Trinity Bible Church

Prayer

Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth. The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110:3-4)

Today’s Hymn

Words: Walter C. Smith, Hymns of Christ and the Christian Life, 1876. Music: St. Denio, Welsh melody, from Canaidau y Cyssegr, by John Roberts, 1839.

IMMORTAL, INVISIBLE, GOD ONLY WISE
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Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessèd, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great Name we praise.

Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Nor wanting, nor wasting, Thou rulest in might;
Thy justice, like mountains, high soaring above
Thy clouds, which are fountains of goodness and love.

To all, life Thou givest, to both great and small;
In all life Thou livest, the true life of all;
We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
And wither and perish-but naught changeth Thee.

Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight;
But of all Thy rich graces this grace, Lord, impart
Take the veil from our faces, the vile from our heart.

All laud we would render; O help us to see
‘Tis only the splendor of light hideth Thee,
And so let Thy glory, Almighty, impart,
Through Christ in His story, Thy Christ to the heart.

Thought Provoker

To properly understand Christ’s salvation you must understand Christ in all of His fullness as Prophet, Priest, and King. Today’s passage focuses on Jesus the High Priest. He is a High Priest that is superior to any priest of the Old Testament. To show us the greatness of Christ our High Priest, the writer to Hebrews introduces us to a mysterious man by the name of Melchizedek, the first priest mentioned in the Bible. God made Melchizedek to be a type or shadow of Christ (Genesis 14:18-20; Psalm 100:4). Read together Hebrews 7:1-10 and see how many ways your can find that Melchizedek was a type or shadow of Christ.

1. Melchizedek means king of righteousness (v. 1).
2. King of Salem means king of peace (v. 1).
3. No ancestry. No mention is giving of Melchizedek’s ancestry, birth, or death. This is an illustration of the eternal, changeless priesthood of Christ.
4. Both greater than Abraham.

Dad’s Study

The main point of today’s passage is found in verse 25. The big picture is that Christ’s priesthood is superior to the Old Testament priests. Today’s glorious truth follows the Wherefore. What is the great conclusion about the superiority of Christ’s priesthood? Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them (v. 25). What a great verse with three great promises!

1. Christ is able to save your soul forever! The greatest need in everyone’s life is the need to be saved from the wrath of God (Romans 1:18). Christ alone shed His blood as full payment for sin.

2. He lives forever to make intercession for you! The reason God gave priests in the Old Testament was to intercede between God and man. Priests entered the holy of holies with the blood of sacrifice for the remission of sin. This was a picture of Christ the Lamb who would shed His blood once for all for the remission of sin. God provided priests who continually had to make sacrifice in the Old Testament and has now provided His own Son as the final High Priest. Christ would not be able to save you forever if He wasn’t making intercession for you forever. Jesus died once but continues to pray for you eternally! If you are one of His, He prays for you unceasingly as your advocate before the Father, and you will therefore never perish!

3. This salvation and intercession is for all who continue to come to God through faith in Christ. It is not that God’s salvation is conditioned on you coming to Christ and continuing to come to Him. That would make it a work. The Bible is clear that there are none that seek after God. Paul reminds us, As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God (Romans 3:10-11). It is only by God’s grace that He effectually calls His elect unto salvation (Romans 1:5-6). Christ also intercedes for you daily, that you will faithfully continue to come to Him for mercy (E.g. John 17:11,15 etc).

Click here for Matthew Henry’s Commentary.

Truth in Practice

Christ’s invitation to your family today is to come and draw near to God. Draw near to Him through your High Priest, Jesus Christ. Draw near to Him in confession for sin! Draw near to Him in heartfelt praise and thanksgiving! Meditate together on this great promise – Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7:25).

Catechism

Question 38

Q. What shall be done to the wicked at their death?

A. The souls of the wicked shall at their death be cast into the torments of hell (Luke 16:22-24), and their bodies lie in their graves till the resurrection and judgment of the great day (Psalm 49:14).

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Prayer

The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110:4).

Today’s Hymn

Words: Evelyn A. Cummins, 1922. Music: Manoah, arranged from Gioachino A. Rossini in Collection of Church Music, by Henry W. Greatorex, 1851.

I WALK THE KING’S HIGHWAY
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I know not where the road will lead
I follow day by day,
Or where it ends: I only know
I walk the King’s highway.

I know not if the way is long,
And no one else can say;
But rough or smooth, up hill or down,
I walk the King’s highway.

