In the introduction of our preparatory song, it was, the word “reformation”was mentioned. And it reminded me of, that this October,as the world come October 31, celebrates its halloween, we who know of the Reformation, celebrates October 31st as what we know as the Reformation Day. It was the day when we know of one of the famous names in Protestant reformation, si Martin Luther. This was the event when he posted his thesis in the the doors of the church. And I would just like to read one of the famous lines of Martin Luther nung siya ay humaharap na sya sa counsel, being asked to recant his doctrines, his beliefs..”I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God. Amen.” So this is what he said, not knowing what will happen to him, as he stood in front of the council and the emperor as well. So who knows? Hindi nya alam kung ipapapatay sya dahil sa hindi nya pag-recant and going against the Catholic church. But yet, he stood and did not recant what his conscience told him what’s true about the scripture. So basically he’s saying that he cannot go against his conscience because it would also mean that he would compromise the truth of scripture.
And so, in today’s passage we will see that even before, hindi lang about 500 years ago, christians have already been facing this situation where because of circumstances, because of the, what’s happening around them, they are faced with the decision whether to recant, or turn away from their beliefs or either to Stand for truth. So turn with me to our passage for this morning. So this is in 2nd Timothy, chapter 2 verse 14 to 19. Again, 2nd Timothy, chapter 2 verse 14 to 19. So let me read it from the ESV. Remind them of these things, and charge them before God[a] not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved,[b] a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”
Kindly join me in a short word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank You again for this day that you have gathered us, just to give glory to You and worship You and be fed by Your Word. And Lord, this is Your spoken Word.
Father, may it be heard today, truly and faithfully and may we all benefit from what You have to say to us today, Father. And may You alone be glorified in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen and amen.
So, it is said that when a person approaches the end of his life, his priorities change. Or better yet, his true priorities are now clearly being seen. We can certainly see this in the life of Paul who had been charged with a death sentence dito sa kanyang pagsulat ng kanyang liham na ito. And towards the last fleeting hours in his life he continues to press on to the thing that matters most to him. In our text this morning we can see that for the glory of God, Paul wants to make sure that sound teaching of the Gospel would perpetuate, or magpatuloy, for the sake of God’s people.
We begin chapter 2, which was preached in the past couple of weeks with Paul’s warm encouragement to Timothy..na sinasabi nya kay Timothy, “Be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus”. Considering the Christians’ situation nung panahon Nina Paul at ni Timothy, it is definitely so easy to lose heart if you are not deeply rooted in the grace of God. So that is why many have turned away from Paul nung nandito na sya sa kanyang second imprisonment. And that’s why Paul reminds Timothy of the grace of God that is in Christ, which is our only infinite & true source of hope & strength.
Now Paul didn’t want this to just be for Timothy alone, he wanted this for all believers. So Paul says to Timothy that what he has learned from Paul, he must entrust to faithful men who will also be able to entrust it or teach it to others as well. And Timothy must do his best, Paul says to present himself to God as one who is approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, at paano it gagawin ni Timothy? By rightly handling the word of truth. Sound Gospel preaching is second to none, basically. Apart from the Gospel, there is no hope. Apart from the Gospel, there is no source of strength. Apart from the Gospel, God’s church that Paul labored to build will crumble. Not only was it important to continue sound teaching. This is just as important to shun or reject false teachings as well. False teachings ruins the hearers and lead them to more, and more, and more ungodliness. And make no mistake, there will be those that would distort the Gospel so that they may reap benefits from it na sila ang makinabang instead of giving glory to God through preaching the salvation to God’s people. So Paul says to Timothy, Timothy “to the abled men, charge them before God” meaning, na bigyan mo sila ng babala, warningan mo sila and God is your witness. Warn them, na sila mismo, do not quarrel about words and avoid irreverent babble. Stay away from ungodliness, so to speak Paul compared ungodliness to a sickness. Ang sabi nya, their irreverent babbles, their talks, it will spread like gangrene”. Ang gangrene po, ito ay isang sakit kung saan yung nabubulok yung laman ng isang tao. So sa madaling salita, kung ang tamang doktrina ang bumubuo sa isang simbahan, sa simbahan