Pendeta Stephen Tong: 2009

The Words of Heaven and Earth (Jn. 3:31-36)

19.11

This is my personal summary of the preaching of Rev Dr Stephen Tong on 13th December 2009 in True Way Presbyterian Church. It was preached in Chinese with English translation. (Note that this is the last session on the book of John for 2009).

Passage: John 3:31-36

John’s entire purpose in life was to bear witness for the Light and to lead people into the true light of Christ. He was very focused on the object of his worship. He did not have any personal ambition and did not try to please men. God prepared him for 30 years but he only testified for Christ for a year. It seemed like a waste but the value of life is not determined by others’ acceptance or rejection or by length of ministry, but by God. If a person is filled with the word of God, his life is full indeed. John the Baptist died after one year of ministry and Christ was crucified after 3.5 years of ministry. But the foundation they laid down is everlasting.

We need to discern the words from heaven and words from the earth. People who cannot discern will all religions and cultures to be the same. Christians who cannot discern will consider all systems and theology to be the same. It is not pleasing to God to just preach the gospel without any care to ground ourselves solidly in His word. We understand the word of God only through orthodox understanding, which is based on general principles of the Scriptures. This is important because humans are no longer neutral after the Fall. We cannot interpret with unaided mind. There is profound truth in the Bible. We need a master key to understand how different parts of the Bible fits together. It takes time to understand the big picture.

Wisdom is a lot more important than knowledge. If you are wise, you will have knowledge and discernment. But a person without wisdom does not have the principle to discern.

What is the master key? What principles determine the master key? How did John come to understand the principles? John found the master key from the conversation of Jesus with Nicodemus. The dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus and the dialogue between Jesus and Pontius Pilate is representative of dialogue between the word of God and human religion and politics.

In the dialogue with Nicodemus, Jesus talked about being born spiritually and Nicodemus thought about physical birth. The greatest religious leader was still trapped by things on earth. In the dialogue with Pilate, Jesus confessed He was the king of the Jews when Pilage asked Him. This statement seemed to be a threat to the Roman empire. But Jesus said He was born to be King and to testify of the truth and added that His kingdom is not of this world. So Pilate was limited by the concept of politics and kingdom on earth, but Jesus was talking about the kingdom of heaven. In these two dialogues, there is a sharp contrast between heaven and earth.

The book of John gives us master key to discern what is of heaven and what is of the earth. As we read the rest of the chapters we will indeed see the difference between heaven and earth.

The source is different and the quality is different. An intelligent person can tell the difference in essence. We are often deceived by superficial similarities, like similar nationalities or education background, and treat them all the same way.

Words from heaven are different from words from earth. Words from our mouth are important as they come from our heart and express the content of our soul.

The Apostle John said the one who comes from above is above all. What does it mean by above all? When we have a true understanding of the word of Christ as above all, we will know that nothing can be compared to it. Things of the earth can always be compared no matter how high they are. But Christ is above all, and His words are not something that can be compared within creation. Whatever that is on earth still belongs to earth. The one that comes from heaven give us the word of God.

Who is higher above all? Who is from the earth? That is the first principle. The one from above will have preaching that is pure, has eternal value and causes spiritual growth. The second principle is that the words from above come with pure motive. Whatever he has seen and heard he will bear witness. He affirms the truth with truthfulness. This is unlike those who affirm lies to make it sound truthful.

Hence the principle is firstly to set the source and secondly to affirm the value based on pure motive. This is similar to Confucius’ principle but the difference is that Confucius is a seeker of ancient truth and the prophets received revelation from God. And Jesus Christ transcends the prophets in that He testified of what He Himself experienced in heaven. This is called subjective truth. It is not the result of Him being told. And furthermore, He Himself is the Truth.

He is above all and He manifested the truth. Verse 32-33 records that nobody accepts Him, but those who accept Him has certified that God is truth. It sounds paradoxical to say nobody accepts Him and then declares about those who accept Him. It means that by ourselves we will never be able to accept Him. But by the inspiration of God we can believe. If you genuinely seeks, you will accept His word as truth. Jesus is the Truth and the witness to the truth. He proclaimed the eternal words of heaven to the earth. He is the way, the truth and the life. The Truth Himself introduced the truth to us. Thus He is most trustworthy. If we do not trust him, who then can we trust?

John 3:34 writes that God give Him the spirit without limit. Heb. 9:14 writes that Christ through the eternal Spirit offered Himself to God. Christ preached the truth with the Spirit. The words of heaven is of the spirit. This is the third principle.

The last principle is in John 3:35, i.e. the one who believes in Him have eternal life and God’s wrath remains in those who do note believe. There is a relationship between this principle of life and the word of God. In John 6:63, Jesus said, “the words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.” This is absent from the other three gospels. The words of Christ are spirit and life. No other human words have spirit and give life. Peter understood this and said, “To whom shall we go, you have the words of eternal life.”

So from the book of John we see that the words from heaven are the word of God, the word of Creator, they are spirit and they are life. When we accept the word of God, we affirm that God is true. It is a certification of God in our heart. And the Holy Spirit will be sealed in the hearts of those who believe.

The last part of John 3:35 writes that God’s wrath remains on him who does not believe in Christ. He might not know it but it is horrifying. On the other hand, the acceptance, belief and obedience to the word of God will bring joy. His word is truth and the truth will make you free. This joy cannot be bought with anything else.

The Spirit of True Ministry (Jn.3:29-36)

13.21

This is my personal summary of the preaching of Rev Dr Stephen Tong on 6th December 2009 in True Way Presbyterian Church. It was preached in Chinese with English translation.

Passage: John 3:29-36

Jesus said that of all those born of women there had not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist. If Jesus had not mentioned this, we would not realise how great John is. But Christ also said that he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he (John the Baptist). This is because John the Baptist ended the Old Testament era and prepared the people for the coming of Christ which started the a new era in history. John was later beheaded and Christ was crucified. The New Testament started this way.

John was very clear of his calling from the very beginning. To the one who told him that his ministry was threatened because Jesus was attracting more disciples than him, he replied:

“A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, “I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of Him” The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.” (Jn. 3:27-30)

This tells us the energy necessary to serve in ministry. The kind of words that were told to John could often cause conflicts among co-workers. But John was clear of his position and could calmly respond to that. This passage also teaches us how we should respond to other people’s successes.

When one realises that his existence is threatened and someone succeeds not according to his expectation, one can easily become a judge. But who are we to judge? John’s statement “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven” teaches us that everything we have is from God and we are not worthy to receive anything. But it is easy to fall into the trap where we subconsciously credit all we have as something we deserve.

Among church leaders, the level of politics are often not that different from secular world. On one hand, they appear humble and on the other hand they steal glory from God and declare themselves as great. They are willing to go up but not willing to step down. They want to continue in their own pleasure and cannot be displeased. They think it is not right for their position in ministry to go downhill. They do all they can to prevent perceived competitors. When this kind of unnecessary pain clouds your ministry, your ministry has lost its meaning because gradually you fail to glorify God and edify men.

John’s ministry is based on pure motives. When someone told him these words, he said if it is not from heaven no one can receive anything. Hence whatever he had is according to God’s will and his ambition is irrelevant. When God takes back what He has given us, we need to submit in thanksgiving. This is how Job’s attitude was different from his wife when they lost all their children and possessions.

Many people do not see God’s glory but boast of what they have. That is not true ministry. True ministry is taking God as God and men as men. It is only by His grace that we have impacted lives and produced results. We will be accountable for our errors and sins. But we give thanks to God for all the good that has happened. We are just His vessels. When we offer everything to God, we need to realise that we are not worthy to offer anything and everything we could offer belongs to Him in the first place.

John said to the man who spoke to him that he could bear testimony that John himself told him from the start that he was not the Christ. He had a pure motive from the very beginning. He understood his position in the big picture and his mission in history.

When God uses you, we need to serve faithfully. When his time comes for us to step down we should do so. So we need to be faithful to our service and know when to step down. Often people just know how to step up but not step down.

John said Jesus is the true bridegroom and he is a friend of the bridegroom. He did not take the glory from Christ and rejoiced when Christ was glorified. The epistle of Paul also depicts the relationship between Christ and the Church as that of a husband and wife. When everyone was turning their attention to Jesus, John said that his joy was now complete. He was indeed great.

Ministry is not about displaying your talents. The simplest definition is whether by life or by death, Christ be magnified in our life. John the Baptist truly lived this way. This is the last recorded verse. Apart from the occasion when he asked his disciples to go to Jesus and asked if he was the Messiah, there was no more record of John’s words. His words of doubt shows us that even the greatest man of God had his time of weakness.

But God would not break the bruised reed. Jesus said to John’s disciples to go back and tell John that “the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the ppor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of Me” (Matt. 11:5-6). Even Mother Theresa admitted in one of her writing that she had doubted the existence of God before. This becomes words of comfort for the rest of us who struggle in our journey of faith.

The last portion of John’s words, “He must become greater; I must become less.” But why is it a must? Why must John become smaller? Why must Christ become greater? Eventually, John would be imprisoned and beheaded. He did become smaller and Christ became greater. It was something he was prepared to face. He went downhill willingly. And Christ was lifted up.

