Call to Worship
Receive God’s gracious call to worship.
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; Praise Him in the heights! Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts! Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all you stars of light! Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, And you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the Lord, For He commanded and they were created. (Psalm 148:1–5)
Adoration
Offer this praise to God:
Lord, would we praise and pray at the same time, confess and acknowledge our responsibilities, but also bless the free, the sovereign grace that makes us what we are.
O God of the eternal choice, O God of the ransom purchased on the tree, O God of the effectual call, Father, Son and Spirit, our adoration rises to heaven like the smoke from the altar of incense.
Glory and honor and majesty and power and dominion and might be unto the one only God, for ever and ever, and all the redeemed by blood will say, Amen.
The Law
Hear God’s perfect requirements.
Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? He who walks uprightly, And works righteousness, And speaks the truth in his heart; He who does not backbite with his tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend; In whose eyes a vile person is despised, But he honors those who fear the Lord; He who swears to his own hurt and does not change; 5 He who does not put out his money at usury, Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved. (Psalm 15:1–5)
Confession of Sin
Confess and repent of sins before God.
We lament that in the body of this death there is much that we abhor. We are tempted to indolence at times, and though busy in the world we become spiritually idle. We are tempted to envy others because they excel us, and we mourn to confess the meanness of our spirit in this matter; and also we have to lament our pride.
We have nothing to be proud of; the lowest place is ours; but Lord, we often conceive ourselves to be something when we are nothing. We pray You forgive all these vices of our nature; but at the same time kill them, for we hate…to think we should fall into such evils.
…have mercy upon us for our unbelief. You have given us proof of Your existence, and of Your love to us, and of Your care over us especially have You given us Your only begotten Son, best pledge of love. And yet we acknowledge that we do doubt. Unbelief comes into the soul. We are…ashamed of this. We could lie in the very dust to think it should be so.
Lord, have mercy upon us; but also help us to be strong in faith in the future, giving glory to God. We must sorrowfully also lament our hearts, how they wander. If You give us a blessing we begin to idolize it. How often do we set our hearts upon children, upon some beloved object, or upon wealth, or upon honor. Somehow or other, this spiritual adultery too often comes upon us, and the chastity of our hearts towards our God is violated. Be pleased to forgive us in this thing also.
“Take this poor heart and let it be,
For ever closed to all but You” —
A spring shut up, a fountain sealed.
Let the whole heart be Christ’s alone,
And never stray again.
Assurance of Pardon
Hear the promise of grace:
And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister (Colossians 1:21–23).
Praise
Offer this praise to God:
Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men! (Luke 2:14)
Creed
Testify what you believe of Christian truth:
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” (John 3:16–21)
Catechism
Learn from Spurgeon’s catechism.
44. Which is the second commandment?
A. The second commandment is, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”
45. What is required in the second commandment?
A. The second commandment requires the receiving, observing (Deu 32:46; Mat 28:20), and keeping pure and entire all such religious worship and ordinances as God has appointed in his Word (Deu 12:32).
46. What is forbidden in the second commandment?
A. The second commandment forbids the worshipping of God by images, (Deu 4:15-16) or any other way not appointed in his Word (Col 2:18).
Prayer for Illumination
Ask for spiritual understanding before reading God’s Word:
Oh to love the Savior with a passion that can never cool; Oh to believe in God with a confidence that can never stagger! Oh to hope in God with an expectation that can never be dim! Oh to delight in God with a holy overflowing rejoicing that can never be stopped, so that we might live to glorify God at the highest use of our powers, living with enthusiasm, burning, blazing, being consumed with the indwelling God who works all things in us according to His will!
Scripture Reading
Read Scripture with dependence and a desire to obey.
Day 18: Isaiah 53:1-12 (The Suffering Servant)
Prayer of Intercession
Make your requests with thanksgiving, and pray this prayer.
Lord bless us. We live unto You; our one aim in life is to glorify You. For You we hope we would gladly die; yes, for You we will cheerfully labour while strength is given; but, Oh, send prosperity, and not to us only, but to all workers for Jesus, to all missions in foreign lands, and missions in the heathendom at home.
Bless all Your churches far and near,…. Lord send plenteous prosperity to all the hosts of His Israel. May Your kingdom come!
And, Lord, gather in the unconverted. Our prayers can never conclude without pleading for the dead in sin. Oh quicken them, Savior! and if any one here has a little daughter that lies dead in sin, like Jairus may they plead with Jesus to come and lay His hand upon her that she may live.
If we have any relatives unsaved, Lord, save them, save our co-workers, save our neighbours, save this great land, yea, let Your kingdom come over the whole earth. Let the nations melt into one glorious empire beneath the sole sway of Jesus the Son of David and the Son of God. Come quickly, O Lord Jesus, even so, come quickly. Amen.
Benediction
Close with the blessing of God.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. (Rev. 22:21)
