Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 17 April, 2022
“… walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself
for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour” (Eph. 5:2)
Morning Service – 11:00 AM
Ephraim: A Model of True Conversion [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 31:1-21
Text: Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 33
I. The Identity of Ephraim
II. The Nature of Conversion
III. The Sovereignty of Conversion
Psalms: 116:1-8; 26:6-12; 130:1-8; 107:1-9
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
Solomon: Israel’s Wisest King (29)
Solomon’s Mid-Reign Prosperity [youtube]
Scripture Reading: I Kings 9:10-28
Text: II Chronicles 8
I. Tyrian Dealings
II. Building Projects
III. Temple Service
Psalms: 19:9-14; 27:1-5; 127:1-5; 72:15-19
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
Herman Hoeksema on Lord’s Day 33: “Seeing that this marvelous mystery of the new birth is wholly of divine authorship, without the aid or even the activity of man, we can rest assured that it cannot be lost and cannot be undone. As far as we are concerned it certainly would be destroyed. How often we sin and make ourselves unworthy of the grace of God! But God never changes: once regenerated is always regenerated! This work of grace is wrought by the God of our salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord. It is the first fruit of our being united with Christ. Only in union with him can we receive this new principle of life. But even after we are reborn, we do not possess the new life in ourselves; it is always in Christ. Out of Christ it constantly flows into our hearts by the indwelling Spirit. It is never in us. It remains dependent upon our union with the Savior. This is exactly why it is safe and secure and why it can never be lost, for Christ will never leave us, and nothing can ever separate us from his love. The gifts of God are without repentance” (Love the Lord Thy God, pp. 82-83).
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
We express our sympathy to the Crossett and Carmichael families on the death of Edna’s mother on Friday evening. The funeral is to be held tomorrow. We pray that the Lord will comfort and uphold them during this time.
A new RFPA book, Living Joyfully in Marriage: Reflecting the Relationship of Christ and the Church, by Rev. Steven Key is on the back table for book club members.
Easter Monday Picnic in the Park: Everyone is invited to bring a pack lunch and meet at Lough Shore Park in Antrim tomorrow at noon. Those interested in a walk to Antrim Castle Gardens are to meet at the park at 10:30 AM.
Tuesday Bible study at 11 AM will meet to discuss faith’s unique role of receiving Christ and all His benefits.
The Belgic Confession Class will meet on Wednesday at 7:30 PM to consider Ezekiel 40-48 as “better.”
Membership Class: Thursday at 11 AM with the Goulds.
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s day (Gospel 846 MW at 8:30 AM) by Rev. R. Kleyn is entitled, “Joseph Remembered and Exalted” (Gen. 41:1-40).
Everyone is welcome to stay for tea after the evening service next Lord’s day, 24 April.
Offerings: General Fund: £1,047.58. Donation: £50 (C. R. News).
Translation Additions: 1 Russian and 3 Polish.
PRC News: Rev. D. Kleyn declined calls to Hudsonville PRC and Doon PRC. Grace PRC called Prof. Gritters. Doon PRC has formed a new trio of Revs. J. Holstege, Smidstra and Decker. Peace PRC has formed a new trio of Revs. DeBoer, Marcus and Smidstra.
Living Antithetically in an Age of Immorality
Prof. Herman Hanko (an excerpt from “The Antithesis: Godly Living in Ungodly Times”)
The antithesis … is that work of God, sovereignly executed, by means of which God reaches down into this world of sin and darkness, seemingly under the control and power of Satan, and, through the salvation of His people, causes the light of His truth and holiness to shine. Satan has made his attempt to seize control of this creation and of the human race, but God does not relinquish His world to Satan. God stakes His claim to the world by the testimony and lives of His people. The world says, “We serve Satan. We will take God’s world from Him and make it ours to do with it as we please.” Over against that loud boast, God says, through His people, “This creation is mine. I made it. I will redeem it. I will glorify it and accomplish my own eternal purpose in making it. I will punish with everlasting destruction those who claim it for their own.”
The antithesis, therefore, has its deepest cause in the eternal counsel of God, specifically in the decree of election and reprobation. The antithesis has its power in the suffering and death of Jesus Christ, by which sacrifice Christ paid for the sins of His people and earned the right for them to represent God’s cause in the world. The antithesis has its reality in the work of grace in the hearts of those for whom Christ died. The ascended Christ sends His Spirit into the hearts of His people to regenerate, convert and sanctify them. By this work of grace, Christ’s people are enabled to live the life of the antithesis here in this sorry world.
