Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 2 December, 2018
“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
Gospel Living (7)
Love Without Hypocrisy
[download]
[youtube]
Scripture Reading: I Corinthians 13
Text: Romans 12:9
I. The Basic Idea
II. The Clear Explanation
III. The Divine Ground
Psalms: 111:1-6; 90:1-7; 41:3-9; 55:12-14, 20-22
Evening Service - 6:00 PM
Our Ascended High Priest [download]
[youtube]
Scripture Reading: Hebrews 4
Text: Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 18
I. The Movement of Our Ascended High Priest
II. The Sympathy of Our Ascended High Priest
III. The Throne of Our Ascended High Priest
Psalms: 100:1-5; 90:8-12; 47:1-9; 68:16-20
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
John Owen on Hebrews 4: “There is joy in heaven upon the returning and repentance of one sinner; and what was there when He that causes them to return, and saves all that do so, was received into his glory? No heart can conceive, much less can any tongue express, the glorious reception of the human nature of Christ in heaven.”
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
The Covenant Reformed News (with articles on Zechariah 14, and regeneration and faith) is available on the back table today.
Rev. McGeown’s new book, Micah: Proclaiming the Incomparable God, is available for RFPA book club members.
Monday catechism classes:
5:00 PM - Josh & Taylor (Juniors OT)
5:45 PM - Corey & Katelyn (Beginners OT, Book 2)
6:30 PM - Bradley & Samuel (Seniors OT)
7:15 PM - Alex, Jacob & Nathan (Essentials)
The Council meets tomorrow evening at 8 PM at the church.
Tuesday Bible Study at 11 AM will consider the meat (grain or cereal) offering.
Belgic Confession Class will meet this Wednesday at 7:45 PM to study Lutheranism‘s consubstantiation in connection with Article 35.
Rev. McGeown will discuss (via phone link) his book, Grace and Assurance: The Message of the Canons of Dordt on “Iron Sharpens Iron Radio” this Friday from 4-6 PM (ET), which is 9-11 PM (GMT) (www.ironsharpensironradio.com).
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s Day (Gospel 846 MW at 8:30 AM) by Rev. Bruinsma is entitled “God’s Promise to His Church Confirmed (1)” (Acts 2:39).
The church visitors, Rev. Koole and Elder Pete VanderSchaaf, are coming with their wives in January. The congregational dinner is being planned for Friday, 11 January. Rev. Koole will be giving a lecture on Wednesday, 16 January.
The CPRC is planning a mini-conference on Saturday, 13 April, 2019, on the theme “The Original Five Points of Calvinism: The 400th Anniversary of the Canons of Dordt” with Prof. Engelsma as our speaker. Prof. will also give two other lectures relating to the Synod of Dordt in the weeks following the conference.
Offerings: General Fund: £703.14.
Translations: 2 Hungarian, 2 Spanish and 1 Portuguese.
PRC News: Rev. Key received the call to be minister-on-loan to the CERC of Singapore. Trinity PRC’s trio is Revs. J. Engelsma, Eriks and W. Langerak. Immanuel (Lacombe, AB) PRC will call from a trio of Revs. W. Langerak, J. Laning and VanderWal.
An Excerpt From “The Benefits of Christ’s Ascension”
by Rev. Steven Key, Standard Bearer, volume 76, issue 4
The first benefit of Christ’s ascension is that Jesus is now “our advocate in the presence of his father in heaven.”
The term advocate appears in the Bible in I John 2:1.
The apostle had revealed the holiness of God, who is light and in whom is no darkness at all. He made clear that fellowship with Him is found only through Christ’s blood and in the single way of walking in the light as He is in the light. If we walk in the light, we don’t deny our sin, for then we only deceive ourselves. But we confess our sins and turn from them to lay hold on God’s faithfulness and justice, according to which He forgives our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness.
And so John writes, as he begins his second chapter, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not.” These truths are set before us that, hearing the Word, we might walk in the light and fight against sin, showing ourselves to be the children of God.
However, aware of the fact that we have a continual battle to fight, involving our old nature and the sin which cleaves to us and even the best of our works, the apostle continues, “And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
An advocate is one who defends us.
