Sunday Morning Service 8:30AM- 2 Timothy 3:1-12 - Understand The Times Pt 1 -Pastor Ryan

All right. Well, good morning. I'm glad you all are here. It's good to see everybody. Glad you guys can make it out. You guys want to go ahead and stand with us? We'll pray and we'll get started. And Father, we come before you today, Lord. We thank you for another day. Thank you for allowing us to be here, Lord. And Lord, we just ask your blessing upon this time.

Lord, help us to focus on you. Help us to lay everything that's going on in our lives aside for just a little while. Lord, to worship you, to lavish praise upon you. Lord God, and to be able to spend some time in your word this morning, God. May you be blessed this morning, Lord. May your spirit move mightily, Lord. May you be glorified in Jesus' name. Amen.

And God, we just want to take a moment, Lord, and just offer up our thanks to you, Lord, and our gratitude. Lord God, you are worthy of all of our praise. Lord God, you are worthy of everything that we have. Lord God, you are worthy of all of our affections. All of our attention, God. And so we just want to give that to you this morning, God. And we just want to give you our thanks and our gratitude this morning.

I want to praise your name this morning. And we just want to thank you for allowing us to be in your presence this morning, God. To be in your house. And Lord, God, what a joy it is. What a joy it is to be in your house this morning. This morning, God, with other believers, with other brothers and sisters, God. And just praising your name. God, we just can't thank you enough.

And Lord, we just want to glorify you this morning, God. Lord, may we decrease so that you can increase and be glorified. Amen. Would you guys stand with me for the last one here? Oh, the joy to be. Joy to know it's when I decrease. You fill up my soul. Oh, what a joy. Joy.

Oh, God, again, what a joy it is to be in your presence this morning, God. To be in your house. Oh, God, I would rather spend one day in your presence than a thousand elsewhere, Lord, God. Because nothing compares to you, Lord, God. Being in your presence, God, just fills me with peace, with joy. And God, we just thank you for allowing us to be here this morning.

Lord, and now as Pastor Ryan comes, I just pray, that you would overflow him with your Holy Spirit. Lord, God, give him the words to speak. Give us ears to hear and a heart to receive it, Lord, God. We love you and we praise you. And in Jesus' name, amen. Let's take some time and greet one another.

Good morning. If you could begin to locate your seat. Grab a bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you joined us this morning. Some things to take note of in your bulletin. As always, there's a lot going on. Throughout the week. So find a spot to get yourself plugged into. Middle section. All right. So you have to listen close on these, okay? I got everybody's attention right now. The new building opens up this week, this next week, next Sunday.

So, yeah, a lot of excitement. I can feel the energy. There's a lot of it's from me because I'm really excited about this. Now, that's right. Come on. Now, there's a little bit of transition time that's going to take place here. So starting Monday, I'm looking at my contractor to make sure I'm saying this correctly. He gave me the silent nod. Starting Monday, they're going to start taking out this room in the hallway there.

So on Wednesday night, if you usually come to Wednesday service, which is a lot of you do, if you usually come to Wednesday service, you are going to have to use this entrance on Wednesday, this West Sanctuary entrance. The kids will all be in that building over there, but you got to use this entrance because they're going to have that blocked off because of the construction that they're doing down there. That will... Everything will be open on Sunday, but for Wednesday, that'll be the case.

And so Sunday, when you come, that building will be open to drop your kids off in. Will they be able to come through there? They're going to have to go around one direction or the other. Go around. So you'll drop your kids off and they go one direction or the other to go around. So that's next week. I'm really excited. Listen, there's going to be three or four weeks of us figuring some things out, a little

bit of growing pains, but we're going to make it through. I believe in us. I believe in us together, right? Right. So. So that's what's coming up there. Women's breakfast is coming up this Saturday, November the 8th. Also, knowing that SNAP benefits, from what I understand, just ended on Saturday because of the government shutdown. I'll leave all opinions to myself.

Knowing that that's the case, we know that there are people that are probably going to be needing food. And so what we want to do is we want to build up our pantry over this next week. So if you have a desire to help fill up the food pantry so that as people that don't have the means to be able to purchase groceries can come in and get a little bit of help with that. So if throughout this next week or two, if you're like, hey, I can spare a little bit of extra groceries, we're trying to fill up that food pantry to be able to help those that are in need.

So if you can do that, please, please do so. The church is open throughout the week if you need to come drop things off. The last thing that is. Not in your bulletin is tonight is intercessory prayer. And so six o'clock down at the other end of the hallway this evening is intercessory prayer. And then last, but certainly not least, and this is in your bulletin, Operation Christmas

Child shoeboxes are due back Sunday, November 16th. And I think we have one more video to watch. Let's tune in. I think. Operation Christmas Child is to share the gospel with children around the world. And it all starts with a very simple. Shoebox gift. These shoeboxes go to children from most isolated areas of the world. One of the greatest eBay jungle tools that eat ministries from around the world is Operation

Christmas Child. Your shoebox goes from you filling it full of toys to all ends of the earth to share the name of Jesus Christ. Food and gift boxes. We are going places that no church will be allowed. At these outreach events, the gospel is shared in a child-friendly way. They hear that he died on the cross. That he rose again from the dead in a way they understand.

After receiving the shoebox gifts, children are invited to a 12-lesson discipleship program, The Greatest Journey. Children are using these shoeboxes, the Greatest Journey discipleship program, to reach out to the ends of the earth with the gospel. The tribe is discipled, not only global, but makes God known to others. The Greatest Journey begins with an explanation of the gospel.

Where children are given another opportunity to respond. The children then go through 12 lessons to help establish them in their new faith, teach them how to live for Christ, and are taught ways to share their faith with friends and family. To partner with an organization that's making the local church a priority, empowering them to go make disciples, I can't think of a better way. God sent his son to this earth on a rescue mission.

