Bibles today to 2nd Timothy chapter
3. 2nd Timothy chapter 3. And we notice first of all that
this chapter begins with these words, this know also, along
with all that Paul, the apostle, had written to Timothy thus far
in this letter, there's more, this know also. And I believe
this is especially emphasized in light of what he had just
finished reading concerning the ministry, concerning the work
of a gospel minister. In verse 24 of chapter two, and
the servant of the Lord must not strive. That is, the servant,
the preacher, the gospel minister, he must not strive, but be gentle
unto all men, apt to teach, patient in meekness, instructing those
that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance
to the acknowledging of the truth. You see, repentance is God's
gift. It's his gift. All men are commanded
everywhere to repent, but man, the natural man, does not have
the ability to repent. Just as all men everywhere are
commanded to believe the gospel, all men do not have faith. Salvation
is the gift of God. Repentance. God grants repentance. Repentance means a change of
mind. And notice that verse of scripture says, we'll give them
repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. Man doesn't know
the truth about God. He doesn't know the truth about
sin. He doesn't know the truth about
himself. He doesn't know the truth about
this world. He's in darkness. And he will
continue in darkness unless the Lord grant. or give repentance
to the acknowledging of the truth, the truth about God, who He is. Not who we think He is, not who
we imagine He may be, but who the true and living God really
is, and who Christ is, and who we are by nature, fallen creatures, dead in trespasses and sins,
unable to save ourselves. We need God to do something for
us. All men. That's what we need
here this morning, isn't it? We need God to do something for
us. You may be here today, lost on
your way to hell, and you don't even know it, and you're not
concerned. We need God to do something.
Every time we meet, the preacher doesn't have any ability. He
doesn't have any power. We need God. And I hope we're
always aware of that and always praying to that end when we come
together that God will speak to us, that God will bless his
word to each one of us here today. This know also, Timothy. And
I want to point four things out in this chapter, this third chapter,
that I see that Paul would have Timothy to know and that you
and I should know. First, Timothy know this about
the last days. 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, trucebreakers,
false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that
are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than
lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the
power thereof. from such turn away, for of this
sort are they which creep into houses and lead captive silly
women laden with sins, led away with divers lust, ever learning
and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Timothy
know this about the last days. In considering this, Two things. First of all, know what is meant
by the last days. What does the apostle mean by
the last days? Is he talking about some time
that was way off in the future when he wrote these words? Sometime
maybe just before the Lord comes again. Is that what he is speaking
about when he refers to the last days? The answer is no. No. He is speaking about the
times in which he was writing. The times in which Timothy ministered. The times which have included
all of these days in this last dispensation. You say, why do
you believe that? Why do you say that? I do so
because of the word of God, because of God's word. The scriptures
tell us that we are living in the last days, just as Paul was
living in the last days, Timothy was living in the last days,
and all through this dispensation, the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ has been in the last days. Look with me, if you will, in
Acts chapter 2. Why do I believe this? Because
this is what the Word of God teaches. In Acts chapter 2, and we'll
look at a few verses, but in Acts chapter 2, these are the
words of the Apostle Peter preaching on the day of Pentecost. And
you know how the Holy Spirit had been poured out Lord Jesus
Christ was exalted to the right hand of the throne of God, and
he had poured out the promise of the Holy Spirit upon the 120,
upon the church at that time. And there was a mighty rushing
wind that came as the Spirit of God was poured out, because
many times he's pictured as the wind. And men began to speak in other
languages, languages which they had never learned. They had the
gift of speaking these languages. And because Jerusalem at this
time was filled with people from all over the known world who
could speak Hebrew, no doubt, or Greek rather, no doubt, but
their native language was a foreign language. And these apostles
were given the gift, not just Peter, But with the 11, he stood
up and began to speak, and these people were amazed. What's happened? What's taken place? Never heard,
never seen, never thought of anything like this before. What
has taken place? Well, Peter's going to tell us
what has taken place. This is the fulfillment of an
Old Testament prophecy. Look, if you will, in verse 16. Peter says, but this is that
which was spoken by the prophet Joel, and it shall come to pass
in the last days. Now, what had come to pass came
to pass in the last days, and it was prophesied this would
come to pass in the last days. That means that when Peter Preach
this message on the day of Pentecost, we were in the last days. Do
you see that? And it shall come to pass in
the last day, saith God, I will pour out of my spirit upon all
flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and
your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams.
