Working for The Lord

Dr. Michael Youssef on the truth. Satan's commitment is to obliterate the truth of the Word of God and replace it with falsehood. That's what he and all of his demons are constantly working and doing.

He has done that ever since he and his demons were kicked out of heaven, and he continues to do that throughout history, and he's doing this in our lifetime. Get ready for more challenging words as Dr. Michael Youssef begins today's Leading the Way. Today, Dr. Youssef takes you to 2 Timothy, offering a challenge to live a life of faithfulness to God and His Word. And this quick reminder, Leading the Way is listener supported. You can learn ways to stand with Dr. Youssef when you visit ltw.org or when you call us 866-626-4356.

Here now is Dr. Michael Youssef with a challenge to never give up. We saw in the last message the first half of chapter 2 and 2 Timothy. He gave us three imageries that help us in our faithfulness in passing on the truth to the next generation. Those were the imageries of the soldier who was soldiering and not getting entangled with their civilian affairs for the gospel and for the biblical truth.

Secondly, it was the image of an athlete that we are athletes who are running according to the rules. And thirdly, we saw the third imagery, and that is of the farmer who's patiently plowing and planting and harvesting. And here in the second half of chapter 2, he gives us three more imageries as if to build up those six imageries together can help us truly be faithful in our service of the Lord. These three imageries for faithful service are a good worker, a worker who's not ashamed of what he's doing, working hard. Secondly, a clean vessel, a vessel that is always ready to be used for honorable things. And then the third image is a servant who is loyal and obedient to his master.

Let's look at these very quickly. A worker who's not ashamed. The very reason for serving diligently, the very reason for working faithfully, serving the Lord is not to please others and make others feel good about themselves, good as that may be. It is not even to please oneself.

The very reason for faithfulness, the main reason and the ultimate reason for faithfulness is to please the Lord. Now the definition of shame, I saw a new one this week. It says, a painful emotion caused by consciousness of guilt, shortcoming or impropriety. Why are the false preachers should be ashamed? Because when their work is only for the show, it's only to impress people, it's only for the praise of people, they ought to be ashamed of themselves. When it is not to please the Lord first and foremost, they ought to be ashamed of themselves and yet those who have every reason to be ashamed, they are shameless.

Then that is why any ministry, any ministry whatsoever must be done for the glory of God alone. We ought not to have personal or hidden agenda. There must be straight lines. We should not have twists and turns or manipulate others for personal gain, not to dress up the truth in such a way as to try to make it palatable and acceptable and not to bury the truth under an avalanche of a marketing program or under the guise of relevance. In other words, be straightforward. The word of God is always clear. The word of God is always straight. The word of God is always plain. And Paul is saying to Timothy, keep it that way.

Keep it that way. Verse 16, avoid godless chatter. In other words, don't get drawn into these foolish discussions.

Don't get drawn into discussing issues that have already been settled in the word of God long ago. Doing so ruins people and brings about ungodliness. The word that the apostle Paul, the Greek word he uses is catastrophe, from which you get the word catastrophe. Compromise does not build up a person. It tears them down and brings about disaster, catastrophe. Compromise leads to false teaching and false teaching leads to ungodliness. The legacy of false teaching is false living. And false living leads to a catastrophe. False teaching is like gangrene.

Do you see that? He used the word gangrene. God translated gangrene. I mean, it is amazing.

Look at verse 17. In other words, it's infectious. Don't take it lightly. It is infectious. It spreads so fast. It is deadly.

I read not long ago that with all of our moral technology, with all of our science and medicine, that if a soldier in the battlefield is not treated, his injury is treated immediately, it could lead to amputation and even death. False teaching and satanic lies can spread much faster than the truth. You say, Michael, why is that?

I tell you why. Because the sinful human heart is more comfortable with compromise. And Paul is writing to Timothy and to us. And he mentions two specific people.

And he mentions them by name. These two people allowed themselves to be misled, ended up departing from the faith altogether. I tell you, there is not a week that passes by. I hear some preacher fall, some musician, Christian musician fall.

It is absolutely heartbreaking. And he names those two people, Hymenaeus and Philetus. Isn't it amazing that Hymenaeus means the singing man? If we get the word hymn, singing man. And Philetus from Phileo, which you know that means love, means a lover or a loving. And yet, one is a false singer and the other is a false lover. One is singing the wrong songs and the other has a misplaced love. And here's what you and I must never, never, never forget.

Don't miss this. Because deceivers are very attractive people. Deceivers are like the devil himself.

They appear as angels of light. Deceivers are very charming people. Deceivers are very eloquent. Deceivers are great communicators. And they will say things like, love is the most important thing. Really?

No, it's not. Jesus is. Because without Jesus, we don't know how to love. Someone would say, God is love. Therefore, love is God.

Really? Don't get hung up on doctrine. Don't get hung up on these biblical things and biblical morality. Don't get hung up on biblical teaching. Don't get hung up on that. After all, Jesus said, just love one another.

