Call to Worship
Receive God’s gracious call to worship.
The Lord reigns; Let the peoples tremble! He dwells between the cherubim; Let the earth be moved! The Lord is great in Zion, And He is high above all the peoples. Let them praise Your great and awesome name— He is holy. The King’s strength also loves justice; You have established equity; You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt the Lord our God, And worship at His footstool— He is holy. (Psalm 99:1–5)
Adoration
Offer this praise to God:
We bless You for becoming man that You might be our next of kin, and being next of kin we bless You for taking us into marriage union with Yourself and for redeeming us and our inheritance from the captivity into which we were sold.
You have paid Your life for Your people; You have ransomed Your folk with Your heart’s blood. Be You, therefore, for ever beloved and adored. And now You are not here for You are risen. Our souls would track the shining way by which You have ascended through the gate of pearl up to Your Father’s throne.
We seem to see You sitting there, man, yet God, reigning over all things for Your people, and our ears almost catch the accents of the everlasting song which rolls up at Your feet: “worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive honor, and power, and glory, and dominion, and might for ever and ever.” Lord, we say, “Amen.” From the outskirts of the crowd that surround Your throne we lift up our feeble voices in earnest “Amens,” for You were slain and have redeemed us to God by Your blood and have made us kings and priests unto God, and we shall reign with You, for though far off by space, we know that we are very near to Your heart.
The Law
Hear God’s perfect requirements.
He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)
Confession of Sin
Confess and repent of sins before God.
But, oh! dear Savior, we come to You, and we remember what our state is, and the condition we are in encourages us to come to You now as beggars, as dependents upon Your heavenly charity.
You are a Savior, and as such You are on the lookout for those that need saving, and here we are, here we come. We are the men and women You are looking for, needing a Savior.
Great Physician, we bring You our wounds and bruises and putrefying sores, and the more diseased we are and the more conscious we are today of the depravity of our nature, of the deep-seated corruption of our hearts, the more we feel that we are the sort of beings that You are seeking for, for the whole have no need of a physician but they that are sick.
Glorious Benefactor, we can meet You on good terms, for we are full of poverty, we are just as empty as we can be. We could not be more abjectly dependent than we are. Since You would display Your mercy here is our sin; since You would show Your strength here is our weakness; since You would manifest Your loving-kindness here are our needs; since You would glorify Your grace here are we, such persons as can never have a shadow of a hope except through Your grace, for we are undeserving, ill-deserving, hell-deserving, and if You do not magnify Your grace in us we must perish for ever.
Assurance of Pardon
Hear the promise of grace:
And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13–14)
Praise
Offer this praise to God:
“Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints! Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, For Your judgments have been manifested.” (Revelation 15:3–4)
Creed
Testify what you believe of Christian truth:
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5–11)
Catechism
Learn from Spurgeon’s catechism.
21. How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?
A. Christ, the son of God, became man by taking to himself a true body (Hbr 2:14), and a reasonable soul (Mat 26:38; Hbr 4:15), being conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary, and born of her (Luk 1:31, 35), yet without sin (Hbr 7:26).
22. What offices does Christ execute as our Redeemer?
A. Christ as our Redeemer executes the offices of a prophet (Act 3:22), of a priest (Hbr 5:6), and of a king (Psa 2:6), both in his state of humiliation and exaltation.
Prayer for Illumination
Ask for spiritual understanding before reading God’s Word:
After many years of great mercy, after tasting of the powers of the world to come, we still are so weak, so foolish; but, oh! when we get away from self to God there all is truth and purity and holiness, and our heart finds peace, wisdom, completeness, delight, joy, victory. Oh! bring us, then, we pray You, now near to Yourself. Let us bathe ourselves in communion with our God.
Scripture Reading
Read Scripture with dependence and a desire to obey.
Day 8: Isaiah 43:1-7 (Fear Not, God is with You)
Prayer of Intercession
Make your requests with thanksgiving, and pray this prayer.
We hear of oppression and robbery and murder, and men seem let loose against each other…. What is to be done with the millions? What can we do? At least help every child of Yours to do his utmost. May none of us contribute to the evil directly or indirectly, but may we contribute to the good that is in it.
We feel we may speak with You now about this, for when Your servant Abraham stood before You and spake with such wonderful familiarity to You, he pleaded for Sodom; and we plead for our world. We would follow the example of the Father of the Faithful and pray for all great cities, and indeed for all the nations.
Lord, let Your kingdom come. Send forth Your light and Your truth. Chase the old dragon from his throne, with all his hellish crew.
Benediction
Close with the blessing of God.
Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness (2 Cor. 9:10 )
