Welcome to Hopewell!
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
Tuesday, October 29, 2024
Christ at the Crux of Everything [Family Worship lesson in Ephesians 1:1–2]
2024.10.29 Hopewell @Home ▫ Ephesians 1:1–2
Read Ephesians 1:1–2
Questions from the Scripture text: Who wrote this letter (Ephesians 1:1)? What is his title? Of Whom is he an apostle? How did this come about? To whom is he writing—what title does he give them? What else does he call them? In Whom are they faithful? What two-part blessing/greeting does the apostle pronounce upon them (Ephesians 1:2)? From what two Persons does the apostle pronounce these?
What does Ephesians teach? Ephesians 1:1–2 helps us prepare to hear Ephesians 2:1–5 proclaimed in the morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Ephesians, the gospel, the Bible, and the whole of reality, are all about Jesus.
Immediately, in the opening of Ephesians, we know that this is going to be a glorious book about Jesus Christ!
This letter has been particularly precious to the church throughout the ages.
- For its unfolding of the eternally loving and powerful plan of God to save His elect. Unto His glory in Christ. (chapter 1)
- And for its exposition of justification by grace alone through faith alone. Only in Christ. (Ephesians 2:1-10)
- And for its teaching about reconciliation of believers to God and to one another. Both in Jesus. (Ephesians 2:11-22)
- And the gathering in of the reconciled into one church. In, and accomplished by, Jesus. (chapter 3)
- And the gift to the church by the ascended Jesus of the officers of Jesus who train the members of the body of Jesus in the Word of Jesus so that they can all minister to one another. (Ephesians 4:1–16)
- And the transformation of believers into their new characters. Conforming them to Jesus. (Ephesians 4:17–5:4)
- And the great war that is waged—primarily in the ordinary spheres of life. Between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of Jesus. (Ephesians 5:5–6:9).
- Only by the power of Jesus and the armor of Jesus. (Ephesians 6:10–22).
Do you recognize the pattern? What is the theme of this wonderful book about salvation, justification, reconciliation, evangelism, the church, Christian living, and Christian warfare? That all of these things are only for Jesus’s glory, only by Jesus’s power, only through Jesus’s method, only by faith in Jesus and fellowship with Jesus!
So, it is no surprise at all that Jesus is central to the blessing at the end of the book (Ephesians 6:23–24). And here in Ephesians 1:1-2, even in the “customary” greeting, Paul tells us.
- That he is an apostle. “Of Jesus Christ.”
- And he is writing to those who are saints and faithful. “In Christ Jesus.”
- And greeting them with grace and peace. “From… our Lord Jesus Christ.”
He’s setting us up for the entire letter. That our salvation (and his apostleship) is “by the will of God.” That our being set apart in the church and grown in godliness is “in Christ Jesus.” And that both the grace by which we wage the warfare and the peace in which we are reconciled to God as not only His allies but His children come from “God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
And of course, at the very heart of all of this. Is Jesus!
In what parts of what Ephesians teaches do you most need to grow? How does it connect to Jesus?
Sample prayer: Lord, thank You for choosing especially to glorify Yourself in Your Son, and in His redeeming us. Grant that we would have all that we need from You, in Him, by Your Spirit, to live as those Whom You have consecrated to Yourself in Christ, we ask in His Name, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP32AB “What Blessedness” or TPH265 “In Christ Alone”
Monday, October 28, 2024
Believers' Good Thoughts, Words, or Deeds Are Not from Themselves [Family Worship lesson in Romans 3:9–18]
2024.10.28 Hopewell @Home ▫ Romans 3:9–18
Read Romans 3:9–18
Questions from the Scripture text: What does Romans 3:9 ask about those with right doctrine, by comparison to the self-righteous and antinomians whom Romans 3:5-8 have been referencing? What is the answer? Why? Where else has this been seen (Romans 3:10)? How many righteous are there (cf. Psalm 14:1)? How many are there who understand (Romans 3:11, cf. Psalm 14:2)? Who seek God? How many have done what two things in Romans 3:12 (cf. Psalm 14:3)? How many have done what third thing? What three parts of them offer no remedy (Romans 3:13 (cf. Psalm 5:9, Psalm 140:3)? What else can’t help; with what is it full (Romans 3:14, cf. Psalm 10:7)? What can’t make up for this (Romans 3:15, cf. Isaiah 59:7)? Where do they end up when they try (Romans 3:16)? What can’t they know/find (Romans 3:17, cf. Isaiah 59:8)? What can’t/won’t they even see (Romans 3:18, cf. Psalm 36:1)?
