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🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 Good morning everyone. Welcome to Verde Baptist Church Manila. For our second service, please take your seats now. And take our hymnals. Let's open the song number 24. Song number 24. Song number 24 will sing, and can it be that I should gain. We'll sing the whole song. Song number 24, and can it be. Ready on the first. And can it be that I should gain. An interest in the Savior's blood. Die ye for me. Who causes pain for me. Who gives to that person amazing love. Amazing love. How can it be. That thou, my God, shouldst die for me. Amazing love. How can it be. That thou, my God, shouldst die for me. On the second. He left his father strong above. So free, so infinite in his grace. Emptied himself of all but love. And bled for Adam's helpless grace. This mercy of immense and free. For oh, my God, it found out me. Coru's amazing love. How can it be. That thou, my God, shouldst die for me. On the last. Long my embrace and spirit lay. Fast bound in sin and nature's night. Nine I diffuse of whitening ray. I woke the dungeon safe with life. My chains fell off, my heart was free. Went forth and followed thee. Amazing love. How can it be. That thou, my God, shouldst die for me. Let's pray, dear Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord God, for allowing us to be in your house this morning, God. We pray that you would bless the service, Lord God, bless the preacher, Lord, fill him with the Holy Spirit as he preaches your word. We also pray that you would bless the singing, the reading of your word, and all the things that we're about to do. Bless the fellowship, the soul-willing, and all the things, Lord God, in Christ's name, we pray. Amen. All right. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Verity Baptist Church, and let's go through some announcements. First, let us count up any unreported salvation. So how about in this section here, any salvations to report? Two, two, seven. Let's see, this one. And this section here, two. You guys are testing my math skills. Over here, two. Anybody else? Anybody I missed? Two. All right, one. All right, 19. Okay, 19 salvations. Great work, everybody. And a few other things to mention. So we do have our monthly prayer meeting here today. It's going to be after soul-willing time coming back here at the building. When we have our monthly prayer meetings, we try to make soul-willing slightly shorter, and the monthly prayer meeting doesn't take too long. We're bringing it back after a few months off due to holidays and the anniversaries. We do have a meeting for the Beagle missions trip, which is also going to be a short meeting. It's going to be after the monthly prayer meeting. We do have a sign-up sheet over there in the bulletin, and I know I had everybody sign up months ago. That's kind of just to get a general idea who might be coming and if we could do this in one week. But obviously we're closer, so if you're planning to come, if you can sign up over there, and you can just put your name, and within your group, you know, with your family, how many adults, 13 or older, and then how many children, 12 or under, that are going to be in your group that are planning to go. We have a soul-willing marathon this Wednesday. It's Chinese New Year. And one other big event for February that I didn't put in the bulletin that's coming up in two weeks, it's every husband's favorite church event of the year, right? I'm fortunate because I was like, you know, my wife reminded me, I looked at my message in between. She's like, oh, you should probably mention the Sweetheart Banquet, right? And so it's always the funniest day of the year at our church. You know, I always enjoy it, you know, as the host. But anyways, the Sweetheart Banquet's going to be coming up in two weeks. We will have catered food. The requirements are you must be a married couple, and so, you know, husband and wife, and we'd love to have you. It's always a fun time. And basically there's just various questions, and, you know, we figure out, we find out which couple wins the competition getting the most questions right. It's like six or seven questions for the husband, six or seven for the wives. It's always a fun time, at least for me. Can't speak for everybody, but it's always a fun time for me. But anyways, that's going to be coming up in two weeks. I'll mention it in the group chat. And also we do have a couple baptisms after the service. And so if you're here to be baptized, if you didn't mention to me you want to be baptized, we have the water ready. And so if you want to be baptized here today, we'd love to baptize you. If you are here to be baptized, after the preaching is done, when I'm praying, you can already go to get changed, to get ready for baptism. And we'll do the baptisms after the second service here today. So I believe that's it for announcements. We'll have Brother Chris lead us in another song. Just think in His grace this song. Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you washed in the blood? In the soul-clancing blood of the Lamb. Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? On the second. Are you walking daily by the Savior's side? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Do you rest each moment in the crucified? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you washed in the blood? In the soul-clancing blood of the Lamb. Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? When the bridegroom cometh, will your robes be white? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Will your soul be ready for the mansion? And be washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you washed in the blood? In the soul-clancing blood of the Lamb. Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Every one of the last. Lay aside the garments that are stained with sips. And be washed in the blood of the Lamb. There's a fountain going for the soul unclean. Oh, be washed in the blood of the Lamb. Are you washed in the blood? In the soul-clancing blood of the Lamb. Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Great singing. Let's take our offering. Let's take our offering. Amen. Amen. For scripture reading, please open your Bibles to the book of Romans. Romans chapter 2. Romans chapter 2, we'll be reading from verse 17 down to verse 29. Romans chapter 2, verse 17 down to verse 29. Please say amen if you're there. Amen. Romans chapter 2 verse 17, Behold thou art called a Jew, and restless in the law, and makest thy boast of God. And thou is his will, and approves the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law. And art confident that thou with thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which has the form of knowledge, and of the truth of the law. Thou therefore which teaches another, teaches thou not thyself. Thou that preacheth a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayeth a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that of horse idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, for breaking the law dishonors thou God, For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles for you, as it is written, For circumcision, verily profited, if thou keep the law, That hath thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Therefore the uncircumcision, keep the righteousness of the law, Shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? And shall not uncircumcision, which by nature, if it