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WEEKLY
Volume 2 Number 36
3 February 2008
Nevertheless at
Thy Word
(Message
delivered by Rev Hien Nguyen at the Sunday Worship Service, 2 pm, Jan
27, 08)
Text:
Luke 5:1-11
We have known what happened to the Far
Eastern Bible College through the articles and letters and inserts
printed last Sunday and the Sunday before, with Dr Jeffrey Khoo’s
articles and Dr Quek Suan Yew’s reply to Rev Charles Seet’s letter and
his good critique on Rev Seet’s article “Mark Them Which Cause
Divisions.” What made me so angry is Rev Seet’s reply to Rev Dr Timothy
Tow, the founding pastor of Life BPC and the founding principal of FEBC,
“LBPC does not subscribe to Verbal Plenary Preservation (“VPP”) as
taught by the Far
Eastern Bible College (“FEBC”). This teaching is not founded upon the
Word of God, but is based on misrepresentations and misquotations of
scripture texts and human arguments. The evil fruits of VPP have caused
schisms and grief to several Bible-Presbyterian Churches and many
believers. The Board of Elders of LBPC deems VPP as divisive, erroneous
and a heresy.” Many
argue, “I am fed up with all the fighting. I am not for or against VPP.
I only want peace, love and unity.” Dear friends, can you and I keep
quiet while our heavenly Father’s Word is doubted or attacked? What do
you think and how do you react when someone regards VPP as divisive,
erroneous and a heresy with evil fruits?
A Living Witness
To me, calling VPP a heresy is an evil
remark without any Biblical support (nowhere in the Bible says so). It
is against the truth and only exposes the sinfulness, rebellion and
total depravity of human hearts and minds (Jer 17:9; Rom 8:7-9; 1 Tim
6:5; 2 Tim 3:8), and it is very serious and wicked because it “overthrow(s)
the faith of some” (2 Tim 2:18). I am a living witness of this
truth. You have heard of my testimony of how God graciously worked in my
heart, regenerated me and caused me to thirst for Him and His Word. I
made use of every free minute to read the Holy Scripture without any
doubts or questions, and by God’s grace and mercy, I tasted God’s
Perfect Word with all its sweetness and grew up in His knowledge and His
Word and then committed my life to live for Him and to serve Him. Then
one day, wondering why there are various new English versions, I read a
book on textual criticism, stating that the New Testament was compiled
from about 5,000 Greek manuscripts, among which no two manuscripts were
the same, and all these extant manuscripts were only copies. This book
did shake my faith in God’s Perfect Word. When I read the Scripture, I
no longer had such a strong conviction as before. Then in my heart, I
desired that one day I might study Greek and God would help me discover
more Greek manuscripts to make the Bible more complete. What a dangerous
and wrong concept! Anyway, I did not share this with other brethren, but
just kept this to myself, knowing that this might shake their faith too.
Thank God so much for providentially guiding me to FEBC after I decided
to leave Trinity Theological College due to her liberal and modernist
teaching. And it is at FEBC, with the doctrines of VPI and VPP,
that my faith in God’s Perfect
Word was restored and I have submitted myself to the authority of God’s
Word without any doubt, apology, reservation or rebellion because God’s
Word is the firm and perfect foundation of my faith, my salvation, and
my ministry. Praise the Lord for His grace and praise the Lord for the
ministry of FEBC! With this real experience in my life, I am so angry
with those who preach, teach or write against the perfectly inspired and
perfectly preserved Word of God because it is enough for sinful and
rebellious nature of human beings to doubt God’s Word. I was once
shocked when my wife argued, “It is only Paul’s words or human words,
not God’s Word.” How hard have I prayed for her until by God’s grace
and mercy she did not dare to say such words again! It is also enough
for Satan to cast doubt on God’s Word through textual criticism, modern
English versions, non-Bible-believing sermons, articles, journals,
magazines, websites, etc. Sadly, many so-called “Christian leaders”
nowadays, with their arrogant “scholarship” and “credentials,” are
helping Satan to attack God’s Perfect Word and calling VPP a heresy! Is
that not serious and wicked? It did and does confuse and shake the
sincere faith of many including me! Dear friends, how is VPP a heresy
when it has transformed my heart and my mind? How is it a heresy when it
has helped me love, believe and honour God’s Word more and more with
faith, fear, and submission? How does FEBC teach heresies when she
teaches the students to believe, honour and submit to God’s Perfect
Word? How about true unity? If all believers really submit themselves to
the authority of God’s Word without any doubt, question, or rebellion,
there will be true Biblical unity in truth (not human or social unity).
