Law/Confession/Pardon (1/18)

Intro

Our worship order is designed to touch every part of our communion with God.

We adore the Lord in song, we give thanks for his grace, we bring our needs to him in prayer.

One simple way to remember this rhythm is the acrostic A.C.T.S.

Adoration

Confession

Thanksgiving

Supplication

Right now we come to Confession—to acknowledge our sin and to come back to the Lord with honesty and humility.

Why we read the law and confess

Scripture teaches us essentially two things: what to believe and how to live.

What we are to believe: the faith once delivered to the saints.

What we are to do: the obedience that flows from faith.

Each week we confess what we believe, and we also hear God’s commands—his will for our lives.

And when God’s law is read, it does two things:

It shows us God’s holiness.

And it shows us our need.

The problem is not God’s law—the problem is our sin.

And God uses his law like a tutor to drive us to Christ.

So we hear the law, we repent of our sin, and we rest again in this good news:

God pardons all who repent and believe in Christ.

And then the Holy Spirit strengthens us to grow in obedience going forward.

Reading of God’s law

Hear now God’s will for your life, from Micah 6:6–8.

“With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Silent confession + prayer of confession

Let’s take a moment for silent confession, acknowledging that we have not obeyed God’s requirements.

After a brief silence, I will lead us in a prayer of repentant confession.

Let’s confess our sins to God.

(Silence.)

PRAY.

Assurance of pardon

Now, listen to God pronounce his pardon on you as a repenting believer.

Receive these words of comfort from God, from Romans 4:4–8.

“Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”