We are those who stand constantly before the Righteous Judge. But with us stands our advocate, Jesus Christ the Righteous. He is the One who died for us, who obtained for us the forgiveness of sins and everlasting righteousness. In Him we have also been delivered from the power and dominion of sin, and by His work in us we also walk in the light and long to be completely delivered from all corruption. But at the same time we find in ourselves sins that rise up against us, even sins that remain in us, any of which would make us damnable before God and would deprive us of all opportunity for His fellowship—except for this one thing: We have an advocate.
As our advocate, our Lord Christ pleads for us before the Father and defends us. He doesn’t defend our sin. Far be it from Him to condone our sin! He is the Righteous One, after all! But He defends us from the just judgment of God.
He does that, however, by presenting Himself before the Father as our defence. On the basis of His own work of atonement, He appeals to the faithfulness and justice of God, and pleads on our behalf for the sentence of innocent and righteous.
What a tremendous blessing that is!
The exalted Christ is our advocate in a very special sense of the word. He is so as our High Priest. That is the significance of what we read in Hebrews 4:14-16. He is our advocate as the One who made the sacrifice once and forever for all who are His. He stood in our place, experienced our way of struggle and temptation. He took upon Himself our guilt and all our iniquities. And standing before the Father in perfect love, He paid the price, the only price, that we might be redeemed and declared righteous.
As One who has walked our path, He is our advocate who also makes intercession on our behalf. His plea is not occasional but constant for us. And because of who He is and what He has accomplished, that plea is always granted by the Father. The Father, hearing the plea of His Son, looks upon His people in the light of Christ’s righteousness with an eye of everlasting love and mercy. So we read, “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
Only in the consciousness of this work of Christ do we approach God through Him and obtain the assurance of our perfect righteousness and the forgiveness of our sins. That is the first way in which we find Christ’s ascension profitable, exceedingly profitable, for us.
The second way in which the ascension is profitable for us is found in the truth that the ascended Christ provides for us a sure pledge that He, as our Head, will also take us His members up to Himself.
The last two verses of Hebrews 6 teach us this blessed truth. Hebrews 6 speaks to the reality of our own experience, which seems as if the Lord is slow concerning the realization of His promises. We are told to be followers of those who obtained the promises by patience, in full assurance of hope. That hope is certain. It cannot fail.
Our hope is certain by two unchangeable things. In the first place, that hope is sure because it is rooted in the counsel of God, which is eternal and unchangeable. In the second place, our hope is sure because God has sworn an unchangeable oath to realize His promise. He did that for our sakes.
But the writer to the Hebrews points at that certainty of our hope and tells us that our hope, or really the object of our hope, has now become the anchor of our soul.
See the picture here. Our hope in Christ and in the fulfilment of the promise is an anchor, the cable of which is fastened to our soul, and which reaches into the innermost sanctuary of God, striking into the ground and securely stabilizing our soul. But that is true for one reason. Our hope has become an anchor, entering the very bosom of God, as it were, because our forerunner has entered into that sanctuary for us. That is the reason!
Because Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, and has entered the very sanctuary of God, our hope is anchored, solidly fastened, immovably fastened, upon the Rock of our salvation. Because Christ has entered the sanctuary, the object of our hope has been realized and it has become an anchor to which our soul is bound.
That hope consists of a sure expectation. That expectation is heaven!
Heaven is the place “within the veil.” The picture is that of the fulfilment of the temple. The place within the veil is the holy of holies. The idea of the holy of holies was that it is the place where God dwells. In other words, it was a picture of heaven. That is what heaven is. Not as if heaven can contain God, any more than the holy of holies in the temple could contain God. The heaven of heavens cannot contain God. But heaven is God’s dwelling in the sense that there the creature, there we, dwell with God in Jesus Christ.
In heaven, we shall see His face in the face of our Lord Jesus Christ. In heaven, we shall have fellowship with Him in a way that we experience now only in a very, very faint measure. In heaven, we shall live with Him.
Heaven is a home, therefore. That home is the object of the Christian’s hope. God has given us the promise in Christ Jesus that we shall dwell with Him some day in His house of many mansions. The wonder of the ascension is that Jesus has opened the door for us to that home. He is our forerunner. That is certain. And we have that hope as an anchor of the soul.