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This is section two of four of Living as God's Community. Recorded at our YCCA Church Camp held in Penang, Malaysia. Our speaker is Pastor Benny Ho, former senior pastor and current leadership mentor of Faith Community Church in Perth, Australia.

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Before I bring you the word this morning, I just want to do a quick memory recall, okay? See if you can remember the things that we talked about yesterday. Last night we talked about six things that spiritual maturity is not about. Can you remember what they are? It's not about age. Okay? What else? It's not about your appearance, it's not about achievements, things that you do, it's not about academics. It's not the accumulation of God's word, it's the application of it that really matters, right? It's not also about activities in the church because discipleship is done from the inside out and not outside in. And it's also not about giftedness, it's not about abilities, but it's really rooted in an abiding relationship with Jesus Christ. So that's what we talked about last night. And then I also gave you five growth essentials to ensure that we keep on growing. Remember what those five essentials are? Practical teaching, right? We all grow because we receive practical teaching. Uh, secondly, is private disciplines, okay? Just to be able to get rooted in the Lord through private disciplines. Personal ministry. Those who don't serve don't grow. And thank God for providential relationships, right? Relationships that uh make a difference in our life. Mentoring relationships, things like that. Uh pivotal events, stuff happens in life, how you respond to it will make all the difference, right? So that's what we talked about last night. And this morning, we're gonna move on to talk about what spiritual maturity is all about. Okay, what is spiritual maturity? And to begin, uh, we're gonna read for you the text again in Colossians chapter 1, verse 28 and 29. And in a way, this is like the main thing that we want to bring across. So Colossians chapter 1, verse 28 and 29. Let's do it Chinese church style. Let's read it out loud. Read it to one another and read it uh to yourself. Okay, here we go. He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. And to this end, I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me. Let's pray. We have a word of prayer. Lord, I ask this morning once again that you anoint our ears so that we may hear. Lord, let your word be spoken in clarity, in simplicity, but also with authority. And may your word minister to us, speak to us, renovate our minds and our hearts so that we become more and more aligned to what your word says. And help us, Lord Jesus, in YCCA, to become truly a disciple-making church. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. In these verses that we just read, it articulates what the Apostle Paul is contending for with all that he had. He definitively declares that his ministry goal is not just to proclaim Christ, but it's to present everyone fully mature in Christ. Now, what does this word mature mean? Last night I briefly tell you the word mature in the Greek is the word teleos, which means complete or full grown. And this word implies ripeness in character and in experience. It's like a fruit that is finally ripened in Chinese, which is chen so lia. It's it's ripened already, and it is used to describe the full development, okay? A full development of um mature manhood as compared against the immaturity of childhood. So it's almost like uh a mature man compared to an immature child. And when it is used in the biblical context, it means to be mature or to be complete in Christ. Okay, and I think all of you would agree that the reality is humanly speaking, only Jesus can be the complete and perfect man. How many of you agree? Only Jesus can be that complete and perfect human because he alone completely fulfills the Father's will. He alone is perfectly obedient. And this side of heaven, therefore, I think we will not be able to progress beyond what is found in Christ. Because in Christ alone is fullness, in Christ alone is perfection. And this side of heaven, I don't think anyone can progress beyond what is found in Christ. Therefore, if you were to ask, if I were to say to you, what is spiritual maturity in one word, I think we can say it is Christ-likeness. Isn't that right? Right? If Christ is the gold standard, if he is that fully mature, fully perfect person, fully complete person, because he alone fully obeyed the Lord, he alone fully fulfilled the will of God, right? Then when we fully mature, we become like Jesus. He is what we look like when we are fully mature. You and I can only be as mature as we are like Christ and no more. Christ alone. His character alone is complete and perfectly balanced. His nature alone is fully like his father. He alone has all the fruit of the Spirit, all the gifts of the Spirit in one person. He is the gold standard. Can I put it that way? Christ is the gold standard in which God has set for us. So now the question I need to ask you is this tell me, is it even possible for you and I to reach complete Christ-likeness this side of heaven? Is it possible for you and I to reach complete Christ-likeness this side of heaven? Okay, let me ask. How many of you say the answer is yes? How many say okay, one or two, brave souls? Okay. How many of you say the answer is no? How many of you think some of you don't know what I'm talking about? If you were to ask me, Benny, is it possible for us to reach perfect? You know, how is it possible for us to reach complete Christ side this side of heaven? I I think honestly, my answer to you would be yes and no. Why? Because biblically, I have to say that it is possible. Why? Because God has given us everything we need to be like Christ, to live in godliness. Uh, I got this from 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 3 and 4. Listen to what the apostle Peter tells us. He says, His divine power. How many of you know you have the divine power of God in us? Right? His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who calls us by his own glory and goodness. And through this, he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature that has escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. What is Peter saying here? He's saying that God has given us everything we need to live perfect lives. If not, then when when Jesus tells us, be perfect as I am perfect, he's asking us for the impossible. So I have to say it is possible. But the only