fulfill the law, judge thee, Who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly, Neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh, But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly, And circumcision is that of the heart, and the spirit, and not in the letter, Who is praised not of men, but of God. Bless the reading of God's word, let us pray. Lord God in heaven, we thank the Lord for the stage given to us. I pray we should please bless her for this day. Give us good weather for our soul when in our fellowship later on. And I pray, O Lord, that you would also please bless her faster, We love you and Jesus and we pray. Amen. Alright, we are here in Matthew chapter 2, and let us start in verse number 17. The Bible reads, Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God. Now, modern day Judaism, they don't really believe even the Old Testament, but during this time period, those that did not believe on Christ, they would claim they believed the Old Testament, and they would know the stories and be familiar with them. A more modern day kind of application from this verse would be more toward Christianity, because obviously, you know, we realize Christianity is the correct religion, and, you know, people can grow up in Christian homes and hear the word of God and know the basic teachings and being against things like idolatry, being against things that other religions are into. So that's kind of the application we can look at here. Verse 18, And knowest his will and approves the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law, and are confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which has the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. Then he starts making these examples here in verse 21. He says, Thou therefore, which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? He's saying to the Jews, You have all this knowledge. You've got the scriptures. You say you believe this. You know the teachings. You have the oracles of God, and it's like you're teaching other people, but it's like, did you even teach yourself? It says, Thou that preach'st a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Everybody would say stealing is wrong. Stealing is a sin. But then he's saying, Are you stealing? Now, I doubt that you're going to a 7-Eleven and just robbing it with a gun or whatever like that, but are you stealing from God in another way, okay? Thou that say'st a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Obviously, we'd all say that adultery is a big sin, but even lusting in your heart, according to the word of God, is adultery. And then he makes this phrase that I want to focus on. He says, Thou that abhor'st idols dost thou commit sacrilege? And the name of the sermon is The Sin of Sacrilege. Another name you could think of is Dost Thou Commit Sacrilege? And I thought of this idea because during the New Testament vibrating challenge, I was just reading through. I came across this verse. I thought about it. And I would say in our church, we all abhor or hate idolatry, don't we? We hate it. The sermons I preach against idolatry, I would say everybody in our room believed everything that I said about it. You hate idols. You think it's wicked. It's an abomination. Of course, we know that is true. And the thing is, it's like that's good preaching. It needs to be preached. We need to know that and understand that, but that's not necessarily applicable to your life because I doubt that the ladies in this room, if we opened your purse, we would see these idols. Now, if we do, get rid of them. You guys that are here, I doubt when you go to sleep at night, it's like you roll over in the bed and you're looking at Shiva. I doubt that's the case. I doubt you're looking at Buddha. I doubt you have literal physical idolatry in your house. And Paul is speaking toward people that hate idols, but he says, do you commit sacrilege? That's the question he asks. So, of course, we need to ask ourselves, what does that mean? What is sacrilege? Perhaps you've heard of the phrase of something being sacrilegious, but the problem is people use words and they misrepresent them, they misapply them, so you don't necessarily know what it means. And if you look at the word sacrilege or if you're committing sacrilege, you're being sacrilegious. Okay, those words are basically the same. But if you look at the word sacrilege and you look at the first four letters, S-A-C-R, think of the word sacred. It has the same root. What sacrilege is, is looking at something that is sacred and holy and not treating it with the correct respect. I mean, having an idol inside of a church is just an abomination to God. It's wicked, it's evil. It's like, it's a house of God and you've got idols. It's like, what's wrong with you? And, of course, we look at that as being wicked and you wouldn't do that, but at the same time, are you treating things that are meant to be sacred with the proper respect? That is what he's asking. Now, here's the thing. The sermons I preached against idolatry to the world, a lot of people would be offended and say, man, how could you say that? But it's not like it's really hard preaching to us that are saved, right? This sermon is hard preaching to people that are saved because every single one of us is going to be guilty of a lot of things that are mentioned, myself included. So don't get offended at what I have here today. I'm going to show you what the Bible says, but I would say that all of us are guilty of not always treating things that are meant to be sacred with the proper respect that they deserve, okay? And that is what Paul is addressing here in Romans chapter 2. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 3. Blasphemy is basically an extreme form of sacrilege, I would say. And I doubt you're using the Lord's name in vain. I hope you're not. But even if you're not being blasphemous, you can still be committing sacrilege where you're not treating things that are meant to be sacred and holy with the proper respect, okay? Now let me give you some misapplications of sacrilege. I mean, if you were to spray paint a Catholic church, they would say that you're being sacrilegious, but you're not really being sacrilegious. You say, why? Because it's a false church. There's nothing sacred or holy or special about the Catholic church or the Hindu temple or any of those things. They're false. They would say you're being sacrilegious because to them it's very sacred. But it's not really in the eyes of God, right? But of course in the house of God, I mean, this is something that's very special, isn't it? Church is something that's meant to be sacred. It's meant to be holy. Some examples in the Bible I would say of being sacrilegious because this is a word that only appears one time. But some examples I would say are like, you know, when Belshazzar, they're drinking from the vessels of God's house in Daniel chapter 5, right? Or another example, Nadab and Abihu offering strange fire before the Lord. It was meant to be something specifically for certain people and they did not do things properly. They did not treat it with the proper respect and treated it sacred like they should have, okay? Now, what I'm going to explain is not sacrilegious, but it can kind of help give you the mindset of what we're saying in this sermon. Imagine going to a funeral. A funeral is not something that's sacred or holy, but it is something that you should have the proper respect for, right? Imagine if you showed