Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 3 December, 2023
“And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed,
and heirs according to the promise” (Gal. 3:29)
Morning Service – 11:00 AM
Do Not Sell the Truth [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Proverbs 23:1-25
Text: Proverbs 23:23
I. The Meaning
II. The Reasons
III. The Antidote
Psalms: 119:9-16; 81:1-8; 100:1-5; 119:17-24
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
Jesus Heals a Paralytic (the Son’s Works and Witnesses) (2)
“Sin No More, Lest a Worse Thing Come Unto Thee” [youtube]
Scripture Reading: John 9:1-34
Text: John 5:14
I. The Explanation
II. The Warning
III. The Command
Psalms: 84:4-11; 81:9-16; 32:6-10; 119:57-64
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
Jan Hus (c.1370-1415): “Seek the truth, hear the truth, learn the truth, love the truth, speak the truth, hold the truth and defend the truth until death.”
John Calvin: “… consider God, and above all else … fear displeasing him. For without this foundation, all the considerations one can bring will be of no avail. The fear of God must therefore so possess and occupy our hearts that we may despise the world and every creature, in order to obey him and do his will. I say this because when we so treasure the friendship of men, and earthly honours and riches, or our own life, that this affection makes us turn aside from following what God commands us to do, we will have many fine excuses to defend ourselves in our faults. For our nature is not only full of perverseness, but also of blindness. Thus, if someone wishes to be able to receive good counsel on this matter, he must first of all learn to esteem God and his truth more highly than himself and every worldly thing” (Come Out From Among Them, pp. 35-36).
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
A new Covenant Reformed News is available on the back table.
Catechism classes tomorrow:
5:00 PM: Corey, Jason, Katelyn, Maisie & Sebastian (Seniors NT)
5:45 PM: Felicity, Grace, Jonas, Keagan, Liam, Lucas, Sammy & Sophie (Beginners OT – Book 1)
6:30 PM: Eleanora, Hannah, Jorja, Penelope & Xander (Juniors NT)
7:15 PM: Angelica, Bradley, Jack, Josh, Samuel & Taylor (Essentials)
The Council meets tomorrow evening at 8 PM.
Tuesday Bible study will meet at 11 AM and discuss the speaking in tongues and assurance, etc.
Belgic Confession class on Wednesday at 7:30 PM will continue our consideration of apostasy looking at more reasons why people apostatise.
Ladies Bible Study meets this Thursday at 7:30 PM at church. We will be discussing Psalm 23 from A 30-Day Walk With God in the Psalms. All ladies are very welcome, especially anyone who has not come before as each study is a new topic.
The Men’s Bible study is to be this Thursday, 7 December, at 7.30 PM on-line, continuing with II Thessalonians 3.
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s day (Gospel 846 MW at 8:30 AM) by Rev. Bruinsma is entitled, “God’s Promise to His Church Confirmed (2)” (Acts 2:39).
Offerings: £1,226.90. Donations: £200 (England), £75 (Rep. of Ireland), £50 (Netherlands), £681.25 (Hudsonville PRC).
Translation Addition: 1 Polish.
Wearing the Girdle of Truth
Rev. Jason Kortering (an excerpt from an article in The Standard Bearer, vol. 67, issue 20)
“Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth” (Eph. 6:14).
Stand! Not as an idle spectator, but stand as a soldier. Stand in the heat of battle.
Yes, we are surrounded with an army of evil spirits which fill the air. They are well organized into different ranks of command; their captain is the prince of the powers of the air, Satan himself. Being spirits they are able to infiltrate into our inner being to influence us to commit sin. Satan uses the ungodly world round about us to tempt us day and night. He even appears as an angel of light within the realm of the apostate church. He can use the saints who fall into sin and thereby tempt others to follow and give occasion to the enemy to mock.
The battle is the battle of faith. Satan and his hosts concentrate upon the believer and the church with the one intention to take faith from the earth. He shoots his fiery darts, seeking to get us to forsake our belief and to stop us from obeying God’s will.
The call to stand comes to us from our Captain, our Lord Jesus Christ. It is urgent, for He warns us in the previous verse, “Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day.” That evil day is the same as the last hour. It includes all the time from Christ’s ascension to His return. The urgency is pressed upon us, however, when we realize that within this period of time the evil intensifies the closer we come to the end. Our Lord warned us of this when He said that the influence of Satan would be so great that, unless the days were shortened, there would be no faith on the earth. We are living at the end of these evil days. Satan is concentrating upon us personally as we approach the day of the antichrist. He is shooting his barbs at the Reformed churches who have the spiritual courage to maintain the faith of the fathers. Stand!
You cry, how? Take unto you the whole armour of God. Begin with the girdle of truth.
Obviously, the inspired apostle is drawing a comparison between the Roman soldier and the Christian soldier in the battle of faith. Paul was familiar with the appearance of Roman soldiers in the garrison in Jerusalem and throughout the Roman empire as he travelled about. It may have been that he was chained to such a soldier at the very moment he penned these words, for he was in prison in Rome.
