Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 5 December, 2021
“… 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
Solomon: Israel’s Wisest King (15)
Solomon’s Glorious Realm [youtube]
Scripture Reading: I Kings 4:20-34
Text: I Kings 4:20-28
I. His Prosperous Kingdom
II. His Extensive Empire
III. His Impressive Horses
Psalms: 35:5-10; 9:1-10; 72:4-10; 33:12-18
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
Why Must Believers Die? [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Philippians 1:12-30
Text: Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 16
I. A Satisfaction?
II. A Translation?
III. A Passage?
Psalms: 77:14-19; 9:11-20; 49:6-10, 14-15; 73:23-28
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
Philip Ryken on I Kings 4:25: “This image of the vine and the fig tree was George Washington’s favorite biblical metaphor. As a victorious general, Washington knew how to win a war, but he also knew how to enjoy his peace. In his letters and other writings he used this image more than forty times, especially when he was sitting under the shade of his own vine and fig tree at his beloved Mount Vernon. The goal of Washington’s warfare was to win the happiness of peace for himself and his fellow countrymen. As he wrote the Marquis de Lafayette not long after the American Revolution, ‘everyone (under his own vine and fig-tree) shall begin to taste the fruits of freedom.’” (King Solomon: The Temptations of Money, Sex and Power, p. 81).
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
A new Covenant Reformed News is on the back table today.
Lily Reid is scheduled for a procedure on 15 December to insert a pacemaker. We commit her to the hands of the Great Physician, and pray for her safety and recovery.
Monday catechism classes:
5:00 PM: Jason, Maisie & Sebastian (Juniors NT)
5:45 PM: Eleanora, Felicity, Hannah, Jorja, Penelope, Sammy, Somaya, Sophie, Xander & Yossef (Beginners OT, Book 2)
6:30 PM: Angelica, Bradley, Jack, Josh, Samuel & Taylor (Heidelberg, Book 1)
7:15 PM: Alex, Jacob & Nathan (Essentials)
The Council meets at 8 PM tomorrow night at church.
Tuesday Bible study at 11 AM will meet to discuss historical and temporal faith.
The Belgic Confession Class will meet this week Wednesday at 7:30 PM to study Revelation 11-13 on the 1,260 days, etc.
Membership Class: Thursday, 11 AM with the Goulds.
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s day (Gospel 846 MW at 8:30 AM) by Rev. Bruinsma is entitled, “By Faith Isaac Confers the Blessing” (Heb. 11:20).
The Lord’s Supper is scheduled for 26 December.
Prof. Gritters and Elder Sid Miedema are to be in N. Ireland from 5-14 January. The congregational dinner is being planned for Friday, 7 January. Prof. Gritters will be giving a lecture entitled, “Being the Hand of God: Godly Parenting in an Ungodly World,” on Wednesday, 12 January at 7:30 PM.
Offerings: General Fund: £1,020. Donations: $1,252.33 (Hudsonville PRC), £100 (Malaysia), £400 (England).
Translation Additions: 2 Dutch and 2 Polish.
PRC News: Covenant of Grace PRC (Spokane, WA) called Rev. J. Langerak (Heritage, SD). Doon PRC and Hudsonville PRC both called Rev. Spronk.
The Pilgrim’s Goal
Herman Hoeksema (an excerpt from the Standard Bearer, vol. 71, issue 7)
Christian, press on! There is, at the end of your way, a city to come.
The city that hath foundations, prepared for you from before the foundations of the world by your God. It is your goal.
Till it is reached and you have entered into its pearly gates, you may not, you cannot, you must not tarry. Onward you must go, ever onward you must press, never once tarrying or abiding, nor ever fearfully or hesitantly clinging to the things you might meet on your pilgrim’s journey.
Does not the pilgrim dwell in a tent? He has no city. In a city one abides, digs foundations, builds firmly to erect a lasting and permanent dwelling-place, a continuing home. There are the ties that bind, the treasures one loves, the joys one seeks. There is one’s life. In a tent, however, one tarries but for a night, to rest and recuperate, in order to pull up the stakes at daybreak and press forward and travel onward, till the final goal is reached.
The Christian’s life is not like the continuing citizen but like the passing stranger, pitching his tent by the wayside to tarry but for a night. Onward, ever onward points the way, now rugged and steep, now for a while on the level and even, but mostly narrow and rough. At sundry stations you may stop long enough to put up your Ebenezers and pray over them, gratefully acknowledging the Lord Jehovah’s help in the past, and hopefully imploring His care and guidance and protection all the rest of the way. Sometimes the way may lead you through the midst of a city, fair and beautiful, stealing the love of your heart, and tempting you to abide and bid farewell to the pilgrim’s life.