Jesus Christ died and shed his blood on earth. Jesus Christ died and shed his blood on the cross for our sins. And then on the third day, God in heaven said, it's enough, and he raised his son to life. This is the good news, and we've got a responsibility to take this message to the ends of the earth. All right, so don't forget two weeks. I love this because right now we have at least 300, and I think some have been added to that.

And my understanding is that one box can reach up to 10 people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. So just with what was done before all of you bring your boxes on the last day, which by the way is what I'm going to do too, we are going to reach at least 3,000 people with the gospel of Jesus Christ in a place where we normally would not go. So I think that that's a really cool thing. So don't forget to bring those in in two weeks.

Those are the things that are going on, at least as far as I can remember. For our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 1. Psalm 1. Looking at the New American Standard for this part so that hopefully we all sound the same. If you need a copy of the New American Standard, there should be one in a row around you. As you are turning to Psalm 1, if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading

of God's Word.

I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Pastor Allen in the even verses. Oh, there it is. Perfect. Psalm 1. How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season,

and its leaf does not wither. And in whatever he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but they are like chaff, which the wind drives away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. And so, Father, as we take time this morning to meditate on your Word,

we pray that we would become like those trees planted by the streams of water. Lord, that we would produce fruit as your Word does its work in our hearts and in our lives. And Father, I'm particularly impressed this morning to pray for our brothers and sisters in Nigeria that are suffering persecution that we can't even imagine. And so, Lord, I just pray for the strength of the church there.

Lord, I pray for the fruit of the church there. And God, I pray that you would just bless them as they seek to worship you today. We just pray these things, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of 2 Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy chapter 3.

The lesson that we look at today, the exhortation that Paul gives to Timothy today, is to understand the times. To understand the times. I was hoping to accomplish this all in one teaching. Too much in chapter 3 to cover in one. So this is Understand the Times, part 1. And so I want you to look at chapter 3, verse 1. And this is what it says. But realize this, that in the last days, difficult times will come.

For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious, gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power. Avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins led on by various impulses. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen. will be obvious to all, just as Janice and Jambree's folly was also. Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, and perseverance, 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. Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

And so he tells them that there's going to be difficult times ahead, and he's going to describe it in two ways. He's going to describe the state of humanity in the last times, and he's also going to describe the persecution of the last times. And so it starts off in verse one like this. It says, but realize this, in the last days, difficult times will come.

In the last days. Now, what does he mean by the last days? Oftentimes, you'll hear people say right now, well, you know, we're living in the last days. And that's absolutely. And I'll get to that in just a moment. But we have to understand something. We've actually been living in the last days for about 2,000 years. We have been living in the last days ever since Jesus ascended into heaven.

This has constituted the last days. Now, I feel like we're living in the last of the last days. The reason why I feel that way is because of the coming back together of the nation of Israel, and because of the things that we see shaping up that line up with things like the book of Revelation. I feel like we're shaping up to be in the last of the last days. But whatever your view.

On eschatology is, we all know one thing, and that's that Jesus is coming back. And before Jesus comes back, things will, as it says, as Jesus told his disciples in the book of Matthew, things will grow worse and worse. We will see things begin to intensify. And so what Paul tells Timothy is he says, you have to understand that in the last days, there's going to be difficult times.

You can imagine Paul sitting in this prison cell about to suffer the last of the persecutions that he's going to suffer. And he thinks about Timothy. Timothy, who's a pretty tender hearted guy, Timothy, who's a pretty timid individual, Timothy, who does not like to maybe face the hardships of life because they stressed him out. And he needs Timothy to be aware of something.

He needs him to be aware of the fact that there are difficult days ahead. There are difficult days ahead. The word difficult there means hard to bear, perilous, fierce. The idea is, he says, in the last days, fierce and difficult days. We'll begin to set in. And what we're seeing now in our culture is something that began 2,000 years ago, only we continue to see it intensify.

It's almost like a spiral. It goes around. And every time it goes around, it picks up just a little bit more intensity and a little bit more intensity. And while there's nothing new under the sun, the intensity seems to be getting greater and greater. And so he says difficult times will come. And I think it's kind of interesting that he doesn't tell him about the last days in terms of,

wars and pestilence and disease and famine and economic crisis. All of the things that you probably thought I was going to tell you about to understand the last times, right? You were probably like, I thought this was going to be a prophetic update. It is. But not about events. It's a prophetic update about people. Because what we find is while the last days includes all of those prophetic things,

wars and pestilence and famine and economic issues, what we really see is a depravity of people. And he tells them that what he's going to face as a pastor, the same thing that we face as a church, is that the state of humanity will continue to grow more and more depraved until, as Jesus says, it becomes like it was in the days of Noah. And so he begins to describe what this looks like. And so the first thing he's going to tell us is he's going to tell us the state of humanity.

He's going to tell us the state of humanity. He's going to do it in two ways. He's going to talk about the state of humanity. He's going to talk about the state of humanity in the world with a long list. But he's also going to talk about the state of humanity in the church in the last days. And so we'll get to the part about the church. But let's start with the state of humanity in the world.

It begins with a very long list of, if I counted correctly, about 18 things. And so we're going to work through those one by one. So it starts off by saying that men will be lovers of self. Men will be lovers of self. And that's an interesting word in the Greek. The Greek is philatos. Phila meaning love, brotherly love. Ato meaning self. So if you were to read that word literally, what that word really is is self-love.

And I found that to be incredibly fascinating. Because what is one of the biggest themes of our world today? Self-love, right? We call it self-care. But it's the same thing. The idea behind it is a narcissistic individual. And I'm sorry, we live in a narcissistic society. Everything about our society says, look at me. I'll never forget somebody. I won't tell you who it was because that would be embarrassing for an individual.

They don't go to this church. But I saw somebody post about some difficult things that were happening in this society. And what got me the most was the tagline behind it. That's going to affect me. And I was like, and all of the rest of humanity too. You realize that, right? Like this is more than just you that's going to be affected by this. More than just you that's going to have this issue.

