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00:01 Good morning. Uh, I'm back and you probably are distracted. Uh, the last time I was here
00:07 sharing, I told you that when I wanted to shave my head, bald, right? Uh, my my my superior told me, uh, don't do it
00:15 because you're going to be a distraction. So, today I'm testing you. We're talking about how the do gospel deals with temptation. I I'm wearing a
00:22 cap to distract you all the way. No, no. Actually, what happened was I had a shaving accident and there's there's a
00:28 there's a wound here and I can't shave anymore and then it's like not very nice. So, I have to wear a cap. So,
00:35 forgive me. But I'm glad my brother there is also wearing a cap so I don't feel so awkward here. All right. Don't
00:40 be distracted by the cap, okay? It's me. It's Pastor Leon here. Um I'm here to share with you. And I I it's this
00:48 sermon. Uh uh I was I was in Na and I was preparing this sermon and and the
00:53 Holy Spirit just came upon me and I was like weeping in the NA by myself. Good thing Pastor Joash or Pastor Ling was
00:59 not there. It was just kind of an embarrassing moment. But I think today there's something that God wants to do
01:04 with us in our in our congregation today. And I hope that I will be able to share with you what he has placed upon
01:10 my heart. But before we do that, can shall we uh bow our heads and in in prayer. Father, send your Holy Spirit to
01:17 illuminate your word to us, to make it alive to us once again. Help the words that were written and penned down many
01:23 years ago be alive to us and remind us now, Lord, that you are here with us and
01:29 that we can count on you. Father, speak to us in a very special way and
01:34 especially those who are in need today. I pray that you will meet their needs in a very special way today. In Jesus name
01:40 we pray. Amen. All right. I'm going to be very speedy in my sermon today because I I I believe God wants to spend
01:48 a little more time in response today in asking you and giving you opportunity for those of you uh who are facing
01:54 temptation, trials, and all those kind of things. So, at the end of the service, it's going to be time where we can respond together, but uh so I'm not
02:01 going to tell as many jokes as I usually will. I won't tell as many stories as I usually will. I'll try to get into the
02:06 thick of it. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hey, is this better?
02:14 Oh, okay. Interesting. Something is happening that I don't know about. So, okay. Are you ready? All right. So, I
02:22 think the passage is actually divided into three parts. Uh Paul's view on the Corinthian church and and the issues
02:28 with temptation is that uh it starts with him talking about we think we are wise enough and then it goes to the
02:35 gospel is our actual wisdom and then through God we can overcome. and I will
02:41 go through this tree with you. But let's start with uh the there are a lot of Bible nerds here. I I realized that a
02:48 lot of people here really Okay, it's not a bad thing to be a Bible nerd. Okay, I'm a Bible nerd. I love the Bible.
02:54 Okay, I remember when I got my calling and I answered it. I refused to read my school books because I just enjoyed
02:60 reading the Bible and I really hated my school books. But of course, I still had to read my school books. But I keep
03:05 falling asleep. But I know for most of you uh uh you read your Bible as the cure for insomnia, right? No.
03:14 No. Okay. Good. Very good. That laugh sounds very convincing. So let's start with this art question. What is the
03:20 meaning of the word gospel? What's the meaning of the gospel? Good news. Wow. See the Bible nerds in
03:27 this church are great. So the the word gospel is taken from the word evangelon which means good news, right? Good news.
03:35 And uh I want to test you on something since you're all Bible nerds like me.
03:40 We're going to test we go back to Genesis 1 vers1. We're going to start and then we'll try to end with Revelations today. No, we're not going
03:46 to go through the whole Bible today. But Genesis, can you tell me historically, right? We're talking about temptation.
03:52 The first temptation, we know it, right? So in order to talk about temptation, I think we need to go back to the first
03:58 temptation. But let's start with it. Okay. Um historically, can I ask you the
04:03 question, right? um when God created uh the things right do you remember what
04:10 God created as good
04:15 okay that's where I go everywhere and preach right the first thing is everything God created was good wrong
04:20 there read your Bible carefully there okay those of you with your Bibles turn
04:27 to Genesis 1 vers1 and then we start with verse three
04:33 okay tell in creation, what did God create and call good? Because we're talking about the good news. The gospel
04:40 starts with Genesis 1 vers1. And then it goes to verse three. He specifically
04:45 calls something good. Okay? What's the thing that he called good? He created
04:51 light. He didn't call the darkness good. The darkness was already there. Notice that he didn't create the darkness.
04:60 It was already there. Maybe he created it before that. Nobody knows. Okay. But he created light and called it good. He
05:06 didn't call the darkness good. Interesting, right? He did not call everything good. He called specific
05:13 things good. All right. So, the first thing is like what's the next thing?
05:18 Day two. Did he create anything good? Did he call anything good?
05:24 Read your Bible carefully.
05:30 He separated the waters. At the end of the day, did he say anything good?
