D. A. Carson, "Christians Living in the Last Days" - 2 Timothy 3:1 - 4:8 (Session 7)

dr. Carson be preaching for us this morning so let me say a few words about him before he comes you probably know that he for many years has taught at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Illinois in addition he travels extensively teaching preaching ministering in various contexts some evangelistic some - pastors often in the farthest reaches of the world to say that he's an author is a gross understatement he writes lower shelf books for the church and he writes very high shelf for a few people in the world and he's also started an organization with Tim Keller called the gospel coalition something we happily identify with and support as a church something that God is blessing in remarkable ways in the last few years and on top of all that dr. Carson takes patient in special interest in children my seven-year-old son is convinced that dr. Carson is his new buddy and I think that speaks volumes I think that speaks volumes about the man behind the ministry so I'm thankful to God for the man and the ministry would you join me in welcoming dr. Carson to preach for us this morning I would like to direct your attention this morning to second Timothy chapter 3 second Timothy chapter 3 beginning at verse 1 and I shall read all the way to chapter 4 verse 8 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verse 1 to 4 verse 8 but mark this there will be terrible times in the last days people will be lovers of themselves lovers of money boastful proud abusive disobedient to their parents ungrateful unholy without love unforgiving slanderous without self-control brutal not lovers of the good treacherous rash conceited lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of god having a form of godliness but denying its power have nothing to do with such people they are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth just as John ace and John blaze opposed Moses so also these teachers oppose the truth they are men of depraved Minds who as far as the faith is concerned are rejected but they will not get very far because as in the case of those men their folly will be clear to everyone you however know all about my teaching my way of life my purpose faith patience love endurance persecutions sufferings what kinds of things happen to me an Antioch Iconium and Lystra the persecutions I endured yet the Lord rescued me from all of them in fact everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted while evildoers and imposters will go from bad to worse deceiving and being deceived but as for you continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of because you know those from whom you learned it and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus all Scripture is god-breathed and is useful for teaching rebuking correcting and training and righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who will judge the living and the dead and in view of his appearing and his kingdom I give you this charge preach the word be prepared in season and out of season correct rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction for the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine instead to suit their own desires they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to miss but you keep your head in all situations endure hardship do the work of an evangelist discharge all the duties of your ministry for I am already being poured out like a drink offering and the time of my departure is near I have fought the good fight I have finished the race I have kept the faith now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge will a more award to me on that day and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing this is the word of the Lord not least when times are insecure segments of the church have sometimes indulged in a feeding frenzy over the last days over the end times but one of the striking things about the bible's treatments of these matters is that not always but pretty commonly the end times actually run from Jesus death burial resurrection ascension all the way to his second Advent to his return that's very clear for example in first John chapter 2 my dear children the Apostle John writes it is the last hour and as you have heard that Antichrist is coming so already many antichrists have come by which we know it is the last hour it's it's as if this old world order is is about to fall off it's it's dying it's it still got a lot of power but it is coming to an end and we're in the last stages now now that Christ is coming has already started to rain his reign may be contested but we're in these last days and the new age has already dawned and will be brought to consummation when Christ Himself returns so also in this passage when you read the context carefully although it begins mark this there will be terrible times in the last days it's pretty obvious when you read on that paul then tells timothy what to do because these last days characterized his days he's not saying to him i'm going to tell you now about the last days you don't have to worry about it it's not going to happen for quite a while but but just in case you were speculative and you're rather curious about the future let me tell you what the last days are going to be like rather he he lays out what his characteristic of the last days and now he says and this is what you have to do about it which signals pretty clearly that he views timothy and himself as being in the last days now not every reference to the last hour the last days works like that in the new testament but a great many of them do so then what characterizes these last days there will be terrible times in the last days we're told and then in verses 2 to 5 we have a list of 18 items 19 traits a sort of cattle log of vices now I'm not going to spend a huge amount of time on the but let me run through them quickly the first four depict selfishness people will be lovers of themselves lovers of money boastful and proud they're not looking outward to God they're not looking outward to others everything is bound up with themselves and their possessions and this generates