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READ:

Colossians 1:5

⁵ For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel.

EXHORTATION:

This is a portion of the apostle Paul’s prayer of thanksgiving for the Colossian believers. He was thankful to God for the hope that was laid up for them in heaven. He was assured of their hope of heaven because it was evidenced by their faith in Christ Jesus and love to all saints (v. 4).

They were once sinners, “without Christ” and “having no hope”, as Paul highlighted to the Ephesians in Ephesians 2:12. Oh, what a great act of grace it is that God has given hopeless sinners a well-founded hope through faith in Christ! Their hearts were once filled with many a false hope that led them astray into misery and meaningless pursuits in life. But now in Christ, their lives are directed towards a blessed hope that is laid up in heaven for them. Christian hope is not some sort of wishful thinking. It is a blessed assurance, a confident anticipation, and a patient waiting for the fulfilment of God’s promises guaranteed by Christ.

How marvellous it is that every Christian’s hope is associated with heaven! He is no more a hell-bound sinner, but a heavenward saint of Christ! Concerning the Christian’s hope, the apostle assuredly says that it is “laid up for you in heaven”. No earthly calamity or attack would destroy the hope of Christians. There is no cause for anxiety about the certainty of our hope. It is laid up in heaven, “where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal” (Matthew 6:20), as our Saviour has said. No process of decay will cause the Christians’ hope to become stale or corrupt. In the apostle Peter’s language, the Christians’ hope is a “lively hope” and it is “an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3, 4).

The hope in Christ is extraordinary, for it gives us eternal and unparalleled prospects, such as triumph over every enemy (even Satan); perfection that will cause us to be like Christ; full freedom from sin, sorrow and death; perfect rest from earthly labour; joy beyond compare; everlasting fellowship with Christ; eternal rewards; etc.

Such a glorious hope is not an invention of any human mind. It is, as Paul said, that which “ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel”. It is revealed by God in His Word and received through the hearing of the God-ordained Gospel of Christ, even the truth of His Word.

READ:

John 1:17

¹⁷ For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

EXHORTATION:

In the preceding verses, John presented Christ as “full of grace and truth” (v. 14), and pointed out that “of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace” (v. 16). Christ, in whom the fullness of grace dwelt, has come to this world to give grace to those who are in need of grace. He supplies grace to all those who trust Him.

Today’s verse gives us further understanding about the condescension of Christ as the provider of grace for all who are in need of grace. The first word in verse 17, “for” (hóti), is a demonstrative conjunction, explaining how Christ’s fullness of grace benefits those who are in need of grace.

It was for the purpose of bringing man to the fullness of God’s grace that “the law was given by Moses”. In other words, the law of God (given through Moses) makes men realise that not only are they sinners, they are also not able to escape His just condemnation without divine grace. Thus, God’s law leads us to Christ so that we may find God’s grace and truth for our salvation. We are today reminded by the law of Moses that we are condemned sinners, as people were in the Old Testament times. Thus, the law causes us to look to Christ for grace. He then shows us the true way of salvation, which He has accomplished through His death on the cross.

Though Moses was a great prophet of Israel by whom the law was given, he could only make the people realise their need for God’s grace. He couldn’t give them the grace. So by the law, he pointed them to their need of grace which Christ alone can provide. Thus Christ is presented here as infinitely greater than and superior to Moses, who was one of Israel’s greatest prophets and one of the greatest men in biblical history.

Some argue that this verse teaches that the law was contrary to God’s grace. Some even wrongly claim that there was no grace of God in the Old Testament. Such ideas are not even implied in this verse. Rather, it tells us that the law was “given” (an act of God’s grace) to direct the Old Testament people to look towards God’s grace in Christ, who was promised to them (e.g. Isaiah 53). The truth that Christ is God’s gracious provision for their salvation, was symbolically presented in the blood sacrifices of the animals. Christ was indeed the actual provision of God’s grace for man’s salvation in the Old Testament, as it is so today to all those who repent of their sins and turn to Him by faith.

READ:

John 1:14b

^14b (And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

EXHORTATION:

Notice that John did not say “I beheld”, but rather “we beheld”. He was incorporating all the apostles and other believing men who were with Christ during His earthly ministry as witnesses of Christ’s glory. By appealing to the testimonies of many, John strengthened his claim that Christ is indeed God who has come in the flesh.

