31st October 2025


Pray (ACts)


Read (Exodus 20:8-11)


Message (Alan Burke)


The Fourth Commandment requires us to observe God’s own patterns of work and rest. He laboured in creating the universe and then rested delighting in all he had done. The main reason why we accept and follow nine commandments and not ten in practice is because this commandment is just inconvenient to us. Sunday is now a family day, it’s the busiest shopping day of the week, well it was the busiest shopping day and its the day that our children do their homework because when the bell goes on Friday then the school work is done and in Crossgar it’s the day for Sport. Let’s look to what the Fourth Commandment there in Exodus chapter 20 teaches. 


The Sabbath is a holy day, ie this day is to be set apart, it’s not to be like the rest of the days. The sabbath is to the Lord our God. Notice that it is to be dedicated to the Lord, it also includes everyone among the people of God, for the people of God there was no one who would work or be made to work so others could get the final day of the week off, so they could have a sabbath. We see that in what it lists…. On it you shall not do any work, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. Nobody is to do any work.


The reason why we are to do this is grounded in God’s creative work “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day.” There duties of necessity and mercy that we must do on the Sabbath, we need Dr’s, Nurses, we need the fire service, police are all necessary, Jesus healed a man with a withered hand and it’s on the Sabbath showing that necessity and mercy are things we must do. God gave us the sabbath to be a gracious gift, It was never the Lord’s intention to keep people hungry or thirsty on the Sabbath, he gave his law for our best. Imagine having a seven day working week, 365 working days, we’d be shattered, we need the sabbath to be released from the toil, but the problem is that more often than not today we have thrown the shackles of God off as a people that we use the sabbath for our own selfishness forgetting the real purpose of it. 


The Sabbath is a gracious gift from God, it is not and should not be burdensome obligation, it was given for our benefit, not to do what we like with, to treat it like any other day, rather it is because we need a Sabbath, we need rest. Our society seeks to normalise the Sabbath, make it like any other day but physically, mentally, spiritually we need it, God gives us one day in seven, before the fall God gave us this day, His day for our benefit and as a response we should worship and thank him for his gracious gift of rest. Our sabbath is a Sunday, is to be sanctified, set apart as a day of rest, let us uses it for what it was meant for, to reconnect with the holy and recharge our spiritual batteries instead of being conformed to the world around us and use the day that he has given us as a witness to how Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath and Lord of our lives. . 


Why is the Christian Sabbath on a Sunday and not a Saturday even though from the time of Adam and Eve it was the last day of the week a Saturday? Well the Christian the Sabbath is no longer a Saturday but on the first day of the week, in Mark’s gospel (16), Luke’s gospel (24) and John’s gospel (20), each one records how Jesus rose on the first day of the week. In Acts 20 we learn how… 7 On the first day of the week they came together to break bread, the first day. Revelation 1:10 speaks of that first day as the Lord’s day (9-11). The sabbath had been on the last day after creation was completed, now the Christian Sabbath is the first day of a new creation, it is the day that we come together as the people of God to worship him, it is the day we set aside as a holy Sabbath rest, and it is a foretaste of the eternal Sabbath rest that awaits all the people of God (Hebrews 4:9-10)


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Q7 What are the decrees of God?
A. The decrees of God are, his eternal purpose, according to the counsel of his will, whereby, for his own glory, he hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.
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30th October 2025


Pray (ACts) 


Read (Job 13) 


Message (Scott Woodburn) 


Job freely admitted that the Lord was beyond all understanding but even so he longed to speak with God (v3). His friends had fallen short in their efforts to see their friend restored which caused Job to  describe them as “worthless physicians” who had given no help to their patient (v4). They had attempted to whitewash the situation with lies (v4) speaking deceitfully for God in the process (v7). Job compared the wisdom of his friends to fragile ashes and clay (v12). Would Job’s friends not just be silent (v5)? Would they not be terrified by God and stop speaking (v11)?


Job wanted their silence because he wanted to speak and be heard (v13). Yet he didn’t want the ear of his friends, his desire was to speak to God Himself (v17). What did Job ask of the Lord? Two things. Firstly, that the Lord wouldn’t remove His hand from Job’s life and secondly, that Job wouldn’t shrink back in fear from Almighty God (v21). That’s an interesting prayer isn't it? It combines a desire for relationship with a holy fear. Effectively Job cries “Lord, please don’t leave me and may I not be terrified by your presence.” Job promised that he would answer God if the Lord called or perhaps the Lord would reply after Job had spoken (v22).


