Test All Things by J.C. Ryle

This is a sermon by J.C. Ryle in which he shows how vital it is for every Christian to know God's Word and carefully evaluate all doctrine and practice in its light.

Call to Worship

Sunday School

Studies in The Sermon on the Mount
by Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Sunday Service

Pastoral Reading

Psalm 21

O Lord, in your strength the king rejoices,
    and in your salvation how greatly he exults!
You have given him his heart’s desire
    and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah
For you meet him with rich blessings;
    you set a crown of fine gold upon his head.
He asked life of you; you gave it to him,
    length of days forever and ever.
His glory is great through your salvation;
    splendor and majesty you bestow on him.
For you make him most blessed forever;[a]
    you make him glad with the joy of your presence.
For the king trusts in the Lord,
    and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.

Your hand will find out all your enemies;
    your right hand will find out those who hate you.
You will make them as a blazing oven
    when you appear.
The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath,
    and fire will consume them.
10 You will destroy their descendants from the earth,
    and their offspring from among the children of man.
11 Though they plan evil against you,
    though they devise mischief, they will not succeed.
12 For you will put them to flight;
    you will aim at their faces with your bows.

13 Be exalted, O Lord, in your strength!
    We will sing and praise your power.

Opening Song

God My King, Thy Might Confessing (TH #5)

1 God, my king, thy might confessing,
ever will I bless thy name;
day by day thy throne addressing,
still will I thy praise proclaim.

2 Honor great our God befitteth;
who his majesty can reach?
Age to age his works transmitteth;
age to age his pow’r shall teach.

3 They shall talk of all thy glory,
on thy might and greatness dwell,
speak of thy great acts the story,
and thy deeds of wonder tell.

4 Nor shall fail from mem’ry’s treasure
works by love and mercy wrought:
works of love surpassing measure,
works of mercy passing thought.

5 Full of kindness and compassion,
slow to anger, vast in love,
God is good to all creation;
all his works his goodness prove.

6 All thy works, O Lord, shall bless thee,
thee shall all thy saints adore.
King supreme shall they confess thee,
and proclaim thy sovereign pow’r.

Prayer

Focus this week:  Mia Fielding

Song

Lord, From Sorrows Deep I Call (CRC #32)

1 All praise to God, who reigns above,
the God of all creation,
the God of wonders, pow’r, and love,
the God of our salvation!
With healing balm my soul he fills,
the God who every sorrow stills.
To God all praise and glory!

2 What God’s almighty pow’r hath made
his gracious mercy keepeth;
by morning dawn or evening shade
his watchful eye ne’er sleepeth;
within the kingdom of his might,
lo, all is just and all is right.
To God all praise and glory!

3 I cried to him in time of need:
Lord God, O hear my calling!
For death he gave me life indeed
and kept my feet from falling.
For this my thanks shall endless be;
O thank him, thank our God, with me.
To God all praise and glory!

4 The Lord forsaketh not his flock,
his chosen generation;
he is their refuge and their rock,
their peace and their salvation.
As with a mother’s tender hand
he leads his own, his chosen band.
To God all praise and glory!

5 Ye who confess Christ’s holy name,
to God give praise and glory!
Ye who the Father’s pow’r proclaim,
to God give praise and glory!
All idols underfoot be trod,
the Lord is God! The Lord is God!
To God all praise and glory!

6 Then come before his presence now
and banish fear and sadness;
to your Redeemer pay your vow
and sing with joy and gladness:
Though great distress my soul befell,
the Lord, my God, did all things well,
To God all praise and glory!

CCLI Song # 7127376
Matt Boswell | Matt Papa
© 2018 Getty Music Hymns and Songs (Admin. by Music Services, Inc.)
Getty Music Publishing (Admin. by Music Services, Inc.)
Love Your Enemies Publishing (Admin. by Music Services, Inc.)
Messenger Hymns (Admin. by Music Services, Inc.)
For use solely with the SongSelect® Terms of Use. All rights reserved. www.ccli.com
CCLI License # 108183

Song

His Mercy is More (CRC #16)

Verse 1
What love could remember no wrongs we have done
Omniscient all knowing He counts not their sum
Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore
Our sins they are many His mercy is more

Chorus
Praise the Lord His mercy is more
Stronger than darkness new every morn
Our sins they are many His mercy is more

Verse 2
What patience would wait as we constantly roam
What Father so tender is calling us home
He welcomes the weakest the vilest the poor
Our sins they are many His mercy is more

Verse 3
What riches of kindness He lavished on us
His blood was the payment His life was the cost
We stood ‘neath a debt we could never afford
Our sins they are many His mercy is more

Matt Boswell/Matt Papa
@2016 Getty Music Hymns and Songs
CCLI #108183

Scripture Reading

I John 4

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot[a] love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Preaching the Word

Test All Things by JC Ryle

1 Thessalonians 5:21
…but test everything; hold fast what is good.

Closing Song

God’s Sufficient Word (CRC #51)

Believe in God’s inerrant Word,
Inspired and therefore pure.
Continue in the things you’ve learned,
for sacred Truth is sure.

Chorus
Rejoice in God’s delightful Word
That satisfies the soul–
Far sweeter than the honeycomb,
And more desired that gold!

Submit to God’s transforming Word
Which makes the foolish wise.
The living, piercing, healing Sword
Yields righteousness through Christ. Chorus

mature through God’s equipping word,
Until you’re fully grown.
prepared to serve your gracious Lord,
Now work to make Him known. Chorus

Depend on God’s sufficient Word,
Which cannot be improved.
In light of judgment and reward,
Proclaim His changeless Truth. Chorus