thing is this it is it is a moment by moment experience. We can actually live that victorious Christian life, but it is not a permanent state this side of heaven. It is a moment-by-moment experience. Okay, if not like for example, right now, you could be so inspired and so moved, you you want to give yourself fully to the Lord. Okay, and you you fully surrender your will to the Lord, and but there's nothing stopping you tomorrow from sleeping back. Are you with me? So, in that moment, it's a moment-by-moment experience. Like right now, okay, maybe I'm going through a church camp. I'm feeling really excited, I'm feeling really, you know, fully inspired. So my state is like, wow, I'm really here. I've really progressed. Christ is the gold standard, I've really progressed, but there's nothing to say that you will not sleep back tomorrow. It is not a permanent state, this side of heaven, but it is a moment-by-moment experience. Why is that so? I'll tell you why, it's because this side of heaven, sin, and Satan is still around to oppose us. He's still here to push us back, he's here to oppose us, and we all understand that we are still in a spiritual battle. But the Bible promises here's the good news the Bible promises that one day sin and Satan will be totally eradicated. Hallelujah. And we are all waiting for that day when we will become like him. When will that happen? It's the day when we see him face to face. Glorification. The day when we see him face to face, in an instance, we will be transformed to be like him. See, we are all waiting for that day. The apostle Paul put it this way in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 18. And we who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. In other words, the more we behold him, the more we uh the more we walk with him, the more we yield to him, we are progressing. We are actually being transformed. But every now and then we fall back and we go forward, and that's our experience in life, isn't it? Sanctification. That's the process we are going through. But the question now is this since we are on this progression, we are on the spectrum, um, how then do we know that we are growing in maturity? I think the only way is this measure ourselves against the gold standard. Measure ourselves against who Jesus is and what Jesus says. See, the standard is not what the church says or what society or culture thinks it is not even what your leader is like. No, the there's only one measurement that's the fullness of Christ or Christ's likeness. He alone is the gold standard. Paul put it this way in 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 12. He says, We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves to themselves, they are not wise. What he's saying is this we don't get to define what spiritual maturity is by comparing against each other. You don't. God already defined for us, and Jesus is the gold standard. How then do we measure spiritual maturity? Now we know with physical maturity we can measure quite definitively, right? Using weighing scale. You step on the weighing machine, you already know whether you grow or not. Or measuring tape, that can measure physical growth. We can even measure intellectual growth through assessment, examinations, things like that. But how do you measure the fullness of Christ? In other words, I know we say that Christ-likeness is the standard, but what does that mean? What does that look like when it is fleshed out in real life, in our actual spiritual journey? Now, if I were to ask you what does spiritual maturity look like, I think there are many, many ways to answer this critical question. So many ways to answer it. But this morning, what I'd like to do is for us to focus on one pertinent verse that the apostle Paul wrote in 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 5 that crystallizes three very important aspects of what spiritual maturity looks like. Okay, Paul, I think, painted for us a picture here, and this verse is found in 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 5, and this is what I like to focus on for our session this morning. 1 Timothy 1 5 reads like this, and then I'll give you the context. Okay, here's the verse. The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Okay, now here's the context to this verse. The Apostle Paul had this um, he plants churches, right, by going from city to city. Then, whenever he raised a church, what he will do is he will then raise elders and he will appoint someone to be the pastor of the church. Then he moves on to another city. And often when he leaves a pastor behind, it's one of his spiritual sons, someone that he has been raising. And so in the city of Ephesus, after Paul planted the church in Ephesus and in Ephesus, he left behind one of his spiritual sons by the name of Timothy. Timothy was left there to look after the church. And one of Timothy's primary role at that time was to battle against false teachers of the law. Because the false teachers were trying, wherever Paul went to plant churches, they followed after him. He called them dogs, you know, because they are like barking, always following him. And then whenever he left, he they will go in. And then they tried to take the people back to the law. And so Paul left Timothy there to ensure that these false teachers uh were not will not keep deceiving the people. So he left Timothy there so that he can challenge the people to hold on to the fundamentals of the faith and don't go back to the law. So, what are some of these fundamentals? And this is where Paul then went on to tell us the goal of all of his apostolic instruction. You see, what as an apostle, what is the role the apostle? Lay foundation. These are the fundamental truths of the church, you cannot move away from it. And then he said, the goal of my apostolic instruction, my foundational teaching is this love which comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. And what Paul is articulating here is a decisive aim of his apostolic teaching. This is the core purpose of his apostolic ministry. This is the end game of his disciple making. Are you following me? And that's why he says the goal of this command, this apostolic command, is end up with these three things. This is one picture, brothers and sisters, of what spiritual maturity can look like when it is fleshed out. Are you you getting where I'm going with this, right? And the this and if if if let's say you are truly uh being established on a firm foundation and you really grow up to be to be a disciple, what would you look like? I think you will become disciples