Sunday Sermon: Times of Difficulty (2 Timothy 3:1-9)

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You are listening to the teaching ministry of Gabriel Hughes. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday on this podcast we feature 20 minutes of Bible study through a

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New Testament book. On Thursday is a study in the Old Testament and then we answer questions from the listeners on Friday.

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Each Sunday we are pleased to share our sermon series. Here's Pastor Gabe. Jeremiah Burroughs says the following, this day if you should hear a voice out of the clouds from heaven speaking to you, would you not listen?

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The truth is we should listen as much to the voice of God in the ministry of his word as if the

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Lord should speak out of the clouds to us. So as we come to the scriptures today, we hear from the very spirit of God telling us about the nature of our world and the nature of man that we may know the ways of the

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Lord and live according to them. We're looking at 2 Timothy chapter 3 verses 1 through 9 today, the theme of the message about godlessness in the last days.

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In honor of the word of the king, would you please stand? I'm reading from the English standard version, 2

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Timothy 3 verses 1 through 9. Hear the word of the Lord, but understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty for people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self -control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power, avoid such people.

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For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth, just as Janus and Jamberus opposed

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Moses. So these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith.

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But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.

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You may be seated as we pray. Heavenly Father, as we come into this passage today,

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I pray that you open our eyes and illuminate your word to our hearts.

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This is kind of a downer of nine verses that we have read here, just warning about how difficult things will be in these last days.

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But we also see here a warning about those that we should be watchful of and avoid.

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And then what is the contrast to this is that we would not walk in the ways that we had described for us here, but that we would remember the calls that we've seen elsewhere in this letter to pursue godliness, to grow in holiness, to seek

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Christ and walk after his ways. And so as we see around us a culture that seems to be falling deeper and deeper into madness and those sins and those lusts even making their way into the church and ensnaring those who would proclaim to be followers of Jesus.

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May we find ourselves protected from the schemes of Satan because we are guarded in the word of Christ.

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It is in his name that we pray and all God's people said, amen. In 1988 in Warrentown, Virginia, a meeting was held by a group of prominent social liberals and they laid out a plan to get homosexuality accepted by the general public.

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The next year, a book was published by Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen entitled

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After the Ball, How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of the

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Gays in the 90s. In the book, they talk about how they will achieve their goal without references to facts logic or proof.

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By doing so, the person's beliefs can be altered whether he is conscious of the attack or not.

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Those are exact words from page 152 and 153 of their book. In other words, the strategy was based purely on propaganda to portray gays as victims and to make those who disagree with the lifestyle look like vicious haters.

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As you can see, looking at the world around us, the strategy has worked incredibly well. Pride Month kicked off yesterday in case you had not noticed and already it has been outspokenly celebrated by President Joe Biden, the

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White House, the Defense Department, Veterans Affairs, the

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U .S. Coast Guard, the U .S. Department of Education, Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, the

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NBA and the WNBA, NASCAR, the NFL, the

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National Weather Service, Halo the video game, and Sesame Street, whose target audience is three to five -year -olds.

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Now this might have been virtually unthinkable 20 years ago to have these variant sexual perversions so widely celebrated in our culture.

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But the United States of America, from private citizens to industry and commerce to pop culture to public schools and universities to our highest branches of government, now so proudly and regularly flaunts this immorality.

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It's normal, which was exactly the goal of Kirk and Madsen's book published 35 years ago to make it normal.

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And they succeeded using bumper sticker rhetoric and appeals to emotion while deliberately ignoring evidence and reason.

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We read last week about those who have been ensnared by Satan to do his will.

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And we see that in our very culture all around us. So surely it would be easy for us to open this passage and read, in the last days there will be times of difficulty.

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People will be lovers of self and lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, full of pride.

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And we say, yes, it's June in America. It's being fulfilled all around us.

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But even though I start my sermon this way, that's not what

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Paul was referring to. He was not talking about all the vices that we will see in the culture all around us.

