Paul began this portion of his letter to Timothy. Remember, Timothy was in Ephesus, the church at Ephesus. We know the Ephesian letter. Timothy was in Ephesus as an elder, a pastor. Timothy being a younger man, he was younger than Paul, but he'd grown greatly, and Paul instructed him. wrote two letters. We've looked at the first one, now we're looking at the second one.

And this portion, he informs Timothy of how the last days are going to be. He says, this know also, verse one, that in the last days perilous times, dangerous times, hard times shall come. So in other words, he He's not like Joel Osteen. You know who that is. It's a false prophet. He would have said, this know also that in the last days you're going to have your best life now. And he doesn't know what he's talking about. He's one of those who has a form of godliness, but denies the power thereof. And I'm going to talk about that today. That's one of the reasons I divided this up into two lessons, because I want to really major on that verse 5. And the rest of them too.

He says in the last days there are going to be perilous times, dangerous times. And remember that the last days, that's the days we're living in right now. It's the days we've been living in since the resurrection and ascension of Christ. They won't end until His second coming. In the Bible it's called the New Covenant Age.

New not because it's new in existence. It's always been in the mind and purpose of God. And in fact, the new covenant, I love this way that one of the old theologians described it. You know, in the Bible, we see the gospel, the good news of salvation by the grace of God, is a message of salvation conditioned on Christ, and on him alone, that tells us that Christ, as our Redeemer, fulfilled all the conditions that would meet God's requirements and secure our salvation under glory. And that's what the gospel is. Salvation is complete. If Christ died for you, you shall be saved. And you'll know it as the Holy Spirit applies the life of Christ, spiritual life to you in the new birth, bringing you to faith in Christ and repentance of dead works and perseverance in the faith. And that's how we know that he died for us. It's not just a blanket pardon that can only be effectual if you make the right decision. That's the false gospel of today. And we need to understand that.

But this new covenant, or the gospel rather, is the preaching of the terms of an everlasting covenant made before time between the Father and the Son and the Spirit for the salvation of a people whom God chose and gave to Christ and for whom God sent His Son into the world to save. So that's the gospel. The new covenant is the situation of time wherein God brought in this new covenant age, which is this, and this is, to me, it's the best way to define it, and it's easiest, and it's easily understood. The new covenant is the fulfillment in time of the terms of the everlasting covenant of grace made before time.

See, in the fullness of the time, God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law to redeem them. Well, that's the time of the fulfillment of an everlasting covenant. So in essence, and in nature, the new covenant and the everlasting covenant are one and the same. The new covenant is just the fulfillment in time of those terms of the everlasting covenant. So it's called the new covenant age. It's called the Church Age, because this is when God established, through His apostles, the New Testament churches, where the Gospel is preached. Okay? Now, we've learned in the Scripture, and we know from our experience, that as the New Covenant Age began and progressed, that there were Jews and Gentiles among the elect of God who were called out of the world and into the family of God, into the church, and there were different local churches planted around the area. In Israel, in Galatia, in the Gentile world, let's put it that way. And Paul was very, very used of God. in the establishment of these Gentile churches.

So local churches where the gospel is preached. But at the same time, and Christ warned us of this, Satan was roaming about establishing his false churches in the name of Christ, but denying the doctrine of Christ. Now you understand that. And the Bible's pretty clear on this now. I'm going to preach on this today at the 11 o'clock meeting, 2 John, you know, where there is a group of people who call themselves a church or call themselves Christian, and they do not preach the true gospel.

Now, we've got to buckle up now. We've got to be bold. I'm not saying we've got to go in and tear them down, you know, or anything like that. But we've got to recognize that these are not the churches of Christ. And don't give them any leeway. And that's not being hard and mean. In fact, we want them to be saved, don't you? I wish God would save every person in this town. But I'm not God. And He's pretty much told us throughout the scriptures that There are few, you know, few be there that find it. All of that, and I don't take any pride in that now. That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying reality is reality, and I'm not gonna deny the scriptures to make people feel good. And that kind of love now that compromises the truth is not godly love, it's self love. That's what it is.