ng Diyos, yung false teachings ho, eto ay ang nagpapabulok sa simbahan. Ito ang sisira sa simbahan kapagka ang simbahan ay nagpatuloy dito. So Paul instructs us not just to continue in sound teaching but also to avoid those that are false. Now the same thing continues even today in our time. You can consider a church healthy if you know that what is being preached is a sound teaching, if there is Gospel is at its core. And the moment the church wanders away, the moment that the Gospel is not preached in the pulpit, the moment the church is not applied by the saints in their lives, you know there is something wrong. Now we do not immediately say that this church is not a true church, we are not quick to unchurch an unhealthy church but one thing we do know, that in the absence of the Gospel, it will result in ungodliness, more ungodlinessmore ungodliness and like gangrene, it will slowly but surely decay the church. The church will come to decay until there is no church left at all. And so we go back to Paul’s encouragement. Ang pinaghuhugutan ng kanyang encouragement is to be strengthened in none other than the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Only by this truth is Paul able to give the assurance based on God’s firm foundation. Yes there is that fact that the enemy will attempt to ruin or thwart the plans of God for us. They will attempt to snatch believers out of the hands of God. But scripture tells us that “the Lord knows who are His”. And as Christ says “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.”
So our message this morning is something that evidently Paul knows, something that evidently what causes Paul to write this way to Timothy and the message is this: The church is built by the Gospel truth and shunning of lies. Again, the church is built by the Gospel truth and the shunning of lies.
So ang tanging recipe for a church to be built ay ang pagpapatuloy ng Mabuting Balita dito sa simbahan na ito. At also, ang hindi nito pagtanggap at ang pag-reject nito sa mga kasinungalingan ng mundo. There is no other name by which man can be saved, sabi nga ni Peter sa Acts 4. And in effect we can also say there is no other name by which a church can be built, but by the name of Jesus. And God uses ordinary means by which He makes His people hear the Gospel about His Son, He uses the saints themselves to be His mouthpieces to spread His word and build His church. And my first point is this, the church themselves, the saints are The Workman of Truth. On the other hand, there will be those who will be unrepentant. There will be those who will be unbelieving and will continue in ungodliness and in effect be instruments of the enemy to sabotage the plan of God. And that is my second point. We will see that, we will see them as The Workman of Lies.
Let us consider the first point, the Workman of Truth. So Paul uses the metaphor to illustrate this teaching ministry that he has entrusted to Timothy. Yung illustration na iyon is that of a worker or a workman. Ito yung makikita natin dito sa verses 14 to 19. He compares her to a workman, a hard-working workman at that, who is unashamed because he rightly handles the word of truth. In other words, malinis ang konsensya. Nothing to be ashamed of because he executes the work faithfully. Only those who can execute the work faithfully can say that they are workers that are approved by God. So without a doubt, Timothy is one of them and as a worker approved by God, Timothy is instructed by Paul to remind believers of the sound Words, that he himself, that Timothy himself has heard from Paul. Now they need to be reminded because as men, history tells us that men are forgetful. They need to be reminded because due to various circumstances, the church may lose sight of the Gospel and of their God given purposes, given various circumstances they face. Pwede ho tayong makalimot, pwede tayong ma-distract, pwede tayong mawala sa focus. We may encounter struggles, temptations, we may be confused because of what we heard from people who use the Word of God incorrectly and thus resulting into incorrect living. Or in other words ungodly living. And so Paul says to Timothy, they must be reminded so they may not fall into these traps continue to live in light of the Gospel. Sabi ni Timothy sa chapter 1 sa verse 9. He says: “God has saved and called the elect to a holy calling not because of our works but because of God’s own purpose and grace given to us in Christ Jesus.” Makikita ho natin dito na hindi nagtatapos yung kaligtasan natin just by God saving us, basically. O, ligtas ka na, tapos na. Hindi ho doon nagwawakas. Ang lahat ng kanyang mga pinili ay kanya ring tinawag para mamuhay ng hindi naaayon sa mga makamundong bagay. First and foremost, God’s purpose is for His glory. And for His glory, He calls us to live holy lives. We can see in Isaiah chapter 43 verse 7, he says “Bring all who claim me as their God, for I have made them for my glory”. And as Christians, if we lose sight of that very purpose, then the obvious outcome is ungodliness. If we do not do things for the glory of God, then we do it for the glory of something else other than God.