who exhibit love from a pure heart. You live with a good conscience and you possess a sincere faith. That's what being a mature disciple looks like. Now, let's unpack them one at a time. Okay, and we're gonna look at this one verse. We unpack these three very critical things when it comes to spiritual maturity. So let me outline for you now three marks of spiritual maturity. You're following me so far? Yeah? And let's, if we get this, then we we can have a mental picture for ourselves. This is what I'm pursuing. Okay, here we go. Three marks of spiritual maturity. Number one, it's a pure love. A pure love. Jesus said in John 13, verse 34 and 35 a new command I give you. Love one another. As I've loved you, so you must love one another. And by this, everyone will know you are my disciples if you love one another. What a definitive statement, right? And it's good. Jesus made it clear here that love is the hallmark of spiritual maturity. Because by this everyone will know you are my disciples if you love one another. And that was why Paul later said in 1 Corinthians 13, verse 13, now these three will remain faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of this is what? Love. See, when faith is fully mature, it will manifest itself as love. We start in faith, but we're gonna end up in love. All the laws of the Old Testament summed up in this one new commandment to love one another. But this love that our Lord Jesus is talking about, now here's a distinctive thing. Listen carefully. This love that our Lord Jesus is talking about is not the sentimental, man-centered, self-absorbed, indulgent love that people tend to gravitate towards. Because men tend to reduce love to this feel good, you okay, I okay, it's all good, you can do no wrong. All inclusive, spineless kind of indulgent love. This is what the internet is spilling out every single day. You know, love, you know, everything is right, it's okay. Let's be all inclusive. You know, if you like this, you go ahead and do this. Your truth is your truth, my truth is my truth, but all of us are good. Everybody loves everybody. But in the midst of all of that, I think it can be a counterfeit love, which is a mark of spiritual immaturity. Are you following me? But that's why Paul makes a very critical distinction here in 1 Timothy 1:5. He said that it's not just love, not just any kind of love. It's not self-indulgent kind of self-exalt kind of love, but it is a love out of a pure heart. It is a love that comes out of a pure heart. True love, therefore, brothers and sisters, is one out of a purity of heart. True love is not blind to wrongdoing, it is not blind to sinful immorality. True love is when we are not afraid to call out what is wrong and to correct one another in love according to the standards of the Bible. So don't reduce love to something mushy, emotional feeling. But true love must come out of a pure heart. It cannot be ignorant, it cannot be you know uncaring about what is wrong. Because what's right is right if nobody's right. What's wrong is wrong if everybody's wrong. Just because society thinks it's okay to sleep together without getting married doesn't make it right. Are you with me? Doesn't make it right. You see, and and true love, it must come out of that pure heart. It's it's so important. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 15. Listen to this. Paul said, instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head. That is Christ. What he's saying is this it is only when we are willing to speak the truth in love to one another that we can grow to spiritual maturity. There is no maturity without us actually speaking the truth in love to one another. Hello? You're there? You're with me, right? You're hearing, huh? It's so important. It is only when you and I are willing to speak the truth in love to one another that we can grow towards spiritual maturity. Now, what does it mean then to speak the truth in love? I think it is the willingness to take the risk of being rejected, being misunderstood, or become unpopular, or even being offensive rather than to tolerate what is wrong. That's what cell groups are for. That's what connect groups are for. That's why we grow deeper with one another, so that we can become authentic with one another. And when that happens, that's why we can speak into each other's life, and that's how people grow into maturity. People don't grow just by doing whatever we want. People grow because we are held accountable to grow. See, and that's why one of the things that thrills me is when members feel safe, right? To actually come out. To me after a sermon or something, and then they clarify things I've said that may be misleading or unclear, sometimes biblically out of context, and they actually would feel safe to come out and talk to me about it. I think that's the right thing to do because that's how we grow one another. That's why in a cell group you see things that are funky, things that people are doing that you know is not in line with God's will. We must have the courage sometimes and the safe environment, you know, and the and the ability to lovingly speak into one another's life. We can't just affirm everything. And then people will continue as they are. But until we are willing to speak the truth in love to one another, we cannot grow to maturity. You know, in our church, uh when we have an auditorium, uh, one of the things we agree on is that there'll be no beverages in the auditorium. When the first building first opened, I was the first guy to walk in with a cup of coffee. I forgot. I just walk in a cup of coffee, and this young usher, you know, he's about probably 14 years old or something like that. He saw me walking in, he put his hand out like that and said, Stop! Cannot. All the other ushers quickly run to him and say, Hey, you know who he is or not? You know who he is or not? He said, Don't know, but he brings coffee, cannot. When I get up to preach, first thing I do before I preach, I get out there and say, I want to affirm that young man. Takes courage to actually tell the SP off, you know, that it's not, you you we agree not to do this. I say it takes courage to do that. That's the way it should be. No one's above the rules. Everybody doesn't need to follow. And I think that's right. See, the ability to learn, to take courage to correct one another. And I really appreciate that. I love it. You know, preaching team. We have a preaching team. Uh, every Tuesday we meet together as preachers, people who preach, and then what we do is that um I have to submit my script to the group a few days before so that