Lord’s Day, Vol. 2 No. 13

(1) Gospel Mission at Changi General Hospital

Mrs. Jacqueline Tang, a new believer, came to worship with us last Lord’s Day. She requested that we visit her husband to share the gospel with him. Together with Richard and Pauline, we made our way to the Changi General Hospital. Meng Way was Richard’s secondary school classmate. He suffered a stroke and is now recovering at the hospital. I spoke to Meng Way concerning salvation in Jesus Christ and we sang three short choruses with him, “I Know the Lord will Make a Way for Me”, “Only Jesus, Only Jesus” and “Keep on Believing”. When asked if he would like to receive the Lord Jesus into his life, without hesitating he said, “Yes”. He prayed the sinner’s prayer and received Jesus as his personal Lord and Saviour. The Lord had prepared the heart of Meng Way. He had been reading the book of Genesis and the Gospel of Matthew recently. When the gospel was given to him, he readily received it. We are reminded of Paul and Silas witnessing in the prison of Philippi to the keeper of prison after an earthquake:

Acts 16:29-31 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, 30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

Meng Way’s mother was also at the ward then. When the gospel was shared with her, amazingly, she was ready to receive the Lord. She is a kidney dialysis patient.

Then, Richard and Pauline brought Meng Way’s two children, Jovan (10 year old) and Janelle (8 year old) to the ward. Again, after sharing the gospel with them and asked if they would like to receive Jesus as their personal Saviour, they readily said, “Yes.” Richard, Pauline and I left the ward, rejoicing, praising the Lord. This indeed was a special day.

(2) Charity vaunteth not itself (1 Corinthians 13:4d)

The love of God that is mightily outpoured by the Holy Spirit upon every penitent sinner results in the sinner being forgiven of his sins (Romans 5:5). The brokenness of the sinner’s spirit and contrition of heart are acceptable in the sight of God. The sinner realizes that he cannot save himself and therefore yields fully by faith to the complete atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross for the remission of his sins. This submission removes the guilt of sin in the heart. This freedom from the bondage of sin and its guilt is true freedom. It gives true peace (Romans 5:1) and true joy (Romans 5:11). This is God’s only plan of salvation for fallen, sinful men. This is the character of God’s love. It is the amazing love of our Creator, to sacrifice His beloved Son, who suffered on our behalf, to purchase our redemption and to cancel our debt of sin, once and for all. The Son of God had to give up the outward expression of His glory to live as man. He had to endure great sufferings to be scourged and crucified by sinful men. Through it all, our Lord Jesus humbled Himself.

“Charity vaunteth not itself” describes biblical love that is void of haughtiness, void of any inkling of pride and boastfulness. “To vaunt” is “to boast”, “to make a vain display of one’s own worth”. Such boasting is vain and empty. The godly man who possesses God’s love and is at peace with God does not have the rebellious streak in the heart to elevate himself. This sin of pride began not on earth but in heaven when the most beautiful of God’s angel fell as a result of pride. Lucifer, whose name means “light bearer”, became Satan, “prince of darkness”. He wanted to usurp the glory due to his Creator. Lucifer was cast out of heaven. We read this in Isaiah 14:12-15. Notice the five thoughts of self-exaltation that result in his fall, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.”

Dear reader, as a born-again Christian, God gives you the power to humble yourself before Him. This we do by putting our Lord first, letting Him have the pre-eminence in every area of our lives. Let us examine the disposition of our heart moment by moment and guard it against the sin of pride that so easily beset us. Pride is the mother of all sins. It was the sin that stumbled Lucifer. But our Lord Jesus triumphed when He was tempted in the wilderness. He humbled Himself in obedience to God’s Word. Satan took Him up into an exceeding high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them and said to Him, “All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall and worship me.” Jesus said, “Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him alone shalt thou serve” (Deuteronomy 6:13). Satan was defeated!

We could show forth God’s love in our lives by submitting ourselves to the teaching of His Word. This submission is pleasing to our God and this submission is the expression of His love. Amen.

Yours lovingly
Pr Lek Aik Wee