Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 16 February, 2014
“But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious,
longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth” (Psalm 86:15)
Morning Service – 11:00 AM
The Prophet Jonah (12)
God’s Repentance Concerning Nineveh [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Jonah 3:1-4:3
Text: Jonah 3:10
I. What It Does Not Mean
II. What It Does Mean
III. What It Means for Us
Psalms: 90:11-16; 65:1-5; 106:41-48; 110:1-6
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
Why Must Christians Do Good Works? [youtube]
Scripture Reading: I Peter 2
Text: Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 32
I. A Pointed Question
II. The Reformation Answer
Psalms: 63:1-8; 65:6-13; 34:1-10; 116:9-19
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: https://cprc.co.uk/live-streaming/
CPRC YouTube: www.youtube.com/cprcni
CPRC Facebook: www.facebook.com/CovenantPRC
Quotes to Consider
Rev. Carl Haak on Jonah 3: “Why did not God bring judgment? Was it because they repented? Now the answer is this: The judgment of God’s people in Nineveh was diverted from their own head because it was inflicted on the Christ. Hear me carefully! Repentance does not atone for our sins. Repentance does not erase our sins from the sight of God. Repentance does not pay for our sin and avoid the judgment. The blood of Jesus Christ alone erases sin and pays for our judgment. Repentance is the gift of God in Jesus Christ worked in the hearts of those whom God has chosen in Christ and redeemed in the blood of His Son and to whom He has given His Spirit. God did not pour His judgment upon us, upon His children, a judgment that would have made us perish. But God did cast that judgment upon His own Son. The Word of God, Romans 8, ‘He spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all.’ He was delivered for our offenses. He was crucified for our transgressions.”
Herman Hoeksema: “For your hope is not a cold and powerless expectation of things future, without significance and influence upon your present life. It is a spiritual power, an earnest of your salvation … a spark from heaven that ought to set ablaze your whole life with a fervent desire to walk as citizens of that new creation.”
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
We welcome Brittany Schimmel from Georgetown PRC in Michigan to our services today. She will be staying at the manse until Tuesday, before returning to the US.
Rev. McGeown’s bi-monthly letter to the PRC is available on the back table.
Monday Catechism: Bradley, Samuel (Beginners NT) – 5:30PM
Alex, Nathan (Juniors OT) – 6:15PM
Jacob, Joseph (Seniors OT) – 7:00PM
Timothy (Essentials of Reformed Doctrine) – 7:45PM
Tuesday Bible study meets at 11 AM to continue our study of Christ’s controversies by looking at Roman and Jewish taxes.
Belgic Confession Class will be held this Wednesday at 7:45 PM as we continue article 23 on “The Theological Framework of Justification.”
Men’s Bible Study meets this Saturday at 8 PM at the Kennedys to study the last chapter in the study guide on Ezra.
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s Day (Gospel 846MW at 8:30 AM) is entitled “Job’s Miserable Comforters” (Job 16:2).
Upcoming Events:
28 February – lecture in Lurgan: “John Knox and Predestination”
6 March – Rev. Stewart’s S. Wales lecture: “John Knox and Predestination”
Offerings: General – £648.77.