And so Paul understood that as a Workman of Truth, Timothy must bring forth the Gospel truth, even to those who have already believed to remind them of the salvation they have in Christ Jesus so that the church may continue to give glory to God, that the church may continue to grow, the church, ladies and gentlemen, does not stop growing. Brothers and sisters, we do not stop growing in maturity in light of the Gospe and in order to continously grow, we need to be be constantly reminded of the Gospel. So thus, as we are reminded of the Gospel, the church is continuously being built up. This is what Paul understands, this is what Paul believes, that to live for the glory of God, it is essential that we must be anchored in His Word. It is central that we must be anchored in His Word. Otherwise we wouldn’t know what commands we are to obey. If we are not anchored in God’s Word, we wouldn’t know what actions would glorify God, would please God and what actions would not. Now consequently, in living for God’s glory, it is not just elders, teachers or pastors who should be Workmen of Truth. All Christians, in light of the Great Commission, should be workmen of truth. Now not all of us may be given the opportunity and the chance to preach in the pulpit, but definitely, all of us will be preaching the Gospel with our lives. And we see that these two are actually great compliments to one another. It’s such a great compliment when we see that what is being faithfully preached in the pulpit is also being faithfully lived out, applied in the lives of the believers. As a church we practice making disciples of Christ, by baptizing them in the Name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we learn from each other in our lives teaching and learning from one another all the things that Christ has commanded us.
You know what a privilege it is, brothers and sisters, to live for the glory of God. Again, what a privilege it is to live for the glory of God. Of being called according to His purpose. Because come to think of it, even if God decided not to offer forgiveness or mercy to us, He will still be glorified in doing so. When a sinner receives just punishment and is sent to Hell, into eternal condemnation to face the wrath of God, tanggapin ang galit ng Diyos. Eventhough as harsh as it may sound, God is glorified. How? Because in the rightful punishment of us, sinners His holiness and justice is upheld. Makikita natin yung kabanalan Nya kapagka pinakita Nya yung galit sa mga makasalanan. Makikita din natin yung Kanyang hustisya sa pag-serve Nya ng justice sa kaparusahan ng mga nagkasala sa Kanya. So He will be glorified. That is why what we experience today is what we call grace. Kaya naiintindihan natin na ang tanging Salita lang para mai- describe kung ano tong mercy, ang pagmamahal na natatanggap natin sa Diyos ay grace. God’s mercy is far beyond what we deserve. It was not necessary for God to save us for Him to be glorified. But because it was His will to glorify Himself by saving us, it was necessary for Him to send His Son, Jesus Christ. Because, left to ourselves, we cannot. Because of sin it is impossible for us to live a life of perfect obedience to God. So, Christ, being our head, lived that life for us. Because of our sinfulness, we are stained and thus our death is not an acceptable payment for our transgressions. Christ, being our head, died that death for us as payment for our sins. This is the truth that every christian live by, this is the source of our strength, this is the source of our hope, Christ Jesus, our Lord.
And if you are one of our guests who knows deep down inside that you are not living for the glory of God, that you are not living to give praises and worship to God. Now, I pray that God may open your hearts and allow you to see that apart from Christ, mga kaibigan, ang galit ho ng Panginoon ay nananatili sa inyo. The wrath of God is upon you. And at the same time, I also pray that may you see that there is a gift available for all of us, a gift of eternal life that had been made available for us because of the life, the death and resurrection of Christ. And the only call for us to be able attain that, to grab that is to repent of your sins and trust in Christ.
