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Service 2025-11-30 - Hope of the daybreak
Summary
The sermon explores the historical origins of Advent, emphasizing its initial focus on anticipating the second coming of Jesus Christ rather than just Christmas. Drawing from Romans 13, it contrasts the present spiritual darkness—marked by evil, corruption, and moral decay akin to Noahs time—with the dawning hope of salvation nearer than when we first believed. Believers are urged to respond by being watchful, rejecting sinful desires, and clothing themselves in Christ, illustrated by preparing excitedly for a wedding as for the Lords return.
Sermon transcription
Study about the origin of Advent. According to history, the celebration of Advent began in the 5th century during the time of St. Gregory of Tours. In those times, of course, they were using Latin for their service, and also for their Bible at that time, either Greek or Latin. So the word Advent is from the Latin word adventus, but it was derived from the Greek parousia, which is coming.
That is why in Matthew 24 verse 3, it refers to the signs of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The whole chapter of Matthew 24 is talking about the signs of the times when Jesus is returning to earth. So coming is parousia in the Greek in that passage of Scripture.
At that time, during the early times when they were celebrating Advent, there was little or no initial connection with the Christmas celebration. Right now, it is more connected with preparation for the birth of Christ, for Sundays into the birth of Christ or the Christmas day as we call it. But at that time, it was about anticipating really the second coming because that is the essence of Advent: the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we say coming, not the first coming, but the second.
It was not a time of feasting because it is a time of fasting and penance. In fact, in the earliest days, it was a 40-day penance and fasting. Penance means reflecting and being able to come to terms with our sinfulness and repenting from our sins and fasting. So it is not really a time of celebration and feasting.
In the centuries, the focus slowly shifted from that time of penance and fasting towards preparation for the birth of Christ. But they still retained the point because Advent is also a preparation for those who want to be baptized, the new converts who wanted to be baptized. So it was also an aid preparation for them. In those times, they were very serious in preparing people for water baptism. So that was how it was then.
Later on, in the 19th century, the Advent calendar was invented or implemented in Germany to count the days of anticipating the birth of Christ. So it has become the calendar. When it was started, it was now more of preparation for Christmas day, for the coming of Jesus Christ. So the idea of fasting and repenting becomes less and more of looking towards celebrating the birth of Christ, and even more so after World War because of the tragic situation in the whole continent. People are more inclined to look forward to the celebration of Christmas.
So now we are in a situation where Advent is really a preparation for the birth of Christ or Christmas. I am saying this because I think there is an important aspect of the reason why they started Advent. It is all about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, we celebrate Christmas or the birth of Christ, but I think we have to really put emphasis on preparing ourselves at this time of the year for reminding us that the Lord is coming.
I do not know if you agree to that, but I think that in the coming years, we really make a point of reflection, maybe even at least a week of reflection about the preparation of our hearts, or are we really preparing ourselves for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Can you say amen to that?
So we are talking here of the hope of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is the first Advent. We will try to make a point that the message of the first Advent is about the anticipation of the hope of the birth of Christ. Our passage today is really a wonderful passage to make that point.
There are two things here initially in understanding the hope. The first one is understanding the present darkness. If you look at the passage, the metaphor of darkness into light, the metaphor of night towards the dawn or the daybreak. Understanding the present darkness, understanding that our time today is the time that we are living in this challenging not only world but our lives as we are struggling with our battle against sin, we are struggling with the corrupt system in the world.
I was reminded with the widespread protest in the Philippines right now because of massive corruption in the government. Anyway, that is beside the point, but what we are saying is we are living in a wicked time that we need to understand it. We need to know what it means. Ephesians 5:16 and 17 says, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lords will is.
So we need Gods wisdom in the times that we are living in. Jesus said in Matthew 24:37, as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. What happened during the time of Noah? During the time when Noah was building the ark for decades, it was a long process while preparing the ark. It was a message for people to repent because the judgment is coming, and there will be massive destruction in the world, but people are ignoring it.
