by HARVEYOPP | Jun 14, 2016 | Scott Henry
“Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands! Serve the LORD with gladness; come before His presence with singing. Know that the LORD, He is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations” (Psalm 100).
A mark of a true believer is that he delights in the worship of God. What about you? Do you wake up on Sunday morning rejoicing to gather with the church to praise your blessed Redeemer, or is it a burden to you? Would you rather stay home and sleep or go to the ballgame on Sunday morning? What about you young people? What do you think when Mom or Dad wakes you up and says, “Get up and get ready for worship”? Would you rather be at the shopping mall or home watching TV? Do you rejoice or do you mumble and groan when you hear the word church?
You see, how we respond to worship on the Lord’s Day reveals what is truly going on in our soul. And if we would rather be some other place when the church gathers together for public worship then we reveal, at worst, an unbelieving heart, and at best, a heart of a spiritual infant. Every Sunday morning, we ought to sing these words: “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.” We ought to delight to “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.”
By God’s grace, Word, and Spirit, believers are those being conformed into the image of Jesus Christ. Was Jesus ever burdened by worship? Was He ever burdened to hear the Word of God? NEVER! Therefore, as believers, we ought to delight in the worship of God by hearing the reading, teaching, and preaching of His Word on the Lord’s Day. Parents, you must teach this to your children. They must learn at an early age what a great joy and wonderful privilege it is to worship with a church that faithfully stands on the truth of Scripture. However, if parents don’t rejoice to gather for God’s worship on the Lord’s Day then neither will their children. Parents, you must teach your children to cultivate a spirit of worship for the true and living God because everything in our culture, and even in the child’s own heart, will fight against it. Proverbs 22:6: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up” (Deut. 6:6-7). Fathers, this is your covenantal duty and therefore you must be sure the children of your household, whom the Lord has entrusted into your care, are properly nurtured in the straight ways of the Lord.
Today, however, there is such a famine for the preaching of God’s Word and a famine for the hearing of God’s Word. Too many preachers don’t preach the Word of God, and too many church members don’t desire to hear the Word of God preached. And yet they call themselves followers of Christ? The duty of a follower of Christ is to obey God’s Word. Jesus said in John 10: “My sheep hear my voice and they follow Me.” And they hear Christ’s voice on Sunday morning when the preacher faithfully proclaims God’s Word. Therefore, every believer has a responsibility to be in a place of worship on the Lord’s Day where the Word of God is faithfully, diligently, accurately, plainly, and zealously preached and taught in order that the sheep of Christ’s pasture, the people of His hand, might bow their necks in faithful obedience to the God who has saved their soul from the Devil, darkness, death, and damnation.
by HARVEYOPP | Jun 7, 2016 | Scott Henry
“He who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:8).
Throughout the book of 1 John the apostle is very concerned to exhort Christians to love one another — not just in word, but in action. And John has emphasized this in many different ways throughout his first epistle. For instance, 1 John 2:8-9 he calls us to love one another because love is what God commands. In chapter 3:14-15, John wrote that believers need to love one another because true love is evidence that we have been made a new creation in Christ. Love is evidence that the Spirit of God has changed us on the inside, translated us from darkness to light, and abundantly poured forth His love in hearts. Jesus said to His disciples in John 13:35: “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another as I have loved you.” The Apostle Paul said that the greatest of God’s gifts to mankind is love (1 Cor. 13:13). And the love that God pours forth in the heart of His redeemed people is seen by godly characteristics: “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails” (1 Cor. 13:4-8).
In 1 John 4:7-16, John argues that we ought to love one another because God is love, and God has demonstrated His love by giving His Son for our redemption. Therefore, if we have been adopted into the family of God, and are being conformed into the image of Jesus Christ, then we ought to love one another in the same manner that God has loved us. Yes, it’s a challenge to manifest this kind of love in the life of the church because of the struggle against old sinful thoughts, habits, and desires, but that’s exactly why the Scripture continually exhorts believers to love one another. “Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed” (Rom. 13:10-11). “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7).
by HARVEYOPP | Apr 30, 2016 | Scott Henry
“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19).
