Sunday Mornings 9/19/10 - Thanh Tran
1But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.
6They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. 8Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth—men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.
2 Timothy 3: 1-9
There was a man whose wife cooked his eggs wrong. The man shot his wife. The daughter went to the neighbors and the father shot the daughter and the neighbor. He also shot a man that saw.
What would Paul say about this?
V1 We are living in the last days. Paul says that during the last days, there will be terrible things going on. Paul would say that what we are seeing now will be even worse as time goes by. The heart of man will continue to spin out of control in a downward spiral. It will get worse and worse, until Jesus comes back. Paul is telling us about the human condition. There are 19 conditions of man’s sinfulness and depravity, but they can be summed up in three categories.
1) Self love: V2 Paul says that in the last day, men will be lovers of themselves. Selfishness is the basic root of sin and from this, all other sins will arise. It’s no wonder why Jesus said that his disciples should deny themselves, crucify themselves daily, and pick up their crosses. When the love of self happens, other sin will branch out.
They will become lovers of money, pleasures, lust, rather then lovers of God. If people love themselves, they will love money. They will strive putting money first, before family, friends, and do anything they can to make money. EX. There was a man who owns half the city of Newport Beach. During the process his wife divorced him, and his children abandoned him.You become proud and boastful. You can identify these people because they are “know it alls”. On the inside, they know nothing. Parents urge their kids to become doctors and engineers for the purpose of making themselves look good. These people are prideful and selfish and boastful.
2) Rebellion: V3 These people are disobedient to their parents. Usually if they don’t obey their parents, those children won’t have any respect for any other authority either. They are unable to be subjective to anyone who has any authority. They become unloving. Without a love for family, society will have big problems. EX. In Florida there was a group of schoolmates who got together and plotted to run away from home. There was a 15 year old girl who got scared and wanted out. The group abused the girl and murdered her. Afterward, they all went out for ice cream with no sense of guilt. They were headstrong, out of control. When the home is broken, there will be problems in society. When the home becomes a boat of demonic activity, the children will rebel.
3) Ungodly things: V5 People will have a shadow of Godliness. People will look at them and think that they are really holy. They will see a form of Godliness but on the inside there is absolutely nothing. They are hypocrites. EX. There were people in Israel who claimed to know God. When they prayed, they prayed loud and made it know. When they fasted, they would blow trumpets. When they tithe, they show off what they give. On the inside, these people were snakes. Jesus looked at them and called them “white-washed tombstones”. The tombstone is clean, but on the inside, there are dry bones. EX. There was a youth pastor that was giving a funeral. At the funeral he said he was close enough to them to call them his mom or dad. Six weeks later, he was arrested for killing them. He was stealing from their checking account. He had a mask, and when he took it off a murderous, corrupt face emerged.
V8 Jannes and jambres. Exodus 7-8 These men were the magicians who opposed Moses before the Pharaoh. They were they men who imitated Moses when he performed miracles. Satan can do miracles and he can empower his people to do miracles. However, his power is limited and is no match to God’s. In our time, people will do the same. We need to have discernment to determine these things.
The sad thing is that Paul was writing to a church. He was addressing the conditions of the people in that church. This is very sad.
3 Things the church can do
1) the church is in a spiritual warfare. Our battle is not with flesh and blood but with powers and strongholds that will intensify. We are commanded as soldiers of Jesus Christ to put on the full armor of God. We can’t go to battle leaving behind any armor.
2) Have doctrinal discernment. Test every message with the word of God. There are people who will try to deceive us. They would perform miracles and wonders, but they are actually false teachers. If we don’t know the bible and the full counsel of God, how will we distinguish form right and wrong.
3) Be faithful until the end and be faithful to our tasks. The battle belongs to God and has been won by Jesus. In the meantime, we need to keep being faithful to God and fulfill our tasks.
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