What should the believer be willing to admit about himself, apart from Christ? Romans 3:9–18 looks forward to 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 all men are so pervasively sinful that there can be no remedy for their sin in anything they think, say, or do.
There are “Christian” radio stations that like to bill their music as “positive and encouraging,” and certainly a Jew who didn’t pay close enough attention might have thought that the Psalter was that way toward him. But the one who “teaches himself” (cf. Romans 2:21) from the Scripture ought not indulge in such delusions.
Coming out of Romans 3:5-8, our remaining fleshliness might tempt us to think that we are better than those who argue against the fairness of God to judge unbelievers in the church, or those who argue that the gospel of grace is a good excuse to sin. But the idea of our superiority would also be a delusion. The apostle stops us in our tracks with one question and answer: “Are we better than they? Not at all!” (Romans 3:9). Instead, he quotes extensively from at least six of God’s songs to remind us that what comes from us is all wicked and unprofitable; the good that can remedy our sin can come only from Christ, not from ourselves.
Better theology or intentions cannot remedy our sin, Romans 3:11-12. Quoting from the opening section of Psalm 14, the apostle reminds us that if there is any good/better theology in us, it certainly wasn’t from us that it came. We are wicked in Adam (Romans 3:10b, cf. Romans 5:12–21), and this affects both our understanding (Romans 3:11a) and our intentions (Romans 3:12b). From/in ourselves, we can’t even rightly say that we “mean well”!
In fact, we are so opposite our original/holy nature (Romans 3:12a) that all the benefit that we could all produce, taken together, adds up to zero (verse 12b)! This is because there isn’t a single one of us that has a single thought, intention, or deed on the “good” side of the ledger (verse 12c). If our hope was to get our doctrine good enough, or our resolve sincere enough, that we could make a beginning of remedying our sin and guilt, then we have no hope at all.
Better speech or worship cannot remedy our sin, Romans 3:13-14. Now, the apostle quotes from Psalm 5, 140, and 10. If we thought that perhaps there was some form of good speech—prayers, apologies, worship, etc.—that could remedy our sin, we would be greatly mistaken. Life cannot come from us; opening our throat is opening a place of death (Romans 3:13a). The best words that can be on our tongue simply expose how opposite our nature they actually are (verse 13b). That which comes from our lips is so far from being able to heal that it only causes further harm and death (verse 13c). Our mouths produce not blessing but cursing, not health but bitterness (Romans 3:14).
So, just as there was no remedy for our sin in our thoughts or wills, there certainly is not any remedy from our speech. Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks (cf. Matthew 12:34), which in light of Romans 3:10-12 is why the tongue is untamable and full of deadly poison (cf. James 3:8). Any attempt to bless God with the tongue is belied by our use of it at other times (cf. James 3:9–12). No, if any genuinely good speech comes out of us, it will not come from us in order to remedy our sin. Rather, the Lord must remedy our sin if any true good will ever be spoken by us.
Better deeds cannot remedy our sin, Romans 3:15-18. If we are not able to muster proper thoughts or words, what about deeds? Surely there must be some penance, some restitution, some atoning service we can perform? Now, the apostle shifts to applying Isaiah 59:7–8.
Alas, our feet are no better off than the rest of us; they are “swift to shed blood” (Romans 3:15). Our “ways” (Romans 3:16-17) are no better than our words. Why? Because it is not the reverential fear of God that drives our actions (Romans 3:18). Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin (Romans 14:23), but there are none who fear God (cf. Psalm 36:1).
By the time we finish Romans 3:18, we may have forgotten where we began in Romans 3:9. Are “we” any better than they? The apostle, and those who are with him in avoiding the errors of others, are in the same position with respect to atonement and righteousness. If by God’s grace, we are with the apostle, it is still true of us: nothing we think, nothing we say, and nothing we do can remedy our sin or be our righteousness. We need a remedy and atonement that comes from outside us. And that is exactly what the apostle is proclaiming in the gospel: the righteousness of God that is for us by faith from start to finish!
Whom are you tempted to consider yourself better than? When you have a sense of your sin, what does your flesh tempt you to think that you can do to fix it, or make it up to God? From where, then, can there be any forgiveness for you? From where can there be help for you?
