Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 3 November, 2019
“Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies,
kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering …” (Col. 3:12)
Morning Service – 11:00 AM
Practical Christianity (6)
Every Good and Perfect Gift [youtube]
Scripture Reading: James 1:1-18
Text: James 1:16-17
I. The Meaning of It
II. The Source of It
III. The Errors Regarding It
Psalms: 146:1-8; 119:1-8; 34:1-10; 119:65-72
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
Practical Christianity (7)
Our Birth From Above [youtube]
Scripture Reading: John 3:1-21
Text: James 1:18
I. Its Sovereign Origin
II. Its Gospel Means
III. Its Beautiful Purpose
Psalms: 19:7-11; 119:9-16; 135:1-7; 87:1-7
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
Prof. Herman Hanko on James 1:16: “James uses the tender address ‘my beloved brethren,’ which reminds God’s people that although they do sin frequently when temptation has its way with them, nevertheless they are still of the family of God, brothers with the apostle, and thus have hope even in the dire circumstances of a melancholy fall” (Faith Made Perfect, p. 44).
Thomas Manton on James 1:17: “God, and all that is in God, is unchangeable; for this is an attribute that, like a silken string through a chain of pearl[s], runneth through all the rest: his mercy is unchangeable, ‘his mercy endureth for ever,’ Ps. c. 5. So his strength, and therefore he is called ‘The Rock of ages,’ Isa. xxvi. 4. So his counsel, Mutat sententiam, sed non decretum (as Bradwardine); he may change his sentence, the outward threatening or promise, but not his inward decree; he may will a change, but not change his will. So his love is immutable; his heart is the same to us in the diversity of outward conditions: we are changed in estate and opinion, but God he is not changed; therefore when Job saith, Job xxx. 21, ‘Thou art turned to be cruel,’ he speaketh only according to his own feeling and apprehension.”
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
On the back table are two new RFPA books, Jehovah’s Mighty Acts (£15) and For God’s Glory and the Church’s Consolation (£13).
Monday catechism classes:
5:30 PM – Angelica, Bradley, Josh, Samuel & Taylor (Seniors NT)
6:15 PM – Corey & Katelyn (Juniors OT)
7:00 PM – Alex, Jacob & Nathan (Essentials)
The Council meets tomorrow evening at 7:45 PM.
Tuesday Bible Study meets at 11 AM. We will begin a discussion on the object of faith (what faith believes).
Belgic Confession class meets this week at 7:45 to begin Article 35 on “The Magistrates.”
Rev. Stewart and Elder Reid will be conducting family visitation in the Limerick Reformed Fellowship this Thursday-Saturday.
Ladies’ Bible Study meets this Friday at 10:30 AM at the church to continue our discussion of Respectable Sins.
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).
Rev. McGeown will be preaching for the CPRC next Lord’s day, while Rev. Stewart preaches in the LRF.
Translation Addition: 1 Russian.
Offerings: General Fund: £943.44. Donations: $13,000 (USA), £200 (England).
God’s Sovereignty Over Temptations
by Rev. Herman Hoeksema
(an excerpt from an article in the Standard Bearer, volume 32, issue 13)
… It is, therefore, quite impossible that we should ever escape temptation as long as we are in the flesh and in the world. As soon as we open our eyes in the morning, we are in the midst of temptations. When we walk the streets or ride the bus to our place of work, we meet with temptations everywhere. When we sit down in the evening to read our paper, temptations meet our eye. And when we close our eyes in sleep, temptations remain with us in the silent watches of the night, even in our dreams.
Nor is it the will of God that we should make the attempt to escape temptations and to withdraw ourselves from the world. Men have tried to do this, and failed … But even apart from the impossibility of such escape from temptations, it is the will of God that His people should be right in the midst of the world, and that they should fight the good fight of faith, that no one take their crown. Surely, then, the sixth petition cannot possibly mean: “Give that we may never meet with temptations.”
Nor do we do justice to the positive and definite form of this prayer when we interpret it as if it meant nothing more than that God may preserve us in the midst of temptations. To be sure, this is implied. We know that we must meet with temptations in the midst of the world. We realize that we can never escape the evil triumvirate of the devil, the world, and our own flesh. We are conscious too of our own weakness. We cannot possibly stand and gain the victory in our own strength. Before we are aware of it, even the evil desires arise in our soul, the sinful thought occupies our mind. And we feel that we are in constant need of God’s preserving grace if we are to stand in this bitter fight. And surely, our Father in heaven infallibly preserves His people unto salvation and glory, even if they fall … And thus the sixth petition surely means that we turn to the God of our salvation in Christ, the same that called us out of darkness into His marvellous light, and pray: “Our Father Who art in heaven, hold Thou my hand. Give Thou me grace. Uphold Thou me by Thy almighty power. Give Thou me light and understanding, that I may always know Thy way; and always sanctify my heart by Thy Spirit and Word, in order that I may not suffer defeat, but have the victory in the midst of my enemies.”
