Go ye therefore, and teach all nations

https://www.facebook.com/sing.f.lau/posts/10213677687071937
April 24, 2019

Matthew 28
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

This is a popular passage but little understood. People automatically relate this passage with their notion of the Great Commission.

May I help you to think a little with a few questions?

1. To whom did Christ address these words?
- To His Apostles.
- special signs and power were promised to them, no one else.
- Mark 16:17 KJV — And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

2. What were they sent forth to do?
- to teach the gospel truth and to convert them to Christ.
- to teach "all nations", don't just stick to their own people. Go to the Gentiles; Christ has redeemed His people out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. Rev 5:9

3. Who are those of all nations that are capable of being taught the gospel truth and be converted to Christ?
- Only those whom God has effectually called out of their native state of sin and death.
- They weren't sent to assist God to regenerate those dead in trespasses and sins.

4. In what context were the Apostles to teach the converts to observe all things whatsoever Christ has commanded them?
- The context is the local churches; those that are converted are to be baptized, and gathered into churches of Jesus Christ.

5. Did the Apostles finish the work they were commissioned, the so-called GC? What did they say?
- Ro 10:18 "But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went [past tense] into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world."
- Col 1:5-6 "For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth:
- 1Tim 3:16 "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory."

Did you read "...into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world," "...which is come unto you, as it is in all the world," "... believed on in the world"?

Yes, they completed the so-called GC delivered to them.

6. Did the Lord fulfill His promise to be with the Apostles "alway, even to the end of the world"?
- Yes, He did, even to the end of the Jewish world in 70AD.
- Have you understood Matt 24:14????! "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come."

 Peruse this short article here:
https://things-new-and-old.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-great-commission-to-whom-given-is.html

"Baptists are like gipsies!"

"Baptists are like gipsies!"

https://www.facebook.com/sing.f.lau/posts/4777834079247
April 24, 2013 

Cantoro Joe wrote:
My analysis of the Baptists... they are like gypsies... a peculiar community.

I inquired:
Cantoro, if Baptists are like gipsies, what are the baby sprinklers like? <LOOOOOOL>

Cantoro replied:
The Baptists were communities never part of Rome, and never joined any protestant groups... Independent from giant Christian bodies, and even the government...

Rather than rigidly observing the Sabbath, looks like the Baptists tried to have fellowship with each other through activities on a more regular basis...

Luther believed a Supreme Bishop should have rule over a district... Calvin believed in order for a country to prosper, the government and church had to work together...
=======

OK, FB friends... your opportunity to instruct this young lad on what the Bible say on the matter. Thanks.

Cantoro Joe
Somehow, looks like you all are like a distinct subculture within a big culture...

Sing F Lau
If you have done your ANALYSIS, you shouldn't be saying things like "Somehow,", "looks like," etc!!!

You speak like an ignorant but puffy young man!

What kind of analysis you have done!!!

No need to use such awe-inspiring words like "my ANALYSIS" when you are just plucking statements out of thin air!!!

And just what is the "big culture" you have in mind?

And what is the "distinct subculture"?

Is the big culture the one exemplified by the Singaporeans?

Or is it exemplified by the beeee peeeeeee churches?

Or one exemplified by your personal culture?

What's the standard of reference!!!

Please tell us! I would love to hear your ANALYSIS!!!

Cantoro @ "The Baptists were communities never part of Rome, and never joined any protestant groups... Independent from giant Christian bodies, and even the government..."

The Baptists were indeed never part of the Harlot church. They were indeed OUTSIDE of the Roman Catholic Churches and were severely persecuted by the Harlot. The true bride of Christ is the object of hatred and persecution by the Harlot! Two women - one is the Bride of Christ, and the other is the Harlot and pretends to be!

Baptists were never part of the RCC... they were of the free churches outside the RCC. So, they were never protestants like the daughters of Harlot are. The daughters of RCC did rise up to protest against their Mother church! Baptists are not protestants!

However, as you assert, the baby sprinklers are daughters of Mother Harlot!!!

Yes, the Baptists are indeed independent of the giant Christian bodies... but Baptists are completely dependent upon the Lord Jesus Christ, the only true Head of His Church! Baptists recognize NO other ecclesiastical authority except that of Jesus Christ.

Baptists understand that they are to be loyal citizens of the countries they reside in, but that the kingdom of Christ is DISTINCT from the civil government, and is not of this world!

I'm speaking of the Baptists I'm acquainted with; not for ALL Baptists.

Covenant Consciousness - do you have it?

LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle?
who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness,
and speaketh the truth in his heart.
He that backbiteth not with his tongue,
nor doeth evil to his neighbour,
nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.
In whose eyes a vile person is condemned;
but he honoureth them that fear the LORD.
He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.
Ps 15:1-4

https://www.facebook.com/sing.f.lau/posts/4777532791715
April 24, 2013

Covenant Consciousness - do you have it?

Or is it all a matter of convenience with you, come and go as you like?

"We do now, in the presence of God, and this assembly, most solemnly and joyfully enter into covenant with one another as one body in Christ."

Have you ever pledged like that?

Here is an old Church Covenant that was common in the past. The church I pastor has a similar Members' Covenant. The founding members put their names under the Covenant. Whenever new members are added, the Covenant is first read before the hearing of the church, and then new members sign the same Covenant when they are received into membership - always when the church observes the Lord's Supper (which we observe once a month).

======

Church Covenant

Having been led, as we believe by the Spirit of God, to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior and, on the profession of our faith, having been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, we do now, in the presence of God, and this assembly, most solemnly and joyfully enter into covenant with one another as one body in Christ.

We engage, therefore, by the aid of the Holy Spirit to walk together in Christian love; to strive for the advancement of this church, in knowledge, holiness, and comfort; to promote its prosperity and spirituality and to sustain its worship, ordinances, discipline, and doctrines; to contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of the ministry, the expenses of the church, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the gospel through all nations.

We also engage to maintain family and secret devotions; to religiously educate our children; to seek the salvation of our kindred and acquaintances; to walk circumspectly in the world; to be just in our dealings, faithful in our engagements, and exemplary in our deportment; to avoid all tattling, backbiting, and excessive anger; to abstain from the sale of, and use of, intoxicating drinks as a beverage; to be zealous in our efforts to advance the kingdom of our Savior.

We further engage to watch over one another in brotherly love; to remember one another in prayer; to aid one another in sickness and distress; to cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling and Christian courtesy in speech; to be slow to take offense, but always ready for reconciliation and mindful of the rules of our Savior to secure it without delay.

We moreover engage that when we remove from this place we will, as soon as possible, unite with some other church where we can carry out the spirit of this covenant and the principles of God's Word.

(This Church Covenant is found in the back of some old Hymnals)

When did God save you? Does it even matter?

 https://www.facebook.com/sing.f.lau/posts/4745284705533
April 17, 2013 

When did God save you? 

Have you believed the gospel of your salvation, or have you been deceived with some horrid lies?

Many LIARS teach that it is when you heard their preaching and decided to heed their call to believe in Jesus!

That is VERY BAD NEWS - if God has to wait for you to believe in order to save you, you will never be saved! By nature it is absolutely impossible!  

The Scriptures say these about you:
- when you WERE without strength, i.e. IMPOTENT to believe!
- when you WERE ungodly, i.e. CONTRARY to God's will!
- while you WERE yet sinners, i.e. in the STATE of sin and death!
- when you WERE enemies, i.e. WARRING against God! 

When you were still in such pathetic and miserable condition:
- Christ DIED for you, the ungodly! He didn't wait till you believe!
- God COMMENDED His love towards you! He didn't wait till you believe! - Christ JUSTIFIED you by His blood! He didn't wait till you believe!
- Christ SAVED you from the wrath to come! He didn't wait till you believe! 
- Christ RECONCILED you to God by His death in your stead (when you have no real existence yet, except in the mind of God, and yours names were already in the Book of Life! ) 

Romans 5: 
6 ¶ For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 
7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 
9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 
10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

Koh Han Seow
Is this question important? If I am saved, it doesn't matter to me when I am saved. If I am not saved, it is not relevant to me. From my finite knowledge and understanding, I am saved when I believe in Jesus but from God perspective, I am saved before I was born. Am I wrong for saying that? Am I a liar for saying that?

For the verses you quoted above, who are "we"? Believers in Rome? Elect? Ungodly or sinners (everyone)?

Sing F Lau
Is the question important?
That's a good question!

It all depends - if there is any importance in speaking the truth of God, then it is. To too many, speaking, and representing the truth of the gospel is not important at all.

And remember please, the question is very specific and precise: "When did God save you?"

Who are the "we" in Rom 5:6?

"For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly."

It is a collective pronoun embrace ALL for whom Christ gave Himself to redeem, and not one more and not one less, i.e. as many as God the Father gave to Him to redeem. They are the elect, and by nature ungodly, dead in trespasses and sins, even as others.

Sing F Lau
Is this question important?
Read this short illustration... an accomplished accountant like you will easily understand.

