1 Peter 2 - The Chief Corner Stone

By Elder Chin Hoong Chor

Preached at / Published Life BPC Weekly, 2006-03-12

Text: 1 Peter 2, Matthew 16:18

Those who have been to the Holy Land may recall a key feature of Caesarea Philippi - a rock face dedicated to the Greek God Pan, on which are niches and carvings for various gods including Pan's father Hermes. As a result, Caesarea Philippi is known as Banias, the Arabic equivalent of Panias. One day, Jesus brought His disciples to Caesarea Philippi and asked them, "Whom do men say that I [am]; But whom say ye that I am?" Then to Peter's confession, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God", Jesus answered, "upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt 16:18). It was not just a declaration to His disciples but also to the evil forces and the whole world. 

The clear will of God is to build the church (not the physical building but a body of God's people) and He will accomplish it with the same power He displayed in creation "Let there be light: and there was light; Let us make man in our image" (Gen 1:3, 26). Various interpretations have been made of Christ's statement - Some believe the rock was Peter (Petros) as his name sounds like petra (Greek for rock), and that Christ gave him the keys to heaven; others believe the rock was Christ Himself. I believe it was Peter's witness of Christ at Caesarea Philippi, where stood another rock which 'witnessed' to Pan.

But notice the implication of the statement: the Lord says, "I will build", taking full charge to complete with or without anyone's co-operation and approval and indeed despite rejection from the builders (1 Pet 2:7), and that it will be accomplished despite opposition and resistance from evil forces, - they "shall not prevail". Afters years of spiritual attack on the Church, the Ephesian, Corinthian and Roman church buildings are in ruins and the Western church groups are now fizzling out, yet the Church of God at large has grown and God will continue to build His Church!

At the time of writing 1 Peter, the Emperor Nero was persecuting the church and the Jews faced the threat of being burned. Peter wrote not just to encourage but also to remind the Jews of their calling. With the Romans about to destroy the church, its survival was at stake. He used the term "stone" (vs 4) or "lithos" (a refined rock specifically for construction and building). 

The fundamental need in church growth is not a well-designed program, a well-thought out structure or even a band of believers committed to obeying God, but God the Lord who will build up the church. The secret of survival is the Lord - Christ is the stone (Ps 118:22). We must come to Christ, the Living Stone (1 Pet 2:4), to be built by Him. We must believe in Him, the Chief Corner Stone (1 Pet 2:6), to be built on Him. Finally, we must show Him, the Head Stone of the Corner (1 Pet 2:7), as we are built for Him.

He is the Living Stone (vs 4-5) To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

Christ grants the growth for the church to be built by Him. Christ is the "living stone", having life and the ability to give life. The church cannot exist without Him - He gave His life that we might have life. Christ is also the living word - God's Word to us that makes us alive. Peter declared in Caesarea Philippi that Christ is the Son of the Living God, unlike Pan (a dead god, son of the dead Hermes). Here is the Living Stone that initiates life and sustains life and we are to come near Him and be closely united with Him (v4). We are to abide in Him who is the vine (Jn 15:5)! We, in turn, become the lively stones, having the vitality and the capacity to grow spiritually!

As living stones, we have been made alive by Christ and, being joined to the rest of the body that is alive. We will interact with the living and contribute to the overall body. A dead part of the body will separate from the body, sooner or later. Have you been made alive by this confession of faith? Have you turned to Christ or merely put on a Christian outfit? Peter exhorts those who are alive to crave for spiritual milk (1 Pet 2:2). You cannot be detached from the rest! It would be tragic that when the building is completed and when the Lord returns to take the Church, to find that you are not part of the building! 

Life comes from the Living Stone and only God, not we, can build the church. We derive life from Him only, not from each other. "Unless the Lord builds the house; they labour in vain that build it" (Ps 127:1) - we cannot bring growth and are only called to labour. "[Paul] planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase" (1 Cor 3:6). The church is and will be built by Christ the Living Stone.

He is the Corner Stone (vs 6, 8) Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.

Christ gives the direction for the church to be built on Him. In the construction industry, the corner stone, also called the benchmark, is the stone placed on the firm ground, from which the surveyors will take reference from throughout the building process. It is a "stone of stumbling", a "rock of offence" because like the benchmark, once laid, it is cannot be moved. It determines the orientation of the building and every piece of structure is to be aligned to it. 

This is illustrated in the construction of the cooling towers of the Senoko Power Station. The cooling tower was constructed with concrete poured around the perimeter. To keep it upright, engineers look through a vertical scope towards the ground to keep the platform centred as it was raised a few centimetres each day. If they do not keep it aligned, the structure will be subjected to unnecessary stresses that may lead to a structural failure eventually. Similarly if we do not take our alignment from Christ but from any one else, we will introduce unnecessary stresses among ourselves.

The word "believeth" (vs 6) means to trust or rely on Him. We will not be confounded, i.e., ashamed or disappointed, if we look to Him alone. If we take reference from our neighbour, we reproduce our own weaknesses and this is unhealthy in the long run. How often the church is divided into different parties, "I am of Paul; and I of Apollos" (1 Cor 1:12). We need to train everyone to take alignment from Christ alone, for He is the unmoveable cornerstone. 

How can an orchestra play in harmony if everyone takes reference from his neighbour and ignores the conductor? We experience problems because we have the tendency to look to men (pastors, elders and church leaders), even godly ones. It is better to support our leaders, by looking to Christ as the only conductor. 

He is the Head Corner Stone (vs 7) Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner.

Christ gets the glory as the church is built for Him. While the foundation corner is the first to build, the head (supreme) corner (Zech 4:7) is last to build. This crowning stone, the capstone, identifies the building. While the Greek word for "precious" in verses 4 and 6 is associated with position and authority, the one in vs 7 is associated with value and honour. It is like t(e stone holding the logo of a building, e.g. CPF logo on CPF building. This last stone to be placed, signifies ownership of the building. Christ says "I will build my church", not "the Church", implying the building belongs exclusively to Him. 

It is easy to associate a church building to Christ, because of the cross on the steeple of the building, but what about the people within the building? Often we treat the people as belonging to a person - the pastor or an elder or a preacher or a deacon? We should not think the church to belong to an individual, no matter how much he has donen The Church belongs to Christ; He will not share His glory and honour with any other. 

Many today live as if the chief end of God is to glorify men. But the Westminster Confession of Faith rightly puts it as "the chief end of men is to glorify God." The Church exists to glorify God not men. Our attitude should be "He must increase, but I must decrease" (Jn 3:30). This is what we have to do: "to shew forth the praises of him who hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous light!" (v9). The Church is built for Him!

Conclusion

As we follow the theme of building the Church this year, let us remember that the most important strategy in church growth is not a program, a secret formula, nor even a group of dedicated people, but the Lord Himself. He is the source, the means and the end. He initiates, He sustains and He claims. When we operate all ministries in tandem with this, the church will grow. 

For this reason, we have adopted the tag line "Our hands united in the work, our eyes fixated on the Lord" for our Beulah Project - to remind ourselves that as we work together, we need to constantly look to Him. When we put Christ in His rightful place, the church will grow, and that is because He has promised to do so. Amen.

1 Peter 1:23-25 - The Word That Endure Forever

By Rev Charles Seet

Preached at / Published Life BPC 10:45am service, 2007-10-28

Text: 1 Peter 1:23-25

Today Protestant churches all over the world remember their Protestant heritage by commemorating the 490th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation which began on 31 October 1517. We thank the Lord for bringing about this movement, because we are now benefiting from its results.

I. The Reformation Restored the Authority of the Scriptures

Of all the results of the Reformation, the most important one was the restoration of the authority of Holy Scriptures back to the Church. This was known at that time as Sola Scriptura which means 'Scripture alone' in Latin. Let us trace the events that had led to this.

Prior to the Protestant Reformation, the Church was in a very sorry state. Church leaders who professed celibacy were indulging in sexual sins. There was evident mismanagement of funds in the frivolous expenditure to acquire thousands of relics for its many cathedrals. The worship of God was obscured by the worship of the saints and of Mary. Superstitious practices abounded (e.g. 'Black Saturday'). It was a period of moral decadence and theological declension. What had caused this sad state? It developed when the Roman Church made itself the supreme authority over the Scriptures, and then exalted man-made traditions above the Scriptures. The effect of this was that the authority of the Scriptures in the lives of people was lost.

But God began to work to change this situation. In the latter part of a 12th century, a French merchant by the name of Peter Waldo began to reject the traditions of the Roman Church and advocated the biblical principle that we know today as 'Sola Scriptura.' His followers used nothing but the Scriptures for their preaching, and they became known as the Waldenses. However, for doing this, they were excommunicated and persecuted by the Roman Church. 

In the 14th century, God raised up a Bible scholar at Oxford University in England by the name of John Wycliffe (1330-1384). Wycliffe was much influenced by the Sola Scriptura principle of the Waldenses. He became very bold in using the Bible to expose all the false teachings and practices of the Roman Church. He also made the first English translation of the Bible. 

The Roman Church bitterly opposed Wycliffe's translation, declaring that by it the Scriptures had been desecrated by the English language, that the pearl of the Gospel was now being scattered and trodden underfoot by swine. But God protected him from being persecuted by the Roman Church and so Wycliffe continued his work. To promote Bible-reading, Wycliffe established a group of itinerant preachers (Lollards) who went throughout England distributing the Scriptures and at the same time evangelizing and preaching the Gospel. For the impact that he made, John Wycliffe became known as the 'Morning Star of the Reformation.'

 

In the next century (15th), God raised up another man, this time from Bohemia (now known as Czechoslovakia). His name was John Huss (1372-1415). He was much influenced by the writings of John Wycliffe and began to use the same Sola Scriptura principle in his teaching and preaching. This immediately brought severe persecution from the church. John Huss was promised safe conduct to present his case, but he was betrayed and condemned at the Council of Constance and burned at the stake.

Despite the efforts of these early reformers (Peter Waldo, John Wycliffe, and John Huss), the Roman Church still held on to its supreme authority and kept the whole of Europe under its man-made traditions and false teachings. The Sola Scriptura principle received full attention only in the 16th Century. 

This time, God raised up a German monk by the name of Martin Luther to take the lead. One day, as he was browsing through the books in his monastery's library, Luther accidentally found a Bible. He had never seen one before. This raised his curiosity to a high degree: He read it over with great excitement, and was amazed to find what a small portion of the Scriptures was being taught to the people. So he devoted himself to study the Scriptures well in order that he would be able to teach its wonderful truths to the people. He devoted himself so much to this that he often neglected eating and sleeping. After completing his training at the monastery, Luther began his ministry at Wittenberg. There he used the Sola Scriptura principle both at the University of Wittenburg where he taught, and at the Church of Wittenburg which he pastored. 

