Lesson 40 outline: Sanctified Love, the root of all service to others.
Worship service 12/3.

Greetings and good morning saints, it is good once again to gather together before the Lord in the solemn assembly to worship His name in the beauty of holiness. Proverbs‬ ‭9:10‭-‬11‬ ‭says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: And the knowledge of the holy is understanding. For by me thy days shall be multiplied, And the years of thy life shall be increased.” We come before the Lord of Hosts in worship, not before a false god with no power, or the vain imagination of men who will justify the wicked, but before the Lord God, Creator of the whole world and the just judge of men. He will not acquit the wicked, but will rain fire and brimstone upon them for their rebellion against Him. Therefore is it necessary for us as the people of God greatly to fear Him and reverence His name, not taking Him lightly or approaching Him carelessly, but in all sobriety and holy admiration to bow before Him in solemn humility knowing that we are sinners and in Him is not darkness at all. Therefore in all our worship, be it in our prayers or hearing of the word, if it is not mixed with this holy reverence it is not acceptable.

Therefore let us come before Him with understanding, knowing that He is God, and according to His great love He saved us by His own power, and having covered us in His own righteousness bids us come before Him to worship.

According to the rules of public worship set forth in that worthy document (Westminster Directory for Public Worship) let us pray before we read that particular portion of the word of God set before us.

Our gracious and merciful Father, we come unto thee in all reverence and humility, acknowledging thy incomprehensible greatness and majesty, (in whose presence we do now in a special manner appear,) and also our own vileness and unworthiness to approach so near unto thee. We also confess the utter inability of ourselves to accomplish so great a work; and humbly beseech thee for pardon, assistance, and acceptance, in the whole service here to be performed; and for a blessing on that particular portion of thy holy word now to be read in the assembly of the saints: All in the name, and through the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

Psalm 13: 1 David as it were overcome with sundry and new afflictions, fleeth to God as his only refuge, 3 and so at the length being encouraged through God’s promises, he conceiveth most sure confidence against the extreme horrors of death.

To him that excelleth. A Psalm of David.

13 How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?

2 How long shall I take counsel within myself, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?

3 Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: lighten mine eyes, that I sleep not in death;

4 Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; and those that afflict me rejoice when I am moved.

5 But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.

6 I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.

David in this Psalm being pressed down with diverse and sore calamities, cries out to God in grief and profound distress, both in agony for what he experienced and hope for what he expected from God. It is good for us to remember from the experience of those godly worthies that came before us, how that the righteous oft times in this life are surrounded by manifold trials and grievous affliction. And this is a chief manner in which God tries His people’s obedience, puts them in the fear of Him, purges them from inward corruption, warms their affection to Him, makes them more watchful and circumspect in their walk, and compels them to look not on this world for satisfaction and delight, but on the heavenly kingdom to come, and so effectually curing us of our love for the world He drives us from it by the smart of the rod. Therefore the Christian even in distress and discomfort, may yet have, at the same time, a firm and fixed mind, a composed and stable frame of spirit, yea inexpressible joy and hope in His God, knowing that though He forsake us for a time to try our faith and obedience to His word, He will at the last show himself a loving Father and faithful husband to us, restoring to us the desire of our heart, which is the comfortable experience of His favor. For what trial is it, when the word of God saith, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee” if at every moment in time we should be nestled in the security of an easy life, pampered by all of its rich dainties? But when we experience hardship and opposition according to our senses, or we lose the favorable disposition of God through neglect of the means of grace or transgression, then we must be forceably put in remembrance of the power and efficacy of His word, and only then is our faith and obedience truly tested. Then on the last day, that great day of judgment when all other men who swore by their principles are found wanting because through trial and temptest they succumbed to temptation and unbelief, we shall glorify God by the sincerity of a holy life which needed no outward delights ravishing the senses to keep us going in the way, but even through grief and much affliction we pressed onward through belief in God’s holy word which did always promise us a better outcome and a more glorious redemption through death than the wicked receive in their life. And therefore assuring himself of this, David saith, “I have trusted in thy Mercy” and “I will sing unto the Lord.” For even in the fire of affliction our duty remains the same, to celebrate the lovingkindness of the Lord by thanksgiving, to sing to Him with praise for what He hath done for our soul and to continue in the ways of holy obedience. And thus David ends the Psalm with thankful remembrance encouraging himself to duty saying, “Because He hath dealt bountifully with me.”