And some I love have reached the end,
But some with me may stay,
Their faith and hope still guiding me:
I walk the King’s highway.

The way is truth, the way is love,
For light and strength I pray,
And through the years of life, to God,
I walk the King’s highway.

The countless hosts lead on before,
I must not fear nor stray;
With them, the pilgrims of the faith,
I walk the King’s highway.

Through light and dark the road leads on
Till dawns the endless day,
When I shall know why in this life
I walk the King’s highway.

Thought Provoker

During the days when I was practicing law, I would call a witness before the court and the judge would ask the bailiff to swear in the witness. The bailiff proceeded to ask the witness to raise his right hand and swear that what he was about to say was the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Years ago, a witness actually had to put his hand on the Bible and swear on God’s Word that he was telling the truth. Historically, swearing on something bigger than yourself added more credibility to what was being said. I can remember in the ignorance of my youth uttering (when I was really serious), I cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye! Did you know that God swore to drive home the truth of one of his promises? In today’s passage (Hebrews 6:13-18) the writer to the Hebrews is going to bring great encouragement from such a wonderful promise that God swore was true!

Dad’s Study

The Book of Hebrews warns about one of the dangers of the Christian life, the danger of drifting away from God. It is not uncommon for professing Christians to drift away from their hope of heaven, their realization of being rescued from hell, the forgiveness of sins, the beauty of Christ, and the blessings of the Christian life. Little by little all of this can begin to fade out of our mind as we drift away from Christ. Today’s passage is a strong encouragement to keep you from drifting away from your faith in Christ. What is this encouragement? It is a promise backed up by an oath (verse 13).

Promise. The promise was first made to Abraham after the testing of his faith in offering up Isaac as a sacrifice (Genesis 22:16-17). God reaffirmed His promise to bless Abraham and make him the father of a great nation. Abraham believed God’s promise and bore a son and continued to believe His promise even when he was told to sacrifice his only son. How does this promise to Abraham bring encouragement to your family today? God promised to bless those who would be the spiritual descendants of Abraham. That includes all who have placed their trust in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. If you are a Christian, God will richly bless you because he made this promise to Abraham!

Oath. Just as important as the promise is the fact that God chose to swear that His promise would be true (Genesis 22:16). It is a promise with an oath. Why did God do this? To drive home the point that God doesn’t lie (vs. 17b-18) with two unchangeable truths, God’s promise and His oath. Isn’t this amazing? People swear by things greater than themselves. The Jews would swear by the temple, others swear on their mother’s grave. To swear on the Bible is to swear that the Bible be condemned if what I say isn’t true. Why does God swear on Himself (v. 13)? Because there is no greater name for Him to swear by. There is only one person whose worth and honor are worthy for Him to swear by, and that is Himself! The God that cannot lie swears by the greatness of His immutable being.

Click here for Matthew Henry’s Commentary.

Truth in Practice

God will not break His promise to Abraham to bless all those who are His spiritual offspring. Read verse 18 and discover how you should respond to such an unchanging God of love. Flee to God for refuge. Turn from all the distractions of this world that cause you to drift from God. There is nothing more valuable or wonderful than God Himself! may He grace you with an unshakable hope in Him.

Catechism

Question 37

Q. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection?

A. At the resurrection, believers being raised up in glory (1 Corinthians 15:43), shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment (Matthew 10:32), and made perfectly blessed both in soul and body in the full enjoying of God (1 John 3:2) to all eternity (1Thessalonians 4:17).

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Prayer

O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him (Psalm 34:8). O heavenly Father, we come like little children, ready to be nourished from the milk of Thy Gospel. We ask that You might increase our thirst for Thee and Thy will so that our ears might be alive unto Thee!

Today’s Hymn

Words: From The Yigdal of Daniel ben Judah, a Jewish judge in Rome, circa 1400, paraphrased by Thomas Olivers, circa 1765; first appeared in The Gospel Magazine, April 1775. The lyrics are based on the 13 creeds of Moses Maimonides (circa 1130—1204). Music: Leoni, Hebrew melody, Sacred Harmony, 1780

One night in London, [Olivers] was attracted to a service in a Jewish synagogue, where he heard a great singer, Leoni, sing an ancient Hebrew melody in the solemn, plaintive mode and he became impressed with a desire to write a hymn to that tune. The result was our hymn, “The God of Abraham Praise,” which in a sense is a paraphrase of the ancient Hebrew Yigdal, or doxology, though Olivers gave to it a distinctly Christian flavor.

