Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 28 February, 2021
“O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness:
fear before him, all the earth” (Ps. 96:9)
Morning Service – 11:00 AM
Honour Father and Mother [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Ephesians 5:15-6:4
Text: Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 39
I. The Meaning
II. The Reason
III. The Promise
Psalms: 46:1-7; 128:1-6
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
Abimelech, the Bramble King (7)
Abimelech’s Last Days [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Judges 9:42-57
Text: Judges 9:42-57
I. The Fierce Vengeance of Abimelech
II. The Ignominious Death of Abimelech
III. The Lessons Drawn from Abimelech
Psalms: 94:1-8; 45:1-7
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
Quotes to Consider
David J. Engelsma: “The entire episode [in Judges 9] is a sad conclusion to the judgeship of Gideon. The judge himself troubles Israel—not least his own family—by his toying with kingly power, his corruption of the pure worship of God, and his disregard for God’s law concerning marriage and family. Hero of faith that he is, and marvelous as his deliverance of Israel is, he is not the savior of the people of God, nor is his deliverance the real one. Israel must hope for a coming savior, according to the promise of God in Genesis 3:15. This savior will be the king whom Israel needs. But he will be the king whom God has chosen and whom God will give to Israel in his grace. This is the great lesson that God, who also governs apostasy and disobedience, teaches his people by the woeful history of the conclusion of the judgeship of Gideon and of the kingship of Abimelech” (Unfolding Covenant History, vol. 5, pp. 93-94).
Dale Ralph Davis on Judges 9: “Here lies a firm comfort for God’s beleaguered people: God destroys the destroyers of his people. The rulers of this age have never learned that whoever touches the flock of Yahweh touches the apple of his eye (cf. Zech. 2:8) and therefore places himself under God’s sword or millstone. Similarly, if God’s people are God’s sacred temple (1 Cor. 3:16, where the ‘you’ is plural in Greek), how careful the church’s teachers and members must be not to destroy that temple by teaching error or brewing strife (cf. 1 Cor. 3:17)” (Judges: Such a Great Salvation, p. 128).
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
The February Covenant Reformed News is on the back table. A copy of the new Hungarian hard back version of Doctrine According to Godliness can be seen on the back table as well.
The Council meets tomorrow evening at 7:30 PM by video conference.
Tuesday Bible study at 11 AM will meet in the auditorium to consider more on assurance as of the essence of faith.
Belgic Confession Class will meet and be streamed live this Wednesday at 7:45 PM to consider the “last days” in Micah in connection with Article 37.
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s day (Gospel 846 MW at 8:30 AM) by Rev. R. Kleyn is entitled, “The First Disciples Are Called” (Mark 1:16-20).
Offerings: General Fund: £845.
Translation Additions: 1 Korean and 1 Spanish.
The Irish government has extended the “Level 5” restrictions until 5 April. Under such restrictions the US embassy in Dublin will be offering “only extremely limited immigrant visa services” while “non-immigrant visa services will be suspended,” so that the non-immigrant interview that Rev. McGeown had planned to attend on 8 March has been cancelled, while there is a very small possibility of an immigrant-visa interview being offered to the McGeowns. Pastor McGeown has a non-immigrant visa interview pending, which he booked last year for 11 August in London. The difference between an immigrant and a non-immigrant is the difference between an application for temporary or permanent residency in the USA. Please remember Rev. and Larisa McGeown and the remaining saints of the LRF in your prayers.
PRC News: Byron Center PRC will call from a trio of Revs. Barnhill (Peace, IN), J. Engelsma (Doon, IA) and D. Holstege (Philippines).
Order My Steps
(an excerpt from the Standard Bearer, vol. 22, issue 2, by Herman Hoeksema)
“Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me” (Psalm 119:138).
Thy Word! Exalted theme! Higher than the heavens, deeper than the deepest sea, inexhaustible in the riches of its contents!
Quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, purer than crystalline water rising fresh from a fountain and sparkling in the golden sunlight, sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. Mighty in its effect, accomplishing that which it speaks; calling the things which are not into existence, holding the universe in its embrace, establishing the heavens; bringing light out of darkness, righteousness out of corruption, life out of death; converting the soul, giving wisdom unto the simple, rejoicing the heart; promising and fulfilling what it promises, faithful and true; enduring for ever.
