In The Last Days

Introduction

If you wish to be turning in your Bibles this morning and about you to be turning to 2 Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy chapter 3 and also a part of chapter 4 will be our text this morning. And we’ll begin there in just a moment. First of all, to those who are visiting with us, thank you for joining us as we come together to worship our great God this morning. We hope that everything that we do here is to the edification of the soul, to the praise of God’s name, even as we now look to his word so that we can know better how we can live. If you are visiting with us, I hope you are more warmly greeted than the lady who is visiting with us who is sitting next to me.

During the Lord’s Supper, I’m holding Ethan, and he’s relatively quiet. He’s drinking a bottle at that stage, and uh he seems happy, seems content. And I look over and he’s pinching the lady beside me right on her arm. So hopefully your reception this morning was a little bit better than that. If you were pinched, just know it was in love. 2 Timothy chapter 3 begins with these words. Realize this, that in the last days, difficult times will come. And really all that Paul has to say in Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter 3 is in regard to this, in the last days. Now you may be visiting with us or have been reading your Bible for a while and studying your Bible for a while, and that phrase intrigues you.

In the last days. And our minds are prone to wonder as in our religious climate, the last days are typically associated with cataclysmic events around the world. That this, this earthquake or this hurricane, well, that’s a sign that we’re in the last days, or this government turmoil. That’s a sign that we’re in the last days. And there’s all these harbingers apparently that are going to precede the coming of the Lord. And so these are all signs of the last days. Well, the Bible does speak of the last day. In fact, Jesus himself speaks of the last day, particularly in John the sixth chapter. I’m just going to turn back there for a moment. But in John the sixth chapter and verse 39, our Lord says, that this is the will of him who sent me, that of all that he has given me, I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.

Again in verse 40. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I myself will raise him up on the last day. He uses that term again in verse 44 and also verse 54, and in John chapter 12 and verse 48, of how we are to follow his word, because that word will judge us on the last day. Paul is speaking to the philosophers of Athens says in Acts chapter 17 and verse 31 that our God has fixed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness through a man whom he has appointed. So we understand that there is this idea that there is a last day. There’s a day that is coming.

But what are these last days then? Well, the last days of the New Testament scriptures would seem to typify all the days of Christ’s people. All the days following the death and resurrection and ascension of our Lord, in Acts the second chapter and in verse 17, Peter, in speaking of why and his fellow apostles could speak in these tongues, and quoting from the prophecy of Joel says, that it shall be in the last days, God says, that I’ll pour forth of my spirit on all mankind. Peter is saying that that is happening right now. In these last days, he has poured forth his spirit. The Hebrew writer in Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 2, speaking of how in previous times and in different ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.

Yet he says in Hebrews 1 and verse 2 that in these last days he has spoken to us in his Son. Peter says in 2 Peter 3 and in verse 33, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lust. That has been going on ever since the days of Peter. And finally, John says in 1 John chapter 2 and in verse 18, children, it is the last hour. This last period of time. And just as you heard that Antichrist is coming, even now, many antichrists have appeared. That’s not just something we’re looking for in the future of some one great antichrist. No, John says, it’s the last hour now. We’re in the last days. Antichrist have come, those who are opposed to the will of God and of Christ.

And that is the way in which Paul is speaking of this in 2 Timothy chapter 3 and in verse 1. Realize this. That in the last days, difficult times will come. He’s speaking to Timothy about the times in which Timothy lived, and he’s speaking to us as well. Of the time in which we live. But the focus of the passage is not just about describing the last days, which he does do. It is how to live in those last days. And that’s what we want to really focus on this morning. But before we get to those applications of how we can live in the last days, let’s first of all recognize what Paul says. That yes, difficult times will come. He describes, first of all, in verses 2 through 5, the men of those times.

He says that 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. We will not take time to go through and analyze each and every characteristic that Paul gives here. But it’s enough to realize that Paul is giving in very broad terms characteristics that typify men of today, as they would have typified men of Timothy’s day. He begins by talking about those who are ruled by self. They are selfish in their nature, and that they are lovers of self, lovers of money.

