Marching Orders - [2 Timothy]

Graveside Sermon Imagery and the Call to Finish Well

Well, as some of you know, I love graveyards. I love to go visit them, walk, pray. I love to take the men who are in my discipleship class right across the street, and there's a little cemetery right over there, and I love to have them open up the Bible and preach to the tombstones, teaching them valuable lessons about, unless God opens up the eyes and hearts of the people you're preaching to, you're preaching to dead men, you're preaching to bones.

I wish I could do it today, but we're not going to. I wish I could say, let's file out row by row, and we're going to go across the street to that tombstone area, that cemetery, because I want to preach a sermon to a person in light of their grave.

Sometimes you'll go to a burial plot and you'll see a person there buried, and it'll say 1901 to 1998, but then it'll have one of their children, and it'll say 1940 and then there's nothing there because they're still waiting for the person to die.

Today I want to preach a sermon to Dave Jeffries, and you're all just going to listen in. And I wish I was standing by Dave Jeffries' grave when I preach this. By the way, I can't find Dave. Dave, where are you?

I'm going to need to know. Oh, you're hiding behind Bartlett. Nice. Pick a big guy to hide behind. I'm not big on church calendars. Let's pick a Mother's Day sermon, Father's Day sermon. I'm usually into just exposition sequentially, but once in a while in the life of a church for ordination, there needs to be a special sermon.

And for the sending of a faithful pastor, there needs to be one as well. And so today I'm going to preach to Dave Jeffries with all of you listening, and I wish I was standing at Dave Jeffries' grave because Dave, you're in the fourth quarter, and I want you to finish well.

And in light of meeting Christ Jesus one day and standing at the beam of judgment, I'm going to give you several charges from 2 Timothy so that you might be found faithful by the Spirit of God. So let's turn our Bibles to 2 Timothy.

This is like a graveside sermon for Paul as he preaches it to Timothy. Because Timothy knows, as he reads this book, Paul's going to die soon. Paul himself knows it. And so this morning, not an ordination message, but a sending message for Dave Jeffries and, of course, Deb as she goes with him, as she helps him do his duties.

You say, well, why should I listen? I'm not an elder. I'm not leaving. I'm staying here. I'm one of the elect people who are staying at Bethlehem Bible Church. It's good for you to know 2 Timothy, isn't it?

It's good for you to know what is required of pastors. Every one of these ten charges you could easily turn into a prayer request for the leadership at Bethlehem Bible Church or, if you're visiting today, for one of your leaders.

It's good to go through 2 Timothy to see what does God require in a man of God. You'll find out very quickly it's not friendship. I like my pastor because we're friends. That's good, but that's not what you'll see in 2 Timothy.

I like him because he's a buddy of mine. He's a CEO. He's a coach. He's a life coach. I think you're going to be very surprised as you see Paul writing on his deathbed. I mean, what would you tell people on your deathbed?

I've already imagined it. All my kids are around me and my wife, and I'm laying there, and I'm thinking, what do I tell them? Am I like the fool in California when asked, what are your last words before you're executed?

And he said, go Raiders. You'll find this much different. It's much more different when Paul, with solemnity, with a very personal approach, gives a charge to his child in the faith, Timothy. And as you sit and listen, you'll say to yourself, that's what a pastor should be.

That's what I need to pray for, that my pastors would stay and remain. And certainly if pastors are to hold the word up, aren't you two as well? Absolutely. So this morning we're going to look at 2 Timothy as I talk to Dave, and I have a lot of people who are just eavesdropping as I give the marching orders to Dave and his helpmate.

Before we start, let's go to 2 Timothy 1. I'm not going to preach through everything, but I'm just going to pick out ten salient charges for Dave as we send him off. By the way, this would be a good sermon to send to any church that has a search committee needing a pastor.

What do you look for in a pastor? You like his style, you like his accent, he's friendly, he's got management experience, he's a good coordinator, he's been a CEO. What do you look for? He could do all those things, but if he's not involved with these things, then he's not a man called of God.

Now, today is going to be a little different as well, because I'm going to switch between the ESV and the NAS. So if you're wondering what's going on, I'll just tell you ahead of time. Before we start, look at verses 1 and 2 of 2 Timothy 1.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, according to the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my beloved child, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul didn't stop preaching Christ Jesus for 30 years. The Damascus Road experience had not changed him. He hadn't gone on to bigger and better things, and now here comes the charge. How about Paul's last words?

