December 21, 2014
Evening Service

Tonight we continue our study of Paul’s final recorded letter to Timothy and also to us.  Though Paul is imprisoned and knows his martyrdom is near, this letter shines with hope and encouragement to carry on the work of sharing the gospel message.  In chapter one, Paul encouraged Timothy to “stir up the gift” he was given by the Holy Spirit to proclaim God’s love to a dying world.  In chapter two, Timothy was encouraged to study the word diligently to rightly divide the truth and work to prepare him to be a vessel used by God.  In verses 20-23 he was instructed to cleanse, sanctify, prepare, flee, pursue, and avoid.  Our journey with God is not a passive one.  It is one that requires our best, to be a living sacrifice, to bring glory to our loving and merciful Savior.

Paul now prepares Timothy, and us, for the difficulties the future will hold and how to handle them.  The scriptures are very truthful about the troubles that lie ahead of us.  We certainly are not promised a rose garden on this earth.  It is only in heaven that our full reward will be bestowed upon us.  This earth is our jobsite or actually our battlefield to do the work God has lain before us.

2Ti 3:1-5 Know this also, that in the last days perilous times will come.  (2)  For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, (3)  unloving, unforgiving, false accusers, without self-control, savage, despisers of good,  (4)  traitors, reckless, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,  (5)  having a form of godliness, but denying the power of it; and from such people turn away.

·         This was Paul’s prophecy of what people would be like in the future.  His prophecy has come true before our very eyes.  Listen again to his description:  (reread verse 2-4).  Paul’s advice is to avoid being part of that crowd.  We need to examine ourselves and be sure these attributes are not being manifested in our lives. 

·         This is the generation that has been created by taking prayer out of school and taking the priority of church out of the home.  This has to build our faith that we are indeed living in the last days.  Paul now continues:

 

2Ti 3:6-9  For of these are those who creep into houses and make captives of gullible women loaded with sins, led away with different kinds of lusts,  (7)  ever learning and never able to come to the full knowledge of the truth.  (8)  But as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so these also resist the truth, men of corrupt mind, reprobate concerning the faith.  (9)  But they will progress no further, for their foolishness shall be plain to all, as theirs also became.

 

·         These false teachers target women who are burdened with sin and are open to any solution that would lighten their load.  These leaders do not point them to the truth of Jesus who is able to forgive their sins, but takes advantage of their vulnerability and lack of knowledge of the truth to deceive them.  It is like Jannes and Jambres, who were thought to be the magicians in Egypt who tried to imitate Moses’ miracles, as they challenged God’s truth with one of their own and failed.

·         These teachers to will fail (verse 9).

 

2Ti 3:10-12 But you have fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, love, patience,  (11)  persecutions, afflictions, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra. What persecutions I endured! But the Lord delivered me out of all.  (12)  Yea, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

·         Paul reminds Timothy of the things he has observed in his life.  He told the Corinthian church this:

 

1Co 11:1 Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.

·         This is a powerful statement that can be made only by someone who is all in with God.  “Follow my example as I follow Christ’s.”  There is no more powerful testimony than a life that is changed for the better by the power of the Holy Spirit as Paul’s certainly was.

·         Notice the promise that is included with this challenge to follow Christ.  (Verse 12)  Persecutions will come to those who have chosen the life of a Christ follower.  But as with Paul, God will deliver us from them all.  He will always be the comforter in our suffering and the rewarder of our faithfulness.

·         We are clearly not always promised “health and wealth” along this journey, but our hope is in that Jesus walks with us.

 

2Ti 3:13 But evil men and seducers will go forward to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

·         This evil will not end, but will grow worse with time.  That is not however, to be an excuse for us to throw up our hands and surrender.

 

2Ti 3:14-15  But as for you, continue in the things that you have learned and have been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them,  (15)  and that from a babe you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 

·         As for you, continue to “keep on keeping on.”  Let your faith grow in the things you know to be true and from those who taught you.

·         We all have those who along our journey have impacted us with their faith.  Paul encourages us to remember them and the lives they lived to grant us motivation to “continue.” 

·         For those who grew up in the church, we have pastors, Sunday school teachers and youth leaders who invested in us.  All of us have had either relatives, coaches, teachers, neighbors or friends who not only told us about Jesus but also lived the life that showed they truly believed it.  It is through their actions that they gave power to their words of testimony.  For Timothy, it was Paul.

·         Are we impacting others like this?

·         It is the scriptures which points to our salvation and now Paul exhorts us further.

 

 

2Ti 3:16-17  All Scripture is God-breathed, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,  (17)  that the man of God may be perfected, thoroughly furnished to every good work.

·         With Timothy the scriptures he grew up with and studied were only those of the OT that pointed to Christ, but to us Paul speaks also of our NT and God’s perfect plan of salvation being started in a stable in Bethlehem.

·         Our Bible was assembled under the watchful eye of the Holy Spirt and is our road map to heaven.  It is how God has chosen to communicate with us.   All we need to know along our journey has been given to us.

 

2Pe 1:3 according as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who has called us to glory and virtue,

·         Everything we need to know has been clearly laid out before us.  Some things have been left for us to engage the Holy Spirit to help us “rightly divide” them.

·         This huger for knowledge leads us along the road to perfection and equips us to fulfill all the things God will call us to perform. 

 

We are indeed living in the last days as these attitudes are very evident and seem to be growing every day.  Paul encourages us not to look at that and give up, but to “continue on” our journey to meet Him one day and be busy fulfilling the calling He has placed upon each of us.

 

We can certainly be discouraged as we look at what the world around us is becoming, but we can also be extremely encouraged of what we see happening in our own little fellowship here in Mitchell Indiana.  God is not dead, but He is alive and well and working through the lives of those who are “persuaded that He is able to keep what we have committed to Him until that Day.”

 

Lord, may we continue on our journey with renewed vigor to see others accept this powerful gospel message.