We looked at the first five verses
last Sunday which say, this know also that in the last
days perilous times shall come for men shall be lovers of their
own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient
to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce
breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that
are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, Lovers of pleasure more than
lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the
power thereof. From such, turn away. Last Sunday, we saw that that
is describing false religion, false preachers. And remembering
that, we pick up with verse six today. It says, For of this sort,
everything we just read in the first five verses, for of this
sort are they which creep into houses and lead captive silly
women laden with sins, led away with divers' lusts. Of this sort. are they which creep into houses
and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with
divers lust. Silly means foolish. Women means
wives. All right, when you look these
words up in a concordance, it's very important to do that. That
word women means a wife, a betrothed woman, a woman who is supposed
to be married to another. All right, read into this for
the spiritual application. All these things are written
for spiritual reasons. A woman who is supposed to be
looking to another, a woman who is supposed to be leaning on
another, But she's been taken captive by the wiles of the spiritual
fornication of false religion. That's what this word talks about. Led away by false religion. In everything that Paul is saying
to Timothy here, he is telling Timothy, stay on Christ. All right, that's what he's saying.
Now, I've told you that before. We've been in 2 Timothy for a
while now. I've said that many times, and
I'm going to keep saying it. The title of every Bible study
that we could have from this book, 2 Timothy, could be, I
could title every one of them, Stay on Christ. That's what he's
telling Timothy, okay, you're about to be the pastor of Ephesus. Stay on Christ. Be warned of
everything that's going to be around you and all this influence
that's going to be on you and on the people you preach to.
Stay on Christ. Stay on Christ. He's going to
say the same thing in chapter 4 when we get to it. Look at
chapter 4, verse 1. He said, I charge thee therefore
before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick
and the dead, the living and the dead, at his appearing and
his kingdom, preach the word, be instant, in season, out of
season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all patience, long-suffering,
and doctrine. For the time will come when they
will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts, shall
they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they
shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned
unto fables. They'll be turned to things that
sound more pleasing to the ears, things that sound more pleasing
to the flesh, things that creep in and lead the captive. Look back at chapter three. Verse
six, he said, for of this sort are they which creep into houses
and lead captive silly women laden with sins. I just told
you it's important to look up these words. I'll let me explain
why I believe this will, uh, You'll see the importance of
what I'm telling you here. This is what it's like to study for
a Bible study like this. The word laden in the Greek concordance
and remember that word I said concordance not commentary but
concordance. All right. The word laden. in
the concordance is word number 4987. You don't need to know
that, but that's what it is. All the words in this book are
given a number, word by word, and it's number 4987. Laden means
to heap together, to heap on, to overwhelm one with a heap
of anything. It is another form of word number four, six, seven,
three. Forget that. But it's another
form of word number four, six, seven, three, which means an
urn, a coffin, a receptacle for carrying the dead. You see the
importance of seeing both of those? You'd never get that from
just laden with sins. But laden with sins means completely with death death it goes on to say led away that
means led away led astray with divers lusts that means with
different with a multitude of desires that are forbidden forbidden
what is forbidden with God What is forbidden with God? Here's
the answer. Idolatry. Idolatry. Worshipping, looking
to, believing on anything other than Christ. Religion is full
of it. Religion is full of idolatry. Religion is so full of things
and symbols and statues and all kinds of things that people look
to and they worship it. Oh, you see this holy item right
here? You know, you got holy water
or holy this or holy that. That's idolatry. All that stuff
needs to be gotten rid of and it needs to be Jesus Christ alone.
Jesus Christ alone. The disciples said one time,
they were on the Mount of Transfiguration, and the Lord was talking to Moses
and Elijah. And when that was over, they
said, Lord, let us make three tabernacles. We're gonna make
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. And God the Father,
it says a cloud overshadowed them. Can you imagine that cloud? He said, absolutely not. This
is my beloved son, hear him, hear him. Those disciples hit the dirt. So do you know what the father
was saying to them, those disciples in that moment? Stay on Christ,
stay on Christ. Verse 6, 2 Timothy 3 verse 6,
for of this sort are they which creep into houses and lead captive
silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever
learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.
Ever learning, learning, learning, learning, never able to come
to a knowledge of the truth. That describes so many poor,
sad people. Now, is he talking about the
false preachers right here or is he talking about these poor,
foolish, dead followers of the false preachers? He's talking
about both. Our Lord called them blind leaders
of the blind. He said they're both going to
fall into the ditch. Let them go. Leave them alone. Paul is telling Timothy here,
you don't want to be a blind leader. And you don't want to
be a leader of the blind. There's a real warning here.
