Evening Worship Service

Prelude: Prelude on “Hyfrydol” Healey Willan

Call to Worship

Invocation

Hymn 705: I Know Whom I Have Believed El Nathan

Text: Daniel Whittle (1883)

I know not why God’s wondrous grace to me he has made known,
nor why, unworthy, Christ in love redeemed me for his own.

Refrain
But “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I’ve committed unto him against that day.”

I know not how this saving faith to me he did impart,
nor how believing in his Word wrought peace within my heart. (Refrain)

I know not how the Spirit moves, convincing men of sin,
revealing Jesus through the Word, creating faith in him. (Refrain)

I know not what of good or ill may be reserved for me,
of weary ways or golden days, before his face I see. (Refrain)

I know not when my Lord may come, at night or noonday fair,
nor if I’ll walk the vale with him, or “meet him in the air.” (Refrain)

Prayer of Confession

Holy Father, judge of all people, we bow before you humbly confessing our sin and imploring your mercy. We have heard your commands to love you and our neighbor, yet in our pride and selfishness we fall woefully short. We seek to do our own will rather than yours, and we serve ourselves much better than we help others. By your Spirit free us from unholy desires. Help us to love one another as you have loved us in Christ Jesus, in whose strong name we pray. Amen.

The Gospel’s Assurance of Pardon: Ephesians 2:8–9

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Doxology Tallis’ Canon

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.

Prayer of Illumination

Scripture Reading: Romans 7:1–25

1 Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. 3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. 4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. 7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. 13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. 15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Hymn 261: What Wondrous Love Is This Wondrous Love Text: Mary James (1889)

What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul,
what wondrous love is this, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss
to bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
to bear the dreadful curse for my soul!

To God and to the Lamb, I will sing, I will sing,
to God and to the Lamb, I will sing;
to God and to the Lamb, who is the great I AM,
while millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing,
while millions join the theme, I will sing!

And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on,
and when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on;
and when from death I’m free, I’ll sing and joyful be,
and through eternity I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on,
and through eternity I’ll sing on!

Confession of Faith: Westminster Shorter Catechism, question 8

Question: How does God execute His decrees?
Answer: God executes His decrees in the works of creation and providence.

Offering Prayer

(For online giving go to tenth.org/give or mail checks to: 1701 Delancey Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103)

Offertory: Look at the World John Rutter
Chamber Choir

Sermon: The Wretched Man Dr. Liam Goligher

Hymn 172: Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder All Saints Old

Text: John Newton (1774)

Let us love and sing and wonder, let us praise the Savior’s name!
He has hushed the law’s loud thunder, he has quenched Mount Sinai’s flame;
he has washed us with his blood, he has brought us nigh to God.

Let us love the Lord who bought us, pitied us when enemies,
called us by his grace, and taught us, gave us ears and gave us eyes:
he has washed us with his blood, he presents our souls to God.

Let us sing, though fierce temptation threaten hard to bear us down!
For the Lord, our strong salvation, holds in view the conqu’ror’s crown;
he who washed us with his blood, soon will bring us home to God.

Let us wonder; grace and justice join, and point to mercy’s store;
when through grace in Christ our trust is, justice smiles, and asks no more:
he who washed us with his blood, has secured our way to God.

Let us praise, and join the chorus of the saints enthroned on high;
here they trusted him before us, now their praises fill the sky:
“You have washed us with your blood; You are worthy, Lamb of God!”

Benediction

Postlude: Hark! Ten Thousand Harps and Voices arr. Robert Elmore

Serving this evening:
Josiah Vanderveen, platform
Colin Howland, organist