Romans 12:1-2 - The Reformed Church, Always Reforming

By Mark Chen

Preached at / Published Life BPC 8am service, 2003-10-26

Text: Romans 12:1-2

The title of the message today is a well-known Reformed slogan, 'the Reformed Church, always reforming.' Well, what does this mean? It means firstly, that 'the Reformed faith should be 'Reformed,' that is, in agreement with the fundamental principles of the Scriptures, as summarized in the Reformed confessions. However, it should also be 'reforming,' seeking to bring the believer's thought and practice more in line with Scripture, even if that process requires the elimination of some traditions. The Reformers were both: conservative in their adherence to biblical doctrine, radical in their critique of church tradition.' So today, we would like to answer two questions - What it means to be Reformed, and what it means to be reforming.

Firstly, what is a Reformed Church, and are we a Reformed Church? When I mention the word 'Reformed' sometimes to church members and even to other Christians, they get a strange look on their face, like I'm introducing to them something new. It could be because of the word 'Reformed.' It seems to imply that we have changed or discarded the old paths. But 'Reformed' doesn't mean that at all. The Reformed Church is not new - it has its roots in the 16th Century Reformation, which we are remembering today; and that's how it gets its name - Reformation = Reformed. Hence, the Reformed Church carries on the tradition of the Reformation and holds on to blue blooded Protestant teachings. In fact, most of the Protestant churches after the Reformation were not Lutheran (we all know Luther, who famously sparked off the Reformation), but they were Reformed. Which were the Reformed Churches? They were the Presbyterians, Anglicans, Reformed Baptists, Congregationalists, Huguenots (or French Presbyterians); Dutch Reformed, Helvetic (or Swiss) Reformed, German Reformed, etc. They were not Methodists, nor Charismatics, nor Brethren.

But what makes us Reformed? What is our theology, our flavor? Is there something that differentiates us from other denominations? Well, there is a silly story about the characteristics of different churches and cults. It's one of those 'How many persons to change a light bulb' joke, and while it is not appropriate at times for jokes to be told from the pulpit, this story illustrates a very important point - so bear with just this one. It goes like this: How many Catholics does it take to change a light bulb? And the answer is - Please, no light bulbs, candles only. How many Charismatics does it take to change a light bulb? 4 - One to change it and the other three to pray against the powers of darkness. How many Mormons does it take? 5 - One man to change it and his four wives to criticize him. And lastly, how many Presbyterians? None - it has been predestined whether the light bulb will be changed or not.' Now while this example isn't exactly 100% accurate, it does illustrate for us what Presbyterians hold to. And when you speak about Predestination, you are really speaking about the Sovereignty of God - how God in His power has decided all things to come to pass. 

And the person who really taught this doctrine of God's Sovereignty and Predestination during the Reformation was John Calvin. But Calvin did not invent this theology nor discover it, he recovered these Doctrines of Grace from the Bible, which for centuries had been lost to the people, who were under Roman bondage. How wonderful it was to discover that salvation is of the Lord, who shapes and rules all things. Reformed theology is Biblical theology - it is the Gospel of Christ. 

And this is what Spurgeon, the great Reformed preacher said, 'I have my own private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else. I do not believe we can preach the gospel, if we do not preach justification by faith, without works; nor unless we preach the sovereignty of God in His dispensation of grace; nor unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah; nor do I think we can preach the gospel, unless we base it upon the special and particular redemption of His elect and chosen people which Christ wrought out upon the cross; nor can I comprehend a gospel which lets saints fall away after they are called, and suffers the children of God to be burned in the fires of damnation after having once believed in Jesus. Such a gospel I abhor.'

'There is no soul living who holds more firmly to the doctrines of grace than I do, and if any man asks me whether I am ashamed to be called a Calvinist, I answer I wish to be called nothing but a Christian; but if you ask me, do I hold the doctrinal views which were held by John Calvin, I reply, I do in the main hold them, and rejoice to avow it. The old truth that Calvin preached, that Augustine preached, that Paul preached, is the truth that I must preach today, or else be false to my conscience and my God.' And Spurgeon was so committed to the Reformed doctrines he said that, 'No man can add anything to the religion of Jesus. All that is consistent with truth is already incorporated in it, and with that which is not true it can form no alliance. There is nothing new in theology except that which is false.'

And so, convinced that Reformed Theology was true to Scripture, Reformed men began to condense the doctrines of the Bible into creeds and confessions. The Anglicans have the 39 Articles of Religion; the Reformed Baptists have the London Confession of Faith, and the Presbyterians - the Westminster Standards. But nowadays, it seems as if these documents mean nothing. Hardly an Anglican would have heard about the 39 Articles today; neither do those in Presbyterian Churches know what the Westminster Confession of Faith is. And by that token, there is really now, no difference between a Presbyterian and a Methodist, or an Anglican from a Charismatic. The lines are blurred. And if Reformed Theology is Biblical Theology, why have these Churches allowed this to happen? There can only be one explanation - they have forsaken their Reformed heritage - their Reformation spirit. They have taken away their emphasis off the whole counsel of God to focus on peripheral things. They have removed their focus on God alone as their help and looked to men. They have sought after modes of worship that pleased them, rather than considering if God was pleased. They have not adhered to their Confessional standards. And that is the first step to losing our Reformed heritage. 

Now, some of you are thinking, is a Confession all that necessary? How does it and why should it define the doctrine of the church? Why can't we just base it on the Bible? Well, if we say that, then we wouldn't be Presbyterian. Part of being Presbyterian is our belief in the good purposes of creeds and confessions - sure, these documents aren't on par with Scripture, but they are faithful to Scripture. Creeds and confessions have been tried and have shown forth their usefulness. We may use only the Bible, but cults also claim they use the Bible. Which is why during the Arian controversy, the Athanasian Creed resulted, which stated as dogma that Christ was 100% God and 100% Man, which the Arians denied. So without creeds and confessions the Church in general would not be where it is today - we may still be arguing over the controversies of the early church. So what are the purposes of creeds and confessions? 

Presbyterian Historian Philip Schaff says that they are for the purposes of defining theological standards, of distinguishing one church from another, of defending the faith by guarding against false doctrines and practices, of disseminating doctrines to succeeding generations, of developing sound interchurch relationships, of discipling and nurturing and teaching young Christians, and of deepening our connection and understanding of the church in the past. And this is very important. And there's one more purpose that Schaff did not articulate - creeds and confessions promote matured and charitable liberty; things which are not dealt with in these documents are peripheral and secondary. Questions concerning whether women should cover their heads during worship or if it is okay to eat out on the Sabbath are peripheral - it's up to your conviction and liberty - just don't force it on others. But questions concerning who Christ died for or how the people in the Old Testament were saved, these are dogmas, nonnegotiable. And this in a nutshell is what the Reformed faith is about.

But what does it then mean to be Reforming? If all the doctrines of the Bible are neatly explained and laid out in the Confessions and if we hold on to them, isn't that enough? Absolutely not. We may be very orthodox and doctrinally correct, but where would our practical Christianity be? The Reformers did not aim just to have correct doctrines, but they aimed to completely reform their own lives. They pursued after righteousness, after Godliness, after Christ-likeness. They were not just stuffy old men who insisted only on correct doctrine, but they understood what the Christian life ought to be - how every believer in Christ should want and desire after Christ. The Reformers were voracious readers of the Bible, their personal piety was beyond reproach, and many of us may never be able to compare with their devotion to Christ. They wanted Christ so badly, they yearned after Him and desired others too, to yearn after Him. If anything in their lives hindered them, if anything prevented them from knowing Christ and loving Christ, they removed it. Their purpose was singular - they said together with Paul, that their one desire was to know Christ. The motto of John Calvin was 'My heart, I offer unto thee, O God, promptly and sincerely' printed underneath a picture of a hand offering a burning heart to God. This is constant consecration, and that is what it means to be always reforming - to look in our lives and to determine what we need to change, not to be sparing in our criticism but to be very eager to reform, to set our lives in order in accordance to God's Word.

The idea of consecration is given in our passage - Romans 12:1. This is the main idea, which is enlarged upon by verse 2. The verse reads 'I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.' Paul encourages us and pleads with us to offer ourselves - our whole selves as living sacrifices. Just as the Israelites in the Old Testament had offered their sacrifices to the Lord, so were the Christians to do this. However, what exactly does Paul want to convey here?

When the Israelites brought their sacrifices, they would bring unblemished lambs, bullocks, pigeons, wheat, etc. However, the best sacrifice was considered the yearling calf - a calf which was a year old. This was valuable because it took a year's worth of grain and care to raise this calf, and because of this, the calf was thus considered to be valuable and costly. To offer it to God was considered the best offering. It was considered the best because it cost the sinner something. And likewise, when we offer ourselves as living sacrifices, we are thus saying that our whole lives belong to God - we must die to ourselves - our wants, our needs, our dreams, our aspirations, we must give to God. And when we consecrate ourselves, it is not a small part, but all of ourselves.

And when we do this, Paul calls his act of consecration our reasonable service. It is reasonable, or rational because of what Christ has done for us. Indeed, Christ died on the cross for us and shed His blood, paying the ransom that we might be saved. The Greek word is logiken - from where we get the word 'logical.' Is it not reasonable and logical to expect that we should do only this little thing in return, by consecrating ourselves to Him and to devote our lives entirely to His will? This is what Paul means. However, we know all too well that it is hard to carry out, right? 

But what does Paul mean by the word 'service?' The word for 'service' literally means 'religious act of worship.' The religious worship of the Jews was to bring their offerings to be burned, just as burning paper money and joss sticks is the religious worship of the Chinese. But the Christian's religious worship is to offer himself. He, himself, would be the burnt offering. This is the kind of worship God desires of us. It speaks of our attitude. Interestingly, the English word 'worship' coming from the Old English word worthship, comes from two words 'worth' and 'shape.' In a sense, we shape our behavior and our attitude according to the worth of the object we revere and love. We all have role models, idols, and people whom we respect. And the way we act in front of them shows the kind of reverence we have for them. This is in fact worship, to a certain extent. That is why the Bible tells us not to have respect of persons or regard the face of a person - to show no favoritism, because this is a kind of worship. Only God deserves our worship. And this speaks of our attitude - what is our posture and our behavior before God knowing His worth? How are we reforming our lives after knowing who He is? 