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He's talking about, as theologian Charles Ellicott puts it, the various more prominent vices which appear on the surface of Christian society and threaten the very existence of the church, even in those early times when

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Timothy ruled over those congregations of Christians at Ephesus, unquote. Our problem is not when that stuff is out in the world.

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It can certainly make things difficult for us. But when Paul says here to avoid such people, he's not talking about people outside the church, but those people and sins that either come into our midst or arise from within our midst.

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Consider these words from the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 5, 9 to 13. I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people, not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters.

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Since then, you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler, not even to eat with such a one.

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For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom

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I am to judge? God judges those outside. Purge the evil person from among you.

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And this is what Paul is bringing to Timothy's attention when he tells him avoid such people.

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Purge the evil person from among you. And we've been seeing this theme through both of these letters.

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Remember how 1 Timothy started? Very first instruction in 1 Timothy. Don't let anyone teach any different doctrine.

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And then the reminder coming up again and again to be sound in doctrine, firm in the gospel, everything that you do be driven by the gospel of Christ.

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And we had this statement at the end of 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy 6, 3 -5. If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our

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Lord Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing.

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Does it not sound like exactly what we're reading here in 2 Timothy chapter 3? He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth.

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And so Paul comes back to that very kind of instruction here as well.

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Or we've been seeing this bookended by these mentions of false teachers. We heard previously about Hymenaeus and Philetus.

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Paul is even going to jump back to Old Testament and mention Janus and Jambres. Watch out for these men.

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Avoid such people. Don't let them within your midst. And here's what their ungodly teaching produces if it goes unchecked.

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And so still encouraging Timothy to trust in the sovereignty of God, Paul reminds him about what people will be like in the last days.

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And so we have this section divided up into these three parts. He talks about number one, among what they love.

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That's verses 1 through 5. What follows is number two, among whom they deceive in verses 6 through 7.

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But this is not something new as Paul will finish with an example from the Old Testament, so Timothy will be able to see number three, among whom they will fall, verses 8 and 9.

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So again, among what they love, verses 1 through 5, among whom they deceive, verses 6 through 7, and among whom they will fall, verses 8 through 9.

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As we come back to this passage again, chapter 3, verse 1, we consider among what they love.

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And you saw this long list of vices that was mentioned here. But first of all, Paul begins in verse 1, he returns to warning

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Timothy about false teachers, and begins this passage with a statement about the last days.

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Now, Timothy was living in the last days then, as we are living in the last days even now.

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The time between Christ's ascension and his second coming, the scripture calls the last days or the last hour.

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John said, children, it is the last hour. And you have heard that Antichrist is coming, so now many

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Antichrists have come. Therefore, we know it is the last hour, 1 John 2 .18. Jesus also warned his disciples that in the last days, as Paul says here, there will be times of difficulty.

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Now, when Jesus talked about these things with his disciples, he was not trying to scare them, but rather prepare them, that they would not follow after false teachers, but instead, they would remain faithful followers of Christ, fixed on the words that they had heard their

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Savior proclaim. Holding fast to his promises, therefore, we are comforted in knowing that he will fulfill his purpose even though there are wicked things on the earth.

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In John 16 .33, Jesus told them, I have said these things to you that you may have peace.

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In the world, you will have what? Tribulation.

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But take heart, I have overcome the world.

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Those words should be a comfort to us. And consider when Jesus said that. He's with his disciples at the last supper.

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He hasn't even gone to his death yet. But Jesus knows that he's going to die and be raised again.

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I have already overcome the world. He who has lived righteously and sinlessly right up to the point of his death and has fulfilled every task that the

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Father sent for him to accomplish. I have overcome the world.

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And so, likewise, Paul wanted to prepare Timothy for the trials ahead of him as a pastor.

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Everything in this section relates to difficulty. That's why I said the passage comes across as kind of a downer today.

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But later, Paul will reinforce the good doctrine that leads to the crown of righteousness.

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Consider, jumping ahead, if I could give you some good news in this passage today, chapter 4, verse 8, where Paul says,

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Henceforth, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will appoint to me on that day.

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And not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing.

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And so, going on now into verse 2, chapter 3, verse 2, the times will be difficult because of wicked people who will, first of all, it says, be lovers of self.

