Worship service 03/08/26.
Greetings and call to worship.
Greetings and good morning saints and beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord. Grace, mercy and peace be multiplied unto you abundantly through the everlasting covenant made with the Father and with Jesus Christ for our redemption. We are gathered once again on the Christian Sabbath to worship God through His Son by the power of His Spirit, and delight to praise and glorify His name, for He is holy and hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. Psalm 4:6-7 says, “Many say, Who will show us any good? but Lord, lift up the light of thy countenance upon us. Thou hast given me more joy of heart, than they have had, when their wheat and their wine did abound.” Truly, the sufferings of the righteous are sweetened with grace, while the pleasures of the wicked are poisoned by sin. Let us therefore abound in rejoicing, seeing that the Lord hath dealt so graciously to us by giving us His Son. A Puritan minister writes, “The Lord will have a Sabbath for the honour of his name, Isaiah 58:13. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable, and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words. For the good of men’s souls; Mark 2:27. And he said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath, And in mercy to the bodies of men and beasts.”
Prayer unto the public reading of the Holy Scripture:
Our holy and righteous Father,
Full of all glory, justice, and righteousness,
Merciful and faithful—The Covenant God who will by no means clear the guilty, taking vengeance on them that follow after other gods, yet showing mercy to thousands that love thee with the whole heart and keep thy commandments:
We come before thee solemnly and sincerely, as those whom thou hast elected from before the creation of all worlds and purchased by the precious blood of thy Son, called out of darkness and brought into the fellowship of the gospel and the kingdom of Jesus Christ. We bow in all reverence before thy throne, knowing the severity of thy law, the holy requirements of the gospel, as well as our own vileness and unworthiness to draw so near unto thee.
We freely confess, O Lord, that apart from the mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are denied access to the covenant promises, are under the wrath and curse of God, and must be cast from thy presence as an abominable thing. Moreover, we confess that without faith in the Mediator, consent to sound doctrine and a repentant heart, endeavouring to walk evenly and zealously for thee, which is the gracious work of the Spirit, we have no evidence of fellowship with thee. For we are by nature guilty and polluted, unable of ourselves to repent or return, and altogether unfit to render thee any service that is not defiled by sin. Therefore, do we confess our utter dependence on the Father’s love for our election, the Son’s righteousness for our justification and the Spirit’s work in our hearts for our sanctification. We believe that thou art our God, and the rewarder of them that diligently seek thy face. Therefore, inasmuch as we are convinced of our sin in Adam and the redemption in Jesus Christ alone, we cry out to thee for mercy: For pardoning mercy to cover our iniquities, And sanctifying mercy to make us meet for thy presence. Hear our prayers, deliver us from all trouble, cleanse us by the blood of Christ and the washing of the Spirit by the word. Sanctify us by the truth of thy word. Defend us from all evil, Strengthen our faith, subdue the lusts of the flesh that swell within us, And enable us to perform this holy service, Not in our own strength, But in the virtue which thou dost supply of thine own free goodness. And now, O Lord, as we come to the reading of thy holy word, we pray for a special blessing upon this portion of Scripture, that it may be effectual to build up thy holy church, which thou hast called thy special possession, and thy little flock. Open our hearts to receive it with meekness; Give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and cause us by thy grace to live by it; And may the same Spirit who breathed life into the church in all ages; the fathers, apostles and prophets, the reformers and Puritans, so guide our whole lives, That we may grow up in Him in all things, even He who is the Bridegroom and Head of the Church, Jesus Christ, our Prophet, Priest and King. All this we ask in his most worthy name, Amen.
Devotional and doctrinal exposition on the Psalms:
Psalm 27 [21] (Verse 12): 1 David maketh this Psalm being delivered from great perils, as appeareth by the praises and thanksgiving annexed: 6 Wherein we may see the constant faith of David against the assaults of all his enemies. 7 And also the end wherefore he desireth to live and to be delivered, only to worship God in his Congregation.
A Psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.
3 Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.
4 One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I request; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.
5 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his Tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.
6 And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.
7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
8 When thou saidst, seek ye my face; my heart answered unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.
9 Hide not therefore thy face from me; nor cast thy servant away in displeasure: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.