The spark that ignited the fire of the Reformation was the sale by the Roman church of something called indulgences. Indulgences were basically 'forgiveness tickets' that could be bought with money. The Roman church taught the people that if a person's sins were not satisfied by penance in this life, he would have to make satisfaction for them in an intermediate place called Purgatory, where it is alleged that Christians endured great torments for a long time before entering heaven. The only solution to this was to buy Indulgences for themselves. For a payment of a sum of money, the Pope could shorten the time that a person spent in Purgatory. There is absolutely no biblical basis for this doctrine - it is all human conjecture.

Thus, when Martin Luther heard about what was going on, he felt bound by his commitment to God and the Bible to speak up against indulgences. He decided to call for a public debate to discuss the whole matter. In preparation for this debate he wrote out a list of 95 statements, or theses against Indulgences with an announcement that these statements will form the basis for a public debate which was to take place in the church the next day. He nailed them to the door of the church on 31 October 1517.

Within 4 weeks they were copied out by people and sent throughout Germany and surrounding countries. God raised up many more Reformers who joined in the Protestant movement which eventually reformed the Church and broke away completely from Rome. Among them were: Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin, William Farrell, and John Knox. With one voice they all sounded forth the well-known watchword of the Reformation: 'y Scripture alone, by Faith alone, by Grace alone, Christ alone, glory to God alone!' In Latin, the first part of this watchword 'by Scripture alone' is Sola Scriptura. And from the 16th century until now, the 21st century, this has continued to be the very first and most important guiding principle followed by all Protestant churches, including Life Church. 

II. The Reformation Increased the Availability of the Scriptures

Besides restoring the authority of the Scriptures in the church, the 16th century Protestant Reformation also increased the availability of the Scriptures. Prior to the 16th century, the church had strictly forbidden lay people to read or study the Bible on their own. The only ones who were qualified to do this were the clergy of the church, and the only way that anyone could know what was in the Bible was through listening to what the priests and bishops taught during church services, which wasn't very much. In any case, the Bible was available only in Latin, the language of ancient Rome. 

This translation, of the Bible which was made by Jerome in the 5th century became known as the Vulgate. It became the official Bible of the Roman church and it was used for over a thousand years. In fact the Roman Church proclaimed that the Vulgate is perfect, and is even better than any Greek and Hebrew manuscript of Scripture. But by the 16th century, Latin became a language only of the scholars and most people in Europe could not understand this ancient language. Hence they could not understand what was written in the Bible. It was a closed book to them which they could not know except what the church professed to disclose to them.

We are so blessed today to be able to hold in our hands a personal copy of the Bible which we can understand. For centuries before the Reformation, most people were deprived not only of having a Bible, but having one in a language they could fully understand, because the church allowed only the Latin Vulgate to be used. Then two wonderful things happened. Firstly the printing press was invented in 1440 - now it became possible for large numbers of Bibles to be printed and purchased at affordable prices. Secondly, the Reformers translated the Bible into the common languages of the people. The first to do this was Martin Luther. He was responsible for the first German translation of the New Testament in 1522. The second Reformer to do a translation work was William Tyndale. He translated the Scriptures into English because he firmly believed that the Scriptures should be made available to the common people.

Last night we screened a video in this sanctuary about him. In one scene, when Tyndale was opposed by one Roman cleric, he replied, 'If God spare my life, before many years pass, I will cause a boy that drives a plough to know more of the Scriptures than you do!' He made good his promise and completed his English translation of the New Testament from Greek manuscripts in 1525. And he also translated much of the Old Testament from Hebrew manuscripts.

Although Tyndale's New Testament was published and distributed throughout England, it was banned by the authorities and burned. Tyndale himself was arrested, convicted of heresy and burned at the stake in Antwerp, Holland. Later on, the Catholic Queen Mary Tudor (1516-58) ordered that anyone in England caught in possession of a Bible should be burned. Thousands of Christians were martyred during her reign. But 5 years after she launched this persecution, Mary was succeeded by her step-sister, Queen Elizabeth I who was a Protestant. During her reign, Elizabeth ordered the publication of 130 editions of the Bible. 

And about 50 years later, King James I authorized the translation work of the English Bible which became known as the Authorised Version or KJV. This translation work was done by 47 scholars and it was really a revision of the Bishops' Bible, which was in turn based on the Great Bible (1539) and the Geneva Bible (1560) both of which were revisions of Tyndale's Bible. Therefore over 90% of the wording of the KJV New Testament came from William Tyndale. The KJV itself went through several revisions until the final one was made in 1769. This is the English Bible we are using today.

For the past 57 years, Life B-P Church has been upholding the use of the KJV because we believe that it is the best English translation of the Scriptures, made by godly translators from the best Greek and Hebrew texts. Rest assured that the KJV will continue to be used for all ministries of Life B-P Church and for our members' use. Our doctrinal position with regard to the Word of God and the KJV Bible is as follows: 'We do believe that the Hebrew and Greek texts that were used for the King James Version of the English Bible (KJV) were providentially preserved by God and are therefore closest to the original autographs of the Bible.'

Thus we have seen how the Protestant Reformation which began 490 years ago restored the authority of the Scriptures, and also increased the availability of Scriptures. We should be thankful to God for this and we stand indebted to the Reformers for their convictions, their courage and their sacrifice. For this reason we must guard the church well against anything that may undermine either the authority or the availability of the Scriptures.

III. The Reformation's Legacy on the Scriptures Must Be Cherished

Some have undermined the authority of the Scriptures by claiming that there are mistakes and discrepancies in the Bible, that certain parts are mere fables and legends, and that the Bible text that we have in our hands is badly corrupted and we cannot depend upon it. Their theories and speculations have damaged the faith of many in the Bible, and caused many churches to go astray from the Lord.

The truth of the matter is that the alleged contradictions in the Bible are only apparent. They can be explained and harmonised. Over the years, the increased knowledge of history, geography, science and archaelogy have helped to corroborate the Bible. The number of variant readings due to a miscopied word here or there in the Greek and Hebrew manuscripts has been so small and insignificant that they hardly deserve any consideration. And none of these variant readings have affected the meaning of the text. The correct reading can easily be determined by comparing parallel passages in the Bible. We can therefore have the greatest confidence that the Bible we have today is as reliable and authoritative for us as the original autographs that were written under inspiration of God. Let me emphasise that no book or literary work in the world has ever been so wonderfully preserved as the Bible. 

In their book What If the Bible Had Never Been Written, James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe compare the Bible with other books written at roughly the same time. There are only ten manuscript copies of Caesar's Gallic Wars, written about 60 BC, the oldest is from AD 900, which is nearly a thousand years later. Of the seven manuscript copies of Plato's Tetralogies, written about 400 BC, the oldest also dates to around AD 900, a span of roughly 1300 years. Homer's epic, The Iliad was written about 900 BC. The earliest of the 643 copies goes back to 400 BC, 500 years after it was written. By contrast, we have 5,366 copies of ancient Greek New Testament hand-written manuscripts! In addition, the oldest copies are far closer in time to the originals than any other ancient writings. The earliest manuscript containing most of the New Testament dates to AD 200 and there are fragments going back to AD 125 (e.g. the Rylands papyrus), only 25 to 75 years after the originals were written! 

The great scholar Sir Fredrick Kenyon wrote a book entitled, The Bible and Archaeology. In this book he wrote: 'The interval between the dates of original composition and the earliest extant evidence becomes so small as to be in fact negligible and the last foundation for any doubt that the Scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written has now been removed' This is exactly what God Himself said would be the case in Isaiah 40:8 'The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.' And our text of 1 Peter 1:23 tells us that we are 'born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.'

Within the last 77 years however, a new teaching on the preservation of the Bible has arisen which undermines both the authority and availability of the Scriptures. It was started by a Seventh Day Adventist named Benjamin G Wilkinson (1872 - 1968) through a book entitled, Our Authorised Bible Vindicated (1930). This new teaching has been propagated since then and has emerged 5 years ago with the name Verbal Plenary Preservation (VPP). The teaching can be summarised as follows: 

The process of preservation of the Scriptures culminated in the Hebrew and Greek texts underlying the King James Version. These texts surpassed all other editions of the traditional texts existing at that time. The ones who were responsible for these texts were the translators of the KJV. God used these translators to restore absolute 100% purity to the texts in the year 1611. The result of this is that the Greek and Hebrew texts underlying the KJV are the exact words of the original writings, i.e. a virtual photocopy of the autographs. Christians who use the KJV can therefore claim to have a perfect Bible. 

As you can see, the intention of those who promote this teaching is noble - to give those who use the KJV absolute confidence that they have a Bible translation which is based on the texts which are not only closest to the original, but which is word and letter perfect, exactly the same as the original. Wouldn't it be good for all of us who are KJV users to know that we alone have the unrivalled privilege to have such a Bible in our hands? This would surely provide us with the most solid grounds to continue using it and to discourage the use of any other version of the Bible.

But as noble as the intention may be for this new teaching, we must realize that it is untenable. Firstly, although it claims to be based on passages of Scripture which speak on the preservation of the Scriptures (e.g. 1 Peter 1:23-25), it is really a subjective opinion that has no biblical authority. Nowhere in the entire Bible is there any verse which says that God will restore the 100% purity of the Greek and Hebrew texts of His Word to make them exactly like the original autographs. Nowhere in the Bible can you find even a single verse that says or implies that God will do this restoration work through the translators of the KJV in the year 1611. This is all purely human conjecture. 

If it is truly based on the Bible, then any Christian in any period of church history and in any part of the world who studies nothing but the Bible carefully, guided by the Holy Spirit should be able to arrive at this teaching independently. But this is obviously not the case. It is a new doctrine, limited to some users of the KJV.

Therefore its basis is something other than the Bible. And if we were to make this new teaching binding for every Christian to believe, then we are no longer based solely on the divine authority of the Bible. This clearly contradicts the Sola Scriptura principle of the Reformation and undermines the authority of the Scriptures. We would be doing exactly what the Roman Church did - making the decrees of church councils and church traditions of equal authority with the Scriptures. And if we permit this compromise of the sole authority of the Scriptures, the door would be open to making many other compromises as well. Then our faith would rest on very shaky foundations and all the work of the Protestant Reformers would have been in vain!