up to a funeral wearing sandals and jeans with holes in them. I mean, people would look at you like, what is wrong with you, right? And I've been to a funeral where someone was wearing sandals, shorts, and a t-shirt, and I'm like, it was like a family funeral. I asked my parents, I was like, you know, who's that person? And they said, yeah, they don't dress up for anything. It's like, it's a funeral, right? It's like, it's a funeral. It's like, I mean, I learned to tie a tie at a funeral. That's where I learned where it's like, okay, because it's like my parents are like, you got to put on a tie? It's like, I learned to tie a tie. You say, why? Because things like that are meant to be something that you take very seriously. You don't just show up and whatever. It's a funeral. Or you could think of a wedding, right? I mean, at a wedding, it's like, you don't want to stand out at a wedding. You don't want to stand out at a wedding. It's only the bride and the groom are meant to stand out at a wedding, right? And it's something you should have the proper respect for. But even more so with things that are actually sacred and holy, we need to treat them with the proper respect. And one example is church. Church is something that is very special. Church is something that's very sacred. Church is something that's very holy. And I'm not saying the building itself, but I'm saying when we're meeting for church, this is something that is very serious, and it's not a joke or a laughing matter, right? The Bible says in 1 Timothy 3, verse 14, it says, 1 Timothy 3, verse 14, These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly. But if I tarry along, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. You know, the Bible's saying that the way you behave in the house of God is different than how you would behave at home or other places, right? I mentioned clothing. I mean, I don't go to the grocery store dressed like this. I mean, if you were to see me in Pampanga, you're going to see me in like soccer pants, Adidas soccer shoes. It's like I don't dress up in general. Now, if I go to something that's a little bit more serious, I'll dress up a little bit, right? But it's like I don't dress the same way when I'm out in public because I'm not going to the house of God. Now, I'm not saying it's wrong to not dress up. I don't have a Bible verse that would say it's a sin. I would just say that you're not treating it with the proper respect it deserves if you're not taking it seriously. And church is something where you ought to know how to behave yourself in the house of God, meaning there is a place and a way that you behave. This is something that kids do not intuitively understand. Kids want to run around. I mean, kids, they would treat this as a giant playground, right? It's like there's a lot of space that's run, and it's like we as parents, we have to teach our kids. It's like this is not the place for that, right? We need to treat church with the proper respect. Why? Because there's a certain way to behave in the house of God. Go to Psalm 100. Psalm 100. Now, let me help make a distinction here so there's no confusion, because as I said, this is just a building, okay? But inside this building, before church service, we're joking, laughing, talking, having fun. After church service, joking, laughing, talking. I mean, after service, there's nothing wrong with the kids running around and having fun. There's no problem with that, right? But it's when there's actually church service, that is where we've got to take things very seriously. And one example is getting involved in the church service. You say, but Pastor, I'm not the preacher. I'm not the song leader. I don't play the instruments. I'm not taking the offering. How can I be involved? You can be involved by singing praises to God during the church service. And if you're not doing that, you're not treating God's house with the proper respect that it deserves. Psalm 100, verse 1, make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. You know, the Bible says to make a joyful noise. You can do that regardless of how good your voice is. And one thing I'm amazed by in church is that it individually, maybe people don't have the greatest voices, but when people are singing out in unison and unity together, doesn't it sound beautiful? Doesn't it sound amazing? The Bible says make a joyful noise. And regardless of, you say, well, I don't have a good voice. I mean, I sound bad. No, sing out and sing praise to God. You know, young kids at a young age, they don't generally have the best voices yet. I mean, those voices get developed. But one of the most beautiful things to me is hearing the young children singing praises to God. Isn't that amazing? I was amazed yesterday. My daughter, Christabel, was singing praises, and I heard her. I was like, man, amen, right? Make a joyful noise out of the Lord, all ye lands, and everyone can do this if they know the songs. Now, if you don't know the song and you don't know how the tune goes, yeah, maybe listen to like it going for a little while and then sing praises on the second. But if you know the song, sing it out. Sing praises to God. Verse two, serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord is good. It is he that hath made us and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him and bless his name, for the Lord is good, his mercy is everlasting, and his truth endureth to all generations. Sing with a joyful noise. Enter in with thanksgiving. And the Bible is saying, when you come to the house of God, you ought to be in a good mood. You ought to be happy. And I get it. All of us are guilty of not always being in the best mood when we come to church. That's why I said all of us can be sacrilegious and not treating this place with the proper respect. But what I'm saying is God says, hey, when you come to the house, come with thanksgiving and be thankful and joyful. That's what the Bible teaches. Go to Nehemiah chapter eight. Nehemiah eight. By the way, you want one of the best cures for having a bad attitude when you're at church? If you start singing the praises out to God, it just will change your attitude pretty much immediately. Is that not true? I've been in church before and I feel like I got a lot of things going on. I'm frustrated. My mind's meditating on these things. And you start singing the song. And if you're singing out, giving praise to God, it just changes your attitude, doesn't it? Sing praises to God. Be involved in the church service. But also pay attention during the preaching. Pay attention during the preaching. I mean, the preaching is serious business. I mean, if you imagine if you pay to attend some lecture, to get some knowledge about whatever subject that you wanted to learn, you're going to pay attention to it. And of course, we don't charge you any money. But it's like if you really believe the Bible is the word of God and that the word of God and the preaching of his word can change your life, you ought to pay attention. Nehemiah chapter 8, verse 1. And all the people gathered themselves together as one man entered the street that was before the Watergate. And they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation, both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding upon the first day of the seventh month. You say to a pastor, your sermons are too long. I can't pay attention. They're so long. I mean, I can't take it past. I mean, they scientifically proved 20 years ago that the perfect