their arrogance and corrupts their speech in two forms of boasting then there are two terms that suggest socially destructive behavior abusive that is both and we're in word and deed it doesn't have to be a physical abuse though it might be that but some people are just horribly abusive with their tongues sometimes only in the family sometimes with just about everybody that they can get away with it disobedient to their parents which suggests in the scripture a kind of rebellious 'no sat heart if your rebellious against your parents you're going to have a rebellious sort of heart that is going to be against all authority this is a sort of fundamental one and character is shaped in the home and people who are rebellious against their parents are going to be uppity with bosses of work and an arrogant towards God and and elsewhere too and then there are four others there is a grace and this grace is missing ungrateful what is missing you see his gratitude unholy what is missing is holiness unloving what is missing is love and unforgiving what is missing is forgiveness you see some evils are the deprivation of good they're not as it were positive evils they're just missing the good people are not going out and saying I will be evil I will do this really rotten thing rather there is simply no sign of the virtues and graces of the fruit of the Spirit for example then there are two more that reflects speech and behavior slanderous we're told when they speak they regularly put people down and without self-control and in Scripture one of the marks of the Christian imbued by the Spirit is self-control God has not given us a spirit of timidity 2 Timothy 1:7 says he has not given us a spirit of timidity but rather he gives us power love and self-discipline self-control and then where there are two more Unterman the original is not so clear in English in English the translation I'm using has brutal the original is untamed like a lion savage in that sense a word that can equally describe a fierce lion and people who act like them they're just they're just vicious they're untamed they're they're brutal and not lovers of the good literally unloving of the good it's another deprivation again they're just they don't gravitate toward toward goodness or to good people or anything like that the stuff they love to read is is full of violence or vice or or infidelity or sleaze what they want to watch on TV is is something that's more than a little risque they love the sort of drama that that that glorifies all kinds of unchristian behavior it's sort of titillating it it's fun and anything that revolves around the centrality of God is immediately viewed in principle is unsophisticated and amateurish and old-fashioned and fuddy-duddy and and they they don't love anything that's wholesome they they they they are unloving of the good and then there are four items which might show how Paul is moving from characteristics of the age to the false teachers that he's confronting themselves treacherous he says that is they are traitors you see it's one thing in the church to have people who all along all of their adult if every time they speak speak against Christianity when you come across a Richard Dawkins for example you know where he's coming from before you start he's an atheist who's pushing atheism all the time he's an interesting and bright man and I like to read his stuff but on the other hand I'm not snookered by him I know where he's coming from to begin with far more complicated is the person who begins as a faithful teacher in the church and then gradually moves away and starts saying things that are not true gradually drifts off to false doctrine and the first antennae go up and picks up something and say well wait a minute that that's not right and others will immediately jump in and say don't don't don't be judgemental don't be judgmental cat all the good things he said look at all the books he's published that are really wonderful ok ok I'll back up and shut off and then he goes on and teaches a little bit more and then and a little bit more and a little bit more and pretty soon there are more people that are saying wait a minute that's not what the Bible says and others are saying how can you be so judgmental look at all the people he's led to Christ and it might take quite a long time before a majority of people really begin to see where this chap is ending up it's the treacherous ones you've got to watch because they've already established their credibility do tvz Dawkins has no credibility in the Christian Church but I could name all kinds of teachers that establish their credibility as young men and then blew it and it took a long time for people to see that it was blown treacherous traitors rash that is they give little thought of long-term consequences they become so enamored with their own teaching with their own perspective with their own interpretations with their little private party that that at the end of the day they become rash and don't weigh the consequences of what they're doing they're not looking down the road and seeing what kind of damage is being done their conceited they're far too impressed with their own opinions we're told and at the end of the day they're lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God and then finally instead of a single word or single expression another one added in the nineteenth they have a form of godliness but they deny its power that is there may be a show of religiosity they can rip out the right religious words or maybe they like a certain kind of liturgy or they like a certain kind of music or they they like a certain kind of fraternal fellowship or the like there-there's a show of belonging do you see but at the end of the day they are not convinced of the power of the gospel to transform they're convinced of their programs they're convinced of their powerful personality they're convinced of the ego bound up with their their teaching their there they're convinced of how they can persuade people in a public crowd but but they're not actually convinced anymore that it is the power of the gospel unto salvation that transforms men and women they have a form of godliness but they