PASTORAL CHAT

My Dear Readers

Calvary Pandan is holding their Bible Camp June 7 to 11, K.L., and we thought of joining them June 7 to 10 when it turned out that my brother wanted me to join him speaking three nights.

Let me share with you my talk on Faith. “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is (God), and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Heb 11:6). Faith, full trusting in God, that He is the Maker of heaven and earth, and the more we trust Him the more He blesses us. Calvin on Faith in his Institutes has 43 paragraphs. This is what he says about Faith in para. 33:

“Faith is far superior to human intelligence. It comes from the illumination of the Holy Spirit. Faith, thus given by God, has a twofold aspect. It enlightens the mind to understand the truth of God, and establishes the heart in it. And the Holy Spirit not only originates faith, but increases it by degrees, till He conducts us by it all the way to heaven (2 Tim 1:14)”.

My two Assistant Pastors at Life Church who also taught at Far Eastern Bible College said at the Faculty meeting, “There are mistakes in the Bible we have discovered. So we cannot take the Dean Burgon Oath in which we swear allegiance to the Bible, every word and every syllable of it.” I let them resign from teaching.

What was their trouble? They had no faith that God is God, a God that made the universe. As Calvin says they depended on their own intellect. But if they have faith which comes from the illumination of the Holy Spirit, they would readily believe the following seven verses on theWord of God:

1. The words of the LORD are of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever. Ps 12:6-7
2. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Matt 5:18
3. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Matt 24:35
4. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. Mark 13:31
5. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. Luke 21:33
6. The scripture cannot be broken. John 10:35b
7. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. II Tim 3:16

The logic of faith prompted us an immediate rebuttal. The Church has always received from God a 100% perfect Bible without any mistake. Even a child of seven touched by the Holy Spirit can say the Bible has no mistakes because God gave it. This reply came from my second granddaughter. I believe she is born again.

Three hundred believers have by and large left Life Church to worship at RELC with me because the logic of faith makes them to believe a perfect Bible without any mistake. Moreover they have
the above seven verses to bolster them in their faith. What do you say who have come to this Bible Camp? “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Heb 11:6)

I am greatly encouraged by the statement released by the elders of Calvary Pandan and Tengah churches on the Perfect Bible and by Dr Wee of Kemaman who is inviting me to speak on their 10th anniversary and by Dr Paul Choo phoning in they are praying for us.

Further our Lord when tempted by Satan to turn stone into bread answered, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” This is quoted from Deut. 8:3. Every word of God is perfect without mistake. According to Ps. 12:6, 7, “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.”

Your affectionate pastor
T T

THE GOSPEL OF LIFE:
Chapter III

The Breath of Life is given by Him who dies our death

In the previous lesson we discussed the work of the Holy Spirit in causing us to be born again, to become spiritually alive again. The Holy Spirit is the agent of our salvation.

In these three short verses are mentioned the work of the Son, the ground of our salvation. The Holy Spirit does not cause us to be born again, except by leading us to the cross. To the cross of His substituting death, in our place, paying the penalty of our sins, which is everlasting suffering in hell.

This teaching is stressed by none other than the Sufferer Himself. So Jesus refers Nicodemus to the brazen serpent God told Moses to make, to which when a man would look in faith should receive
restoration of life. He would be cured of his snake bite, saved from certain death.

A man can never receive the Breath of Life unless he comes humbly like the thief before his dying Saviour, confessing his sins and pleading for mercy.

Hence, when Paul came to Corinth with the Gospel, he did not stress on tongues or mass faith healing, or “miracle rallies” or mass evangelism with all the human efforts thrown in. Paul says this to the Corinthians and to us today, “And I brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech, or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”

Here is the test of a preacher. If he merely preaches ethics, requiring you to do this or that, he can only further burden you. If he talks of the Spirit, but does not exalt Christ, the Spirit will not say amen in your heart. When Christ and His death and resurrection power is preached, it produces results!

John 3:17-21
The Gospel is the Light of Life

V. 17 tells us of the offer of salvation by God in Christ His Son to a lost world. Christ came to save, not to condemn, like a good doctor whose job is to heal and not to scold. A good doctor does not blame a patient for getting sick, but neither can a patient be healed unless he entrusts himself completely to the doctor. If a patient should begin to question a doctor, what his qualifications are and how many years’ experience he has had, no doctor will heal him. It is the believing part of mankind that will be saved, not the disbelieving and the disputing.

Why does the greater part of the world reject Christ in unbelief? Because of its darkness, its sinful pleasures and unrighteous gains. Darkness can never receive light. When light comes, darkness goes. Those who love darkness will therefore persist to live in darkness. They will not come to the light. Like some birds of prey, the owl and the night hawk. These are birds of darkness. For them to mix with the day birds is quite impossible. They hunt stealthily in the night.

But birds that are of the day receive the sun with joy, with blithe chirping as the dawn breaks. Are you a night bird or a day bird? If you love evil you will live in darkness. If you love truth you will come to the light. You will come to Jesus Christ the light. You will come to Church to worship Him with joy.

In what other parts of the Gospel does Jesus declare Himself to be Light?

Conferral of Master of Theology (ThM) to Nguyen Gia Hien by Rev Dr Timothy Tow At the FEBC 29thGraduation Exercises, 9 May 2004