Supposing a benefactor FREELY credited a $1b to your personal account and paid off ALL your debts while you were a condemned and declared bankrupt.

He then sends his servant to bring the good news to you and calls you to believe it. (Good news is news of what has happened; the good news is not what will happen if a condition is met, i.e. good news is not a conditional offer!).

And suppose you believe the good news of the benefactor's FREE and gracious act, and by faith, you go to the bank to draw on the money.

Wouldn't it be SCANDALOUS and TREACHEROUS and CRIMINAL of you to claim and insist that it was your believing the good news and going to the bank THAT CAUSED the gift to be freely credited to your account by the benefactor?

The truth is, your believing and going to the bank EVIDENCES the great deed that HAS BEEN DONE for your sake! If he had not done it for you, there would have been no such good news for you to believe!

Your believing or not believing does not in the slightest manner affect the reality of the things that are already done for you! But your believing enables you to experience the blessings of those things already done for you by free grace.

Yet so many insist that... they are justified before God by or through their faith in Jesus Christ! Upon their believing in Jesus Christ, God justifies them, i.e. God gives them the righteousness of Christ upon their believing in Christ! What a lie!

Sola fide is a great lie of the devil - it is treacherous and scandalous, injurious and criminal.

Do you begin to understand the great issue involved?

It is not just semantics; the devil will whisper that into your ears!

It is Christ's honor and truth at stake!

https://things-new-and-old.blogspot.com/2012/10/sola-fide-is-great-and-injurious-lie-of.html/

Things New and Old: Sola fide is a great and injurious lie of the devil!

Sing F Lau
"From my finite knowledge and understanding, I am saved when I believe in Jesus but from God's perspective, I am saved before I was born. Am I wrong for saying that? Am I a liar for saying that? "

==========

If your finite knowledge and understanding is guided and informed by the Bible, you would confess that your believing is an effect and evidence of God having saved you.

Christ himself clearly said, "Except a man be born again, he CANNOT..." A man's believing is evidence that he has been born again, i.e. saved and given eternal life by God.

You are not wrong in what you are saying... probably just deficient. There are several distinct aspects of salvation taught in the Holy Scriptures.

God purposed the eternal salvation of His elect;
Christ accomplished that salvation for all the elect at the cross;
The Holy Spirit applies that salvation - prospectively and retrospectively - to each elect personally.
The gospel ministry brings a child of God to know and experience the temporal blessings of that eternal salvation.
The eternal salvation is consummated at Christ's return at the end of the gospel age

Hulan Bass
Bro. Sing, you were only saved in a CONTRACT (Covenant) sense. God's Family is literally,. physically, tangibly, materially, organically, visibly, etc., saved eternally when ??? Accorrding to the Covenant we read - "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the VOICE OF the Son of God, and NOT the voice of a preacher - John 5:25; 6:63.

Hulan Bass
Bro. Sing, the "Doctrine of Eternal Children" is totally FALSE. Okay?

Sing F Lau
Whoever believes in eternal children??? Primitive Baptists?
None is a child of God until regeneration.

Sing F Lau
"God's Family is literally,. physically, tangibly, materially, organically, visibly....."
========

Is that PB's lingo???

Which of those bombastic lylylyly words are found in the Holy Scriptures? <LOOOOOOL>

Hulan Bass
All of the Elect Family of God, were initially born, in the flesh, in the Family of the First Adam.

Hulan Bass
They were just born into the wrong family, so that is why the Family of God, needs to be "born-again" into God's Family.

Hulan Bass
Adam's Fall is clearly that of the initial term = TOTAL DEPRAVITY.

Sing F Lau
Elder Hulan, you speak in such a CIRCUITOUS manner!!!

'Born again' necessarily implies the former birth, obviously into the family of Adam; and the new birth by God brings a man into the family of God. Before the new birth one DOES NOT belong to the family of God though one may be among the elect of God!!! An elect DOES NOT belong to the FAMILY of God until born of God!!!

Hulan Bass
Bro. Sing, a GREAT BIG AMEN.

Charles Page
all the elect will be regenerated, so what is the issue?????

Sing F Lau
The wee issue is: baptismal regeneration, gospel regeneration, decisional regeneration... or immediate regeneration without any means?

Is it by grace or by work-grace?

Charles Page
let's see...it is immediate and by grace, no works!!! correct?

Charles Page
my wife bought 4 pairs of pants today on sale - she said if you are going over there I am going to get you some new clothes. All my old pants are too big since I have lost so much weight!!!

Then this afternoon My granddaughter and I were playing with Laura's laptop and I showed the pic of you and the lizard and when she saw you dressing it to eat she jumped up and ran away!!!

