It follows from this: (1) that they who make a profession of religion, should come prepared to be persecuted. Every man going his own way. Two men were talking of a great satirist who had been filled with moral earnestness. We should be asking: what, if any, is the unifying purpose which binds all this activity together? Every one who is of the truth hears my voice.' For all scripture is given by inspiration of God ( 2 Timothy 3:16 ), Not as some would lead you to believe, some scriptures are given by inspiration of God. Men would become lovers of money (philarguros, G5366) . These were graces that Paul was eminent for, and Timothy knew it. Thus it was that God had made him: there was no use denying it. Paul goes on to other qualities of an apostle. You're in an alien world. (v) Paul makes a final point. II. We're going to drown in our own corruption. [1.] Now though it is infallible, inerrant and inspired, I did make a mistake in my message this morning on the speed of Arcturus; it's twelve thousand miles a second, I think I said twelve million. It denotes a savagery which has neither sensitiveness nor sympathy. And the reason why he makes it so urgent not to be turned aside was, that the time would come when men would not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts they should heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they should turn away their ears from the truth, and should be. But of one thing Paul was sure--the days of the deceivers were numbered. Quite a promise, isn't it? It is true that these things happened before the young Timothy had definitely entered on the Christian way, but they all happened in the district of which he was a native; and he may well have been an eyewitness of them. Some of you are separated not by your own desire or wish, but because someone was a trucebreaker. Timothy needed to realize, as all Christians do, especially those to whom "prosperity theology" appeals, that when a person determines to live a godly life he or she will suffer persecution. Persons sometimes say it does not matter who taught; but God does not treat the matter so lightly. but they deny the power thereof: [Paul said to Timothy] from such turn away. They did not keep the covenant that they made. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Whatever therefore may be right in certain cases, the assembly of God ought never to be forced to put every case on the same dead level ought never to be bound by any special process, as if it were unalterable. It would not be accordant with the mind of God. Look at, of course, all of these other things that have come along as the result of it. The Holy Spirit would make it to be most practical and precious. He who feeds his mind on cheap literature can in the end find nothing in the great masterpieces. He read the twenty-third psalm from one; the story of the Good Samaritan from another; from another the Sermon on the Mount; from another 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. In 2Baruch we get an even more vivid picture of the moral chaos of these last times: And envy shall rise in those who had not thought ought of. Observe, As good men, by the grace of God, grow better and better, so bad men, through the subtlety of Satan and the power of their own corruptions, grow worse and worse. A great many certainly flatter themselves that they are thus favoured; but the cases are uncommon where it is more than pretence. What Does It Mean That There Is No One Holy Like God? a) Subject and Purpose of Epistle This second epistle which was written several years after the first draws a totally different picture before our eyes. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear" (it was what Timothy was manifesting), "but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. But, says the apostle, "be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." Well, Jesus has and He told us what to, what it's about in Luke, the sixteenth chapter. Look what they did to Jesus, and Jesus said, "If they persecuted me, they're going to persecute you" ( John 15:20 ). "And in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well.". "They that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." C. Description of His Present Resource 2 Timothy 3:13-17. If they had been more faithful, and more like their Master, would they have always escaped? And I will tell you what scriptures are inspired and which ones aren't. They will maintain the outward form of religion, but they will deny its power. There is just a certain natural love that would keep people from doing a lot of the things they are doing today. We must remember that they were Gnostics and that the basic principle of Gnosticism was that spirit was altogether good and matter altogether evil. Even an unbeliever is acting unfairly unless he tries to read it. "To Timothy, my dearly-beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. The doctrine that he preached. In the last days This often means the days of the Messiah, and is sometimes extended in its signification to the destruction of Jerusalem, as this was properly the last days of the Jewish state. Thus we have everything cared for here; the state of confusion is clearly depicted, as it then was beginning, and as results have proved yet more. There were those who would revenge themselves on an enemy by informing against him. It is the ability not to lose patience when people are foolish, not to grow irritable when they seem unteachable. This may be either an injury done to his feelings, his family, his reputation, his property, his