Now, I don't know how long I'll
be on this subject. I have no idea. We have a manuscript
on this subject, and I know now why I have been just kind of
lagging back and not finishing the Greek part, checking it out,
before sending it to have it printed. I may have some chapters
I want to add. Not another book or rewrite it,
but some more chapters to add. So open your Bibles to 2 Timothy
3 verse 1. I'm beginning with this verse
because this verse is the first in this chapter, and because
of the content of this verse, It is an absolute necessity that
you and I fully understand it. So I'm taking the entire morning
this morning discussing this one verse with some related verses. Now, having given you my text
without reading it, I wanted to go back into the Old Testament.
Because I believe that everything that is taught in the New Testament
is also given in some form in the Old Testament. I've read it many times, but
it didn't stick with me. And I came across, in doing reference
work in the Old Testament on the subject of apostasy, Ecclesiastes
3.16 forward, but we're only going to look at Verse 16 this
morning. Let me read to you that verse
before we read 2 Timothy 3 verse 1. You know that Solomon was the
wisest man of his time, according to the 4th chapter of 1 Kings.
And a man who has given us many proverbs, which have been rightly
called laws of heaven, for our living on earth. That's Proverbs. Ecclesiastes
is a different book. The key statement in the book
of Ecclesiastes is, quote, under the sun. Solomon was wise because he was
exposed to many different trials. So his wisdom mainly was wisdom
that had been gained as a result of his personal experiences. And many of them are discussed
in the book of Ecclesiastes. But listen to this text. Chapter
3, verse 16. I'm reading the NASB translation. You can look at it in the King
James. Furthermore, I have seen under
the sun that in the place of justice there is wickedness." Folks, that which was true then
is even more true in this day in which you and I are living. Let's look at it again. In the
place of justice, there is wickedness. Now watch
the last part of the text. And in the place of righteousness,
there is wickedness. Now looking at this text, many
things from the Old Testament came to my mind. We have the book entitled Judges. So folks, if you want to see
the wickedness in the place of appointed judges, the book of
Judges is such a book. That came to my mind as a tremendous
commentary on this statement by Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3.16. What came to my mind when Solomon
made the statement, in the place of righteousness there is wickedness. Now there are many passages of
scripture in the Old Testament where this could be found, where
God turned from in blessing Israel, nationally speaking, because
of her adultery, because of her fornication, because of her sins. But to really put it where it
belongs, and I want to show you this before we read the text
from the New Testament, turn to Malachi. Malachi, chapter
2, came to my mind when Solomon said, in the place of righteousness,
I saw Wickedness there was wickedness Malachi chapter 2 let's read
just two or three verses beginning with verse 1 Behold I was sin Wait a minute chapter 2 didn't
turn for it up and now all you priests They were responsible for righteousness This commandment is for you. If ye will not hear, and if ye
will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith
the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you. And I will curse your blessings. Folks, as it was in Israel at
that time, it is far worse than that in your generation and mine. Let's read another verse or two.
Yea, I have cursed them already. Because you do not lay it to
heart Behold I will corrupt your seed that is the seed of the
priest He was talking to the priest here the spiritual leaders Now notice this and Spread D-u-n-g is the King
James and the refuse of your animals that you sacrifice. That's what he's talking about.