The Greek word used for “beheld” (theáomai) does not refer only to “seeing with the physical eye”, but also to viewing continually and attentively with contemplation of what is being observed as something unusual in order to interpret it. It denotes gaining perception of the nature of what one sees with one’s physical eye. Though many who saw Christ did not perceive His divine nature, John and his fellow apostles did perceive that what they saw in Christ was the glory of God indeed.

John testified that the glory of Christ was the glory of “the only begotten of the Father”. The phrase “only begotten Son” denotes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God by an eternal generation. In other words, Christ was one in nature and essence with the Father. The nature of the glory of Christ was the same as the glory of the Father. Jesus was God walking in the streets of Israel’s villages as a man. Christ the Nazarene was Christ the Creator! Christ the man was Christ the true God!

When John said they saw His glory, he was certainly not referring to the brightness of His appearance. When He was incarnate, He did not appear in all the splendour of His glory. If He did appear so, nobody could have come face to face with Him without being consumed! So, John was saying that he understood Christ as the glorious God because of His teachings and works. John spiritually discerned the teachings and works of Jesus Christ as the true reflection of His glorious deity.

John also said that Christ was “full of grace and truth.” Only God can be “full” of grace and truth. Man can perform acts of grace and truth, but no man in his natural state is “full of grace” nor “full of truth” in the sense that God is. If Christ manifested only human grace and truth, then He would have been of little value to others’ spiritual needs. But Christ “was” (nay, “had always been”) full of grace and truth. What a wonderful divine Saviour and Shepherd is our Lord Jesus Christ!

READ:

John 1:14a

^14a And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.

EXHORTATION:

The Word, which was divine and eternal (v. 1), “was made flesh”. This is an amazing summation of Christianity’s grandest doctrine, namely the Second Person of the Trinity, i.e. the Son of God, became a man in order to be mankind’s Redeemer. Jesus Christ was the Word who, being both with God and being God Himself, revealed Himself to us as a man.

The term “flesh” (sárx in Greek) has various meanings in the New Testament. Here it denotes human nature. The Greek word translated “made” literally means “became”. So the message it conveys is that God became a man! In English theological terminology, the truth that God became a man is expressed by the word “incarnation”. Christ was God incarnate or “manifest in the flesh”.

It must be stressed that the term “flesh” here carries no idea of sinful nature. He donned humanity, but without sin. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that He “knew no sin”. The writer of Hebrews tells us that Christ “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). The apostle Peter presented Christ as the One “Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth” (1 Peter 2:22).

It must also be emphasised that the Second Person of the Trinity assumed the human nature without laying aside His divine side. When He became a man, He did not cease from being God. Christ is now a man, in addition to being God. Christ is fully God and fully man. To combat the heresies that were infiltrating the early church, the church fathers met together at the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451. They studied the Scriptures and defined what has been known as “the hypostatic union” – the union of the two natures of Christ. The council then declared Jesus Christ to be one Person with two natures, without any confusion, change, division or separation.

John also said that He, who became flesh, “dwelt among us”. The Greek word for “dwelt” literally means “pitch a tent”. It carries the idea of temporary dwelling (since tents are not pitched for a permanent purpose). Though Jesus took on a permanent human nature, He dwelt among men only for a short time. He came for a definite time and purpose. He was here on earth for approximately 33½ years before He ascended to heaven, having accomplished our redemption by suffering in His body and shedding His blood in His death on the cross.

Sermon Text: Psalm 92:1–15
Speaker: Pastor Prabhudas Koshy
Date: 20th October 2024

Jeremy Cheah

My Journey of Salvation

I thank God for godly Christian parents who sought to bring me up in the ways of the Lord and baptized me as an infant. My journey as a Christian began as a young boy in Bethany Independent-Presbyterian Church, learning God’s Word in Sunday School and various camps the church organised. The messages preached and taught were just mere interesting stories then, and I only enjoyed church because I could play with my friends.

As I entered secondary school, my heart became more sensitive to the Spirit’s moving and became convicted of the sinful life I led. As a young child, I was often quick to anger, fast to pick up foul language, led a double life and committed many other sins. During one church camp message – taken from Colossians 4:6, which reads “Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man” – God convicted me of how wrong it was to indulge in using foul language with my friends in school. I knew that I was a wretched sinner, lost in sin and darkness, and needed spiritual cleansing in my life.