When we become less and insignificant, do not despair because it is according to God’s will. We should not boast because we have a share in ministry, it is because God gives us opportunity to serve. The same thing will happen with or without our contribution. We should not take credit. We need to know our position and know when to go up and to come down. In this way our ministry will be blessed in God’s eyes.

Christmas Gospel Rally 2009 (Indonesian)

17.25

Christmas Gospel Rally 2009 (Mandarin)

17.10

Light Enters into Darkness (Jn. 3:19-21)

18.18

This is my personal summary of the preaching of Rev Dr Stephen Tong on 22nd November 2009 in True Way Presbyterian Church. It was preached in Chinese with English translation.

Passage: John 3:19-21

In this age Christianity face challenges from many fronts which were not existent during the Reformation, e.g. evolution, deism, existentialism, logical positivism and postmodernism. We need to recognise the tricks of the enemy in this age to appreciate the difficulties the church is facing. And we need to find the truth implicit in the Bible as the weapon sufficient to meet the challenges of the age.

John faced the challenges of his era alone when he was old. Back then there were four main challenges. The first one is political persecution.

During the Roman occupation only the Jews stubbornly would not call Caesar lord. They had very strong nationalism which could not be subdued by the Romans. In the end the Romans compromised and allowed Jews to be the only people who were exempted from calling Caesar Lord. The Jews were allowed religious freedom. They called Jehovah Lord. The Roman empire was not interested because Jehovah was invisible. But when the Christian Jews started to call Jesus Lord, it became an issue and Christians were persecuted.

The second challenge was philosophy. Roman empire was influenced by Greek philosophy. The intellectuals despised the Christians. Thirdly, the church also faced deception from false religion. The gnostics presented false gospels and used many prominent Christian names as the title of their gospels. They started before Paul was dead which Paul had denounced in his epistles. But they continued to spread their teaching after Paul’s death. John was one person fighting for the truth in his old age. Hence many terms in the gospel he wrote were absent from the rest. He wrote about love, life, light, Son of God which the other three gospels seldom mentioned. His writings were significant in bringing the church into deeper and fuller understanding.

Christians believe in one God, the eternal, victorious, good God, who is full of light. This view is unlike the gnostics who believe in a dualistic universe where light and darkness takes one equal status.

We do not have the capacity to understand everything our Lord has taught. But when challenges come, we ask what the Lord has taught about this to enable us to have victory over the challenges. And we are reminded of His teaching. Hence we are to hold on fast to the truth that has been passed on to us. The Word of God is so profound that it is sufficient to answer our questions. It is the masterkey that enables us to face challenges that we cannot face with our own strength. Therefore it is very critical to hold on to the Scripture as the truth and revelation from God. The last challenge of extra-biblical revelation is therefore the most dangerous as it destroys the foundation on which we stand.

John did not compromise and was very stern towards the heretics. After v.18, John placed focus on light and darkness which is different from the Gnostic view.

“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." (Jn. 3:19-21)

He tells us about the monotheistic Light. It is active and dynamic. It has influence. It invades. Light enters into darkness. Darkness does not enter into light. After 400 years, Augustine gave us an important teaching. Light exists and darkness is the absence of light. Righteousness is an object but unrighteousness is the absence of righteousness. In dualistic view, both light and darkness have the same status. But in Augustine’s view, they do not have the same status. Sin is the falling short of glory of God. It is the situation when glory is absent.

John 3:19 implies that the world has no light therefore it needs the light to shine into it. When the light shines, it comes to influence, illuminate and change the world. When Jesus proclaims we are the light of the world, implicitly there are three principles: (1) the world is dark so our existence has value because we are the light of the world, (2) Christians need to live dynamic not passive life to influence instead of constantly being influenced by the world and (3) we need to be self-sacrificing moment by moment to bless others. When the candle is burning giving light it is actually burning itself.

What does it mean when the Bible say God is light? It says the light will go into darkness and influence all that is dark. It will never be influenced by darkness. Light can chase away darkness.

What is the relationship between light and darkness?

There are a few possibilities: (1) Light chase darkness so darkness runs away, (2) darkness hides because it is afraid of the light, (3) darkness is destoyed by the light.

If darkness escapes when light comes, is it escaping at the same speed of light? If light is faster than darkness, what is the space of light and darkness interaction? If darkness is faster than light, what is the gap between the light and darkness? If they are the same speed, then wherever light comes darknes disappears at the same time. This is closer to Augustine’s view. He believed that darkness is the absence of light. Hence sin is where the glory of God is absent. Sin cannot then be considered as an object.

If darkness hides when light comes, where does it hide? If darkness is destroyed, then does darkness exist in the first place? Where is its existence?
It is similar to the concept of life and death. Isa. 25:8 writes that death is swallowed up by life. Life will swallow up death. In the same way darkness has been swallowed by light. There is no turning around when life swallows up death. We know what kind of resurrected body we will have when we witness the resurrected body of Christ.

Because the deeds of men are evil they love darkness rather than light. It is unnatural for darkness to reject light. In nature, wherever there is light darkness would surrender. But spiritually, Jesus (the Light) was rejected by men who lived in darkness because the deeds of men were evil. When shines light upon the hearts of those who are doing evil, they would hate the light. Will we escape when light shines upon us?

Those who do good deeds would come to the light so that it may be plainly seen that what they do have been done through God. In the end Jesus, the Light of men, was crucified. But darkness could not overcome light. He was resurrected on the third day. On the Last Judgement, the light of God will swallow up darkness. All unrighteousness would be corrected.

The Reason God Sent His Son (Jn. 3:17)

18.25

This is my personal summary of the preaching of Rev Dr Stephen Tong on 1st November 2009 in True Way Presbyterian Church. It was preached in Chinese with English translation.

Passage: John 3:17

Moses lifted up the bronze snake in the desert and all the victims of snake bites would be healed by looking at that snake. This became a representation of how Jesus would die for us as a sinless person. The Jews never understood the message of salvation in this event. Jesus used this example to parallel how the Son of Man must be lifted up to bring the saving grace leading to eternal life. Those who believe in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

These are the last words of Jesus to Nicodemus. Verse 16 onwards was written by John.

John 3:17 records that God had sent His Son into the world not to condemn the world but to save the world through Him. Between God and man there is an Intermediary. It was man’s initiative to go against the commandment of God by eating the forbiden fruit, hence death is the doing of man. But it was God who initiated the reconciliation. God did not forsake man. It is man who forsakes God. If God does not rebuild this relationship, we can never return to God. He sent His only Son into the world. This is a very important verse in the doctrine of salvation. God wants to save us, not to judge us.

The Old Testament reveals the covenant of judgement and the New Testament the covenant of grace. God sent His Son not to condemn the world but to save the world through Him. From the context of this verse, we see the true motive of morality. It is to do the will of God with great conscience. It is not just a matter of behavior, but of motives. The state of your heart is more important than what you have actually done. If you do good but your heart is evil God will not be pleased. God wants our heart because all our actions come from our heart. In this verse, we also see the motive of God. We see the heart of God. He is always actively good. With the most holy and pure motive He gave us His Son. When we understand this, we will realise how evil we have been in our motives. The appearance of Christ in history demonstrates the goodness of God. Christ had come not to criticise, not to judge, but to save.

There are people who are always criticising and finding fault with others. By pinpointing others’ errors, people want to establish their self-righteousness. There are many capable people in the world but very few great ones. Many can identify errors, but find it difficult to tolerate. It is easy tell others what is wrong but it is hard to bring those in error back to the truth. This is not only about the doctrine of salvation, it is an important reminder for us to become like Jesus. How would you respond to a church or a pastor or a congregation that is not good? Why do you say it is not good? Inwardly you already have a standard by which you measure. But is your standard valid? Is this standard borrowed from others or you figure it out yourself?

We need to learn so that wherever we are we can contribute instead of criticise, we can sacrifice rather than demand. When a person has more demand than sacrifice, he will be arrogant. When a person sacrifices more than he criticises he will be considered a great person full of love. Nowadays many people simply go around judging others but forgeting that they themselves are part of the problem too. For example, people who complain of unclean environment but are also contributing to pollution. So they are not worthy to judge.

Jesus left His throne in heaven above and was born in a manger. He did not contribute to any problem. He did not by His coming make the world worse. He is sinless. But despite that He did not come to judge either. Instead, He came to save the world.

The world needs peace, love, goodness, mercy and compassion. Your arrogant judgement and criticism do not help. Men’s weaknesses do not need your judgement. When you look around the world and you understand why your Lord has come, you will change. People are bitter because they have no love. And Jesus is worthy to judge, and yet He did not judge, instead He came to save.

All of us make the same mistake. We have greater power to judge than to contribute. A person that criticise others for being dump usually are guilty of the same mistakes. Remember that when you oppose God, His solution is to send His Son to die for you so that you can be reconciled to Him. Today which of us will sacrifice our son so that our enemies will be reconciled to God? We can see how unwilling we are to sacrifice ourselves.

What is the point of simply judging? The world will not become better by simply listening to our judgement. How much have you contributed to your own family? What have you done to your community? What have you done for your church? If you only seek to be served, you are like the devil, and yet you expect people to serve like Christ. God did not send His son to condemn the world but to save the world through Him. Are you willing to follow the example of Jesus wherever you are? Sacrifice yourself that others might be blessed because of you.

