Worship service 05/10/26.
Greetings and call to worship.
—Greetings and good morning, saints and holy brethren, the called of God and fellow partakers of the cross and sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace, mercy, and peace be multiplied to you through the grace and righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are gathered together once more on the Holy Sabbath to worship God according to His word and commandments, to honor and praise Him, and give Him exceeding thanks for His wonderful work of redemption. Blessed be His holy name forever and ever. Psalm 104:1 says, “Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty.” Inasmuch as the Lord is clothed with majesty, let us be clothed in humility and bow ourselves before Him, offering Him the sincere praise of our lips on this His holy day.
A Puritan minister writes, “Q. 4. When did God first appoint the seventh day to be the Sabbath?
A. God did appoint the seventh day to be the Sabbath immediately after the first creation: “And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it.” –Genesis 2:3.
Q. 5. Was the seventh day observed as the weekly Sabbath before God wrote the commandment for its observation on tables of stone in the mount, which he delivered unto Moses?
A. It is more than probable that this seventh day was observed all along by the true worshippers of God, as the other precepts of the law were observed, though no mention be made thereof in the short history of the affairs of some thousand years. For Adam, who lived until the days of Methuselah, no doubt did teach his children this precept, which he had from God in paradise; and Methuselah, who lived till the days of Shem, surely did deliver it down to posterity all the days of the old world; and Shem, who lived till Abraham’s time, and is supposed to be Melchizedek, in all probability, did deliver this precept successively unto him in the new world; and as Abraham with ease might, so without question he did, teach it with other precepts to his children, and they teach it one to another, until the time of Moses; and Moses speaketh to the Israelites of the Sabbath to be kept holy to the Lord on the morrow (Exodus 16:23), as a thing well known unto them, and of practice among them, which was some time before the Lord gave the law upon Mount Sinai.
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 28 [4]: 1 Being in great fear and heaviness of heart to see God dishonored by the wicked, he desireth to be rid of them. 4 And crieth for vengeance against them: and at length assureth himself, that God hath heard his prayer, 9 Unto whose tuition he commendeth all the faithful.
A Psalm of David.
1 Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
2 Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.
3 Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but malice is in their hearts.
4 Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their inventions: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert.
5 For they regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands, therefore destroy them, and build them not up.
6 Blessed be the Lord, because he hath heard the voice of my petitions.
7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.
8 The Lord is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed.
9 Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and exalt them for ever.
Exposition:
—We saw previously the nature of David’s prayer in the third verse: that he beseeches God not to draw him away with the wicked, that he may not share either in their pollution or in their punishment. And we must ever bear this in mind, that misery follows sin as night follows the day. The man who sins cannot hope for escape or refuge unless satisfaction be made; for it is written, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them,” and again, “Be sure your sin will find you out,” and again, “All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.”
Therefore, it is necessary for the Christian to pray that he be kept from temptation, even as God is sovereign over all things—yea, over the devil himself, and over all our enemies who seek our destruction.
But we must also note here that universally connected with the wicked’s end and doom is the behaviour that inevitably leads them there. The wicked are not always cast into hell at birth, nor immediately destroyed by God. This is not for their sake, but for ours: that we might be kept in a sober frame of mind, ever wary of those temptations which hold men captive to the vanities of the world. Thus we see that those whose hearts are full of malice, violence, deceit, and hatred toward their neighbours—and especially toward the church—have but one end appointed for them. David, knowing well what that end is, prayeth earnestly to be kept from it, and from the path that leads unto it.
As it is written, “What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death,” and again, “For the wages of sin is death.” And again, “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”
So we see plainly that inasmuch as David earnestly desires to be kept from the end of the wicked, which is punishment and misery, so he first endeavours that he may not be like them in behaviour. For “the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the wicked shall perish.”
And so, we learn from this Psalm:
- Knowing that God hath all things in His own hand, and disposeth all according to His own will, David prayeth, “Draw me not away.” Even as our Lord teaches us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,” and again saith, “Shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?” Thus, the prayer of the righteous is effectual when it is sound in matter and directed unto holy ends.
- Inasmuch as David endeavoured to be separate from the wicked in direction, saying in another Psalm, “I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked,” and again, “Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men,” so here he would be separate from them in their destruction: “Draw me not away with the wicked.”
- David frequently refers to the reprobate, and to those whom the Lord will destroy, as “the wicked.” As it is written, “But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.” And again, “For the LORD loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.” Here also he further qualifies his statement by calling them “workers of iniquity.” Thus we are continually reminded of the justice of God in the punishment of sinners.
- David makes a particular case against them: first generally calling them wicked, then demonstrating the manner wherein they fall short of sincerity, inasmuch as they bear malice in their hearts toward others even while speaking peace to them. This shows the direction and desire of the righteous, which is ever according to truth. If we have a controversy with another, it is either spiritual or personal. If spiritual, the Word of God makes plain the path of life, and we are ready to rebuke and admonish. If personal, we do not allow it so to consume us that we bear malice against any man for its sake.
