2025.11.24 Hopewell @Home ▫ Proverbs 19:13–15

Read Proverbs 19:13–15

Questions from the Scripture text: What sort of son does Proverbs 19:13a reference? What effect does he have? What sort of wife does verse 13b reference? To what does it compare her behavior? What does a good father provide (Proverbs 19:14a)? What is an area in which God especially highlights His sovereign providence (verse 14b)? What fault does what harm (Proverbs 19:15)?

What can destroy a household? Proverbs 19:13–15 looks forward to the midweek sermon. In these three verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that a household may be destroyed by any one of its members being a fool.  

Proverbs 18:1–19:12 dealt with the harm done to others by fools, and the benefits to others of the wise. Now, Proverbs 19:13–15 compares and contrasts the household in which the father and the son and the wife are all godly and wise, against the harm that comes when the son or the wife or the father are foolish. A foolish father does not need his son to ruin him; he has ruined himself. 

So the foolish son is a ruin of his father in a couple of different ways. First, houses and riches are an inheritance from fathers (Proverbs 19:14a). So, even if the father does well early in life, he needs his son to take care of him as he declines. If the son is a fool, his latter years will be a ruin. Even if he did well in his youth and adulthood, if his son is a fool, then his life on earth ends in ruin. Furthermore, what he leaves behind also gets ruined by the foolish son. So, not only does he not have the one to take care of him in comfort and peace and joy in the final years of his life, but he also dies knowing that what he has built is about to be destroyed by the son that he has left behind. It is a dreadful thing to have a foolish son.

Another way that a good man can be ruined is by having a wife who does not follow the first two-thirds of chapter 18. Her mouth is always arguing and criticizing and nagging and gossiping and grumbling. the contentions of a wife are a continual dripping. Now that doesn't sound like much to us because we do not have a roof that was constructed with wooden boards covered by a mesh of sticks, into which clay was put, and then a layer of chalk, and then a layer of mud above that. If we did have such a roof, and it started to rain, and it continued to rain, and it continued to rain, eventually the mud would dissipate, and rivulets would form through the chalk, and cracks would appear in the clay, and the sticks and the wood boards would get saturated, and then the whole house would cave in.

This is what a continually exercised, ungoverned tongue of a wife does. It slowly but surely erodes the strength of the household until one day the whole thing collapses. She is exactly opposite the woman in chapter 31 (who is such an asset that everything that the man builds is multiplied, enhanced, beautified, strengthened—made more of a blessing to him and to others by his wise wife, his godly and kind wife, on whose tongue is the law of kindness (cf. Proverbs 31:26).

The son can be the ruin of the father. The wife can be the ruin of the father. And the father can be the ruin of everyone. A good father provides an inheritance (Proverbs 19:14a) and seeks from God for his son that which multiplies the blessedness of everything else—the way we saw Abraham seeking a wife for Isaac from the right family (cf. Genesis 24:4); and Isaac, once he realized his dreadful mistake in trying to give Esau the blessing, sent Jacob with a blessing to get a wife from the right family (cf. Genesis 28:2).

It is good and proper that the planning and the work, the discretion, to obtain a good wife for your son be done by a godly father. But, like that of the opening and closing of the womb, the provision of a good wife is an area in which God especially highlights His sovereign providence. You can try to do everything right in obtaining a wife, but if she is going to end up actually being a godly wife, who actually strengthens and multiplies and beautifies and improves the moral quality of the household, that has to come from God. A prudent wife is from YHWH. A wife who embodies everything that Proverbs has taught us to seek, so far up until this point, is from YHWH: both in the providence that places her nearby; and, in God's blessing on any planning/wisdom/efforts to obtain her; and, most of all, in the grace that made her what she is. A prudent wife can only be produced by grace. 

Proverbs 19:13a, Proverbs 19:14a aren't saying that the prudent wife comes from YHWH, but the godly husband is obtainable through following the right procedure, and the godly son is produced by the right sort of training. Properly biblical parenting employs especially the means of grace, precisely because we know that it is only God's grace that ultimately produces the godly son. Or obtains the godly husband. 

