Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 1 March, 2026
“Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone,
a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste” (Isa. 28:16)
Morning Service – 11:00 AM
Jews and Gentiles United in Christ (6)
Christ Preaching Peace [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 57
Text: Ephesians 2:17
I. The Preaching
II. The Presence
III. The Peace
Psalms: 148:7-14 (AOS); 16:1-6; 68:6-11; 65:1-5
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
The Providence of God [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Revelation 5:1-14; 6:9-17
Text: Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 10
I. Its Meaning and Its Source
II. Its Executor and Its Parties
III. Its Goal and Its Vindication
Psalms: 33:10-12, 17-20; 16:7-11; 2:6-12; 9:14-20
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
R. C. H. Lenski: “… when Christ sent his message to all the nations he told the messengers: ‘I am with you alway, even to the end of the world,’ Matt. 28:20. He assured them: ‘He that heareth you heareth me,’ Luke 10:16; ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me,’ John 13:20. These statements make Paul’s words rather plain: ‘having come, he brought as good tidings peace to you that are afar off,’ i.e., Christ did this after his death and his glorification; did it through his gospel messengers. For the fact remains that those afar off, the Gentiles, heard Christ’s voice of peace only through Christ’s heralds even as we hear it today” (Comm. on Eph. 2:17).
John Calvin: “And preached peace; not indeed by his own lips, but by the apostles … His apostles were … employed as trumpets for proclaiming the gospel to the Gentiles. What they did, not only in his name, and by his command, but as it were in his own person, is justly ascribed to none other than himself. We too speak as if Christ himself exhorted you by us (II Cor. 5:20). The faith of the gospel would be weak indeed, were we to look no higher than to men. Its whole authority is derived from viewing men as God’s instruments, and hearing Christ speak to us by their mouth. Observe here, the gospel is the message of peace, by which God declares himself to be reconciled to us, and makes known his paternal love. Take away the gospel, and war and enmity continue to subsist between God and men; and, on the other hand, the native tendency of the gospel is, to give peace and calmness to the conscience, which would otherwise be tormented by distressing alarm” (Comm. on Eph. 2:17).
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
Monday night catechism classes:
5:00 PM: Felicity & Sophie (Juniors NT)
5:45 PM: Grace, Jonas, Liam & Sammy (Beginners NT)
6:30 PM: Eleanora, Hannah, Jorja, Penelope & Xander (Seniors NT)
7:15 PM: Jason, Maisie & Sebastian (Heidelberg Catechism – Book 2)
8:00 PM: Abbie, Jack, Josh, Samuel & Taylor (Essentials)
Tuesday Bible study will meet this week at 11 AM to begin our treatment of the knowability of God.
The Belgic Confession class meets at 7:30 PM on Wednesday to consider more on the general resurrection.
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s day (Gospel 846 MW at 8:30 AM) by Rev. Haak is entitled “So I Prayed and Said” (Nehemiah 2).
The Council meets Monday, 9 March, at 8 PM.
Offerings: £922.
Translation Additions: 1 Polish and 4 Spanish.
Christ Speaking Through the Preaching
(for more quotes on this subject see https://cprc.co.uk/quotes/christspeakingpreaching/)
Chrysostom on I Thessalonians 2:13: “For in hearing us, you gave such heed, as if not hearing men, but as if God Himself were exhorting you.”
Augustine (354-430): “The preacher explains the text; if he says what is true, it is Christ speaking.”
Martin Luther (1483-1546):
“Flesh and blood are an impediment. They merely behold the person of the pastor and brother … They refuse to regard the oral Word and the ministry as a treasure costlier and better than heaven and earth. People generally think: ‘If I had an opportunity to hear God speak in person, I would run my feet bloody’ … But you now have the Word of God in church … and this is God’s Word as surely as if God Himself were speaking to you.”
“We both, pastor and listener, are only pupils; there is only this difference, that God is speaking to you through me. That is the glorious power of the divine Word, through which God Himself deals with us and speaks to us, and in which we hear God Himself.”
