The Way Back from Backsliding [Family Worship lesson in Song of Songs 5:2–8]

What do the backslidden need? Song of Songs 5:2–8 prepares us for the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these seven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the backslidden need Christ’s Word, Christ’s grace, Christ’s ordinances, and the prayers of Christ’s people. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) Summary of the transcript of the audio: The devotional from Song of Songs 5:2–8 illustrates the tension between the believer’s awakened heart and the lingering lethargy of the flesh. It emphasizes that while Christians possess a new nature that longs for Christ, spiritual complacency and self-justification can lead to a state of spiritual sleep, where even the voice of the Beloved is met with excuses—inconvenient or unpleasant—against deeper communion. Christ, in His grace, does not merely knock but actively reaches through the latch of the door, symbolizing His direct, transformative work in awakening the heart, even when the response is delayed or imperfect. The passage warns of the consequences of backsliding, including the loss of spiritual assurance, the painful discipline of faithful shepherds, and the temporary removal of spiritual evidence. Yet, it ultimately points to the hope of restoration through repentance, prayer, and the intercession of the church. The call is clear: believers must resist spiritual lethargy, embrace the means of grace despite inconvenience, and actively pray for revival, both personally and corporately, so that the church may once again be filled with the presence of Christ, Whose love is both the source and the goal of all spiritual life.

2026.02.13 Hopewell @Home ▫ Song of Songs 5:2–8

Read Song of Songs 5:2–8

Questions from the Scripture text: What is the contradictory condition of the bride (Song of Songs 5:2a)? What does she hear (verse 2b)? What is He doing (verse 2c)? What does He call her (verse 2d–e)? What does He ask her to do (verse 2d)? Why (verse 2f–g)? What is her first excuse (Song of Songs 5:3a–b)? What is her second excuse (verse 3c–d)? What does the Bridegroom do in Song of Songs 5:4a–b? How does her heart now respond (verse 4c)? What does she do in Song of Songs 5:5a? To do what? What does she get on her hands and fingers (verse 5b–c)? From where (verse 5d)? What does she finally do in Song of Songs 5:6a? What does she find (verse 6b)? What failed at the memory of His words (verse 6c)? What two things does she now do (verse 6d–e)? With what results? Who find her, where (Song of Songs 5:7a)? What do they do to her (verse 7b)? In what other role (verse 7c) do they do what to her (verse 7d)? Whom, then, does she address (Song of Songs 5:8a)? What does she hope they will do (verse 8b)? What does the bride ask them to tell Him (verse 8c)?

What do the backslidden need? Song of Songs 5:2–8 prepares us for the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these seven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the backslidden need Christ’s Word, Christ’s grace, Christ’s ordinances, and the prayers of Christ’s people. 

This passage treats a similar situation to Song of Songs 3:1–5, but much worse. She is experiencing the conflict of having a new nature (the awakened heart, Song of Songs 5:2a), but being spiritually sleepy and lazy (cf. Matthew 26:40–45; Romans 13:11–14). The Lord knocks and calls, as He often does by His Word, piling up affectionate addresses to her (Song of Songs 5:2d–e), and reminding her of what He is willing to endure to be with her (verse 2f–g). But she responds with those horrible excuses that come from wayward hearts: as if it is too much trouble and unpleasantness to avail ourselves of fellowship with Christ (Song of Songs 5:3)! Blessed be Christ’s grace, He responds more directly and insistently, beginning to open the door Himself (Song of Songs 5:4a–b), with the effect that her heart is now moved (verse 4c). But, though she finds unmistakable evidence of it being He Who has done so (Song of Songs 5:5), she does not immediately find Him (Song of Songs 5:6a–b, cf. Song of Songs 3:2). This time, when the watchmen find her, they strike her until she feels the sting of their ministry (Song of Songs 5:7a–b)—possibly in faithfulness, and possibly lacking some tenderness. In their role as keepers of the walls (verse 7c), they take her wedding veil (verse 7d)… something that happens either by loss of assurance or overt discipline. So, she avails herself not only of the public ordinances represented in “about the city” in verse 7, but of the prayers of the members of the church (Song of Songs 5:8). Those who are spiritually backslidden do well to ask those church members (verse 8a) who are finding to Christ (verse 8b) to pray for them (verse 8c). O, dear reader, the Lord give you to resist spiritual slumber, and to respond immediately to all of His knocking and calling. But, when you don’t, the Lord give you His grace that moves your heart to seek Him in both: His public ordinances, and the prayers of His people.

When has the Lord awakened you, and you let the moment pass? By what means are you correcting that?