What they do is they take a grain of truth and they wrap it in a whole lot of falsehood or a drop of poison and they sugarcoat it. Paul said, avoid such people. Verse 18, let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity. I believe the apostle Paul here is quoting from Moses in the book of Numbers chapter 16 verse 5. Because back then there was a man by the name of Korah who managed to persuade few others in the Israelite community to oppose the plan of God for redeeming them from Egypt, the slavery of Egypt. Korah was rebelling against the plan of God and God literally opened the ground and swallowed them. And that's what Paul said, depart from iniquity.

Don't be like Korah and company. The second imagery the apostle Paul gives us here in being faithful is a clean vessel in a big house. You look at some of the castles and things you see and you see in a big house. You see those on television. There are all sorts of utensils and cutlery and pots and pans and large numbers of them. And the church of Jesus Christ worldwide, the global church of Christ, the elect of God from every nation, every tribe, they come in all sorts. We are like those utensils. We're like those equipment in the home. Except, listen carefully, except as people we have a choice to be a silver spoon or a dirty bucket.

There are utensils that the master of the house proudly displays and there's some rusty ones he soon just put in the basement and hide in the basement. Listen to me, those who are faithful to the Lord and to his word, the infallible word of God both Old and New Testament. Those who are faithful to plow in straight lines are instrument of honor. Those who twist the truth and preach and teach and speak half truth. Those who teach their own ideas are instrument of dishonor. As far as God is concerned, may not be as far as the masses are concerned, but as far as the Lord is concerned. Those who speak the truth, uphold the truth, live the truth are instrument of honor. But those who modify the truth, water down the truth are instrument of dishonor. Listen to what the word of God said, if any of you, if anyone purifies himself, he will be used by the master.

Please hear me right, this is really important. There can be no higher honor imaginable in life than being an instrument in the hand of God. There is no greater honor in life than being at the disposal of the Lord to use us as he wishes. There can be no greater honor in life than serving to accomplish God's purpose.

There can be no higher degree of honor than being available whenever he calls us for service. Ah, but there is a condition. I did not make up that condition. What is it?

What is that condition? Cleanliness and purity. Oh, are you preaching perfection now?

No, no, no, no, no. Don't miss this. Perfection is only going to happen when we get to heaven. Can I get an amen?

I can't wait. But cleanliness and purity is not perfection. It's not perfection. Verses 22 and 23, Paul said that we can actually purify ourselves. We can only be saved by God's power and grace. That's the only way, not by our works. But once we're saved, we can continuously purify ourselves.

You say, Michael, how do I do that? By confession, by repentance. You see, repentance is not just for sinners who don't know Christ and repent and come and believe in him.

Repentance ought to be the lifestyle of every believer. Not rationalizing sin. Not explaining it away. Not justifying it. Not saying, well, you know, my father did this and my mother did this and this happened and that happened and I couldn't help it and I blame so-and-so for this.

No, no, no, no, no. No rationalization. Look to heaven and say, Lord, I'm sorry. I do that every day.

Sometimes I say things, sometimes I get angry and as I stop, I say, Lord, I'm so sorry. Purify, cleansing myself. First by purging our hearts from false teaching.

That's where it begins. Don't listen to it. Don't meditate on it. Don't entertain it.

Don't even consider it. Here are some examples of what you hear, these false connotations and false teaching and false thoughts that are penetrating deep into the culture. The Bible is not relevant for today or at least not all of it. God is so loving and so merciful.

He's going to let everybody in. Hell cannot possibly go on for eternity. This is called annihilation. Annihilation is preached by many evangelical preachers today.

Sad. They're contradicting Jesus. He said the fire will not be quenched and the worm will not die. But he said, no, they will just expire. Or God gave us the gift of sexuality. Therefore, we can use it no matter how we feel about it. We can express ourselves whichever way we think is possible.

No. Or God doesn't care about how I treat my spouse and my family as long as I'm good to God. Or it doesn't matter how I use my money as long as I give God his tip. Listen, I could go on and on and on, but you get the message.

You get the picture here. And then Paul goes on to say, shun youthful passions. As soon as you hear that, there are two things that you will miss. Some people think, oh, they're just sexual immorality. They're just sexual sins. And other people think, well, that's just for the young people. I want to disabuse you of both.

OK, listen to me very carefully, please. Youthful passion means more. It means self-assertion. It means self-indulgence. It means headstrong. It means being obstinate.

It means being arrogant. See, these are the normally things associated with the early ages of adolescence when I have met adolescents in this church who absolutely amaze me at their strength and maturity. But this is just the general idea. But the person at any age should have nothing to do with that. These temptations are there for the old and the young alike.

To be sure, they are associated with adolescence, but everybody ought to flee from those kinds of things. There is a common mistake among believers. There's a common error. I want to explain it to you. And I know you'll understand as soon as I explain it. The Bible said, flee from temptation, but resist the devil. Flee from what? Temptation. Resist who? The devil.