A very important principle I want to share with you is the Reformed principle called Coram Deo. This Latin phrase literally means, 'before or in the presence of God.' This is a phrase used by the Puritans, who were later Reformers. They desired to live every moment of their lives, as if they were in the presence of God. So whatever they thought, whatever they spoke, whatever they did was patterned after this principle. Their activities, their recreation, their profession, their dressing, their conversation, their family life, their music, their affections, their testimony in the world - all these were subject to their devotion to Christ. They wanted to live their lives in the presence of God, as if He was there by their very side. 

This is consecration. But how, how do we consecrate ourselves? Verse 2 tells us - we are not to 'be conformed to this world: but be ye transformed (be reformed) by the renewing (the reforming) of your mind.' We are to depart from the things of this world - from its affections, its values, but we are to renew our minds - to know the Scriptures and to apply them in our lives. And when the Christian separates from worldliness, he embraces godliness. And when he embraces godliness, he grows spiritually. 

The Reformed Christian will be a mature Christian. He will know that his primary goal in life is to glorify and to enjoy God. He will know that the 4 crowns awaiting him in glory are more important than 4 A*s in his PSLEs, or 10 A's in his O levels, or whether he is able to go to university, a good paying job, the 5 C's, etc. But in his calling in the world, he will nevertheless work hard, persevere to do well, because he knows his God-given responsibilities; but yet not at the expense of his spirituality. He will have a quiet confidence in the Sovereignty of God - he may have honestly tried his best, but may not be able to succeed due to his own limitations, which God himself placed there - but he would rather be a road sweeper with Christ vibrant in his life, than a successful lawyer who is very spiritually dim. His affections will be set on higher things. His devotional life will be deep and fruitful, if he has a family - the family altar will be kept, he will be a serving Christian, he will always examine his activities to see if they need reform, he will be well-versed in the Reformed Confessions, and above all, he will have a deep love for Christ. And the Reformed Church, comprised of mature Reformed Christians will be a vibrant Church.

To reform one's life is not an easy thing to do. One must have a deep love for Christ, and a vision of Christ - who He is to us. I'd like to quote Samuel Rutherford, a Puritan, who wrote about who Christ was to Him. 'Oh, what a fair One, what an only One, what an excellent, lovely, ravishing One, is Jesus! Put the beauty of ten thousand worlds of paradises, like the garden of Eden in one; put all trees, all flowers, all smells, all colors, all tastes, all joys, all sweetness, all loveliness, in one: oh, what a fair and excellent thing would that be! And yet it would be less to that fair and dearest Well-beloved, Christ, than one drop of rain to the whole seas, rivers, lakes, and fountains of ten thousand earths. Oh, but Christ is heaven's wonder, and earth's wonder! What marvel that His bride saith, 'He is altogether lovely!' I can neither speak nor write feeling, nor tasting, nor smelling: come feel, and smell, and taste Christ and His love, and ye shall call it more than can be spoken. To write how sweet the honeycomb is, is not so lovely as to eat and suck the honeycomb.' 

I end by quoting another Puritan, Thomas Brooks, who wrote of Jesus 'Christ is lovely, Christ is very lovely, Christ is most lovely, Christ is always lovely, Christ is altogether lovely.' Indeed, only the Reformed Faith shows us true devotion to Christ, and only by true devotion and a true vision of Christ can we reform our lives. Imagine what the Church would be.

Romans 01:21-24; 2:14-16 - What About People Who Have Never Heard of the Gospel?

By Rev Charles Seet

Preached at / Published Life BPC 8 am service, 2002-12-08

Text: Romans 1:21-24; 2:14-16

I. The Universal Scope of the Gospel

In order for us to fully appreciate the difficulty of answering this question please allow me first to give you some background behind it. When the Lord Jesus gave the Great Commission to His disciples, He told them 'Go ye therefore and teach all nations' (Matthew 28:19) The word for 'nations' here is ethnos, and that would include every tribe, language, and ethnic group, regardless of whatever philosophy of life or religion they already have. In fact when in the Great Comission that is found in Mark 16:15 which Jesus gave His disciples on a different occasion, He said, 'Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.' The gospel is to meant be heard by every creature (referring to man, of course). There is therefore no doubt that the Gospel has a universal scope of application. All men are lost; all men need to be saved; therefore all men must hear the Gospel, or else they will not be saved.

However, from the time that Christ gave this commission to His disciples onward, not all men have heard the Gospel. According to the history of missions, the Gospel went forth from Jerusalem, to Samaria, and through Paul's missionary journeys, it went into Asia Minor, Greece and Rome. From Rome it went to the rest of Europe, and from there it proceeded unto the uttermost parts of the earth. All this has taken hundreds of years to accomplish, and the work is still going on today. In fact the task of missions is still considered an unfinished task. The world today has about 6.2 billion people and it is estimated that about one fifth of that is still beyond reach of the present proclamation of the gospel. This means that about 1.2 billion people in the world today have never heard the gospel even once! Unless missionaries are sent to bring the Gospel to them now, these 1.2 billion people may die without hearing the Gospel at all. Besides that, in all the time that it has taken the Gospel to reach the rest of the world, many people have already died before the Gospel ever reached their part of the world. That includes our forefathers who worshipped idols in their homelands in India, China and other parts of Asia. They all died in their sin and heathen darkness, without ever knowing the only way of salvation in Jesus Christ. They are not like us here who have been so wonderfully blest to have had the Gospel brought to us, and some of us before we were saved have even heard the Gospel message not just once but many times, and there was ample opportunity for us to turn to Christ and be saved.

Now, these people who are entirely out of reach of the Gospel are different from unbelievers who live within reach of the Gospel. The ones who live within reach of the Gospel have probably heard the Gospel in some form or other - through a Christian friend or relative, or a gospel tract, or a Gospel rally they were invited to attend. But when they heard the message of salvation, the message did not take root in their heart and bear any fruit of salvation in their lives. And so they reject Christ and die without salvation from their sins. It is not difficult for anyone to see that their condemnation from God is just and righteous, since they had all turned away from the salvation that had been freely offered to them. 

II. The Ones Who Never Hear The Gospel

But our topic this morning concerns a different group of people, namely those who never had salvation in Christ offered to them because the Gospel message never reached them, and because of this they die without Christ. What will become of them? Would it be just for God to give them the same condemnation that was given to those who heard but rejected the Gospel message? Can they plead ignorance in order to escape God's condemnation? The answer from the Scriptures is 'No they cannot.' Their end will be just the same as those who have rejected the Gospel. Since their names are not written in the Book of Life they will not have eternal life, but rather eternal death. In the message that we had here some weeks ago we saw what that means - it means spending unending time in painful torments in the awful fires of Hell!

Now here is the point of difficulty in answering the question: 'What about those people who have never heard the Gospel?' Is it fair for these souls to share the same fate as those who heard the Gospel and rejected it? Now, because of the difficulty that this question presents, there are some who try to use their own human wisdom to provide an answer. They teach that if God is just and fair, the heathen who die without ever hearing the gospel can still be saved on the basis of how they respond to whatever they know of God from nature. This was the kind of thinking that became popular in the early decades of the 20th century - the thinking that there was something good in every human religion that Christians should learn from and accept. And this eventually led to the Ecumenical movement, which openly states that adherents of pagan religions may be saved without ever hearing the Gospel of Christ. They have even attempted to use the Word of God to justify this teaching. One passage of Scripture that has been used is Acts 10:34-35 'Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.' And so they say that according to this verse, as long as a person has some basic concept of God, and tries to do good works to please God, God will accept him. He may be a Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim or Animist - so long as he is trying his level best to live up to his own religion, he will be saved.

But this interpretation takes the passage out of context, because the words were actually spoken by the Apostle Peter in the house of Cornelius, a Roman Centurion. Cornelius was a God-fearing Gentile, but he still needed to hear the Gospel through Peter in order to be saved. What Peter meant in vv,34,35 is that God has chosen those who are His people, not from one nation alone - which is Israel - but that He has also chosen to save people from every Gentile nation. Now if Peter meant to say that God accepts these people even without their knowing Jesus Christ, what do you think he would have done? I believe he would have just congratulated Cornelius for having earned God's favour by being such a god-fearing Gentile, and then left the house in peace. But what he did after this shows that god-fearing Gentiles like Cornelius still need to be saved from their sins by trusting in Christ alone. He preached Christ to Cornelius and his household. In. v.36 he said 'The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all)' This is a direct reference to the Gospel of Christ that alone can bring sinners into peace with God. What do you think would have happened if after hearing this Gospel message from Peter, Cornelius rejected Christ? He would not be saved, even though he had feared God. The important point is: There is absolutely no salvation for even the most pious and religious person in the world so long as he does not have Christ. There is absolutely no alternative way of salvation. Jesus Himself said this categorically in John 14:6 ' am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.' The same truth is given in Acts 4:12 'Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.' That name is the name above all names - the name of Jesus Christ. And since there is no other name that can bring salvation but His name, we must then declare His name and His salvation to every nation, with a sense of utmost urgency, since millions of souls are perishing without Him. Outside Christ, there is not even the slightest possibility of salvation! And if there is even the least possibility of salvation without Christ, then missions will no longer be such an urgent matter for us any more. Why take all the trouble and expense to send missionaries to the far-flung mission fields of the world to reach the heathen, if they can be saved without Christ? Some may even suggest that the heathen would be much better off not hearing the gospel at all, and just left to continue to be happily ignorant of Christ, for then there would be no possibility of them rejecting Christ at all, and of ever being condemned for rejecting Him. Dearly beloved, this kind of thinking is utterly mistaken for one important reason: Whatever knowledge of God that the heathen have is insufficient to save them. It is only sufficient to judge them. God's Word in Romans 1:20 tells us plainly 'For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:' But instead of leading men to fear God and worship Him, this inadequate knowledge of God has only leads them deeper and deeper into sin and false worship, as stated in the next three verses 'Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.' Now, besides the knowledge of God in nature, God has also given all men a conscience that enables them to know the difference between right and wrong. Romans 2:14-15 refers to this God-given conscience by saying, 'For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)' The end result of being directed by one's conscience alone is still condemnation. This is because the sinful nature which every man inherits from Adam causes them to go against their own conscience. And at the Day of Judgment, the unsaved will be judged by the Great Judge of the Earth according to their works. And under His divine examination which looks not only at the outward act, but penetrates deep into the inward hidden motives and selfish thoughts, all the righteous deeds of the very best men on earth will be shown up to be nothing but filthy rags. And this is one thing we can be sure of: That the condemnation of those who have never heard the Gospel will be completely fair and just, because God is righteous in all His judgements (Dan 9:14; Deut 32:4; Gen 18:25). And so, when the unevangelised heathen are condemned to eternal death, they cannot say that they are being condemned just because God did not send them the Gospel. They are condemned for no other reason than their own sinfulness before a Holy God.

