“And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.”—Isaiah 30:21.

Now, it is while they are thus going hot foot away from God, further and further every day, madly rushing along the downward road, never satisfied with the sin to which they have attained, flying from God as if he were their terror and would be their destroyer, it is even then that the word sounds behind them and they are startled into thought. They have a powerful voice pleading with them thus,—”Turn ye, turn ye; why will ye die, O house of Israel? This is the way, walk ye in it. The way you are now pursuing is not the way to peace and safety; return at once, for this is the way, walk ye in it.” Here again I admire the overflowing riches of the grace of God, that he should call men to himself when they are altogether taken up with other things, when every thought, and every word, and every act is in rebellion against him. Paul saith, “Doth God care for oxen?” but here is a far greater wonder, “Doth God care for worthless revolters?” When a chosen man is desperately set on mischief, determined to destroy himself, God is yet more determined to save him. The two determinations meet, and we shall see which of the two will prove itself the stronger one. We soon find that the determination of God overcomes the determination of man. The iron breaks the northern iron and the steel. “Thus saith the Lord; your covenant with death is broken, and your league with hell is disannulled:” for there was a prior covenant, a covenant of grace made by God himself, which stands fast for ever; and there was a prior league which God made with his Son on our behalf, and that league shall overthrow our league with death and hell. Glory be to God that even when the sinner is still rebellious, and shows no signs of repentance, nor is conscious of any wish to turn from the error of his ways, even then, while his heart is black as night, and his spirit is choke-full with rebellion, God calls to him, “Return, O backsliding children.” “They shall hear a voice behind them, saying, This is the way.”

C.H. Spurgeon

• Neal Boerkoel is commemorating his 86^thbirthday today.
• The Lord blessed & Mrs. Jason Klaasen with the birth of ababy girl, Riley Kate on Wednesday August 9. Mother and baby are both doing well. Psalm 127:3, “Lo, children [are] an heritage of the Lord: [and] the fruit of the womb [is his] reward”.
• Please prayer for Adam Bazen as he plans to leave tomorrow for boot camp at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, TX.
• The next commemoration of the Lord’s Supper is scheduled for September 17.
• Please plan to help at a church cleaning day. We’ll start at 9 am on Saturday, September 9.
• The youth group is once again hosting a 5k Run/Walk for all ages as a fundraiser. It will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, September 16 at Roselle Park.
• Give thanks for traveling mercies.
• Student Jacob Matze is a young man from The Netherlands. He was a member of the PKN church there. He is currently studying for the ministry at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. (PRTS)
• A Bible studywill be held today in the church lower level at 4:45 pm. The subject of the study is 2 3.

• The youth group is once again hosting a 5k Run/Walk for all ages as a fundraiser. It will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, September 16 at Roselle Park, 1010 Grand River Drive NE, Ada, MI. Please see the sign-up sheet in the narthex.
• Collection totals for the month of July:

General $10,837.98

CEF $  1,078.75

Building $  1,809.00

Benevolent $     423.02

Bonisa $  2,210.00

Sumba Mission Day $14,690.00

• There will no midweek service for the month of August.
• There will no prayer meeting for the month of August.
• Women and girls. Please plan on attending a church bridal shower for Samantha Barnard on August 31 at 6:30 pm.
• A Bible studywill be held next Sunday in the church lower level at 4:45 pm. The subject of the study is 2 3.

“And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.”—Isaiah 30:21.