What would he say? Ten charges for you, Dave Jefferies. Ten prayer requests for Bethlehem Bible Church to pray for their pastors. By the way, we'll need more of your prayers now, because every time there's kind of a chairman of the board, kind of an elder statesman elder, we happen to send them off to populate other churches.

Just, it was what, two years ago, three years ago when Louis Brown went and left, and then now Dave. Pradeep, don't get any ideas. But that's just what we do. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Martin Luther said there are four slits in your hand. One, two, three, four. Why? To hold money and people loosely. We don't own each other. The Lord does, and he moves people at his own good pleasure.

And so now Paul is going to die, and he gives with great solemnity these charges filled with emotion to Timothy. And so therefore, Dave, I give them to you. Marching orders for Dave Jefferies and anyone who would dare call themselves a pastor, for anyone who would love to be a pastor or an elder or a leader.

Remain Loyal to the Gospel

Number one, Dave, remain loyal to the gospel. Remain loyal to the gospel. Let's go to chapter 1, verse 13. This book is full of all kinds of imperatives, all kinds of commands. This is very military in the sense that there's a superior officer giving commands to the lower officer.

And the expectation is going to be obedience. Jump how high. It's going to be, you know, yes, sir, or no, sir, or I don't understand, sir. But it's going to be very crisp, very clean, very full of commands.

And look at the first one in verse 13. Follow or retain the pattern of sound words that you have heard from me in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

Dave, your job is to retain the gospel that God has by His will given to you. To keep it. It's your responsibility to hold on to it, to preserve it. All the things that you've been taught from the scriptures by all your pastors, to keep and retain.

And what else are you to do? You are to guard this. Timothy was probably feeling a temptation to slack off, to loosen up, to modify his message. And then Paul said, Timothy, no, you're supposed to keep it.

As my brother would say, with a white knuckle grip. You've been taught something. Somebody has entrusted their lives to you because God has sent them into your life, taught you the scriptures, and you're to keep it for yourself.

To keep it yourself, rather. Not to keep it for yourself, but to keep it yourself. Not by your own strength, Dave, not by your own power. Verse 14, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. But not just keeping it yourself, but guarding it.

You see the next verse? Verse 14, guard the gospel. Just the other day I thought about this illustration. If I, as the senior pastor, am the aircraft carrier, Dave has many different ways that I could describe him, but Dave's like a destroyer.

Destroyer Dave. Okay, he's like a battleship. And his job is to guard, not only to retain the gospel, so he can preach it, of course, but to guard it. There are enemies of the gospel. There are people trying to infuse works into grace.

There are people that are trying to say Jesus isn't God. And as an elder, Dave Jeffries, as you go with false teachers and with false teaching, your job is not to turn the other cheek. Your job is to guard and to protect and to pummel and to bury the ideological ideas of false teachers.

If I could say it this way, Dave, when it comes to false teaching, you cannot be a pacifist. You cannot be a pacifist. Your job is to murder false doctrines with premeditation, with thoroughness, crushing them out.

I'm not saying he should murder false teachers, but there are imprecatory psalms. But for today, Dave, I want you to murder with premeditation anything that would take away from the glory of Christ and His majesty and His sufficiency.

And Paul says to Timothy, and I say to you, you have to guard it. It is an imperative. The gospel in people's eyes could be lost or damaged. And your job, not by your own strength, but the Spirit of God's strength, is to protect it.

It sounds like, Jude, beloved, I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation. I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered for all.

Sadly, some have been affected by the false gospel. Look at verse 15. This is why pastors need to protect. This is why pastors need to guard. Paul gives both negative and positive examples of what he just told Timothy to make it more relevant.

You are aware of the fact, verse 15, that all who are in Asia turned away from Me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. Some people didn't want to retain the gospel. Some people didn't want to guard it.

Some people turned away from it. But thankfully, wonderfully, not everybody did. Verse 16. The Lord grant mercy to the house of Anesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains.

But when he was in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me. Dave, today, in the attitude of Brian McLaren and love wins and universalism and everything else, guard the gospel. Fight off the wolves.