The story is told of a young Jewess who had been baptized into the Christian faith, and in consequence was abandoned by her family. She fled to the home of the minister, poured out her heart to him, and as if to show that, after all, her joy in her newfound Saviour was greater than all her loss of home and family, she sang, “The God of Abraham Praise.”

THE GOD OF ABRAHAM PRAISE
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The God of Abraham praise, who reigns enthroned above;
Ancient of everlasting days, and God of Love;
Jehovah, great I AM! by earth and Heav’n confessed;
I bow and bless the sacred Name forever blessed.

The God of Abraham praise, at Whose supreme command
From earth I rise—and seek the joys at His right hand;
I all on earth forsake, its wisdom, fame, and power;
And Him my only Portion make, my Shield and Tower.

The God of Abraham praise, whose all sufficient grace
Shall guide me all my happy days, in all my ways.
He calls a worm His friend, He calls Himself my God!
And He shall save me to the end, thro’ Jesus’ blood.

He by Himself has sworn; I on His oath depend,
I shall, on eagle wings upborne, to Heav’n ascend.
I shall behold His face; I shall His power adore,
And sing the wonders of His grace forevermore.

Tho’ nature’s strength decay, and earth and hell withstand,
To Canaan’s bounds I urge my way, at His command.
The wat’ry deep I pass, with Jesus in my view;
And thro’ the howling wilderness my way pursue.

The goodly land I see, with peace and plenty bless’d;
A land of sacred liberty, and endless rest.
There milk and honey flow, and oil and wine abound,
And trees of life forever grow with mercy crowned.

There dwells the Lord our King, the Lord our righteousness,
Triumphant o’er the world and sin, the Prince of peace;
On Sion’s sacred height His kingdom still maintains,
And glorious with His saints in light forever reigns.

He keeps His own secure, He guards them by His side,
Arrays in garments, white and pure, His spotless bride:
With streams of sacred bliss, with groves of living joys—
With all the fruits of Paradise, He still supplies.

Before the great Three-One they all exulting stand;
And tell the wonders He hath done, through all their land:
The list’ning spheres attend, and swell the growing fame;
And sing, in songs which never end, the wondrous Name.

The God Who reigns on high the great archangels sing,
And “Holy, holy, holy!” cry, “Almighty King!
Who was, and is, the same, and evermore shall be:
Jehovah—Father—great I AM, we worship Thee!”

Before the Savior’s face the ransomed nations bow;
O’erwhelmed at His almighty grace, forever new:
He shows His prints of love—they kindle to a flame!
And sound thro’ all the worlds above the slaughtered Lamb.

The whole triumphant host give thanks to God on high;
“Hail, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,” they ever cry.
Hail, Abraham’s God, and mine! (I join the heav’nly lays,)
All might and majesty are Thine, and endless praise.

Thought Provoker

Why is it easier to know when someone else has become hard of hearing than it is for oneself to come to that same realization? Have you ever tried to talk with someone who you have had to yell at in order for him to hear you? When you talk they say, what did you say? The person who is hard of hearing doesn’t think that they have a problem, rather the problem is with everyone else. The Jewish converts to whom the writer to the Hebrews is writing have become spiritually dull of hearing (5:11). It is easier to diagnose spiritual hardness of hearing in others than it is to acknowledge it in your own life. Have you or members of your family become dull of hearing? Today, we are going to discover the disease and the remedy for spiritual dullness of hearing.

Dad’s Study

Disease: Dullness of hearing is a disease of the heart, not the ears. It is a condition whereby the heart is not eager to embrace God’s Word and apply it by faith. The Word goes in through the ears and goes down inside and hits a heart that is hard, and non- receptive. There is no passion for God, no cherishing His Word, and no desire to respond with obedience (Luke 8:18). This is a terminal disease. If this condition continues it will result in eternal death.