So these perilous times, why are there going to be perilous times? Because of the opposition that we get over the gospel that we believe and preach. Marvel not, the world hated you, hated me, for it hated you. This is the condemnation. Light has come into the world and men love darkness and hate the light because their deeds are evil. In the world you'll have tribulation, be of good cheer, I've overcome them. How many times does he have to say it? And how many ways?

Now if somebody comes and tells me they're a brother of mine or a sister of mine in Christ, and I see that they believe the same gospel I do, I rejoice, don't you? We've had situations too, all of us over the, forty years we've been together. We've had people come and say they're brethren and they stay with us for a while and then they leave or they get mad or they pull up some non-essential point and divide over it and that breaks our hearts. We don't want that. I don't want division. That's not my purpose. I preach the gospel, and this is essential to understand this form of godliness now.

So, perilous times, and then of course he lists all those things from verses two to verses four, and then he picks up in verse five, and here's the one, continuing to instruct Timothy of the evil that'll be predominant in the world among enemies of Christ. in the last days, men will have a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof from such turn away." Now that word form shows that all they have is an outward appearance, that's what that means. It's an outward appearance of what men and women call godliness, religiousness, Or as one preacher said, religiosity. Looking like they're pious, looking like they're separate, but deny the power thereof.

Now you remember when Christ looked at the Pharisees and he said, outwardly, you do indeed appear righteous unto men, but inwardly, you're like a grave, dead. All right? Remember in Romans 10 when Paul said they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. Now that zeal of God alone is a form of godliness, but not knowing a zeal of God, but in ignorance, without knowledge, that's denying the power thereof. That's what it is.

Now first of all, put in your lesson here, here's one thing. Man by nature doesn't even know what godliness is. And the reason they don't is because they don't know God. How can you know godliness? Some translate that word as godlikeness. And that's okay as long as you don't take that too far. I mean, we're not gods and we never become gods.

I heard a preacher say one time, when he was arguing over this imputed sin and imputed righteousness issue. And he said this from the pulpit. He said, in order to save me, Christ had to become everything that I am so that I could become everything that he is. Well, my friend, that's heresy. Everything he is? And of course his point was that Christ being made sin, he became a sinner like me. He didn't become a sinner like me, he identified with me because I'm one of his sheep, one of God's elect, and my sins were imputed to him.

I read a guy yesterday who was talking about that the Bible never says that sin was imputed to Christ. And what he's talking about is the actual words read out that way. But the Bible does tell us that our sins were imputed to Christ. I'll give you one word to settle the argument. Surety. What does a surety do? He takes responsibility for another person's debt. And that's imputation. Our sins were laid to Christ's charge. And he became responsible for our debt.

But anyway, People get into all kinds of things like that, but man doesn't know what godliness is. What is godliness? Here's what I've got in your lesson. True godliness refers to a genuine spirituality that comes to us by the power of the Holy Spirit in the new birth and involves submission to God's will, especially and first in the gospel. God's way of salvation, submission to the righteousness of God in Christ. His righteousness imputed. And that submission drives us to, shows us our sinfulness, the fact that we don't earn or deserve anything but hell from God. Recognizing our sin all of our life is part of godliness. You know that? Knowing I'm a sinner. Because what that does, it drives us to Christ, who is the very mystery of godliness. Great is the mystery of godliness, God, manifest in the flesh.

So it begins with realizing that we're saved and made acceptable unto God by his grace based upon the glorious person and the finished work of Christ, his righteousness imputed. And so, That's what godliness is. And it does involve seeking to be obedient to God, seeking to be a good steward, but not motivated by law and not motivated by mercenary promise of earned reward, motivated by grace and gratitude and love. But the whole thing about godliness is when a person is saved by the grace of God, through Christ, His surety, His substitute, His redeemer, His life-giver, His preserver, forgiven of all of our sins by the blood of Christ. It involves God-given faith in Christ, repentance of dead works, persevering in the faith, all by God's grace and goodness and power. We live upon Christ. He's our foundation, He's our head, He's our heart. We live under the umbrella of God's sovereign grace and everything that we go through, that's godliness.