05:37 Oddly, I read my Bible differently. No. Right. He did not create anything
05:45 good on second day. Oh, is that a new revelation to you? Yeah. That's why you
05:51 need to go to Bible school. Come, come, come join me. Yeah. Now, when I went to Bible school and I learned this, I was like, I've
05:58 been reading my Bible wrong all this time. God was calling specific things good. What's the next thing after? So,
06:05 day two, he didn't. Day three, what did he call good? Land.
06:11 And actually, the vegetation, right?
06:17 Did he call the waters that were there good? No. So, there were waters there already,
06:23 right? But he didn't call that good. Interesting. How come we read the Bible and then we say he created everything good?
06:31 No. He created dry land. The waters was already there.
06:36 Yeah, he gathered them, but he didn't create them. It was already there. What he created was dry land that didn't
06:42 exist. And he created the vegetation after that. Now, let's go to the next thing that he called good. What is it?
06:52 What do you create and call good? the greater light, the lesser light. You
06:59 know what that means, right? The sun, the moon, and the stars. He created
07:05 those and then he called it good. Okay, interesting, right? He didn't call
07:11 everything good, you know, he called the specific things that he created. Next day five, what did he create and call
07:16 good?
07:24 Suddenly you're reading your Bible all differently. Not sure how to answer any.
07:30 Wow. We have to start from Genesis again. Dr. Peter, I think we need to start all over again.
07:36 Animals. Good. What else? All the living creatures, the air
07:42 creatures, the sea creatures as well. Right. So that was day five. And then day six he created what?
07:50 Land animals, right? And then he he also created men. You know you were created
07:55 on the sixth day, right? Please know that. Okay. Did notice the Bible. Did he say that he created he created the land
08:02 animals and he called it good? Then he created man. Did he call man good?
08:08 Oh, we are no good. No, no, no. That's not
08:13 what it means. Okay, that's not what it means. So God created specific things that were good.
08:21 All right. And can you try to ask answer the question then why did God name these
08:28 specific things as good and he didn't call man good?
08:35 Of course you want to read later and then say, "Oh, he said that he created everything and it was good." Please don't reach there first.
08:42 God was very specific in penning this down in saying why these things are good. Look at the list. Why did he name
08:48 these things good?
08:55 Interesting, right? Come Bible school. A lot of interesting things. This is only like one chapter.
09:02 Why? Why? Because you want to answer or you want me to try try to wait for a while.
09:10 Huh? No sin against God because all these things had are flawless. No,
09:19 look carefully. Look carefully. Who are these things created for?
09:26 Oh, so it is good for. That's why he didn't call man good. It's not because
09:31 we're no good. He was telling the Israelites as they were going into the promised land. This
09:37 is when this was written. Okay. Moses wrote it, gave it to Joshua as he took
09:43 in the promised land. This started the journey of the Israelites and God was
09:49 proclaiming the good news. He says, "Look, I created everything that is good for
09:55 you." Then there are two things that are not good. What are the two things that are
10:00 not good? Not good for men to be alone. Remember that. And it's not good to eat from the
10:06 tree of knowledge of good evil. And so what happened?
10:13 So we know God was trying to say he's good all the time. Right from the start he's saying I'm the good God, not the
10:19 God of he used the term lesser like and greater like because he was comparing himself to the Egyptian worship. You
10:26 know those things you worship as God. I created them and I'm a good God. I know
10:31 what's good. He invited us to a relationship when he created us. He says I know what's good for you. I'm your
10:37 father. I will take care of you. Right? Then we were temp tempted to decide for
10:42 what is good for ourselves. You read Genesis 3:6. The first temptation when
10:48 Eve took the fruit and was going to eat it. What did she decide?
10:53 She decided, you see Genesis 3:6, what does it say? Says that Eve saw the fruit was
11:02 God was very specific. All those things I created is good. these two things are not good and he said good.
11:12 We were tempted to decide what is good for ourselves and and Paul was going to talk about this how we deal with this
11:19 temptation. We decided our own good. We became idolatrous the moment we decided
11:24 we know what is good. See, God right from the start in his
11:29 good news in the Bible that we have is reminding us that he knows what is good
11:35 for us. I've told you this before and I'm I'm trying to show you how it comes
11:40 from the Bible. But we decided that we wanted but God saved us. He sent his
11:45 only son and God is bringing all the goodness
11:50 through his son back to us. We believe that one day when we get to heaven,
11:56 everything's going to be good, right? How many of you want to go to heaven and everything's bad,
12:03 right? None. None of us want because we know that that is the gospel. The gospel is about good news. It's about the news
12:10 that God knows what is good for us and he has done all he can so that we can
12:16 inherit this good news. All right, you got that?