length for a sermon is 21 to 23 minutes because it's impossible, according to the experts, to pay attention in more than 23 minutes. Well, let's just see if the Bible agrees with that. Verse 3. And he read therein before the street that was before the Watergate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women and those that could understand, and the ears of all the people were what? Attentive. Paying attention. On to the book of the law. Don't sit here and tell me you can't pay attention more than 20 minutes. You know that if you have to pay attention, you can pay attention for more than 20 minutes. Look, if you're driving for an hour and a half, I hope you're paying attention for more than 20 minutes. You can pay attention more. And I get it. In sermons, your mind might drift out a little bit, and then you bring it back. Yeah, maybe during a sermon you miss a few things here or there, but you just get back and get focused and just learn from the Word of God. Even if you miss a small part, you're still getting a lot of information. But you could honestly come to church and just choose not to pay attention and choose not to listen, and you're just wasting your time. You're not going to learn anything. And the Bible says here in Nehemiah 8 that they paid attention. And what I would say is that if you come to the house of God and you don't pay attention during the preaching, you're being sacrilegious because you're not taking a sacred place with the proper respect that it actually deserves. Turn your Bible to Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4. There are a lot of applications that we can make. How about keeping things clean? I mean, if you have kids, then your kids might make a mess sometimes. That happens. Maybe you accidentally knock something over. That happens. But to the best of our ability, it's like, you know, you don't, I mean, obviously this is just a building, but don't trash the building. I mean, there's things, I mean, obviously we spend money on stuff like hymnals and chairs and stuff, and don't just trash it and just, well, the tithes are going to pay for it. It's like, no, treat it with the proper respect. Right? I mean, treat the house of God with its proper respect that is worthy. Some of the other examples, and as I said, this is hard preaching, being on time for church. It's like, if you're doing Filipina time, it's like, you know, have the proper respect for church. How about the fellowship? It's like, stick around fellowship, singing praises, keeping distractions to a minimum during service, taking notes during service. There's many ways we can apply treating the house of God with this proper respect, and all of us are guilty sometimes of breaking this. I realize that. I'm guilty sometimes of breaking it as well. But we have to realize that this is not just like a normal meeting that people have. It's not like a neighborhood meeting to talk about the cats that are causing problems in the neighborhood or whatever. No, this is something that's very serious, because if you really believe that this is the word of God and that I'm a spirit-filled pastor delivering a message, or one of the other guys when they stand up here to preach is spirit-filled and God is speaking through them, you ought to pay attention and say, hey, I'm going to treat God's house with the proper respect it deserves. This is not like just going to a grocery store, right? I mean, this is the house of God. It's very serious. But besides church, because church is something I think everybody would agree this is something that's sacred and it's holy, right? Another thing is the name of God. The name of God is something that is very sacred and is very holy. And, you know, me personally, I take a very strict stance on the words that we say, but the name of God is so much above just any secular words. It's something. It's sacred. It's holy. The worst examples you could think of are like GD, right, where what you're literally doing is asking God to damn somebody, right? It's like, and people just flippantly say that without thinking. It's like, do you know what the punishment of breaking the third commandment is in the Bible? It's the death penalty. And so not only do I not say it, I don't like to listen to it being said. You say, well, my favorite TV show, they say it. Find a different TV show to watch. Or they say JC. People just say that, just blaspheme God, and that's the most extreme example. That is not the only example, though, of being sacrilegious with the words that come out of our mouths, though. That is an extreme example that deserves the death penalty according to the word of God. But there are other examples as well of being sacrilegious with the words coming out of our mouth in terms of the name of God. Now let's just first see what the Bible says here in Ephesians. Ephesians 4, verse 29. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace onto the hearers. The Bible says the words that come out of our mouth, they need to be edifying. They need to be helpful. Now look, if you hit your thumb with a hammer, I'm not saying that nothing can come out of your mouth as a reaction. What I'm saying is certain things better not come out of your mouth. Scream ouch. Right? Something wrong with the word ouch. Ouch. Or if you feel the need to curse something religious, why don't you curse Buddha? Why don't you curse Mohammed? And I promise you, nobody would curse Mohammed right in front of a bunch of Muslims. You say why? Because you'd be afraid that they would stab you. Because it's offensive to them, and you know that. And yet people that say they're Christians seem no problem with just blaspheming God's name. It's like people say that. It's like, didn't you say that you go to church? Yeah, why? It's like, I mean, I'm not saying you know all the Ten Commandments, but you know the Third Commandment? Like not take the name of the Lord in vain? And it's like they don't even take it seriously. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 1. Ephesians 5 verse 3. Ephesians 5 verse 3. Before an occasion in all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as become a saint, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idol of Tereth, any inheritance of the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words, for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. The primary context is about the words coming out of our mouths. And the Bible's saying don't let anyone deceive you with vain words. It's like don't listen to music that is being disrespectful to God. Don't watch TV and movies that are being disrespectful to God. Find something else to listen to. Find something else to watch than things that blaspheme and just desecrate God's name. Now let me just give you some examples of ways, because obviously I think everybody would say that saying G.D. is horrible. Or saying J.C. or something similar. It's like you're in pain. Look, if you hit your thumb with a hammer and then it's like Matthew Stuckey, I'd be like excuse me? It's like why are you saying my name when you get hurt? It's like you're using my name as a curse word. It's like what are you doing? You'd be offended, wouldn't you? Or if somebody used your mom's name or your wife's name, you'd be mad. I mean I know people do a good job controlling their anger, but if you did that here and said somebody else's wife's name, I mean they would be ready to fight you. It's offensive. So why would you use God's name in that way? Because here's