So what must we do to live a God-glorifying life? Ano ang kailangan nating gawin? The challenge for us is to set our priorities straight, make sure that we live under the instructions of the Lord. So if you don’t live under the instructions of the Lord, then definitely, it is against the Lord, it is not pleasing to God. And if you have genuinely repented of your sins and trust in Christ, your outlook in life definitely changed. My brothers and sisters, alam nyo ito na nangyari sa inyo to.The things that were seemingly normal to us before na okay lang na gawin natin; walang masama being drunk, pre-marital sex, pandaraya, pagkainggit sa kapwa, pagtatanim ng galit sa kapwa. If before we do it naturally and think na okay lang, nung tayo ay nag-repent, nung tayo ay naniwala kay Kristo, all of a sudden, napapaisip tayo kapag gagawa tayo, o naiisip nating gumawa ng mga ganitong bagay. Because the Spirit of truth of Christ is now in us and is convicting us that that is not the way that God wants us to walk in.
There is a set of instruction that God has given you, who was set apart for His glory. Walk in that, live under that instructions of the Lord. The problem is when we are not intentionally anchoring ourselves in the Word of God. When we give more importance to mundane things, or yung mga makamundong bagay over our time with God. When we do not commit ourselves to prayer, to devotion, what happens is, we do not remember the sound teaching, as we vividly should. We do not refresh ourselves with it and so in the time of testing, we fail. Dahil wala tayong pinaghuhugutan ng lakas dahil yung sound teachings na may pangako at babala ng Panginoon, hindi ganung kalinaw sa ating puso’t isipan dahil hindi tayo nag-eengage sa Word of God. Hindi ganun katingkad sa ating mga isip. Hindi natin binabad ang ating mga sarili sa salita ng Diyos.
That is why there are times in the life, we often fail. Couples who seem to engage in simple arguments, those simple arguments grow, because we forget that the instruction on how husbands and wifes should love one another. Ang nangyayari pa minsan, ang natatandaan nung asawa, yung instructions para sa wife. Sabi ni Lord, sumunod ka sa akin, mag-submit ka, authority mo ako.
Magrerespond yung wife based dun sa instruction nung husband. Paano kita susundin, hindi mo ako minamahal like Christ love the church? Sundin mo muna ako Bago ako mag-submit sa iyo. We look at things nang hindi ganung kalinaw. Tinitignan pa natin yung instructions sa iba. There are times when children disregard the authority of their parents. When workers disrespect or think lowly of their superiors or their bosses, when we take for granted, disrespect or minamaliit natin yung ating government ngayon kasi hindi sya yung binoto natin, these are things that we overlook dahil hindi tayo abiding sa Salita ng Diyos.
Nakalimutan natin na itong mga authorities na ‘to are God given authorities so the moment we disrespect or dishonor our parents, the moment that we speak ill of our workmates, our bosses, of our employers, the moment we are not submitting to the laws that are given by our lawmakers of the authorities within us, what we are actullay saying is, “Ayoko nitong authority na binigay mo sa akin, God, paki palitan please.” We are complaining to God Himself.
If we do not intentionally anchor ourselves in the Word of God our sinful nature is inclined to obey our own desires. That is normal because we have our sinful nature. Kaya mga kapatid, wag tayong magulat if we feel like ang Dali nating mag-give in sa temptation. If we feel like ang dali nating mag-fail kapagka tayo ay may pagsubok. If we feel like ang dali nating matakot, we cower in fear and we easily compromise our faith in anticipation of the persecution. Natatakot na tayo. Take note, anticipation pa lang. Baka nga hindi ka pa ipe-persecute heh. Nag-overthink ka lang. But you cower in fear. Let us >ask ourselves, how close are we to the Word of God? How close are we to the Word of God? Have we made sure that we have saturated ourselves with the Word of God. If your answer is no, it’s not the end… step up to the challenge, set your priorities straight, make sure that you anchor yourself in the Word of God. Mga kapatid, do not lose hope, because you are not alone. Hindi ka nag- iisa sa pagsubok na ito, sa pinagdadanan na ito. Don’t lose hope dahil hindi tayo iiwanan ng Diyos sa ating sanctification. Ang tawag ko dito ay sanctification sa ating pagkabuhay nang naaayon sa Kanya, sa Kanyang mga utos. Sabi nga sa confession nof faith na nabasa natin kanina, because of the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, we continue to press on in evangelical obedience to all commands which Christ prescribed to us in his Word. So set your priorities, huwag nating kakalimutan, make sure that we live under the instructions of the Lord. If we feel like we can’t follow the instructions, we can’t obey, huwag ka mawalan ng pag-asa because Christ Himself, God Himself will be our source of strength.
