Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 19 August, 2012
“Those that be planted in the house of the Lord
shall flourish in the courts of our God” (Ps. 92:13)
Morning Service – 11:00 AM – Prof. Hanko
The Battle of Truth Against Error [youtube]
Scripture Reading: II Corinthians 10
Text: II Corinthians 10:4-5
I. The Enemy in the Battle
II. The Weapon We Use
III. The Victorious Outcome
Psalms: 68:30-35; 150:1-6; 46:8-11; 76:1-9
Evening Service – 6:00 PM – Prof. Hanko
The Admonition to Work Out Our Own Salvation [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Philippians 2
Text: Philippians 2:12-13
I. Work Out What?
II. Work Out How?
III. Work Out Why?
Psalms: 87:1-7; 1:1-6; 119:35-40; 24:3-5
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
Quote to Consider
Calvin on II Corinthians 10:4: “[Paul] glories in being furnished with spiritual weapons. The warfare, accordingly, is spiritual … In comparing the ministry of the gospel to a warfare, he uses a most apt similitude. The life of a Christian, it is true, is a perpetual warfare, for whoever gives himself to the service of God will have no truce from Satan at any time, but will be harassed with incessant disquietude. It becomes, however, ministers of the word and pastors to be standard-bearers, going before the others; and, certainly, there are none that Satan harasses more, that are more severely assaulted, or that sustain more numerous or more dreadful onsets. That man, therefore, is mistaken, who girds himself for the discharge of this office, and is not at the same time furnished with courage and bravery for contending; for he is not exercised otherwise than in fighting. For we must take this into account, that the gospel is like a fire, by which the fury of Satan is enkindled. Hence it cannot but be that he will arm himself for a contest, whenever he sees that it is advanced. But by what weapons is he to be repelled? It is only by spiritual weapons that he can be repelled. Whoever, therefore, is unarmed with the influence of the Holy Spirit, however he may boast that he is a minister of Christ, will nevertheless, not prove himself to be such. At the same time, if you would have a full enumeration of spiritual weapons, doctrine must be conjoined with zeal, and a good conscience with the efficacy of the Spirit, and with other necessary graces.”
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
Prof. Hanko will be preaching for us today. He and his wife will be returning home tomorrow. All are invited to stay for tea after the evening service today.
Beacon Lights subscriptions are due. Please pay Susan £10 to renew your subscription for another year.
The Council will meet this Wednesday at 7:30 PM.
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s Day (Gospel 846MW at 8:30 AM) will be “The Separated Life” (Nehemiah 13:1-3).
Next Lord’s Day, Rev. McGeown will be preaching for us (he is to arrive back from the US on Thursday), while Rev. Stewart preaches in Limerick.
Ladies’ Discussion group: please speak to Susan or Alison if you are interested in joining us to discuss women of the Bible this season. We hope to meet for the first time on Friday, 21 September, at 10:30 AM.
Offerings: General – £702.27 (5 August), £474.85 (12 August). Building – £392.95 (5 August). Donations: £50 (CR News).
PRC News: Rev. A. Lanning (Faith, MI) has accepted the call to be minister-on-loan in Singapore. Randolph PRC will call from a trio of Revs. Eriks (Hudsonville, MI), Haak (Georgetown, MI) and Marcus (Edmonton, Canada).
An Excerpt from “Jesus Saviour and the Evil of Hawking Him“
by Herman Hoeksema
They are deceived into imagining that they are saved, when they accepted Jesus whom they did not receive. Waves of emotion are mistaken for the operation of the Spirit. A superficial ripple of the natural heart is considered regeneration. Masses are alienated from the church of Christ, being taught to despise her. Shallow, emotional preaching is preferred above sound doctrine. And the way is prepared for the complete victory of modernism, for the modern conception of Jesus and His cross. For an atonement that is contingent upon the acceptance of the sinner is no satisfaction for sin and, therefore, no atonement. A Jesus that must be offered to the free will of the sinner, that may be hawked and vended, is not the Christ of the Scriptures. Arminianism is modernism in principle. And the evil effects of hawking Jesus are plainly visible.