But that's the way we tend to look at things. We are a people who love ourselves. We love ourselves so much. And I can tell you how to know if you love yourself. If we took a group picture of everybody at first service right now, and I put that group picture up next week, who is the first person that you would look for? It'd be you. You know why? Because you're pretty fond of yourself.

And I know some people are like, no, no, you don't understand. I hate myself. No, you don't. People don't really hate themselves. Yes, I do. I hate myself. I'm ugly. And I love one of the pastors that I listened to last night when he was talking about this. He said, He said, if you really thought you were ugly and you hated yourself, you'd be happy about it.

Because that's the way that it is. You love yourself. Therefore, you look at yourself and say, I don't like what I see because you expect more of you. And at the end of the day, we are a culture who has put self in the place where only God belongs. We have put self in the place where only Jesus is supposed to be in our lives. And because of that upside down world that we live in, the world is incredibly self-centered.

Have you noticed how many car accidents there are right now? I've tried to decide, is it that we report more of them? Listen, we've been reporting car accidents at a pretty high rate for the last 20 years, I feel like. But there is something about the last six to eight months, maybe the last year, where car accidents have gotten incredibly prevalent. And I'm talking bad car accidents.

And I try to figure out why. What is causing all of this to take place? And I can't help it. Maybe this is just me. I'm not trying to judge. But I do wonder if sometimes we're so focused on ourselves that we don't pay attention to all the things going on around us. You know how I know that? Let me tell you a little story about myself last night. I'm sorry if there's, are there any police in here this morning?

I'm going to get a ticket out of this one. So I'm at a stoplight. I think the stoplight at Kansas and Summit. And I see people run red lights all the time right now, through downtown, where nobody even stops at the red light. I've watched this happen multiple times. And, of course, you know the word that goes through my head. Idiot. Right? Like that's what goes through my head when I do this.

So last night I'm sitting at the red light. And my mind's a million different places. I'm thinking about a lot of different things. Probably self-absorbed because I'm a human being. And I struggle with self-love. And so I look at the, I see these kids crossing and the light's red. And I'm like, that's a bad idea. And I look over at the light. And that light for them turns green.

So what do I do? I go. I go on those people's green light, not mine. And I make it through and I look at the car and I'm like, you know what they're saying right now? Idiot. Right? Like if I could have had a sign that popped out on my car that said, I know I'm an idiot. That's on me. But why do we do that? Because we are so self-absorbed that we can't pay attention to anything that's going on around us.

And one of the signs of living in the last days is that people will be lovers of self. The second thing it says is that they will be lovers of money. In other words, they'll be greedy. And you know what we see in our culture today? The love of money. Now we need to understand something. Money in and of itself cannot be good or evil. Money in and of itself is a benign thing.

Because it has no emotions. It has no will. It has none of those things. The only power that money has over us is the power that we give it over us. And yet in our culture today, the love of money seems to be in an ever-growing rate. Which is why you can have entire islands full of rich people. Doing unholy things and nobody knows all of the details. Why? Because all of the people with all of the money have paid off all of the people with all of the authority.

And because the love of money rules, we never get to the bottom of anything. Have you ever noticed that? You know why that is? Because people have become lovers of money. Unless we think it's just all of the people in higher authority, let me ask you this. What's the driving force of your life? What drives you? Is it a desire to serve the Lord? Or is it a love of money?

Now again, as we look at these things, we must understand that there will be an intensity of this in the last days. But it should also be a mirror for us. Where do I reflect the people of the last days? Where do I reflect the downfall of humanity rather than the things of Christ? He says they will be lovers of self. They will be lovers of money. They will be boastful and arrogant.

They will be boastful. And arrogant. I found this interesting as I did a little study into this word boastful. The word boastful means an empty pretender. An empty pretender. That's actually the definition of the word boaster there. And it was used in ancient Greek culture of basically a doctor who could claim that he could heal diseases that he couldn't actually heal.

That basically was a snake oil salesman, right? If you just buy this thing from me, I promise you it will cure all of your ails. That's the idea of a boaster. An empty pretender. Someone who makes promises that they can't keep. Have we heard stories like that before? People who are constantly saying things of themselves that aren't true. Again, it all goes back to that phrase, the lover of self.

And that love of self causes us to need to be able to boast about ourselves. They are boastful and arrogant. The next thing it says that they are is that they are revilers. Revilers. The word reviler means a blasphemer. A blasphemer. And boy, howdy, are we talking about things going on in our culture today. People that are blaspheming the name of God, whether it's musicians, whether it's actors and actresses,

or whether it's the individual on the street who seems to be opposed to the things that you believe. And so they blaspheme the things of God. They blaspheme it through their actions. They blaspheme it through their claims. They blaspheme it through accusations. But they are revilers. And so we will see an increasing. Intensity of the blasphemous nature of humanity.

And one of the things that I've noticed, as we've talked about before, is while there's an incredible number of good things going on in society, there's also an incredible number of dark things going on in society. Now, the thing I appreciate about it is that we are starting to see more clearly the distinction between dark and light. We are starting to see more clearly the distinction between those who are really followers of Jesus and those who are not really followers of Jesus. Because as the blasphemy tends to grow, the revival is happening.

We're watching a stark difference between the two. And so he says that there will be revilers. The next one it says is they will be disobedient to parents. Have you ever noticed every time they always throw something in, one of the writers of the New Testament will throw in, Angie, you don't like your mom, right? Angie, you're disobedient to your parents. Here's what I find.

We have created a culture of young people. I love all you young people. I work with you people all the time. We have created a culture of young people. We have created a culture of young people that are told it's okay to have big feelings, right? Do you know what we used to call that when I was a kid? Being disrespectful when you had big feelings. Now, listen, we can have emotions.

