REMEMBERING THE FAITHFUL
“Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” (Heb 13:7–8).
“Remember” is an important word in the Bible. In the KJV it occurs 148 times. Often it refers to God remembering His covenant, His promises, and His people. For example, to Noah He said, “And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh” (Gen 9:15). To Israel He said, “I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land” (Lev 26:42).
As He remembers us, God commands us to remember Him, His commandments, and His salvation. For instance, “And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day” (Deut 5:15).
That is one biblical reason why we hold a church anniversary service every year—to remember the founding of this church by the grace and good hand of our Lord and Saviour, 22 years ago. Our founding pastor, the Rev Dr Timothy Tow, taught that every church anniversary must be a thanksgiving. We must remember to give thanks to God for blessing us, keeping us, and using us. Without Him we can do nothing (John 15:5). This guards us against self-congratulation and reminds us to glorify the Lord always, to acknowledge “that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture” (Ps 100:3).
What are the two things we want to remember today? We want to remember our faithful Saviour and His faithful servants.
Remember Our Faithful Saviour
Remember that Jesus Christ is “the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Heb 13:8). What does this mean?
First, it means Jesus is God and is eternal. He existed in eternity past, He exists in the present, and He will exist in the future without end. He declares in Revelation 1:8, “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.”
It also means He does not change. “They [heaven and earth] shall perish … and they shall be changed … But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end” (Ps 102:26–27). “For I am the LORD, I change not” (Mal 3:6). Since He is holy, He is always holy. Since He is love, His love will never fade or fail. Once He has loved us, He will love us to the end (Jer 31:3; Rom 8:28–39).
Christ’s unchanging nature applies not only to His person but also to His truth. The gospel is the same for the Hebrews, the Gentiles, and the whole world. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Is the gospel found only in the New Testament (NT)? No. It is found also in the Old Testament (OT), beginning in Genesis 3:15—the John 3:16 of the OT—when God promised a virgin-born Saviour to save mankind from sin. Salvation has always been by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. That was how people of old were saved.
In Hebrews 11, we find a whole list of such men and also women who were saved by faith. “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. … By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.” (Heb 11:8-10, 17-19).
That was why Jesus said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad” (John 8:56). By faith, Abraham foresaw the coming of Christ and believed in the gospel—the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ according to the Scriptures (1 Cor 15:1–4). The OT saints were saved by looking forward to the cross. We today are saved by looking back at the cross, believing what God has spoken in His Word. Jesus declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). The gospel truth—that Jesus is the only way of salvation—remains the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Once we are saved, we are saved to serve. And God has appointed servant-leaders in His church for our spiritual benefit. We are told to remember them also.
Remember His Faithful Servants
These men are our pastors, teachers, ministers—those who have the rule over us and who have spoken to us the Word of God (Heb 13:7). This includes not only the Apostles and Prophets, whom God used to write the Holy Scriptures, but also those who came after them: the Church Fathers such as Irenaeus, Athanasius, Augustine, and others who contended against heresies; the 16th century Reformers—Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Knox, and others—who brought us back to the Bible and out from under the yoke of Roman Catholicism; and the 20th century defenders of the faith like J Gresham Machen, Carl McIntire and his disciple Timothy Tow who took a separatist stand against liberalism, modernism, ecumenism, neo-evangelicalism, charismatism, and all kinds of false “isms” in order to uphold the perfection of God’s Word and protect the purity of the church.
Why should we remember them? Not merely because they were beloved servants of God, but because of what they stood for—the good old Book and the good old faith. Their example reminds us not to forget the sound doctrine we have received. We must preserve this spiritual legacy not only for ourselves but also for our children and our children’s children. As Paul instructed Timothy, “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also” (2 Tim 2:2).
It has been 16 years since our founding pastor Timothy Tow was called home to the Lord. A new generation has grown up who never knew him. They must learn of him and his teachings, so that this good and godly heritage may continue—that they may embrace the faith of their fathers and pass it on to their own children, even grandchildren.
Some may ask: When we remember and honour a man in this way, are we not robbing God of His glory? The answer is no, for it is God Himself who commands us to honour His faithful servants and our spiritual forebears—those who led us, preached to us, taught us His Word, and set us a godly example. The word “remember” (mnemoneuete) here is a present active imperative in Greek, showing that this is something we must keep on doing. It is not optional but commanded. It is no different from the fifth commandment: “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee” (Exod 20:12). When we honour our parents, we honour the Lord. Likewise, when we honour our faithful spiritual leaders, we honour Him. But we do not worship them or pray to them—that would be idolatry. We worship the Lord alone, and pray only to Him.
God Himself is pleased to honour His saints and servants, recording their names, faith, and good works in Hebrews 11—the “Hall of Faith.” And they are not alone; there are countless others unnamed, the “great cloud of witnesses” in Hebrews 12.
Today, we remember one such servant—our founding pastor, the Rev Dr Timothy Tow. He was my teacher. In Homiletics, he taught me that effective speech has four forms: Statement, Restatement, Illustration, and Testimony. I will end now with testimony—the testimony of his life and ministry, reflected in this cantata presented by the choirs of True Life Bible-Presbyterian Church and Far Eastern Bible College.
May the Lord help us remember His servants, and by remembering them, we remember Him who is “the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” (Heb 13:8). JK
OUR BIBLE-PRESBYTERIAN HERITAGE
Rev Dr Timothy Tow
The Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms which are the standard of our Church and all Presbyterian Churches throughout the world were composed by English divines commissioned by the English Parliament. It is so called because the commissioners who stated the holy doctrines in such classic language held their sessions (nearly 1,200 of them) from 1643 to 69 in the great Westminster Abbey. These were Calvinistic men. Their Confession of Faith is blue-blooded Reformed theology. So, our doctrinal position is also royally Reformed, our system of government Presbyterian, not Episcopal nor Congregational.
Our Calvinistic and Reformed doctrine does not emphasise merely the famous five points, viz. the Total Depravity of man, the Unconditional Election in the Father, the Limited (or Particular) Atonement in the Son, the Irresistible Grace of God and the Perseverance of Saints, but all other fundamental doctrines, the foremost of which is the inerrancy and infallibility of Holy Scripture. The five points of Calvinism, but above all the inerrancy and infallibility of Holy Scripture, are reverently taught at our Far Eastern Bible College. And it is our College and Church’s honour that our Abridgement of Calvin’s Institutes, his masterpiece of theological treatise, is being used in the classroom in USA, England, India and Taiwan, to my knowledge. Sad to say there have arisen currents to undermine the very faith of our fathers in the FEBC, whether out of malice or sheer ignorance, the Lord knows. But let it be stated here that anyone to be admitted into the brotherhood of B-P ministers must believe and thoroughly know what is comprehended in the Westminster Confession. Or else, let the same person join another church, since he is not one of the same faith.
While emphasising the importance of our foundations in the Reformed doctrines, we do not take a static position to give no room for new light to break into our understanding of the truth (may I use these words from Pastor Robinson in his farewell message to the Pilgrim Fathers). No, we must always be dynamic, to receive what enlightenment God has given through other faithful teachers in as much as we do not stick only to Psalm singing as some Reformed churches do. We are not afraid of modern tunes either, if they have earned a page in the Church Hymnary. Premillennialism, for example, is not fully expounded in the Westminster Confession, but Bible-Presbyterians differing with amillennial brethren, believe Jesus will come again and establish a golden rule on earth for a thousand years. (FEBC’s 30th Anniversary Magazine, 1962-1992)