The Summary of the Gospel (Jn. 3:13-16)

18.55

This is my personal summary of the preaching of Rev Dr Stephen Tong on 4th October 2009 in True Way Presbyterian Church. It was preached in Chinese with English translation.

Passage: John 3:13-16

John 3:16 is the summary of the gospel. Salvation does not come from the law but from the gospel. The verse was not spoken by Jesus Christ but was summarised by the Apostle John following his record on Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus. Jesus represented the coming of the new era. Nicodemus ended the old era.

God had made preparation in the Old Testament so that we can understand the completion in the New Testament but often times we cannot see the true meaning. All the Jews had studied in the Old Testament did not enable them to see the true mystery.

Nobody will receive eternal life by following the law. The purpose of the law is to judge, not to forgive. God has given us the law not for us to obey or disobey, the true motive is as to remind us that we fall so short we can never fulfil God’s standard. The more we study the law, the more we understand the perfection of God. It is like looking at the mirror and seeing our flaws. It is frightening that having the law for such a long time the Jews turned arrogant instead of feeling humbled.

Implicit in the New Testament is the fulfilment of the promises in the Old Testament but the Jews were ignorant of this. So they felt threatened when Jesus Christ came. They decided that John the Baptist must die and Jesus must die too. To them, the Old and New Testament were in conflict. But the method relating to salvation is implicit in the Law. If we read carefully, the method of looking at the snake is looking up to the Lord to be saved. But the Jews never understood.

Jesus said just as Moses lifted up the snake, so the Son of God must be lifted up too. Moses lifted up a material snake which was a symbol and the people were healed when looking at that symbol. But Jesus was the sinless holy One who was lifted up for our sin. People could try to follow the law but once bitten by the snake they will die. Looking at the snake is not related to good works. Solution to sin is not through good works. We see how the judgement of the Old Testament is related to the forgiveness of the New Testament.

In another instance, by the command of God Moses threw his staff and it became a snake. The Egyptian magicians did the same thing. So there are good and bad snakes. What is the difference since they performed the same thing? Moses’ snake could devour all the other snakes. Falsehood would be devoured by the truth. This is a mark whereby death was swallowed up in victory when Jesus defeated death. Through death He defeated Satan. So we see both snake that represented Satan as well as the snake that represented Christ.

In the event where the snake was lifted up in the desert, the meaning is that life had victory over death and that is the promise of God. But Israelites were so engrossed with trying to follow the Law they could not understand this mystery. No matter how obedient you are, if you are bitten by a snake you will die. The solution is to look upon the sinless Christ. The Jews never understood such an important revelation. The experts of the law were only interested in the narrow field of study and they were lost the deeper they digged in. They studied so much but they were constrained. They needed a paradigm shift. Whenever there is historical change it is because of paradigm shift.

The Jews only had two choices, to abandon their culture or to kill Jesus Christ. The price they paid for absolutising the non-absolute when meeting with the Absolute. The True Word of God had become physical. “You think you have the Scripture. But this Scripture bear testimony of Me and you are not willing to come to Me. You think you are one with Logos but I am the Son of Man, the Word become flesh. Because you see Me as the Son of Man you cannot see Me as the Son of God.”

After the conversation with Nicodemus, the Apostle John summarised the Old and New Testament in v.16. “For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son so that those who believe in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” God has given us the Law to reveal that we are sinful, that we cannot fulfil His standard, so that we submit to God’s judgement. These are the passive role of the Law (Rom. 3:19-20). But the dynamic action of the Law is more important. It gives us understanding about God. Through the Law, we will recognise that the attributes of God are different from all other pagan gods. God is just, holy and good. These are the things all the other pagans’ gods do not have.

People who worship idols do not believe because the gods are just or holy. Why do they pray to those gods? It is not about truth and justice but about profit and loss. The Chinese worship the god of heaven to the god of the earth, from the god of the door to the god of the kitchen. The purpose is to have good journeys, to be blessed, to have a lot of descendants and prosperity. These have nothing to do with holiness, righteousness and justice. The Law reminds us that we are far away from God and we need to repent. From the Law we see how decadent we are. So it brings us to understand grace. The source of all grace is Jesus Christ. The Law is like a teacher that brings us to Christ. Suddenly we realise what we need is not just action but salvation. Our hope not in academics, but in Christ who took away our sin, righteous for the unrighteous, so we need to turn our eyes upon Him.

John 3:16 says God gave His only begotten Son. How do we know Jesus is God? How could God give us God? How can we understand God sending God? Does that mean there are two Gods? God gave us His only begotten Son. When we look upon Jesus, we are not looking upon man. We are looking at the begotten Son of God.

Who is Jesus Christ? He is the Son of God. “So who is the Mother?” This is what happen when creature thinks the Creator must be like him. God is the One who created the principles governing the world. We cannot turn it around and expect the Creator to follow us. The principle of reproduction between man and woman is created by God. There are also other kinds of reproduction in other living things. We cannot demand Creator God to be like us.

The most important thing is to understand from this term “Son of God” is that He has the same essence and life as God. As the begotten Son, He has the essence of life of the Father. But what does that mean that God sent God? How many Gods are there? We need to refer back to general principles of the Bible.

The very first time Jesus opened the Scripture to read, “The Spirit of God is upon Me, …” the concept of the Triune God is already mentioned, the Spirit, God and Christ. His mandate to His disciples before He was taken up to heaven, “… and baptise them in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.” Again we see the Triune God. One Name, but three Persons. The Father is not the Son. Son is not the Holy Spirit. The Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God. But there is only one God and there are three persons. The Son of God has the essence of God. So He is God.

The other word is “Begotten”. It tells us He is not created. He is begotten, not created. His relationship with the Father is that of life relationship, not of creation. Life that came from Life, not life that came from creation. John 1 says that nothing was created without Him, implying that He himself was not created.

When we take a lighted candle to light another candle, we see two candlelights but the light comes from the first light. While it seems the second light comes from the first, but actually the second light already exists in the first light. The Son came from the Father, but from the beginning the Son was already in the Father. We cannot say that the Father existed before the Son. If the Father has only one Begotten Son, then before the Son was begotten, was the Father still the Father? Whose Father is He then? Without the Son, He cannot be the Father. Relative to the Father’s existence, there is the Son. The Son is called the Son because relative to Him is the Father. So the Son is Begotten eternally, not at a certain moment in time. The term “Only” means there is no another one like Him, the Only Begotten Son. He is uncreated and begotten from all eternity.

What about the Holy Spirit? Is the Holy Spirit the power of God? Is the Holy Spirit just the inspiration of God? If Holy Spirit does not exist as a Person, is it just a power as it moves? It seems to be the best explanation to reconcile the doctrine that Jesus is the Only Son who is uncreated since everything else must be created. Is the Holy Spirit created? From the Bible teaching and Athanasian creed, we see that Holy Spirit is neither created nor begotten. Jesus was begotten of the Father, but the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, not created, not begotten. The unitarians do not believe in the Triune God hence they consider Holy Spirit as the representation and power of God.

The Holy Spirit is another Person that came forth from God. The whole Bible shows the personhood of God is confined in 3 Persons. In Gen. 1:1-3, we can see the Triune God in creation. “In the beginning God created heaven and earth.” (v.1), then “the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” (v.2) and finally “God said, Let there be light.” (v.3). So God, the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God were present in creation. Creation is the work of the Triune God.

John 3:16 is the verse of the verses. It is the summary of God’s promise in Jesus Christ. It is the will of God. Verse 17 onwards speaks of the response towards the Gospel and its consequences. (To be continued… )

Jesus and Nicodemus Part 6 (Jn. 3:13-15)

18.53

This is my personal summary of the preaching of Rev Dr Stephen Tong on 4th October 2009 in True Way Presbyterian Church. It was preached in Chinese with English translation.

Passage: John 3:13-15

The Jews studied the law for 1500 years. But at this time they were enslaved by Roman empire. On one hand they studied the Scripture but on the other hand they could not see the blessings of God upon them under Roman occupation. That built up deep desire to see the coming of the Messiah. Hence they were very sensitive to the power of God manifested among them.

Geographically the Jewish scholars were divided into 4 groups: Babylonian, Alexandra, Roman empire and Greek city, and Jerusalem. All of them studied about Messiah, e.g. what would happen to political situation when Messiah come. They prayed and waited for the coming of Messiah. How would Messiah appear? Is He man or God? They might disagree on some teaching but they had common ground in their understanding of the Messiah. They all knew that the Messiah is a great King. He must avenge the Israelites and get rid of all the imperialists. He would be the victorious Judge and King. But after His final victory, would He die? Some scholars believed He would live forever. Some believe He would die like any other human beings. But what would happen when He died? So the Jewish scholars continued to study into this topic.

Ironically, why would Jesus be the Messiah? He did not seem to fulfil the criteria of Messiah they had studied for so long. Before Jesus came, there had been many great warriors but in the end all died. None could revive the whole nation of Israel and defeat the enemies. They would not accept any of those as the Messiah. Then, about 400 years after prophet Malachi, suddenly somebody appeared in the wilderness and called out to people to repent. No one had ever brought people together in that way. When people heard the Kingdom of God was near, everybody went there.