Calvin,
To acknowledge in the midst of our afflictions that God has really a care about us, is not the usual way with men, or what the feelings of nature would prompt; but by faith we apprehend his invisible providence. Thus, it seemed to David, so far as could be judged from beholding the actual state of his affairs, that he was forsaken of God. At the same time, however, the eyes of his mind, guided by the light of faith, penetrated even to the grace of God, although it was hidden in darkness. When he saw not a single ray of good hope to whatever quarter he turned, so far as human reason could judge, constrained by grief, he cries out that God did not regard him; and yet by this very complaint he gives evidence that faith enabled him to rise higher, and to conclude, contrary to the judgment of the flesh, that his welfare was secure in the hand of God.”

Calvin,
The word sleep, as it is used in this passage, is a metaphor of a similar kind, being put for death. In short, David confesses, that unless God cause the light of life to shine upon him, he will be immediately overwhelmed with the darkness of death, and that he is already as a man without life, unless God breathe into him new vigor. And certainly our confidence of life depends on this, that although the world may threaten us with a thousand deaths, yet God is possessed of numberless means of restoring us to life.

Therefore hoping in God’s Mercy contrary to our carnal senses, we acknowledge His power and goodness and come before His throne to worship Him according to His mercy to us.

Opening prayer,
Our righteous and holy Father, defender of thy people and revenger of wrath upon the wicked, we do come before thee reverently and carefully, acknowledging our original sin, how that it is a poisonous fountain, overflowing with all corruption and abomination, and were it not for thine own power and restraints, and the grace thou hast blessed us with, we would break forth into more horrible and egregious sins as we have ever seen committed by mortal men on the earth. What man can know the extent of his transgressions against the Lord, the scale of the offense of depravity? Let us not therefore O Lord hide our sins from thee but freely confess them before thee and humbly beg thee for pardon, thus knowing our malady might seek the remedy. Neither we, nor our nation, nor our ministers, nor our magistrates have kept thy holy ordinances as thou hast commanded, but have wickedly transgressed and come short of that righteousness which thou demandest in thy word. Thy law is holy and just and good and we have shamefully gone astray. We bewail our hardness of heart and impenitency and crave the blessed mercy of God in the sacrifice and mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ. We beg for the grace of the Spirit to wash us again and make us acceptable to thee by stirring up in us faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and zeal to walk in thy commandments. We acknowledge that we are unable to turn our hearts to thee in humble contrition except thou soften our spirits by thine own power and grace, and therefore by the preaching of the word, teach us to know our weakness that we might find strength in thee. Teach us to know our guiltiness that we might find forgiveness in thee. Teach us to know our filthiness that we might find cleansing in thee. And so prepare us for thy worship and service O God that we might not be like the rest of the world, giving thee no service or worshiping thee after the vanity of their own hearts, with lightness, frivolity, carelessness, and reveling, especially during this season of wanton merriment. Give us a humble and reverent heart that we might receive thy word with grace, and raise up thy church that we might stand against our enemies and combat the forces of darkness by the light of thy word. We pray thy blessing upon thy Reformed church which is in ruin and disrepair. We have not those glorious officers, or sacred rites as we ought, but are reduced to the corner of the world, with no outward glory showing forth the worthiness of our religion. Even so Father we come before thee in sincerity of heart and simplicity of mind to hear thy word as in times past. So bear with our weakness and forgive us our sins that have driven us to this necessity. Raise up a generation of godly men to stand against the evils of our generation, and do it for thy name’s sake, for we in our current state cannot stand before thee, but with shame facedness and sorrow. Even so, forgive us O Lord and lift us up because thou art merciful. For the sake of Jesus Christ our glorious Captain and Governor who will deliver us from captivity, we pray, Amen.