12:22 So, the problem though with the Corinthian church at this point is that
12:28 they think they're wise enough to face temptation or they think they're wise enough to decide for themselves what is
12:35 good when it comes to eating food offered to idols or not. Correct? So,
12:41 what were they doing at the time? They were obviously eating food offered to idols. They were going to the temple
12:47 when they are having party. So maybe like open house like that and then it's uh maybe it's a a temple open house and
12:54 then all our Christians go there. Oh free food, free food. That was what was happening. Okay. And so Paul was
13:02 amplifying his earlier discussion on food offered to idols. On one hand it seemed like he said it's okay you eat
13:08 food offered to idols. It doesn't matter. There's no gods anyway. Right? That's what I preached about the last time. Right? They're not. There's no
13:16 other god except our god. So there's no power in the food at all. You can eat it. It's no big deal. But he's ramping
13:23 the heat up now. And he starts by pointing out their ignorance. For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact
13:30 you are ignorant that God is not pleased
13:36 with most of them. Not all of us. Okay. So Israel was given the invitation to be
13:42 grafted into the goodness of God. So we all left the goodness of God. Then we have the story of Abraham, right? Then
13:48 Abraham says, "I will prosper you. I will bless you. I will give you all the
13:54 things that are good." Actually, notice the analogy of land again that he talks about giving you the land and all those
14:00 kind of things. The promised land is the same. It's the same thing he created the entire I'm returning that goodness back
14:07 to you. So Israel was given. They chose instead to be idolattors indulging in
14:13 revery and drunkenness, sexual immorality and grumble. That was what was happening at that time.
14:21 See, idolatry to most people is that, oh, I take an image, I worship it, I
14:26 pipe by or I take a jaw stick, I pipe by. But here it is, most of the time you
14:32 hear, oh, idol is when you you put something as priority in your life and God is not the top priority. I don't
14:37 think idolatry is that at all. I think idolatry is when you decide that the
14:44 image of good is no longer God. That something is better than God.
14:51 Something in our lives takes precedence before God.
14:58 You see, eating food to idols is not what makes us idolatrous. It is because we believe we are wise enough to decide
15:04 what is good for ourselves, especially in the exercising of our own rights.
15:10 That was what Paul was speaking to the Corinthians. You think by eating the food
15:16 is no big deal. But by exercising your rights, you deciding I don't care whether I stumble someone else. I don't
15:22 care what you think. I know my theology is right that this there's no other gods. Actually, there's no power. It's
15:27 just food only. I eat. So what's the big deal? The big deal is you decided this
15:33 is good. And the Corinthian church were proud of the fact that they thought they knew what's good. And it kind of sounds
15:40 like what we are going through now. According to science, I was reading this article just two days ago. Swearing is
15:46 good for you. So this person was writing uh according
15:51 to science swearing is uh has a number of health benefits. So don't feel bad about being a potty mouth anymore.
15:58 Science doesn't even give a toot about it. Here's the scienceback reasons why you why swearing is good for your
16:04 health. Experts say that if you the first point swearing increases your pain
16:10 tolerance. So they say when you feel pain and you swear you can tolerate it better.
16:18 Second reason swearing is kathetic. That means it is
16:24 you let go your problems and and some of you can feel that that's why you swear.
16:30 And then the third thing he he uh she says is swearing makes you more honest about people. In a 2017 study explored
16:38 by relationships between profanity and honesty. I don't know who wants to do a research like that. A relationship
16:45 between profanity and honesty. After studying 267 people and later on 73,000
16:52 Facebook users, the researchers found that people who swear are typically more honest to themselves than others. So
16:58 please swear more. Next he says uh she says the use of
17:06 profanity is a sign of intelligence. And I won't tell you why but she has research to back that up. Next it can
17:13 build camaraderie. Yeah. And you notice that people that swear always go together.
17:21 But I just want you to just highlight what she said at the end. I'm evangelical in my defense of swearing.
17:27 Not just on the grounds of freedom of expression, but because it can be beneficial to us both as an individual
17:32 and as a species. Because it's so emotive, it's natural to want to tune out swearing. But research proves that
17:40 we should listen more closely when someone swears because chances are they're telling us something important.
17:45 So I'm not necessarily encouraging people to swear more, but I do think we should give it the respect it deserves.
17:51 Swearing is not necessarily bad for you. In fact, from all the reasons above, using some colorful language may even do
17:57 you some good.
18:04 What happened to our idea? I mean, if it is really if what she's saying is really
18:09 good, then I should teach my son to swear. Can you imagine a foulmouthed
18:15 two-year-old? One day my my son literally he's 2 and a
18:22 half years old. He came to mommy. Mommy's stupid. Daddy's stupid. We were like,
18:29 how did that come out of his mouth? We really don't know. We've never said that word in front of him. We don't know
18:35 where it came. The only thing we can think of is TV. And we're like, but we watch all the shows he watched. When did
18:41 that come? We must have missed something. We have went to the toilet in a moment or something. And one of the shows actually used that word or maybe
18:48 he heard it from somewhere around here. And it it was a shock to me because
18:56 obviously when you see a 2-year-old doing something like that, you're like, "Oh, that's wrong." But this is a a
19:03 person who's evangelizing and saying swearing is good for you. When did we define all that kind of
19:10 things? In fact, one of my biggest struggle when I was uh in Singapore is because a lot of the pastors went
19:16 through army and in army there's a lot of swearing and cussing.
