Jesus's Encouragement to Members and Ministers [Family Worship lesson in Matthew 13:24–43]

What is the Lord waiting for? Matthew 13:24–43 prepares us for the sermon in the morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these twenty verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Lord is patient, even with imperfections in the church, because He is determined to gather in and perfect all of the sons of His kingdom. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2024.12.21 Hopewell @Home ▫ Matthew 13:24–43

Read Matthew 13:24–43

Questions from the Scripture text: What story does Jesus now tell in Matthew 13:24-30? Where did the tares come from (Matthew 13:28a)? But who are the owner’s primary concern (Matthew 13:29)? But what is the appropriate end of the tares when that is fulfilled (Matthew 13:30)? What story does Jesus tell in Matthew 13:31-32? What is the seed like, but what is the outcome like? What story does Jesus tell in Matthew 13:33? What does the woman do to the leaven, but what is the end result? How did Jesus speak to whom (Matthew 13:34)? Why (Matthew 13:35)? Bu to whom did He speak plainly (Matthew 13:36)? Who is the Sower (Matthew 13:37)? What is the field (Matthew 13:38)? Whom does the Son of Man sow into it? Who else sows whom into it (Matthew 13:39)? What is the harvest? Who are the reapers? Whom will the Son of Man send (Matthew 13:41)? To gather what two things out of His kingdom? Where will those who practice lawlessness be cast (Matthew 13:42)? What will be the resulting effect upon those who remain (Matthew 13:43)? 

What is the Lord waiting for? Matthew 13:24–43 prepares us for the sermon in the morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these twenty verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Lord is patient, even with imperfections in the church, because He is determined to gather in and perfect all of the sons of His kingdom.  

Christians can be disappointing. And the church can be disappointing. The church certainly isn’t yet what it ought to be! The true church is often small, and apparently insignificant (Matthew 13:31-32). The visible church throughout the world is certainly full of the sons of the wicked one (Matthew 13:38). But it’s very difficult to tell them apart from the sons of the kingdom (verse 38), or to pull the one without harming the other (Matthew 13:29). But God hasn’t lost track, and things aren’t going awry. The Son of Man’s angels are at the ready, and when the growing/leavening is complete, they will do their work, leaving behind not only a 100% converted church (Matthew 13:41-42), but a 100% sanctified and glorified church (Matthew 13:43)! 

Though we may be grieved over the condition of the church, we must not be discouraged. And, let each of us take heed that we do not turn out to have been a son of the wicked one that was indistinguishable from the true wheat. To that end, may the Lord by His Spirit, give us ears to hear; and, may He give us to use them!

When have you been discouraged about the condition of the visible church? But what is the Lord doing right now? And what is the Lord waiting for? And what will He have done, when the end comes?

Sample prayer:  Lord, thank You for how You are planting Your church throughout the world. Help us not to be false sons within the kingdom, and grant that we would not be discouraged by how many of them there are. Instead, grant that we would joyously anticipate the day when the whole church will shine forth as the sun, and make us to pursue that in our own lives, with all our hearts, we ask through Christ, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP98 “O Sing a New Song to the Lord” or TPH552 “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come” 

The Husband Who Delivers His Bride [Family Worship lesson in Numbers 30]

How much weight does God give to fatherhood and a husband’s authority in marriage? Numbers 30 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these sixteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God’s statutes about vows and oaths display the great weightiness of the authority of fathers and husbands.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2024.12.20 Hopewell @Home ▫ Numbers 30