The word behind us which is spoken of in the text is mentioned as one among other covenant blessings. No “if” or “but” is joined to it. It is one of those gracious, unconditional promises upon which the salvation of the guilty depends. There are many comforts of the new life which depend upon our own action and behavior, and these come to us with “ifs”; but those which are vital and essential are secured to the chosen of God without “but” or “peradventure.” It shall be so: God declares it shall, and he has power to carry out every jot and tittle of every promise that he makes to his people. I shall ask you at this good hour mainly to admire the free and sovereign grace of God in making such a promise as this to anybody, and especially in making it to a people whom he speaks of as “a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord.” He severely upbraids them, and then in great patience he says to them, even to them, “Your ears shall hear a word behind you.” God’s grace is marvelous in itself, but its most marvelous point is the singular channel in which it chooses to flow: it runs down into the Dead Sea of sin and makes the waters pure.
I invite you to notice first of all THE POSITION OF THE WANDERER to whom this special blessing comes. How does God find men when he declares that they shall hear a word behind them? First, he finds them with their backs turned to him. This is clear enough, if you remember that the word is to be heard “behind” them. The sinner has gone away from God, and God calls after him from behind. He has turned his back upon his true Friend, his best Friend, his only capable Friend, but that Friend does not therefore change his temper and resent the insult; no, he is provoked to a love more pleading and persuasive than ever, and calls to him to come into the right way. After having transgressed willfully and wickedly, the rebel now distinctly turns his back on God and truth; according to the Lord’s complaint, “they have turned unto me the back, and not the face.” He turns his back on the law, on the gospel, on mercy, on eternal life. He turns his back on the adoption of the great Father, on pardon bought with the blood of Jesus, on regeneration which can alone be wrought by the Holy Spirit. He turns away from sunlight, and wanders down into deeper and yet deeper night, striving to get away from God and holy influences. Yet the Lord follows him, and with a voice of touching love and tender compassion he calls to him, “This is the way, walk ye in it.” The word of warning, instruction, and entreaty follows the wanderer, and with ever-increasing pathos beseeches him to turn and live. Again and again the wise, earnest, personal voice assails his ear, as if love resolved that he should not perish if wooing could win him to life. The wanderer seeks not God, but his God seeks him. Man turns from the God of love, but the love of God turns not away from him.

• Please pray for Pastor and Mrs. Van den Berg, and their family, as they return to the Netherlands for three weeks. Especially remember Brandina and Klaske, as they plan to stay in the Netherlands for studies.
• Please pray for those who are traveling to Yosemite National Park for a week of hiking.
• Give thanks to the Lord that the young people have returned safely from the trip to Kentucky, and that they were successful at completing several projects.
• Pray for traveling mercies for Rev. and Mrs. J.W. Hooydonk, as they travel this week to serve us with the preaching of the Word for the next two Sundays. Pastor Hooydonk was an elder in the church in South Africa that was served by Pastor Van den Berg. He subsequently has moved to the Netherlands, received his seminary training, and is now in his first pastorate.
• There will no midweek service for the month of August.
• There will bea lay preaching class on Wednesday, August 2.
• A Bible studywill be held today in the church lower level at 4:45 pm. The subject of the study is 2 2.

These prayers are two of the closing prayers from the sermons John Calvin preached as he went through the book of Hosea.

“Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found. Who is wise, and he shall understand these hings? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.” Hosea 14:8, 9.

 

Grant, Almighty God, that as we now carry about us this mortal body, yea, and nourish through sin a thousand deaths within us, – O grant, that we may ever by faith direct our eyes towards heaven, and to that incomprehensible power, which is to be manifested at the last day by Jesus Christ our Lord, so that in the midst of death we may hope that thou wilt be our Redeemer, and enjoy that redemption, which he completed when he rose from the dead; and not doubt but that the fruit which he then brought forth by his Spirit will come also to us, when Christ himself shall come to judge the world; and may we thus walk in the fear of thy name, that we may be really gathered among his members, to be made partakers of that glory, which by his death he has procured for us. Amen.

 

Grant, Almighty God, that as we are so miserable as soon as thou withdrawest thy favor from us, – O grant, that we may deeply feel this conviction, and thus learn to be humble before thee, and to hate our ownselves, and that we may not in the mean lime deceive ourselves by such allurements as commonly prevail, to put our hope in creatures or in this world, but raise our minds upwards to thee, and fix on thee our hearts, and never doubt, but that when thou embraces us with thy paternal love, nothing shall be wanting to us. And in the meantime, may we suppliantly flee to thy mercy, and with true and genuine confession, acknowledge this to be our only protection – that thou deign to receive us into favor, and to abolish our sins, into which we not only daily fall, but by which we also deserve eternal death, so that we may daily rise through thy free pardon, till at length our Redeemer Christ thy Son shall appear to us from heaven. Amen.