III. The Sovereignty of God Determines Who Are The Ones Who Hear and Believe the Gospel 

But someone may then say, 'Isn't God in some sense responsible for their condemnation? If He had only elected them to be saved, surely their sins would have been washed away by Christ, and they would not be condemned at all.' Can an unsaved person stand before God's Judgment seat one day and say to Him, 'God, You really have no right to send me to hell, because what I am now is entirely the result of your sovereign will, and you had not chosen me before the foundation of the world. It is therefore not my fault that I am not saved. So You have no right to make me suffer for it.' The answer to this perplexing question is a definite NO, no unsaved person can ever make put the blame for his unsaved condition on God. Why? Because it is their own sins that bring them into judgment. God merely permits them to receive the just judgment that is due to them for their sins.

Hence on the day of judgement, the unsaved who never heard the Gospel will righteously be condemned to eternal death in hell, because they are responsible for their own sins. The Bible is clear that every man will be held responsible for his own faults and sins.

Now, many people are bothered by another question - If God's election or choice at the beginning of time was the thing which decided who should hear the Gospel and be saved, then why did He not choose more to be saved? Why did He choose only the elect to hear the Gospel and be saved? This question, if not properly handled can lead to doubting God's goodness. The reasoning given is that if God is good, surely He would not bear to see any sinner missing out on salvation, dying in sin and suffering in hell. Surely He should have elected all and made sure that every single person who lives on earth has the opportunity to hear the Gospel and be saved. Since He did not elect all, but only some, that shows that His goodness is not infinite but limited.

But let us remember that God is also a holy God. According to His holiness, 'the soul that sinneth, it shall die' (Ezekiel 18:4,20). Hence by right, absolutely no sinner should be saved at all. Now if God should have chosen to save just one sinner alone - that would already have been most marvelous mercy. It is utterly undeserving. But lo and behold, He has chosen to save not just one, but a whole multitude of sinners. That multiplies His glorious grace many times more.

Let us just imagine that in a certain country there are 50 men who have been justly given the death sentence for heinous crimes they committed, and they are all waiting for the time of their execution on death row in prison. Now, it happens to be the king's birthday, and the king decides to show his goodness by granting amnesty and freedom to a few of these men. So he goes down to visit the death row. He looks at all fifty of them, and all of them are equally deserving of death. Then he selects 3 of them, to whom he says. 'Out of the goodness of my heart, I am removing the death sentence from you. You can walk out of this prison now, as free men.' The 3 men are understandably elated and they prostrate themselves before the king, thanking him profusely for sparing their lives.

But the rest of the prisoners become disappointed and angry at the king for not choosing them. They say to him, 'You cannot do that to us. You are not being fair to us!' And the king only says to them, 'If it is fairness that you want, then not even a single one of you would be released. What I have given to the three men I chose is not what they deserve, but what they do not deserve.' Dear friends, the same thing applies to our salvation. The fact that God chose to save only some does not mean that He is unfair to the rest. Elect or not elect, all men were sentenced to eternal death because of their sins.

But God's goodness is magnified in the fact that even before the foundation of the world, God had already chosen us to be in Christ. And this led to the outworking of His providence to bring us the gospel, and the inworking of His Holy Spirit in our hearts, to bring us into the saved status that we enjoy today. And we should now be most grateful to God for all this. And this should also make us humble. We have no one but God to thank, for our salvation. We cannot claim any credit for ourselves.

As for those who have never heard the Gospel and are condemned as a result of that - they have no one but themselves to blame for their unsaved condition, and so they have to bear full responsibility for themselves. I hope that this enables us to answer the question 'What About People Who Have Never Heard of the Gospel?' There is one other question that is sometimes asked as well, related to this one:

IV. What About Those Who Are Incapable of Hearing the Gospel? 

We are not talking anymore about those who are outside the reach of the Gospel, but of those who may be within reach of some kind of Gospel witness, but who are just unable to understand it. E.g. those who die in infancy or who are mentally deficient. How can infants dying in infancy believe in Christ? And how can those who are mentally deficient believe in the Gospel message when they cannot even understand simple words? Are they totally denied salvation merely because they lack the capacity to understand the Gospel?

It must be admitted that God's Word does not speak very much on this matter. But Jesus did say in Luke 18: 16 'Suffer little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.' And King David expressed confidence that he will see his deceased infant son in heaven one day, 2 Samuel 12:23 'I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.'

But beyond these few statements and some good and necessary inferences that we can make from Scripture, there is a definite limit upon what we may legitimately say on this matter. To say more than this is to venture into the unknown. There are some who speculate that all infants who die in infancy are automatically saved because it is claimed that they are all innocent and have no sin. But the Scriptures teach the sober truth that we are are already sinners not only from birth, but even from the moment of conception, even though no actual sins have been committed yet. David testified in Psalm 51:5 'Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.'

This sinful nature can be seen even in the behaviour of newborn babies - you can see how quickly they learn how to get their mummies and daddies to respond to their griping and crying. And so even one who is still in a state of infancy is a sinner in need of salvation, and if he dies, there is no automatic salvation for him. And so we must be careful not to speculate on this matter or else we may end up believing things that are not scriptural at all. We may even end up teaching a new method of salvation - by dying in infancy! This is why the only thing that the Westminster Confession ventures to say about this matter is that 'Elect infants, dying in infancy, are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit, who worketh when, and where, and how he pleaseth. So also are all other elect persons, who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the word.' (WCOF Chapter X, para 3) 

All that is stated here is that by the same divine election that we have been saved, those who are incapable of hearing the Gospel can also be saved. It does not go on to speculate how this happens, or how many of such persons are elected to salvation, whether they include only the infants of Christian parents or also those of non-Christian parents. All those whom God elects are ultimately saved, and their salvation is wrought by God only through Jesus Christ alone.

But what is good for us to know out of all this, is that because according to the Scriptures, salvation is completely wrought by the sovereign work of God, God is still able save those who die in infancy and those who are mentally deficient. Their incapacity poses no barrier to God's work of salvation. That puts them on the same level as eveyrone else. And this gives us hope to comfort others and also ourselves if have loved ones in such a state - a child who dies in infancy or is born with some abnormality which makes him mentally handicapped. Let us do our best for them knowing that God can save them. Pray for them, communicate Christ to them as simply as we can, and leave the rest up to God.

And actually, we too before we were saved, were just like them and not very different from them. We too were incapable of responding to the Gospel of Christ. Jesus said, 'No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him' If God had not worked in your heart, and drawn you to Christ, you would not be saved today!

Romans 01:18-27 - That Which Is Against Nature

By Rev Charles Seet

Preached at / Published Life BPC 8 am service, 2007-08-12

Text: Romans 1:18-27

Our scripture text shows the extent of corruption that sin has caused in man. Verse 21 tells us how sin has changed man's knowledge of God 'when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations.' Verse 25 goes on to show how sin has changed man's worship of God 'changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator.' And verses 26 and 27 describe the terrible effect of sin on a particular gift that man has received from God - The gift of human sexuality. It has brought about a very radical change to this gift, a change of one's natural affections - a change to that which is against nature!

Human sexuality is actually one of God's most delightful gifts to man. But please remember that this joy is reserved only for those who carefully follow the 'Divine Manufacturer's instructions.' It becomes sinful when people fail to follow the instructions that God has given for its proper use. Today, sexual sin has become a universal problem. People everywhere have sexual desires that are sinful, unnatural and distorted, resulting in immoral relationships like adultery, fornication, prostitution, promiscuous relationships and homosexuality. These, in turn have resulted in sexually transmitted diseases, broken homes, broken families, unwed mothers, and abortions.

The only remedy for all these awful effects of sexual sin is to return to the biblical teaching of Sex and Marriage. We need this more than ever before because of all that is happening in our present time. The Bible teaches that only married couples may have a sexual relationship. This is spelled out clearly in Hebrews 13:4 'Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.' Please note that the word 'bed' here is translated from the Greek word 'koite' which actually refers to sexual relations. God wants us to know that any sexual activity outside marriage is unacceptable in His sight and merits His judgment.

Marriage was designed by God to be a monogamous, permanent, and heterosexual relationship. Listen to what our Lord Jesus said in Matthew 19:4,5 'Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?'

The first thing we observe in God's design for marriage is that it must be monogamous, i.e. only one partner and no more. However, after the fall, the sins of bigamy, polygamy and polyandry soon began to appear. Lamech (Genesis 4:19) had two wives. Today the same thing still happens. Recently a Malaysian man married 2 women at the same time!

