Trinity Presbyterian Church North Bay — Sermons & Sunday School

Sermon preached on Genesis 5 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 04/16/2023 in Petaluma, CA.

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Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.

We come now to the next main section of Genesis starting in 5:1. Remember, each main section begins with the language of the generations of someone. Here it is the generations of Adam. We are then given Adam’s generation through Seth. The last chapter ended the previous section in verses 25-26 with a helpful segway into this section by talking about Adam and Eve having Seth and then Seth having Enosh. But that was just a transition into chapter 5 which now goes into that line through ten generations.

This new section then opens up with a reflection back on chapter 1, verses 26-27, where we learned that God created humans in his own image. That is mentioned here so it can then say that Adam passed on his image to his son Seth. Verse 3, uses the two words used for the image and likeness of God in man, and uses them to describe how Adam’s image and likeness were passed on to Seth. So, the genealogy of Adam begins by reminding us that God made both men and women in his image, and that we then pass that image on to our descendants. This is especially wonderful to read here because it teaches us that mankind’s fall into sin did not destroy that image within. Yes, surely, sin mars and obscures that imago Dei. But it is not lost. We see that here, and surely it’s continued existence is part of why we see Adam’s line through Seth cultivating a relationship with God. Yet, clearly this image is being translated in the context of a fallen humanity living in a world cursed by God because of their sin. That is seen here in chapter 5 by the repeated refrain of death, and Lamech’s reference in verse 29 to God’s curse on the ground. Yet, this genealogy lives long and prospers by the grace of God amidst the curse. Likewise, while this genealogy focuses on the male heads, we could think of the women who were behind this genealogy too. As the men had all that painful toil to work and feed this family, so too all the women had painful child births to have this lineage, as God’s curse upon them from chapter 3.

Realize that all of Adam’s lineage here through Seth is in contrast to Cain’s lineage in chapter 4. Did you notice how there were quite a lot of similarities in the names between Cain’s lineage and Seth’s lineage? Some were quite similar, and others were just plain identical. There are some other minor similarities too. Is there any significance we can take from that? One possibility is that we are being encouraged to do some comparing and contrasting. The two genealogies stand in clear contrast to each other. I mentioned previously that Cain’s line seems to generally reflect the seed of the serpent, and that Adam’s line through Seth seems to generally reflect the seed of the woman, i.e. the godly line that is hoping in faith that God will send that savior that he promised in Genesis 3:15. That language of seed or offspring is even mentioned in verse 4:25 for Seth’s line, but not mentioned for Cain’s. Clearly, there is hope among Adam’s line through Seth that this savior will yet come, per Eve’s words at the start in 4:25. So the similarities between the two lines, also invite us to notice the differences. Like how Cain is not mentioned in the genealogy of Adam. We tend to think of chapter 5 as being Seth’s genealogy, but it actually is labeled under the heading of Adam’s genealogy. But other than the generic reference of verse 5 that Adam had other children, Cain didn’t make the list, but is treated separately. That says something about Cain and his legacy. We can also note that Cain’s genealogy is much sh...

Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 04/16/2023 in Petaluma, CA teaching through the OPC Booklet Helps for Worship.

Sermon preached on 1 Corinthians 15:12-49 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 04/09/2023 in Petaluma, CA.

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Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.

This is a wonderful passage for considering the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. It is wonderful because is speaks to the current and ever relevant concerns people have about if there is life after death. The fact that Jesus rose from the dead holds out hope that anyone can be raised from the dead, if they would look to Jesus as Lord and Savior. So, this continues to be a timely passage to consider amidst much fear of death in this world. This passage also considers the resurrection by contrasting Jesus with Adam, which seemed fitting given our current sermon series in the book of Genesis. We’ll consider today how Jesus is the last Adam, and how that related to his resurrection and the hope for our own.

Let us begin then by confronting the claim that there is no resurrection of the dead. This is in verses 12-19. This was a false teaching that was getting attention at the church at Corinth and so Paul begins addresses it here. It is not hard to find people would do not believe in any kind of resurrection from the dead or bodily afterlife. Many unbelievers down through the centuries have held such. Atheists naturally don’t believe in any resurrection from the dead. A number of other religions have had differing views about what happens after death, and many of them do not hold to a bodily resurrection. But there are also some who in the name of true religion have also rejected the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. For example, in the Bible we see the Sadducees who claimed to follow the one true God, but didn’t believe in any resurrection or afterlife. Another group that started to infiltrate Christianity was the Gnostics, and they thought the body was bad, so they taught a form of Christianity that liberated the soul from the body at death. Well, even today, we have people among Christendom that don’t believe in a bodily resurrection. Think of liberal Christian theology, also called modernist Christians. Some of them have even said that Christianity would not be threatened if archeology ended up finding Jesus’ dead body buried in some tomb. Of course, such heresy is called enlightened thinking by such false Christians, but as we see here it is not actually a novel idea. It was a false teaching during the time of 1 Corinthians, and it still is a false teaching today.

