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00:01 long passage today. Um 12 verses. Um this is Paul's second letter to the
00:08 Thessalonians. We just finished the first letter. Uh this is a young church barely 6 months to year after he has
00:14 left them undergone great persecution. And today uh oh before I start I forgot
00:20 to tell you this remind you Wednesday after in the evening we have Alpha 12
00:25 for some of you are still interested can join us. And for the others, uh, we are studying the book of John. We'll be
00:32 studying, uh, John chapter nine, the story about the, um, man who was born
00:37 blind. Come and join us on, uh, Wednesday night at 7:00. Now, uh, there
00:43 are three things I want to take away from this passage. It's a long passage with many points, but I've chosen to take three. One, uh, the features of a
00:51 gospel centered life. a faith that is dynamic expectation of judgment day and
00:57 a passion for our calling. First of all, let's look at the faith that is dynamic. Uh Paul and Sylvanas and Timothy to the
01:04 church of the Thessalonians in uh God our father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace to you from our from God
01:13 our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. So he starts off as most of his letters with a blessing for the church basically
01:21 um grace and peace. Now what is a the dynamic faith looks
01:27 like? Here we have we ought to always give thanks to God for you brothers as
01:32 it is right because of your faith which is growing abundantly. Love for every
01:37 one of you uh for one another is increasing. Therefore, we boast about you in the churches because of your
01:44 steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and afflictions that you are enduring. This is evidence of the
01:50 righteous judgment of God that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom for which you are suffering. This is what a
01:57 dynamic faith looks like. It has got faith. It has got love and it's got hope
02:04 or endurance during suffering. And the important thing about the three characteristics is that it's growing.
02:09 The faith is growing, the love is growing, and the hope is enduring. Um,
02:15 some years ago, there's a young lady called Lauren McCain who was actually shot dead in one of the universities in
02:21 the United States. Um, she was a committed Christian and she wrote in her face in her MySpace website, the purpose
02:28 and love of my life is Jesus Christ. I don't have to argue religion, philosophy, historical evidence because
02:34 I know him. He's as real as, if not more than my earthly father. The issue of
02:39 faith basically is a faith is not a commodity. It is actually a
02:44 relationship. And in a relationship as any relationship has to grow if it is
02:50 dynamic, if it's authentic, if it's real. A relationship does not remain stagnant. It's like an aeroplane. Have
02:58 you ever seen airplane with a gastan engine? Does it go back? It's a reverse gear. No aeroplane has a Have you ever
03:05 thought about it? You've got to fly forward. If you don't fight forward, you go only one direction down. So when
03:11 you're on the ground, they have to push you. Faith is like that. It's a relationship and it has to grow. And it
03:16 begins with a promise. Here's Abraham. God comes to him in. And he tells him,
03:22 "Go forth from your country, from your kindred and father's house to the land I will show you. I will make you a great
03:27 nation. I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. And him who honors you will uh
03:34 dishonors you. our curse and and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. This is the covenant given. It
03:39 is a promise and faith begins with a promise. Your relationship with God
03:44 begins with a promise of him giving you eternal life would you believe in him. And here's Abraham's father. grows is he
03:51 leaves gets stuck in Haran for a couple of years for until his father dies and
03:56 then he goes off to Canaan and then takes a little bit detour bit loss of faith went down to Egypt suffered a bit
04:04 then came back to Canaan and he waited for his son and then couldn't wait anymore had an affair with Hagar got
04:11 Ishmael and then God taught him that lesson and he started to improve again
04:16 and he prayed and he he he got so uh faith faithful to the Lord that he actually prayed for Aimilec that his
04:24 wife and female slaves would have children. Imagine a guy who's got no children praying for other people have children. That's a sign of faith, isn't
04:30 it? And it takes a jump and he had now has Isaac and the epitome of his faith
04:36 is uh Genesis 22 when he actually is able to take his son and offer him as a
04:43 sacrifice. And just before that, God stops him and God says to him, "Do not
04:48 lay your hand on the boy or do anything for him. For now I know that you fear the Lord. Fear God, seeing that you have
04:54 not withheld your son, your only son from me." So faith is a journey. All
04:60 right? And it climbs and is and a vibrant real authentic faith must grow. It cannot stay stagnant. How does it
05:07 grow? If you look in the book of Genesis, every time he falters, Genesis 12, go. He's God speaks to Abraham. 15
05:15 After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision. Fear not, I am your shield. Your reward shall be
05:21 great. Genesis 17, Abraham 99 years old. The Lord appeared to him said, I am the almighty God. Walk before me. Genesis
05:28 21, do not be displeased because the boy uh because your your of your slave woman. Uh Genesis 22, and the l angel of
05:36 the Lord called him from heaven said, Abraham, Abraham. And it goes on every time the word of God comes. So what does
05:44 it tell us? How how do we grow our faith? Faith comes from hearing and hearing to the word of Christ. And this
05:50 is a young church in Thessalonica. Paul in chapter 17 of Acts went in as it was
05:55 custom on the three Sabbath days. He reasoned to them from the scriptures explaining and proving it was necessary
06:01 for Christ to suffer and rise from the dead, saying, "This Jesus whom I proclaim to you is the Christ." That's
06:08 the gospel. All right. Our faith grows through the gospel which is Jesus Christ is Lord.