That's okay. But once those emotions cross the line of disrespect, it needs to be dealt with. Because otherwise, they will grow up to be a disrespectful human being. Everybody's very upset right now that whatever era we're in, I don't even remember what generation we're in right now, that are moving into the workforce. Everybody says, you know, they're just a bunch of disrespectful people.

You were there. They're parents. Quit complaining about it. You were the ones who raised them. Don't complain that they're disrespectful. You're to blame for it. Because you allowed it to happen. And because of that, because there's no respect for authority that started with no respect for parents or disobedience to parents, we see the culture that we have today.

And we have to understand that's not going to get better. You know why? Because our flesh doesn't get better. But as the church, we need to look different. It says, The next thing it says is that they are ungrateful. Again, I find this fascinating that in all of the things he could list about the depravity of humanity, he includes the phrase or the word ungrateful,

which of course we know can also be defined as unthankful. Again, we go back all the way to the book of Romans, the very first chapter of the book of Romans. And as Paul is listing all of the sins, it starts off with the fact that they would not, give thanks to God. So he turned them over to a debased mind. I told a group of middle schoolers today, I said, God wants us to be thankful

because you know what happens if you're not thankful? You become stupid. And they were like, I was like, yeah, that's what the Bible said. That's what a debased mind is. A mind that is empty and void of understanding. So if you are ungrateful, you become stupid. By the way, today's November 2nd. Have you started your Thanksgiving challenge yet? Do you have something that you're thankful for every single day?

You know what I started doing in my journal? So every day, I don't do this every day. Every day that I journal, which is probably three or four times a week, I started doing something. I write two things to start off. When I read my Bible and I start to write about what I've learned, there's two things I start with. What am I thankful for today? What am I struggling with today?

And I'm here to tell you right now, when you get honest about those things, it's amazing how it changes your entire view of everything that you just read in scripture. Because if you start with what you're thankful for, get your mind focused on God and get your perspective, write on God. And then if you write what you're struggling with, you have to get really honest with God. And those two things have really changed my Bible reading here recently.

But the world today is incredibly ungrateful. They're incredibly unthankful. And they don't care what you do for them. All they care is that you do it for them. And they're not willing to say thank you for it, especially to God. And because of that, our society drifts further and further away from God because after ungrateful comes, unholy, unholy. A society that has no concept of what holiness is.

A society that has no concept of what God's holiness is. And a society that has no concept of what it means to live as holy. It will never cease to amaze me the number of people that will excuse sin as being okay. The things that are excused as being okay. Like, hey, listen, it doesn't matter what words come out of my mouth. Hey, listen, I can live with my girlfriend.

That's really not that big of a deal. Hey, hey, listen, you understand, like, I get drunk every now and then, but it's really not that big of a deal. Listen, God says those are big deals. Okay? Like, they're addressed multiple times in Scripture. And if the Bible addresses it that much, God must think it's a pretty big deal. And yet, most of culture, even in the church,

doesn't take the holiness of God very seriously. Like, well, listen, we're under grace. Yeah, it's true, but grace isn't there to excuse your sin. Grace is there to set you free from sin. And so we live in this culture today that continues to be more and more unholy. That continues to have no concept of what God's word has to say, and continues to have no concept

of what God desires of humanity. And unfortunately, that, again, has started in the church. Because the ones that I'm describing, I'm not talking about the people in the world. I'm talking about people in the church that live that way. And then they are surprised, surprised when God's word offends them. And so he says, they are unholy. The next one it says is that they are unloving.

That word unloving is very interesting. It means devoid of natural affection, calloused and inhumane. Devoid of natural affection, calloused and inhumane. Can I just be really honest with you? One of the greatest ways that I see this, and I don't want to step on toes here, but I'm just going to be honest about it. One of the greatest ways that I see this aspect

of being unloving in our culture today is the fact that we have turned pregnancy into a sin. Into a disposable thing. The fact that there are mothers out marching for the right to be able to end the life of their pregnancy. Now listen, we need to understand something. God's grace is greater than past failures. God's grace is greater than the deepest of our sins.

And if you're here this morning and that's you, you were at one point in time, one of those people I want you to know. God's grace is enough to cover that, to forgive you, to set you free, to cleanse you, and to heal you. You're not the one I'm talking about because you're here knowing that that sin needs to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. I'm talking about the people that are out marching in favor of it, calling it a choice and not what it is, the ending of a life.

And I know this is a very unpopular subject to discuss. I know this is a very hot button issue to address, but the fact of the matter is it is a perfect sign of the end times. It is a perfect sign of the end times. It is a perfect sign of the last days when the natural affection that God has given is now gone because they are calloused and inhumane. But lest we think it's just women out

committing the sin of abortion, I also look at the fact that child abuse is on the rise. And it's not just the physical abuse of children, it's the sexual abuse of children. And it is horrific and it is heartbreaking because they have become unloving. Because our society has become devoid of natural affection because of a calloused, inhumane mindset that has turned what God intended to be natural, an act between a man and a woman, in the confines of marriage, into something that becomes an abuse of someone too young to know the difference.

Because they have become unloving. Because difficult times and difficult people will come in the last days. The next thing it says is that they will be irreconcilable. That word irreconcilable means unforgiving. The next one it says is that they will be malicious gossips. It's kind of like a reviler except reviling is blasphemy against God. Being a malicious gossip is slandering an individual.

Slander or false accusations. We call that the news today, right? Have you noticed how often people can just take an accusation and run with it whether it's true or not? Whether it's been investigated, whether anyone's looked into it, whether anyone's done their due diligence to see if this is true. If it's a hot button story, everybody runs with it. And listen, lest we just think it's some big news corporation,

I'm on social media too and I watch it happen there. All it takes is one person saying, did you hear? And pretty soon it blows up all over social media and someone's character is ruined because they are malicious gossips. You know what the word malicious gossip is? It's a word that's used a lot in the media. It's in the Greek, diabolos. That's the devil. Why?