 

9:15 a.m.
Theme: God or Baal
1. The gathering
2. The testimony
3, Two altars

Pr. 253:1-5
1 Kings 18:19-30 (21)
Pr. 139:1-6
Pr. 232:1-3
Pr. 427:1-2

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6:00 p.m.
Theme: That Rock was Christ

Pr. 213:3-7
1 Corinthians 10:1-13 (1-4) HC LD25 qa67
Pr. 431:3-6
Pr. 290:1-5
Pr. 408:1-3

9:15 a.m.
Theme: The conversion of a persecutor
1. The fall
2. The revelation
3. The surrender

Pr. 176:1-3
Acts 9:1-22 (4-6)
Pr. 438:2-4
Pr. 64:1-3
Pr. 233:1-4

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6:00 p.m.
Theme: Holy visible signs and seals

Pr. 289:1-4
Romans 4:1-25 (11-12) HC LD25 qa66
Pr. 290:1-5
Pr. 444:1-3
Pr. 83:1-3

 

“The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.”

Ps. 37:31.

Here is a man who has God’s Word in his heart and you notice that he takes pains about his steps. A step is a very little thing. We must take a good many hundreds of steps to walk a mile, but good men take notice of little things. The man who has the Law of God in his heart is scrupulous and conscientious about thoughts and imaginations, as well as about words and actions. Hence, the promise in the text is suited to him, for it is a promise about little things—”None of his steps shall slide.” I recollect—no, I hope it is so with me still—but I recollect that just after my conversion, I used to be almost afraid to put one foot before the other lest I should put it down in the wrong place. And often have I paused, when I was speaking, for fear I would not say the right word. That holy caution is most commendable in all who have it. I wish that many more had it. What a hop, skip and jump some men’s lives are! Not only do they not look before they leap, but they do not even seem to look after they have leaped! They rush on blindly and heedlessly, presuming where they ought to be praying and self-confident where they ought, with deep repentance, to be humbling themselves before God! Our old proverb says, “Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves.” And the same rule applies to our actions. If we are careful about our little actions, the great ones will be pretty sure to be right. Oh, that we were all very guarded about how we act at home! Oh, that we were careful about our speech as we sit around the tea table! Such a little thing as that may do almost infinite mischief. I believe the worst evils in the world arise out of little things. It is said that the seed of mischief is as small as a gnat’s egg, and so it is. Then, look well to those gnat’s eggs, lest they hatch out far greater evils.

When David says, “The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide,” what does he mean by that last clause? He means that God will guide him. As he has God’s Law in his heart, he will have God’s guidance for his steps! In the 23rd verse, David says, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delights in His way.” When a man really carries God’s Law in his heart, God will take care that he does not carry that Law into any evil place, for, as David goes on to say, “the Lord upholds him with His hand.” There will come to every man, whoever or whatever he may be, sudden assaults of temptation—but if the Law of his God is in his heart, he will be forewarned and forearmed against them! There will also come the long sieges of temptation and many a man has fallen by little and little. But if the Law of his God is in his heart, he will be safe against even them.                           C.H. Spurgeon

• Give thanks to the Lord that Elisabeth Heikoop has returned home from Sumba, Indonesia, and has recovered from her fever.
• And Mrs. Gary Kwekel hope to commemorate their 62 nd wedding anniversary on Saturday, July 29. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. Lam. 3:24, 25.
• There will no midweek service for the month of August.
• There will bea lay preaching class on Wednesday, August 2.
• The July Mission offering is for Bonisa Mission. Bonisa Mission is an interdenominational Reformed organization committed to supporting Christian churches in China. Bonisa Mission distributes Bibles and Christian literature, supports the training of pastors, and supplies material and medical assistance to the poor, handicapped and elderly.
• A Bible studywill be held next Sunday in the church lower level at 4:45 pm. The subject of the study is 2 2.