Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 29 September, 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
Administration of the Lord’s Supper
Come and Eat! [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 55
Text: Isaiah 55:1-3
I. Who Is Addressed?
II. What Is the Nourishment?
III. What Is the Call?
Psalms: 111:1-6; 114:1-8; 42:1-5; 89:1-6
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
Applicatory
A Full Chorus of Graces [youtube]
Scripture Reading: II Peter 1
Text: II Peter 1:5-11
I. The Calling
II. The Benefits
Psalms: 31:19-24; 115:1-9; 34:1-10; 37:29-37
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
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
A letter from Rev. McGeown and a new Covenant Reformed News are available on the back table.
After a week of self-examination, CPRC confessing members in good standing are called to partake of the Lord’s Supper. Your participation in the sacrament of Christ’s body and blood is in part a witness that you repent of your sins, believe in Jesus Christ as your only righteousness, and desire to live a new and godly life. As this heavenly food can be taken to one’s judgment (I Cor. 11:28-30) and as the common reception of the Lord’s Supper is a confession of doctrinal unity (Acts 2:42), the elders supervise the partaking of the sacrament. Visitors who are members of other denominations must already have presented to the Council an attestation from their church that they are confessing members in good standing and have received permission from the Council to partake of the Lord’s Supper.
We welcome Bob & Carolyn Prins. They have requested and received permission to partake of the Lord’s Supper as a members in good standing of Trinity PRC in Hudsonville, Michigan.
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)
7:45 PM – membership class
Tuesday Bible Study meets at 11 AM. We will continue our discussion on the source of faith, looking at the teaching of Scripture and the creeds, the errors this exposes and the practical implications, etc.
Belgic Confession class this Wednesday at 7:45 PM will continue with Article 35 on the Lord’s Supper.
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s Day (Gospel 846 MW at 8:30 AM) by Rev. Bruinsma is entitled “The Woman Eve” (Gen. 2:23-24; 3:20).
The next Council meeting will be Monday, 7 October at 7:45 PM.
S. Wales Lecture: Rev. McGeown will speak in Margam Community Centre on Thursday, 10 October, at 7:15 PM on “The Development of God’s Covenant (7): Joseph and the Bondage in Egypt.”
The CPRC Reformation Day Lecture is planned for Friday, 25 October at 7:30 PM. Rev. Stewart will speak on “William Tyndale: English Bible Translator.”
Offerings: General Fund: £1,602.20.
Translation Additions: 2 ecumenical creeds in Kikuyu (a language especially spoken in Kenya).
PRC News: Immanuel PRC (Lacombe, AB) called Rev. R. Kleyn.
The Significance of the Lord’s Supper
by Herman Hoeksema
(an excerpt from the Standard Bearer, vol. 26, issue 15)
Now the Lord’s Supper signifies first of all that God establishes His covenant with us unilaterally, that is, He establishes it alone and sovereignly. This is expressed in Heidelberg Catechism, Q. & A. 75: “How art thou admonished and assured in the Lord’s Supper, that thou art a partaker of that one sacrifice of Christ, accomplished on the cross, and of all his benefits? Thus: That Christ has commanded me and all believers, to eat of this broken bread, and to drink of this cup, in remembrance of him, adding these promises: first, that his body was offered and broken on the cross for me, and his blood shed for me, as certainly as I see with my eyes, the bread of the Lord broken for me, and the cup communicated to me; and further, that he feeds and nourishes my soul to everlasting life, with his crucified body and shed blood, as assuredly as I receive from the hands of the minister, and taste with my mouth the bread and cup of the Lord, as certain signs of the body and blood of Christ.” That God establishes His covenant with us through the death of Christ as a sacrifice for our sins, and that therefore He was reconciling us unto Himself, not imputing our trespasses unto us, is the central significance of the Lord’s Supper. He alone establishes His everlasting covenant with us, and that, too, absolutely sovereignly: for he established it forever with the elect in the death of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. This was prefigured already in the ratification of the covenant as revealed to Abraham, according to Genesis 15:9ff.: “And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. And when the fowls came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away. And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abraham; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him … And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates.”