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For people will be lovers of self rather than loving

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God or others. Now, of all the sins that characterize these people, of all the vices that are listed here,

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Paul begins with self -love. So, every other sin flows out of that.

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And it's interesting that this is the way that Paul begins because what is the message of the culture to you?

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You have to love yourself. Love yourself. You can't even love others unless you love yourself first.

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I'll even hear some preachers that will say something as ridiculous as that. You do not have a problem with loving yourself.

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Loving yourself is your problem. And this is the first thing on this list of vices that Paul mentions.

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And every other sin flows out of that. Certainly, the sins listed here describe the godless of the world, as I said in the beginning.

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But this warning is with regard to people who will pretend to be Christians.

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They will even be godly teachers. They will proclaim themselves to be godly teachers.

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Look later on in the section where Paul says, in verse 5, they have the appearance of godliness.

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You see that? That's not the world, folks. This is people who will proclaim to be followers of Christ.

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They look like us. As we've heard this warning in previous weeks, where Jesus says in Matthew 7, beware of the wolves that come to you in sheep's clothing.

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But inwardly, they are ravenous wolves. And so the same warning given here with regard to these persons that will proclaim to be followers of Christ, but instead, instead of loving

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God and his people, they love themselves. False teachers will not exhibit all of the sins that we will see here, but certainly some of them.

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And Jesus said, also in Matthew 7, 16, you will recognize them by their what?

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By their fruits. Maybe at the outset or by first impressions, you're thinking of this person, wow, what a godly guy or godly gal.

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But then over time, things begin to be revealed that they were not as sincere in their profession of faith as it sounded in the first place.

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So in love with themselves, look at the next part, these people will also be lovers of money.

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Now, I surely believe this would bring back to Timothy's mind something that Paul had been speaking about in his previous letter.

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We remember hearing in 1 Timothy 6 .10 that money is the root of all evil, right?

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No, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils, he says there.

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And that was also said in the context of false teachers. It wasn't just Paul being proverbial.

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The love of money is the root of all kinds of evils. Okay, put that on a bumper sticker and remember it the rest of your days.

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It was said in the context of false teachers. These teachers are willing to twist or manipulate the message, to appeal to more people so that they make more money.

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And being driven by self -love and love of money, they pervert sound doctrine in order to benefit themselves.

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And so we see here even these people who are lovers of self, they are lovers of money.

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As Jesus warned in the Sermon on the Mount, you cannot serve both God and mammon.

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Yeah, not money, but mammon. Mammon was a Chaldean word. And it was this idea like if you could personify money or wealth or possessions, if like money could become a person and walk around, his name would be mammon.

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And what would you do to please that person to get all of the benefits that mammon could give you?

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That was the concept. You can't serve God and this other thing.

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Your passions will be divided. You will either be a slave to mammon or we are to be slaves to Christ.

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And so we have those who are lovers of self and therefore lovers of money. And also again said in the context of false teachers as we've seen these things placed.

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They will also be, as said here, proud and arrogant. So proud meaning that they will boast in themselves of things that they don't really have like status and a position that doesn't really belong to them.

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And then in addition to proud, they will be arrogant. This is the pride that they direct toward other people.

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I'm better than you and exalting themselves over other people. The next word in the

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English Standard Version, it says abusive. So they're lovers of self, lovers of money, proud and arrogant, but then abusive and disobedient to parents.

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You'll kind of see these sins that are portrayed in pairs. We see how lovers of self and lovers of money go together, proud and arrogant go together, but abusive and disobedient to parents don't quite match.

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I don't know why the English Standard Version chose the word abusive here. It's actually more accurately translated blasphemous.

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That's what's in the King James Bible and it's in what's in the Legacy Standard Version as well. So I don't know why abusive was chosen here, but it's more accurately blasphemous.

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They disobey God. They blaspheme God. They will proclaim his name.

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They will call themselves Christians or godly or followers of Christ or whatever else, but it's vanity.