Be Strengthened by Grace in Christ Jesus

Number two. Okay, the first one took 10 minutes. I got nine to go. Didn't you do that when you were younger? Somebody said, I have four points. And you thought, okay, the first one took 15 minutes. Extrapolate it out.

Do you ever do that? But there's a little secret. Preachers always preach the first few points with more time involved. And then the last few, it's just speed dial. It's just, you've got to finish. Since Dave won't be back next week, I have to finish all 10.

Number two, Dave, don't rely on your own resources or your own power or your own smarts. In other words, be strengthened by the grace that is found in Christ Jesus. That's exactly what Paul says to Timothy.

2 Timothy 2, verse 1. This job is too big, being a pastor, being an elder. Who can do it? You then, my child, be strengthened. ESV is way better than NAS here. Be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

Continually, it's a present passive imperative. Present, ongoing. Passive, it's done to you. Imperative, it must be done. It must be your attitude, Dave, to have a continual dependence on God for your work.

You can't do it without Him. Jesus said, without Me, you can do what? Nothing. And if you look backwards in the epistle, retain, you can't do that on your own. Guard, you can't do that on your own. If you look forward in this epistle, you can't train, you can't preach, you can't do anything on your own.

Keep on being strengthened, Dave Jeffries, by the grace that is found in Christ Jesus. Be a man of prayer. Be a man strengthened by Christ Jesus. Number three, pass the baton to the next generation. Dave, remain loyal to the gospel.

Dave, don't rely on your own resources. Number three, Dave, pass the baton on to the next generation. And by the way, you're probably thinking right about now, that's what Dave has done already here at Bethlehem Bible Church.

That's true, but how does God motivate people? How does God keep people on the straight and narrow? How does God make people excel even more? Answer, through the preaching of the gospel. Through the preaching of the Word.

May we never come to the text and say, well, we already do all that, we already get all that, I don't need to read any more Scripture like that. Passing the baton on to the next generation. Look at verse 2 of 2 Timothy.

This is for Paul to Timothy, but then it goes right on down the list to Dave Jeffries. The things which you heard from me, Paul said, in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

You've got to take the baton that's been given to you and pass it to the next generation. Because my guess is, Dave, in about ten years after you've trained other men there, it's time to move back to New England.

You want to go fortify that church, solidify it, and then come back. It wouldn't be the first time. It's a neat little story. Dave probably knows the exact dates better than I do, but it was about 25 years ago, Dave was an elder here at Bethlehem Baptist Church.

And Dave did not want to cause any kind of division. Bob Bowman was the pastor, and there was a few issues of theology that they just didn't line up in agreement with. But Dave said, you know, I want to be a support, I don't want to divide, and I'll gladly step down.

That was when Bob was preaching through Ephesians. And then years later, Dave came to visit, and I was preaching through Ephesians. And then here Dave is. And so I'm really praying that when he goes to Dallas and finds a new church, the pastor says, we're going to start a new series.

It's going to be Ephesians. Please open your Bible. Dave, by teaching, by example, by illustration, pass on the baton. Look down at verse 14 as well. This has to do with the same idea here. Remind them.

2 Timothy 2 .14. Remind them of these things and charge them before God not to quarrel about words which does no good but only ruins the hearers. Remind those that are going to teach to others, remind those that influence hearers to do the same thing.

Passing on discipleship. Dave, I think you're great at this, but the charge is still there. Continue to pour your life in to the hearts of men who want to be in ministry. Number four. Dave Jeffries, suffer well.

Marching orders for every pastor and today at our church for Dave Jeffries, suffer well. I'd like to have that for a command from Paul. I'd like to have that for marching orders. Suffer. Look at verse 3.

If you remember today at the church, our visitor, part and parcel of Christianity is suffering. Everybody suffers. Every Christian suffers. Verse 3, Suffer hardship with me. Undergo affliction with me.

Here's an imperative again, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Soldiers suffer. Soldiers of the cross suffer hardship. Can't think of any other model of a person with a job description who suffers more than men in Afghanistan on the front lines.

They suffer many hardships. Yet, what does the soldier do? He's single-minded in his approach. He's got blinders on, and even though he's suffering, he's got one aim, one view. Christ Jesus' glory. He's not thinking about all kinds of other things.

I thought this was fascinating, Dave. One commentator said, Servants of Christ are not merely to be well-rounded dabblers in all types of trivial pursuits. They've got one thing they're focused on. And with a perseverance of a soldier.