What did Job want to know and discuss? In a word “Why?” “How many are my sins?” asked Job (v23). “Why do you hide your face from me?” he cried (v24). Job wanted answers which went far beyond “bad things happen to bad people” He felt like a prisoner whose feet were in stocks and like a rotten moth-eaten garment (v28). Job was in despair and he longed to hear God’s voice. Nevertheless, Job despite his agony remained a man of faith. Blessed assurance met with his broken heart. He was sure that the godless would not see God (v16) but when his own case was heard he would be vindicated (v18).


The book of Job causes us to wrestle with God’s sovereignty and human suffering. It is a book which contains mystery and verses which even the experts struggle to interpret. But there are also numerous examples of soaring faith to fire our weary hearts. In the midst of his pleading Job declared “Though he slay me, I will hope in him” (v15). Isn’t that awesome? Job longed for answers and to see God’s face but even in the absence of such things he was still able to declare “whatever happens, I trust in the Lord.”


I’m reminded of three young men whose lives were about to come to an end at the hand of a wicked king. They were far from home and strangers in a hostile land. Nevertheless, they refused to bend the knee to a false idol and were about to be thrown into a fire. Their response? “If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” (Daniel 3v17-18)


Oh for such a faith! Brothers and sisters, may our faith be proved true in the fire and the storm. No matter what comes, I choose to believe!


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Q6 How many persons are there in the Godhead?
There are three persons in the Godhead; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.
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29th October 2025


Pray (ACts)


Read (Exodus 16:3-5, 20, 22-23, 27)


Message (Alan Burke)
This week we are working our way through the Fourth Commandment, you probably know the one I’m talking about, the one that we ignore and reality have only Nine Commandments, I even refer to them as that sometimes the Eight Commandments because that last one about coveting is well a little awkward because we all desire more and more stuff and are never contented. That though is for another time. So the Fourth Commandment yes it comes in Exodus 20 but today I want you to see that even before the commandment was given by God to his people at Sinai that the Sabbath had already been instituted not only by the creation ordering of it by God, declaring it to be Holy but in the lives of his people. 


In Exodus 16 we learn of the LORD’s provision to his people in the wilderness. The LORD had brought his people out of Egypt, and once more they are gurning about their lot, they had forgotten the harsh reality of what they faced, they dreamt of what they had, we see that in verse 3, “there we sat round pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death”. 


Oh how fickle we are as the human race, how quick we are to forget. But did you notice what the LORD said to Moses in v4-5, how they were to gather enough food for each day except for the Sabbath and gather twice as much the day before. This is what the people were to do, Moses told them not to keep it to morning, but they did not listen verse 20, it was full of maggots and it began to smell, then on the sixth day the tattered twice as much (22), and in verse 23; He said to them, “This is what the Lord commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’ ”


Before Sinai, before the Ten Commandments were given to the people, the people were to keep a holy Sabbath, just as the Lord had instituted in the beginning for the pattern of all people, as he blessed the seventh day and made it holy, resting from all the work of creating he had done, he was to be this way for his people. Look though to what happened, when the sabbath came verse 27, even though they were told that there would not be any; “Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none”.


God had told them to keep the Sabbath holy, to refrain from their work, to rest his him but they didn’t listen and then the Lord says to them verse 28; “Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? 29 Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where he is on the seventh day; no one is to go out.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.”


Their failure to keep the sabbath was failure to obey the Lord their God. What we learn from this even before the LORD had given the Ten Commandments to his people is that he had already given his people a Sabbath, it was something that he had already instituted with his people, actually it was something that was there from the very beginning, and as the Lord formally gives these commandments to his people, they already understood the Sabbath, they already knew that on the seventh day they were to rest for it was a holy sabbath to the LORD. The Sabbath, was given by God and it was given as a day that was set apart for God, it is a day like no other, a day unlike the rest of the week, it was given in the beginning, Adam and even were expected to follow it, his people in the wilderness were expected to follow it and live that way even before he had given it to them in the Forth Commandment, that the seventh day was to be a Holy Sabbath to the LORD.


