Keep sharing good news without ads.
Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/joel-portman/preservation-of-doctrine/
2 Timothy chapter 3, I trust that I have this on my mind, will be a message of follow along with what we've been hearing already. 2 Timothy chapter 3, we know that this epistle is the last epistle that we have of the Apostle Paul.
I think last words are always very important, and I appreciate looking at them at different parts of God's word. We'll just break into this chapter, chapter 3 from verse 10. But thou hast fully known my doctrine, his teaching, my manner of life, that is his conduct, my purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, his love, patience, it would be nice if he stopped there, but he didn't, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, what persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me, yea, and all that determine to live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, wax to the worse, deceiving and being deceived, but continue thou unto things which thou hast learned, and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them, and that from a child, from an infant thou hast known the sacred writings, the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, that's for teaching, and these are all nouns, they're not verbs, it's for the teaching, the material, it's for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, perfect, thoroughly furnished unto every good work.
That's all I'd like to read, but we'll refer to other scriptures in the context of what I have in my message. I know that there are different opinions about the last days, when they started, and of course how long they continue, we find different contexts, and we can find different ways of looking at them.
We know that some ways, the last day conditions began with the passing of all the apostles, and was left to those that followed him, just like the passing of Moses, resulted in a different leadership under the hand of Joshua.
But I'll leave all those things and just consider the fact, brethren and sisters, saved or not saved here today, that I believe we are living in last days. I was noticing this morning in my daily reading, in Genesis chapter 19, the oppressive, immoral, violent conditions that existed in the city of Sodom, when the two angels came to Lot.
And I was oppressed with the fact that those are the conditions we're seeing today. Those that promote that lifestyle and stand for the immorality that prevails in this world are increasingly more and more violent against all that oppose it.
That means they're also violently opposed to everything that the Word of God teaches, and increasingly, if you read polls, you'll find that the great majority of those in this nation that even claim to be Christians in some sense of the word, that they have no attempt or intention of living what you call a biblical lifestyle.
And so we are definitely in last days. I'll call your attention to a passage we have in Ezekiel chapter 16, verse 43, where God calls attention to the sin of Sodom. And he says there that the sin of Sodom was pride.
And then he says, fullness of bread, that is prosperity, and abundance of idleness. Those things are very characteristic of our world today. Pride, my way, my ideas, my desires, what I want, those are the most important things.
These men are living increasingly for self and have less time and interest in the things of God. Prosperity. We can complain about financial conditions perhaps at times, but there's no question that we are living in a time of prosperity, and you find as well that there's an abundance of idleness.
And then he follows that by saying that they were haughty and committed abomination before me. So I have no difficulty in my mind equating the conditions of our day with the description that the Word of God gives us of what should prevail in the last days.
What I'm concerned about, speaking to you for a few moments this morning, is how can you and I be preserved in the last days. We've been hearing some of that already. That's why I trust I'm following Don on the same line.
I think that if you look at the Old Testament prophets, you'll find that the majority of them were occupied with giving warnings to God's people, alerting them to the dangers that prevailed, seeking to reveal to them and cause them to bring conviction to themselves in relation to the failures that were seen among them, the lethargy when it came to the things of God, the self-satisfaction and the contentment to go on with a form that really had no reality in it.
So we're looking for reality because I believe that is the thing that will preserve you and me in these days. You find that in contrast to them, what prevails, of course, in the majority of our world today, those prophets who would prophesize smooth things, the desirable things that people wanted to hear, those were the popular ones.
The ones that spoke for God and the ones that stood for God and the ones that represented his truth were the ones that were oppressed, and they were the ones that were afflicted. We find the same thing as what Paul is saying here in this passage in 2 Timothy chapter 3.
He says, Thou knowest, you've known seven things in a very positive, attractive way about Paul's life, but he continues that by saying persecutions and afflictions because all that determine to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
And the question you and I need to ask ourselves, are we willing to face persecution, affliction, opposition, and difficulty in life just to stand for the truth of God and seek to maintain testimony, faithfully for the Lord Jesus?
These are days that we'll try a person's convictions, we'll try whether you and I are genuine or not. We'll separate wheat from tares in some way, measure, but it calls for those that are truly the people that seek to represent the Lord Jesus in his dark world to rise and to recognize the fact that our time is short, that we need to live as if the Lord were coming at any moment.
