Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 19 April, 2020
“Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies,
kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering …” (Col. 3:12)
Morning Service – 11:00 AM
The Kingdom of God Versus the Kingdoms of Man (13)
Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream of the Great Tree [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Daniel 4:1-22
Text: Daniel 4:4-12, 20-22
I. When Did He Receive It?
II. What Immediately Followed?
III. What Was Its Meaning?
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
Our Only Comfort in the Coronavirus Pandemic [youtube]
Scripture Reading: I Peter 1:1-21
Text: Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 1
I. The Issue Is Ownership
II. The Issue Is Preservation
III. The Issue Is Knowledge
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
John Calvin on Daniel 4:4: “Thus also it happens with men. For if God treats them rather indulgently and liberally, they become fierce and insolent towards all men, and strike off God’s yoke, and forget themselves to be but men. And when this happened to David, what shall happen to the profane and to others who are still too much devoted to the world? For David confesses himself to have been so deceived by his quiet and felicity, as to determine within himself that he had nothing else to fear, — ‘I said in my happiness,’ or my quiet, ‘I shall not be removed;’ and he afterwards adds, ‘O Lord, thou didst chastise me, and I was laid low’ (Psalm 38:7). Since, therefore, David promised himself perpetual quiet in the world, because God spared him for a time, how ought our tranquillity to be suspected lest we should grow torpid on our lees?”
John Calvin’s prayer (in connection with Daniel 1:1-9): “Grant, Almighty God, since thou here proposest a remarkable example before our eyes, that we may learn thy power to be so great as not to be sufficiently celebrated by any human praises: and since we hear how its herald was a profane king, nay, even a cruel and proud one, and thou hast afterwards deigned to manifest thyself to us familiarly in Christ, — Grant, that in the spirit of humility we may desire to glorify thee, and to cleave entirely to thee. May we declare thee to be ours, not only in mouth and tongue, but also in works; not only as our true and only God, but our Father, since thou hast adopted us in thine only-begotten Son, until at length we enjoy that eternal inheritance which is laid up for us in heaven by the same Christ our Lord. — Amen.”
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
The arrangement for the CPRC Sunday services today involves livestreaming a streamlined meeting with only prayer and exposition of the Word on video at 11AM and 6PM (https://cprc.co.uk/live-streaming/). During this difficult time when we are unable to meet together, may we pray with the Psalmist, “O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles. Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God” (Ps. 43:3-4).
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s day (Gospel 846 MW at 8:30 AM) by Rev. R. Kleyn is entitled, “Draw Near to God” (Heb. 10:22).
Rev. Stewart (via phone link) will discuss regeneration on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio on Thursday, 14 May, from 4-6 PM (Eastern Time in the US) or 9-11 PM (GMT) (www.ironsharpensironradio.com).
Offerings: General Fund: £755. Donation: £30, $200 (Missouri, USA).
Translation Additions: The Belgic Confession in Tamil was added, as well as 37 ecumenical creeds in 33 languages of which 30 are new to the CPRC website.
PRC News: Kalamazoo PRC, Hope PRC and Unity PRC have extended calls to Rev. Mahtani.
Our Triple Knowledge
Cornelius Hanko (an excerpt from Standard Bearer, volume 53, issue 16)
Heidelberg Catechism, Q. & A. 2: “How many things are necessary for thee to know, that thou, enjoying this comfort, mayest live and die happily? Three, the first, how great my sins and miseries are; the second, how I may be delivered from all my sins and miseries; the third, how I shall express my gratitude to God for such deliverance.”
… Scripture alone knows of true happiness: happiness which is already attained by the believer, which suffers no disillusionment, which abides and endures as a “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” Have you ever searched the Scriptures with a concordance at your side to discover how often the Word of God speaks of joy, happiness, peace, blessedness as the peculiar possession of the child of God? The prophets in joyful anticipation declared: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy king cometh unto thee: he is just and having salvation” (Zech. 9:9) … Jesus assures us that there is happiness even in days of sore persecution: “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely; for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” (Matt. 5:11-12). Peter reminds us that true believers sing songs in the night, smiling through their tears in the blessed expectation of the glorious deliverance in Jesus Christ, “wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations” (I Pet. 1:6). The apostle Paul urges us, “Rejoice in the Lord always.” In order to impress us with the fact that this is the only real, abiding happiness, he adds, “Again I say, rejoice!” (Phil. 4:4).
True happiness in a world of sin and death is a joy that quells every sorrow, turns our night into day, our weeping into rejoicing, our misery into blessedness. It is, indeed, a joy unspeakable and full of glory.
