And it's 2 Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy chapter 3. And while you're turning to that
portion of Scripture, let me ask you a question. Does the
state of our society trouble you? Are you troubled by what you
see all around you? All the wickedness and perversion
the violence and corruption. I have a young teenage daughter
in the public school system, and I must confess that with
all that I see going on around us, at times I fear for her and
grow concerned for her safety. The Apostle Paul prophesied of
these days. He called them the last days. In 2 Timothy 3 verse 1, this
know also that in the last days, or that is, the days immediately
preceding the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, He said there will
be perilous times, or that is, dangerous times, wild and crazy
times. Let's just read down through
here, verses 2 through 6. Or if you're not reading, listen
carefully. I'm reading from God's Word.
Men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters,
proud, blasphemers. That is, God's name is on everybody's
lips. And I continue to read, 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, that is, religious,
but denying the power thereof, or that is, their lives and their
thoughts deny the power of God. Well, in verse 6 now, the apostle
goes on to write, "...of this sort are they which creep into
houses and lead captive silly women laden with sin, led away
with different lusts." Who's he talking about here? Of this
sort are they which creep into houses. He's talking about preachers. Preachers who sneak up on people,
who creep into the lives of people. He's talking about preachers.
In verse 7, he says, they ever learn, that is, they're Bible
scholars. ever getting their degrees, masters
of divinity, doctors of divinity, never, he says, never able to
come to the knowledge of the truth. Ever learning, but never
knowing the truth. That is, the truth of who God
really is, of who Christ really is, of what salvation is all
about. And in verse 8, he gives an example
of two such so-called preachers, Janus and Jambre. They withstood
Moses, he said. Moses, now, was a true preacher
sent by God. He was truly sent by God. One
way you know that he was sent by God is he didn't apply for
the job. And when God called him, he didn't
want to go. He didn't try to get in the ministry,
so to speak, and go to school to do so. No. But God called
him, and God put him in the ministry, and God equipped him, and God
put him on the backside of a desert for 40 years to teach him. Moses was truly sent by God. And these fellows opposed Moses.
There were other prophets who followed Moses, men such as Elijah,
Elisha, David, Jeremiah, Daniel, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Peter,
men with no credentials from men, but nevertheless sent by
God. And they were resisted by these
false prophets, P-R-O-F-I-T. Paul goes on to call these fellows
men of corrupt minds, verse 8, men of corrupt minds who withstood
Moses, men of corrupt minds, reprobate, that is, a mind void
of judgment concerning the faith. Men of corrupt minds, that is,
men who had a career in mind, themselves in mind. They were
promoting themselves. They had a ladder that they wanted
to climb, money they wanted to make, power they were seeking
after, prestige. These were the evil intentions
of these men, corrupt minds, not interested in the glory of
God first and foremost, above all, but rather making a name
for themselves, being in the limelight, keeping after themselves
disciples. Well, he goes on to say they
reprobate, that is, no judgment concerning the faith. didn't
even have good sense concerning the faith. What is the faith
Paul speaks of here, which these men didn't even have good sense
concerning? The faith. Does not the faith,
true faith, first begin with God? He that cometh to God must
believe that he is, Hebrews 11.6 says, that he is God. Is this not the fundamental of
the faith that God is God? The name God means absolute,
sovereign, ruling, dispensing, disposing, creating, destroying,
life-giving, life-ending, electing, rejecting, justifying, condemning,
loving, hating God. God who does as He pleases with
whom and what He pleases because He pleases. That's what it means
to be God. Do you not see, people, that
preachers are mostly to blame for the state of this society?
Yes, I lay the blame in the pulpit. Preachers who should be declaring
this holy, just, sovereign God who, in the words of God Himself,
and I quote, will by no means clear the guilty, who is angry
with the wicked every day, who hateth all workers of iniquity,
whose wrath abides upon the ungodly. This preaching of such a God,
of this God, the true God, creates the fear of God, which Paul said in Romans 3.19,
there is none. There is no fear of God before their eyes. But
this preaching of this God who reigns and rules, this holy,
just, and righteous God who, yea, hates all workers of iniquity,
this brings repentance and cries for mercy at the hands of this
angry, offended, and just God. But no, men and women, or so-called
preachers today have but one message to all, to any and all,
God loves you. And therefore, no one fears God. Why should they? Why, He is not
in control, and He is not angry, but He loves them. God is not
a God of judgment, but love. And so therefore, no fear is
the most popular phrase of 1999, thanks to preachers. Now again, I remind you, no prophet
or apostle ever, one time, stood in a public place and preached,
God loves you and Christ died for all of you. Not once. Any man or woman who does so
is a false prophet. Listen to me now. The first words
out of a true prophet or preacher's mouth are this, repent is at
hand. These were the first words preached
by the Lord of glory himself in Matthew 4.17, the very first
public recorded preached words of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
the first words of John, the last, perhaps the greatest of
all the prophets in Matthew 3.2, repent. And they are still the
words of the true preacher sent by God today. I urge everyone
who hears this message. And I do hope God has caused
someone to hear this message, perhaps a preacher. I urge everyone
to go back and read the book of Jeremiah, chapter 23. Jeremiah
was a young, God-sent prophet. And again, he was a young man
who did not want to go. He did not seek the job, but
rather God called him. And Jeremiah 23 speaks of what
false prophets were saying and doing then and now. And if you
read that, you will be amazed at how similar it is to what
men are saying and doing now. Back in 2 Timothy chapter 3,
where we were looking 2 Timothy 3, Paul calls these men,
in verse 13, evil men and seducers, and he says they will wax worse
and worse. They'll only get worse, he says,
as time goes by, deceiving and being deceived. Deceiving men
and women into thinking that God's not really God, that man
is. That God's really not in control,
that man's in control of God. Is that not reprobate? Is that
not a mind void of judgment, people? Deceiving, he says, and being
deceived. Deceiving themselves into thinking
that God sent them. When God said back there in Jeremiah
23, I didn't send them, yet they ran. In chapter 4 here in 2 Timothy,
verse 3, he calls them teachers, still speaking of these false
fellows. He calls them teachers whom folks
have hired or heaped to themselves. These teachers. People having
itching ears. Or that is, those folks want
to hear what these fellows say. It appeals to them. Why, folks
love to hear how much God loves them, how much God needs them,
and how much God can't do without them. And he says they don't
want to hear the truth. 4, here of 2 Timothy 4, it says,
"...they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and be turned
unto fables." Make-believe stories, stories that men make up. Turn
away from the truth that God is God, holy, just, a just God,
first and foremost. He tells young Timothy, you preach
the Word, In season or out of season, he
preached the truth. That's what he told Isaiah back
in Isaiah chapter 40. He says, You stand on the roof
and declare, Behold, your God, and tell them all flesh is grass. Folks, it's not the love of God,
not a loving God who is going to destroy this planet with men,
women, and children in it. It is a holy, righteous, just
an angry judge. Repent is still the first and
most urgent message. May God cause someone to hear
that message this morning.