Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics, 7: 2) defined the alazon ( G213) as "the man who pretends to creditable qualities that he does not possess, or possesses in a lesser degree than he makes out." There is that in the scripture which suits every case. If what be claims for scripture is true of the Old Testament, how much truer it is of the still more precious words of the New. To many a man and woman has a little bit of dress done no small injury, just because they think it is too little for the Spirit of God to direct them in. The sister was persuaded to read a copy of St. John. How are we to walk so as to please the Lord when disorder reigns, claiming to be the only true order? In other words, it's not going to get better for awhile. Accordingly the apostle reminds Timothy of this. If there is no human affection, the family cannot exist. III. One dark night in a forest in Sicily a brigand held up a colporteur at the point of a revolver. 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. 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. And I will tell you what scriptures are inspired and which ones aren't. One must try disorders and prove profession. All rights reserved. How gracious of the Lord to point out the path for the saint, separate from that which grieves the Lord, yet enjoying all that He sees good for us of the privileges of Christianity! Far more harm is done from want of thought than almost anything else. "I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers, with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears." She had never tried the Bible, for a friend had convinced her by subtle arguments that it could not be true. And a hundred and fifty men can board it and they can submerge and go under the North Pole under the arctic ice. In vain shall we endeavor to detach Christ from his cross; for it may be said to be natural that the world should hate Christ even in his members. The best way to overcome and to banish the false is to live in such a way that the loveliness and the graciousness of the truth is plain for all to see. God said it.They are profitable. There would be two ways in which these heretics in the days of Timothy could exert an evil influence. and then shall we find the benefit and advantage designed thereby, and shall at last attain the happiness therein promised and assured to us. We can still see this kind of man in fairs and market-places shouting the virtues of a patent medicine which will act like magic. In all life there is nothing so creative of really productive effort as a clear consciousness of a purpose. 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. At that time Timothy was just a very young boy, probably in his mid-teens and yet he was attracted to Paul the apostle because of the message that Paul bore. It is perfectly true--as we have so often said--that Christianity is not founded on a printed book but on a living person. He glanced at it as he consigned it to the flames. And a less confession than this God never permitted the church to accept; nor in fact in Jerusalem itself was less ever accepted than the naming the name of the Lord. He was driven from Antioch in Pisidia ( Acts 13:50); he had to flee from Iconium to avoid lynching ( Acts 14:5-6); in Lystra he was stoned and left for dead ( Acts 14:19). It is profitable to us for all the purposes of the Christian life, for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. It can mean that a man is so bitter in his hatred that he will never come to terms with the man with whom he has quarrelled. What am I to believe about man? It is used in Plutarch to describe what we would call an ugly wound. It is a great happiness to know the certainty of the things wherein we have been instructed (Luke 1:4); not only to know what the truths are, but to know that they are of undoubted certainty. As I read the things that are happening in our modern-cultured Orange County, as I read the reports from the social department on the child abuse, I just shake my head in disbelief because a person could not possibly do these things unless they were without natural affection. (2.) The world is full of these braggarts to this day; the clever know-all's who deceive people into thinking that they are wise, the politicians who claim that their parties have a program which will bring in the Utopia and that they alone are born to be leaders of men, the people who crowd the advertisement columns with claims to give beauty, knowledge or health by their system, the people in the Church who have a kind of ostentatious goodness. 13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. I watch very little, but with horror and dismay, the deterioration of a man who probably at one time had a legitimate ministry, but I've seen the gradual erosion of this person on television just right before my eyes. But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. Others must do that kind of work in future. Persecution and hardships will come, but of two things Paul is sure. It was not merely now that they had made their consciences bad and slipped away from faith. But let not a man who will do this, suppose that he has any claim to be numbered among the martyrs, or even entitled to the Christian name. But we must exclude that which is contrary to His name; and the very same desire to prove one's love, one's faith, one's appreciation of Christ, will make one anxious not to be dragged into that which is not for His glory. Again and again Scripture has opened for men and women the way to God. When trouble fell on the Thessalonians, Paul wrote to them: "When we were with you, we told you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction; just as it has come to pass, and as you know" ( 1 Thessalonians 3:4). He went home and found the fire was out. 