Thus, it is the denial of VPP that has caused divisions or schisms!
Now we come back to our Bible text and
see how it is a great sin to doubt God’s Word.
Proper Attitudes toward
God’s Word
In Luke chapter 5, we see that “the
people pressed upon him (Jesus) to hear the word of God” by the lake
of Gennesaret, (v 1) which is the Sea of Galilee (Matt 4:18) or the Sea
of Tiberias (John 21:1). While the crowd regarded Jesus’ Word as God’s
Word, the Jewish leaders did not. Their attitude was very wicked,
“Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth,
that they might accuse him” (Luke 11:54). Sadly, nowadays there are
those who are very happy to find fault with God’s Word, crying aloud, “I
have found another mistake in the Bible!” in order to show that God has
not perfectly preserved His every Word and all His Words (VPP)! Our
Weekly today published Dr Jeffrey Khoo’s message on “Mistakes in the
Bible?” and our proper attitude is to acknowledge our limited
understanding and knowledge and to trust in God’s Perfect Word, not only
in salvation and doctrines but also in names, ages, or numbers. God is
sovereign and He allows these apparent “discrepancies” to challenge us
and test our submission to His Word. Realising this, we shall still
humbly trust in God’s Word without any doubts or questions, either
prayerfully trying to harmonise these apparent “discrepancies” through
other parts of the Scripture or waiting until our Lord’s coming and
everything will be clear. This is a godly, reverent and proper attitude
toward God’s Word instead of arrogantly finding faults with His Word!
Jesus Christ and God’s
Word
Truly, Jesus Christ is God, His Word
is God’s Word, and He Himself is the Living Word of God, “In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”
(John 1:1). In Jesus’ days, there were no extant original manuscripts of
the Old Testament (autographs) but only copies (apographs), but Jesus
Christ, the mighty and all-knowing God, found neither mistakes nor
discrepancies in the Holy Scripture. He totally believed it, understood
it well, knew it well, lived by it, taught it, and used it effectively
in His teaching and in defeating His enemies’ arguments and Satan’s
temptations (Matt 4:4-11; 22:29-32; 23:35; 24:38-39; Luke 24:25-27,
44-45; et al) It should be noticed that Jesus has never cast
doubt on God’s Word, the Scriptures, but clearly confirmed God’s
preserved Word, “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), “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but
my words shall not pass away” (Matt 24:35; Mark 13:31; Luke 21:33)
and “the scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35). The Scripture
says, “He that saith he abideth in him (Jesus) ought himself
also so to walk, even as he (Jesus) walked” (1 John 2:6).
Many are not walking or doing as our Lord Jesus did. Then how can they
be in the Lord when they doubt and attack God’s preserved Word? Our Lord
Jesus has never done that! Dear friends, would you rather hear and
follow the Lord Jesus, your Saviour, or sinful men? “God forbid: yea,
let God be true, but every man a liar” (Rom 3:4).
Moreover, what has God’s Word been
written for? God’s Word has been written for us, His sinful creatures,
to hear, to believe, to keep and to obey, not to doubt or question.