Noong October 6, 486 years ago, si William Tyndale was executed. Chinarge sya ng “heresy nung panahon nya.” He was a priest, we was a linguist that is knowledgeable in several languages including Latin, Greek, Hebrew and four more. At dahil dito, natutunan niya yung truth of scripture, yung justification by faith alone…meaning that we are justified but by our works but by our faith in the finished work of Christ. So nabasa nya yun in latin translation. Yung latin translation na iyon, yun ay mula sa kanyang mentor na si Erasmus. So by nature, hindi sya Latin, he was an Englishman. So naisip niya, because nung panahon na iyon, dahil walang masyadong translation ng Gospel, ng bible. Napakadali para sa mga nakakaintindi, now without any accountability, use it to their advantage para mag-take advantage sa mga hindi nakakaintindi nung Salita ng Diyos. And so, Tyndale, were having this in mind. Naiisip nya what a wonderful way it is to share the Word of God by allowing my fellow Englishmen to read it in our native tongue. And hence, yung kanyang drive para magbuo nung english translation ng bible. And we can see up to this day, nagbebenefit tayo sa mga works ni Tyndale and mga kagaya nya who have this drive to really advance the Message of God for all people.
Now for us today, there were are a lot of access to scriptures. Anywhere is accessible now. Meron dito sa phone, meron dito sa tablet, may bible dito, dyan, internet, it’s available for everyone in all sorts of translations. Do we grab this opportunity to be able to live closer under the instructions of the Lord? Or hinahayaan lang natin sila diyan sa sulok ng ating bahay na namumuo na yung mga alikabok, namamahayan na ng mga alaga natin sa bahay? May it never be. Let us set our priorities and make sure that we have time for the Word of God to live according to the Word of God. This way, we can glorify God as we learn from His Word to obey Him and to love Him. In doing so, we can also shun or reject false teachings because we know the truth, we know what is untrue, we know what’s pleasing to Go, we know what’s not. We reject those that are not pleasing to God that is being told by the Workmen of Lies and that is my last point. The Workman of Lies.
If out of the Workmen of Truth comes sound teaching, we see the exact opposite in our last point. The workmen of lies are obviously not devoted to the truth. If earlier the faithful workers are approved by God, obviously those who do nt preach sound teaching from God will not be approved by God. Now we see these that these workmen, though sila dapat yung maging ashamed, they are also unashamed. They also pervert the Word, take it their advantage and to preach it, to speak of it nang walang second thoughts, nang walang pag- aalinlangan.
Now Timothy, as instructed by Paul must warn the avoidance of those who quarrel about words & irreverently babble. Now, don’t get me wrong, we recognize na may importansya yung pagiging detailed natin sa mga salita. The proper interpretation of scripture is necessary for us to understand truthfully and follow faithfully the instructions of God. And Paul here did not mean to say that do not quarrel with words. Paul does not mean be loose in handling of the word in order to avoid quarrel. But rather as said in The Expositor's Bible Commentary “We ought to shun those who love to hear themselves talk and who are more interested in quibbles about minor points rather than evangelizing the lost and building up the church.” So in other words, this is someone who likes to argue about things that doesn’t concern God’s plan of reedmption for us. These are people who seem to know the scripture very well. Pero hindi na nila ito inaangkop sa salvation na inooffer ng Diyos sa lahat. They just do it for quarrel. At sinasabi nga dito, na sila ay mapakita lang nila na sila ay intelektuwal, na sila ay learned, you are to avoid these and be not like these.