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. There is peril when men assess prosperity by material things. The absence of persecution, in any active sense, from the lives of most Christians of this era is generally due to the watered-down version of their Christianity and not to any subsidence of the savage hatred of the darkness for the light. That is the inevitable way to ruin, for no man can master anything unless he first masters himself. Observe, The scriptures will make us wise to salvation, if they be mixed with faith, and not otherwise, Hebrews 4:2. They claimed that the law was so imprinted on the heart and mind of a Jewish child that he would sooner forget his own name than he would forget it. In the last days perilous times will come: The word translated perilous has the idea of troubles, difficulty, and stressful situations. 1. So the same Greek is used of the same thing, Lu 14:28, 33, "intending (Greek, 'wishing') to build a tower counteth the cost.". Yea, and all that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. The prophets and apostles did not speak from themselves, but what they received of the Lord that they delivered unto us. Things are very much taking this direction of late, and at the present moment. God help us. The real meaning of this is that all theories, all theologies, all ethics, are to be tested against the Bible. 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. 3. There is slander enough in many a church to make the recording angel weep as he records it. Have you ever seen an age when people were more conscious of their own selves? 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. The alazon ( G213) was a mountebank who wandered the country with medicines and spells and methods of exorcism which, he claimed, were panaceas for all diseases. Those who would acquaint themselves with the things of God, and be assured of them, must know the holy scriptures, for these are the summary of divine revelation. This time he was a Christian minister, and it was to the reading of the books that he attributed his change. Good. He is sure that God will rescue the man who puts his faith in him. In it we find the duties, the qualities and the experiences of an apostle. He wants to accustom his mind to expect hardship instead of shirking it. ' according to godliness, 1 Timothy 6:3; Titus 1:1; and in all godliness, 1 Timothy 2:2. that will, &c.Greek, "all whose will is to live," &c. So far should persecution be from being a stumbling-block to Timothy, he should consider it a mark of the pious. Socrates skid that they were to be found in every walk of life but were worst of all in politics. Here is the essential conclusion. Timothy fully knew Paul's good character, which he might gather from his doctrine, manner of life, and purpose; for he gave proofs of his faith (that is, of his integrity and fidelity, or his faith in Christ, his faith concerning another world, by which Paul lived), his long-suffering towards the churches to which he preached and over which he presided, his charity towards all men, and his patience. But the phrase may mean any future time, whether near or distant. 2. 3:6-7 For from among these there come those who enter into houses, and take captive foolish women, laden with sins and driven by varied desires, ready to listen to any teacher but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. In simple fairness, no man seeking for the truth has any right to neglect the reading of the Bible. I reply, it is not always in one way that Satan persecutes the servants of Christ. A man can reach a stage when, so far from controlling it, he can become a slave to some habit or desire. They thought that eternal life lay in the letter, not in Him of whom the letter testified. It is interesting that the Scriptures in many places speak of the last days and in every case where the Scriptures speak of the last days, you find that it is an apt description of the day and the age in which we live. The word is almost exactly the English swelled-headed. The Christian leader will never lack his opponents. Second Timothy 3:12-13 "Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being. Timothy had been schooled in the Scriptures from his early youth by his mother and grandmother, and so as Paul began to, with the Scriptures, prove that Jesus was the Messiah, with Timothy's background, he could see the truth of it. Amidst all the stories one fact stands out--Jannes and Jambres became legendary figures typifying all those who opposed the purposes of God and the work of his true leaders. But no man ought to separate himself from the children of God, unless it be a dire necessity for the Lord; it is clearly not according to Christ. There was infirmity in the character of Timothy. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God. Activity of service was no longer before him. On the other hand, if a soul confesses the name of the Lord, he must have done with iniquity. After considering his own life, Paul speaks of others desiring to live godly lives as he has done, a life of piety toward God that will always be opposed by the world. 2 Timothy 3 He preached in the same church as C. H. Spurgeon over one hundred years earlier. And may not their freedom from it prove that they have surrendered the principles of their religion, where they should have stood firm, though the world were arrayed against them? (2.) I mean, people will have had it with the unrighteousness of the world. He is the man who is guilty of the "sin of the high heart." They should remember that, in this respect, they are treated as the Master was, and are in the goodly company of the prophets, apostles, and martyrs; for they were all persecuted. When the Lord was entering on His ministry He says, "Woman, what have I to do with thee?" But continue thou in the things which you have learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through the faith which is in Christ Jesus ( 2 Timothy 3:14-15 ). From childhood he has been guided by the Scriptures, and his faith in those Scriptures gives him assurance in his salvation (14-15). When Job was talking to his friends and they were talking to him about the future, and Job said, Oh, I wish I were dead. Jambres. By it we are thoroughly furnished for every good work. I think the next major event, Revelation 4:1 . At the end of each reading, the brigand said: "That's a good book; we won't burn that one; give it to me." James encourages us by explaining that those who persevere under trial, on the journey to maturity, will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him, and He exhorts us to consider it all joy, when we encounter various trials.There is an urgency in this final letter thatPaul wrote before his death, to remind us that ALL who live godly lives in Christ will certainly suffer persecution. 