Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 9 May, 2021
“O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness:
fear before him, all the earth” (Ps. 96:9)
Morning Service – 11:00 AM
Christ’s Cross Foreordained [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Acts 2:1-24
Text: Acts 2:23
I. The Determinate Counsel
II. The Divine Foreknowledge
III. The Lawless Hands
Psalms: 22:13-20; 33:10-17
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
Praying for the Kingdom of God [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Colossians 1:1-22
Text: Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 48
I. A True Kingdom
II. A Unique Kingdom
III. A Coming Kingdom
Psalms: 89:15-20; 145:1-5, 10-14
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
Herman Hoeksema on Lord’s Day 48: “This petition [‘thy kingdom come’] also implies a prayer for the church and for the destruction of the powers of darkness that exalt themselves against the holy word of God. We pray, ‘Preserve and increase thy church,’ for the church of Christ represents the kingdom of God in the world and through the church the cause of the kingdom is preserved and extended. By that church the gospel of the kingdom is proclaimed to the uttermost parts of the world. By the church the truth of the kingdom is preserved and taught. Within the church the children of the kingdom are born and nurtured. Through the church Christ calls and gathers his elect out of the entire world … All this presupposes a spiritual disposition of the heart in the one who sends this petition to the throne of grace, according to which the true church (where the word of God is maintained in all its fullness and purity, the sacraments are administered in harmony with the word of God, and true Christian discipline is exercised) is above all things in the world dear to us. It means that we diligently seek the fellowship of that church and that for no carnal reason will we ever separate ourselves from its communion” (The Perfect Prayer, pp. 93-95).
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
A new issue of the Beacon Lights is available for subscribers on the back table.
Catechism classes:
Monday, 5:00 PM: Jason & Sebastian (Juniors OT)
Monday, 5:45 PM: Eleanora, Hannah, Jorja, Penelope & Somaya (Beginners OT)
Monday, 6:30 PM: Angelica, Bradley, Josh, Samuel & Taylor (Seniors OT)
Monday, 7:15 PM: Alex, Jacob & Nathan (Essentials)
The Council meets tomorrow evening at 8 PM.
Tuesday Bible study at 11 AM will meet in the auditorium to continue our consideration of the difficulty of faith.
Belgic Confession Class will meet and be streamed live this Wednesday at 7:45 PM discussing the “last days” in Deuteronomy 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 Healing of a Withered Hand” (Mark 3:1-6).
Offerings: General Fund: £1,970. Donations: £200 (England), £25 (England), £400 (England).
Translation Additions: 6 Spanish, 2 Russian, 2 Macedonian and 1 Hungarian.
PRC News: Prof. Robert Decker was delivered from this valley of tears and taken to see his Saviour this past Wednesday morning. He was 80 years old. He was active in the ministry for 41 years, having served churches in Doon, IA, and South Holland, IL, and then having taught for 33 years in the PR seminary. Byron Center PRC called Prof. Dykstra. Rev. VanOverloop declined the call to Kalamazoo PRC.
The Free Offer and Irresistible Grace (1)
Herman Hoeksema (Standard Bearer, vol. 59, issue 19)
The free offer of the gospel is a heresy which teaches that in the preaching of the gospel God expresses His desire, intention and purpose to save all those who hear the gospel. The gospel tells every man that God on His part wants each to be saved, earnestly desires that he take Christ as his own, eagerly seeks that every one come to Christ, receive Him as his Saviour and enter into the joy of salvation. It is true that sometimes within Reformed circles the term “offer” has been used in a different sense: as the presentation or proclamation of Christ in the preaching which is heard by all. This is the sense in which Calvin used the term, in which it is used in the Canons of Dordt III/IV:9 and in the writings of many theologians of both the Reformed and Presbyterian tradition …
It is not difficult to understand that this view of the free offer has a great deal to say concerning grace. Historically, one of the “five points of Calvinism” has been the truth of irresistible grace, i.e., that the work of salvation in the hearts of those who are saved is a work which God performs irresistibly. Those whom God saves are saved and they are saved by a work of grace which the sinner cannot resist. God overcomes all the natural resistance of the totally depraved sinner, conquers mightily and powerfully the force of sin in him, and brings him to salvation. Nothing can resist that work. Neither Satan and his hosts of devils nor the hatred and opposition of the sinner can bring that work of God to a standstill. “All that the Father giveth to me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).