06:15 Not only it has growth uh uh in relationship there's love. Everyone the
06:20 love of everyone you for one another is increasing. The love doesn't stay the same. It increases. Jesus in John 8 says
06:28 truly I say to you everyone who practices sin is a slave. We are all slaves to sin. And the most important
06:35 feature is uh what Martin Luther says we are homoccurvetous in sea which means
06:41 humanity is curved in upon itself. We are all facing one direction. If you sit
06:48 here you're thinking is this sermon okay? Am I falling asleep? Am I suitably
06:53 entertained? We're always focused on ourselves and we're curved in. That is our slavery. And the first and the most
06:59 important sign that we have broken this slavery is what? when we start to look out when the curve is broken and we
07:07 start to pour our lives out for others. I know we know we have passed from death
07:13 into life. Why? Because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides
07:18 in death. We can talk all about our faith, all about doctrine, but if we do
07:25 not see love, then we're still curved upon ourselves. We're still stuck as
07:31 slaves to sin. So um Jesus said, "The new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you,
07:37 that you also love one another. By this will all men know you are my disciples if you have love for one another." A
07:42 growing faith will result in an overpouring of love to others. Thirdly,
07:50 there's perseverance here. Therefore, we boast ourselves about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness
07:56 and faith in all your persecution afflictions that you are enduring. This is evidence of righteous judgment of God
08:02 that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom for which you are suffering. Their faith is real barely six months
08:09 but you know even during the time when Paul was there the Jews had come into the church at that time and persecuted
08:16 and Paul had to run away and go to Berea. They were suffering and he was wondering whether they would survive but
08:22 they did survive. A true authentic faith not only grows faith the love grows but
08:27 it is steadfast and enduring. Sometimes when we actually have persecution and suffering we ask the ma most basic
08:35 question why does God allow Christians to suffer? All right. Uh all over the
08:41 world you look in the Middle East we're always talking about the Muslim suffering but you don't understand there's a lot of Christians who have
08:47 whole communities in Iraq they're being wiped out. And uh there was a piece of good news. This uh some things the Trump
08:53 administration does which is correct very rarely but still uh this came out in the Atlantic uh on 12th May 2017. Uh
09:03 what they've done is that instead of United States is putting funds in the United Nations they put funds into a
09:09 separate organization to channel funds to protect religious freedom and the
09:14 Christian minorities there. Now if Trump can think about doing something
09:22 in terms in the face of suffering, what about Christians? Suffering needs to be seen on a spiritual level. Here is
09:30 suffering and affliction that is enduring. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may
09:36 be considered worthy of the kingdom of God. So when Christians suffer, there
09:41 are only two things that you think about. I'm why am I suffering? because I'm sinful, life is bad, God's not
09:48 pleased to me or actually we can see suffering from another level. Suffering is sign that God's judgment is right.
09:57 That you know when when you suffer the first thing you think about is some things have gone wrong. Isn't it
10:02 actually suffering a sign that things have gone right? Paul is saying this is
10:07 evidence of the righteous judgment of God. So when you're actually suffering it means you're doing the right thing.
10:12 If you're not suffering, you may not be doing the right thing. This is the actual opposite. So when suffering
10:18 comes, you see suffering at two levels. On one level, you see suffering as you know you are suffering. Where is God? He
10:25 is so unfair. But Paul is saying when suffering comes, there's another level of which you have to look at the
10:30 suffering that that that God is saying everything is going right. Because if you actually stand up for your faith,
10:36 you will experience suffering. And this is God making you worthy for the kingdom
10:44 of God. We are not worthy for the kingdom of God. But when suffering come, God is refining us so that we are worthy
10:51 of the kingdom of God. So uh Acts chapter 14 when they preached the gospel to that city and had many disciples they
10:58 returned to Lististra and Iconium and to Antioch and strengthened the souls of disciples encouraging them to continue in their faith saying that through many
11:06 tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. We are now coming to a season in
11:12 church life all over the world where these kinds of verses are hidden away. We only talk about prosperity blessing
11:19 equals jackpot. So that through a jackpot or blessing we enter the kingdom of heaven. We don't entering kingdom god
11:27 is through tribulation and suffering which is evidence that god is refining us and then we give thanks for all of
11:35 these things. We ought to give thanks to God. But the other thing is that very odd you know that he says therefore we
11:43 ourselves boast of you. There's a problem of flattery versus how do we actually boast. All right. Actually,
11:50 thanksgiving and boasting are two sides of the same coin. When you face God, you
11:56 thank God for the faithful to someone else. Right? And we actually can boast
12:01 because of their faith, because of God's grace working in their lives. Now second
12:08 point, gospel- centered life needs an expectation of judgment day.