However, since then I was struck with another problem of inadequacy and pride. For the longest time as I was trying to “work out” my faith, I felt that I could never match up to the standard God had set. I thought I was not worthy of the salvation Jesus gave. Therein lies pride, thinking I could ever work my way to Heaven. “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)” (Ephesians 2:4-5). When I finally realised “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9), God struck my heart and convicted me of the wrong idea I had of Christianity. Man can by no means work his way to Heaven. Salvation was given freely by God, and one only need to have faith in Him to receive salvation. So, at 19, I reaffirmed my faith in the Lord.

Seeking Transfer

It was in 2022 when I felt spiritually dry in my faith and needed growing. By God’s providence, He worked through a friend at my internship place. Through our fellowshipping in the Lord, I first came across the 5 points of Calvinism. At first, I grappled with the “U” and “L” of TULIP – Unconditional Election and Limited Atonement. How could God choose to save some and not others? Does that not make God unloving? As I sought counsel from several pastors (including Rev. Koshy), I finally understood this doctrine and became convicted of it. Man is totally depraved, destined for eternal damnation. But out of His love, God gave His only Son, Jesus Christ, to give us salvation. Furthermore, His salvation is sufficient for all, but only efficient for the elect who were predestined according to the foreknowledge of God. It is through this new conviction and belief in Calvinism that the Lord moved in my heart to seek transfer of church membership.

Through the Catechism and FEBC classes, I came to understand theology systematically. It is through these teachings that God revived me and helped me to increase in my understanding of Him, causing me to be in awe of Him and then, desiring Him more.

Since coming to Gethsemane slightly more than a year ago, I particularly love how the Word of God is expounded deeply and accurately. Furthermore, the teachings here at Gethsemane revealed to me much more sin problems in my life that I have to get rid of. One particular lesson taught during Youth Fellowship was from 1 Corinthians 6:12 – “All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.” Paul was teaching the Corinthian church to prioritise expediency over a Christian’s exercise of lawful liberties. That reminded me that I needed to lead a more spiritually excellent life and not just one that is merely lawful, to edify brethren and witness to non-believers.

Over time, the Lord also graciously granted me opportunities to serve within the church in the YF, YAF and Lions Home Ministry, which made me feel welcome and at home. By God’s grace and leading, I hope to transfer my membership to learn, serve and grow with the brethren here in Gethsemane BP Church. I pray that the Lord will grant me more opportunities to fellowship with all of you.

Clara Lim

I thank God that He led me to attend Gethsemane BP Church in June 2023 through my sister, Celine. I previously worshipped at a charismatic church from 2019 to 2023, but decided to leave as I disagreed with certain doctrines, such as speaking in tongues and the need for a second baptism of the Holy Spirit. I also found it difficult to have a deeper understanding of God’s Word, as sermons were often brief, lacking in depth and clear exposition from the Bible.

I thank God for the sound and biblical preaching in Gethsemane, where I have gained a deeper understanding of God’s Word and critical Bible doctrines. Over the past year, I have learnt a lot and I am thankful for the warm fellowship extended by many here. I thank God for His grace and mercies, and I look forward to growing in my understanding of His Word and in my spiritual walk with Him.

Leong Wei Chen

At the mere age of 8 years old, I already knew about the Saviour Jesus from my maternal grandmother while she was lying on her sick-bed, as she was a professed Christian. She had never failed to share Bible stories with my cousins and I despite her illness. However, my mother did not believe but embraced Buddhism instead. I was so young back then and unsure of what to do, so I remained neutral until my grandmother died. I was not keen to embrace Buddhism as I felt in my heart it was wrong. So, I pretended anyway whenever my mother would ask me to go with her for temple prayers and visits, just for the sake of not being reprimanded. I continued to do this till I have almost forgotten the Lord.

Not much later, a senior in my secondary school shared the Gospel with me and invited me to church. From this encounter, I remembered my grandmother and was elated to go to church with him. For a while, I was intrigued by the people “speaking in tongues” and the bands playing dramatic music. I found it interesting and decided to be more active by joining a cell group. As I actively participated in their fellowship, I thought I had accepted the Lord as my Saviour. But after a few months later, all those whom I fellowshipped with started showing their true colours. They had no restrictions in dress codes, BGRs were commonly encouraged, and there were a lot of ungodly behaviours. Sadly, my senior backslided and was involved in crimes. As I witness one by one of my friends backsliding, that led me to “lose my faith” and not attend this church anymore. I tried to go to other churches but it felt the same, so I went back to my usual lifestyle with my mother.