John Calvin (1509-1564):
“The apostles first, and after them pastors and teachers, bore testimony that Christ was made King by God the Father; but since they acted as ambassadors in Christ’s stead, He rightly and properly claims to himself alone whatever was done by them. Accordingly, Paul (Ephesians 2:17) ascribes to Christ what the ministers of the gospel did in his name. ‘He came,’ says he, ‘and preached peace to them that were afar off, and to them that were nigh.’ Hereby, also, the authority of the gospel is better established because, although it is published by others, it does not cease to be the gospel of Christ. As often therefore, as we hear the gospel preached by men, we ought to consider that it is not so much they who speak, as Christ who speaks by them. And this is a singular advantage, that Christ lovingly allures us to himself by his own voice, that we may not by any means doubt of the majesty of his kingdom” (Comm. on Ps. 2:7).
“When the Prophet says, by the breath of his lips, this must not be limited to the person of Christ; for it refers to the Word which is preached by his ministers. Christ acts by them in such a manner that He wishes their mouth to be reckoned as his mouth, and their lips as his lips; that is, when they speak from his mouth, and faithfully declare his Word (Luke 10:16)” (Comm. on Isa. 11:4).
“Every time the Gospel is preached, it is as if God himself came in person solemnly to summon us” (Sermons on Ephesians, p. xiii).
Second Helvetic Confession 1 (1566): “Wherefore when this Word of God is now preached in the church by preachers lawfully called, we believe that the very Word of God is preached, and received of the faithful; and that neither any other Word of God is to be feigned, nor to be expected from heaven: and that now the Word itself which is preached is to be regarded, not the minister that preaches; who, although he be evil and a sinner, nevertheless the Word of God abides true and good.”
Archbishop Sandys (c.1516-1588): “… when thou hearest the minister preaching the truth, thou hearest not him, but the Son of God, the teacher of all truth, Christ Jesus” (Theology of the English Reformers, p. 125).
William Perkins (1558-1602): “Thus every [preacher’s] task is to speak partly as the voice of God (in preaching), and partly as the voice of the people (in praying): ‘If you take out the precious from the vile, You shall be as My mouth’ (Jer. 15:19)” (The Art of Prophesying, p. 7).
Westminster Larger Catechism, Q. & A. 160:
“What is required of those that hear the word preached?
It is required of those that hear the word preached, that they attend upon it with diligence, preparation, and prayer; examine what they hear by the scriptures; receive the truth with faith, love, meekness, and readiness of mind, as the word of God …”
Jeremiah Burroughs (a member of the Westminster Assembly): “First, when you come to hear the Word, if you would sanctify God’s name, you must possess your souls with what it is you are going to hear, that what you are going to hear is the Word of God. It is not the speaking of a man you are going to attend, but you are now going to attend upon God and to hear the Word of the Eternal God … Therefore you find that the Apostle, writing to the Thessalonians, gives them the reason why the Word did them as much good as it did. It was because they heard it as the Word of God, I Thess. 2:13 … Mark, so it came effectually to work because they received it as the Word of God. Many times you will say, ‘Come, let us go hear a man preach.’ Oh no, let us go hear Christ preach, for as it concerns the ministers of God that they preach not themselves, but that Christ should preach in them, so it concerns you that hear not to come to hear this man or that man, but to come to hear Jesus Christ” (Gospel Worship, p. 200).
John Owen (1616-1683): “Let a man but consider that it is God, the great and holy one, that speaketh unto him in his word, and it cannot but excite in him faith, attention, and readiness unto obedience; as also work in him that awe, reverence, and trembling, which God delighteth in, and which brings the mind into a profiting frame. And this concerns the word preached as well as read. Provided,—1. That those that preach it are sent of God; 2. That what is preached be according to the analogy of faith; 3. That it be drawn from the written word; 4. That it be delivered in the name and authority of God” (Hebrews, vol. 4, p. 305).
James Durham (1622-1658) on Song of Solomon 2:10: “These words prefaced to Christ’s epistle or sermon, ‘My beloved spake, and said unto me,’ are not idly set down … It says that fellowship with Christ is no dumb exercise; those that are admitted to fellowship with him, he will be speaking with, otherwise than with the world. And, that a believer hath an ear to hear, not only what the minister saith, but also what Christ saith. It is the word as from Christ’s own mouth, that hath an effectual impression; and a believer will receive it as such, that it may leave such an impression upon his heart” (Clavis Cantici: An Exposition of the Song of Solomon, pp. 138-139).