Jesus confirms, “My mother and my brethren are these which hear the
word of God, and do it (not question it)” (Luke 8:21, words
in brackets mine) “Blessed are they that hear the word of God, and
keep it (not question it)” (Luke 11:28). John also confirmed,
“But these are written, that ye might believe (not question)
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might
have life through his name” (John 21:31). Dear friends,
hearing God’s Word with trembling (Isa 66:2) and hearing God’s Word to
believe it, to obey it and to keep it, is the godly way to receive God’s
blessing and to grow in faith, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God” (Rom 10:17).
Doubt Is Sin
Our Lord Jesus borrowed Peter’s boat
to sit down and teach the people out of the boat (v 3). After finishing
His teaching, Jesus said to Peter, “Launch out into the deep, and let
down your nets for a draught” (v 4). Did Peter believe that Jesus’
Word was God’s Word? Not yet at that point of time. Peter answered
Jesus, “Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing:
nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net” (v 5). Peter was
an experienced and professional fisherman. He knew that the right time
to catch fish was at night when groups of fish were gathered, swimming
together, and he and his friends had laboured hard all the night but
caught nothing, so he did not expect that they could catch any fish
during the day. To show that he honoured Jesus’ Word (but his heart was
still doubtful), he said to Jesus, “Nevertheless, at thy word I will
let down the net.” What does this mean? Peter reluctantly did what
Jesus commanded him. He might think that he would do Jesus’ Word to see
how while his heart did not expect any catch of fish. How do we know
this? The Scripture says that “he was astonished” (v 9) when they
caught a lot of fish, even their net broke and their ships began to sink
(vv 6-7). He would not have been astonished if he had believed and
expected a catch of fish at Jesus’ Word! Doubting God’s Word is sin as
the Scripture says, “whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Rom
14:23). Nobody knew Peter’s heart and mind, but Peter knew and the Lord
Jesus knew. Peter could have repented of his doubt about God’s Word
quietly and privately, but his conscience was so pricked that he could
not bear any longer and had to humbly repent publicly, felling down at
Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord”
(v 8). Peter acknowledged that doubting God’s Word was a great sin and
that he did not deserve to be near the Lord Jesus. We notice that at
first Peter addressed Jesus, “Master,” which means “Teacher,” but now he
confessed, “O Lord,” which has the same meaning of the LORD, Jehovah,
the covenant name of God. Peter now saw the Deity of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Thomas had the same confession when Jesus appeared to him and
showed him His hands and His side while he doubted about Jesus’
resurrection, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). How about you
and me? Do we truly believe that Jesus Christ is God, is the LORD, and
His Word is God’s Word? After this precious experience, Peter later
confessed, “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal
life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of
the living God” (John 6:67-69) when Jesus challenged His twelve
disciples, “Will ye also go away?” Sadly, nowadays, many show that they
honour God’s Word outwardly, but their hearts are full of doubts. It is
worse because their conscience is not as sensitive as Peter’s. Instead
of acknowledging their great sin of doubt and their unworthiness and
then publicly repenting, they arrogantly and publicly attack God’s Word.
Their conscience is so bad and dull that they think fighting against
God’s children who believe and highly exalt God’s Word is serving God
(John 16:1-2)! May the Lord graciously convict us of our sin of doubt
until we sincerely repent and humbly confess that He is our LORD and the
Divine Owner of our hearts and lives.
Conclusion
Our Lord Jesus was not surprised at
Peter’s doubt. He knows human sinful hearts very well, and He came to
save those who sincerely repent and submit to Him. When Peter confessed
his sins, Jesus said to him, “Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt
catch men” (v 10). Peter learnt that it was not easy to catch fish
despite his hard labour overnight, then to bring sinful and rebellious
men to repentance and submission to the Lord and His Word must be a
miracle from the Lord and must be His work, “Follow me, and I will
make you fishers of men” (Matt 4:19). If the Lord does not “make,”
you and I are useless and hopeless and “profit nothing.” The only way is
to follow Jesus Christ and His Perfect Word as “it is the spirit that
quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing” (John 6:63). Then, VPP is
biblical, but doubting God’s Word is sin and rejecting VPP is divisive
and unbiblical. May God graciously help us see this truth. Amen.
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