Sample prayer:  Lord, come, we pray, and knock to us and call to us by Your Word. Give us to rise and open to You. Make us to persevere until we find You. Grant that We would look for You in Your ordinances, even if we are wounded in that pursuit, and give us to avail ourselves of one another’s prayers. Make our hands to drip with the myrrh of knowing that it is You Who pursues us, we ask in Your Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP32AB “What Blessedness” or TPH51C “God, Be Merciful to Me” 

How to Live Your Blink of a Life [Family Worship lesson in Ecclesiastes 11:7–10]

How should we live our short lives? Ecclesiastes 11:7–10 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 we should spend our short lives in rejoicing and righteousness. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) Summary of the transcript of the audio: Ecclesiastes 11:7–10 presents a profound balance between joyful gratitude and sober responsibility, calling believers to embrace life’s fleeting beauty as a divine gift, while living with constant awareness of God’s coming judgment. The passage affirms that life—especially youth—is brief and transient, likened to a vapor, yet within that brevity lies the sacred duty to rejoice in God’s good gifts, from the sun’s light to daily blessings, recognizing them as expressions of His generosity. At the same time, the passage issues a solemn call to righteousness: to walk according to one’s heart and eyes, but only under the conviction that all actions will be judged by God, demanding the removal both of sorrow and of evil from one’s life. This dual command—rejoice and live righteously—forms the heart of godly wisdom, urging both children and adults to live with joyful obedience, knowing that true fulfillment comes not in self-indulgence but in God Himself. The urgency of youth’s brevity is not a reason for despair, but a lesson in the brevity of life as a whole, teaching us to steward each moment with purpose, humility, and faith in Christ.

2026.02.12 Hopewell @Home ▫ Ecclesiastes 11:7–10

Read Ecclesiastes 11:7–10

Questions from the Scripture text: What is sweet (Ecclesiastes 11:7a)? What is pleasant (verse 7b)? What might a man do (Ecclesiastes 11:8a)? With what effect upon him (verse 8b)? But what days should he remember (verse 8c)? How many will they be (verse 8d)? What is all that comes to him (i.e., in this life, verse 8e)? What should a young man do (Ecclesiastes 11:9a)? In what? What should his heart do (verse 9b)? When? What may his heart do (verse 9c)? What may his eyes do (verse 9d)? But what will the Lord do (verse 9f)? And what is the young man responsible to do (verse 9e)? Therefore, what should the young man do with his heart (Ecclesiastes 11:10a)? And with his physical body (verse 10b)? Why—what is true about his younger years (verse 10c)?

How should we live our short lives? Ecclesiastes 11:7–10 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 we should spend our short lives in rejoicing and righteousness. 

This life is so short. We might say, “like a blink.” Ecclesiastes says, “like a vapor.” And there’s a microcosm of that in our childhoods. When they are over, your younger years are a vapor, a blink. So will it be with this entire life, when it is over.

So, there are two great lessons about life as a whole, that we can learn from applying them to our youth. 

First, enjoy life while you have it: let light and sunshine be sweet to you (Ecclesiastes 11:7), enjoy each and every year that you are given (Ecclesiastes 11:8a–b), just as the young should enjoy their childhood (Ecclesiastes 11:9a–b). So the first application is “rejoicing.” 

But the second application is “righteousness.” And the second is “righteousness.” Remember how much longer your life after this world will be, than your life in it. Everything in this life is “vapor” (more literal than NKJ, “vanity,” in Ecclesiastes 11:8e), by comparison to eternity. Ecclesiastes 11:9e–f is even more pointed: live in the knowledge that your life must pass muster at God’s judgment. 

This requires regeneration, conversion. For if one is going to walk in the ways of his heart (Ecclesiastes 11:9c), and his eyes (verse 9d), but in a way that acknowledges God and His judgment (verse 9e–f), then it is obvious that he needs a new heart and new eyes!

Lets we had somehow missed the great lesson in Ecclesiastes 11:7-9 (indeed, in the whole book thus far), Ecclesiastes 11:10 winds it up very plainly and bluntly to the young: rejoice (verse 10a), and be righteous (verse 10b), because childhood and youth are a vapor (verse 10c). 

And, in a book in which the Spirit has repeatedly called our whole life under the sun a vapor, it is plain that this applies to the whole of our blink-long life under the sun: rejoice, and be righteous, because life is a vapor!

The key to both of those will come in the next passage: remember your Creator. Remembering Him is the key to rejoicing. And remembering Him is the key to living righteously. 

So, dear reader, rejoice! And be righteous! For life is a vapor.

In what phase of life are you, right now? Can you look back on a childhood that now seems like it was a vapor? Are you currently in a childhood that you need to remember is a vapor? How aware are you, in your functional, everyday living, that our entire life in this world is a vapor? How are you “remembering your Creator” in service of extracting as much joy as you can out of every moment of this blink-long life? How are you “remembering your Creator” in service of living as you will wish you had, when you enter the incomprehensibly long eternity?