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Q5 Are there more Gods than one?
A. There is but one only, the living and true God.
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28th October 2025


Pray (ACts) 


Read (Job 12) 


Message (Scott Woodburn)


It is incredibly difficult to sit quietly as criticism is poured out upon you. There are certainly times that we need to hear the hard words of a friend but there are also times that such words are unjustified and unhelpful. I think it is clear that Job’s friends loved him as they had traveled many miles and sat beside him for seven days and nights. But they could not get past their assertion that Job was suffering because their friend had done something that he was unwilling to admit.


In response Job sarcastically suggested that his friends were the only wise people in the world and no doubt wisdom would die with them (v2). But for sure they weren’t the only wise people - Job also had understanding and he was by no means inferior to Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar (v3). Even so, Job had become a laughing stock to his friends, he was both just and blameless but also a figure of scorn (v4). Robbers were at peace, those who scorned God were secure and idol worshippers had no fear (v6), but Job was in the depth of despair.


The theology of the counsellors was that bad things happened to bad people and good men experienced no hardship. God therefore was easily managed - stay on the straight and narrow and you’ll have nothing to worry about. Job wasn’t convinced with their shallow approach. He was sure that creation knew all about God’s sovereignty (v7-8) - no drop of rain falls without the will of God. In God’s hand is the life of every creature and every person (v10). Therefore Job agreed with his friends that God had brought calamity to his life (v10) but he disagreed as to “why” God had done this.


What Job did understand was that the Lord cannot be withstood. If He tears down, it can’t be rebuilt (v14) and if He withholds the waters then the land drys up (v15). He is both strong and wise holding both the deceived and deceiver in His hand (v16). God leads counsellors, He makes judges fools (v17), he turns the decisions of kings upside-down (v18) and He overthrows the mighty (v19). It is the Lord God who causes the greatness of nations and it is the Lord who ends empires (v23). Job’s point is clear, the simple wisdom of his friends was no wisdom at all - God cannot be manipulated or managed and His ways cannot be tied up in a neatly packaged box.


Brothers and sisters, it is good to remember the unknowability of our God. What do I mean? The Lord is knowable and has revealed much in His Word which should be believed and proclaimed. Yet may we never be so arrogant to believe that we have mastered the Lord and can easily explain His ways. May we remember our place and rest in the goodness of God who keeps the secret things as His own possession (Deuteronomy 29v29). 


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Q4 What is God?
God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.
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27th October 2025


Pray (ACts)


Read (Genesis 2:2-3)


Message (Alan Burke) 


I’m off this week and Hiram is coming to lead worship this coming Lord’s day, normally I’d just post some old devotions and sure I may as well as we come to the Fourth Commandment because while we get the first three, we understand commandment number five to ten, in reality we leave this one by the way side. I’ve debated with myself why, and I think that the reason why is that it is just because it is inconvenient. We have no problem in accepting the other nine commandments and many of us simply ignore this one or have forgotten it, we live like it doesn’t exist, or it doesn’t matter and we treat those who try to observe it with contempt and I’d go further we despise it, even though it is to a blessing for us and for our good. 


For some reason the sabbath to us is unnecessary, inconvenient, optional even. Maybe it is because we like our wee trip out for ice cream on a Sunday night in the summer, we don’t want to exclude our kids from a birthday party at Streamvale open farm that happens on a Sunday, and a Sunday Carvery is hard to beat, where else do you get a bit of gammon, lamb, beef and turkey at the same time. 


Now think to the church calendar for a moment, what is the most important events in the church year in your opinion? Christmas, Good Friday and Easter, Harvest? What else do you have in there, but the question comes why do we have them? In short we have them for two reasons, firstly because they replaced other pagan festivals. When the Roman Empire became “Christian” then Christmas was introduced to replace their pagan festival of Roman Saturnalia which took place after the winter solstice, the darkest night of the year, celebrating the renewal of light in the Unconquerable Sun. Then more recently harvest took the place of the festival of Lughnasadh around the 12th century. The second reason of course why we have these things is tradition. We have these things because of tradition. They are not commanded by God, they are not holy. 


But the Sabbath is something completely different, the sabbath is something that has been instituted by God for all people, and there is a difference between the Sabbath and the rest of the week. We first look at the account of creation, it’s something that we are all familiar with, on the first six days was creating, and then on the seventh day in Genesis 2:2-3 God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. 


