Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 10 December, 2023
“My covenant was with him of life and peace” (Mal. 2:5)
Morning Service – 11:00 AM
Obeying Church Leaders [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Hebrews 13
Text: Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 31
I. The Meaning
II. The Reasons
III. The Implications
Psalms: 33:12-20; 82:1-8; 101:3-8; 34:8-16
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
Jesus Heals a Paralytic (the Son’s Works and Witnesses) (3)
Christ Defends His Sabbath Healing of the Paralytic [youtube]
Scripture Reading: John 5:1-23
Text: John 5:17-18
I. His Many Options
II. His Profound Argument
III. His Essential Deity
Psalms: 104:1-2, 19-24; 83:1-8; 92:1-2, 10-13; 45:2-7
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
John Calvin on John 5:18: “[Christ’s] defence was so far from allaying their fury that it even enraged them the more. Nor was he unacquainted with their malignity and wickedness and hardened obstinacy, but he intended first to profit a few of his disciples who were then present, and next to make a public display of their incurable malice. By his example he has taught us that we ought never to yield to the fury of wicked men, but should endeavour to maintain the truth of God, so far as necessity demands it, though the whole world should oppose and murmur. Nor is there any reason why the servants of Christ should take it ill that they do not profit all men according to their wish, since Christ himself did not always succeed; and we need not wonder if, in proportion as the glory of God is more fully displayed, Satan rages the more violently in his members and instruments.”
J. C. Ryle on John 5:16-23: “We must distinctly understand, that neither here nor elsewhere does the Lord Jesus overthrow the obligation of the fourth commandment. Neither here nor elsewhere is there a word to justify the vague assertions of some modern teachers, that ‘Christians ought not to keep a Sabbath,’ and that it is ‘a Jewish institution which has passed away.’ The utmost that our Lord does, is to place the claims of the Sabbath on the right foundation. He clears the day of rest from the false and superstitious teaching of the Jews, about the right way of observing it. He shows us clearly that works of necessity and works of mercy are no breach of the fourth commandment. After all, the errors of Christians on this subject, in these latter days, are of a very different kind from those of the Jews. There is little danger of men keeping the Sabbath too strictly. The thing to be feared is the disposition to keep it loosely and partially, or not to keep it at all. The tendency of the age is not to exaggerate the fourth commandment, but to cut it out of the Decalogue, and throw it aside altogether. Against this tendency it becomes us all to be on our guard. The experience of eighteen centuries supplies abundant proofs that vital religion never flourishes when the Sabbath is not well kept” (Expository Thoughts on John, vol. 1, pp. 279-280).
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
The December Covenant Reformed News is available on the back table. A new letter to the PRC from Rev. Stewart is also on the back table.
Catechism classes tomorrow (MID-YEAR TESTS on 18 December):
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)
8:00 PM: Alex & Nathan (Pre-confession)
Tuesday Bible study will meet at 11 AM and discuss the (initial) evidence of, and conditions for, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, according to Pentecostalism and Charismaticism.
Belgic Confession class on Wednesday at 7:30 PM will continue with article 37 by considering the false teacher and apostasy.
Ladies Bible Study meets this Friday morning at 9:30 AM at church. We will be discussing Psalm 23 from A 30-Day Walk With God in the Psalms. This will be our last meeting of this calendar year. All ladies are very welcome.
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s day (Gospel 846 MW at 8:30 AM) by Rev. Bruinsma is entitled, “The Song of Angels” (Luke 2:13-14).
The Lord’s Supper will be held on 31 December with preparatory on 24 December.
Church Visitation: Prof. & Lori Gritters and Elder Sid Miedema will be with us on Lord’s days 7 & 14 January. Watch for more details in the coming weeks!
Offerings: £3,093.85. Donations: £100 (Cardiff), £50 (Co. Tyrone).
Translation Additions: 2 Hungarian, 4 Spanish and 2 Swahili.
Be Careful For Nothing
Rev. George M. Ophoff
(an article in The Standard Bearer, vol. 17, issue 19)
“Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6-7).
“Be careful for nothing.” This statement from the apostle’s pen is equivalent in meaning to the one just previously made, “Rejoice in the Lord alway,” the only difference being that the one is negative and the other positive.
“Be careful in nothing,” or, as we of this day say, “Do not worry.” We understand the apostle, to be sure. What he means is not that we be sinfully careless, irresponsible, indifferent with respect to “all things” or matters that concern us and in which we should be vitally interested, but that on account of these things we be not filled with a kind of concern that springs from unbelief, a lack of trust in the Lord, a failure to spiritually apprehend that God’s people are the objects of His endearment and that in His love He causes all things to work together for their good. In a word, what the apostle in the name of the Lord forbids is worry.