If any of these (husband, wife, son) are ungodly, it can destroy the house through laziness. A lazy person (Proverbs 19:15a) is, in some ways, more harmful than a dead person. Because if the person was dead, at least you knew in advance that you couldn't count on them to pull their weight in the household. But the lazy person appears to be part of the household, but is actually exerting a cost upon everyone else, in the way even a dead person wouldn't. Because God has put us into families together, an idle person very easily causes the rest of his household to suffer hunger (verse 15b) with him. He harms even generations to come. Laziness is a great folly. 

God revealed Himself to us as a God Who works, and He created us to be image bearers who work. Fearing the Lord means taking eating and drinking and enjoyments as gifts from God. And fearing the Lord means doing all of our labor, all the days of our life, with joy and diligence, also as a gift from God.

So, may God, by His grace, give each of us to fear the Lord in our own part in our current household. And, for the sake of our future households, may He mercifully bring to us those good wives and husbands, and may He bless our efforts and planning for the putting together of these future households.

How are you using your mouth to bless your household? How is your diligence blessing your household? Whom are you trusting to do this in you? How are you employing the means by which you trust Him to do that?

Sample prayer:  Father, please help us to use our mouths well. Make us diligent, and grant to us every part of biblical wisdom properly applied. We thank You for the family that You've given us. Work in, and help, each one of us, that we might be a blessing to everyone else in this household—and in our future households. We pray for the future husbands and wives of our daughters and sons, that you would be graciously working in them already. Glorify Yourself by blessing us this household, and the households that come from it, in every way. For we ask it through Christ. Amen!

Suggested songs: ARP184 “Adoration and Submission” or TPH95A “O Come before the LORD, Our King”

The Nature of God [Westminster Shorter Catechism 4—Theology Simply Explained]

Pastor walks his children through Westminster Shorter Catechism question 4—especially explaining how God is one, perfect substance, Who exists in three subsistences (persons).

Q4. What is God? God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) Summary of the transcript of the audio: The lesson presents an exploration of God’s nature, emphasizing that God is a spirit—eternal, infinite, and unchangeable in essence and all His attributes. It clarifies that while God is personal, the question 'what is God?' focuses on His divine substance, which is one in being yet eternally distinct in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The attributes of God—being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth—are not separate parts but inseparable expressions of His unified, simple, and perfect nature, each fully present and unchanging in every moment. Because God is outside of time and space, He is unaffected by creation and remains perfectly consistent in His character, making His knowledge, will, and promises eternally reliable. The lesson underscores that all divine attributes are simultaneously and fully true, reflecting a God who is self-sufficient, immutable, and the ultimate source of all reality, truth, and moral perfection.

Wise vs Foolish Households [Family Worship lesson in Proverbs 19:13–15]

What can destroy a household? Proverbs 19:13–15 looks forward to the midweek sermon. In these three verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that a household may be destroyed by any one of its members being a fool. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) Summary of the transcript of the audio: The devotional meditates upon the sacred architecture of the household, emphasizing that godly wisdom and character are essential to its stability and flourishing. Central to this vision is the contrast between the ruin caused by a foolish son, a contentious wife, or a lazy individual, as opposed to the divine blessing of a prudent wife, whose wisdom is not merely human achievement but a gift from YHWH. The text underscores that while material inheritance comes from fathers, true spiritual and relational wealth—especially in marriage and parenting—are special displays of God’s sovereign grace in the cultivation of godly character. It calls for diligent, joyful labor as an act of worship, rejecting laziness not only as personal failure but as a corrosive force that undermines the entire household. Ultimately, the devotional affirms that the health of the family rests not on human effort alone, but on divine provision: grace, and the faithful application of biblical wisdom in every relationship and responsibility.