Notice what he says. And I will spread dung upon your
faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts, and one shall
take you away with it. Folks, I could read before the
average congregation in America what I have just read to you,
and if the people could have their way about it, I would be
stopped, my mouth would be stopped immediately if they could do
it and get by with it. Now, that's for you and me today. Notice verse 4, "...and ye shall
know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might
be with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts." I'll not go any further. You see my point. Now, turn if
you will, please, back to II Timothy chapter 3. Paul is writing to his son in
the ministry. This is our text. This is our
main text today. I may comment further in the
message on Ecclesiastes 3.16 if time permits. If not, I'll
use it in a later message. But let's look at this. But this
you be recognizing. Let me read the King James first
because we're going to make a word study of this verse of Scripture
this morning. Every, each word in this text. But this you be understanding,
or it could be you be recognizing it's a present active imperative. It is a command. It is something,
Timothy, that you are to be continually doing. Why? Here's the reason. You see, the first word, to ta,
and we'll go into each word before we get through this morning,
regardless of how boring it might be to you, we'll go into every word, each
word. You know why? Because this verse of Scripture
is greatly debated. You have to know the truth of
this scripture in order to have the proper biblical view of eschatology. No amillennialist can do justice
to this, and I'll read you some statements by them. But this you be understanding,
or you be recognizing. Of course, if you don't understand,
you wouldn't recognize. And if you do recognize, you
understand. You see what I'm talking about? that in the final days notice
I'm translating the word last I'm making it final
final days difficult times shall be present now let me read it without stopping
Paul writing to Timothy but this You be recognizing that in the
final days, difficult or hard, we'll go into that word later,
then you can choose the word you want to use and translate
it. Difficult or hard times shall be present. Now, we're not going
into verses 2 through 9 now. We'll do that later. Before we get into it, study
that verse. Last Sunday morning I read this
to you. Sign of the times. The New Testament gets updated. September the 11th. What's the
date? The 10th. Tomorrow, the New Testament
gets updated. This is in USA news with an English
translation that removes accusations that Jews kill Christ. Now folks, I want to show you
what spiritual idiots, in fact they're not spiritual at all.
They need the Lord who makes statements like this. And I'm
not afraid to say so. You know why? Because Acts 2,
beginning with verse 22 and verse 23, Peter on the day of Pentecost
speaking to you men of Israel, Jews, and he says, you killed
Christ. You crucified Him. You put Him
to death. I'll go a little further. You
and I put Him to death. He died for the sins of the elect. So every chosen person who has
been regenerated, he thanks the Lord for his sacrificial work at Calvary. Other changes in the New Testament
and Psalms. An inclusive version will come
out by Oxford University Press. Children shouldn't, quote, obey,
end of quote, parents, but heed them. Now I'm not doing this
this morning, but you need to go back and study the word, the
Greek word, the root word for obey. And folks, you wouldn't
come up with heed in the English definition. So I'm showing you
what's taking place today. And it isn't going to get better,
folks. So unless you really want to
study for the next several weeks or months, maybe the rest of
this year, we'll be on apostasy. And most of it will not be easy
to listen to. Unless you really want to study.
But wait till I get through with verse 1 this morning. If you have grace, you'll want
a better understanding. And if you don't have grace,
then you need to be somewhere else anyway. So he goes on to say, in this
little article, not only should children obey parents but heed
them. Wives are no longer subject. And folks, the Greek word means
be subordinate to their husbands, but they say,
should be committed to them. Well, I saw two homosexual men
take each other the other day in a commitment. Saw it on TV. So they shouldn't be subject
to their husband, but committed to them. Darkness, watch this
one, is no longer equated with evil. Who do you think is behind that? Really, who do you think is really
behind this? I'm going to read the whole thing
and explain it. Darkness is no longer equated with evil because
of racist overtones. And the Lord's prayer now begins,
quote, Our father-mother in heaven. Folks, you talk about apostasy?
Never been as bad as it is now. Now let's begin our study. 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 1. Let me give an introduction to
it first of all. There are extreme and heretical
views of eschatology. But there is a difference between
the doctrine of the second coming of Jesus Christ and the time
of its realization. You see what I'm talking about?
