Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 5 May, 2013
“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
Christ Will Build His Church [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Matthew 16:13-28
Text: Matthew 16:13-19
I. The Rock on Which Christ Builds His Church
II. The Meaning of Christ Builds His Church
III. The Means by Which Christ Builds His Church
Psalms: 147:1-8; 34:1-9; 118:15-23; 62:5-10
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
John the Baptist’s Public Ministry (18)
John’s Witness After His Death [youtube]
Scripture Reading: John 5:31-47; 10:39-42
Text: see back of bulletin
I. John’s Witness as a Bright and Shining Lamp
II. John’s Witness in a Place Beyond Jordan
III. John’s Witness in the History of Redemption
Psalms: 36:5-11; 34:10-16; 105:6-12; 135:8-15
For CDs of the sermons and DVDs of the worship services, contact Stephen Murray
If you desire a pastoral visit, please contact Rev. Stewart
CPRC website: www.cprc.co.uk
CPRC YouTube: www.youtube.com/cprcni
CPRC Facebook: www.facebook.com/CovenantPRC
Quote to Consider
Joseph Strossmayer (1815-1905), Bishop of Diakovár, Croatia, a vocal opponent of the dogma of papal infallibility at the First Vatican Council (1869-1870): “I come now to speak of the great argument—which you mentioned before—to establish the primacy of the Bishop of Rome by the rock (petra). If this were true, the dispute would be at an end; but our forefathers—and they certainly knew something—did not think of it as we do. St. Cyril in his fourth book on the Trinity says, ‘I believe that by the rock you must understand the unshaken faith of the apostles.’ St. Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, in his second book on the Trinity says, ‘The rock (petra) is the blessed and only rock of the faith confessed by the mouth of St. Peter,’ and in the sixth book of the Trinity he says, ‘It is on this rock of the confession of the faith that the church is built.’ ‘God,’ says St. Jerome in the sixth book on St. Matthew, ‘has founded his church on this rock, and it is from this rock that the apostle Peter has been named.’ After him St. Chrysostom says in his fifty-third homily on St. Matthew, ‘On this rock I will build my church—that is, on the faith of the confession.’ Now, what was the confession of the apostle? Here it is: ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Ambrose, the holy Archbishop of Milan (on the second chapter of the Ephesians), St Basil of Seleucia, and the fathers of the Council of Chalcedon, teach exactly the same thing. Of all the doctors of Christian antiquity St. Augustine occupies one of the first places for knowledge and holiness. Listen then to what he writes in his second treatise on the First Epistle of St. John: ‘What do the words mean, I will build my church on this rock? On this faith, on that which said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ In his treatise on St. John we find this most significant phrase: ‘On this rock which you have confessed I will build my church, since Christ was the rock.’ The great Bishop believed so little that the church was built on St. Peter that he said to the people in his thirteenth sermon, ‘You are Peter, and on this rock (petra) which you have confessed, on this rock which you have known, saying, You are Christ, the Son of the living God, I will build my church—upon myself, who am the Son of the living God: I will build it on me, and not me on you.’ That which St. Augustine thought upon this celebrated passage was the opinion of all Christendom in his time. Therefore, to resume, I establish: (1) That Jesus has given his apostles the same power that he gave to St. Peter. (2) That the apostles never recognized in St. Peter the vicar of Jesus Christ and the infallible doctor of the church. (3) That St. Peter never thought of being pope, and never acted as if he were pope. (4) That the councils of the first four centuries, while they recognized the high position which the Bishop of Rome occupied in the church on account of Rome, only accorded him a pre-eminence of honour, never of power or of jurisdiction. (5) That the holy fathers in the famous passage, ‘You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church,’ never understood that the church was built on Peter (super Petrum) but on the rock (super petram), that is, on the confession of the faith of the apostle. I conclude victoriously, with history, with reason, with logic, with good sense, and with a Christian conscience, that Jesus Christ did not confer any supremacy on St. Peter, and that the Bishops of Rome did not become sovereigns of the church, but only by confiscating one by one all the rights of the episcopate” (quoted in Henry Hudson, Papal Power: Its Origins and Development, pp. 169-171).
Herman Ridderbos on John 10:40-42: “Verse 40 tells us that Jesus returned to the Jordan, ‘to the place where John at first baptized.’ The Evangelist thus, as we will see, defines this journey as a return to the starting point of Jesus’ ministry, that is, to the witness that John the Baptist gave at that place concerning Jesus. What has happened since that beginning is put in the perspective of ‘how everything began’ by this summation, this evaluation of the end in light of the beginning. True, John himself was no longer there to witness to Jesus, but, the Evangelist reports, ‘many came to him,’ people who had heard John’s testimony and now came to confirm its truth” (The Gospel of John, p. 378).
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
We welcome Philip and Julie Rainey from First PRC in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to our services today.
Free Protestant Reformed Theological Journals are available on the back table.
John McAuley remains in hospital awaiting surgery either to put stents in or to do a bypass. If it is decided that he needs a bypass operation, he may be sent to London. Please continue to remember John and the Murrays in your prayers.
The Tuesday morning Bible study will be held this week at 11 AM. We will consider the dating of the book of Revelation (in connection with preterism).
The Belgic Confession Class will meet this Wednesday, at 7:45 PM, to continue our study of article 21. This will be the last class of the season.
Men’s Bible Study will meet this Saturday, 11 May, at 8 PM at the Kennedys on the topic of “Discipline of Giving.”
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s Day (Gospel 846MW at 8:30 AM) is entitled “Israel Preserved in Egypt” (Genesis 47) by Rev. R. Kleyn.
Rev. McGeown will preach for the CPRC next Lord’s Day, while Rev. Stewart preaches for the LRF.
Everyone is invited to attend the Annual General Meeting on Monday, 13 May, at 7:30 PM. Reports on the LRF, the CPRC finances, audio-visual work, the bookstore, etc., will be given. Tea will be served after the meeting.
Family Visitation will begin next Wednesday, 15 May. The schedule will be available soon. If you are not a member but would like to be included in family visitation, please talk to Rev. Stewart or one of the elders.
Offerings: General Fund – £681.00. Donation: £100.
Website Additions: 2 Burmese, 2 Spanish and 1 Nepali translations.
PRC News: Rev. Spronk declined the call to Doon PRC. Doon’s new trio is Revs. Eriks, Haak and R. Kleyn. Seminarian Ryan Barnhill has been licensed to speak a word of edification in the churches.
John’s Witness After His Death
John Was a Burning and Shining Lamp
John 5:33-36: “Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth. (34) But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved. (35) He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. (36) But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.”
John Taught His Disciples to Pray
Luke 11:1: “And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”
Christ Escapes to Where John Baptized
John 10:39-42: “Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand, (40) And went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized; and there he abode. (41) And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true. (42) And many believed on him there.”
The Law and Prophets Were Until John
Luke 16:16: “The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.”
The Baptism of John Was From Heaven (Matthew 21:23-27, 32; Mark 11:27-33; Luke 20:1-8)
John in Acts
Acts 1:4-5: “And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. (5) For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.”
Acts 1:21-22: “Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, (22) Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.”
Acts 10:36-38: “The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:) (37) That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; (38) How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.”
Acts 11:16: “Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.”
Acts 13:24-25: “When John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. (25) And as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But, behold, there cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose.”
Acts 18:24-25: “And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. (25) This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.”
Acts 19:1-7: “And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, (2) He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. (3) And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism. (4) Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. (5) When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. (6) And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. (7) And all the men were about twelve.”
