Call to Worship
Receive God’s gracious call to worship.
O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory. Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips. (Psalm 63:1–5)
Adoration
Offer this praise to God:
Gracious God, we praise You with our whole hearts for the wondrous revelation of Your love in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We think every day of His passion, for all our hope lies in His death but as often as we think upon it, we are still filled with astonishment that You should so love the world as to give Your only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life; that heaven’s eternal darling should come to earth to be made a man, and in manhood’s form to be despised and rejected of the very men whom He came to bless; and then should be made to bear the sin of many and to be numbered with the transgressors, and being found in that number to die a transgressor’s death, a felon’s death upon the gibbet of the cross.
Oh, this surpasses all belief if it had not indeed been actually so and if the sure word of prophecy had not of old declared it, we could not have imagined it. It would have seemed blasphemy to have suggested such a thought, yet You have done it. Your grace has almost out-graced itself, Your love has reached its height — love to rebels; so to love that even Your Son could not be spared.
O God, we are afflicted in our hearts to think we do not love You more after such love as this. Oh, were there not a stone in our hearts we should melt in love to You, we should account that there was no thought fit to occupy the mind but this one stupendous thought of God’s love to us, and henceforth this would be the master-key to our hearts, that should unlock or lock them at Your will — the great love wherewith You have loved us. We lie in the very dust before You in utter shame, to think that we have sometimes heard this story without emotion and even told it without tenderness.
The Law
Hear God’s perfect requirements.
So He said to them, “Are you thus without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods?” And He said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.” (Mark 7:18–23)
Confession of Sin
Confess and repent of sins before God.
Oh Lord, we do fear that selfishness even enters into our most holy things; we mar and spoil our prayers, and preachings, and teachings, with the unwashed hands with which we go about them.
Oh that You would make us clean, we pray You; while we thus pray to You, we do also know that believing in Christ we are clean; we thank You we do not doubt His justifying power.
While we are now crying to Him to be sanctified, may we not doubt His power to sanctify; but while crying, “O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death,” as well we may, we do nevertheless shout exultingly, “Thanks be unto God who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Assurance of Pardon
Hear the promise of grace:
Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4–6)
Praise
Offer this praise to God:
To Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen! 2 Timothy 4:18
Creed
Testify what you believe of Christian truth:
But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:21–26)
Catechism
Learn from Spurgeon’s catechism.
47. Which is the third commandment?
A. The third commandment is, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain.”
48. What is required in the third commandment?
A. The third commandment requires the holy and reverent use of God’s names (Psa 29:2), titles, attributes (Rev 15:3-4), ordinances (Ecc 5:1), Word (Psa 138:2), and works (Job 36:24; Deu 28:58-59).
Prayer for Illumination
Ask for spiritual understanding before reading God’s Word:
The theme truly has never become stale to us. We can say in Your presence that the story of Christ’s death still brings joy and makes our hearts to leap. But yet Lord, it never has affected us as we could have expected it would. Give us more tenderness of heart, give us to feel the wounds of Jesus till they wound our sins to death. Give us to have a heart pierced even as His was, with deep sympathy for His griefs, and an all-consuming love for His blessed person…
May those dear wounds of His have more sway over us than ever silver scepter had over the subjects of earthly princes. May we feel that if He drank for us the vinegar and gall, whatever cup He sets before us we will cheerfully drink. Rule us, Savior, rule us, we beseech You. And let no believer here violate the chastity of his heart to the Beloved of his soul.
O Jesus, let us love You so intensely, that whatever else there may be of loving relationship, still this may cover all and swallow up all.
Scripture Reading
Read Scripture with dependence and a desire to obey.
Day 19: Psalm 51 (A Broken and Contrite Heart)
Prayer of Intercession
Make your requests with thanksgiving, and pray this prayer.
God bless this land with more of gospel light, and with more of gospel life and love. You will hear us, O Lord.
Then would we pray for our children, that they might be saved. Some of us can no longer pray for our children’s conversion, our prayers are heard already. But there are others who have children who vex them and grieve their hearts.
O God, save sons and daughters of godly people. Let them not have to sigh over their children as Eli did and as Samuel did, and may they see their sons and daughters become the children of the living God.
We would pray for our servants, for our neighbors, for our kinsfolk of near or far degree, that all might be brought to Jesus. Do this, O God, of Your infinite mercy.
And as we are now making intercession we would, according to Your Word, pray for all kings, such as are in authority, that we may lead quiet and peaceable lives. We pray for all nations also. O Lord, bless and remember the lands that sit in darkness, and let them see, a great light, and may missionary enterprise be abundantly successful.
And let the favored nations where our God is known, especially this land and the land across the mighty ocean that love the same Savior and speak the same tongue, be always favored with the Divine presence and with abundant prosperity and blessing.
Benediction
Close with the blessing of God.
The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you. Amen. (2 Timothy 4:22)