We have a week because God made it that way, six days did he work and on the seventh day he rested. It is a pattern that is mirrored all over the world, in ever culture, I know of only two examples when the week was changed, the first during the French Revolution they changed the week to being 10 days from 1793 to 1805. The intention was greater productivity, after all one day off in ten increases productivity over a year by 5% but it actually was counter productive and caused a fall in production so they went back to seven days. The other was the Soviet Union between 1929 and 1940 introduced first a five day then a six day week, it had different issues and they reverted to a seven day week, six days working one day of rest. 


God gave us a seven day period, six days for work and one for rest as exampled here in the book of Genesis and it is a pattered that is replicated all over the world. So from creation, from the beginning, we have a day being set apart for rest. God rested because he was finished his work and gave us a pattern to follow. It gives us insight as well to the nature of that rest, for the Lord made the day itself holy, this is the first time in scripture that we have the word Holy used, here it is used of a day, as the Lord blessed the seventh day and made it Holy. Holy meaning it is set apart, it is concentrated for a purposes and that purpose is to be God’s day. Do you see it as that, a day set apart by God as holy, consecrated as God’s day? God has given us 52 Holy days in the church calendar, 52 days to be observed, each as special as the last. 


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Q3 What do the Scriptures principally teach?
A. The Scriptures principally teach, what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.
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25th October 2025


Pray (ACts) 


Read (Job 11) 


Message (Scott Woodburn) 


The last counsellor to speak to Job’s condition was Zophar the Naamathite.  If we aren’t desperately sure about the background of Eliphaz or Bildad then we are completely unsure of Zophar or his home town of Naamath. Regardless of his background, Zophar is the youngest of Job’s three friends and someone who we might say “doesn’t miss and hit the wall”


Zophar told Job that he was full of talk (v2), babble (v3a) and mockery (v3b). Indeed, he painted Job as entirely self-righteous who boasted of his pure doctrine and clean soul (v4). These are incredibly harsh criticisms of a broken man. We must declare that Job was not perfect but it is hard to justify Zophar’s aggressive critic of his friend.


The third comforter longed for God to put Job right and speak to him with words of wisdom (v5-6). Only then would Job understand that he was actually getting off lightly (v6) - God does not pay us back as we deserve, if He did then we would all see Hell. Like his two friends, Zophar speaks something that is true - we need God’s grace because the weight of our sin is so great. Even so, it seems that Zophar gave no thought to Job’s anguish, we should be free to say hard things to our friends but we must discern when the best time is to speak and when we should fall silent.


The man from Naamath reminded Job that the Lord’s ways are beyond our comprehension. None of us can find out the deep things of God (v7), His wisdom is beyond all measure (8-9) and if the Lord calls together His court of judgement then no one will be able to stop Him (v10). More than that, the Lord knows what men are truly like and when He sees sin He will bring His judgement down upon it (v11). According to Zophar, the stupid do not realise the scale of God’s wisdom and will only be made wise when a wild donkey gives birth to a man (v12) - it will never happen!


Despite his harsh words Zophar held out an olive branch to his weeping friend. If Job would just repent and reach out to God (v13-14) then the Lord would forgive and restore him. Job would be secure once more, without fear and he would forget all of his misery (v15-16). Light would chase away the darkness (v17) and Job would begin to see brighter days once more (v18-19).


I think Zophar cared for Job and I’m confident Eliphaz and Bildad did as well. However, it seems that as they considered his plight they were certain of his unconfessed sin and weren’t sure if Job would come to repentance. Zophar’s first speech ended with a clear warning that the eyes of the wicked would fail and they would not escape God’s judgement (v20).


Like his fellow comforters Zophar’s words carry great truth and yet they were like poison to Job. He was not hiding anything from either God or his three friends. He was as innocent as any sinful man could be and yet he had lost everything with even his own wife calling him to turn from his faith. What did Job need from his friends? Something more than calling him a windbag who had obviously sinned against God.