However, John the Baptist did not cause them to go to Jerusalem, supposedly the important city of Israel. Thousands and thousands of people who were baptised did not go to Jerusalem. So the Jerusalem religious leaders did not believe John. They thought John was a heretical threat rather than an orthodox preacher. So they sent people to test and examine him. John was stern to rebuke these people. From the power of the message, nobody had influence like John. He was able to inspire the masses. But the Pharisees would not accept him and hated him.

Suddenly Jesus appeared and preached the same message as John’s, “Repent, for the Kingdom is near.” And Jesus also called his own disciples and they came from Galilee, not Jerusalem. This is very confusing to Pharisees. Why was Jesus and John the Baptist rude towards religious leaders in Jerusalem? They were not among those who worship market economy. They were not trying to please their audience. They were not involving themselves in hypocrisy. They were stern to preach the truth.

However, as a result of thousand of years of Israelite culture, the religious leaders had a different character. They were arrogant and thought that in the entire world they were the only one with revelation from God. The ark of God is in their temple and God dwelt in the Holy of Holies in the temple in Jerusalem. Not a single religion taught the will of God like theirs. So they were self-righteous and looked down on others. God saw this and had determined that He would forsake these people. But they could not sense it. They were still admiring their own success. This is the blindspot of culture and religion. They are blinded by their own success hence they have no future.

When you cannot see God, you are blind. At the height of their learning, the religious leaders were blind. All they could see was themselves. They are still not aware that God would abandon them. Nicodemus was the only Pharisee with conscience. He was awakened while the rest was blind. He recognised the work of God in Jesus Christ. His colleagues were all arrogant but he came to Jesus humbly.

Strangely, Jesus did not quite appreciate him. Jesus did not praise him or tried to please him. Instead, He gave Nicodemus very hard teaching. “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” In effect, Jesus was saying, “You cannot see. You are asking for something you do not know. You call for something you do not understand. You are Israel’s teacher and yet you do not know this. It is not just by studying that you gain true wisdom. You need help from above.” The entire nation of Israel wanted to reach God from below but Jesus showed Nicodemus the grace that came from above.

However, Nicodemus found difficulties in understanding Christ’s words. They had different definition so they could not communicate. When Jesus talked about life, He was referring to spiritual life, but Nicodemus was thinking about physical life. Jesus tried to explain to him that flesh gave birth to flesh and spirit to spirit. He segregated flesh from spirit. Nicodemus still did not understand. Jesus said the wind blows wherever it pleases. And Nicodemus thought Jesus was talking about physical wind. When speaking about the wind, Jesus was refering to the Spirit who had had sovereign will. Many people segregate the Spirit with the Spirit’s will. The sovereign will of the Holy Spirit grant new life to whomever He pleases.

Jesus said “If you cannot even believe what I speak of earthly things, how can you believe if I speak of heavenly things?” Nicodemus’ reply, “How can this be?” Here we see that the greatest scholar in the world knows nothing before God. When he spoke, he simply revealed his ignorance. Jesus rebuked him, “You are Israel’s teacher and you do not understand this?” In one sentence, Jesus summarised the irony of religion.

Do people who start church know what church is? When people start Christian school, do they know what Christian education is? Those who serve, do they understand why? Those who preach, do they understand?
Jesus said, “We speak of what we know, we testify of what we have seen. How can you qualify as a teacher? How can you testify when you do not see?” Things on earth are different from things of heaven. What Nicodemus had studied was of the world but Christ wanted to give him things of the spirit, of life.

After Jesus said this, he said nobody has gone to heaven except the Son of Man. Jesus declared He was the only One who came from the highest heaven. He was God who came from the highest. After Jesus said this, Nicodemus did not debate. He did not critique easily although he was expert in the Law. In contrast, many people who just studied theology for a year like to show off his knowledge.

John 3 and John 4 recorded very different stories. In John 3, Jesus spoke to a religious leader who had a lot of questions, who could not understand, needed a long time and might not have much time left to live. In John 4, Jesus preached to a Samaritan woman who repented immediately and brought the whole village to believe. Whilst Charismatics generally only focus on the second type, we want both type in reformed movement.

In the final part of conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus said the Son of Man must be lifted up like the way the serpent was lifted up by Moses. The serpent represents the Devil in Genesis. But God asked Moses to make a serpent and this serpent now represents Christ. Why? Satan entered the body of the serpent to tempt man into sin. The serpent poison people and many people died because of the serpent’s venom. When the venom is inside the blood, wherever it passes by there will be great pain and the body structure will be damaged.

Jesus came to the world and came in the flesh, and although He never sinned, he took the body of sinful man, as though he was poisoned, that the power of sin may be upon this frail body. And He used His infinite power to destroy the power of sin in this body. He gained victory over the power of sin. The venom of sin would kill us. In the same manner, Jesus took the body of sinner and bore the sin of mankind to give us salvation.

Why did the incident of lifting up the serpent happen in Moses’ time? Why did they need to look up to the bronze snake? It means that it does not matter how learned you are, what your religious background or status is, if you are poisoned by venom, you will die. It is not a question of knowledge, but of life and death. At this crucial moment, the solution is not in having knowledge, but if you look upon the Lord, in Jesus, the God in the flesh who Himself took upon the body of sinner and completed the work of salvation, you will be saved. Moses represented the Law but at that time we were already told to look to Christ. Through Moses, God taught Israelites the Law but in that era already commanded them to look at Jesus.

Genesis 3 is the first time we read about serpent. The Bible also recorded about serpent in a miracle performed by Moses and in lifting up the bronze snake in the wilderness. In the New Testament, Mark 16 writes about signs which accompanied those who believe, one of which was about about being bitten by snake unhurt. Peter did not go through all five signs. James only experienced certain signs. Paul experienced many of them. He was also bitten by snake but did not die.

When the Son of Man is lifted up, it represents how He gave us salvation. Those who look upon the Lord will be saved. This is no longer a matter of action or of the law. You are already poisoned. You must die. You cannot rely on the law or on new actions. The only solution is to look upon the Christ who was lifted up.

Speaking to Nicodemus, Jesus’ words were aimed to all Pharisees. When the Word in the flesh come, you still do not want to come to Me. You still want to stick to your study. You think in them you have eternal life. I have come to give you eternal life but you reject Me. The biggest problem is that you will die in the law but you are not willing to come to Me. The law should have guided you to Me but you grab hold of the law and refuse to come to Me.

They study the Scripture but they do not want the spirit. They hold on to the external form and reject Christ. It is like those who want the box but not the diamond ring inside.

As Moses lifted up the serpent, so the Son of Man would be lifted up.

Jesus ended the conversation here. Nicodemus thought over for many years and became a believer later on. After Nicodemus accepted the Lord, the Jews banished him. He had no more income. He was very poor when he was old. He followed the Lord for the rest of his life and gave up his status and power.

Jesus did not force him to believe. He went through a lot of struggles but in the end the words of the Lord did not return void. An intellectual like Nicodemus has a lot of obstacles and need a lot of time to decide. But if you plant the right seed, the seed will grow when the time is right. He gave up his great position and became a faithful Christian. When Jesus was crucified, he wanted to take His body. Nicodemus had changed.

Jesus and Nicodemus Part 5 (Jn. 3:9-15)

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This is my personal summary of the preaching of Rev Dr Stephen Tong on 27th September 2009 in True Way Presbyterian Church. It was preached in Chinese with English translation.

Passage: John 3:9-15

Nicodemus could not understand Jesus’ words because it was not consistent with what he knew. He represented the Jews who had studied the Scriptures for 1500 years. Although his culture was so advanced, he knew he did not have what Jesus had. They had not seen miracles for four centuries and unlike them, Jesus spoke with authority. He observed that Jesus had done greater signs and wonders than what they had ever seen.

Despite the arrogance of Jewish culture, there was one man who was humble enough to go to Christ. While the Jews had failed miserably in politics and culture, they were still above all as far as God’s revelation is concerned. That became their source of arrogance. They did not realise that God hated self-righteousness. When the culture is in the height of its arrogance it might be the time God abandoned them. After the book of Malachi, no more revelation was written Hebrew. There was a move from the Hebrew to Greek culture. Jews would not accept it until today.

Nicodemus came to Jesus sincerely. Jesus accepted him and shared the truth with him. But His answer is not what Nicodemus expected. There was no common ground. The more he conversed with Jesus, the more confused he became. He was stuck with the physical matters: How could someone be born again? How can one go back to his mother’s womb? Yet Jesus was talking about spiritual life, about the work of the Holy Spirit and the sovereign will of God. But Nicodemus could not understand. This is the failure of the intellectual.

In the book of John, Jesus said “I tell you the truth” 25 times but 3 times were addressed to Nicodemus. Jesus only spoke to one person such an important sermon. Why is he worthy to listen to such a big portion of the truth? This is the sovereign will of God.

Jesus said, “You are Israel’s teacher, and do you not understand this?” (v.10) It was a rebuke that Nicodemus was not qualified to be a teacher of Israel.