12:16 This is extraordinary. I don't know many of you have thought about judgment day. How many of you have thought of judgment
12:22 day before you came on Sunday? This I I don't think oh only one only one one
12:28 clever man who realizes we all could face judgment day anytime. We're going
12:34 to go to the logic of judgment. Uh how it works and the marvel of judgment. Let me read. And to grant relief to you who
12:42 are afflicted as well as to us. When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire,
12:48 inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus, they will
12:54 suffer punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. when he
12:60 comes on that day to be glorified in the saints to be marveled among all who have believed because our testimony to you
13:07 was believe judgment day. The last time you saw somebody talking to you about
13:12 judgment day, you probably saw him on the street. You know, I remember seeing in New Zealand uh one of my tours there,
13:18 some people actually in the park and they're like preaching fire and brimstone talking about judgment. Not a
13:25 very effective tool. Most people think they're crazy. All right? And that's because uh it's it's not comfortable to
13:33 believe that you're accountable and sometimes someday you've got to answer.
13:38 But still deep in our hearts of human nature, we actually feel judgment day is coming especially when bad things
13:43 happen. I remember the Fukushima uh reactor problem due to the earthquake. Japan suffered greatly. The
13:50 prime minister at the time he actually thought this was a disaster as divine punishment for excessive consumerism.
13:58 you know, he actually thought it was even though he didn't believe in God. Uh, however, in the West, we don't like
14:05 judgment. This is John Lennon's famous song, imagine. Imagine all the people. Remember that.
14:10 Imagine there's no heaven. It's easy if you try. No hell below us, above us only
14:16 sky. Imagine all the people living for today. Aha. Aha. Imagine no possessions.
14:23 I wonder if you can. No need for greed or hunger. A brotherhood of man. Imagine
14:28 all the people sharing all the world. You see, we don't in the west, you don't like to think about
14:35 judgment. Everybody is right. We've got this modernism, plurism. You got your view, I got my view. We are all right.
14:41 So therefore, there is no judgment. Uh, anybody remember these three? They come
14:47 for what movies? Anybody remember younger people? Huh?
14:52 James Bond. They're from James Bond room. You remember watching all I'm sure all of you I won't even ask you whether
14:58 you watched them. Most of us have watched when you watch Spectre and all these people and they are like doing all
15:05 sorts of bad things. What do you feel in your heart? Do you feel that we should
15:10 what? Catch them, let them stand trial and
15:16 have 12 men of uh their their peers pronounce judgment. Do you do that? How
15:23 many of you actually feel that only one righteous person?
15:28 The rest of us, what do we feel? I feel I take machine gun and I shoot one toe at a time and make him die over 58
15:35 hours, right? And I personally strang up end of the movie, you feel like, you know, that's why when we think about
15:41 judgment, we actually mistaken judgment or revenge. That's why we don't like this idea of
15:47 judgment. Actually, we don't think of it as as justice. we actually think of revenge. Uh and the translation by the
15:55 NIV, SIV, uh the ESV is problematic, inflicting vengeance on those who do not
16:01 know God. The actual Greek word is ectdicasis, which actually meeting out
16:06 justice. God isn't the one who's going to strangle spectre and take a machine gun and shoot him, you know, shoot off
16:12 one bit by a time. God meets out justice. Okay? And so therefore the
16:18 logic of judgment day is that there will be the righteous and there will be unrighteous and he will grant relief.
16:24 You see be the ones who are righteous. He will grant relief to those who are suffering and those who are unrighteous
16:30 we play with affliction inflict justice for those who do not obey the gospel of
16:35 Lord Jesus Christ. It's a balancing. It's a logic there. Imagine judgment day
16:41 gives meaning to life. Remember the widow? Everybody else was going to the temple and they were giving bags of
16:48 money. And Jesus recognized one widow who gave how much? Two mites, two coins.
16:55 That's all she ever was or had. And you know what? Jesus saw it. Would you see
17:02 it? Most of us say she's not writing checks or nothing like only coins it. But Jesus sees it. The logic of judgment
17:10 day is that it gives meaning to life because one day no matter what we have
17:15 done God records it and he gives it back to you. Imagine if you have no judgment day
17:23 then life would have no meaning. This is uh Jane Lucricia Dester in 1815. She was
17:31 a young woman with two little children. Her husband, the stupid man, was shot
17:36 dead in a duel and she was alone. She was a widow and she was sitting by the
17:44 river and she was going to kill herself. She looked into the murky depths of the river and she was just going to jump in.
17:51 She was in the middle of Scotland and all she did was one day watch a young man plowing the field. He did it very
17:59 well. very hardworking, painstaking attention to meticulous detail to make
18:05 sure it was all done perfectly. And when she just saw that and she looked at
18:10 herself and all she had was self-pity and that challenge her. If that man was
18:16 so full of life and found so much value and just plowing in the field, what about her? And she actually pulled
18:23 herself back. She came to know Christ two years later on and she's the great
18:28 great grandmother of Osg Guinness, one of the greatest Christian philosophers in the world today. If it weren't for
18:35 that one young boy plowing the field, you know, in judgment day, God will
18:40 remember that young one boy plowing the field. He will remember
18:48 the widow. He will remember everything. Look, here is Matthew 25. This judgment
18:54 day, I was hungry, you gave me food. I was thirsty, you gave me drink. I was a stranger, you welcomed me. I was naked,
19:00 you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. The righteous will answer him,
19:06 saying, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you drink? When do we see you as a
19:11 stranger and welcome you or or naked or clothe you? And when do we see you sick or in prison and visit you?" And the
19:17 king will answer truly I say to you as you did it to one of the least of my brothers you did it to me. Isn't that we
19:24 we see things in a superficial manner. The trouble is when you see things in a superficial manner we don't see people
19:30 and things as God sees. I mean I see many patients and some of our patients are very old. Increasing number of my
19:36 patients are like 90 and 80. And when you look at them you know what you think? Poor thing.
