Worship service 05/17/26.
Greetings and call to worship.
—Greetings and good morning saints and fellow Christians, the chosen and beloved of God. Grace, mercy and peace be multiplied to you exceedingly through the mercy of God and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are gathered together under the banner of the gospel to worship God in simplicity and truth as He hath commanded us in His word so to do on His holy Sabbath day. Psalm 100 says, “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.” Inasmuch as the Lord is our God and our Shepherd, let us learn to follow hard after him in all meekness and humility, ready and willing to keep His commandments from the heart.
A Puritan minister writes, “Q. 9. How doth it appear that the first day of the week is appointed by God to be the weekly Sabbath?
A. 1. There is a like reason for the appointment of the first day as there was for the seventh. The reason of God’s appointing the seventh was, his resting from his works of creation; and there is a like reason for appointing the first day, which was the day of Christ’s resurrection, namely, the Son of God’s resting from his suffering works about man’s redemption, into which rest he is said to enter, and which we are more nearly concerned to remember. “For he that is entered into his rest, hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.” –Hebrews 4:10.”
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 [5]: 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 that the righteous pray unto God to be delivered from both the pollution and the punishment of the wicked. They do not merely desire to escape the same end, but the same way altogether. They would not be found walking in their counsel, partaking of their inventions, or desiring their company when God ariseth to judge the earth. For the Christian religion does not teach us only to flee from hell and damnation, but to flee from sin and defilement; not merely to tremble at the curse, but to hate the works of iniquity which bring the curse down upon the head of every man that doeth them.
Here, then, is a necessary test of sincerity: the hypocrite would gladly be delivered from the wages of sin, while still holding fast to the work of sin; but the saint desires to be delivered from sin itself, as from a serpent whose sting is death. He fears God by the grace of God, loves righteousness, and knows assuredly that judgment looms over the workers of iniquity.
But we see also in the next verse the definitive cause of their punishment, namely, their own works. For while, on the one hand, we heartily confess that the wicked are appointed to their end and destruction according to the good pleasure of God before they are born—that is, before they have done either good or evil—yet they are most assuredly punished according to their own deserts, and justly dealt with according to the most perfect and holy law of God.
This David plainly confesses, saying, “Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their inventions.” Whereby we conclude that the wicked are given into the hands of God, and punished by Him according to their own works, and justly dealt with according to the sinfulness of their desires.
The wicked do not sin against their will, but in agreement with it. They are not dragged into evil as innocent men carried by force, but run into it to be defiled by it as swine into the mire. Being darkened through sin, and hardened through pride, they resist the knowledge of God, despise His truth, and yield themselves to the devil, that he may use their bodies, tongues, thoughts, and affections as instruments of unrighteousness. Their members become weapons of malice, cruelty, heresy, theft, false witness, blasphemy, pride, foolishness, idolatry, and all manner of lawlessness. They do not merely sin; they love to sin. They do not merely practise wickedness; they invent for themselves new devices of debauchery and villainy. Thus David says, “according to their deeds,” and “according to the wickedness of their inventions.” They practise wickedness, and approve both themselves and others who do the same. Their souls are factories of idolatry and workshops of iniquity.
So Paul saith, “Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same but have pleasure in them that do them.” Therefore they shall reap the fruit of their iniquity, for he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption.
This they do willingly, with sincere desire for the ways of iniquity, being ignorant of the will of God. Therefore it is one and the same for David to say, “Destroy them,” “Consume them,” and “Give them according to their works.” For David knows that God’s law threatens death and the curse upon all who break it. As 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:
“And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant:
I also will do this unto you;
I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart:
and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies:
they that hate you shall reign over you;
and ye shall flee when none pursueth you.”
So those who practise evil, and delight in the ways of darkness, shall fall into the pit, and none shall recover them. God will render them according to their deeds, and destroy them according to the unchangeable threatening of His law.
For it is without all dispute that:
- Mankind has fallen into an estate of sin and misery.
- By this fall he is utterly incapable of spiritual good, and wholly inclined to all evil.
- The curse of the law lieth upon every transgressor.
- Adam’s sin is imputed to his posterity, so that we are guilty before we can discern good from evil.
- If we are not advocated for by a suitable Mediator, God will render to every one of us according to our works.
- The best of saints, considered in themselves and judged by the rigour of the law, would be found wanting.
- It is only by the mercy of God that we are judged in Christ, and not in ourselves; by another’s righteousness, and not our own.
- The wicked, the reprobate, and all who are left outside the covenant of grace, shall be judged according to their own works and condemned by the strict justice of the law.
Here is the great difference, then, between the righteous and the wicked: not that the righteous have no sin in themselves, but that they have a Surety; not that they can stand before the law in their own garments, but that they are clothed with the righteousness of another according to the new covenant. The wicked appear in the rags of their own works, and the fire shall devour them.
Therefore, let all who are delivered from the curse of the law through Christ rejoice with trembling, and praise the name of the Lord with reverence and glad astonishment. For in ourselves we are worthy of the same condemnation as the wicked. If God should mark iniquity, who could stand? If He should enter into judgment with His servants, none living could be justified. We were, by nature, children of wrath, even as others.
But Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.
Let us then abhor sin, flee from the fellowship of the wicked, and bless the Lord Jesus Christ, who alone maketh us to differ. For if grace had not plucked us as brands from the burning, we too would have walked in their path, shared in their wicked deeds, and perished in their doom. But now, being redeemed by blood and kept by grace and by power, let us walk as those who must shortly stand before God—not to plead our works, but to have them examined as fruits of faith, and to give all glory to Him who wrought them in us.
