Redeemer Presbyterian Church

Greetings, Redeemer Family!

Let me take just a minute to introduce myself. My name is Tim Sharpe, and I am the new Director of Worship here at Redeemer. I recently graduated from Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando with a Masters of Arts in Counseling and Masters of Divinity. While in Orlando, I served as Chief Musician for chapel services at the seminary, as well as Worship Pastoral Intern at Christ Kingdom Church. While I’m originally from the DC area of Northern Virginia and a graduate of James Madison in Harrisonburg, I’m brand new to Lynchburg. I had the great pleasure of meeting many of you this past Sunday, and I look forward to getting to know you all as time goes by.

This week we are shaping our worship around Psalm 32. This psalm of David is a song of praise for God’s forgiveness of sins. The tone of this psalm is striking. David remembers back on his estate of shame and guilt, when the weight of his sin was heavy upon him. Yet this is a psalm of thanksgiving, as the writer has been brought from that place of darkness and insecurity into a confidence in the mighty grace of God.

Our worship begins this week with a gathering song that encourages us to boldly embrace that confidence that God is for us. As we enter into God’s presence this morning, let us shake off our guilty fears of condemnation, which isolate us from God and one another, by remembering that Christ has paid our debt.

Five bleeding wounds He bears; received on Calvary;

They pour effectual prayers; they strongly plead for me:

“Forgive him, O forgive,” they cry,

“Forgive him, O forgive,” they cry,

“Nor let that ransomed sinner die!”

My God is reconciled; His pardoning voice I hear;

He owns me for His child; I can no longer fear

With confidence I now draw nigh,

With confidence I now draw nigh,

And “Father, Abba, Father,” cry.

With that confidence in His mercy, secured in Christ’s precious blood, we come together to worship God. Our call to worship from Psalm 103 instructs us to praise God with thanksgiving for His benefits, particularly the ways that He has redeemed and restored His people.

1 Praise the LORD, O my soul;

all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

2 Praise the LORD, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits-

3 who forgives all your sins

and heals all your diseases,

4 who redeems your life from the pit

and crowns you with love and compassion,

5 who satisfies your desires with good things

so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

We follow the Psalmists’ encouragement in the next 2 songs, praising God for His holiness and proclaiming that:

Only Thou art holy; there is none beside Thee,
Perfect in power, in love, and purity.

Highest praises, honor and glory

Be unto Your name.

One of the tools we use to know and worship God according to His Word is confessional documents of the Church. These doctrinal statements are written by men that have studied and searched God’s Word in community, seeking to know and speak the Truth about Him. This week we will use a reading from the Belgic Confession, one of the earliest Reformed confessions. This selection is slightly updated for clarity.

Article 17: The Recovery of Fallen Man

We believe that our good God,

by His marvelous wisdom and goodness,

seeing that we had plunged ourselves in this manner

into both physical and spiritual death

and made ourselves completely miserable,

set out to find us,

though we, trembling all over, were fleeing from Him.

And He comforted us, promising to give us His Son,

born of a woman, to crush the head of the serpent,

and to make us blessed.

In our text of Psalm 32, the Psalmist says that he “wasted away” in his guilt of sin. The litany of confession we use this morning calls on Christ the Healer to reconcile us both to God and to one another. Unique about this litany is the way that it includes prayer not just for the ways that we have sinned, but also for ways that we have been sinned against. Christ came that He might renew and restore His people completely in both ways, for His glory.

Litany of Confession

For the times we have lied to one another

and the times we have been lied to,

Heal us, Jesus, friend of sinners, Savior of the world.

For the times we have laughed at another’s pain

and the times we have been laughed at,

Heal us, Jesus, friend of sinners, Savior of the world.

For the times we have spoken when we should have remained silent

and the times we have remained silent when we should have spoken,

Heal us, Jesus, friend of sinners, Savior of the world.

For the times we have not respected another’s freedom

to be different from us,

Heal us, Jesus, friend of sinners, Savior of the world.

For the times we have betrayed a friend

and the times we have been betrayed,

Heal us, Jesus, friend of sinners, Savior of the world.

O God of heaven and earth, you emptied yourself of your power and

became a man in order that you might heal the sick world. Teach us to

empty ourselves of the things that destroy us and keep us alone.

Empty us of our jealousy, of our meanness, and our fear of others. For

Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Should we be tempted by these confessions to despair, we sing the next hymn as a reminder that Christ has loudly declared concerning his Church – “All her debts are cast on me! She must and shall go free!” My favorite line from this song is “Jesus blood speaks solid rest / we believe and we are blessed.” There is a solid rest from the anxiety of insecurity and striving to self-justify. It is found in the strong embrace of Christ. It is this Christ who calls us out of the bondage and sorrow and darkness of our sins and into the freedom and gladness and light of His glorious grace. And, by His Spirit, He instructs us how to walk in this light, in fellowship with God and with one another (1 John 1:7).

We close our service this morning with one of the great worship texts of God’s grace towards us, “And Can it be?”. Although there is no worth in us, His sovereign mercy proclaims us no longer slaves to sin but free sons and daughters of the living God.

And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me who caused His pain!
For me who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be That
Thou, my God, should die for me?

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach the eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own

The awe and wonder at this kindness of God will carry us into worshipful service of Him until we gather again next week.

May the Grace and Peace of Christ be with you always,
Tim Sharpe