The second thing we see in the God's design for marriage is that it has to be a permanent relationship that lasts until death comes. Jesus Himself emphasised this in Matthew 19:6 'What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.' Therefore, husband and wife must both be fully committed to be faithful and loyal to each other for life. Both must take their wedding vows seriously and keep them until death.

Now here comes an interesting question: What if a partnership is monogamous, and permanent but it is not a heterosexual relationship? Can such a union ever be accepted and blessed by the Lord? No, God rejects it, because it is a sinful relationship - and this should also be our own attitude towards homosexual relationships. However, attitudes toward homosexuality have changed drastically within the last 40 years. 

The Changing attitudes toward Homosexuality

Before 1967 Homosexuality was a crime called sodomy and was punishable by law. Then those who followed Sigmund Freud reduced it to a mental illness. By the 70s and 80s it was held to be attributed to environmental conditioning. E.g. A family with an overprotective mother and a hostile or distant father predisposes the children to it. Later on it became a normal alternative, like being left-handed. And finally today it is advocated by some as a preferred way of life to provide the highest form of loving relationships and the best means of population control. 

In former days homosexuals were very discreet about their sexual orientation. But things have changed. They are no longer ashamed to make their sexual orientation known to the whole world - even holding hands in public like this couple, or participating in a Gay Pride parade like this couple. They call this 'coming out.' Even famous people unashamedly confess that they are gay - movie stars, actors, musicians, congressmen, writers, dancers, sportsmen - giving homosexuals a new respectable image. One of them is this well-known singer, Elton John.

Within the last 7 years same-sex marriages have been legalized in 5 countries (Holland, Belgium, Spain, Canada and South Africa) and recognized in 3 countries (Israel, Aruba and Antilles). And some churches are now conducting gay weddings. God forbid that this should ever happen here in Life Church! 

One by one the mainline churches in America are favouring the ordination of practicing homosexuals. The first to do this was the United Church of Christ. In November 2003, an Anglican homosexual priest named Gene Robinson was ordained as the Bishop of New Hampshire in the U.S. He had been having a sexual relationship with his male partner, Mark Andrews for 13 years.

The gay movement is now a very visible, powerful force that is seeking recognition. They are rallying to demand the authorities to spend more tax money on AIDS research. Why? It is because this illness affects them more than anyone else. They are also lobbying for legal action against discrimination. They want to have the right to adopt children. Recently some Catholic Church leaders in Britain announced that they are closing down their 7 adoption agencies because of a new law that makes it a criminal offence to refuse to help gay couples adopt a child.

They also want children in schools to be taught that homosexual relations are normal. I recently heard that one school in Singapore invited someone to speak about their alternative lifestyle. They want their books promoting their lifestyle to be included in public libraries. Here is a children's storybook entitled King & King. It tells the story of a prince who rejects three princesses before falling in love and marrying another prince.

How about homosexuality in Singapore? The gay movement here is very active and gaining momentum. They are trying to make our city a key holiday destination for homosexual tourists. And gays in Thailand are worried that they may lose plenty of pink dollars if Singapore overtakes them as the gay capital of Asia. Gays in Singapore are trying hard to have section 377A of the penal code repealed because it criminalises homosexual acts.

Just two months ago this article appeared in the newspaper, entitled 'What price the pink dollar?' It was about the debate on whether homosexuality should be legalised here in order to attract the foreign talent our country needs. This issue cropped up when a very prominent minister said, at a youth forum in April, that 'Singapore may eventually have to legalise homosexuality, particularly if it wants to foster creativity and become more cosmopolitan; They tell me that homosexuals are creative writers, dancers; If we want creative people, then we have to put up with their idiosyncrasies' A recent survey of 300 people living in HDB flats showed that 11.3 % agreed that homosexuality should be legalized here. Another 26 % neither agree nor disagree. This means that more than a third of heart-landers are not against legalizing homosexuality. Now that we have seen how attitudes to homosexuality have changed within the last 4 decades, let us consider:

What Causes Homosexuality?

The gay movement claims that it is due to inborn genetic traits that one cannot be held responsible for. It is therefore harmful to suppress one's natural homosexual inclinations. But medical research has failed to find any evidence for this. In 1993 a paper published in a scientific journal claimed the discovery of a 'gay gene.' But the study by Simon LeVay and Dean H. Hamer has been discredited. So far, all studies fail to show any link between homosexuality and genetics.

It is now known today that it is a socially learned response. Studies from universities such as John Hopkins Schools of Medicine and the Albert Einstein School of Medicine point to environmental factors as a major cause of homosexuality. The Bible gives us the complete picture: It is the result of man's depraved sinful nature interacting with a sinful social environment. 

And gays are responsible for giving unlimited expression to their sinful nature instead of choosing to subdue it. They want to wallow in their sin, just like these people who find so much delight in wallowing in mud. Before we were saved we too were once wallowing in our sins until God's Word revealed to us that what we were doing is sinful and we must repent. How can we now help them to realize how sinful homosexuality really is? There are at least 7 ways to show them from the Bible that homosexuality is a sin:

1. It violates God's design in marriage: He made Adam and Eve (not Adam and Steve!), male and female, and married them. Genesis 1:27,28 'So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them, And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it.' When I solemnize weddings in Life Church, I state the 3 purposes of marriage - which are mutual companionship, procreation, and to avoid sexual sin. If a pastor were to solemise a same-sex marriage he would have to leave procreation out. Couples of such marriages can't possibly be fruitful and multiply, and if the future of the human race depended on same-sex marriages extinction is certain! 

2. It undermines what God has ordained to be the basic unit of society: The Family. One verse that defines the family unit is Exodus 20:12 'Honour thy father and thy mother' This is the fifth commandment and it shows that every child has a responsibility toward 2 important people in his or her life: Father and Mother. Each of them contributes to the nurture of the child in different ways. Study after study has proven that children normally thrive in a household with both mother and father. They combine to give children a balanced upbringing that will help them for the rest of their lives. 

But if a homosexual couple were to adopt and raise up a child together, they obviously can only fulfill the role of either father or mother, but not both. And when the child grows up into adulthood we wonder what kind of choice he will make regarding marriage since he grew up in such a different home environment? 

3. It is unnatural Romans 1:26-27 'For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly,..' This verse speaks of both gays and lesbians, and describes their sexual activity as being 'against nature' and 'changing or leaving the natural use.' This completely removes any possibility of a genetic basis for homosexuality, because all that is expressed in nature comes from the genes. Thus according to God's Word, all human beings are genetically and naturally heterosexual beings.

The 3 points that we have seen thus far have only shown that homosexuality deviates from the natural and established order in marriage, in family life and in nature itself. But some may then say that such deviations do not necessarily make it sinful, because things that are new and deviant may sometimes prove to be an improvement over the natural order (and evolutionists will make a big thing out of this!). The remaining 4 points will show that this is not the case.

4. It is an abomination to God. Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 - 'Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination; If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.' Those guilty of homosexual sins were to be put to death. Because it is such an abomination to God,

5. It brought God's fiery judgment upon the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Genesis 19:4-5 'But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.'

There are people who claim that God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah not because of their homosexual activities but because the people were inhospitable to the angels. This claim is silenced by Jude 7 'Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.'

6. It is condemned by the Law of God. 1 Timothy 1:8-10 - 'the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine'

7. It excludes those who indulge in it from God's Kingdom. (SLIDE 56) 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 'Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.' The term 'effeminate' (Greek: malakos) literally means 'soft' refers to homosexual who has the passive role. The phrase 'abusers of themselves with mankind' (Greek: arsenokoites) literally means those who go to bed with males, and it refers to the partner who takes the active role in the homosexual relationship. Both types of homosexuals are excluded from God's kingdom, because they are indulging in an activity that was only meant for a heterosexual relationships within marriage.

Some may then ask: Since according to the Bible, marriage must be heterosexual, can the problem of homosexuals then be solved by changing the sex of one partner? If there are 2 males one of them can change into a female. And if there are 2 females in a homosexual relationship one of them can become a male in order to have a heterosexual marriage. Some have in fact opted for this. This is now possible with modern advances made by science. Men can be physically transformed into women, and women can be physically transformed into men. Those who are in favour of such change say, 'This is my own body, this is my life: I have the right to do whatever I like with it.' There are at least 3 important reasons why sexual reassignment is an unacceptable solution.

a. The Bible says that your body is not your own but God's. 1 Corinthians 6:19 'What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?' 

b. Since God assigned your gender to you, it is His will for you to be that way and to remain that way. God never makes mistakes. To change one's sex is, in effect, saying, 'God, you have made a great mistake, and now I have to correct it for you.' This is contrary to what David wrote in Psalm 139:14,16 'I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are Thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. - Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in Thy book all my members were written.' 

c. Wanting a gender which is not God's will for you is to commit the sin of covetousness. Ephesians 5:3 'But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints'

Since sexual reassignment is not an option for a homosexual is there any hope for him to be made right with God? Yes, we want to emphasize that there is abundant hope for homosexuals if they are willing to repent of their sin and turn to Christ for salvation. Christ's power is available to those who sincerely want to change. Many have reported success in putting away their sinful past life. Some are even married and have children. Stephen Bennett, a former homosexual, testifies that his life was wonderfully changed through the power of Jesus Christ. Another former gay person testified: 'For many years I thought I was gay. I finally realised I was not a homosexual, but really a heterosexual man with a homosexual problem.'

For this reason we should not hate homosexuals or shun them. We should love them and reach out to them with the Gospel. They are sinners who need salvation and can be saved by Christ. In John 8 we are told that a woman who was caught in adultery was brought to Christ. What did Jesus say to her after all the accusers had left? Verse 11 'Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.' This should be our attitude to the homosexual. We must fully accept the homosexual sinner who does not justify his sinful behaviour but confesses it and seeks God's deliverance from it. May this message of deliverance from God be lovingly proclaimed to all sinners not only those who are homosexual but also to those who are not.

