Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 15 December, 2019
“Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies,
kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering …” (Col. 3:12)
Morning Service – 11:00 AM
One Body Animated by One Spirit [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Ephesians 4:1-16
Text: Ephesians 4:4-6
I. The Meaning
II. The Elaboration
Psalms: 23:1-6; 119:97-104; 143:5-11; 133:1-3
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
Practical Christianity (12)
Vain Religion [youtube]
Scripture Reading: James 3
Text: James 1:26
I. The Unbridled Tongue
II. The Deceived Heart
III. The Contextual Rationale
Psalms: 107:1-9; 119:105-112; 12:1-8; 87:1-7
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
Thomas Manton on James 1:26 and sins of the tongue: “Because it seemeth so small a sin, and having laid aside grosser sins, they did the more securely continue in the practice of it. They were not adulterers, drunkards; and therefore, flattering themselves with a show of holiness, they did the more freely censure and detract from others. Note, indulgence in the least sin cannot stand with grace. Your ‘religion is vain’ if you do not ‘refrain your tongue.’ They are miserably mistaken that hope to redeem their souls from the guilt of one sin by abstaining from the practice of another … Censuring is a trick of the devil, to take off the care from their own hearts; and therefore, to excuse indignation against their own sins, their zeal is passionate in declaiming against the sins of others. Gracious hearts reflect most upon themselves; they do not seek what to reprove in others, but what to lament in themselves. Partly because they are not so meek and gentle as true Christians. When a man is sensible of his own failings, he is very tender in reflecting upon the weaknesses of others: Gal. vi. 1, ‘Ye which are spiritual, restore him with meekness.’”
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
Monday catechism classes:
5:30 PM – Angelica, Bradley, Josh, Samuel & Taylor (Seniors NT) – test (lessons 1-12)
6:15 PM – Corey & Katelyn (Juniors OT) – test (lessons 1-14)
7:00 PM – Alex, Jacob & Nathan (Essentials)
7:45 PM – membership class
Tuesday Bible Study meets at 11 AM. We will discuss more false objects of faith, including false prophecy and the end times.
Ladies’ Luncheon: All women are invited to the church for lunch this Wednesday from 11:30 AM.
Belgic Confession class meets on Wednesday at 7:45 PM to discuss civil resistance (Article 36), by looking at the teaching of Christ in the gospels.
Men’s Bible Study meets on Saturday at 8 PM at the Kennedys to study Acts 16:13-40.
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s day (Gospel 846 MW at 8:30 AM) by Rev. Bruinsma is entitled, “Elizabeth’s Inspired Revelation” (Luke 1:39-45).
Offerings: General Fund: £809.17. Donation: £200 (England).
Next Lord’s day, we will have preparatory with the view to partaking of the Lord’s Supper on 29 December.
There will be no catechism classes on 23 and 30 December and 6 January.
S. Wales Lecture: Rev. Stewart will give a lecture on “William Tyndale: English Bible Translator” at Margam Community Centre on Thursday, 23 January, at 7:15 PM.
Translation Addition: 1 Hungarian.
Letter to Timothy
by Prof. Herman Hanko
(an excerpt from an article in the Standard Bearer, volume 54, issue 5)
This letter, Timothy, is going to be of a slightly different kind. It is occasioned by the fact that I was reading the other day a recent publication by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. It is a continuation of his exposition of Ephesians; more particularly, it is an exposition of Ephesians 6:10-13. In this book, Lloyd-Jones spends a great deal of time concentrating on the expression found in these verses: “the wiles of the devil.” Among those wiles of the devil, he finds the temptation to abandon doctrine. In this connection, he has a very interesting section on the importance of doctrine in the life of the child of God. I want to quote this section for you in this letter … It is well worthwhile. For your information, the book is entitled The Christian Warfare and was put out by Baker. I have received permission from the publishers to make this lengthy quote.
He writes about the fact that heresies have appeared in the church from the earliest times, and that the great confessions of the church were composed for purposes of combating heresy and making the truth of God’s Word clear for God’s people. He then goes on to say,
Is there someone who feels at this point, ‘Well, really, what has all this to do with me? I am an ordinary person, I am a member of the church and life is very difficult. What has all this to say to me?’ Or there may be someone who is recovering after illness and who says, ‘Well, I was hoping to have a word of comfort, something to strengthen me along the way, something to make me feel a little happier; what has all this about creeds and confessions and the wiles of the devil to do with me?’ If you feel like that, the truth is that the devil has defeated you. The Apostle Paul says, ‘Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners’ (I Cor. 15:33). He means that wrong teaching is desperately dangerous. He is there dealing with the great question of the resurrection, he is concerned with that one doctrine, and he says, Make no mistake about this; it is not a matter of indifference as to whether you believe in the literal physical resurrection or not. ‘Ah but,’ you say, ‘I am a practical man of affairs, I am not interested in doctrine, I am not a theologian, I have no time for these things. All I want is something to help me to live my daily life.’ But according to the Apostle you cannot divorce these things, ‘Evil communications’—wrong teaching, wrong thinking, wrong belief—‘corrupt good manners.’ It will affect the whole of your life.
