedi. 

It's the King Himself that makes everything pleasant. He brings fellowship and sweetness and delight to us wherever we are, when we come and have fellowship with Him. The name changes from the King in Song of Songs 1:12 to “my Beloved” in Song of Songs 1:13 and “my Beloved” in Song of Songs 1:14. Without losing the glory of His greatness, we ought to have very close, very intimate, very near fellowship, very sweet fellowship. 

Finally, note the “to me” in Song of Songs 1:13, and the “to me” in Song of Songs 1:14. There’s not just recognition about Him here. There is appropriation, experiencing for oneself—taking that which you know to be true about Him generally as something that is experientially true to you personally. “A bundle of myrrh is my beloved TO ME … my beloved is TO ME a cluster of henna.”

When you think about those things that are sweet to you, and those things that are pleasant to you, that which is most sweet to you should be He. That which is most pleasant to you should be He. 

This is why the bundle of myrrh, representing Him, “lies all night between my breasts” (Song of Songs 1:13). She holds Him dearly. She holds Him persistently. That which she would hold closest, and would be most reluctant to let go, the last thing that she would ever give up, would be the King, her Beloved. Christ should be to us, the One Whom we would hold closest and even to our very heart. For her to hold the myrrh in between her breasts, is to hold Him as dear and close as possible. 

And she does not just make a beginning of holding Him dear and holding Him close, but all night. It is a common problem in our walk with the Lord that we would make a beginning of holding dearly to Him, but then grow cold towards him.  “All night” in the poetry here teaches us that we must seek from the Holy Spirit the grace to make us treasure the Lord Jesus like this, and the further grace to make us persist in that treasuring.

This image of reciprocal delight in sweet table fellowship is more than just an image. The Lord Jesus actually brings us to His table week by week to delight in Him, and to enjoy His delighting in us, at the Lord’s Supper. In His Word, He feeds us upon Himself. And in His sacrament, He feeds us upon Himself. This is how He remedies the deficiencies in His Bride: mutually delighted fellowship with Himself.

How are you seeking to be delightful to Christ in your fellowship with Him? How are you delighting in Him?

Sample prayer:  Father we thank You for this song, because we thank You for Your Son, and Your glorious and good design and for how we grow by the grace and by the knowing of the Lord Jesus. So, give us to know Him in the ways that are described in these images, in these three verses, we ask in His Name, AMEN!

 Suggested songs: ARP23B “The Lord’s My Shepherd” or TPH471 “The Sands of Time Are Sinking”

2025.11.04 Hopewell @Home ▫ Song of Songs 1:12–14

Read Song of Songs 1:12–14

Questions from the Scripture text: Who is where in Song of Songs 1:12a? What sends forth what (verse 12b)? Whose? Who is what (Song of Songs 1:13a)? To whom? Whose is He? Where is it (verse 13b)? How long? What else is He (Song of Songs 1:14a)? Where (verse 14b)?

In what manner is the church sanctified? Song of Songs 1:12–14 looks forward to the call to worship in public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these three verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the church is sanctified through mutually delighted fellowship with her beloved Lord.

The bride has recognized deficiencies in herself (Song of Songs 1:5-6), and she has looked to the Bridegroom, her Beloved, the King, to be the One Who resolves those things—particularly by feeding her (Song of Songs 1:7). So far, the image of how He would feed her has been one that is very protective and tender and generous and kind and watchful, that of a Shepherd with His flock (Song of Songs 1:8).

But the image of the feeding changes now. The Lord doesn't just govern us and protect us as One Who is infinitely greater than we are, and Who is taking care of His little creatures. Those things are all true. And that is represented here in the fact that He is referred to now not only as Shepherd, but even as King. It is in fellowship with Himself that the Lord provides for His people, feeds His people, nourishes and grows us. He feeds us at his table.

Now, this is important for how you read the Bible and how you seek to grow, how you seek to be sanctified, that it's not just a function of learning things and getting better at things. When you read your Bible, and when you listen to preaching and when you meditate upon the word, you should do so as someone whose heart is being lifted up to Him, in fellowship with Him. 