If you look at 2 Epistles, I'm putting 2 Corinthians aside, but if you look at 2 Timothy, 2 Thessalonians and 2 Timothy, 2 Peter, and of course add Jude to that, you find that there are epistles that describe conditions that we expect to exist to see in the last days.
Every one of them draws attention to a difficulty, a particular danger. In 2 Thessalonians it seems to be the fact that there was a mystery of iniquity that was already working, it's still working today, a secret working of lawlessness that prevails in the hearts of man, because iniquity in that sense is an attitude of lawlessness.
I'll have my way, I'll do what I want to do, I don't want anybody to tell me or restrain me. A condition of secret inner working of lawlessness, coming more and more out into the open. He tells them there that it's a condition in which there will be no love for the truth.
There will be the tribulations that they'll experience, and it will all lead up to the revelation of the man of sin. When you come to 2 Timothy, Paul is warning Timothy there that there will be definite direct opposition to the truth.
He speaks about Jannes and Jambres that withstood Moses in the land of Egypt, and he makes it very clear that these are the same people, same kind of people, that will continually oppose the truth of God and stand against it in every possible way.
He reminds him as well that in this chapter that we've read from, that this condition of the last days will be marked by selfishness, self-centered living, rebelliousness, and an attitude that rejects the control that would come from the Word of God, and also going on into chapter 4, he reminds us that it would be, I'm sorry, chapter 3, he describes them as having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof, an outward shell of something that looks like godliness, but he says it's only a form, no reality.
In 2 Peter, we have three problems that Peter addresses. One is in chapter 1, and that is a lack of spiritual exercise that characterizes believers. He said, if these things don't exist and abound in you, the virtues he's seeking to instill in their hearts and minds, he says, you'll be barren and unfruitful in the things of God.
And so he seeks to encourage them and incite them to a greater degree of exercise and concern to be faithful to God and to be used of him and to devote themselves to the Word of God. In the second chapter of 2 Peter, he reminds them again that there are false teachers that would penetrate and infiltrate the assembly.
Don't think that's just in the world around because they seek to do the same in assemblies of our day. Jude has the same thing, he says, I intended to write to you about the common salvation, that which we enjoy with all believers, but it's imperative that I write about these that have crept in among you, unawares, and you don't even realize it.
And so there's a danger from those who would seek to teach doctrines and control practices and direct lives that are contrary to the Word of God. It happened in the New Testament times, it's still happening today.
We find in chapter 3, he tells us there that the condition that they will face in the last days is a condition in which the world would be full of scoffers, men that would be making fun of and ridiculing the prospect of God ever intervening again to bring judgment upon this world.
It's not the Lord's coming to the air for the believers, it's not a denial of the rapture. In that case, he's speaking about the Lord coming with his judgment, with his 10th day and 10 ,000 of his saints to execute judgment, as Jude says in his little epistle.
And so he's reminding them that there's dangers in ourselves, within ourselves, and around ourselves, and in the world around us, and we need to be aware of them. Sad thing for those 10 virgins waiting for the bridegroom to come is that they all slumbered and slept.
We need to be alert, we need to be awake. That's not a time for slackening, it's a time for deepening of our exercise and desires. And Jude, of course, Jude is warning them, warning about those that have infiltrated among the believers and bringing in deceptions that are quietly working beneath the surface.
They're the ones that have wormed themselves into the fellowship of the assembly. The believers, they feed themselves with you in your love feasts, without any fear. He says they're an incipient danger.
He says you can just remember Old Testament examples that he brings before them vividly, those things they need to use to prevent them, prevent that. But if there are dangers and descriptions of the last days that you and I need to be aware of, we have preservatives as well.
That's what I want to speak about. How can you and I be preserved in these days? You know, brethren and sisters, God wants us to be preserved. And we're sure of this, that we will be preserved ultimately if we know Christ as Savior.
The only way for ultimate preservation is to be saved and be sure of resting upon the solid foundation of the Lord Jesus. We know that there will be a final preservation, but I'm talking about being preserved in our life, preserved in our testimony.