Because the devil is the accuser of the brethren. And so if you're a false accuser, you're acting just like Satan. If you're a malicious gossip, you're acting just like Satan. And it's true in the world. I see it all the time. Well, you know what I heard, right? And all of a sudden this little group gets over here to the side. But I also see it in the church.

And I'm not talking about every other church. I'm talking about sometimes I see it in this church. Where you get a little group of people that goes to the side and they start talking about, you know, I said, I've got a prayer request I'd like to share with you. Okay, then you start praying and I'll join. Right? Like there's a difference between a prayer request

and a gossip session. It's a problem. It says, we'll see these things in the last days. It goes on to say that they will be without self-control. That's a pretty broad statement there that doesn't need an incredible amount of explanation. Other than I always like to bring this up because we've watched things take place in culture and self-control continue to go by the wayside.

And most of it's been through advertising, right? I always found it fascinating that, remember what they call, those of you that are my age and maybe a little older, do you remember what they called TV when we were kids? They called it programming, right? And I find that to be an interesting word that used to be used for TV because that's exactly what it does to us.

It programs us. And one of the greatest ways to be programmed is through, commercials. As a matter of fact, one of my favorite guys to listen to at one point in time, God rest his soul, was Rush Limbaugh. And agree with him or disagree with him, he was right 99.8% of the time. I think that's what he always said on his radio program. But he had a fascinating statement that he always made.

And I thought this was one of the truest statements I've ever heard. He said, if you want to know the heart of the nation, look at its advertising. If you want to know the heart of a nation, look at its advertising. Because those guys are smart, and they know how to appeal to the culture. Well, what we see in advertising today is a lack of self-control. And do you know when it started?

It started with some commercials that happened a long time ago. I'm a big fan of, I do not boycott brands. I do not boycott places, right? I don't believe in doing that. I don't think it really does any good. I try to support Christian people, but I don't boycott things, especially if they make sweet sneakers. And so I'm a Nike fan. And at one point in time,

everybody knows Nike's slogan today, just do it. Do you know what Nike's slogan used to be? If it feels good, do it. And somebody said, that's too wordy, so let's just short it to just do it. Can we say that the lack of self-control in advertising may have started with Nike saying, if it feels good, do it. Remember the Sprite commercial? Obey your thirst, right?

Those are lack of self-control commercials. And it appeals, it appeals to us. And while we think about it, we go, it's just a commercial. Is it? Because how many of us have quoted things like that all the time? How many of us have quoted those statements, right? Now the statement is, treat yourself, right? That's a lack of self-control. Listen, I like to treat myself too, clearly.

But that's a lack of self-control. And that's the world that we live in today. We live in a world that has no self-control because we're told, if that's your truth, live it. And if that's what you need to do, then fulfill that desire. We are a people without self-control and we're watching how it affects our society. The next thing it says is they will be brutal,

savage, and fierce. Okay, I'm so glad that we're past Halloween now. I know some of y'all do the trick-or-treating thing, whatever, I don't care. I hate all of the horror movies that come out at this time of year. Listen, I love a good war movie. I love a good thriller movie. But some of them are just like, wow, what are we doing here? You know, like it's just, it's brutal

what you see take place. And believe it or not, admit it or not, that brutality affects you. And again, people don't make movies without an audience in mind. They know that that's what we love. And so they keep making more of them. And the time when Paul was living, there were gladiator fights, right? There was a brutality in the culture. And today we're much more civilized than that.

We don't want to see it happen. In person, but we don't mind watching it on a TV screen. We don't mind watching it on a video or on a theater screen. We don't mind watching it on our phone because we're more civilized than they were. And yet we see a brutality in our culture today. And we even see it with the fact that we now have kids that videotape fights at school

that are more brutal than the fights I remember when I was in school. And they blasted out to all of their friends. I'm watching a brutality take place. But I didn't know I was going to watch in my time. It says that they are a brutal people. They are haters of good. Pretty self-explanatory. They are treacherous as a betrayer or a traitor. And they are reckless.

I want to talk about this one for just a minute. That word reckless means headstrong. Headstrong. The idea of determined to have your own way. Determined to do what you want to do when you want to do it. When you want to do it. And again, I'm watching this happen in the culture today. As we see in the culture today that people are very headstrong. They are bound and determined to do what they're going to do.

And they do it. The next one it says is it says that they are conceited. I thought this was an interesting word as well. I looked it up to get the exact definition of it. You know what the exact definition of conceited is? Blind with pride. Blind with pride. It can also mean a vapor of smoke. I thought those were two very interesting definitions. Of the word conceited.

Again, self-centered. And then to cap it all off it says they are lovers of pleasure. And the term pleasure there means sensual pleasure. And I think it's interesting that he puts in the caveat they are lovers of sensual pleasure rather than lovers of God. Again, one of the biggest industries in our culture today is the industry of sensual pleasure. It makes more money than every other sporting industry combined.

You tell me that we don't have a problem in our culture. You tell me that we're not living in a time of intensified last days because of what we see happening in our culture today. They are lovers of pleasure. Well, that's the state of humanity. But then he narrows it down to the church. Notice what it says in verse 5. Holding to a form of godliness, although they have...

They have denied its power. Holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power. And I find this fascinating because it would seem as though all of those were describing the church. Even though we know for the most part they're describing the world in general. But they also describe many in the church. In the so-called church of the day. Having a form of godliness.

In other words, there's an aspect of godliness in their life. They claim an aspect of godliness in their life but they deny its power. I want to read this to you. Out of the Amplified Bible it says, their conduct denies their claim. Their conduct denies their claim. It's one thing to say that you are a believer in Jesus Christ. It's one thing to get baptized

and to make the Instagram post and do all those things. But now the question is, has your life been changed by Jesus? Does your conduct match up with your claim? And this is my fear right now. And I've shared this before. This is my fear right now. This is my fear right now with what's going on in the culture. I'm very excited about it. And I continue to be excited about it.

