2 Timothy 3:1-9 Difficult Last Days

Scripture Reading: Dave Laliberte

Intro

Praise Report: Youth

Announcement: IBS Course

Paul fully thought that Christ was going to return in his lifetime

That thinking was so prevalant that the Thessalonians thought they had missed the rapture

The whole church was looking for the return of Jesus

Today it is almost taboo to talk about end times

Most ministers are switching from premillennialism which is the thought that Christ will come for the church before his millennial reign to amillennialism, which means the church will make the world good enough for Christ’s return

Nothing in Scripture supports that thinking

It’s really an overreaction to people who were crazy enough to predict the exact date of Jesus’ return

Paul tells us today that the last days are coming and they will be difficult

They will be difficult because people are lovers of themselves and deny God’s power

Paul shows us how to navigate those times and what to look out for

Time of Difficulty vs. 1 In the last days there will times of difficulty

2 Timothy 3:1 ESV

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.

Last Days

In the last days: This is a broad term in the New Testament, broad enough to where one could say that the last days began with the birth of the Church on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:17).

The days of the Messiah mark the last days; yet the term is especially appropriate to the season immediately before the return of Jesus and the consummation of all things.

Difficult times

“The word was used in classical Greek both of dangerous wild animals and of the raging sea.

Its only other New Testament occurrence is in the story of the two Gaderene demoniacs who were as savage and untamed as wild beasts and whom Matthew describes as ‘so fierce that no one could pass that way’

2 Peter 3:3 ESV

knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.

Lovers of Self vs. 2-4

2 Timothy 3:2–4 ESV

For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

In the last times people will be lovers of self

After lovers of self Paul lists 17 things in vs. 2-4

This is another one of his notorious lists

All of the items that come after Lovers of self describe what being a lover of self is.

Self love has become mandated

Have you been told that you can’t truly love others unless you learn to love yourself first

We need to accept ourselves

Scripture tells us that the heart is deceptively wicked and that we need to deny ourselves

Luke 9:23–24 ESV

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

People are told to love themselves unconditionally and that such self-love is the foundation for a healthy human personality.

Lovers of Money

The love of money is nothing new, but today people have the ability to pursue our love of money like never before.

Judi from Vivid Financial

Boasters, Proud, & Blasphemers

Boasting, pride, and blasphemy are nothing new; but today, they seem far more prominent than ever.

Boasting, pride, and blasphemy each act as if I am the most important person. Each of them say, “You don’t matter and God does not matter. All that matters is me.”

Today boasting, pride, and blasphemy are apparent everywhere, especially among the celebrities that our cultures idolizes. Many people today become wealthy by calculated boasting, pride, and blasphemy.

Disobedient to Parents

Unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving

Unloving literally means, “without family love.”

Paul said that the end times would be marked by an attitude of growing disregard of normal family love and obligation.

Men without self-control

Lovers of Pleasure

Couple from Lodi

2 Peter 2:9–10 ESV

then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.

Denying God’s Power vs. 5

In the last times people will appear godly but deny its power

Technically this is part of the last section but I want to highlight it because it confuses many Christians

The danger we fall into is that we cheer anyone who acknowledges Jesus

We act so desperate for people approve and accept us

So there are many who have learned to profit off of the church by acting Christian but deny its power

We see it in politicians, athletes, and actors

The acknowledge Jesus from the microphone, but deny his teachings and live a life polar opposite

Titus 1:16 ESV

They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.

From such people turn away! The command to turn away from people described by the characteristics in this list is especially difficult in our present day.

People who do the things on this list are not only common today but they are often also our cultural heroes.

The simple responsibility of Christians is to turn away not only these attitudes, but also from the people who do these things.

Many think it is enough if they themselves are not like this, and give little heed to the company they keep.

But if we spend time with people like this – either personally or by allowing them to entertain us – they will have an influence on us.

1 Corinthians 15:33 ESV

Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

Unable to Grasp Truth vs. 6-9

In the last times people will be unable to grasp the truth

Those marked by the last days depravity Paul mentioned in the previous verses want to take others captive, and it can do this among the gullible, those who will believe or pay attention to most anything if it is packaged the right way.

Obviously, the spirit of the last days finds its appeal to us by exciting various lusts within us.

It appeals to the desire to be excited sexually, or romantically, or to have our desires for comfort or wealth or status satisfied.

The spirit of the last days has a certain intelligence about it; the high priests of the spirit of the last days know how to make things work and how to lead us away by various lusts.

But for all their skill, for all of their marketing brilliance and knowledge, they never come to truth.

Romans 1:28 ESV

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

the spirit of the last days has a problem with the idea of “true truth” altogether, because it believes that we each are the center of our own universe and we each create our own truth.

According to the spirit of the last days there is no truth outside of ourselves, so we can learn and learn and learn, but we will never come to God’s eternal truth.