10 Though my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.
11 Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a right path, because of mine enemies.
12 Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as speak cruelly.
13 I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
14 Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.
Exposition:
We saw previously that the Christian stands in need of meekness and humility when dealing with the opponents of false religion, especially since they are ever ready to maliciously defame our character and judge us according to unjust and uneven standards. Therefore, in all our responses to them, and in our general conduct in life, it is necessary that we be clothed with humility and girded with prudence, lest we fall into the snare they have laid for us.
Yet though they surround us, and are willing to destroy us, it is lawful—and agreeable to sound doctrine—to desire deliverance from their destructive machinations, and to escape their malice unharmed. David does not rush rashly into danger, as the frenzied and misguided Anabaptists have done, courting persecution for novelty’s sake. Rather, being persuaded of his integrity before God, he hopes to escape, and to live blamelessly and uprightly before Him, maintaining an honest life, and not being delivered unto death before his time.
We may recall many instances in the New Testament where our Lord Jesus Christ was threatened with death and yet escaped unharmed. In Luke it is written:
“And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son? And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. But he passing through the midst of them went his way, And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days. And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power…”
And again in another Gospel:
“Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.”
And again:
“Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come.”
We see plainly that the malice of men is restrained by the power of God, insomuch that they are either inwardly restrained in spirit, as the Philistines towards David when he ran from Saul, or outwardly prevented in action, as the Jews who sought Paul’s life by the intervention of the Romans.
We conclude then that if God so dealt with His Son, who was sent to die for our salvation, He shall do so in like manner for His own dear people who are the elect purchase of His Son. We are intimately joined to Christ through His saving work; and therefore the harm done to us is, in a manner of speaking, done unto Him. Take courage therefore, and call unto God for deliverance from the cruelty of the enemies of God, praying earnestly in faith that God would frustrate the designs of them that wish you ill. For it is within His power, and He is ready to stretch out His arm of salvation to those who call upon His name in faith.
Flavel,
The sympathy that is betwixt Christ and believers, proves a union betwixt them; Christ and the saints smile and sigh together. St. Paul in Col. 1:24. tells us, that he did “fill up that which was behind, not as if Christ’s sufferings were imperfect, (“for by one offering he has perfected for ever them that are sanctified,” Heb. 10: 14.) but in these two scriptures, Christ is considered in a twofold capacity; he suffered once in corpore proprio, in his own person, as Mediator; these sufferings are complete and full, and in that sense he suffers no more: he suffers also in corpore mystico, in his church and members, thus he still suffers in the sufferings of every saint for his sake, and though these sufferings in his mystical body are not equal to the other, either pondere et mensuria, in their weight and value, not yet designed ex officio, for the same use and purpose, to satisfy by their proper merit, offended justice; nevertheless they are truly reckoned the sufferings of Christ, because the head suffers when the members do; and without this supposition, that place, Acts 9:. 5. is never to be understood, when Christ, the Head in heaven, cries out, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” when the foot was trod upon earth: How does Christ sensibly feel our sufferings, or we his, if there be not a mystical union betwixt him and us?
Calvin,
Give me not up to the desire of mine oppressors. The Hebrew noun נפש, nephesh, signifies lust, will, or desire; and the language of David implies, Deliver me not up to the pleasure or lust of mine enemies, and thus he intimates, that they greedily gaped for his destruction. God delivers his people in two ways; either by appeasing the cruelty of the wicked, and rendering them meek; or, if he permit them to burn with fury, by restraining their power and violence, so that they desire and endeavor in vain to do mischief. We thus see that the holy man was miserably oppressed on every side. Even his integrity, which we know to have been singular, could not free him from bitter and deadly calumnies, and he was at the same time overwhelmed by the violence and force of his enemies. If the ungodly, therefore, should at any time rise against us, not only with menaces and cruel violence, but to give the semblance of justice to their enmity, should slander us with lies, let us remember the example of David, who was assaulted in both ways; nay, let us recall to mind that Christ the Son of God suffered no less injury from lying tongues than from violence. Moreover, this prayer was dictated for our comfort, to intimate that God can maintain our innocence, and oppose the shield of his protection to the cruelty of our enemies.
Opening Prayer.