Dearly beloved, we must continue to uphold the authority of the Scriptures which the Reformers fought so hard for. Besides that, we must also uphold the availability of the Scriptures to all believers since this was also what the Reformers courageously stood for. But if we adopt the new teaching we would be doing just the opposite. If we claim that we alone have a Bible translation which is based on the restored, 100% pure texts in the original languages, we would automatically deny anyone who uses a different Bible from ours the right to make a similar claim. That would include the Chinese Bible, the Indonesian Bible, and many Bibles in other languages today - for the simple reason that the texts from which those Bibles were translated are not exactly the same as the texts from which the KJV was translated. 

We would then have to tell them that since God has already done His work of restoring the Hebrew and Greek texts to their original state in the year 1611, they are opposing God by insisting on using Bibles which are not based on these restored texts. They must either switch to using only the KJV, which means that they must learn English, or wait for someone to do an entirely new translation of the Chinese Bible, Indonesian Bible and Bibles in other languages. Isn't this the same thing as what the Roman Church did, in claiming that the Latin Vulgate was the only valid, authoritative Bible that could be used by all believers? 

Isn't this the same thing as what the Roman Church did in despising Tyndale's English translation, Luther's German translation and other translations of the Bible that the Refomers and others after them made into the vernacular languages of Europe? Now those who claim that God fully restored the 100% purity of the Hebrew and Greek texts only through the textual decisions made by the KJV translators in 1611 would also have to say that during the 15 centuries before the KJV was made, no one possessed texts that were 100% restored like the ones theirs is based on. 

This is not what the Reformers believed and taught. Let me read to you what the Westminster Confession of Faith says about this: 'The Old Testament in Hebrew (which was the native language of the people of God of old), and the New Testament in Greek (which, at the time of the writing of it was most generally known to the nations), being immediately inspired by God, and, by His singular care and providence, kept pure in all ages, are therefore authentical; so as, in all controversies of religion, the Church is finally to appeal unto them.'(WCF 1:8) The words 'kept pure in all ages' in this statement shows that the Westminster divines believed that the purity of the Old and New Testaments was kept or maintained in all ages, including the time before the KJV translators. It wasn't at all a gradual process where the texts gradually became purer and purer over time. It was simply a continuation of the purity of the text in all ages.

Finally, those who believe that the KJV translators have given us a Bible which is based on fully restored texts would have to disagree with the KJV translators themselves. Why? Because these translators included variant readings for some verses found in the margins of the KJV (some KJV Bibles today still have them) and they wrote the following in the preface of the KJV: 

Now in such a case, does not a margin do well to admonish the reader to seek further, and not to conclude or dogmatize upon this or that without investigation? For as it is a fault of incredulity to doubt those things that are evident, so to determine such things as the Spirit of God hath left questionable (even in the judgment of the judicious), can be no less than presumption. ('The Translators to the Reader,' front matter in The Authorized Version of the Bible, 1611 edition.) I trust that you can understand from all this, why this new teaching called verbal plenary preservation must be regarded as untenable.

It has really been painful to see that within the last 5 years it has taken hold of the Far Eastern Bible College and some Bible-Presbyterian churches in Singapore. It has been promoted with such great vehemence as to produce much controversy and strife among brethren and even caused some churches to split. The main reason for this is that the proponents of this new teaching have turned it into a major doctrine and a touchstone of Christian fundamentalism. Those who disagree with them are unkindly accused of denying the Bible and are branded as Neo-Evangelicals and Neo-Fundamentalists. They promote this new teaching at all costs without considering how destructive it is to the peace and unity of the church. 

In the face of this challenge let us remain firm and steadfast in upholding the authority and availability of the Scriptures. Following the spirit of the Protestant Reformers we must not be moved to compromise on these things, but trust in the Lord to help us.

1 John 1:1-7; 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 - We Believe in Biblical Separation

By Rev Charles Seet

Preached at / Published Life BPC Weekly, 2019-07-28

Text: 1 John 1:1-7; 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1

As we continue in our series of messages on the beliefs of our church, we now come to the doctrine of Biblical separation. To many people, this doctrine is rather negative and divisive. They think that if we practise biblical separation, we have no love. But it is taught clearly in the Bible, and hence we cannot choose to ignore it. This doctrine needs to be understood and applied correctly, otherwise what we may end up practicing is unbiblical isolation rather than biblical separation. There are at least three principles we need to understand about this doctrine. Firstly…

  1. God’s Truth is the only Basis for Christian Fellowship.

To understand this principle, let us look at 1 John 1:1-3 – “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”

I want you to observe that the word ‘fellowship’ occurs twice here. And it occurs two more times in the rest of this chapter. It comes from the Greek word ‘koinonia’ which conveys the idea of a close mutual partnership. Koinonia is much more than mere friendship or family kinship. We relate to our non-Christian friends on a social level, and there is an additional emotional level when we relate to family members who are close to us. But to fellow Christians we can relate on a spiritual level as well, a level where there is oneness of heart, mind and spirit. And this is a deeper and more meaningful level of relationship that we can enjoy.

True Christian fellowship is a precious spiritual union that can only be enjoyed by born again Christians. Our common spiritual birth links us together with a very unique bond through our Lord Jesus. As Paul tells us, “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” (Ephesians 4:4-6). Because of the fellowship we share a Christians, we can worship God together and unite our hearts together to praise Him in song. Because of our Christian fellowship, we can help each other to grow into spiritual maturity. And because of our Christian fellowship, we can serve God together and join hands together in any spiritual work, like corporate praying and evangelism. 

With this understanding of what fellowship is, let us look again at 1 John 1:3 – “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us.” We now direct our focus to the phrase, ‘that which we have seen and heard’. The word ‘we’ here refers to John and all his fellow apostles. They were the direct eyewitnesses of the life, work and teaching of Jesus Christ. And hence, the apostles became the authorized means by which God revealed His truth in written form. Here, John tells his readers that this truth was declared to them so that they may have fellowship (koinonia) with him and the rest of the apostles.

John wrote this epistle at a time when there were false teachers in the church who denied the truth which God had revealed through the apostles. These false teachers claimed that God could not possibly have created the world, because God is spirit and cannot have any dealings with the world of matter which is inherently evil. They claimed that the world was created by an emanation that came out of God.

Some of them believed that Jesus could not possibly have been God, because God can never take on a material body. Others said that Jesus was God or one of the emanations of God, but He did not really take on a real physical body. They said that He just appeared to have a body. But it was just an illusion. Then according to church history, there was one false teacher named Cerinthus who taught that God came and took over the body of a man named Jesus at his baptism, and then left his body just before he was crucified. All these false teachings had one common feature – they all implied that acts committed by the body do not affect one’s spiritual life, and so it did not matter if believers continued to live in sin. 

As these false teachings spread within the Church and gained some followers, many believers became confused about whom they should believe and continue to fellowship with. John wrote this epistle to clear their confusion by teaching them how to know who they can have fellowship with. He wrote that the only basis for Christian fellowship is God’s truth. We can have fellowship with one another only on the basis of this revealed truth which is God’s written Word, the Bible. Therefore, without this revealed truth there is no basis at all for Christian fellowship. This is the all-important principle that we must apply whenever we practice biblical separation.

This principle can be easily applied to our relationships with non-Christians. Fellowship with them is impossible since they have yet to accept the truth which God has revealed and come to the saving knowledge of Christ for salvation. And so, we must keep persuading them to accept the truth. Until they do this, there is no basis at all for any fellowship with them. Can we associate with them on a purely social level? Yes, we certainly can, as long as all the social activities that we engage with them are not worldly or sinful. Our Lord Jesus had meals together with the publicans and sinners (Matthew 9:11). Can we then relate to them on a spiritual level? The answer is NO, we cannot, because full acceptance of God’s truth is the only basis for fellowship. Hence, biblical separation limits our relationship with non-Christian friends.

But biblical separation may at times limit our relationship even with Christian friends. Let me explain. Since Christianity started 2,000 years ago and spread all over the world, many Christian groups have emerged. Today there are over 30,000 groups in the world that are called Christian. Some groups have adhered to the truth faithfully, but some have deviated far from it. Some of these have deviated from the truth by adding new doctrines to it. Others have deviated from the truth by removing essential doctrines from it. This phenomenon may be called ‘truth decay.’ Any church that has deviated from the truth either by adding to it or by subtracting from it can no longer be regarded as churches we can have fellowship with. They may bear some similarities to us, but they are different from us.

This is the reason why Life Church has not participated in interchurch mass evangelism campaigns. In 17-19 May this year there was a three-day campaign at the National stadium that was attended by more than 125,000 people. Altogether 227 churches and marketplace groups in Singapore put all their differences aside and united for the salvation of souls. The participants included megachurches, charismatic churches and conservative churches. Perhaps we may not have problems joining hands with the more conservative Bible-believing churches among them if they are the only ones conducting this campaign. But when these churches join hands together with churches that have deviated away from the truth, then we have to stay out.

And since 1948 many churches have even joined hands with other religions. That was the year when the World Council of Churches was born. Today it has a membership of 350 churches and denominations of every shade of doctrine. Those churches and denominations represent more than half a billion Christians around the world. In a conference held in Athens in 2005 the Council issued the following statement: “As Christians we seek to build a new relationship with other religious traditions because we believe it to be intrinsic to the gospel message and inherent to our mission as co-workers with God in healing the world. Therefore the mystery of God’s relationship to all God’s people, and the many ways in which peoples have responded to this mystery, invite us to explore more fully the reality of other religious traditions and our own identity as Christians in a religiously plural world.” If you look at this statement carefully you will see that it promotes the false idea that followers of other religions are God’s people and have a relationship with God. Thus, the World Council of Churches organises dialogues with Sikhs and conferences with Buddhists. It also sends greetings to Hindus and to Muslim sisters and brothers regularly.

At an International peace conference of Muslims and Christians in Egypt in 2017, the WCC General Secretary declared, “We believe in one God that has created one humanity to live together with its diversity and differences.” How different this is from what Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.” (John 14:6) Why has all this has happened? It is all because churches have put aside their differences in order to seek after unity. But by doing this they have compromised the truth, which is the only basis for Christian unity.

How do we respond when we receive invitations to join them? We practise biblical separation, which means that we do not join them in their worship or in their prayer meetings. It means that we do not co-labour with them in reaching out to the lost. However, this does not mean that we should avoid having any contact with them altogether. While we cannot relate to them on a spiritual level, we may still relate to them as individuals on a social level – as friends with other common interests, such as food, exercise or sports.