It is actually really sad to think of someone who doesn’t have any hope of a resurrection after this life. It is easy to pity such a person. But the reason why we believe in a resurrection of the dead is not because the alternative makes us sad. It’s because it is true. In fact, if it wasn’t true, and yet we have hoped in it, then that would be sad, verse 19. We should be pitied then. No, the Christian faith teaches the resurrection of the dead because it is true.

Paul’s case for this is simple. He confronts any who would try to say they embrace Christianity but reject the resurrection of the dead by pointing to case of Christ. We proclaim Christ as risen from the dead. If there is no possibility of someone being raised from the dead, then Christ himself couldn’t have been raised from the dead. But Paul says Christ was raised from the dead. The church doesn’t teach Christ’s resurrection as some figurative teaching. It’s not a myth to teach some moral lesson. No, the church has borne witness to historical, physical, bodily fact that Christ Jesus actually died on the cross, and then on the third day he actually rose from the dead and has been alive ...

Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 04/09/2023 in Petaluma, CA teaching through the OPC Booklet Helps for Worship.

Sermon preached on Isaiah 53:11 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Good Friday Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 04/07/2023 in Petaluma, CA.

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This is now the third year in a row that I am preaching on Isaiah 53 on Good Friday. I hope you can especially appreciate that this was prophecy. It was written more than 700 years before Good Friday. And yet this prophecy so clearly foretold what Christ would do at the cross. It prophesied of his death, and even of his resurrection. It articulated in advance the gospel. And it also explained key teachings about the significance of why Christ would so suffer and die. For example, last year we looked at verse 5 and saw the teaching of substitutionary atonement. And so, then this evening, I’d like us to focus on verse 11. Let me read it again.

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53:11)

What we will find is that this not only speaks of the death and resurrection of Jesus, but also of that glorious teaching of justification, that we sinners can be forgiven and declared to be in right standing with God, through faith in Jesus. It even teaches what Calvin described as a “wondrous exchange”, the idea of a double imputation, that our sin is imputed to Jesus, and his righteousness is imputed to us. That’s how the cross can make us in right standing with God. Let us then dig into this verse.

We’ll begin this evening by considering the initial words in verse 11 that describe Jesus’ “anguish of his soul.” On Good Friday, we particularly remember the anguish that Jesus endured. This chapter describes much of that anguish, both in general for Jesus’ life, and specifically at the cross. What we find foretold here in Isaiah 53 of that anguish, we see recorded as fulfilled in the four historical accounts of Jesus’ life that we have in the Gospels.

For example, verse 3 spoke how Jesus would be despised and rejected by men and all the sorrows that would go along with that. Think especially of all the religious leaders who hated Jesus and opposed him throughout his earthly ministry. Verses 4 and 5 begin to delve more into what he had to endure at the cross. There is this language that he was pierced for our transgressions. Roman crucifixion involved a literal piercing to nail him to the cross. After he died, they also pierced his side to prove that he was dead. If we keep going through the chapter, we see so many other powerful descriptions of his suffering. He was oppressed; afflicted; led to the slaughter; stricken.

These are the details we find spelled out in the gospel accounts. His arrest involved betrayal from a close friend. He’s taken at night and put under one sham of a trial after another, before both Jewish courts and Roman courts. He’s scourged. He forced to wear a crown of thorns, even while they strip him naked and divide his clothes among his captors. He’s forced to carry his cross, though in exhaustion he will need help. He’s mocked by so many through all of this. Then he has to hang there dying on the cross. Thirsting. And the worst of it all, he hung there enduring the wrath of God in our place, as he expressed by quoting Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.”

Indeed, Jesus experienced much anguish of his soul especially in his suffering at the cross. But he knew this would be the case. Right before his arrest, he was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, full of much anguish of soul in advance of what he knew was about to happen. But he prayed to God and entrusted himself to his heavenly father and his good plan to save his peo...