Sample prayer: Lord, we thank You for Your marvelous patience with such sinners as we are. Forgive us for the folly of thinking that we are deserving of such patience or have some good in us by which we can remedy our own condition. Grant that Your Spirit would bless Your Word to us, so that we would see and accept the totality of our depravity. And grant that Your Spirit would bless Your Word to us, so that we would see Your righteousness for us in Yourself, in Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. In Him, forgive us and help us, for we ask it in His Name, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP32AB “What Blessedness” or TPH433 “Amazing Grace”
Sunday, October 27, 2024
2024.10.27 Lord's Day Livestream (live at 10:10a, 11a, 3p)
Saturday, October 26, 2024
What Our Words Tell Us [Family Worship lesson in Matthew 12:33–37]
2024.10.26 Hopewell @Home ▫ Matthew 12:33–37
Read Matthew 12:33–37
Questions from the Scripture text: What two options does Matthew 12:33 offer? Why—how is a tree known? What does Jesus call the Pharisees in Matthew 12:34? What does He say that they are? What does He ask if they are able to speak? What is the implied answer to this question? Out what does the mouth speak? Who has what kind of treasure (Matthew 12:35)? What does he bring forth from it? Who else has what other kind of treasure? What does he bring forth from it? But what sort of word does Matthew 12:36 ask about? For how many of them will men give account? When? What two things will happen by our words (Matthew 12:37)?
What is so significant about our words? Matthew 12:33–37 looks forward to the morning sermon in public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that our words show what’s in our heart, which shows what we truly are.
The best Tree and the best fruit. The Pharisees’ idea in Matthew 12:24 was irrational. Jesus came for the best work—to destroy the works of the devil (cf. 1 John 3:8). And the Pharisees want to say that this good fruit come from a bad tree? No, Jesus says that they must make both one, or both the other.
Children of the devil. The relationship between tree and fruit brings up an important consideration about the source of the Pharisees’ accusations and attacks against Christ. This is not a case of “good people” slipping up and saying bad things. There’s no such thing! Jesus identifies them as a brood of vipers (Matthew 12:34, cf. Matthew 3:7), offspring of that great viper, the ancient serpent (cf. Revelation 12:9). Their evil words, rejecting and attacking Christ, overflowed out of the abundance of the heart, through their mouth.
Man, treasure, words. Our words are extremely important. They show what our hearts are treasuring up (Matthew 12:35). And what our hearts are treasuring up shows our nature. We need Christ, by His Spirit, to turn our hearts from stone into the hearts of children of Abraham (cf. Matthew 3:9; Romans 4:11–12; Galatians 3:7). What are you treasuring up in your heart, dear reader? It shows in your speech. And what we treasure up shows what we are.
Giving account for idle words. Matthew 12:36 treats a special case of evil words: idle words. Idleness is evil. We were created to image and serve God. We have been redeemed to image and serve God. Wasted life, wasted heart, wasted words… these are evil—a denial of God as our purpose and pleasure. There is a day of judgment coming, when we will give account for everything (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:10).
Words that justify or condemn. If we truly believe with our heart the truth about Jesus Christ (cf. Romans 10:9b), the praise of Jesus Christ as Lord will overflow from our mouths (cf. Romans 10:9a). There is a necessary verbal symptom of true conversion.
How could your verbal habits be improved? What are you doing about it? What are you treasuring up in your heart? How are you doing that? What hope do you have for the life of the new nature? What are you doing for the suffocating of the former/fleshly nature? From Whom alone can all of this come, and how?
Sample prayer: Lord, forgive us for how careless we have been with our speech. We grieve at what this says about the ongoing condition of our hearts. By Your Spirit, stir up the life of the new man in us from Christ. And grant that we would put to death the old man. Make our lips to overflow with praise unto You, edification to our brothers, and evangelism to our neighbors, we ask through Christ, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP15 “Within Your Tent, Who Will Reside” or TPH400 “Gracious Spirit, Dwell with Me”
Friday, October 25, 2024
Humble Escape from Harmful Romance [2024.10.23 Midweek Sermon in Proverbs 5:1–6]
One way that wisdom saves us from the path to death and hell is by alerting us to the deceptive sweetness and comfort of romance with someone other than your wife.