John Calvin on Divine Repentance
(Institutes of the Christian Religion 1.17.12-14)
12. On the Providence of God, in so far as conducive to the solid instruction and consolation of believers (for, as to satisfying the curiosity of foolish men, it is a thing which cannot be done, and ought not to be attempted), enough would have been said, did not a few passages remain which seem to insinuate, contrary to the view which we have expounded, that the counsel of God is not firm and stable, but varies with the changes of sublunary affairs. First, in reference to the Providence of God, it is said that he repented of having made man (Gen. 6:6), and of having raised Saul to the kingdom (I Sam. 15:11), and that he will repent of the evil which he had resolved to inflict on his people as soon as he shall have perceived some amendment in them (Jer. 18:8). Secondly, his decrees are sometimes said to be annulled. He had by Jonah proclaimed to the Ninevites, “Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown,” but, immediately on their repentance, he inclined to a more merciful sentence (Jonah 3:4-10). After he had, by the mouth of Isaiah, given Hezekiah intimation of his death, he was moved by his tears and prayers to defer it (Isa. 38:15; II Kings 20:15). Hence many argue that God has not fixed human affairs by an eternal decree, but according to the merits of each individual, and as he deems right and just, disposes of each single year, and day, and hour. As to repentance, we must hold that it can no more exist in God than ignorance, or error, or impotence. If no man knowingly or willingly reduces himself to the necessity of repentance, we cannot attribute repentance to God without saying either that he knows not what is to happen, or that he cannot evade it, or that he rushes precipitately and inconsiderately into a resolution, and then forthwith regrets it. But so far is this from the meaning of the Holy Spirit, that in the very mention of repentance he declares that God is not influenced by any feeling of regret, that he is not a man that he should repent. And it is to be observed, that, in the same chapter, both things are so conjoined, that a comparison of the passages admirably removes the appearance of contradiction. When it is said that God repented of having made Saul king, the term change is used figuratively. Shortly after, it is added, “The Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for he is not a man, that he should repent” (I Sam. 15:29). In these words, his immutability is plainly asserted without figure. Wherefore it is certain that, in administering human affairs, the ordination of God is perpetual and superior to every thing like repentance. That there might be no doubt of his constancy, even his enemies are forced to bear testimony to it. For, Balaam, even against his will, behaved to break forth into this exclamation, “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: has he said, and shall he not do it? or has he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” (Num. 23:19).
13. What then is meant by the term repentance? The very same that is meant by the other forms of expression, by which God is described to us humanly. Because our weakness cannot reach his height, any description which we receive of him must be lowered to our capacity in order to be intelligible. And the mode of lowering is to represent him not as he really is, but as we conceive of him. Though he is incapable of every feeling of perturbation, he declares that he is angry with the wicked. Wherefore, as when we hear that God is angry, we ought not to imagine that there is any emotion in him, but ought rather to consider the mode of speech accommodated to our sense, God appearing to us like one inflamed and irritated whenever he exercises judgment, so we ought not to imagine any thing more under the term repentance than a change of action, men being wont to testify their dissatisfaction by such a change. Hence, because every change whatever among men is intended as a correction of what displeases, and the correction proceeds from repentance, the same term applied to God simply means that his procedure is changed. In the meantime, there is no inversion of his counsel or will, no change of his affection. What from eternity he had foreseen, approved, decreed, he prosecutes with unvarying uniformity, how sudden soever to the eye of man the variation may seem to be.
14. Nor does the Sacred History, while it relates that the destruction which had been proclaimed to the Ninevites was remitted, and the life of Hezekiah, after an intimation of death, prolonged, imply that the decrees of God were annulled. Those who think so labour under delusion as to the meaning of threatenings, which, though they affirm simply, nevertheless contain in them a tacit condition dependent on the result. Why did the Lord send Jonah to the Ninevites to predict the overthrow of their city? Why did he by Isaiah give Hezekiah intimation of his death? He might have destroyed both them and him without a message to announce the disaster. He had something else in view than to give them a warning of death, which might let them see it at a distance before it came. It was because he did not wish them destroyed but reformed, and thereby saved from destruction. When Jonah prophesies that in forty days Nineveh will be overthrown, he does it in order to prevent the overthrow. When Hezekiah is forbidden to hope for longer life, it is that he may obtain longer life. Who does not now see that, by threatening of this kind, God wished to arouse those to repentance whom he terrified, that they might escape the judgment which their sins deserved? If this is so, the very nature of the case obliges us to supply a tacit condition in a simple denunciation. This is even confirmed by analogous cases. The Lord rebuking King Abimelech for having carried off the wife of Abraham, uses these words: “Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife.” But, after Abimelech’s excuse, he thus speaks: “Restore the man his wife, for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live; and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou and all that art thine” (Gen. 20:3, 7). You see that, by the first announcement, he makes a deep impression on his mind, that he may render him eager to give satisfaction, and that by the second he clearly explains his will. Since the other passages may be similarly explained, you must not infer from them that the Lord derogated in any respect from his former counsel, because he recalled what he had promulgated. When, by denouncing punishment, he admonishes to repentance those whom he wishes to spare, he paves the way for his eternal decree, instead of varying it one whit either in will or in language. The only difference is, that he does not express, in so many syllables, what is easily understood. The words of Isaiah must remain true, “The Lord of hosts has purposed, and who shall disannul it? And his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?” (Isa. 14:27).
