My dear readers,

Questions Posed at CPBPC’s Annual Church Camp (10-15 June 2019) – Part 16

Question: Once saved, forever saved. How does this apply to a Christian who has accepted Jesus Christ as his own Saviour but later on is led astray by false prophets?

Reply: The doctrine “once saved always saved” is clearly taught in the Bible. Here is one of many passages that teach this doctrine emphatically. Romans 8:38-39: “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Therefore if a professing believer is led astray by a false prophet (understanding the phrase “led astray” to mean rejecting Christ as the only Saviour of the world, or rejecting one of the cardinal doctrines like the virgin birth of Christ or the death or resurrection of Christ), then he was not born again in the first place. His salvation was only with his lips and mind but not his heart.

When a person is truly born again and confesses Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ would know. Jesus Christ would then baptize him with the Holy Spirit as a seal of his salvation. With the Holy Spirit dwelling in him he will never reject any of the above doctrines that pertain directly to his salvation. That can never happen is God's promise and emphatic assurance to all who are truly born again. Romans 10:9-11: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”

Question: Does God love the heathen nations? Why does He punish them when He Himself instigates the heathen nations to judge His people? (eg: Chaldeans against the Jews.)

Reply: John 3:16: “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.” This is the indisputable proof of God’s love for the world. The “world” here refers to people and not the systems or the physical parts of the world like mountains, animals, birds and fishes. Having established this truth from God’s holy and perfect Word, the second question must be answered from two perspectives.

The first perspective is man’s. The Chaldeans led by King Nebuchadnezzar freely and willingly attacked Judah out of greed and the desire to expand his empire because of his megalomaniac ego and arrogance. He strategized and planned how to attack and destroy. He trained his armies and built modern weapons of war to conquer and effect the greatest destruction and deaths with maximum results. Nebuchadnezzar and his mighty Babylonian armies were totally responsible for their evil destructive power and the hundreds of thousands they slaughtered. They deserved to be punished for their evil deeds. Therefore, they all deserved to be sent to hell if they died in their sin. This is the doctrine of the responsibility of man.

The second is God’s perspective. The sovereignty of God as revealed in Holy Scripture dictates that God is in total absolute control over all that man does on earth, without exception. Therefore, men like king Nebuchadnezzar and his mighty armies could not do anything, including killing a single ant and trampling on one tiny blade of grass, without God’s sovereign permission! This is the absolute will of the all-powerful God of the Bible. If God can only control and do good and is powerless to control evil men like Nebuchadnezzar, then the world is in great hopelessness. Evil would prevail and all mankind would die in sin and find their only eternity in the Lake of Fire that burns without end! Thank God that this is not the case, for the God of the Bible is in total control of all mankind without exception! Proverbs 21:1: “The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.” And Psalm 76:10: “Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.” This is the doctrine of the sovereignty of God.

These twin doctrines of the responsibility of man and the sovereignty of God are beyond man’s ability to comprehend. Man can just teach both of them when the passage of the Bible teaches it. He must never try to reconcile them. No man has succeeded. All who tried have resulted in error. When they overemphasize the doctrine of man’s responsibility, they end up diminishing God's sovereignty whereby God is no longer in absolute control of all things on earth and in heaven. When they overemphasize the sovereignty of God, they end up diminishing the responsibility of man such that man cannot be blamed for all the evil and wickedness they do, hence sending them to hell would be seen as an unjust judgment! Spurgeon was right when he said that these twin doctrines are like two parallel lines that will never meet on earth but will meet only at the throne of God in heaven!

Question: Is it okay to have a fear of death? Am I a Christian if I am afraid of dying?

Reply: If “okay” means that it is a common experience, then it is. It is the beginning of every sinner’s salvation. It is not just the fear of death but also of meeting God as a sinner who died in sin. The following describe a healthy fear that drives a sinner to find salvation in Christ. Psalm 111:10: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.” Proverbs 1:7: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 9:10: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.”

However, if a believer is fearful of death because of a lack of faith and trust in the Lord, then it is not “okay.” It does not mean that he is not a Christian when the fear of death does not prevent him from living a holy life in Christ; and he continues to pray and serves and worships the Lord faithfully. He is growing in his faith. And as he studies the Word of God more and his faith is deepened and strengthened in the process, he becomes less and less fearful of death. When he matures more and more as a believer then he will be able to say, like the apostle Paul in Philippians 1:21, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Paul said these words close to the end of his life of service.

However, if the fear is a result of no salvation, and where his life exhibits no good works or fruit of the Holy Spirit, then it is definitely not okay. He needs to make sure of his salvation by believing in Christ with all his heart and surrendering his life totally to Christ. Luke 9:23-24: “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.”

Question: When God allows his children/Jews to kill other heathen nations, why does He want humans to turn on each other? As much as it brings Him glory, it destroys people's lives too.

Reply: God does not “want” humans made in His image to turn on one another. They turn on one another because of their depraved sinful nature. When God first created man and woman in His own image, God declared His creation (all of it, from the heavens to the earth) as “very good.” Genesis 1:31: “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”

When man sinned against God, even after God warned them that man would surely die if he sinned, man still went ahead and sinned against God. As man was made in God's image, he was able to decode and make his choice. He was not made a robot. After the fall of man into sin, wickedness and evil characterized all humanity. That is why man dies. Romans 5:12: “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”

But God did not give up on man even after the fall. God continued to love sinful man by sending His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to die for the sins of man. This was the only way to save sinful man from their sins and evil. Romans 5:18-19: “Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For

as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”

Despite all that God has done to save him, sinful man turns his back on God and bows done to idols. With idolatry are the fruits of idolatry. The list of the family of sins is long.

Romans 1:19-32: “Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.”

Sinful man destroys his own lives by his own evil. He has no one to blame but himself. God gave to man an earth that was very good, but man sinned and brought destruction and death onto the earth. The death all around man, with the earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, volcanic eruptions and the animals in this state of violence, eating and killing each other, and man killing fellowman, is part of the evidence of the fall of man into sin!

When God commanded His people Israel to kill the Canaanites, it was because the sins of the Canaanites were full. Genesis 15:13-16: “And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.”

God as the Creator has the right to take any life. He is the Giver of all life! Man used to live hundreds of years on earth. The longest living man was Methuselah who lived up to 969 years. But, with long life, sinful man sinned more and more. A murderer would have mastered the art of murder with hundreds of years of practice! This is true of all evil. Man is the destroyer of lives, not God! In slightly over 1,600 years, the world became so corrupt and wicked that God had to destroy the world with water. Out of the millions and millions who lived on earth at that time, only eight souls believed in His warning of death by watery destruction. The rest refused to believe. Only the eight souls, including Noah, believed and went into the ark. Man chose death and destruction, and not life.

The destruction of life is man’s doing. It is entirely his fault. God gives life, both physical and eternal. But when man sinned, death came. God is also the Taker of all life, for His justice is that all who sin must die! Genesis 2:16-17: “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” The holy and perfect God always keeps His word. Sinful man must humble himself before God and turn to Him to be saved by Christ. Man is already under the wrath and judgment of God the moment he begins to exist in his mother's womb because he was conceived in sin and will live and die in sin if he does not turn to God to be saved from his sins. Man must know that the moment he begins to live he also begins to die! He needs to find the solution to death in his life. The solution is to turn to the One who gave him life. That is, God. Man needs to believe in Christ to be saved from his death. If he does not, he will die in his sin as he is already dying whether Christ came or not, and whether Christ lived and died for man or not.

Man destroys man. God saves man.