But if we are truly concerned for them as friends we would not want them to continue in their deviant beliefs. We would surely pray that they will come to know and obey the truth. And we would even try to help them to do this. What God requires of us in our relationship with friends from churches that have deviated from the truth is to help them to understand the truth patiently and lovingly, hoping that they will one day obey the truth and come out from their church.

And when they have done that, then we can enjoy having fellowship with them. Then we can relate to them not only on a social level, but on a spiritual level as well, since they are now truly likeminded brothers and sisters in Christ. Thus we have seen that biblical separation limits our relationship with friends from churches that have deviated from the truth to a purely social relationship. We can relate to them on a spiritual level only when they have come out of the churches with deviant beliefs.

Perhaps at this point some of us may wonder how seriously should we take this practice of separation? Are there passages of Scripture that clearly teach us to practise biblical separation? Yes, there are many.

One of them is found in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 – “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” In this passage we will see two more principles about biblical separation. The first is…

 

  1. God’s Command is to be Separate from Unbelievers.

A command must always be taken seriously. Once it is given, obedience is necessary. Paul was not merely giving advice or his personal opinion when he wrote: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers… come out from among them, and be ye separate.” These are meant to be understood as commands to discontinue an action. This command to be separate from unbelievers was especially relevant to the Corinthian believers because Corinth was a very prominent sinful city. There was a wide variety of pagan people, idolatry and rampant immorality in this city. This influenced the Corinthian church tremendously, and it was one reason why Paul had to deal with so many problems in the epistles he wrote to them.

This command to be separate is actually not new. The Lord had given it to His people long before Paul wrote to the Corinthians. Verses 17-18 of this passage are actually quoted from Isaiah 52:11 – “Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD.” The point is that God had always wanted His people to be separate. The Corinthians were no exception, and neither are we.

A similar command is given to us in 1 John 2:15,16 – “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” Here, we are told not just to be separate from unbelievers, but also from the world, which is largely the product of unbelievers. The world here refers to the system of sin, pride, ambition, pleasure and power that man has built up under Satan. It would include the ungodly, hedonistic attitudes and values which prevail all around us, and which influence the lives of the young as well and the old.

To love the things of the world, and do things that identify us with it will jeopardise our love for God, our spiritual growth and our Christian testimony. One of the great challenges that we all face as Christians, is how to handle the values that are increasingly being forced upon us by the world. The world’s values are radically different from Christian values, and we see them reflected abundantly in the media. Everywhere we go, we are urged to pursue things such as prosperity, popularity, prestige, pleasure and power. These are the things that the world considers to be worth all our time and effort.

And sometimes the influence is so strong that we find ourselves under tremendous pressure to conform (and this has even influenced some churches to adopt worldly practices, e.g. promoting the Prosperity Gospel in their pulpits, and using worldly forms of entertainment in their worship). So what should we do in order to obey God’s command? We must recognise the ungodly character of the world, and decide not to strive to gain its approval or fair treatment from it. Doing this may cause us to suffer inconvenience and disadvantage, as it puts us at odds with the world.

However God’s command to be separate from the world does not mean that we should isolate ourselves totally from society. That’s an extreme application of biblical separation. Jesus said that we are to be the “salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13). As we had seen in the message that was preached two weeks ago, Jesus has also commissioned us to go into all the world and preach the Gospel so that unbelievers may come to believe in Him and be saved (Mark 16:15). Please remember this: We are to be in the world, but not of the world.

Perhaps you may ask: Why has God given us such a command? Why is it so important to Him that His people should be separate from unbelievers and from the world? The reason is found in 1 Corinthians 7:1 – “…let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” This brings us to the third and most important principle about biblical separation…

  1. God’s Holiness is the Reason for Being Separate.

The ultimate reason for being separate is actually found in God Himself. Holiness is the very essence of God’s nature. Holiness makes Him strongly opposed to all sin, unbelief, falsehood and rebellion. The Lord utterly abhors all unholy things and He demonstrates His divine wrath on them. If we are God’s children, we should have the same attitude that God has to all these things. From v. 16, we learn that we are the Temple of the living God – “…for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Thus, we have the great privilege of having Him dwell in us.

In v.18 we find the wonderful privilege of relating to God as children relating to their father. God says, “…and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” The implication of having this close relationship with God is very clear, as 7:1 tells us that we must “…cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

This is what John the apostle meant when he wrote in 1 John 1:5,6 –  “This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.” Here John used light as a metaphor for holiness. Just as light cannot be mixed with darkness, holiness cannot be mixed with unholy relationships.

So let us understand this principle well: God’s holiness is the main reason why we need to practise biblical separation. Our Holy God has graciously given us the wonderful privilege to fellowship with Him as His dear children. But this privilege now imposes limits on our relationship with the world, with its people and with its beliefs and practices. We must be willing to forego some of our close relationships, because the Lord whom we have fellowship with is holy.

One relationship that will be affected by this, is our relationship with disobedient brethren. This is clearly given in 2 Thessalonians 3:6,14,15 – “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us…. And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.”

This answers the question: What should you do when a fellow brother in Christ disobeys God’s Word deliberately? For example, you have a Christian friend who is living openly in sin, or adopting a worldly lifestyle, or disrupting the unity of the church by his conduct or teaching. Would it be right to do nothing for him? No. We should try to get him to repent. And until he repents of his disobedient behaviour, having unrestricted fellowship with him would only encourage more disobedience.

However, this separation is not a total rejection which allows no place for repentance. Allowance should be made if the disobedience is due to ignorance, or to an error of judgment, or to a momentary weakness. Apply the steps given in Matthew 18:15-17 and if the brother repents when he is confronted, then there is no need to separate from him. Allowance should also be made for those who are still young in the faith who may not fully understand the teachings of the Bible. We should also be careful not to make quick judgments that are based on unproven rumours, and not take any action out of a vindictive spirit, or frustration.

In this sermon, I have explained why we believe in Biblical separation from unbelief, from deviant beliefs, from the world, and from disobedient brethren. But it is not easy to put this into practise. And if you want any clarifications or have any questions to ask on this topic, please write to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

At the beginning of this sermon I had mentioned that many people think that there is no love in practicing biblical separation. Actually the opposite is true: Biblical separation is a matter of love: A love for God that rejects the world system, a love for the church that does not allow any deviant teaching to lead God’s people astray, and a love for the disobedient brother to encourage him to do what is right. We have seen that such separation is not an option but a command, based on the holiness of the Lord whom we are to love with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

But all too often, we do not love God as we ought. We fail to be concerned about things we should be most concerned about. John chapter 2 records what Jesus did when He came to the Temple and saw the money-changers and animal-sellers doing business in God’s House: He drove all of them out because He was consumed with a holy zeal for God’s House. What about us? How much do we love God and His House? Can that love be described as a zeal that consumes us? Does it matter to us if some danger comes along and threatens the purity of the Church? Unless we have a true and genuine love for the Church, which Christ has purchased with His own life-blood, we would not be bothered at all to take the needful steps to maintain its purity.

But if we really love Christ and His church, then we must apply the principle of biblical separation whenever it is necessary for us to do so. May the Lord give us all the love and courage we need to apply this principle well for His glory.

 

Jude 1-4 - God's Sovereignty and the Reformation

By Rev Charles Seet

Preached at / Published Life BPC, 8am service, 2000-10-29

Text: Jude 1-4

Today is a special day in which we look at our Protestant heritage and commemorate the 16th century Reformation. This Reformation was a great movement that restored the Truth of God's Word back to the church. We must thank the Lord for bringing about this movement because we are the ones now enjoying all the benefits of it, having the truth of God's Word taught, preached and followed in our church and in all churches that have emerged as a result of this movement. And now the call is given to us to continue in the work of Reformation, according to the call in the passage we read awhile ago from the epistle of Jude: The call to 'earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.'

This Reformation began with a German monk by the name of Dr. Martin Luther who nailed his famous 95 theses to the door of the church at Wittenberg. In just 4 weeks these theses were painstakingly copied out by people and sent throughout Germany and surrounding countries. Many became bold to follow Luther's courage. God raised up many more Reformers who joined in the Protestant movement to proclaim this glorious truth and others truths of Scripture that had become obscured by the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church. Among them were: Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin, John Hus, John Knox. With one voice they all sounded the battle-cry of the Reformation: 'The Word alone, by Grace alone and through Faith alone, to God be all the glory!' (in Latin: Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Soli Deo Gloria)

And today Protestant churches all over the world like ours remember October the 31st as the anniversary of the day when Luther challenged the Catholic Church by nailing his ninety-five theses. However in the midst of all this celebration, something very important is often overlooked. A while ago we saw that the war cry of the Reformation concludes with the words 'To God alone be the Glory.' But when you listen to many Reformation lectures and sermons being preached you might notice that this is strangely missing. Instead of glorifying God for the work of the Reformation, the ones who are glorified are mere mortal human beings. The true wonder of the whole work is obscured - which is the Sovereignty of God over all circumstances.

I would like now to demonstrate that the 16th Century Protestant reformation was the work of God working through frail creatures of flesh. It was God Himself who clearly directed the inclinations in the hearts of men and ordered all the events that took place. We will see that God brought about this work through three categories of circumstances: The first was

I. The Development of Indulgences in the Church 

Indulgences are 'forgiveness tickets' that could be bought with money. The granting of indulgences originated from a good biblical practice in church discipline. The practice where the whole congregation demonstrated grace to a repentant errant member by relaxing the 'satisfactions' which had been imposed on him as requirements for readmission into fellowship. But in the 13th century Pope Alexander perverted indulgences to mean the 'commutation for money of part of the temporal penalty due for sin, of the practical satisfaction that was a part of the sacrament of penance which also required contrition on the part of the penitent and absolution from a priest.' Furthermore indulgences could only be granted by the pope's authority and made available through accredited agents.

Other perversions in the Roman church followed. The church taught the people that if a person�s sins were not satisfied by penance in this life, he would be required to make satisfaction for them in an intermediate place called Purgatory, where saints endured great torments for a long time before entering heaven. The only solution to Purgatory was Indulgences. For a payment of a sum of money, the Pope could use his authority to shorten the time that a saint spent in Purgatory.

In 1467 a papal bull of Pope Sixtus IV extended the privilege of indulgences to include the souls who were already suffering in purgatory, provided their living relatives purchased the indulgences for them. This development pandered to the emotional bonds of relationship between the living and their deceased loved ones - who would not want to see his parents, children or wife delivered speedily from torment? A person could therefore now buy indulgences for himself - to keep himself from going to Purgatory - or for a deceased friend or relative -  to help them escape more quickly from Purgatory. 