Sermon preached on Genesis 4 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 04/02/2023 in Petaluma, CA.

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Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.

We continue today in Genesis chapter 4 after focusing last week on verses 1-10, where we saw the Cain murder his brother. Today, we’ll read about the consequences that God puts upon Cain here. And what might strike you is how much grace God extends to Cain after he so ruthlessly murdered his innocent brother. This introduces us here to the concept of common grace, where we learn that God does extend varying measures of grace upon sinful humans. This is general grace, not saving grace. Saving grace is that grace he gives his elect to save them from eternal damnation through Christ. But this common grace does not bring eternal salvation and is common to all mankind, saved or not. Both the righteous and wicked will experience varying measures of God’s common grace in this life. So today we’ll think about this as we find it first introduced here in Scripture. And we will also recognize how common grace is ultimately a servant to God’s bigger plans, including in matters of justice and salvation.

But first, let us then begin by considering God’s curse here upon Cain. That is the background for which we see God’s common grace. That curse is issued beginning in verse 11. Like the curse issued on his parents, his curse is also specific to his vocation. Up to this point Cain had been a farmer and now in verse 11 God is cursing him from the ground. Now the ground would no longer give him the kind of yield it once did. God says this will require Cain to become a fugitive and wanderer on the earth. He’ll become a nomad living off the land going from place to place instead of someone who’s settled in a particular location where they are working and farming the land over a period of time. God puts this in terms of the lex talionis principle, which is the principle that says the punishment fits the crime. He references in verse 10 that Abel’s blood is crying to God from the ground. Cain had spilt Abel’s blood onto the ground and so now the ground who has opened up its mouth to receive his brother’s blood will no longer give him anything back. So the result of this for him would be to lose his existing life and preferred lifestyle. He’ll have to find some other way to survive and move away from everything that he’s known so far and go into a sort of exile.

That being said if this was the totality of God’s justice I still might wonder if it did ultimately fit the crime. Soon enough God would tell Noah in Genesis 9:6 the principal that whoever sheds the blood of man by man shall his blood be shed. When we get there, we will see that God enshrines via special revelation the concept of capital punishment in the case of murder, which is a concept that certainly could have been inferred by natural law. But for the immediate moment God hereby shows much mercy to an unrepentant Cain by issuing this curse upon the ground for him. Here is some of that common grace already being expressed, with mercy shown to an unrepentant Cain. For Cain, this degree of mercy here could be thought of delaying the inevitable for Cain. He is a lost soul. Yet, that is part of what common grace is. It shows undeserved mercy to even lost souls, and one thing that does for them is give them opportunity to yet repent. Though God knows Cain will not go on to do that, nonetheless it is merciful of God that he yet provides to Cain such opportunity for repentance. It is a function of common grace then even to deliver such a merciful sentence here upon Cain.

Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 04/02/2023 in Petaluma, CA teaching through the OPC Booklet Helps for Worship.

Sermon preached on Genesis 4 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 03/26/2023 in Petaluma, CA.

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Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.

As we turn now to Genesis 4, we are already seeing what it looks like to live in a fallen world. How heartbreaking to read of Abel’s death at the hand of his evil brother Cain. Oh the vanity that a life like Abel’s would be cut so short, while the one who so murdered him would live on and even create a legacy and heritage like what we read about in this chapter. It reminds me of the book of Ecclesiastes which describes life in this fallen world as one of “vanity of vanities”. In fact, that is even what Abel’s name means in Hebrew, it is the same word there in Ecclesiastes for “vanity”. To clarify, Abel’s name in Hebrew literally means breath or vapor, but that word took on an additional usage of vanity. That usage very well may be rooted in the vanity of Abel’s short life. Yet, while Abel live a short life, it was not lived in vain. Let us then consider this passage today about Cain and Abel. We’ll especially focus on the verses 1-10 and return next week to finish off the chapter.

Let us begin by comparing and contrasting Cain and Abel, especially their two offerings. We are introduced to them in verses 1-2. You will note that Eve is mentioned at the start and end commenting about the choice of her sons’ names. Here in verse 1, she says she has “gotten” a man with the help of the LORD, because that’s what the name Cain means. Cain is the Hebrew word for “gotten” or “acquired”. We can begin to see Eve’s faith here. God had promised that she would have offspring, and that one of them would crush that evil serpent that had tricked her. For her to reference God’s help in her acquiring Cain is not only a general truth, it is also an expression of faith. Indeed, every life conceived in a woman is from God. But for her to emphasize this here, should clearly be understood as her hope that Cain might be the one promised by God to destroy the serpent.

So then, we learn something about both their vocations and their acts of worship. Cain’s job is as a farmer and so the offering he gives God is of the fruit of the ground. Abel is shepherd, and so his offering is of his flocks. Yet, verses 4-5 says that God had regard for Abel’s offering, but not Cain’s. The question here is why? Was there something better about Abel’s offering than Cain’s? Some have wondered if it was because Abel’s was an animal sacrifice, which would require the shedding of blood, for we know that elsewhere we are taught that sinners can’t find atonement for their sin without the shedding of blood. Well, while I wouldn’t completely rule that out as an option, I’m not convinced that’s the best interpretation here. Instead, I think in this case, God’s later requirements concerning offerings that he gave to Israel through Moses can shed some light backwards here. It may be that this chapter becomes some of the foundation for the later requirements for offerings, but those later requirements then may offer some light here for understanding things.

What we find then is that God’s people under the Mosaic covenant had requirements to give both categories of offerings. There were offerings of animals where their blood was shed and atonement was made. But there were also other offerings of the fruit of the ground. So, I would be hesitant to let the category of offering be the distinguishing factor here between Cain and Abel’s worship. Instead, look closely with me at how each of their offerings are described. For Cain, in verse 3, it just mentions that his offering was of the frui...

Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 03/26/2023 in Petaluma, CA teaching through the OPC Booklet Helps for Worship.

Sermon preached on Genesis 3 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 03/19/2023 in Petaluma, CA.

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Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.

Why, oh why, did we have to sin against God! Last week we studied how our first parents broke the covenant of works that could have meant a blessed eternal life for us all. But they fell into sin, and so we all fell into sin. Today, we will study of the consequences of that sin as God placed his curse upon us and this world. We live now in a sin-cursed world. Things are not as they should be. Our relationships with each other have been affected. Our relationship with the rest of the creation has been affected. Since then, we’ve been in battle with Satan. And ultimately our relationship with God has been affected. Our sin brought so many consequences. Why didn’t we just obey! So then, today, we will study God’s curse here that he delivers in light of man’s fall into sin. And yet, while mankind here chose evil over God, God began to show here his grace and mercy. For he reveals here a plan and promise to redeem a chosen people out of fallen humanity. So then, we’ll study today not only God’s curse, but also the hope God holds out here in his grace and mercy.

Let us then in our first half of our sermon today, consider how God confronts Satan, Adam, and Eve, and brings his curse upon each of those three parties. Notice how unlike Satan who had approached Eve, God begins by going to confront the head, which is Adam. Adam sinfully blames both God and Eve, telling God that he only ate because of the woman you gave me. So too, Eve tries to blame the serpent. I would note, that neither of them are showing signs of repentance yet. Last week I mentioned how church father St. Augustine wrote of the fourfold state of man’s soul. Mankind’s first state was before the fall, when they were in a state of innocence, and they were able to not sin. But now, after their fall, apart from being born again, their souls are in a fallen condition and they are unable to not sin. That is why as of yet, they don’t show any signs of repentance. So, then God issues a curse upon them from the reverse order, starting with the serpent and ending with Adam the head.

The curse upon the serpent is in verses 14 and 15. I think we should consider this in a two-fold sense. There is surely some sense in which this curse applies to the actual serpents going forward, but there especially is a sense in which it applies to Satan who was behind the serpent. For example, there is this curse where serpents will thus crawl on their bellies and the fact that they will eat dust which is a picture of its shame, and we know serpents crawl on their bellies. But we can see beyond the external curse to serpents here, to consider how Satan is cursed. Likewise, God goes on to speak of the offspring of the serpent being at enmity with the offspring of the woman. This is surely to say that there will come forth a great many who are in league with Satan, who have put their allegiance in with him, even if they don’t realize they are his children. Remember, how Jesus told some Pharisees in John 8 that the devil was their father, when they had thought otherwise. So, God’s curse in verse 15 speaks to Satan how yes he will yet win many a followers, but there will also be opposition from the seed of the woman. Going forward here from Genesis, we can begin to recognize those two lines. We can speak of the seed of the serpent versus the seed of the woman. The seed of the serpent are those godless people who live in their sin. The seed of the woman are those who follow God whom God will ultimately redeem.