Prepare Yourself!
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Have you ever watched the TV show Doomsday Preppers or read any new articles on the trend of prepping?
Last year, at the beginning of the COVID pandemic and before we really understood what was going to happen with this virus, I noticed a big increase in news stories about preppers and prepper communities being built across the country.
Consider this article from blah blah blah
And it’s not just random people buying bunkers across the midwest and south, national governments have many preparations in case of some catastrophic event
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway is this huge bunker on a remote island above the arctic circle that provides long term storage of seeds from around the world to protect the world’s food supply
The San Diego Zoo among others has a frozen zoo where they cryopreserve genetic material of animals
The Memory of Mankind project stores information and knowledge on ceramic tablets and stores them in a salt mine in Austria
All of these efforts are to prepare for the future
God’s Word also has a lot to say about preparing for the future, so we’re going to study why we should all be preppers
J/k
But in all seriousness, this morning we’re going to read a section out of Paul’s last written account before he was martyred for his faith in 2nd Timothy, a warning to the young pastor about what the world will look like closer to Christ’s return, and what we as followers of Jesus should be doing to prepare ourselves
So that’s what we’ll study this morning, how are we preparing ourselves to live in the day and age we are in right now
Lesson - 2 Timothy 3:13-17
Vs. 13-17
In this chapter that we pick up in the middle of, Paul has been telling Timothy about how the world will look as it gets closer to the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Vs. 1
The last days of course refers to the time leading up to right before what happens in the book of Revelation.
Here at Calvary, we teach a pre-tribulation rapture, so this speaks of the time right before the rapture of the church, the 7 year tribulation period spoken of in Daniel 9 and the book of Revelation, and then the second coming of Christ to this earth where He will set up His kingdom for 1000 years, then create a new heaven and new earth for us to dwell with Him for eternity
I can tell you that we are in those last days
There are no other prophecies in the Bible that need to be fulfilled before that happens
In fact, we could spend many studies talking about how the world is primed for the events in the book of Revelation, how it’s crying out for someone to unite the world and save it, how technology John tried to describe in that book is real and in use today, and how the geopolitical climate of the world matches many OT prophecies about the second coming of Jesus
While we don’t have time for that, we can read quickly of another sign Paul gave us that shows us Jesus is coming back soon
Vs 1-5
Does that describe our world pretty good?
It seems every year mankind becomes more and more like this
Paul continues talking about the sign of Jesus’ soon return where we picked up in vs 13
Vs 13
Paul tells us here that evil men and impostors are going to grow worse and worse
His focus is on two things that will get worse and worse
The first is evil men/women
I feel like I sound so old saying this, but 20 years ago it seems like you didn’t have to worry as much about bad things or bad people. But it feels like society has gotten worse and worse and we are less trusting than we were 20 years ago
The idea of bad stuff only happens in the big crime ridden cities isn’t true anymore
We see evil across the globe anytime we read the news
I’ve been reading a lot about the situation in Afghanistan right now
Politics aside, President Biden has ordered US troops completely pulled out of the country by the end of this month, ahead of the 20th anniversary of Sept. 11th
And with the US troops gone, the Taliban has very quickly taken over large swaths of the country
And I was reading of some of the things the Taliban has been doing in their campaign to regain control and it’s evil
The second group that Paul talks about is imposters
It’s interesting, the literal translation of this word in the ancient Greek is “magician”
So an imposter is someone who makes you believe something is true that really isn’t, they’re tricking you.
Have you ever seen a bad magician before?
I had this work trip to a big trade show a few years ago, and they had the big convention room with all the booths, and they had events and speakers and everything, and one kinda weird thing this event did was to have a magician come
My coworker that I got to go with and I went and we were late and sat all the way in the back, but even from the nosebleed seats you could tell how he was doing his tricks so easily.
He had this big laser show thing as the closing trick, and everyone in the crowd could tell he was using mirrors to “magically” bend light
No one really clapped for him, it was so sad. I hope that guys has a day job to fall back on
But this isn’t what Paul is talking about here, a cheap magician that everyone can see through their tricks.
Remember Paul said that imposters will grow worse and worse
I see these imposters in two areas today
Those promising to bring real hope and peace and change if we just put our trust in them
They can fix it all!
And they have catchy slogans and they have big war chests and get people all hyped up that they are the answer to all of the problems we have today.
