Call to Worship
Receive God’s gracious call to worship.
Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathise with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:14–16)
Adoration
Offer this praise to God:
O God! we would not speak to You as from a distance, nor stand like trembling Israel under the law at a distance from the burning mount, for we have not come unto Mount Sinai, but unto Mount Sion, and that is a place for holy joy and thankfulness, and not for terror and bondage.
Blessed be Your name, O Lord! We have learned to call You “Our Father, which are in heaven”; so there is reverence, for You are in heaven; but there is sweet familiarity, for You are our Father.
We would draw very near to You now through Jesus Christ the Mediator, and we would be bold to speak to You as a man speaks with his friend, for have You not said by Your Spirit, “Let us come boldly unto the throne of the heavenly grace.”
The Law
Hear God’s perfect requirements.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (1 John 4:7–11)
Confession of Sin
Confess and repent of sins before God.
Your people cannot speak of being clean, rid of sin. There is sin which dwells in us which is our daily plague. O God, we humble ourselves before You. We ask that our faith may clearly perceive the blood of the atonement and the covering of the perfect righteousness of Christ; and may we come afresh, depending alone on Jesus. “I, the chief of sinners am, but Jesus died for me.”
May this be our one hope, that Jesus died and rose again, and that for His sake we are accepted in the Beloved. May every child of Yours have his conscience purged from dead works to serve the true and living God. May there be no cloud between us and our Heavenly Father; nay, not even a mist, not even the morning mist that soon is gone. May we walk in the light as God is in the light. May our fellowship with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ, be unquestionable; may it be fuel; may it fill us with joy; may it be a most real fact this day; may we enjoy it to the full, knowing whom we have believed, knowing who is our Father, knowing who it is that dwells in us, even the Holy Spirit.
Take away from us every thing which now might hinder our delighting ourselves in God. May we come to God this day with a supreme joy; may we speak of Him as “God my exceeding joy; yea, mine own God is He.” …. May we come near to You, having no doubt and nothing whatsoever that shall spoil the beautiful simplicity of a childlike faith which looks up into the great face of God and says, “Our Father, which are in heaven.”
Assurance of Pardon
Hear the promise of grace:
But when the kindness and the love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:4–7)
Praise
Offer this praise to God:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, (2 Corinthians 1:3)
Creed
Testify what you believe of Christian truth:
But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. (Galatians 4:4–7)
Catechism
Learn from Spurgeon’s catechism.
30. What is effectual calling?
A. Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit (2Ti 1:9) whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery (Act 2:37), enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ (Act 26:18), and renewing our wills (Eze 36:26), he does persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the gospel (Jhn 6:44-45).
31. What benefits do they who are effectually called, partake of in this life?
A. They who are effectually called, do in this life partake of justification (Rom 8:30), adoption (Eph 1:5), sanctification, and the various benefits which in this life do either accompany, or flow from them (1Cr 1:30).
Prayer for Illumination
Ask for spiritual understanding before reading God’s Word:
O God, we pray again fulfill that covenant promise, “I will take away the heart of stone out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.” May we be very tender towards You; may we feel Your faintest monition; may even the gentlest breath of Your Spirit suffice to move us; may we not be “as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding; whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle…,” but may we be as children obedient to a father; may we yield our members cheerfully to the instruments of righteousness; may we have a natural desire wrought in the new nature towards everything that is pure and honest, unselfish and Christly.
O, Spirit of God dwell in us. Is not this also a covenant promise, “I will put My Spirit within you, and I will make you to walk in My ways.” Dwell with us Holy Spirit; rule over us Holy Spirit; transform us to Your own likeness, O Holy Spirit! Then shall we be clean; then shall we keep the law. We…pray…for those who are unfamiliar with the work of the Spirit of God, who have never owned their God, who have lived as if there were no God.
Open their eyes that they may see God even though that sight should make them tremble and wish to die. O! let none of us live without our God and Father. Take away the heart of stone, take away the frivolities, the levity, the giddiness of our youth, and give us in downright earnest to seek true happiness where alone it can be found, in reconciliation to God, and in conformity to His will.
Scripture Reading
Read Scripture with dependence and a desire to obey.
Day 12: 1 Peter 5:6-11 (Cast Your Cares on Him)
Prayer of Intercession
Make your requests with thanksgiving, and pray this prayer.
Once more we pray You bless Your Church. Lord quicken the spiritual life of believers. You have given to Your Church great activity, for which we thank You.
May that activity be supported by a corresponding inner life. Let us not get to be busy here and there with Martha, and forget to sit at Your feet with Mary. Lord, restore to Your Church the love of strong doctrine. May Your truth yet prevail. Purge out from among Your Church those who would lead others away from the truth as it is in Jesus, and give back the old power and something more.
Give us Pentecost; yea, many Pentecosts in one, and may we live to see Your Church shine forth clear as the sun and fair as the moon, and terrible as an army with banners.
God grant that we may live to see better days. But if perilous times should come in these last days make us faithful. Raise up in our country, raise up in many other countries, men that shall hold the truth…. Raise up in every country where there has been a faithful church men that will not let the vessel drift upon the rocks.
Lord look upon Your Church in these days. Lord revive us. Lord restore us. Lord give power to Your Word again that Your name may be glorified.
Remember the Church of God in this land in all its various phases and portions, and pour out Your Spirit upon it. Remember the multitude of Your people across the sea, prosper them, bless them with the increase of God. And wherever You have a people may Jesus dwell with them and reveal Himself to His own, for Christ’s sake, to whom be glory with the Father and with the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever. Amen.
Benediction
Close with the blessing of God.
And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you,so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints. (1 Thes 3:12-13)
