The Last Days 2 Timothy 3:1-9

-Difficulties are coming; we must avoid the difficult people!

A college professor had the mysterious habit of removing a tennis ball from his jacket pocket as he walked into the lecture hall each morning. He would set it on the corner of the podium. After giving the lecture for the day, he would once again pick up the tennis ball, place it into his jacket pocket and leave the room.

No one ever understood why he did this, until one day a student fell asleep during the lecture. The professor didn’t miss a word of his lecture while he walked over to the podium, picked up the tennis ball and threw it, hitting the sleeping student squarely on the top of the head.

The next day, the professor walked into the room, reached into his jacket, removed a baseball…

No one ever fell asleep in his class the rest of the semester!

I. The Reality of Difficulty v. 1

In our passage this morning, Paul has something that he really needs Timothy to understand:

Understanding is critical, because if we are caught by surprise, it will make faithfulness extraordinarily difficult

There is a wisdom that is necessary for us as we serve the Lord and God wants us to know the truth more than we want to receive it!

There are two things that Timothy must understand:

We are living in the last days

This is an interesting term, especially since we see Paul uses it with Timothy almost 2,000 years ago.

The “last days” describe the period that we are living in from the earthly ministry of Christ until His second coming.

We are living in those days, but we are much closer to their end than Timothy was; this should not cause us to grow lax, but to pay even closer attention to what Paul is saying here

Difficulty is coming

There are going to be times and seasons of our life in these days that are marked by difficulty; it will not always be easy to serve the Lord

That word that is translated as difficulty paints a hard picture, of circumstances that are out of control:

Like wild animal or a demoniac that is filled with rage

Like a storm out on the sea

You are going to have these kinds of “out of control” moments in your Christian life

They do not mean that you have done anything wrong. In fact, they may come because of your faithfulness

They do not mean that God has lost control of the situation; He wants you to know that they are coming so that you will be found faithful when they come

They are not an excuse for faithlessness; Genuine faith is revealed in the middle of hardship

Years ago, Monroe Parker was traveling through South Alabama on one of those hot, sultry Alabama days. He stopped at a watermelon stand, picked out a watermelon, and asked the proprietor how much it cost. "It's $1.10," he replied. Parker dug into his pocket, found only a bill and said, "All I have is a dollar." 

"That's ok," the proprietor said, "I'll trust you for it." 

"Well, that's mighty nice of you," Parker responded, and picking up the watermelon, started to leave. 

"Hey, where are you going?" the man behind the counter demanded. 

"I'm going outside to eat my watermelon." "But you forgot to give me the dollar!"

"You said you would trust me for it," Parker called back. 

"Yeah, but I meant I would trust you for the dime!"

 "Mack," Parker replied, "You were't going to trust me at all. You were just going to take a ten-cent gamble on my integrity!" 

II. The Reason for Difficulty vv. 2-5

Next, Paul digs into the source of the difficulty and the answer is a little surprising

While we all know that there are circumstances that cause difficulty like natural disasters, accidents, or illness, the greatest source of difficulty comes from people!

Paul gives us a seemingly exhaustive list of the characteristics of the “difficult” people we encounter:

They have a misplaced love- for self, for money, or for pleasure, but not for good or for God

They are egotistical- proud, arrogant, ungrateful, and swollen with conceit

They do not love others rightly- abusive, disobedient to parents, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, brutal, and treacherous

They are reckless and out of control!

All of these descriptors are pretty self-explanatory, but I think we need to understand why these people cause us so much difficulty

We see the answer in v. 5

They have an appearance of godliness

On the outside, they seem to have a godly character

On the inside though, they are far from His heart

Yet, they deny the power of God

What Paul is saying here is that they attempt to live outside of the authority of God

If these folks were openly antagonistic to the faith, this would be much easier

Unfortunately, we are usually surprised when the threat to the faith comes from the outside rather than the inside, but their actions demonstrate the truth!

Years ago, when I lived just outside of NYC, my wife and I received a lot of visitors. One of our favorite things to do was to take our guests into the city to see the sites. Usually, included in this tour was a trip to Chinatown. The food was great and our guests always enjoyed the unique gift shops we found there.

Without a doubt, the most popular gift item was always the ten-dollar Rolex watch. Virtually all of our guests went home with at least one. They looked real, so long as you didn’t look too closely. But you couldn’t rely on one to keep accurate time. Not even close. As far as watches go, they weren’t worth the ten dollars.

Matthew 15:7–9

[7] You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:

[8] “‘This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart is far from me;

[9] in vain do they worship me,

teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” (ESV)

III. The Response to Difficulty vv. 6-9

At this point, it is easy to rationalize our close companionship with a person who claims to be a follower of Christ but lives in ungodly ways:

We need to have serious compassion for the lost who are stuck in their sins; Jesus was the friend of sinners

We need to act with wisdom towards those who present themselves as followers of Jesus who continue living in ungodly ways

Paul’s instruction is important here: we need to avoid people like this

When someone demonstrates to you who they are, believe them and recognize that they will be a source of consistent difficulty in your life!

Why should I avoid these kinds of folks?

They will influence you and your actions. You will start to act like them or will at least be impacted by their actions

They lead others astray:

While I may have the maturity and the patience to endure their bad behavior, it is infectious and will lead others to join into the disobedience

They prey on the weak, those carrying the burden of sin, and those who are driven by passion

They are always seeking but never arriving at the truth; there is a consistent promise of contentment, hope, and joy, but it never comes

They are opposed to the truth

Paul uses the example of Jannes and Jambres, two magicians from Egypt that stood against Moses

They had a kind of spiritual power, they were respected by the people, and had followers

However, they were in opposition to God and His servant Moses; we would never want to find ourselves standing with Jannes and Jambres

They will be exposed

For a season, someone like this may get away with it.

They develop a following and they seem extraordinarily popular

However, they will not get very far:

God sees and knows; He will not allow them to prosper forever

He will reveal the truth and others will see someday

On September 21, 1938, a hurricane of monstrous proportions struck the East Coast of the United States. William Manchester, writing about it his book The Glory and the Dream, says that "the great wall of brine struck the beach between Babylon and Patchogue (Long Island, New York) at 2:30 p.m. So mighty was the power of that first storm wave that its impact registered on a seismograph in Sitka, Alaska, while the spray, carried northward at well over a hundred miles an hour, whitened windows in Montpelier, Vermont.

As the torrential 40-foot wave approached, some Long Islanders jumped into cars and raced inland. No one knows precisely how many lost that race for their lives, but the survivors later estimated that they had to keep the speedometer over 50 mph all the way." For some reason the meteorologists&md;who should have known what was coming and should have warned the public&md;seemed strangely blind to the impending disaster. Either they ignored their instruments or simply couldn't believe them. And, of course, if the forecasters were blind, the public was too.

"Among the striking stories which later came to light," says Manchester, "was the experience of a Long Islander who had bought a barometer a few days earlier in a New York store. It arrived in the morning post September 21, and to his annoyance the needle pointed below 29, where the dial read, &ls;Hurricanes and Tornadoes.' He shook it and banged it against the wall; the needle wouldn't budge. Indignant, he repacked it, drove to the post office, and mailed it back. While he was gone, his house blew away." That's the way we are. If we can't cope with the forecast, we blame the barometer. Or ignore it. Or throw it away!

Proverbs 6:27

[27] Can a man carry fire next to his chest

and his clothes not be burned? (ESV)

-Do you need to trust God in the face of hardship?

-Do you need to consider what your actions say about your identity?

-Do you need to consider your companions?