But why is it that Nicodemus did not understand about being born again? Is it because the Old Testament did not teach or because he was blind? Has God revealed it and due to his selective hearing he could not understand? Why is it that some people repent with just one sermon while others’ hearts become more hardened? The Apostle Paul said that many people learn but never understand. Many do not come to church seek the truth, but to be worshipped. Some go to church because it is close to their house, or because business opportunities, or because there are beautiful girls. What about you?

Did the Old Testament speak of new life before? Indeed. God said that He would remove their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. This is not an academic or reasoning process. All those are of secondary importance. Having a new life, a new heart, is of utmost importance. Our selective perception is very frightening. We seek after unimportant things and neglect important things.

Not only did the Pharisees ignore the word of God, they despised the Word that came in the flesh. This is the greatest irony in human culture. The more they abandon God the more they think they are following God.

Nicodemus should be thankful and humbly reminded that he could still be changed at his old age. If a person is willing to listen to rebuke and thank God for it, he is blessed. John 3 did not tell us when Nicodemus went home. He was a person who was highly intellectual, well-respected and it was very hard for him to change. He was very used to reasoning. Maybe he needed a few years before it became clear to him. So when we preach to such people we cannot rush.

In John 4, the Samaritan woman repented immediately. Not only that, the whole village also believed after hearing the woman’s testimony. On the other hand, it would take a long struggle for Nicodemus to believe. But once he overcome, it would be a great victory.

After Jesus said this to Nicodemus, He suddenly said something different. Jesus said that other than the Son of Man, nobody has gone into heaven. Would this not stumble Nicodemus who knew the Old Testament so well? The Old Testament recorded that Elijah and Enos went to heaven. Why did Jesus say this to the expert of the Law? Many people who were not patient enough to ponder easily misunderstood Jesus and left him to their own destruction. In the matter of believing the Lord, we should not follow our own will and narrow-mindedness. The word of God is not easy to understand. We need a lot of patience and humility to learn wisdom.

Enoch and Elijah went to heaven. What heaven did they go to? Jesus came from heaven, what sort of heaven was He from? The Bible implicitly told us that there are many levels in heavens. The Jews ignored that and many Christians ignore that too.

The Son of God went to the world of man, hence became the Son of Man. The Son of Man came from above, but Enoch and Elijah went from below to heaven. The One who came from above is the only Way to salvation. The religious pursuit of man is in complete opposite direction from God’s way of salvation. Jesus showed Nicodemus that nobody has gone into heaven, that nobody can reach heaven by trying hard. But the love of God created the situation where He Himself came down and reached men. Nicodemus must have been very confused that night to have all his past understanding shatttered.

This is the most revolutionary preaching of the Bible. In the Old Testament we know that God is in heaven. No prophet in the Old Testament claimed that he would go to heaven. Even David said he would go to Hades. He would not say he would be raised to heaven to be with God. The only time it appeared was in the book of Daniel, but he also did not understand. God commanded him to just write it down. On the Last Day, he would be raised. In the books of David, David was talking about Christ, “my Lord lives forever, sit on the right hand of God”. He is the resurrected God.

Job said, “I know that my Redeemer lives, after I die, after my physical body decay, with my eyes and my body I will see God.” This God not only resurrected Himself but also resurrected us. Job did not mention about the Law of Moses, Israel or even Abraham. It was possible that this was the first book of the Bible written. Job knew the concept of resurrection. In the writings of Isaiah and Daniel it was there too, but the concept of heaven was vague.

But both Old and New Testament did reveal that there are 3 levels of heaven. In the New Testament, Paul said he heard mystery in the third heaven.

Heaven where God the Creator is, is the highest Heaven. It is not the same heaven as where Enoch and Elijah went to. Why then did Paul say he went to the third heaven? What about Satan? Did not he go to heaven too since he appeared before the presence of God in the book of Job? Not necessarily. God is omnipresent, so coming before the presence of God does not mean one is in heaven. It simply mean we cannot escape His eyes.

Where did Enoch and Elijah go to? It was not the universe nor the milky way. It was a spiritual heaven. But it was still not where God is. They were at the highest place where creatures can go. But God is in His throne at the highest. That place has no Elijah and Enoch.

What Jesus was saying to Nicodemus is that He came from the highest heaven where God is. He is both man and God. Humanly speaking, He is God in the flesh. Divinely speaking, He is omnipresent.

What about the Old Testament? Where is it recorded about 3 levels of heaven? After the temple was built, it was recorded once in the prayer of Solomon: “Jehovah, heaven and heaven above heaven cound not contain you.” This implied only 2 layers. Then he said, “How can I build a small temple for you? Heaven, and heaven above heaven cannot contain you, because You live in the highest.” So there are 3 levels. That’s where God is. That is where the Son of Man came from.

Jesus and Nicodemus Part 4 (Jn. 3:1-12)

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This is my personal summary of the preaching of Rev Dr Stephen Tong on 20th September 2009 in True Way Presbyterian Church. It was preached in Chinese with English translation.

Passage: John 3:1-12

This is the only time Jesus spoke to Nicodemus. Nicodemus was also the only Pharisee Jesus spoke to. The truth is revealed to the person who sincerely seek the truth. In the book of John, there are 25 times Jesus said “I tell you the truth” and within this dialogue with Nicodemus, Jesus used it three times. (Jn. 3:3,5,11)

“I tell you the truth unless a person is born again he will not see the kingdom of God.”
“I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and spirit.”

The most important word in Hebrew culture is the word “true”. The most important thing in is the true God giving true revelation, referred by the Hebrews as the truth. The Jews knew that truth is the most important foundation of all things and they received true revelation from the true God.

How did they become hypocritical? Because they replaced truth with knowledge and reason. Mere desire to be good does not automatically mean one is therefore good. When one equates his wish to reality, he is in deception. Similarly, when religious leaders consider their theology as spirituality, that is the beginning of the failure of their spirituality. They know the word of God is true but they cannot live up to His standard, yet they think they have it and they become arrogant. In the books of the Gospel, Jesus continued to rebuke the Pharisees.

The entire content of Christ’s dialogue with Nicodemus is based on truth. The Truth spoke truthfully to Nicodemus. Jesus sincerely spoke to Nicodemus and He could see what was binding the Pharisees.

When Nicodemus said, “We know that you are a teacher who has come from God” (v.2) this ‘we’ does not refer to the Pharisees as the Pharisees rejected Him. He was referring to the crowd who also accepted Jesus because of the miracles He performed. This is a neutral, objective and sincere observation of Nicodemus. Yet when Jesus said “you must be born again”, He was referring to the Pharisees. He would not say any empty words. Every word was without compromise and pierced right into the heart.

Jesus was stating that the Pharisees needed to be born again. They were very learned and well-read. They had studied the words of Moses many times. They were so arrogant that they treated the Gentiles as though they were dogs. But Christ was showing Nicodemus that all these which made them proud are meaningless. They need a new life and without that their knowledge is empty knowledge and useless.

God-Incarnate has the authority to judge us as God. Let us not equate Jesus with another religious leader. He is the highest revelation of God to end all seeking of the truth and to judge. What Jesus said to Nicodemus is also a judgement for all religious leaders. Their true need is to be born again. Things that are great in the eyes of men are abominable in the eyes of God.

Their grace had become their stumbling block. Because they are intellectual, they oppose God. Grace of God given has become a curse to them. This is the crisis of grace. At the height of God’s creation, He made man in His image. Man is the greatest crucial creation of God.

Being born again is not our choice. It is a passive experiene. We must experience it individually but the source is not from us, it came from the sovereignty of God. It was God who gave us Christ. It was Christ who promised the Holy Spirit. We are not born by our choice. We are not man or woman by choice. This is a passive experience. Within this passive action we are able to choose. We are the most marvellous creature. After we are born, we have the ability to make choices.

Jesus said the wind blows wherever it pleases, you cannot see where it comes from and where it is going but you can see the manifestation of its power. You can the destruction it leaves behind. These visible human beings and material things have been moved by invisible wind. The invisible is more important and powerful. The dumbest people in the world are those who treat the material as god. In our lives we should place more emphasis on the invisible.

We cannot physically see the invisible God in His visible created world, but through His visible creation, we ‘see’ Him who is invisible. The invisible is the power behind the visible.

Jesus said, “Do not be surprised if I tell you that you must be born again. The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from and where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (v.7-8). Here Jesus mentioned the wind, the Spirit and being born again.

There is a word to represent the wind, the breath, the spirit. God breathed into Adam’s nostril and he became a living being. The word used for spirit is ‘ruah’. It is the wind of God or the breath of God. The wind blows wherever He pleases. When He breathed into Adam, he became a living being who is both spiritual and physical. When this breath of God leaves us, we die. When we are alive we continue breathing. When we breathe the last breath, we die. When we die, the spirit leaves us. In the Old Testament, it was recorded that the spirit returned to the child when Elijah brough a child back to life.

What sort of living being is Man? He is a living being with the spirit. It means that the influence of spirituality is very strong. Socrates said that Man is the measure of all things. Aristotle said Man is the reasoning power of all things. Mencius said Man is the conscience of all things. And there is a saying in Chinese that Man is the spirit of all things. The Chinese term is closer to Biblical teaching.

When God made man, He gave man the spirit that has been created. But when Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, He was not asking Nicodemus to train his created spirit. He was to be born again by the Spirit of God that made him.