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In their hearts, they're not truly with him. As Isaiah warned, as Jesus repeated to the

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Pharisees in Mark 7, well did Isaiah say of you Pharisees that you acknowledge

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God with your lips, but your hearts are far from him. And that's exactly what is being categorized in the term blasphemous.

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They disobey God. They are not submissive to the father, but instead going on from there, so you'll see how the next sin kind of pairs with that one.

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They are disobedient to their parents. If they're blasphemous against God, if they are disobedient to the father above, then that also manifests itself in the way that they are disobedient to their parents on earth.

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It's interesting how much Paul will refer back to this particular sin. It is the first of the horizontal commandments that are given to us in the

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Ten Commandments. You know the first four commandments that are vertical, right? Love God. You have no other gods before me.

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Don't raise up a graven image. Don't take the name of the Lord your God in vain. Honor the Sabbath and keep it holy.

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Those are the vertical commands. The first on the hit parade of the horizontal commandments is honor your father and your mother.

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And Paul refers to this command several times. Also in Romans 1 .30, talking about the godless.

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Now, they're categorized among the Gentiles or the pagans, the heathens. But he refers to it also in 1

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Timothy 1 .9, in the previous letter, that those who are opposed to God's law will show themselves as disobedient to their parents.

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And this is not just a direct disobedience to parents, but it's also a disregard and a disrespect for an older generation.

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I have nothing to learn from these people. They have nothing to teach me. They all made their mistakes, and I can do it better than they did.

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It's the attitude of a culture that is disobedient to their parents. This is a mark of a rebellious generation.

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And they continue also in ingratitude. Look at the next vice.

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They're disobedient to parents. They're also ungrateful and unholy. That's the next two.

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So ungrateful, which is right next to being disobedient to their parents. How many of you have identified in your children that when they're disobedient to you, they're also ungrateful to you, right?

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They're ungrateful for what they have. They have no thankfulness. I deserve more than this.

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There's a demonstration of covetousness there. And in addition to that, they are also unholy.

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Now, unholy is certainly something that can be expressed outwardly. You see all the sins that they go after.

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Well, those things are unholy to do. But what is more specifically being said about being unholy is that they have no inward desire for purity.

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And you can see by the things that they do, by their actions, that they are impure.

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It's because from their very heart, they don't desire those things that make for purity. They don't desire those things that are godly.

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And remember an instruction that Paul had given previously to Timothy.

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We read it last week in chapter 2, verse 22. Flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the

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Lord from a pure heart. So, the sins that are categorized here are set in contrast with those who should desire the

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Lord from a pure heart. The next verse, verse 3, the sins continue on.

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First of all, they are heartless, meaning that they are without affection or sympathy.

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They have no care or concern for other people. We're seeing the sins go deeper and deeper, right?

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Disobedient to parents, they are not grateful, they are unholy or not even desiring purity, and now don't even care for the needs of others.

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They are heartless. They are unappeasable, meaning that they are relentless and will never stop.

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So, this just continues down this trail. And interestingly, this word unappeasable can also be translated truce breakers.

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And this is how unappeasable and heartless go together because they have no obligation to anyone but themselves, truce breakers.

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They'll say whatever they need to say to you to make you feel like you can trust them in the moment, but when the opportunity arises, they're quickly going back on their word.

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The next word is slanderous. So, you see this continued vice against other people.

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They falsely accuse others. They think the worst of others. Remember the passage that we read earlier from 1

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Timothy 6 where Paul had said, those that go against the gospel, they're no longer teaching the sound doctrine of our

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Lord Christ and that which accords with godliness. You see all these sins that cause separation and division amongst one another.

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And so, they falsely accuse others, but then the next sin that's mentioned there, they are without self -control.

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Meaning they are inclined to excess and controlled by pleasure.

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And it's almost as if they have no ability to say no to temptation whenever it arises in their flesh.

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The mantra of their lives as being lovers of self and lovers of pleasure, the mantra of their lives is, do whatever makes me feel good.

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May not even express it in that way because, again, as we have said here, they proclaim themselves to be godly.

