Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 14 April, 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 - Rev. A. Stewart
The Blessed Shall Inherit the Earth
[download]
[youtube]
Scripture Reading: Psalm 37
Text: Psalm 37:22
I. What Will Be Received
II. How It Will Be Received
III. Who Will Receive It
Psalms: 72:7-12; 104:22-29; 16:5-11; 37:29-37
Evening Service - 6:00 PM - Prof. D. Engelsma
Jesus' Pardon of the Adulteress
[download]
[youtube]
Scripture Reading: John 7:37-8:11
Text: John 8:2-11
I. The Real Issue in the Temptation of Jesus
II. The Gracious Verdict of the Judge
III. The Manifestation of the Saviour of Sinners
Psalms: 116:1-8; 104:30-35; 62:5-10; 32:1-5
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.cprf.co.uk/live.html
CPRC YouTube: www.youtube.com/cprcni
CPRC Facebook: www.facebook.com/CovenantPRC
Quote to Consider
Herman Hoeksema: “Israel in the land of Canaan was very really the heritage of God, his peculiar possession, Jehovah’s portion, but it was at the same time the shadow of things to come, the picture of a better hope, the type of the ultimate and eternal realization of the ‘purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.’ For he has purposed in himself to gather together in one all things in Christ, the things in heaven and the things on earth, and to make the church in Christ heir of that glorious inheritance. Of this, Israel in Canaan is the beginning, but also the figure and type. Even as Israel in the old dispensation in the earthly land of Canaan was the peculiar possession of God, so Christ and his glorious and perfected church in the new heavens and earth is the ultimate realization of Jehovah’s heritage” (All Glory to the Only Good God, pp. 126-127)
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
We welcome Prof. and Ruth Engelsma, as well as our other visitors from Hungary, Wales and Germany. Prof. Engelsma will be preaching for us this evening.
We also welcome Angelica back to our services! We praise and thank God for the court’s ruling that enables her to come to church again.
The Engelsmas are staying in the Prins’ flat in Ballyclare. If you would like to contact them, Mrs. Engelsma’s mobile phone number is 001-616-634-2017.
Everyone is welcome to stay for tea after this evening’s service. With all our guests in town for the conference, we ask both groups B and C to bring sandwiches and biscuits.
Monday catechism classes: end of year tests
5:45 PM - Corey & Katelyn (Beginners OT, Book 2)
6:30 PM - Bradley & Samuel (Seniors OT)
7:15 PM - Alex, Jacob & Nathan (Essentials)
Josh & Taylor (Juniors OT) in Ballyclare with Elder Crossett
Tuesday Bible Study at 11 AM will discuss Israel’s covenant consecration and I Peter.
Prof. Engelsma will give a lecture on the Synod of Dordt, entitled “The Defence of the Gospel: The Rejection of Errors,” this Wednesday at 7:30 PM.
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s Day (Gospel 846 MW at 8:30 AM) by Rev. R. Kleyn is entitled “Risen According to the Scriptures” (I Cor. 15:4).
S. Wales Lecture: Rev. McGeown will speak on “The Development of God’s Covenant (5): Jacob” in Margam Community Centre on Thursday, 25 April.
Offerings: General Fund: £830. Building Fund: £230.50.
Translation Additions: 4 Hungarian and 1 Polish.
PRC News: Rev. W. Langerak (Southeast, MI) accepted the call to Trinity PRC. Rev. Spronk (Faith, MI) received the call to be minister-on-loan to the CERC in Singapore. Immanuel PRC (Lacombe, AB) called Rev. Guichelaar (Randolph, WI).
The Men at Dordt (1)
by Prof. Herman Hanko
(Standard Bearer, Volume 74, Issue 2)
Introduction
The Synod of Dordrecht was the greatest assembly of Reformed churches that ever met. Though some may argue that Dordt was exceeded in greatness by the Westminster Assembly, which met less than 30 years later, Westminster was not, as Dordt was, a gathering of the Reformed churches from all Europe. Nor were the theologians at Dordt in any respect inferior in learning, skill in debate and genuine orthodoxy than the best of Westminster.