I'm going to take a little different view on what we have in 2nd Timothy chapter 3, and one word especially. Paul says to Timothy that the scriptures, the holy scriptures, the sacred writings, the things that he learned to read and write from, no doubt, he says they're able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
We can be thankful that it made us wise unto salvation in the initial aspect, but rather look at it in the context. Because salvation not always involves, not always refers back to the moment we trusted Christ.
Paul is looking at his salvation day by day, his salvation and preservation in this world, his preservation in his life and testimony. We need the holy scriptures to preserve us, and if we abandon them, if you neglect them, if you and I don't make time for them and don't seek to fill our hearts and souls with them, we will not be saved insofar as our life and testimony is concerned.
We read of those in the scripture that have made shipwreck, and Paul refers to them a number of times. The ones that have come to the point even of denying the resurrection, saying it's passed already, got off on wrong doctrine.
And those, of course, in Corinth that were denying the resurrection. All these fundamental doctrines are so vital for you and me to be preserved in our day along with sincere, genuine devotion to the Lord Jesus.
He says, first of all, the preservation for this man of God, the only man in the New Testament that's called the man of God, is quite an example for us, Timothy. He says, the first thing is that you know.
Verse 10, he says, I was fully known. I was completely known. Every aspect of my life, you've known. You've known my doctrine, my teaching. You've known the kind of things that I've sought to instill in believers.
You know the things that I've proclaimed publicly. You know the truths that I've proclaimed privately. He says, you know the doctrines. I wonder, dear brother and sister, how well do you know the doctrines?
He says, one thing that we don't teach in assemblies is basic doctrines. We might be afraid of reiterating, repeating, but repetition is one principle of teaching. If we were to ask to sit down or write down a definition of certain very important doctrines, even justification and redemption and propitiation and all the rest of them, I wonder how much we could write.
The foundation of every believer's faith is doctrine. The foundation for your life and practice is doctrine. Doctrine may be looked at dry. The world around us is saying, we don't want doctrine. All these mega churches and all the big organizations that exist, you know why?
They minimize doctrine. One of the things that they say is that doctrine divides, love unites. Well, true doctrine does divide because it divides the true from the false. Doctrine is so basic. And I wonder, dear brother, have you ever sat down and studied the doctrines of the Scripture?
You say, I don't have time. You better make time because you'll never be able to stand the test of those who would attack what you believe if you don't know what you believe. I read a book one time, it said, know what you believe.
And then a sequel to it was know why you believe. Both of them are very important. You know what, but you need to know why. And Paul says, you fully know my doctrine. He comes down, he says, all Scripture is so precious, so valuable, so important.
It's God breathed. And I say that I cannot possibly neglect something that God has given such an impetus to, such a forcefulness, such a great purpose express that God would breathe out the Holy Scriptures.
And I'd ask you, child of God, this morning, how much time do you take to really study the precious Word of God? We take a lot of time to study what we need to learn for perhaps advancement of the company, the corporation, or to gain some ambition or some type of knowledge that we want to have, or perhaps we spend more time on the, better not get on the subject of the internet.
It's a good thing in some ways, but it sure is a time waster. I wonder how much time you and I spend on things that have no eternal value. I lay aside the precious Word of God. I know some Christians even leave their Bibles in the hall.
Well, that's another subject altogether. I'm sure they have a Bible at home. Nevertheless, we don't want to study doctrine because it's too difficult. We'd rather be active in other areas. But dear brothers and sisters, that's what will preserve us.
And every one of these second epistles emphasizes the importance of the Word of God. The second Thessalonians, Paul reminds those believers, he said, that if keep the traditions that have had it under you, the teachings he had given them.
He says, you need to maintain them. You need to guard them and live in them. And you come to second Peter and again and again, he emphasized the importance of God's Word. He said, we have the prophetic Word made more sure.
Where unto you do well that you take heed is unto a light, a lamp that shines in a murky place, until the day's star arise in your heart. Day dawn and the day's star arise in your heart. He says, those things were written by men that were born along by the Spirit of God.
You can't minimize the Word of God and prosper. You can't minimize time spent in reading this book and be and expect to be able to grow spiritually. Paul, Peter ends his epistle by exhorting them to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I'm thankful. I don't want to use myself. I'm a poor example, but I'm thankful that when I was a teenager, I used to spend every Sunday afternoon studying the scripture. It did me in good stead. I appreciate it.
