WWUTT 698 Those Who Live a Godly Life Will Be Persecuted?

Persecution for a Godly Life in Christ Jesus

Those who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Just because you live your life differently than the way the world lives or expects you to live, they're going to hate you for that when we understand the text.

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Here's our host, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. We are back in our study of 2 Timothy 3 and once again reading verses 10 -17. The Apostle Paul addresses Timothy,. You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch and at Iconium and at Lystra, which persecutions I endured, yet from them all the Lord rescued me.

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. Picking up where I left off yesterday would put us at verse 12 where Paul says,.

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Just for pursuing godliness, you will be hated by the world. If you desire to live a life of holiness, to be holy means to be set apart.

Then you will be following after the instructions of Christ, his way of life and what he has said in his word, and you will not follow after the pattern of this world. I believe it was yesterday I mentioned Romans 12 to do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

And then you may test and approve the good, pleasing and perfect will of God and follow what God's will is for you. If that is your heart's desire, walking in holiness sets you apart from the rest of the world.

If God has predestined you for salvation from before the foundation of the world, then he has set you apart to be a follower of Christ. And this is the narrow road that you walk, with Jesus saying in Matthew chapter 7, Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the way that leads to destruction, and many will find it because that's the easy way.

But narrow is the road and long is the way that leads to life, and few will find it because that's the difficult path. That is the one that is set apart from the rest of the course of this world. And if you desire to walk in holiness, then you're set apart.

And it will be noticed by people around you that you don't live and act and behave in ways that are like the rest of the world or the way that the world expects you to behave. And people will hate you for it.

They will hate you for the values that you have, for the things that you desire with your heart, soul, mind, and strength to worship and honor God. They will hate the worldview by which you look at things and determine, just even in your own values, this is right and that is wrong.

They will hate you for the judgment by which you determine things. And we all judge, and we're all supposed to judge. As Jesus said in the book of John, do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.

So we're all making judgments, and we're all making them all the time. But we just need to be sure that as we make those judgments, we're not doing so hypocritically, which is what Jesus was addressing in Matthew 7 .1, and also that we are making these judgments in a way that we might continue to honor and please the Lord with the way that we live.

And in doing that, people are going to hate us for the values that we hold. You don't even have to stand on the corner and preach the gospel. You don't even have to stand in front of your co-workers and tell them, repent of your sins and believe in Christ Jesus, and you will be saved.

You don't even have to say that. They will hate you just for the godly life that you lead. There was a member of my church who drove truck for a little while, and he was making deliveries, and there was one time one of the stores that he had to stop at and make a delivery.

It struck up a conversation with a couple of people that work there at the store, and I don't know how it got there, how the topic of conversation got there, but somehow they started talking about abortion.

And this was several years ago, so there's specifics about this conversation I don't quite remember. But I do remember that as he expressed his understanding, just calmly saying, I believe that life begins at conception and ends at natural death.

And just him saying that caused a woman who was part of the conversation to burst into tears. She just started crying right there in front of him and said, I can't believe that you would say something like that, that you hold this view that is so oppressive against women, that you would tell me that I don't have the right to decide what to do with my body or not.

All he expressed in that conversation was when he believed life began and when it ended. And just for holding that worldview, that value of life, because he knows that all life is precious and created in the image of God, just for having that godly perspective on life was offensive to the people around him who did not likewise share a value of life as as being made in the image of God.

And so just for desiring godliness to live a godly life, there are people who are going to hate you for it. I remember hearing Paul Washer say that we all think persecution is going to be some noble, honorable thing, like we're like everybody's going to know the reason why you're being ridiculed or persecuted or abused because of the things that you believe were oppressed or having rights taken away from you.

The reason why you're enduring these things is because you believe the truth. And look at all these people who oppress me because I believe the truth. And Washer said, that's simply not the way that's going to work out.

Now, in heaven, you will certainly be held in high honor. But here on Earth, you're going to be painted as a fool. People are going to call you a bigot. They will call you all kinds of harsh names. They will paint you as some of the worst of the worst in human history.

Just because you hold the worldview that you have or you worship the God that you do, it's not going to be an honorable thing when you go through these persecutions in this way. But we must continue to entrust ourselves to him who judges justly.

As Peter talks about in 1 Peter 2, he says that when Jesus was reviled, he didn't revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

So even when Jesus was being persecuted and no one else lived as righteous a life as Jesus did, yet even when he was persecuted for these things, he did not revile those who reviled him. But he entrusted himself to God.