Doctrine of the second coming is one thing. Time of its realization
is another thing. Now watch this. Doctrine of the Second Coming
is an absolute fact. He's coming, whether people believe
it or not. But the precise time of the second
advent is not given in the scriptures. And you know that. Mark 13, 32
and 33. Although Christ's second coming
is an established biblical fact, professed servants of God, watch
what I'm saying, may say Quote, my Lord or my master, Lord spelled
with a little L in this instance, is delaying his coming as found
in Luke 12, 45 and also Matthew 24, 42 through 51. So although Christ's second coming
is an established biblical fact, profess servants of God, May
say, my master is delaying his coming. And many shall declare in the
last days, 2 Peter 3, 1 through 4, where is
the promise of his coming? Now, I won't go into the other
verses related. I'm just pointing out something. Scripture teaches a falling away. That's apostasy. The Bible also
teaches that false prophets shall come in sheep's clothing. The Bible also states that many
will be found departing from the faith, not personal faith,
No one can depart from God-given faith. You can depart from a
human faith, but really here talking about the objective faith,
the system of truth. "...and therefore shall bring
in damnable harassers." We could go on and on, but that's
enough to establish my point. But all of this, which takes
place in professing Christendom, and the proof of it is 2 Timothy
2.20, when Paul makes reference in the preceding chapter that
we are now studying, that is 2 Epistle, he makes reference
to a great house. And the word house also is used
in reference to the local assembly and also the assembly of God
that Jesus Christ is continuing to build. But here a great house,
and look at it in the light of its context, it's found within
the context of apostasy. So, but all of this which takes
place in professing Christendom cannot be equated with the body
of Christ, with those for whom Christ died,
with those who have been regenerated by the Spirit of God. The unregenerate
hearts of religionists cannot endure the hardships of the Christian
life. Now you'll see why I'm giving
this introduction in a moment, when we look really into the
first verse. Therefore, the blazing comets, and I would put that
in quotation marks, the blazing comets of religion soon fall. And folks, I've seen many of
them fall in my lifetime, and so have you. I said the blazing
comets of religion. The greater the light, the greater
the sin when one sins against the light. Furthermore, the greater
the sin, the greater the punishment of that person. Let me illustrate it. The term,
angels that sinned, 2 Peter 3, 4, proves that some did not commit
apostasy. Some did not apostatize. Angels that sinned, Peter refers
to them, what kept them from apostatizing? Before I hasten and give the
answer to that, I want to see if you know what kept them from
apostatizing. There is one verse that specifically
relates why they could not apostatize. You know where it is? You know
what it says? 1 Timothy chapter 5 verse 21, Paul
in his first epistle makes reference to the chosen or the elect angels. Now, having said that, let us
apply this principle of divine election to Noah, Lot,
and the godly of 2 Peter 2, 5 through 9. References made to Noah, he
was preserved. Reference was made to Lot, and
he too was preserved. And finally in verse 9, Peter
makes reference to the people of God. What are we seeing? I would like
to go to that passage and give some discussion on it. But we
don't have time for that. So, all of this certainly teaches
us something that is very, very important. And that is, the elect
of God cannot apostatize. Every person God chose before
the foundation of the world will be regenerated We'll experience
a conversion experience, and furthermore, we'll never apostatize. God is not one who starts something
that he cannot finish. Philippians 1 verse 6. He did
it for the angels. The chosen angels did not apostatize. All of the non-chosen angels
did apostatize and followed Lucifer. Now, according to Christ's own
words, He is not coming back the second time to a converted
world. So that eliminates post-millennialism. How do you know He's not coming
back to a converted world? Well, let's listen to what He
said. In Luke 18, verse 8, the latter part of the text, Study
this with you this morning in the light of all the context.
That needs to be done. But you can do that. But the
text stands. And here's what our Lord said.
Nevertheless, the Son of Man, having come, shall he find the
faith. The article is in the Greek.
The faith. What does he mean? True piety. True piety. on the earth. So let's look at it again. Nevertheless,
the Son of Man having come, shall he find the faith, or true piety,
on the earth? In Paul's second letter to Timothy, chapter 3, verse 1, he began
by saying, Now, if you have your Greek text with you this morning,
let's do a little study. And you'll see the necessity
of this if you're interested in carrying out the command that
Paul gave to Timothy. But let me hasten to say, that
command is for you. That command is for me. That
command is for every regenerated person. And there's a reason for it.
The only people who will be able to withstand the difficult or
hard times in the last of the last days will be those who have an understanding
of biblical principles. So let's look at just the first
three words in the Greek for a few minutes. Τὸ τὰ δὲ γινώσκει. Three words in the Greek. Now
let me translate them and I'll look at each one with you for
a moment or two. But this, δὲ, I'm translating
it, but, rather than and. I noticed in some translations,
and I have a number of translations, some ignore they. They don't
even use it in translating. I'm using but. But this. Now, to ta is the first word
in the Greek text. In the Greek order, as you see
it here. But in translating, that doesn't
mean you've got to say this but. But you would say but this. Or
if you wanted to translate day and as somehow, you'd say and
this. Now, tuta is a demonstrative
adjective. So watch this. So but this, and
then we have a present active imperative of the verb ginosko. Ginosko. So but this, you be
understanding, or but this you be recognizing, or but this you
be perceiving. Now, there are several different
ways that gnosko can be translated, but it all depends on the context.