Romans 01:16 - Christian Missions in the Post-Modern World

By Rev Charles Seet

Preached at / Published Life BPC 8am service, 2001-02-11

Text: Romans 1:16; 2 Timothy 2:2

There is one thing that is needful in the subject of missions: And that is to see missions within its present-day context. We are not living in the first century but in the twenty-first century. Nearly two thousand years have elapsed since the time that our Lord gave His disciples the great commission. The world has gone through great changes within that time. Therefore it is profitable for us to study how that commission should be fully and effectively implemented in our present-day context.

I. Things that Have Not Changed 

Now, it must be stated at the very outset, that there are some things that have not changed and still remain the same till now: Man is still as sinful as he was before and in great need of salvation. Despite the many advances that have been made in science and technology, and the enlightenment that education and information technology has brought to this world, the same sins of selfish greed, hatred, lust, dishonesty and deceit are still very much alive. A quick look at the news in the media is enough to show that despite the high level of sophistication that modern man has attained, and that may make him feel far advanced beyond his ancient predecessors, he still remains a depraved creature, and his most basic need has not changed: Man still needs to be reconciled into a right relationship with God, through the forgiveness of his sins.

Another thing that has not changed is the power of the Gospel of Christ. It is still the answer to man's need today. The Gospel of Christ is not only still relevant for man today, but it still remains as the only viable solution to man's perpetual problem of sin.

So, if I may adapt what the Apostle Paul said about the Gospel in Romans 1:16 'It is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to those who lived in the ancient world, and also to those who live in the present modern world.' 

A third thing that has not changed at all is the urgency for missions. We cannot say that there is a lesser need for missions now than before. Although the church of Jesus Christ has grown tremendously, and the gospel has spread far and wide, even to the uttermost parts of the earth, the harvest is still as plenteous today as in the time of Christ, and the labourers are still as few. This is because world population growth has outstripped the rate of evangelism and missions. Besides that, every new generation that is born becomes a new mission field. Areas that have been evangelized before, need to be evangelized all over again. There are countries that were once thriving spiritually and that even used to send many missionaries to other lands, but today they are the ones needing missionaries to be sent to them with the Gospel!

So these then are three things that are still the same in the present world, and will remain the same even in the future world, until Christ comes. Man's sin, the power of the Gospel, and the urgency for missions. With this basic understanding we can now properly consider the things that have changed in our present-day context. These changes can be categorized under those that are for the better, and those that are for the worse.

II. Things That Have Changed For the Better 

There are many ways in which present-day conditions have greatly facilitated Christian missions. Look for instance, at the literacy level in the world: about 80% of all people in the world are now able to read and write. Never before has it ever been as high as it is today. This means that more people would be able to read and understand the Scriptures than ever before. Furthermore, with all the Bible translation work that has been done, the Bible is now available in more than 2000 languages, so that more than 96 % of the world's population now have access to the Scriptures in a language that they can understand. And with the advent of jetp travel, modern telecommunications, and the Internet, the whole world seems to have shrunk. People can get to any part of the world now in just a matter of hours. People can now communicate with someone in any part of the world now in just a matter of seconds.

This can greatly reduce the sense of loneliness and isolation that missionaries oftentimes have on the mission field. Our church is able to keep in constant touch with our missionaries by e-mail. If they have a need or urgent request for prayer, they can communicate it to us by e-mail and have the assurance that the whole church will soon know about it and be praying for them. If they have an urgent need for funds to do the Lord's work, they can receive the needed funds within a few days by telegraphic transfer. Our church's missionary fellowship is currently looking into the hardware needs of our missionaries and how those needs can be met.

How different this is from the time of the Apostle Paul, when it took weeks or months for the epistles he wrote to reach their destinations, because they had to be delivered by hand! In 2 Corinthians 11:26 Paul talked about being 'In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea' We must really thank God that we need not have to contend any more with these difficulties in our present time. Christian missions has become so much easier, faster and safer than ever before, because of the technological developments of the modern age that we live in.

And now it is even possible to do the work of missions through the Internet. Do you know that the Web is a mission field that is wide open for outreach? Thousands of people around the world today are surfing the net everyday. Som eof them are searching for answers to life's questions. Some may stumble into a Christian web site and receive the gospel message. Our Life church web site has been a particularly useful tool in disseminating the Word of God. Those who log on to it will be able see a clear presentation of the Gospel, and enroll in an evangelistic Bible Correspondence Course. A number of people who visited our web site have asked to be contacted, or have come into our church.

Thus far what we have seen in this message about the impact of the present-day context on missions has been good and favourable. But in order to have a balanced view, we must also consider:

III. Things That Have Changed For the Worse 

There are certain trends in the world today that actually hinder or oppose the work of missions. The first trend is:

A. An Increasing Occupation with Self and Materialism 

This trend is partly due to the decreasing need for personal transactions today. Personal communication is being replaced with impersonal modes of communication. Instead of meeting with people face to face for a discussion, we now make conference phone calls or use videoconferencing. Sometimes people within the same office prefer to use e-mail to communicate with one another even though they are only a few metres away from each other! Instead of dealing with the bank teller for financial matters, we now deal with an ATM machine. This past week, one local bank just announced that it was increasing its number of ATMs and decreasing its number of tellers.

Instead of buying things from a salesperson, we now buy things on-line through a computer by e-commerce. Education can now be received in a virtual classroom in a virtual campus. Don't be surprised that one day, people may even request to have on-line worship services in a virtual church, if this trend of spending less time with people and more time with gadgets and sophisticated equipment.

Some writers today have observed that this loss of the personal touch, in favour of impersonal automation is already affecting society. This trend is bringing about a decreasing personal commitment toward people, and an increasing occupation with self and with material things. This can be seen in the multitude of self-help programmes now available on the market, and also in the desire to suit every individual's tastes and preferences. The emphasis now is on personalizing the things you have to express your own image. You can now personalize your own computer desktop, your telephone or your handphone to project your personality.

This is carried over into the realm of science medicine. With plastic surgery a person can reinvent his own physical features to his own tastes and preferences. And now, it may soon be possible for a person to reinvent even his own being. Experiments with genetic engineering and human cloning are the natural outcome of a society where man is trying to reinvent everything, even himself!

How does this trend affect missions today? It does so by giving people such a great but false sense of self-sufficiency and power, that they do not realize how much they need God in their lives. The ground for missions is sometimes harder in technologically-rich nations, because of this. Besides this there is another trend that is affecting missions today. It is:

B. The Consumption of Time 

Technology often promises to save us much time and labour, so that we can then have more time for activities that really matter. But sometimes it seems to be consuming more time than it saves! And most people seem to be much busier today than ever before and are struggling to keep up with the hectic pace of modern life. This is a really strange phenomenon, but it can be explained like this: The increased speed and efficiency from technology have extended our limits. Formerly, when people leave the office they could not do any more work or business. That puts a natural time limit on their work. 

But now with computers, e-mail and videoconferencing, it becomes possible for people to continue doing work or business at home after office hours, and even throughout the whole night, if they want to. And so with the common notion that the full potential of whatever is possible should be fully exploited, it is easy for people now to go way beyond their previous limits of work. Before we realize it, we are taking on many more additional responsibilities and activities than we can handle. 

This illustration is only of one out of the many new possibilities that modern living has opened up for man. That is one reason why most professionals, especially those in service industries are working long hours day and night, doing overtime work, working on weekends, and doing work even during vacations through their mobile office. How is this affecting missions today? As the lives of more and more people are filled with the rushing flood of modern-day living, they may soon become too busy to hear the gospel, or to even pay any attention at all to their great spiritual needs. 

C. The Denial of Absolutes

Thus we have considered two negative trends of modern life that will affect missions in the days to come: the increasing occupation that society has with self and materialism, and the consumption of time. Now these fast-moving trends may have an adverse effect not just on our generation but even more on the next generation after us, in some ways making them a little harder to reach with the Gospel, because they tend to look at life differently from previous generations. Sociologists have categorized today's children as belonging to the 'Net-Generation' because they are growing up with the Internet. They are different from the 'X-Generation' before them, that grew up with computers, and the older 'Baby Boom' Generation that grew up with the television. 

What are some of the characteristics of this 'Net Generation'? According to some books written about them, they are a more mobile generation. They are also more independent and self-centred because of the ease and facility with which they use the Internet. They are open to input and help from their parents, but always on their own terms. They are conscious of brand identification and are addicted to the media. Many of them believe that there are no absolutes. This is because they have instant access to such a the tremendous amount of information on the Internet, that they imbibe many different ideas, views and attitudes from the whole world and not just from the community in which they grow up. 

For this reason, some sociologists call this present age of the Internet, the 'Post-Modern' world. This is described as a world where the assumptions that have guided history for the past two thousand years no longer apply. Hence those in the post-modern world do not believe that absolutes exist any more.

IV. The Challenge of Missions in the Post-Modern World 

The question that we face in missions today is, How do we reach out to this post-modern world? How can we effectively bring the gospel to the Net-Generation?

A. To Win People From the Post-Modern World, Build Them, and Send Them Back

I believe that there is one useful principle from scripture that can help us. This is the one that is given by the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 2:2 'And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.' In practical terms this principle means that we should first go all out to win some of them who belong to that generation. When a few of them have been saved, the next step is to thoroughly disciple those who are faithful among them, by building up their faith and commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. When the discipleship process has been done well, the next step is to send them back as 'missionaries' to teach their own peers. No one can be better at reaching out to the Net-generation than those who are from the Net-generation themselves.

This principle of 2 Timothy 2:2 has worked very well in centuries of cross-cultural missions. E.g. When a missionary came from the West, he found it very difficult to reach out to a some groups of unreached people because of the cultural barriers that stood in the way. The people found it hard to receive the gospel from someone who was so different from them. But the Lord provided the missionary with some converts who were faithful men, and the missionary spent most of his time training them well to reach out to their own people. From then on, an indigenous church developed under the ministry of these faithful men, and the missionary's mission was accomplished.