Our gracious and glorious Father in heaven, unto whom all praise, honour, and dominion belong for ever and ever:
We come before thee once more seeking thy grace, knowing that of ourselves we can of ourselves do nothing and present nothing before thee that is upright and pleasing in thy sight.
We stand in need of that living principle of grace wrought in our hearts by thy Spirit, that we may behold thy righteousness and walk therein.
We stand in need of pardon and acceptance before thee, and of a continual supply of grace for the time to come, lest we fall again into the bondage from which thou hast delivered us.
Therefore be thou our light, and cause us to see the truth of thy word for the salvation of our souls.
Be thou our strength, and enliven our spirits that we may believe thy promises and perform thy will.
Give us faith to trust in thee and love to follow hard after thee, especially on this thy holy Sabbath day, and also on all the days of our pilgrimage henceforth.
Deliver us from all our troubles, and shine the light of thy favour upon us through Jesus Christ, while by thy Spirit thou guidest us to live in a manner consistent with a good and clean conscience.
So shall thy great name be worshipped and glorified by thy people upon the earth, when thou givest us clean and newly formed hearts to keep thy law and to delight in thy testimonies.
Grant us therefore the grace to do and to keep thy will, both now and for evermore,through Jesus Christ the Son of God, who alone is able to save—our blessed Mediator and Captain.
Amen.
Lesson 74. [1.2.48.] The Contents of Holy Scripture: The Prophets. Hosea. The Prophet Against Pride and Self-Righteousness.
Westminster Confession of Faith 1.2.
Under the name of holy Scripture, or the Word of God written, are now contained all the books of the Old and New Testaments,
Genesis—Daniel, Hosea.
All which are given by inspiration of God, to be the rule of faith and life.
Intro. Hos. 10-14
I. Lessons from Hosea.
- Idolatry the fruit of spiritual emptiness and material plenty. (Hos. 10:1-2)
i. The heart being set on riches cannot be set on God. (Matt. 6:22-24)
ii. God gives men food enough for their bellies to be filled with and their desires to be slain with. (Rom. 1:24, Psalm 73:18-19, Psalm 92:6-7) Adam in the garden had but one tree forbidden him, fallen mankind has a thousand before him every day, and narrow is the way that leadeth to life.
iii. The divided heart shall be found guilty in the day of judgment. (Jam. 1:8, Eph. 4:14-15) - The LORD greatly delighteth in child-like faith. (Hos. 11:1-4, Matt. 18:1-6)
- The LORD saves His people by the ministry of the prophets. (Hos. 12:13, Rom. 10:14-15, 2 Chron. 20:20) For the soul to be saved, the mind must be brought into conformity with the truth. Ministers persuade and convince by sound teaching, and do not teach by persuading. (sophistry, cleverly devised fables) Gurnall, “Tertullian, speaking of some heretics as to their manner of preaching, saith persuadendo docent, non docendo persuadent—they teach by persuading, and do not by teaching persuade, that is, they woo and entice the affections of their hearers, without convincing their judgement about what they preach. Indeed, it were a hard work for the adulterer to convince her he would prostitute, that the fact is lawful; no, he goes another way to work. First by some amorous insinuations he inveigles her affections, and they, once bewitched, the other is not much questioned—it being easy for the affections to make the judgment of their party. Well, though error, like a thief, comes thus in at the window; yet truth, like the true owner of the house, delights to enter at the right door of the understanding, from thence into the conscience, and so passeth into the will and affections. Indeed, he that hits upon truth, and takes up the profession of it, before he is brought into the acquaintance of its excellency and heavenly beauty by his understanding, cannot entertain it becoming to its heavenly birth and descent. It is as a prince that travels in a disguise, not known, therefore not honoured. Truth is loved and prized only of those that know it. And not to desire to know it, is to despise it, as much as knowing it, to reject it. It were not hard, sure, to cheat that man of truth, who knows not what he hath. Truth and error are all one to the ignorant man, so it hath but the name of truth.”
- Pride and idolatry are one and the same. (Hos. 13:1,4)
- The gospel according to Hosea is justification by faith. (Hos. 14, Rom. 3:19-31)
Conclusion.
Closing Prayer.