they can look at what I'm preaching and they input into it. That's what we do. So at one hour meeting, first 15 minutes, everybody give feedback on how he how the preacher did last Sunday, and then so that we can get better, and then the next 45 minutes, we run through the script of the other guy that's going to preach on Sunday, and then we give our input. And I appreciate that so much because being an older person, sometimes I need my younger preachers to tell me whether this is going to connect with the people or not. So it's my younger preachers who will tell me, Pastor, I think uh this sermon, my young people is going to get lost now because you there's nothing here that would relate to the young people. And then I'll turn to them, then you tell me, you know, what should I what should give me a story, and then you'll give me stories so that I could connect with the young people. And I really appreciate that because that's how we grow one another. Does that make sense? Uh and there are times when you're telling me, Pastor, um, how long do you think this will go? Because you can count the number of words, you know. How long do you think this will go? And then I'll tell you, I think about 35 minutes, they say, ha ha ha ha, they all laugh. And then they'll say, no, this one is going to be 50 minutes. And then we cut. Then we can reduce it, you see. So does that make sense? That we we have this ability, we create platforms where we could actually speak into each other's life and make things better. But in moments like this, when we need to give feedback, when we need to speak into each other's life, we want to make sure that we have purity of heart on both sides. Because to the one who could those who correct must, or those who want to give feedback, we've got to do so out of a pure heart that wants nothing but the best for the other party. Okay, and he or she must learn to give feedback with a humble, not a prideful, I know better than you spirit. You cannot have this, I know better than you. I eat rice more than you eat, that kind of thing. I I I yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever, I forgot. I eat salt more than you eat rice, kind of posture. But if we have that kind of mentality, it's gonna come across wrong. You know why? Because remember this good principles are lost in bad posture. I can have very good principles to share with you, but if I got a bad posture, I say it's not just what I say, it's how I say it. You get the posture right, and the whole thing can come across. Because the truth is this, if the messenger is offensive, the message is lost. That's why I like Indian proverbs, you know. Sometimes the Indians have got a wonderful way of putting things. You know, there's an Indian proverb that goes like this after you cut off somebody's nose, it's no point giving him a rose to smell. Okay, it makes sense. It makes sense. You cut off the nose, and what for you gave him a rose to smell? You can't smell anything, right? So the point is this is if the messenger is offensive, the message is lost. Good principles, but lost in bad posture. So if we the thing is, if we do not get our posture right, hear me? In your cell group, when you give feedback to one another, even in your workplace, the truth is this you don't get the posture right, feedback can be weaponized. Feedback can be weaponized if it doesn't come with empathy, if it doesn't come with understanding, it becomes a weapon. And people sometimes use this phrase, speak the truth in love, to demolish people. Hey, Brother Richard, it's because I love you, then I tell you, okay, then whack, whack, whack, whack, and tear the poor furler down. That is demolishing, it's not really edifying at all. It's posture, it's not just what you say, it's how you say it. So watch the posture of our heart. Don't just be insensitive or unkind because it tears down more than it builds up. Okay? And it's not just the right decisions that we are trying to make, but it's the right disposition. So I like the way that Andy Stanley uh put it. He says to speak the truth in love means to speak the kind truth. I like that. It means to speak the kind truth. How many of you agree? Truth can be spoken either harshly or it can be spoken kindly. And it takes care, it takes empathy to be able to say the truth kindly. Truth still must be said, but it needs to be said kindly. It takes thoughtfulness, it takes care and empathy. Conversely, the person who is receiving correction must have the humility also to learn from it. And this is how we learn to speak the truth in love. This is how we give grace, and this is how we receive grace through one another. And in this way, we truly have each other's back and we help spur one another towards maturity. That's what living in biblical community is all about. We are learning to love one another even as I have loved you, the way Jesus put it. Let's read again, huh? John 13, verse 34 and 35. This time, let's read it out loud. A new command I give you. Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. And by this, everyone will know you are my disciples if you love one another. How do you love one another? It's the way that Jesus loves us. Not the mushy, emotional, you know, sentimental love, but it's a love out of a pure heart. First distinctive mark of spiritual maturity is a pure love. Here's number two: a good conscience. A good conscience. Let's look again at 1 Timothy 1 5. The goal of this apostolic instruction of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience. That word conscience comes from the Greek word suneditios, which literally means to know with. Conscience is to know with. Do you know that it is through the conscience that you and I know what is right and what is wrong? Conscience was meant to be the compass of the soul. Okay, the our conscience was meant to be the compass of the soul. But unfortunately, because of sin, the conscience of man can now be compromised. Now our sin, our our compromise, our conscience can be defiled. See, the conscience can now be seared, it can be hardened, it can be defiled. How do we know this? 1 Timothy chapter 4, verse 1 and verse 2. The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith. We will follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teaching comes to hypocritical liars whose conscience has been seared as with a hot iron. That means these deceivers, you know, their conscience has been seared. Now we all know, huh? If you have been drinking hot coffee for many years, and by the way, Asians drink coffee at very high temperature. We like to drink it at 90 degrees, you