The Accidental Evangelist [Family Worship lesson in Jonah 1:1–16]

What is the book of Jonah about? Jonah 1:1–16 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these sixteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the book of Jonah is about the sovereign Savior of sinners from all nations.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2025.11.22 Hopewell @Home ▫ Jonah 1:1–16

Read Jonah 1:1–16

Questions from the Scripture text: What came to whom in Jonah 1:1? Where did He tell him to go (Jonah 1:2)? To do what? Why? But where did Jonah intend to do instead (Jonah 1:3)? From where? How did he begin to make his way there? To flee from what/where? Who did what in Jonah 1:4? To what effect? Who responded how (Jonah 1:5)? To whom did each man cry? What measures did they take? But what was Jonah doing? Who confronts him (Jonah 1:6)? What does he tell him to do? What idea do the sailors come up with in Jonah 1:7? To whom does the lot fall? What do thy ask him (Jonah 1:8)? How does he answer (Jonah 1:9)? What effect does hearing about the nature of YHWH have upon them (Jonah 1:10)? What had he previously told them? What do they now want to know (Jonah 1:11)? Why? What does he say (Jonah 1:12)? What does he know? What do the men try to do instead (Jonah 1:13)? To whom do they now cry (Jonah 1:14)? For what do thy ask forgiveness? What do they do (Jonah 1:15)? With what result? How do the men now respond (Jonah 1:16)? 

Who is the book of Jonah about? Jonah 1:1–16 looks forward to the morning sermon in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these sixteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the book of Jonah is about the sovereign Savior of sinners from all nations.

The atheistic evangelist, Jonah 1:1-4. The Lord is taking two (innumerably more than that, actually) birds with one stone here. He is going to confront the capital city of Assyria directly with His Word. But He also exposes His prophet’s foolish atheism with that same Word. It is not that Jonah thinks that God does not exist. Rather, he is treating God as if He is not God. “from the presence of YHWH” is emphasized in Jonah 1:3 by its repetition. But Jonah 1:4 makes it clear that Jonah is not making any progress in his plan. He is no farther from YHWH’s presence than when he started! 

The accidental evangelist, Jonah 1:5-16. It is difficult to imagine, although true (Jonah 1:10b), that Jonah had told the sailors that he was running from YHWH. Then, when the storm is raging, Jonah is so at peace that he can sleep in the bottom of the ship (Jonah 1:4b). Let no one ever think that they are righteous in their choices because “they have a peace about their decision”!! The sailors must have thought rather little of Jonah’s God at that point—must be one of the lesser gods, if he can be run away from.

But as the Lord ruled over wind and sea (Jonah 1:4), and even overruled the superstitions of men (Jonah 1:7), He Himself began to declare Himself to the sailors. Then, when they ask for more info about all of this (Jonah 1:8), Jonah divulges that YHWH is God of heaven, who made not only the dry land, but even the sea (Jonah 1:9). The sailors draw the right conclusion: anyone who knew that about God, and still fled from Him, must be out of his mind (Jonah 1:10)!

Jonah mistakenly thinks that his death is now what YHWH desires (though YHWH has other plans, cf. Jonah 1:17–2:10), and explains so. The sailors try to avoid this by rowing hard to land (Jonah 1:13a), but the Lord does not permit this (verse 13b). They are forced to ask Him to hold them innocent in their action (Jonah 1:14a), and instead receive it as a committing of Jonah’s case into the Lord’s own hand (verse 14b). The Lord promptly answers by ending the storm (Jonah 1:15b), and these men, who had just been zealous worshipers of false gods from all sorts of nations (Jonah 1:5a), come to be intense worshipers of YHWH, Who has both forgiven and saved them (Jonah 1:16).

What an amazing result! The Hebrew versification rightly ends the chapter here. Before the Lord ever brought Jonah to Nineveh, He had used him to bring a ship full of sailors to “fer YHWH exceedingly, and offer a sacrifice to YHWH, taking vows to Him” (Jonah 1:16). Truly, He is the Lord of creation and providence, but even more so, the Lord Who saves sinners at His sovereign pleasure. How sad that Jonah had to be an unwilling, resistant participant in this. Indeed, he knew that the Lord is like this (cf. Jonah 3:10–4:2), but so rebelled in his heart as to be this accidental evangelist. God keep it from being so with you, dear reader.

