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"Perilous
To The End" • 8.14.16 • Calvary
Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro.
- As we have traveled through this second
letter, we have made note along the way of the need for Timothy to remain
faithful and true to his calling.
- The days have grown dark for the church. From
the outside, the government has targeted Christian practice and has begun to
come against her most visible spokesmen.
- From the inside, there have been men who have
sought to subvert the work of the gospel in order to promote themselves. In the
section before us, Paul assures Timothy that it will get worse.
- We'll begin with the general declaration from
Paul. Verse 1.
Text
•
II Timothy 3:1 : "But know this, that in the last
days perilous times will come:" : Paul
speaks of a certainty that Timothy must be aware of. He's to be sure of this
fact. The last days will be increasingly dark and difficult.
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Paul doesn't tell him this to generate fear, but in order to steele his heart,
to prepare him for the road ahead. This letter has continually worked toward
that goal.
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What does Paul mean when he speaks of the "last days." From the
Biblical perspective, it has been the last days since the beginning of the
church!
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The last days encompass the time between Christ's resurrection and ascension
and His eventual, physical return.
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In the inaugural message of the church, Peter equates the coming of the Holy
Spirit and the birth of the church with the prophecy of Joel, applying to the last days. (Acts 2:16-21)
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As Paul speaks here, some have commented that he may also have been referring
to the final days of Jerusalem, which are just a few moments away.
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This was written in the mid-60's. Jerusalem and the Temple will be destroyed in
70 A.D. by the Romans, who may or may not have already begun their siege of
Jerusalem.
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The Jews either had already rebelled or were about to at this time. They did so
in A.D. 66. This opens up an interesting consideration with regards to
prophecy.
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There are things historically that were predicted accurately and that seem to
also have a correlative dual or "far" fulfillment.
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If you take some time to read Josephus' account of the fall of Jerusalem, you
will see much in the way of fulfillment. Yet, there are parts that were not
fulfilled, but that we have confidence, will be.
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The point is this: We have been in the last days. Today, we are in the last of
the last days. If the last day is Sunday, then we are living, at the least, on
a Friday!
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In Timothy's day, the days were growing perilous, dangerous or fierce.
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If that was the case then, you had better be sure that it will continue until
it culminates in Christ's return. Why will this be the case?
-
Paul moves from his declaration, to his description of the last days person.
Verse 2.
•
II Timothy 3:2-5 : "For men will be lovers of
themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to
parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal,
despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than
lovers of God, having
a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!" : Before we undertake the particulars of this list, understand
that what we have read is common in certain circles and has been seen
manifested in various wicked people from all of time.
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Paul is aware of this. What he writes here indicates that this mental profile
will become normative in the world and the same attitudes will creep into the
church!
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The real tragedy here is that the church and the world will carry a close
resemblance to each other! You will find correlation instead of conflict. Why
do I say this? Consider the context.
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Paul has been talking about men who were approved or genuine workers and those
that are disapproved, such as Hymenaus and Philetus. He returns to that theme
in verse 5.
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Therefore, society at large, mankind, and the visible church will be
characterized by this list of traits. He begins with the root condition and the
loyalty that men will have toward themselves.
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Men will be lovers of themselves. When it comes to the conflict between loving
God and self, these men will allow the latter to dominate.
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Most people will operate from a loyalty to themself, with little to no regard
for how their actions affect others. Consequently, they will also move into the
realm of being a lover of money.
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When it comes to loving God or loving money, these will choose money each time!
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They'll be "empty pretenders" who are arrogant, impious and insulting
to the Lord. Blasphemy is any attempt to redefine the essence and nature of
God.
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"I have the same power as God to speak things into reality,"
proclaims the Properity Gospel preacher. That is a blatant and perhaps extreme
example of blasphemy.
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Other examples are more muted, but are nevertheless, equally blaspemous, as men
seek to make God in their image! Paul moves onto the cascading affect in the
children of men.
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Children will no longer be persuaded by their parent's influence, but will
blatantly disobey their parents. Today, with the domination of our youth
culture, this seems to be an aside.
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From Paul's perspective, given the nature of the Mosaic law and Roman culture,
this was a precipitous slide! The children of this age will not be persuaded by
parental authority.
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By the way, don't miss out on the sequence. Men who love themselves and money,
who are indulgent in self-advertising, arrogant pride and blasphemy, can't
produce anything other!
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When you have the chance to model Christ versus your own selfishness, remember
that your children will take your cue and rise to the level of your approach to
Christianity!