And you may have a difficult time really settling and choosing
one particular word. So, but this you be understanding,
Are you being recognized? Personally, I think it comes
down to understanding or recognizing. And when you use either one,
you can't have one without having the other. That's understood.
You can't recognize truth if you don't understand truth. If
you understand truth, you're in a position to recognize what's
going to take place. So Paul says to Timothy, his
son in the ministry, But this, a demonstrative adjective, you
be understanding. Or, let me illustrate it even
further, you be continually understanding. Or you be continually observing. Or you be continually recognizing. Now, does that help? So the apostle predicted apostasy
unto my Paul. He also gave, in this third chapter,
he gave some of his own exemplary trials. And the third great division
of this third chapter, looking at the chapter as a whole, And
he exhorted Timothy's continual steadfastness in the truth of
Holy Scripture, the last two verses of the chapter. So you
got a three-point outline if you are studying the whole chapter.
There has been much debate. That's why I'm taking time at
the very outset on this. over some words in verse 1 in
Paul's opening statement. Therefore, we shall investigate
every word in this text this morning, regardless of how boring
it may be to you. And folks, don't manifest your
boredom. But could I tell you, I've come
to the place now, I'm not going to waste my time. I'm going to study
and give to you the best that I can. And I expect you, as a
Christian, you should want to know everything that you can
find out about the subject in order to be prepared for the
awful days that we are facing even now. And they're going to
get worse. We haven't seen anything yet. Tuta Dei Genoske. Let's look at the demonstrative
adjective for a moment. It's used as a pronominal adjective. Demonstrative, that means it
is characterized by or given to open exhibition or expression
of one's emotions, attitudes, etc. Folks, Paul was a person
who felt, what he believed and what he preached. Do you really feel what you say
you believe? This demonstrative adjective
serves to prove the truth of something. But this You be continually recognizing, understanding. Apostasy is not departure from
one's religion. Apostasy is not a Methodist departing
from the Methodism. Apostasy is not a Baptist departing
from the Baptist church. Apostasy is not a Catholic departing
from Catholicism. And I could go on and name every
denomination and cult if I wanted to. That isn't necessary. What
is it? Apostasy refers to those who
reject, who reject God's Word. That's what apostasy is. 1 Timothy
1.19. Go back. to I Timothy 1.19 for a moment. Having faith and a good conscience,
with some having rejected having faith, that is the system of
truth, and a good conscience, with some having rejected were
shipwrecked concerning the faith, concerning the system of truth
that has been given. That's what it means. That's
all it means. So what is apostasy? It's rejecting
the Word of God. I've had Baptists to reject the
Word of God in my presence. I've had members of the church
of which I pastor, absolutely reject plain principles of scripture
as they're given in my presence. Now let's look at day. That's
the second word in the order in your Greek text. It's one
of the most commonly used particles which can mean and in a simple
connective, but when there is a contrast, now or then, when
no contrast is intended. Many times you'll see chi day,
chi is the word for and, and when they're used together, and
day can refer to and. You can translate day by using
the English word and. But when you have them together,
What do you have? Kaidei and also, and also. Then it's used with men, on one
hand and on the other hand, etc. Now the question is, how is it
used in our text? How is it used in our text? I'm translating it but. The NASB
does. Now let's look at the word gnosko,
the verb gnosko. It means to know. It means to
understand, to discern, to comprehend, to recognize. So Paul is telling Timothy, You
be continually, that's an imperative, that's a command, that's imperative.