And there's a reciprocation here. You remember the fragrance of His Name, when she's giving some of her first descriptions of him back in Song of Songs 1:3. Now, His love for His bride makes her to know that she is pleasing to Him; her spikenard sends forth now to Him (Song of Songs 1:12). We are pleasing to Him, and we should love to please Him: being pleased to be pleasing to Him. 

And reciprocation continues in these verses, for not only does the bride's spikenard sends forth its fragrance to Him, but He also is a bundle of myrrh (Song of Songs 1:13)—again, a different kind of fragrant perfume. And here, not just a small amount, but an abundance. It's not just a sprig of myrrh or a blossom of myrrh, it's a bundle of myrrh. Similarly, the cluster of henna is an abundance (Song of Songs 1:14). Not only is there abundance and sweetness and pleasantness in the cluster of henna, but the Lord's presence to us makes everything pleasant. It turns his banquet table into the vineyards of En-Gedi. 

It's the King Himself that makes everything pleasant. He brings fellowship and sweetness and delight to us wherever we are, when we come and have fellowship with Him. The name changes from the King in Song of Songs 1:12 to “my Beloved” in Song of Songs 1:13 and “my Beloved” in Song of Songs 1:14. Without losing the glory of His greatness, we ought to have very close, very intimate, very near fellowship, very sweet fellowship. 

Finally, note the “to me” in Song of Songs 1:13, and the “to me” in Song of Songs 1:14. There’s not just recognition about Him here. There is appropriation, experiencing for oneself—taking that which you know to be true about Him generally as something that is experientially true to you personally. “A bundle of myrrh is my beloved TO ME … my beloved is TO ME a cluster of henna.”

When you think about those things that are sweet to you, and those things that are pleasant to you, that which is most sweet to you should be He. That which is most pleasant to you should be He. 

This is why the bundle of myrrh, representing Him, “lies all night between my breasts” (Song of Songs 1:13). She holds Him dearly. She holds Him persistently. That which she would hold closest, and would be most reluctant to let go, the last thing that she would ever give up, would be the King, her Beloved. Christ should be to us, the One Whom we would hold closest and even to our very heart. For her to hold the myrrh in between her breasts, is to hold Him as dear and close as possible. 

And she does not just make a beginning of holding Him dear and holding Him close, but all night. It is a common problem in our walk with the Lord that we would make a beginning of holding dearly to Him, but then grow cold towards him.  “All night” in the poetry here teaches us that we must seek from the Holy Spirit the grace to make us treasure the Lord Jesus like this, and the further grace to make us persist in that treasuring.

This image of reciprocal delight in sweet table fellowship is more than just an image. The Lord Jesus actually brings us to His table week by week to delight in Him, and to enjoy His delighting in us, at the Lord’s Supper. In His Word, He feeds us upon Himself. And in His sacrament, He feeds us upon Himself. This is how He remedies the deficiencies in His Bride: mutually delighted fellowship with Himself.

How are you seeking to be delightful to Christ in your fellowship with Him? How are you delighting in Him?

Sample prayer:  Father we thank You for this song, because we thank You for Your Son, and Your glorious and good design and for how we grow by the grace and by the knowing of the Lord Jesus. So, give us to know Him in the ways that are described in these images, in these three verses, we ask in His Name, AMEN!

 Suggested songs: ARP23B “The Lord’s My Shepherd” or TPH471 “The Sands of Time Are Sinking”

God Promised Life [Children's Catechism 25—Theology Simply Explained]

Pastor walks his children through Children's Catechism question 25—especially explaining how God promised life in the covenant of works. Q25. What did God promise in the covenant of works? To reward Adam with life if he obeyed Him. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) Summary of the transcript of the audio: The lesson centers on the covenant of works, in which God promised Adam eternal life upon condition of perfect obedience, with the consequence of death if he disobeyed the prohibition against eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This covenant was not merely a test of obedience but a gracious provision of fellowship with God and a life of divine blessing, contingent on faithful adherence. The failure of Adam to fulfill this covenant is contrasted with the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ, the last Adam, Who atoned for violation of the covenant of works through His death, securing the greater blessings of the covenant of grace. The message underscores that while Adam’s probation was temporary and ultimately failed, Christ’s obedience has eternally fulfilled the promise of life, making salvation not a matter of human effort but of divine grace accomplished in Christ.