19:43 If you can walk once around a table when you're 90. Oh, God bless you. You must be really good. And all you can do when
19:50 you look at them is poor thing. He may have been the top CEO of a Fortune 500
19:55 company. Would you know? You wouldn't know. All we see at the end
20:01 of life is that and everything he did actually doesn't really matter if you didn't do it for Christ. I and and a lot
20:08 of them mentioned to me you know when I was a CEO everybody come take me to a lunch now I'm 19 nobody even sees me for
20:16 breakfast because that's a measure of a man judgment day is important because God
20:21 will take in consideration every single thing that you have done that people have not seen that you know in in in in
20:28 a company for example they snake you they take the credit you do the work
20:34 God takes that in consideration you look at this country. If there's no judgment day, you will live in this country. What
20:41 would you feel? Either you see you give up or you take the law into your own hands because there's so much
20:47 corruption. People are being cheated that the the cost of living is skyrocketing and you say, "When will
20:54 this end?" If there's no judgment day, it'll be for nothing. You either become
20:60 depressed and you give up or you take the law into your own hands. Judgment day is important. This is Rob Bell.
21:07 Actually, he's a pastor of a mega church in America. And he wrote a book called
21:13 Love Wins. And he writes, "God loves us. God offers us eternal everlasting life
21:19 by grace freely through no merit of our own. Unless you do not respond the right way, then God will torture you forever
21:25 in hell." Huh? Which means he doesn't believe in hell anymore. Because you know why? The most
21:31 important thing is what? Love. This is John 14. Georgees said to him, "I am the
21:38 way, the truth, and the life. No one comes the father except to me." This is what Rob Bell writes. What Jesus doesn't
21:43 say is how or when and what manner the mechanisms functions that get people to go through
21:49 him. He doesn't even state that those coming to the father through him will even know that they're coming to him.
21:54 Wow. What Jesus does is declare that he and he alone is saving everybody. And then
22:00 he leaves the door open way open creating all sorts of possibilities. He's as narrow as himself and as wide as
22:07 the universe. Now do you understand what that says? That's rubbish.
22:13 Why? Because the most important thing is love wins. So we are now in a situation where the most important thing is love.
22:19 We cannot talk about justice or truth. This is a modern generation. My fun my
22:25 son's favorite singer. He'll pay hundreds of dollars to watch him in Melbourne at Shiran. I'm in love with
22:33 the shape of you. We push and pull like a magnet do. Although my heart is falling too. I'm falling in love with
22:40 your body. Last night you were in my room and now my bed sheet smells like you.
22:46 Every day discovering something brand new. I'm in love with your body. Oh. Oh. Oh.
22:53 I'm in love with your body. Oh. Oh. Oh. Let's forget about this part. Every day I'm discovering something brand new. I'm
22:58 in a love with the shape of you. You know in 50 years time the shape of you is different.
23:05 You know how many of you maintain the same shape uh as you were 50 years ago?
23:10 I mean if you're in love with the shape of you the moment the shape changes there's no love. This is not true love
23:17 must have truth inside isn't it? Right. Uh this is a better singing group called the black ey peas. They actually are
23:24 quite they're like philosophers. They can't have. You see, the truth is kept secret. It's swept under the rug. If you
23:31 never know the truth, then you'll never know love. Where's the love, y'all? Come on. I don't know. Where's the truth?
23:37 Y'all come on. I don't know. Where's the love? So love and truth are inextricably
23:43 bound together. That's why when you get married, you tell the I'm your true love. Isn't it? All right. The girlfriend
23:50 asked the boyfriend, you know, when you marry me, you know, would you give your life for me? And the boy says, "No, mine
23:55 is a undying love. We we don't die for you." And
24:01 but the wrath is a perfection of his character. This Ji Packer, would God who
24:06 took so much pleasure in evil as he did in good be a good God? Would a God who did not react adversely to evil in this
24:13 world be a morally perfect God? Surely not. It is precisely this adverse
24:18 reaction to evil which is necessary part of moral perfection that Bible has in
24:23 view when it speaks of God's wrath. It's a perfection of his character. You can't
24:28 have a god that whatever you do I murder the f it's okay. You know you cheat the one you rape the woman it's okay I
24:36 forgive you. Love wins. What kind of god would that be? There's actually joy in
24:41 judgment. Psalm 96 say among the nations the Lord reigns. Yes, the world is
24:46 established. It shall never be moved. He will judge the people with equity. Let the heavens be glad, that the earth
24:52 rejoice. Let the sea roar and all that fills it. Let the field exalt and everything in it. Then shall all the
24:58 trees of forest seek for joy before the Lord when he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness
25:04 and the people in his faithfulness. Judgment brings relief and judgment
25:10 brings joy. Uh look at revelations in heaven. After this I saw what seemed to
25:16 be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven crying hallelujah salvation. Glory and power belongs to our God for
25:23 his judgments are true and just for he has judged a great prostitute who has
25:28 corrupt corrupted the earth with her immorality and avenged on her the blood of his servants. And once more they
25:34 cried out hallelujah. The smoke from her goes up forever. And here there is rejoicing over the evil of the world
25:41 that is judged. You know it's the same feeling when Saddam Hussein's statue was pulled down. Isn't it? He was a terrible
25:47 dictator who ruled with an iron fist destroying thousands of people with gas.