But I want to know that the conduct is going to match up with the claim. I want to know that it's not a form of godliness that denies the power of God. The power of God to set us free from sin. The power of God to give us a purpose in our lives. The power of God to produce holiness in us. After all, we are told that his divine power gives us everything that we need for life and godliness

through the divine power. Through the knowledge of him who called us. That's what the power of God is supposed to do in our lives is to produce holiness, to produce godliness inside of us. And yet so many people make a claim of godliness, but they deny its power by the way that they live. So some of these things we have to realize that in the last days, there will be an intensifying of a false church.

There will be an intensifying of a false claim of godliness. Jesus said this would happen. He said this would happen. He actually said this would happen. He told multiple parables about it. He told multiple parables about the fact that there would be tares among the wheat, that there would be birds in the tree that grew, that came from this little seed of faith

and all the birds rested in it because there would ultimately be evil mixed in with the good. And the only one who was really gonna be able to separate those things was God, but we were still to have discernment to pay attention between the two, to be able to judge those by their fruit. And at some point in time, we have to start identifying the difference between a disciple of Jesus Christ and someone who just simply makes a claim because in the last days, which I believe we're living in, not just the last days in general, but the last of the last days, this will continue to become an increasing issue in the church. And I want you to notice what Paul says we have to do with these men.

He says, avoid such men as these. Avoid such men as these. Whether he's talking, about all of the ungodly things that he just mentioned or simply those who have a form of godliness, but deny its power, he says, avoid such men. Now we need to talk about what that means because we could easily say, so that means I'm just never gonna hang out with somebody unless they meet the godly standard.

No, that's not what he's saying there. He's saying your fellowship's always gonna be different with someone of the world. You can't have fellowship with people of the world. You can know them. You can be friends with them. You can, be acquaintances with them. But the fellowship's always gonna be a little bit different because there's a level you can never reach

with the people of the world. You just have to know that because I can't sit and have a conversation with the struggles I'm having in my walk with Jesus Christ, the joys I'm having in my walk with Jesus Christ, the struggles of ministry, the difficulties that I go through. I can't have those conversations with somebody of the world because we don't have the same bond. They're gonna give me worldly advice and they're not gonna understand where I'm coming from.

They're not gonna understand anything that I'm going through because I can't have that fellowship with them because that's light and dark. We don't go together. And it's the same with someone who has a false claim of faith within the church. Can I still be kind? Absolutely. Can I still show love? 100%. But can I have fellowship with them? I really can't because we're on two different pages.

I promise, I've tried. I know people who they're just incredibly worldly and yet they claim to be Christians and I just, the conversation can't go anywhere. The fellowship can't go anywhere. He says, avoid such men. And while on the base level, we have to realize that that means that I just can't have fellowship with them in the same way, we have to understand that if they begin espousing ideas

that disagree with scripture, we have to be able to stand against it and say, this is ungodly and I can't stand behind that. He says, avoid such men. And then he goes on to describe the such men. Verse six, For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with their sins and led by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

He says, these are those who peddle a false spirituality. They enter into the homes of the weak. They enter into the homes of the unschooled, unlearned, those who are weighed down and they begin to peddle a false spirituality to them. And of these, these men, they are always learning, but they are never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. They're always learning the next new thing.

They're always learning the next thing to come along, the next new book, the next new philosophy, the next new thing that the psychologist said that they need to know, but they never really come to the knowledge of the truth. Why? Because the knowledge of the truth is Jesus. And that's what they never come to. All of the worldly wisdom, none of the Jesus because they peddle this false.

Spirituality. Not only do they peddle a false spirituality, but they peddle a counterfeit gospel. Notice what it says in verse eight. Just as Janice and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth. Men of depraved mind reject in regard to the faith, but they will not make further progress for their folly will be obvious to all just as Janice and Jambres' folly

will be obvious to all. Just as Janice and Jambres' folly will be obvious to all just as Janice and Jambres' folly will be obvious to all just as Janice and Jambres' folly will be obvious to all just as Janice and Jambres' folly will be obvious to all Now Paul brings up these two names in association with Moses. And I hope you're asking yourself a question right now. Who are Janice and Jambres?

And how do we know anything about them? Well, I'm really glad you asked. You see, I watched this movie called The Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston. No, that's not where you learn about it. Although those names aren't mentioned in there. Jewish tradition as well as Jewish history teaches us that there were two sorcerers in Pharaoh's court. court that opposed Moses and Aaron. All the way back to the book of Exodus, right? Let my people

go. So Moses rolls in and says to Pharaoh, let my people go. And Pharaoh says, no. And he says, let me show you a sign. So Aaron takes this rod and he throws it down. And the rod turns into a snake. And as the rod turns into a snake, it was like, ooh. And then two of Pharaoh's sorcerers, they throw their rods down too. And they turn into snakes. Only Aaron's rod swallows them up,

right? Those two sorcerers, according to Jewish tradition, were Janus and Jambres. That's where those names come from. And so he says, just as these two, Janus and Jambres, opposed Moses, so these men opposed the truth. Well, how did they oppose the truth? Well, by presenting a counterfeit to the truth. Because in the first three plagues, they were able to present a

counterfeit to the truth. The counterfeit of swallowing up the snake, of the water turning to blood, and even bringing up the frogs. They could not produce a counterfeit to the truth when God produced the flies. Because they can't produce life. Because a counterfeit gospel can't produce life. And we have to understand something that will continue to rise in the last days. That will continue to pop up in the last days. And that is counterfeit

gospels. Whether it's the counterfeit gospel of emotionalism, whether it's the counterfeit gospel of prosperity, whether it's the counterfeit gospel of works, or whether it's the counterfeit gospel of licentiousness. In other words, living with whatever sin you want to live with. There will always be counterfeit gospels that come up, which is why you have to know the real thing so that you can identify the counterfeit. So that you can help other people

identify the counterfeit. There are counterfeit gospels all around us. Both within the church and cults outside of the church. And they will continue to try to peddle their counterfeit gospel to anyone who is willing to listen. But notice what he says. But they will not make further progress for their folly will be obvious to all. Just as Janice and Jambree's folly was also. Of course, the ultimate counterfeit gospel

will come about. When there is an antichrist who presents himself as one who is to be worshipped, what Jesus refers to as the abomination of desolation, spoken of in the prophet Daniel. That will be the ultimate counterfeit gospel. But all of the ones up to that point in time are preparing a culture for a counterfeit gospel. And he says, eventually their folly will be known. I remember talking with, when I was in