And so likewise, we must not revile those who revile us. When we're discriminated against, when we are ridiculed, when we are denied certain rights or privileges, when we're persecuted in any of these ways, if maybe you're even threatened or physically abused, we still must not respond in like kind because it is God who has said in Romans 12, Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.

He will have vengeance on his enemies. And those who persecute the followers of Jesus Christ are the enemies of God. Rather, we must entrust ourselves to God and continue to obey him, what he has instructed of his people and what he expects of us.

And remember what we read in 2 Timothy 2. The Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, correcting opponents with gentleness. Peter would go on to say in 1 Peter 3 .15 that we need to, in our hearts, set apart Christ as holy and always be ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within us, but doing this with gentleness and respect.

And there are going to be times, according to the instruction that Jesus gives in Matthew 7, we should not cast our pearls before swine. We know presenting these gospel truths to people are only going to lead to them trampling under these truths or trampling these truths underfoot.

And so there are going to be times when we shouldn't continue to engage the discussion because we see how hostile they are and how they are enemies of God, but rather continue to do the work that is set before us to do, knowing that we work first for God before we work for any man.

And we need to be wise as serpents and gentle as doves. It's what Jesus said to his disciples, I am sending you out amidst the wolves. So be wise, be cunning, be shrewd as to how we're supposed to handle and respond to any respective situation.

But we must also be gentle in the way that we respond to those who would criticize or ridicule us. So again, this instruction from the Apostle Paul to Timothy is that as Timothy follows the example that's set before him by Paul, that's what he mentioned to Timothy in verses 10 and 11.

We talked about that yesterday and Monday. Then in verse 12, he says, Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life, if you desire to live a godly life in Christ the way that I have, you will be persecuted as I have.

And Timothy was indeed put to death in Ephesus when he opposed some pagans that were there and presented to them the gospel. They persecuted him and put Timothy to death because he proclaimed the gospel.

Now, you and I are not going to go through the same kinds of persecutions that Paul went through. Sometimes we'll talk about being persecuted or ridiculed as Christians. And there are others who are critics that will go, Oh, come on.

Somebody making fun of you. That's not persecution. Well, it is a form of persecution. Paul even talks about that in 2 Timothy 12. He equates ridicule with persecution. So it is a form of persecution.

But we're not going to be persecuted as he was. Paul had a specific calling as an apostle. The one who was called to take the gospel to the Gentiles. If we tried to go the same route that the apostle Paul did and preaches he did, we would probably meet our end pretty quickly.

But the Holy Spirit was protecting Paul on his journey. And he went through the sufferings and the persecutions that he did because he was filling up what was lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, the church.

That's what Paul says in Colossians 1 .24. So that the church would witness and see in an example in the apostle Paul, who was taking the gospel to the Gentiles, somebody who is being persecuted for the faith, but continuing to endure to preach the gospel.

So Paul is saying, just as I went through these things, Timothy, you will too. Anybody who desires to live in godliness is going to face persecution of some kind. We're not going to be persecuted like Paul was persecuted, but you will be ridiculed.

You will face these things. And so all the more reason why you need to fill yourself up with a knowledge of the word of God, for it is our confidence in this word that is going to enable us to stand up against those forms of persecutions that come against us when they arise.

You, in and of yourself, do not have an ability to be steadfast against this hatred that is going to come against you. So we must, again, continue to entrust ourselves to God and fill up our hearts with his word.

The more we are in his word, these words being written upon our minds and on our hearts, we will be protected against the devil's schemes. The New Testament writers talk about that over and over again.

And Paul is preparing Timothy for that right here. As he says, all scripture is God-breathed and useful for these things, for training in righteousness. So as you are going to face persecution for the gospel that you preach, meanwhile, evil people and imposters are going to go from bad to worse.

These people that Paul had described in the first nine verses of chapter 3, evil people and imposters. And again, as I talked about yesterday, and referring back to Janus and Jambres, these are not just examples of false teachers in the church, but these could be examples of anybody, any false teacher in the world that would try to impose the world's ideas and philosophies and false teachings.

And then, of course, that would also apply to those false teachers in the church that come in as ravenous wolves and attempt to devour the sheep. Evil people would be those who are outside the church.