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They will have an appearance of godliness. So, they may not speak with the language of the world, but in their attitudes and in their behaviors, they're fully ready to give in to whatever passions and desires may arise in their flesh.

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They lack that spiritual fruit of self -control. Remember, that's among the nine fruit of the spirit.

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That we have in Galatians 5. The first one's love. The ninth one is self -control. And as I've said to you before, seems to be the most neglected among the fruit of the spirit.

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And when a person does not have the spirit of God, they cannot keep their passions under reign, but they will give in to the temptations of their flesh.

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They are also brutal, which means that they are violent or hostile toward others.

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Again, lacking any sort of compassion or care or sympathy for other people.

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And then next one, they are not loving good, meaning that they despise whatever God calls good.

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If you'll remember back to 1 Timothy chapter 4, we read there that the spirit expressly says that in later times, that chapter begins a familiar way, doesn't it?

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Some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars, whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving.

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By those who believe and know the truth. Verse 4, for everything created by God is good.

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And nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving. But the person who proclaims godliness but does not actually have it.

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These people who are lovers of self, they don't love what God says is good.

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They will love what the world says is good. Or they will love what the passions in their own flesh will say is good.

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They will see as what God has called good being a burden to them. It's restraining me, it's holding me back.

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Instead of rejoicing in those things that God has created for us to enjoy and celebrate his name for.

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And so the next sin, then in verse four, they are treacherous, betraying of Christian brethren.

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Again, remember we're looking at these in the context of vices that will be even on the surface of a

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Christian community. These treacherous people will beat their fellow servants.

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As Jesus warned about in the parable that's in Matthew chapter 24. There's that wicked slave who's gonna say, my master's delayed in coming.

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And so he goes out and he eats and drinks with drunkards while beating his fellow slaves.

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And his master will come at an hour that he does not expect. And he will take that wicked slave and he will cut him up and throw him out with the hypocrites where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

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This is the treacherous person who claims to be a lover of God, but hates their

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Christian brethren. They will side with the world instead of loving the church.

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They are reckless, or they are headstrong in their words and in their deeds.

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By the way, reckless is not a good word. There is that praise and worship song that came out a few years ago.

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Reckless love, God has reckless love. No, God's love is not like just going about it in whatever works today.

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And hey, no matter what's in my way, I'm gonna bowl that over for the sake of my love. That's not how God's love works.

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He's deliberate and intentional, planned and purposed, not reckless. We don't wanna be reckless.

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But this is a word that categorizes those who are lovers of self. They are swollen with conceit, having filled themselves rather than feeding the sheep, rather than caring for the brethren.

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And then last of all, last but not least, I guess I should say, they are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

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And these are the two vices that bookend this list. They are lovers of self on the one end, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God on the other end.

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And then everything else in between. Paul began and ended by saying they are in love with themselves, not the

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Lord or his people. And so this list of vices that we've just gone through is divided into two parts.

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False loves, which turns into pride, and then secondly, heartlessness.

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Now in verse five, as we go on here, continuing the sentence, Paul summarizes their condition by saying they have the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.

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They may have just enough religiosity or piety on the outside to look like they are

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Christians. After all, Jesus said, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves,

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Matthew 7, 15. They're in sheep's clothing. They look like us. But in reality, they have denied the power of the gospel to change the heart and save the soul, and even the power of the gospel to renew the person and shape them more and more into the image of Christ, as Paul illustrates in Romans 8.

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Rather than welcome them into the body or the fellowship, Paul says, avoid such people.

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So Paul the apostle talking to Timothy the pastor, as a shepherd of the sheep,

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Timothy needs to fend off the wolves. And that's why Paul has given this list the way that he has, so that Timothy will, in his awareness, know what to be looking for, and to also not be surprised when we come to find that these people exist in our midst.

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I've heard it asked of me multiple times before. Pastor Gabe, why would God allow a

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Joel Osteen, or a Benny Hinn, or a Ken Copeland, or these false teachers that stand in the pulpit and will lie to the sheep and are leading millions and millions of people astray?

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Why would God allow such a thing to happen in his church? I said, well, the first reason is because the Bible says so.