Bible college, I worked security, usually on the weekends. And when I worked security on the weekends, there was always a retreat there. And so the guy that was the head of the retreat center would meet with those of us that were security guards to kind of talk about what we needed to know for the day. Usually early on a Sunday morning, we'd go sit down and drink a coffee and he would tell us what we needed to know. And we got on to the subject of, I

believe he was a Jehovah's witness prior to coming to Christ. And so he was sharing with us how the best way is to share the gospel with a Jewish people. How do we can do that? How do we can do that? How do we can do that? How do we can do that? How do we can do that? How do we can do that? Jehovah's Witness. And he said, you cannot debate them because they will have an answer for every

debating point you bring up. He said, you have to treat them like you would any other lost sinner because that's what they are. They just need to hear the real gospel because they've never heard the real gospel. Everything that they've always heard is counterfeit. And he said, if they're really seeking when they hear the real gospel, they will turn to Jesus because that's what they're

really looking for because they're tired of the counterfeit. And I thought that's a pretty fascinating point to make that the folly of the false is always made known when the true is presented. The folly of the false will always be made known when the true is presented. And we find that in the last days that there will be this attempt to replace truth and reality with the flashy, with the exciting.

And with the next new thing that comes along, and he says, don't fall for it because eventually that folly will be made known. Eventually that folly will be seen. And so he says, he says their folly will be obvious to all. And so in contrast to that, he now begins to talk about the persecution, the difficult times ahead that have to do with the people outside of the church, the people inside of the church, but also the persecution. Notice what he says,

in verse 10.

I love this. Let's just camp on this for just a moment. Paul said, you followed my life. And that's true. It truly was what Timothy did. Timothy had followed the life of Paul because he was his companion in so many of his missionary journeys. And I love that Paul at this point in time is able to say, again, towards the end of his life, he knows what's awaiting him. And he says, you've

watched me as I've lived. And you've watched as the Holy Spirit has produced fruit in my life, the fruit of love, the fruit of patience, the fruit of perseverance, and even dealing with persecution. And again, in verse 10, he says, you followed my life. And he says, you followed my life. And you followed my life. And he says, you followed my life. And he says, you followed my life.

If anybody understood persecution, it was Paul, because he'd been through so much of it. And as he presents this to Timothy, he's going to explain why he's bringing this up in just a minute. But he says, you've seen me go through all of those things, including the persecutions and the sufferings. And I love that he brings up three cities that Timothy was specifically with him on his missionary journey when he endured great hardship and persecution. And I don't know if

you're an underliner and your body's broken at that moment. And so when you hear about the накled than the nailed in mm. And you say now that one day as a member of your society has standed against persecution. This is a gear, this is better than the other. Bible. I am. And so I underline the phrase, and the Lord rescued me from them all. And the Lord rescued me from them all. I love that because here's Paul knowing he's probably about to be

assassinated. He's probably about to be executed. And he says, up to this point in time, the Lord has rescued me from them all. Does that mean God's not going to rescue him this time? Nope. It just means rescue is going to look a little different. Rescue is going to look like going home to be with Jesus and not living on in this life. I think that's an important note for us to pay attention

to. Rescue, in God's eyes, looks a lot different than we often think. Sometimes we think rescue means being delivered from the hardship, and sometimes rescue means being delivered through the hardship. Sometimes we think rescue means that nothing bad will happen, but usually rescue means that God is with us in the midst of the bad things that we're going through. And sometimes we think

that rescue means that the child of God will never die, but we have to realize that rescue for the child of God is often departure from this earth and being home with the Savior you were always intended to be home with. I've had to learn that lesson the hard way. But he says, but the Lord delivered me from them all. And he tells Timothy this because here Timothy is about to face the hardship of the last day. He's about to face the hardship of the last day. He's about to face the

He's told him about all of the hard that he's going to have to face with people. He's told him about all of the depravity he'll have to face with the people that are outside of the church, the false gospels that he's going to have to face with the people that are inside of the church. And to top it all off, he says, but Timothy, you've seen my life. You've watched how I've lived. You've watched

what God has done in me, and you've seen God rescue me from them all. But you need to know something, Timothy. This is really important for you to pay attention to. Verse 12, indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. That'll never make a picture frame on someone's

wall. That'll never make it in the Bible promise book. It'll never make it in your Bible promise jar. It'll never be the doily that you put on your kitchen table. Yet, I think it's something that all of us, especially as Western culture Christians, need to pay attention to. That all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. One of the commentators that I read on this was pretty interesting. He said,

I often ask myself the question, why has the Western culture been so free from persecution for so long? Is it because the culture that we live in is so godly, or is it because the church that we are a part of is not? And I found that to be a haunting question to my soul. Because I do think that there is something to be considered. Because if the culture that we live in looks a whole lot like the 18 things that he described with

the state of humanity, and by the way, it does, then perhaps we should ask ourselves why we can meet so comfortably. Perhaps we should ask ourselves why our lives are as easy as they are as believers in Jesus Christ. That they are declaring an emergency in Nigeria because of the persecution that those Christians are facing. Is it because we live in such a godly society, or is it because we as Christians are not? I must admit that sometimes I find myself not taking the hard stance because