Brothers and sisters, I pray that we would help carry one another’s burdens and I also pray that we would know what to say and when to say it. “Telling someone straight” is a good and necessary thing sometimes but we need to have the wisdom to know when. Equally not all human suffering can be easily remedied by telling someone that they’re sinful and need to repent. What happens when the person repents and the suffering continues? Job’s friends should be commended for sitting with him and doing their best even though it’s clear that they hadn’t really listened.


In light of the poor counsel of Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar I’m thankful for Jesus. He walks with us through the valley, sits with us in the ashes and always speaks truth. No wonder God’s people have always rejoiced to say “The Lord is my shepherd.”


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Q2 What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him?
The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him.
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24th October 2025


Pray (ACts)


Read (Exodus 20:7)


Message (Alan Burke)


When someone is up at court before the Judge there is that moment that the judge will pass the verdict and in most cases it goes one of two ways, yes there might be a mistrial but the verdict is usually that the person is innocent or they are guilty. If someone is innocent they have been declared innocent of the offence that they were accused of committing. It may be that they were indeed guilty, every man and his dog may know for a fact that they did what they were accuses of but in the courts there was not enough evidence to without reasonable doubt declare them to be guilty. On the other hand if the verdict is guilty they are so for they are being declared responsible for that which they have been accused off, the wrongdoing that they had been charged with. No longer are they deemed as innocent but guilty, in the eyes of the law they are responsible for what they have done. Ok from time to there may be an innocent person convicted of a crime they didn't commit but that doesn’t happen all that often, in the main courts get it right. 


In regard to taking the LORD’s name in vain we are told that the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. On one level these words should strike fear into our hearts. Think to the list of that which the Larger Catechism gives of examples of what are the sins forbidden in the Third Commandment in Q113. We looked at it on Wednesday, we’ll think of the last comment “being ashamed of it, or a shame to it, by unconformable, unwise, unfruitful and offensive walking, or backsliding from it.” Are you or have you ever been ashamed of being called a “Christian”, or brought shame to the name of God by your actions in any way? Whether we like to admit it or not all of us have left this commandment in shatters. There is not one of us who are innocent or guiltless, we are guilty, we are each one of us law breakers. All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, before him all of us are guilty. 


Even in the smallest sin, the offence is against God, for it against the Holy God for sin is rebellion against him. That for many people is hard to hear, that no matter how good we think we are compared to others, no matter how we may think the scales are weighted in our favour, they are not, we are guilty before the LORD God. Every sin deserves God’s wrath and curse. We have fallen short of the glory of God his infinite perfection and therefore deserve and infinite judgement. Yet in this if we have put our hope in trust in Jesus Christ, if we have repented and believed, then we know that we are united to Christ, although we cannot hope to keep this command we have a saviour who has, his righteousness is imputed to us, given to us. All because Jesus who was innocent, guiltless, Pilate declared it to be (Lk 23:13-16) yet it pleased God that Jesus would go to that Cross to atone for the sin of all those whom he had chosen before the foundation of the world. 


God has not only covered our sin in the righteousness of Christ, but enables us who are by our very nature the enemies of God approach him continually to receive his grace anew. For we come before a God this day who is good and gracious, holy and just, merciful and gracious. He has shown us his unmerited favour towards those who are undeserving in his grace. What God has done is show us his grace, for salvation is not about getting what we deserve but about grace. What we deserve is the wrath of God but when God calls us we receive his grace. All who call upon the name of Christ they will be saved, and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12).


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Q1 What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.
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23rd October 2025


Pray (ACts) 


Read (Job 10) 


Message (Scott Woodburn)


Have you ever longed for just five minutes with somebody? Five minutes to put forward your case and put them straight? Job longed for such an interaction with God. He had grown to loathe his life and wanted to speak in the midst of his bitterness to the Lord Himself (v1).


Job knew what he would say. He would tell God not to condemn him (v2) and he would ask God why He was seemingly so against Job (v2b). Furthermore, he would question God as to why it appeared that He favoured the wicked (v3). God isn’t like us, He doesn’t have our eyes, He isn’t limited by our years and He makes no mistakes (v4-7). Yet as far as Job was concerned God knew that Job was guiltless with no one to save him and still the Lord poured out punishment on Job’s head (v8).


Would the Lord forget that He had created Job (v9a)? Would the Lord undo His work and turn Job back to dust (v9b)? It was God who had shaped Job like cheese is shaped from milk (v10), it was God who had knitted Job together in his mother’s womb (v11) and it was God who had given Job life, love and care (v12). Was he going to forget all of this?


