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
Read Ecclesiastes 5:1–17
Questions from the Scripture text: ###
###? Ecclesiastes 5:1–7 looks forward to the call to worship in public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these seven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that ###.
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questions
Sample prayer: ###
Suggested Songs: ARP90B “O Teach Us How To Count Our Days” or TPH212 “Come, Thou Almighty King"
Read Proverbs 17:16–20
Questions from the Scripture text: What does the fool have the opportunity to obtain (Proverbs 17:16a)? Then why doesn’t he (verse 16b)? When does a friend love (Proverbs 17:17a)? For what times is a brother particularly born (verse 17b)? What does it show about a man if he pledges himself as another’s surety (Proverbs 17:18)? What does a man who loves transgression actually love (Proverbs 17:19a)? What is a man seeking if he exalts his gate (verse 19b)? What can’t the crooked-hearted one find (Proverbs 17:20a)? Into what does the crooked-tongued one fall (verse 20b)?
Why isn’t love enough? Proverbs 17:16–20 looks forward to the midweek sermon. In these five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that love, without wisdom, isn’t even loving.
This section is the second of three that are introduced by a “fool” saying (Proverbs 17:10, Proverbs 17:16, Proverbs 17:21). In this case, the section diagnoses the various problems with the heart of a fool. He has an unteachable heart (Proverbs 17:16), an incompetent heart (Proverbs 17:17-18), and a crooked heart (Proverbs 17:19-20).
The unteachable heart has the opportunity to learn wisdom, represented in the “purchase price” of Proverbs 17:16a. But he has no heart to receive, accept, submit to, or apply the teaching. The defect is not in his access but in his attitude.
The incompetent heart wishes to be that loving friend, who helps in affliction (Proverbs 17:17), but he is literally “lacking heart” (Proverbs 17:18a, where NKJ says ‘understanding,’ the word is ‘heart.’). He doesn’t understand that it is not loving to become surety for someone who is not able to be surety for himself. If it is foolish to give him what he needs, then it is foolish to become guarantor for him to borrow it. But many hearts that are easily moved are unlovingly incompetent.
Finally, the crooked heart may think that it “loves,” but what it actually loves is transgression, which means that strife is its inevitable outcome. He exalts his own door over his neighbor’s (Proverbs 17:19b), which is a path not to strength in adversity but destruction in peacetime. His is that crooked (more literal than NKJ’s ‘deceitful’ in Proverbs 17:20a) heart which flatters itself that it is seeking good, but it doesn’t find that good. What it is actually seeking is destruction (Proverbs 17:19b), and it falls into evil (Proverbs 17:20b)—not just immorality, but harm.
We live in a world where people say things like “love is enough,” and “why can’t we all just love?” But love is not enough. Without wisdom, without the fear of the Lord, love isn’t even love.
What is a situation where you have been tempted to “love” in a way that this passage says isn’t loving?
Sample prayer: Lord, thank You both for loving us, and for teaching us the pitfalls of “loving” foolishly. Please give us the fear of You that is the beginning of wisdom, and make our hearts to be teachable, skilled, and sincere, so that our love will be genuinely loving, we ask through Christ, AMEN!
Suggested Songs: ARP14 “Within His Heart the Fool Speaks” or TPH400 “Gracious Spirit, Dwell with Me”
Read Matthew 22:41–46
Questions from the Scripture text: Who were still gathered together (v41, cf. v34b)? What did Jesus do? About Whom did He ask them (v42)? What, specifically, did He ask about the Christ? What did they answer? But, then, about whose words does Jesus ask them (v43)? What point does He make about the conditions in which Jesus asked them this? What does it imply about the quality of David’s words that he spoke “in the Spirit”? What did David call the Christ, when he spoke this way? To Whom does David say that YHWH spoke (v44a, cf. Ps 110:1)? What did He tell David’s Lord, to do (v44b)? Where? What did He say that He would do for David (v44c)? What does Jesus then ask about the Christ (v45)? Who could answer (v46)? What did they no longer do?
For what should we come to Jesus? Matthew 22:41–46 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these six verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that we should come to Jesus to, among other things, learn from Jesus about Jesus.
These Pharisees hated hearing Jesus called “Son of David” (cf. 12:23–24; 21:15–16), but He had been called that by many (cf. 9:27ff; 15:22; 20:30–31).
So, while it is obvious that Jesus is asking about Himself (v42), He asks it in a way that invites them to act like the experts that they thought that they were—and which expertise, they thought, precluded the idea that Jesus is the Son of David.
But they don’t know as much about the Christ as they thought. Isn’t it often the case with us that, in some familiar Scripture, the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see some glory of Christ that we had never before seen? Here, Jesus is making a point about Himself that they have never noticed about the Christ. He’s not just David’s son; He’s David’s Lord. To put it in Jesus’s words from Rev 22:16, He is not only the Offspring of David; He’s also the Root of David.