liberty, his influence; it may be by depriving him of an office which he held, or preventing him from obtaining one to which he is eligible; it may be by subjecting him to fine or imprisonment, to banishment, torture, or death. It describes the man who is swept on by passion and impulse to such an extent that he is totally unable to think sensibly. In either case home and family life were destroyed. In the former epistle, Timothy was told how to behave in the house of God, as yet in order; but now we are told how to behave in such a state of things as the present disorder. As Timothy was about to enter upon a new phase of his ministry, without the apostle's presence or living counsel, the latter charges him with great emphasis, "before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; preach the word, be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine." Every man doing his own thing or every man believing as he wants. The numbers of people who flocked to the various athletic contests, loving pleasure. 2. Braggart has an interesting derivation. Traitors . Some of you here are victims of broken covenants. It's twelve thousand miles a second, but that's pretty fast, too. "The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day." It should be considered as one of the proper qualifications for membership in the church, to be willing to bear persecution, and to resolve not to shrink from any duty in order to avoid it. It describes, not the spirit which accepts life, but the spirit which masters it. The apostle mentions the Lord's delivering him out of them all, for Timothy's and our encouragement under sufferings. He lit the fire, and then he asked if he might read a little from each book before he dropped it in the flames. I believe that God intended you to have pleasure, but when it comes before God, it means that it has become your God and it makes a very poor God to worship or serve. Just to go line upon line, precept upon precept, plodding right straight through the word of God. Indeed, all who want to live in a godly way in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. And that's what creates the problem all the way through. Everything today is, you know, for the body beautiful. They just are irritated by your love and by your patience and by your goodness because they feel guilty. (iii) The Scriptures are valuable for reproof. Paul "the aged," as he says, was just about to leave this world. They're profitable for doctrine. And Paul said, You've known the Holy Scriptures, able to bring you to a faith in Jesus Christ, salvation through the faith in Jesus Christ. He blames the Jews who searched them, because they failed to learn the lesson which they were intended to convey. Compare the catalogue, Ro 1:29, &c., where much the same sins are attributed to heathen men; it shall be a relapse into virtual heathendom, with all its beast-like propensities, whence the symbol of it is "a beast" (Re 13:1, 11, 12, &c.; 17:3, 8, 11). The cause of this is the present confusion, and accordingly the apostle brings a picture of it before Timothy's mind. There is the idea of menace and of danger in this word. (2) They who are persecuted for their opinions, should consider that this may be one evidence that they have the spirit of Christ, and are his true friends. And many shall be stirred up in anger to injure many; And they shall rouse up armies in order to shed blood. He said, "A wicked and an adulterous generation seeks after a sign; but no sign will be given it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah: For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" ( Matthew 12:38-40 ). It is well to be exclusive of sin, but of nothing else. That will = Who will live ( ) to desire, to want to, to wish. First, there are the duties of an apostle. It would not burn. Salem Media Group. B. 3:8-9 In the same way as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these also oppose the truth, men whose minds are corrupt, and whose faith is counterfeit. shall suffer persecutionand will not decline it (Ga 5:11). For "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" ( Matthew 12:34 ). It would all be over, where, you know, the miseries would all be gone.What's the first thing God said to Job? Accordingly, there is a depth of feeling that one may safely say far exceeds the first epistle, although it had shown so much tenderness and care both for Timothy and the faithful of those days. There was the road from the south which centred the trade of the Maeander valley in Ephesus. "He devotes himself specially to women, and those such as are well-bred, and elegantly attired, and of great wealth." Men will be thankless (acharistos, G884) . "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise." Now you get out your, you know, your green and blue pens and for the inspired ones, we'll underline those with blue and we'll use red, maybe, to underline those that are not inspired, you know and, and so here I am, I'm the authority.Well, the next liberal comes along and he says, Well, no, no, no, he was wrong on that one. Still the man has become crude, blasphemous, ranting and raving, a disgrace to Jesus Christ who said, "By this sign shall men know that you are my disciples, that you love one another" ( John 13:34 ). One of my most unfavorite promises in the Bible. The Greek is hupomone ( G5281) , which means not a passive sitting down and bearing things but a triumphant facing of them so that even out of evil there can come good. Luke recorded the very words spoken on the mission field long ago, "Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22); and, in the words of White, "Consistency in the life of Christ must necessarily be always opposed by the world. It is in terms of these last days that Paul is thinking in this passage. Easy it seems to get sort of distracted and off course. They choose to lay, again and again, the early foundations of their Christian faith i.e. Thus he comforts Timothy at the same time that he admonishes him. Only Luke is with me." But the condition of the believers had deteriorated. No amount of intellectual curiosity can ever take the place of moral earnestness. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. And I filed many scriptures in that file. It is beyond argument that the Scriptures can convict a man of his error and convince him of the power of Christ. See also 1 Timothy 4:7; 1 Timothy 6:11, and on godliness, 1 Timothy 2:2. The final condemnation of these people is that they retain the outward form of religion but deny its power. When God came on the scene and entered the conversation with his friends? And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully." It is interesting, when Jesus in the Sermon on the mount described the Christian in the Beatitudes, after having described the traits of the Christian in the Beatitudes; you'd say, My, a man like that who is a peacemaker, who is merciful, who is hungering and thirsting after righteousness, who is meek, who is poor in spirit, surely you know the world would respect such a man. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men." Noah, the earth was really flooded? Get out your pen and take out the red, put the blue one. Parakolouthein ( G3877) is indeed the word for the disciple, for it includes the unwavering loyalty of the true comrade, the full understanding of the true scholar and the complete obedience of the dedicated servant. Or life, or death, or life after death? Comp. "My God shall supply all of your needs" ( Philippians 4:19 ). At this particular time in the ordinary matters of politics one of the curses of Rome was the existence of informers (delatores, compare G1213) . Accordingly, in much grief of heart, the apostle writes to his tried and trembling child in the faith, and seeks to strengthen him, above all things not to be discouraged, and to make up his mind to endure hard things. There is a sense in which slander is the most cruel of all sins. If a man's goods are stolen, he can set to and build up his fortunes again; but if his good name is taken away, irreparable damage has been done. As individuals, we should sometimes ask ourselves: what is our aim in life? Paul met him on his first missionary journey. True, he is telling of something which happened later than this, but the wretched story would be the same (Irenaeus: Against Heresies, 1, 13, 3). The Greek word (prodotes, G4273) means nothing less than a traitor. We don't have the time to devote to it this evening but I would suggest that you get a good Greek lexicon and do a word study on these particular Greek words that Paul uses to describe the attitudes and the actions of people in the last days. That persecution which will properly furnish any evidence that we are the friends of Christ, must be only that which is "for righteousness sake" Matthew 5:10, and must be brought upon us in an honest effort to obey the commands of God. "Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry." If your God is big enough to create the heavens and the earth, no problem, but you see, we stumble on the very first verse. The moment a man makes his own will the centre of life, divine and human relationships are destroyed, obedience to God and charity to men both become impossible. It should be considered as one of the proper qualifications for membership in the church, to be willing to bear persecution, and to resolve not to shrink from any duty in order to avoid it. The defeat of error depends not on skill in controversy but in the demonstration in life of the more excellent way. Paul goes on to list the things in which Timothy has been his disciple; and the interest of that list is that it consists of the strands out of which the life and work of an apostle are woven. Verse of the Day , 2 Timothy 3:12 Treasury of Scripture Knowing, God, My Praise (Study In God - All I Need-19). If Timothy wishes to live godly in Christ, he must make up his mind to encounter. In the last days there would come times which would menace the very existence of the Christian Church and of goodness itself, a kind of last tremendous assault of evil before its final defeat. In those days trade tended to flow down river valleys; Ephesus was at the mouth of the River Cayster, and commanded the trade of one of the richest hinterlands in all Asia Minor. It has been pointed out that the writer of Revelation may well have been thinking of Ephesus when he wrote that haunting passage which describes the merchandise of men: "The cargo of gold, silver, jewels and pearls, fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet, all kinds of scented wood, all articles of ivory, all articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble, cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls" ( Revelation 18:12-13). Closely allied with the braggart, but--as we shall see--even worse, is the man who is arrogant. live godly in Christ(Ga 2:20; Php 1:21). In the days between the Old and the New Testaments many Jewish books were written which expanded the Old Testament stories. The words that finally decided me were those in John 18:37: 'For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. 