They are boastful. They are quick to tell you all the things that they have done, and that has made them arrogant in their own self-esteem. He describes their ill behavior in a very variety of ways. That these are revilers, your translation may say they’re of blasphemers. That these are those who are living their way as if there is no God and they are not accountable to any God. They will do whatever they wish to do. They are disobedient to parents. They are malicious gossips. The term given there is literally diabolos. The slanderer. They are malicious gossips, these men of the last days. They are without self-control. But it’s not only that they are actively doing that which is wrong, there’s also characteristics that are absent from their life.

These unwords we might say, that they are ungrateful. They are unholy. They are unloving or irreconcilable as well. That is that they lack peace or will not make peace. That they are brutal, savage. They lack that idea of being able to be in harmony with others and act in the welfare of others, and they are haters of good. And finally, he closes this litany of crimes with characteristics of those who have completely turned away from God. It may be that not only is Paul describing here how men in general act, but he is specifically describing those who have turned away from God and are preaching and teaching doctrines that are different from the will of God. And the fact that he says that they are treacherous.

Traitors, if you will, to the very faith. And that treacherousness has made them reckless in their behavior and has made them conceited in their own opinion. That they are the ones who know the truth, and only they know the truth. And therefore they have turned from God and they are conceited, and therefore they are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. And the final phrase is perhaps the worst of all. They hold to a form of godliness, although they have denied his power. They recognize that there is a gospel, and this gospel is supposed to save and also to transform, but you see, in their lives, there is no transforming power present. They may say some of the right things about God and about his word, but the power of godliness is absent in that.

They are not living those principles themselves. And so Paul says, avoid such men as these. He goes on to say in verses six through eight that among them are those who enter into households. That they captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Just as Janice and Jambras opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth. What’s the point of this passage? That they are predatory in nature. He is not saying they go into the houses and that the weak women, that women are weak in general. That’s not his point. In fact, the very use of Jonas and Jambras in the verses eight and nine as an example of those who even deceived mighty Pharaoh of Egypt.

You go back to Acts chapter 13, and you see there of how one bar Jesus, Elemus also by name, how he was deceiving Sergius Paulus, the proconsul of Cyprus. But the point is that these men are predatory. They are looking for those who might listen to them. They’re not going to go to those who are in a position of strength and power. They’re not going to go to those who seem to have their act together. They’re going to look for those whom they may prey on. In this case, he says they are entering the households and they’re finding those because of their sins, because these are weighed down with sin, they are looking for, they’re looking for solutions, they’re grasping for answers, and so they’ll take whatever these men will give them.

If you don’t think that describes our day, and you think the last days are just something that are in the future, then I think Paul would beg to differ. That Timothy was living in days such as those, and men have been living in such a way ever since.

1. Look to the Right Examples

They may profess godliness, they may profess truth, but it’s not seen in their lives. And that destroys not only their being, but it will be a harm to God’s people. So how are you supposed to live in such days as these? How are we to combat such days as these? Well, Paul has several pieces of practical advice here that we want to look at. First of all, he says, look to the right examples. Notice why he says here in chapter 3 and verses 10 and 11. Now you.

The very term that Luke uses in Luke chapter 1 and verse 3. Where when Luke, in speaking of the gospel and speaking of the very life of Christ, he says, I have investigated everything. That’s the word that Paul uses here as followed. Timothy, you have seen how I have lived. You have seen my faith, my conduct, my love, in contrast to these men that you were to avoid. And it’s significant when he says, You’ve also followed my sufferings and my persecutions as I experienced at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra. If you’re familiar with the book of Acts, you would know that those were the primary stops on Paul’s first missionary journey. That Timothy, a young man from the area of Lystra and Derby, had perhaps met Paul for the first time on that first missionary journey.