Another thing is to avoid is irreverent babble or in other translations, ito ay “godless chatter” to which the obvious effect will be leading people to more and more godlessness. So which means that the more one stays on this path of godlessnes, the deeper his spiritual decline will be. Kaya sinasabi ni Paul, avoid these things. An example that Paul gave was si Hymenaeus & si Philetus. Now this is only the time that Philetus was mentioned. But if you can remember, si Hymenaeus was in the first letter of Paul to Timothy first chapter 1. Hymenaeus was already mentiond as one of those who made a shipwreck of their faith. And as Paul put it, sya na mismong nagsabi: “I have handed them over to Satan” Avoid this false teachers, and their false teachings. So in this case, they spread the word that the, binigay na dito yung detail nung kanilang false teachings na sinasabi nila na yung resurrection daw ay nangyari na. That it already happened. And we can see here na tina-try nilang i-distort yung teaching ni Paul. In his letter to the church in Rome Paul spoke of the believer’s old self dying and being crucified with Christ and how in the newness of life we are dead to sin and are alive to God in Christ. Now these false teachers interpreted this as, eto na yung resurrection. Wala nang mangyayaring resurrection pa sa hinaharap. Tapos na.
What this deception does is it takes away the Christian’s hope, it takes away oursource of strength, of what we look forward to. What could happen beyond thislife. Kung saan tayo nababalot pa ng ating sinful flesh. It robs us of that hope that we have. We can see naa ang ngiti, hindi natin alam kung ano mismo yung kanilang intention, but this is the effect that it has on those who believe. Kaya ang sinasabi dito, kaya sinasabi na it ruins the hearers. Christ, sabi ni Paul, clearly makikita natin. Labas tayo sa letter of Rome. And let’s go to the letter of Paul in first Thessalonians. Sabi nya sa first Thessalonians:”Christ will descend from heaven, eto yung binasa natin kanina, the dead Christians will rise and be together with the Lord along with those who are still living. So makikita natin na in Paul’s letter. In his other epistles, that Paul is actually, na tinuturo nya na hindi lang ito yung resurrection na meron tayo. Meron tayong resurrection na ina-anticipate in the future. It’s the moment when Christ comes back, takes us up with Him and we are torn away from our sinful flesh, wo we can have bodies that just glorify the Lord. This is something that we look forward to… yung pagbabalik Niya.
And so this a truth, this is a false teaching na nakakasira. So Paul says to
such as these, sabi niya, avoid them. These things that they are teaching, their talk, these are like Gangrenes, causing spiritual decay into the church. It will upset the faith of some, sabi ni Paul. Paul knew it is not beneficial for the health of the church if they continue to associate themselves with these. So intolerance to false teachings must be a quality of a sound church because Christians associate themselves with God and disassociate themselves with the world.
Camouflage according to the Cambridge Dictionary is a condition in which the appearance of someone or something when placed against a background makes that person or thing difficult or impossible to see. So in other words, nag-bblend in, nag-ccamouflage. So for animals, it is great, it’s a great feature because it is a great adaptation to either run away from their predators or to catch a prey. For a soldier in a mission, it is an effective tool. Para sila makapag-spy, makapag-scout, that they may snipe their enemies nang hindi sila nadedetect. But for a church, blending or associating with the world leads to very dangerous waters. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary quotes John Calvin. Sabi ni John Calvin, “indulging in this godless chatter is like a deep whirlpool from which there is no escape and into which men plunge deeper and deeper.” So kapag tayo ho ay nagpatuloy, tayo po ay nasa isang spiritual decline na baka dumating ang panahon na hindi na tayo makaalis. So you have to avoid these things.
And the challenge for us to avoid these things… we know the truth from the Word of God. Do not make compromises with the Lord’s instructions. If we know of the truth of scripture, the challenge for us, do not compromise with it. Huwag nating ikompromiso ang Salita ng Diyos. What the word of God says is good, we accept as good. Like wise what the word of God is bad or sinful, you accept as such.
FCF:
The problem is, because of fear, or selfish motives. Sometimes we think we can get away with compromising. And in most cases, we don’t even need a full blown false preaching or heresy para tayo ay mag-compromise. In most cases its those little things that we think doesn’t bring any harm that catches us off- guard.
