Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 13 December, 2020
“O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness:
fear before him, all the earth” (Ps. 96:9)
Morning Service – 11:00 AM
The Lamb, Babylon and the Sickles (4)
The Saints in the Antichristian Kingdom [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Revelation 13
Text: Revelation 14:12
I. Patience Under Persecution
II. Obedience to God’s Commandments
III. Perseverance in the Faith
Psalms: 93:1-5; 94:1-8
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
The Lamb, Babylon and the Sickles (5)
Blessed Are Those Who Die in the Lord! [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Revelation 14
Text: Revelation 14:13
I. The Meaning
II. The Rest
III. The Reward
Psalms: 17:10-15; 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
Quotes to Consider
Herman Hoeksema on Revelation 14:6-13: “What a difference! By the light shed from heaven upon the scene of Antichrist the scene has changed completely. First the beast seemed to be supreme, and Babylon permanently established forever; now the Lamb appears as the King over Zion. First the kingdom of the Holy One seemed to be a lost cause; now the kingdom of the beast is doomed to destruction. First the people of God seemed to be hopelessly lost; now the worshippers of the beast are sent to everlasting torment. First the worshippers of the beast seemed to be in control of all things and participated in the blessing of the kingdom; now the followers of the Lamb inherit everlasting bliss, and serve God and the Lamb day and night forevermore. Surely, the saints may indeed be patient. For all things are theirs, because they are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s” (Behold He Cometh, p. 502).
R. C. H. Lenski on Revelation 14:12: “Here is the endurance of the saints, those keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Here, even more than in 13:18, this statement introduced with [‘here’] is not an addition that was made by John but a statement that was made to John which he is to record for his readers. As in 2:2 and elsewhere, [‘patience’] the brave endurance which holds out under afflictions; it is thus a word that is never used with reference to God. The thought of what awaits the adorers of the beast will furnish endurance for the saints when the beast conquers them (13:7), when the tyranny of the second beast strikes them (13:17). As ‘saints’ who are set apart wholly for God they will think of the fate of all the worshippers of the beast and will bravely hold out.”
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
Rev. McGeown’s letter to the PRC is available today.
Catechism classes:
Monday, 5:45 PM: Eleanora, Hannah, Jorja, Penelope & Somaya (Beginners OT)
Monday, 6:30 PM: Angelica, Bradley, Josh, Samuel & Taylor (Seniors OT)
Monday, 7:15 PM: Alex, Jacob & Nathan (Essentials)
Tuesday, 12:30 PM: James, Jason & Sebastian (Juniors OT)
Tuesday Bible study at 11 AM will meet at church to study I John in our consideration of regeneration in connection with assurance.
Belgic Confession Class meets this Wednesday at 7:45 PM to continue with Article 37 looking at Scripture’s references to the two ages.
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s day (Gospel 846 MW at 8:30 AM) by Rev. Bruinsma is entitled, “The Good Tidings of the Angel” (Luke 2:10-11).
Offerings: General Fund: £340. Donations: £14,022.79 (USA), £100 (Co. Antrim), $200 (Missouri, USA), £25 (Co. Armagh).
PRC News: Wingham PRC called Rev. J. Engelsma (Doon, IA). Rev. Spronk declined the call to Hudsonville PRC. Kalamazoo PRC called Rev. D. Holstege (Philippines).
The Certainty of Hope
(Herman Hoeksema, an excerpt from The Standard Bearer, Volume 19, Issue 9)
We have been speaking of the object of the Christian hope. We tried to answer the question: What is it that the Christian in this world hopes for? Scripture exhorts us that we shall always be ready “to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you” (I Pet. 3:15). And to this answer belongs, no doubt, that we shall be able to give some account of that for which we hope. We expect that our death shall be a translation into immediate glory, a passing out of our earthly house into the heavenly house of God, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. We look for the glory of the resurrection, when our vile bodies shall be made like unto the most glorious body of our Lord Jesus Christ, this corruptible shall put on incorruption, this mortal immortality, and) we shall bear the image of the heavenly. And we hope for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in the day of His glory, when He shall put all enemies under His feet and completely destroy them, when He shall make all things new and take His glorified church with Him into the everlasting covenant and kingdom of heaven in the new creation, in which we shall reign with Him and God will be all in all.
