Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 14 March, 2021
“O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness:
fear before him, all the earth” (Ps. 96:9)
Morning Service – 11:00 AM
Knowing the Time [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Romans 13
Text: Romans 13:11-12
I. Our Salvation Is Near
II. The Day Is Dawning
Psalms: 122:1-9; 96:8-13
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
Since the Day Is at Hand … [youtube]
Scripture Reading: I Thessalonians 5
Text: Romans 13:13-14
I. Awake!
II. Dress!
III. Walk!
Psalms: 104:1-7; 1:1-6
For CDs of the sermons and DVDs of the worship services, contact Stephen Murray
If you desire a pastoral visit, please contact Rev. Stewart or the elders
CPRC Website: www.cprc.co.uk • Live Webcast: www.cprc.co.uk/live-streaming
CPRC YouTube: www.youtube.com/cprcni
CPRC Facebook: www.facebook.com/CovenantPRC
Quote to Consider
Augustine: “As I was saying this and weeping in the bitter agony of my heart, suddenly I heard a voice from the nearby house chanting as if it might be a boy or a girl (I do not know which), saying and repeating over and over again ‘Pick up and read, pick up and read.’ At once my countenance changed, and I began to think intently whether there might be some sort of children’s game in which such a chant is used. But I could not remember having heard of one. I checked the flood of tears and stood up. I interpreted it solely as a divine command to me to open the book and read the first chapter I might find. For I had heard how Antony happened to be present at the gospel reading, and took it as an admonition addressed to himself when the words were read: ‘Go, sell all you have, give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me’ (Matt. 19:21). By such an inspired utterance he was immediately ‘converted to you’ (Ps. 50:15). So I hurried back to the place where Alypius was sitting. There I had put down the book of the apostle when I got up. I seized it, opened it and in silence read the first passage on which my eyes lit: ‘Not in riots and drunken parties, not in eroticism and indecencies, not in strife and rivalry, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in its lusts’ (Rom. 13:13-14)” (Confessions 8.12.29).
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
Tuesday Bible study at 11 AM will meet in the auditorium to conclude our treatment of assurance as of the essence of faith and the role of the Holy Spirit in assurance.
Belgic Confession Class will meet and be streamed live this Wednesday at 7:45 PM to consider the “last days” in Hosea and Jeremiah in connection with Article 37.
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s day (Gospel 846 MW at 8:30 AM) by Rev. R. Kleyn is entitled, “Miracles for a Mother and a Multitude” (Mark 1:29-34).
Next Lord’s day evening will be preparatory, with a view to partaking of the Lord’s Supper the following Sunday, 28 March.
Offerings: General Fund: £1,892.13. Donations: £200 (Kent, England).
Translation Additions: 2 Hungarian and 1 Russian.
PRC News: Byron Center PRC called Rev. Joshua Engelsma (Doon, IA). Hudsonville PRC’s new trio is Revs. Griess (First, MI), Guichelaar (Randolph, WI), and R. Kleyn (Spokane, WA).
Bulacan PRC in the Philippines will call the first missionary of the PRCP from a duo of Revs. J. Flores and V. Ibe today.
Striving for the Faith of the Gospel
by Herman Hoeksema
(an excerpt from the Standard Bearer, vol. 23, issue 20)
“Only let your conversation be as becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving for the faith of the gospel: And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God” (Phil. 1:27-28).
… Only, strive for the faith of the gospel!
There is only one requirement for the Church of Christ in the world. She has only one calling, and all other things are secondary and subservient to it: that they so walk that they realize the manifestation of the glory of Christ, that their conversation is worthy of the gospel, that they strive for the faith of the gospel. This is the main thought of this whole passage. For the faith of the gospel the Church, must strive. That is her only concern. She need be concerned about nothing else. And to realize this sole and unique calling she must walk as becometh the gospel which they profess, must be united in unity of spirit and of mind, and must not be afraid of those that oppose.
… For, in fulfilling this calling, the Church is not dependent upon a man, not even upon the presence of an apostle, but on Christ only.
Stand, therefore, and realize your calling! In the midst of a hostile world. Without fear! Striving for the faith. For the faith of the gospel.
The gospel is the promise, and the promise is Christ, and the faith of the gospel is the truth concerning Christ, as it is believed by the Church and confessed by her in the midst of the world that lieth in darkness.