Paul Pendleton
Amen sing. God gives life Himself. He is the only means needed. It is important because God says it. I thank God for the gospel because He does use that. If nothing is preached I have nothing to believe. Faith which believing flows from is a fruit of the Spirit. No one will ever believe unless they have been born from above first. Sing I appreciate these words. Not too many people preach that. Keep preaching it!

Sing F Lau
Charles... it is easier to fix loose pants.... alter them to fit. If they are too tight... than input of a bird and output of an elephant... a tough life!

PJ Walters
The only way regeneration could be properly viewed as mediate (not immediate) is if Christ were viewed as its Mediator; but the immediate-ness of it is obviously concerning that the One performing it acts directly: without mediation.

Sing F Lau
"the One performing it acts directly: without mediation" - aptly put! He does it all Himself, without any aid or help outside of Himself.

And many preachers and their followers HATE such simple truth.

PJ Walters
The Self-Existent is self-sufficient!

Charles Page
no means regeneration!!!

Charles Page
I opposed indulgences and all papists, but never by force. I simply taught, preached, wrote God’s Word: otherwise I did nothing. And then, while I slept, or drank Wittenberg beer with my Philip of Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that never a prince or emperor did such damage to it. I did nothing: the Word did it all. Had I wanted to start trouble . . . I could have started such a little game at Worms that even the emperor wouldn’t have been safe. But what would it have been? A mug’s game. I did nothing: I left it to the Word. -Martin Luther believed in mediate regeneration

Earth and hell aren't the same!

https://www.facebook.com/sing.f.lau/posts/4725875860324
April 13, 2013 

The ability to rightly divide the word of truth is debilitated and crippled by preconceived notions.

Here is one classic example:

"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." - Rev 12:9
THAT IS, Satan was cast out (of heaven) into the earth, together with his angels.

"For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.." 2Pet 2:4
THAT IS, the angels that sinned were cast (from the earth) down to hell... and kindly note that hell is not the same as the lake of fire!

Preconceived notions cause intelligent men to insist that the two passages speak of the one same event... even though:

- Rev 12:9 plainly speaks of Satan and his angels were cast out [of heaven] into the earth, and

- 2Pet 2:4 plainly speaks of angels that sinned being cast down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment."

The two passages are speaking of two different and distinct events - that is plain and obvious... but preconceived notions cause a student of God's word to insist that both are speaking of one same event!

And to make them speak of the one same event lead to serious contradictions and inconsistencies... but preconceived notions prevent them from seeing such.

Jerry Chapin
You are absolutely right, Bro. Sing...that's why we need to rightly divide the word and keep the context in context...

Sing F Lau
Now compare 2Pet 2:4 with Jude 6
"For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.."

"And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day."

Evidently, these two passages speak of the same event.

2Pet 2:4 speaks of the angels that sinned, and the judgment upon them. Jude 6 speaks of the same with more details about the exact nature of the sin committed.

These two passages speak of something completely different from that in Rev 12:9 "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." Satan is specifically and particularly distinguished from his angels. 

In Rev 12:9, Satan is involved, and all those angels involved with him were cast out of heaven into the earth. This is commonly understood as the fall of Satan with his angels.

2Pet 2:4 and Jude 6 involved the already FALLEN angels on earth who sinned by not keeping/remaining in their first estate but left their own habitation. As a result, those angels were reserved in /delivered unto everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

Satan himself suffered a different fate at a different time - read Rev 20:

20:1 ¶ And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

Sing F Lau
Jude 6 "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day."
======
What is the sin committed by those angels?

Read 2Pet 2:4 and the next verse.
4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

Is there any relation between the two verses?

Is there any connection between "God spared not the angels" and God "spared not the old world"?

What brought about the destruction of the old world?

Was the sin of those angels, i.e. not keeping/remaining in their first estate but leaving their own habitation, involved?

Sing F Lau
Consider these:
1. At the fall of Satan (before the fall of man) he and his angels were cast out of heaven down to the earth. Rev 12:9

2. Some of the fallen angels sinned, and they were cast out of the earth into hell and were reserved in/delivered unto everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Jude 6 / 2Pet 2:4. But Satan and the remaining fallen angels remain on earth...

3. Satan was bound by Christ. Rev 20:1-3.

These are distinct events!

What is the sin committed by the angels who kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation?
When did that sin take place in human history?
What effect did that sin have on mankind?

Thanks.
=====

Peruse this article for an answer:
https://things-new-and-old.blogspot.com/2012/05/the-sons-of-god-versus-son-of-god.html