Tag Archives: salvation

The Righteousness of God is Revealed to The One Who Has Faith

Posted on by
2

The Book of Romans (#3)

Romans 1: 17

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

PDF copy

Last time we studied Romans 1:7-16, in which Paul says that the gospel is the power of God for salvation. When we listen to the gospel, the power of God goes into our heart and changes us! Today we continue to look at the next verse:

NASB Romans 1:17 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.” (Rom 1:17 NASB)

Here the word “it” refers to the gospel, so we can read the passage like this: “For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.”

What does “from faith to faith” mean? From whose faith is the righteousness revealed and unto whose faith?

Here I am not playing with words. These are important questions, and through the centuries many articles have been written on this verse, Romans 1:17. Many people have expounded this verse and debated on its meaning. You can go to read all those articles in different commentaries if you want, but I will not follow those commentaries. I will try to explain this verse in very simple language so that even young Christians and non-believers can understand it. My aim is to preach the gospel to all people to the ends of the earth, that’s the command of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Continue reading →

The Gospel is The Power of God for Salvation

Posted on by
2

The Book of Romans (#2)

Romans 1:7 – 17

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

PDF copy

Today we continue to study the book of Romans. Last time we studied Romans 1:1 – 6, now let’s look at the next passage.

NASB Romans 1:7 – 17 7to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. 9 For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you, 10 always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you. 11 For I long to see you in order that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established; 12 that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine. 13 And I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented thus far) in order that I might obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 Thus, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.” (Rom 1:7-17 NASB)

Saints – Holy ones, those separated to Yahweh God

In verse 7 Paul said, “to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints”; I have explained the meaning of the word “saint” in my earlier sermon “Saints” in the series called “Titles of Christians”. You can refer to that sermon to understand the origin and meaning of the word “saint”. (All my previous sermons have been uploaded to our YouTube channel @cdc_online; sermon transcriptions are available at www.gospelandsalvation.com.) Here I won’t go into all the details, but will simply say that saints are the holy ones, those separated to Yahweh God.

Continue reading →

Slaves of Righteousness

Posted on by
2

Titles of Christians (#8)

Romans 6:18

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

PDF copy

Christians are slaves of righteousness

We have studied 7 titles of Christians in the Bible, today we are going to study another title – this is the 8th title.

 NASB Romans 6:18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. (Rom 6:18 NASB)

Do you feel uncomfortable with this verse? We have just been freed from sin, yet the next moment we become slaves of righteousness! We leave one type of slavery only to fall into another type of slavery. Does it mean that we never have freedom from slavery? What does it mean to be slaves of righteousness? Now let’s look at the Bible to find the answers step by step.

Continue reading →

The Small Gate and the Narrow Way

Posted on by
2

The Kingdom of God and Eternal Life (#14)

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

PDF copy

In the last two messages we have looked at two very important questions: Why is it that we cannot have eternal life simply by doing good deeds? And will Christians who still live in sin have eternal life? Today we are going to study another important aspect of eternal life.

NAU Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

Here the Lord Jesus says that if we want to have life, we will have to choose the narrow gate because only the small gate and narrow way leads to life, but few people find it. Most people will enter though the wide gate and the broad way, but that only leads to destruction.

  • Why do so few people find the small gate and the narrow way? Why do most people find the wide gate and the broad way?
  • What do the small gate and the narrow way stand for? What do the wide gate and the broad way stand for?

Now we will look into the word of God to find the answers.

Continue reading →

Will Christians who still live in sin have Eternal Life?

Posted on by
2

The Kingdom of God and Eternal Life (#13)

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

PDF copy

Today we are going to study another important aspect of eternal life, that is, after we have come to know Yahweh God and the Lord Jesus Christ, if we continue to live in sin, will we have eternal life in the kingdom of God?

I had this question in my heart before I became a Christian, before I committed my life to Yahweh God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? At that time I thought I was quite a good person, even though I did sin, but those were very minor sins such as selfishness, arrogance, looking down on people who were worse than me, being jealous of people who were better off than me, and I did tell some minor lies a few times etc. But I felt that all these were very minor sins, while some so-called Christians had committed far more serious sins than I, they were far worse than me. If on Judgment Day Jesus Christ will punish me for those minor sins that I have committed, yet grant those so-called Christians eternal life in the kingdom of God, that would be really unfair! This judgment is unfair! That’s why I didn’t want to become a Christian!

Praise be to Yahweh God, He understood me, He didn’t punish me. On the contrary He granted me grace upon grace, He helped me again and again despite my criticism against Him and His Son. Finally His great love changed my heart! You can read my testimony “Goodness and Lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life” on the CDC website.

I think many people think in the same way as I did. Today we are going to look at this question: Will Christians who still live in sin have eternal life in the kingdom of God?

Continue reading →

Why We Cannot Have Eternal Life simply by Doing Good Deeds?

Posted on by
2

The Kingdom of God and Eternal Life (#12)

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

PDF copy

In the past messages we have looked at various aspects of the foretaste of eternal life in the present age:

  • The link between eternal life in the present age and eternal life in the kingdom of God in the future.
  • Eternal life is to know the only true God Yahweh and the Lord Jesus Christ.
  • Eternal life in the present age is a life of freedom, a life of righteousness, a life of peace, a life of joy, and rivers of living water flowing from the innermost being.

Today we are going to study another aspect of the Kingdom of God and eternal life. First let me tell you the true story of a middle aged woman; we will just call her Auntie C. She did not believe in Yahweh God and the Lord Jesus Christ, but followed Chinese traditions in worship­ping different deities and family ancestors. Auntie was a very moral person, she took very good care of her husband and her children, she had three girls and one boy; all the family members loved one another deeply.

Continue reading →

Eternal Life in the Kingdom of God

Posted on by
2

The Kingdom of God and Eternal Life (#8)

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

PDF copy

Recapitulation

Brothers, sisters and friends, in the last several messages we have studied different aspects of the kingdom of God; I hope that the glory of the kingdom of God will attract you to pursue after it. Today we are going to look at one important topic: eternal life in the kingdom of God.

Introduction

Many years ago I met a Christian sister, she said that having eternal life is different from entering the kingdom of God, because the term “eternal life” and the term “kingdom of God” never appear together in the Bible! According to her reasoning, if you want to have eternal life, you only need to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, then you can have it right now! But if you want to enter into the kingdom of God, you have to obey the commandments of the Lord Jesus, which are very difficult! She said that if you believe Jesus is the Son of God, you will receive eternal life right away; after that even if you don’t obey the Lord’s commandments, you won’t die, because you already have eternal life! Someone who has eternal life would not die, right? If you don’t obey the Lord’s commandments, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God, but it won’t affect your eternal life!

This teaching is dangerous; it can lead to very serious consequences in people’s lives because people would simply disregard the commandments of the Lord Jesus as well as the commandments in the Old Testament Law, they have nothing to fear anymore! Indeed there are whole groups of people who believe this teaching. Through all these years, the more I know about the Bible, the more I see the danger of this teaching. That’s why I decided to address this wrong teaching.

Continue reading →