deny its power well Paul says have nothing to do with such people now you have to understand what Paul is saying for it is sadly true that one or more of these 19 traits may show up from time to time amongst all of God's people would you want to say any one of you that you're innocent of all 19 of these things always if you push this have nothing to do with such people the whole building is going to empty not going to be anybody left in here including me starting with me I'm heading for the door right now that's not quite the point if we say have nothing to do with them and apply it to anyone who is ever guilty of any of these sins realistically we'd have to begin by excommunicating everyone beginning with ourselves yet the point to make is nevertheless important where there is a pattern of these things you spot the evil characteristic of the last days and there is a difference in conduct between Christians who live under the power of the Spirit and people characterized by the last days there is a difference the church is to discipline itself and the church therefore is is to distance itself from people who are in differentiable from from people who are characteristic of the last days then in the final paragraph Paul describes these false teachers and establishes two or three further points number one they prey on the vulnerable not least with overtones of sexual connections verses six and seven they are the kind to worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth the text suggests a kind of sneaky infiltration most of us I imagine have been around long enough to if either witnessed for ourselves or heard of situations where ministers of the gospel have got into sexual trouble in the church seducing someone in the church I don't know how many situations I've been involved in where I've had to deal with something of that sort somewhere generally I've discovered it's almost never merely sexual oh I say merely advisedly but almost never merely sexual almost always there's a power component to it people begin to feel it they're above the standards of others because because that they have a certain kind of authority or they might begin to think that they're not accorded the the respect that is really their Jew and if someone actually fawns over them they think it is their Jew then nor should we think for a moment that all women are weak willed and gullible as if that's what Paul is saying that's not the point the point is not saying that all women are gullible and weak willed any more than it is saying that all men are treacherous and deceptive it's not saying either one it is saying that you can sometimes get a confluence of evils on the one side power control manipulation and on the other weak willed women with their own baggage of sins and neuroses endlessly taking courses on this or that spirituality never arriving at the truth and loving to hang on the coattails of somebody who seems powerful and suddenly you've got a conflagration in the making the end of the day you have to say they have depraved minds and are careless about the truth verse 8 but sooner or later their folly becomes evident to everyone but you have to say it can go on for months years occasionally decades before it comes out but sooner or later it comes out well this is really cheerful isn't it invite somebody here and puts you into a depression some commentaries think that this picture is over-the-top they call it a caricature after all aren't there some pretty nice people out there in the world are there some fine organizations even though they're not Christian organizations shouldn't we send money perhaps to made sense off multi out Doctors Without Borders for some of the excellent work that they do Paul wouldn't deny any of it Christian theologians across the centuries have call that the fruit of common grace God's grace really is spread abroad so that people do all kinds of relatively good things none of us is quite as bad as we could be we could always kick the dog one more time or something none of that is being denied but this is characteristic of the age even while we're doing our good deeds it's characteristic of these last times and when Paul paints with this broad brush he's not saying that every false teacher is characterized equally by all of these things these things he is merely describing what is typical of false teachers and false living in these last days so then what counsel does Paul give to Timothy in the light of this what counsel does he give to us four things number one hold the right mentors in high regard hold the right mentors in high regard verses 10 and 11 you however know all about my teaching my way of life my purpose faith patience love endurance persecution sufferings what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch Iconium and Lystra the persecutions I endured yet the Lord rescued me from all of them you see in the context when he says these these are the false teachers have nothing to do with him and then he turns around and says you however know all about my teaching and my life and list a whole lot of characteristics what he's really saying is hold the right mentors in high regard it's why Paul can say quite a number of times in his letters be imitators of me even as I also have of Christ have you ever said to young Christians in the church people who are just coming in and just finding their way maybe have just made profession of faith have you have you ever gone up to them and said I would like to show you what being a real Christian means watch me I'm going to take you under my wing watch me now as soon as we put it like that it just sounds arrogant past belief doesn't it but that is a big theme in Scripture many moons ago when I was an undergraduate at McGill University another chap and I started a Bible study and for our men's dorm in those days they didn't have mixed dorms they were men's dorms and women's dorms so this was a men's dorm and we had about 220 men and as far as I knew there were only two of us who were evangelical Christians and we decided we start a Bible study and since I had more of a mouth and the other one did therefore he prayed and I and I taught and we didn't want to be