the thing, it would be offensive to use my name or anybody's name, but God's name is sacred and holy. Not only should you not use his name, you should not go anywhere near that line. Wouldn't we all agree on that? Because if you hit your thumb with a hammer and you said Matthew Stuckey, I'd be like what's your problem? And then if you hit your thumb again or something and you said Mark Truckey or something relatively similar, I'd be like why are you saying Truckey? Why don't you use something else rather than saying something that rhymes with my name? Right? Let me give you some examples of things that Christians should not say. How about saying holy cow? Is a cow holy? Is a cow sacred? Let me give you one wild guess of what religion that expression holy cow comes from, and I think it's only going to take one guess. Hinduism. Are you a Hindu? I don't see a dot on your head. Why are you declaring a cow to be holy? Why would you declare an animal to be holy? Well, it's just a couple words. It's being sacrilegious because you're declaring something that is not holy and not sacred as being holy and sacred. It's a dumb animal. Why would you call it holy? It's wrong. Or you could say holy and then S star star star or holy and pretty much anything after it that's not holy. By the way, let me give you one wild guess of what religion that comes from to say holy with S blank blank blank because in the Hindu scriptures they literally declare cow dung and other dung as being holy. That's where it comes from. Once again, are you a Hindu? Why are you declaring something unclean and filthy as being holy? You say, wow, that's not blasphemy. But it's sacrilegious because you're declaring something to be holy that is not sacred and it's not holy, and I would say, why would you go even near the line? Now, look, as I said, I have a very strict stance and the word's coming out of my mouth, but I don't think this is being very strict at all. Everyone as a Christian should say, yeah, a cow's not holy, so I shouldn't say that. Right? How about saying, oh, my, G-O-D? I don't know what radio thing it is because I've been in grabs before where there's like that woman that makes that phrase like 20 times in a row, and it's just like I see heads nodding. Some of you know the exact same ad I'm talking about. I'm just like, can you please shut up, woman? Because I'm sure that woman is a Catholic, whoever it is. And it's like, why do you just keep saying, oh, my, G-O-D? It's like, what is wrong with you? It's just like, is it blasphemy? I wouldn't say it's blasphemy, but it's not something that Christians should be saying. Or something similar. You could say, oh, my, L-O-R-D, or whatever. Right? You know, these phrases are actually in the Bible, you know, oh, my, G-O-D. But it's not used as a blasphemy or as a curse word or anything like that. It's actually declaring and talking about God Almighty. And so why would you declare something God that's not or use it just flippantly? It's like, have the proper respect for things that are sacred and holy. Another example are euphemisms. Because I don't think that you should use God's name flippantly, but here's the thing. Why would you basically just change it a little bit where it's really clear what you're actually saying? As I said, you hit your thumb with a hammer. I don't know of anything bad with the word ouch. And there's plenty of words that you could use. Right? There's nothing wrong with them. They don't sound like anything else that's spiritual or anything. It's perfectly fine. Some euphemisms, and what a euphemism is, is basically something that's used to represent something. It's slightly different. It sounds a bit different, but it's not that much different. For example, with God, gosh is probably the most common euphemism. And here's the thing. Is saying oh my and then saying gosh as bad as saying oh my and then saying God? No, it's not as bad, but it's still like, why are you using a euphemism for God? Just use something different. You say, why? Because God's name is sacred and holy. Some other examples are golly. Some other examples are by George. I didn't even know by George until... It's not a phrase I use, but apparently the... Because I got a long list of euphemisms they said. Apparently people use that as an expression where it's like, you know, by George. How about for Jesus? Uh, jeez. Right? It's not hard to see that that's pretty common, similar to Jesus. Or gee whiz, which apparently it's short for Jesus wizard. Well, that's really bad because Jesus is not a Munko Coolum, right? Gee whiz. By the way, as I'm reading these euphemisms, let me just be honest with you. One of these on this list I used to say all the time, and I did not realize it was a euphemism for God. And my wife told me, and I looked it up, and I was like, you know what? My wife's right, and I don't use it anymore. And now the frustrating thing is, you know, I hear it all the time by people that are good people that don't realize it's a euphemism. And I'm thinking, because I'm not going to be rude to people and say, hey, you shouldn't say that. You know, because I think that's just being rude. But it's just like I hear it all the time now, and it bugs me every time I hear it now. I'm just like, ugh. Right? So if there's something on this list that you didn't know that you say, just take this with the right attitude. Just make the change. Right? I mean, that's what I did when I found out. Cripes. Cripes. Crikey are ones for Christ. Jeepers. There's another one. Bijingo. Jeasers. Bejeezers. I haven't heard of all of these. Bejeezers, I guess, is for by Jesus. How about ones that have the initials of Jesus Christ? Jiminy Cricket. That's a common one in the U.S. Jiminy Cricket. J.C. Jiminy Christmas. Jumping Catfish. Jeepers Creepers. Jeezy Creezy. Judas Christopher. Judas Christopher. Jason Crisp. Jason Crisp I've never heard of before, but I don't know. Some of these I haven't heard of, but a lot of these I hear relatively regularly, and it's like, these are euphemisms for Jesus Christ. It's like, why not use something else? How about euphemisms for the expression, oh my God, and oh my gosh is obviously one. The one I did not realize that I said all the time and I do not say anymore is, oh my goodness. I had no idea that that was a euphemism, and it's like, well, goodness God, I can kind of see that, and that's actually where it comes from. It's a euphemism for saying, oh my God. So I don't use that expression anymore. You say, why? Because not only am I not going to say it at this level, I don't want to go near that line. Because I want to have God's name with the proper respect that it deserves. That God's name is holy, God's name is sacred, and it's something that we should take very seriously. Right? Turn to Deuteronomy 17. As I said, I hear a lot of people that say various phrases, and I'm not really thinking in this room, but I hear various people say things, and I don't think people are aware of certain things being euphemisms. And I would just say for all of us, even outside of the things I said, I encourage you, go to Google and just type in euphemisms for God, and you'll see lists, and you never know. You might have some things on the list that you say, and I would say you shouldn't say them. Because I don't think you should go near that line of something that is sacred and holy and not treating it as sacred and holy. Church is something that is holy. The name of God is something that is holy. The Bible is something