So it is not sufficient just to nurture our created spirit where we have our knowledge, reason, understanding and character. When Jesus said we are to be born again, it is a promise that the Spirit of the Creator would come to His chosen ones.

This is a very profound revelation. But we often make it too simplistic. What does it mean to be born again? To quit smoking and drinking? It means the Spirit of God through the gospel of Jesus Christ brings about new life in you. And the Holy Spirit that gives birth to you will guide your entire life. This is not what the created spirit will experience.

What Nicodemus had is academic dissertation, but Jesus was speaking about life force. The problem with religion is that there is all the academic learning but no life. Just because we study Beethoven, it would not give us the ability to compose like him. Only when you have the life of Beethoven can you compose like him.

The Creator has come to you to give you new life, to be with you, to guide you and fill every part of your life with great abundance. May we not have fragmented and superficial understanding of Christianity. May we witness for Christ and live the life He has given to us. May the Lord bless us all.

Jesus and Nicodemus Part 3 (Jn. 3:1-12)

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This is my personal summary of the preaching of Rev Dr Stephen Tong on 23rd August 2009 in True Way Presbyterian Church. It was preached in Chinese with English translation.

Passage: John 3:1-12

Nicodemus believed that God must be with Jesus for Him to be able to perform those miracles. He was honest and was willing to learn from a younger person.

The long-lasting power of religion is based on arrogance. All religions will last until the end of the world because they want to emphasise they are right to the end. A religious person has a very dogmatic approach towards his belief. When new thoughts arise and surpass and challenge the old thoughts, they will resist. In this kind of situation, Jesus appeared to expose the decadent religion.

Jesus said new wine could not be poured on old wineskin. An ignorant child is easier to teach than to teach an old person who first needs to unlearn many things. Nicodemus kept asking back, wondering what Jesus meant. Jesus said, “I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe, how then will you believe if I speak to you of heavenly things?” (v. 12)

Here Jesus draws the qualitative difference between heavenly and earthly things. God is God and man is man. Heaven is heaven and earth is earth. Spirit is spirit and flesh is flesh. No matter how learned you are, unless you are born again you can never see spiritual principles. Jesus totally would not compromise before this religious expert. He was not influenced by Nicodemus’ praise.

When Jesus said, “the kingdom of God is near”, it has a different meaning from the concept of the Jews. When Pilate asked if Jesus was the King of the Jews, Jesus told Pilate that His kingdom was not of this world, otherwise His subjects would not have allowed Him to be handed over. He was referring to a different kingdom. His kingdom surpassed the Roman empire. He said His kingdom was not of this world and did not elaborate further. Jesus never denied correct acknowledgement about His identity. He accepted that He was King and that He was the Son of God. But His response would not be determined by others’ influence.

Nicodemus could not see because he was not born again. But how to be born again? Nicodemus was bondaged by human knowledge. But what Jesus said is based on the revelation from heaven. There is no common ground, no common foundation and understanding. Jesus said, “You are Israel’s teacher, and you do not understand this?”

Moses was not allowed to enter the promised land. He represented the first generation, the ‘flesh’ generation. It requires a new generation to enter the Promised Land.

Cultural accomplishment can be a source of pride and bondage. There is symbolic relationship between water and spirit. Spirit represents holiness and water represents cleansing. But is this cleansing active or passive? Jesus said you must be born again. A lot of theological teaching use men’s activeness as the basis for God’s acts. For example, if you choose to believe, God will save you, otherwise, God will not. It is as if human choice would determine what God would do.

But the truth is the other way round. We believe because God first worked in our hearts. It is God’s initiative that determine our activeness to believe in Him. Paul did not want to believe and did not plan to meet Jesus on his way to Damascus. But he was predestined to believe, hence he believed in the end.

Our free will is bondaged by sin so we cannot believe in God. God first actively called us, and then we enabled to actively use our will to respond to Him. In this sense, in our ‘activeness’ we are actually passive. The Holy Spirit does not destroy our free will, but changes our heart so that our will is turned towards Him. We were initially dead and He awakened us.

Hence Jesus’ words to Nicodemus, “no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and of the Spirit” is something only God can do. It is the will and the act of God that cause a sinner to be born again.

(To be continued…)

Jesus and Nicodemus Part 2 (Jn. 3:1-8)

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This is my personal summary of the preaching of Rev Dr Stephen Tong on 16th August 2009 in True Way Presbyterian Church. It was preached in Chinese with English translation.

Passage: John 3:1-8

Nicodemus said that those who wanted to know the truth would realise that Jesus came from God because of the miracles He had performed. Jesus was not bothered by Nicodemus’ courtesy and communicated consistently His message in one single direction.

Nicodemus’ words was indirectly an acknowledgement that the Pharisees did not have God with them. But they have the academic learning and theological knowledge. This is the irony of many seminars and theology schools in Christianity today. Before studying many people still want to preach the gospel but after graduation many people become cold. What then is the purpose of academic qualification? Nicodemus discovered that Jesus had what he did not have. This Galilean did not have the same academic credentials like them but He had the presence of God with Him. Before Jesus, Nicodemus found his weaknesses completely exposed.

Jesus declared to Nicodemus that unless he is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. The first time the kingdom of God was mentioned in the New Testament is the declaration to repent as the kingdom of God is near. That is the preaching of John the Baptist and of Jesus Christ. When John the Baptist declared that the Kingdom of God is near the whole nation went to him and was baptised. They were captured by the message of John the Baptist in the wilderness. John the Baptist preached the kingdom of God. Jesus Christ preached the kingdom of God. And the Jews were waiting for the kingdom of God. But what is this kingdom?

Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” Nicodemus could not understand and his immediate response was wondering how he could re-enter his mother’s womb. In the gospel of John, Jesus said 25 times the phrase “I tell you the truth” and this is the two times Jesus said this phrase to a single person.

Nicodemus’ response did not show a right understanding. So Jesus said to him the second time with more explanation, “I tell you the truth, if a man is not born of water and spirit, he will not enter the kingdom of God.” Jesus knew that Nicodemus came with a genuine heart. So Jesus gave him an honest answer. But some people are interested in the process of arguing but not the truth. Many Christians are interested in listening but not doing.

Jesus gave an honest answer to an honest question. We might not necessarily understand just because we are honest and sincere. If we find the wrong person, we will not get the right answer. The kingdom of God mentioned by John is the era of the New Testament. When Jesus mentioned the Kingdom of God, He meant the salvation that had come because of His sacrifice. When Nicodemus thought of the kingdom of God, he was referring to the political aspiration of the Jews. So the same words have different definitions. It is just like the word “justice” has different definitions to different people. For the Jews, justice is when God made them greater than all other people. For the Muslims, justice comes when all their enemies are destroyed. But for Christianity, justice came about in the forgiveness of God through the death of Jesus Christ.

Notice the differences between the words of God-incarnate and the words of an intellectual. Although an intellectual person has knowledge in many areas, he is not able to bring everything together consistently. The Word of God is the highest wisdom. Ethics and morality teach you how to live well, science teaches knowledge of nature and philosophy teaches how to be wise. But New Testament touches the issue of life and death and this question surpasses all others.

The revelation of the Word of God in the Old Testament will not go away, but Nicodemus needs to abandon the Jewish culture which had hindered his understanding. The gospel is not meant for the culture, it is the other way round. When the church is no longer faithful to God and His word, it will bind itself to the authority of the world. So Jesus tell Nicodemus that he is stuck in the letters of the law. He said these people need to be born again.

He explained that if he was not born of water and spirit he could not enter the kingdom of God. People who have been born again will see mysteries above all mysteries. But those without spiritual life so cannot see spiritual principles. People who do not understand think that Christianity is superficial. The Pharisees despised Christ and John. But the apostle John wrote this chapter, not Nicodemus. John is not an academic. The greatest tragedy of academic world is that in their generation they despise the non-academics who later became the objects of academic study for many centuries to come.

Why put water and spirit together? Water represents cleansing and spirit represents holiness. So it represent a new holy life after cleansing. Both come from above. John the Baptist said he baptised with water but the One who came after him would baptise with the Holy Spirit. So water represents cleansing. The Holy One use the Holy Spirit to cleanse us.

In the next portion on verse 6, Jesus said flesh gave birth to flesh but spirit gives birth to spirit. He led Nicodemus to understand step by step. He explained to Nicodemus that it is impossible for the flesh to give birth to spiritual life. We get our physical life from our parents. But the Holy Spirit gives us a new life in Christ when we enter into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and that is being born again.

The Holy Spirit gives new life after a sinner hears the message of the gospel which contains the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, through which salvation is accomplished.

The Bible has four terms for this: born of God (it is the will of God), born of the Spirit (it is how salvation is executed), born of the Word (from the angle of truth), and born of the gospel (which is the content of faith). God accomplished His plan of salvation by sending His Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross and resurrected by the Holy Spirit’s power, through which new life is given to believers. In another word, a born again person must have heard the gospel, and the true gospel must be about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christ is not a religious leader but He is the Word becoming flesh. Only Spirit of God can give us a new life. Sin is put to death through the death of Christ, and we are made alive again through the resurrection of Christ. We have a new life because of the resurrection of Christ. Paul said that Christ was put to death for our transgression and resurrected for our justification (Rom. 5:25).

