Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 3 August, 2025
If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36)
Morning Service – 11:00 AM
Judges Deborah and Barak (7)
Kishon and Sinai [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Judges 5:1-21
Text: Judges 5:4-5
I. The Referent
II. The Reasons
III. The Lessons
Psalms: 97:1-8; 138:1-5; 68:5-10; 78:4-8
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
Scripture Reading: Proverbs 7
Text: Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 41
I. The Manifold Circumstances
II. The Various Blandishments
III. The Terrible Destruction
Psalms: 119:9-16; 138:4-8; 106:24-31; 128:1-6
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
Prof. David Engelsma: “The song of Deborah in Judges 5 is a song of deliverance. It is comparable to the song of Moses in Exodus 15 and to the song of Moses and the Lamb in Revelation 15:3, 4. It is a song of praise to the Lord, the deliverer. It views the deliverance as arising from God’s covenant with Israel at Sinai (Judges 5:4, 5). The deliverance is covenant deliverance. As covenant deliverance, it is gracious. It is the deliverance of a people that again had made itself guilty of idolatry (v. 8). Israel’s deliverance is a deed of divine power (vv. 20, 21). It is also a deed of divine righteousness (v. 11)” (Unfolding Covenant History, vol. 5, p. 61).
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
The July issue of the Covenant Reformed News is on the back table.
John Brooks was transferred to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast on Friday. He is in Ward 6D, is doing well and hopes to get home on Monday.
Taylor, Abbie, Joshua, Jack and Samuel will be travelling tomorrow to the US to attend the Protestant Reformed Young People’s Convention. William Graham will be flying with Samuel and returning after 2 weeks. Rev. & Mary Stewart will be travelling with the group to Chicago and continuing on to Canada, before ending up in Grand Rapids and returning with the other 4 young people after 3 weeks.
Iron Sharpens Iron Radio Interview: On Monday (4 August) at 9-11pm (GMT), Prof. Doug Kuiper will address “The History of the Protestant Reformed Churches in America: Reflections as They Celebrate Their 100th Anniversary.” Listen live on-line (www.ironsharpensironradio.com).
Rev. & Mary Haak will be arriving on Saturday, 9 August. Our brother will preach for the CPRC on 3 Lord’s days (10, 17 & 24 August) while Rev. Stewart is on holiday. They plan to be in Scotland from 18-23 August.
We are looking for helpers to cut hedges, bushes, lawns, etc., at the manse in August. Contact Joe, David or Julian for more details and to volunteer.
Updated Tea Rota: We are looking for men, women and young people (age 11+) to sign up for an updated tea rota. We especially look forward to volunteers for the tidy up crew as it has become apparent we need more assistance in that area. The sign up sheet is on the table in the back. If you have any questions, please contact Kristin. The next tea is planned for 24 August with the new rota.
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s day (Gospel 846 MW at 8:30 AM) by Rev. Haak is entitled “A Sinful Response to Sovereign Mercy” (Jonah 4:1-5).
Offerings: £1,472.20. Donations: £30 (N. Ireland), £200 (New Jersey), £400 (England).
Translation Additions: 2 Spanish.
Rearing Covenant Children for Life in the End-Time
Prof. David Engelsma, an excerpt from the pamphlet, “Rearing Covenant Children for Life in the End-Time“
It is striking that the kind of life demanded by the end-time, and, therefore, the appropriate rearing for life in the end-time, is not that the children abstain from immorality—rebellion, fornication, drunkenness, drugs, and the like. Paul does not say, “Since the time is short, do not fornicate, or divorce and remarry, or have an affair;” but he says, “Have a wife, as not having a wife.” He does not say, “Do not steal;” but he says, “Buy, as not possessing.” We may not content ourselves with admonishing the children not to be immoral.
Life appropriate to the end-time is human life that “sits loose” to the world and to every aspect of earthly life in the world. This is the explanation of the paradox: have a wife, as not having one; weep, as not weeping; buy, as not possessing. Having a wife, being comfortable, being uncomfortable, owning real estate, and every other earthly condition are of no real importance. It is not of ultimate importance whether one is married, or unmarried; whether one’s earthly life is weeping or rejoicing; whether one is a “has” or a “has not;” or even whether one is a slave or a freeman, as the apostle says in verses 21-22.