19:21 All right? And they come out right the pastors feel it's okay to use the D
19:27 word, the S word in their sermons. standing on his pit
19:34 but the funny thing is also it's not okay here but then off pit so okay man because I hear that happening
19:40 in that conversation you know we use those words and somehow we decided oh
19:46 it's okay it's good for us in fact now we're going to the point in
19:52 justifying it using scientific research and this was exactly what Paul was
19:57 talking about the Corinthian church was doing the Yeah, same thing. They were taking the food offered to idols and
20:04 they were backing it with scientific researches and then they were saying you know what this is good for you.
20:11 They were no longer dealing with the temptation of uh you know how many of
20:18 you uh are first generation Christians here?
20:23 So few first generation that means you're the first one to receive Christ. No, your
20:29 parents before you didn't. I'm second generation because my parents were Christians first. First first generation.
20:34 Okay. Wow. Okay. All right. That's more than half of you. Well, for first generation Christians, right, I hear the
20:41 story like even even Arnold was sharing during what um usually you get some kind
20:47 of form of persecution when you first believe in Christ and then then you are tempted to think whether you want to buy
20:54 or go for ching bing or do all this kind of things. Any of you face that? and that temptation. So few of you, my
21:01 father when he became a Christian, he was the first and he was 17 years old.
21:06 Um he was in bo that time. Uh and when he came back and he told his family that
21:12 he accepted Christ, they kicked him out. And so he had to walk from bo all the way to KL. He said, "God called me to
21:19 Bible school." So he was going to go to Bible school. And he walked he was kicked out and walked and the and and my
21:25 family was literally we literally lost contact with the family for many years
21:30 because uh and the temptation was tough. The temptation was tough. Every time I
21:36 go back now, you know, they always look to my family and and recently my uncle passed away and and I I was there and
21:43 then they they wanted us to go and pay our respects by
21:48 uh going around and praying. the coffin and uh suddenly my father is
21:54 gone. Usually my father's there. I'm not scared. My father say no no problem.
22:00 Suddenly uh I realized everybody looked at me in the family that was Christians.
22:07 How come look at me? Really? because my aunties and our uncles that became Christians know that I'm a pastor
22:15 and uh my mother my brother um brother and all um somehow just hey what we
22:20 going to do then I was like you know what I suddenly don't know what
22:27 to do I was facing and I was so tempted to say yeah actually whatever we do doesn't matterh
22:33 and suddenly I realized that I had to stand and define defend something that I believe was right and it It was scary in
22:41 that moment. Should I should should should it be okay for my auntie to pick up jostics because my auntie who's uh a
22:48 new Christian uh was asking that and she really wanted to and she said I want to
22:54 pay respect to my brother one last time and I was so tempted to say it's okay
23:01 you're not really woriing him you're just paying respect to me and uh so I made the decision finally that I said no
23:08 cannot right and uh of course my family, immediate family would back uh uh uh uh
23:14 followed after. But my auntie struggled and in the end she did
23:20 she she she did uh do the things the rituals and all those kind of things. Uh and I feel
23:27 really bad for her cuz here on one point she she was struggling deep inside uh
23:32 with the love and the respect that she had for her brother and she wanted to show it. But then here it is. There's
23:39 this conflict in what is actually right, what is actually wrong. And Paul wanted
23:45 to deal with this. See, how we going to deal with it is actually knowing the source of which the
23:54 strength comes from to face the temptation. And Paul was writing about it. He says that you drank from you you
24:01 add the same spiritual food. You drank the same spiritual drink. and that spiritual rock that accompanied them and
24:08 the rock was Christ. Now this is very confusing for most people because uh
24:15 this can also split denominations. So uh in all the commentaries that I'm reading right there's there's this definition
24:21 now that rock was Christ was it literal that mean the rock as realistic it is the pre-existing Christ that Christ was
24:28 there or that rock was identical events that or was that rock was symbolic it's
24:33 almost like our communion isn't it like we argue about it and I split into different do denominations
24:40 the point is I I I always do Bible study and I tell people if the literal meaning
24:46 is the one that you can understand. It's usually the correct one. Don't try to understand it. And and so I'm not going
24:53 to describe it so much, but the point of of of of Paul was trying to make that is
24:59 that Jesus was always with his people. God was always with his people. And and
25:06 you can see this Paul is a Pharisee. He was educated in a lot of literature.