Just as a boiling pot spills over, so too did Job’s despair rise once more. If he was guilty then so be it (v15a) but he wasn’t guilty and still he couldn’t lift his head (v15b). He felt hunted (v16) with the Lord’s armies set against him (v17). Once more Job wondered why he had ever been born, as far as he was concerned it would have been better to have died in the womb (v19).


Job believed that his death was near. As he looked to the future he saw only the grave and “the land of darkness and deep shadow” (v21). What was his last earthly hope? That the Lord would leave him alone so that he might find some cheer in his final days (v20).


At times reading Job feels like reading someone’s searingly honest diary - there is nothing hidden and there is no pretence. Indeed, it reminds us that there are many days in our own lives when all we can say is “I loathe my life.” Brothers and sisters, we know so little but we know a little more than Job. We have more to hope for than just a few bright days in life before death comes. The reality of heaven is beyond our imagination and our final home will be greater than we can comprehend. Jesus has prepared that place and even if life seems bleak something greater is coming.


“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4v17-18)


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Q107 What doth the conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer teach us?
The conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer, which is, For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen,” teacheth us to take our encouragement in prayer from God only, and in our prayers to praise him, ascribing kingdom, power, and glory to him; and in testimony of our desire and assurance to be heard, we say, Amen.
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22nd October 2025


Pray (ACts)


Read (Exodus 20:7)


Message (Alan Burke)


A few weeks back I was up in Coleraine at our house just making sure that everything was sorted for the winter, you know like the guttering is fine, there is oil in the tank, the heating works and all the radiators work. Now this is kind of important because we’ve had work done piece by piece and recently a room was plastered and the radiator was off the wall. I thought everything would be fine but before I realised the radiator that was off the wall wasn’t working, I’d no tools with me and looked around to see what I could find to turn the valve, checked the garage couldn’t find any pliers and being a man who won’t accept that he’s beaten I got an old fork that I squeezed the fork onto the bit of the valve to turn it without pillars. Hey presto the valve was turned, the heat started to come into the radiator. The fork was only fit for the bin, I had not used it as it was intended but I had misused it. Here in the Third Commandment we are warned not to misuse the name of the Lord, we are not to take it in vain. Now obviously that is very different than me taking the fork to the valve but what then are we being taught?


Well let’s think of the fullness of what God’s name is. Later in Exodus (33) Moses asks the LORD to show himself and he does but how he shows himself to Moses is by passing before him and proclaiming his name (Ex 34:6-7) saying “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”. 


Psalm 8:9 tells us; “In all the earth, O LORD our Lord, how glorious is your name.” How can the LORD’s name be glorious in all the earth, how can the name of the Lord be glorious in all the earth? Well it is because nature, all of creation, every part of it is part of the revelation of the Lord God and his name. His name is glorious over all the earth by virtue of who he is, it is a revelation of the LORD God himself. When we start to understand that the name of God is understand the sum of who he is and what he has done we begin to see that taking the name of the Lord in vain is much much more than using it as a curse word. Only then do we begin to understand that the scope of taking the Lord’s name in vain is much much greater. If we do a quick summary of what the scripture teaches about taking the Lord’s name in vain we start to see that it isn’t just to do with speech. There are many, many other ways in which we transgress this command, that we don’t readily think of that are made clear to us throughout the scriptures. 


The Westminster Larger Catechism in Q113 asks ‘What are the sins forbidden in the third commandment?’ The answer is a comprehensive exposition of the scriptures teaching and it is; A. The sins forbidden in the third commandment are, the not using of God’s name as is required; and the abuse of it in an ignorant, vain, irreverent, profane, superstitious, or wicked mentioning or otherwise using his titles, attributes, ordinances, or works, by blasphemy, perjury; all sinful cursings, oaths, vows, and lots; violating of our oaths and vows, if lawful; and fulfilling them, if of things unlawful; murmuring and quarreling at, curious prying into, and misapplying of God’s decrees and providences; misinterpreting, misapplying, or any way perverting the Word, or any part of it, to profane jests, curious or unprofitable questions, vain janglings, or the maintaining of false doctrines; abusing it, the creatures, or any thing contained under the name of God, to charms, or sinful lusts and practices; the maligning, scorning, reviling, or any wise opposing of God’s truth, grace, and ways; making profession of religion in hypocrisy, or for sinister ends; being ashamed of it, or a shame to it, by unconformable, unwise, unfruitful and offensive walking, or backsliding from it. 


