Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 15 September, 2024
“My covenant was with him of life and peace” (Mal. 2:5)
Morning Service – 11:00 AM
God’s Son—So Much Better Than the Angels (20)
Christ Declaring God’s Name [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Psalm 22
Text: Hebrews 2:12
I. Unto Whom?
II. How?
III. Where?
Psalms: 105:1-7; 106:29-35; 69:21-26; 22:17-24
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
Why Must Our Saviour Be God? [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 9
Text: Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 6
I. The Wrath of God
II. The Righteousness of God
III. The Kingdom of God
Psalms: 145:7-14; 106:36-42; 22:27-31; 45:1-7
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
John Calvin: “… what St. Augustine said is true, that one can sing nothing worthy of God save what one has received from him. Wherefore though we look far and wide we will find no better songs nor songs more suitable to that purpose than the Psalms of David, which the Holy Spirit made and imparted to him. Thus singing them we may be sure that our words come from God just as if He were to sing in us for His own exaltation.”
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
We welcome Jordan and Chandra Kamps from Loveland PRC to our services today.
After the evening service today, there will be an election of office-bearers, first, for the office of elder: Brian Crossett (3-year term) – approve or disapprove. Second, due to age/health issues with our elders, we are having an election for a third elder: David Crossett or Joe McCaughern (2-year term). If David is chosen as elder, we would then have an election for the office of deacon: Joe McCaughern (3-year term) – approve or disapprove.
There will be tea after the evening service next Lord’s day, 15 September, as we bid farewell to Cheryl.
Monday catechism classes (please remember to sign and return the consent forms):
5:00 PM: Hannah, Penelope & Xander (Seniors OT)
5:45 PM: Grace, Jonas, Liam & Sammy (Beginners OT – Book 2)
6:30 PM: Eleanora, Felicity, Jorja & Sophie (Juniors OT)
7:15 PM: Jason, Kyan, Maisie & Sebastian (Heidelberg Catechism – Book 1)
8:00 PM: Bradley, Jack, Josh, Samuel & Taylor (Essentials)
8:45 PM: Alex & Nathan (Pre-confession)
Tuesday Bible study at 11 AM will consider further the sources of Paul’s teaching.
The Annual General Meeting will be held this Wednesday (18 September) at 7:30 PM.
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s day (Gospel 846 MW at 8:30 AM) by Rev. Bruinsma is entitled, “The Man of Sin Revealed” (II Thess. 2:3-4).
Next Lord’s day, we will have a preparatory service in the evening with a view to partaking of the Lord’s Supper on Sunday, 29, September.
The Belgic Confession classes will begin for the season on Wednesday, 25 September.
Offerings: £2,423.15.
Translation Additions: 2 Hungarian, 1 Polish, 1 Portuguese and 2 Spanish.
PRC News: Candidate Haveman accepted the call from Loveland PRC. Southwest PRC has a new trio of Revs. De Boer, Decker and Engelsma. Hope PRC (Walker, MI) will call from a trio of Revs. Decker, Maatman and Smidstra. Zion PRC called Rev. Spronk. Lynden PRC has a new trio of Revs. Brummel, Eriks and Engelsma. Hope PRC (Redlands, CA) will call from a trio of Revs. Brummel, Bleyenberg and Maatman.
Quotes to Consider on Psalm Singing
Michael Lefebvre:
“Many modern hymns are written to Jesus, or are written about Jesus. The Psalms also include portions addressed to Christ and many lines about him. But in all the Psalms (and only in the Psalms) we have words of Christ to sing with him. Finding Jesus in the Psalms is not simply about the prophecies of his work in this line or that line. We find Jesus in the Psalms by hearing his voice leading our praise in every line.
When we sing songs like ‘Amazing Grace’ or ‘How Deep the Father’s Love For Us,’ we don’t sing them with their authors – John Newton and Stuart Townend, respectively. Neither Newton nor Townend are present in our services – and neither of these men can (or would presume to!) mediate our acceptance before God. Such songs can speak about Jesus, but they cannot give us the voice of Jesus.
