Sermon Tone Analysis

3:1. Paul declared, Mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.

The “last days” is not some future event to which we look.

It is now, Jesus Christ initiated this epoch, and it will continue uninterrupted until his return.

Paul defined this expansive time period as “terrible.”

God’s extravagant grace also characterizes this era, establishing salvation and the church.

But these days unleash Satan’s wild attempts to destroy and undermine God’s redemptive intentions.

In giving us this information, Paul desired that believers maintain a readiness of spirit and life.

The battle will rage.

What each believer must decide is whether he will prepare for the promised difficulties or given to personal safety and comfort.

2. Characteristics of ungodliness (3:2–5)

3:2–5.

The terribleness of the last days results from the continual decay of man’s spiritual nature.

As people neglect the spiritual dimension of life, they turn in upon themselves to find meaning and consolation in the face of life’s absurdity.

Paul penned a list of characteristics of false teachers and all those who turn from truth.

In 2 Corinthians 5:15, Paul wrote: “Those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”

In this era, people refuse the love of God.

choosing instead to be lovers of themselves.

This sentence offers the key to unlocking the rest of Paul’s list of vices.

When we fall in love with ourselves, our own appetites consume our souls.

We become our own lover, pandering to that solitary “i” which must, of necessity, dismiss all threats and counterclaims to our affections.

Everything from thoughts to possessions must be lavished upon the one we love—ourselves.

This leads quite naturally to becoming lovers of money.

Paul dealt with this rather extensively in 1 Timothy 6. Loving money and all it buys opens the soul to Satan’s traps, ensnaring the person in desires which cannot be met and enslaving him to a continual lusting for more money, possessions, or power.

Selfish people are typically boastful and proud.

In stubbornly holding to the view that they are the center of the universe, such people have an exaggerated view of themselves.

They actually believe in their own superiority.

With this delusion, bragging falls naturally from their lips and pride wraps them in a haughty demeanor.

These are the props which support their fantasy.

Pride can then lead to abusive speech and behavior.

In order for arrogance to survive, it must view others as lesser individuals, as unworthy or unfit.

This degraded view dehumanizes others, stripping away all respect and allowing the proud to slash with words or hurt by actions.

When someone fails to see another person as wholly human, it becomes easy to destroy them.

This is the antithesis of Christian teaching.