As Paul looked at that soldier who was so well prepared for battle to come to the defence of the Roman empire, the Holy Spirit led him to see an analogy for us in our Spiritual battle.
The first part of that armour is the girdle of truth. What the girdle did for the Roman soldier, so truth does for each one of us as soldiers in the battle of faith.
What is truth? Indeed, as Pilate asked sarcastically, “What is truth?” The world of the ungodly claim to pursue truth. But truth comes borne heaven to earth, not the other way around. The natural man cannot discover truth. He is in the dominion of the lie. This is what the battle is all about. Satan and his legions subject fallen man to the deceitfulness of the lie. They cry out, “There is no god.” The gods they do profess to follow are figments of their own imagination …
… This truth comes to us in written form. In the old dispensation God revealed His truth to His people in theophany, in dreams, and through prophets. Jesus spoke this truth among us. Eventually it was written down in sixty-six books.
Still more, this truth must be impressed upon our hearts. The same Spirit who wrote the Bible uses that Word, especially by the preaching of the gospel, to write this truth upon our hearts. By the work of salvation, we believe this truth and love this truth.
This truth is our girdle. We are instructed (literally in the Greek), “Stand, having girded your loins with truth.”
The girdle was the first part of the armour the Roman soldier would put on. As such it was basic to the “whole armour.” It was a thick piece of leather, beautifully engraved. Its function was fourfold. First, it tightened the tunic to the body. The soldier wore a knee length free flowing tunic. This was hardly conducive to hand-to-hand combat, so his girdle would bind this tunic close to his body. Secondly, the girdle bound together the other parts of the armour; e.g., the breastplate was attached to the girdle, and the sheath for the sword was also attached to it. Thirdly, the girdle protected the loins, the abdomen, with the stomach, the kidneys, and the bowels. Finally, the girdle bound up the entire lower region and gave the soldier courage. Hence we read, “Gird up thy loins like a man” (Job 38:3), and in I Peter 1:13, “Gird up the loins of thy mind.” These expressions direct us to intense activity and courage.
Truth is such a girdle for the Christian soldier. It functions in much the same way. It binds together all the parts of the armour. Truth is a foundation garment, without which there could be no breastplate of righteousness, no boots of the gospel, no shield of faith, no helmet of salvation, no sword of the Spirit. Secondly, truth functions as a girdle in that, by girding up our loins with truth, we assume the necessary courage to be a soldier. Truth gives to us the courage to fight because we are sure of what we are doing. If we believe and confess the truth we have what it takes to be a soldier.
The history of the Christian church demonstrates this. When Paul girded his loins with truth he could effectively deal with evil that was present in the church. In Galatia he could courageously deal with the evil of legalism which was present in the church. In Corinth he could carefully demonstrate the historical and spiritual necessity to believe in the resurrection over against those who denied it (I Cor. 15). The early church fathers wore the girdle of truth and boldly defended the deity of Christ and the doctrine of the trinity over against those who attacked it. Luther and Calvin had this girdle on when they faced the wiles of Satan which had been entrenched in the apostate church.
Little wonder then that our enemy the devil, diabolos, the liar from the beginning, wants to rip off this girdle. He does this throughout history as well. In the pre-reformation days he succeeded in deceiving Christians by the teaching that truth was determined by the decree of the church, even by the Pope when he spoke ex cathedra. He cleverly appealed to human reason as the reaction to this: “Don’t trust the church, trust your own reason.” This led to the evil of scientism—man’s knowledge of the universe is ultimate truth. Many reacted to this by appealing to mystical experience and feelings. Today this explains the tension between rationalism and science over against mysticism and such things as the new age movement. Apart from divine revelation, man believes in himself and man always changes. Hence truth is relative.
Why can we take courage when we wear the girdle of truth? The answer is that such truth is authoritative. We have the authority of God’s Word. It bears weight, for we know we are right! Wearing the girdle of truth we can fearlessly oppose the lie because we are sure of ourselves, for our faith is based upon God’s infallible and inerrant Word.
The Reformed theologian who wears the girdle of truth does not subject the church to repeated questions of heresy. Such issues as predestination, creation, atonement are settled and thoroughly biblical, as they are expressed in our confessions. The Reformed pastor stands in the pulpit and does not say, “I think this is true.” Rather he shouts, “Thus saith the Lord.” The Reformed believer confesses and practices this truth with joy and certainty, rejecting all errors.
Do you wear this girdle? Have you girded your loins? Three things are necessary to do this. We have to know this truth, be convicted of this truth, and love the God who revealed it to us. The battle of faith is one of allegiance to the God of our salvation.
Wearing it we can appreciate the words of the great reformer, “That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them abideth; the Spirit and the gifts are ours, through Him who with us sideth. Let goods and kindreds go, this mortal life also; the body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still, His kingdom is forever.”
Girded with such truth leads us to that eternal victory.