This was what the apostle Paul did at Ephesus, the port city of the province of Asia. He spent two years there, teaching and training disciples. Through this however, the whole of the province of Asia heard the Gospel and churches were planted inland, in places like Colosse, Laodicea and Hierapolis. These were apparently planted not by Paul, but by the disciples he had trained at Ephesus. He had won them, built them and sent them back to their own people.

And so missions in the post-modern world can be done in the same way, using the same principle of discipleship of 2 Timothy 2:2 that has proven to be very useful in the history of cross-cultural missions. All it takes is the willingness and effort to involve yourself fully in winning them, building them and then sending them back to win their own generation. I trust that the Lord will give us a burden to do this work.

B. To Maintain a Bible-Centred Ministry Without Compromise

However, we must also be aware that there is one danger that we must avoid in this situation. In the history of cross-cultural missions, there was always the danger of compromising the message to make it acceptable to the people being reached. For example, some missionaries in the past allowed the assimilation of certain pagan practices into the new believers' faith. Instead of speaking from God's Word against these practices, they chose to incorporate them. The result was an indigenous church that is not very much different from the pagan background of the people.

This can also happen easily in missions to the post-modern world. There are certain things from the cultural background of the post-modern world which are acceptable, and there are also certain things that are not acceptable. There are some who teach that the church must go through some radical changes in its ministry in order to reach out to the post-modern world. For instance, they say that instead of relying on the established teaching of the church in order to know the right way to do things, we should not be afraid adopt the post-modern trend of bringing together various traditions, styles, and strategies that seem potentially contradictory. In other words, to reach out to the post-modern world, we need to be more accommodating and tolerant to different points of view, because the spirit of the post-modern era is accommodating and tolerant.

Unfortunately this change is already affecting the church at large. In the name of becoming more relevant to the needs of a changing world, many churches now opt for shorter sermons and less Bible study. Inaccurate doctrine is tolerated; but a long sermon is not. At one time, a church's existence was based on its doctrinal statement. Today, many churches are based on methodology, not doctrine. The watchword now is innovation. Pastors are looking into marketing strategies to find new innovative methods that can make their congregations grow faster in the post-modern world.

Because of this, the training curriculum in many seminaries today no longer emphasises Biblical studies and theology, but counseling techniques and church growth theory. Things like drama, recreation, entertainment, self?help programmes, and similar enterprises are flooding into churches in the name of making the church more relevant to the post-modern world. The preaching of the whole counsel of God on the other hand, is being pushed aside, because it is regarded as boring, offensive, and not user-friendly enough.

Many churches believe that they can get better results in reaching out to this new generation, by giving them whatever they want. One church in the housing estate where I live wanted to gain publicity in the estate by regularly distributing free gifts to every house, e.g. bread, or cakes during Chinese New Year, Christmas, etc. You can imagine the tremendous amount of time and expense this involved. But they considered it as a means of reaching out to the community by projecting the image that the church is in tune with the needs of the community.

Once people have been settled into a church, they are given biblical truth but only in small, diluted doses. And then there are only certain things from the Bible they should be taught. According to church growth experts, the rest must never be mentioned, e.g. It would be a great mistake to tell people that they are sinners - because that would lower their self esteem. Don't ever mention the wrath and judgment of God to them because it creates fear in people. Don't talk about hellfire and brimstone. Negative things like these will drive people away. If you want to see your church growing, don't preach everything that is given in the Bible - Preach only those portions that are upbeat, positive and inspirational - Chicken Soup for the soul.

Dearly beloved, the danger that we face, is that when we see the results produced by these churches and compare that with our own growth, we might be tempted to think like this:- Perhaps they are right after all, and we should follow them. Maybe we should change with the times that we live in and not cling so tenaciously to our conservative ministry. Maybe the Word of God does not need to have such a prominent place for the church in the post-modern world.

It would be a very sad day, if this scenario were to happen here in our church! It would sound the death knell of our witness as a church of Jesus Christ. Dearly beloved, let it be our fervent prayer that this will not happen. The way to reach out to the post-modern world is to be faithful in preaching, and in preaching the whole counsel of God. And this is because of the things that remain unchanged from age to age, that we saw at the beginning of this message: The Sins of Man, the Power of the Gospel, and the Urgency for Missions.

No matter what age or world we belong to, we will always need the blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse us from all sin. Let us never forsake nor forget this message. The death of our Lord upon the cross at Calvary is therefore what we must proclaim this day, and continue to proclaim until He comes.

Romans 01:18 - The Revelation of God's Wrath

By Rev Charles Seet

Preached at / Published Life BPC 10:45am Service, 2005-04-17

Text: Romans 1:18; Hebrews 12:28,29

This is a topic that people often very much dread to speak about, but at the same time, it is a topic which must be carefully understood and known to all, for without it, our view of God would not be complete and accurate. It is too easy to become so caught up with the love and compassion of God that we overlook His firm opposition to all evil and sin. The wrath of God is not a popular subject today but it takes up a large part of biblical teaching. Those who choose to neglect or overlook the wrath of God do so to their own peril. Let us first consider:

1. Why Does the Bible have so much teaching on God's Wrath?

The wrath of God is mentioned at least 32 times in the Bible. One example is Jeremiah 10:10 - 'But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.' Another is Nahum 1:2 - 'God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for His enemies.' Other synonyms of the word 'wrath' used of God include the words 'anger' (28x, e.g. Deuteronomy 6:15 '(For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth. ') and 'indignation' (5x, e.g. Ezekiel 22:31 - 'Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD.')

All these verses and more tell us in no uncertain terms that God is a God of wrath and judgment, a God of anger and indignation. Why does God want to reveal this seemingly unpleasant things to us? If you search the scriptures you will find that there are at least three reasons for this:

A. It is meant to make us understand His righteousness:

The wrath of God is the outcome of His righteous judgment of the world. Psalm 9:7,8 'But the LORD shall endure for ever: He hath prepared His throne for judgment. And He shall judge the world in righteousness, He shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.'

Romans 2:5 says 'But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God.' I want you to notice that the Bible makes absolutely no apology at all for this doctrine, nor does it attempt to soft-pedal or tone it down. Our God is a God who must execute judgement.

Now look at Ezekiel 28:21,22 - 'Son of man, set thy face against Zidon, and prophesy against it, And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her. '

I want you to listen to this carefully: What this means is that God will be as much glorified by His wrath as He is by His love or by any other attribute that He has. So let us never regard this attribute of God's wrath as being something unpleasant that God would rather not carry out, and cannot help but to carry out. The scriptures even tell us to praise God for His great wrath!

I am sure that you must have heard the glorious strains of the Hallelujah chorus of Handel's Messiah before, with the powerful words, 'Hallelujah! For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth!' But do you know where these words come from in your Bible? Revelation 19:2-6 which describes God's righteous destruction of Mystery Babylon, the Great Harlot (Revelation 17:5) that sits upon many waters. These words of glorious praise will be sung even as the smoke of this anti-God and anti-Christian movement's complete destruction billows upward.

At the same time, let us understand that God is not a capricious God venting His fury unreasonably and without any restraint. We are not at the mercy of the changing whims and fancies of a selfish, unfeeling, indifferent god. God is not at all like us, who might mete out punishment which is too severe in a fit of rage. God does not lose His temper. He is in fact very gracious and slow to anger. Whatever wrath and indignation He has is good and righteous indignation. The objects of His wrath fully deserve it from Him. 

That is why we must be careful not to conclude that since God can be full of wrath and anger, it is all right for Christians to be angry for any cause, Most of the time, our anger is not righteous at all, but sinful, self-centred and unjustified. Colossians 3:8 tells us that anger and wrath are sins we need to put away from our lives - 

'But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.' God's anger is different from that. It is always pure, justified, righteous and holy because it is designed to reveal these things about Himself. Now let us look at another important reason for the revelation of God's wrath.

B. It is meant to comfort us that all the evil in the world will be punished

Romans 1:18 'For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.' Throughout all ages, God's people have often suffered at the hands of the ungodly and unrighteous men who are mentioned in this verse, and they are not able to do anything at all to stop it in this sinful world. Evil men often take advantage of those who are weak and poor and they get away scot free. Recently, we were appalled to hear about tsunami relief funds that end up in the pockets of influential government officials instead of helping the needy victims. We say, how wicked they are to seek their own prosperity at the expense of thousands of people! How often we wish that there could be a final end to all the heartless injustice, exploitation and evil in the world. How we wish that the people who perpetrate these terrible things would get exactly what they deserve.

Whenever we feel like this, the doctrine of God's wrath assures us that God will ultimately bring all the evil that is in the world to a just end. Psalm 10:17-18 - 'LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear: To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress.'

Besides that, Psalm 7:11 tells us that 'God is angry with the wicked every day.' Wicked men who seem to do all their evil deeds with impunity will therefore receive the righteous punishment that they fully deserve. Psalm 11:5,6 'The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence His soul hateth. Upon the wicked He shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.'

All these verses open our eyes to the truth that though the wicked may seem to prosper well now, they are actually standing on very slippery ground. At the moment that they least expect to fall, they will both slip and fall. And by allowing them to prosper in their evil, without any restraint, God has actually set them up for that fall. They will never be able to find a way to evade the arm of the Greatest Judge of all: God Himself. 

God's wrath will come upon them. No one can escape from it. Judgment is most certain therefore, for all the wicked, even though, for a time, they may seem to carry on their wicked deeds without any restraint or retribution. And if they do not receive judgment before they die, they will certainly receive it after they die, when they find themselves being cast by God into the eternal fires of hell for all their sins. For them, it will be like waking up from a dream, to a reality which is an eternal living nightmare! So from now on when you see the prosperity, power, wealth and greatness of the ungodly, please see them for what they really are: nothing but short.-lived dreams, momentary images that are here today, but gone tomorrow.