When have you acted as if you could flee from the Lord’s presence? How are you living in the awareness that the Lord is the God Who is pleased to save sinners in sovereign power? Whom are you intentionally praying and laboring to see saved? Or, if the Lord is using you and your life to save someone, will it certainly be an accident?

Sample prayer:  Lord, forgive us for how we have acted as if we could actually flee from Your presence. And forgive us for being so nonchalant about You, and even about disobeying You, that unbelievers would conclude that our God must not be so glorious and great after all. Forgive us, and make us those whose actions display that our God is, indeed, the Lord of heaven, the Creator of the seas and dry land, and the hearer and forgiver of sinners who call upon Him through faith in His Word. Indeed, be that God unto us, in Christ, we ask in His Name, AMEN!

 Suggested Songs: ARP32AB “What Blessedness” or TPH98A “O Sing a New Song to the Lord”

Is Predestination Fair? [Family Worship lesson in Romans 9:14–18]

Is it unrighteous of God to make the difference between the saved and the unsaved? Romans 9:14–18 prepares us for the sermon in the midweek prayer meeting. In these five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that it is merciful of God to save from among sinners who all deserve to be hardened. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2025.11.21 Hopewell @Home ▫ Romans 9:14–18

Read Romans 9:14–18

Questions from the Scripture text: With what question does Romans 9:14 begin? What have some apparently said/asked? How does the apostle answer? To whom has God spoken (Romans 9:15)? What does He say that He will have? Upon whom? What else does He say that He will have? Upon whom? Of what two types people is the difference not produced (Romans 9:16)? Who produces it? What does He show? What speaks to whom in Romans 9:17? What does God say that He has done? In order to show what? And so that what else will happen, where? Upon whom does He have mercy? Whom does He harden?

Is it unrighteous of God to make the difference between the saved and the unsaved? Romans 9:14–18 prepares us for the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that it is merciful of God to save from among sinners who all deserve to be hardened. 

The opposite of unrighteousness. Notice how the apostle deals with the question (Romans 9:14) of whether there is unrighteousness with God. He does not reason about whether he thinks God is righteous. That would be to make ourselves the judges of God. Anyone who thinks or speaks this way shows themselves to be impious and arrogant and self-condemned. Instead, the apostle takes God at His own Word. What does God say about God? God says that He is merciful and compassionate (Romans 9:15)! 

This is what makes the difference between the elect and the reprobate: the mercy of God. If there had been any injustice, it would have been on account of not destroying the elect in their sin. But, the apostle has already told us the way by which the Lord could show mercy and be just at the same time (cf. Romans 3:24–26).

God makes a merciful difference. So, Romans 9:16 goes on to restate the point that neither Rebecca and Isaac’s will, nor Jacob and Esau’s running, was what made the difference. What made the difference? God Himself did! When Romans 9:11 said this, it referred to Him as “Him who calls.” Now, Romans 9:16 refers to the difference-making God as “God Who shows mercy.” 

He is a just God, but apart from mercy, that justice would give to all men equally. Apart from mercy, God’s justice would rightly give all men wrath, would give all men Hell. It is His mercy that has intervened.

God rightly does harden. Though the great difference-maker is mercy and compassion, it is not wrong for God to show His power and declare His Name by the judgment of His enemies. This He declared to Pharaoh, which He put in writing for our sakes (Romans 9:17). Pharaoh is a sinner, and it is absolutely right for God to be glorified upon him. 

The will of God is exercised in both cases in Romans 9:18: both in the showing of mercy and the hardening. But notice that the latter is “hardening.” God does not make them wicked. Rather, He hardens them in wickedness. They are already wicked. God justly hardened, solidified, Pharaoh in being what he already was.

Is there unrighteousness with God? No! NO! NO!! There is mercy with God! Mercy to sinners! Mercy to sinners that He would have been right to harden in their sin. Mercy unto whomever He wills. Free mercy, motivated by His mere good pleasure. Each of us ought to know, before God, that He would have been right to harden me, but instead He has shown me mercy, simply because He wanted to!

What do you deserve? What is the only way that this wouldn’t happen? What does God show, when He makes the difference between the unsaved and the saved?