outnumbered by all these non-christians so we invited only three and figured that not more than two would come and it was so to be two and two and we'd get on all right unfortunately all three came and we're outnumbered from the get-go and within five weeks we had sixteen in there and I was I was way out of my league I didn't have a clue what I was doing but mercifully there was on campus a chap called Dave Ward Dave was a rough jewel he had been born on the wrong side of the tracks he lived a filthy life and then it got wonderfully converted when he was an undergraduate and his life really had been transformed and now he was a graduate student himself and and really quite busy but but with his background he he saw through guff you know and and he'd read enough in apologetics and and Christian theology and so on that he helps some of us younger guys quite a lot and we would sometimes take our guys down to see Dave so one night I took two of my guys down to see Dave they were asking me questions I couldn't begin to understand let alone answer and Dave was his usual gruff rough self you know he open their oh come on in lonesome now if have some coffee slop it down sloshing everywhere I mean he really was a rough jewel and we barely sat down before he turned to the first fellow he's okay what did you come for small talk was not his thing and the first fella said well you know I figure that University is a good time to begin to explore different religions I might come from an atheist background myself I don't know anything you know but I while I'm here I'd like to study some Buddhism and I'd like to study some Islam and I've been reading up on a bit of Hinduism and then when this Bible study started I thought maybe I should learn something about Christianity so I guess I guess I'd like to know a bit more Dave looked at him looked at him then he said sorry I don't have time I wondered what I'd done and Dave said no don't misunderstand me I'll give you some books on Christianity and world religions and and you can read up some stuff but you're a dilettante you're just playing around I don't have time I'm a graduate student I don't have time to play around you're not serious what did you come for return to the second one the second one said I come from a home that I think you guys would call liberal we go to a nice liberal Church the United Church of Canada and and we don't believe in you know supernatural resurrection and spooky stuff like that I mean give me a break it's just the 20th century it was a 20th century then in case you're wondering and and and I get all this miracle stuff and all of it but but we're good people you know we love God we love each other my sister my father my mother and I were a tight family we do socially good things and and and and III frankly don't see what you guys have it we don't have Dave looked at him looked at him and then he said watch me and the student whose name unfortunately was also Dave just to confuse the story Dave the student said what do you mean he said um watch me I've got an extra bed here move in with me I'll pay for your food move in with me it's eight weeks to the end of the semester you go to your classes whenever you want to do whatever you have to do but any time of the day or night apart from that you stick to me like glue you watch me and at the end of eight weeks you tell me there's no difference Dave the student didn't take him on directly he didn't move in with him but he kept going down by the end of the semester he became a Christian later became a medical missionary the imitators of me even as I also am of Christ there is an awful lot of Christian experience and conduct and belief and response and speech and courtesy and love and joy and faith that are caught as much as they're taught look what Paul says over against all of these characteristics of a pretty wrong world you you you Timothy you know about my teaching you you understand the doctrine you you understand the gospel you understand the scriptures I spent a lot of time teaching you Timothy you know my way of life you know how I live you know my purpose my purpose is not hedonistic is not to get by with as few troubles as possible to make the most money to have the biggest 401k it's not that's not my purpose you know about my faith my patience my love my endurance you've seen all the troubles that I've run into you've watched how the grace of God in my life has taught me to endure with joy you've also seen the persecutions that have come my way and my sufferings if you're a Christian you understand that that's part of your calling it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in his name but also to suffer for his sake you understand that and you've seen that in me too and yet yet the Lord rescued me from all of these things watch me listen in a decaying world watch who your heroes are watch whom you want to emulate whom would you like to be like look around for senior Christians different senior Christians may teach you different things look around for them some will teach you diligent Bible study some will teach you good evangelism some will teach you how to cope with cancer some will teach you how to be joyful in difficult times some will teach you prayer look around for them hold high mentors in high regard number two hold few illusions about the world hold few illusions about the world verses 12 and 13 in fact everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted while evildoers and imposters will go from bad to worse deceiving and being deceived this is not saying that every generation is worse than the previous generation all Impostors will be worse than previous Impostors that's not what it's saying but it is saying that in the life of evil people they get worse and worse and worse Hitler did not start off being Hitler oh he started off with a name no doubt but he didn't start off being the the Hitler that we think of he started off as a boy at school he started off as a private on the German side in World War one he wasn't born with racism than anti-semitism he didn't actually begin with the ultimate solution in his head when world war ii opened up that developed with time because evil men