There's a real warning here. How can we guard against it?
Stay on Christ. Stay on Christ. Verse 7, ever
learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth,
the truth. Turn with me over to John 14. John 14, verse four. Our Lord said to the disciples,
and whither I go, you know, and the way you know. Thomas saith
unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know
the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the
way. The truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. He said, I am the truth. Paul warned Timothy that false
religion is ever learning. We're going to have seminars
and we're going to have, you know, this and that, ever learning
something. but never able to come to a knowledge
of Christ, the truth, the truth. If we don't know the truth, then
we don't know the way and we don't know life. The way of life
is Christ, the truth. Look at John 8, John chapter
8. Verse 28, then said Jesus unto
them, when you have lifted up the son of man, then shall you
know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself, but as my
father hath taught me, I speak these things. And he that sent
me is with me. The father hath not left me alone,
for I do always those things that please him. As he spake
these words, many believed on him. Then said Jesus to those
Jews which believed on him, if you continue in my word, then
are you my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free. Freedom, liberty. You know, those Jews, the Jews,
We're followers of the law. That's what we see in America
today in false religion. Followers of the law. We're followers
of Christ. God's people are followers of
Christ. And he told those Jews, if you ever come to know the
truth, that truth is going to set you free. That freedom, that
liberty, that salvation is in knowing Christ. Knowing the truth,
this is life eternal that they might know thee the only true
God. Now who is gonna know Christ
the truth? Who will know him? The answer
is all of God's people will. All of them. Look at John 6.
Verse 45. John 6, verse 45. It is written in the prophets,
and they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that
hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. That's who will come to know
the truth. Verse 44 says, no man can come
to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I
will raise him up at the last day. Whoever the Father draws
to Christ, That's who will come to know the truth. Verse 37,
all that the father giveth me shall come to me and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. That's who will be
taught of God the truth. Look with me at Matthew 11. Matthew 11 verse 27. All things are delivered unto
me of my father. And no man knoweth the son but
the father. Neither knoweth any man the father
save the son, and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him. If a man or a woman is ever going
to know God, If a man or a woman is ever gonna
know Christ, then God has to reveal Christ. God has to reveal
himself to that man or woman. And if God is going to reveal
Christ to a man or a woman, God is going to put a desire in that
man or woman to have Christ revealed to him or her. God is gonna make
that man or woman desire for God to reveal Christ to them,
to him, to her. They'll have a desire to seek
the Lord like we looked at last Wednesday night. Christ will
be made all to them. Christ will become the one thing
needful. As far as eternal life goes,
as far as heaven goes, eternity goes, let me just ask this question.
What else do you need besides Christ? What else do you need? Nothing. Nothing. He's the one thing needful. The
problem for false religion, false religious teachers, false religious
followers is Christ is not enough. That's the problem. Christ is not enough. They've
never seen the glory and the beauty of Christ as being enough. They're led away because he's
not their one thing needful. He's not their pearl of great
price. They're laden with the death of sin because Christ has
never delivered them and quickened them from the death of their
sin. Verse 28 right here, our Lord
said, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and
I'll give you rest. Religion is not the remedy. Morality
is not the remedy, Christ is the remedy. The blood and righteousness
of Christ alone is the remedy. That's the truth. That's the
truth. Men and women spend their lives
searching for the answer and the remedy in this religion,
in that religion. They're studying this denomination's
beliefs and that denomination's beliefs. You know, maybe this
is the issue. Maybe that is the issue. Searching,
searching, searching. Let's see what Dr. So-and-so
has to say about it. He's got a new book out. What
about the Reverend Doctor, you know, Mr. Whoever. The whole time, through the whole
process, they're missing Christ. They are missing Christ. What
does Christ have to say about it? What record has God the Father
given concerning his son? I have a lot of books in my study,
okay? This is a Bible study. A lot
of people call it the Sunday school, and so this is some schooling,
I think. This fits the category. I have
a lot of books in my study. I have a lot of commentaries
on the scripture. I have a lot of people want to
give me books and give me commentaries on the scripture, and that's
fine. I welcome them. I will look at them, I will glance
at them. But those books and those commentaries
are no substitute for the scripture. They are not. A lot of the time,
if not most of the time, and I do mean this, I don't care
what man, there's a lot of men who I love and respect, I don't
care what name we fill the blank with, most of the time the commentaries
confuse matters. They really do. You'll walk away
a little bit more confused than when you started. Sometimes the
Lord has really given a man something good to say but one old preacher
used to say this. He used to say the Bible will
shed a lot of light on those commentaries. Right. People will get commentaries
hoping that they will shed light on the Bible. Usually they don't. God's word is clear in what he
has written. It really is. God's word is clear. If he says it, even if you don't
understand it, he means it. Even if you don't think it fits
your theology, your doctrine, if he said it, it's so. It's
like, well, how do I make sense out of that considering this?