And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in
those days, those last days of my spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in heaven
above and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor
and smoke. The sun shall be darkened, shall
be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before that great
and notable day of the Lord comes. And it shall come to pass that
whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Thank God. Thank God we are living
in the last days. And in these last days, whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's something to be thankful
for, isn't it? It is. This is something to be
thankful for in these last days. God wasn't just calling his people
out of the nation of Israel, but now the gospel is to go into
all the world. And God has his people among
all nations and kindreds and tribes and tongues. Christ has redeemed them by his
blood. We're living in the last days.
And we have been. since the Lord Jesus Christ ascended
on high. Look with me at another verse
in Hebrews chapter one. Hebrews chapter one and verses
one and two. God, who at sundry times and
in diverse manners spake in time past, time past, In time past,
God spoke unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last
days, these last days, he hath spoken unto us by his Son, whom
he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made
the worlds, being the brightness of his glory and the express
image of his person. and upholding all things by the
word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat
down on the right hand of the majesty on high. Hath in these
last days spoken unto us by or in his son. Also look in James. Next letter, James chapter five. Verse 3. Well, let's begin in
verse 1. Go to now, you rich men, weep
and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches
are corrupted, your garments are moth-eaten, your gold and
silver is cankered, and the rest of them shall be a witness against
you. and shall eat your flesh as it
were fire, you have heaped treasure together for the last days. Those were contemporaries that
James was writing to. And he was reprimanding them
for their misuse of their gold and silver. They had heaped it
together, he said, They're treasured together for the last days. They
were living in the last days. Also in 2 Peter. 2 Peter chapter three and verse three, the apostle wrote,
knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days golfers
walking after their own lust. and saying, where is the promise
of his coming? This has been going on all through
these last days. And if you look back in our text,
second Timothy chapter three, notice in verse five, Paul tells
Timothy from such turn away. Now, he's certainly not telling
him to turn away from people that would be living some 2,000
or 3,000 years after this, but he's telling him to turn away
from those who conducted themselves, who lived as he describes the
way men live in these last days. This is nothing new. This is
nothing new. I know we've all probably heard
preachers, and maybe I've been guilty of it myself. by speaking
of these last days and saying this is, we're in the last days
because this is the way people are now. No, we've been in the
last days and this is the way people have always been, lost
men and women. Now this is not to say that there
is not a last day. Paul is writing about last days,
plural. But the scriptures speak about
a day, a singular day, a last day. The Lord Jesus Christ said
this, this is the Father's will which has set me that of all
which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise
it up again at the last day. Yes, we are living in the last
days, but there is a last day. There's coming a last day. Look in 1 Thessalonians chapter
5. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse
1. But of the times and the seasons,
brethren, you have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves
know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief
in the night. How does a thief come? Does he
send an announcement and tell you, I'm going to visit your
house on July the 22nd at 11 o'clock? Not hardly. A thief
comes by surprise. And that's the way it's going
to be when the Lord Jesus Christ comes again. There's not going
to be any warning. He's here. He's here. That's the way it's going to
be when the Lord comes again. But God's people, we are not
in the dark concerning this. Notice, for when they shall say
peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them
as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in
darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. You
are all the children of light and the children of the day.
We're not of the night nor of darkness. The Lord Jesus Christ
chose this analogy of a woman entering into labor to give birth. And the apostle Paul uses that
again. And that's the way it's going
to be when Christ comes again. It's going to be sudden, like
a thief, like when it's time, the last day, The labor, the
woman goes into labor. The Lord Jesus Christ is going
to come again on the last day. Are you ready? We don't know when it's going
to be. Could be today. Could be tomorrow. Could be a
week from now. Could be a thousand years from
now. We don't know. And no one's going to know until
he comes. And that's the reason the scriptures
is replete, it's full of warnings, admonitions, be ye ready for
the day cometh, the night cometh. The day is going to come, the
last day. There's only one last day. Every week has seven days, but
there's only one last day of the week, isn't there? We are
living in the last days, but yes, there is a last day when
the Lord Jesus Christ is going to come again. So that's the
first thing. Know what is meant by the last
days. And second, know what the church
is to expect in these last days. The church Timothy is to expect
perilous times. I exhort therefore, or this is,
well, let me get the right verse, 2 Timothy 3. This know also that
in the last days, we've been in the last days, perilous times
shall come. And that word perilous means
troublesome, difficult times. And it's just possible that some
of them believed that maybe there was going to be a golden age,
that the preaching of the gospel would usher in a golden age,
that the things of this world would get better and better and
better. That's not going to happen. This
world is this world, and this world is under a curse. And this
world is under the power of the Prince of Darkness, my friends. The world is not going to improve. In these last days, this is what
the church is to expect, perilous, difficult days, troublesome days. And Paul makes it clear that
the difficulty that he speaks of, that pastors and churches
are going to experience is not what the world considers as difficult
days. The world, if you ask the world,
the men of this world, the thought of this world, what are difficult
days, they would tell us, well, when the stock market crashes.