that is holy, meaning we need to treat it with its proper respect. Here's one violation of not treating God's word with the proper respect. How about just not reading it? You're being sacrilegious. It's like you're not treating God's word with the proper respect. Here's what it says in Deuteronomy 17, verse 18. And it shall be when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom that he shall write him a copy of this law and a book out of that which is before the priests of Levites, and it shall be with them, and he shall read therein all the days of his life. Look, if your Bible at home has a lot of dust on it, if you have several Bibles, that's another thing. But if you have one Bible and it's filled full of dust, it's like you're being sacrilegious to God's word. You are not treating it with its proper respect. I mean, imagine you have a book in front of you that has the answers to all the mysteries and questions in life. It can help you become better at everything you do. Be a better husband, be a better father, be a better mother, be a better wife, be better at your job, help you with your pride, help you with your bitterness. If only you took 15 minutes a day to read it. And you don't take the time to even open it. Is that treating this with its proper respect it deserves? Go to James 1. James 1. I mean, I think in general that people need to learn to take life seriously just in general. Right? Like your jobs, take it seriously. Your life, take it seriously. I mean, every part of our lives, and obviously kids run around, they play, they have fun. But it's like, you know, it's like our kids got money from their grandmother, from their Lola the other day. So we were at Markey Mall in Pampanga and we took them to Toys R Us where they could spend the money that they were given. And it's like the songs playing, it's like, I don't wanna grow up, I'm a Toys R Us kid. I mean, that's fun for like a young child, but it's like people need to learn to grow up and put away childish things in their lives. And if you're 20 years old and you're acting like a 5-year-old, it's not funny. It's funny when a 5-year-old does certain things, when a grown adult does the same things, it's like, what is wrong with you? And in general, in general, I believe that people need to learn to take life seriously because life is serious. And there's a time to laugh, there's a time to have fun, but people need to take life more seriously. But how much more should we take things that are actually holy and sacred seriously? Do you see the difference there? I think you're a fool if you go to work and don't take it seriously. But even more so with something that's sacred and holy, you better take seriously, right? And the Bible is something that is holy, the Bible is something that is sacred, the Bible is something that's very special. Read the Bible. Or how about this, how about reading the Bible and then just flippantly not applying anything that you read? Or just not applying anything that you ever hear in sermons. Is that treating the proper with the proper respect that it deserves? I mean, imagine that, you know, a father will give his young son advice. And maybe this young son is like a young teenager, so he doesn't necessarily take life as seriously as he thinks. And you reach that age where you think you know everything when you're 13 or whatever. And it's like he doesn't really listen to his father's advice. And you would look at that and say, well, you're a fool because your father's been around longer than you and he can actually help you. You should take his advice. You'd say that's being disrespectful when a child would not listen or take heed to their parents' advice. Wouldn't you say that? They're being disrespectful. They're not taking it very seriously, which they should. How much more with the words of God that you could hear a sermon that says, Thus saith the Lord, do this, don't do this. Or you read the Bible, do this, don't do this. And then during the week, eh, it's not that big of a deal. It's being sacrilegious. It's not taking it seriously. It's not treating something that is sacred and holy like it should be. Here's what the Bible says in James 1, verse 22. But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. You say, Pastor, I'm a member of this church and we preach the word of God. Yeah, but that doesn't guarantee that you're actually doing the word of God just because you're hearing. I'm glad that you're here. I'm glad you're listening. But I hope when you go home, you do what you're being taught. Because it doesn't do any good to get all of this knowledge and do nothing with it. Verse 23, for if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. Now in verse 23, it talks about beholding your natural face in a glass. And we would think of a mirror. Okay? And he's given an example where basically somebody would look at a mirror. Like before you go to work, you look at a mirror. What is the purpose of looking at a mirror? To see if there's anything you need to fix. Right? So for example, you know, you might put on a tie and then you look in front of the mirror. And then it's just like, you know, whatever. And you try to adjust it. Or, you know, for example, you look in the mirror and just say, hey, is my hair messed up or whatever? Do I need to like get it down or whatever it is? And you look in the mirror to see if there's any problems. Would it make any sense for me to walk up to a mirror and look at it and see a million problems and just be like, eh. I just ate breakfast and I've got ketchup on my face. And I look at a mirror and it's like, eh. I don't feel like wiping it off. It'd be like, what's wrong with you? You'd be a fool. Right? I mean, if you've got something on your face, it's like you fix it. I mean, it's always awkward. You know, somebody's eating and they get stuff on their face, but they don't realize it because they don't have a mirror. But that's understandable. It happens to all of us sometimes. And you just kindly tell someone, hey, you know, you might want to, you know. But what if you actually looked? It's like you tell somebody that like, hey, you got ketchup. And they're like, eh. OK, there's there's a tissue right here. Right. All right, whatever. It's a new fashion sense. I don't know. It's like it wouldn't make any sense. And the Bible saying it makes no sense to stare at the mirror of God's word. And all of a sudden, you know, this is the way that reading the Bible and hearing sermons works. Oh, I got to change that. Oh, guilty of that. Ouch. And I'm not going to make the change. It doesn't make any sense. And I like honestly, I don't know why most people in this world go to church, because I always went to church because I wanted to learn what the word of God said and make changes in my life. And yeah, you know what? Hard preaching that actually hits home. It hurts and nobody ever really likes it. But I'm glad if I've got a problem that I can find out ahead of time. I mean, it's just like, you know, if you're driving and you find out you have very little gas left, I mean, that never really makes you happy. But isn't it better to know that before you run out of gas? I mean, imagine that you have all these things in your life where you could have your life destroyed if you don't make changes. Isn't it good to know that before you destroy your life? And yet people go to church and they don't want to learn anything. They don't want to be told that they're wrong about something. They don't want to