Numbering Sovereign Grace [Family Worship lesson in Numbers 26]
2024.10.25 Hopewell @Home ▫ Numbers 26
Read Numbers 26
Questions from the Scripture text: What does this census follow (Numbers 26:1)? Whom does YHWH command for this census (Numbers 26:2-3)? To did it compare (Numbers 26:4)? What tribe was first (Numbers 26:5-11)? What do Numbers 26:9-11 highlight? What tribe was second (Numbers 26:12-14)? What tribe third (Numbers 26:15-18)? What tribe fourth (Numbers 26:19-22)? What does Numbers 26:19 highlight? What tribe was fifth (Numbers 26:23-25)? What tribe sixth (Numbers 26:26-27)? What tribe seventh (Numbers 26:29-34)? What do Numbers 26:33-34 highlight? What tribe was eighth (Numbers 26:35-37)? What tribe ninth (Numbers 26:38-41)? What tribe tenth (Numbers 26:42-43)? What tribe eleventh (Numbers 26:44-47)? And what tribe twelfth (v48–50Numbers 26:48-50)? How many were there in total (Numbers 26:51)? How would the land be divided (Numbers 26:52-54)? How will this be determined (Numbers 26:55-56)? What tribe is numbered separately (Numbers 26:57-62)? With a focus on which family (Numbers 26:59)? What does Numbers 26:61 highlight? Who numbered these, where (Numbers 26:63)? Who were missing (Numbers 26:64-65)?
What are we to learn from Israel’s second census? Numbers 26 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these sixty-five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Lord highlights His sovereign grace, while warning us against sin, and presenting Himself as our inheritance.
Overruling grace. This census is intentionally compared to the first one (Numbers 26:4, Numbers 26:64). That one had numbered 603,550. This one numbers 601,730 (Numbers 26:51). Considering the 24,000 that had just been eliminated (Numbers 26:1, cf. Numbers 25:9), we see that this census is an amazing testament to God’s faithfulness, goodness, and power. That entire first census is wiped out, but God has powerfully and mercifully replaced them all.
This theme of God’s grace overruling the consequences of His people’s sin runs through the entire census. Consider what’s highlighted throughout the passage. Numbers 26:9-11 remind us of the rebellion of Dathan, Abiram, and Korah, who died for their sin in the wilderness. Numbers 26:19 reminds us of Er and Onana, who died for their sin in Canaan. Numbers 26:61 reminds us of Nadab and Abihu, who died for their sin while still at Sinai. As Numbers 26:10 says, “they became a sign.” There is warning here about the consequences of sin. And yet there is encouragement to repent and believe in the Lord, Who sovereignly rules and overrules all things for His redemptive work.
Good, sovereign provision. The next theme is God’s provision. His provision is appropriate, larger inheritances for larger tribes, smaller inheritances for smaller tribes (Numbers 26:53-54). And His provision is sovereign. After specifying the arrangement in verses 53–54, He further directs that the land will be divided by lot. The Lord sovereignly provides for His people.
The Lord, our inheritance. Finally, the Levites are numbered (Numbers 26:57-62). The Lord is their inheritance (Numbers 26:62, cf. Numbers 18:20–24), so they are not numbered among Israel. But their number is sobering. They barely exceed the number of Simeon, who were the smallest tribe by far—but the Levites aren’t actually bigger, for they are numbering from one month up, not twenty years. Between the elimination of Nadab and Abihu (Numbers 26:61), and 250 heads of their and Reuben’s families (Numbers 26:10), the smallness of Levi reminds us that it can be dangerous to serve in holy things. This is one of the reasons that it’s so glorious that Christ so cleanses us, that we are able not only come near to the Lord, but to do so with boldness (cf. Hebrews 10:19–22).
How seriously do you take the potential consequences of your sin? Whom do you trust to overrule your and others’ sin for good? What good things do you have in this world? From Whom have they come? What (Whom!) is your inheritance?
Sample prayer: Lord, if You should mark iniquities, who would stand? But with You, there is forgiveness, so that You may be feared. Grant unto us to fear You and worship You. Make us to remember Your greatness and goodness, and how grievous and harmful sin has always been. Give us all that we need in this life and the next. Indeed, be our life, our joy, our inheritance in Christ, through Whom we ask it, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP130 “LORD, from the Depths to You I Cried” or TPH433 “Amazing Grace”