Or, take a look at verse 5. The analogy of the athlete. If anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules. Athletes suffer. Try to find someone who's trained for the Olympics.

They suffer. If you wanted to be in the Olympic Games back in the old days, you had to have strict training for ten months as you would swear an oath before the false god, Zeus. Farmers suffer. Verse 6, A hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops.

He says, Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. Jesus suffered. Verse 8, Remember Jesus Christ, Dave? This whole thing is about suffering. Look down at verse 9. Paul suffered for which I suffer hardship.

This is all connected. Paul says to Timothy, You're going to suffer, suffer for the glory of God. Remember verse 8, Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my Gospel. He suffered, but He's the one who had the cross first, and then the crown.

He's the one that died on the cross first, and then there was glory. And that's the Christian life. And mark this congregation, when somebody tells you it's glory without the cross, you know they're a false teacher.

It's always the cross, and then glory. The cross, and then the crown. Never, oh, you get it all first, and then you don't have to suffer. Jesus suffered, and now in context, look at verse 9, Paul suffered too, for which I suffer hardship, even to the imprisonment as a criminal.

But the Word of God is not imprisoned. Jesus suffered, but He was raised from the dead. Triumph over suffering, which should motivate Timothy, which should motivate Dave Jeffries. Dave, I have a question for you.

Do you think the Gospel is worth suffering for? I think Christ Jesus and His Gospel is. Listen to what John Calvin's preface to a Bible translation said. Without the Gospel, everything is useless and vain.

Without the Gospel, we are not Christians. Without the Gospel, all riches is poverty. All wisdom, folly before God. Strength is weakness, and all the justice of man is under the condemnation of God. But by the knowledge of the Gospel, we are made children of God, brothers of Jesus Christ, citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, heirs of God and Jesus Christ by whom poor are made rich, the weak strong, the fools wise, the sinners justified, the desolate comforted, the doubting sure, and the slaves free.

If you take a look at the text, verse 8, Paul even arranged Jesus' names in the way that you would see His humanity first. His suffering first. When you say Christ Jesus, you're saying the Messiah, the Person of Jesus.

Now, in an odd way, you don't see Jesus Christ listed in the pastoral epistles like this very often. And so when it's Christ Jesus or Jesus Christ, there's a reason. Why is there a reason for it to be Jesus Christ now?

Because Jesus, the humanity in His humanity, is put up front because in His humanity, Jesus suffered. And you suffer for the glory of God, Dave, but do you know who else you suffer for? For the elect.

For the elect. Verse 10. Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of thee... What? Elect. For the sake of those chosen, N .A .S. says. Pastors suffer with a view towards Jesus' suffering, but also because the payoff is wonderful in the lives of Christ's blood-bought people.

The ones that Jesus picked in eternity past suffer for them. It's amazing that they also, verse 10, may obtain salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. It's worth it, Dave, the eternal glory that's shown in the face of people as God has chosen them in eternity past and then the Spirit of God illumines their mind, it quickens them and they believe and you say, ministry is worth it.

That's Paul's ministry in Titus, isn't it? Paul said, why do I exist? Here's why I exist. I have three reasons why I exist. There are a lot of people out there who are chosen that haven't believed yet, therefore I preach.

There are a lot of people who believe and who need to be sanctified, therefore I preach. And there's a lot of people out there who need to be glorified and therefore I preach. Maybe there are some people even here today that you aren't a believer but God has called you in eternity past and so we preach for you.

It's worth everything for the sake of those God has chosen. People say all the time, well, I don't like this election and I don't get predestination and I don't get this other stuff. Well, you just keep reading your Bible because then you'll get it.

If you say to yourself, I will bow to Scripture, you'll start getting it. God chose Israel, He didn't choose anybody else. God chose some angels, He didn't choose them all. God chose Jacob, He didn't choose Esau.

God chose Moses, He didn't choose Pharaoh. God chose you and He didn't choose your friend. I mean, it just goes on and on and on. So Dave, for the glory of Christ, suffer well and for the elect, suffer well.

Study Diligently and Be Approved by God

Number five, Dave, study like God is watching you. Boy, this will be good for Sunday school teachers, Awana teachers. I hope you're not the ones that get up in the morning at about 8 .35 and driving frantically to church saying, what am I going to throw up to the kids today?

