God Wants Us to Live, Not Die

(Message delivered by Rev Dr Jeffrey Khoo at the True Life Church Watchnight Service, Dec 31, 06)
Text: John 10:10

Recently, our beloved pastor—Rev Dr Timothy Tow—shared with me how in his time of physical illness and sufferings he has learned one precious lesson from the Lord, and that is “the Lord wants us to live, not die.” Indeed, life is what Jesus came to give us for He said in John 10:10, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

How may we find life and not death? We will find true life if we do these three things:

Follow the Good Shepherd
We find life when we follow the Good Shepherd and not the hireling. In verse 11, Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” Romans 5:6-10 tells us, “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” Jesus saved us by living a sinless life on earth, by dying for our sins on the cross, by being buried in the rock tomb, and by rising again the third day according to the Scriptures (1 Cor 15:1-4). That was why Jesus was able to say in verses 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. This commandment have I received of my Father.” Jesus has the power over life and death. He has the power to lay down His life and be crucified for our sins, and He has the power to live again by His resurrection to gain eternal life for us.

Have we followed the Good Shepherd or have we followed a hireling? What is a hireling? Jesus describes him in verses 12 and 13, “But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and  leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.” A hireling is an opportunist. He is someone who is only interested in himself; he is self-seeking and self-promoting. The hireling is interested in money, “More pay more preach, less pay less preach, no pay no preach.” A hireling preaches for popularity and power, “More prestige more preach, less prestige less preach, no prestige no preach.” The Apostle Paul who is a true shepherd of God’s flock warned the believers, “Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)” We thank God we are following the Good Shepherd, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and not any hireling.

We thank the Lord for a faithful pastor in the Rev Dr Timothy Tow who had suffered much in the work of the Lord. Why is there a True Life B-P Church today? It is because our pastor is not a hireling but a good pastor of God’s flock. Pastor Timothy Tow cares not for pay, power, popularity or prestige, but the glory of God to believe and defend the perfect Word of God, 100% inspired and 100% preserved, and its present infallibility and inerrancy without any compromise (Ps 12:6-7). To follow a man is not wrong only if and when he follows the Lord Jesus Christ. This was what Paul himself told the Corinthian Church, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (1 Cor 11:1). We follow our good and faithful pastor because he follows our Good Lord and obeys His Holy Word, that is all. Now that we are in True Life, have we not found life indeed? Surely, we have found true life and experienced God’s grace and peace, and we can trulyworship the Lord in spirit and in truth out of a pure heart with a clear conscience, not doubting at all the Holy Scriptures which we have in our hands today.

Enter in by the Door of the Sheep
We find life when we enter in by the door of the sheep. Jesus said in verses 8 and 9, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep … by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” The door of Jesus is a narrow door, and leads to a narrow way. It is the narrow door and the narrow way that will lead to life. In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus said, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Why is the gate a strait or narrow one? It is because there is but one living and true God, and not many, and there is but one living and true way to heaven and that is Jesus Christ. There is no other God but the God of the Christian Scriptures, and there is no other Saviour save the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:16). Jesus also said, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?” (John 11:25-26).

We will have abundant life only when we walk in the narrow way and shun the broad way. The broad way is described as the way of death, and many are walking in that way. It is the way of Satan, the way of world, the way of sin. The door of life and the way of life are narrow because they demand that we put away other gods, and live a separated life. The God of the Bible has commanded, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God” (Exod 20:3-5). We are also commanded not to befriend the world. To befriend the world is adultery, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (Jas 4:4). Are we prepared to let go of our worldly friends, and stop all our worldly activities in order to follow the Lord? The world may call us narrow-minded, but that is precisely what Jesus has called us to be—to be narrow in our thinking, to be narrow in our ways. The world is very broad, but the cross is very narrow. If we want to live we must love the cross and not the world, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John 2:15-17).

Hear the Voice of the Shepherd
We live when we hear the Voice of God and not the voices of men. The Good Shepherd speaks the truth, and His sheep recognise His voice of truth and follow Him. “And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. … My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:4-5, 27).

True believers will be able to hear and know the Saviour’s voice because they have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. Jesus promised His Spirit to all who love Him, “If ye love me, keep my  commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (John 14:15-17). The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth and will guide us into all Truth (John 16:13, 1 John 5:6). The Apostle John assures all true believers of Christ, “But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. … But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him” (1 John 2:20, 27). John went on to say, “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:4-5).

How can we tell truth from error? In order to discern truth from error, there is a need to know God’s Word deeply, for His Word is Truth (John 17:17). If we want to know the voice of God, then we must know the Bible for the Bible “is none other than the voice of Him that sitteth upon the throne, every book of it, every chapter of it, every verse of it, every wword of it, every syllable of it, every letter of it is the direct utterance of the Most High. The Bible is none other than the Word of God, not some part of it more, some part of it less, but all alike the utterance of Him that sitteth upon the throne, faultless, unerring, supreme” (Dean Burgon).

Take the Bible seriously. Make it a point to read the Bible in your daily devotions, come for Sunday School, participate in the fellowship meetings, attend the night classes at the FEBC even taking the exams. When we make every effort to know the Lord intimately and be grounded in His Word, we will find ourselves more and more in tune with the voice of the Good Shepherd, and will be able to discern the voice of our Saviour from the noise of strangers, the voice of life from the hisses of death.

The Lord wants us to live, not die, and He tells us how we might live. We live when we (1) follow the Good Shepherd and not the hireling, (2) walk in the narrow way and shun the broad way, and (3) obey the lively voice of our Saviour and not the deadly voice of strangers.