Sample prayer:  Lord, we thank you for making the difference for us. Truly, You are just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus Christ. Grant unto us to be Yours in Him, and conformed to Him, by Your Spirit. We confess that we deserve to be hardened, but we bless Your Name for Your free mercy toward us in Jesus Christ, through Whom we pray, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP130 “Lord, From the Depths to You I Cried” or TPH425 “How Sweet and Awesome Is the Place”

What Determines Who Believes? [Family Worship lesson in Romans 9:10–13]

What determines who gets saved? Romans 9:10–13 prepares us for the sermon in the midweek prayer meeting. In these four verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God’s loving choice is what determines who gets saved. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2025.11.20 Hopewell @Home ▫ Romans 9:10–13

Read Romans 9:10–13

Questions from the Scripture text: How does Romans 9:10 convey the idea that this is a new part of the reasoning? Who conceived? By how many fathers? Whose father? What hadn’t happened to the children (Romans 9:11)? What hadn’t they done? What was the cause, then—that what should stand? According to what had God purposed? What does not bring about that purpose? What does bring about that purpose? What promise was made to whom (Romans 9:12)? What does Malachi record about that promise (Romans 9:13)?

What determines who gets saved? Romans 9:10–13 prepares us for the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these four verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God’s loving choice is what determines who gets saved. 

Who doesn’t determine who will believe in Christ. In Romans 9:6-9, the Spirit taught us that there is a distinction between the visible church and the invisible church, between those who are children of the flesh and those who are children of God. The invisible church, the children of God, are those who have their adoption through faith in the promised Seed, Jesus Christ.

But that prompts another question: how is it that some who are in the church come to believe in Jesus Christ, when there are many in the church who never believe? 

Romans 9:10 quickly dismisses the idea that the difference is determined by the parents. Esau and Jacob not only had the same father, but the same mother, coming into the world in the same season of their lives. 

And Romans 9:11 quickly dismisses the idea that the difference is determined by the children. The children weren’t even born yet. They had done nothing, either one way or the other, to distinguish one from the other.

Who does determine who will believe in Christ. So, if it wasn’t due to the parents, or due to the children, then who? “that the purpose of God according to election might stand.” Election is first: God setting His love upon some. Then came a purpose according to that election: to bring a Redeemer into the world, the Seed that was promised to Abraham and came through Isaac, and to bring the elect to faith in that Redeemer. 

Whenever someone comes to faith, it is because this purpose of God must stand. Notice that this purpose is according to election, not reprobation. Those who are reprobate bring wrath upon themselves, but God drives history not with an eye to His wrath but with an eye to redeeming those whom He loved from all eternity.

How the purpose is made to stand. So, how is this purpose brought about? It is not by works. By the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified (cf. Romans 3:20). Rather, God calls to faith (Romans 9:11) by the preaching of the promise, and He gives faith to those whom He calls, so that they believe Him (cf. Romans 10:14–16). 

In Malachi, God addressed wicked Jacob with a Word that would bring salvation, because of His love for him whom He would bring to faith—even though Esau/Edom had been justly hated (Romans 9:13, cf. Malachi 1:2–3), and the faith-giving promise of redemption was not preached there (cf. Romans 9:4). The Old Testament closed with a word of hope offered to a sinful people because God Himself would come in a day of salvation in which He turns hearts by the calling of His Word (cf. Malachi 4:5–6).

What opportunity do you have when you hear preaching? How is this reflected in the frequency and attentiveness with which you hear preaching? Who can make that opportunity effectual to you? How do your prayers reflect this desire?

Sample prayer:  Our gracious God and heavenly Father, we thank You that You give faith, by Your call, according to Your love. Grant unto us that faith by Your Spirit, we ask, through Christ, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP32AB “What Blessedness” or TPH426 “How Vast the Benefits Divine”

Deadly Laziness [Family Worship lesson in Proverbs 19:24]

Pastor teaches his family a selection from “the Proverb of the day.” In this verse of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that laziness is ridiculously self-destructive. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)