25:11 Some of the literatures we don't read now. That's why we are unaware about. So um he starts first Corinthine by saying
25:18 this cry it is because of him who Christ Jesus who has become what wisdom of from
25:25 God for us right that is our righteousness holiness and
25:30 redemption and Paul was actually a Pharisee and he was referring to likely
25:36 to the book of the wisdom of Solomon have you heard of that book before right it's in the apocrypha it's not in our
25:42 cannon but it's a book that talks about wisdom and I went and read it and I was like wow um it is quite revealing take
25:51 it as a literature that um is like a poem or something but it really reveals uh what Paul was trying to say when he
25:57 says the rock was with us okay with
26:02 so it says wisdom catch kept watch over the world's first form parents when he alone had been created she delivered him
26:09 from grave misstep wisdom gave him the strength to have dominion over everything. When a wicked man
26:15 disregarded wisdom in his anger, he perished along with his desire to murder his brother because him of him the earth
26:22 was flooded. Wisdom again came to the rescue. She took a man who did what what
26:28 was right and steered him straight on the vessel made of cheap wood. That's talking about Noah, right? I'm just
26:34 going to skip a bit. By trying to get along without wisdom, they didn't recognize what was good. In
26:44 doing so, they left a lasting memorial of their foolishness for everyone to see. They were unable to hide the things
26:50 that led to their downfall. But wisdom rescues her servants from their trials.
26:55 When a man who did what was right fled from his brother's anger, wisdom led him onto straight paths. She showed him
27:02 God's kingdom and gave him knowledge of holy things. She caused him to prosper
27:07 through his handiworks and increased the fruits of his labor. When some because of greed sought to get the upper hand
27:14 over him, she stood by him and made him even richer. She protected him from his
27:19 enemies and kept him safe those who set an ambush for him. She intervened on his
27:24 behalf in a difficult contest so that we might know that godliness is a power is
27:31 more powerful than anything. What what Paul was trying to say is that
27:40 the rock Christ was always with his people since Genesis when he was
27:46 proclaiming that good news that I am a good God. I'm a good God all the time.
27:52 Right? I know what's good for you. But I also will help you to see that. See, true
28:01 wisdom, true godly wisdom is wisdom from God. Jesus became our
28:08 wisdom. Now that Rob was Christ, Paul was attributing Christ to the role previously understood in the Jewish idea
28:14 of divine wisdom. See, we think we are wise for ourselves.
28:19 Like I said, Paul was saying that true wisdom comes from the rock which is Christ. Anyone
28:29 who thinks they're wise by their own attributes are foolish.
28:36 You know, I don't know about you because we come from a very learned society or as Sububanga people are very learned
28:42 folks nowadays, aren't we? you know uh multiple degrees
28:47 uh uh and so many things. So we can argue so well what we believe but is the
28:55 point of our faith about arguing what we believe
29:03 or is the point of our faith about arguing about who we believe in?
29:11 See the Corinthian church was arguing about what they believe in rather than
29:16 who they believe in. They then without realizing it they were not worshiping who they believe in because of that. And
29:24 po Paul was concerned. Sorry. H uh a why my one and up there is
29:32 different I'm missing one slide.
29:41 here. Okay, I'll just read it out. Okay, it's not up there. Right. Okay. Uh let
29:47 me read it out. Paul's primary concern was that they do not realize that by participating in taking food offered to
29:53 idols, they have become idolattors themselves because they are rejecting the very Christ they claim to progress
30:00 to profess. It was not God testing them. They were putting God to the test.
30:06 You say you're good. So I decide if you are a good God I eat food offered to
30:12 idols. No issue no problem. They were not saying hey did god ask me
30:20 in his wisdom to eat food offered to idols. They were saying no if god is
30:26 supposed to be great and greater than any other gods. Therefore if I eat he should save me.
30:33 rather than say, "God, do you want me to partake of this?
30:41 Is this good for me? Did you decide that this is good for
30:47 me?" And I think when we are more affluent, we tend to do this because we think we're so wise for ourselves.
30:56 We must remember, ah, that's where there it is. Good is
31:02 set on God's terms and his eternal wisdom. Temptation is to think the
31:07 gospel allows us the freedom to choose as we will.
31:13 C can you get it? So my definition of temptation is not oh you I feel tempted to eat this dessert. I'm not supposed to
31:19 eat so much sugar and then you see how fat I am already. Not that kind of temptation.
31:26 True temptation is to think that the gospel allows us
31:31 the freedom to choose as we will,
31:37 not what God's will is. My I told you before, my father always tell me that
31:43 you have no freedom. You have only the freedom to do what's right. And I hated that statement. And that's the same
31:48 thing here. The gospel allows us the freedom to choose as God wills.
31:58 But we decide that the gospel allows us to freedom to choose as we will. So
32:04 that's the problem. I choose when I can come. I choose whether I come on time to church. I choose whether I like this song I want to sing. I choose whether I
32:11 like this person or not. I choose whether I will love this person or not. I choose whether I'll forgive this
32:17 person or not. I'll choose whether I want to go through this or not. I'll choose what else I can continue.
