Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 4 August, 2019
“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
In the Spirit on the Lord’s Day [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Revelation 1
Text: Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 38
I. The Identity of the Day
II. The Observance of the Day
III. The Importance of the Day
Psalms: 92:1-6; 107:32-38; 42:1-5; 84:1-6
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
The Idolatry of Micah and Dan (3)
The Five Danite Spies [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Judges 18:1-13
Text: Judges 18:1-6
I. The Occasion for the Spies
II. The Sending of the Spies
III. The Request of the Spies
Psalms: 96:8-13; 107:39-43; 32:7-11; 34:11-18
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: https://cprc.co.uk/live-streaming/
CPRC YouTube: www.youtube.com/cprcni
CPRC Facebook: www.facebook.com/CovenantPRC
Quotes to Consider
Herman Hoeksema on the fourth commandment: “… the rest from our daily labors must serve the purpose of creating the proper opportunity for the church of Christ to occupy itself wholly with spiritual and eternal things and to set its mind entirely on things above, to be busy only with the exceedingly great promises. Thus we are strengthened for the battle that must be fought if our lives are to be reflections of the eternal Sabbath and if we are to be friends of God, blameless and without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation … the things of this present time, the cares and anxieties of the world, our daily toils and labors, have a tendency to draw us downward to the things of earth. The battle with the devil, the world, and sin is hard. we are not yet perfectly delivered from sin, but the motions of sin still dwell in our members. Hence we should consider it a great blessing of our covenant God that on one day of the week we may rest from our daily toils, separate ourselves in a special sense from the world around us, and gather with the people of God, to set our minds wholly on the things above” (Love the Lord thy God, p. 297).
John Hercus: “For in all my life so far (and that’s most of it) I have never heard a single reference from pulpit or song writer or study leader or anybody else at all—never one single tiny whispered sound—that relates to the Micah of the Book of Judges. For this Micah was an obscure little farmer living away out in this desolate Ephraim hill country over four hundred years before Isaiah. A nobody. Just a speck on the whole social calendar. But that is not why his name is not even whispered. Not at all. The reason is that the story is so crazy, so mixed-up that obviously the parsons and clerics are too embarrassed by it to let out a single peep. And don’t think I am being hard on them—not a bit. Even the writer of the Book of Judges is embarrassed by it. As we will see, even he finds it almost impossible now and again to go on with the account, it is so obviously hard for him to realise in the topsy-turvy affairs of people like this, that God is in fact God, that God is not made in our image” (God is God [London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1971], p. 186).
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
We welcome Brian and Carrie Dykstra (Faith PRC, Michigan) to our worship services.
The second offering today is for the building fund.
Tuesday Bible Study meets at 11 AM to consider the consecration of the New Testament priesthood in connection with the Old Testament priesthood.
Are Unbelievers in God’s Image? This is the topic that Rev. Stewart (via phone link) will discuss on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio on Friday (changed from Tuesday), from 4-6 PM (Eastern Time in the US) or 9-11 PM (GMT) (www.ironsharpensironradio.com).
Men’s Bible Study will meet at the Kennedys this Saturday at 8 PM to study Acts 12.
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s Day (Gospel 846 MW at 8:30 AM) by Rev. Griess is entitled “Irresistible Grace (1)” (John 6:37).
The next Council meeting will be Monday, 19 August, at 7:30 PM.
S. Wales Lecture: Rev. Stewart will speak in Margam Community Centre on Thursday, 5 September, at 7:15 PM on “The Peace Offering.”
Offerings: General Fund: £1,358.
Translation Addition: 1 Russian.
PRC News: Lacombe PRC and Redlands PRC have called Candidate Matt Kortus. Southeast PRC has called Candidate Jacob Maatman.
An Excerpt from “Remembering the Lord’s Day”
by Prof. David J. Engelsma
Description of the day of rest as the Lord’s Day indicates how we are to remember the day. We remember it by devoting it to the Lord Jesus. We remember it by worshipping, knowing, fellowshipping with, and enjoying the crucified and risen Christ. We remember it as John did: by being in the Spirit; hearing Jesus’ great Voice (the preaching of the gospel); and seeing Him (by faith) walking amidst the candlesticks (in the Church).
Specifically, we are to observe the Sabbath Day by diligently attending the worship services of Jesus’ Church. This, according to the Heidelberg Catechism, is the first requirement of the Fourth Commandment. Remembering the Lord’s Day is diligently attending church; wilful absence from church, or attendance without diligence, is the grossest violation of the Fourth Commandment. The Catechism is biblical, here. On the first day of the week, the apostolic church gathered for worship: to hear the Word; to break bread; to pray; and to lay aside their gifts for the poor.
It should be evident that diligent church-attendance very really is obedience to the Fourth Commandment of the Law of God. As part of the first table of the Law, the Fourth Commandment demands love for God by His redeemed people diligent church-attendance is worship, the praise of God in Jesus Christ by a thankful people. The Fourth Commandment calls the saints to rest—at church we rest by enjoying God’s wonderful work in Christ by means of the Word and the Sacraments. The Fourth Commandment ends in Christ Jesus—in attending the church of God we seek fellowship with Christ (Who is present by His Spirit and Word), and we strive to honour Him.