Read Numbers 30

Questions from the Scripture text: To whom does Moses speak (Numbers 30:1)? Whom does he say has commanded this? What situation is He addressing (Numbers 30:2)? What must the man who makes a vow or oath not do (verse 2)? What must he do? Who else might make one (Numbers 30:3)? At what time? Who might hear it (Numbers 30:4)? What might he do? And what happens with her vows then? But what else might he do (Numbers 30:5)? And what happens to her vows? Who releases her? Why? What new circumstance does Numbers 30:6 consider? What might she have made? But who now hears it (Numbers 30:7)? What might he not do? And what happens to the vows then? But what else might her husband do (Numbers 30:8)? What happens to the vow then? Who releases her? What other circumstances might there be (Numbers 30:9)? And what happens to a woman’s vows then? What new situation does Numbers 30:10 now address? What might her husband not do (Numbers 30:11)? What happens to her vow then? But what might her husband do (Numbers 30:12)? What happens to her vow then? Why? Who releases her? How does Numbers 30:13 summarize this? How do Numbers 30:14-15 restate it? And what title does Numbers 30:16 give these statutes? 

How much weight does God give to fatherhood and a husband’s authority in marriage? Numbers 30 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these sixteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God’s statutes about vows and oaths display the great weightiness of the authority of fathers and husbands.

Vows and oaths. It is common now to use “vow” and “oath” interchangeably, but the language in WCF 22.1, 5 comes from the Scripture. A vow is “unto YHWH” (Numbers 30:2a), and an oath is sworn “to bind himself by some agreement” (i.e. between two or more people, verse 2b).  The principle, in both cases, is that YHWH is the ultimate enforcer of these promises, whether to Him or others. From the rest of the passage, we see a vow is something to which YHWH binds, or from which YHWH may release (Numbers 30:5, Numbers 30:8, Numbers 30:12).

Honoring fathers. Considering the language of being bound (in twelve out of the sixteen verses!), and the language of  “standing against” (Numbers 30:9), “afflict her soul” (Numbers 30:13), and “bear her guilt” (Numbers 30:15), we see just how seriously the Lord takes a sworn vow (even if it is made rashly, Numbers 30:6). So, it is against this backdrop that we can see how much weight God gives the authority of fathers over daughters. A father can overrule his daughter’s vow or oath (Numbers 30:5), and YHWH Himself will release her! A binding word that was an act of worship, the Lord permits to be taken back for the sake of a father’s honor from his daughter. How very opposite this is from the view of the honor of a father taken by the religious leaders of Jesus’s day (cf. Matthew 15:3–9)! 

Honoring husbands. Now, considering the honor given to a father, we are prepared to see the even greater (!) honor given to a husband. For, Numbers 30:10 relates to vows while made in her husband’s house, making it even clearer that Numbers 30:6 is addressing vows that had been made in her father’s house. And, despite the great weightiness of a father’s authority that Numbers 30:4-5 establish, if she marries (Numbers 30:6), her husband can now override even the former authority of her father (Numbers 30:8). Your author’s culture, and indeed church culture, has certainly strayed far from Holy Scripture’s own view of the weightiness of a husband’s authority.

Widowed, divorced, single. Numbers 30:9 shows what a great loss is the widowhood of a woman who had a godly husband. She no longer has the spiritual protection that his authority offered from vows that were foolish or wrong. And it shows what a dreadful circumstance divorce is, bringing a woman into a sort of widowhood. Interestingly, this Scripture has no category for a woman who leaves her father’s house but not to become a wife in another house. Following the logic of the passage, such would be voluntary orphanhood. One wonders how biblical is the worldview of a society in which many young ladies choose this, and many fathers even encourage it.

Passive husbands. Finally, something must be said about the dim view that Numbers 30:14 takes of the passive husband. The Hebrew doubling of the verb for being silent, and the added effect of “from day unto day” in verse 14, draws a picture of a man who knows that his wife’s action will bring her soul low (Numbers 30:13); but, he lacks either the courage or the diligence to say something about it, and eventually as time passes, it becomes too late for him to do anything about it. A passive (or wicked) husband makes his wife a widow in his own home! Such is not the husband that Christ is to the church, having the affection and strength and zeal to speak and do what is right, even (and especially) when He must cross our wills to do so. He is the husband who, when we had sinned away our souls in our first father’s house, He betrothed us to Himself, bearing the brunt of what we had done to ourselves, to restore us as His bride. What a Husband Christ is to the church! And He has brought us into the Father’s house, that we might also enjoy adoption as God’s children.