Matthew Henry— “He imprecates the just judgments of God upon the workers of iniquity (Psalms 28:4): Give them according to their deeds. This is not the language of passion or revenge, nor is it inconsistent with the duty of praying for our enemies. But,
- Thus he would show how far he was from complying with the workers of iniquity, and with what good reason he had begged not to be drawn away with them, because he was convinced that they could not be made more miserable then to be dealt with according to their deeds.
- Thus he would express his zeal for the honour of God’s justice in the governing world. “Lord, they think all well that they do, and justify themselves in their wicked practices. Lord, give them after the work of their hands, and so undeceive those about them, who think there is no harm in what they do because it goes unpunished,” Psalms 94:1,2.
- This prayer is a prophecy that God will, sooner or later, render to all impenitent sinners according to their deserts. If what has been done amiss be not undone by repentance, there will certainly come a reckoning day, when God will render to every man who persists in his evil deeds according to them. It is a prophecy particularly of the destruction of destroyers: “They speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts; Lord, give them according to their deeds, let the spoilers be spoiled, and let those be treacherously dealt with who have thus dealt treacherously;” see Isaiah 33:1; Revelation 18:6; Revelation 13:10. Observe, He foretels that God will reward them, not only according to their deed, but according to the wickedness of their endeavours; for sinners shall be reckoned with, not only for the mischief they have done, but for the mischief they would have done, which they designed, and did what they could to effect. And, if God go by this rule in dealing with the wicked, surely he will do so in dealing with the righteous, and will reward them, not only for the good they have done, but for the good they have endeavoured to do, though they could not accomplish it.”
Opening Prayer.
— Our gracious and merciful Father in heaven, thou who art full of all justice and glory, and who reserveth wrath for thine enemies, but storeth up rewards for the righteous. We confess our unworthiness, and our forfeiture of all the good things which thou hast promised to them that love thee. For we are sinful and fallen by nature, and love the things of this world and the vanities that pass away. Turn us, therefore, from beholding such things, and fix our eyes upon thee, that we might trust in thee, and keep thy truth always. Give us a heart of diligent obedience and zeal for the faith, that we might keep thy word and be well pleasing to thee in all things. Help us to conform to the word and submit to thy holy and wise providence, even when it is contrary to our frail sense, not being merely satisfied therewith, but truly content, and joyful, knowing thou lovest us, and takest care of us as a loving and gracious Father. We commit ourselves to thee, and ask thee to keep us always in thy love, even as the word speaketh, and we pray this through the word, and in the name of thy Son who is our blessed Redeemer,
Amen.
Lesson 84. [1.2.58.] The Contents of Holy Scripture: The Prophets. Habakkuk. The Prophet of Joy in God.
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—Nahum. Habakkuk.
All which are given by inspiration of God, to be the rule of faith and life.
Intro. Habakkuk. Job 1.
Lessons from Habakkuk.
- The name of the prophet. “To embrace.” What are we to embrace? Habakkuk teaches the church to embrace the will of God concerning us. For, we are not to recoil from His providence as though some strange thing happened to us, nor doubt His promises to us because the vision tarries, nor debate His wisdom because His judgments are uncomfortable, nor demand that His ways bow to our desires, nor despair when the cloud of affliction hangs over us. Rather, the righteous must apprehend by faith what sense cannot understand, knowing that the Lord is in His holy temple, that His work shall be revived in the midst of the years, and that even in wrath He remembers mercy.”
a. To doubt. Uncertainty of mind concerning God’s salvation and the means thereof.
b. To debate. Inward or vocal disagreement with God’s ways.
To demand. Saying, “Not Thy will, but mine be done.” It would make man’s desire the law of God’s government. Or to demand God to answer as to why He doth what He doth.
c. To despair. To be in a sullen or sad state of mind and heart because the cloud of providence hangs over us. The fruit of the Spirit is joy, not despair.
- The righteous may be afflicted for long periods of time. Hab. 1:2-4
a. For sin.
b. For the exercise of their graces.
c. For the perfection of patience.
- The wicked will not believe, though it be told them. Hab. 1:5, John 12:39-40.
a. The heart of man is naturally inclined to wickedness. (which mars even his apprehension of earthly things)
b. The mystery of godliness (chastisement) is above them.
- Though men be as nothing, as clay in the hand of a potter, and all nations before the Lord as a tool, yet they will boast in themselves and attribute glory and power to their false god. Hab. 1:11, 16
- The faith of the righteous is ever directed to the Holiness of God. Hab. 1:13-14 (What faith shall the just live by? The faith that submits to God in all things)
- Though the righteous wait long for their redemption, yet the LORD is a God of truth. He will not lie, He will save His people as He has promised. Hab. 2:1-3
- Pride of heart, imputing strength to false gods, or to self, is contrary to the faith by which the just shall live. Hab. 2:4 Thomas Watson— “Faith is a humble grace, it gives all to Christ; it is an adorer of free grace.”
- Though God’s judgments are manifested in the earth, the people will continue to practice idolatry, and give glory and honor to their dumb idols. Hab. 2:18-20
- God’s people are kept awake and aware of His work by chastisement, and are encouraged to fear Him, and to seek Him and the revival of His work, “in the midst of the years”. Hab. 3:2
- Though the righteous have no present consolation, yet may they rejoice in the Lord, and boast in their salvation through Him. Hab. 3:17-19
Conclusion.
Closing Prayer.