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So when we see that happening, it's in fulfillment of what the scripture warns us about. But these things also happen, scripture tells us, to test us.

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God had been saying this to the children of Israel all the way back in Deuteronomy 11, or Deuteronomy 13.

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When you see that dreamer or that dreamer of dreams that stands up to you and performs some sign or wonder, and that sign or wonder comes to pass, and then he says, let's go after other gods.

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The Lord your God is testing you to see whether you love the Lord your

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God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And Timothy as a shepherd of the sheep is being perfected here to see if he loves

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God and his sound doctrine more than these ear -ticklers come along promising.

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And so the people of God are being tested with the same thing. Do we love God or do we love our flesh and what the world has to offer?

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So we have read here, first of all, among what they love in verses one through five.

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Secondly, we hear about among whom they deceive, verses six through seven.

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So Paul shifts from describing what the false teachers love to warning about whom they prey upon.

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For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women.

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Now the Greek word here for weak also means contemptuous, contemptuous women.

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So this is a state that they have come into because of their former deeds.

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The false teachers likely capture these women first through flattery and then teaching what their flesh, weakened by a guilty conscience, wants to hear.

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No matter how loving or affirming these false teachers may sound, they do not care for these women.

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The teachers are probably after money. Now this is a repeat of what we saw happen in the

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Garden of Eden. When Satan comes in to tempt and deceive, who does he go after first?

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He goes after the woman, Eve. And the man who's lazily standing there, not doing anything about this talking snake, telling his wife, you can eat that, that God said not to eat.

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The scripture tells us in Genesis three, Adam was right there with her. What's he doing?

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Look at the birds, all those horses galloping by,

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I named those. Instead of fulfilling the role that he has as the head of his household, grabbing that snake and crushing its head.

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And he didn't do it. And the serpent deceives Eve, who then gives some of the fruit to her husband and he ate, and they fall into condemnation.

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So we see the same sort of pattern happening here in the church. These false teachers wanted to come in and ensnare these weak women who are burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, it says, because of the guilt from sins that they've committed in the past.

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Now, the women are susceptible to all kinds of false teaching now. Among these false teachings might be something like antinomianism, free grace, that all kinds of sins are acceptable and God will just forgive you for them.

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It might seem easier to deal with sin when you are taught that God doesn't consider it a big deal.

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Consider some of the messages that are spoken to women today. It's not really adultery. It's an affair.

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It's not really fornication. It's sleeping around. You're not murdering an infant.

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You're choosing what to do with your own body. These are strategies used by the world.

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They don't belong in the church. Five years ago,

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I reviewed the film Unplanned, which was the story of Abby Johnson, who used to work at a

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Planned Parenthood clinic, was convicted by what she saw and became pro -life as a result.

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Now, I wrote in that article, that is not an evangelical film. It is interesting to see kind of behind the scenes, behind the curtain, some of the things that Planned Parenthood does and all of the bureaucracy and red tape and things like that that protect what it is that they do.

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The movie would be useful for that, I suppose. But it's not an evangelical film. And Abby Johnson herself did not come to know the

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Lord because she became Roman Catholic as a result of that, not knowing the true gospel. I also responded to an article from Karen Swallow Pryor, who lambasted

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Christians for being graphic about abortion and that we shouldn't call it murder.

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My friends, a woman who has committed this sin is not aware of what she has done.

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And the healing that is offered in Christ alone, if we don't call the sin what it is, and this liberal feminist culture is willing to sugarcoat all this stuff, because we don't want to offend anybody.

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And there are Christians doing the same thing. We don't want to call abortion murder because these women have already been victimized.

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We don't want to make them feel worse than they already are. A child is dead. That's the victim.

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And we must in the church be willing to call sin what it is. For those who have committed it won't understand the healing that is offered in Christ alone unless we know what we've done.

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Another false teaching that these teachers might be wooing these susceptible women with is asceticism, self -punishment.

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You can absolve yourself from your own sins. Or these women might even be led astray by something deeply charismatic or feelings -based that feels good rather than trusting in the sufficient word of Christ.

