Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
Ballymena
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 11 October, 2009
"Quicken me after thy lovingkindness; so shall I keep
the testimony of thy mouth" (Ps. 119:88)
Morning Service - 11:00 AM
God's Purposes With Israel in the New Testament Age (3)
Israel Hardened by God [download]
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 29
Text: Romans 11:7-8
I. The Unsuccessful Seeking
II. The Sovereign Hardening
Psalms: 105:1-7; 38:1-7; 27:7-12; 93:1-5
Evening Service - 6:00 PM
God's Purposes With Israel in the New Testament Age (4)
David’s Prayer Against Israel [download]
Scripture Reading: Psalm 69
Text: Romans 11:9-10
I. A Prayer Concerning Their Table
II. A Prayer Concerning Their Eyes
III. A Prayer of Christ
Psalms: 34:1-10; 38:8-13; 109:6-12; 69:21-28
Contact Sean Courtney (covenantreformedaudiostore@yahoo.co.uk) for CDs of the sermons and DVDs of the worship services.
CPRC website: www.cprc.co.uk
CPRC YouTube Site: www.youtube.com/cprcni
Quote to Consider:
Robert Haldane on Romans 11:9-10: "The words in the beginning of the 9th verse of this Psalm [i.e., Psalm 69], 'The zeal of Thine house hath eaten me up,' are applied to the Lord Jesus Christ, John 2:17; and the concluding words, 'The reproaches of them that reproached Thee, are fallen upon Me, ' by Paul, Rom 15:3. 'They gave Me also gall for My meat; and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink,' is applied in the three Gospels, by Matthew, and Mark, and John, to what took place at His crucifixion. The words contained in the 25th verse, 'Let their habitation be desolate, and let none dwell in their tents,' are applied to Judas, Acts 1:20, who may be considered in this matter as the representative of the nation. 'Let their table become a snare before them', verse 22, is quoted by the Apostle in the verse before us, predicting the condition of the Jewish nation when he wrote."
Charles Hodge on Romans 11:9-10: "No portion of the Old Testament Scriptures is more frequently referred to, as descriptive of our Lord's suffering, than the Psalms 69 and 22. There is nothing in this Psalm which forbids its being considered as a prophetic lamentation of the Messiah over his afflictions, and a denunciation of God's judgments upon his enemies. Verse 9, 'The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up,' and verse 21, 'They gave me vinegar to drink,' are elsewhere quoted and applied to Christ. Viewed in this light, the Psalm is directly applicable to the apostle's object, as it contains a prediction of the judgments which should befall the enemies of Christ."
R. C. H. Lenski on Romans 11:9-10: "Israel thinks its prosperity is God's blessing; its eyes are blind and do not see that this is delusion, retributive delusion: the thing that looks like a blessing has become a curse. Convinced that God is still blessing them while they have gone into full obduracy, and that God will, not forsake them, they are led to go on obdurate as they are, until the snare suddenly tightens, the net closes, and the trigger springs the deathtrap, the recompense of due justice destroys them."
Herman Hoeksema: "David did not say: ‘Oh, let Thy lovingkindness be shown to the ungodly in rain and sunshine, prosperity and abundance, food and drink and gladness of heart.’ On the contrary, he said: ‘Let their food and drink, that is, their table, become a curse unto them; curse Thou them through these earthly means.’ Those who make so much of the theory of ‘common grace’ will never succeed to explain this passage in harmony with their theory. But let us not overlook who is the subject of this prayer. To be sure, in the first place it is David that is here praying. And he is praying against the ungodly enemies of God’s cause that persecute him. But this is not all. David is after all only the secondary author of this prayer. Centrally this prayer has Christ for its subject. This is evident from the entire Psalm which is thoroughly Messianic. And it is still more evident from the immediate context: ‘They gave me also gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.’ It is, therefore, none other than Christ that is praying here against the ungodly enemies of His cause" (God’s Eternal Good Pleasure, p. 364).
John Calvin on Romans 11:9-10: "Seeing then that this imprecation remains for all the adversaries of Christ,—that their meat shall be converted into poison, (as we see that the gospel is to be the savour of death unto death,) let us embrace with humility and trembling the grace of God."
Announcements (subject to God’s will):
Those interested in attending Women’s Bible Study this year, please meet briefly in the cry room after this morning’s service.
Catechism:
Monday, 7 PM - Zoe, Amy & Lea Campbell at the manse
Tuesday, 7 PM - Jacob & Nathan at the Buchanans
Tuesday, 8 PM - Mark & Lauren at the Hamills
Wednesday, 1 PM - Beginners OT Class at the manse
Midweek Bible study meets on Wednesday at 7:45 PM at the manse. We will consider further I Peter 3:7f., on husbands honouring their wives.
Rev. & Mary Stewart travel to S. Wales on Thursday for a lecture on "Calvin on Justification: Considering the Judgment Day With Singular Delight."
The Reformed Witness Hour next Lord’s Day (8:30-9:00 AM, on Gospel 846MW) is entitled "In Praise of Sovereign Grace #2: Total Depravity" (Mark 15:20-23).