“If I just vote for this person, they are going to fix everything” and we put our hope in sinful, fallible man instead of God who is the only true source of hope
I see a lot of imposters in the church in America today too
They have a lot of things that might look or sound good, but it’s deceitful
Sunday mornings become more of a pep talk than a study of God’s Word, and you are entertained and feel good about yourself when you leave, but the weight of keeping up that happiness and the stress of getting through the ups and downs of the week are put on you, not on our God
And instead of pointing sinful, flawed people to a gracious, loving, and forgiving God, we get self help talks as a disguise for what will help us
I agree with Paul that this has gotten worse and worse
And people are being deceived by it
So many people are calling what is evil good, and what is good evil
So many others are making church all about them and feeling good about themselves rather than being in awe of a holy and mighty God that still loves them in spite of their flaws and wants to love and forgive them even though we don’t deserve it
Paul tells us how to avoid all this in Vs. 14
Vs 14-15
But you
Timothy, you must be different!
Christian, you must be different!
But you must continue in the things which you have learned
Paul is telling Timothy to continue in the things he has taught him - the Word of God
That’s what Paul did when he went from city to city on his missionary journeys, he taught the word of God
Acts 20:27
27 For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.
He taught God’s word to train up those he was discipling, and he tells Timothy to continue in that
Our surest bet to stay away from evil, to not be deceived by false teachers, to making it through the crazy and stressful times we are living in, is to stay connected to God’s Word
That’s why here at Calvary we put such an emphasis on Bible study and being in God’s word
We teach verse by verse so that we can say we haven’t failed to declare to you the whole counsel of God
We do topical teachings sometimes, especially when I fill in for Pastor Eric, but even then you’ll notice we dive into God’s word for those topicals
So for you, for me, we are called to continue in the things we have learned and been assured of
Why can we be sure in God’s word?
B/c God’s word never changes b/c God never changes
He is the same yesterday, today, and forever
James 1:17
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
Matthew 24:35
35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.
As the world changes, as imposters and false teachers try to take our focus off of God, as evil spreads and we are pushed to not just tolerate but to accept and promote it, we need to stay anchored to God’s unchanging Word
B/c it is able to make us wise vs 15 says!
David Guzik said on this passage, “There is no wisdom greater than this in the world. Your wisdom about 20 other subjects means nothing if you are not wise for salvation.”
#1 - we need to know how to be saved.
How to save our souls from eternal condemnation, how to have a hope in a sure place in heaven after this life is over
And none of us know when that life will be over
If you’re here this morning and you don’t know if you’re saved, or if you know you’re not saved - you’re here at church because somebody made you come even though you’d rather be camping or fishing or doing something else today - but if you don’t know, here’s how you secure your spot in heaven
You can’t earn it, you can’t be good enough for it. Our righteousness, even the best things we do, is like filthy rags the Bible says
We are sinners. We lie, we steal, we judge, we hurt others, we’re selfish, we hate, we don’t meet God’s standard which is perfection!
And the Bible tells us that what we deserve from our actions isn’t heaven, we’re not good enough to earn a spot there, what we earn is an eternal separation from God in hell.
But God loved us too much to leave us to our own devices! He’s a just God so there still needed to be a punishment for the sins we’ve done, so He sent His Son 2,000 years ago who lived a perfect life and met God’s perfect standards, and instead of giving Him what He deserved (which was a spot in heaven), He poured out His wrath on Him for every single sin we have ever committed, whether others saw it or whether it was in secret or whether is was just in our heart.
And by pouring out His wrath, He could deliver the guilty sentence that we deserved, but just not on us, it was on His Son. And instead, He offers us forgiveness, and if we accept that, and ask God to forgive us of our sin, and commit our life to following after Him because of the forgiveness that He offer us, we will be saved.
Knowing that, knowing how to be saved, and then knowing that you are saved, is the wisdom that is more valuable than any in the world.
2 Peter 1:3
3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
Everything that we need for life, starting with salvation, the most important piece of wisdom we can posses, comes from knowing God
And we know God through His word
I think something else interesting in this verse is that Paul reminds Timothy of the word of God which he had learned from childhood
Moms, dads, I cannot stress enough how important it is to be in God’s Word with your kids
It doesn’t have to be this crazy legalistic thing, “We are going to do family bible study and read out of the KJV each night for 20 minutes”
It can be simple. Read God’s word to them, get them a good children’s Bible. Bring scripture up when you’re talking to them, “Do you know what God’s word says about this? Let me tell you....”
When they get in trouble, my wife is really good at this, “Do you know why we tell you not to do this? The Bible says....”
Deut 6:6-7
6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
God told the children of Israel the same thing all the way back when they were wandering the desert - “Teach My word to your kids! Bring it up when you’re hanging out at home, when you’re out and about, before you go to bed, when you’re up in the morning.”
We have a really awesome Children’s ministry here at the church. Ms. Sharolyn and her team of servants do such an amazing job teaching your kids God’s Word.