The truth is, we have not kept this commandment, we have taken the LORDs’ name in vain, it is much more than a slip of the tongue when we hit our thumb when hammering a nail or burn the pavlova in the oven. It is not within our ability to keep any of God’s law and the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. But do not despair for Christ Jesus has perfectly kept the Law of God on our behalf so that we may be declared righteous before our Lord and God.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q106 What do we pray for in the sixth petition?
A. In the sixth petition, which is, And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,” we pray, that God would either keep us from being tempted to sin, or support and deliver us when we are tempted.
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21st October 2025 


Pray (ACts) 


Read (Job 9) 


Message (Scott Woodburn)


Job’s first two friends were confident that Job had sinned and now needed to repent. They had both spoken eloquently about God but they had both pointed the finger at Job with Bildad reminding him that the wicked do not prosper. This was nothing new to Job - he well understood the holiness and sovereignty of God and so in response to Bildad’s counsel Job raised the monumental question “how can a man be in the right before God?” (Job 9v2).


Is there a bigger question than that one? God isn’t our equal, He isn’t like us, He is the creator and not a creature. If Job’s friends spoke eloquently then Job joined them as he described the glory of God. No one can stand before God and give Him an adequate answer (Job9v3). God alone is all wise and all mighty (Job 9v4). The Lord is able to shake mountains (Job 9v5), He shakes the earth (Job 9v6), He commands the sun (Job 9v7), seals the stars (Job 9v7b), stretches out the heavens and tramples the waves (Job 9v7-8). Indeed, it was the Lord who flung the stars into space and if you’ve ever marvelled at the star constellations above you like the Bear, Orion and the Pleiades then understand that the Lord made them all (Job 9v9). There is no one like God - who can stand before Him?


As Job continued to speak it was obvious that he felt so inadequate before the Lord. Who can say anything to God (Job 9v12)? Who can answer the Lord (Job 9v14)? Job believed he was in the right but even still could not speak to God (Job 9v15). Job sat in the ashes feeling utterly crushed (Job 9v17) and filled with bitterness (Job 9v18). He knew all too well that he couldn’t win a test of strength with the Lord (Job 9v19) nor could he trump God when it came to justice (Job 9v19-20).


There was nothing untrue about Job’s words but they brought him no comfort. Considering the immensity of God Job returned to his earlier statement of “I loathe my life.” (Job 9v21). Eliphaz and Bildad were convinced that God brought calamity to the wicked but Job understood that both the just and the unjust experience good days and bad (Job 9v22). Yet Job went further by suggesting that God mocks the innocent when disaster comes upon them (Job 9v23) and it is God who allows the wicked to do what they like in the face of judges who are blind (Job 9v24). Do you notice the change in Job? In his hopelessness he was slowly beginning to question the goodness of God.


With Job’s life moving swiftly to a close (Job 9v25-26) he began to consider his options. He could try and put on a happy face but God would still find him guilty (Job 9v27-28). If he tried to make himself clean God would still throw Job into a pit (Job 9v30-31). So if Job only faced condemnation then why bother with life (Job 9v29)?


What Job needed was an “arbiter” (Job 9v33). He longed for someone to stand in between him and God. Job was only a man who could give God no answer (Job 9v32). If Job had such a mediator then he would be able to speak to the Almighty (Job 9v35).


How can anyone be right before a holy God? The wicked and the righteous alike need someone to stand in the gap that exists between God and man. Do you know such a man? Are you trusting in an individual who will stand for you? Job’s despair was leading him to hopelessness and an accusation that God didn’t care about the righteous. But slowly in the midst of his suffering a dim light was starting to glow ever brighter - what if there was a mediator between God and man? Brothers and sisters, we know there is and Jesus is his name.
Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC


Q105 What do we pray for in the fifth petition?
In the fifth petition, which is, And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,” we pray, that God, for Christ’s sake, would freely pardon all our sins; which we are the rather encouraged to ask, because by his grace we are enabled from the heart to forgive others.
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