What is Faith?
Sermon by the Rev Dr Jeffrey Khoo at the Sunset Gospel Bible Fellowship, Calvary Pandan BPC, 11 July 2010
In The Straits Times of 1 July 2010, there was an article titled, “Church wins suit to evict bible college.” The Church is a Church we know very well—Life Bible-Presbyterian Church, the very first Bible-Presbyterian Church (BPC), and the College is none other than the Far Eastern Bible College (FEBC), founded by the late founding pastor of Life BPC himself—the Rev Dr Timothy Tow by God’s grace and calling.
Like me you must have been greatly saddened by the news. We all know that 9A Gilstead Road is our birthplace, and our home for nearly five decades, the Lord’s inheritance not only for Life BPC but also FEBC.
I trust we have not reacted to the news sinfully but righteously, knowing that our God is Sovereign. God is still on the throne, and He is still in control. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28).
In such difficult days and hard times, we must be a people of faith. Why? Because “without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Heb 11:6). It is easy to have faith when times are good, but the real test comes when times are bad. Will you still believe and trust in the Lord in times of sickness and suffering, poverty and want, persecution and affliction?
So what is faith? Through Abraham’s example, we learn that faith is:
Taking God at His Word
“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” (Heb 11:8).
We read of the call of Abraham in Genesis 12:1, “Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee.” God simply told Abraham to move to a place He has prepared for him without telling him precisely where. Abraham simply “obeyed, and he went out, not knowing whither he went.” This is faith! Faith is obedience. It is simply taking God at His Word. Dr Raymond Saxe put it this way, “God says it, that settles it, I believe it.” Why do we believe that the whole universe was created out of nothing by divine fiat in 6 literal 24-hour days? We were not there to see it happen, but we believe this was what exactly happened because God said so in His infallible and inerrant Word. It is by faith in God’s Word that we see and understand this truth about origins. Hebrews 11:3 says, “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” We believe in order to see, not see in order to believe.
Abraham simply obeyed what God told him to do. He trusted in the Word of the Lord to him without any doubt, without any question. His faith was all the more remarkable if we consider that Ur of the Chaldees where he resided was one of the great centres of urban civilisation in the ancient Near East. It was not some poor, obscure kampong or village, but a very wealthy and luxurious city with walls 30 feet high, and brick houses two stories high equipped with piped water and flushing toilets. It could be deemed the New York or London of the ancient world. Abraham was not a poor man either. He was a man of means and considerable wealth. In Genesis 12:16, we are told that Abraham had “sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels,” and in Genesis 14:14 he had trained servants, 318 of them. He could be considered the equivalent of a CEO or GM today. Thus when God told Abraham to move, Abraham had everything to lose. Humanly speaking, it was a very risky move. But Abraham’s faith was such that he believed God. He knew His God to be completely truthful and faithful.
God knows what He is doing. He is all that He says He is, all-powerful, all- knowing, all-present, and can be trusted fully without question. That is why we believe that God’s Word is not only perfectly inspired, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Tim 3:16), but also perfectly preserved, “Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matt 5:18). Psalm 12:6, 7, “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.” God’s Word is very clear on the twin doctrines of Verbal Plenary Inspiration (VPI) and Verbal Plenary Preservation (VPP), and the logic of faith leads us to the inspired and preserved Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek words on which good old versions like the Authorised Version (KJV) are based, and not the modern versions which are based on corrupt texts with many verses and words scissored out.
Willing to Suffer for Christ
“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” (Heb 11:9). As already noted, Abraham, humanly speaking, had everything to lose if he moved out of Ur, for he was already a well-established and wealthy man, living in comfort and luxury. It was not a case of rags to riches, but potentially riches to rags. As a matter of fact, Abraham did to a certain extent become poor for he found himself in a strange country and dwelt in tents. He became a nomad, dwelling from place to place in temporary shelters.
These were not conditions of security or certainty that all of us would like to have when setting up our homes. FEBC for instance is now without a home. We are now judged as “trespassers” of what is truly our birthplace and home. Where can we go, what will happen to us? We may have many questions, and many worries, but one thing is for sure, like Abraham we must never doubt the veracity of God’s Word and the integrity of God’s Person. Abraham was prepared to suffer in a strange country without any permanent dwelling for the sake of Christ. The blessings promised to him might not have come immediately, but God was nevertheless true. Faith means we have to wait on the Lord and continue to hope in Him. He has His own time and will to fulfill His holy purposes in our lives.
If you ask me for an example of a man of faith who was willing to suffer for Christ at the drop of a hat, it would be the late Rev Dr Timothy Tow, for after 53 years serving in the Church the Lord had used him to found, he left all of that behind, and with almost nothing but faith in the Lord, he started a new Church called True Life BPC. He did this because he sincerely believed that God had perfectly preserved His inspired, infallible and inerrant words and these words were the very Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek words underlying the KJV. He could not deny the faith, often quoting 2 Corinthians 13:8, “For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.” Just before the Lord took him home, I remember asking him a question: “Pastor, do you regret holding so strongly to VPP?” His immediate reply was, “No!” His faith could not be shaken despite the persecution and sufferings he went through.
Desiring for Spiritual and Not Material Wealth
“For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. … These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city” (Heb 11:10, 13-16).
When Abraham obeyed God to leave his home country to a place that He would show him, he was not thinking of material wealth or riches—more and bigger houses, more oxen, sheep and asses, more servants, more gold or silver, more power and prestige. The Bible tells us he was looking “for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” In other words, he was looking for a city that was eternal and lasting, a city designed and built by God Himself. He had no confidence in man, neither was he interested in what this world could offer. His only confidence was in God and His power, and all he desired was for heavenly or spiritual things that God had promised him.
What were these heavenly things that Abraham desired after? Surely, it must be the promise of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ—the Messiah to come. Our Lord gave this insight concerning Abraham’s faith in John 8:56, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.” Abraham by faith understood and believed all the prophecies and promises that God gave him, and he saw them being fulfilled in Christ who came 2000 years later.
Do you have this kind of a faith, a faith that is spiritual and not material? Many today have a false faith because of a pseudo gospel—the prosperity gospel—promoted in many a megachurch where wealth and success are the measure of God’s approval. Do you want to be a true disciple of Christ? Then banish all thoughts of selfish ambition and worldly success, and follow the Cross- carrying principle of Christ Jesus who said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Matt 16:24).
Presentation of Praise Items by Ladies Fellowship at True Life BPC’s Worship Service, 18 July 2010
