Week 3, Tuesday

Psalm 14

Psalm 14, from the Scottish Psalter.

That there is not a God, the fool
doth in his heart conclude:
They are corrupt, their works are vile,
not one of them doth good.
Upon mens sons the Lord from heaven
did cast his eyes abroad;
To see if any understood,
and did seek after God.

They altogether filthy are,
they all aside are gone:
And there is none that doeth good,
yea, sure there is not one.
These workers of iniquity
do they not know at all,
That they my people eat as bread,
and on God do not call?

There fear’d they much: for God is with
the whole race of the just.
You shame the counsel of the poor,
because God is his trust.
Let Israels help from Sion come.
When back the Lord shal bring
His captives, Jacob shall rejoice,
and Israel shall sing.

Nehemiah 6

Nehemiah, chapter 6.

¹ And when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall, and that there were no more breaches therein, (though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates)

² Then sent Sanballat and Geshem unto me, saying, Come thou that we may meet together in the villages in the plain of Ono: and they thought to do me evil.

³ Therefore I sent messengers unto them, saying, I have a great work to do, and I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whiles I leave it, and come down to you?

⁴ Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort. And I answered them after the same manner.

⁵ Then sent Sanballat his servant after this sort unto me the fifth time, with an open letter in his hand,

⁶ Wherein was written, It is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu hath said it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel, for the which cause thou buildest the wall and thou wilt be their King according to these words.

⁷ Thou hast also ordained the Prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, There is a King in Judah: and now according to these words it shall come to the Kings ears: come now therefore, and let us take counsel together.

⁸ Then I sent unto him, saying, It is not done according to these words that thou sayest: for thou feignest them of thine own heart.

⁹ For all they afraid us, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, and it shall not be done: now therefore encourage thou me.

¹⁰ And I came to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, and he was shut up, and he said, Let us come together into the house of God in the midst of the Temple, and shut the doors of the Temple: for they will come to slay thee: yea, in the night will they come to kill thee.

¹¹ Then I said, Should such a man as I, flee? Who is he, being as I am, that would go into the Temple to live? I will not go in.

¹² And lo, I perceived, that God had not sent him, but that he pronounced this prophecy against me: for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

¹³ Therefore was he hired, that I might be afraid, and do thus, and sin, and that they might have an evil report that they might reproach me.

¹⁴ My God, remember thou Tobiah, and Sanballat according unto these their works, and Noadiah the Prophetess also, and the rest of the Prophets that would have put me in fear.

¹⁵ Notwithstanding the wall was finished on the five and twentieth day of Elul, in two and fifty days.

¹⁶ And when all our enemies heard thereof, even all the heathen that were about us, they were afraid, and their courage failed them: for they knew, that this work was wrought by our God.

¹⁷ And in these days were there many of the princes of Judah, whose letters went unto Tobiah, and those of Tobiah came unto them.

¹⁸ For there were many in Judah, that were sworn unto him: for he was the son in law of Shechaniah, the son of Arah: and his son Jehonathan had the daughter of Meshullam, the son of Berechiah.

¹⁹ Yea, they spake in his praise before me, and told him my words, and Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear.

Acts 16

Acts, chapter 16.

¹ Then came he to Derbe and to Lystra: and behold, a certain disciple was there named Timotheus, a womans son, which was a Jewess and believed, but his father was a Grecian,

² Of whom the brethren which were at Lystra and Iconium, reported well.

³ Therefore Paul would that he should go forth with him, and took and circumcised him, because of the Jews, which were in those quarters: for they knew all, that his father was a Grecian.

⁴ And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees to keep, ordained of the Apostles and Elders, which were at Hierusalem.

⁵ And so were the Churches stablished in the faith, and increased in number daily.

⁶ Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia, and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden of the holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia.

⁷ Then came they to Mysia, and sought to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not.

⁸ Therefore they passed through Mysia, and came down to Troas,

⁹ Where a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come into Macedonia, and help us.

¹⁰ And after he had seen the vision, immediately we prepared to go into Macedonia, being assured that the Lord had called us to preach the Gospel unto them.

¹¹ Then went we forth from Troas, and with a straight course came to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis,

¹² And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city in the parts of Macedonia, and whose inhabitants came from Rome to dwell there, and we were in that city abiding certain days.

¹³ And on the Sabbath day, we went out of the city, besides a River, where they were wont to pray: and we sate down, and spake unto the women, which were come together.

¹⁴ And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of the Thyatirians, which worshiped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things, which Paul spake.

¹⁵ And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into mine house, and abide there: and she constrained us.

¹⁶ And it came to pass that as we went to prayer, a certain maid having a spirit of divination, met us, which gate her masters much vantage with divining.