You be continually understanding. You be continually recognizing. So Paul is commanding Timothy
and us to be understanding or to be
recognizing something very important. Now watch this. Apostasy, as
I've already stated, is not a departure from one's religion, but it's
a departure from the Word of God. So there's a different connection
between the heresy of 2 Timothy 2 and the corruption of 2 Timothy
3. Paul deals with wickedness in
three important areas in chapter 3. Our thinking, secondly, our
affections, and here's where we're going to find that compound
word I told you about last week when we spoke on the subject
of love, making a distinction between agapao and phileo. Phileos, the adjective, is used
as a prefix in a number of words. in chapter 3 as we'll see later
on. So Paul is discussing thinking, our thinking, our affections,
and thirdly, our behavior. Having said that, David Anderson
was in our services last Sunday. He was telling me after the service
that they have a new preacher. Their preacher had been there
many years, I think 30 some years, died. They got a new preacher
and he's strong. He's really strong. He's stronger
on Christian living. Evidently, David didn't say this,
I'm saying this. Evidently, stronger on practical
holiness than maybe the former pastor. I'm afraid that a lot
of these, quote, grace churches, Oh, the members, they love to
hear about grace. I'm saved by grace. And then
a lot of them go ahead and live like the devil. David said, Brother Bess, we've
lost 40% of our members. He said, he's really not only
dealing with the doctors of grace, and he's as straight as he can
be, but he's dealing with Christian living. And he said, we didn't
have very many to begin with, and we've lost 40% of them. So I hope we don't lose 40% of
what we have here, when I deal with apostasy and what our responsibility
is. But if so, I'm going to still give the truth as long as I can
give it. So Paul deals with thinking,
with affections, and with behavior. He gives a catalog of infamy in this third chapter. And what does infamy mean? I
remember the first time I heard that word, and some of you who
were alive when you heard President Roosevelt declare war against
Japan, after the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor, I was in
the car one day. In fact, I think it was my first,
no, second car. Juanita and I were driving around
that afternoon, and radio on. And we heard President Roosevelt
declare war against Japan. And he used the word infamy.
Infamy. And when I was looking at this,
this past week, that came to my mind. You know, many times
when we hear a word for the first time, and we get an understanding
of what it is, it never leaves you. Infamy. So I said there's a catalog of
infamy in this third chapter of 2 Timothy. But let's go a little further
than that. You and I know that infamy really refers to public
reproach and condemnation. Religionists, and I'm talking
about religionists, we got a world full of them. I don't hear much
Christianity proclaimed today. I'll be frank with you. I could
care less what you think about me saying. I'm going to say what's
biblically true. What is biblically true? Religionists
make it their whole concern, eluding the reproach of truth. How many of you looked at the
religious section of the Houston Chronicle yesterday? That's all
they do. They spend their time eluding
the reproach of truth. Let me go a step further. Not
only do they spend their time eluding the reproach of truth,
but they employ both concealment and accommodation. And if you want to see a good
illustration of accommodation, when you leave church this morning,
if you go to the freeway and you pass by the old Hughes Road
shopping center, that's now a part of Sagemont, there is accommodation. There is accommodation. For you or any one of us, any
of us, to permit so-called revelation, apart from the written Word of
God, is to deny that the Bible is perfect and complete. So that's what I think of this
article in the new Bible coming out. You say, well, you changed things
from the King James. After all, King James is just
translation. I'll give you something on that later. Maybe. Or I'll
hold it later. I got a real stinging letter
not too long ago from a fellow up north, pastor. of the first
century Baptist Church. Oh, he took a whack at me because
I don't believe that King James is inspired. He believes that
King James is as inspired as any book given us by Paul, Peter,
or anyone else. That's real wisdom. That's real
wisdom. Now, let me make the statement
again that I want to give you seven things. For you or me to permit the so-called
revelation that people talk about today, apart from the written
Word of God, that means we deny the Bible as being complete and
perfect. Anytime you put up with a person
telling you, the Lord just spoke to me, or I believe this, or
I had a dream, or the Lord spoke to me, you might ask, well, what
did He say? Well, and they have a hard time
telling you just what He said. The elect of God cannot. Seven things now, folks. The
elect of God cannot. Number one. Hold to inspiration
and reject it. You can't hold to it and reject
it. Number two, you cannot believe in a particular redemption and