32:26 God gave her the freedom to choose. So one of the things that I learned very hard was God gave me the freedom to
32:31 choose in Malaysia to stay in Malaysia no matter what. People believe that this country is hopeless
32:38 because the temptation is to think that I can choose another country that is good for myself.
32:48 It's hard to think that way but that's the way we should think.
32:53 See, not only were they facing this temptation, they were reaching a point where they were not making mistakes. You
33:01 know, it was not temptation and then, oh, I fall. It was they were craving the the evil desires of that. They were
33:06 craving these temptations. They were giving into these temptations and they were calling it good.
33:12 Right? The the the past messages I talked about how they were having sex with their mothers and they called it
33:20 good. Now that's a scary thought. It's a scary thought. Do we actually know what is
33:27 good? And the answer is no. None of us without the help of the Holy Spirit,
33:33 without the revelation of Jesus Christ, without the word of God, without the love of the father would ever discover
33:39 this goodness. I didn't discover it by myself. It was people that discovered this and shown me in Genesis that God
33:44 was good. Not by virtue of just the fact he created everything.
33:51 Uh like he created I used to think oh he created everything whatever god touch like he's got a mightest touch that
33:56 everything is good but it was actually saying that god loves us so much that he created a world that was perfect for you
34:02 and me but we decide that to destroy it.
34:08 And I was sharing with uh uh some of the young people before and I said if I put
34:13 a picture up of you know you know straws and and plastic what is doing to our earth right and you see the creation I
34:20 mean we all like to go to New Zealand we like to go to different places see the view and then wow wow wow wow but that
34:27 that is not the view of the world now today you know I was going to the K I was in K and I was looking down the K
34:33 river uh we we've been cleaning it up to look nicer but do you remember in the early days how filthy it was. That's
34:39 actually how it looks. If not for the fact that people clean it up, it still looks like that every day. And we still
34:46 crave for it. Temptation is that our inner desires is always to decide what
34:52 is good for ourselves. None of you feel that that that temptation at all. I face that every
34:58 day. I face that every moment. In fact, even when I preach sometimes I face the
35:04 temptation to overexaggerate things so that I can win your favor
35:11 really because sometimes the when you dramatize things people ah you know and it's so
35:18 tempting. I remember when I I started preaching and I I had another young minister friend we we we kind of
35:24 graduated together. He's now the president of Bible school. we we we're really good friends and we started
35:29 preaching together and all those kind of things. And he said, "I have to confess to you, I exaggerated in my sermon last
35:34 week and I feel very bad." And I said, "I also feel that same way."
35:41 You see, the temptation is that we think we're doing something good. We're presenting the gospel to you. We're
35:46 trying to win you over and tell you the truth, but we the temptation is that we
35:51 oversell and we polish it up or we make it
35:58 attractive. But the point is it is not what the gospel is trying to tell you. The gospel
36:05 will always preaching here is always to tell you what God has always ordained as
36:10 good for us. It's God's terms. You lift your hands to worship.
36:16 It's God's terms, not my terms. It's not the worship pastor or not, not Chensen just now.
36:22 Hey, lift up your hands. H and and and David, the best worship
36:28 leader could not understand that. And I'll tell you that story one time.
36:33 We're going to do a series on worship. And I I really hope that I will be able to share with you uh my heart for
36:39 worship and how that I find that worship today is not the worship God wants. It's
36:45 not the good God wants. It's very narcissistic. Um it's no longer what God or day need
36:52 to be. But I but to convince you that God has a better plan, a plan for
36:58 worship that is better for us, it's it's difficult.
37:04 But here Paul was trying to tell them, "No temptation has overtaken you except
37:11 what is common to mankind. And God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. And when you
37:17 are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can
37:23 endure it." See, temptation comes this way. In the story that was or what was
37:29 happening in Corinth, there was two people. one that were two groups of people. One that was giving into temptation and uh eating food that offer
37:36 idols. But there was another group of people the minority the ones that were also poor and the one that was also
37:41 pushed out during the communion and all those kind of things. You see what is happening is that when you go to the of
37:47 different friends house actually some of us first generate Christians would realize that a lot of the food in the homes right are offered to the idols
37:53 before they come and serve you one. You've experienced that before. I've experienced that many many times. And uh
38:01 so these ones uh who are called so-called weaker in the faith by the Corinthian church right um uh refused to
38:10 eat the food offered to idols and because of that uh they were losing business networks. They were losing
38:17 friends. They were losing they were kicked out of the community and soon they they became poor
38:25 struggled but they decided it's worth it. It's my faith. I will not eat food to idols
38:32 because this is what I believe in. And they were being ridiculed by the rest of the Corin church to say a why
38:40 you so stupid. If you know what's good for yourself, just eat no power one, no issue one. In
38:47 fact, you should. And they were stumbling because they were struggling. I I I don't feel that this is the right
38:55 thing to do. I feel in my heart that God does not want me to do. this is not good for me.
39:00 But these people were not only professing that it's good. They were encouraging them to think it's good.