Lesson 40. Sanctified Love, the root of all service to others.

If, therefore, there be any spark in you of 1. love to God, be not content that any of yours should be ignorant of him whom you so much admire, or any haters of him whom you so much love. 2. If there be any compassion to the souls of them who are under your care, 3. if any regard of your being found faithful in the day of Christ, 4. if any respect to future generations, labour to sow these seeds of knowledge, which may grow up in after-times.

1. Love to God is the cause of all good service towards others.
“From fairest creatures we desire increase, that thereby beauty’s rose might never die.”
i. The Spirit of God within us turns our hearts from loving the world to loving God.
1 John 2:15, Rom. 8:6-10, 1 Thess. 1:9-10
[1] The world worships a false god of acceptance.
[2] The true God is known by His holiness.
Heb. 1:9, Ex. 19
ii. Loving God is seen in making His glory known. Matt. 5:16-20, Phil. 2:1-11, ch. 3|
[1] The glory of the gospel.
[2] The glory of a holy life.
iii. The graces of the Spirit are eminently beautiful and the Christian desires for them to be displayed, acknowledged and honored in the world.
[1] Displayed by a holy life.
[2] Acknowledged by others.
[3] Honored in the world.
iv. The Christian’s love to God binds him to his duty to his family.
[1] Love to God and attending the ordinances.
[2] Love to God and Family Worship.
[3] Love to God and exhortations to serve the Lord.

Conclusion.
Summarize the lesson. If we love not the true God our service towards other is vain and will only add to ourselves added judgement. First by mocking the true God and making Him the approver of sin, and also by performing His service with a double heart, not sincerely, replacing the purity of His service with a counterfeit.

Closing prayer,
O God our God, the God of our salvation and the God of mercy. We cannot hope for redemption in ourselves or in any of our works. We have offended in our first father, and in ourselves. We confess once again the teeming multitude of iniquities that would doubtless come forth from our hearts were it not for thy own grace and virtue in us. Apart from thee we would burst forth into more villainous transgression than has ever been heard of on the face of the earth. We beseech thy Mercy therefore and humbly beg pardon and cleansing. Seeing we are outside thy covenant by nature, we have need of the pity of the Father to take us in. Seeing we are guilty through Adam we have need of the righteousness of the Son to cover us. Seeing we are polluted in our nature we have need of the Spirit to renew in us a heart ready to do God service. Grant us such a heart to fear thee and keep thy commandments, raise us up O Lord and cause us to worship thee in purity and sincerity. We pray for the success of the gospel and for the power and beauty of thy Spirit to increase and beautify thy church. Bring unbelievers to a sense of their sin, and cause them to join the congregation of the righteous. Furnish thy people with love and good works that we might show forth the glory of thy grace. Bring down wicked enterprises, the schemes and reprehensible operations of wicked men in control of the world, and put earthly sovereignty back into the hands of them that fear thee and countenance thy church. Bring us back again from the ashes that we might judge those that hate thee publicly and courageously.

And with confidence of thy Mercy because thou art gracious we pray that thou be merciful to us through the Mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ, that thou wouldst cause us to profit in that which we have heard, and labor that the whole of this day, the holy of the Lord honorable, would be a delight to us, dedicated to His glory and Honor, that we would not find our own pleasure, nor speak our own thoughts, but delight ourselves in the Lord and keep this day holy as He has commanded. Even so because it pleases thee to do so, be merciful and grant us grace for the sake of the Son of Righteousness in whose holy name we pray. Amen.

YouTube Audio: https://youtu.be/cY-3LAy_juc