try to explain it away. Three, you cannot hold to the
doctrine of depravity and deny it. Four, you cannot repair a
house or assembly, to use that term, which has no foundation. You can't repair it. Number five,
you cannot do right by doing wrong in order to have the opportunity
to do right. Number six, you cannot associate
with those who reject the truth of God. And number seven, you cannot be base enough to
profess one thing and believe another. Now that's putting it
right where it belongs. And I'll tell you, my belief
is, I don't believe any person who has been regenerated would
question any of those seven things that I've just given you. Paul's command to Timothy not
only reveals a tremendous responsibility on his son in the ministry, But
folks, it is a responsibility of every regenerated person in
every age of the assembly of our Lord, which He is continuing
to build. But this you be continually understanding,
recognizing. It is the duty of every God-called
minister to observe and take notice of what is taking place
in professing Christendom. Now, folks, that's not a joyous
work. I've been reading stuff and getting
material, and if I were to try to give it to the average congregation
today, I wouldn't have enough in two weeks to pay the light
bill to hear it. That's what I'm reading firsthand. It is especially the duty of
every God-called minister to know something about what
is taking place in the assembly of which He is the under-shepherd. For a minister not to be able
to recognize the spirituality of the assembly disqualifies him as a leader. If I cannot ascertain, observe,
understand, perceive, The overall spirituality of this
assembly, I have no business standing here before you. Now, since perilous are hard,
difficult times which are coming, the minister
must observe the displeasure them because there is a Judicial
hand of God in what shall take place Let me prove to you what I'm
talking about I Won't turn to Romans 1 but Romans 1 beginning
with verse 24 through 31 folks God's judicial hand he gave them
up But let me give you a verse from 2 Thessalonians 2, verse
11. 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 11. Listen to what the apostle has
to say. We can't study the whole 2nd
chapter this morning, but I want you to look at the 11th verse.
And for this cause, God shall send them. I'm reading to King
James now. We'll translate it later. Strong
delusion that they may believe a lie. That's the judicial hand
of God, folks. Notice what it says. For this
cause God shall send. Who's sending it? God is doing
it. So you know what's happening
today? We see the judicial hand of God
in all this apostasy. He has removed His restraint. Go to it. Believe a lie. And literally it means believe
the lie. Believe the lie. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. We've heard
that. It's an old cliche, but it's true. Those who are faithful in the
worst times shall receive the greatest honor. So folks, our
steadfastness in the midst of all of this apostasy that we're
seeing will result in the greater honor for you and me if we're
steadfast. Someone said pre-vision is the
best means of prevention And of course pre-vision meaning
foresight or foreknowledge so to know these things are going
to come and it's going to get worse and worse and worse Now you see what I'm saying folks
not easy to listen to You're going to really be tested
like you've never tested, never been tested. We are to observe God's eternal
purpose in everything that is taking place. I said God's eternal
purpose. Following Paul's present active
imperative, He states what the demonstrative adjective modifies
by saying. Now let's look at the last part
of the text. See, I'll have to hurry through this, and we're
just looking at one verse this morning. The second part of this
text, hakti, that's an adverb, a relative adverb, meaning that. Then you have the preposition
en, epsilon nu, that is a preposition, it is the locative of time. Then you have eschatice, and
of course that is the locative, it's an adjective, and the locative,
feminine, plural, of eschatas. That's the word for last or final. Now we're going to look at something
very, very controversial now among theologians, so watch this.
Then you have the word hemeris. And that also is in the locketed
case, feminine plural, of hemera. Chiefly in the plural it speaks
of the time of life or activity. I could give you a lot of scriptures
on that, we could take time to look at them, but we don't have
the time. Then notice the next word is a verb, only two verbs
in the first verse. This is a compound. verb. It begins with a preposition
in, in. And then you have the main part
of the verb, which is histamine, histamine. So you have in-istamine,
in-istamine. So you have the inflected form
here, which is a future, watch this, future middle indicative,
middle voice, very important. Enste santae is the inflected
form of this verb. Enste santae. So you would translate
it, have come. That would be the past tense.
imminent impending About to happen immediately threatened. That's
future tense Now this verb is only used Seven times in the
New Testament. Let me give you all seven references.