The time of Noah, the people living in, they were living in a society where people are not only unaware of the coming destruction even though the warning signs are right there in front of their faces, and there was widespread violence and corruption, and then the disaster suddenly unexpectedly and with finality. That was the warning that was given to us that in those times people ignored the warning signs, and disaster came upon them so sudden.
Here in our passage in verse 13, if you look at your Bibles, some things are drunkenness, sexual immorality, quarreling and jealousy, but that is only a small representation of the evil that is happening in the world that they were living. So we ask ourselves, what is the sign that the coming of the Lord is very soon? Could this be the sign? Could this be the corrupt society, the evil that is happening around us, the increasing powerful natural disasters?
I do not know if you saw the booklet from our government prepares to prepare us for disaster preparedness, right? At least we are prepared for the first 72 hours of disaster. No for any reason that anything can happen, but there is that sense that at this time in the world anywhere in the world things can happen so sudden, and it can explode that anybody even nations can be caught unaware.
So I think so relevant to our topic today. I think as a church we also need to talk about it, how do we view as a church our typhoon season for many years because Philippines is the magnet of all kinds of natural disasters and it is increasing by the year. So here we are being made aware to be prepared of any eventuality that happens, but I also looking at the things that are happening that may not seem to be dangerous.
I mean we talk about progress, we talk about technology, and it seems harmless. It even can be seen as helping us, but progress and technology have two sides to it. There are the good side and there are the bad side, and that is why I think we are being informed by the Scriptures to be wise about anything.
Where we live in, we think about safety and peace, and the Scriptures, the Lord Jesus Christ even say that be careful for those who are saying peace peace there is peace because whenever you are so comfortable in your situation, that is when the tragedy strikes.
So we talk about the information age, right? But now it is now the artificial intelligence age. Very recently, I think last week, there are some protestations by popular Christian artists because the number one Christian album in Spotify is he is not a he, not a she but an it because it is an artificial intelligence artist. Its name is Solomon Ray. It has an image of a human being, but it is really artificial, and people I think buy in Spotify. Why? Because they like the song, they do not mind if it is AI or not.
But the message of the Christian artists is maybe we will take it as a challenge, a challenge to be better in writing songs, songs that really inspire from the heart, not be tempted by you know because if you use AI you can produce like daily hundreds of songs if you like right and you put it under your name.
Combination of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the compilation of technology to make such a good impressive tunes and lyrics and so on and so forth. But that is what I am trying to say, brothers and sisters, we are living in a very challenging time of our lives. Amen.
And we need to pay attention to what the Word of God says. We should not say that there is nothing wrong with how I live my life. I want to live my life the way I want to. And so you are speaking now like the time of Noah. You are speaking like the people in the time of Noah ignoring the sign of the times instead of reflecting on the things that are happening in the world today. Amen.
Now going to the second point, which is the hope, which is understanding the daybreak. We talked about understanding the dark world that we are living in, but also understanding the coming dawn of a new day. In understanding the daybreak or the coming dawn is about drawing from our personal journey.
What did I say, drawing from our personal journey? Because the verse says our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is nearly over, the day is almost here. You know that statement is a vision statement of vision. It is not, I do not think that in that image already the sun is already almost up, it is bright, but I think it is a vision because it is still dark, it is still night, but when you walk with faith you can see that you have not seen yet the light appear in the horizon, but you are envisioning that the light is almost there. That is what this passage is saying. It is not as if you already seeing the light. Oh, it is almost daybreak.
I think the point here that the author is saying it is not what you see but it is what you spiritually perceive. You perceive in your spirit that the coming of Jesus Christ is almost there, that you have to exercise that faith not based on what you see but based on your faith. Amen.
So when we say that, brothers and sisters, when we say our salvation is nearer than when we first believe, it is simply saying that the time that you have encountered the Lord Jesus Christ, the time that you have given your life to Christ compared to now, you are closer to the anticipation of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ than the time that you first encountered Christ. It is simply the message what the author is trying to say here.