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It's the message of the world, do what feels right. And the church has its own version of that.

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Do what makes you feel comfortable. Don't make anybody feel uncomfortable. But if we come to an understanding of our sin, we have to feel uncomfortable.

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We have to be convicted over our sins so that we see our need for a savior and that Christ is that savior.

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Far be it from the church to give people sugar instead of the strong word of Christ.

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In verse 7, the next statement, they are always learning and they are never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.

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Now, this is still in reference to the women are being deceived. It's not in reference to the teachers who are deceiving them.

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The women are not able to understand the truth because these false teachers are not proclaiming the truth.

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They are teaching the women what their guilty consciences want to hear. And we're going to hear this come up again in verse 3 or chapter 4, verse 3, where Paul says there, for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.

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They listen to these teachers and they learn something, but it is not the gospel which alone has the power to save and heal the convicted soul.

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And even in some churches, the gospel is concealed. It's concealed under motivational speeches or feel -good messages or works -based salvation.

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Instead of understanding the true word of Christ, there is nothing that we can do to save ourselves.

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Christ saves and we are justified by faith in Christ alone.

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Paul gave Timothy many instructions concerning women in the church, even going back to 1 Timothy. Though men are to fill the roles of overseer and deacon, which we read about in 1

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Timothy 3, 1 through 13, women are still just as instrumental in the household of God. Timothy was to entrust sound doctrine to faithful men, training up more pastors and teachers, as we saw back in chapter 2.

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And among the responsibilities these shepherds would have would be to defend vulnerable women from being preyed upon by these wolves in sheep's clothing.

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These instructions come with eternal souls at stake. And so these are among those whom these false teachers deceive.

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Finally, number three, we are told about among whom they will fall.

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Look at verse 7. They are always learning, yet never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.

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I'm sorry, verse 8 is where I am. Just as Janice and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also opposed the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith.

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Now, Janice and Jambres are not mentioned by name in the Old Testament. Outside of 2 Timothy, you won't find them listed in your concordance at all.

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They are mentioned in extra biblical Jewish writings, believed to be the names of Pharaoh's magicians who opposed

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Moses in Exodus 7, 8 through 13. Now, these names certainly would have been familiar to Timothy and to other

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Jews. When DreamWorks came out with the film Prince of Egypt 25 years ago,

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I was kind of disappointed that they didn't include the magicians' names as Janice and Jambres.

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It would have been something faithful to Scripture and even to extra biblical Jewish writings.

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They had different names for those magicians. I don't remember what they were. But Janice and Jambres were apparently able to imitate some of Moses' earliest signs, like turning their staves into snakes.

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Remember that? They even were able to turn water into blood. They themselves were able to conjure up frogs.

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This is not unusual for the Lord warned in the Old Testament and the New that false teachers will be able to perform signs and wonders.

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The apostle Paul said of false teachers, such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

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And no wonder for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.

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Their end will correspond to their deeds. 2 Corinthians 11, 13 to 15.

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So just as Satan deceived Eve in the garden, so false teachers attempt to deceive the church and they are men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith.

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They claim to be Christians, but again, they are wolves in sheep's clothing. Now verse nine, so like Janice and Jambres, these false teachers will not get very far for their folly will be plain to all.

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Now this statement will not get very far, appears to be in the theme of running a race.

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Remember that we had seen previously in chapter two, that Paul had talked about an athlete, a farmer, and a soldier had given those illustrations.

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And sometimes we'll see that language kind of come up periodically through second Timothy referring to either the soldier or the athlete or the farmer.

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And so this statement, they won't get very far. They won't be able to advance and progress.

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Remember that Paul said earlier about the athlete. He also concludes in chapter four, verse seven,

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I have finished the race, but those false teachers do not compete according to the rules and they won't be able to finish the race.

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Everyone will see their error. Just as Paul said, like that of those two men referring to Janice and Jambres.

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Previously, Paul mentioned another pair of false teachers for jealous and homogenies. The law says that every charge must be established on the evidence of two or three witnesses.

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So recognizing that Paul is now twice mentioned false teachers in pairs to refer to them as false witnesses.