There's a reason for that. God knows us. He made us. He knows us inside out.

And he gave us that delicate formula. Because God knows that it's much easier to resist the devil and flee from temptation. Here's what many Christians make the mistake of reversing those orders. You know what I mean?

They reverse them. They try to resist the temptation, then they flee from the devil. Listen carefully. When you try to resist temptation, you got a big percentage of a chance to fall in it. But if you flee from it, you got 99.9% chance of avoiding it. Fleeing from the devil should not be the case.

Why? Because you have to stand mano a mano with the devil. You stir him down.

And you can do what I do. I talk to the devil. I say to the devil, you're a defeated foe.

You're a toothless lion. You cannot have any authority over me because I am redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Quote the scripture. Nothing shall separate us from the love of God. Not even you, devil.

And you know what? When you stand your ground and you resist the devil, you know what happens? The devil is the one who flees. That's not the way that God said.

I'm not making it up. But a lot of believers linger and try to fight temptation instead of fleeing. And then they get themselves a bigger chance of falling into it. They linger like Lot did in Sodom instead of fleeing like Joseph did in Egypt. But then when we flee, we don't just flee to nowhere or to nothing.

No, no, no, no. We flee to righteousness. The Bible is so clear. We are to deny ourselves and follow Jesus. Or we are to put off what belongs to the flesh, to the old nature, put on what belongs to the new nature. That we are to put to death our earthly members and set our minds on things above. We are to crucify the flesh and walk in the Spirit.

We are to be ruthlessly rejecting one and relentlessly pursue the other. Now, beloved, listen. This is the secret. If there is a secret to such thing, this is the secret to victory. This is the secret to godly living. The third imagery.

If you're following with me, follow please. The apostle Paul gives us a third imagery here, and that's of obedient, loyal servant. There was Spurgeon who said, the Christians are the only ones who conspire with the enemy. Just like the worker, not ashamed because he cuts straight lines. Just like a vessel that is continuously cleansing itself for good use. The servant, always obedient and loyal. Our loyalty, our obedience is to the boss. Satan is forever trying to entrap us, to have divided loyalty, to have partial obedience. If you think that I don't know what that is, you would be terribly mistaken.

I am forever alert of the fact when I'm being trapped. Look at verse 26. Being willing and joyful servant will equip us not to fall in Satan's traps. But not only that, but we help others not to fall into Satan traps.

Or if they do, we are able to help them be rescued. You and I are building a spiritual house. We are the workmen and women in the building of that house. We are the utensils in that house. We are the servants to the master of the house.

So whether you live in contempt or contentment in your house, whether you live in peace or endless pain, whether you live in the depth of depression or the height of heights, it depends on how you see yourself in relationship to the master of the house. Do you see yourself as an investor in others, pouring into others? And as you invest, you being a soldier on active duty and being an athlete who's willing to play and run by the rules and being a hard-working farmer, being a worker not ashamed of your work, being an instrument that is clean and pure, ready for the hard work in the hand of the master or as a servant, willing to obey the master, it's up to you and it's up to me. Oh, my prayer to God, that I and everyone at the sound of my voice would say, yes, Lord, that's me.

And if not, you can say, yes, Lord, that's what I want to be. Encouragement to live as a worker, vessel, and servant for God and never give up. Thank you for joining Dr. Michael Youssef for Leading the Way. And if you missed any portion of today's message, visit ltw.org. We've got information about streaming from the online library, connecting to the Leading the Way podcast, apps, and much more.

Go to ltw.org. Hey, we do appreciate the partnership with our local radio stations and networks. They understand the unique needs of listeners and they have a passion for spreading the message of God's love and salvation. So if you haven't already, take just a moment, let them know how much you appreciate all they do.

Do it by calling, writing, or maybe even posting some words of encouragement on their social media pages. And if you're blessed by the daily teaching of Dr. Youssef, tag him in your post. That's also a pretty neat way for you to encourage others to listen. They can be blessed by the teaching on Leading the Way. Now, before time is completely gone, listen to this exciting opportunity. Learn the keys to spiritual endurance. Overcome spiritual burnout and train up the next generation to stand firm on biblical truth with Dr. Youssef's new book, Never Give Up. Dr. Michael Youssef unpacks Paul's rich words of encouragement found in 2 Timothy, words that will help you endure, flourish, and thrive in the midst of doubt, danger, and despair. In this encouraging book, Dr. Youssef unveils four unique aspects of what it means to never give up biblical truth. A timely message as Christians around the world face mounting pressure to compromise their faith and abandon their biblical values. Pre-order your copy today for your gift of any amount and receive two bonus resources exclusively from Leading the Way.

Be empowered to live for Christ and learn how to leave a lasting legacy of faith for the next generation. Pre-order your copy of Dr. Youssef's newest book, Never Give Up, by giving a gift of any amount. Contact us today. The number to call for additional ordering information is 866-626-4356. Or you can always go online, ltw.org, ltw.org. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef.