Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 19 May, 2024
“My covenant was with him of life and peace” (Mal. 2:5)
Morning Service – 11:00 AM
Spiritual Illumination [youtube]
Scripture Reading: II Corinthians 4
Text: II Corinthians 4:6
I. The Meaning
II. The Analogy
III. The Preaching
Psalms: 119:129-136; 100:1-5; 19:1-8; 33:6-12
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
God’s Son—So Much Better Than the Angels (6)
Let All the Angels of God Worship Him! [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Psalm 97
Text: Hebrews 1:6
I. The Quote (From the Old Testament)
II. The Context (in Hebrews 1)
III. The Lessons (for Us)
Psalms: 8:1-7; 101:1-6; 89:21-28; 97:1-8
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
John Calvin on Hebrews 1:6: “The subject is Christ manifested in the flesh, and the Apostle expressly says, that the Spirit thus spoke when Christ was introduced into the world; but this would not have been said consistently with truth except the manifestation of Christ be really spoken of in the [97th] Psalm. And so the case indeed is; for the Psalm commences with an exhortation to rejoice; nor did David address the Jews, but the whole earth, including the islands, that is, countries beyond the sea. The reason for this joy is given, because the Lord would reign. Further, if you read the whole Psalm, you will find nothing else but the kingdom of Christ, which began when the Gospel was published; nor is the whole Psalm anything else but a solemn decree, as it were, by which Christ was sent to take possession of His kingdom. Besides, what joy could arise from His kingdom, except it brought salvation to the whole world, to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews? Aptly then does the Apostle say here, that he was introduced into the world, because in that Psalm what is described is his coming to men. The Hebrew word, rendered angels, is Elohim—gods; but there is no doubt but that the Prophet speaks of angels; for the meaning is, that there is no power so high but must be in subjection to the authority of this king, whose advent was to cause joy to the whole world.”
John Brown on Hebrews 1:6: “It is plain that the subject of the 97th Psalm must be the ‘bringing in of the only begotten into the world,’ whatever the meaning of that phrase may be. Now, when we turn to the 97th Psalm, we find that it is a poetical celebration of the reign of Jehovah. It is plain that the reign there celebrated is neither the natural dominion of Deity over the universe, nor His particular sovereignty over the Jews, but that order of things which is so frequently in the New Testament call ‘the kingdom of God’—‘the kingdom of Christ’—‘the kingdom of heaven.’ The Psalm is a beautiful description of ‘Messiah the Prince,’ who is the Lord of hosts, taking possession, in the exercise of divine power, of the kingdom assigned Him; and it is while He is thus engaged that the divine mandate comes forth, ‘Worship Him, all ye His angels.’”
Westminster Confession 1:8: “The Old Testament in Hebrew (which was the native language of the people of God of old), and the New Testament in Greek (which, at the time of the writing of it, was most generally known to the nations), being immediately inspired by God, and, by His singular care and providence, kept pure in all ages, are therefore authentical; so as, in all controversies of religion, the Church is finally to appeal unto them.”
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
New Protestant Reformed Theological Journals are available free on the back table.
Tuesday Bible study at 11 AM will critique the theological system of the Word of Faith that undergirds their way of obtaining earthly prosperity.
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s day (Gospel 846 MW at 8:30 AM) by Rev. Bruinsma is entitled, “The Faith of Rahab” (Heb. 11:31).
Offerings: £1,543.
Translation Additions: 1 Russian and 7 Spanish (3 videos and 4 articles).
PRC News: Hudsonville PRC called Rev. Maatman (Southeast, MI). Rev. DeBoer (Edgerton, MN) is considering calls to Georgetown PRC and Hope PRC (Redlands, CA). Loveland PRC called Rev. Decker (Grandville, MI). Rev. and Margaret Laning are currently in Texas, visiting contacts in the Dallas area for a second time. Please remember them in your prayers this week!
The Omnipotence of God
(an article by Rev. Dale Kuiper)
“That ye may know … the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come” (Eph. 1:19-21).
The truth we set forth in this writing is the power or omnipotence of God. The power of God is inseparable from His sovereignty, His knowledge, His unchangeableness, His grace and mercy and love, as well as all other virtues that are in Him. Even the truth that God has a will or good pleasure is meaningless unless He has the power to execute that will. Some time ago we considered Psalm 115:3, “But our God is in the heavens, he has done whatsoever he hath pleased.” We saw that this verse reveals the sovereignty or freedom of God; whatever pleases God, He does, and no one can stay His hand or say, “What doest thou!” Included in that simple yet profound verse is the truth of divine power. God hath done, and continues to do, whatever is pleasing to Him. The truth of God’s omnipotence is of the highest importance to our understanding of God, yields great comfort to the child of God and makes alive the truth that God has an eternal, unchangeable counsel.
One of the ways God reveals to us that He is almighty, that His power is unlimited and irresistible, is by giving Himself many names. He is the Lord of lords and King of kings, the Lord God omnipotent, Jehovah, the only Potentate, Lord of Hosts, the Almighty; and in Mark 14:62 we find the name Power. Jesus says, and “ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” The right hand of Power is the right hand of God. And that verse from Mark 14 ties in very nicely with the passage from Ephesians 1 quoted above, for in the resurrection and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ we have the greatest possible manifestation of the power of God.
Three of the terms that Scripture uses for the idea of God’s power are found in Ephesians 1:19-21. The first term (translated power) is the Greek word from which we get dynamo. Scripture uses this word to express the wonder of the miracle. Paul calls our attention, then, to God’s miracle power! The second term (translated working) really means vigour. God demonstrates great vigour as He goes about His work. He waxes strong, vigorous and healthy! And the third term (translated mighty power) contains the idea of authority or right. As God exercises His power, this is not some power that He has usurped illegally or taken unrighteously, but it is a power that is inherent in Him which He exercises in a just and holy way. He has sovereign right and authority to do whatsoever He does.