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When they have the chance to love the Lord over themselves or their money, it
may not bother you what they choose, so long as their successful.
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Wait until they have children! You will really see the fruit of your decisions
now, then!
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What kind of grandkids can you hope to expect? Paul lays it out: They will lack
in grace, being unthankful, they will be thoughtless with regard to holiness
and unwilling to love.
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That last word speaks literally of a lack of familial affection. The love that
ties a family together, will have eroded. That love that protects and provides
will be gone.
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Consider that against the statistics which stagger the mind regarding the
rampant divorce rate as well as the human atrocity committed against the
aborted unborn.
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Depending on who you read, 40 to 50 percent of the people who marry, choose to
end their marriage, while over 51 million babies have been aborted since 1973!
That is a lack of love!
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If a child makes it into this world, their relationships will necessarily be testy,
as they will refuse to come to agreement with each other.
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They will be unforgiving, holding onto grudges and speak falsely, as the devil
does, of each other. The days of giving the benefit of the doubt will be
replaced with "Guilty until proven innocent!"
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They will have no power to control themselves. The dictionary actually used the
word "incontinent!" That seems embarassing, but it's dangerous, as
they will be undisciplined and brutal.
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They will not be "tamed." They will be animalistic in their dealings
with each other, hostile toward those that would be or do good!
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Think about this: If they have been raised to think of themselves first and to
serve money above any other, how will they respond when they see someone living
a life of contrast?
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They won't applaud. They will find a way to destroy and to villify! They will
label the ones who are good as "bigots" and "intolerant." They
will be the first to turn upon the godly.
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They will be reckless, conceited, choosing the love of their own pleasure over,
instead of the love of God! This is a particular mark of this age.
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It's sad to consider that God is often the loser when it comes to competing
affections! What is particularly insulting and dangerous is this final phrase
regarding their religious disposition.
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At some point, you are thinking that Paul must be referring to athiests or
agnostics.
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These are religious people with a form, the shape, the appearance of godliness.
There is some level of religious affliation.
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From external examination, these that have been described for what they are,
have a need to approach something that resembles godliness.
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They will attend church, have "spiritual" conversations, refuse their
most outwardly despicable desires, while they indulge themselves privately.
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These will choose the veneer, the imitable practices of Christianity and hide
themselves in communities of believers.
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But when the power of God is available to change what contradicts their beliefs
or confronts their behavior, they will refuse it's claim.
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The NLT puts it best: "They will
act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly."
Timothy was to turn away from these people.
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Have you noticed that Paul's consistent counsel is for Timothy to avoid, shun
and remove himself from people with such twisted motives?
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Timothy can't hope to change minds or hearts. Paul makes it clear that a move
toward repentance is a sovereign work.
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Paul reminds Timothy of this to reveal an important truth that transcends time
and positions within the church. Spend all your precious time with those that
are open to receiving the truth!
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Those who are bent and twisted in their thinking are only interested in finding
people that are receptive to their brand of truth. Verse 6.
•
II Timothy 3:6,7 : "For of this sort are those who
creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins,
led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the
truth." : Notice the sort of people that
these are. They are not forthcoming or honest about their intentions because
they have to creep into households.
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The early church was largely, if not wholly, comprised of Home Fellowship
environments. The central and neutral meeting place will not become standard
for many years.
-These
people, stained by the characteristics that we have seen, are always sneaking
into homes with intent consistent with their world view! Their agenda is their
own Kingdom.
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They come in looking to make captives. They want to be in control. They want to
make and lead captives of men? People of like strength? No. Women who are
gullible.
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The language here seems to point to people, not just women, but men who are
essentially trusting to the point of gullibility.
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The term "gullible" is translated variously, with words like
"silly," "vulnerable" and "weak." Something has
transpired in their lives that they need to resolve.
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Paul paints the picture that they are overwhelmed, bearing up under a heavy
load of sin, which Paul doesn't disclose but does he need to?
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Look back over the previous verses. Sin takes a toll. When you serve yourself,
when you surrender to money, when you attempt to force God into your image, you
will be burdened!
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These people aren't willing to surrender their lives to Christ, but are being
moved by various lusts, the word expresses an impelling or controlling by multiplied
desires.
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They aren't being controlled by the Holy Spirit, but by their latest craving.
It's the perfect storm. The people who act religious need someone who will buy
their act.
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They won't find an audience with Timothy or any other Bible centered person. At
the same time, these people aren't availing themselves to the resource of the
true church.