I know it's going to be hard. I admit that sometimes I don't join in the hard conversation. Because I know it's going to be hard, and I know where it's going to land me. I don't comment at times when I know that I should, because I know where that's going to end up and the argument that it will create and the hatred that will come about from it. I confess that to you all. But may we become people who realize that we don't have the time and

the luxury to sit on the sidelines any longer. We don't have the time and the luxury to sit back and watch the world unfold the way that it is without making a stand for godliness. Jesus was very serious when he told his disciples, if you put your hand to the plow and you look back, you're not worthy. You have to count the cost of discipleship, but you have to know that the cost of discipleship is always worth it. You have to count the cost of what

it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ, but you have to know that the cost is what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. You have to know that the cost of discipleship is always worth it, because we have something waiting for us that's so much greater than the temporary time that we have on this earth. We have something that is so much greater for us than the short stint of time that we live on this earth, perhaps in a little bit of uncomfortable situation or a little bit of persecution. Now I'm not saying you should go out and search for persecution. Trust me, it will find you. If you live godly, it will

find you. If you take strong stands for the truth, it will find you. We had a friend, that had a home that we were gonna go visit and this friend told us, but you have to understand we're not changing our lives for you. We're gonna talk the way that we wanna talk. We're gonna drink what we wanna drink. We're not changing our lives for you. And we had to say, well, we love you,

but then we won't be coming to stay. Because when you take hard stands, when you stand for what's true, when you stand for what's right, people around you are gonna get a little ticked off about it because you bring conviction into their lives. Because you bring the conviction that they don't want into their lives and so eventually they push back on it. Eventually they don't like that and you become the enemy that told them the truth.

Don't stop doing it. Do it in love, but don't stop doing it. All those who would live godly in this present age will suffer persecution. So brothers and sisters, know and understand the times. People aren't gonna get any better. Persecution's not gonna get any better. But God never changes. And he will continue to deliver us from them all. And so next week,

we will look at our response in light of understanding the times. I'll give you a hint. It will involve the word of God, okay? So, now this morning is Communion Sunday. So I would like to take just a few moments to talk about communion before the ushers come in and get ready to hand out the elements. So if I could invite the worship team to come on up.

Inside of each of these trays are some cups stacked together. The bottom cup has the cracker and at the top cup has the juice in it. It's just the easiest way to hand it out. We've done it since 2020. And in and of themselves, as I always like to point out, they're pretty mundane, pretty basic elements that really have no purpose or meaning behind them. Other than it's the saddest snack

that you've ever eaten, right? But what they stand for, what they represent has incredible power. Because we're told that every time we partake in this, we declare the Lord's death. Because on that last night of the feast, Jesus took the bread and he broke it. He said, this is my body that's been broken for you. So every time we partake of the bread, we are reminded of the body of Jesus Christ

that was broken for us. That he was literally beaten for us. That he was broken for us. That he was scourged for us. That he had a crown of thorns placed upon his head. That his hands and his feet were pierced through with a nail. And that his side was pierced through. Because truly the body of Jesus Christ was given for us. And so every time we partake of that,

we are reminded of the broken body of Jesus that guaranteed our salvation. That top cup with the juice represents the blood of Jesus Christ. And on that last night of the feast, he took the cup. Multiple cups you drink in a Passover feast. The last one's called the cup of redemption. And that cup he took and he said, this is the cup of the new covenant of my blood

shed for you. So every time we partake of that cup, we are reminded of the blood of Jesus Christ. It was enough to cover our sins. It's fascinating to know that from the very first time man sinned, there was always the promise of, the blood. It was seen in the sacrifice that God made for Adam and Eve when he covered them with animal skins. It was carried on with the sacrifices

that were presented in the Old Testament. And it culminated with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. The blood had always, always had great value to it because it says the blood has the life in it. And we are reminded that the blood of Jesus Christ is what has life for us. It's what truly instills that spiritual life in us. So every time we partake of that cup,

every time we partake of that, we are reminded that Jesus gave his life through his blood for us. And so again, we're told to partake of this in a worthy manner to make sure that we do so in a worthy manner. And so as always, I would tell you it's time to do a little one-on-one time between you and Jesus. Again, if you're not a believer in Jesus Christ this morning, this meal really isn't for you.

I would actually encourage you to pass the tray on if you're not a believer in Jesus Christ. But again, if you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, it's as simple as you can be. It's as simple as you coming to Jesus and confessing your sin and accepting what he's done for you. It's really just a condition of your heart and accepting the truth of Jesus in your life.

But as believers in Jesus Christ, we need to make sure that our accounts with God are short, that we have dealt with issues that have come up in our life and in our relationship with him, that we confess sin that needs to be confessed, that we agree with him on the things that we've done wrong because we are reminded that the blood of Jesus Christ continually cleanses us from all of our sin. So these guys are going to sing one last song. The ushers are going to hand out the elements. I would ask that you would just do the business between you and Jesus that needs to be done.

And as you receive your elements, if you would please stand and then we'll all partake together. This is the body. This is the blood.

Broken and poor. For all we share in his love. This is the body.

This is the blood.

You've done me for granted. The sacrifice that set me free.

Father, we come before you. Lord, I just thank you for the body of Jesus Christ that was broken for us. Lord, that was broken for the sin of humanity. Lord, the stripes that you endured, the beatings that you took, all without saying a word. Lord, you did it for us because of your great love. Father, I thank you. I thank you for the body of Jesus Christ that was broken for us.

And Lord, I thank you for the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for us. Lord, the blood of Jesus Christ that guaranteed a new covenant that cleanses us from all of our sins and that ultimately brings new life to everyone who believes. Father, I thank you for the blood of Jesus Christ. And so, Father, as we partake now, may we always have in mind that sacrifice of Jesus.

We just thank you and praise you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Let's partake.

And if you'd bow with me one last time. Father, we come to you now and just pray that as we depart here and head into our week, Lord, I just ask that your spirit would move in our hearts. Father, that you would create that holiness inside of us. Lord, that we would draw near to you and that we would become the men and women of God that you've created for us to be.

Father, move in our hearts, I pray. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.