But the wicked are not so. Their desires are carnal. They have no case against another on the basis of the law of God, but only upon the basis of their own lusts. And when their lusts are crossed and contradicted, they bear enmity and hatred toward others, because others do not satisfy the false standards which they themselves have set—often without so much as declaring them. Therefore David rebukes such a duplicitous and treacherous manner of living, and calls those who practise it “the wicked” and “workers of iniquity,” who shall soon be destroyed.
- We must apply this also to the false scholastics in the churches today, who speak peace to their neighbours from the pulpit, but do not preach that only doctrine which makes for peace. The doctrine of justification by faith alone is the only means of reconciliation with God; yet these honour-seeking Pharisees would have men saved without it. They call semi-Pelagians, Baptists, Catholics, dispensationalists, yea, even atheists like C. S. Lewis, Christian, so long as they keep their people and are praised by men. But while they speak peace, malice is in their hearts. By the devil’s counsel they devise ways to hold men in chains of darkness, and doctrines by which men cannot be saved. Being blind, they shall lead others into the perdition to which they themselves are hastening, and shall not see light.
So we see plainly that the Christian is separated from the wicked by the grace and mercy of God, both in behaviour and in end. In character, he is separated by the grace of regeneration; in destination, by the supply of the Spirit in sanctification, and by the preservation of his soul through the almighty power of God by faith in Jesus Christ. As it is written, “Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
Let us therefore be bold and constant in faith and prayer, that we may not be led away with the wicked—neither in their practice, nor in their punishment.
David Dickson— “Now he prayeth God would deliver him, and not deal with him as with an enemy. Whence learne, Albeit there be sin in the godly, yet are they not workers of iniquity, nor treacherously disposed towards their neighbours, when they pretend to have friendship with them; and therefore may the godly expect from God, not to be dealt with, as obstinately wicked and impenitent sinners; for this he meaneth, saying, Draw me not away with the workers of iniquity,”
Opening Prayer.
—Our righteous and merciful Father, thou who art clothed with majesty and glory, and doth condescend to the poor estate of thy people. We give thee praise, O Lord, we give thee praise for thy mercy and thy truth. Thou hast in thy word promised to take care of thy people as a loving Father and faithful shepherd. Thou hast led us into the green pastures of thy word and provided richly for us. Therefore, give us a heart to receive thy gifts with Thanksgiving and humility that we might be thine. Let us ever be persuaded to increase in our love and devotion, and grow in grace and in godliness. Continue thy watchful care over us and protect us with thy love. And may we praise thy name forever and ever, thou who art our prince, our captain, our Savior, Amen.
Amen.
Lesson 83. [1.2.57.] The Contents of Holy Scripture: The Prophets. Nahum. The Prophet of Divine Consolation.
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—Micah, Nahum
All which are given by inspiration of God, to be the rule of faith and life.
Intro. Nahum.
Lessons from Nahum.
- The name of the prophet—Nahum means consolation.
Doctrine: God’s people receive consolation in the destruction of the wicked. Nah. 1:7, Prov. 2. 10:25, 11:10, 21, Psalm 37:9-11,34-38, 52:5-7, 68:1-3, 104:35, Isa. 14:3-8, 25:1-5, 2 Thess. 1:6-10, Rev. 18:20, 19:1-3
- The city to be judged—Nineveh. The capital of Assyria. Once received consolation through the preaching of Jonah, now its destruction is the consolation of another through the preaching of Nahum. Jon. 3, Jer. 18:7-10, Nah. 1:15
- The cause of their judgment—Violence and oppression. Nah. 1:3, 3:1, Gen. 6:11-13, Psalm 11:5-7, Psalm 55:9-11, Jam. 5:1-8.
- The remedy of their incurable wickedness—total destruction. Nah. 1:8-9, 3:19. 2 Pet. 2:6-9, Heb. 12.
- The kingdom set up against them—The everlasting kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. Dan. 7:14
i. The Lord Jesus Christ publishes peace to His people.
ii. The Lord Jesus Christ rules His people in righteousness. Ps. 45:6
(Justification, Sanctification, Glorification)
iii. The Lord Jesus Christ shepherds His people patiently, and according to truth. Isa. 40:11, John 10:11, Ps. 23:1-3
iv. The Lord Jesus Christ delivers His people by destroying their enemies and His. Nah. 1:13, 1 Cor. 15:25, Heb. 10:12-14
v. The Lord Jesus Christ has prepared joy, peace and everlasting rest for His Church. Nah. 1:7, Rom. 14:17, Isa. 35:10, 51:11, Rev. 21:4
Conclusion.
Closing Prayer.