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Because they want to continue in the things that they desire, they will settle
for the half baked spiritualese of these creepy men!
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Consequently, these people are always learning. They are willing to hear and
receive from these quasi spiritual gurus.
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Unfortunately, because they aren't armed with the actual truth, these people
are unable to ever arrive at a true understanding of God's truth for their
lives!
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Again, the NLT is helpful here, when it translates verse 7, "Such women are
forever following new teachings, but they are never able to understand the
truth."
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These people could be free from their self-imposed captivity, their burdened
conscience and their desires that war with the Lord, if they knew the power of
God's Spirit!
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If they would confess, agree with God about their sins. If they would trust
that Christ paid for their penalty on the Cross, shedding His blood in their
place, they would be saved!
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Instead, they are willing to satisfy themselves with pseudo religious truth,
which will always be good for quieting the conscience, but never for the
freeing of the soul!
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There must have been a concern on Timothy's mind, as to how one might
counteract this agenda. Paul has declared that the days will be dark.
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He has described the type of men that will make it so. Finally, he will
consider the demise of false teachers. Verse 8.
•
II Timothy 3:8,9 : "Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted
Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved
concerning the faith; but they will progress no further, for their folly will be
manifest to all, as theirs also was." : Paul
reminds Timothy that this is not the first time that false prophets and
teachers have actively sought to oppose and undermine the truth. Jannes and
Jambres resisted Moses.
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Who were these men? These are the magicians that were a part of Pharoah's
courts. We aren't given their names anywhere else in scripture, but were often
named in extant material.
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When Moses came into Pharoah's presence, he brought miraculous signs that were
meant to authenticate his message. God wanted His people to be freed.
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When the Pharoah saw these signs, he looked over to his own men, who then
produced similar works through their own enchantments.
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Instead of reversing the curse, the magicians did likewise! "See! We can
make the water turn into blood too!" These men were not very smart!
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This continued until the plague of lice when Jannes and Jambres confessed an
inability to conjure any longer, acknowledging God's finger! (Exodus 8:19)
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The people that Paul is referring to are like this. They possessed a similar
power to Timothy's, but they were standing in opposition to the truth. Why
would they do this?
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Because they are men with utterly spoiled, destroyed and depraved minds! They
were disapproved concerning the faith.
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In Timothy's case, he could be approved, seen as the genuine article. This word
is the opposite. When weighed out and examined by God, these would be
counterfeit regarding the faith.
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They might have been talented or skilled, but when it came to being proper
ambassadors for the faith of God, they weren't genuine articles! Because of
that, their time was expiring.
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They have gone as far as their lie will take them! The word here refers to a
metal that has been lengthened to it's limit.
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False teachers will not last because they have a finite source of people who
will buy their lies. Eventually, those that are genuinely converted will look
elsewhere for authentic articles.
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Soon, even those that follow them will see clearly their foolishness! I wonder
if this doesn't relate to the judgment when God will expose all things.
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Of course, even now, as the prosperity gospel preachers age, there is no
healing for their ailments.
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Their overexaggerated claims fail in the light of scrutiny and time tells the
tale of their falsehood! That's the problem with being false.
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Eventually, Jannes and Jambres came to the end of themselves. Their resources
fell short and God's continued on, exposing them as charlatans!
Conclusion
- Why do you
think the Apostle wrote all of this? He declared to Timothy that the last days
would be savage and fierce. Does he want Timothy to be scared? No. He wants him
prepared!
- Gear up.
Don't be surprised. Understand the times that you are living in and act
accordingly!
- He describes
the type of people that will make the last days so perilous. They will have
foolishly believed that they can satisfy all of their own longings, tuning out
God's Spirit in the process.
- Paul
discloses this to Timothy so that he knows where the fight is. The enemy isn't
the government or a secret society, but the fundamental mindset of his own
contemporaries.
- This is why
the proclamation of the truth is so important! This is why you don't have time
for useless trivia and people who are bent upon falsehood!
- Lovingly,
faithfully speak the truth and pray that your hearers will have the grace to
receive it, having been given a heart by God to repent!
- Finally, Paul
illustrates the final demise of all that would oppose God's truth! Timothy
needs to know that in the end, the truth that he stands and fights for, wins!
- Falsehood,
given all the time in the world, will never become truth. Those who peddle it
will be shamed and those who buy it will be lost.
- Timothy,
believers, see the battle, but know that you have already won! Now fight like
that's the truth because it is!
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