“Fast forward” to my adulthood: I have known Sis Ayn since we were in the same secondary school. Somehow I got to know that her mother (Aunty Jean) was reaching out to my best friend’s mother to evangelise. I told my best friend and his mother to attend church with me, but they declined as they said they were Catholics. I decided to go regardless. Upon coming to Gethsemane, I was shocked at how solemn and reverential this church is. I have only truly started to learn the Word of God, understanding it with so much clarity, compared to the churches I have attended before. 

By God’s divine will and timing, He has led me to Gethsemane to know that I am sinful, and in need of Him and true salvation. I was pricked from every sermon through Pastor Koshy. Thank God for Aunty Jean and her family in encouraging me, and for the fellow brethren who have prayed with me and for me. I am edified and blessed to witness the labour of the brethren for the Lord’s work as I attend the English Service, Filipino Fellowship, Evening Teaching Service and Tuesday prayer meetings. Praise God for enabling me to attend these services on the Lord’s Day despite my busy work schedules. As Matthew 6:24 says, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Please pray that I may be granted day off on Sundays, and that I myself may desire to learn more of God’s Word and attend more church meetings for my spiritual growth.

I can now safely proclaim unashamedly, with confidence, that I am truly a child of God, saved through my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen. I pray that this Good News which my mother has heard before, will cause her to turn to the Lord and believe as I did, according to God’s will and grace. May I grow more in the Lord to be a channel of blessing to others, and to be able to share the Word of God with more souls. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).

READ:

John 1:12

¹² But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.

EXHORTATION:

Though the common response of the Jews and Romans to Christ – the incarnated eternal Word – was derision and rejection, there were some who “received him”. John points out to us at the end of the verse what it means to receive Him. It is to “believe on his name”.

The “name” is more than a word or set of words by which a person is known. Here it denotes Christ’s purposes, will, works and all that He is. Believing on His name is to trust and yield to Him completely, acknowledging His claims and confessing Him with gratitude. That is what it means to “receive” him. Those who receive Christ are those who believe on His name.

So, genuine believing is not merely having a mental recognition of Christ, but a hearty acceptance of Christ, His redeeming work and His sanctifying truths. Genuine believers desire and rejoice to have the Lord’s presence always with them. They would never want the Lord to be far from them. As Paul said in Colossians 2:6, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him”. Their life is no more separated from Christ. Their life is hid with Christ in God (cf. Colossians 3:3). They have Christ as their Saviour and Lord to guide them by His presence and truth.

To all who receive Him or believe on His name, “gave he power to become the sons of God”. The word “power” indicates “authority” or “right”. To those who received Christ by faith, He gave the right to be children of God. Is there anything nobler and higher than being sons of God? Oh, what an exalted privilege Christ gives unto us all who believe!

This exalted honour of being God’s children is granted to any who would believe on Christ’s name, regardless of his ethnicity, social status, financial condition or family background. None of his earthly conditions could prevent him from receiving the honour and privilege of being the child of God, if he would receive Christ as his Saviour and Lord and accept His truth by faith. It must then be emphasised that becoming God’s children is not based on human terms, but on Christ’s terms. Christ must be received by faith. If one would not heartily approbate Christ, one cannot be God’s child. But to all who sincerely receive Christ by faith, there is the exclusive, free and unchanging promise of being the children of God.

READ:

John 1:10

¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

EXHORTATION:

According to John, Jesus Christ, who has been with God from all eternity (v. 1), “was in the world”. This certainly refers to Christ’s incarnation, His coming to this world in the form of a man and His dwelling among men. The One who was invisible to men, has revealed Himself to them. What great wonder it was that the eternal Son of God has come into this world! He was in the world which was “made by him”.

Though His great power and wisdom have been seen through all His magnificent creatures since the days of Creation, John here emphasises the fact of His remarkable presence in the world. The Creator of the world was in it like one of its dwellers. He appeared like every other man, yet He was unlike them. He was God in human form, dwelling in the world.