But you cannot stay. You must not tarry. No city here has foundations. No dwelling place here is continuing. The goal lies yonder, at the very end of your earthly way, where time is no more and the heavenly light of eternity’s morn beckons you.
The light of the heavenly Jerusalem. Thither you must press. On, Christian, on! Oh, Zion eternal! Glorious city of God! How thou art the chief joy, indeed, of all that have their garments washed in the blood of the Lamb and that love the light!
Surely, I know that I know but little of the glory and beauty and heavenly joy and eternal pleasures of that city. But even the little I know of the final goal is abundant comfort in the narrow way.
I know that of its heavenly beauty I can but stammer in earthly language, and of its glorious reality I can but conceive in earthly images. But even the partial and earthly image of that eternal city so sets my heart aglow with joy and hope, and so fills it with earnest expectation and yearning, that for the glory of it I am gladly willing to sacrifice every earthly joy and pass outside of the gate of every earthly city.
For I do know that it is the city of God!
God is the chief joy of the heavenly Jerusalem. His presence fills the city. His blessed covenant friendship perfected is the very essence of all its bliss and rejoicing. For, unlike the earthly Jerusalem built of wood and stone, it has no temple. If you were to have entered the gates of Jerusalem that once was, and would inquire as to the dwellingplace of the Most High, men would point you to a building made with hands. And if, approaching the temple and entering through its outer gate, you would repeat your query, they would direct your gaze to the Sanctuary proper, at the same time warning you that you could not enter there to see the face of God. It was all so imperfect, earthly, prophetic of things to come! But when you enter the heavenly city through its pearly gates, you need not inquire, for there is no temple there. God Himself and the Lamb are the temple of that city, and its preeminent joy and glory is that there the tabernacle of God is with men and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them and be their God! He fills the city!
I know that it is the city of all the saints perfected, the Bride, the Lamb’s wife. And they walk there in garments white, for they had them washed in the blood of their Redeemer, the mighty Lamb of God. There shall be no sin there, no corruption, no stain of defilement and pollution left on the robes of its elect inhabitants. And wreaths of victory they wear on-their heads, for the battle is ended and won through Him that loved them even unto death. I know that there shall be no enemy there to harass and attack and inspire with fear, for the fearful and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and whoremongers and all sorcerers and idolaters and liars and dogs—these shall not enter in any wise into that city, but shall have their part with the old serpent in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
I know that there shall be no shadow of death there, no pain or sorrow, no trouble and affliction, no fear or distress, for God shall Himself dry the tear-stained faces of His weary pilgrim-children and fill their hearts with everlasting joy.
I know that there shall be neither hunger nor thirst, for the inhabitants shall drink of the fountain of eternal life and eat of the fruit of the tree of life and be abundantly satisfied with the goodness of their God.
His face they shall see. And in His light they shall walk. His name shall be in their foreheads. And they shall have put off all imperfection and all that is of the earth earthy, and they shall know as they are known and forever and ever behold the beauty of the Lord their God. There shall be no night there. All the weary night shall be past, to be changed into eternal day! And there shall be perfect peace there.
Glorious city of God! Chief joy of all God’s children! Press forward, Christian, you must!
… [The Christian] has no continuing city here, namely, in the sense that wherever he looks, and in whichever direction he may turn his seeking gaze, nowhere in the world does he find a place that his soul can satisfy and where he would build his permanent home. He is a pilgrim, not only because all things pass away, but because of the very state and condition of his own heart and soul. He is a stranger here.
For he was born from above. By nature he is from below and an inhabitant of this world, seeking the things below. But he received new life, through the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And that new life is from above, not from below. That new life is the life of the city that hath foundations, whose builder and artificer is God. That new life stands antithetically against the old, for the old was of darkness, the new is of the light; the old was of the father, the devil, the new is of God through Christ; the old loved that which was evil, the new loves that which is good and pleasing to God; the old life was of the earth earthy, the new life is of the Lord from heaven.
He has become a citizen of that new city, and he walks here with the life of that city in his breast. He can find no continuing city here, no place where he would care to build and to abide forever. He longs and hopes and yearns and presses forward. Till through the gate he will enter into the city …