make any changes. And it's like, well, why do you waste your time? Now, I don't think it's true with people, at least most people that are at our church. I mean, if it is true about you, then change. Come here to pay attention, learn and then apply, then make the change. Otherwise you're going to destroy your life. Go to 2 Timothy 2. And it's not treating God's word with the proper respect that it deserves. I think all of us are guilty of this sometimes, where we do not take our Bible reading that seriously. It's like we have 10 free minutes. We say, well, let me just get on Facebook and waste some time. And it's like, we should probably spend some more time reading the Bible. I'm not saying it's wrong to ever be on Facebook. I mean, I have a Facebook. I'm just saying it's like we spend a lot of time on a lot of things in this world, and yet we can often neglect the most important thing that we need to spend time with. And you know what that is? It's being sacrilegious. It's committing sacrilege because you're not treating something that is sacred and holy with its proper and deserved respect. Not only just not reading the Bible, not only not applying it, but taking it out of context. Notice what it says in 2 Timothy 2, verse 15. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Now, a lot of people get very confused in this phrase, rightly dividing. And they look at the Bible as like it's a book that needs to be divided into section one, section two, section three. And we're all the way in this section, so none of this applies. And then Revelation doesn't apply. Now, when it's saying rightly divide, we need to rightly divide every verse and every phrase in the Bible. Any verse you look at, you need to put it in its proper place, okay? Now, I will say this, that as a pastor, as a preacher, sometimes you have really cool ideas for sermons. But you've got one major problem. It's like, where in the Bible am I going to go to teach this, right? And if you're a preacher, I mean, you deal with it, you've got a cool idea, and you're trying to think of stories. Like, all right, let me think back. Adam and Eve, then comes Cain and Abel. I mean, Noah, no, that's not going to work. Abraham is like, and you can't really think of it. And sometimes, you know, later on, you might think of it. But it's like, if I don't have the verse to use, I'm not going to do it. And, you know, but there are people, sometimes they preach sermons, and they just, like, use something that's just very, very out of context to try to prove something. And what they're saying might be true, but it's like, well, we need to use it in its proper place, right? We can't just flippantly just take stuff that is just out of context and just apply it to something that has nothing to do with. Right? For example, one way that unsaved people will do this, you know, in the book of 2 Corinthians, they'll go to a place where the Bible says, you know, Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation. And it's like, they know that's written to a church. They should know it's written to save people. So why are you trying to apply something to save people and a group of people at church and try to apply that you've got to do this to be saved? It's like, that's not the context of that. It's referring to people that are already saved, and it's written to a church. What are they doing? They're just taking stuff out of context. And many people that would go there to prove that, they know it's out of context, but they use it anyway. It's like, well, why don't you find something that's in context if this doctrine is just so clear in the Bible? Go in your Bible to 1 Corinthians 3. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Things we should take more seriously or we could be guilty of the sin of sacrilege. One thing is church. Church is something that is meant to be taken very seriously. Anyway, this is something we must teach our kids at a young age. Now, I'm not saying I want this church to turn into a Catholic or Protestant church where everyone's just not happy to be there sitting up. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. I'm not saying that. It's okay to laugh during a sermon. But things that you should not be doing is, well, let me just check how my Bitcoin's doing right now. Let me just check if I got any messages. It's like, no, it's something that should be taken very seriously. Wait until after the service. I mean, things that should be taken seriously. Church is something that's very serious. And we laugh and we have fun, but the reality is that the work we're doing is very serious. The soul winning we do is very serious. But it's not just the soul winning because we need the adequate nutrition and we get that via the Word of God. And part of that is the preaching of God's Word. Church is something that's meant to be taken very seriously. The name of God is something that's meant to be very serious. It's sacred. It's holy. The Bible itself. But even the Bible mentions our bodies. Notice what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 3 verse 14. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss. But he himself shall be saved, yet so is by fire. This is the idea of the judgment seat of Christ. The rewards that we're going to get at that day for saved people. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? And, you know, sometimes people ask this question because when it comes to the Spirit of God dwelling in us, this is something that actually would not have applied earlier in the Bible. Because in today's world we are in dwell with the Holy Ghost, but it has not always been that way. Remember Jesus said that if I do not leave, the Comforter is not going to come. And we sing the song the Comforter has come because of the fact when you get saved today, you get in dwell with the Holy Ghost. Before that you had eternal life, you had eternal security, you were saved forever, but you were not in dwell with the Holy Ghost. You could not lose your salvation in the Old Testament, but you were not in dwell with the Holy Ghost. What you're going to find in the Old Testament is people like King Saul and Samson and, you know, any great person, but specifically it mentions those two characters about the Spirit of God coming upon them. Now perhaps why it comes upon Saul so much is he loses the Spirit of God in his life so much, I don't know. But basically the Spirit of God comes upon you and it gives you boldness to do something great. Now here's the thing about this, a lot of people get this wrong idea that in today's world the Holy Spirit coming upon you is the same thing now as the Holy Spirit in dwelling you, but it's not. Because here's the thing, you know this to be the case that there are some times that you are really right with God and sometimes you are not right with God. Isn't it true that when you're not right with God you do not have boldness, you don't have a good attitude, all of those things. And yet when the Spirit comes upon you, you're right with God, guess what? All of a sudden you've got boldness to do things that you could not normally do in your flesh. So the Spirit of God still comes upon us today, but after the resurrection of Jesus Christ as the Holy Spirit has been sent, you get in dwell with the Holy Ghost if you get saved today. And the Bible says this, and here's the thing, some people wonder and ask, well why is it or what's the difference? Why did the Holy Spirit not dwell in the Old Testament? Well one thing you