I think you can see what motivated the Roman Church to develop these false doctrines. They brought in a great amount of money and wealth into the church. All the huge monuments and buildings in the Vatican were built with money gained through indulgences. So if you ever visit Rome and admire the sculptures and architecture of the grand St Peter's cathedral, remember that it was all paid for by the Catholic Church's teaching on indulgences and purgatory.

Now, besides making the church very rich, indulgences also produced another effect: it made people sin more and more! The sinful nature of man was free to express itself, since forgiveness could be bought so easily with money. Some even bought indulgences for sins they had not yet committed!

And this set the stage for men who thirsted after righteousness to see how wrong this doctrine is and challenge it. Men like John Wyclif in England and Martin Luther in Germany. There were of course many other evil perverted doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, like the worship of Mary, idolatry and transubstantiation. But it was this particular doctrine of indulgences and the evil effects that were evident that was used by God to provoke men to oppose the church and to ignite the fires of the Reformation.

We go on now to look at the second category of circumstances God used. These were

II. The Economic And Political Changes In Rome And Germany. 

What was it that caused the Roman Catholic Church to become greedy for money and thus promote the sale of indulgences? It was the fact that the church had lost a great source of income when the Crusades ended. During the Crusades the church had inherited much wealth and property from many wealthy crusaders who had placed their estates under the care of the church when they went.

When these crusaders died in battle, their estates and property permanently belonged to the church. This brought in much wealth into the church for a time and when it stopped with the end of the Crusades, there was suddenly a fall in income. The church had tasted wealth and enjoyed it. The popes had got used to living in luxury. Because the church had now become so accustomed to receiving so much, she began to look for other means of gaining wealth. You can guess what solution she found: Commercialize the dispensing of forgiveness by the sale of indulgences!

Rome exported chest after chest of these indulgences all over Europe. These were actually certificates signed by the Pope which granted the purchaser the right to receive full and perfect remission of all his sins, the right to participate in the merits of all the saints and the relieving of poor suffering loved ones in purgatory. Moreover the indulgences were sold at great discounts and skilled salesmen were employed to promote sales all over Europe. They made great extravagant claims for the effectiveness of these new special indulgences. They said that repentance was no longer a requirement for them. One of the salesmen who said this was a Dominican monk named Johann Tetzel who even had a catchy jingle 'As soon as the coin into the coffer rings, the soul out of Purgatory springs.' Tetzel's salestalk even included such blasphemous statements as 'The Lord our God no longer reigns, He has resigned all power to the pope.'

Tetzel was not only working for the pope but also for an ambitious German prince of Brandenburg. Prince Albert was in debt to the pope as a result of a deal he made with the pope to make him the archbishop of his area for a large sum of money. Hence the pope and Tetzel split the profits from the sale of indulgences between them.

Now the town of Wittenburg where Martin Luther was, was located in a region called Saxony which was actually outside of the area where Tetzel operated. In fact the the prince of Saxony who disliked Prince Albert of Brandenburg did not allow him to come into his territory. At this point it would seem that Luther would never have come face to face with Tetzel in a confrontation over indulgences because he lived in a part of Germany that was free from it. But by God's providence geography comes in to play an important role here, because Wittenburg, though in Saxony, was only a few miles from the border of Brandenburg, where Tetzel operated. Being a very shrewd businessman Tetzel purposely set up his trade of indulgences right at the border town near Wittenburg so that people from Saxony could cross over to buy indulgences.

Right at this point we see several threads of circumstances coming together to prepare the stage for the nailing of the 95 theses. The greed of Rome that developed the doctrine of indulgences to get money, the ambitions of Prince Albert to become archbishop, and the shrewed dealings of Tetzel.

All of these were working together according to God's sovereign providence to ignite the flames of the Reformation.

Now we come to the third category of circumstances God used. These were the circumstances in:

III. The Life of Martin Luther 

If Luther had been any less convicted of the error of indulgences than he was, he would never have written the 95 theses at all. Let us learn a little about Martin Luther. He started out as an Augustinian monk in a Catholic monastery in Germany. And there he was made to study the writings of Augustine and the Catholic Schoolmen, but not the Bible. But one day, as he was browsing through the books in the monastery's library, he accidentally found a copy of the Latin Bible, which he had never seen before. This raised his curiosity to a high degree: he read it over with great excitement, and was amazed to find what a small portion of the Scriptures was being taught to the people.

So he devoted himself to study the Scriptures well in order that he would be able to teach its wonderful truths to the people. He devoted himself so much to Bible study that he often neglected eating and sleeping. As there were no German translations of the Bible yet, he had to study the Bible in Latin, which was really his second language (This would be like a situation where there are no English Bibles at all today and all of us had to study the Scriptures in Chinese!) But Luther knew it so well, that later on he was able even to make the first translation of the Bible into the German language! After Luther's training was finished, he began his ministry at Wittenberg.

Luther was given three roles at Wittenburg. He was a monk, he was a university professor and he was also a church pastor. There was something in each of the three roles with Luther had which urged him to oppose indulgences.

As a monk, Luther belonged to the Augustinian order. This was different from the Dominican order to which Tetzel belonged. A rivalry had always existed between these two orders of monks and therefore Luther felt no qualms at all about opposing Tetzel.

As a professor, Luther had sworn to defend with all his might the faith contained in the Scriptures, and he did this well. In fact, just months before he wrote the 95 theses he had published 151 theses on justification and 97 theses against Scholastic theology. He was a hard-working professor or theology, always intent on improving the curriculum for his students and eliciting the truth.

Therefore when Tetzel's doctrine of indulgences was heard at Wittenburg, Luther had to fulfill his duty as the University theologian to uphold the Scriptures. It was actually quite normal for him to nail the theses to the door of the church because this door also served as the notice board for the university students. These theses were designed by Luther the professor to become the basis for an academic debate which was to take place on the next day. The next day was November 1, All-Saints day when the church hall would be packed both with his students and the members of his church.

We have seen Luther as a monk and as a professor. Now we turn to Luther as a pastor. As a pastor, Luther had experienced the joy of salvation, and knew that his sins were forgiven. He truly appreciated the free gift of grace because he had started an exhaustive study of Paul's epistle to the Romans in 1515. As he studied this epistle carefully he had discovered that salvation was not at all accomplished by doing good works, as he had been taught all along by the Roman Catholic Church. He realised the truth of Romans 1:17 which says: 'The just shall live by faith.' For the first time in his life, Luther believed with all his heart in the Lord Jesus Christ and experienced the forgiveness of his sins. He was born again and his heart was inflamed with a passion to share what he had discovered with others and to preach it to the humble people who were members of the church he pastored.

What Luther discovered and shared with his congregation was entirely opposed to the system of salvation Tetzel was teaching through payments of money. As a good pastor, Luther could not bear to see his people coming under the influence of this grossly false teaching, and therefore he could not remain silent. Even before Tetzel came, Luther had shown a pastoral concern for the problem of indulgences. There were sermons by Luther against indulgences as early as 1515, 1516 and early 1517. He saw the danger of a false sense of security generated by the Indulgences. When Tetzel came however many from Luther's own congregation crossed the border to Brandenburg to buy indulgences despite his repeated warnings. 

Luther could not help but to protest against this to rid the church of this profane and degrading practice. 

And so we can see in Martin Luther, the Sovereignty of God working to produce out of the circumstances of his life, a man, whose convictions from the various roles of life would combine under the right external circumstances to initiate the Reformation. Being a monk, he was willing to oppose Tetzel who belonged to a rival monastic order. As a university professor, he wanted his students to elucidate the truth. As a church pastor, he wanted to protect his flock against a doctrine that was precious to him because of his own recent salvation experience.

But here we must note that when Luther wrote his 95 theses he still had great respect for the Catholic Church and the pope. It was only two years later in 1519 that he came to realize how unscriptural and evil the church was. It was not his original intention to start the Reformation at all and cause schism within the church. He only expected to influence his students and his church members in his own town towards his point of view concerning indulgences. But God had different designs for Luther's act.

It was Prince Albert of Brandenburg who was used by God to blow up the issue. Earlier on itw as mentioned that he was using indulgences to pay the pope what he owed him. He naturally felt threatened when he heard about the stir Luther had caused against indulgences. In his mind he saw sales dropping drastically and himself unable to pay his debt. So he quickly sent a request to Rome to stop Luther. When Rome received this request it reacted at first with disregard, but later with disdain for Luther's thesis because the pope also began to see Luther as a threat to her lucrative business.

Tetzel thus responded on behalf of Rome by coming up with two sets of counter theses against Luther. He was also angry that his sales had been adversely affected by what Luther had written. This sparked off a chain reaction of big public debates between those who sided Tetzel and those who sided Luther.

It is apparent from all of this that the circumstances leading to the writing of the 95 theses affected the reaction to them to a very great extent.

Under a different set of circumstances, a document which Luther himself later admitted was made with weak convictions against the Papal system, might not have succeeded in dividing the church. God was clearly working to use the weak efforts of men to bring about a powerful change in his church.

The whole Protestant Reformation which we celebrate today was carefully planned and wrought by the Lord. We ought therefore to give God all the glory and praise for this wonderful work! And since it was God who restored the truth to His church in the Reformation, we can be confident that God will ensure that His Truth will continue to be preserved and propagated in the church today, no matter how great the threats may be.

Today we are once again faced with issues of truth and error. There is Liberalism, Charismatism, Neo-Evangelicalism, and not to mention the Roman Catholic Church which is still very strong. More than that there is even an attempt in our time to undo the work of the Reformation, in the ecumenical movement. Two years ago Rome removed its disdain for Martin Luther and forgave him for being a rebel. This was done to open the door for reconciliation of Protestants to the Roman Catholic Church. And some sectors of Protestantism have already capitulated.

These include the Anglicans and Methodist churches. Recently I saw a pamphlet publicizing that on the 15-18 of next month, four local churches are going to host several joint ecumenical gatherings: These include a Methodist church, an Anglican Church, a Syrian Mar Thoma Church, and a Roman Catholic Church. The Neo-Evangelicals signed two documents, one in 1994 and another in 1997 called Evangelicals and Catholics Together document (ECT). The trend today is to go back to Rome. A year ago the Lutheran Church signed a joint declaration with the Roman Catholic Church on the doctrine of Justification, stating that they have now reached an agreement on this doctrine. This is clearly a compromise, because the Catholic Church has not changed in its stand regarding Justification by faith plus works. The Charismatic movement is also involved in this Romeward march.

John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard churches went so far as to apologize to the Catholic church on behalf of all Protestants. He asked a Catholic archbishop to stand up in the front of the auditorium and spoke these words to him.