The rhetorical question “How?” (v43, 45) has a marvelous answer: although He became the Son of David according to the flesh by becoming a man and being born of Mary, from all eternity He has been the Son of God (as He demonstrated, by His Spirit, in His resurrection from the dead, cf. Rom 1:3–4). Ps 110:1 teaches not only the divine nature and personhood of the Son but the multi-personhood of God. The doctrines of Christ and of the Trinity are full of the riches of God that we learn in the gospel of Christ.
This “how” question can led us into other glories about Christ. How does He make us the righteousness of God (2Cor 5:21)? By taking on our nature, then uniting us to Himself by faith. How can He do this justifying, even though we are sinners? By being a propitiation (wrath-bearer-and-eliminator) for us (cf. Rom 3:21–26).
They should have been coming to Christ to learn from Him, rather than to test Him to see if they would accept Him (or even with the purpose of rejecting Him). If they had come to Him to learn from Him, what glories they might have discovered! And what a glorious salvation they might have obtained. And perhaps some did. For their mouths were shut (v46), and this is, in one way, the beginning of coming to faith (cf. Rom 3:19).
Dear reader, come to Jesus to be a learner about Jesus, that you may be a believer in Jesus and a worshiper of Jesus.
What are some of the most precious truths you know about Jesus? Why? Where/how do you expect to learn more wonderful truth about Jesus? With what attitude should you be coming to Scripture in order to learn these truths? What difference does it make for you that Jesus is God?
Sample prayer: Lord Jesus, we praise You as our Lord and our God. We hope in You, Who are almighty to save us. We are glad to learn from You. Please keep teaching us about Yourself, we ask in Your own divine Name, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP110B “The LORD Has Spoken to My Lord” or TPH268 “Of the Father’s Love Begotten”
Read Deuteronomy 7:17–26
Questions from the Scripture text: Where might they speak (v17)? What might they say? What does v18 command against this? In order to counter their fear, what should they remember (v18b–19a)? What are they to conclude about the future situation (v19b)? Even whom will He destroy, in what way (v20)? What command does v21 repeat? What ground does it now give for their courage? How quickly will YHWH drive out those nations (v22)? Why? How completely will He do so (v23)? How powerfully (v24)? But what must they do (v25)? And not do? Why not? What will happen if they don’t heed this? So what must they do to the abominations?
Why mustn’t we fear? Deuteronomy 7:17–26 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these ten verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that fear is the enemy of faith and obedience, but confidence in YHWH is their friend.
Moses continues to warn them against idolatry. Apparently, one of the things that can keep us from the fierce struggle required to exterminate idolatry is fear. So, v18 warns not to fear; v19 assures them of YHWH’s elimination of those whom they fear; and v21, again, commands them not to fear.
How are they to combat fear?
Remember YHWH’s past acts of power and salvation, which are themselves signs (v19a). And has not the Lord done greater, now, in the incarnation, death, resurrection, ascension, and enthronement of Christ? Keep these in mind, that you might not fear in your efforts in the Christian life.
Remember YHWH’s promise to do the same in the future (v19b). Those whom He justified, He also glorified (Rom 8:30).
Remember YHWH’s sovereign control over all things; even the hornets are under His command (v20). There is not aa creature, not circumstance, not a molecule in all creation, except that He is working it unto the end of your inheriting with Christ (cf. Eph 1:11).
Remember YHWH’s covenant presence: He is their God, He is the great God, and He is among them (v21). He has come to be with us in His Son, by His Spirit (cf. Gal 4:4–6), and He is with us always, even to the end of the age (cf. Mt 28:18–20).
Remember YHWH’s compassion; He knows their frame, and so He will destroy the enemy according to pacing that takes everything about their abilities and their circumstances into account (v22). He understands your weakness better than you do. And He has anticipated every difficulty and every danger in your life.
Remember YHWH’s faithfulness; He will persist in the work that He has begun until it is completed (v23). He Who has begun the good work will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus (cf. Php 1:6).
Remember YHWH’s power; no one can stand against Him (v24). He that is in you is greater than He that is in the world (cf. 1Jn 4:4).
There is, however, one thing to fear. Sinning. In particular, idolatry. Don’t try to benefit from it or adapt it for your own purposes even a little bit. They were not to try to recover even the silver or gold from the idols (v25). Anything associated with it, they were to hate because God Himself abominates it (v26). We must be ruthless with all sin, and especially with idolatry. Whatever the Lord abominates, we must “utterly detest” and “utterly abhor,” lest we be doomed to destruction with those things that God must surely destroy. No detestable thing can enter glory (cf. Rev 21:27).