Still, if we would say no more, we would fail to do justice to the terms of this sixth petition. These terms ought to convince us that the conception is far more positive and bold: “Lead us not into temptation.”
This surely is an acknowledgement of the absolute sovereignty of God even with respect to sin and evil, even over the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh, so that we cannot be overcome by temptation unless God Himself leads us into it. It is evident that by these words of the sixth petition temptation is considered as a snare into which we are led. To be sure, into this snare of temptation we are led by the devil and his host, by the world, by the lust of our own sinful heart, and by the pride of life. But the child of God, praying from the depths of his regenerated heart, knows that above them all, and that too, as their absolute Lord, stands his Father in heaven. Who employs the devil, the world, and even his own sinful flesh for His adorable, sovereign purpose. In the ultimate sense of the word the believer can never fall into sin, and thus be ensnared in the temptation unless God, the only potentate of potentates, leads him into it. And deeply conscious of this sovereignty of God with respect to all temptations, he does not pray that he may never meet with temptation, nor only that in the midst of temptation his Father in heaven may preserve him, but very positively, “Lead me not into temptation.”
This truth too is confessed by the Reformed churches in the Canons of Dordt V:4, although in this article it speaks of God’s “righteous permission,” rather than of His strict and absolute Lordship in regard to temptations: “Although the weakness of the flesh cannot prevail against the power of God, who confirms and preserves true believers in a state of grace, yet converts are not always so influenced and actuated by the Spirit of God, as not in some particular instances sinfully to deviate from the guidance of divine grace, so as to be seduced by, and comply with the lusts of the flesh; they must, therefore, be constant in watching and prayer, that they be not led into temptation. When these are neglected, they are not only liable to be drawn into great and heinous sins, by Satan, the world and the flesh, but sometimes by the righteous permission of God actually fall into these evils. This, the lamentable fall of David, Peter, and other saints described in Holy Scripture, demonstrates.”
There arise, of course, two or three questions here that must be briefly considered, and answered as far as this is possible. The first is whether we do not make God the author of sin by thus presenting the matter. Our answer is: God forbid! “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man” (James 1:12). God has no delight in sin, but hates it. Even when He leads us into temptation, it is our own sinful flesh that deceives us and that has delight in iniquity. Yet the Bible teaches us plainly that it is He that leads His people even when they stumble and fall. Did you never read in the Scriptures that God in His anger against Israel moved David to number the people (II Sam. 24:1)? And do not God’s people in Isaiah pray: “O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our hearts from thy fear?” (Isa. 63:17). And what else could be the meaning of this sixth petition, “Lead us not into temptation,” than that God alone ultimately has the power to ensnare us in our own sinful lusts? And what else is necessary for Him to do in order to lead us into the trap of sin, than to control and arrange for all the circumstances of the temptation, cause us to meet them, and then withhold His grace from us for a season, or even to move our own sinful flesh? Not He, but we ourselves are the author of our own sin, even when He so leads us that we fall into sin through the temptation.
The second question is this: but why should the Lord ever so lead His people that they stumble and fall?
There may be several reasons, but a very common one is that He desires to teach us a lesson, that we may be cured of our own pride and conceit and self-confidence. Perhaps we have a deeply rooted personal weakness or sin of character, and God lets us go all the way of that sin, in order that we may learn to abhor it. Perhaps we are proud, and God causes us to stumble over our own pride, that we may be humbled. Perhaps we are forever walking on the very edge of the world, and God lets us slip right into the world, that we may be cured of our carelessness, and be sanctified.
Perhaps we are playing with the fire of worldly pleasures, and God causes us to burn ourselves badly, that we may learn to keep our garments clean. The apostle Peter was inclined to trust in self and to boast in his own strength. And the Lord warned him. But the more he was warned, the more loudly he boasted that he was ready to go with Jesus into prison and into death, and that he would never be offended. And God prepared all the circumstances for Peter’s temptation. He let him climb the full height of his self-confidence, in order then to withdraw His grace and Spirit from him, though not entirely; and expose his utter lack of strength, by leading him into the trap of temptation when he denied his Lord. And thus the Lord sanctifies and reforms His children in a pedagogical way, that they may be saved. But the sincere child of God is deathly afraid of this extreme remedy. He dreads it. He hopes that it may never be necessary. And therefore he prays: “Lead me not into temptation.” There is in this prayer, first of all, the expression of a deep abhorrence of all sin and a, sincere desire to fight against it. He who utters this prayer and then willfully seeks the temptation is a hypocrite. There is in the second place, a profound sense of our own weakness and helplessness in the confession that without the constant help of the grace of God we must needs perish. And there is, finally, the confidence in that all-sufficient grace of God that is able to uphold us in the fight, even unto the end, when we shall have the perfect victory. Watch, then, and pray: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. But when we are weak, then we are strong. For God perfects His strength in our weakness.
