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Thomas Almost Committed the Unpardonable Sin
By Rev (Dr) Timothy Tow
(Preached at Life BPC, Combined Easter Sunrise Baptism service, Apr
20 2003)
Text: John 20:24-29
What is the greatest thrill in our Christian
experience? It is like Doubting Thomas being delivered from the
unpardonable sin of unbelief into the glorious salvation in the
Risen Saviour. He who declared unless he put his fingers into the
print of the nails and thrust his hand into His side, he would not
believe, became a totally changed man when Jesus appeared to him.
Thomas the Doubting became Thomas the Doughty.
Of all the Apostles, after Paul and Peter, he is the third most
famous. Two decades after Christ’s resurrection, he it was in AD 52
who landed in South India with the Gospel. Tradition traces his
footsteps in the planting of seven churches in Kerala State. Today
there is a St Thomas Church spread throughout South India. He is
further reported to have visited China. A Church in Madras now
commemorates his martyrdom. I had the privilege of visiting the
Church in my younger days when I went to India to preach the Gospel.
What was the greatest thrill in my life? It was
when I was born again in the Singapore Pentecostal Revival of Dr
John Sung in 1935. My spiritual eyes were opened and I beheld the
Risen Saviour. The first year after John Sung left Singapore, Miss
Leona Wu his successor and founder of Chin Lien Bible School started
an Easter carolling party with her students. They visited John Sung
converts between 4.00 am and 6.00 am singing "Christ the Lord is
Risen Today." This thrilled my heart as if Christ the Risen Saviour
had come to me as He appeared to Thomas. This Easter carolling went
on for nearly 30 Easters until Miss Wu was taken to glory.
When I meditated on the Easter message this year
I was drawn to the sin of Thomas’ unbelief. Suddenly II Timothy 2:17
also came to mind. In Paul’s days he had two unbelieving disciples
called Hymenaeus and Philetus who also denied the resurrection and
overthrew the faith of some. These probably were members of the
Corinthian Church.
So, Paul writing to the Corinthian Church, says:
"Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some
among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be
no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ
be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also
vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have
testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if
so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not
Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye
are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in
Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we
are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the
dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by
man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For
as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." (I
Cor 15:12-22)
In our Responsive Reading of Matt 28:1-20 this
morning we read of the watchmen who were scared to death by the
angels rolling back of the stone in an earthquake and how Jesus rose
again. These watchmen reported to the chief priests, but the
unbelieving chief priests in consultation with the unbelieving
elders bribed the soldiers to tell a lie that Jesus’ body was
carried away by His disciples at night.
This unbelief in high places continues in
modernist and liberal bishops, pastors and theologians till today.
An American theologian even concludes Jesus’ bones may be found on
the Judean Hills some day. A survey shows at least one quarter of
bishops of the Anglican Church today deny the Virgin Birth and the
Resurrection of Christ, but our Easter Sunrise Service will shut the
mouths of these unbelievers. Thank God, the testimony of our Easter
Sunrise Service has continued for 53 years and because of its growth
has branched out to half a dozen new places.
In conclusion, Paul reaffirms, "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). Amen.
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