It was most wonderful that the eternal God would condescend to this world to dwell among a people who cared not for Him. The Son of God, who was with the Majesty on High, has descended into this poor and miserable sin-cursed world. He who has been the light eternal has come into this dark world.

This was the greatest divine favour this world had ever received. Oh, how great was His condescension! How marvellous was His love that caused Him to stoop down to this world! From the glory of heaven, He came to live in this world of dust. From the celestial world of ceaseless praise and worship by innumerable angelic creatures, He descended to a world of rebellion and wickedness. How amazing was His love that accepted the most appalling of conditions – being born in a stable, being poorer than birds and foxes, having no place to call as His own home. Homeless and poor was He, wandering from place to place!

Though the world had the greatest honour of the visitation and the hallowed presence of the eternal Son of God, “the world knew him not.” The worst tragedy of this world is that it did not acknowledge its Creator who was in its midst! It was the greatest neglect, the meanest conduct of the world. The world did not accept His loving words and actions. They wickedly rejected Him and put Him to death! As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:8, “had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” Rejection of Christ proves the world’s tragic condition of sin and pride.

READ:

Colossians 1:17

¹⁷ And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

EXHORTATION:

While declaring the greatness of Christ, the apostle Paul talks about His existence before the world and His role in maintaining it. Paul has already introduced Christ as the Creator of all things in the preceding verses (cf. vv. 15-16). Because Christ is the Creator of all things, it is a forgone conclusion that He precedes all things.

Christ has no beginning as He is not a created being. His birth as Mary’s child was not His beginning. His birth was His incarnation, coming in human form. He co-existed with God the Father through all eternity past. So the apostle John said of Christ, the Word, in John 1:1-3 – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” How could He have created all things if He were not before all things?

During His public ministry, Jesus Himself declared that He was before all things. In John 8:58, He said to the Jews, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” In Revelation 1:8, Jesus said, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” Jesus further said, “I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen” (Revelation 1:17-18). In Revelation 2:8, He declared that He is “the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive”. As “the first”, Christ is the First Cause, the beginning source of all things. Again in Revelation 22:13, He said, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” Then in verse 16, He declared, “I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.” In other words, Christ, “the son of David”, is also the Creator of David!

Since the creation of all things, He holds them all by His power. So Paul said, “by him all things consist.” Hebrews 1:3 says that He is “upholding all things by the word of his power”. Christ is the Sustainer of everything in the universe. The coherence and continuity of the world around us, as well as the things above us and in the depths of the oceans, are all under Christ’s purview. The continued existence of the universe and all that are in it, though full of unexplained complexities, is Christ’s work of providence. Oh, how lofty should our praise and adoration of Christ be!

READ:

Colossians 1:15

¹⁵ Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.

EXHORTATION:

The verse begins with a relative pronoun “who” that connects the content of the verse back to the Person mentioned at the end of verse 13, “his dear Son”. According to verse 14, He is the One in whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins through His blood. Undoubtedly, Paul is describing Jesus Christ when he said, “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature”. Paul here presents to us Jesus Christ in His relation to God, as well as in His relation to the universe.

In His relation to God, Christ is “the image of the invisible God”. God is invisible as He is an eternal Spirit (cf. John 4:24). 1 Timothy 6:16 says concerning God that He “only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see.” But the invisible God has been made visible in Christ, for He is the “image” of the invisible God. The Greek word for “image” (eikon) denotes an exact replica, a precise copy, an actual representation, etc. Christ, the eikon of God, has revealed to us the invisible God! Jesus Himself said, “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9). So in John’s Gospel, we are told that “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (John 1:18). Jesus Christ was the visible expression of God. He manifested God. He is not a lesser God, as some cultic groups say about Him. “For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell” (Colossians 1:19). Christ is the fullness of God; hence He is fully God. He is not, as some say, less than God, or one of many gods, or a high angel or a created being.

In His relation to the universe, Christ is “the firstborn of every creature”. Some have falsely interpreted this to mean that Jesus was the first created being. They have mistaken the word “firstborn” to mean born or created first. The Greek word for “firstborn” (prototokos) means the rightful heir or the one in authority. In the following verse, Paul clearly shows that Christ is the Creator and not the first among the creation – “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible” (v. 16). So, Christ is the Creator and Heir of everything. He wields “all power” in heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18). He is sovereign over all of creation. Oh, what a great divine Saviour is Jesus Christ our Lord!