Remedy: How do you get well from this condition? It must begin with your diet. Read together verse 14 and see if you can discover the diet that heals a heart that is dull of hearing. It must begin with a diet that is rich in the precious milk of God’s Gospel so that you can discern between good and evil. It is a diet of reading God’s Word, hearing it preached. Drink in the Gospel, taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8), and begin, by God’s grace, to obey it unto holiness. Let God’s Word nourish you to discern right from wrong. Allow the Word to shape every area of your life. With God’s help, discern good from evil. When the milk of the Gospel is taken for nourishment, God will give you the mind of Christ. This is the remedy for a heart that is dull of hearing. Drink with delight the milk of the Gospel until you not only begin to discern good from evil, but you begin to live good over evil. After a faithful diet of God’s precious milk, whereby you know and do good, your ears will become alive to hear and to know the meat of God’s Word! Got milk?

Click here for Matthew Henry’s Commentary.

Truth in Practice

What are some of the ways that your family members are regularly receiving God’s milk? We travel 15 miles to a dairy to receive our family’s supply of milk, fresh from the cows. Most families go to the store daily to buy milk for the next day’s cereal and baking. What is your daily source of spiritual milk? As the head of your family, regularly bring the fundamentals of the Gospel before your family’s ears. Teach them God’s law, the fullness of Christ, and the freeness of His grace and His promises of justification and sanctification. Cause them to hear the Word at church and Bible studies. Help your family to discern good from evil (from the Word). Pray that God might be gracious to keep each of your ears alive to God and that your appetite might grow to the meat of God’s Word.

Catechism

Question 36

Q. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at their death?

A. The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness (Hebrews 12:23) and do immediately pass into glory (Philippians 1:23; 2 Corinthians 5:8; Luke 23:43), and their bodies, being still united to Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:14) do rest in their graves (Isaiah 57:2) till the resurrection (Job 19:26).

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Hebrews 4
October 10, 2007

Prayer

Let them now that fear the Lord say, that his mercy endureth for ever. I called upon the Lord in distress: the Lord answered me, and set me in a large place. The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?
Psalm 118:4-6

Today’s Hymn

Words: Fanny Crosby, in Songs of Redeeming Love, by John R. Sweney, C. C. McCabe, Tullius O’Kane, and William Kirkpatrick (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 1882).

REDEEMED, HOW I LOVE TO PROCLAIM IT!
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Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it!
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed through His infinite mercy,
His child and forever I am.

Refrain

Redeemed, redeemed,
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed, redeemed,
His child and forever I am.

Redeemed, and so happy in Jesus,
No language my rapture can tell;
I know that the light of His presence
With me doth continually dwell.

Refrain

I think of my blessèd Redeemer,
I think of Him all the day long:
I sing, for I cannot be silent;
His love is the theme of my song.

Refrain

I know there’s a crown that is waiting,
In yonder bright mansion for me,
And soon, with the spirits made perfect,
At home with the Lord I shall be.

Refrain

Thought Provoker

I remember buying my first (and only) new car. I was greeted at the dealership by the smiling young salesman. When it came time to make an offer, I told the salesman how much I was prepared to pay for the car. He wrote down the amount and said he had to present it to the “powers that be.” A few minutes later he came back with a counter offer. I made a new offer and the salesman again told me he had to check with the “powers that be.” I told him that I wanted to talk directly to the “powers that be.” I was told that only the salesmen could do the talking. The salesman stood as a “go between” that stood in the way. For much of recorded history there have been “go betweens” standing in the way of going directly into the presence of God, The Almighty One. Under the Old Covenant priests were selected to stand in the gap between God and man. If you wanted forgiveness a priest would take your sacrifice and offer it up to God on your behalf. On the Day of Atonement the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies and offer up a sacrifice for forgiveness on behalf of God’s people. As we are going to discover from today’s passage, a wonderful thing happened when Christ died on the cross. He purchased for all of His people access directly to God. Today, there is only one “go between,” the Lord Jesus Christ.

Dad’s Study

Jesus is not only Prophet and King; He is also a High Priest (v. 14-16). When Christ shed His blood as The perfect sacrifice, He passed through the heavens into the presence of His heavenly Father to intercede on behalf of His people, just like the earthly High Priests passed through the veil to the Holy of Holies. He is like no earthly High Priest. He is holy. Jesus left the portals of heaven and took on Himself the nature of man. He suffered, and was tempted and tested over and over again and yet He never once sinned. Jesus is not a God who is out of tough with His creation. Discuss as a family some of the many ways that Jesus was tempted to sin and how this makes Him sympathetic with our needs.

Click here for Matthew Henry’s Commentary.