But Jesus is present with his people in worship. As our Prophet, he speaks to us in the Scriptures preached. As our Priest, he intercedes for us in the prayers offered in his name. And as our King, he mediates our entrance into the presence of the Father, a blessing we embrace as we sing his Psalms with him.
Historically, the Psalms were treasured by the Church because they are the hymns of Jesus. The time has come for us to recover a passion for singing, not just about Jesus – but singing with him” (Singing the Songs of Jesus: Revisiting the Psalms, pp. 92-93).
William Romaine (1714-1795) Church of England:
“In the third century we hear much of psalm-singing. Arius was complained of as a perverter of this ordinance. St. Augustine makes it a high crime in certain heretics that they sung hymns composed by human wit.
The sense in which the Church of Christ understood this subject has been till late years always one and uniform: now we leave the ancient beaten path. But why?—have we found a better? How came we to be wiser than the prophets? than Christ? than His apostles? than the whole Church of God? They, with one consent, have sung psalms in every age. Here I leave the reader to his own reflections. There is one plain inference to be made from hence, none can easily mistake it. May he see it in his judgment, and follow it in his practice!
‘What!’ say some, ‘it is unlawful to sing human compositions in the Church? How can that be? Why, they sing them at such a place, and such a place; great men and good men, aye, and lively ministers, too, sing them. Will you set up your judgment against theirs?’ It is an odious thing to speak of one’s self, except it be to magnify the grace of God. What is my private judgment? I set it up against nobody in indifferent things. I wish to yield to every man’s infirmity, for I want the same indulgence myself. But in the present case, the Scripture, which is the only rule of judgment, has not left the matter indifferent. God has given us a large collection of hymns, and has commanded them to be sung in the Church, and has promised His blessing to the singing of them. No respect here must be paid to names or authorities, though they be the greatest on earth, because no one can dispense with the command of God, and no one, by his wit, can compose hymns to be compared to the Psalms of God. I want a name for that man who should pretend that he could make better hymns than the Holy Ghost. His collection is large enough; it wants no addition. It is as perfect as its Author, and not capable of any improvement. Why, in such a case, would any man in the world take it into his head to sit down and write hymns for the use of the Church? It is just the same as if he were to write a new Bible, not only better than the old, but so much better that the old may be thrown aside. What a blasphemous attempt! And yet our hymn-mongers, inadvertently I hope, have come very near to this blasphemy; for they shut out the Psalms, introduce their own verses into the Church, sing them with great delight, and, as they fancy with great profit; although the practice be in direct opposition to the command of God, and, therefore, cannot possibly be accompanied with the blessing of God.”
Henry Cooke (1788-1868) Irish Presbyterian, champion of Trinitarianism against Unitarianism:
“The most celebrated hymns of uninspired men are like Job’s friends, ‘miserable comforters’ (Job 16:2), when compared with the experience of Christ in the day of humiliation, of which the Book of Psalms is the true prophetic picture. While I set not up my own convictions as a rule or measure of the consciences of others, I cannot fail to pity those who find, as they assert, so little of Christ in the inspired psalmody of the Bible, that they must seek and employ an uninspired psalmody as exhibiting Him more fully. Our Lord Himself found Himself in the psalms—Luke 24:44-45—and thereby ‘opened His disciples’ understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures.’ Surely what was clearest light to their eyes, should be light to ours. And, truly, I believe, there is one view of Christ—and that not the least important to the tired and troubled believer—that can be discovered only in the Book of Psalms—I mean His inward life … The most pious productions of uninspired men are a shallow stream—the psalms are an unfathomable and shoreless ocean.”
Professor James Iverach of Aberdeen (1839-1922): “The Psalms extend into the infinities and have no shore. There is not a hymn but I can get through, they all become threadbare; the Psalms I never can fathom. They are the response of the soul to the living God.”