When the psalmist speaks of afflictions he is not just referring to those that are physical, but also spiritual affliction. Many are the spiritual afflictions of God’s people as we walk by faith in this godless world. We are often afflicted by temptations from without and within. And many days we are greatly afflicted in our souls by the ungodliness and utter rebellion of many people, both within and without the church; even as we read of “righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)” (2 Peter 2:7-8).
We also struggle with the affliction that takes place within our own soul from day to day as we seek to put off the old desires, habits, and affections, and strive to live according to the new man created in Christ Jesus. Nevertheless, the psalmist declares in our text that ‘the Lord delivers us out of all our afflictions!’ But it’s not so much what type of affliction we bear, but how we bear what God lays upon us in this life. And through looking to Him and pleading His grace, God brings His people into closer fellowship with Himself. And so through the afflictions of this life God causes us, in a wondrous way, to “…taste and see that He is good” (Psalm 34:8). What marvelous grace that causes affliction, both physical and spiritual, to be for our benefit.
Therefore, always remember the Lord is sufficient for all our needs. He has said in Hebrews 13:5: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” We can count on the Lord, who cannot lie (Titus 1:2), to be our constant guide. He will lead and direct us in the way of truth and down the path of righteousness by His Word. Trust Him! Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 28:20: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” The Lord will never fail us, but by His Spirit and Word He will be our constant companion, even in the deep waters that He at times calls us to go through. We read a blessed promise the Lord gives His people in Isaiah 43:1-3: “But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior…” Trust Him!
The Heidelberg Catechism says, “What is your only comfort in life and in death? That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own, but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ…” This truth is what brings comfort to the Christian … knowing that we belong to our faithful Redeemer, Jesus Christ. He is the Good Shepherd who cares for His sheep. He is worthy of our trust! TRUST HIM! Heaven and earth will pass away but His faithful Word NEVER will. Look to Him this day and always, “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). And when we diligently and dependently come before our Great Redeemer, Sovereign Defender, and Gentle Shepherd in prayer, He alone will give us the quiet mind and peaceful rest we so earnestly seek. As the Apostle Paul wrote in Phil. 4:6-7: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” What words are left to be said but TRUST HIM!
by HARVEYOPP | Mar 26, 2016 | Scott Henry
Good Friday is a day when believers remember the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. It’s a day we remember how Christ became a curse on the cross (Gal. 3:13) for all those given to Him by the Father (John 6:37) in order that through His atoning work they might receive the blessing of God. On Good Friday, we remember how Jesus suffered during His whole life on earth, how He endured the reproach of sinful men, and how He suffered the physical torture of being beaten and nailed to the cross. But the greatest of His suffering was when Jesus was forsaken by His Father.
On the cross, Jesus Christ experienced the inexpressible anguish, pains, and terror of eternal death in order that those who would believe in Him might receive everlasting life. That’s the truth behind Christ’s cry from the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46). It was at this time that Christ became a curse for sinners (Gal. 3:13) and was cast out by the Father for every sinful thought, word, and deed of all He came to redeem (Matt. 1:21). “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).
The Day of Atonement described in the Old Testament foreshadows, in great detail, the substitutionary work of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the 16th chapter of the book of Leviticus, Aaron the High Priest was commanded by God to bring two goats before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Aaron then cast lots for the goats: one for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat. The goat on which the Lord’s lot fell was presented before the Lord as a sin offering and its blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat as a symbol of cleansing from sins. But the other goat was presented alive before the Lord to make atonement upon it.
Aaron would place his hands upon the head of the goat and confess all the sins of Israel upon its head, symbolically imputing the sins of Israel to the scapegoat. The scapegoat was then sent into an uninhabited land symbolically bearing the sins of Israel upon it. The significance of the ceremony was twofold: the first goat signified the cleansing of all the sins of God’s people, and the second goat, the scapegoat, signified the truth that all the sins of the people were cast away from them and would never return. The truth behind this Old Testament ceremony is that it foreshadowed the work of Jesus Christ on behalf of His people.