That anticipating the coming of the Lord is not simply about looking for signs, right? The author is saying you do not even need, you only need to understand that when you wake up every day you are getting closer and closer to the coming of our Savior.
If you understand that concept then you embrace that the hope becoming stronger rather than weaker. When people are not really having genuine faith, they would say, Ang tagal no? It is taking too long. I am already Christian for how many years? 30, 40 years as a Christian and yet the Lord has still not come. It does not make sense to think in that way because the author is saying what makes sense is the coming of the Lord is nearer than when you first believed. Right?
So your hope must be stronger now rather than weaker. It does not make sense for you to say, Oh, Lord, it takes time. Why are you not coming? You know, it is like you are sleeping down to the days of Noah once again. So do not be like people who do not have any relationship with God. That is how they acted. That is their attitude, right? They will reject anything because they do not have that relationship with God. They do not anticipate his coming.
If you really have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, you will anticipate for his coming. That is what having a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ means because that is where our joy comes from, to see him face to face. That is what gives us what drives us, what gives us energy to continue to persevere.
Remember last few Sundays our topic is empowered even though we are being persecuted, even though we are being put down right because when we are weak the Lord is strong right. Now this is a time to understand that we are surrounded by the forces that are working against the children of God.
How do we draw our strength when everything seems to try to pull us down or to put us down? And so our message the few Sundays back is the grace of the Lord is sufficient for our need because when we are weak we are strong. The weaker we are, the stronger we are because of the grace of God. Is that wonderful, that kind of hope in time we are surrounded by things that discourage us because we are living in this dark world, this wicked age we are living in like in the times of Noah.
That we continue to hold on to our hope the stronger and stronger by the day. Not because of our abilities, not because of what we see, not because of our circumstance, but because of the grace of God at work in us. Amen. And more importantly because we are not like those who do not have relationship with Jesus, that they can just reject anything. Even if it is already right there in their face they would reject it.
And then there is this passage in 2 Peter 3 from verse 3 onwards that there are always those haters, bashers, right? There are always those people who, you are believers, are always those people who say you are saying Jesus is coming soon. Since I was born now I am old, my forefathers nothing happened to tell me that Jesus is coming soon. So they are mocking us in that way.
And then Peter, so it is from Peters perspective like he is saying these people they are mocking, they are putting us down, they forgot the time of Noah. So the same thing what Paul is trying to say in Romans 13, Peter was trying to say here. There was a point in time that the world was deluged with water. What does that mean? It means that people ever since from generation to generation they continue to reject, they continue to mock. They continue to say there is no sign, there is no sign, there is no sign and then all of a sudden the judgment has come.
So it is the same. It is the same thing. The point of Peter in saying that people who do not have relationship with God and with the Lord Jesus Christ will always be unprepared right but we are not like people who do not have relationship with the Lord so we need to be prepared.
If there is anything we need to hold on to that relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. It is personal, it is our experience. It is my experience to say that the Lord is in my heart is encouraging me to continue to look for and hope for his coming because it is very soon. Every day becomes sooner. I am now closer to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and farther from when I was living in the dark, when I was living my old life, selfish life. Every day that I live my life becomes farther and farther from that and closer and closer to the coming of the Lord. That in itself is enough to encourage me and that in itself is enough to encourage you and me. Amen.
So two things here very important. First is understand the sign of the times, the darkness and then the second is understanding the dawn of the daybreak which is our hope of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the passage is saying this must call us to respond. This must call us to action.
So what are the first action that we need to do in verse 11b? That we should be watchful. We should be alert. We should be awaken from our slumber, from our sleep. It means that be serious in your spiritual journey. Do not be half-hearted about it. Do not be lazy about it. Do not be lukewarm, right? Do not be lukewarm. Keep the fire burning. Keep the fire burning. Have sense of urgency. Do not let up. Do not relax when we talk about your spiritual journey. Continue in the process. Be watchful and be alert. Amen.
