Call to Worship
Receive God’s gracious call to worship.
Give unto the Lord, O you mighty ones, Give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. (Psalm 29:1–2)
Adoration
Offer this praise to God:
O God, You are our God, and we will exalt You. You are our fathers’ God, and we will exalt You. You are the God of Abraham, and of Moses, and of Jacob. Jehovah, the God of David, the God of the whole earth shall You be called. Our soul does magnify You, for You have manifested Yourself to us more clearly than to the patriarchs and kings of old. In the face of Jesus Christ we see Your glory. The express image of Your person, have You made Him to be; and we worship and adore You in Him, magnifying with all our hearts the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the Triune God of Israel, to whom be blessing for ever and ever! Happy are the people who call You their God. Happy are we who have by Your mighty grace been born the children of the promise, the true seed of Abraham, seeing we have believed, and are thus the children of believing Abraham. Amen.
The Law
Hear God’s perfect requirements.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3–10)
Confession of Sin
Confess and repent of sins before God.
Father, forgive our sins. Help us to wash our hands in innocency, and so to compass Your altar. Our Father, draw us near to Yourself. Let the attractions of heaven overcome the lesser attractions of earth. Close to Jesus may we come this day. Beneath that cross where once did hang our hope, there let us find our joy. Cleanse Your people: let our conscience be purged from dead works. May we know that we are forgiven. May we have no doubt about it. May we know that we are cleansed from the guilt and the defilement of sin. May we therefore have access with boldness to our Father in heaven, and may the power of sin which has been broken, be destroyed in us. Sin is not on the throne now, but it lurks in the corners, and if it could, it would get to the front again. We thank You for that word, “Sin shall not have dominion over you.”
Assurance of Pardon
Hear the promise of grace:
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones grew old Through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah (Psalm 32:1–5)
Praise
Offer this praise to God:
Glory be to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
As it was in the beginning,
is now and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen. Gloria Patri
Creed
Testify what you believe of Christian truth:
Thus the Father is God,
the Son is God,
the Holy Spirit is God.
Yet there are not three gods;
there is but one God.
Thus the Father is Lord,
the Son is Lord,
the Holy Spirit is Lord.
Yet there are not three lords;
there is but one Lord.
Just as Christian truth compels us
to confess each person individually
as both God and Lord,
so catholic religion forbids us
to say that there are three gods or lords.
The Father was neither made nor created nor begotten from anyone.
The Son was neither made nor created;
he was begotten from the Father alone.
The Holy Spirit was neither made nor created nor begotten;
he proceeds from the Father and the Son.
Accordingly there is one Father, not three fathers;
there is one Son, not three sons;
there is one Holy Spirit, not three holy spirits.
Nothing in this trinity is before or after,
nothing is greater or smaller;
in their entirety the three persons
are coeternal and coequal with each other.
So in everything, as was said earlier,
we must worship their trinity in their unity
and their unity in their trinity.
Anyone then who desires to be saved should think thus about the trinity.
(Athanasian Creed – part 2)
Catechism
Learn from Spurgeon’s catechism.
- Did our first parents continue in the state wherein they were created?
Our first parents being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the state wherein they were created, by sinning against God, (Ecc 7:29) by eating the forbidden fruit (Gen 3:6-8).
14. What is sin?
Sin is any want of conformity to, or transgression of the law of God (1Jo 3:4).
15. Did all mankind fall in Adam’s first transgression?
The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself but for his posterity, all mankind descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him in his first transgression (1Cr 15:22; Rom 5:12).
Prayer for Illumination
Ask for spiritual understanding before reading God’s Word:
Most gracious Father, we who have received Christ now desire to receive something more than pardon and salvation. We long that Christ may be in us the hope of glory—aye, of glory, of perfection, and exaltation. If we are darkened today, may we be enlightened by the brightness of the hope that is to be revealed. Help Your poor servants to live above poverty, because they are rich in Christ. Let Your suffering and afflicted ones, though the body be torn with pain, yet be full of joy, because there is a hope—a glorious hope—that the body shall be raised again from the grave and shall suffer no more. The Lord grant us grace not to live in this cloudy day of the present, but to mount aloft into the eternal brightness of the future, and to anticipate those joys which You has reserved for them that love You.
Scripture Reading
Read Scripture with dependence and a desire to obey.
Day 5: Psalm 103 (Bless the Lord, O My Soul)
Prayer of Intercession
Make your requests with thanksgiving, and pray this prayer.
Our Father, we do earnestly pray You to look upon these unconverted among us; we are always praying for them, but we would begin to pray with a greater intensity. Hear the many supplications which have gone up for some who are almost persuaded to be Christians, but not quite. Oh let them not tarry longer in that dangerous place, on the brink of faith, knowing but not obeying, hearing but not receiving the Gospel. Oh decide many this morning! While Your servant is praying, the Lord bring sinners to Himself; and all over our city, and all over the world, wherever, whether by pastor or evangelist, or private member, the Gospel is being told out, whether among us or among the heathen, let the blessed message be backed up by the Eternal Spirit; and may men be turned to Christ by thousands, and hundreds of thousands, until the whole earth will be filled with Your glory. Lord, convert our city; we bless You have not cast it out, but if there be any worthy to be called outcasts, the Lord gather together the outcasts of Israel and bring them to His own dear feet. Save the people, O Lord, and raise up a nation that shall fear Your name. Amen.
Benediction
Close with the blessing of God.
Peace to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen. (Eph. 6:23-24)