This is the holiness of indifference to the world. It is what Calvin called “contempt … for the present life.” Describing the Christian life, in Book III, Chapter IX, of the Institutes, Calvin wrote, “For there is no medium between the two things: the earth must either be worthless in our estimation, or keep us enslaved by an intemperate love of it.” We must, said Calvin, “hasten to despise the world, and aspire with our whole heart to the future life.”
The life that is fitting for the end of time is a life that runs the risk of being charged with carelessness towards earthly things: world-flight! other-worldliness! pie-in-the-sky Christianity! In fact, the charge is false. But you can certainly understand why those “Whose portion is below! / Who, with life’s treasures satisfied! / No better portion know,” as The Psalter puts it, raise this charge against the life of the man who takes seriously the apostle’s exhortation in I Corinthians 7, and practices it.
Such a life, and such a life only, escapes the fatal danger of laying up treasures for ourselves on earth and having our heart in the earth (Matt. 6:19, 21); of loving this present world, as did Demas (II Tim. 4:10); of having the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word in us, so that we become unfruitful (Matt. 13:22); of saving our lives and gaining the whole world, only to lose our own souls (Matt. 16:24-26).
This kind of life spares us from many destructive evils: covetousness, envy, ambition, drunkenness.
Our Great Teacher forewarned us that the danger in the end-time would be earthly-mindedness. He used the object lessons of the time of Noah and the time of Lot. What was the evil of the world before the flood and of Sodom before the fire? It was not the violence and perversion that we immediately think of, But: “They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed” (Luke 17:27-30).
They were wrapped up in this world: they had wives, as having them; they rejoiced, as rejoicing; they bought, as possessing; they used this world, as abusing it.
When Jesus, in a parallel passage, Matthew 24:42ff., says, “Watch,” He is saying: “Watch, that you never put too much stock in the present life.”
This attitude of heart and fundamental posture of soul will show itself in sobriety and moderation in earthly life. This is a recurring theme in Calvin. The British poet, Davies, summed up the Reformed style of life in earlier days this way: “simplicity, sobriety, and measure.” Holy indifference to this world is a foe of excess, luxury, and extravagance, whether in eating and drinking; in dress; in house; or in recreation. It is a foe of that which is called “abusing” (the world), in I Corinthians 7:31. Literally, it is an “overmuch-using.” “Overmuch using” is, primarily, a use of the world with one’s heart set squarely on the world. Invariably, it is also an immoderate use.
Let us teach the children this in the end-time. This may seem strange, even paradoxical: as you teach them the world and its fashion (and you must!), you teach them to “sit loose” to the world, because it has no ultimate worth; indeed, in itself, apart from the Goal, it is worthless, and life in it, vanity. This instruction is never so effective as it is when it comes from you, the teachers, who know the world and devote our life to instruction about the world. The students cannot so lightly dismiss this teaching coming from you, as they do when it comes from the preachers, by saying, “Well, they don’t know anything about the world anyhow.” As with all instruction that is effective, however, it must be seen in your life, and for that, you yourselves must believe it …
Paul does not conclude, “Have no wife;” “Do not buy;” and “Try not to use the world, or use it as little as possible.” Rather, he commands: “Have a wife! Buy! Use the world!” That he intends a careful use, a heart-felt, hearty use, is plain from all the rest of his writings, including this very chapter, particularly as regards having a wife. Calvin understood this well enough. Having exhorted “contempt … for the present life,” he continues, in the Institutes: “Still the contempt which believers should train themselves to feel for the present life must not be of a kind to beget hatred of it or ingratitude to God.”
The command is not to flee the world, but to use it in a certain way; and this way is, not for itself, but for the Goal of it all: the Lord Christ, His coming Kingdom, and the re-fashioned world.
Into this Kingdom, we and the children whom we educate have already been translated. Our hearts are on it, and we seek it first.
The present time must usher us into eternity. We use the world in its present fashion for the sake of the world in its future fashion. All earthly things and relationships are used and enjoyed, or suffered, on behalf of the heavenly Christ. Nothing in time is permitted to deflect from eternity; and nothing in the world, to compete with Christ.
Exactly this invests the present world, and our life in it, with meaning and purpose—real significance. Even this poor, perishing world is important, for although the fashion of it passes away, the world itself shall be re-formed in the fashion of Christ. It is eternity, the eternity of the coming Christ, that makes having a wife, weeping, rejoicing, buying, and use of the world significant. It is eternity, the eternity of the coming Kingdom of God, that makes instruction concerning this world, and life in it, significant.
We live and rear our children with a view to eternity.