But now we briefly treat of hope itself, of the spiritual power and activity of hope. What is hope? How must it be explained that the believer hopes for things which eye hath not seen, and ear hath not heard, and that never arise in the heart of man; yea, what is more, how is it, that hope stretches itself to that which lies beyond death, and the reality of which is apparently contradictory to all experience? And how do you explain that this hope of the Christian is so certain, so self-assured, that because of it the believer will gladly suffer all things, and will even glory in tribulation? For so that apostle writes, “we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience experience; and experience hope” (Rom. 5:2-4). And then he adds, “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us” (Rom. 5:5). No wonder that, if we really manifest this hope in our lives in the midst of this world, we are asked a reason for it. And the proper answer to that question must include some explanation of the wonderful power of hope itself, as well as of the reason of its inner certainty.
It is of the power and activity of hope that the apostle speaks, when he writes that hope maketh not ashamed. And in general this act of hope may be described as a reaching out of the inner, new, spiritual life of the Christian for its final and full realization and expression. Hope is the tendency of the new life of the believer to seek its own level. You know that water always seeks the level of its own source. But the same is true of life. If your life is from below, it cannot rise above the things that are below. If it has its source in darkness and sin, it cannot aspire to the righteousness of the kingdom of heaven. If your life is from above, you cannot possibly be satisfied with the things that are below, you cannot rest until you have attained to the heavenly things. Now, this is exactly true of the Christian. He is reborn. He received a new life through the power of the grace of God. And this new life is from above. It is characterized by righteousness and holiness and truth, for it is free from sin; but it is also different from our present, earthly life, in that it is heavenly. It is resurrection-life. It has its source, not in sin, but in the righteousness of God; not on the earth, but in the risen and glorified Lord. For so writes the apostle Peter: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (I Pet. 1:3). And Paul writes to the Colossians, that we are risen with Christ, that, therefore, we should seek the things which are above, and not those on the earth; for, being risen with Christ, our life is hid with Christ in God. And because this is the case, because the principle of new life within is from above, is a spark of the life of the New Jerusalem, we cannot rest until we have attained to the perfect likeness with Christ in soul and body, and to the heavenly glory of the heavenly city. This characteristic, this tendency and striving of the new life in Christ to seek its own level is called hope.
If we try to analyze this spiritual power of hope, we find, first of all, that it is the expectation of some future good. “Hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?” But when we say that hope is expectation of some good in the future, we must take the word “future” in the strict, i.e., in the eschatological sense of the word, as lying, not within the scope of the present time at all, but beyond it. All men look forward and live in expectation. We are children of time. And that means that we are forever moving. Incessantly we are carried onward on that indivisible moment that lies between the past, which is no more, and the future, which is not yet, and which we call the present …
And because we are children of this ever moving time, no man can be satisfied with the present. Always we look forward. The future that became present always disappoints. And always we reach out for a new future, until the curtain of death is dropped upon the stage of our life. But the hope of the Christian is different. It is not satisfied with anything time may offer. It looks beyond all time, over death and the grave, to another age, the age of another world. In this respect the attitude of the Christian is decidedly other-worldly. His hope transcends the boundaries of space and time. And by it he is victorious even over death. Secondly, this hope of the Christian is certain. We often employ the word hope to express that we are not quite certain whether or not we will attain to a certain goal, and realize a certain ambition. But that is not the Scriptural meaning of the word hope. On the contrary, the Christian hope is an inner certainty of the heart, that the object of his hope shall be reached. By hope the Christian is assured that the object for which he hopes is real, that it actually exists, and that it is not a mirage, an illusion, an object of his imagination; and at the same time, he is confident that he shall personally attain to it. It is, therefore, inner assurance. And, thirdly, the Christian hope is longing for the realization of the promise of God concerning the final salvation and glory. It is not a cold, disinterested expectation, but a powerful yearning of the soul, that causes the believer even now, in this present world, to strive for the final goal, so that even now his conversation is already in heaven. That certain expectation with longing for the future good, that reaches out beyond time, and beyond all things earthy, and that is victorious over death and the grave, is the Christian hope …