know. When I went to Australia, I learned the real coffee drinkers don't do that. They always drink their coffee about 70 degrees, that's it. You know, where it's lukewarm. But that's how you taste the real coffee, you know. But I grew up coffee shop coffee, 90 degrees. And I drink it so often that after a while I don't feel it anymore. I can just pour it, I can drink already. Why? You you do you give that kind of coffee to a young child whose lips are tender. I tell you, the person will scream, man. But how come we can drink it like nothing? I tell you why, because our lips are seared. Our lips harden already. That's why we feel nothing. Are you with me? That's what it means. We actually know we no longer react to the heat because our lips are seared. It's the same with people playing guitar. You know, how how do I know if you are a seasoned guitar player? I just look at your fingers, I know. Because most likely, all the fingertips, all the skin there, colors, all dyed already. Your s your your fingertips are seared. You with me? That's why they can go up and down, right? Nothing, right? You try not, you scream, you know. But these guys, their lids are their fingers are all seared. It's hardened. You see? Uh a new bee will feel the pain because the fingertips are still tender. Now, why do I tell you this? Because in the same way, the first the first time you do something wrong, you can feel the sharp prick of the conscience. You visit a website, you shouldn't visit. After that, you feel very bad. You feel your conscience being pricked. But if you ignore that pricking and then you persist on doing the same thing again and again and again, after a while, you no longer feel the pangs of your own conscience. And you can go on sinning, go on sinning, go on sinning. Why? Because your conscience has been hardened, the conscience has been seared, the conscience has been silenced, and that conscience is now defiled and it becomes dysfunctional. The conscience is now defiled. In Titus chapter 1, verse 15. Listen to what Paul wrote here. He said, To the pure, all things are pure. But to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and their conscience are corrupted. The conscience can be corrupted. A spiritually mature Christian, therefore, hear me, a spiritually mature believer will subject his conscience to the scrutiny of the word of God and the Holy Spirit. We can no longer trust our own conscience because it has been corrupted and defiled. Now our conscience must be subjected to the word of God and to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. The word of God defines for us what is right and what is wrong, not our conscience anymore. Because the conscience is defiled. But the word of God is the definitive compass. It actually defines for us what is right and what is wrong. The Holy Spirit becomes the one that brings conviction. He convicts our heart or our conscience when we disobey and we stray away from God's word. Are you with me? If you know the word of God, that becomes your compass. If you stray away from it, the Holy Spirit will convict. And he brings it back. See, and we need the word and the spirit to actually help us to do that. Hebrews chapter 5, verse 14. Therefore, the writer of Hebrews says, solid food, referring to the word of God, is for the mature. Who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Can you see that? It's the word of God that is the compass now. And by constant use, by constantly applying and applying and applying the word of God, we become mature. Because our minds are now renewed by the word. But we are not talking here about just knowing the word academically, it's about obeying and applying and constant use of the word actively. It is deceptive, I think, to think that the mere appreciation, just because you enjoy listening to a sermon or the mere accumulation or the exposition of the word will lead to spiritual maturity. What we need at the end of the day is application. It's not what you hear, it's what you do, the application of God's word. And that for that reason, I think that having a strong pulpit in itself does not necessarily produce a disciple-making church. It does not necessarily do that. Now, please understand, I'm a firm believer of expository preaching. We preach through books of the Bible every year. But over the years of leading the church, I've become an advocate of preaching the word for what it is. I'm a fan of biblical literacy, but at the same time, I'm under no illusion to think that the mere knowledge of God's word will change lives. It is not just knowing, it is believing and obeying the word that changes life. As Hebrews 5 14 says, solid food is for the mature, who by constant use, that's the word, constant use, have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. The constant application of the word of God in our life, in our circumstances, trains us to distinguish between what is right and what is wrong. Can I invite you to read with me Hebrews 4, verse 12 and 13? For the word of God is alive, active, sharper than any double-edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrows. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. But everything is uncovered, laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. It is the word of God. I think I ran out of battery. I don't think I went that long. They had to switch me off. Yeah, but you get this, huh? It's the word of God that judged the thoughts and the attitudes of our heart, expose the deepest intentions of our of our inner being. And the word becomes the true North, you know, that our conscience then takes reference from. But here's the thing: here's a very important point you must know. The distinctive thing here is this the apostle Paul is not saying, he's not talking about having a clear conscience. He's talking about developing a good conscience. It's not just a clear conscience, it is a good conscience. Now you may ask, what's the difference? Here's the difference. A clear conscience comes when we have done nothing wrong. Am I right? If you've done nothing wrong, you have a clear conscience. Or you may have done something wrong, but you have repented and then we have stopped doing it. Now my conscience is clear. But what Paul is talking about here is a good conscience. It's more than a clear conscience. What's the difference? In other words, it's not just avoiding what is wrong, it is also doing what is right. Are you with me? If you just avoid doing what is wrong, you have a clear conscience. But if you do what is right, you develop a good conscience. And that's what we are aiming