And Siri and Nicole and all the nursery workers are doing a great job teaching it to your little ones
And Mathew is teaching it to the middle schoolers, and the high schoolers are getting taught God’s word as well
But there’s no substitution for you teaching your own kids or grandkids
Moving on, Paul goes on talking about the value of God’s word and why we should be teaching it to our kids, and why we should be studying it
Vs 16-17
All scripture is inspired of God
Inspired = “God breathed”
2 Peter 1:20-21
20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
The authors of the Bible didn’t write down what they felt like, or what they wanted to, every single strong of their pens was inspired by the Holy Spirit.
It’s pretty amazing that you can see that as you read your Bible because you’ll see that it doesn’t contradict itself
The Bible was written by at least 40 authors over a period of 1,500 years, on 3 continents, and in 3 languages (Hebrew, Greek, & Aramaic)
Those authors came from all walks of life
Kings, shepherds, generals, businessmen, priests, tax collectors, fishermen, doctors, Jesus’ brothers,
They Lived under different kingdoms/rulers, under different times and situations, they were both Jew and Gentile
And yet the central message of the Bible is all the same, it’s the story of God’s redemption of mankind
If you were to randomly pick 40 people in our church and ask them to write an essay on a controversial topic, let’s say, COVID and mask wearing, do you think you’d get a similar message from all 40 people?
And we’re all living in the same community, we speak the same language, we have the same leaders, and we’re living at the same time, but there’s NO way you’d have a similar message
Now think about that with the authors of the Bible, only they were writing on an even bigger topic - on God
And yet it’s the same message all throughout
B/c it is God breathed
Paul tells us that all scripture is inspired
Do you know what the ancient Greek word for “all” is here? It’s all!
Every book, every chapter, every word is in there for a reason, God inspired all of it
Not just your favorite verse or John 3:16, He inspired it all
Yes, even the book of Leviticus with all those laws (a tutor to drive us to Jesus the NT tells us), all the stuff about the priesthood (helps you understand Hebrews and Jesus’ role as our Great High Priest), and the tabernacle (a picture into what heaven looks like)
Yes, even all those prophets in the OT that remind of us God’s justice and His patience, and they help us understand the book of Revelation
Yes, even all those names at the beginning of Chronicles (show us that ever person is important to God, no matter how insignificant they may seem, and He shows us by writing their names down).
Now I’ll admit, I can struggle too when I hit those harder parts of scripture, but that’s where we need to remember that it’s all there for a reason, it’s God breathed, and that’s where we ask the Holy Spirit to show us God in what we’re reading. And if you’re still struggling, open Blue Letter Bible and read a commentary.
But it’s all inspired
Paul also tells us what scripture is useful for
First off, he says that it is profitable
Think of business: profit = good/benefit!
We just read that scripture is what makes us wise, learning it and studying it helps us to navigate the day and age we’re living in and avoid evil or false teaching
He says that it is profitable, or good for:
Doctrine
Telling us what is true about God, man, the world
We learn about God thru the Bible
Reproof & Correction
Telling us what is not right (shows us what sin is)
Don’t know we’re breaking the law unless the law is given to us
Convicts us and corrects us
Instruction in Righteousness
Once we get right we God, this is how to stay right
A way of living
Those are important things!
We learn from scripture what is true about God, man, and the world, we learn what is not right, and we learn how to get right with God and stay right
And if we are taking in all of God’s word, that is how we become complete
Complete = “fully matured”
And equipped or ready for every good work.
We don’t just read this for the head knowledge, we read it so we can use it!
We are to be equipped for every good work - God wants us to be out in the world serving Him and telling others about Him
He doesn’t just want us debating and discussing theology all the time and acquiring head knowledge - we need to live out our faith!
James tells us that; someone might say I’ll show you my faith without my works, but I’ll show you my faith by my works
Guys, we are living in a day and age that is tough to navigate
The world has become a darker and more evil place
More and more people have turned their backs on God and want nothing to do with Jesus
It’s getting more and more lonely to be a follower of Jesus
And He is coming back soon
So what are we to do, how are we supposed to prepare ourselves and our kids/our families to live in this crazy world?
Be in God’s Word. Read your Bible. Commit it to memory. Meditate on it. Teach it to your kids.
Don’t just read the parts you like, read all of it, it’s all inspired by God
Let God’s Word challenge you. You’re going to come across sections that you don’t like, that hit a sore spot. Ask God to search your heart and to grow you in those areas.
Learn solid doctrine from it
Be like the Bereans in Acts 17 who heard what Paul had to say and took it back to the Word before accepting it
Allow it to correct you
Let it instruct you in the right way to live.
I don’t know about you, but I know that I need the wisdom that comes from the Lord. I won’t be able to lead my family, my kids, my employees at work, my ministry at church, if I don’t have the Lord’s wisdom. Again, especially in the day and age we’re living ing
We need God’s wisdom. We need to be wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ through His Word.
Pray