39:08 That's what happens today as well in church. Don't you think so? Yeah, it's okay. One go for holiday by yourself. No
39:15 need to come to church. Once a miss okay one. Oh, that happens you know. No, doesn't happen here. Yeah. Oh, I know. I
39:21 know. This is a very good church. I know. I know.
39:29 And he was speaking to these people who were struggling. See the word temptation is not just
39:34 temptation. Actually the Greek word is temptation, tests and trials. It means
39:40 these three things. See no trial has overtaken you except for what is common
39:45 to men. And God is faithful. He will not let you go through trials beyond what you can bear.
39:52 But when you are facing testing or trials, he will also provide a way out
39:59 so that you can endure it. See, most people think temptation, you know, you read about the other the other one, he
40:05 say, uh, what must you do when you face temptation? Flee from it, right? Yeah. So, we avoid temptation.
40:12 But that's not the point of Paul was trying to make. He says it's not about fleeing from temptation. is about fleeing to the father through the Christ
40:18 by the help of the Holy Spirit and enduring it through God's faithfulness. Temptation is running. If you want to
40:25 face temptation, how the gospel deals with it is do not just run away from it. Run to God.
40:32 Then you can face temptation. Because when you run to God, you will see what he says is good. Again, you will
40:39 understand the goodness of who he is and what he has in store for you. There are
40:44 many times I've been tempted in life. I've been tempted to give up on my marriage. Many times
40:52 it's not been easy. I remember the the the day and I'll share this this with you openly uh not for you to uh look at
40:59 my wife and and my marriage in any way but I remember when we could not conceive children and it was very
41:06 trying. uh we spend a lot of money going through IVF all the kind of things and I remember the day that finally uh the
41:13 doctor went to my wife and said um uh to say to me then not say to my wife uh
41:21 your wife can't conceive and uh I was like how do I break this
41:27 news to my wife that was hard enough so I went and tell my wife and all my wife said was two words so sad and then she
41:33 never talked to me for two weeks and it was like the most tempting time
41:38 to just say call it quits. I remember going through that moment and I said it's not worth it anymore
41:46 fighting for this marriage. It's so tempting in that moment.
41:53 And I remember facing temptation in that moment was not to rely on my own
41:59 strength, not to decide what's good for myself. Maybe she should be happier without me. maybe she does not have to
42:06 face this if she never knew me. You know those thoughts just come and those are tempting thoughts and then
42:13 you run to the word of God. You run to what he says. He says I'm faithful.
42:23 And I remember I was 12 years old and I said I want to be a father of 12 children.
42:32 And God gave me this deep love for children and countless people that have
42:39 prayed for us and prophesied that we will have a child. And I was like, God,
42:45 I can't see your goodness. I can't understand this. If she can't have children, then how? And then the worst
42:52 part of it, then we were thinking, "Oh, maybe we can adopt." Uh, in Singapore, we couldn't afford to adopt. In
42:57 Malaysia, because she's Singaporean, we cannot adopt. uh and we were thinking ah this will
43:03 never happen for us. I remember
43:08 and the the problem is in those moments I can remember very clearly if I did not
43:14 run to Christ and remember that he's been faithful that he's just like maybe Abraham right 99 years old still my son
43:22 actually my my persecution not so bad 99 years old I don't think I'll be alive
43:28 I only plan to live to 60 no
43:33 and he forgot he faced the temptation when his wife came to him and say go and sleep with the other what and have bear
43:39 children and that exactly when he faced that temptation and he fell because he
43:45 didn't run to God's word that promised him the problem we face between Muslims and Christians all happened because of a
43:52 temptation you know because Abraham and Sarah decided they
43:58 think they know what is good for themselves I can tell you sin is that powerful sin
44:05 is that powerful in your life, don't give into it. Endure it. Run to Christ.
44:10 Knows that that temptation somehow. Anyway, you know that to cut the story short, my son is here with me today,
44:16 right? I'll tell you that story one day
44:21 so that you look forward to my next sermon hopefully.
44:28 But this is also to encourage you that through God we can overcome.
44:33 It is not through our wisdom. It is not through how talented you are. It's not true how many degrees you are. I know a
44:39 lot of people look I got multiple degrees in worship. So when I come here you expect me to change the worship. Sorry I cannot change the worship. Only
44:45 God can really but I'll try my best
44:51 to listen to the Holy Spirit to listen to his guidance to say what is good for FBC.
44:58 Hopefully when we hear from the spirit all of us want what is good for FBC.
45:04 What if God says no more hymns? Will you persecute me?