for as disciples of Jesus Christ. I don't just want to avoid what is wrong. I want to do what is right. The decisive choice of rejecting what is wrong, which is one half of the equation, but choosing what is right is a distinctive mark of spiritual maturity. So it's not just the sin of commission, it's also the sins of omission. James put it this way in James chapter 4, verse 17. If anyone then knows the good they ought to do, but doesn't do it, it is sin for them. Take for example, I may know that I want to avoid what is wrong. So I don't steal, I don't cheat, no, that's so I've done nothing wrong, and therefore my conscience is clear. But if you want to develop a good conscience, then if the Holy Spirit tells you give to the mission fund, you will do it. Why? Because I don't just reject what is wrong, I also want to do what is right. Are you following me? No, I may not hurt people, I don't, I don't, I don't insult people, you know, I don't speak negative things about people, so I have a clear conscience. But do I encourage my brothers and sisters? That's the right thing to do. Are you following me? You can have a clear conscience without have doing the right thing. But I want to end up not just avoiding what is wrong, we want to actively pursue what is right. Are you getting this? That's what it means to have a good conscience. Now, how will we know then what is good and what we ought to do? Back again to the compass, the word of the living God. That is a steady compass for life. And then the conviction of the Holy Spirit, the prompting of the Holy Spirit that will tell you, this is what I want you to do. There's nothing wrong if you are just here and you're just living your life, you're doing your work, raising your family, wonderful. But if the Holy Spirit speaks to you and says, I want you to give up this, I want you to come into the ministry. Huh? That's where we make that decisive choice to not just do our thing, which is nothing wrong, your conscience is very clear, but to actually obey what the Holy Spirit wants. So the word of God and the conviction of the Holy Spirit coming together becomes the key. So the key is we must take reference from God's word, and then we give deference to the word of God. Then we live lives of good conscience and we can grow on to maturity. You know what the word says, you take reference from God. But more than that, if the Lord wants you to actually fulfill this, to do this, then we actually do it. We give deference to it. Then I think we are developing a good conscience. Many of us know and understand the word of God. We take reference from the word of God, but more than that, will we give deference to it? And actually says, Lord, not my will, but yours be done. Paul's aim in disciple making is to grow disciples who walk with a good conscience before God and man. Another distinctive mark of spiritual maturity. Okay, number one, a pure love. Love that comes out of pure heart. Number two, it's a good conscience, not just a clear conscience, a good conscience. Can I give you one last one? It's a sincere faith. A sincere faith. 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 5. The goal of this command is love which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience, and now this third thing, a sincere faith. That word sincere in the Greek is a word anippocristos, which actually means without hypocrisy or without pretense. Okay, it's it means that our faith is authentic, our faith is real. We become people who are real before man and true towards God. Okay, developing a sincere faith. Okay, no pretense, no mass, in other words. Have you ever heard the story of this guy who was desperately looking for work, you know, couldn't find any job, so he scanned. The classified ads and scan all the job web uh search job search website. He finally found one. There is they were um there is a job for uh in a zoo, you know. And the the job is very simple because your school holidays, lots of kids are coming uh to the to visit the zoo, but they don't have enough monkeys. So it's the job is very simple. Every morning you just go to the zoo, they put on a monkey suit, pretend to be a monkey from nine to five. Okay, and then very very simple job. You just pretend to be a monkey, jump around, and then eat all the bananas and peanuts that the kids give to you, and then swing from tree to three, and then that's it. So this guy was so desperate for a job, he took it up. So he went, put on a monkey suit, went in the cage, jump here, jump there, swing here, swing there, eat all the bananas and peanuts the kids were giving to him. First few hours he really enjoyed it because he's having a time of his life, right? But uh by the end of the day, he was so tired, you know, because he had the bananas and peanuts got the better of him. He was so tired, he was swinging from one branch to the other, he missed the branch. Then he fell into the cage next door, and it turned out to be the lion's cage. And when he saw the lion, he forgot it's supposed to be a monkey, he started screaming, help, help! And then to his surprise, the lion turned to me and said, Shut up, or we'll both lose our job. You got that? Everybody is putting on a mask, you know. And I think that's one problem we have in church sometimes. You know, everyone puts on a mask, everyone's pretending to be better than what we are, and the faith is no longer sincere, you know. But here's the thing, right? It says it's faith that is authentic, faith that is real, faith that has no pretense without hypocrisy. So, what is faith? If I can give you a simple definition, I think faith is simply trust. Am I right? Faith is trust. The more faith you have in a person, the more you trust the person. Am I correct to say that? If I say I have faith in my brother in in Reverend Daniel, then what am I saying? I trust him. And the more faith I have in him, the more I trust him. And the more I trust you, the more faith I have in you. See? And if you the more faith you have in a person, then you trust the person for who he or she is. You trust what he or she will say. And because you trust in the person, you trust that whatever happens, sometimes, even when, let's say Pastor Daniel, I trust him so much, maybe he makes certain decisions, he does certain things that I may not fully understand. But something inside of me will say he must have a good reason for it. Why? Because I trust him, I trust his character, I trust what he's doing. And even though I may not understand, even though I may not agree, I actually think that there must be a reason why he's doing this thing. See, and