This pamphlet purposes to counteract this evil tendency by setting forth the blessed fullness of salvation that is in Jesus according to the Scriptures. The contents of this little treatise, therefore, are positive, not negative. There is no more effective way of opposing this auctioning of salvation than that of witnessing for the name of Jesus, who came to save His people from their sin. For by considering the Christ of the Scriptures it will become evident that He cannot be hawked, that He must be preached. I shall try to reach my purpose in the way of three propositions which I shall prove from the Holy Scriptures:
1. That Jesus according to the Scriptures actually and fully saves. He is Jesus, not because He offers salvation or created a chance of salvation, but because He really accomplishes our salvation.
2. That Jesus according to the Scriptures actually saves, not all, but His people, the elect, given to Him by the Father from before the foundation of the world.
3. That this Jesus according to the Scriptures must, indeed, be preached to the ingathering of the elect and the condemnation of the powers of darkness; but that He cannot be hawked.
Jesus actually and fully saves
By this proposition I mean that Jesus does not offer salvation but works it. His name is Jesus, because through Him salvation has become, not a possibility, but a reality. He is called Jesus, because He is Jesus. The name Jesus, Joshua, Jeh-oshua, signifies: Jehovah-saves. In Him Jehovah, our Triune Covenant God, is revealed as the God of our salvation. Therefore He receives His name by a special injunction from heaven: Thou shalt call His name Jesus. And the reason for this name is also expressed by the heavenly messenger: “Because He shall save His people from their sins.” Note: He shall save His people. He shall not throw out a lifeline which you may, perhaps, grasp, that He may pull you to safety; or which you may, at your pleasure and folly, sneer at and refuse to grasp, so that you perish in the raging sea. No, He shall save. He shall not beg you to allow Him to save you, to come to Him, to accept Him, to let Him in, so that you may make it possible for Him to realize His name, Jesus. His name is Jesus, for He shall surely save His people from their sins.
What is salvation? It is that work of the God of our salvation whereby He lifts us from our present misery into the glory of His heavenly kingdom and covenant.
What is our misery from which we must be saved? What is the natural state and condition from which Jesus lifts us into eternal glory? Is it to be compared to the condition of a drowning seaman struggling with the waves, whom you may save by calling to him to take hold of the lifeline? No, he is a man who is already drowned. Not drowning but drowned is the word that describes his condition. Not dying but dead. Salvation is no rescuing of the dying, but raising of the dead.
Still more. That death is spiritual death. And spiritual death means that our nature is become so corrupt that we are enemies of God and cannot be of ourselves anything else than enemies of the Fountain of Life. We will not, we cannot, and we cannot will anything but sin. We are in darkness. We are perverse of mind and heart. We are corrupt in all our thoughts and desires and ways. We are blind, deaf, dead. We are alive unto iniquity and dead unto righteousness. We are children of our father the devil rejoicing to do his will. We are hateful and hating one another. And in that condition we are enslaved as willing slaves. Our will is not free, except to do evil. We are shackled by sin and death and we could not even will to let anyone break those shackles.
Yet more. We are in this condition because we are all under the guilt of sin. Sin makes guilty, for God is just and He is angry with the sinner every day. We are born in sin. And we increase our guilt daily. Hence, we have no other right than to be damned. We have no right to life. We lie under the sentence of death.
Such is our state and condition by nature. Such is the testimony of the Holy Scriptures. For the Word of God declares that by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men (Rom. 5:12); and that by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation (v. 18). The Scriptures declare that by nature we are carnally minded and do mind the things of the flesh, that the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be, and that they that are in the flesh cannot please God (Rom. 8:5-8). The Bible teaches that all are under sin, that there is not one that doeth good, not one righteous, not one that understandeth and seeketh after God; that all have gone astray; that their throat is an open sepulcher; that they use deceit with their tongues; that the poison of asps is under their lips; that their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, their feet swift to shed blood; that destruction and misery are in their ways; that they have not known the way of peace; and that there is no fear of God before their eyes (Rom. 3:9-18). Holy Writ pictures the natural man as being full of unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; that men are backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boastful, inventors of evil things; disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful (Rom. 1:29-31). The natural man, according to the divine Word, is foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another (Titus 3:3). He is dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1). By nature he is a child of wrath (Eph. 2:3); he is darkness (Eph. 5:8). He is so dead that except through faith in the Son he shall not see life, the wrath of God abideth on him (John 3:36). They are children of their father the devil and will do their father’s lust (John 8:44).
