Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 13 April, 2025
“If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36)
Morning Service – 11:00 AM
The Assyrian Crisis (5)
The Precious Foundation Stone [youtube]
Scripture Reading: I Peter 2:1-17
Text: Isaiah 28:16-17
I. The Rich Meaning
II. The Profound Promise
III. The Devastating Judgment
Psalms: 104:1-7; 119:145-152; 144:11-15; 118:17-26
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
Christ’s Teaching Regarding Little Children [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Matthew 18:1-20
Text: Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 27
I. The Meaning of Little Children
II. The Privileges of Little Children
III. The Blessing of Little Children
Psalms: 22:27-31; 119:153-160; 8:1-9; 105:6-12
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
Quotes to Consider
Homer C. Hoeksema on Isaiah 28:16: “Isaiah describes the foundation stone as ‘precious.’ Objectively, this stone is of the highest value. He who lays this stone lays the most precious stone he possesses. Surely this is true of the reality to which the figure points: God’s foundation stone is his own Son. What more precious stone upon which to build his church could God possibly choose? The same is true subjectively. Because Christ is the Son of God, he is the object of God’s favor, precious in his sight and beloved. Because God loves him, he makes his Son the foundation of his church” (Redeemed With Judgment, vol. 1, p. 310).
E. J. Young on Isaiah 28:16: “How striking the contrast! In place of lies, a stone. Judah relied upon lies and falsehood; God has laid in Zion a stone. Perhaps it is well to note that God’s action is already accomplished. Yet if that be the case, how can the stone be Jesus Christ, who would not come to earth for many years subsequent to Isaiah’s time? The answer is that the decree of God goes back to eternity; the plan of salvation has been determined, and is to be accomplished in time. The foundation stone has been laid by God, and what He has decreed is as good as accomplished. The verb in reality corresponds to the thought of Micah, who also prophesied at this time of the Messiah as ‘of old, even from everlasting.’ ‘What is historically realized,’ says Delitzsch, ‘has had an eternal existence, and indeed an ideal pre-existence even in the heart of history itself (ch. 22:11, 25:1, 37:26). Ever since there had been a Davidic government at all, this stone had lain in Zion. The Davidic monarchy not only had in this its culminating point, but the ground of its continuance also. It was not only the Omega, but also the Alpha. Whatever escaped from wrath, even under the Old Testament, stood upon this stone.’”
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
We welcome Bob & Carolyn Prins from Trinity PRC to our worship services.
Monday catechism classes:
5:45 PM: Grace, Jonas, Liam & Sammy (Beginners OT) – END OF YEAR TEST
6:30 PM: Eleanora, Felicity, Jorja & Sophie (Juniors OT) – END OF YEAR TEST
7:15 PM: Jason, Kyan, Maisie & Sebastian (Heidelberg Catechism – Book 1)
Tuesday Bible study will meet this week at 11 AM to conclude our study of events at Paphos, Cyprus, in Acts 13.
The Belgic Confession class will meet on Wednesday at 7:30 PM to discuss Antichrist’s doom.
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s day (Gospel 846 MW at 8:30 AM) by Rev. Haak is entitled, “The Power of Christ’s Resurrection” (I Cor. 15:3-4).
Easter Monday Outing: All are welcome to meet at noon in the main car part of Glenariff Forest Park for a picnic and walk on 21 April (weather permitting).
Offerings: £1,402.65.
Translation Additions: 1 Albanian, 6 Hungarian, 13 Polish and 3 Spanish.
Striving for the Faith of the Gospel (2)
Rev. Herman Hoeksema in the Standard Bearer, vol. 23, issue 20
Striving for the faith of the gospel!
For that strife she [i.e., the church] 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!
Ah, how otherwise shall you be in a position to contend for its faith? Would you strive for the faith which you deny at every step you take on life’s path? O, you may contend for a philosophy of man, for the wisdom of the world, by word of mouth, without even making an attempt to realize that philosophy in your own life. A mere theory it is to you, a matter of intellectual pastime. But the gospel is the promise, and the promise is Christ, and the faith of the gospel is not a matter of the head, but of the heart; it is not a philosophy, but the living truth of God; it is not an intellectual theory, it is a faith!
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.
The one spirit of the Church is the Spirit of Christ. He dwells in Christ as the Head, in the Church as His body, in the individual believers only in fellowship with that body.
To stand fast in one spirit implies that you are all partakers of that one Spirit of Christ, that He dwells in you, and works in you all one mind, one will, one purpose, one desire: the mind and will of Christ, the purpose to strive for the faith of the gospel, the desire to be more and more conformed according to the image of the Christ that is the sum and substance of that faith.
Stand fast in one spirit, that Spirit!
Walking worthy of the gospel!
William Guthrie (1620-1669), The Christian’s Great Interest (pp. 38-39)
SOME ARE CALLED FROM THE WOMB
There are some called from the womb, as John the Baptist was (Luke 1); or in very early years, before they can be actively engaged in Satan’s ways, as Timothy (II Tim. 3:15). It cannot be supposed that these have such a preparatory work as we are to speak of. And because some persons may pretend to this way of effectual calling, we offer these marks of it whereby those who have been so called may be confirmed.
- Such are usually from their childhood kept free from ordinary pollutions, as swearing, lying, mocking of religion and religious persons, etc., with which children are often defiled. Those whom God calleth effectually, He sanctifieth from the time of that effectual calling: ‘Sin cannot have dominion over them,’ as over others, ‘Because they are under grace’ (Rom. 6:14).
- Religion is, as it were, natural to them; I mean, they need not to be much pressed to religious duties even when they are but children; they run willingly that way, because there is an inward principle of ‘love constraining them’ (II Cor. 5:14), so that they yield themselves servants of righteousness, without outward constraint (Rom. 6:16).
- Although such know not when they were first acquainted with God, yet they have afterwards such exercises of spirit befalling them as the saints in Scripture, of whose first conversion we are not told. They are, upon some occasions, shut out from God, and are again admitted, in their apprehension, to come near; their heart is also further broken up by the ordinances, as is said of Lydia (Acts 16:14). And ordinarily they remember when some special subject of religion and duty, or when some sin, of which they were not taking notice before, was discovered to them. They who can apply these things to themselves, have much to say for their effectual calling from their youth.