2. menin the professing Church. The scriptures are able to make us truly wise, wise for our souls and another world. 2 Timothy 3 1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. It is the attitude which bears with everything men can do and refuses to be either angry or embittered, and which will never seek anything but their highest good. (3.) "All scripture is given by inspiration of God.". THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL Assuredly he would rejoice to scare Timothy from the field of serving Christ, and would shrink from no means to secure it. This world is in rebellion against God. (1.) Have you ever seen an age when people were more conscious of their own selves? As we know, there may be over it all a certain form of godliness, but underneath it is really wickedness. Accordingly, although they are not exposed to the same assaults, and do not engage in the same battles, yet they have a warfare in common, and shall never be wholly at peace and exempt from persecutions. Love of self is the basic sin, from with all others flow. Of course it was infinitely higher, it is needless to say, in the Master; but the servant was as closely as possible following in His steps. At the same time there is the carrying on his full notice of everything found here below that would be a source of comfort to one who anticipated the ruin of Christendom. But yet it is absolutely unavoidable that all of them shall have the world for their enemy in some form or other, that their faith may be tried and their steadfastness proved; for Satan, who is the continual enemy of Christ, will never suffer any one to be at peace during his whole life; and there will always be wicked men that are thorns in our sides. What Does It Really Mean That Your Body Is a Temple? Xenophon tells us how Cyrus, the Persian king, defined the alazon ( G213) : "The name alazon ( G213) seems to apply to those who pretend that they are richer than they are or braver than they are, and to those who promise to do what they cannot do, and that, too, when it is evident that they do this only for the sake of getting something or making some gain" (Xenophon: Cyropoedia, 2, 2, 12). 4. Timothy had a great advantage in being trained up under such a tutor, and being apprised of the doctrine he preached. We must remember that the scripture of which Paul is writing is the Old Testament; as yet the New Testament had not come into being. We have already seen how secluded the life of the respectable Greek woman was, how she was brought up under the strictest supervision, how she was not allowed "to see anything, to hear anything, or to ask any questions," how she never appeared, even on a shopping expedition, alone on the streets, how she was never allowed even to appear at a public meeting. Anosios does not so much mean that men will break the written laws; it means that they will offend against the unwritten laws which are part and parcel of the essence of life. Noah escaped? To the Greek it was anosios ( G462) to refuse burial to the dead; it was anosios ( G462) for a brother to marry a sister, or a son a mother. Living here almost in a Sodom-Gomorrah atmosphere and environment. There are those who shrink from helping on others in order to the work and doctrine of the Lord. Story of Jonah has provoked a lot of problems for people, only because of their concept of God. The oldest Greek laws disfranchised the man who struck his parents; to strike a father was in Roman law as bad as murder; in the Jewish law honour for father and mother comes high in the list of the Ten Commandments. 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. Practical Bible study on 2 Timothy 1. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, and led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth ( 2 Timothy 3:5-7 ). Why cannot a man be as simple now as in apostolic times? "The cloke," then says he, "that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books," not only the clothing, but even that which he is to read, "especially the parchments;" what he was going to write on, probably. (2.) Those who are well instructed in the Scriptures will always be ready when an opportunity arises to do good (16-17).Since Gods servants must give him an account of their service, they should not miss any opportunity to teach the Scriptures, though they must always speak in a manner suited to the circumstances (4:1-2). Now it is interesting that as Paul is referring to the Scriptures here, he is, of course, referring to the Old Testament Scriptures. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Godly = adv. When children are disobedient to their parents, and break through the obligations which they lie under to them both in duty and gratitude, and frequently in interest, having their dependence upon them and their expectation from them, they make the times perilous; for what wickedness will those stick at who will be abusive to their own parents and The doctrine of the necessity of persecution was no new thing to Paul. The thing that amazes me is that he can attract people who will support him. Only in the New Testament have we any picture of Jesus, any account of his life and any record of his teaching. This may be either an injury done to his feelings, his family, his reputation, his property, his liberty, his influence; it may be by depriving him of an office which he held, or preventing him from obtaining one to which he is eligible; it may be by subjecting him to fine or imprisonment, to banishment, torture, or death.
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