Christ as the revelation of the God of our salvation—that is the gospel. Christ, the anointed, who is ordained from before the foundation of the world to be Lord of all; the firstborn of every creature, unto whom and for whom, and through whom, all things were made; and the first begotten of the dead, the head of the Church; Lord in His own rights because He is the only be gotten Son of God and Lord of all things by divine ordination, because He fought the battle and overcame, He suffered and was obedient even unto death—that is the gospel. Christ for us, who assumed human flesh and appeared in the form of a servant, who revealed unto us the Father in word and work, who shed His lifeblood for His own on the accursed tree, making atonement for our sin, and who was raised to glory, exalted at the right hand of God, the Lord of lords, and King of kings—that is the gospel. Christ in us, who received the promise of the (Holy Ghost, and in the Spirit returned unto us, that He may dwell in us, make us partaker of His own life, and of all the blessings of salvation,—that is the gospel. And Christ through us, who is the vine while we are the branches, who bears fruit in us, and we through Him, that we may walk in all the good works God prepared for us.
Christ, the whole Christ, in all His riches, as the revelation of the God of our salvation. Christ as the sole Lord, ruling by His Word and Spirit in and over His own, and ruling over the world by His power. Christ, unto whom every knee must bow, in heaven, earth, and hell, and whom every tongue must confess to be the Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Christ, in whom alone I trust for my salvation, excluding and rejecting every other; in whom I have redemption, even the forgiveness of sins and eternal life.
Christ, to whom I belong with body and soul, for time and eternity, Whom I acknowledge as Lord over my existence and life in this world, over my body and over my soul, over my thoughts and all my desires, over my talents and powers, my wealth and my possessions, my wife and my children, my position in the world, in the Church, in the State, in shop and office, over all my walk and conversation.
That is the gospel!
And the faith of the gospel is not the same as our faith in the gospel; the expression is not to be understood in the subjective sense of the word: it rather denotes the truth of the gospel as it is appropriated by the faith of the Church, expressed and confessed by her in the midst of a hostile world, and maintained by her over against all opposition. Just as we speak of the Reformed Churches, so the text speaks of the gospel faith; meaning its truth as, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, it is known and believed, appropriated and confessed by the Church. Hence, to strive for the faith of the gospel, is to contend for all the fullness of the truth of Christ, the Son of God, the Lord of all, the Redeemer of His people, the heir of all things!
For that faith, the Church must strive! Such is her high, her chief calling.
The faith of the gospel she must preserve in all its purity, for unto her it has been entrusted. The riches of that faith she must display. That faith she is called to proclaim, in her own midst, preaching the gospel of Christ, and instructing the generations to come in its glorious mysteries of salvation. The banner of that faith she must unfurl in the midst of the world, and that, too, among all nations, even unto the ends of the earth. That faith she is called to confess in word and deed, everywhere, and in all relationships of life. And all this must needs assume the form of strife. For the faith of the gospel she must contend, for the world hates and opposes it …
Striving for the faith of the gospel! For that strife she must ever be prepared, putting on the whole armour of God. Like athletes in the contests of the Grecian games, she must exert all her efforts, concentrate all her powers in order to have the victory in this strife. Strive she must together unitedly. Standing together in the fellowship of the gospel, they must not strive with one another, but together stand opposed to the world of darkness, and as one man contend for the faith. Proclaiming the Christ of the gospel, and confessing that He alone is Lord. Fighting the good fight of faith. Even unto the end!
Only! … Walk worthy of the gospel! Let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ! And stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel!
Also in the sphere of things spiritual, yea, there more than anywhere else, all things are inseparably related and connected. How shall the Church strive for the faith of the gospel, if her members walk not worthy of the gospel? And how shall she contend for that faith unitedly, unless she stand fast in one spirit, and be of one mind?
Walk as becometh the gospel!
… It demands your heart and all its issues!
To appropriate that faith means that you know it as you know nothing else, with your whole being and existence; that you put all your confidence in it, that you rely on it in life and in death, and that you esteem the riches of which it speaks more glorious than anything and everything the world can offer. The faith of the gospel demands your life! It requires of you that you stand in the covenant of God in Christ, that you love Him with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, with all your strength; that you forsake the world, crucify your old nature, and walk in a new and holy life.
That is the implication of a walk worthy of the gospel. It is a walk that does not put that gospel to shame. It means that you walk as a people that have been brought under the power, under the complete domination of the faith of that gospel, that are called out of the world, redeemed and delivered from sin, sanctified unto the God of your salvation.
Walking thus, and then only, you will be in a position to contend for the faith of the gospel. Your conversation being worthy of the gospel, you will maintain the unity of the spirit and of the mind, in which you may strive together, in unison, as one man, for the faith of the gospel. For then you walk in the Spirit …