You think of so many other things that people are occupied with on a Sunday afternoon. Everything but studying the scripture. I remember when I got in the service also, I began a regular program of memorizing scripture.
I'm thankful for that. Can't memorize anymore. I forget more than I memorize. But I'm thankful for the things I did memorize then because they were valuable. So Paul is emphasizing, I got to keep on moving here, but he says, not only do you have the example, and I can see those seven things that would attract Timothy.
He knew his doctrine. He knew his teaching. He knew his practice. He knew his behavior. He knew his conduct. He knew about his long suffering and his love and his patience. He doesn't stop there. He says, you know all about my persecutions and my afflictions because it's a list that goes on and on.
In other words, he says, if you're determined to live godly, if you make up your mind to live godly in Christ Jesus, a life of separation to God, a life of fervent service to Him, a life of devotion to the Lord Jesus, he said, you'll suffer persecution.
The only way to avoid it is to compromise. So he says, you know all those things. Not only that, he goes down the chapter. I'll quickly tell you in verse 14. He says, you need to continue in the things that you've learned, the things that you've learned and you've been assured of.
He says, not only that, you know the character of the man you learned them from. You learned them first from your grandmother and your mother. Don't forget them. He said, learn them from other men that taught you, not only Paul himself, but those who were with him.
He says, you know the godly character of those men. They proved the reality of the word of God in their lives. So it's not only what they said, it's what they were, how they lived. You get a lot of teaching off the radio.
Nobody listens to the radio anymore, do they? You're going to get a lot of teaching off of different sources in this world, but I can tell you, you don't know the character of the man that's given it.
And the scripture tells us you don't receive someone in their house unless you know they're teaching right doctrine. And so he says, you know the character of those men. You know what they've taught you.
Continue in it. Don't lay it aside. There are many men that worked in this area that I never knew. Thankful for the ones I did know. I have a great appreciation for them. But there's a tendency always when we're young.
You know, when I was a teenager, early 20s, I thought I knew everything. And the longer I live, the less I think I know. Find out how ignorant I am. And when you're young and you're stupid, you think you can change things that your fathers have taught.
You might find out the fathers and the older men were right. I've learned that my dad was more right than I was, even though I didn't think it at the time. I used to say that between the time I left home until I returned home, he learned a lot.
No joking. He did. I learned. That's what really happened. But Paul says, all scripture. That really grips my heart. It's inspired by God. It's out breathed by God in heaven. As a divine authority, as potential, as power, as ability.
He says, you need to hold on to the word of God. All scripture is given. What a gift. We've been given salvation. We've been given the word of God and all this fullness. He says, been given by inspiration of God.
It's profitable. It's profitable. It's that which is useful. It's that which will be a help and a blessing to you. It's that which is reliable and it's effective. He says it's profitable for doctrine.
Doctrine, first of all, again, he comes right back to it. And this is not so that he might have material to teach others. It's really that that doctrine might be taken to his own heart and his soul. Because if it's not in yourself, if it's not lived in yourself, if it's not part of your own life, how can you teach it to somebody else?
And so he says that that Holy Scripture is profitable, useful, effectual for doctrine. I come back to this. I believe the foundation of our faith and the assurance that we have lies in the fact that we know God has said it.
And if you don't believe that, you don't have much of a foundation. He says not only for doctrine, but for reproof. That's a word that means correction. That means it shows me when I get out of the way.
It shows me when I have gone wrong. And it's not necessarily for showing others. It needs to be applied to myself first. But then he says it's for correction. It's for instruction. The word instruction is a word that includes discipline, chastening, even whatever might be the case.
It's child training. He says the way you're going to grow, the way you're going to be made complete, the way you're going to develop spiritually is through the word of God that you have in your hand. Brethren, it's not only what you have in your hand, it's what you have in your heart.
And if you and I want to be preserved in this day, which is going to get worse and worse, conditions make me wonder how much worse you're going to get before the Lord will come. I really believe the Lord's coming.
I honestly could say I try to live every day as if he could come right now. I'm not saying I do that, but nevertheless, if the Lord tarry, things are going to get worse for you and me. Establish yourself in the word of God.
Rest upon it. Build upon it. Live in the good of it. And you'll be stabilized and preserved.