The living and abiding Word of God! Of it the poet sings! Let others sing of men and mighty deeds, of wars and deeds of prowess, of the glory of arms, of horses and chariots, of man’s ingenuity and power, of human inventions and accomplishments—the poet chooses the exalted and glorious Word of God for his theme …
Jehovah’s testimonies are wonderful: therefore the author’s soul keeps them. Understanding and light the words of the Lord give to them that enter into them. And so the psalmist greatly longs for these words, for the commandments of his God. He would know them, possess them, hide them in his soul, with great longing and panting, he opens his mouth for them …
He deeply realizes his sinfulness and imperfection in the light of the Word of God, and it is a cause of profound sorrow to him: “rivers of waters run down my eyes, because they keep not thy law.”
From all oppression of evil men He desires to be delivered, that he may keep the precepts of his God. He longs to be liberated completely from all dominion of iniquity. And for direction of his steps by the Word of Jehovah he prays.
Let not any iniquity have dominion over me! Order Thou my steps in Thy Word! Blessed Word of God! Deliver me from evil! Let not any iniquity have dominion over me!
Such is, and must needs be, the cry of him in whose heart has shone and does shine the discerning light of the Word of God.
Does he not, in principle, to be sure, but then in deepest principle, in the depth of his heart whence are the issues of life, love that Word as the revelation of the living God and of the will of Jehovah to him? And does he not, as he knows and loves that Word, discover in its clear light the iniquity of his nature, his incapability to do any good and inclination to every iniquity? And must not, then, inevitably arise from that new principle of life that has been wrought in his heart, and according to which he knows and loves the Word of God, arise the longing cry, “Let not any iniquity have dominion over me!”?
O, let us not misunderstand this prayer, as if it were the cry of one that is still under the dominion of sin! It is not!
The dominion of iniquity is of such a nature that one that is in its power never cries for liberation. He is in full agreement with his own enslavement. He loves his subjection. Willingly he serves his lord. Would you free him, he would cling to his bonds. Would you separate him from his master, he would seek and run after him again.
He that committeth sin is a servant of sin! A slave, yes, but a willing slave!
And so, the prayer, “let not any iniquity have dominion over me,” is the cry of the liberated! But it is the prayer of the free that is ever on the alert against the lurking enemy, that realizes deeply that “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”
For the child of God is, indeed, free. He is not under the law, but under grace: sin shall not have dominion over him. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made him free from the law of sin and death. He is in Christ Jesus; he is a new creature; old things, the things of the dominion of sin, have passed away, behold, all things have become new! But the old lord of sin is ever near, and is extremely jealous of his former dominion. He does not readily relinquish his right to rule. He consistently, stubbornly, refuses to abdicate. Always he conspires to regain his former dominion, to subject his former slave into captivity once again. And this would appear to be easy. He dwells in the same house with his former subject. He operates in his members. He finds a strong ally in the old nature of the believer. He did, indeed, lose his right to rule; and, in principle, he also was deprived of his power. But he is not yet completely cast out, cannot be cast out until, through death and resurrection, he will see his former slave escape him, finally and forever, into the glorious liberty of the children of God …
Order my steps in Thy Word! That is the positive content of the prayer of the liberated child of God. For, while he abhors and eschews the dominion of iniquity, he has a new delight in the law of the Lord. The testimonies of Jehovah are wonderful to him. Their goodness he has tasted. Sweeter than honey they are to him. The entrance of Jehovah’s words gave him light and understanding such as he can find nowhere else. They afforded him spiritual discernment of spiritual things. In their way he found forgiveness and deliverance, mercy and grace, life and fellowship with God, joy and pleasures for evermore.
He found God, the God of his salvation! In Him is now his delight. His statutes he desires to keep. In the way of His commandments he would run. And so, he prays, “Order my steps in thy word.”
… The original might be translated by: Order my steps by what Thou sayest.
Let all my life, let my every action, let every step I take on life’s way, let every thought I think, every emotion that arises within my soul, every choice I make, every aspiration I pursue, every inclination of my heart, every glance of my eye, every favourable inclining of my ear, every word I speak, every act I perform—let it be motivated and directed by what Thou sayest unto me!
… We cannot lay hold of it, unless it please Him to speak it to us!
Never can it become a power within us, an irresistible power, an all-motivating power in our deepest heart, directing all the issues of our life, unless, through the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ, it pleases Him to cause that Word to become a fire in our bones.
Then, and then only, we are called out of darkness into His marvellous light, once, again, constantly. Then we carry it in our hearts; nay, then it overpowers us, so that we willingly and with delight of our inmost heart, subject ourselves to it, love it, obey it.
Then it becomes the motivating power in the very centre of our existence directing all the issues of our life. Lead me, O my God! Lead me, day by day! Direct my every individual step by what Thou sayest! Order Thou my steps!
