Call to Worship
Receive God’s gracious call to worship.
Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord; Praise Him, O you servants of the Lord! You who stand in the house of the Lord, In the courts of the house of our God, Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; Sing praises to His name, for it is pleasant. (Psalm 135:1–3)
Adoration
Offer this praise to God:
O blessed Saviour, we would ask for all believers to realize their union with Christ Jesus. Oh that our hearts might track You upward to Your throne ascending high. Let us rise with You by a joyous confidence, for we shall be there ere long, and let us now survey Your power, Your state, the glories of Your kingly condition, where You sit at the right-hand of God for ever, having finished the propitiation for the sins of men. We worship You, Immanuel—”God with us.” We now adore You, Jesus, before the Father’s throne. There is no coming to the Father, but by You; but in tracking You we have come to the Father, and to the place where the “many mansions” are.
Our spirit now anticipates her time of rejoicing when, delivered from the house of clay and from the nature of sin, we shall be for ever with the Lord. Yet further, do we anticipate yet more that last Day, when He shall come according to His promise. O Saviour, You shall come, as surely as You have come once You shall come again, and then our bodies, now our burden, shall become our joy, for You will call them, “from beds of dust and silent clay.” You will renew them, You will revive them, and then will You receive us unto Yourself to be with You, world without end. Lay to the hearts of Your children, O Holy Spirit, these priceless consolations. Help us to get out of the present, if it be surrounded with pain or loss or depression, and may we live in that eternal future which is so full of excessive glory that we may well take from it now, and enjoy it without fear of diminishing it when we come to our heritage.
The Law
Hear God’s perfect requirements.
But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who “will render to each one according to his deeds”: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God. (Romans 2:5–11)
Confession of Sin
Confess and repent of sins before God.
Our Father, which are in heaven, forgive our evil deeds towards Your Son! You delight in Him and so do we; but we have strange ways of showing it sometimes. Give us to love Him perfectly. May we say, “Lord You know all things, You know that we love You.” May we so love You that even our enemies may be compelled to say, “See how they love their Lord!” Oh make us to display our love so clearly and decidedly as our Master showed His love to buried Lazarus.
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.” God grant it never may!
Assurance of Pardon
Hear the promise of grace:
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:1–2)
Praise
Offer this praise to God:
Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Philippians 4:20)
Creed
Testify what you believe of Christian truth:
The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ—He is Lord of all—that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.” (Acts 10:36–43)
Catechism
Learn from Spurgeon’s catechism.
37. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection?
A. At the resurrection, believers being raised up in glory (1Cr 15:43), shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment (Mat 10:32), and made perfectly blessed both in soul and body in the full enjoying of God (1Jo 3:2) to all eternity (1Th 4:17).
38. 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 (Luk 16:22-24), and their bodies lie in their graves till the resurrection, and judgement of the great day (Psa 49:14).
39. What shall be done to the wicked at the day of judgment?
A. At the day of judgment the bodies of the wicked being raised out of their graves, shall be sentenced, together with their souls, to unspeakable torments with the devil and his angels for ever (Dan 12:2; Jhn 5:28-29; 2Th 1:9; Mat 25:41).
Prayer for Illumination
Ask for spiritual understanding before reading God’s Word:
The Lord help us to be risen with Christ and then to set our affections upon things above, where Christ sits at the right-hand of God. Oh for grace to do this. And may this day, therefore, be as one of the days of heaven upon earth. May our life of today be a fragment of the life we lead in Christ, the eternal life that we shall spend with Him in the glory.
O dear Saviour, let every believer come very close to You now. May this be a moment in which we shall feel that if there has been distance, and wondering and doubt, there shall not be any of these any longer. We have come close to our Lord; we will lean upon the Beloved; we will abide in Him even as He bids us abide, and in the biding gives us the promise, speaks the word of command, “Abide in Me and I in you.” Amen.
Scripture Reading
Read Scripture with dependence and a desire to obey.
Day 15: Psalm 37:1-9 (Trust in the Lord)
Prayer of Intercession
Make your requests with thanksgiving, and pray this prayer.
O Christ Jesus our Lord, You are still mighty to heal, and we are a company…full of sicknesses and sores and sorrows of all kinds. We would not rest a moment while blessings are so rife, and power to heal is so remarkably present in You; but we would each one strive to touch You, if we may, and ask that this day virtue would come out of You, O blessed risen Christ, to heal us of whatsoever disease we have.
There are some that are Your children, beloved Lord, but they are afflicted with the palsy of a weak and trembling faith. Lord, strengthen our faith. Lift us up beyond all question. Let there be no doubts in our mind about the fundamental principles of the everlasting Gospel. Let us have no distrust of Your power to save even us, though we be the least of all saints and a very chief of sinners. Let us have no distrust of Your Providence, no doubt of Your faithful love; but may we just trust You as a child trusts its father, without the shadow of distrust, resting in the Lord and waiting patiently for Him. Heal us, Immanuel, of our unbelief and make us strong in faith, giving glory to God. Peradventure some of Your children are sorely tempted; they have had many trials during the week; they scarcely know how they have lived during the week, but here they are, and Your lovingkindness has kept them alive.
“As your days so shall your strength be”: that is the promise. “Hitherto hath the Lord helped us”: that is the experience. “I will trust and not be afraid”: that is the practical inference from the promise and the experience. May each child of Yours say that through the power of the touch of the Master. Amen.
Benediction
Close with the blessing of God.
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)
