Call to Worship
Receive God’s gracious call to worship.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. (Ephesians 1:3–6)
Adoration
Offer this praise to God:
Our Father blessed be Your name for ever and ever.
Oh that we praised You more!
We must confess we never bless You as we ought, and our life is far too full of murmuring, or at the best too full of self-seeking, for even in prayer we may do this; and there is too little of lauding, and adoring, and praising, and magnifying, and singing the high praises of Jehovah. Oh God, will You teach us to begin the music of heaven! Grant us grace to have many rehearsals of the eternal Hallelujah.
“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name.”
Grant us grace that we may not bring You blessings merely because You feed us, and clothe us, and because we receive so many mercies at Your hand; but may we learn to praise You even when You do put us under the rod, and when the heart is heavy, and when mercies seem but scant. Oh that when the flocks are cut off from the stall, and there is no harvest, we may nevertheless rejoice in God.
Oh Lord, teach us the art of praise.
Let our soul take fire, and like a censor full of frankincense, may our whole nature send forth a delicious perfume of praiseful gratitude unto the ever blessed One, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Law
Hear God’s perfect requirements.
My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh. (James 3:1–12)
Confession of Sin
Confess and repent of sins before God.
Oh Lord, our chief desire this morning before You is to be right with You.
Oh make us right with You, great Father. There are some around who are not right with You at all; Your countenance they cannot behold, and You can not accept their offering, for it is true of them, as of Cain, “sin lies at the door.” Oh God roll every sin away, but we know they must first feel the burden of it, they must come to You and confess it, they must accept the great Substitute and rest in Jesus.
And our prayer shall be, Father, if our sin be not forgiven, we would put our head into Your bosom and sob out, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before You and am no more worthy to be called Your son.”
Grant the kiss of forgiveness to each of Your children this morning, and may we feel that You are faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness; and in the joy of this, may we feel peace with You.
Assurance of Pardon
Hear the promise of grace:
If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared. (Psalm 130:3–4)
Praise
Offer this praise to God:
Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, Who only does wondrous things! And blessed be His glorious name forever! And let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen. (Psalm 72:18–19)
Creed
Testify what you believe of Christian truth:
Whoever desires to be saved should above all hold to the universal faith. Anyone who does not keep it whole and unbroken will doubtless perish eternally.
Now this is the universal faith:
That we worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity,
neither blending their persons
nor dividing their essence.
For the person of the Father is a distinct person,
the person of the Son is another,
and that of the Holy Spirit still another.
But the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one,
their glory equal, their majesty coeternal.
What quality the Father has, the Son has, and the Holy Spirit has.
The Father is uncreated,
the Son is uncreated,
the Holy Spirit is uncreated.
The Father is immeasurable,
the Son is immeasurable,
the Holy Spirit is immeasurable.
The Father is eternal,
the Son is eternal,
the Holy Spirit is eternal.
And yet there are not three eternal beings;
there is but one eternal being.
So too there are not three uncreated or immeasurable beings;
there is but one uncreated and immeasurable being.
(Athanasian Creed – part 1)
Catechism
Learn from Spurgeon’s catechism.
68. How may we escape his wrath and curse due to us for sin?
A. To escape the wrath and curse of God due to us for sin, we must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ (Jhn 3:16), trusting alone to his blood and righteousness. This faith is attended by repentance for the past (Act 20:21) and leads to holiness in the future.
69. What is faith in Jesus Christ?
A. Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace (Hbr 10:39), whereby we receive (Jhn 1:12), and rest upon him alone for salvation (Phl 3:9), as he is set forth in the gospel (Isa 33:22).
70. What is repentance to life?
A. Repentance to life is a saving grace (Act 11:18), whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sins (Act 2:37), and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ (Joel 2:13), does with grief and hatred of his sin turn from it to God (Jer 31:18-19), with full purpose to strive after new obedience (Psa 119:59).
Prayer for Illumination
Ask for spiritual understanding before reading God’s Word:
Oh now give us the spirit of adoption. If indeed we be Yours, by Your Fatherly love to us, we do beseech You breathe into every child of Yours a sense of love, a sense of Your near presence.
Scripture Reading
Read Scripture with dependence and a desire to obey.
Day 27: Psalm 119:97-104 (Meditating on God’s Word)
Prayer of Intercession
Make your requests with thanksgiving, and pray this prayer.
And provide for all the work of the church, and send prosperity to it in every part and quarter of it; and therefore do we fear and tremble because of all the goodness which You do make to pass before us; and our heart is jealous with a godly jealousy, lest in anything we should vex the Spirit of God. Oh Lord, grant us to be holy, grant us to be accepted in the Beloved, and You shall have all the praise.
Now we have but one other prayer; and that is, if we are right with You, help us to be right in all the transactions of daily life.
Help us to be right with regard to Your providential dealings with us. Lord give much patience to those that are tried. Give a holy resignation both to the sick and to the bereaved, and to such as are brought into poverty. Be very gracious to Your dear children that they may never dishonor You when they are in affliction.
And will You keep Your people right with regard to the world. Oh that the witness that we bear might be an unstained one. Oh grant to us to be a light in the world, that we may never cast darkness instead of light over the minds of men. Help us to live out Christ’s life.
Oh Lord, help us to be so consumed with zeal, that it may eat us up; and may we be so full of love, that those who are round about us may know that if we write a harsh letter, or say a strong word, love alone dictates it.
May we in everything be Christly, Godly; for God is love. Conquer our tempers, subdue our passions, rule us in body, soul, and spirit. Make us so to live that, when death shall close our life on earth, heaven itself, shall be but a continuance of the same life, because even now we have the beginnings of heaven in the earnest of the Spirit.
And now Lord, bless Your universal church, and grant to it mercy and favor. Gather together Your elect from under all heaven. Let the company of the faithful be accomplished and the universal reign of Christ established. Bless our own dear country. God save and bless and guide our rulers, uphold, sustain and direct them. Let them be guilty of no folly; but the Lord teach our senators wisdom.
And may it please You Lord, to bless other countries too; especially those lands which love our common Christ, and speak our mother tongue; and, indeed, all the nations where Jesus Christ is known, visit with a revival.
And heathen, and Mahometan, and Popish lands; Oh let the light break in upon their midnight, let the day dawn and Christ be glorified.
What more can we ask we ask all in His dear name, dear to us and dear to You, Oh our Father and unto the Father, to the Son and to the Holy Ghost be glory everlasting. Amen.
Benediction
Close with the blessing of God.
And now may the Lord show kindness and truth to you. (2 Samuel 2:6)