Now, we go on to a third reason why God has revealed His wrath:

C. It is meant to inculcate in us the right attitudes toward God

Let us look at the passage which we read before the message: Hebrews 12:28,29 - 'Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For God is a consuming fire.' If you read the earlier part of this chapter, you would come across v.21 which records that when Moses saw God's awesome presence manifested in the earthquake, fire and smoke at Mout Sinai, he said, 'I exceedingly fear and quake.' This is a healthy fear. It is good to have a God-fearing attitude.

This should be reflected in our worship. The worship service should not be regarded as an entertainment. The whole object is not to make us 'feel' nice and uplifted. We must always be careful to remember that the real object of worship is to please God and serve Him, not ourselves. Let us maintain an atmosphere of godly reverence and fear in our worship by remembering this important doctrine. Psalm 89:7 tells us - 'God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about Him.' This is why we inform all worshippers to turn off their mobile phones at the beginning of each service. There should be no SMSing or talking during the service, but keeping silence in holy reverence before the Lord. 

This principle applies not only to our worship. The doctrine of God's wrath and judgment is meant to inculcate the proper attitude of reverence in us toward God in our daily life and service to God. It teaches us that God is not One to be trifled with. He says that He will deal very sternly and decisively with sin, and He will certainly carry it out. No Christian can purposely or carelessly flout God's commandments and say to himself, 'I am sure God will not mind it too much.' Be not deceived: God is not mocked! We cannot play around or fool around with the things of God. We are not just playing at religion. We need to take our Christian life and service very seriously because our God is real and will not tolerate any fooling around from us.

In contrast to all that, we can see that many human rulers and authorities today are increasingly unable to implement stern measures that are needful, without incurring much criticism and even violent reactions from without and within. The tendency today is that governments are being feared and respected less and less. In some countries today whenever the death sentence is given, it no longer evokes any significant degree of terror in the hearts of hardened criminals, because they know that they can easily get the death sentence commuted to life imprisonment and even to get away with something lighter than that.

So let us remember that even though we who are saved through Jesus Christ will be graciously and mercifully spared from facing God's tremendous wrath for our sins, it is still very profitable for us to study the doctrine of God's wrath so that we may realise the awesome judgmental capability and power of the God whom we serve, the God with whom we have to do. Dear friends, whenever you find yourself becoming cold or slack in your devotion to God, or becoming a little too presumptuous toward God, or becoming too lax with regard to questionable practices or moral matters, please make full use of this remedy - Remind yourself that this God whom you serve is as much a God of wrath, as He is a God of love. Meditate on the passages of Scripture that speak of His wrath and consider the examples of God's Wrath:

II. What examples are there in the Bible of God's Wrath?

A. The Great Flood

The very first demonstration of God's judgment was the Great Flood (Genesis 6:5-7). God sent a huge worldwide flood that destroyed every living thing on earth, except those that were saved in the ark that God told Noah to build.

The tsunami waves that hit many countries over 3 months ago are only a fraction of the intense fury of natural disasters like the Great Flood. We can thank God that we in Singapore were spared from that, but each time something like that happens in the world, let us listen carefully to what they testify to us concerning the awful wrath of God!

B. The Destruction of Sodom & Gomorrah

This is described in Genesis 18. God destroyed these great cities 'Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous.' The devastation of these cities was so great there there is no trace of them left today!

C. The Plagues of Egypt

The book of Exodus tells us of the 10 plagues that totally disabled the great nation of Egypt. God's wrath was so greatly felt by the Egyptians that they pleaded with Pharoah: 'let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?' (Exodus 10:7)

D. Nadab and Abihu

In Leviticus 10 we have another vivid account of God's wrath, when the two older sons of Aaron named Nadab and Abihu were burned to death in the course of their priestly duties. And the reason given was that they: 'offered strange fire before the LORD, which He commanded them not.' (Leviticus 10:1)

E. The Years of Wandering in the Wilderness

The book of Numbers relates the sad account of vast numbers of Israelites dying in the wilderness because of their sins of rebellion against God. God judged them for worshipping the golden calf, for trying to usurp Moses and Aaron's authority, and for complaining against God when they experienced difficulties. Miriam was struck with leprosy for questioning Moses' right to remarry. Even Moses himself was not spared - He was forbidden to enter the Promised Land because he had failed to give glory to God to obtaining water from a rock.

F. The Captivity

The Books of Kings and Chronicles relate how God caused the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel in 722 BC by the Assyrians, and the Kingdom of Judah in 586 BC by the Babylonians, because of their sins. Many died from starvation, sicknesses and the sword. Those who survived were sent into captivity.

G. The Cross

All of these judgments from God however, cannot be compared with the judgment that our Lord Jesus Christ endured for us on the cross. He endured for us the full anger, wrath and indignation of God against our sins. The pain and suffering that Jesus bore was not merely physical, but the intense spiritual agony of being forsaken by God the Father. But there is a coming judgement where Christ will not be the one suffering the wrath of God, but where He will be the one meting out the wrath of God:

H. The Last Judgment

This judgement will take place at the Great White throne. It is described in Revelation 20:11-15 - 'And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.'

For those who face this judgment, that day will be too late for regrets. There will be no escape. Dearly beloved, sometimes when I tell people about the Lord and His salvation, I wish I could just transport a person to that future time, so that he can see exactly this kind of hopeless plight he will be in if he does not change his ways now.

Jonathan Edwards, the New England revivalist, once preached a famous sermon called 'Sinners in the hands of an Angry God.' In this sermon he sought to show sinners their awful perilous state, by likening them to horrid spiders that are being crushed to bits by a person who utterly reviles them. We should earnestly warn our friends and loved ones that this is the judgment they will face one day, if they refuse to turn to Christ.

My prayer is that this morning's message on the wrath of God will give each of us here a greater sense of urgency to bring the Gospel of Christ to people around us. The Gospel of Christ is the one and only way of escape for sinners to flee from the wrath to come! And we should not be afraid to tell people about the horrors of facing God's wrath if they do not repent of their sins and turn to Christ while there is still time for them to do so. Let us not think that this is using a 'scare tactic' to get people saved. It is merely telling them the truth and waking them up to their dangerous ignorance of God's awesome wrath. They need to know this, as much as they need to know of God's love.

We have seen that the revelation of God's wrath helps us to understand His righteousness, it comforts us about the evil that is going on in the world and it inculcates in us the right attitudes that we should have toward God. Now we have just seen that the revelation of God's wrath is even more needful for those who are still outside Christ to know about it, as they must be warned that they are going to be objects of God's wrath because of their sins, unless they turn to Christ. May the Lord move all of us here to faithfully warn people to flee from the wrath to come by giving them the Gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:20 - Christ Is Risen from the Dead!

By Rev Charles Seet

Preached at Life BPC Easter Sunrise Service, 2017-04-16

Text: 1 Corinthians 15:20

The title of this sermon is “Christ Is Risen from the Dead!” Among all the teachings of the Bible, there is none that brings greater comfort and hope than this one! The reason for this is that death is a grim reality of life. The sober fact that we all learn to accept is that life ends in death. No matter how hard we try to avoid this truth, it keeps coming back in one form or another! We hear of it in the news every day. In fact, there is not a single day that ever goes by without death, and so the pages of obituaries in the newspapers are never empty. Right at this moment, someone out there is taking his or her last breath. Death especially brings sorrow and pain, when a close friend or loved one is taken away.

And this sometimes makes us wonder: When will it be our turn to lie down all cold and lifeless in a narrow casket? Dear friends, if death is your final end with nothing more after that, then all the joy of living becomes quite meaningless, for there is nothing at all to look forward to in life if this is the way it ends. Surely there must be a better answer to death than this. And this is how the resurrection of Jesus from the dead becomes so relevant to us...

1. The Resurrection of Jesus Is the Answer That We Need, to Death.

His resurrection is relevant because death is a fact of human life. If death does not exist, there would be no need for a resurrection at all. And so to understand and appreciate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, let us first know what really happens to a person at death. 

Death is the total cessation of life. When a person dies, his body becomes cold and stiff. The cells and tissues begin to break down. These are only the visible effects of death. What cannot be seen is the separation of the soul from the body. The soul leaves the body and cannot return to it. Hence, death is irreversible. All the changes that have taken place in that body render it incapable of sustaining life. How can cells and tissues that have broken down be restored to function once again? How can organs and muscles that have decomposed be perfectly re-formed? And how can the soul ever return to a reconstituted body and animate it once more?

Well, this then is the real wonder of the resurrection – it actually reverses an irreversible change! To resurrect the dead back to life is to do the impossible. And it would take nothing less than a very great miracle to do this. And that’s precisely what the resurrection of Jesus is.

2. The Resurrection of Jesus Is a Very Great Miracle.

The question that needs to be answered now is – Can this miracle of Christ’s resurrection ever be proved? This question seems to be very difficult to answer, because miracles can never be repeated. It is impossible to replay them to observe how they took place.

Because miracles are such rare events in history, the number of people who were eyewitnesses to them is understandably small. But when we say that they were “a small number” we do not mean that just 1 or 2 of them experienced each miracle. It may be possible for 1 or 2 witnesses to be deceived by what they saw. But this is most unlikely for the witnesses of the resurrection of Christ. On one occasion the resurrected Christ was seen by more than 500 people at once (1 Corinthians 15:6). But when all these witnesses are added up, they are still few compared with the rest of humanity who did not see Him, including us.

And so we must depend entirely on the testimony of these ‘few’ witnesses, and we accept them on the basis of their reliable character. Is that unreasonable? No, it is actually something that we all do every day when we read the news about an event that happened in some part of the world. Were any of us there to see it? No. Then how can we be sure it really happened? Only by trusting what is reported by those who were there. We can only rely on the testimony of a few reporters at the scene, and yet we fully accept what they have written because of their reputation as truthful reporters. And when all the reports from different reporters are consistent with each other, then we have much more confidence to trust them.