What vows have you made to God? What oaths have you promised to men? How are you living out and acting upon these commitments? What is your role in your family? How do the responsibilities and duties of this passage apply to you? How has God been both perfect Father and perfect husband to you?

Sample prayer:  Our Father in heaven, thank You for adopting us as Your children, and bringing us into the blessedness of being under Your authority. Lord Jesus, thank You for betrothing us to Yourself as members of Your bride, Your body. Holy Spirit, thank You for ministering to us our adoption and our union with Christ. Grant that we would honor and take seriously fatherhood and marriage in our own households. And make us keepers of our vows and oaths, we ask through Christ, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP45B “Daughter, Incline Your Ear” or TPH128B “Blest the Man Who Fears Jehovah” 

Lifesaving Instruction [2024.12.18 Midweek Sermon in Proverbs 7]

To keep from self-destruction, we must internalize and apply biblical instruction

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

Jesus's Urgent Message to Every Church [Family Worship lesson in Revelation 1:19–2:7]

What is Jesus looking for in a church? Revelation 1:19–2:7 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these nine verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Jesus knows our works, and wants us to persist in loving Him by them. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2024.12.19 Hopewell @Home ▫ Revelation 1:19–2:7

Read Revelation 1:19–2:7

Questions from the Scripture text: What things does the Lord first tell John to write about (Revelation 1:19)? And what other things? And what other things? What mystery does the Lord then explain to John (Revelation 1:120)? What are the seven stars? What are the seven lampstands? To whom is John to do what (Revelation 2:1)? By what two things is he to identify Jesus? What ten good things does the Lord know about them (Revelation 2:2-3, Revelation 2:6)? Against the backdrop of all of these things, how many does He have against them (Revelation 2:4)? Which one? What must they now do (Revelation 2:5)? And do what works? Upon threat of what discipline? And to which individuals does He say to do what (Revelation 2:7)? Whom does Jesus say is speaking, as He dictates to John what to write? What type of individual will be rewarded? With what reward? From where? 

What is Jesus looking for in a church? Revelation 1:19–2:7 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these nine verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Jesus knows our works, and wants us to persist in loving Him by them.

There are three things that the Lord tells John to write about: things he had already seen, things that were at the time, and things that were still future at the time. Two of these are most certainly in the past now, and the third category includes things also that are now past. Taken together, past events have a large “part” in Revelation’s own partial preterist view of itself (the view that many events in Revelation are from the past). But this does not make Revelation less applicable today. Although the letter in our passage was written to the church at Ephesus at the time, it is just as applicable to every church in every age as all of the other letters to specific churches in the New Testament. When Jesus gives His apostle to write to one church, it is “the Spirit” speaking “to the churches” (Revelation 2:7)—all of the churches. And it is especially for those to whom the Spirit has given hearing ears.

But, more importantly than when it is that John is seeing, we must remember Whom it is that John is seeing, even as these instructions are received: the Lord Jesus. What he sees among the “things that are” is the One Who is among the seven churches/lampstands (Revelation 1:20), even as He begins to dictate letters to those very churches/lampstands (Revelation 2:1). This is how He is identified to the church at Ephesus: Jesus, Who has been revealed as divinely glorious is now revealed as personally, vigorously active in the churches on earth.

