Blessed Hope Bible-Presbyterian Church
500 Upper Bukit Timah Rd, Singapore 678106
Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians Knowing Your Privilege in Christ (2) “The Origin of the Church” (Ephesians 1:1-14) 1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful …
(1) Am I a Soldier of the Cross?
A Painful Memory
Isaac Watts had painful memories of his early years. His parents were dissenters, people whose religious affiliation was outside of the Church of England, the state church. Dissenters often suffered persecution in the seventeenth century.
His father, a deacon in a Congregation Church, was arrested and imprisoned several times. When Isaac was an infant, his mother would sit on a stone opposite the jail and nurse her baby while visiting her husband. Fifteen years later, the Toleration Act of 1689 granted freedom of worship for Dissenters. Isaac was old enough then to remember the persecution when religious freedom was denied.
Acts 12:1-17 Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.) And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison.
William MacDonald observed well, “In marital union there is a dependence of the wife upon the husband and vice versa. In order to carry out God’s order in this holy union, both husband and wife must recognize their interdependence.”
Marriage with its comfort and satisfaction is God’s prescribed wisdom for preventing fornication. The word “fornication” describes all sorts of lawless lusts. And thus, in the marriage, both husband and wife has given the power over their own body to their better half. Any relationship outside the marriage covenant is a violation of the partner’s rights. [Matthew Henry]
Marriage is a blessed union of mutual dependence between the husband and the wife. With each carrying out their part of the commitment to support, encourage and bless one another in a lifetime of cleaving, comforting and strengthening. “Due benevolence” means demonstrating “kindness, conjugal duty, good will, consideration, thoughtfulness, unselfishness, compassion, kind-heartedness”. Let each fulfil their martial duty! [Hendricksen]
The Apostle Paul highlights the temptation to fall into the the sin of sexual immorality for believers who are single is very real. And he administers the remedy that one finds a spouse in marriage to avoid fornication. Of course, it is not the case that all single believers will face this problem. He tells us that it can happen.
Hymns: 359 My Faith Looks Up to Thee 41 Before Jehovah’s Awful Throne 360 My God, Is Any Hour So Sweet
Study of the Book of Ecclesiastes
(Remember Now Thy Creator)
Handling Enigmas And Hardships of Life
Ecclesiastes 8:9-17
The Apostle Paul speaks of those who remain single and are not married. They are not to be despised for remaining single, for not having any sexual relationship with woman. He says it is good. But it must not be construed as a more desirable spiritual state for a person. And the single man or the single woman should not be pressurised to get married.
The believer is urged to possess his body in holiness. This is his reasonable service. Our Lord paid the price to purchase his salvation, cleansing him for all his sins. The nail pierced hands are testimony of the suffering that the Lord endured. More than that is the weight of human sins that was upon Him when He bore it alone on the cross rescuing the believer from the judgment of hell fire.