can think of is the Bible often speaks about God's Spirit that would be dwelling inside of temples in the Old Testament, specifically places where they were preaching the truth and had the Word of God, whereas now the Bible says our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost. So you don't have to go to Jerusalem, you don't have to go to a certain part of the world. It's like, you know what, if you're saved you get in dwell with the Holy Ghost, okay? The Bible says in verse 17, if any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy, for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. In our world today the word temple is sort of used generically for any religion, but it's not a bad word. It's just the way people use it, they would call a Hindu temple or a Buddhist temple or a Taoist temple. And generally they would call this church, but you could still call a building a temple, okay? But we would think of a true place where the Word of God is being preached like church as something that is sacred and holy. That's kind of the comparison he's making. And what the Bible says is, you know what, your bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost, and your bodies are meant to be holy. And so here's the thing, when you're sinning, you're basically not treating something that's meant to be holy and sacred with this proper respect. It's sacrilegious. And you could think of many different ways to apply this, because obviously we're all sinners, we all do wrong, but it's like, here's the thing, you don't have the right to destroy your body. You say, well, you know, my body, my choice. It's not your body. It belongs to God. You can't just do whatever you want. When God's the one that gave you your life, He gave you the Holy Spirit, He says, you know, you are the temple of God. It's like your body's the temple of God. You ought to treat it to be holy and to do right. And when the Spirit of God is dwelling in you and you're doing wrong, you know what you're doing? You're grieving the Holy Spirit of God, because that Holy Spirit's going with you, whether it likes it or not, because you have eternal life as a saved person. Go to 1 Corinthians 10. Look, obviously I'm a sinner just like everybody else. And as I said, I'm guilty of not treating things as being proper and sacred with the right respect that they deserve sometimes. But that's a reminder to all of us that, you know what, the temple of God is holy. You might feel like doing something, but it's like, well, you don't have the right to do something that you know is wrong, because God said that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost, and they are meant to be holy. It doesn't matter how much you desire it or how much you want it. You don't have the right, because it belongs to God. And when you do just willfully sin and break God's commandments, you're not treating your bodies with the proper respect that it deserves according to the Word of God, because it is the temple of the Holy Ghost, the temple of God. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 31, the Bible says this, Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Everything in our lives we ought to be doing to the glory of God, the Bible says. We ought to take every part of our life very seriously. And obviously, you know, we could look at things that are very extreme, like using the Lord's name in vain, and that's horrible. And it makes, I mean, I hope it makes you mad when you hear that. I hate it. You have to realize it's just like maybe some of the things that you say make God mad, too. Now, obviously, it's not as bad, but it doesn't mean it's right. I mean, are you treating the house of God with his proper respect? Are you treating, because this is a place that is sacred and holy. By all means, you know, during lunchtime, laugh and have fun. And it's kind of like this, you know, we laugh, we have fun. When we go out soul winning later, that's not something directly that I'm mentioning, but we would say that soul winning time is pretty serious, right? So it's like, you know, you're talking to your soul winning partner if you're going two by two, you're having fun or whatever, and then all of a sudden, once the person opens the door, you don't keep the conversation going. It's like, all right, it's time to take this very seriously. I mean, this person's attorney is literally standing right there and you are the one that can make that difference. It's very serious business. There are times that we should be taking things seriously. Church is one of those things that is sacred and holy. The name of God is one of those things that is sacred and holy. The Bible itself is one of the things that is sacred and holy. Our bodies are the temple of God. The Holy Ghost is indwelling you and God expects you to obey his rules and to try to live a holy and separated life. And we don't have the right to just go out and trash our bodies. I'm sure you hate idolatry. If you don't hate idolatry, you know, I don't know. Maybe, maybe you're Catholic and someone brought you to church here today. I don't know. I'm sure you hate idolatry. I hate idolatry. It's a false religion. I mean, it's false. It's wicked. It's not God. I mean, it's a piece of wood. It's a piece of stone and people worship it. It's offensive to God. But the question that Paul asks is, hey, you hate idolatry, but are you committing sacrilege? Are you treating things with the proper respect that are sacred and holy they deserve? Or are you being sacrilegious? Let's close in word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and asking to help us to apply this sermon to our lives, God. All of us, including myself, can benefit from the sermon, God, and we have changes to make. Help us all to treat things that are sacred and holy with the proper respect they deserve, God. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. For our last song, song number 31, song number 31 on our hymnals. We're going to sing it a little bit faster, song number 31, who lives. I serve a risen Savior, ready? Song number 31 on the first. I serve a risen Savior, is in the world today. I know that He is living whatever man may say. I see His hands of mercy. I hear His voice of cheer. And just the time I need Him is always near. He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way. He lives, He lives, salvation to impart. You ask me how I know He lives. He lives within my heart. In all the world around me I see His loving care. And though my heart grows weary, I never will despair. I know that He is leading through all the stormy blast. The day of His love will come at last. He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way. He lives, He lives, salvation to impart. You ask me how I know He lives. He lives within my heart on the last. Rejoice, rejoice, oh, Christian, lift up your voice and sing eternal hallelujah to Jesus Christ the King. Hope of all who seek Him, the help of all who find. None other is so loving, so good and kind. He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way. He lives, He lives, salvation to impart. You ask me how I know He lives. He lives within my heart. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank the Lord God for allowing us to give your word. Help us, Lord, to apply the sermons of our life. Help us, Lord, to always put the proper respect in the things that are holy and that are important to you, Lord God. And all these things we ask in Christ's most precious name we pray. Amen.