And that Timothy would have known that when Paul left Antioch, he left Antioch because of the persecution of the Jews. That when he left Iconium, it was because, again, persecution of the Jews and the threat to stone him. And though Paul came to Lystra and he preached the gospel there, he was stoned and left for dead in Lystra. Timothy would have known all those things. And he would have known that what Paul did was for the sake of Christ and the gospel. He would have seen in Paul an example, a very real example of one who loved the Lord, of one who was faithful, one who taught the right things, conducted himself in the right way, who had the right purpose and the right faith and patience and love and perseverance and all these things, Paul is saying.

Timothy, I’m giving you an example, and you have followed that. You don’t have to follow the ways of these other men. Here’s a good example. The application for our day is this. You just look around us. I don’t know how many people we’ve got here today, but we’ve got a good crowd.

And what we have before us every day are examples, examples that should not be followed. It doesn’t matter if you’re teaching the right thing. If you’re not living the right way, you don’t need to be followed. But then you also have those who live in a way. That Timothy and we can see. That’s someone I ought to follow. There’s essential questions that I need to ask about those whom I would follow. That those I may even consider as a mentor for me in the faith. Does this person I’m thinking of follow apostolic teaching? Does he know what the Bible says? And then what about his way of life? What’s his purpose in life? What’s his faith in life? What’s his patience and his love like and his endurance?

How does this person experience sufferings and handle them? That’s what Paul is saying to Timothy. You’ve got an example in me that you can follow. But I don’t want to flip this around as well. What is Paul saying essentially? He’s essentially saying, watch me. Watch me, Timothy. Watch how I do it. It’s not a matter of pride and arrogance and boasting on behalf of Paul. In fact, Paul will say this in other places, like 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 1 imitate me as I imitate Christ. He’s not trying to exalt self here. He’s not trying to be boastful and say, I’m the pinnacle of all Christianity. He’s just saying, Timothy, I’m trying to live my life as an example that you can follow. So watch me.

Let me say this as a person who finds themselves kind of in that middle area. I’ve got those who are younger who are watching me, but I’m also at the same time looking to those who are older. And that I am watching them. I and those who are young, we need people that we can watch. I need people that I can follow. I need people that I can look at their life, and I can say, that person knows how to be a husband to his wife because I have failings. That person knows how to raise his children because I am going to have struggles in raising my children. That person has a godly manner about his manner of being with visitors and those who are in our community and those who are lost.

I need examples like that. I need examples for those who are suffering from their health and sin and sickness and all these things, and they’re handling it the right way. And finally, I need examples of how to die. Of those who don’t lose hope and don’t lose the faith. Who recognize ultimately that this life wasn’t all there is.

2. Hold Few Illusions About the World

And then I need to be looking for others who I can, in fact, watch as well. Look to the right examples, Paul says. You’re living in perilous times, treacherous days. Look for the right examples to follow. Not everyone. It’s a sad fact. Not everyone who calls himself a brother or sister is an example worth to be followed. But there are those. There are those even among us who, yes, their example should be followed as they are trying to live the same way as Paul did. Hold few illusions about the world, is Paul’s next point. In verses 12 through 13, as he has spoken of his own persecutions that Timothy well knew. In fact, he says here, indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus, will be persecuted.

But evil men and impostures will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. There’s some way we may think of that Paul is saying here is that each generation is worse than the previous, and perhaps in some way. Most generations will only build on the iniquity of the prior generation. But I think Paul is also saying to Timothy that the nature of men in general, as they are following the ways of the flesh, that they themselves grow worse and worse. Hitler didn’t start out by killing six million Jews. But his iniquities led him to that. And you look at that in your own life. I didn’t start out being engaged in this sinful activity. Actually, it started back here. Men grow worse and worse. Why is Paul telling Timothy this?

Don’t be deceived in the thinking that this world’s just going to be A-OK. Don’t be deceived into thinking that because everyone says, well, let’s all get along. And I would hearken back to what our brother Klein said in his sermon on Psalm chapter 7 this morning. Do not think this world is going to like you. Do not think that this world, even though there’s a lot of bad things going on in this world, most people are good and they’re just going to want to do what’s right. I don’t mean to say that we ought not to be nice. I do not mean to say that we ought to look to offend because we ought not to look to offend. But the point is, Paul is saying, this world is not like you.