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They do not speak the truth. They will perish in judgment unless God leads them to a knowledge of Christ.

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As we read last week in chapter two, verse 25. So having considered this, we have read about among what they love.

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We have read about among whom they deceive and we have heard about among whom they will fall.

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What are our applications here with regard to these things? Let me give you three and we'll close with this.

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Number one, be careful with your affections. Number two, be conscious of your pursuits.

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And number three, be content with Christ. First of all, be careful with your affections.

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Don't sit here and read a list like this and go, well, I'm glad that's not me or I am above this.

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I wouldn't ever fall into that snare. We're all weak in our flesh. I was listening to R .C.

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Sproul this morning on my way to church and hearing him say if it was left to any one of us, we would lose our salvation.

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God is holding on to us, but we still have a responsibility to hear his word when he tells us, watch out for this, pursue holiness.

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First Timothy 4 .16, we read in the previous letter, keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching, persist in this, for by so doing, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

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And remembering again what we read last week in chapter two, verse 22, flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace along with those who call on the

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Lord from a pure heart. Be careful with your affections. That leads us to number two, be conscious of your pursuits.

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At the end of the previous letter, Paul said, as for you, oh man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness and gentleness.

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We must pursue these things and in order to pursue them, it means we have to be mindful of it.

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It doesn't just happen by accident. And that's something that as a pastor, I have to remind myself of regularly.

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Even as a pastor, I can get lazy in my own pursuit of holiness. I'm a pastor. I'm studying the word of God all the time.

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So it just automatically happens for me. No, I can get into like a head knowledge mode where I'm just kind of studying the word of God and studying it for what it is on the surface, but not applying it to my heart and then living it out.

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I have to be careful of that myself. I also have to be mindful of the fact that just because my children are children of a pastor, that doesn't mean they're automatically growing in holiness.

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I have to be deliberate with making sure that they're studying their Bible, understanding what it means and applying it to their lives as all of us have the responsibility to do.

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In 1 Peter 2, 21 to 25, for to this you have been called because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps.

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He committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he didn't revile in return.

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When he suffered, he did not threaten but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

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He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

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By his wounds you have been healed for you were straying like sheep but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.

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You have to be deliberate about living righteously.

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It doesn't happen by accident. Be conscious of your pursuits. So be careful with your affections, be conscious with your pursuits and last of all, be content with Christ.

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My friends, the number one reason why you fall into sin is because you weren't content with Christ.

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God's way is not good enough for me. This is what my flesh wants right now and I know what

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I want better than what God wants. That's a lie of Satan speaking into your flesh.

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Beware of falling into discontentment of that kind. If you are content with Christ, the sin won't satisfy.

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You won't even be looking for it because I have everything that I could ever need in my savior and what he promises me is greater than anything the world has to offer.

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That stuff is like refuse as we considered last week compared to the surpassing greatness of the promises that we have given to us in Christ.

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Be content with Christ and to repeat what we had heard last week, be vessels of honorable use.

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When we come to this table, it is a profession unto God of thanksgiving because of the son that he gave to us for the forgiveness of our sins.

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It's a little bit of bread and a little bit of cup and yet these things we know represent symbolically something that could never ever be contained in that little bread and that little cup.

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What we receive in Christ is so much greater. You know, my heart breaks for those traditions that think that Christ is actually in this bread and actually in this cup and that's all they're gonna get is flour and wheat and fermented grape juice.

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That's all they're getting but we partake in these things knowing that we have received so much more.

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And there is still so much more to come. Praise God. Jesus, Jesus, precious

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Jesus O for grace to trust him more

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I'm so glad I learned to trust him

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Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend That he is with me

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Will be with me to the end

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Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him

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How I've proved him o 'er and o 'er

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Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus O for grace to trust him more

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This is When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. There are lots of great Bible teaching programs on the web and we thank you for selecting ours.

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But this is no replacement for regular fellowship with a church family. Find a good gospel teaching

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Christ -centered church to worship with this weekend and join us again Monday for more Bible study When We Understand the