Jesus was both the sin offering who cleansed His people with His blood (Heb. 9:14; Heb. 10:10), and the scapegoat upon whom the sins of His people were imputed (Rom. 5:8-11). On the cross, Jesus was the One banished far into the uninhabited wilderness in order to redeem His people from their sins. That’s why Jesus is called the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Because of Christ’s sin-atoning work, believers can have the blessed assurance that their sins are really and truly cast as far as the east is from the west, never to be remembered against them again (Psalm 103:12). Why? Because on a Friday afternoon, over 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ became our sin-offering and our scapegoat in order that God’s wrath might be turned away from us, and we become favorable in God’s sight.
That’s the truth we embrace as we remember the work of our Savior, Jesus Christ, on Good Friday. Is your trust in Jesus as the only One who could ever wash away your sins by His atoning work? Scripture is very clear: “There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).
by HARVEYOPP | Feb 16, 2016 | Scott Henry
“But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another…” (1 Thessalonians 4:9).
Paul told the Thessalonians, “But concerning brotherly love … you yourselves are taught by God to love one another” (1 Thess. 4:9). And in verse 10 the Apostle Paul further exhorted the Thessalonians to grow in their love for one another when he wrote, “But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more…” There is always room for believers to love one another more comprehensively. Nevertheless, if we are truly redeemed by Christ then we will show genuine love because the love of God has been shed abroad in our heart by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). Concerning love, Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). If we are truly Christians, we will “fervently love one another from the heart” (1 Peter 1:22).
Love is a test of our genuine faith, and the Bible teaches that genuine love demonstrates that we have passed from darkness to light (1 John 3:14-15), are truly born of God (1 John 4:7), and that God abides in us and we abide in God (1 John 4:12-13). The Apostle John also described the characteristic of love as being sacrificial and practical when he wrote, “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:16-18).
Do you love other believers in practical ways or are you cold and indifferent when you see others in need? Are you willing to part with your time, talents, and treasures to care for other members of Christ’s body? Do you look forward to having fellowship with other believers in order to edify and encourage one another? Our love towards others will not be perfect in this life, nevertheless genuine love wrought in the heart by the Holy Spirit will, without a doubt, manifest itself to others. Do you have genuine faith that is manifest by a genuine love towards others? “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (John 13:34).
by HARVEYOPP | Jan 26, 2016 | Scott Henry
“Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence” (1 Timothy 2:1-2).
Difficult times clearly reveal those who truly believe the teaching of God’s Word regarding His providential control over all things in heaven and on earth. It’s very easy to say that we believe God is in control of all things, but it’s quite another to bow to this sovereign truth when things don’t turn out the way we think they should. However, it’s during these difficult times that our trust in the Word of God becomes manifest by our actions. Scripture calls on every believer to pray for all whom God, in His glorious providence, raises up to power. “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence” (1 Timothy 2:1-2).
Notice the text does not say to pray only for those you like or vote for, but to pray for “all who are in authority” in order “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.” When the Apostle Paul wrote this text Nero Caesar, a wretched beast of a ruler, was dominating the Roman Empire and was killing Christians. In calling Christians to pray for all rulers and those in authority, the Apostle Paul reveals his stanch trust in the sovereign appointment of God over all things. He also reveals the truth that God has determined to use the prayers of His people as a means to affect change in the lives of people, both in salvation and sanctification.
As Christians, do we want peace in the country in which we dwell? Do we want to live godly and reverent lives that bring honor and glory to King Jesus? If you’re a Christian, then you undoubtedly answered “yes” to the questions above. Well then, pray for all in authority in order that our God might mercifully bring these things to pass. Yes, pray for President Obama, congressmen, senators, governors, local officials, police officers, teachers, parents, pastors, elders, deacons, etc. We are never in a hopeless situation as the people of God because our Sovereign Lord, Gracious Redeemer, and Mighty King is seated on the throne ruling all things for His glory and the good of His church.
Meditate upon this truth and may the Lord Jesus Christ, by the working of His Spirit and Word, motivate His saints to bend the knee to the Word of our Lord and faithfully pray for all who are in positions of authority “that we (Christians) may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence” to the glory and praise of our great King Jesus!
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