Let us turn to our scripture text.
Hebrews 11 verse 6.
Hebrews 11 verse 6, and I shall read.
But without faith it is impossible to please
Him, for he that cometh to God must
believe that He is, and that He is
a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
The Lord bless the reading of His word.
Pastor will now lead us in prayer before
bringing God's message to us.
Without faith it is impossible to please Him.
Let us look to God in prayer.
Eternal God, Thou who art our loving Heavenly
Father, how happy we are to be in
Thy house every Lord's Day, according to Thy
provision and to Thy holy commandment.
Once again this morning, Lord, we seek Thy
face for all our needs, especially our
spiritual needs.
Help us to turn to the right path,
that we should be concerned much for others
than ourselves.
For the many who still do not know
Thee, O Lord, we pray, especially
for 85% of our Singapore population
who do not know Thee, and we are
to pray that they come to know our
Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
That we also pray constantly for those in
authority and who govern over us, for our
Prime Minister, for all our ministers, that
they will come to know Jesus Christ, to
be the Son of God, to whom they
must all look up, without whom we have
no understanding and we are lost.
We pray that You will keep us from
all evil, the terrorism that is in the
world today, and the wars and rumours of
war which are so true, which may come
even early in our lifetime.
So we seek Thee, even that we, day
by day, may know how we should live
our life that is pleasing to Thee.
This morning, we are to pray for our
own church members, for all those that are
sick, who are not able to come to
service, and we think, especially of our dear
Elder Mahadevan, that he is now under
chemotherapy.
O Father, may Thou touch him and heal
him according to our cries.
He desires to serve You, even when he
is sick, he would like to be very
much a participant of worship here.
As Lord, we are going to the Holy
Land, leading 47 pilgrims.
We need Your mercies and Your help and
guide to keep us from all harm and
evil, grant us safety back and forth until
we return.
Loving Father, so we pray Thee to use
us as missionaries to spread the Gospel.
Every member of our church can do the
same.
We pray Thee that Thou would guide them
and lead us in every way in the
days ahead.
In Jesus' Holy Name we pray.
Amen.
The title of my message is, Without Faith,
It is Impossible to Please Him.
So we see how important is faith in
our life.
Nearly a hundred years ago, my grandfather was
pastor of a small English Presbyterian Church in
Upper Serangoon.
All Chinese pastors were paid by the English
Presbyterian Mission.
And every month when my grandfather went to
get his salary, as I was the eldest
grandson, he would bring me along.
My grandfather preached that we must believe in
order to be saved.
I sat in the congregation.
Week after week, I disagreed in my heart
and offered good works instead.
I needed to do something good for God.
For how can salvation be obtained so easily?
Believe and be saved, said my grandfather again.
Then suddenly I woke up to hear the
word, Believe, from many other declarations in the
Bible.
The first one is most famous.
For John 3.16, For God so loved
the world that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not
perish, but have everlasting life.
Then Paul in Romans 10.9 said, That
if thou confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus, if you confess, that is outwardly you
state your belief.
Believing outwardly that He died on the cross
to pay the penalty of your sins, and
shall believe in thine heart that God raised
Him from the dead.
This belief of Jesus rising from the dead
is most important because if He did not
rise from the dead, we are still in
our sins.
We must believe in the heart that God
raised Him from the dead, that then we
will be saved.
I preached this message at our Easter sunrise
service and I said, we so many times
think I must do this or do that
to please God.
But no, the first thing is you must
believe that He rose from the dead, then
you will be saved.
We are going to the Holy Land in
less than a week's time, to be exact
this early Thursday morning.
When in the Holy Land, the last place
we will visit is the empty tomb.
And when we see the empty tomb and
believe that Christ rose from the dead, as
I believe all our pilgrims going with me
this time will believe, then we will all
be saved.
What a blessing of visiting the Holy Land
to those who believe.
But we must not think of just only
that.
We must not only believe Jesus rising from
the dead to be saved.
You will be surprised by other things.
We must also believe, we must believe also
that our Lord was born of the Virgin.
Do you believe that?
Isaiah 7.14, that He was conceived of
the Holy Ghost.
Matthew 1.20. As you come to church
week after week, you have always thought like
me before, you have to do something good
for God to be saved.
Not do something good, but rather, first of
all, believing in Jesus to the point.
Doesn't the New Awakening relieve us from the
heavy burden that was there?
But the Bible says also, but without faith,
it is impossible to please Him.
For he that cometh to God must believe
that He is, that He is God.
You believe that Jesus is God also.
And our faith in God must believe that
God is, and in all things, showing ourselves
a pattern of good works, according to Titus
2.7, which is the Apostle Paul speaking
again.
Our faith in God must believe that He
gave Himself for us, that He might redeem
us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself
the peculiar people, zealous of good works, like
in Titus 2.14. Our faith in God
must be subject to principalities and powers.
Christians are law-abiding citizens, and they keep
to the orders of government, to obey magistrates,
and to be ready for every good work.
Titus 3.1. Our faith in God
must be careful to maintain good works again,
says Titus 3.8. And finally, according to
Titus who exhorts us, let us all maintain
good works for necessary uses, that they be
not unfruitful.
Titus 3.14. On one hand, the
Bible teaches us that we are saved simply
by believing.
On the other hand, we are told to
be saved, we must also maintain good works.
Both are right.
Now we say in the following, as you
read to me the words of James, is
a test of good works.
And I want you now to turn to
James, all of you having your Bibles.
Our Bibles are not meant to be brought
to church and taken home.
But here, as you read them, please follow
James 2.14 until the
end.
What doth it profit my brethren?
Though a man say he hath faith, and
hath not works, so can faith save him?
What I read just now was, both statements
are right.
If a brother or sister be naked and
destitute of daily food, verse 16, and one
of you say unto them, depart in peace,
be warm and filled, notwithstanding ye give them
not those things which are needful to the
body, what doth it profit?
Use of faith must be proved by works.
Yes, a man, verse 18, 17, even so
faith, if it hath not works, is dead,
being alone.
Yes, a man may say, Thou hast faith,
and I have works.
Show me my faith, thy faith, without works.
And I show thee my faith by my
works, which is right.
Thou believest that there is one God, thou
doest well.
The devils also believe and tremble.
But wilt thou know, O vain man, the
faith of not works is dead?
Was not Abraham, verse 21, was not Abraham
our father justified by works, when he had
offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
Just now how faith wrought with his works,
and for works was made, made perfect.
And the scripture was fulfilled, which said, Abraham
believed God, and it was imputed unto him
for righteousness.
And he was called the friend of God.
You see how that by works a man
is justified, and not by faith alone.
Likewise, also was Rahab, the harlot, justified
by works, when he received the messengers, the
two spies, and then let them out by
another way, lest they be caught by the
police of Jericho.
For as a body without the Spirit is
dead, so faith without works is dead also.
What is the title of our message, of
our sermon?
Without faith, indeed it is impossible to please
Him.
But our faith must be balanced by good
works.
Do we have this?
Let us pray.
Oh Lord, as you come to church, each
week help us to improve in our understanding
and your understanding of thy word, especially on
our salvation.
We pray all this in Jesus' name.
Amen.