Don’t think it is. This world, by its way of living, has shown itself opposed to God. So don’t be a dislusion here. Don’t fall for an illusion. And so don’t be surprised as he says in verse 12 when the world hates you. Because indeed, all the desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. It’s not going to make it easy. But if we go into it with our eyes open, recognizing the fact that, yes, this world is opposed to God. And I need to live for God. And so therefore, this world is not necessarily going to like me. At least it helps. Because you go into it with knowledge. You go into it expecting. You go into it prepared. Just as the world has persecuted God’s people throughout time, so it will continue to do so, even until these days end.

3. Hold On to the Word

Paul would then say, hold on to the word. Here’s that section which we know best of all, perhaps. You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing them from whom you have learned them. Of course, he would say that of himself. But he’d also say that of Lois and Eunice, back in chapter 1 and verse 5. Timothy’s mother and grandmother. You knew what was right. You knew the scripture. In fact, he says, from childhood, verse 15, you have known the sacred writings, which were able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. All scriptures inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. That the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

That verse is very significant, not just because you may memorize it. That verse is significant because it tells you here’s the real purpose of the word. And I want to show you that there are actually two purposes of the word. The first being what he says in verse 15. What’s the point of these sacred writings? That through faith, they will give you the wisdom that leads to salvation. That’s the purpose of Scripture. And then finally, after he talks about that the scripture, yes, it teaches, it reproves, it corrects, it trains. They make a man complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. That’s the purpose of Scripture. No, a verse a day keeps the devil away. That’s not what Scripture does. It’s not what Scripture says. What Scripture does is it brings you to the focal point of Scripture, and that is Jesus.

Scripture’s point is to bring you to Jesus. Show you who Jesus is, show you that you’re in sin, and here is the way you can be forgiven of those sins. That’s what Scripture does. And so, because of that, and our faith in Jesus and our salvation through his blood, Scripture has done what God purposed it to. And then it goes a step further. I’m forgiven, I’ve received salvation, but now my focus in life is to be more and more like him. How am I going to do that? Scripture. But put this in the context of the whole chapter. These are the times you live in, Timothy. Perilous times, dark times. Where men are growing worse and worse and worse and worse. What never changes? Scripture. Scripture never changes.

It doesn’t matter how dark the days are. It doesn’t matter how evil men get. It doesn’t matter how few are still faithful. The word of God never changes. And that scripture that you have known from your childhood still today can make you wise to salvation in Jesus Christ. That scripture that you knew from childhood, and you are learning more and more and more every day that is still making you complete. And the men and women of God that He intends us to be. Hold on to the Word. Have you ever needed motivation? Added significance to Bible reading and Bible study. Let it be that. That you live in perilous dark days. You need something to cling to that does not change. And the word of God, my friend, does not change.

4. Preach the Word

One final point for our discussion this morning. One final point that Paul wants us to recognize as we are living in the last days. Whoops. Yeah. Two final points. I forgot. I hadn’t gotten a chapter four yet. Preach the word. Everything so far has been defensive. Look to the right. Examples. Don’t be, don’t fall for the illusions of the world. Hold fast to the word. But we also have a responsibility to others who are living in these dark days. The men and women who are outside of the body of Christ, and the men and the women who are part of Christ’s kingdom. And so Paul says to Timothy, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus to judge the living and the dead by his appearing and his kingdom.

Preach the word. Be ready in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. For the time will come, he’s talking about Timothy’s own life. The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside the myths. But you be sober in all things. Endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. Brethren, if we are living in dark days, then we need to be light. If I need to hold fast to the word of God because that’s the only thing that’s not changing in these dark days, then I need to get that message out there to the world.