It is of the utmost importance, both for the glory of God and the comfort of believers, that the word “all” be placed in front of the word “power” or “might.” We must think of God in terms of being the Almighty One, of having all power in Himself. It is necessary to stress this, first of all, over against Arminianism or free-willism which severely limits the power of God in salvation so that God must wait upon the power of the creature’s will, to see who will be saved. We must stress this, secondly, because of the rather common error of dualism. Dualism holds that there are two, distinct, separate power sources in the universe. The one source of power is God and the other source of power is the devil. Dualism stresses that these sources of power are opposite and unrelated. The dualist does not deny that God has greater power than the devil, he does not deny that God’s power will ultimately overcome the devil; but he denies that the power which the devil exercises is a power that is given him from God, to be used only under the close control of God. That this is a serious error is clear from the fact that the child of God must know how to explain the evil that is in the world and especially the evil that comes to him in his life.
Job 1:8, 12 show clearly that the devil does not have an ounce of power in himself but that power belongeth to God! The power of the devil or any creature, the powers that be in the universe, these are not original powers; they are derived from God, limited and directed by God, and withdrawn at proper moments by God.
It will not do to define God’s power as His ability to do anything. That loses sight of the other attributes of God. Clearly there are some things which God cannot do, exactly because He is God! God cannot be tempted with evil, neither can He tempt any man. God cannot lie. God cannot become greater than He is, or change in any way. God cannot deny Himself or do anything contrary to any of His virtues. God cannot, as the all glorious One, share His glory with another. Thus by the omnipotence of God we are to understand God’s ability to accomplish whatsoever He pleases, in harmony with His will and all His perfections.
The infinite power that God possesses is revealed to us in Scripture in five tremendous areas. And as we briefly mention these areas of divine power, keep in mind that God never reveals Himself except through Christ. Christ as the Head and Saviour of the church must be in our minds as we look into these five great areas! There is the work of God in Christ called creation! God spoke and it was done; He commanded and it stood fast. By speaking His word of power, God gave separate existence to all those creatures which were eternally in His mind. By speaking His creative Word, God placed each creature in its proper relationship to the whole creation, framing the various worlds together, knitting the creatures into one cosmos, so that all things work together unto God’s appointed end. He called the things that are not as though they were! What a revelation of power! Who can understand it or appreciate it enough?
God reveals His power, day by day, in providence. The Heidelberg Catechism defines providence as the almighty and everywhere present power of God. God and the creature differ radically on the matter of being. God has being in Himself, while we live and move and have our being in God. Thus, having created all things by His Word of power, God continues to uphold or preserve His creatures by the Word of His power.
Thirdly, God reveals His omnipotence through His government of this world. Nothing comes to pass by fate or chance but all things by the hand of God. God works all things after the counsel of His own will! Nothing lies outside the scope of His mighty rule …
God’s power and authority is mightily revealed in His judgments. Think of the power that was unleashed when God destroyed the wicked world at the time of Noah, opening the windows of heaven and breaking up the fountains of the deep! The powerful judgment of God upon Sodom and Gomorrah, when God rained fire and brimstone upon these cities of unmentionable sins; remember, too, Lot’s wife. And of our present world situation Paul writes, “What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath, fitted to destruction?” (Rom. 9:23). In other words, another judgment of God is in store. This present world will be destroyed with fire. What power then! See II Peter 3.
But we have really only begun to scratch the surface of the power of God. What of God’s power to usward who believe? The text quoted at the beginning of this pamphlet makes the bold statement that the greatest revelation of divine power is the salvation of the church in Jesus Christ! When God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day, God accomplished a powerful miracle! But notice! When God raised Jesus from the dead, He raised up to newness of life every believer who ever died and who ever will die. In the resurrection of Jesus, there was the resurrection of uncounted thousands from death and hell to everlasting life and glory. What power when God set Jesus at His own right hand, when God subjected all things to Him, and gave Him a name above every name! But notice! When God put Jesus at the pinnacle of power and glory, God took to heaven and exalted untold thousands of weak, poor, beggarly sinners, and set them in heavenly places to rule with Christ! That is exceeding great power, don’t you agree? Whatever it takes to deliver the elect church from the bondage of sin and death, and bring her into the freedom of the children of God in heaven, there to enjoy God’s world without end … that is power!
All men live before the face of this Almighty God, and have to do with Him in this life and in the life to come. All unbelievers ought to tremble before such a God! …
The implications of knowing, and believing upon, the omnipotent God are very rich for the saints. Such a God is to be adored, loved, feared and obeyed! God uses His unlimited power to bring His saints to Himself in glory. Who is like unto Him, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders!
Secondly, this God of power is to be trusted without reservation and without holding back. Nothing is too hard for God. What is impossible for man is possible with God. Witness the birth of Isaac when Abraham is 100 years old. Witness the birth of Jesus from a lowly virgin. Witness the salvation of you and me. No prayer is too hard for Him to answer, no sin is too vile for Him to forgive, no misery too deep for Him to relieve.
Finally, we must know that this wonderful strength of God is made perfect in our weakness. God makes perfect, or makes fully known His strength in our weakness. When we know ourselves to be weak, incapable, unworthy, then are we strong in the Lord. Then we can do all things in Christ who strengthens us. And then God has the glory forever. “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly …” (Eph. 3:20).