I had an encounter when it comes to this one uh recently, you know, uh in Perth. They have this Facebook page, you know, called Christians Live uh uh Singaporeans Living in Perth. And we come across that in the Facebook page. Singaporeans Living in Perth. So they started this open Facebook, Facebook page for any immigrants that just arrived in Perth so that they can get some help, how to settle down, where to get this, where to get that. And everybody joins. All Singaporeans, most of them join this group just to get help. So I decided to join this group also because I want to find out who are the new immigrants that just come to town. Then perhaps I can, you know, reach out to them, or if I come across any Christian, they can invite them. Sometimes I slip in something for the church and all of that. So there was one time I was scrolling this Facebook page to find out what's happening. And then my finger, there was this new post that came up. This new immigrant just arrived. So he was looking for rental property. So he put on his new post New immigrant in town. I'm looking for rental property in this area. My budget is $400 a week. And then I was scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, came across this post. My finger accidentally went and touch one of the emoji, you know. And it was an emoji of someone laughing until God tears come out of his eyes. And then my finger went and touched that, you know, and it came out. And then the moment it came out, I panicked, you know, because I realized, oh my god, the guy must be thinking, I'm laughing at his budget, no. Because you want to rent in this area, the kind of price you think you can get. I laugh and rolling on the floor. And I panicked because the worst thing is I don't know how to get rid of it. I was so new to these things, and I'm a technological dinosaur. I said, Oh dear, how to get rid of it. And my first, I panicked because I was my Facebook page had the name put Pastor Benny Ho. No, so they all know they must be thinking, Oh, this pastor very rude, no, laugh at me. And I panic and and I was saying, God, what did I do? No, the guy must be thinking, this pastor is so rude. And true enough, within 10 minutes, and the worst thing is I was the only one that commented, no. So within 10 minutes, one of my church members who is also a part of this group text me and said, Pastor, I think your Facebook is hacked, you know. Someone is posting unkind things using your account. I tell you at that moment, I don't know whether to laugh or to cry. Because one part of me is so happy, and one part of me is so sad. I'm so sad because it's true, people notice, you know. But I'm so happy because my church member thinks it cannot be me. It must be someone else. You get my point? If you really trust a person, sometimes when they do things outside of them, their character, something in you two said there must be a reason. And while there came out a reason for me. Of course, I went, oh, Is it? But I tell you that I had a narrow escape on that one. The good news is this. Good news I have for you is this that we, you and I are called to put our trust in one who is all powerful, all-able, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise. And I guarantee you, he will never press the wrong emoji. Our faith is in one who never fails. Amen. And therefore, we can have faith in him. Sincere faith. But our faith is not in faith itself, our faith is in the one who is faithful. And that is why true faith can stay resilient through good times and bad. And it's what makes our faith robust. You know, when I was growing up, there was a period when Campus Crusade was making waves all over Singapore. Now it's called crew. And during that time, Campus Crusade have a famous illustration that they use. And maybe this is a good time for me to draw a picture for you, and if you don't mind, help me out on this. Thank you. They have this famous illustration that they use that goes something like this. They tell this story about three men, three guys, right? Going on a walk, you know, and they all hold hands, and they're going on a walk along a narrow brick wall. Okay. They're going on a walk with on a narrow brick wall. The first guy's name was feeling. Second guy's name was Faith. And the third guy's name was Faith. So feeling, faith, and fact joined hands and they went on a walk along a narrow wall. Along the way, feeling stumbled and fell. And because feeling fell, he dragged faith down as well. But thank God cannot be moved. And fact stood his ground, and then he was able to pull faith up. And when faith was pulled up, faith was able to pull feelings up. And then they happily went on happily ever after. So that's the story that they used to tell. You know, and what is he saying? He's saying that fact is actually the word of God that never changes. It's eternal, unchanging. It is anchored, it is rooted. You know, but when feet our feelings can sometimes fall. Would you agree? Stuff happens, circumstances in life, and our feelings can fall. And when our feelings fall, sometimes our faith gets dragged down, also. Right? Our faith, we we no longer am so trusting because of circumstances. But thank God, uh, fact never changes. The word of God remains eternal. And if we take reference from God's word and give deference to God's word, it will pull our faith out. Because faith comes from hearing. Hearing what? The word of God. And then when faith comes up, then feelings will be tilted to follow. See, and that was what Crew was trying to teach us. But I think there's a better way to live life. Instead of letting feelings lead the way, why not let the word of God lead the way? If we don't live according to our feelings, there will your spiritual life will not be up and down. That's a typical thing that people go through. But if you let the you live according to the word, I think our spiritual life can be a lot more stable. Now I'm not saying that there's no up and down, but there will be, but it is on the upward trajectory. You are growing in faith. Are you with me on this? And this is what this is all about sincere faith that is not based on just feelings, but it is rooted in the word of God. And once our faith is rooted in the unchanging promises of God, our feelings will be tilted to get in line with the word. And that's what the prophet Habakkuk was talking about in Habakkuk chapter 3, verse 17 and 18. Listen to what the Habakkuk is saying here. Because during that time the nation was in turmoil, and in the midst of all that turmoil, the prophet Habakkuk says, Though the fig tree does not bud, and there