How inclined even God’s people are to worry. And worry they do when they stand not in their faith, consider not that the mercy and goodness of God follows them all the days of their lives until they dwell in the house of the Lord forever and that therefore all things are for them in that God—the God and Father of Christ—is for them.
Worry always concerns God’s works. The farmer has ploughed and sowed. But if he will also harvest, God must send rain and sunshine and give the increase. Mindful of this, the man worries, as his anxious looking at the cloudless skies in periods of drought betoken. The minister of the gospel brings His message from Sabbath to Sabbath, but he cannot work faith, make men to believe, cause the word to take root in the hearts of His hearers and to bear fruit in their lives. This, too, is God’s work. Knowing this, the human preacher, when his labours in the flock seemingly bear no fruit, worries. Will that son or daughter, now indifferent, eventually turn to the Lord? The parents know not and they worry. The family man, with a number of dependents, has a good job. Will he be able to hold it? He is not certain and he worries. Also God’s people, when they stand not in their faith, worry about many things. They have need of the admonition, “Rejoice in the Lord. Be careful for nothing.” Do not worry.
But, some may say, this is easier said than done. How will a man, a Christian man, free himself of his worry, in what way? The apostle has the answer, “Let your requests be made known unto God, in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.”
The believers have requests, desires in respect to all things—all those things or matters, that especially concern them, such as the matter of their daily bread, of their children, of the school and church, of the Kingdom causes in general. And in respect to all these things they have definite desires, requests. And when there is no conscious faith, these requests have a way of multiplying until their number is almost legion. Let all these desires be made known unto the Lord, admonishes the apostle. Pour out your heart to Him. Tell them in His ears. For He careth for you, is attentive to your voice and knows how to give good gifts to His children.
Make known these requests of yours by prayer, that is, by seeking God with a true heart and acknowledging Him as the overflowing fountain of all good, and thus as the creative fountain of your heavenly existence in Christ Jesus;—by supplication, that is, by turning to Him, the living God—the God and Father of your Christ—as deeply conscious of your real need, which is grace;—with thanksgiving, that is, with hearts and mouths declaring His adorable praises.
And what will be the result of this hallowed action on the part of God’s believing people? First, that many of these requests will stand out in their minds as springing from lack of trust and will therefore not be voiced. Second, that a great peace—the peace of God—will flood their souls. Such is the assurance of the apostle.
Mark you, he does not say that the Lord will respond by granting all the requests. Also with respect to the voiced desires of His people, God does all His good pleasure. God’s believing people understand this also and therefore their final petition is that His will will be done, except when the thing requested has been divinely promised. And there are such promised things. God has promised to give His people grace—in a word, the heavenly. And of this good they now possess the first fruits. And they without ceasing pray for the full harvest, which the Lord will give them in His good time at the appearing of Christ.
Letting their requests be made known unto God, the believers have peace—the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.
The peace of God. God is a God of peace. There is perfect harmony between the three persons in His blessed being. For He is good, and being good, He is peace and is at peace with Himself and all things.
And as the God of peace He prepared peace for His people, who by nature hate Him who is good, and are at odds with Him, with His thinking and willing and all His blessed doing. But He loved them, though they loved Him not, loved them, did He, before the foundation of the world in Christ Jesus, in whom He also chose them to everlasting life. And in His love He prepared for them peace through Christ. He gave His only begotten as a propitiation for all their sins thus reconciled them to Himself in the cross. And the peace He prepared for them, He also places in their actual possession, through His quickening them by Christ’s Spirit and through His assuring them in their hearts that He justifies them through His clothing them with the righteousness of His Son and cleanses them from all their sins in His blood, that they thus are His beloved children, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. And this assurance is in them the fountain of a great calm, tranquillity, peace—the peace of God that passes all understanding.
And this peace keeps their minds and hearts in Christ. They are in Christ always, everlastingly, both legally and mystically, as He is the head of the body, His church. But believers are not always consciously in Him, in Him as to their mind and heart, thinking and willing and desiring. When they stand not in their faith, they are as to their mind and heart outside of Christ, in the world, having their affections set on the things on earth, and trusting not in the Lord but in the arm of flesh. Then they again worry, are careful for all things. But coming to themselves, they by His mercy, let their requests in all things be made known unto Him. Peace then floods their soul— the peace that keeps their minds and hearts in Christ. Then they consciously desire Christ and the fullness that dwelleth bodily in Him, have their affection set upon things above, minds and desires the things that are of the Spirit of God, seeking the heavenly and love Christ’s appearing.