25:53 And when the day came, this statue was torn down. There was joy because the
26:00 unrighteousness had been corrected. And yet when God punishes, he does so with
26:06 tears. This Jesus is stands outside Jerusalem and he knows Jerusalem will be
26:11 destroyed in AD70 which is basically 30 40 years from his time and he says and
26:18 he grew near and saw the city and he wept. God desires that no one suffer and
26:25 therefore he has perfect wrath and still perfect love. So they've got all aspects
26:31 of God's personality, holiness, wrath, love, truth and righteousness. There is not one part of his personality which is
26:38 love that overrides everything else. They're all a perfect harmony. I mean many of us we can't be perfectly loving
26:45 and perfectly wrathful. I I can't imagine us doing it. It it's difficult. But God can
26:52 in all religions when you exercise mercy it is always at the expense of justice.
26:59 God just can't forgive like that. Christianity is the only faith where love or mercy is exercised through
27:06 justice. Now, how does uh judgment day work? When
27:12 judgment day comes, there will be a visible appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's revealed from heaven with
27:18 his mighty angels. It won't be at one corner of the earth. Everyone will see that in flaming fire. It is a visible
27:27 physical reappearance of Christ. And there will be justice on those who do
27:32 not know God and do not obey the gospel. That is how you're going to be judged.
27:38 And then you look who is more guilty. He killed 26 in a church. You know, remember First Baptist Church.
27:45 Who is more guilty? He killed 59 in a strip club in Las Vegas. He killed 5
27:51 billion. He killed six to 10 million. How come the Bible doesn't mention how many they killed? The Bible only
27:58 mentions those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel. But what about
28:03 these guys? He said, "This is unfair, isn't it?" If you look at the story of Jo uh Joseph
28:12 and I I like this painter. He paints Portafa's wife like a little girl in
28:18 here is Portafa's wife hitting on him, you know, trying to grab him, having sex with him. And he says no. And then you
28:26 know what he says? How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against
28:32 God? He was about to commit adultery and steal somebody's wife. But all he mentions that that this sin is actually
28:39 a sin against God. So you suddenly realize whether you kill 26 people or 56
28:44 people or two million people or six billion people, it is a outward manifestation of a person who does not
28:50 know God, who do not obey the gospel of Jesus Christ. murder, rape, killing,
28:56 evil, it all a outward manifestation of an inward disease of a soul curved in on
29:03 itself that loves nobody else but himself and that is the greatest sin. Uh
29:08 and then they will suffer punishment of eternal destruction away from the
29:13 presence of the lord and the glory of his might. That is what going to hell going to be. Uh this is CS Lewis. He
29:20 writes in the great divorce there are only two kinds of people in the end. Those who say to God, "Thy will be
29:26 done." And those whom God says to them, "Thy will be done." All that are in hell
29:32 choose it. Without that self-choice, there could be no hell. No soul that seriously uh constantly desires joy will
29:40 ever miss it. Those who seek it uh those who seek find those who knock it be open. So God is very democratic.
29:48 Okay? If you want your will, your will be done. If you want his will
29:54 be done, then you go to heaven with him. And that's exactly what hell is. Hell is
29:60 finding your own way. But the trouble is CS Lewis writes, "There is only one good in the whole world, and that's God.
30:06 Everything else is good when it looks to him. Everything bad when it turns from
30:12 him." So the further you turn from God, the more darker it is, the more painful
30:17 is, the more the less life is meaningful. Actually, they did studies in the United States on prisoners who've
30:25 been kept in Pelican Bay uh uh prison for years and years. These are solitary
30:32 confinement prisoners. 22 hours a day in a cage on their own let out for one hour
30:39 a day just to walk and have no contact. Most of them 50% of prison population
30:45 suicide come from these p people absolutely alone. You know why? Because you human beings are made in the image
30:52 of God. We are made to relate. Every bit of kindness that you see in the face of
30:58 another person actually comes from God. And imagine being locked away on your
31:03 own with no contact with any other human being
31:09 alone will destroy you. Imagine being away from the face of God for the rest
31:15 of eternity over and over again. That's judgment day number one. Now for his
31:23 saints when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be
31:29 marveled among all who have believed him because our testimony view was believed. He's going to be marveled in his saints
31:36 which means he's not going to be marveled through his saints nor amongst
31:41 his saint. We're going to sit around they were all going to worship Jesus. is not amongst the saints but in his saints
31:48 which means all of us are going to be like a tungsten wire. Have you seen you
31:54 don't see tungsten wire nowadays LED lights we get an old incandescent bulb there will be a tungsten wire which is
32:01 just a thin wire and then when electricity runs through it'll be
32:06 absolutely incandescent. See when Jesus comes again, every single
32:12 one of us will be converted into that. We will be filled with the glory of God
32:19 because it says he will be glorified in his saints. When he comes already, he comes with flaming fire. But on the
32:26 other hand, when you actually look at his saints, his saints will be incandescent. We will we will actually
32:33 glow with the glory of God. We can see a bit of it in Matthew 17. When he was
32:39 transfigured before them, his face shone like the sun. His clothes became white
32:44 as light. So Jesus' physical body becomes a vehicle for his glory. Moses
32:51 was in contact with God when he gave him the ten commandments. When he left the mountain, Moses, the Israelites could
32:58 not gaze at Moses' face because of his glory is so bright. They have to wear a veil. When in the last days, just as we
33:06 have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall bear the image of the man of heaven. Just as Jesus glows, we as the
33:14 physical body of Christ, we will bear his image. We will bear his glory. We
33:20 will be glorified in us. We will actually be absolutely
33:25 perfect. There will not be a single desire in our hearts to do what is evil.