The trouble that I have, the trouble that you have, it's all in the mind and purpose of God for His glory and our good. You know, how many people have you heard quote Romans 828? And they really don't have any idea of what it means. All things work together for good. It's almost like I used to know a guy, he'd say all things work together for good as long as he thought all things were good. No, it's all in God's hands. We're in God's hands. He can do with us what he pleases. And that's the right way. And I know sometimes that's hard to swallow, but we have to be brought down to earth through the scriptures.

So they have a form of godliness. They look like whited sepulchers. And they may be moral and honest and responsible in the realm of men, but not of God. As long as a person, listen to this, as long as a person believes that salvation or any of its blessings is conditioned upon his performance, then that person is not godly. He's not accepted of God. Because God saves sinners by grace. Based on the righteousness of his son. And leaves us no room to boast in ourselves.

Now those who deny the power of godliness, first of all, they deny the scriptures. God's word. They deny the gospel. Doesn't the Bible say that the gospel is God's power, is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth? And in denying the truth, denying the scriptures, they deny the Holy Spirit and His work, because He works through the truth. Somebody says, oh, I was converted when I was out there fishing on a rock, you know? No gospel, no truth. Oh, that sounds impressive. And I know it was true because I caught a 16-pounder, you know, some junk like that. Or I went to, I died and went to heaven and come back. Doesn't that sound godly to the world? That's not godly. Nobody, listen, if you go to heaven, you ain't coming back until Christ comes back and you're coming with him.

So understand these things, you know, these stories, these miracles. with all the miracles that God did through His disciples and apostles and all of that, but it was always meant to accompany the Word. There was no performing of miracles in God's way that didn't accompany the preaching of the Word, the truth. It's not just a miracle for a miracle's sake. That's why Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13, though you have the power to perform miracles and have not love, godly love, that's divine love, love of God as He reveals Himself, love of Christ as He's revealed, love of the brethren, all of that.

And these who deny the power of Godliness, they profess to believe Christ, but they deny the power and efficacy of his obedience unto death, his righteousness. I'll tell you in a moment, there are many people in hell for whom Christ died. How many times I used to hear a preacher in a youth revival, back when I was in false religion. And they'd try to get people down the aisle to make their decision, get down the aisle and get saved, all that. And they'd look around at people and they'd say, did Christ die in vain for you? Christ didn't die in vain for anybody. To say that he died in vain for anybody is to deny the power thereof. Because where is the power of salvation? In the death of Christ, obedience unto the death of Christ. He died for our sins. He was raised again because of our justification. No justified sinner's going to hell. A justified sinner is one whose sins are forgiven on a just ground, the blood of Christ. What can wash away my sins? We're gonna sing it this morning. A justified sinner is one who is righteous in the eyes of the judge of all. God himself. So if you have Christ's righteousness imputed to you, there's no way you can go to him. That's the power of godliness. That's part of it.

A lot of religion today, they talk about the Holy Spirit, but they deny his sovereign, effectual, and irresistible work in the new birth. The holy calling. I'll tell you in a moment, you can resist that irresistible calling. They're denying the power of it. And we could go on with a lot, but here's what Paul says to Timothy in verse five, from such turn away. Now what he's talking about here, and we need to keep it in context, we all have family members, loved ones who are lost and who deny the power of godliness, And he's not saying alienate yourself from them in life. All right? What he's saying here from such turn away, he's saying do not have religious fellowship with them. You see what I'm saying? Don't have religious fellowship with them. And so he goes on.

Now, he says in verse six, for of this sort are they which creep into houses, Now, they're subtle. They're subtle, you know. It's stealthily. All right? They'll say things like, oh, we agree with you and all that. All right? And lead captives. Now, I know this is going to be unpopular. Lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with diverse lusts. You see that? And here's the fact. I mean, this is just it. Now, you ladies, this is no, I mean, as far as you're a person, as far, you know, in Christ, there's no male nor female. If you're saved by the grace of God, you're just as saved as the man or any, you're not a second-class citizen. But what he's talking about is is the fact that Paul made in another passage where he talked about Eve was deceived, Adam knew full well what he was doing, that kind of thing.