But the synod was necessary, after all, because of heretics present in the church, who were bent on destroying the Reformed faith because they hated the doctrines of sovereign grace. The wonder is that these and the faithful were used by God to give us our treasured Canons of Dordt. The truth of God is never developed in an ivory tower, far from the battlefield on which the great issues of God’s truth are decided. The weapons of our spiritual warfare are forged in doctrinal controversy. So it has always been. So it was at Dordt. I have often pondered what we would do today if it had not been for the Synod of Dordt and the Canons it gave us. I shudder to think of it.
Here then are a few of the men, some bad, many good.
Jacob Arminius
Although Arminius lived and died [1560-1609] before the Synod of Dordt met, he was the most important character in the drama. The controversy and heresy which occasioned Dordt are known by his name, and the synod would not have been called if he had not spread his poison through the churches.
Born in 1560, he was left an orphan when his parents were killed by the Spaniards. A guild in Amsterdam took on the responsibility to support him in his studies, and this enabled him to acquire a good and solidly Reformed education in Leiden, Geneva and Basel.
It is impossible to tell when Arminius began to entertain thoughts of heresy. It may have been during his studies under Theodore Beza, Calvin’s successor in Geneva, who was a no-nonsense teacher of all the truths of sovereign grace. But whenever it was, his sentiments were not revealed until he became minister in the Reformed Church in Amsterdam.
A characteristic of heretics is dishonesty. Arminius was never honest with the church. When he was asked to refute Dirk Coornhert, a theologian who denied the doctrine of sovereign predestination, Arminius never prepared the answer and never revealed that the reason was his own disagreement with this crucial doctrine.
His duplicity also appeared in his preaching. While preaching on the book of Romans, and particularly on Romans 7, he denied that Paul’s description of himself in verses 14-25 was a description of the apostle after his regeneration. Paul was, so Arminius claimed, describing himself as unregenerated —an interpretation that opens the door to a denial of total depravity (“The good that I would ...”). And when he came to Romans 9, he flatly denied sovereign reprobation.
I say this was duplicity. The creeds (the Heidelberg Catechism and the Belgic Confession of Faith) binding the Reformed churches clearly taught these doctrines, and Arminius knew it. But he always claimed to agree with and be faithful to the creeds.
Surprisingly, Arminius was appointed professor of theology at the University of Leiden and was there a colleague of Gomarus, the man who became his implacable foe. Here too, when called to give an account of his teachings, Arminius was less than frank, devious in the extreme and guilty of hiding his true sentiments as much as possible, all the while continuing to teach his students his erroneous views.
By the time Arminius died in 1609 (one year before the Five Articles of the Remonstrants were drawn up) the poison of his teachings had spread throughout the churches, especially through the preaching of those who had studied under him and had been led astray by his heresies.
Arminius was an extremely intelligent man, very learned, a brilliant thinker and gifted preacher. He was friendly and a person whom people found it easy to like. Although Arminius used all his extraordinary gifts to bring damnable heresies into the church, God turned almost certain defeat into victory and used the heresy of Arminianism to give us our Canons.
Jan Uytenbogaert
Other than Arminius himself, no one had more influence in the Arminian cause than Uytenbogaert. Born in 1557, three years before Arminius, he was converted from Roman Catholicism when Roman Catholic authorities forbade him to attend the services of a Protestant-inclined pastor.
Uytenbogaert had intended to pursue a career in law but, upon joining the Reformed churches, he decided to enter the ministry. Under the strange ways of God’s providence, he studied in Geneva under Beza at the same time as Arminius. Arminius, not Beza, was the one who influenced Uytenbogaert and he returned to the Netherlands a firm believer in the heresies of his fellow student.
Nevertheless, he became a preacher in the Reformed churches and, perhaps because of his reputation for piety, was invited by Prince Maurice to become minister in the Hague. Many government dignitaries attended his church and he became a close friend of Oldenbarnevelt, the effective ruler of the Netherlands.
Always a close friend of Arminius, Uytenbogaert assumed the leadership of the Arminian party when Arminius died and was chiefly responsible for composing the Five Articles of the Remonstrants, which outline the doctrinal position of the Arminians and against which the five heads of the Canons were written.
When Oldenbarnevelt, just prior to the Synod of Dordt, was arrested and tried for treason, Uytenbogaert thought it best to flee the country. The Synod deposed him in absentia, banished him and ordered his goods confiscated.
It was only after a change of government that he secretly returned from exile and became a pastor of a church where he continued till his death, promoting the cause of Arminianism in the Netherlands. to be continued ...