This grace is worked through the preaching of the gospel, for the Holy Spirit so works in the hearts of God’s elect that that preaching is grace, a grace that saves. So the preaching stands inseparably connected with grace. What then is the relation between grace and the free offer of the gospel? Or, to put the question a bit differently, how can those who teach that the preaching expresses God’s desire and willingness to save all men still maintain at the same time that grace is absolutely irresistible?
There have been different answers to this question.
The Arminians deny irresistible grace altogether. They too maintain a free offer of the gospel and emphatically assert that God desires to save all men. But they simply take the position that the grace which is offered to all men in the gospel is not actually given until man accepts that grace and actually believes in Christ. This was the position of the Arminians against whom the Canons of Dordt were written in 1618-1619. In their “Remonstrance,” formulated in 1610, they write, “But as respects the mode of the operation of this grace, it is not irresistible, inasmuch as it is written concerning many, that they have resisted the Holy Ghost.” And this has been consistently the position of all Arminianism until the present.
But others who have attempted to claim allegiance to the five points of Calvinism (and the truth of irresistible grace) while still maintaining the free offer of the gospel have had recourse to “common grace.” This has been done, e.g., by the Baptist Erroll Hulse in his book, The Free Offer: An Exposition of Common Grace and the Free Invitation of the Gospel. In this book he writes: “The subject of common grace is inescapably connected with the free offer. It is not possible to deal adequately with the question of the offer without getting to grips with the subject of common grace.”
The same is true of the “Three Points of Common Grace” adopted by the Synod of the Christian Reformed Church in 1924. In the first point the Synod adopted the view that God is gracious to all His creatures and that this gracious attitude towards all was especially revealed in the offer of the gospel.
Now common grace, according to the Christian Reformed Church, is different from saving grace. Common grace is for all men; saving grace is only for the elect. Common grace is especially revealed in temporal blessings; saving grace is revealed in salvation itself. Common grace is only given in time; saving grace is everlasting. Nevertheless, grace, even common, belongs to and is a part of the preaching of the gospel. And it must not be forgotten that the preaching of the gospel deals with Christ and salvation and, therefore, with saving grace.
Current Presbyterian thought does the same. John Murray, in the book, Collected Writings of John Murray, vol. I, writes, “The universality of the demand for repentance implies an universal overture of grace,” and, “This is the full and unrestricted offer of the gospel to all men” (p. 60). In the pamphlet of Murray and Stonehouse on “The Free Offer of the Gospel” (a pamphlet which contains the official decisions on this question by the Orthodox Presbyterian Church made in 1948), the same idea is taught. In teaching that “God desires the salvation of the impenitent and reprobate” (p. 3), they claim that this involves God’s general attitude of mercy, benevolence and grace to all.
Now it is not always easy to sort all these things out and one sometimes wonders how otherwise clear-thinking men can write so obscurely about important points of doctrine. But, whatever the case may be, questions naturally arise. Does the gospel offer saving grace or common grace? or both? Does the gospel itself work grace in the hearts of all? And if so, is this grace worked through preaching a saving grace or a common grace? or both?
Generally speaking, it seems as if the defenders of the free offer take the position, first of all, that with respect to common grace, the fact that God desires and wills the salvation of all men is an objective manifestation of God’s grace to all. He shows His favour to all by expressing His desire to save all. But there is more. It is clear from the decisions on common grace made by the Christian Reformed Church that the preaching of the gospel also works subjectively grace in the hearts of all—although this grace worked in the hearts of all is common, not saving. The late Prof. Berkhof, e.g., in his defence of the three points and in his interpretation of Genesis 6:3 writes, “The Holy Spirit resisted the ungodliness and perversity of those generations who lived before the flood. He sought to check their ungodliness and to lead them to repentance … But the Spirit strove in vain; sin increased rapidly” (quoted in “The Triple Breach,” p. 33).
But saving grace is given only to the elect. They and they alone receive the benefits of salvation through grace.
If one asks how it is possible for God to desire the salvation of all men on the one hand, while He, in fact, saves (and determines to save) only some, the answer is usually given that God desires the salvation of all men according to His preceptive decree, while He actually saves all men according to His determinative decree. And if one asks how it is possible that two such conflicting wills can be in God, the answer is blithely given: This is a mystery.
… to be continued
