Sunday Worship April 05, 2020

CALL TO WORSHIP

Zechariah 9:9

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
 Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
 righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
 on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

All Glory, Laud, and Honor

O Worship the King

READING OF GOD'S WORD

Matthew 27

1 When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him
to death. 2 And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor.

3 Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the
thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent
blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” 5 And throwing down the pieces of silver into
the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. 6 But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver,
said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money.” 7 So they took counsel and
bought with them the potter's field as a burial place for strangers. 8 Therefore that field has been called the
Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
“And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the
sons of Israel, 10 and they gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord directed me.”

11 Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
Jesus said, “You have said so.” 12 But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he gave no
answer. 13 Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?” 14 But he
gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.

15 Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they
wanted. 16 And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. 17 So when they had gathered, Pilate
said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” 18 For
he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up. 19 Besides, while he was sitting on the
judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered
much because of him today in a dream.” 20 Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask
for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. 21 The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to
release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” 22 Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who
is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” 23 And he said, “Why? What evil has he done?”
But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!”

24 So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and
washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man's blood; see to it yourselves.”
25 And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” 26 Then he released for them
Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.

27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters, and they gathered the
whole battalion before him. 28 And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and twisting
together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before
him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30 And they spit on him and took the reed and
struck him on the head. 31 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own
clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.

32 As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his
cross. 33 And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), 34 they offered
him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. 35 And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. 36 Then they sat down and kept
watch over him there. 37 And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the
King of the Jews.” 38 Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left.
39 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, “You who would destroy the
temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”
41 So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, 42 “He saved others; he
cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe
in him. 43 He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of
God.’” 44 And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.

45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. 46 And about the
ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my
God, why have you forsaken me?” 47 And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling
Elijah.” 48 And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and
gave it to him to drink. 49 But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.”
50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.
51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the
rocks were split. 52 The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep
were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared
to many. 54 When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the
earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”
55 There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee,
ministering to him, 56 among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and
the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of
Jesus. 58 He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him.
59 And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud 60 and laid it in his own new tomb,
which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away.
61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.

62 The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before
Pilate 63 and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I
will rise.’ 64 Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal
him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.”
65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” 66 So they went
and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.

PASTORAL PRAYER

Our Father in heaven, we praise You and give You glory for Your Son Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior and our God.  We pray that You would give us, Your people, a greater love for Your Son Jesus.  We ask that You would forgive us for all of the times that we have not loved Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.  And so we pray that the Holy Spirit would illumine our eyes that we might see Jesus more clearly in His glory and love Him more fully.

We marvel, Lord, at the truth that Jesus was made like us in every respect.  That the Lord of all would humble Himself by taking on human flesh – we confess that our minds cannot comprehend that glorious condescension.  That the Son of God would not be ashamed to call lowly sinners like us His brothers and sisters.  We pray that we would be people who truly seek to have the mind of Christ in how we deal with one another in humility.  We thank You for the glorious truth that Christ came in the flesh, as fully man.

We marvel, Lord, at the truth that in His incarnation, Jesus remained fully God.  And that He, in perfect obedience to You, lived the righteous life that we never could.  That He never sinned, that He always did and said and thought what was most glorifying to You.  We pray that we would be people that trust not in our own works but rely only on the perfect righteousness of Your Son.  We thank You for the glorious truth that Christ came as God incarnate, as fully God.

We marvel, Lord, at the truth that Jesus died as our substitute.  That He, in love, would suffer Your wrath for our sin, bearing the full condemnation of every sin we’ve ever committed.  Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!  Lord we pray that we would be people that rejoice every day in the grace of Your gospel.  We thank You for the glorious truth that Christ died in our place.

We marvel, Lord, at the truth that Jesus resurrected from the dead.  That death could not hold Him and the grave could not keep Him.  That He was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by His resurrection from the dead.  That because of His resurrection, we can look forward the day that we too will rise and be with You for eternity in heaven.  Lord we pray that You would give us the faith to store up our treasures there.  We thank You for the glorious truth that Christ rose again.

And Lord, we eagerly await Jesus’s return, when He comes on that day to be glorified in His saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed.  What a glorious day it will be when every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Christ is Lord to Your glory.  We pray that You would make us into people who are genuinely excited for that day.

Lord, we praise You for Jesus.  We pray that we would never be complacent, but that we would always have an unfading desire to know Him more.  It’s in His holy name that we pray.

Amen.

There Is A Fountain

We Praise Your Righteousness (lyrics below)

1 We praise Your righteousness O God
Holy Judge of earth and heaven
Forever just and without flaw
Only doing what is right
In Your kindness and Your mercy
You've revealed to us Your law
We praise Your righteousness O God

2 We see Your righteousness O God
In the keeping of Your promise
Your saving grace displayed to all
To restore a world gone wrong
As the threats of hell are silenced
By the cry upon the cross
We see Your righteousness O God

Bridge
Lord You are just and You justify
All who trust in the blood of Christ

3 We love Your righteousness O God
You have owned us as Your children
Your gift to those that You have called
Through no merits of our own
And by faith we stand forgiven
Joined to Jesus Christ our all
We love Your righteousness
We see Your righteousness
We praise Your righteousness O God

ASSURANCE OF PARDON 

Psalm 130

A song of ascents

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!
 O Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
 to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
 O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
 that you may be feared.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
 and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
 more than watchmen for the morning,
 more than watchmen for the morning.

O Israel, hope in the Lord!
 For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
 and with him is plentiful redemption.
And he will redeem Israel
 from all his iniquities.

TIME OF INDIVIDUAL PRAYER

Please take a few moments to pray to prepare your heart to receive the word of God.

THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD

Philippians 3:1-11

1 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to
me and is safe for you. 2 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the
flesh. 3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in
Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reason for
confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the
flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of
Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of
the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I
counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the
surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss
of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in
him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which
comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings,
becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the
resurrection from the dead.

All I Once Held Dear

WORSHIP THROUGH GIVING

If you are someone who normally gives by check or cash, please consider beginning to give online through https://www.firstnyc.org/giving.  You can give directly through your bank account or through a debit card.  Or you may still mail checks to the church.

My Jesus I Love Thee

CHILDREN’S CHURCH

• Memory verses: Review Philippians 4:4-7 and introduce Philippians 4:8 as the new memory verse (audio clip to be sent to parents)
• Review the lessons from the past two weeks
  • Two weeks ago we learned about Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey. The disciples praised Him as king while the Pharisees wanted them to stop.
  • Last week we learned about Jesus’s last Passover meal with His disciples in which He taught them the meaning of His death. Jesus would die as the Passover lamb, the perfect substitute for sinners who put their trust in Him.
    • What special meal did Jesus celebrate with His disciples? (The Passover)
    • What was the bread and the wine a picture of? (Jesus’ body and blood)
• This week, read about the crucifixion from Luke 23:13-49.
  
  • Discuss what it means that we are all sinners. We may not be criminals like the thieves on the cross, but we are also guilty of sinning against a holy God.
  • What is the difference in how the two thieves on the cross addressed Jesus?
  • Point your children to the gospel. Jesus died in our place to take the punishment that we deserve. We must admit that we are guilty of sin and trust in Jesus as the only one who could pay for our sin.
  • Older children: How does the crucifixion show God to be both just and merciful? (His justice is shown in that there is payment for sin by Jesus, and His mercy is shown in that Jesus was punished instead of us)
• Pray together that the Lord would grant your children saving faith.
• Activity Sheet: Download Here