One of the first things you are to learn in this Christian life and warfare is that, if you go wrong in your doctrine, you will go wrong in all aspects of your life. You will probably go wrong in your practice and behavior; and you will certainly go wrong in your experience. Why is it that people are defeated by the things that happen to them? Why is it that some people are completely cast down if they are taken ill, or if someone who is dear to them is taken ill? They were wonderful Christians when all was going well; the sun was shining, the family was well, everything was perfect, and you would have thought that they were the best Christians in the country. But suddenly there is an illness and they seem to be shattered, they do not know what to do or where to turn, and they begin to doubt God. They say, ‘We were living the Christian life, and we were praying to God, and our lives have been committed to God; but look at what is happening. Why should this happen to us?’ They begin to doubt God and all His gracious dealings with them. Do such people need ‘a bit of comfort’? Do they need the church simply as a kind of soporific or tranquilizer? Do they only need something which will make them feel a little happier, and lift the burden a little while they are in the church?
Their real trouble is that they lack an understanding of the Christian faith. They have an utterly inadequate notion of what Christianity means. Their idea of Christianity was: ‘Believe in Christ and you will never have another trouble or problem; God will bless you, nothing will ever go wrong with you’; whereas the Scripture itself teaches that ‘through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of God’ (Acts 14:22), or as the Apostle expresses it elsewhere, ‘In nothing be terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake’ (Phil. 1:28-29). Our Lord says, ‘In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world’ (John 16:33). There is nothing which is so wrong, and so utterly false, as to fail to see the primary importance of true doctrine; Looking back over my experience as a pastor for some thirty-four years, I can testify without the slightest hesitation that the people I have found most frequently in trouble in their spiritual experience have been those who have lacked understanding. You cannot divorce these things. You will go wrong in the realms of practical living and experience if you have not a true understanding. If you drop off into some heresy, if you go wrong at some point, if you believe, for instance—I give one example in passing—‘that healing is in the atonement,’ that it is never God’s will that any of His children should be ill, that it is always God’s will that all His children should be healthy, and that no Christian should ever die from a disease … if you believe that, and then find yourself, or someone who is dear to you, dying of some incurable disease, you will be miserable and unhappy … Such a person’s condition is due to error or heresy concerning a primary central doctrine. He or she has insinuated something into the Christian faith that does not truly belong to it.
Nothing is more urgently relevant, whether we think of ourselves in particular or the church in general, than that we should be aware of heresy. Take the New Testament, take the history of the Christian church, or take individual Christian experience, and you will see that true doctrine is always urgently relevant. It is of supreme importance for the whole life of the church. The Holy Spirit is the power in the church, and the Holy Spirit will never honour anything except His own Word. It is the Holy Spirit who has given this Word. He is its Author. It is not of men! Nor is the Bible the product of ‘flesh and blood.’ The Apostle Paul was not simply giving expression to contemporary teaching or his own thoughts. He says, ‘I received it by revelation.’ It was given to him; given to him by the Lord, the risen Lord, through the Holy Spirit. So I am arguing that the Holy Spirit will honour nothing but His own Word. Therefore if we do not believe and accept His Word, or if in any way we deviate from it, we have no right to expect the blessing of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will honour truth, and will honour nothing else. Whatever else we may do, if we do not honour this truth He will not honour us …
According to the teaching of the Bible, one thing only matters, and that is the truth. The Holy Spirit will honour nothing but the truth, His own truth. But that, He will honour.
To me the most marvelous thing of all is that, the moment you come to such a conclusion, you realize that in a sense nothing else matters. Numbers certainly do not matter. But today the prevailing argument is the one that exalts numbers …
But this argument is not only wrong, it is dangerously wrong, if you relate it to the realm of the Christian faith. The whole Bible testifies against it. The glories of church history protest loudly against it. The Christian position is entirely different. Here, you do not begin by counting heads, you are not concerned primarily about numbers and masses. You do not think in that way. You are in an entirely different realm …
Nothing matters in the spiritual realm except truth, the truth given by the Holy Spirit, the truth that can be honored by the Holy Spirit. Is there anything more glorious in the whole of the Old Testament than the way in which this great principle stands out? God often used individual men, or but two or three, against hordes and masses. Is there anything more exhilarating than the doctrine of the remnant? While the majority had gone wrong, the ones and the twos saw the truth …
Is it not amazing that people should forget the Scriptures and past history? …
I do not understand that mentality in the Christian church today which says that we must all come together and sink our differences; and that what we believe does not matter …
There is an exclusiveness in the New Testament that is quite amazing. The Apostle Paul writing to the Galatians says, ‘Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached, let him be accursed’ (Gal. 1:8) … So many of these modern preachers are much nicer people than the Apostle Paul! They never say a word against anyone at all, they praise everybody, and they are praised by everybody. They are never ‘negative’! They never define what they believe and what they do not believe. They are said to be ‘full of love’ … The explanation is that they do not ‘contend for the truth’, they are innocent concerning the ‘wiles of the devil.’ It is not for us to decide what to leave out and what to drop for the sake of unity. My business is to expound this truth, to declare it—come what may! We must not be interested primarily in numbers, we must be interested in the truth of God.
Well, Timothy, I have to end this quote—and this letter. What Lloyd-Jones has to say on this topic is well said and we do well to take it to heart.
