Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 30 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
Praying the Fourth Petition [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Matthew 6
Text: Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 50
I. A Prayer for Our Material Needs
II. A Prayer With Spiritual Implications
Psalms: 122:1-9; 104:19-27
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
John’s Witness of Christ’s Resurrection (1)
Understanding Christ’s Empty Tomb [youtube]
Scripture Reading: John 20:1-25
Text: John 20:1-10
I. Mary Magdalene: Grave Robbers!
II. Peter: “Wondering in Himself”
III. John: “Believed”
Psalms: 118:20-29; 16:6-11
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 50: “[The fourth petition] means that we acknowledge [our Father] as the only sovereign over all things and confess our dependence on him and on him alone. He only is the Lord of hosts, and his kingdom rules over all. In whatever way, by whatever means, and through whatever channels we obtain daily bread, we boast not in self, not in our ingenuity and wisdom, not in men and an arm of flesh, but acknowledge that God alone is sovereign and that he alone can and must give us daily bread … There is an expression of contentment in the fourth petition. In it the believer does not ask for great things. By it he expresses before his Father in heaven that he will be satisfied with the barest necessities and be content to live on the level of the simplest earthly life. He declares, ‘Our Father in heaven, if it pleases thee to give me no more than is strictly necessary for me to continue my journey this day, I will be satisfied and receive with thanksgiving from thy hand whatever it pleases thee to give me.’ This implies childlike confidence. I live by the day. I am not anxious for the morrow. If I have nothing left tonight, and I know not how I will obtain breakfast tomorrow, I will not worry but lay me down to sleep, confident that my heavenly Father lives tomorrow as well as today and that he will care for me. Give us this day our daily bread, and we will not be anxious about the morrow” (The Perfect Prayer, pp. 137-138, 141-142).
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
The new British Reformed Journal is available for subscribers.
The Wattersons have a new address. Please change their address on the CPRC address sheet to 159A Crosskeys Road, Toomebridge, BT41 3PY.
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)
Tuesday Bible study at 11 AM will meet upstairs to begin a discussion on faith and works.
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s day (Gospel 846 MW at 8:30 AM) by Rev. R. Kleyn is entitled, “The Appointment of the Twelve” (Mark 3:13-19).
The Council’s next meeting is scheduled for 7 June at 8 PM at church.
Offerings: General Fund: £727. Donations: £20, £22.
Translation Addition: 1 Russian.
PRC News: Rev. Bruinsma received the call to Hudsonville PRC. Prof. Dykstra is considering the call to Byron Center PRC. Wingham PRC called Rev. Barnhill. Kalamazoo PRC has formed a new trio of Revs. Barnhill, DeBoer and Lee. Crete PRC will call from a trio of Revs. Engelsma, Decker and Spronk.
Christ the Firstfruits
Cornelius Hanko (an excerpt from the Standard Bearer, vol. 62, issue 13)
“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept” (I Cor. 15:20).
It not … If there be no resurrection of the dead … If false teachers should be right, that there is no hereafter or that it is scientifically impossible for the dead to be raised, so that there is no resurrection in the last day …
Why should anyone be a cross bearer for Christ’s sake, be cast into prison, beaten, mutilated, killed by inches for a faith that proves to be a mere fantasy? Imagine living an antithetical life as stranger and pilgrim in the world, resisting the temptations of the devil and our own flesh, bearing the scorn and mockery of an evil world, spending large sums of money to give our children a Christian education without any assurance that our present affliction works an eternal glory!
Then, indeed, our faith would be vain. Then those who preach a resurrection from the dead are fanatic deceivers. Then the Bible itself is not true, for the Bible speaks of a resurrection of the righteous unto eternal life!
Then Christ is not risen from the dead! We are still in our sins! Hopelessly lost! The most miserable of all creatures!
Then God Himself is a liar, for He promises throughout the Scriptures that He will raise His saints in the likeness of Christ’s glorified body!
Then He is not the Resurrection and the Life! Then He is not God! Perish the thought!
But now … Powerful Word of God that defies all opposition!
Triumphant cry of victory that banishes all doubts and assures us that we have the victory over sin and death! Our hope is secure! But now Christ is risen from the dead!
Besides the witness of the vacated tomb and the appearances of Jesus after His resurrection, we have the testimony of many faithful witnesses who saw Him, touched Him and heard Him speak to them! He was seen by Paul himself!
The Old Testament saints had the promise; they lived and died in the hope of Christ’s resurrection. Abraham caught a glimpse of it when he sacrificed his son Isaac. David spoke of it. Elijah and Elisha were assured of it as they raised people from the grave. Even Isaiah spoke of the victory of the Suffering Servant over death and the grave.
This is the gospel of Jesus Christ as proclaimed in the New Testament Scriptures, the very essence of Paul’s preaching. For he preached Christ crucified and risen!
We have God’s own word for it that our hope is not vain! Christ is risen!
He is the Son of God, the Second Person of the divine Trinity. He is the Word, the revelation of the fulness of the Godhead.
He is chosen eternally to be the Christ, God’s Anointed, the chief Servant in God’s house. As such He is our eternal Prophet, our devoted High Priest and our exalted King. Willingly the Son gave Himself to carry out the eternal counsel and purpose of God.
Immediately after the fall, He was promised as the Destroyer of Satan, the Saviour of His people. This first promise was enriched by signs and wonders, types and shadows, visions and dreams, and all sorts of revelations. Repeatedly Christ appeared as the Angel of Jehovah; the coming Saviour. Prophets spoke of Him, inspired poets sang of Him, believers placed their trust and hope in Him, and were not put to shame.
In the fulness of time, the promised Messiah came, born of a virgin, like us in all things, sin excepted. He willingly bowed Himself under the terrific burden of God’s wrath against our sins. He became the Man of Sorrows as He entered our valley of death to overcome the power of death and merit for us eternal life …
God came, took on our flesh in our likeness and lived for a time among sinners. How hard that must have been for the sinless Jesus. He even bent His back under the tremendous burden of divine wrath against our sins. A close observer must have been able to trace the pain lines on His face and recognize the soul struggle in His demeanour. Always He bore these agonies with His eye fixed on the glory that would follow. Even in Gethsemane that glory had not faded entirely from His sight, though the anticipation of the cross overwhelmed His soul. But on Calvary also that anticipated glory faded from His sights as He descended deeper, ever deeper into black darkness, forsaken, alone, totally isolated from His God, until He cried out, “My God, My God! Why hast thou forsaken me?” The cry itself revealed perfect self-surrender in humble obedience! God reached down, as it were, and drew His Son, the Christ, out of the depths of hell. For atonement had been made. Life was merited for Himself and us. Now He could surrender Himself to physical death to arise victoriously over all death and the grave!
The Son of God in our flesh had the right and the power to raise His weak, earthly body into a glorious heavenly and spiritual body, fit for immortality and glory!
But now Christ is risen from the dead! And He is become the Firstfruits of them that slept!
It was the Passover Feast, the Feast of Firstfruits, when the first sheaves of ripening grain were brought into the temple to be presented to the Lord in thanksgiving for the harvest. These firstfruits were God’s assurance of an abundant harvest. For many years they had served as a type of the risen Lord, the proof and assurance of the eternal harvest of the saints with Christ in His glory!
The first Adam has stood as our representative head in paradise. By him sin came into the world and death through sin. Christ came as the last Adam, the representative Head of all those given to Him of the Father. We were in Christ, as chosen in Him from eternity. When He died, we died; when He arose we arose in Him. For as all those who were in Adam died in Adam, so all those who are in Christ are risen in Him. As our Firstfruits, He arose in a new resurrection body, a surety that we will be raised with Him. Our weak mortal body will be transformed into the likeness of His glorious body, that we may live and reign with Him forever!
Our Saviour surrendered Himself unto death and the grave. His body lay in the tomb … Our Lord broke open His grave, came forth out of the sealed tomb, and had His resurrection announced by angels who guarded the vacated tomb. He is the Firstfruits, the Captain of our salvation, leading many sons into glory!
As newborn creatures in Christ, we already experience the power of His resurrection. We are born again, not of corruptible but of incorruptible seed, by the operation of Christ’s Spirit in us. We have the beginning of eternal life within us; death is swallowed up in victory. When the time of our departure comes, our souls enter into the heavenly portals to be with the Lord. Our bodies are stowed away in the grave, asleep in the Lord. There this mortal body awaits the coming of the Lord of glory, who will send forth the trumpet call and the dead shall be raised, and we shall be changed! Soul and body will once more be united to glorify God in heavenly perfection! O death! Where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Praise be to God, who has given us the victory in our Lord Jesus Christ!