Sample prayer:  Lord, forgive us for how we have wasted so much of our lives, by permitting anxiety or sadness to dominate our hearts. And, forgive us for how, in so many moments of our lives, we have not lived as we will wish we had, when we enter eternity. We thank You for Christ, Who is the most joyful Man, and Who has always made the most of the time. For His sake, forgive us. And by His life, make us to be like Him, we ask in His Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP15 “Within Your Tent, Who Will Reside” or TPH400 “Gracious Spirit, Dwell with Me”

2026.02.11 Midweek Meeting Livestream (live at 6:30p)

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Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken [2026.02.08 Evening Sermon in Song of Songs 5:1]

When the church prays what Christ has taught her to desire, He answers immediately, abundantly, and generously.

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

Against YHWH and His Christ [2026.02.08 Morning Sermon in Matthew 27:26–44]

Though all of Adam's kind resist God and His Son, the Anointed King, God saves His elect, through overwhelming power and authority. To be saved, we must yield to Him and rest upon Him.

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

Holy Signs and Seals [2026.02.08 Sabbath School in WCF 27.1—Hopewell 101]

The sacraments are sacred—consecrated by God as holy for the use of the people whom He has consecrated, apart from the world, to Himself as holy. They are signs, sensible indications of particular truths, and seals—establishing authenticity of consecration and grounding hope in what they communicate upon the veracity of God Himself.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

Give to God What Is God's [Family Worship lesson in Deuteronomy 29:22–29]

Why did Israel fail and suffer curse? Deuteronomy 29:22–29 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these eight verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Israel was cursed so that we would learn God’s hatred of sin. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) Summary of the transcript of the audio: This passage reveals God's sovereign authority over the future and His holy hatred of sin, using the judgment on the land as a lasting testimony to the consequences of covenant unfaithfulness. While the secret things belong to God alone, He graciously reveals His Word for us to do, and especially His Son for us to believe in. The emphasis on divine wrath against idolatry and rebellion underscores the seriousness of forsaking God, yet it is balanced by the profound gift of revelation—culminating in the person and work of Christ, Who bears the wrath we deserve and enables obedience through His resurrection life. The sermon calls believers to focus on what God has revealed, particularly the gospel of Jesus Christ, Who is the ultimate expression of divine revelation and the only means of true life and obedience.

2026.02.11 Hopewell @Home ▫ Deuteronomy 29:22–29

Read Deuteronomy 29:22–29

Questions from the Scripture text: Who will rise up after them (Deuteronomy 29:22)? Who will come from a far land? What will they see? Who will have done it? What will they say that the land is (Deuteronomy 29:23)? What will they say does not happen to it? Whom will they know and say has done this? Who else will speak (Deuteronomy 29:24)? What will they ask? What would people answer that Israel had forsaken (Deuteronomy 29:25)? What would the essence of this covenant-breaking have been (Deuteronomy 29:26)? How does Deuteronomy 29:27 define this in terms of God’s faithfulness? What three things characterize YHWH’s action in uprooting and exiling them (Deuteronomy 29:28)? What things belong to YHWH (Deuteronomy 29:29)? Who is YHWH to them? What things belong to them? And to whom else? For how long? For what purpose?

Why did Israel fail and suffer curse? Deuteronomy 29:22–29 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these eight verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Israel was cursed so that we would learn God’s hatred of sin.  

The secret things belong to God (Deuteronomy 29:29a). Including the fact that Israel would, indeed, forsake the covenant which YHWH was making with them on that day (Deuteronomy 29:25). “Known to God, from eternity, are all His works” (Acts 15:18). But the revealed things, belong to His people to do all the words of His law; and then, to their children after them, for the same purpose (Deuteronomy 29:29b). Israel suffered, as it did, so that following generations, and foreigners (Deuteronomy 29:22), and indeed all nations (Deuteronomy 29:24), would learn the same lesson as from Sodom and Gomorrah (Deuteronomy 29:23): that God burns against sin with all that He is… “in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation” (Deuteronomy 29:28). For, all disobedience is, at its essence, a turning from YHWH to other gods (Deuteronomy 29:26). Dear reader, don’t trouble yourself with what God has planned in His providence. Give yourself to knowing what He has revealed, so that you and your children may follow it!

What secrets of God’s providence have you wished to know? What use do you make of the Bible?

Sample prayer: Lord, forgive us for vainly inquiring into Your providence. And, forgive us for how we have not made use of Scripture; there is so much that we have not learned. And forgive us for how much we have failed to do even that which we have known from Your Word. We thank You that Christ submitted Himself, and always obeyed all of Your Word. For His sake, forgive us, and make us to be like Him, we ask in His Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP131 “My Heart Is Not Exalted, Lord” or TPH256 “God Moves in a Mysterious Way”