Truth in Practice

This great and glorious truth about Jesus leads to wonderfully practical 21st century application. may you be filled with hope and confidence because Jesus is alive, sympathetic and interceding before our heavenly Father. With this strong hope let us draw near to the throne of grace with confidence (v. 16). All of us today come before God with a multitude of needs. We are struggling with sin. We have weaknesses. We have life struggles and hardships of life. We need God’s help! We do not deserve it! You can fret and fuss and give up in despair or you can heed the Word of God and come boldly to the throne of grace. Bow before Him today. There you will find a God who endlessly pours out mercy to those whom He loves!

Catechism

Question 35

Q. What are the benefits which in this life do either accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification?

A. The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification (Romans 5:1, 2, 5), are assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17), increase of grace, perseverance in it to the end (Proverbs 4:18; 1 John 5:13; 1 Peter 1:5).

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Prayer

Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24

Today’s Hymn

Words: Charles Wesley, Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1742.

I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVES
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I know that my Redeemer lives,
And ever prays for me;
A token of His love He gives,
A pledge of liberty.

I find him lifting up my head,
He brings salvation near,
His presence makes me free indeed,
And He will soon appear.

He wills that I should holy be,
What can withstand His will?
The counsel of His grace in me
He surely shall fulfill.

Jesus, I hang upon Thy Word;
I steadfastly believe
Thou wilt return and claim me, Lord
And to Thyself receive,

Joyful in hope, my spirit soars
To meet Thee from above,
Thy goodness thankfully adores;
And sure I taste Thy love.

Thy love I soon expect to find,
In all its depth and height;
To comprehend the eternal mind,
And grasp the Infinite.

When God is Mine and I am His,
Of paradise possessed,
I taste unutterable bliss,
And everlasting rest.

The bliss of those that fully dwell,
Fully in Thee believe,
‘Tis more than angel tongues can tell,
Or angel minds conceive.

Thou only knowst, Who didst obtain,
And die to make it known;
The great salvation now explain,
And perfect us in one!

Thought Provoker

Perhaps yours is a family where Mom and Dad are professing Christians, and you have called the tribe together for a time of family worship. Gathered with Bibles in hand are the children of all ages, from newborn to young adults. What do you think is Mom and Dad’s greatest concern? Your list might be long, but I think that at the top you will find that one of the greatest concerns is for the eternal salvation of each and every one of their children. The good news is that many kids raised in a Christian home, having attended church all of their lives, often profess faith in Jesus at an early age. The bad news is that many of those very same children seem to fall away after leaving home. Denominational leaders indicate that between 69% and 94% of their churched young people are leaving the traditional church after high school…and not returning. Can a child, raised in a Christian home, who professes faith in Jesus fall away from salvation? If so, what can the family do to strengthen each other so that all might be found eternally secure?

Dad’s Study

It’s a foundational truth that if God truly saves a sinner, He will gift them with a faith that will persevere until they see Jesus face to face. In other words, “once truly saved, always saved” (Phil. 1:6). Did you notice the big if? Not all who profess to be Christians are truly saved. Some children profess belief in Jesus to please their parents, others because it is part of the tradition in which they grew up. Those who are not truly saved will fall away. The writer to the Hebrews brings a warning to all who profess saving faith in Christ, Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God (v. 12).

Mom, Dad, children, take heed to your heart. Guard it against any unbelief. Protect it daily against all that would come to lure you away. Feed your faith with truth and display it with true spiritual fruit.

The next verse reminds us that persevering in faith is not only a personal duty but a family affair! But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin (v. 13). As a family we are to watch out for each other daily. Look for any examples of a walk that contradicts faith. This includes exhorting one another to walk uprightly in faith. Parents, never rest with your children’s hallow profession of faith. A neglect in monitoring their walk can result in their young hearts becoming cemented in unbelief.

Click here for Matthew Henry’s Commentary.

Truth in Practice

Parents, don’t rest in your child’s profession of faith, rather wrestle that each family member maintain his faith (Prov. 4:23). Stop and give God thanks for the work of grace that He is doing in your home. Continue to bring the gospel before the hearts of any who are still in unbelief. Continue daily to exhort all who profess faith in Christ to walk uprightly. Teach the Word, confront sin, worship together, pray together and confront sin when it first appears. This is true family life!

Catechism

Question 34

Q. What is sanctification?

A. Sanctification is the work of God’s Spirit (2 Thessalonians 2:13), whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God (Ephesians 4:24), and are enabled more and more to die to sin, and live to righteousness (Romans 6:11).

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