5. Take the Torch and Pass It On

And we need to be giving that message to each other. Days are coming when men will heap up for themselves teachers. Who will tell them exactly what they want to hear. If we are not living in days like that, brethren, I don’t know when days like that have ever existed. Men will always go to hear those who are saying what they want to hear. The gospel isn’t that. The gospel is God’s word that you need to hear. And so Paul says to Timothy, You preach that word. You get the message out there. These are dark, dangerous days. And then finally, take the torch and pass it on. The summer of 96, the Olympics came to Atlanta. A high school friend of mine was one of the, and I don’t even know how this happened, one of the ones chosen to take place in the torch relay.

And what I mean by that, he got to run with the torch. I think about 0.1 miles. They use a whole lot of people in the torch relay. But you understand what happens with the torch relay? You know, they they apparently they start all the way in Greece and they sail it over in a ship, and then they start on the west coast. I think they started on the west coast anyway, and they brought the torch all the way across the country. And if you’re in that relay, then you’re looking for the person behind you, and you see he’s got the torch and he’s coming, and you grab it and you jog or run or walk whatever, the point one miles, and you hand it on to the next person.

Paul is in effect saying, We are a part of such a chain of events. For what does he say as he concludes this section of verse 8, verse 6? As he has given Timothy this commission, you preach the word. He says, I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. And so he says, in the future there’s later for me the crown of righteousness. This is Paul’s valedictory address. He’s saying, I’m done. My work’s over. Now it’s your charge. You preach the work. Take the torch. But not only that, back in the second chapter, and in verse 2, Paul said to Timothy, You teach and commit these things to other faithful men.

You’re part of a chain, Timothy. Take the torch from me, preach the word and pass the word on.

And if you had never thought of it this way, then let me challenge you to think of it this way. You are in that chain. Going all the way back to the days of Jesus. All the way back to when the apostles were first preaching the gospel. To when Paul is doing his missionary work, and Timothy and Luke and Mark and Aquila and Priscilla and all the others, they continue that work. And whether it be your grandmother or your grandfather, your mother, your father, or a friend, or a coworker who passed the word on to you, you are now part of an unbroken chain that goes all the way back to when the word first came. To men and women who followed the word, who preached the word and then passed it on.

And now it’s our turn. Now it’s our turn. Because we live in dark days. The last days.

You take that torch, you run with it, and you pass it on the next one coming. Let me ask you, do you think what we’re doing here is important? Do you think what we’re doing here is important? Do you think having a young man like Greg training with us is an important thing? Do you think seeing all these young men who are scattered around and young women who are here and they’re learning and they’re teaching the word of God and they’re studying the word of God, do you think that’s important? Do you think it’s important when we talk about reaching out in the community, reaching out to souls who are lost? Do you think that’s important? Because let me tell you, if you’re thinking that this is just a Sunday, this is just a day which we always do what we ever do, you’re missing out on what God has made you a part of.

This is a living thing we’re all a part of. And the point is, I have a part in it. The gospel’s bigger than me. The kingdom is much, much, much, much, much bigger than me. But the beauty of Christianity is that God has made all of us, as insignificant as we may be, a part of it. Instrumental to it, a part of the body. And so as you live in last days. And you take that torch and you pass it on.

Conclusion

How perilous are the times in which we live. How dark do the days seem. As we look at all that happens in our world, how evil and wicked and corrupt our world seems to be. Do not despair. Because overwhelmingly, that is also Paul’s message to Timothy. Do not despair. You do live in dark times, yet you can overcome. You can persevere. You look for those good examples. You hold fast to the word of God. And then you commit that word of God to others. You preach that word. The word of God is timeless. And the word of God can also make you wise to salvation. And we would simply give to you what our Lord said in Mark 16 and 16: that he who believes and is baptized will be saved.

He who believeth not will be condemned. We invite you this morning to take advantage of the word that God gave. That you too, in your faith, you trusting in your God that He will save, be baptized so that the blood of Christ may forgive you of your sins. And you’ll, in fact, be made wise to salvation. Can we aid you in some way? Won’t you come as we stand and as we sing?