3:1 You must realize this--that in the last days difficult times will set in. But the sin of the man who is arrogant is in his heart. He might even seem to be humble; but in his secret heart there is contempt for everyone else. 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. On the other hand, it is unholy to tamper with evil. Things will get worse as people turn away from those who teach the Scriptures, and listen to those who teach their own theories. Proud member 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 ). Now what is it that Timothy had so fully known in Paul? The world really doesn't admire true Christian traits. And this, I believe, is much to be considered. And he embraced Christianity, but he was probably standing there in Lystra when the people in the city stoned Paul until they thought he was dead and dragged him out of the city. It can never cease to be a Christian's duty to maintain the unity of the Spirit; but it is not maintaining the unity of the Spirit to couple with the name of the Lord that which is fleshly and sinful. At first these magicians were able to match the wonders which Moses and Aaron did, but in the end they were defeated and discredited. 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. Love of self is the basic sin, from with all others flow. Paul contrasts the conduct of Timothy, his loyal disciple, with the conduct of the heretics who were doing their utmost to wreck the Church. (2 Timothy 1:1.) Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Now many people have a legitimate and proper desire to be used of God. 1. The strange characteristic of ingratitude is that it is the most hurting of all sins because it is the blindest. What does 2 Timothy 3:13 mean? It is not merely what had been preached, but what is in a permanent shape for the good of the saints of God here below, which elicits the remarkable assertion of its peculiar worth. He lit the fire, and then he asked if he might read a little from each book before he dropped it in the flames. There are persons who think that the approach of death is intended to blot out everything here. Paul regarded these as man-made things; but the great books for a man's soul were the God-inspired ones which tradition and the experience of men had sanctified. That the man of God may be perfect ( 2 Timothy 3:17 ). 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. "The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day." The word is anemeros ( G434) and would be more fittingly applied to a wild beast than to a human being. In either case home and family life were destroyed. 12And all who wish to live a godly life (186) Having mentioned his own persecutions, he likewise adds now, that nothing has happened to him which does not await all the godly. And he was probably in the company of those that were standing around, sort of crying, as they saw Paul's limp body on the ground. Perilous Times 2 Timothy 3:1. But the condition of the believers had deteriorated. There was the road from north Asia Minor and from Galatia which came in via Sardis. C. Description of His Present Resource 2 Timothy 3:13-17. 6. If anyone proposes to accept a set of standards quite different from the world's, he is bound to encounter trouble. Narcissism is at an all-time peak, but with lovers of yourself comes. The woman protests that she has never done so and cannot do so. The word here is makrothumia ( G3115) ; and makrothumia, as the Greeks used it, usually meant patience with people. Otherwise this might have seemed to be (what unbelief taunts and stigmatizes it, spite of His sanction) pride of heart and presumption. Acts 13:50; Acts 14:5-6,Acts 14:19; Acts 16:1-2). (12) Yea, and all that will live godly.--But St. Paul would not allow it to be thought for a moment that in the fact of his enduring persecution and suffering there was anything remarkable or singular; so he adds the words of this verse, which repeat in a peculiarly solemn way the great Christian truth that eternal glory was only to be reached by man through an avenue of sufferings. His own desire after going to the Lord did not prevent this, but the reverse: "that I may be filled with joy: when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also." Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1977. The apostle mentions the Lord's delivering him out of them all, for Timothy's and our encouragement under sufferings. You've made a covenant and there are so many broken covenants. If they had been more faithful, and more like their Master, would they have always escaped? Lear's words remain true: "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is. Thus it was that God had made him: there was no use denying it. "To Timothy, my dearly-beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. He forbad his going on in association with those that dishonour the Lord with vessels to dishonour; but he tells him to follow these things "with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart." THE EXPERIENCES OF AN APOSTLE ( 2 Timothy 3:10-13 continued). We must remember that Timothy's work lay in Ephesus, perhaps the greatest market in the ancient world. Now you'd think that the world would treat a person like that very cordially. And the comfort is that, if prepared to cleave to the will of the Lord alone, we shall have, through His grace, fellowship with the true-hearted.