33:32 We will absolutely glow. So it doesn't matter whether you look 90 or look 105,
33:39 we will absolutely glow. And when he comes on that day to be glorified in the
33:44 saints and to be marveled among all who have believed, absolutely marveled. I
33:52 was uh what is marveling? Marveling is expectations exceeded the overflow of
33:58 the heart and minds. It'll just blow our minds. Um this is uh the 99th birthday
34:07 of Billy Graham. I remember he is one of the most famous evangelists in the world who is preached the gospel to hundreds
34:14 of millions of people. And I remember this one interview he had with Larry King life. And Larry King asked him this
34:21 question. What do you think Billy after all these years? What will your first
34:27 thought when you get into heaven? You know what Billy said? I actually made it. You see, I man it
34:35 will be so wonderful. A guy who has preached the gospel for what 70 years of his life enters heaven and the first
34:41 thing he's going to think about is I made it. He will be full of marvel
34:47 because so wonderful to be in heaven and you look and all because of what the
34:53 gospel which he preached. It'll be like I remember uh uh you know two episodes
34:59 in my life when I nearly came to death uh driving down from EO one day I uh at
35:05 about 4:00 in the afternoon. Best time to drive you fall asleep. It's exactly what I did. You fall asleep at the wheel
35:12 and I woke up at the side of the road. It was but when you look back you
35:18 marvel. I'm alive today. and you go back to the same spot and you look, my God,
35:24 what would happen if it went the other way? At the end of time, you're going to
35:29 stand at the abyss and you look down in hell and you see, wow, that's a long way
35:35 down and I'm here. And then you look at heaven and you look at the unshielded
35:40 glory of God, you say, "Wow, and he's there." And that's what I mean by marveling.
35:48 Nothing else matters. This is Revelations. The city has no
35:55 need for a sun or moon or shine on it. For the glory of the Lord gives it light. Its lamp is the lamb. The light
36:02 will by its light the nations will walk. The kings of earth will bring their glory. The gates will never be shut. By
36:09 day there will be no night. They will bring into it the glory and honor of the nations. the day and night the glory
36:17 will be there. Lastly, the uh passion for our calling. We feature the gospel
36:23 life is that a faith is dynamic growing faith, growing love and enduring through
36:29 suffering, expectations of a judgment day because the judgment day would keep things in perspective. It doesn't matter
36:35 if you didn't receive credit now, the Lord will be magnified in your name. Lastly, because of that, because of
36:42 expectation judgment day, that should fuel our passion for calling. This is our calling for to this end we always
36:49 pray for you that our God makes you worthy of his calling and will fulfill every resolve for good every work of
36:56 faith by his power so that the name our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you you in him according to the grace of
37:02 our God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Here we actually have how we live matters.
37:08 God is will make you this is a prayer. This is you know when we get together
37:13 you know what we're thanking God for what you're praying God for right our son's exam nowadays November exam right
37:20 I know your son's exam is important but we never almost never pray that our
37:25 faith will continue grow that give thanks that your love is growing I can see how the Lord is moving your life we
37:32 almost never pray that we are going to be worthy of your calling when you see
37:37 in all the 13 letters to write Paul Paul never write to say hey I'm very happy your exams are doing well. You're you're
37:43 you're getting more prosperous. He never writes that. He writes this at things that really matter that you become
37:49 worthy of his calling. The worthy of his calling is mean basically living up to the calling. You you can never be worthy
37:56 of his calling. You can never hang on the cross and your death and your sacrifice be as equivalent to Jesus
38:02 Christ. But you can live up to what it means to be a Christian. That's what it
38:08 means. All right. TS Elliott the famous uh uh poet writes can a lifetime represent a single motive. Yes it can if
38:17 the single motive is to live up to the calling. Oskinis writes calling is the
38:22 key to tracing the storyline of our lives and unriddling the meaning of our existence in a chaotic world. We live in
38:30 a world that is confusing, chaotic, difficult. There are setbacks, there are
38:36 successes. It's all a mixed bag, isn't it? But do we actually have a calling? The calling is key to tracing the story
38:42 line of our lives. When we reach 50, when we reach 70, can we look back and
38:48 trace one story line that goes through your story?