And then second one, rid yourself of these sinful desires. We talked about Paul enumerating the sinful deeds of the people around them in verse 13. We need to get away or rid ourselves of our sinful tendencies. Galatians 5:16 says do not gratify the desires of your flesh.
Verse 12 says, let us rid ourselves of the deeds of darkness. The more we meditate upon the Word of the Lord, the more we dwell in the presence of the Lord, the more we become sensitive of our sinful desires, of our sinful tendencies. It becomes we become like you have a sensitive, I forgot the term but you are sensitive, even in the slightest form of sinful thoughts and sinful deeds is already a warning sign. So we have a warning sign or we have a warning device, the Spirit, when we are in the presence of the Lord because it easily tells us oops you are straying away from the right path and so cut off that sinful waste sinful habit and continue on with your journey in the Lord.
And then the third one is put on the armor of light we have there in Ephesians chapter 6, right? Use the weapons against our battle against spiritual darkness. And in verse 14 also of this passage we need to clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ. What a metaphor of putting on like clothes. So instead of putting on the old clothes, the old dirty clothes, smelly, stinky dirty clothes of the old sinful life that we are accustomed to, take that and put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
In Galatians 5:16 it says walk by the Spirit, do not gratify the desires of the flesh, meaning submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit in your life daily. So we are called to action. First what are those: in this time of darkness in anticipating the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ let us be watchful let us be alert let us rid ourselves of our sinful tendencies and put on the Lord Jesus Christ which means let us walk by the Spirit and submit to the Holy Spirit control.
And finally I would like to illustrate this with being in a very important event or activity. This almost a year now that we celebrated the wedding of our son Step and Sandy, and I can still remember as excited parents these were the most important event of our lives as parents to see our son and our daughter-in-law being blessed in wedding.
So in preparation to the wedding I rehearsed my speech right, and the speech is not only meant for the couple but for everyone in that event and I have to have enough sleep. Even though we were in a villa with all my family members like a reunion but I make sure that I got enough sleep because it is early morning event. So and then we wake up early we dress up of course and then we were the first one. Surprisingly me and my wife were the first one in the venue. It was still very dark you know and we were there because we were excited.
And I think that illustrates the greatest wedding of all that we are anticipating to attend. The second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is the greatest wedding banquet that all of us were expected to be present. So let us be dressed up for the occasion. Amen. Let us not like the five virgins who did not prepare and then it is too late for them because they were slack in their preparation. They were lazy in their preparation spiritually and they were not able to enter the celebration.
And not only that we need to be dressed up for the occasion, we need to be ready in every aspect of our lives spiritually but also emotionally, mentally, physically. We talk about our body is decaying and yet we are getting strong day after day.
Take-aways
- Advents true essence is anticipating the second coming of Christ, originally a time of fasting and penance rather than feasting.
- Recognize the present darkness of moral decay, corruption, and disasters as signs of the times, similar to Noahs era.
- Our salvation is nearer today than when we first believed; hope grows stronger daily through faith, not sight.
- Respond actively: be watchful and alert, rid yourselves of sinful deeds, and clothe yourselves with Christ by walking in the Spirit.
- Prepare eagerly for Christs return like excited guests for a wedding, ready in every aspect of life.
Food for thought:
- How does understanding the historical focus of Advent on Christs second coming change your approach to the Christmas season?
- In what ways do you see signs of spiritual darkness in todays world, and how can you respond with wisdom from Ephesians 5:16-17?
- Reflect on your personal journey: Is your hope in Christs return stronger now than when you first believed, and why or why not?
- What sinful tendencies in your life need to be rid, and how can dwelling in Gods presence make you more sensitive to them?
- How can you prepare your whole self—spiritually, emotionally, mentally, physically—for the greatest wedding banquet, Christs return?