Morning Worship

Morning Worship: May 24, 2020

This is the day the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

Silent Prayer of Preparation 

God’s Greeting of Grace, Mercy and Peace 

Call to Worship: Psalm 34:1-3

1 I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; The humble shall hear of it and be glad. 3 Oh, magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt His name together. 

Prayer of Adoration

Hymn of Adoration: RT 243 Praise the Savior Now and Ever

1. Praise the Savior now and ever;
   Praise Him all beneath the skies;
   Prostrate lying, suffering, dying
   On the cross, a sacrifice.
   Victory gaining, life obtaining,
   Now in glory He doth rise.
   
   2. Man’s work faileth, Christ’s availeth;
   He is all our righteousness;
   He, our Saviour, has for ever
   Set us free from dire distress.
   Through His merit we inherit
   Light and peace and happiness.
   
   3. Sin’s bonds severed; we’re delivered;
   Christ has bruised the serpent’s head;
   Death no longer is the stronger;
   Hell itself is captive led.
   Christ has risen from death’s prison;
   O’er the tomb he light has shed.
   
   4. For his favor, praise for ever
   Unto God the Father sing;
   Praise the Savior, praise Him ever,
   Son of God, our Lord and King.
   Praise the Spirit; through Christ’s merit,
   He doth us salvation bring. Amen.!
   

Confession of Sin: Psalm 90:8-14

8 You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your countenance. 9 For all our days have passed away in Your wrath; we finish our years like a sigh. 10 The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. 11 Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath. 12 So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. 13 Return, O Lord! How long? And have compassion on Your servants. 14 Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days! 

Silent Prayer and Assurance of Pardon: Micah 7:18-19

18 Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy. 19 He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. 

Confession of Faith: Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 8, Of Christ the Mediator

1. It pleased God, in His eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, His only begotten Son, to be the Mediator between God and man,a the Prophet,b Priest,c and King,d the Head and Savior of His Church,e the Heir of all things,f and Judge of the world:g unto whom He did from all eternity give a people, to be His seed,h and to be by Him in time redeemed, called, justified, sanctified, and glorified.i Isa. 42:1; 1 Pet. 1:19–20; John 3:16; 1 Tim. 2:5. b. Acts 3:22. c. Heb. 5:5–6. d. Ps. 2:6. Luke 1:33. e. Eph. 5:23. f. Heb. 1:2. g. Acts 17:31. h. John 17:6; Ps. 22:30; Isa. 53:10. i. 1 Tim. 2:6; Isa. 55:4–5; 1 Cor. 1:30.
2. The Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, being very and eternal God, of one substance and equal with the Father, did, when the fullness of time was come, take upon Him man’s nature,a with all the essential properties, and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin;b being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the virgin Mary, of her substance.c So that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures, the Godhead and the manhood, were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion.d Which person is very God, and very man, yet one Christ, the only Mediator between God and man.e John 1:1, 14; 1 John 5:20; Phil. 2:6; Gal. 4:4. b. Heb. 2:14, 16–17; Heb. 4:15. c. Luke 1:27, 31, 35. Gal. 4:4. d. Luke 1:35; Col. 2:9; Rom 9:5; 1 Pet. 3:18; 1 Tim. 3:16. e. Rom. 1:3–4; 1 Tim. 2:5.

Prayers of Supplication

Old Testament Scripture Reading: 

Daniel 2:31-45

31 “You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. 32 This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. 36 “This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. 37 You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; 38 and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—you are this head of gold. 39 But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. 40 And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. 41 Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. 43 As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. 44 And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. 45 Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.” 

Revelation 5

1 And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it. 4 So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it. 5 But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.” 6 And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. 8 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, 10 And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.” 11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!” 13 And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: “Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!” 14 Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever. 

 

Sermon: Revelation 5 The Lion and the Lamb

Theme: The Lamb alone is worthy to open the scroll.

 

• The Scroll of God, vv. 1-4

 

Revelation. 22:18-19; Daniel 2: 44; Matthew 6:9-10, 21; Proverbs 23:26; Micah 7:18-19; Revelation 13:8.

 

• The Lion of Judah, v. 5

 

Genesis 49:9-10; Isaiah 11:1, 10; Revelation 22:16.

 

• The Lamb of God, vv. 6-7 (next time)

• The Worship of the Lamb, vv. 8-14

 

Prayer of Application

Hymn of Commitment: RT 470 How Vast the Benefits Divine

1. How vast the benefits divine
   Which we in Christ possess!
   We are redeemed from guilt and shame
   And called to holiness.
   But not for works which we have done,
   Or shall hereafter do,
   Hath God decreed on sinful men
   Salvation to bestow.
   
   2. The glory, Lord, from first to last,
   Is due to thee alone;
   Aught to ourselves we dare not take,
   Or rob thee of thy crown.
   Our glorious Surety undertook
   To satisfy for man,
   And grace was given us in him
   Before the world began.
   
   3. This is thy will, that in thy love
   We ever should abide;
   That earth and hell should not prevail
   To turn thy Word aside.
   Not one of all the chosen race
   But shall to heav’n attain,
   Partake on earth the purposed grace
   And then with Jesus reign. Amen! 

Benediction: Romans 15:5–6 

5 Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, 6 that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. . . 33 Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen. 

Doxology: RT 731 

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;

Praise Him, all creatures here below;

Praise Him above ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen!

Closing Comment: The more we love Him, the more lovely He will become to us. We soon exhaust the most excellent characters of earth. But in the character of our blessed Redeemer there are depths, heights, lengths and breadths of loveliness that we can never exhaust through time or eternity. After, in Heaven, we shall have seen the King in His beauty as many millions of years as there are grains of dust in our globe–there will still be in Him an infinitude of unrevealed beauties to transport our ever expanding souls. “He is fairer than the children of men,” and infinitely more lovely than all the holy angels, comprising in Himself all the graces of time and all the perfections of eternity. “He is the chief among ten thousand! Yes, He is altogether lovely! This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend!” As every ray of light in the natural world may be traced up in converging rays to the sun–so every trait of moral loveliness found in good men and angels is but a feeble ray from Him, the sun of the moral universe. (Cornelius Tyree, “The Glorious Sufficiency of Christ!” 1879)