Jesus said flesh gives birth to flesh and spirit to spirit. This explains that there is no need to go back to the mother’s womb because one must be born again of the spirit, not of the flesh.

Hence Christians are born twice and die once. The first birth is physical life and the second birth is when the Holy Spirit gives new life and with this we will never perish. Physically we will die but spiritually we will never die. We will be with Christ forever. The wages of sin is death. So non-believers are born once and die twice. After physical death, those who have no relation with Christ will be separated from God forever. The first death is physical. The second death is everlasting. It is an eternal segregation from the Source of Life, the countenance of the Father.

The comparison between the flesh and the spirit also segregates the Old from the new Testament. The passover Lamb was sacrificed so that the angel of death would pass over the Israelites and they would not die. They were delivered from Egypt and went into the wilderness to worship God. But God allowed them to wander for 40 years in the desert before entering the Promised Land. They crossed the Red Sea and river of Jordan. These two water bodies segregate 3 regions. Leaving Egypt means freedom. But the 40 years in the wilderness is not the Promised Land. God allows His people to go through trials and God wants to see how they react.

First group who are in Egypt are unbelievers. The second group are the people who have faith but they are not complete. Many Christians are saved but they are still going around the desert for 40 years. They are wasting time, wasting grace and tempting God. Many christians are in this state. The last group are those who enter into Canaan. Does that mean they enter into heaven and relax? Not at all. In Canaan, they have a lot of enemies. They have to fight and overcome. Victory comes when Holy Spirit fights with your flesh and anxiety. So Christians are called to continue to battle against their flesh and overcome with the power of the Spirit.

The last portion of the sermon expounds on the error of trichotomy, i.e. human being constitutes of 3 parts, body, soul and spirit. This has been summarised in an earlier sermon Honor of Humanity Part 2, 6th Aug 2006.

The unbelievers belong to the flesh. The believers belong to the spirit. The words “flesh gives birth to flesh and spirit gives birth to spirit” can be extended to Christians’ daily life. Those born of the spirit and live by the spirit are in Christ. After being born again, some believers still follow the flesh. So there is a battle between the spirit and the flesh. Paul was not referring to the physical and spiritual part of human being when he mentioned this battle. He was referring to those who are already in the status of a saint, and still have to fight the battle to come to full obedience to God.

After saved, we choose whether to obey the spirit or the flesh. We are in this state of contradiction. May God help us all. (To be continued…)

Jesus and Nicodemus (Jn. 3:1-8)

08.50

This is my personal summary of the preaching of Rev Dr Stephen Tong on 9th August 2009 in True Way Presbyterian Church. It was preached in Chinese with English translation.

Passage: John 3:1-8

When Jesus was in Jerusalem, many people wanted to believe in Him because of His miraculous signs. These people were not the Pharisees, but the crowd. The Pharisess despised Him. But in John 3, there was one Pharisee who came by himself to Jesus at night. He was learned and experienced in life. In the gospels, there were only two persons who came to Jesus alone. The other person was a young ruler who came and knelt before Jesus. No other ruler would come to Jesus that way, generally all rulers despised Him.

Nicodemus was a very unusual Pharisee. The other Pharisees were angry with Jesus for clearing the temple as they thought they were the masters and Jesus had no authority. But not all Pharisees are like that. There are still the good among the bad. Nicodemus was observant of the incidents that happened. Although Jerusalem was the world for Pharisees and they were the expert religious rulers of the Jews, Nicodemus observed that Jesus performed things he never saw before. The miracles He performed was absent in centuries.

Nicodemus was a good person. An arrogant person is not able to accept others to be better than himself. Why do we always look at other people’s errors but not search ourselves and our own faults? Why can’t we appreciate others’ goodness? From this measurement we can discern a good from a bad person. Nicodemus is great. He discovered that despite all his achievements he could not compare to what Jesus had done. He admit that he was insufficient. It is difficult to step back and let others take over. It is difficult for an old person to let a young person take over the world.

Nicodemus’ life was not constrained by hatred. He appreciated what he lacked. He was happy that a younger person was better than him. This is how a great leader is like. Nicodemus was a scholar, a Pharisee, a leader of Israel, so he was a person of high status. But he humbled himself. Humility is not inferiority or mere courtesy. A humble person is a person who is not satisfied with what he has achieved in his life and seeks the truth endlessly. A humble person is willing to learn even from the young. Nicodemus was probably around 60 years old and he looked for Jesus who was 30 years old, and he called Jesus “Rabbi”. When we acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God, it makes sense. But Pharisees do not acknowledge that. He looked for Jesus at night because he knew that all the Pharisees despised Jesus. If he visited Him in broad day light, there would be a lot of misunderstanding so he was wise in his timing.

He knew that the Pharisees had been very hostile against Jesus and perhaps Jesus might reject him who came as a Pharisee. So he greeted Jesus with sincerity and respect and he acknowledged his need. He said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God.” He said “we” referring to all people who recognised Jesus. But Jesus did not accept it just because people honored Him. When the young ruler said, “Good teacher.” Jesus said, “Why do you call Me good? There is no one good except God.” Was Jesus good? Why did Jesus ask that question when called as a good teacher then? When the young ruler called Jesus “good teacher” he should have known that only God is good and therefore he had used the term meant for God on a man. You could not address Jesus as good unless you know He is God. If you know that He is God, why call Him with a human term “teacher”?

Seemingly Jesus rejected the address “Rabbi”. Jesus accepted the addresses “the Son of God” and “Lord”, and He never rejected worship. All these mere men could not accept. What the Jews could not accept is the way Jesus equated Himself to God. Nicodemus said Jesus could not do those miracles unless He came from God. Should Jesus be comforted by the fact that among all religious leaders who despised Him finally there was someone who honored Him? Jesus did not. He said, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” Jesus immediately touched on the most important point. Jesus only met Nicodemus once and this is the only opportunity to discuss an important issue with a Pharisee.

Jesus used the shortest time to declare the greatest words. Why did Jesus only preached once such an important teaching? And why was such an important sermon preached only to one person? Jesus only spoke to Nicodemus about being born again. The most self-righteous are the hardest to receive life. Nicodemus only believed when he was very old, after Jesus died. But the next day after that conversation, Jesus spoke to a Samaritan woman and she believed immediately. Why is it so hard for a religious leader to believe? Jesus told him it is not about doing, it is about being born again.

Nicodemus talked about knowledge, Jesus talked about spiritual life. Nicodemus spoke as the scribe and the expert of the law who was most equipped academically. But Jesus pointed out that he might have a lot of knowledge but he had no spiritual life. The Pharisees would boast of their knowledge, “We know!” to which Christ replied, “You have no life.”

After being born again, you will have a new way of seeing and thinking. You will see the kingdom of God. When Jesus mentioned about the kingdom of God, Nicodemus did not pay attention. Instead he paid attention to the ‘new birth’ and wondered how an old person could go back to his mother’s womb. He could not understand Jesus’ words. Jesus spoke about the kingdom of God and the Jews talked about the kingdom of God as well. But the same term has different meaning. The kingdom of God according to the Jews is how Israelites could be freed from Roman occupation.

Jesus did not want to change the topic. He kept pointing that being born again is necessary. If a person is not born of water and the spirit he could not enter the Kingdom of God. (To be continued …)

Jesus at the Temple Part 4 (Jn. 2:12-25)

22.02

This is my personal summary of the preaching of Rev. Dr. Stephen Tong on 2nd August 2009 in True Way Presbyterian Church. It was preached in Chinese with English translation.

Passage: John 2:12-25

Because we are able to see the Invisible Lord and have a close relationship with God, we can appreciate how true His love is for us. In contrast, the gods of other faiths are very fake and far away from them. But in Christianity God lived among us in the flesh. Christ became the Mediator between God and men, enabling us to return to God. This Christ is in eternity and also temporal history. John 2 tells us how He lived as a human being and represented men before God.

The first miracle Christ performed was at a wedding. It showed how important marriage is in God’s eyes. Marriage tells us the meaning of union, teaches to make sacrifices and to honor another person. In union, you have to sacrifice yourself and honor others. You change position from receiving to giving, especially when you have your own children. Marriage is only meant to happen once in one’s life, so those who enter are frequently those experience, and through this they are forced to be humble. Marriage can be very tiring and exhausting but we need to pay a price for something valuable.

The second incident in John 2 did not seem related to the first. But it actually demonstrates an important attribute of God. The first incident demonstrates His grace and the second incident demonstrates His righteousness. He came to the temple as the Lord of justice. He came as the Lord of the temple.

Jesus did not say much to those who refuse to understand. Towards the hypocrites, He did not spend much time explaining to them. Even when He spoke what He should, He allowed them to misunderstand Him. But He is willing to give the Holy Spirit to those who are elected to understand His will. If it were not for God who open your heart, none will come to Him. If He chose us, we cannot resist Him. He will capture us with His grace that is beyond our understanding. Those who are not elected will not be able to enjoy this grace. If He does not want to give you His grace, He will just allow you to keep opposing Him. This doctrine of sovereign grace is clearly portrayed in the entire Bible. He did not say anything to King Herod when He met Him. He revealed the silence of God. When God is silent, we should fear. When God suddenly keeps quiet, what is happening in the universe? When God did not want the Israelites to understand, there is not a prophet for 400 years.