This is in fact, the way that all our courts of law verify the facts of a case – it is all based on the unified testimony of some credible witnesses. Hence, the proof of miracles lies in the character of their witnesses, and in the quality of their testimony. If the witnesses are of doubtful character, then the miracles are also doubtful. And if their testimonies do not agree, then there is also good reason to doubt that the miracles really happened. This leads us now to consider whether the witnesses of Christ’s resurrection are reliable and consistent.

Now, it is impossible to call those who had witnessed the resurrection of Christ to come here and tell us what they saw. They have all passed away a long time ago. But we do have the next best thing that will be accepted in any court of law – their affidavits. The witnesses have left behind their written declarations for us to read, and they are all recorded in the Bible.

Take, for example what one of them wrote at the end of his written record –  “This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true.” (John 21:24) The disciple mentioned here is John. John also wrote in his first epistle –  “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…” (1 John 1:1-3)

Since we now have the written testimonies of the witnesses of Christ’s resurrection, we can scrutinize them thoroughly and compare them one with another. For instance, the four gospels give parallel accounts of Christ’s resurrection, and these can be compared with each other to verify the accuracy of their witness.

And we can also compare them with extra-biblical sources and also with evidences from geography, archaeology and history. Here is an example: In AD 93, a Jewish historian named Flavius Josephus published a 20-volume work called ‘The Antiquities of the Jews.’ In volume 18 Josephus wrote,  “Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.” (Antiquities, 18.3.3) What makes this testimony so valuable is that it did not come from a Christian, but from a Jewish historian.

Many have examined the biblical accounts about the resurrection of Jesus. They have compared them with historical records like this have been convinced about their reliability. One of them was an English journalist with a law degree by the name of Frank Morison. At first he thought that the resurrection of Christ was only a myth or a fairy tale. So he attempted to write a new version of the end of the life of Christ, removing anything that is miraculous from it. But when he studied all the facts of the case carefully, Morison had to change his mind. In the end, he called the book he wrote, “Who Moved the Stone?” and the first chapter is significantly entitled, ‘The Book that refused to be written’. It shows that the evidence Morison found for the resurrection of Christ were so substantial that his book was changed from an attack on the resurrection to a defence of it!

More recently, there was a highly qualified legal expert and district judge by the name of Graeme Smith. He examined the evidence concerning the resurrection of Jesus from a purely legal perspective. In 2014 he published his findings in a 220-page book entitled, “Was the Tomb Empty?” So let me summarise the evidence for you now, and I believe that you too will find that they are substantial.

Firstly there are evidences that Jesus had really died. If He had not died but had only fainted on the cross then there would be no resurrection at all. He would merely have been resuscitated back to life. But there is one detail in John’s Gospel which shows that Jesus really died:  “But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.” (John 19:34). What John described here is medically consistent with death. When a person dies, his blood will begin to separate into two components – the watery plasma, and the blood cells that clump together into a semi-solid mass. This evidence makes it impossible for anyone to claim that Jesus was not dead.

Now, after Jesus had died on the cross, His body was taken down and wrapped up tightly with a linen cloth. And then it was laid in a nearby tomb. The tomb consisted of a little cave that had been hollowed out of the side of a hill. The body was laid in the tomb, and a big flat round stone was rolled to cover the entrance. This became the second evidence that Jesus rose from the dead, when it became an empty tomb.  

The authorities had taken special security measures for that tomb, like sealing the door of the tomb and posting Roman soldiers to guard it day and night. But despite doing all that, the tomb was found empty on the third day.

Skeptics think that the disciples were responsible for this. They must have come by night, overpowered these guards, opened the tomb and stolen the body of Jesus. But this theory is very weak, since the Roman soldiers who guarded the tomb did not report that the body was stolen. In fact the Jewish authorities bribed them to change their report and say “His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept” (Matthew 28:12-13).

But if the soldiers were sound asleep at the tomb, how int he world would they know that the disciples had stolen the body? This theory of skeptics also cannot explain one detail related in John’s Gospel (20:6,7): The linen cloth that was used to wrap the body of Jesus was still found in the tomb. If anyone came to steal the body would they bother to spend the time unwrapping it there?

The third evidence that Jesus rose from the dead, is the many appearances of Christ alive over a period of 40 days (Acts 1:3). Ten of these appearances are recorded in the Four Gospels and they are summarised in 1 Corinthians 15:5-7 – “…He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.”

Some skeptics have suggested that all these were merely hallucinations. The disciples missed Jesus so much, they imagined that they saw Him alive after He had died. It may be possible for one or two people to imagine seeing Christ at the same time. But how can over 500 people imagine that they are seeing Christ at the same time? – That’s hard even for us to imagine!

And the resurrected Christ did not appear briefly like an apparition or ghost at a distance. He was able to walk with those who saw Him and talk with them. They were even able to enjoy having a meal with them. One disciple named Thomas, was at first not convinced when the rest told him they had seen Jesus alive. He replied:  “Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe.” (John 20:25) And so Jesus appeared to Thomas and allowed him to do all these things, the only response that Thomas could give was to believe that Jesus had truly come back to life!

Thus far we have considered three evidences that Jesus rose from the dead: Firstly, the water and the blood which flowed from Jesus’ side - this proves that He really died. Secondly, the empty tomb and the linen cloth that was still inside it. Thirdly, the many physical appearances of Jesus to His disciples after He had resurrected.

Now we come to the fourth evidence of His resurrection – the changed lives of His disciples. If Jesus had not risen from the dead, how do we explain that a group of weak, demoralised disciples could suddenly become bold witnesses for Christ? How do we explain their willingness to suffer and die for what they believed? Would anyone die for a lie?

Nothing but the real bodily resurrection of Christ could have produced such a tremendous change in them. And nothing but the resurrection of Christ could have produced the amazing change in the most unlikely person some time later: Saul the Pharisee. Saul was leading the Jews to persecute Christians aggressively. But after his encounter with the risen Christ, he completely changed. He became Paul the Apostle. He now promoted the Gospel of Christ to the far corners of the Roman Empire! He was eventually beheaded at Rome.

And today we can still see the lives of countless men, women and children being changed. Many have been rescued out of a life of sin and misery, to become useful members of society. Only a Risen Christ could have such transforming power in a person’s life!

Thus we have seen that the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is attested to by reliable, consistent witnesses and by substantial evidence. From this we can safely conclude that it is a truly miraculous historical event. Now we come to the final part of this message where we see that…

3. The Resurrection of Jesus Has Profound Implications for Us

The first implication is that it reveals His true identity. Being raised from the dead does not make any person God. The Bible records eight other resurrection miracles. For example, when the son of a widow fell sick and died, the prophet Elijah brought him back to life (1 Kings 17:17-23). One remarkable miracle was the raising of Lazarus at Bethany back to life: His body was already dead and buried for four days. And yet Jesus was able to raise him back to life!

What makes the miracle of Christ’s resurrection so different from all these? In all these other miracles, someone had raised the dead back to life. But in the case of Jesus, He came back to life entirely on His own. Jesus had the ability to raise Himself back to life, just as He said in John 10:17,18, “Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.”

The ultimate demonstration of power is to raise oneself from the dead. As Romans 1:4 tells us, “Jesus Christ was… declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” If a person claims, “I am God” but does nothing to support his claim, we would call him a Liar or a Lunatic. But when the person who claims to be God proves it by rising from the dead, then surely we must call him ‘Lord’ and we must then believe everything He says.

This is why we say that the resurrection of Christ from the dead is the central tenet of the Christian Faith. Everything that we believe in stands or falls with it. If the bones of Jesus should ever be found, Christianity would be demolished forever. Well, two thousand years have already elapsed since Jesus died, and His bones have never been found. Why? Because Jesus came back to life, never to die again.

This brings us to the second implication of His resurrection. It makes Him a living Saviour. If Jesus had not risen from the dead, He would not have been able to build up His Church through all the ages of history. His followers would have been left alone to fend for themselves. A dead Saviour would never be able to keep all the promises He made to them. He would never be able to answer their prayers or deliver them when they are in trouble. He would never be able to strengthen them when they are weak.

But many Christians have experienced the presence of Jesus with them. Many of us have found the joy of having Him as our closest friend. This is because Jesus is a Living Saviour. Jesus said this in Revelation 1:18 – “I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore.”

And since Jesus is alive, we now have the greatest assurance that He will keep every promise He made. That includes His promise to return one day. Only a Living Saviour is able to return to claim His right to rule the world and to restore peace and order to it. And when He returns, He will raise up all believers who had died back to life! They will have the same kind of incorruptible body that Jesus had since the day He rose from the dead. This is the blessed hope that every Christian looks forward to.

The good news is that this hope can be yours today. It is yours if you turn to Jesus Christ and ask Him to save you from sin and eternal death. And when you are saved, you will have every reason to rejoice in the resurrection of Christ. It means that He has conquered death for you. When you come face to face with death, you can say triumphantly, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?...Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:54,55,57).

I trust that through this message, you are now fully convinced that Jesus rose from the dead. You have seen that His resurrection is the answer that we need, to death. You have also seen that His resurrection is a very great miracle, attested to by reliable, consistent witnesses and by substantial evidence. And finally you have seen that the resurrection of Jesus has profound implications for us – revealing that He is truly God and the only Living Saviour of the world.

Now that you know the truth that Jesus has risen from the dead, how will you respond to it? Will you respond by turning to Jesus in repentance, trusting Him to save you from sin and eternal death? Dear friends, the Lord Jesus may be calling you to come to Him right now. Please, do not delay any longer. He says to you, “…behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2) Will you come to Jesus now and be saved?

 
 
 
 
  1. 2 Corinthians 06:14-7:1 - Be Ye Not Unequally Yoked
  2. 2 Corinthians 05:11-15 - The Reality of Our Evangelism: The Reality of Our Church
  3. 2 Corinthians 04:6-9 - Experiencing God's Comfort (Part I)
  4. 2 Corinthians 04:16-5:10 - Motivations for Serving in Christ's Kingdom

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.

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