¹⁷ She followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which show unto you the way of salvation.

¹⁸ And this did she many days: but Paul being grieved, turned about, and said to the spirit, I command thee in the Name of Jesus Christ, that thou come out of her. And he came out the same hour.

¹⁹ Now when her masters saw that the hope of their gain was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the Magistrates,

²⁰ And brought them to the governors, saying, These men which are Jews, trouble our city,

²¹ And preach ordinances, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, seeing we are Romans.

²² The people also rose up together against them, and the governors rent their clothes, and commanded them to be beaten with rods.

²³ And when they had beaten them sore, they cast them into prison, commanding the Jailer to keep them surely.

²⁴ Who having received such commandment, cast them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.

²⁵ Now at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sung Psalms unto God: and the prisoners heard them.

²⁶ And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundation of the prison was shaken: and by and by all the doors opened, and every mans bands were loosed.

²⁷ Then the keeper of the prison waked out of his sleep, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew out his sword and would have killed himself, supposing the prisoners had been fled.

²⁸ But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we all are here.

²⁹ Then he called for a light, and leaped in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,

³⁰ And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

³¹ And they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thine household.

³² And they preached unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in the house.

³³ Afterward he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and was baptized with all that belonged unto him, straightway.

³⁴ And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced that he with all his household believed in God.

³⁵ And when it was day, the governors sent the sergeants, saying, Let those men go.

³⁶ Then the keeper of the prison told these words unto Paul, saying, The governors have sent to loose you: now therefore get you hence, and go in peace.

³⁷ Then said Paul unto them, After that they have beaten us openly uncondemned, which are Romans, they have cast us into prison, and now would they put us out privily? nay verily: but let them come and bring us out.

³⁸ And the sergeants told these words unto the governors, who feared when they heard that they were Romans.

³⁹ Then came they and prayed them, and brought them out, and desired them to depart out of the city.

⁴⁰ And they went out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia: and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed.

The Heidelberg Catechism

The Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 3.

Question 6. Did God create man thus wicked and perverse?

No; but God created man good, and after his own image—that is, in righteousness and true holiness; that he might rightly know God his Creator, heartily love him, and live with him in eternal blessedness, to praise and glorify him.

Question 7. From where, then, comes this depraved nature of man?

From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise, whereby our nature became so corrupt that we are all conceived and born in sin.

Question 8. But are we so far depraved that we are wholly unapt to any good, and prone to all evil?

Yes; unless we are born again by the Spirit of God.

A Church in the House

From Matthew Henry, A Church in the House, 1704.

There are Three Things necessary to the well-being of a Church, and which are most considerable in the Constitution of it. Those are Doctrine, Worship and Discipline; where the Truths of Christ are professed and taught, the Ordinances of Christ administered and observed, and due Care taken to put the Laws of Christ in Execution among all that profess themselves his Subjects, and this under the Conduct and Inspection of a Gospel-Ministry, there is a Church; and something answerable hereunto there must be in our Families, to denominate them little Churches.

Masters of Families, who preside in the other Affairs of the House, must go before their Households in the Things of God. They must be as Prophets, Priests and Kings, in their own Families, and as such they must keep up Family-Doctrine, Family-Worship, and Family-Discipline; then is there a Church in the House, and this is the Family-Religion I am persuading you to.

First, Keep up Family-Doctrine. ‘Tis not enough that you and yours are Baptized into the Christian Faith, and profess to own the Truth as it is in Jesus, but Care must be taken, and Means used, that you and yours be well acquainted with that Truth, and that you grow in that Acquaintance, to the Honor of Christ and his Holy Religion, and the Improvement of your own Minds, and theirs that are under your Charge. You must dwell with your Families as Men of Knowledge, 1 Pet. 3. 7. i. e. as Men that desire to grow in Knowledge yourselves, and to communicate your Knowledge for the Benefit of others, which are the Two good Properties of those that deserve to be called Men of Knowledge.

Let us pray.

Let us pray. A prayer of John Calvin.

Grant, Almighty God, that as thou often dost justly hide thy face from us, so that on every side we see nothing but evidences of thy dreadful judgment,—O grant, that we, with minds raised above the scene of this world, may at the same time cherish the hope which thou constantly settest before us, so that we may feel fully persuaded that we are loved by thee, however severely thou mayest chastise us: and may this consolation so support and sustain our souls, that patiently enduring whatever chastisements thou mayest lay upon us, we may ever hold fast the reconciliation which thou hast promised to us in Christ thy Son. Amen.

Tonight at your table

Tonight at your table, read Genesis 17 and Matthew 16 with your household.

This week’s question for your table. Did God create man thus wicked and perverse?