And we know that in general now, there's exceptions and of course all of this, women usually judge things based on emotion more than they do intellect. And that's what he's telling, you look at false religion today and how much of it is led by ungodly women? How many churches in this town have both a husband and a wife as their pastors? And truth be known, the husband really doesn't want it that way, but he's got no choice. You know how it goes. So, that's what he's talking about.

You look in the scriptures, Old Testament and New, and you see some of the greatest examples of strong, godly women who are examples, even for us men in the faith. You look at Esther, look at Ruth, Look at, what's her name? Yeah, don't be an example in that way, but the harlot, what's her name? Rahab, I couldn't think of. But she stood with the people of God. Deborah was one, she was a judge.

In the New Testament, there's an order set down where the man is to be the head of the church because he represents Christ. Women are not to be pastors or in places of leadership over men. And it's sad when you find a group where there's no men who are qualified, but it happens.

But what he's talking about is women who are easily influenced. and like to be told that they're religious, and holy, and righteous, and judge and act according to emotion and not truth, and they reject the gospel, and they're full of sins, of self-righteousness, and they've been told all their life that men are bad and women are good.

You remember the poem? What Are Little Boys Made Of? Scissors and snails and puppy dog tails. What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice and everything nice. Well, I'll tell you what. And look at the exaltation of Mary in the Catholic Church. Led people to think that women are inherently morally good and men are inherently morally bad. That kind of thing. And so that's what Paul's talking about here. Led away with diverse lusts.

Look at verse seven. He says, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. You think about that? What that means is this. Their minds are ever forming questions out of curiosity, not raised in scripture, but raised in their own minds. And they can never answer them. The main thing about this is this, I put in your lesson, their hearts are not established with grace. At some point, they'll stray away because of curiosities and religious toys and religious arguments, all of that. One, I copied this, they learn about missions and prophecy and heaven and standards of morality and gifts of the spirit, but they never know how God can be just and justify the ungodly or true righteousness in Christ. And they'll reform, but they'll never repent. That's what it is. Never able to come to a saving knowledge of Christ and be settled there. be anchored there.

And then verse 8 he mentions two men here, now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so do these also resist the truth men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith.

Now most every commentator I've ever read on this that is worth reading says that Jannes and Jambres refers to the two magicians that Pharaoh called forth. You remember when Moses came in with Aaron, stood before Pharaoh and he put his rod down and it turned into a snake? And then Pharaoh brought his two magicians and they put their rods down and they turned into snakes, but then Moses the snake swallowed them up. You remember that? That was Jannes and Jambres, because we don't know of anybody, we know a lot of people withstood Moses, but here he's talking about those two men, I believe.

False, false prophets, okay? And they were adversaries. They stood against Moses and the commands of God. Moses said, let my people go, and Pharaoh refused. And so as Moses had those in Egypt who opposed him, he was still able by God's power to deliver Israel out of that land and take them into the promised land eventually. And there's a lot of things go on between there, but you know, Moses delivered them.

Moses was a type of Christ. And just as we have our enemies and our false teachers that stand against us, God will deliver his people from this earth. And so that's, and those who oppose us, it's not, they reprobate according to the faith, they deny the faith. And of course, a reprobate is one who continues through this life in unbelief and dies in that state. So understand that, that's who he's talking about.

And then verse nine will conclude with this, he said, but they shall proceed no further, for their folly shall be manifest unto all as theirs also was, as Jannes and Jambres." Jannes and Jambres, their folly was made known to everybody when Moses' snake swallowed them up. And of course, over the events that happened then, Israel was, the Hebrew children were delivered. Well, it's the same thing with those who oppose us. Eventually, The foolishness of all followers of false religion will someday be made obvious to everyone, just like those magicians, those false prophets. God's gonna win. He's gonna win out. He's gonna be victorious. Christ will be victorious. Okay.