38:54 And can that be the as TS Edit wrote, can a lifetime represent a single
38:59 motive? And that motive is to bring glory to God.
39:06 And to this end, we always pray that our God will make you worthy of his calling and fulfill every resolve for good and
39:13 every work of faith by his power. His is amazing, isn't it? Which means he's
39:18 going to create in you a desire to do good and when you actually step out by
39:25 faith, he's going to give you that faith and by his power actually fulfill it. Which means from beginning to end, right
39:31 from the beginning when you want to do something for God, he gives you that desire. He gives you the ability and he
39:38 finishes the job. That's amazing. So the calling causes a
39:45 spiritual transformation and you got new goals and desires. What you are for God and what you do for God. This is uh Bob
39:53 Pierce, very famous American uh uh uh preacher who was in 1947
39:60 preaching in China, Amoy and uh this missionary from uh Miss Hog
40:07 Bo from the Dutch uh reformed church was there and uh apparently that when he
40:13 preached the gospel many people came to know Christ actually thousands in China came to know Christ and one of them was
40:19 a little girl called White Jade and she was and she carried white jade. Bob not
40:24 carries led her 10 years old 10 years old and and and confronted Bob Pierce.
40:30 You know you go and preach gospel. Huh? This girl believed in Jesus Christ. When she went back home the father wall up
40:36 her and she refused to recant her belief and she threw her out in the streets
40:42 never to see him again. And the girl is crying and nowhere to go. And uh the
40:49 missionary says, "Nah, your fault, isn't it?" And he brings white jade to Bob
40:55 Pierce and say, "What are you going to do?" Now, he was not a rich man. You
41:01 people supporting him gave him just enough to come to China to preach. And he dug in his pocket and all he had was
41:08 $5 US, okay? Which is was a return airfare back to America.
41:14 And he just gave that and say, "Don't you worry. you look after Jade, I will come back and I will send more money.
41:22 And he had to sell his camera and sell his goods so they get an air ticket to go back to the USA. It starts just with
41:30 the need of the world. Being worthy of a calling is just when somebody brings you a white jade and you do something. It
41:37 may be $5 in your pocket. But three years later on, this same Bob Pierce
41:42 started World Vision, an organization that touches millions of children all
41:47 over the world just from one simple act. God was able to fulfill that desire for
41:53 good works and create something be and later on he left World Vision. You know what he start? Samaritan's Purse, which
42:01 is another organization where Franklin Graham actually works and leads today. Bob Pierce writes in his Bible, "Let my
42:08 heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God." See that? Can
42:13 you see that? There's a desire. No man would write that unless God puts that desire in your heart. When he puts that
42:20 desire in heart, we need to be people of God that we need to just take that and
42:25 be bold because you see the desire comes in your heart to help people not on its own, you know, not on your own merit
42:31 because on our own merit we are all curved in. We never look out. And if God
42:36 puts that in your heart, whether helping a child or teaching tuition or helping
42:42 children in Maria's home or or or or counseling someone else, the desire is a reflection of the power of the Holy
42:48 Spirit. And if God gives you the desire, God will give you the ability and the faith and the power to achieve that. We
42:55 only need to believe that. And we move forward in our lives. Hannah Yo got in
43:01 trouble recently for writing this book, you know, as a testimony of her faith walking in God. And she writes a story
43:08 where she as a young couple just got married. They spent a lot of money in the wedding and didn't have very much left, but God
43:15 called her. She's not a saint that she says, "Oh, I want to go and serve Malaysia as as a speaker." She never
43:22 expected that. She's a young woman just like you and me. Apply for PR in Australia like everybody else. But only
43:28 problem, she didn't get it. had to stay back here Malaysia on what to do.
43:33 But God gave her a new vision to get into politics to write the wrongs
43:39 of our society. We need people like her. And sure, she had in her living room was 700 ringgit out to do campaign.