Then he asked him as the representative of the Catholic Church to accept his apology on behalf of all Protestants and to forgive the Protestant church for protesting against it. Wimber stated that 'the pope, is very responsive to the charismatic movement, and is himself a born again evangelical, is preaching the gospel as clear as anyone in the world today.' 

Brethren we are living in momentous times. And at times we may become anxious and ask ourselves, 'What if the church today is not strong enough to withstand the huge tide of compromise?' What if Fundamentalist churches like ours become a small minority easily overwhelmed by the growing ecumenical movement?

Then we must look once again to the Sovereignty of God to direct the hearts and minds of men to withstand the trends and to order circumstances that will keep the truth uncompromised. Martin Luther himself realized this principle and wrote about it with conviction in his famous Reformation hymn: 'A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing. Our helper He amidst the flood of mortal ills prevailing. The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him. His rage we can endure, for lo his doom is sure, One little word shall fell him.'

May the Lord help us to keep looking to Him who is our hope in this day where the need for a continuing work of earnestly contending for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints has now come upon us.

Jude 3,4 - Earnestly Contending for the Faith

By Rev Charles Seet

Preached at / Published Life BPC Weekly, 2019-12-29

Text: Jude 3,4

In recent times, there has been increasing public awareness about fake news. The government passed a law on this just a few months ago. This law (which is now known as ‘POFMA’) empowers ministers to order the taking down or correction of fake news on the Internet, and to order companies to block accounts that are spreading untruths. POFMA has already been implemented 4 times for Facebook posts.

This shows what a serious problem fake news has become today. Although fake news has always existed, digital media has now given it a huge boost and reach it never had before. When such news gets published online and remains uncorrected, it can influence elections, defame character, incite unrest, and propagate fear. Because of the great damage that can be caused by fake news, people now have to learn how to read everything with careful discernment by fact-checking of the content, and gauging the credibility of the source.

While we should take fake news seriously, we need to take false teaching even more seriously. Why is this so? It is because there is so much more at stake when false teachings spread – they can bring untold misery and destruction, not just in the present life but for eternity! The first false teaching appeared in the Garden of Eden, and it plunged the entire human race into sin. The faith of many young people has been destroyed by a false teaching called Evolution. False teachings have led many into bondage, delusion, disunity, division and destruction. Therefore the Bible has much to say about dealing with false teaching. This morning we will study what is taught in the book of Jude.

Let us turn our Bible to our Scripture text which is Jude 3,4 – “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.”

This was written by Jude who was the half-brother of Jesus Christ. Jude was apparently a church leader who loved God’s people well enough to warn them against the dangers of false teaching. And the main thing he wanted them to do is to ‘earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.’

Please note that the term ‘faith’ here is used differently from what we had seen in some earlier sermons. When we studied a passage in 2 Peter two weeks ago, we learned that we need to exercise faith in God’s promises. That refers to the faith or confidence we need to believe that something is true. But here in v.3 of our passage, the word ‘faith’ refers to what we believe. The faith is the entire body of truth from God that we believe, and it has been written by divine inspiration in a book called the Bible.

Therefore, to contend for the faith is to defend what is taught in the Bible against false teaching. It often requires much effort to oppose and expose the false teaching, so that everyone can see its hidden errors and would completely dismiss and reject it. This is often very difficult to do, because those who insist on holding that false teaching will be offended and will stubbornly resist all corrective measures. Things can really get ugly.

If we had a choice, I’m sure we would rather speak of things that will never offend anybody. Here in v.3 of our text, Jude disclosed that he had originally intended to write to his readers about a more pleasant subject: God’s salvation of sinners – a subject that everyone would most certainly love to hear more about. But he changed his plan. He wrote instead about something that may not please everyone but was more needful for them – Jude had to write in the strongest possible terms about contending for the faith.

Until today, most people tend to take a very negative view of contending for the faith.  They think that those who do it are nasty, fault-finding, judgmental, unloving and mean-spirited. Actually it does not mean that at all. Contending for the faith does not mean that we become contentious people, organizing riots and protests in the streets. It does not mean criticizing every Church or Christian organization that is different from us, or splitting hairs over debatable secondary issues.

Contending for the faith simply means that we take our commitment to Christ and His Church seriously enough to take firm strenuous action whenever such action is needed in doctrinal matters. It is actually the same attitude that a good doctor would have in looking after his patients. He takes their health seriously enough to deal with their illnesses firmly and strenuously. If their illness is extremely serious like a malignant tumour, he will honestly tell them what they must do to recover, and he will persuade them not to delay their treatment. His treatment must be swift, thorough and decisive enough to completely eliminate the deadly disease before it kills them. Sometimes the treatment itself may be quite painful, and he does not want his patients to suffer. But as a wise doctor, he knows that he cannot stop carrying out the effective treatment at this point, because what matters most to him is their complete recovery.

That’s what contending for the faith is all about – taking firm strenuous action whenever such action is needed for the spiritual health of the body of Christ and for the welfare of souls in eternity. It is done out of pure selfless love. If we truly love the Lord Jesus and His Word, and if we truly love the Church of God and the souls of men, then we must take firm strenuous action whenever such action is clearly needed. We must earnestly contend for the faith! Let us now consider two reasons why there is a great need to contend for the faith. The first reason is that

  1. God’s Kingdom on Earth is at War.

We are not talking about a military war or trade war here, but a spiritual war. This war between God’s kingdom and Satan’s kingdom has been going on from ages past. In this epistle, Jude provides a few glimpses of this spiritual war. He wrote in v.6, “And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” This records the great rebellion launched by Satan and his fallen angels against God. They were expelled from heaven and became demons. Since they have no eternal hope, they want to bring as many people as possible down with them.

Then in v.9 Jude briefly describes one particular angelic battle, “Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.”

The great climax of this spiritual war is described in vv.14,15 – “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, To execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed…” These verses reveal that this war is also being fought on earth, and everyone is involved in it – either on God’s side or on Satan’s side. There is no neutral ground in between. Before we were saved we were all in Satan’s kingdom of darkness. But by turning to Jesus Christ for salvation we are now in God’s kingdom of light. We have therefore became enemies of Satan.

As God’s Word says in Ephesians 2:2-3, “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.”

All unredeemed humanity that is characterised by sin and living in rebellion against God, are still under Satan’s rule. And although they do not know it and would very much deny it, all who are not saved are under his control. Now, this does not mean that people around us are not responsible for their actions or are demon-possessed. It means that Satan exerts a powerful influence over them, and he easily uses their own sinful desires to manipulate them to do his will.

But thankfully God’s kingdom has invaded Satan’s kingdom and has liberated many people from his control, including us. Christ has defeated Satan through His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. We can be sure that Satan resents the Lord’s invasion of his territory, and he will do all he can to oppose it, to sabotage and to counterattack. This is why Christians have suffered sorely throughout history from persecution, infiltration, and subversion. The world we live in is enemy territory, and so we cannot expect to have an easy time here. Whether we like it or not, we have to be vigilant against the wiles and schemes of the Devil, who walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. (1 Peter 5:8)

One of the most effective schemes that Satan has used to oppose God and keep the world under his power is to create false gods and false religions. In ancient times this came in the form of pagan idols that were worshipped with hideous rituals and even human sacrifice. In later times new religions evolved from the teachings of men who claimed to be sent by God. But they were merely channels through which Satan flooded the world with misinformation, distorted ideas of God, and with false methods of salvation which are based on doing good works to gain more merit.

Let us understand that all false religions are a very ingenious well-crafted scheme that Satan has used to oppose and sabotage God’s kingdom. By propagating them widely, Satan is seeking not only to keep the unsaved in His kingdom forever, but even to prevent God’s kingdom from making further progress.

He also uses these religions to influence Christians to compromise the Truth of God. The world would like us to believe that all religions lead to the same God. We are constantly being persuaded to recognise all the other faiths in the world, join hands with them, and not be dogmatic about our own beliefs. So they say, “Why must you Christians be so bigoted, always insisting that you are the only ones who have the Truth? Why must you go all out to convert us to your faith? After all, we do not actively seek to convert you to our faith. We leave you alone – and so you should also leave us alone. You should recognize that our beliefs are just as valid as yours.”

Christians who want the world to perceive them favourably will easily be deceived by such reasoning. And the Devil would really be happy if we agree to recognize all other faiths and stop all attempts to bring their followers to Christ through evangelism and missions. This is already happening in churches that are part of the ecumenical movement – they participate in interfaith dialogues and joint worship services.

There is only one way that we who are in God’s Kingdom can resist such strong pressure to conform to the world: It is to keep declaring boldly the Truth that God has given to us, the truth that there is only one true religion that leads to God, and “there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12) except the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. By doing this consistently, we help those who are caught up in false religions to come out of them and to come to the Truth that God has revealed in His Word.

If there is anyone here who is not saved yet, please don’t delay any longer to come to the Truth. You can do this right now by repenting of your sins and believing in Jesus Christ alone to save you from sin and eternal death! How will you respond to God’s call to come out of Satan’s Kingdom and become a child of God? Why should you continue to be deceived by the Satan’s schemes when you can come into God’s kingdom and share the victory that is found in Him?

And now, more than ever before, it is most urgent for all believers to declare the Truth of God boldly. The Scriptures have already foretold that the entire world will be greatly deceived by the Antichrist before Jesus returns:  “…for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition…Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3,9-10)

In three days’ time another year will begin. This means that we are moving one step closer to these End-time events that have been foretold in God’s Word. Satan knows that his end is near, and thus the war that is fought between his kingdom and God’s kingdom will become even more intense. Therefore we better get ourselves prepared for the battles that are coming – because the conflict between God’s kingdom and Satan’s kingdom will get fiercer and fiercer.

And Satan not only opposes God’s kingdom from without – he does it from within as well. This is mentioned in v.4 of our scripture text: “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” This brings us now to the other reason why there is a great need for us to earnestly contend for the faith:

  1. God’s Truth in the Church is often Corrupted by Ungodly Men.

We may call this ‘truth decay.’ There is a tendency for new ideas to creep into the church and corrupt God’s truth. We all know that in science and technology, innovation is a good thing which can lead to great improvements. But in theology there is no place for innovation. Charles Spurgeon has put it very well: “Be assured, there is nothing new in theology except that which is false.” So, whenever you hear someone claim that he has discovered a new teaching in the Bible that no one else has ever known before, or that he has received a new revelation from God, you must reject his claim.