Prepared by Scripture-Shaped Hearts [Family Worship lesson in Proverbs 19:8–12]

How does God prepare people do be fruitful and effective? Proverbs 19:8–12 looks forward to the midweek sermon. In these five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God prepares us for future service by shaping our hearts with Scripture. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) Summary of the transcript of the audio file: This passage emphasizes that true wisdom, rooted in the fear of the Lord and shaped by Scripture, is essential for personal flourishing and godly influence. The text warns against falsehood and uncontrolled anger, highlighting that both are destructive, while portraying the disciplined heart as one that exercises restraint and grace, even in positions of authority. Ultimately, cultivating a Scripture-shaped heart prepares every believer for whatever role or responsibility God has prepared for them, whether in humility or leadership, for the glory of God and the good of others.

2025.11.03 Hopewell @Home ▫ Proverbs 19:8–12

Read Proverbs 19:8–12

Questions from the Scripture text: What may a man get (Proverbs 19:8a)? What does the man who gets this love? What may a man keep (verse 8b)? What does he find? What must happen to whom (Proverbs 19:9a)? What else will happen to whom else (verse 9b)? Who is not being fitted for luxury (Proverbs 19:10a)? Who is not being fitted to rule over princes (verse 10b)? What shows  man’s discretion (Proverbs 19:11a)? And what displays his glory (verse 11b)? Whose wrath is like what (Proverbs 19:12a)? But what is his favor like (verse 12b)?

How does God prepare people do be fruitful and effective? Proverbs 19:8–12 looks forward to the midweek sermon. In these five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God prepares us for future service by shaping our hearts with Scripture.

This section on the importance of gaining wisdom is parallel to the previous section on the importance of gaining the right friends. As the last section began with the blessedness of gaining a wife (cf. Proverbs 18:22), this one begins with the blessedness of gaining wisdom (Proverbs 19:8). Literally, it's “he who gets heart,”—he who obtains the ability to have his thoughts and affections and desires and decisions governed well. 

Why do we need a Scripture-controlled heart? What was true in Proverbs 19:5, against the oppressor, is true also as a warning against us in Proverbs 19:9. So, it is vitally important that you would have a heart that is controlled by the Bible, so that you do not end up being this false witness and this speaker of lies.

Another reason we need a Scripture-controlled heart is that it prepares us to be honored and honorable and useful. If you are a fool, you are fit to be a servant, rather than being prepared for, or fit for nobility (Proverbs 19:10a) or authority (verse 10b).

This is especially the case with one who is being prepared for the throne. One of the areas that is most important for having control over your heart is your anger that you would not be quick to anger (Proverbs 19:11a). Even if you're not a king, it is a very honorable and glorious, a noble and kingly, thing to do to overlook a transgression (verse 11b). And so, what a blessing it is to have this scripture-shaped heart where the Bible is forming your thoughts and your affections, your desires and your decisions—such that, when someone transgresses against you, by God's grace having shaped your heart, you are able to overlook that transgression!

This is a most important quality if you are a king, because the king's wrath is like the roaring of a lion (Proverbs 19:12a). Scripture often refers to the wrath of God as the roaring of a lion. Similarly, the king’s wrath should not be something that is out of control, or unmeasured, or coming in inappropriate times or displays. It is Christ-like, it is a proper imitation of God, for the king to exercise his wrath judiciously, selectively, effectively, when it is necessary. The king should be seeking to give favor, refreshing like dew on the grass (verse 12b). 