Or when there's a drought and crops fail. When there's a pestilence
or a plague that spreads across the country. These are troublesome,
these are difficult days. But what Paul is speaking about
here, that difficulty comes from those who are in the church because
of the wickedness of men. They will be difficult because
men will have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof. Notice that in verse 5. Having
a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. These are
difficult days. Man may have a good creed in
his head. He may have a good body of divinity
in his head, in his mind, and his heart may be as corrupt as
it may be, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. I heard a message several years
ago that Lloyd-Jones preached to a group of preachers in England.
And this had to be in the 1950s or the 1960s. And he told this
group of preachers who were from all sorts of denominations, evangelical
denominations in England. But he made this comment. He
said, if you wait, if you wait to leave your denomination until
they deny the creed, you will continue in that denomination. In other words, they deny the
blood of Christ, they deny the new birth, they deny all of these
things that are revealed in the word of God, but they will not
deny the creed, which is a good creed. The Church of England,
for instance, is it 31 articles, which they have. When were those
articles written? At the time of the Reformation,
for the most part, in the 1500s, 1600s. They still agree to those. They
just don't believe them. They don't preach it. They don't
live it. They ordain women. They ordain
homosexuals. I mean, you just go down the
line. And yes, there are perilous times. Why? Because men have
a form of godliness, religion. Religion is rampant. Everyone
is religious. but they deny the power thereof. That is, that when God saves
a sinner, his life is changed. His heart is changed. If any
man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed
away. He now is a partaker of the divine
nature. The scripture says there's a
new man created in righteousness and true holiness. Man may have
a good creed in his head, but deny the power of God. What difference
has the gospel made in your life since you believe, since you
confess Christ? How has it changed your life? That's the matter. You know, if you look over here
in 1 Peter, just a moment, 1 Peter chapter 2. In a day when everyone says they
believe, in a day when everyone says they believe the gospel
and believe in Christ, how is a person to know if he truly
believes, if she truly believes? Well, notice what Peter says
in verse seven of chapter two. Unto you therefore which believe,
he is precious. Is Christ precious to you? Is
his word precious? If he's precious, his word will
be precious to you. If he's precious, his church
will be precious to you. Having a form of godliness, but
denying the power thereof. A sound creed, but a hard heart. There will always be false prophets. Notice he says, for of this sort,
back in second Timothy three and verse six, for of this sort
are they which creep into houses and lead captive silly or weak
women laden with sin. False prophets will always be
around to prey upon not only silly women, but silly men, weak,
weak, not understanding the truth. When I was in language school,
we went to Guadalajara Language School for nine months. There
was an English-speaking Baptist church there, and they asked
me after about two months if I would preach there every Sunday
morning. And I did for the rest of the
time I was in language school. But I remember a couple invited
me. They attended the services there. They invited me to their
home one afternoon. They wanted to speak to me. And
they told me this story. This was during the Vietnam War.
They had a son who was a pilot, been shot down, killed. And this woman had been deceived
by these people who convinced her they could help her communicate
with her son. Had taken just about every penny
they had. These are perilous times. These
are difficult times. It always has been that way. Always will be for the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We sing that hymn sometimes,
must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease while
others fought to win the prize. and sailed through bloody seas.
God's church. One of the statements is the
blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. And in times of
persecution, and God's church is going through it now in some
countries, there's no question in my mind. Some places where
they would be so blessed, this place would be packed. if they
had the liberty that we have in our country to come here today.