Our Heidelberg Catechism is subjective and experiential in the sense that it is a confession of the testimony of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer as drawn from the Scriptures. It speaks the truth according to the heart of Jerusalem. Our fathers who wrote this book of instruction were well founded in the Scriptures. They had studied the Word, digested it, so that the truth was part and parcel of their souls. We marvel as we read this Catechism, how they draw treasures, new and old, out of the gold mine of God’s Word. We hear the Spirit testifying with our spirit for our own spiritual edification. We are ready to confess along with the saints of all ages, that our only comfort, in life and death, in body and soul, is exactly this, that “I am not my own, but belong to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ.” Therefore we lend a ready ear when the Catechism goes on to teach us that there is no happiness apart from that only comfort. There is no true happiness in marriage, no true happiness in our labours, no happiness in periods of rest and relaxation, no happiness at any time without Christ. Happiness is the blessed assurance that my sins are forgiven, that by the grace of God I can hate and fight sin that still wars within me, that I never face my daily cares and needs alone, but that in all my trials and temptations I have an Advocate in the heavens, who blesses me by His Spirit in my heart. He is my Saviour, my Helper in the strife, my Lord, to whom I belong now and forever.
Three things to know … We are confronted with the question, “How many things are necessary for thee to know, that thou, enjoying this comfort, mayest live and die happily?”
Happiness is often thought to be nothing more than a feeling, an uncontrollable emotion. Either we are happy or we are despondent, and actually there is very little that we can do about it. One will try to find happiness in pouring out his soul to some willing listener. Another will try to drown his sorrow in indulging in tranquillizers, liquor, drugs or some wild revelry …
We can appreciate the sober language of our book of instruction. Happiness, it tells us, is rooted in knowledge. Happiness is the strong conviction, “I know.” We must hasten to add that this knowledge is not a matter of mental gymnastics or of cold reasoning. The knowledge that is meant here is the Christian knowledge, drawn objectively from the Scriptures, subjectively from the testimony of the Spirit in our hearts. It is the knowledge of faith. We are not hiding our heads in the sand, we are not superstitiously deceiving ourselves with vain delusions, we are in no sense trying to deny reality. We boldly face each new problem of each new day with the conviction that all is well, all is well between us and God. We see life as it really is, we see ourselves in our relation to God in every situation of life and we are content in whatsoever state we find ourselves. In that conviction of heart and mind Job could say, “I know that my redeemer liveth.” Paul says: “I know whom I have believed.” Each of them spoke from the knowledge of faith.
These three things are often briefly summed up as: Misery, deliverance and gratitude. Did our fathers snatch these three concepts out of the air? Are they their own inventions? If so, you or I or someone else might invent three other things necessary for true happiness. We might decide that misery is not a pleasant thing to think about, much less to be reminded of from time to time. We might decide that those three things were relevant four hundred years ago but no longer fit in this enlightened, scientific age. These three things which our fathers mention are drawn from the Scriptures. I turn to Psalm 116 with its keynote, “I love the Lord.” There David speaks of deep misery, of hellish pangs that gave him trouble and sorrow. He tells how he cried to the Lord, “O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.” And he concludes with the joyful acclaim, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits he has bestowed on me?” Soon I find myself engrossed in Psalm 130, where the Psalmist cried to God out of the depths of his sin and misery; the Lord heard and delivered him; his soul learned to wait on the Lord, even as watchers watch for the morning. Many other Psalms speak in the same strain. Paul’s epistle to the Romans can readily be divided into those three sections, knowledge of our great misery, knowledge of our deliverance, and knowledge of our thankfulness to God for that deliverance …
Thus we are taught to confess, “That I know how great my sins and miseries are.” The believer does not take a certain delight in probing into sin as such, no, not even into his own sinfulness. But he does know that behind all his problems lies that one great sin problem. He knows, “I am evil, born in sin; Thou desirest truth within.” He recognizes his sins in his evil desires, thoughts, words, actions, deeds. The burden of guilt weighs heavily upon him every day anew. Even his prayers and worship are still so imperfect. Yet he has a strong desire to be holy as God is holy, perfect as a son of his heavenly Father. Therefore, he is compelled daily to confess his sins before the face of God in true sorrow and a hearty repentance.
No, the result is not that he becomes depressed, morose. Confessing his sins and forsaking them, he experiences the riches of God’s forgiving mercies. As he stares into the mirror of God’s Word, deeply impressed by his own vile image, he sees behind him the Christ, whose righteousness overshadows him. He knows that God sees him in Christ, adorned from head to foot, not in his own righteousness but in the righteousness that Christ merited for him on the cross. He experiences the blessedness of the man whose sins are forgiven, whose transgressions are covered.
The Lord puts a new song in his heart. He recognizes sin as sin, hates it and flees from it. He fears the onslaughts of Satan, is alert to fight him off whenever he approaches. He seeks his fellowship with God in prayer and finds his companions among those who fear the Lord …
