Untitled Sermon

Here’s how you know that. In these verses Paul lists 19 vices in the form of a chiasm. If you don’t know what that is, that’s ok, we will get to it.

At the end of those 19 vices he summarizes the whole list by saying having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.

The appearance of godliness is the form of true religion.

It’s like Paul's saying, they have a shadow of Christianity, they look really religious, they talk about Jesus, they claim to be Christians, but they don’t have the gospel.

And because they don’t have the gospel, they don’t have the power of God to free them from their sins. They’ve rejected it.

And then Paul gives this vice list to describe the kind of counterfeit Christianity that will make seasons difficult for the church as we carry out the Great Commission.

You heard me mention Chiasm.

Chiasms are used all the time in Scripture. They are a list that has parallel structure. The parallels of each line amplify its corresponding line.

And usually Chiasms come to a point, a middle to focus on the main idea the author wants to stress.

Some of you might be lost so let me show you.

You see the clue that this is a chiasm in the first and last two lines. Lovers of self, lovers of money...lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

And each vice corresponds with its parallel.

So here’s how I want to work through this. We are going to come back to the first two and last two lines because they frame up what Paul is trying to say.

We are going to work towards the center point of the chiasm and then come back and tie it all together.

Proud/Swollen

Apostates and counterfeit Christians are proud and swollen with conceit.

They are puffed up and refuse to listen to truth or instruction.

Arrogant/Reckless

They are arrogant and reckless.

Arrogant means they think they are above everyone else. They are self-righteous and judgmental of others.

And out of that arrogance, they are reckless. They only care about themselves and will do whatever it takes to get what they want.

Abusive/Treacherous

Abusive and treacherous.

Abusive is literally blasphemous.

They use their words to rail against God and other people and so they are also treacherous. Dangerous traitors who will cut you the first chance they get.

Disobedient/Not Loving Good

Disobedient to their parents and not loving good.

That’s a weird one to put in the list isn’t it?

But disobedient to parents actually just describes someone who is fundamentally rebellious.

That is the most basic authority someone is called to obey, and so disobeying your parents is just a sign that you ultimately hate God and want to disobey him.

That’s why it goes with not loving good. God is good. And living our lives according to what he says is the definition of the good life.

Ungrateful/Brutal

Ungrateful and brutal.

They don’t give thanks to God so they live like wild animals not seeing that thankfulness would mean they give their lives back to him.

Unholy/Self Control

They are unholy, impure, stained because they live without self control.

They are dominated by their sinful desires.

Heartless/Slanderous

Heartless and slanderous.

That means they are unloving and hard hearted towards others and so they slander, gossip, and tear down others.

Unappeasable

Ultimately they are unappeasable. This is the center of the chiasm.

Literally these are people who are irreconcilable. They are unforgiving and refused to be reconciled to others.

Its clear why Paul put this in the middle of the list. Jesus taught us clearly, forgiven people forgive.

They are unforgiving because they don’t know forgiveness. They don’t know God’s grace in Christ.

And ironically, because they are irreconcilable, that means they will not even be reconciled to God.

They have no interest in his grace and his forgiveness.

And that brings us to the bookends of this chiasm.

Paul says they are lovers of self and lovers of money…lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

John even went this far. Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.

For John, the only person to use the the word antichrist in the NT, the antichrist was not some future political figure. Its someone who denies the Father in the Son, and denies that Jesus came in the flesh. That’s why the next verse is...

19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us (1 Jn 2:18-19).

And John says there isn’t one antichrist, there are many antichrist and they were around in John’s own day. That’s how he knew it was the last hour then.

In December of 1950, United States Marines were fighting Chinese Communist soldiers in the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir.

It was the Korean War. After weeks of heavy casualties, surprise attacks, and bitter cold it was decided that the best chance the American forces had to survive was to head to the nearest port city.

The battle it was so cold, with temperatures reaching as low as minus 30 degrees at times, that the marines had to use explosives to dig their foxholes. (https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-the-Chosin-Reservoir)

And at one point during the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, Chinese forces surrounded the Marines in the town of Koto-ri.

And their situation was pretty bleak. They were cold, out numbered, on the defensive, wondering how they were going to fight their way out of this.

Seeing their situation Col. Lewis B. Puller, the commanding officer of the 1st Marines, looked around, saw that they were surrounded on every side and said, “They are in front of us, behind us, and we are flanked on both sides by an enemy that outnumbers us 29:1...They can’t get away now.” (https://blogs.va.gov/VAntage/25037/veteranoftheday-chesty-puller/)

That kind of courage came from a man who knew how the story ends.

Col. Puller knew they were going to get through this. He knew they could fight their way out.

And under his leadership, The 1st Marines broke through enemy lines and then stayed behind as the rear guard to bear the weight of the Chinese assault so that the rest of the Marines could make it to the coast. (https://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/83203.html)

We can look around, and feel overwhelmed.

Our eyes are wide open, and its easy to see that our world needs Christ.

Our nation is lost. Broken. Given over to a depraved mind.

And if that wasn’t bad enough it feels like we are surrounded by every side by counterfeit Christianity.

False gospels and false churches that seem to be more interested in itching the ears of the world than telling people about the good news of Jesus Christ.

It would be easy to look at a situation like that and start to lose hope.

To believe the lie that all is lost, and we should just give up now.

Hole up. Dig in. And wait for Jesus to come back.

But we have the world right where we want them.

God is shaking the idols of our culture to bring people to an end of themselves so that all they have left is Christ.

Our job is to preach Christ and him crucified (1 Cor 2:2).

But what about all the false teaching that’s out there in the world?

Sometimes It feels like the loudest gospel being preached out there is no gospel at all.

How do we not lose heart when a false Christianity that doesn’t hold God’s Word as the highest authority but bends the knee to the gods of the world muddies the water and dims the light of the church.

Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3:1-9 with this big idea...