We observe in v.3 that Jude describes the truth that we have as “the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” This implies that the faith we have is already delivered once and for all, and nothing more can be added to it. We just need to keep it intact as good custodians of the faith. Unfortunately, throughout the entire history of the Church there has always been ungodly men who somehow manage to get in, win the hearts of the people, and then introduce new teachings that mix the truth with error. And then, amore and more people get caught up with the new teaching, it goes viral and becomes a raging infection that needs to be stopped. The only way to stop it is by earnestly contending for the faith once delivered unto the saints!

In the first century, the Apostle Paul had to contend for the faith against the Judaizing heresy in the church. There were false teachers in the church who required Christians to be circumcised and observe all the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament in order to be saved. By doing this they undermined the Gospel of Christ and turned it into a counterfeit gospel. And so Paul had to write the book of Galatians to expose this false teaching.

About 20 years later, the church was infected with a new teaching called Gnosticism. Its symbol, which is a sun-disc with a cross inside, shows that it combines pagan and Christian concepts. The false teachers eventually claimed that besides God and Christ, there are also many other supernatural powers that were involved in the creation of the world and in the salvation of sinners. The result is that they ‘denied the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ’ as Jude wrote. Christ is not the unique only begotten Son of God anymore. And He is also not full deity, because Christ came into contact with matter, and according to this false teaching God can never come into contact with matter.

To the Gnostics, everything material is evil and everything spiritual is good. They therefore cultivated their spiritual lives and allowed their flesh to do anything it liked. The result is that they ‘turned the grace of God into lasciviousness.’ (v.4) The false teachers tried to convince believers that being saved by grace gave them freedom to live in sexual immorality.

This prompted Jude to warn believers against their false teachings and to urge them to ‘earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.’ Many faithful believers did this, and the battle against Gnosticism was fought for more than a hundred years until it was completely eliminated. Although the church was successfully delivered from this false teaching, the struggle to keep its doctrine pure from all corruption did not end.

Soon after Christianity was declared to be the official religion of the Roman Empire in 380 AD, all kinds of strange teachings were brought into the church. God’s Word was eventually banned from the church and replaced by man-made traditions such as the doctrine of indulgences. But thankfully, the Lord raised up believers who were willing to contend earnestly for the faith. In the 12th century, a merchant in southern France named Peter Waldo started a movement to eliminate all the false doctrines from the Church and follow strictly what the Bible teaches. Those who belonged to this movement became known as the Waldensians. Although they were heavily persecuted, they kept on contending for the faith for several centuries.

During the 16th century Protestant Reformation, the Lord raised up more believers who dared, against all odds, to remove all the man-made traditions and teachings from the church by going back to the Bible. Despite the tremendous opposition they faced, the Reformers pressed on to restore the purity of the Christian faith. And thanks to them, we are able to worship the Lord in Spirit and in Truth today.

In the 19th century, new doctrines began to creep into many churches. Every tenet of God’s Word was questioned by Liberal scholars who claimed that the miracles of the Bible did not take place, that the Bible is not the Word of God but of men, and that hell does not exist. They claimed that Jesus Christ was merely a wise moral teacher, and that He is not the only way to God. In the 1950s Modernist ministers were propagating these false teachings in many churches in Singapore. This led to the bold step taken by our church founding fathers to come out from the compromised denomination to start Life Bible-Presbyterian Church.

And now in this present time, it is our turn to contend earnestly for the faith that was once delivered unto the saints. There are many new trends and movements that have emerged today. Post-modernism has spawned the Emergent Church movement which is characterized by a flexible approach to theology and ‘highly creative’ approaches to worship. Materialism has engendered the Prosperity Gospel with its attractive emphasis on health and wealth. Pragmatism has given rise to the Megachurch movement which employs worldly methods to generate rapid church growth.

Dispensationalism has produced a new teaching called Hyper-grace. This teaching overemphasizes the grace of God to the exclusion of other vital teachings such as repentance and confession of sin. It teaches that the Old Testament and the Ten Commandments are irrelevant to Christians today. Hypergrace even teaches that everything which Jesus taught before His resurrection are part of the Old Covenant and therefore no longer applicable to us.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to prevent all these new teachings and movements from making inroads into the Church. This is because of the easy access to abundant sources of influence which digital media affords. And we can be sure that more and more new teachings will arise in the days to come. What then should we do in order to be well equipped to contend for the faith?

The answer is found at toward the end of Jude’s epistle: “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith….” (Jude 20) This is the only other verse in this epistle that contains the word ‘faith’ beside our scripture text. And ‘the most holy faith’ mentioned here refers to the same body of truth that we are to contend for. Paul mentioned the same thing to the Ephesian elders, when he said, “And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up…” (Acts 20:32)

This means that we need to grow in our own knowledge and application of God’s Word. Every believer needs to acquire a good working knowledge of the Scriptures, especially in our present time when false teachings abound – and some of them may be extremely hard to discern. The way to become more discerning Christians is not by spending all our time examining every false teaching that comes along, but by spending a lot more time in the Word to acquire a thorough working knowledge of the truth of God.

An expert on money was once asked how he was able to recognise the false notes and coins so well. Did he spend a lot of time studying counterfeit notes and coins? “No,” he replied, “I spend most of my time studying the genuine notes and coins.” Let us spend more time in reading and studying God’s Word, and let us do this with the same intensity that is needed to earnestly contend for the faith. By doing this, we will develop a keen ability to recognise any false teaching.

There are many ways of doing this. As the New Year begins, you can make a resolution to read the Bible thoroughly, so that you will know it well. One indispensable ministry to equip Christians in every church is the Sunday School where systematic biblical instruction is specially catered and delivered to each age group. As next Sunday is promotion Sunday for our Sunday school, please make it a point to join one of the classes. If you want a more in-depth knowledge of God’s Word, you can enroll for the ERBL classes on Monday night or Thursday night which will begin on 13 Jan.

Another opportunity to build up yourself on your most holy faith is through the messages at our annual Church camp. In June next year, Pastor Tan Soon Yong will be our camp speaker and he is preparing to bring 8 solid messages from the Book of Malachi. And of course, please don’t miss coming to church for worship service every Sunday to receive God’s Word that is preached here. You must regard every opportunity to be fed with the Word as a precious opportunity to build yourself up on your most holy faith.

As we prepare to begin a New Year, let us commit ourselves fully to do this well, so that we will all be well-equipped and ready to earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints!

1 John 4:10 - Where Love and Justice Meet

By Rev Charles Seet

Preached at / Published Life BPC Good Friday Communion Service, 2005-03-25

Text: 1 John 4:10

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here this evening to remember the death of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Let us recount the events that took place from the time that Jesus Christ was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. According to the biblical account, Jesus went through a total of six trials in Jerusalem on the night before He was crucified - Three of them were Jewish trials: The one before Caiaphas the high priest, the one before Annas, the father in law of Caiaphas, and the one before the Sanhedrin council. This was followed by three Roman trials - twice before Pontius Pilate, who was the Roman procurator of Judea, and once before King Herod Antipas. 

During these trials our Lord Jesus was mocked, beaten, scourged with whips, arrayed in a purple robe, and crowned with thorns. Then he was led away to be crucified, bearing the wooden cross. At Calvary, He was crucified between two thieves. This began at about 8.00 to 9.00 in the morning and it ended when Jesus breathed His last breath at about 3.00 in afternoon. The gospel accounts tell us that the whole sky was dark from noon until the time that Jesus died. 

As Jesus submitted Himself to enduring such a painful death He knew exactly why He was going through all of this. He had come into this world for the very purpose of going to the Cross. Jesus even foretold His own death. He had shown His disciples, 'how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.' (Matthew 16:21). He had told Nicodemus that like the brazen serpent that was lifted up by Moses in the wilderness, He must be lifted up on the Cross (John 3:14). He said,'I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me. This He said, signifying what death He should die.' (John 12:32,33).

There is therefore no doubt that dying on the Cross was the main reason why Christ came to live on earth 2000 years ago. And the Lord Jesus was most willing to suffer and die on the Cross, because that alone could bring us back to God. 

Dear friends, the Cross of Jesus Christ is the focal point of all human history. It is the place where God and sinners are reconciled. And every one of us must first come to the Cross and be saved, if we would have the bliss of eternal life. The Cross of Christ is also the place where two seemingly irreconcilable things have been brought together: The Love of God and the Justice of God. The love of God desires the salvation of sinners, while the justice of God demands their condemnation. How can these two things be reconciled? How can love and justice meet together? The answer is: Only at the Cross of Jesus Christ!

One verse of Scripture that brings this out very well is 1 John 4:10 'Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.' Two truths are brought out in this verse. The first is that God loved us, and the second is that God sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Let us consider the second truth before looking at the first one -

I. The Cross of Christ Propitiated God's Justice against Sin

The term 'propitiation' in this verse means an appeasement or satisfaction for wrath. God's wrath against our sin demands a complete satisfaction because He is a holy and just God who cannot tolerate even the slightest sin. There is only one way in which God's wrath against sin can be satisfied: It is by death. Absolutely nothing but death can appease the awesome wrath of a Holy God! The Bible tells us in Romans 6:23 that 'the wages of sin is death.' And in Ezekiel 18:4 we are told that 'the soul that sinneth, it shall die.'

When sin first infected the world through Adam's disobedience, God's wrath immediately exacted the death penalty upon the human race! Eternal Life gave way to Eternal death, as pain, sorrow, sickness and decay began to take an increasing toll on human life. All these were required against our sins, in order to appease the righteous wrath of God. If not for the entrance of sin into this world, these things would not exist to trouble our lives at all. But they have now become a grim reality for us because of sin. 

But God made a special provision for man�s sin. Since death alone can satisfy His wrath against our sins, animal sacrifices were permitted in order for man to approach God. This began at the point when God Himself made coats of skin to clothe Adam and Eve when they had sinned (Genesis 3:21). In order to make these coats of skins, some animals obviously had to be slaughtered. This was very the first instance of animal sacrifice as God's provision for our sin. 

In the Book of Genesis, we see animal sacrifices being offered up to God by Noah (Genesis 8:20), by Abraham (Genesis 12:7), and by the rest of the patriarchs. Job, also offered animal sacrifices to God (Job 1:5). In all these sacrifices, the animal was regarded as a substitute that died in the place of the person who offered it. Before an animal was sacrificed, the person for whom it was offered first had to lay his hands on the animal's head. This means that the animal now represents him. The animal was then killed by the extracting of blood. And the blood had to be poured on the sides of the altar of sacrifice.