are no grapes on the vine, though the olive crop fails and the field produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen, no kettle in the store, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in God my Savior. Hallelujah. You notice what is happening here. All the circumstances are bad. Right? There is no feet on the tree, there's no grapes on the vine, olive crop is failing, fields produce no food, no sheep in the pen, no kettle in the store. But he says, Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I'll be joyful in God, my Savior. The feelings are tutored by faith. See, and the faith is based on what God says. Faith is anchored in the unseen realm, it operates from the invisible to the visible. Faith will actualize what it realizes, and faith is that which enables the heart and the spirit to see. And faith enables us to live in the will of God. And this is what authentic faith is. But true faith is not based on faith, it's based on who God is and based on what God says. And faith always feeds on the promises of God. So my challenge to you, brothers and sisters of YCCA, let us walk by faith in the unchanging word of God rather than our feelings that can go up and down. See? And here's a prophetic burden I have for us before we pray this morning. As we talk about faith, Hebrews chapter 6, verse 11 and 12 tell us this. The writer of Hebrews challenged all of us. We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end so that what you hope for may be fully realized. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience, everybody say faith and patience. Faith and patience, right? Inherit what has been promised. You know what he's saying here? What he's saying is this. Many of us here are believing God for things. We are seeking to exercise our faith in circumstances of life. But the truth is, between the time you sow until the time you reap, we all agree, there's always a period of waiting. Between the time you pray until the time you experience the breakthrough, there's always a period of waiting. And this period of waiting, we call it the trial of faith. It is during this period of waiting that we actually our faith becomes robust. Our faith gets tested, our discipleship is deepened. It is in this period of waiting that we actually get our soul sanctified. And this period of waiting is important. Every time you ask, you get, you guess, you get, then we we will never grow. But it is in that waiting that we actually grow. We call it the trial of faith. During this period of waiting, I think we are in God's waiting room. I like to call this period of waiting God's waiting room. And how many of you know the hardest room to be in is God's waiting room. When we are waiting between our prayer and the breakthrough. Some of us here are waiting for breakthroughs in your churches. Some of us are waiting for breakthroughs in uh perhaps the salvation of a loved one. Some of us here we are waiting for our wayward children to come home. But I want you to know this the seed never dies. The seed of the gospel that is sown into our children, it is eternal, it is imperishable, it is unchanging. That seed may be dormant, but we water it. We keep watering it with our love, we keep watering it with our prayer. And you never know when that seed will germinate again, when they will have that divine appointment where somebody will speak into their life, when they will see something where God would encounter them, and then suddenly the seed germinates again. The hardest room to be in, my friends, is in God's waiting room. But it's in that waiting room our soul is being sanctified, our discipleship is deepened, and our faith is made robust. Amen. That's a waiting room of God, it's one of the hardest places to be in. Others of us, we could be waiting for a breakthrough in your in a in a health condition, waiting for healing to come, whatever it may be. See? What's the best thing to do if you are in God's waiting room? And with this, I will I will end. But what's if you are in God's waiting room this morning, what is the best thing you can do? I think Isaiah chapter 40, verse 31 instructs us this. But those who hope, or those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount out with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. They that wait upon the Lord, they that hope in the Lord. You know, this word hope or wait is such a powerful word in the Hebrew. It's a very deep word. The word is kava. That's the Hebrew word kava. It's a very weighty word. And the reason why it's so weighty is because it has two dimensions to it. There's a passive dimension and there's an active dimension. When we say they that wait, the mental picture that comes to our mind is someone that is waiting passively, waiting for something to happen. And in some sense, that's true. This word does have that passive picture of waiting where we are saying, God, not my will, but yours be done. Not my timing, but according to your timing. You know, it's not, it's your will, it's your timing. We are waiting on the sovereignty of God. We are recognizing that God is sovereign. It's his time, not my time, his will, not my will. And that's why we need patience to just wait upon the sovereignty of God. But at the same time, there's an active dimension to this word wait. And this is where you get the word picture of a pole, and then you have a creeper that's creeping up the pole, clinging on to the pole. And that's the picture we get that while we are waiting on the Lord for that breakthrough, we are holding on to the promises of God. We're not giving up, we are contending with God. We're saying, God, you promise me that when I'm safe, my family can be safe. You're holding on to this promise that God, you are still a God who heals today. You're a God who intervenes, you're a God who cares for my situation. And we are holding on, clinging on to Him, not letting go, contending with God. That's what it means to hold. So we are in God's waiting room today. There's a part of us that says, God, not my will, but yours be done. Not my time, but yours. But there's another part of us that says, I'm not giving up. I'm contending with you, I'm not letting go until you show up. I think that's the best thing we should do if we are in the waiting room of God. Sincere faith. These, I think, are the three distinctive marks of spiritual maturity: a pure love, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. And with that sincere faith, we are we are in the waiting room of God. We can ask the Lord to give us a breakthrough. I am not letting go, I'm contending with you. Amen.