So you look it up Romans 8 38 1st Corinthians 322 and 726 Galatians
1 4 2nd Thessalonians 2 2 Second Timothy 3.1, the verse
we're studying, Hebrews 9.9. I've already said this is a compound
verb. Then you have the word kairoi. That's a noun, nominative case,
masculine plural, of kairos, meaning time, season, or age. And then you have the word, now
watch this one, Calipoi It's an adjective nominative masculine
plural of Calipas and Calipas means hard difficult hard times
times of distress times of stress and It is used only here only
in this verse and Matthew chapter 8 verse 28 Now you will have
no problem, since it's used only twice in the New Testament, to
come to an understanding as to what it literally means. Remember the demons of Matthew
8, 28? We won't take time, because I don't
have time this morning, to turn to that and look at that passage
in the light of its overall context. So the adjective eschatos is
used 54 times. in the New Testament, and it
is translated three times uttermost in your King James, twice lowest
in all the other times, 4 to 9. It is translated, what, last or final. You can translate it final in
many instances. The only verses that concern
us in this study, are 2 Timothy 3.1, Hebrews 1.1
and 2, talking about last or final, James 5.3, 1 Peter 1.5
and 20, 2 Peter 3.3, 1 John 2.18 twice, and finally Jude verse
18. Now let's look at something.
In the last days, folks, that's a controversial statement. among
theologians. What does it mean? In the last
days. Listen closely. In the last days
cannot be restricted to the days immediately, which immediately
precede the second advent. It can't always be restricted. The verses that I gave you preceding
this, you'll find to be true. That will bear out what I've
just said. In other words, in the last days, that statement
is used in reference from the time of Christ's first advent
until the closing time of His second advent. It covers a long
period of time. Now, so in the last days, which
is very controversial among especially those who study eschatology,
cannot be restricted to the days which immediately precede the
second advent. Now, I want to ask a question.
Are the Amils, I'm talking about Amillennialists, are they correct
in their interpretation of, quote, in the last days, end of quote?
Well, let's see. Let me quote you some Amillennialists.
Here's one, quote, it would have been senseless to tell Timothy,
Now it's his comment on this verse. It would have been senseless
to tell Timothy to avoid people who would never bother him at
all. Boy, that's choice stuff, isn't
it? And it is not warranted to solve
the difficulty by saying, the writer expected Christ's return
any moment. End of quote. That's Hendrickson. Now, folks, I'll give you something
to study. And if you want to make the distinction,
you'll have to study it. All I can do is just give you
the statements and the verses. You study it for yourself. I've
done it. I'm perfectly settled and satisfied
with it. Some confuse Christ's quote,
at the last day, John 6, 39, verse 40, verse 44, verse 54,
John 11, verse 24, and John 12, verse 48. They confuse at the
last day with Paul's statement, in the last days. You notice,
and Paul uses the plural word for days. Now, this really, necessitates an
entire message on this subject, which I may do, but I won't this
morning. So the superiority of Jesus Christ
certainly stands out, doesn't it? Any person's confusion of Christ's
statement with Paul's, it has to be willful. Christ was talking
about a particular day, beyond these days, the day of judgment. Now, since the verb, follow me,
please follow me at this point. Since the verb inistimate means
to place or stand on or upon. In means in. are own. In some instances, it can mean
own. Isthami means to stand or to place. So, to stand in or
upon. Now, watch this. And it's future
middle. This is a future tense verb,
folks. This is somewhere down the line. Future tense. Middle voice. means they shall
stand on or upon for themselves. Middle voice. That is, they will
or shall be personally present when the difficult times or the
hard times come. See what I'm saying? So don't
forget. That's a future middle indicative
verb. Now, so it actually refers to
the last of the last days. Are you with me? Or the days
just before the coming of Christ for His own. I close with this this morning.
It is a shame for us if we do not do work better. I'm talking about our work for
the Lord better. By sunlight, and I mean sunlight,
we're standing in the presence of a completed revelation of
God. than those who had only the twilight,
a little light, and some had more light until the completion
of the revelation of God. But what is this revelation to
us? What does it mean to us if we
don't study it? So if you want to be equipped
for the hard times ahead, you had better be anchored in the
principles of God. Let's stand.