2 Timothy: In the Last Days

INTRODUCTION

· Paul has been preparing Timothy for what was going to come in the future with his own death, but also the trials that Timothy would go through if he followed in Paul’s steps in teaching the truth of the Gospel. He would go through hardship, and Paul has been taking time in this letter to strengthen Timothy to be ready for it…

· Paul closed the previous chapter encouraging Timothy and those who he trained to be teachers how to be good and useful workers for the Lord - rightly dividing the truth, teaching it with humility and patience, and living a life that was in line with the message they were teaching…

· As we come to chapter 3, Paul continues to prepare Timothy for what is going to be happening during his ministry... and really what all of God’s people are going to deal with in a world that is filled with evil…

IN THE LAST DAYS… (V1)

· Often thought that this is talking about a time right before the end of the world (5-10yrs)… but this is not how the Apostles and early Christians used this phrase.

· For example, you find in , you remember on the day of Pentecost that Peter stood up to preach. And just after the Holy Spirit had descended and the people had spoken in languages and declared the wonderful works of God and this marvelous miraculous sign had indicated the coming of the Holy Spirit, Peter said, "This is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel." And what did Joel say? "It shall be in the last days that I will pour forth My Spirit." So Joel said in the last days the Spirit will be poured forth. On the day of Pentecost when the first pouring of the Spirit came, that began those last days. So the last days began with Pentecost for sure.

· In Hebrews, let me take you to a further Scripture. Chapter 1, "God after He spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets in many portions and in many ways." In other words, God speaking in the Old Testament. "In these last days has spoken to us in His Son." In other words, the writer of Hebrews says the last days began when God began to speak through His Son. When the Son came He initiated the last days and spoke in these last days through His Apostles and Prophets...

· In John's epistle, , "Children...John says...it is the last time." So what does the last days mean? It means the time from the first coming of Christ to the establishing of His eternal glory. This whole period, this whole age is the last days up until He establishes His glorious Kingdom.

· With these thoughts in mind, lets look at verse 1. The first word is helpful to understand, it's the word "but" and it turns the corner on a thought. He has just been saying to Timothy, if you want to be a vessel unto honor that requires gentleness, that requires meekness at the end of chapter 2, that requires kindness, that requires patience. But...he says...realize this, that in the last days there will be very difficult times… dangerous times for God’s people… and what makes these times difficult?

THE DEPRAVED WORLD IS AGAINST CHRIST!

· Paul already talked about how many in this world are ensnared by the devil at the end of chapter 2. He continues this idea into chapter 3. He tells us in verse 2: “For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, etc…” Why are times going to be difficult in the last days? Because men and women in this life are corrupt, evil, and contrary to God. It will not be easy living with those who are living contrary to God’s will… We will talk about why specifically in a moment…

· Paul, in these verses, gives us a list of 19 items. This is the second longest list of sins in the NT, and they give a good picture of what people in the world are like… The main idea of this list is those in the world love their sin… This list of sins is bookended by the phrase “love of” in regards to sinful practices… In verse 2, Paul talks about how men will have a love for self and for money. Verse 4 says that they have a love for pleasure instead of a love for God… Those who love themselves, money, and pleasure… A love for these things will lead to further sins, such as the ones listed here…

o Boastful and arrogant – boastful (words) arrogant (attitude)

o Revilers – speaks badly about people

o Disobedient to parents – this one does not seem as bad as the others in the list in many minds, but it is just as bad as the other sins mentioned… It is mentioned in both of the longest lists of sins in the New Testament ( being the other). Rebellion to the authority God has placed over you is rebellion to God…

o Ungrateful –

o Unholy –

o Unloving –

o Irreconcilable – someone who holds a grudge and does not want to be peaceful to unified

o Malicious gossips –

o No self-control – just do what feels right

o Brutal –

o Haters of God -

o Treacherous – not honorable… betrayal… can’t trust them…

o Reckless – acting impulsively without thinking about the consequences

o Conceited – back to the idea of pride…

o Hold to a form of godliness but denying its power – They liked the visible expressions, the ascetic practices and the endless discussion of religious trivia, thinking themselves to be obviously righteous when they truly were not. They display themselves as godly but really are not… The have the religious structure without the life.

· What an ugly, ugly list… All of these sins come from hearts that are in love with self… This is why the world is the way it is… then and now… The world is filled with self-love… people who are consumed with self-love cannot make meaningful relationships. It's impossible. Because the only agenda is me and the only agenda is you and therefore you're not interested in me and I'm not interested in you. And when you get a society of people consumed with self-love, you get chaos...chaos, absolute chaos. And we now believe in our culture that self-denial is a terrible thing. You hear so much talk of having a high self-esteem… Which usually means looking at yourself much more highly than you should… This is how the world is… and it should not come as a surprise to us. As long as the “last days” are going on, the world will always be like this… We are usually surprised when these kind of sins happen because we already are wrongly thinking about people in the world as good, moral people… Scripture is clear… those who are outside of Christ are dead in their sins… They are depraved… Paul says, “There is none who are good, no, not one…”

· It is from a world like this that the false teachers whom Timothy is dealing with are coming… This is why Paul tells him to avoid these kind of men… Having close association with these type of people can be a cancer to your relationship with God and can affect what you believe about the truth of God’s word…

SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF THESE TYPE OF PEOPLE

· Then in verses 6-9, Paul gives some specific examples of the kind of men he is talking about here… Out of this number, out of the world full of people who are lovers of self, money, and pleasure come those who prey on the weak… Paul says, “For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

· V6-7 He talks about these “women laid down in sins.” Here you have women who are weak spiritually because of their sin among other things, such as being alone, discouraged, depressed… Their lives are controlled by their feelings at the moment and are unable to see the difference between truth and error. The idea that Paul is getting across is that they prey on the vulnerable and weak … Some people will knock the weak down so they can feel better about themselves… It is interesting how often it is the case that when a church encounters a false teacher or some kind of split caused by a preacher, it is usually those who are the weak ones who are led astray… and often it is the women also, just as it is here at Paul’s time… The circumstances of some make them more prone to falling prey to false teaching… The false teachers see this, and just as Satan, they are ready to attack the prey… And they often don’t do it publicly either… If they did, it would be put to a stop much quicker… Paul says they go from house to house to do their work… When the prey is separated from the rest of the group is when the wolf does the most damage…

· V8-9 Jannes and Jambres - Jewish tradition says that they were magicians in Pharaoh’s court. They were trying to duplicate the miracles that God through Moses was performing… The magicians finally got the point where they had to confess that what was happening in Egypt was from the finger of God because they could not in any way duplicate what was being done. They were deceiving Pharaoh and leading him to reject the truth that was obvious before him. That is what these false teachers are like. Just as Pharaoh was one who was blinded by his sin and was unable to come to a knowledge of the truth because of the help of these two magicians, the false teachers were preying on those who they knew to be weak or could be influenced…

· Then Paul makes two statements about these men – men like Jannes and Jambres and the false teachers… First, he talks about the mindset behind these kind of men… Their minds, depending on your translation, are corrupt or depraved or warped… Their evil actions come from evil minds… Second, Paul says that sooner than later, the foolishness will come out. Sooner than later, the truth of what they are doing will come out…People will see that they don’t know what they are talking about… They will show their true colors… Even though they try to appear good and religious (v5) they can only put up affront for so long... You will know them by their fruits, and once their motives and character comes to light, their progress will stop.

TIMOTHY – A CONTRAST TO THE WORLDLY (3:10-15)

· In verse 10, Paul then contrasts Timothy with those who are evil in the world, including the false teachers like Jannes and Jambres. He says, “10 Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, 11 persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me!” Timothy up to the point of Paul’s writing of this epistle had been different from the wicked people and false teachers described in verses 1-9. He has followed the teaching of Paul and Paul’s example… And as Timothy did those things, this meant that trials came in his life as they did in Paul’s. Paul reminded Timothy of the persecutions that he endured in Antioch, Lystra, and Iconium. These were cities that Paul visited in his earliest preaching journey in … Timothy was very familiar with these sufferings of Paul because this was the region Timothy was from. He heard about them and maybe was even able to witness some of Paul’s persecution… End even though this may have happened, Timothy still later decided to accompany Paul on his journeys.

· And I think Paul is reminding Timothy of these things so that he could say to Timothy what he says in verse 12, “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Timothy, and all who desire to live like Christ in this world WILL SUFFER PERSECUTION. This is what will happen in a world that is becoming darker and darker, more and more depraved because of sin and more and more deceived by Satan and his false teachers… When God’s people shine the kind of light to the dark world that they should, it is blinding… The world hates the light…

o Sleeping & turning on light illustration…

o If we claim to be the people of God, and the world is always comfortable around us, it may be a sign that we are not talking about Jesus and not being the examples that we need to be… When we teach the truth and live the truth, the world will push back…

· Paul is implying in this passage to Timothy and to us: don’t bail out now in the midst of this present—and coming—distress. It will come, so prepare for it!

· Then, in verses 13-14, Paul makes another contrast between Timothy and these wicked men… In verse 13 Paul states that evil men will grow worse and worse. They will deceive and be deceived. But in v14, Paul encourages Timothy to do the opposite. He needs to continue to grow in stability in his faith and conviction that is based on the truth that he received from an Apostle of Christ, knowing that he did not receive this teaching just from a mentor and father in the faith, but ultimately, he was being taught by the Lord. Because of this, he needed to hold tight to God’s teachings and continue to grow in his godliness… The fact that God has taught us should be motivation to us to listen and grow…

· But not only this, knowing we have had so much time and effort put into our spiritual upbringing by parents and grandparents who love us and want to see us go to Heaven should be a motivation…. Paul reminds Timothy that, from childhood, he had learned the scriptures from his mother and grandmother. So from a childhood he was learning everything that was necessary to lead him to where he is now in Christ. Seeing these things, there is no reason to give up now. He needs to continue to progress. Now, I was not brought up being taught and trained in God’s word by my parents… I didn’t come to the Lord till I was 22 years old. But many of you, if not most of you, have had the same experience as Timothy here… If your parents were doing their job in teaching you God’s word, a lot of time and energy were spent in helping you learn the truth, come to obey the truth, and getting you to the point where you are today… Remember this and remember all those who have faithfully taught you the word of God, and use this as motivation to grow even more in your faith towards God and in your example.

CONCLUSION

· We will, Lord willing, pick up our study in a few weeks in verse 16. Let’s go ahead and close with a prayer…