Now the meaning of this passage is very plain. It was customary for covenanting parties to divide sacrificial animals and place the pieces in juxtaposition over against one another, in order that both the covenanting parties might pass through those pieces. The meaning evidently was that the covenanting parties would rather be cut in pieces and pass through death than ever violate the covenant. Now in the case of the covenant which God ratified with Abram it was not Abram and God that passed through those pieces, but God alone in the symbol of the smoking furnace and the burning lamp: meaning, of course, in the first place, that God established His covenant alone, without Abram as a party; and in the second place, that God would rather die than ever violate His covenant. And this was realized in the cross. For in the death of the Son of God on Calvary God established the basis of righteousness for His everlasting covenant, and virtually testified that He, God, in Christ, would rather pass through death than ever break His everlasting covenant with His people. This, therefore, that God established His covenant in the death of His Son, that through that death of the Son of God He established a basis of righteousness, and upon that basis promises the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life in the fellowship of His friendship is the significance of the signs of the bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper. These are the promises of which the Heidelberg Catechism speaks in Question and Answer 75.
In this respect we may indeed say that the Lord’s Supper is the wedding ring which Christ puts upon the finger of His bride, the wife of Jehovah, and which she may wear as a sure pledge in this present world. The church, the bride of Christ, is still in the world, while her husband is in heaven. She is not yet finally joined to her husband, although in principle she is risen with Christ and placed with Him in heavenly places. She still waits for the heavenly wedding. And while she is in this world, she finds, as far as she is concerned, abundant reason to despair of ever being married and joining her heavenly bridegroom. For by nature she is unfaithful. According to the old man of sin, she is still an adulteress. In the body of this death, the motions of sin are still within her. And although it is true that in principle she loves the Lord her God with all her heart and mind and soul and strength and delights in the law of God after the inward man, she still notices another law in her members, warring against the law of her mind, and bringing her into captivity to the law of sin which is in her members (Rom. 7:22-23). According to that other law, she still commits adultery. Besides, in this world she still lies in the midst of death, and the wrath of God is revealed from heaven over all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men; and therefore she cries out, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” And in that state and in that condition she has need of comfort. And that comfort she finds, of course, in the Word of her God. But as an added comfort and assurance the bridegroom puts the wedding ring on her finger; and looking at that wedding ring, she may hear the voice of her bridegroom saying: “As often as ye eat of this bread and drink of this cup, you shall thereby as by a sure remembrance and pledge, be admonished and assured of this my hearty love and faithfulness towards you; that, whereas you should otherwise have suffered eternal death, I have given my body to the death of the cross, and shed my blood for you; and as certainly feed and nourish your hungry and thirsty souls with my crucified body, and shed blood, to everlasting life, as this bread is broken before your eyes, and this cup is given to you, and you eat and drink the same with your mouth, in remembrance of me” (Form for the Administration of the Lord’s Supper).
This, therefore, is the first element of comfort and added assurance which the Lord our God through the holy sacrament of the supper of the Lord gives believers in addition to the promise as proclaimed in the gospel.
Mark you well, it is not another promise than that which comes to us through the preaching of the Word that is given in holy communion. On the contrary, both hold forth the same promise. And the promise is: “That he grants us remission of sin, and life eternal for the sake of that one sacrifice of Christ, accomplished on the cross” (A. 66). Moreover, the promise both in the gospel and in the sacrament of the Holy Supper is also co-extensive with regard to those that receive and partake of it. It is not for all that outwardly hear the gospel and that outwardly receive and partake of the signs of the Holy Supper, but only for those that are ingrafted by a true faith in Jesus Christ, that is, for the living elect. They, and they only, can “eat the crucified body, and drink the shed blood of Christ” (Q. 76). And this, that is, to eat the crucified body and drink the shed blood of Christ is “to embrace with a believing heart all the sufferings and death of Christ, and thereby to obtain the pardon of sin and life eternal” (A. 76). But while in the preaching of the Word that promise of forgiveness and life is heard, in the sacrament of the Holy Supper it is seen in the signs of bread and wine, obsignated as a sure pledge and seal “of this my hearty love and faithfulness towards you.”