45:09 I'm not saying that he will. I don't think he will. Okay. But what if he does? Because we decide, oh, it's good
45:16 for us to sing hymns. But what God say it's not good for us. Let's say, can we
45:21 take it? I was going I was meeting someone yesterday and and he was going through very tough times and uh I I I
45:29 was surprised to see him yesterday and I caught some time with him and and he was
45:34 talking about how he was he was disciplined by the church and it didn't
45:39 turn out nicely actually disciplined for no not a good enough reason as well. And uh he was so tempted
45:48 to say God you are not good anymore. And uh anyway we had that conversation
45:53 and you know what Christ said to him and what he believed God said to him he says
45:59 if I don't give you everything you desire in your heart will you still love
46:05 me? If I don't give you everything you think is good, will you still think that I am
46:13 good? And he said, honestly, that was the toughest question to hear. And that's
46:19 what temptation is. The temp the it it always tempts us to think that no, God,
46:26 you're not good. There's so much suffering in this world. You can't be good.
46:31 There's so much problems in my life. You can't be real.
46:36 But this is a reminder to us. He said, "Is Christ not with us? If my God is for
46:42 me, you you can hear that right in Romans 8:31." He says, "This is actually the context that you should interpret in
46:48 it. It's not about that you have the power to be triumphant over everything." If God is good and he knows what is good
46:54 for you, can you fail?
47:00 If you want his goodness, the problem is we want his own. We want our own goodness. The rock will never leave you
47:07 or actually I'm paraphrasing it now. He will never fa leave you or forsake us.
47:12 Christ will never leave us or forsake us. And he says, "Stand firm for Christ
47:18 and with each other, not just alone, you know. See, we face temptation, right?
47:24 Not alone, you know, we have each other." And I remember sitting with that brother yesterday and I we just
47:29 encouraged each other. Um don't give up. believe that God is good and we just
47:37 keep reminding God's goodness upon each of our lives even though we were both lamenting of all the problems we had.
47:44 And I was sitting and I was telling you this story. I was sitting um I don't
47:50 have time so I'm going to skip my illustration at the end. Um I was sitting there and I was in my my my in
47:57 Na. I told you I started to weep because the spirit came and and this was it. I
48:02 was tempted. I will over this past one month um ever since I came to MBC I
48:08 was very tempted uh when God I came back to Malaysia because God I felt God called me to do my doctorate
48:15 and I was doing it and uh and um about a
48:20 month ago I got a call from my lecturer and says um look uh we have to fail you for this course and you have to retake
48:27 it and I was like because I just didn't have the capacity or the time to finish
48:32 what I needed. to do. And I was like I was like saying, "Ah, God, I just don't
48:37 want to do this anymore. I'm tempted to call it quits. It's too tough anyway." Anyway, I get the degree. So, what it it
48:45 it it's like nobody's going to listen to me anyway. I felt that way. And uh I remember sitting in a room
48:52 there and and he said this, "No temptation can overcome you,
48:59 but you got to believe that your good God has a plan for you." And I sat there, I whipped. I said, "Okay, God, if
49:06 you will for me to finish this degree, I will. I will. I will. But I can tell you
49:12 I'm still tempted right now to say call it quit, sir." And then he put in mind the people in
49:18 the congregation. Arnold was preaching about how we don't give time in our congregation for people in need. And
49:26 it's so tempted. It's so tempting when we pray for alter call or we pray for people. People people will just walk away.
49:33 But today he wants to spend time with you. Those of you who are feeling that you're facing trials, you're feeling
49:39 test. you test. You're being tested and tempted to say God is not good.
49:46 He can't be or I can't see his goodness anymore.
49:53 Today is the day God wants to show you his good once again. And I don't I can't I can't do that. I
50:00 can't do anything except encourage you to come forward and we would like to pray with you
50:08 and just remind you that God loves you so much that he gave his only son so
50:13 that you can have the goodness that he has in store for you. And I know it's hard. So I I chose this
50:21 song, this old song, this hymn that says, "I need you. Oh, I need you. Every hour I need you. Oh, bless me now, my
50:28 savior. I come to thee if you need God I think there's enough time we'll spend
50:35 all the time we need to be with you because I know facing these trials and temptations is not easy
50:43 and there's no shame you know in Asian we are so ashamed to come forward because we think this but the father is
50:52 inviting us and he says there's no shame in that and for those oh none of you For
50:58 those of you who are not facing temptation, praise the Lord.
51:05 Pray for your brothers and sisters that are coming forward. You don't know what they're going
51:10 through. You don't know how they've been tempted to give their life up.
51:16 You know, during camp, I heard stories about such things.
51:23 But I think this time is the Lord's because Lords wants to deal with you just like he dealt with me. If you feel
51:28 like quitting, if you feel like whatever trials you face, you can't face it. If you think you can't see God is good
51:33 anymore, just cry out to him and say, "Lord, I need you. Oh, I need you." Flee
51:38 from that temptation. Come to him and he will he will show you that he can be
51:44 your rock. He will never be shaken. So, I would encourage you to stay, pray
51:51 for your brothers and sisters. If you feel led by the Holy Spirit, if someone comes forward and you know them, surround them with love,
51:59 speak the truth to them that God is good. Keep praying the truth into their
52:06 lives. Can I ask you to stand? Can I ask the worship team to come?
