Can I Be Sure Of Heaven When I Die?
(Message delivered by Pastor at the RELC 10.30 am Service, Mar 14, 04)
Text: Rom. 10:9-13
First of all there is the Roman Catholic. If you are a Roman Catholic you have to show your good works, but no one has enough of good works to show. You must be prepared first to go to purgatory to burn away your sins. Roman Catholicism is a religion of fear.
Secondly, if you are a Lutheran, or a Protestant for that matter you are not saved by works but by faith. “The just shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:17). But you must live a faithful life to the end and you cannot say I can be sure of heaven now.
I had a Norwegian student, Andrew Bo by name, missionary to China, 10 years older than me. He liked our school very much, except our Calvinistic doctrine, “Once saved, always saved.” You can never say you are saved now until you die.
The majority of Church goers are hazy. They are of two kinds. One kind are not well instructed. An old lady of our Prinsep St. Church was asked by me when the time came for her to die whether she would go up or down. She closed her eyes for a minute or two and said, “I can’t tell.”
The other group are instructed but somehow they cling to their own ideas of salvation. I spoke to a devout Jewish salesgirl in Jerusalem on going to heaven. She replied, “Keep the Ten Commandments and do charity.” This I believe is what is in the mind of many Church goers.
Once the mother of an FEBC student told me she quarrelled with her husband before going to church. To feel good worshipping God she put $5 into the offering bag. This happened 40 years ago when money was big.
A young lady said she was not very sure of going to heaven because as she grew older she tended to become more sinful. What she says is in accordance with the general statement, “They that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” (Jn. 5:29)
Yes, there are those who are attending worship here at RELC who cannot be sure of heaven when he or she dies except they repent from their sinful lives. Smoking, drinking, womanising, gambling, four Chinese sins.
Now we thank God that salvation is of the Lord (Jonah 2:9). We are lost sinners like patients going to see a doctor. It is the doctor who heals the patient and not the patient himself. Will you not humbly come to the doctor now?
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” (Rom. 10:9) Can you be sure of heaven when you die? When you are about to die, where can you turn for help? No other person than the Lord Jesus Christ can save you. He is the Son of God who died on the cross to pay for the penalty of your sins, was buried and rose on the third day to save all who trust him, you and me.
I had prepared this sermon to preach to my cousin Dr Tow Siang Phang, but before I said anything he had spoken aloud, “I’m ready to go.” My cousin is suffering from cancer and doctors say he has not long to live, but how wonderful he is trusting in the Great Doctor, Jesus the Son of God, so he is ready to die. He is saved forever. There were about 10 members of his family gathered and I rejoiced with him for his readiness to die. I preached this message all the same and if there was one not sure of heaven would turn to Jesus like him it was worth all my going to visit him that day. If you are not sure of heaven, when you die, Repeat Rom. 10:9 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
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SERMONS FROM THE EIGHT-PEAKED MOUNTAIN OF BLESSING VI
“Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.” (Matt. 6:16-18)
Fasting is mentioned in the Four Gospels but seldom in the Epistles. It is also little practiced today except by devout women in prayers from wee hours of the night to daylight. I sometimes do it on Good Friday. Rev Das Koshy called his church to prayer and fasting to ask the Lord for funds to purchase their office building.
What is said by our Lord above is pertinent.
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matt 6:19-21)
Do we wake up to learn this lesson when our money gets stolen? If we should give to charity and neglect to do good works, is not the Lord rebuking us? Never forget to serve God with our money.
“The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is
in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matt 6:22-24)
Good eyesight is a clear single vision. When we see double, (eye is evil) it makes us stumble in darkness. No man can afford to concentrate on God and at the same time on money. Who controls us? God or Money?
“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the
Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” (Matt 6:25-32)
As far as the birds are concerned we of Far Eastern Bible College eat our meals on stone tables in the garden. We need not wipe the tables, for mynas and sparrows will come and clean up the crumbs.
In fact there is change of appetite between now and the time before sin came into the world. Man ate fruits and animals grass and green plants. After sin came in man ate meat and animals were
turned carnivorous. For example, “The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God.” (Ps. 104:21) But in the Millennium the lion will return to eating grass (straw) (Isa. 65:25). This is an interesting observation.
At any rate God feeds us day by day and the best things in life are free – air, water, heat (for clothing). If you live in temperate countries, your bill for winter clothing and house warming will be high, but we Singaporeans are provided free. Therefore we should not be burdened like non-Christians over such trivial things. Rather let us seek God’s kingdom and righteousness (are you saved?) All our daily needs God will provide. Even a good life partner. Let us live one day at a time. Here is a lesson for making a whole year Church calendar. Since we cannot see far ahead we are sure to revise here and there, to admit our human limitation.
