Who is Jesus? Gospel Rally Day 2

Really anticipated day 2 of the rally. To see so many of God's servants co-working hand in hand, publishing, ushering, choir, AV, counsellors, its just so inspiring to see so many people working hand in hand for the prospering of the gospel. Here's below transcript of his day two sermon.

We might think that we do not need the Lord.
The Big Question. Where will we spend eternity?

From the temporal, can we reach eternal?

From the relative, can we reach the absolute?

If death is the end of all things, why bother being good? We have an eternal spirit. Let us not only place emphasis on things temporal. Only then will our lives not be a waste.

The person most magnificent, most influential, most holy, most inspiring in cultures across the world, is Jesus.

If Jesus didn’t come, what kind of a society would we have today? Technology, science, knowledge have advanced but the sinful heart of man has remained constant. The intelligent will continue to do evil.

It is recorded in Matthew chapter 16 that in Caesarea, Philippi (a big Roman city then), a big canal was constructed to bring water to the city. Much idol worshipping had been going on in Caesarea.

Jesus asked his disciples. “Who do you think I am?” Some of his disciples replied, “Elijah”. Some replied, “One of the prophets.” Others, “You are the resurrected John.” The disciples summarized the views of people like undergraduates who often quote others in their thesis. Jesus wasn’t satisfied with their answers. He asked again. “You! Who do you think I am?” Peter replied. “You are Christ, son of the Living God.” Peter truly knew who he was. With these two short phrases, Peter summarized the teaching he had obtained in the Law and during his discipleship with Jesus.

Jesus replied, “My Father in Heaven has revealed this for you.” We can’t know Jesus from quotations. To know Jesus, just as he has said, it has to be God’s revelation to you. Hence, do not haphazardly believe, but do not haphazardly him.

We want to understand Christ. Truth will not disappear just because we do not understand or don’t believe. Truth has been there ever since. The Truth, when it is ready to be introduced to us, will be more accurate than any of man’s search attempts.

Only when God reveals, only then we can truly know Him. The revealer, and the one revealed, are the same.

Confucius, Shakyamuni both did not claim that their scriptures are from God. Mohammed, claimed that his revelation was from God.

There are two groups, 1. religion with the revealed faith and 2. religion without revelation.

Revelation comes from the God of Abraham. The Jews and the Muslims, both believe in the same God.

We want to look at true and false revelations. We have to and want to be very careful concerning revelations, lest we lose eternity.

Many times, we believe in gods because of promises of wealth or healings. Man loves to make use of gods.

Peter’s reply to Jesus, condensed the Old Testament’s doctrine into two phrases. “You are Christ, son of the Living God.”.

Socrates, Muhammad, Confucius, had many years to carry out their teachings. Jesus lived a short life in comparison. “Birds have nest, Foxes have holes but the Son of Man has no place to rest.” This person who lived such a difficult live, didn’t build any church, school, Christian army, didn’t write any hymns… yet, he inspired the greatest civilization, cultures, worshipped by so many.

Yesterday, we talked about his morality. He challenged “Who among you can point out my sin?”. Many find means in a bid to expose his weakness, but yet can’t find anyone more just, more good, more compassionate than he is.

He manifested all these qualities in his life. He surpasses all the greatest man on earth. Where lies the secret? It is because he did not come from the world.

Speech will reveal the character of a person. Speech will dictate what kind of a heart you have. A good tree bears good fruits. The things you say will show the kind of a person you are.

Those from Heaven will speak words of Heaven. Your speech will reveal your source. Jesus came from Heaven and spoke of Heavenly things. You can hear from his words the essence of Heaven and not the product of human culture. In John 3, he said, “One from Heaven speaks of words in Heaven.” John 6:33, “What I have told you, is Spirit, is Life.” Neither Confucius nor Socrates, have said that they are life. Yet Jesus in John chapter 8, proclaimed “I am the light of the world.” In chapter 14. “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one can go to the Father except through me.”

I believe not because of miracle healings in my old age, but because of the absolute truth. If there is such a truth, I know that I have to believe. His lifestyle, words, speech are different from that of this world’s. Let’s examine him from his words.

John chp 3. ”Came from heaven, spoke of heaven.” What’s so special about Jesus’s words? A closer examination reveals to us that surely we cannot be equating him to common man!

Matt 5:17-18, 24:35 He spoke. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but the laws of God will not.” The earth was created from nothing. Since it is a creation, it has an ending. It is not eternal.

Where does eternal things come from? For example 2+2=4 This mathematical law of addition, when did it start? Did it start at some great discovery? No. It has been there since eternity. Before the world till the end of the world, 2+2=4.

Jesus said. Matt 24:35 "Truly I tell you, not a single word will pass away." He has declared himself as the eternal one.

When I truly understood these words from Jesus, I marveled, trembled at his great words! No one has ever boldly said these things and with such authority! When you truly understand these words, you too will marvel and tremble! He said these words and with such authority because He is God! Governments, companies may change their words, but the Word of God will not change.

Hence this word is to be believed. Your faith will be built on the revelation of God. If Jesus is God, his words will contain the essence of God. Jesus transcends time. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but the laws of God will not.” "Truly I tell you, not a single word will pass away."

Jesus transcends space. Space is no matter how far the distance, it can be measured. It is finite. To be infinite means to transcend these constraints.

Jesus said, “You on earth. No matter where you are, when two or three gather in my name, …” Whether here or in Jarkarta, Jesus is present. He transcends space.

These words cannot be spoken by any great person, but our Lord, because He came from Heaven, spoke of Heaven. “Go to everywhere and make disciples of all nations.” Comparing Jesus’s words with Socrates.
Socrates “I am a citizen of the world.”
Jesus “The world belongs to me.” “When you preach to the nations, I will be with you for eternity, till the ends of the world.”

His words that transcends time and space have been said to us. Is he just a religious leader?

Jesus said to man “Come to me, I will bring you to the path of life.”

At this point in time, Rev Tong started to question Christians if they had come yesterday and for those whom were not present, where were they. He further questioned if Christians had brought non believing friends with to the rally but to his great disappointment, the number were few. He rebuked Singaporean Christians to remind them that this is a gospel rally where the objective is to bring the unsaved to Christ, not to improve on our wisdom and knowledge. He went on to say that the state of churches in Singapore is bad and we need a revival. I fully agreed with him. May faithful servants of the Lord preach and also rebuke in God’s truth.

Please note that the above contents has not been vetted by Rev Tong or anyone else and has no relations at all to his internation ministry (stemi.org). There may be inaccuracies in my understanding reflected in this transcript. Hence please do not treat the contents as straight from Rev Tong but rather, it is a result of my imperfect efforts with an aim for these messages to be shared for the edification of man.