Freedom. We're not afraid of someone busting
through the doors, are we? The military, the police, or
anyone like that. But some places, the church is
in a situation like that. Difficult, perilous times, Timothy. Don't think the world is going
to improve and get better. It's not going to happen. And
notice he begins this list when he says,
for men shall be lovers of their own selves. That's the heading
of the list. Remember our Lord told that lawyer
that day that the law hangs on these two commands. Number one,
thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, all thy
soul, and all thy mind. And number two, thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself. These people are lovers of self
rather than lovers of God. That's how this all begins. John Calvin says, this comes
first and can be regarded as the source from which all the
others spring. For the man who loves himself
claims superiority in everything. despises all others, is cruel,
indulges in covetousness, treachery, anger, disobedience against parents,
neglect of good, and all such things. So know this, Timothy,
in the last days perilous times shall come. Now, the second thing,
and we'll only look at this this morning, the second thing, know
this about God's purpose. Verses 8 and 9. Now as Janus
and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth. Men of corrupt minds reprobate
concerning the faith, but they shall proceed no further, for
their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also
was. Timothy know this about God's
purpose. Know this, that these wicked
men, these ungodly men, these false teachers, reprobate concerning
the faith, they shall proceed no farther. They will go just
as far and do just as much as God allows, and no more. And he gives this example of
these two men. These two men were magicians. They were magicians in Egypt.
They served Pharaoh and they withstood Moses. When God sent
Moses in to tell Pharaoh, let my people go. You remember the
first sign that God gave Moses was to tell his brother Aaron
to put his rod down and his rod turned into a serpent. Well,
Pharaoh called for his magicians and they all had rods and they
put their rods down and they turned into serpents. But Aaron's
rod, Aaron's rod that turned into a serpent, swallowed up
those other serpents. And then the next day, when Pharaoh
went out to bathe in the water, Aaron lifted his rod, remembering
all the water in Egypt was turned to blood. Well, Pharaoh summoned
his magicians, and they could do the same thing. And then the
next thing was the frogs. Aaron lifted up his rod and the
frogs came and the magicians could do the same thing. But that's as far, that's as
far as I could go. Look back with me to Exodus chapter
8. God allowed these magicians and
their magic to just go so far. No father, no father. In Exodus
chapter 7, I'm sorry, chapter 7, in verse 8. I'm sorry again. Chapter 8. Chapter 8, verse 16. And the Lord said unto Moses,
saying to Aaron, stretch out thy rod and smite the dust of
the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land
of Egypt. And they did so. For Aaron stretched
out his hand with his rod and smote the dust of the earth,
and it became lice in man. And in beast, all the dust of
the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And the
magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they
could not. So there were lice upon man and
upon beast. Then the magician said unto Pharaoh,
Listen, this is the finger of God. This is the finger of God. And
Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he hearkened not unto them
as the Lord had said. You see, God allowed those magicians
and their enchantments to go just so far, but no further. And if you look here in Exodus,
if you're still turned there to chapter 12, verse 40. Now the sojourning of the children
of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was 430 years. And it came to
pass at the end of the 430 years, even the self same day it came to pass, that all the host of the Lord
went out from the land of Egypt. You see, just as God had told
Abraham years before, they all went out the self same day, the
day that God had determined. The day that God had declared
and all the magicians and all the magic and all the sorcerers
and every other witchcraft and things that Satan may come up
with can just go so far and no further, no further. And in our
text, these false prophets, Timothy, know this, God's purpose is going
to be accomplished. His purpose is going to be accomplished. It is His eternal purpose. His
eternal purpose concerning the saving of His chosen people. It will be accomplished in spite
of the false prophets, in spite of the perilous days, the troublesome
days. God is still in control. Always has been, always shall
be. He's still in control. Notice in chapter two, he had
said this before. Chapter two and verse 19. The foundation of God standeth
sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are
his. These false prophets, they'll
just go so far. They'll just deceive so many.
but not God's elect. If it were possible, the scripture
says, even the elect would be deceived, but it's not possible.
Why? Because of their Savior, because
of their God. Know this, Timothy, this also,
and I trust the Lord Willie, next week I want to point two
other things out that Timothy is to know that are revealed
to us in this chapter.