I have a little bit of advice for you, kind of a side note, since people like rabbit trails at Bethlehem Bible Church, at least I do. Repent of that or drop out. If pastors are supposed to study well, that means everybody else is supposed to study too.

Look at verse 15. I mean, talk about weight and gravity. By the way, this is the verse, Dave, that when I'm studying, I say to myself, oh, I know that Greek word. And then I say, well, I think I do, but I better double check.

It's worth opening up the book again to make sure. Be diligent, verse 15. Do your best, ESV says, to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

Dave, Calvin said, some preachers study like they were playing some kind of game. Paul says to Timothy, I want you to study diligently. Sweat. Have due care. It's difficult. But Paul says, that word be diligent or do your best means to spare no effort.

To spare no effort. Or you will be ashamed. By? Well, it would be horrible if I got up and preached something that wasn't in the Bible and you gave me shame because you said, you know what, Mike didn't really do a good job.

That would be bad. I would not like that. But that's not what the text is alluding to here. This passive ashamed means don't be forced to be ashamed. Who's going to force you to be ashamed? And the text here alludes to being disapproved by God himself.

Dave, human popularity, human applause will come and go, but you want to know when you rest your head down at night after discharging your duty from the pulpit, God was pleased. And you have to cut things straight.

You have to study. You have to sweat. You have to toil. Expository preaching is an exacting discipline. Maybe that's why it's not very popular. Number six, Dave, be encouraged. Dave, be encouraged in the Gospel.

What do you mean? Well, we've got some stuff here that's going on. Be loyal. Guard. Pass a baton. Trust. Suffer. There's some encouragement in Gospel ministry. I'm very glad for that. Let's go to verse 16.

There's going to be more discouragement, but then you'll see the encouragement. You're going to say, how is this encouraging? But we're going to get there. But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lend or lead to further ungodliness, verse 16.

Irreverent babble, the ESV says. I just keep thinking of people who go to baseball games. I never played baseball when I was a kid, and it shows today, but I do remember going to little league games and they were saying, hey, batter, batter, batter, batter, hey, batter, batter, and doing all that stuff.

I'm thinking, irreverent chatter, chatter, irreverent chatter, chatter, just this kind of all this talk that means nothing. It just leads people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene, a zombie-like sore eating itself, leprous green gangrene.

I've seen gangrene in the operating room before they have to amputate somebody's foot because it's gangrenous, and the smell of gangrene you won't soon get over. These people's talk is like gangrene. Think, how is this encouraging?

Verse 18, men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place. Don't you know it? They upset the faith of some. So, Dave, even though the church, universal and the church that you go to, there could be some people in there upsetting the truth of some, dabbling with the faith of others.

We all ask the question, can the church stand up to the world these days? The answer is yes. Look at verse 19. Oh, this is great. It's like the pastor's favorite verse. If you've got a card that you're going to give to Dave Jeffries at the end of this service, quick open it up and write in there 2 Timothy 2 .19.

Four pastors, four elders, in the midst of this gangrenous talk and this chatter, chatter, chatter, nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands. God's going to build His church having this seal. The Lord knows those who are His.

How great is that? Sometimes I don't know that. Sometimes Dave doesn't know that. Who are the sheep and who are the goats? False teachers have all kinds of inroads and he says, Dave, the work and the permanence of the work of the Gospel is sure.

He wants to encourage Timothy. And then he says at the end of verse 19, let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity. Where's that from? Where's he quoting? From which book of the Old Testament is he quoting?

There's all kinds of cancerous attacks in Israel and will we make it? He's quoting Numbers 16. Korah's rebellion. Did it completely devastate Israel or was there a remnant? Were there a few people that didn't buy in to Korah's horrible, gangrenous rebellion?

And so Paul uses Numbers chapter 16 to say, Paul, as the Apostle Timothy, you listen to me. There's going to be a great stability. God's church is going to be built. And Dave, how great is it that the gates of death cannot stop every elect person from coming to faith.

Be Patient, Gentle, and Evangelistic with Opponents

Number 7. Dave, be patient with people. Now I first wrote this down maybe in a little no compromise style. My first note down here, Dave, was be patient with fools. Now in one sense, unbelievers are foolish, aren't they?

The fool has said in his heart, what? There's no God. Look at how the pastor has to deal with unbelievers. Sometimes I'm tempted to just want to whack them. There's a theme to today's message, isn't it?