One of the best examples of this substitionary death can be found in the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb as described in Exodus 12. This came about when God brought the Ten Plagues upon Egypt. The last plague was the worst of all. It was the plague of the death upon all the firstborn children who lived in Egypt. There was only one way that families could prevent the death of their firstborn: By slaughtering a lamb and sprinkling its blood on the entrance of their homes. When the Lord's angel saw the blood of the lamb at the entrance, he would pass over that house and go to the next one, because the blood indicated that death had already taken place in that house (Exodus 12:13). But any house that did not have the lamb's blood applied would lose every firstborn son or daughter who lived in it to death.

There were two important requirements that the Israelites had to observe when choosing a lamb for the Passover. They are found in Exodus 12:5 'Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year.' Why were these requirements given? It was because the Passover lamb was meant to be a preview or symbol of Jesus Christ (cf 1 Corinthians 5:7). Hence it must be without any blemish at all, in order to portray the sinlessness of Christ, and it must be a male, like Christ. That is why, when Jesus began His public ministry in Israel, John the Baptist introduced Him to the crowds as 'the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.' (John 1:29). 

From all this we can now understand better why Christ had to die: So that He may be our Passover Lamb, who is slain for our sins in our place. He died so that He could fully appease God's wrath against all our sins. 

But why then did He have to die such a cruel death as to be nailed onto a cross? Could Christ not have been put to death in a more humane manner, for example by being hanged? It is because the only kind of death that could make a full satisfaction for our sins, is one that comes about by the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22). Just as the blood from all animal sacrifices had to be poured out on the sides of the altar, and just as the blood of the Passover Lamb had to be sprinkled on the entrance of the house, so the blood of Christ had to be shed on the Cross. For only His precious blood has the power to make the full satisfaction that God requires for our sins.

Actually, without the shedding of Christ's blood on the Cross, all the animal sacrifices that had been made since the time of Adam would have accomplished nothing at all. The Old Testament animal sacrifices did not actually remove anyone's sin on their own. Christ's death was the actual propitiation for the sins of all believers in the Old Testament, like Abraham, Moses and David. The animal sacrifices they made had no power in themselves to propitiate God's justice, or to take away sins. They served only as a temporary measure, depending upon the final sacrifice that Christ would make on the Cross! Romans 3:25 makes this clear when it says about Christ 'Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.'

Dearly beloved, let us pause for a while now to consider what all this should mean to each of us. It means that when Jesus suffered and died on the Cross, He bore the full force of God's wrath against all the sins that were committed by believers in the Old Testament who lived before His time. The prophet Isaiah who lived 700 years before Christ said that, 'He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him.' (Isaiah 53:5) 

Besides that, Jesus also bore the full force of God's wrath against all the sins that were committed by all New Testament believers who lived after His time. And that includes our sins as well. Dear friends, it was your sins and my sins that nailed Christ to the Cross, and caused Him to bleed and die! If it were not for these sins, Christ would never have had to suffer such intense agony on the Cross. Therefore each of us is responsible for His death! In the final analysis it was not the Jews nor the Romans who crucified Christ, but every one of us! 

Now, the wonder of it all is that Christ could easily have spared Himself the agony of the Cross. At any time on the way to Calvary, Christ could easily have stopped and obtained instant deliverance from the Father (Matthew 26:53). Why should He bother at all to subject Himself to such great torments for us? Why should He bear the full force of God's wrath against all our sins upon Him? Who are we, or what have we done, that He should do this for our sakes? We are only unworthy sinners who have constantly grieved Him by our sinful ways. And we fully deserve the eternal death that our sins have earned for us. Dearly beloved, there is really nothing that can explain why Christ should want to die for us, except that He loves us. 

II. The Cross of Christ Proclaimed God's Love for Sinners

This is the other truth that is brought out by 1 John 4:10 'Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.' God's love was never revealed as fully and as powerfully as the time when the eternal Son of God died for us on the Cross of Calvary!

This is not to say that God had not shown love for His people before Christ died. Throughout the pages of history, God had been manifesting His love in many other ways: Delivering the Israelites from oppression in Egypt, providing for the needs of His people during their wilderness journey, giving them victory over enemies who were many times stronger than them, and settling them in a land flowing with milk and honey.

But the supreme manifestation of God's love did not come until Christ died on the cross. God's Word says in Romans 5:8 'But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.' Christ's death shows the love of God the Father in giving His only begotten Son to be a sacrifice for our sins. His death also shows the love of God the Son who was willing to lay down His own precious life to save us. This is why Paul prayed that the Ephesian Christians 'May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.' (Ephesians 3:18-19). The death which Jesus died is the greatest expression of love that God has ever shown to man. This world has never known any love greater than this. 

Dearly beloved, do you long to comprehend the height, and length, the depth and breadth of the love of God? If you do, you only need to let God reveal it to you fully in one place: at the Cross of Jesus Christ. 

Tonight, two wonderful things have been revealed to us at the Cross of Christ: The Justice of God and the Love of God. We have seen how the Cross of Christ reveals God's Justice: In His death to appease the righteous wrath of God against our sins. We have also seen how the Cross of Christ reveals God's Love: In His willingness to endure such a cruel death for unworthy sinners like us. The Cross of Christ is the only place where both God's justice and God's love can be seen together. These two seemingly irreconcilable streams have now come together at the Cross where Jesus died, and the end result of it all is really marvelous! Let us meditate on this for a moment, to absorb its full impact into our souls.

What a great God our Lord is! What a wonderful Saviour He is! There is absolutely none like Him, who is both just in dealing with sins, and loving in dealing with sinners! Now that we know these things, let us be careful to respond to them well. How should we now live, when we have seen the Cross of Christ? The answer is found in 2 Corinthians 5:15 'He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again.' 

Here we are told that the death of Christ must bring about two results in us: Firstly, we should no longer live unto ourselves, to fulfill our own wills and ambitions any more. Secondly, we should be living for Him alone. Are you living now for Jesus Christ alone? Let us rededicate our lives to Him. Since Christ has died to save you, won�t you die to self, and live for Him alone?

  1. 1 John 3:17-18 - Compassion Like Christ
  2. 1 John 1:5 - Have You Known Him As You Ought?
  3. Revelations 14:13 - Slow Death In The Fast Lane: Am I Working Myself to Death?
  4. Revelation 03:14-20 - To Backsliders, A Message of Obedience

Subcategories

Gospel in Dialect

Do you face a language barrier when trying to witness for Christ to dialect-speaking relatives? Or do you need to polish up your Mandarin in order to share the Gospel with your Mandarin-speaking friends? This Gospel toolkit will help you to learn how to share the Gospel in Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien and Teochew.

There are 15 lessons covering the various topics in gospel presentation. Each lesson consists of a set of phrases, written in English, Chinese characters and Hanyu Pinyin.

To hear the proper pronunciation of the phrase, click on the respective plugin associated with each phrase. When the phrase is read for you, you should repeat it aloud. You can keep on playing back the phrase and repeating it aloud until you have mastered the phrase. Then go on to the next phrase in the lesson.

As you learn to speak new phrases, keep on reviewing the ones that you have learnt. Finally, test yourself to see if you can say the following in Mandarin / dialect aloud: 

Family

Introduction

Why a family resource page?  It has been often said that the family is the most important institution in the nation.  But never has this sentiment been as greatly emphasized in our history as a nation than now in recent times.  Indeed, the family is the most important institution because it is the first environment to which every person is exposed; it is the primary influence of a person, especially in his early formative years.  And failure of the family to influence and mould the child positively has contributed to the moral and ethical breakdown of societies.  Even the expert opinions of sociologists and psychologists point to the truth of this statement.  Counselors and mental health workers increasingly have to rely on Family Therapy to deal with the problems of the clients, seeing as how many adult conflicts and problems are actually conflicts and problems not resolved in youth within the family.  Of course, it is not surprising to find such delinquency and immaturity in the world.  And sadly, it is not surprising to find such worldliness and worldly problems in the church, as families capitulate their God-given rights.  More than ever, there is need for a family resource page, where families can be encouraged and taught to raise up Godly homes and to revive the Covenant family.  

And one of the main emphases of this resource page is on the subject and discipline of Family Worship.  According to the Westminster Directory of Family Worship, we are told that “BESIDES the publick worship in congregations, mercifully established in this land in great purity, it is expedient and necessary that secret worship of each person alone, and private worship of families, be pressed and set up; that, with national reformation, the profession and power of godliness, both personal and domestick, be advanced.”  Herein, it is suggested that national and ecclesiastical revival finds its genesis in the home.  And this is biblical. 

The theological foundations of family worship is in Deuteronomy 4:9,10 where believers are told to “keep thy soul diligently…[and to]…teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.” 

It is also in Deuteronomy 6:4-7 where the words which God had commanded believers should be taught diligently to their children, that they should “talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”  The chief Christian educators of our children are their parents, who have been given this sacred duty.

Psalm 78:2-7 also teaches this, especially when it says regarding the law “which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born, who should arise and declare them to their children: that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.” 

According to Dr Joel Beeke, “Every church desires growth. Surprisingly few churches, however, seek to promote internal church growth by stressing the need to raise children in covenantal truth. Few seriously grapple with why many adolescents become nominal members with mere notional faith or abandon evangelical truth for unbiblical doctrine and modes of worship. I believe one major reason for this failure is the lack of stress upon family worship. In many churches and homes family worship is an optional thing, or at most a superficial exercise such as a brief table grace before meals. Consequently, many children grow up with no experience or impression of Christian faith and worship as a daily reality.”

“Would we see revival among our children? Let us remember that God often uses the restoration of family worship to usher in church revival. For example, the 1677 church covenant of the Puritan congregation in Dorchester, Massachusetts, included the commitment ‘to reform our families, engaging ourselves to a conscientious care to set before us and to maintain the worship of God in them; and to walk in our houses with perfect hearts in a faithful discharge of all domestic duties, educating, instructing, and charging our children and households to keep the ways of the Lord.’”

Douglas Kelly says that “Family religion, which depends not a little on the household head daily leading the family before God in worship, is one of the most powerful structures that the covenant-keeping God has given for the expansion of redemption through the generations, so that countless multitudes may be brought into communion with and worship” of God. 

So may these resources help all Lifers to build up their families in the fear and admonition of the Lord; that Family Worship would not be an optional exercise but a time of day and activity well-sought after by Godly parents and children.  Amen.

Contact Us

  • Phone / Whatsapp: 65 6594 9399
  • Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Our Location

  • 9A Gilstead Road Singapore 309063
  • Mailing Add: 10 Gilstead Road Singapore 309064
Top