What should you be ruthlessly destroying? What struggles/battles may feel too fierce for you? How are you going about remembering YHWH’s salvation, promises, sovereignty, presence, compassion, faithfulness, and power? What are some examples of manmade worship that must be completely eradicated as an accursed thing?
Sample prayer: Lord, we thank You and praise You for Your sovereign and merciful work in saving us. Give us never to fear defeat, and always to hate idolatry. Make us to destroy every last remaining vestige of it from our life. Thus, grant us to come into the full inheritance that You have lovingly determined for us, we ask through Christ, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP24 “The Earth and the Riches” or TPH434 “A Debtor to Mercy Alone”
Read Revelation 22:6–11
Questions from the Scripture text: What does the angel say about his words in v6? How did he come to be the one who was showing this to John? When must these things happen? Who is now speaking in v7? How do you know? What is He doing? At what speed? What must the blessed one keep? Which words? What two things does John refer to experiencing at the beginning of v8? How does he respond to them? But whose feet do they turn out to be? What does the angel say in response (v9)? What three groups of servants does he identify? What does he say to do instead? What does he tell John not to do (v10)? Why not? What will happen to people, in which four conditions, upon the return of Christ (v11)?
What is the Lord Jesus doing right now? Revelation 22:6–11 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word read in the public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these six verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Lord Jesus is doing everything necessary for His soon return, and urging us to respond to His Bible in repentance and faith.
Having climaxed the book—and the entire Bible—with the glorious end of all things in v1–5, the book winds down with a strong appeal to readers and hearers, centering on three statements that Christ is coming quickly (v7, 12, 20). In this section, Jesus emphasizes the necessity of keeping the words of the book, because of the finality of one’s condition upon the return of Christ.
The angel asserts that the words that he is giving John are faithful and true (v6). But then John hears a different voice, the voice of Jesus Himself, in v7. We know this because of the use of the first person “I,” and because of John’s response in falling down to worship. He has done this before in 19:10, but this seems to be more understandable, due to the change in the voice and the brightness of the vision that is brighter than the sun. Blinded by light, and going by his hearing, John concluded that it was Jesus Who was in front of him.
There are two wonderful things about glory here. The first is the zeal of Christ in hastening it. We are impatient, and so small-minded, that we cannot see what Jesus communicates with the present participle in v7. He is diligently doing everything to come. His coming includes not just His physical return, but the gathering of all of His elect. The second wonderful thing is the brilliance of the glory into which His coming brings us. Even the vision of it blinded John; how great will the reality of it be! What comfort and joy we should get from our Redeemer’s zealous work to bring us to such a glorious conclusion!
So, we must heed Him Who is doing all of His work with such zeal and diligence to hasten this end. For, He has also given us our part in the preparations: “Keep the words of the prophecy of this book” (v7). That is how the angel describes the elect, who are the third group of servants (together with him, and with John and the other Bible-writers, whose spirits are governed by God, v6): the elect are “those who keep the words of this book” (v9).
Here is a magnificent vision, but the vision itself does not commend to us ecstatic or mystical experiences of Christ. Jesus Himself, instead, emphasizes words on pages. We are not to hope for new words immediately given by the Spirit, or heed what He gives us to feel, or what He “lays upon someone’s heart” (cf. Ezek 13:2–3!). Even in this most glorious and true of visions, Jesus commends to us the words on the pages of the Bible. The words of the Bible are the very words of God, and our part in being prepared for our departure from this world, or for the coming of Christ, is to keep the words on the pages of the Bible.
Jesus’s quickness about His own work is paired with an urgency for us to keep the words of the book. Daniel was told to seal up the words of his prophecy, because acting upon it belonged to future generations (cf. Dan 8:26, 12:4). John is told exactly the opposite. He was not to seal up this book, because every generation since his has needed to act upon this book immediately (v10). When we depart this world, or when Christ returns, everything will be set for eternity. Whether we are still unrighteous before God and filthy before God, or whether we have been made righteous in Christ and consecrated as holy in Him, in whichever condition we are found at the end of our life in this world, in that condition we will find ourselves for all eternity (v11)! Keep the words of this book; repent and believe into Jesus Christ
How does your perception need to change in order to see Jesus as “coming quickly” already? What would you say to someone who emphasizes immediate revelation over the words of the Bible? If you died today, or Jesus returned today, in what condition would you remain for all eternity?
Sample prayer: Lord, forgive us for failing to see how diligently and zealously the Lord Jesus hastens to bring us into glory. And forgive us for not being urgent with ourselves and others about the condition of our souls. Grant that we would keep the words of the Bible, we ask through Christ, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP32AB “What Blessedness” or TPH389 “Great God, What Do I See and Hear”