Christ’s rule is universal, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings. In the Father’s name, Christ rules over the entire creation of God—over heaven and the angels, and over earth and all men in it. Christ’s rule is, however, sharply antithetical. He rules over the wicked sovereignly so that the wicked in all their rebellion serve the cause of God. The kings of the earth may take counsel against Christ to cast His yoke from them, but He that sits in the heavens laughs, for God has set His King on the holy hill of Zion (Ps. 2). But Christ rules His people by His Spirit, by whose work He sets up the throne of His kingdom in their hearts and sways the sovereign sceptre of His rule over their lives. By that rule, Christ’s people become willing, joyful and obedient servants of Christ, bowing before Him as their Lord and Master to whom they belong. When Christ’s rule is sovereignly exercised in the hearts of His people, that rule of Christ is of such a kind that it cuts through their entire lives. Nothing in their life is untouched; nothing remains unchanged. These people are now His subjects in the whole of their life. They are obedient and willing subjects who love their Lord. While the lives of Christ’s servants are still sinful in many respects, and while the battle which God’s people wage begins in their own sinful flesh, yet they are different, strangely changed, marvellously renewed, so that Christ’s work touches everything they do.
Both wicked and righteous laugh, but in entirely different ways and for entirely different reasons. Both the wicked and the righteous weep, but no similarity exists between the righteous who weep, but not without hope, and the wicked who weep with despair. Both marry, but the wicked marry to satisfy their own personal urges, while the righteous marry to enjoy the intimacy of an institution which points to Christ and His church, and in that intimacy, to bring forth the seed of the covenant. You will find wicked and righteous in the shop, both operating a drill press, both changing tires on a truck. But the antithesis is present in the shop. The wicked work to use the fruit of their labour for pleasure; the righteous use the fruit of their labour for the support of the causes of God’s kingdom. And so it is in the whole of their life …
Scripture uses different ways to describe the life of the antithesis. Sometimes Scripture defines this life in terms of warfare. The people of God are an army. We have spiritual armour and spiritual weapons. Jesus Christ is the Captain of our salvation. We are, therefore, in this world to fight. Most of us, it seems, think that this world is a playground, with sex as one of our toys. But it is a battle, a fierce battle, a battle to the death. It is a battle that from every earthly point of view is hopeless, for the powers of evil are strong. But it is a battle in which the victory is certain. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world, for faith puts us in union with Christ and Christ has overcome the world for us. Our strength is in His cross and our victory in His rule at God’s right hand. Let us then fight; fight for our marriages, for our homes, for sanctity in our own lives. Let us not lack courage, for we shall be victorious.
Sometimes Scripture speaks of the antithesis in terms of a pilgrimage. Peter does this in his first epistle. It is a marvellous epistle and no minister could do better in this evil day than preach a series on this book. There are two ways, two roads on which one may walk. There is a wide, double-laned, divided highway that is smooth and broad, easy to travel, crowded with people who are laughing and joking. They are enamoured with pleasure, earthly pleasure, pleasure that satisfies the yearning of sinful hearts. But the way leads to hell. The child of God, because of his sinful nature, is never out of sight of that easy way. On it there is no suffering to speak of, no difficulty on the journey, no loneliness, for many people travel it.
But the other way is quite different. It is a dirt, rocky, narrow trail. It is rugged and steep and requires constant exertion. It is a trail on which are a few people, and for the most part, they are weeping. It sometimes leads through dark and swampy ways, but sometimes over cold snowy peaks where icy winds blow. On each side lurk ogres and strange creatures bent on devouring the few travellers that pass. It is a way that Jesus characterizes as one of self-denial and cross-bearing, a way of suffering and pain, a way of persecution and affliction, a way in which the joys are not earthly pleasures but simply obedience—obedience to God.
This road goes to heaven. The difficulties of that way are enormous, but the end of it is what John Bunyan called the “Celestial City.” It is the way of the fulfilment of all God’s covenant promises. It is the way to that heavenly city where we shall see Jesus face to face. It is the way to the home of that host of elect who are now in the company of just men made perfect, and to the home of the angels.
What road are you on? What road do you want to be on? I know everything in our flesh says, “Not the hard way. I want to enjoy life. I want the treasures and pleasures of this present time. I fear self-denial and cross-bearing.” But by the grace of God we do not want that way at all, though our flesh craves it. We want the way to glory, no matter how difficult.
I am on that way. Come with me. We will travel together. We will face the cruel jeering of the world and the hatred of the ungodly. There is pleasure on this way, though it be difficult to walk. It is the pleasure of God’s favour and love. We will stumble on that way and sometimes fall. We will grow desperately weary on that way and think sometimes that we cannot go on. But, though we bear a cross, it will remind us of the cross of our Saviour on which He earned for us everlasting salvation. And to His cross we will run with haste to find forgiveness for our sins and strength to go on. By the power of His cross we will stagger forward and onward as we wend our way home. There will be blessedness forever, rest from our labours, joy unspeakable. There the battle is over and the journey completed. There we will be with Christ. It is the Celestial City.