A family member or a friend may invite you in a church wedding. To participate in the wedding at ito ay hindi mo relihiyon, they practice a different kind of faith, a different kind of ritual and you think it does no harm dahil family member mo naman sila. Do not compromise. Alam mo kung paano ni God pinrescribe na i-worship natin Sya. Now there is an important event that takes place on the Lord’s Day. Now it doesnt do any harm, sabihin mo may sakit ka, see you next Sunday. Do not compromise. Nakikita tayo ng Panginoon and God tells us to keep His day holy. 90 percent of the employees in your company supports the LGBTQ movement and invite you in a party celebrating homosexulity, nothing harm done, happy, happy. Do not compromise for the sake fo friendship or camaraderie. What God calls sin, you call sin much like any other sin. Even small things such as this like white lies, just so you can avoid confrontation with your wife, just so you can avoid confrontation with your parents for that matter. You tell white lies para lang hindi ka masita.
Nahalo ang puti sa de-kolor. Sabi mo sa asawa mo, “hindi ko alam kung sino naglagay nyan.” Kayong dalawa lang naman nandun..just to avoid confrontations. You think you can get away with it but God sees that as I lie, white lies are still lies. What they don’t know won’t hurt them. Yun minsan yung nasa isip natin.At mga kapatid, let us not compromise. Remember all it took for us to plunge into this curse of sin is just a simple lie that Satan told Adam and Eve. So don’t compromise the Lord’s instructions.
There was this church who has associated themselves with false teachings. Ang ginagawa nila, they welcomed the teachings of one of these individuals who called himself a prophetess. And among the false teachings na ineendorso nitong prophetess na ito was the practice of worship to idols, eating sacrifices offered to idols, and engaging in sexually immoral acts. This church is called the church of Thyatira. So, isa sya dun sa seven churches sa book of Revelations and in the book of Revelations, sorry, Revelation, we see Christ saying to this church, “I have this against you, you tolerate that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess”, Tinotolerate nyo sya, so in other words, nagko- compromise kayo, winewelcome nyo sya. This unsurprisingly led to sinning. Members commiting idolatry, members committing sexual immorality. And this will naturally be the effect of welcoming “godless chatter”, of welcoming godlessness. Compromising the truth of not standing for the truth and to them Christ said, sabi Nya, sabi ni Jesus sa Revelation: “Behold, I’ll throw her onto a sickbed,and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works”
So brethren it will be wise of us to take warning, take heed of the warning that is given by Christ. Not unless we are we are truly and genuinely repentant of our sins, of the worldly things that we associate ourselves with. We will be judged according to our deeds. So while there is still time, let us trust in the mercy of God that is only available in Christ Jesus.
Even though this text gives us a weighty warning, ang ending naman nito there is a greater the assurance that we have from God. Ang sabi ni God, ang sabi dito, qinuote ni Paul: “The Lord knows who are His” It’s a quotation from Numbers. And it ensures us that God knows who are His. And as the truth of scripture flows, those who are His will surely be raised up on that appointed day that we may be with Him forever. But though God is all knowing, we are not. So in the words of Peter, let us confirm our calling and election by making every effort to what” To abide in the instructions of the lord. And as Paul has quoted, “Let the Lord, let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity” So hindi pwedeng nag-cclaim tayo na kilala natin ang Diyos, that we are the Lord’s but we associate ourselves and entertain sinfulness and godlessness. We are, if we want to confirm that we are really from the Lord, depart! We are to depart, and turn away from our sinfulness.
The church is built, or in other words, it grows spiritually mature, only by abiding in the Gospel truth, and also in the rejection of any ungodliness, ungodlessness that does not bring glory to God. So brothers, and sisters, until Christ’s return, the building of His church continues. And as the Father empowers us by His Spirit, let us do our best to be workmen approved by God faithfully abiding in His Word.
Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, all glory and honour is yours Almighty Father. We thank you that is only by Your grace that is seen in the person and work of Your Son, that we are able to come here willingly to give You our genuine praise. It is only by Your grace that You have caused us to repent of our sins, hate our sins and turn to Christ. And Father, in all of these, in everything that we do, following Your purpose, our only prayer is that You alone may be glorified and may we continue to worship you throughout this day lovingly with cheerful hearts. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen.
Transcribed by: Janette Bautista