What an incentive this is to faithfulness in the church! Jesus knows every good quality of every church (He produced them by His grace!). Indeed, even though He is about to confront and warn them about a severe flaw, He combines that confrontation with a slew of commendations. Would you like for your church to be commendable? Don’t shoot for the things that appear in online reviews, or that disgruntled members say they are looking for as they move on to the next congregation. Pursue things that Jesus commends: good works (Revelation 2:2), labor/hard work (verse 2), endurance (verse 2), intolerance of the unrepentant (verse 2), rejection of false teaching (verse 2), perseverance (Revelation 2:3), patience (verse 3), laboring for Christ’s Name (verse 3), refusing to grow weary (verse 3, cf. Galatians 6:9), and hating the works that Jesus hates (Revelation 2:6; the Nicolaitans taught that Christians’ immorality and idolatry were no longer sinful!). 

But despite all of these things to commend about the church at Ephesus, the Lord is warning them that He’s about to take away their lampstand (Revelation 2:5b)—to remove His high-priestly presence from them, making them no true church at all! What could be so bad as to negate all of those other qualities? They have left their first love (Revelation 2:4)! Revelation 2:5 clarifies what this means: they have left their first works. We know what those were: three years of night-and-day attendance upon the ministry of the Word in public and from house to house (cf. Acts 19:8–10, Acts 20:17, Acts 20:20, Acts 20:31). Those who love the Lord Jesus love the ministry of the Word of the Lord Jesus, Who has the seven stars (the preachers) in His hands.

What should the church do if its love has grown cold? What should we do, if we are no longer zealous for attending upon Christ in the ministry of the Word? Repent (twice in Revelation 2:5), and do those works again. This is exactly opposite the mind that scuttles the evening worship for small groups, because the service is poorly attended. 

But even if a church is not repenting, individuals may yet be spared. Revelation 2:7 urges these individuals to overcome, to endure. Even if the church corporately displays lack of appetite, the faithful believer’s appetite will soon be satisfied in the Paradise of God. Dear reader, may the Lord give your church, and your own heart and life, to repent of any love the grows cold.

How would your love be evaluated by comparison to that which the Ephesians had at first? In which of the ten commendations would the Lord commend your church? In which would it need to repent? How are you an example of an individual that is overcoming/enduring in your own first love?

Sample prayer:  Lord, thank You for Your glorious ministry as our Prophet, Priest, and King. We marvel that You are pleased with us for those things that Your own grace has produced. But we are convicted by Your warning to the church at Ephesus. Where they had fallen from the works that they did at first, we are not sure whether we have ever done those works in the first place. Forgive us this sin, and continue unto us the lampstand of Your priestly presence and the ministry of the messenger in Your right hand. Grant that, out of sincere and affectionate love for You, we would love Your Word and devote ourselves to hearing it, heeding, and doing it. For Your own glory, restore us, we ask in Your Name, AMEN!

 Suggested songs: ARP51B “From My Sins, O Hide Your Face” or TPH413 “Revive Thy Work, O Lord”

2024.12.18 Midweek Meeting Livestream (Live at 6:30p)

Click below for the:

December 18 Prayer Meeting Folder

Proverbs 7 sermon outline

We urge you to assemble physically, if possible, with a true congregation of Christ's church. For those of our own congregation who may be providentially hindered, we are grateful to be able to provide this service.

IF you are unable to get the stream to work, or simply wish to save on data, you can listen in simply by calling 712.432.3410 and entering 70150 at the prompt.

Each week we livestream the Lord's Day (Sabbath School, Morning Public Worship, and p.m. Singing and Sermon) and Midweek Meeting (sermon and prayer). For notifications when Hopewell is streaming live, install the CHURCHONE APP on your [Apple], [Android], or [Kindle] device, and enter hopewellarp for your broadcaster.

The Lord of the Lord’s Day, His Weekly Super-Feast [2024.12.15 Evening Sermon in Numbers 28:11–29:40]

Just as Israel had an annual calendar that pointed them to their God, so the church's lack of an annual calendar points us to Jesus being this very God.

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

Being Wheat in Churches Riddled with Tares [2024.12.15 Morning Sermon in Matthew 13:24–43]

The Lord Jesus prepares believers and ministers for the church in this age, which will always have many unbelievers and immature believers in it.

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