Attending church is a genuine remembering of the Lord’s Day, if it is diligent. First, it must be an act of faith; no unbeliever can possibly remember the Lord’s Day, regardless of whether he comes to church. Secondly, it must be faithful; believers are to gather every Sunday, as often as services are held. Thirdly, it must be whole-hearted; our attendance is to be eager, joyful, lively. Good church-attendance is to be characterized by the attitude expressed in Psalm 122 …
This aspect of obedience to the Fourth Commandment is threatened today. There are leaks in the dike. There are those who attend only infrequently, missing entire Sundays or consistently missing one of the services every Sunday (“oncers”). There is the growing practice of missing the worship services, now and then, because they interfere with our pleasures, e.g., our vacation-plans. The Lord’s Day is completely forgotten. It is used for travelling or for sightseeing, just as though it did not belong to the risen Christ, but to ourselves. The strange notion is found in the church that the Fourth Commandment may be broken occasionally. Men suppose that, if they remember the Lord’s Day 51 weeks of the year, they are warranted in forgetting it one week. What would these same people say if others would adopt this thinking in regard to the commandment against stealing, or the commandment against murder?
“But the Lord’s Day gets in the way of my pleasures,” says the man determined to enjoy his weekend vacation. Yes, the Law of God has a way of doing this. Throughout the Old Testament, the Sabbath Commandment “interfered” with Israel’s pleasures; and for this reason they broke it (cf. Isaiah 58:13 and Amos 8:5). May we bend and twist the Law to suit our pleasures? Or are we to plan our lives according to the law and to find our pleasure in doing what it says?
Our would-be vacationer persists, “But I work hard during the year, and I need some rest.” To be sure, we need rest; and this needed rest is the rest of the Lord’s house and the Lord’s Word.
Another threat to diligent church attendance is formalism in worship. The minister preaches dutifully, droning on; and the people listen dutifully, wondering all the while, when will he ever be done. How do we come to church? The early Christians greeted each other with the words, “The Lord is risen!” We might say, “Lousy weather, isn’t it?”
Not the least of the dangers is this, that, at the church we attend, the Word of God is not preached. Attending some church (“the church of your choice”) is not necessarily obedience to the Fourth Commandment; attending some church very faithfully is not necessarily obedience to the Fourth Commandment. For one concerned to remember the Lord’s Day, the all-important question is: What church do you diligently attend? Is it a church that honours Jesus by proclaiming Him as the Lord, the eternal Son of God in the flesh, the only and sovereign Saviour from sin? Is it a church that gives the rest of God by preaching justification by faith alone and salvation by grace alone? Is it a church consecrated to the glory of God in teaching all of God’s commandments, and upholding them by the exercise of discipline?
For the sake of this diligent church attendance, we are to put aside the ordinary work of the other six days of the week, as well as our play. This is the Fourth Commandment: “thou shalt not do any work” (Ex. 20:10). Already in the Old Testament the purpose of ceasing from work was clearly pointed out: “that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou” (Deut. 5:14). There is no value in not working in itself; but not working is necessary for resting the rest of the Sabbath. When the Israelite worked on the Sabbath (Num. 15:32ff.), the sin was not that he picked up some sticks, but that he despised the spiritual rest of God, i.e., Christ and His salvation. He revealed himself to be a worldly man. This deserved, and still does deserve, the death penalty.
It is the same today. Working on the Lord’s Day is destructive of diligent church attendance. It is true that there are works of necessity that may be done. Jesus taught that one may pull an ass out of the ditch. But, as someone has said, if I have an ass that falls into the ditch every Sunday, I will either fill up the ditch or sell the ass.
The homework of our children is included in this prohibition. Just as our ordinary work is farming or factory-work or some business or housework, the ordinary work of the schoolchildren is homework; and God requires this work to be set aside in the interest of other, better things.
If obedience to this prohibition of work means financial loss and economic hardship, we should be perfectly willing to suffer such loss and hardship. Jesus Christ is not much of a Lord if His Day, and the worship He claims on His Day, are forgotten on account of bread.
Similarly, spending Sunday afternoon watching the football Bears or the baseball Cubs, apart from all other considerations, is destructive of the public worship of God that is required by the Fourth Commandment. Pleasure is the great threat in our society. The world corrupts the Lord’s Day, so that there is more deviltry on Sunday than on all the other days of the week combined. This too is an old story. In his glorious call to proper Sabbath observance in Isaiah 58:13-14, the prophet begins by warning Israel against “doing thy pleasure on my [i.e., Jehovah’s] holy day.” If we are going to use the Lord’s Day for our play, we could better work—it is the lesser of the two evils. Augustine said long ago, concerning remembering the Lord’s Day, “It is better to plough than to dance” …