The Council has decided that there will be two offerings taken next Lord’s Day. The first will be for the General Fund and the second for our brothers and sisters in the Philippines who have suffered loss and hardship due to a recent tropical storm and flooding as described on the back of last week’s bulletin.
Other Upcoming Lectures:
Portadown, Friday, 30 October, 7:30 PM - Calvin on Justification
Ballymena, Friday, 6 November, 7:30 PM - Calvin vs. Darwin
Limerick, Friday, 13 November, 7:30 PM - The Last Days
South Wales, Thursday, 26 November, 7:15 PM - Guidance
Offerings: General Fund: £687.58. Building Fund: £413.20. Donations: £100 (building fund), £6.10 (books).
Website additions: 1 Slovenian, 4 German and 8 Italian translations were added.
PRC News: Rev. Daniel & Sharon Kleyn along with Elder & Mrs. Boon from Doon PRC leave this Wednesday for the Philippines. They plan to visit the Smits and the mission field as well as make preparations for the Kleyns’ move to the Philippines on 15 December. They return to the US on 2 November. Rev. Doug Kuiper (Randolph, WI) received the call to Bethel PRC (Chicago, IL).
Dear Congregation,
I thought you would be interested in the latest about on-line CPRC translations.
So far, friends on 5 of the world’s 6 continents have helped us by producing translations (as well as Martyn, Janet and Francesco of our own church, plus Sam Watterson of the Limerick Reformed Fellowship), while others from N. Ireland, the US and Australia have contributed finance for buying and sending books to translators. The RFPA have supplied us with books and various Protestant Reformed evangelism committees (plus Rev. Hanko when he was here) have provided us with pamphlets—the materials to be translated (along with on-line articles, creeds, CR News, etc.). Various people from the US, N. Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have brought PRC literature with them on flights across the Atlantic, thus drastically reducing our carriage costs. In short, many people have played a part in this on-going work.
Of the 123 pamphlets that we distribute free, 121 of them can be read on-line in English. Of these, 66 have been translated into at least one language and some into 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or more languages. In fact, there are a total of 125 translations of pamphlets in other tongues (www.cprf.co.uk/pamphlets.htm).
We sell 117 books (www.cprf.co.uk/bookstore.htm). Some or all of 41 of them are translated into, or reviewed in, 1 language or more. In total, there are 68 translations (or reviews) of all or parts of our books. Excerpts from Rev. Hanko’s Doctrine According to Godliness have been rendered into 8 tongues. We also sell a couple of Welsh books.
As you know, there are now monthly editions of the Covenant Reformed News e-mailed out in German and Italian.
Last Saturday, a translator in S. Africa received books from us. She plans to translate materials into Afrikaans. It turns out that the minister of her church is an uncle of Revs. Daniel and Rodney Kleyn.
A new translator from Berlin translated Rev. Van Baren’s pamphlet "The Sovereignty of God" into German and Prof. Hanko’s "What It Means to Be Reformed." Anganeta Dyck sent us three pieces this week and she has most of her German translation of "Does God Really Desire to Save the Reprobate?" (www.cprf.co.uk/articles/doesGoddesire.htm) complete with just a bit more to do.
A Slovenian piece on Christ’s atonement was put on-line this week.
Francesco De Lucia recently sent us 8 Italian pieces (Marco Barone helped with 1 of them). He is currently translating Prof. Engelsma’s book, The Covenant of God and the Children of Believers into Italian to help his friends in Italy grasp these important truths. (Francesco reckons that they need something detailed and lengthy to explain these truths for them because the shorter pieces can only take them so far.)
A Filipino pastor e-mailed me to say that his next Tagalog translation should be with us next week. A Brazilian pastor, now in Scotland, says he plans to translate materials into Portuguese, though he is also doing a PhD. And there are other helpers in other languages who have things in the works (e.g., in Portugal, Chile, Russia, etc.).
On Monday, I received 2 e-mails from an Orthodox Presbyterian Church minister in California who greatly appreciates the translations and links to several of them from his church website.
The Italian and Portuguese materials are so long (approaching 400 pieces each and increasing) that we had to create separate pages for them (www.cprf.co.uk/languages/italian.htm and www.cprf.co.uk/languages/portuguese.htm). Then, of course, there is the main translations page with 110 languages with 1 or more pieces (www.cprf.co.uk/languages.htm). In total, there are about 1320 pieces in 112 foreign tongues. Our leading languages with the number of translations in each are listed below:
Portugues (Portuguese) - 398
Italiano (Italian) - 375
Deutsch (German) - 78
Español (Spanish) - 53
Pусский (Russian) - 47
Afrikaans - 44
Nederlands (Dutch) - 32
Tagalog (Filipino) - 28
Français (French) - 20
Українcька (Ukrainian) - 16
Korean - 13
Slovenščina (Slovenian) - 11
Hrvatski (Croatian) - 10
Chinese - 9
Polski (Polish) - 7
Slovensky (Slovakian) - 6
Romanian - 6
(plus 95 other languages)
Every day people come to the website through searches in many languages and read articles in many languages. We have already seen much good fruit through this work. Something to include in your prayers! "The night is far spent, the day is at hand" (Rom. 13:12). May God be honoured through the propagation of the truth of His Word!
"And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation" (Rev. 5:9).
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Stewart