Jesus’ words “Destroy this temple and I will raise it up in 3 days” become the motivation for the religious leaders to kill Him. When Jesus rose from the dead, the disciples suddenly understood what it meant to destroy th temple and to be raised in 3 days, that the temple is the body of Christ. Only in Christ could we enjoy the presence of God and understand the covenant of God. It is where God is one with us.

The first time Jesus entered Jerusalem He did many miracles. But John did not record in detail these miracles. Why did John not record the miracles in Jerusalem, but recorded those in Galilee? It would seem that the miracles performed in the capital is the most important.

Is it true that you should preach important sermon only when there is a big crowd? If so, isn’t it a waste that Jesus spoke some important words only to Nicodemus? God said His will is above our will, His ways above our ways. How many miracles did He perform in Jerusalem? Why is it not recorded? John only recorded that many people believed because of the miracles He performed.

Many preachers fail right here. If the audience are just a few old people, they do not talk seriously. But if thousands of people are listening, they preach the most important sermons and take a lot of photographs.

If more people come, it is revival. Is it true? The greatest church leader could be the most deceiving. This is a very serious error. Is everything we hear and accept in line with the truth? Very often they are half-truths. Some are the truths that have been changed and twisted because of wrong motivation. Some errors are significant and consistent. They are errors that are consistent in totality, hence you might not recognise it.

John 2 shows us that Jesus did not appreciate that there were supporters among His opposers. He would not accept them just because they believed in His miracles. He would never use people’s support as a platform for greater work. This is the mark of an honest person. He is not seeking after the glory of men. Truth is not established on numerical success. Indeed He performed many miracles when He first entered Jerusalem and many people believed Him but He would not entrust Himself to them. The passage tells us that Jesus was able to look at their motives. If Christianity is dependent on how many people could accept, then we should thank people for coming. But Christianity’s value is intrinsic in itself, independent on whether people accept it or not. Its value is not dependent on what others feel and think. If my value if dependent on whether you like me or not, then my value does not exist. In the market, value is dependent on demand. If many people want your product, the price will increase. If there is no demand, your product has no value.

When many people rejected His preaching, Jesus said, “Father, I praise you, for this is Your good will.” When He was on the cross and there was no glory, He said “It is completed”. When He said that, nobody believed. Not a single church had been established. Not a single Christian soldier had been trained, not a gospel had been written. It must have been the greatest failure of all. All the founders of faith died a good death and most in old age. Christ is the only one nailed to the cross and humiliated to death at a very young age of 33 in unjust manner. Where then is His value? It is not dependent on the recognition of men. He denied all those acknowledgement when people supported Him on His first visit to Jerusalem.

Those who lower standard of God to achieve numerical success are the true destroyers of the temple of God. The larger the church is, if they do not preach the truth, they are doing greater damage.

John said Jesus did not need men’s testimony about men, for He knew what is in men. With such a great declaration John 2 ended. This is the first time the book of John displayed the omniscience of God. In the beginning was the Word, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us; He was full of grace and truth, and finally, He would not entrust Himself to those who do not truly believe.

What is your motivation of coming to God? To receive His grace? His miracles? Hence you are interested in Him? Jesus is not interested in such people. Do you believe in Him because there are good things in Him? He will search your heart, illuminate you, judge you and correct you. Do you think just because you believe Jesus will accept? When we are one-sided and not wholeheartedly following Christ, He would not accept us. Matthew 7 say when we serve God in our own way He will not accept us. Jesus said “Not everybody who called me Lord, Lord would enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of My Father in heaven. In the last days, many would ask, ‘Did we not chase out demons and perform many miracles in Your name? ‘ Then I would say, ‘I never knew you. Away from Me, you evildoers.’” No religious Scriptures is as stern as the Bible. These are the people who actually perform miracles and drive out demons in Jesus’ name. They seem very successful. If you find a preacher who could drive out demons and heal diseases in the name of Jesus, would you say he is not of the Lord? Surely many people who see such miracles and sign will accept that as the mark of true disciples.

But Jesus would not thank you just because you work for Him or appreciate you just because you believe in Him. Why could these people cast out demons in Jesus’ name if their faith is fake? God honors His own name. When the pharisees sit on the throne of Moses, we still have to listen. Hence you will be most astonished that those who drive out demons and perform miracles are not recognised by Christ. They thought they recognise Christ but Jesus said He never knew them. This is most horrifying. Jesus would not entrust Himself to those who believe just because of His miracles.

If you truly want to follow the Lord, Jesus said to pick up your cross, to love Him more than anything else or else you are not worthy to be His disciples. This is very tough but this is His standard. How is our faith like? Is it based on popularity? Do you pray to the Lord to bring you into His will? Believe in Him based on the principle of truth, not signs and wonders. When Jesus accepts you and recognises you, do not be afraid even if the world does not recognise you. Conversely, if the whole world welcome you, you are finished if Jesus does not welcome you.

Jesus at the Temple Part 3 (Jn. 2:12-25)

13.54

This is my personal summary of the preaching of Rev. Dr. Stephen Tong on 26 July 2009 in True Way Presbyterian Church. It was preached in Chinese with English translation.

Passage: John 2:12-25

The first time the word ‘temple’ is mentioned in the Bible is by Jacob in the wilderness when he was escaping from his brother Esau. At that time, there was no building. He had a dream where there was a ladder that reached up to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending upon it. He declared that this was the temple of God. The temple is not a building. It is where God’s presence is, where God reveal His truth and His will. It is the place where men respond to God and offer sacrifices to God. In the era of Jacob, nobody explained that to him. His understanding surpassed physical things. He could see what others could not. The temple is the intermediary between men and God where heaven and earth come to a harmony.

Jesus Christ is the temple of God. When we think about the temple, we need to think about Christ being the intermediary between God and men. He is the One who made us holy. When He cleansed the physical temple, He wanted us to understand that only in true holiness we could see God. The religious leaders studied the Scriptures but could not understand. It is the tragedy of religion. A lot of established seminaries become dead religion after many years. Academics that lose the fervor of true religion are dangerous.

John 2 shows a comparison between a true and a false temple. There were people who served God on surface but Jesus considered them as those who destroyed the temple. He said, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it in three days.” But they were not interested in the first portion of His words and only focused on the second portion on raising the temple in three days and thought He was crazy. This passage shows the decadence of religious leaders. The sellers who were chased away did not challenge Jesus, likely realising their mistakes for doing business in the temple. But the religious leaders challenged Jesus. Often times lay people could see a mistake but religious leaders and preachers could not. The fact that Jesus had to clear the temple every year showed that they had never repented. The religious leaders invited the sellers back.

Jesus had deep zeal for the temple of God. When Jesus was 12, He was brought by His parents to the temple in Jerusalem. The people there were astonished by the depth of His understanding. The parents were worried about Him because He stayed in the temple after they left. When they found Him again, He asked, “Didn’t you know that I must be in My Father’s house?” Since His childhood, He knew the temple was His Father’s house. When Jesus cleansed the temple, He came as the Lord of the temple. He was angry when He saw how the religious leaders had insulted and abused the temple.

When Paul was in Athens, he was filled with anxiety because of the idolatry in that place. He was not behaving like a tourist taking pictures when he saw all those idols. What sort of response do we have when we see such things? Do we see as God would have us see it? We should not behave like the rest of the world.

So when Jesus went into the temple, He was filled with zeal. The religious leaders were angry that He had interrupted their business-making opportunities, so they asked for miracles as the proof of His authority. But Jesus did not answer their question. He was gracious to lay people but was not as friendly to the religious leaders. Instead of answering their question, Jesus simply said to destroy the temple and He would raise it in three days.

People have selective hearing. We have the whole Bible but only want to hear parts of it. Jesus first said “Destroy this temple”, indicating that they were the destroyer of the temple of God, and they completely ignored this part. They only heard that He said He would raise it in three days. They said proudly that it took 46 years to build it so how could He claim to raise it in 3 days? They could not understand it. But God had determined that those who were not meant to understand to always remain ignorant.

The disciples did not understand either at that time, but when Jesus was raised from the dead they remembered His words and finally understood. Jesus was determined to be crucified.

Pendeta Stephen Tong

The Words of Heaven and Earth (Jn. 3:31-36)

The Spirit of True Ministry (Jn.3:29-36)

Christmas Gospel Rally 2009 (Indonesian)

Christmas Gospel Rally 2009 (Mandarin)

Light Enters into Darkness (Jn. 3:19-21)

The Reason God Sent His Son (Jn. 3:17)

The Summary of the Gospel (Jn. 3:13-16)

Jesus and Nicodemus Part 6 (Jn. 3:13-15)

Jesus and Nicodemus Part 5 (Jn. 3:9-15)

Jesus and Nicodemus Part 4 (Jn. 3:1-12)

Jesus and Nicodemus Part 3 (Jn. 3:1-12)

Jesus and Nicodemus Part 2 (Jn. 3:1-8)

Jesus and Nicodemus (Jn. 3:1-8)

Jesus at the Temple Part 4 (Jn. 2:12-25)

Jesus at the Temple Part 3 (Jn. 2:12-25)

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