Hitting, murder, whacking, killing, destroying, Dave the destroyer. There's a soft side too and you can think of Jesus as you go through here. As I'm looking at the pastoral epistles and preaching about this, you can just think of Jesus passing the baton on.

You can think of Jesus suffering well, guarding, retaining. You can just think this is exactly what Jesus would do. And Jesus, when He was around self-righteous people, He whacked them. When He was around people who knew they were sinful, He did what?

Just came right alongside of them and was patient with them. And here, verse 24, Dave, the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents.

Talking about unbelievers with gentleness, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth. In other words, Dave, people aren't the enemy.

Unbelievers are just exactly what you were 30 some years ago, unbelieving, dead, and blind until God brought somebody to preach the gospel to you. And so Paul says to Timothy, be patient. What's the goal?

To win the argument? To decimate them? No, you want to preach the gospel so that they might believe. It's a great way for all of us to evangelize because what do we want at the end of the day? Verse 26, that they may come to their senses.

It's the most crazy thing in the world not to believe that Jesus is the Creator. We want them to come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.

The biggest scheme in all the world is people have free will when right here the Bible says Satan is making people do their will. Unbelievers say, I have a free will and they're doing Satan's will. And so the gospel preacher comes alongside with patience, with gentleness, with doctrinal clarity, and preaches to those who are in opposition.

By the way, as I think of that, I think Dave does a great job of doing that very thing. Number eight, three more. Dave, don't be shocked at how bad things are or how bad they'll get. 2 Timothy 3, verses 1 and following, friends, pastoral side note, the more you watch CNN, the more you read Real Politics, the more you read Slate, the more you read all that other stuff, the more you watch TV, the more you watch Fox News, I'm telling you, you're going to sit and say to yourself, it's only getting worse, it's getting worse, the world's going to hell, it's worse and worse and worse.

The same amount of time you spend dabbling into those people's minds, and by the way, most of them do not have the fear of the Lord, they don't know Revelation 22 says Jesus comes back and we all what?

We win. Everybody likes to be on the winning team, this is the most important winning team, we win. So all these people, how would you act if you didn't have Christ, you didn't have the hope of glory, you didn't think, you had only your own wisdom?

Well, I'm telling you, that's enough to make you agitated and anxious. And Paul is saying to Timothy, it's going to get worse before it gets better. So when we wake up and the world is worse, worse today than it was yesterday, when it's bad today, and it was okay yesterday, and it's even more horrible tomorrow, we shouldn't be shocked.

Look, there's faithfulness everywhere. Faithlessness rather. Realize this verse 1. In the last days, all the days after Jesus' death, burial and resurrection, after these last days, savage times will come.

That's the word. Savage. Ruthless. These ages and epochs are going to come. Difficult times with difficult people. Verse 2. Verse 2 of 2 Timothy 3. For people will be what's at the top of the list. Lovers of self.

Dave, don't be shocked when the world is imbibing itself with self-esteem and everything else. The list just goes on and on. I don't have to describe them all. Lovers of money. Proud. Arrogant. Abusive.

Disobedient to their parents. Ungrateful. Unholy. Fearless. Unappeasable. Slanderous. Without self-control. Brutal. And now we go back to the love issue. Not loving good. Treacherous. Reckless. Swollen with conceit.

Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Dave, people are born to worship God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and if they refuse to worship the Lord God, then they'll worship somebody else with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength.

And don't let that deviate you. God is sovereign over everything. I picked up MacArthur at the airport 10 years ago and how's ministry going? Well, struggling in this area and that area. So many people, they know the word Jesus here in our culture, but with their background and with their religion that they're in now, it's a different Jesus.

It's a Jesus that if you said is his death sufficient, they would say no because week in and week out they have to slay Jesus again. And I just said, it's very difficult in this environment to preach the gospel, to see people get saved.

What am I going to do? I should have never asked that question to John MacArthur. He said, Mike, you think the gospel is powerful enough to save people in New England? That's Fenway Park right there, John.

It's an old, very famous ballpark, one of the originals. So Dave, it doesn't matter how bad things get. By the way, in Texas, it probably won't be as bad in New England externally, but on the inside, it's probably worse because everybody will go around saying, I'm a Baptist, I'm in heaven.