Imposters would be those who pretend to be Christians, where they have that form of godliness, but they deny its power. They have an appearance of godliness, but they're not actually godly people. They are deceiving, and they are being deceived.

Now, on that comment right there, I'm going to save that one until we get to chapter 4 next week. This idea of them deceiving and being deceived, I'm going to expound on that more when we read what Paul teaches next in chapter 4.

So going on then, in verse 14, Paul says,. As for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

Again, Paul is talking to Timothy and preparing him for a time in which he's going to be doing ministry without the apostle Paul. And how is Timothy to be prepared for the kinds of things that he is going to face as a minister of God, as a man of God, as Paul refers to him?

By reading the word of God, by remembering those things that he had been taught according to the sacred writings, according to all scripture, which is breathed out by God, verse 16. It is in the word of God that Timothy will find himself equipped to do the work of God.

And when Paul says that you have been acquainted with the sacred writings since childhood, he's not talking about what Paul has taught him, at least not exclusively, although Paul has taught Timothy many things.

But remember at the start of the letter, Paul said that I'm reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and now I am sure dwells in you as well.

Timothy's mom and his grandmother helped to train him up in the instruction of the Lord according to the scriptures. He's been acquainted with these things since childhood. I don't know if the apostle Paul had Ecclesiastes chapter 12 in mind when he gave this particular instruction to Timothy, but there we read, Remember also your creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near, of which you will say, I have no pleasure in them.

So Timothy has great trials that he's going to be facing going forward, but there the philosopher says, Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 12, and Paul says here also in 2 Timothy chapter 3, Remember your creator in the days of your youth.

Remember what you were taught from the sacred scriptures since childhood. You've been acquainted with these sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

And very specifically, Paul is making a reference here to Old Testament scriptures. New Testament canon wasn't completed yet. There certainly was some element of scriptures that had been compiled into what would eventually become a completed New Testament.

Some of the letters of Paul had been collected by the churches and they had those letters and would read them just as they would the rest of the scriptures. They would study from the Old Testament and then they had Paul's letters to help them understand what it was they were reading in the Old Testament.

Peter makes reference to this in 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 16, where he says, or he equates Paul's writings with the rest of scripture, including the Old Testament. So we know there was a collection of Paul's writings that were being distributed among the churches.

And likewise, Peter's, James, the letter that Jude wrote, which was very close to the end of that age between Jesus' ascension and the destruction of the temple. Anyway, not to rabbit trail onto that, but specifically Paul is making a reference here to the Old Testament scriptures, the sacred writings, and even the Old Testament is able to make you wise for salvation in Christ Jesus.

Boy, that is totally contrary to what Andy Stanley was teaching recently and which we went through last week. As we were looking through those first nine verses of chapter three, Stanley wants you to unhitch from the Old Testament and saying that, you know, hey, when these New Testament guys, when they were preaching the gospel, they didn't even have a Bible to refer to.

Well, yes, they did. They taught from the Old Testament. They taught from the Old Testament and showed how Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. Even there in the Old Testament, we have the writings, which are able to make us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus, because that's who the Old Testament is pointing to.

It's pointing to Christ. Jesus said in Luke chapter 16 that if they do not believe Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe if someone should rise from the dead. So if someone doesn't believe what the Old Testament says, they're not going to believe what the New Testament says either.

Paul concludes this instruction for Timothy in verse 16 with this, all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete and equipped for every good work.

And there's so much to unpack from that one verse. I'm going to save that until Monday when we come back to our study of 2 Timothy 3. Well, chapter 4, we'll be jumping into chapter 4, but I'll carry over from our conclusion of chapter 3 into chapter 4 as we pick up our study next week.

Let's conclude with prayer. Our wonderful God and Savior, thank you. Thank you for this word. It is by the work of the Holy Spirit that it was written, and it is by the ordination of God that these things have survived the centuries and that we have the Bible in printed form in homes today, several Bibles even, in which we can open up the scriptures and read the word of God and know the mind of God.

May we not take this for granted, but love and cherish this word, knowing that it is from this word we become knowledgeable of salvation in Christ and what it means to live a life of godliness in Christ Jesus.

So continue to train us in these things, and may we endure the persecutions that we face because we desire to live a life of godliness in Christ. Guide us in your truth. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study. Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book.

On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers. Tomorrow, we'll pick up on an Old Testament study, When We Understand the Text.