TREASURY OF SERMONS
1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003
The Proud Go Down, The Humble Go Up
By Rev (Dr) Timothy Tow
(Preached at Life BPC 10.30 am Service, 5 Aug 2001)
Text: Matt 11:20-30
When Jesus began his public ministry at the age
of 30, he naturally started out from his hometown Nazareth.
According to a Cantonese saying, "Local ginger is not hot," he found
little response from his village people. When He denounced them in
their own language, "No prophet is accepted in his own country," the
Jews literally "thrust him out of the city and led him unto the brow
of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him
down headlong" (Lk 4:29). But the Son of God out-paced them to
safety. Thus Jesus was forced to change his abode. He left Nazareth
northeastwards to Capernaum. Today if you visit the Holy Land and
come to Capernaum, the ruins of Capernaum will greet you as Jesus’
City.
In this text of Matthew 11:20-30, there comes
into the picture also Chorazin and Bethsaida. Chorazin, Bethsaida
and Capernaum are three cities heavily denounced for their rejection
of the Saviour so that in the Day of Judgment their citizens will be
consigned to hell. They were worse than Tyre, Sidon and Sodom
because of their unbelief.
Now we are familiar with Capernaum. It is the
place where Jesus has wrought many miracles. Bethsaida, which means
"house of fish," is the home of Peter, Andrew and Philip. Chorazin
is about two miles from Capernaum according to St. Jerome, an early
church father who visited the Holy Land.
One example of unbelief from Capernaum is the
case of the paralytic man carried by four persons and let down into
the house where Jesus was from the rooftop. When Jesus said to this
man, "Thy sins be forgiven thee," some scribes (Jewish theologians)
rebutted Jesus in their hearts, "This man blasphemes. Who can
forgive sins but God?" They would not accept that Jesus was God’s
Son, God of very God.
Although Jesus was received by the crowds
wherever He went He was resisted by the Jewish church leaders, the
scribes and Pharisees because they were too proud to believe in His
claim to be God’s Son, one with the Father. And because of their
rejection of our Lord, they would go so far as to say that Jesus’
casting out of devils was not by God’s power but by the prince of
devils. This was a downright lie, a searing of their conscience, a
speaking against what they knew was the truth. Such a sin is
committed against the Holy Spirit, a blasphemy of blasphemies. Such
a sin is unpardonable and will surely send the guilty ones to hell.
The sins of the flesh such as womanising and getting drunk can be
forgiven, but the sins of the spirit, says Dr Chia Yu-ming my
teacher in China, is ten times worse and cannot be forgiven. I would
call sins of the spirit the sins of the intellect. The scribes were
the theological leaders of the nation, men of high intellect, but
this rejection of Jesus would condemn them.
As in the days of Jesus, so it is in the
churches today. Do you know there are highly intellectual
theological professors in our seminaries and Bible Colleges who
reject our Lord as those scribes and Pharisees? They teach the Bible
only from the intellect and not from a devout heart believing all
that God’s Word says. They are subtle to use pleasant words to hide
their unbelief. This battle between our Lord and the Jewish church
leaders has happened to our own B-P denomination.
There was a split and dissolution of the BP
Synod in 1988. Younger leaders who were taken into the Church
repudiated what our Church had all along held to be Gospel truth.
The first revolt was by a group of several
churches to reject what our founding fathers have treasured and
guarded, the use in the church only of the King James Bible. The KJB
is the most faithful and perfect English translation of the Bible.
They took away the King James Bible and replaced it with the NIV
which they say is more readable, being in modern English. But the
NIV is founded on the corrupt text of Westcott and Hort, now exposed
to be the most deadly enemies of our Lord Jesus Christ. They
rejected the Bible to be the infallible and inerrant Word of God.
They denied all the fundamental doctrines such as Jesus’ Virgin
Birth, Blood Atonement, Resurrection, miracles and personal Second
Coming. They were friends of Darwin, the Father of Evolution and
Freud, exposed by The Straits Times as a Fraud. Westcott and Hort
slashed from the Bible nearly 10,000 words which they deleted,
changed or substituted. The three famous portions of the Bible, the
woman taken in adultery, the last 12 verses of Mark and the
Johannine comma, I John 5:7 were declared no part of the Bible. This
group of several young churches that took away the King James Bible
and replaced it with the NIV shook the foundations of our B-P
Church.
Not long after this came the greater rift. This
was the coming into the picture of a young leader with a doctorate
from a famous university in England. This young leader advocates
tongues which he calls "meaningful ecstatic utterance" and the
joining up with neo-evangelical groups though he belongs to the
International Council of Christian Churches which opposes the World
Council of Churches. This same young leader has told others that he
does not associate with me because my doctrines are not the same as
his.
It is human of us not to have controversy,
especially between friends and between closer friends and relatives.
But the Lord requires loyalty to Him: "And it shall come to pass,
that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother
that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou
speakest lies in the name of the LORD: and his father and his mother
that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth" (Zech
13:3).
Jude says the same thing, "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to
write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to
write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for
the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are
certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to
this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into
lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus
Christ" (Jude 3,4).
This is an evil day of deception. If the
founders of the BP Church relax in the battle for the faith, more BP
Churches will be led astray. By God’s grace the BPs have a College
known as Far Eastern Bible College. Through the College we must be
vigilant like Ezekiel the watchman prophet to send the alarm when
danger appears. Pray for us that as Jesus resisted the apostate
Jewish church leaders of his day we will continue to be faithful to
the stand against errant leaders of the BP Churches today. And to
expose error wherever it is found. J. Gresham Machen says there is
no such thing as presenting truth without attacking error.
The Proud will God cast down, but the Humble
will God raise up. Who are the humble? They are not the wise and
prudent, but babes. Those without clever and subtle arguments
against our God but those who receive our Lord as little children in
their childlike faith. "Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not
receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter
therein" (Mark 10:15).
When you come to Church every Lord’s Day, the
preacher will do his best to declare God’s word to you without fear
or favour. What do you say in your heart? "Amen, Amen" or "O Yeah, O
Yeah?" Do you say, "Yes, Lord, I will repent from my sins," or do
you try to rationalise, "It all depends." You have not bowed to His
word.
When we humble ourselves we will see our own
wretchedness. When we see our own wretchedness then will the Lord
offer us His saving grace full and free. "Come unto me, all ye that
labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke
upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye
shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden
is light" (Matt 11:28-30).
There are those of us here who think we are good
enough to go to heaven. I have never broken a law. I have lived a
decent life all my days. I give money to the Church. I do charity
whenever someone needs my help. I am not a bad sinner. If I get
baptised I am doing the church a favour. But God says, "But we are
all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the
wind, have taken us away" (Isa 64:6). The apostle James says, "For
whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he
is guilty of all" (Jas 2:10). "As it is written, There is none
righteous, no, not one" (Rom 3:10).
The humble shall be lifted up but the proud will
be cast down. The most important question for you to answer is, do
you belong to Jesus or not?
Top|Back
Click here for Sermons by Rev (Dr) Jeffrey Khoo
Click here for Audio Sermons
|