Well, I'll get to that, all right? I'll get to that. Man's opinion on the word usually
muddies the word. Now, I completely understand
this. Okay, this is a common question.
It's a common thought. This is one that I have asked
myself and searched for myself. This is very, very common, okay?
But I am asked from time to time for, you know, what book recommendation
would I have for somebody to read to better understand the
scriptures? And honestly, here's my answer. I don't have one. I just don't
have one. I do not recommend reading a
book to better understand the scriptures. Go to the source. Honestly, I
can't tell you how many times I've grabbed a commentary and
put it back on the shelf and thought, man, I wish I hadn't
read that. Go to the source, go to the word
of the source in reading and in prayer. And I wrote this in
my notes and I second guessed, should I say this? Yes, okay? Read a passage and then pray
to the Lord, asking him to open your eyes to it. Ask him to reveal
the truth of it to you. Honestly, that's all that I do. That's all that I do. Quite often,
you know, we go through books. We'll go through, we're going
through 2 Timothy right now. And you'll notice that we get
sidetracked for a little while. And, you know, I do have other
messages from other places that I bring and I feel led to bring.
And usually it's because I don't know what to say about 2 Timothy
right now. I've read the next few verses, and I literally,
you know, I read truce breakers, incontinent, you know, fierce,
you know, this and that, and I think, well, how do I preach
Christ from that? And I don't know what to say
about it. So you know what? That's not our message this week. And
for weeks, I'll beg the Lord, open this, reveal this to me. And then, you know, the Lord
will let me see a picture of Christ and then we have a message
from it. Well, I'm nobody, I'm nothing special. All of God's
people have the same access to the throne of God Almighty. Read
a passage and then pray to the Lord and ask him to reveal it
to you. If any man lacks wisdom, let
him ask God for it. If any man lacks faith, let him
ask God for it. You know, people say, my faith,
I just need to get more faith. Don't turn here, ask God for
it. If any man lacks understanding,
go to God over it. Go to God over it. That same
preacher, that same old preacher that said the Bible will shed
a lot of light on those commentaries, this is what he said. He said,
you get a Bible and a dictionary and you'll have all the books
you need. And that's so. That is so. That dictionary is
called a concordance. Not a commentary, but a concordance. All that a concordance is is
dictionary definitions of these words. There are some words that
society used to use in the 1950s 1940s and 1800s, that we still
use that word today, it just doesn't mean the same thing.
And the question is, you may read a word in this and say,
well, I know what that means. The only problem is that's not
what the Spirit of God meant in the inspiration at that time
it was written. So it's important to look it
up in a dictionary and see what did that word originally mean
at that time. I do, from time to time, glance
at books that men have written, but I take it with a grain of
salt. And that's just what I want to pass along to you. You all
are welcome to go grab a book out of my study. You're welcome
to take it with a grain of salt. Take it with a grain of salt.
You can't count on books that men have written as being truth.
You just can't. There's only one book of truth.
One book. Go with me to Ecclesiastes 12. I'll close with this. Two books before Isaiah. Psalm,
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes chapter 12 verse 9 says and moreover
because the preacher was wise He still taught the people knowledge. Yea, he gave good heed and sought
out and set in order many proverbs. The preacher sought to find out
acceptable words, and that which was written was upright, even
words of truth. The words of the wise are as
goads and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which
are given from one shepherd. Every word in this book right
here was given from one shepherd. These are the words of Christ.
They're concerning Christ. They came from Christ, the spirit
of Christ. Verse 12 says, and further, by
these, my son, be admonished. Of the making of many books,
there is no end. People just keep writing books
and writing books and writing books. And much study is a weariness
of the flesh. Let us hear the conclusion of
the whole matter. Fear God. and keep his commandments. Keep to, stick to his commandments. For this is the whole duty of
man and God shall bring every work into judgment with every
secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil. Stay on
Christ. That's what he's saying. That's
what the wisest man on this earth was inspired to say, stay on
Christ, stay on Christ. If we are going to be ever learning,
all right? If we are going to be ever learning,
then as Peter said, this is how he finished his epistle, all
right? This is the last verse of his epistle. He said, grow
in grace. and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. To him be glory, both now and
forever. Amen. If God will allow us to
keep our learning right there, God will teach us the truth.
He really will.