And so, we need to have these scripture-shaped hearts. Few will be king in this life, but all believers will reign with the Lord Jesus forever and ever (cf. Revelation 5:10). And yet, it is the scripture-shaped heart that equips us for all of those good things for which the Lord is preparing us in the rest of our life. You don't know what God is preparing you for, but you do know how He prepares you for it: a Bible-shaped heart.

By the definition here, do you love your soul? How are you preparing your heart with Scripture? Based on how you are preparing, for what are you being fitted? When have you had opportunity to be kingly by overlooking transgression?

Sample prayer:  Father, thank You for Your Word. We pray that You would give us Scripture-shaped hearts, that we might be prepared for whatever honor or service lies before us in Your providence. So we entrust ourselves to You and ask for the help of Your spirit in the Name of Your Son. Amen.

 Suggested Songs: ARP11 “My Trust is in the Lord” or TPH456 “Jesus! What a Friend for Sinners!”

2025.11.02 Lord's Day Livestreams (live at 10:10a, 11:10a, and 3p)

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How to Be Ready for the Return [Family Worship lesson in Matthew 24:45–51]

How do we live as those who are ready for the return? Matthew 24:45–51 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these seven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that we live as those who are ready for the return by diligently attending to the life that Christ has appointed for us in His church. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) Summary from the transcript of the audio: the devotional centers on the urgent call to live in constant readiness for Christ’s return, emphasizing that faithfulness is demonstrated not through speculation about end-time signs, but through diligent obedience to the specific duties God has assigned within the church. It highlights the danger of spiritual complacency. The parable of the faithful and evil servant warns that those who fail to steward their God-given responsibilities, especially in the public life of the church, are not merely idle but are drifting into hypocrisy, and the ultimate consequence is hell itself. The message calls believers to live with continual awareness of God’s presence, not only in anticipation of Christ’s return but in the reality of being always before His face.

2025.11.01 Hopewell @Home ▫ Matthew 24:45–51

Read Matthew 24:45–51

Questions from the Scripture text: About what sort of servant is Matthew 24:45 asking? What did his master make him? What is he supposed to do? In what condition is he in Matthew 24:46? At what time? What did His master find, upon returning? What will the master do for that good servant (Matthew 24:47)? What other kind of servant is there (Matthew 24:48)? What does he say in his heart? What does he being to do (Matthew 24:49)? What will happen (Matthew 24:50)? At what time? And what will the master do to that servant (Matthew 24:51)?  

How do we live as those who are ready for the return? Matthew 24:45–51 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these seven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that we live as those who are ready for the return by diligently attending to the life that Christ has appointed for us in His church.

Jesus continues to apply the fact that no one knows the hour of His coming. We are to live as those who are always ready for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. The question then is: how do you live as someone who is ready for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ? And you live as someone who is ready for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ: (a) by doing the tasks that the Lord has given you to do, and (b) by putting to death remaining sin.

For the apostles, Jesus uses the image of a great household, where they will have responsibility as bishops who rule the house and pastors who feed the flock. Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Whatever the Lord has appointed for you to do, when He suddenly appears without warning, He should find you doing the things that are specifically appointed to you, in your life, your family, your community, and especially in the church. 

Church life is the focus of the application in Matthew 24:45-46. To live as someone who is ready for Jesus to return, you should be a member of the church, a joint that supplies something (cf. Ephesians 4:16), speaking the truth in love to one another (cf. Ephesians 4:15), participating in the building of one another up into Christ (end of Ephesians 4:16), not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together (cf. Hebrews 10:25), forgiving one another (cf. Ephesians 4:32), bearing one another's burdens (cf. Galatians 6:2), praying for one another (cf. James 5:16), having fellowship, not neglecting to share, which is a spiritual sacrifice unto God as well (cf. Hebrews 13:16). All these things, He's given to us to do in the church. This is the life that is lived as ready for His return.

