Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 3 October, 2021
“… walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us
an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour” (Eph. 5:2)
Morning Service – 11:00 AM
Solomon: Israel’s Wisest King (7)
David’s Final Commands to Solomon [youtube]
Scripture Reading: I Kings 2:1-12
Text: I Kings 2:1-12
I. Manliness and Obedience
II. Prosperity and Perpetuity
III. Executions and Kindness
Psalms: 103:1-7; 148:7-14; 90:8-12; 1:1-6
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
The Mighty Works of the Triune God [youtube]
Scripture Reading: John 16:1-15
Text: Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 8
I. What They Are
II. How They Are Denied
III. How They Are Known
Psalms: 92:1-6; 149:1-4; 33:6-11; 111:2-4, 7-10
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
Matthew Henry on I Kings 2:1-11: “The authority of a dying father is much, but nothing to that of a living God. There are great trusts which we are charged with by the Lord our God—let us keep them carefully, as those that must give account; and excellent statutes, which we must be ruled by—let us also keep them.”
C. F. Keil on I Kings 2:5: “David ought to have punished these two crimes [by Joab]; but when Abner was murdered, he felt himself too weak to visit a man like Joab with the punishment he deserved, as he had only just been anointed king, and consequently he did nothing more than invoke divine retribution upon his head (II Sam. 3:29). And when Amasa was slain, the rebellions of Absalom and Sheba had crippled the power of David too much, for him to visit the deed with the punishment that was due. But as king of the nation of God, it was not right for him to allow such crimes to pass unpunished.”
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
On the back table are Standard Bearers for subscribers and the Covenant Reformed News for all.
Congratulations to Ivan & Helen Mawhinney who celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary this Tuesday, 5 October.
Monday catechism classes:
5:00 PM: Jason & Sebastian (Juniors NT)
5:45 PM: Eleanora, Felicity, Hannah, Jorja, Penelope, Sammy, Somaya, Sophie and Yossef (Beginners OT, Book 2)
6:30 PM: Angelica, Bradley, Josh, Samuel & Taylor (Heidelberg, Book 1)
7:15 PM: Alex, Jacob & Nathan (Essentials)
Tuesday Bible study at 11 AM will meet to discuss Romans on fruit and sanctification.
The Belgic Confession Class meets upstairs this Wednesday at 7:30 PM to consider the millennium in connection with Revelation 6-19.
Membership Class: Thursday, 11 AM with the Goulds.
Ladies’ Bible study is starting again this Friday at 10:30 AM at church. We will be studying “The Readable Tulip.” For more details contact Susan or Marie.
Saturday night Bible study will meet this week at church and on-line to consider Hebrews 12:25-13:8.
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s day (Gospel 846 MW at 8:30 AM) by Rev. Bruinsma is entitled, “The Voice of All Creation” (Heb. 11:3).
Plan to attend this year’s Reformation Day Lecture on Friday, 29 October, entitled “Fulgentius of Ruspe, the Sixth-Century N. African Church and God’s Saving Will.”
Offerings: General Fund: £689. Donations: £100 (Malaysia), £25 (Co. Antrim).
Translation Additions: 1 Polish and 1 Swahili.
The Rare Beauty of an Obedient Ear (1)
Brian D. Dykstra
My article is based on Proverbs 25:12: “As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear.”
But there are four other passages that I would like you to consider which also have to do with reproof.
First, Daniel 4:27: “Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity.”
Next, we read of the prophet Micaiah speaking to Ahab in I Kings 22:5-8: “And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Enquire, I pray thee, at the word of the Lord to day. Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall I go against Ramothgilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king. And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides, that we might enquire of him? And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the Lord: but I hat him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.”
From the New Testament, we have Paul addressing Peter in Galatians 2:11-14: “But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. But when I saw that the walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of the Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?”
We finish our Bible passages with Joseph and his brothers in Genesis 45:21-24: “And the children of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way. To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment. And to his father he sent after this manner; ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten she asses laden with corn and bread and eat for his father by the way. So he sent his brethren away, and they departed: and he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the way.”
We have all heard about the use of the tongue. There is no doubt that the tongue is an important part of the body. The words we speak with our tongues can have a great effect upon others. How often don’t we hurt people because of the things we say to or about them? Some of these mean things can be remembered for years. However, there are good ways to use the tongue. One good use of the tongue is reproof. Reproof is to point out sin so that confession can be made and forgiveness experienced. This is something beautiful which we can share as brothers and sisters in Christ, turning from sin and knowing the forgiving love of God.
The Bible in Proverbs 25:12 has us turn our attention away from the tongue and to the ear. The tongue is the place where the words which we speak begin. The ear is the destination of these words. When our ears hear words which are reproof, what do we do? Our sinful natures do not like reproof. Apart from grace, we would be stubborn in our sin and refuse to change. The Bible says that, when our ears are obedient to reproof, it is rare and beautiful.
The Bible speaks of a wise reprover. This is where the process of repentance and forgiveness begins. Since this reprover is described as wise, we know this is a fellow believer. Wisdom is the ability to take God’s Word and apply it to our lives. Only believers can do that.
The reprover has seen a friend sin. A wise, godly friend knows how that sin will damage his fellow saint. That sin will come between his friend and his heavenly Father. The light of God’s face will be blocked by the cloud of sin. We suffer spiritually when we are not bathed in the light of God’s shining face. Our friend isn’t concerned, first of all, that our sin might have hurt him. A true friend isn’t even all that concerned that our sin has caused us to embarrass ourself. His concern is first the love he has for God. He knows God is offended by our sins. When the members of the church walk in sin, we give the world a reason to say bad things about God and His church. It’s shameful. The reprover is also wise enough to know what happens to his godly neighbour. When we don’t repent of our sin and continue in the way of sin, we will grow farther and farther away from God. It’s like taking a wrong turn when on a trip. The longer one continues on the wrong road, the harder and longer it will be to return to the correct way. We should be afraid when we see a fellow saint continue in sin because we know it will become harder and harder to remove that sin out of our lives by God’s grace.
The wise reprover not only sees the effect of sin on one person, he also sees that continuing in sin will have an effect on the whole church. The church is supposed to be the light of God in this dark world of sin. The light of obedience exposes the sin of the world. The wicked will hate the church for this. However, there are some of God’s people who are still unconverted. God uses the faithful life of His people to witness to His unconverted people to turn to Christ for forgiveness. How can the church serve as this kind of witness when it seems that the way in which we live our lives is no different from that of the world?
The wise reprover also knows that sinful living sows seeds of trouble in the church. When we sin against each other and don’t repent, we can’t trust each other anymore. How can we serve God together when there is the bitterness of sin between us? We stay angry with each other and we might even think of ways to get the other person back, which never helps the church. The reprover knows that for saints to dwell together in harmony, we must repent, confess and forgive.
We must also know that God requires His people to reprove sin when they see it. In Luke 7:3, Christ says, “Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.” Remember, Peter thought he was being very kind by being willing to forgive his sinning brother seven times. Jesus told him to forgive “seventy times seven,” four hundred ninety times. Your minister is called to reprove you in his sermons. Paul wrote a letter to a young minister named Timothy. In II Timothy 4:2 Paul wrote, “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”
Also, we don’t have to wait until someone else reproves us. When we pay attention to how we are living our lives, examine ourselves to see where there is sin in our lives, we can reprove ourselves! When we know we have sinned, we should not feel relief that we have not been caught by somebody in authority over us. God’s Spirit dwells in our hearts. The Spirit will arouse our conscience and move us to reprove ourselves and confess our sins to God.