43:47 700 ringgit. That's all she had. But God brought two prominent business people
43:52 from churches in Sububang Jaya. I think I know one of them. and they raised $100,000
43:59 and odds were against her and she got voted in and she's doing a great job and
44:06 now they're persecuting her. You know, writing a book also is uh uh you know uses the book to to to preach to people
44:12 to convert them out of that religion. It's ridiculous. But hey, God gives you the desire and it will give you the
44:19 power to overcome. God gave the desire to Raymond Cole and he started Harapan
44:25 community and so many people were touched God gives you the desire but God
44:32 wherever Raymon co is you can be assured he doesn't leave you alone God is there
44:38 with him either he has taken him in glory or he's with him in captivity
44:45 let's continue to pray for Roman Raymond the goal of a worthy death so that the
44:51 name why do we do all these things so the name of our lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and you in him
44:58 according to the grace of our god and lord Jesus Christ verse 10 that he comes on the day to be glorified you know
45:05 there's this issue of glory all right we all want glory to a certain extent uh we
45:12 we it's like us glorify told of four men who came together at a
45:18 class reunion 30 years later on and the first man tells his uh you know uh his
45:23 friends you know 30 years you know I got a great son you know he did bachelor of economics MBA then became CEO of company
45:33 now he owns the company very rich the other day he was so rich he gave his friend on his birthday a Mercedes-Benz
45:41 a fantastic and he was so proud because the glory of the sun reflected back on him right and then second man comes up
45:47 and say you know my son too very good. You know, he worked as a airline steward, you know, and then got promoted
45:54 to be chief person then went pilot school became pilot then now owned the airline
46:00 you know his birthday he gave his friend a new jet. How many people can give friend new jet? Oh father was so was
46:08 glorying in his son and the last one was saying you know my son nothing a working laborer know and then work his way up
46:16 now he owns development company bigger than sunrise and you know what he gave his friend on
46:22 his birthday a condo or not a condo a mansion 30,000 ft² mansion the last man who had gone to
46:29 toilet came back you know is wondering what are you guys talking about oh my sons have done so well what about your
46:35 son oh my son. He's gay. He works as a stripper in a nightclub
46:42 like that. How can you be proud of your son? How can you take glory in your son? No. I love my son. He's my son. I love him. And you know, he was very lucky
46:48 fellow. The other day at his at his birthday, somebody gave him a Mercedes-Benz,
46:54 a jet, and a mansion. His three boyfriends
47:07 That's not the aim of the sermon. I'm sorry. But we can see we we get glory from the
47:15 person whom we love, isn't it? Uh if you look at the Maslo uh uh triangle of
47:21 self-actualization. This actually describes human needs. Our first need is
47:27 actually basic needs or safety and iman eat and drink to be safe. The rest are
47:34 love, feeling of esteem that we are worth something and to actually find
47:39 meaning in our life in our personal growth and experiences. All these are
47:44 actually theologically the glory needs. We need to feel that we're worth
47:50 something, isn't it? You know, glory in the Old Testament word is kabot, which
47:56 means weightiness. I must feel I'm weighty. Not heavy weight. I'm I I'm the
48:03 Chinese the containers call it ya everybody wants to be worth something right and that is actually not wrong
48:09 because God created with this glory needs but the thing is how do we get
48:14 this glory if we get this glory by ourselves it is the most unsatisfying way of doing
48:21 it what we do is get this glory by giving glory to God and when you give glory to God he gives glory to us and
48:27 that's the best way it happens this is uh uh uh George Müller. All right.
48:34 Fantastic Christian. Uh about 100 years ago, he started a uh uh orphanage. There
48:41 were about uh at the time in the whole of England, there were only 3,600 orphans being looked after all over. He
48:48 himself started his orphanage. At the end of his life, he looked after 10,000 orphans.
48:54 And all of them without asking for a single British pound. He just went on his knees
49:02 and he prayed and you ask him why did you do that? You could have asked money. You could do all things. You know what
49:07 his chief motive is? That God may be glorified. Should he be
49:13 pleased to furnish me with the means that in this being seen that it is not a vain thing to trust him that thus the
49:19 faith of his children may be strengthened. Basically the reason why I start a glor orphanage not because of the children but because doing this and
49:27 proving that God can be trusted means God can be glorified in the last days. Jesus Christ will be glorified in us on
49:34 account of what we have become by his grace and we will be glorified in him on
49:40 account of what he has done for us. If we're holding on to our lives,
49:46 glorifying ourselves, seeking the admiration of our peers,
49:52 then we will lose our life. But if we give up our lives and give all glory to God, then our lives will be glorified in
50:00 him. And that so that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and
50:06 you in him according to the grace of our Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. How
50:12 does all these things happen? It happens according to grace which means you don't deserve it. God doesn't wake up in the
50:18 morning and say ha Mr. Wong he's a good fellow I'm going to give him this or
50:25 protan not a good fellow I'm going to give him less it's never like that it's by grace
50:32 whatever he gives you you won't deserve it'll come as a surprise so these are
50:39 the features of a gospel- centered life a faith that is dynamic expectation of
50:45 judgment day and a passion for his calling Let us end today's service by a
50:53 reflection. Do we is our faith and love growing? Is it enduring through the
50:59 storms of life? Are we expecting God? Because we should be expecting. We're
51:05 going to be like that tungsten wire. You know, you don't go around saying, "Oh, today I got my back pain. My stomach is
51:10 bulging. My blood pressure is no good." That's a tungsten wire, you know, right? One day you'll be glowing. In fact, the
51:17 glorification starts now. When God when I when when we look at you and see spiritual transformation, we are seeing
51:24 glory right now. We can give thanks to what God is doing in your life. And
51:29 lastly, a passion for our calling. We should wake up with one single motive in life that we will glorify his name. In
51:37 doing so, we bring glory to ourselves. Let's pray. Father Lord, we just thank you for your word.
51:44 And as usual, your word challenges us. Let us not be afraid or ashamed or to
51:52 shrink back to think about judgment day because judgment day is a glorious day
51:57 where we as your simple people will be glorified. We'll be filled with the
52:03 power, the vigor, the love, the gentleness and the beauty of Jesus Christ. When we they look at us, they
52:10 will see you. We will shine like the eternal stars. That's our destiny. We
52:16 pray that this destiny will so fill our vision and fill our hearts and occupy our lives that at the end of our lives,
52:23 they will tell that we have only one single motive. We live to glorify you.
52:29 We ask this for Jesus' sake. Amen.