He's given us things to do in our family as well. Children are to be honoring parents and interacting  properly with brothers and sisters as equals. Wives, mothers, fathers, and husbands all have their duties. Even those who are alone, when young, have a duty to find new family (cf. 1 Timothy 5:14). And those who are old, and truly left alone, have a duty to trust in God, praying night and day (cf. 1 Timothy 5:5). Whatever season, and whatever providence, our home life is in, the Lord has assigned things to us. And then we have also duties to our neighbor as well. 

But, here, the focus is on our duty within the church. We are not to neglect any duty, but church membership is the Lord's focus here. So, first way to be always ready is to be doing the duty that the Lord has assigned to us. Those who graduate from their church membership duties in this life are kings and priests unto God in the next one (Matthew 24:47, cf. Revelation 5:10), particularly these apostles (cf. Matthew 19:28; Revelation 4:4). 

But if we do not live as those who expect Christ at any time (Matthew 24:48); if we do not always live as if we're before His face, we are in mortal, eternal danger. Jesus calls such church members “evil servants” (verse 48), who are “hypocrites” (Matthew 24:51), having a special portion in Hell. 

It is an evil thing to be distracted from doing our duty, to be lulled into a false sense of fleshly security for sinning: either by the idea either that He's not returning soon, or (as many have ironically done) by the idea that since He’s returning soon, they obsess about signs of His return (which He expressly said there would be none), or engage in a false piety that neglects duty altogether.

The Lord calls one who is distracted from his duty, who doesn’t live as one obeying His commandments for life in the church, “an evil servant.” He might not literally beat his fellow servants and eat and drink with the drunkards. But these represent the fruit we see in the life of someone who neglects a life of service and obedience as that by which God works in us to produce holiness. If we are not participating in the public life of the church, we are neglecting those means by which He restrains sin and grows us in grace.

What He's saying here is not that, as long as you're not beating your fellow servants and getting drunk with the drunkards, you're probably okay. Rather, He’s saying that, if you're not following His prescription for how to live, how to walk with Him, how to be a functioning, healthy member of His church, then you are on your way to being one who beats your fellow servants and gets drunk with the drunkards.

It may not be literal, physical beating. But you may be on your way to being one who is judgmental, or bitter, or gossips about others in the church. You fall into a fleshly way of operating within the congregation. That's the equivalent here of beating the fellow servants. And you may be on your way to living for your appetites: that whatever feels pleasant to your body and to your fleshliness from your old nature—you slouch into doing that instead of delighting more and more in the Lord Himself, instead of having Him as your primary appetite. If we are not living the life of service, and obedience, and participation in the life of the Church, that the Lord Jesus has appointed to us, then we are on our way. to treating the congregation like that and to indulging our flesh like that.

The Master of that evil servant will come on a day when he is not looking for Him, and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites (Matthew 24:51). There's a special hell, as it were, for hypocrites—for those who had the name of brother, had the covenant privilege of being a member of the church, but were unconverted. They have two faces. This is actually worse than to not have been a professing Christian. “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” is a reference to hell. And there's a particular portion of it for the hypocrites.

From a wrong theology of Jesus's return, flows a life that departs from service unto Him in the roles that He has appointed—departing particularly from proper functioning in the congregational life, and thus exposing that he is not being sanctified. As a member of the visible church declines and backslides, he is in danger of discovering that he is a gospel hypocrite: one who professes gospel faith on the outside, but on the inside, he is an evil servant that slouches into his sin, and will eventually sink lower than the grave into a special part of hell.

The Lord spare us from that and give us to rejoice that His coming will itself be the sign of His coming, so that we will always be living as we will wish to be found when He returns—remembering that, even now, we are always before Him.

What do you know about the timing of Christ’s return? What has He appointed for you to do in His church? How are you doing according to His appointment? 

Sample prayer:  Father, thank You for this portion of Your Word. Grant unto us, we pray, to heed it by the help of Your Spirit, to live as those who are before Your face, to live as we will wish to have been found when You return. Don't let us backslide, and spare us, O God, that none of us be found, at the last, hypocrites. For we ask it through Christ. Amen.

 Suggested songs: ARP1 “How Blessed the Man” or TPH389 “Great God, What Do I See and Hear”