and imposters get worse and worse so what you have to understand is that there are trajectories in life you watch some people's lives and they just become more holy with time and you watch other people's lives and they become more cynical and more bitter more evil with time so what kind of person are you watching what kind of person do you emulate and don't trust the press and their judgments don't you understand there is a fight going on it's a massive fight it is a struggle the aim of life is not to get through it with as few dislocations as possible if you're a Christian then yes by all means belivet peace with all people as much as it is in as it is in you and yet on the other hand understand evil men and imposters will wax worse and worse and our struggle is not against flesh and blood but but but against against the Prince of Darkness and in in heavenly places that this is a massive cosmic struggle that we're in hold few illusions about the world my friend Tim Keller likes to say for the Christian optimism is naive but pessimism is atheistic do you see optimism is naive because we really do believe in the doctrine of sin we've seen it in our own lives we see it in history we see it all around as we've just come through the bloodiest century in world history and now we're going to have some some peace conference is going to sort out all the problems in the Middle East and it's not that we shouldn't try but but be realistic this is a damned world so for the Christian optimism is is naive but pessimism is atheistic because God is still on his throne and the gospel is still powerful and people are getting converted and sometimes cultures change God is still good and powerful and ultimately he will win so we don't take our cues of optimism and pessimism from the world around us we ground ourselves in Scripture and then we say hold few illusions about the world be realistic one of the things that means is sometimes we have to draw lines where the world doesn't like us to draw lines I have a friend who a few years ago in Virginia decided that he would improve his Hebrew a pastor of a church so he went to a rabbi an Orthodox rabbi who had recently moved into town and and and asked him to teach him Hebrew a little better to improve his Hebrew and he became quite a friend with this Orthodox rabbi obviously they were on different sides of the page and all kinds of theological issues not least in terms of the interpretation of what we call the Old Testament what he would have called katana and eventually they both started teaching occasional religion courses in the in the in the local junior college occasionally they team taught them one night when they were driving back from this the rabbi said to my friend he said do you realize Randy that we really do teach very different things yes he said I know that he said all my other religious friends that they're all trying to convince me that we're all basically saying the same thing after all but at least you understand that we are really saying different things yes Randy said I know and we both can't be right randy said yes I know and I Love You Man that's so different from what the world is doing the world instead is saying we're all really saying the same thing if you say anything else you're intolerant and you mustn't be intolerant you know did you see when it's plain as a pikestaff we are saying a lot of different things the question is how to be civil while we're saying different things rather than pretending we're all saying the same thing that's just not truthful no no no hold few illusions about the world understand what it is to live in the last days number three while Christians should always be horrified by sin we should never be surprised by it but we do have a huge solution number three hold on to the Bible verses 14 to 16 but as for you continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of because you know those from whom you learned it and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus all Scripture is god-breathed and is useful for teaching rebuking correcting and training in righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work now let me say two or three things about this paragraph I wish I could expound just these four verses themselves but let me say a few things about this text all scripture we're told is God breathed it doesn't just say that the people who wrote Scripture the human beings who wrote scripture where God Bree that is inspired but the text itself is inspired however it came to the individual writers and it came in very different ways nevertheless the result is that the scripture what is written down is god-breathed in the case of jeremiah sometimes it came to him the word of the lord came to me and then he dictated it to his scribe and described put it down and sometimes daniel had visions that he himself didn't even understand and he wrote down the visions and then asked god what they meant and God told him none of your business of Daniel it's not for you it's for later generations you shut up and write did you say and sometimes it came out of the matrix of human experience and when David wrote the Lord is my shepherd I shall lack nothing it's not as if that was being dictated by God David pick up your quill pen the Lord the Lord is my as my shepherd shepherd he's writing out of the matrix of his experience and and yet the result in all of Scripture is that this text these words this scripture this writing is god-breathed whatever the mode of inspiration and it's all scripture God breathed it is from God what makes it authoritative it is is that it is from God then the second thing to see about this paragraph is that it is an incalculable privilege to be taught the Bible as a child it is he how Paul begins as for you continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of because you know those from whom you learned it and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures now I know sometimes we we come across a Christian who who was really a secularist or an atheist or an agnostic knew nothing about the Bible completely biblically illiterate then the age of 23 got gloriously converted they have such a wonderful testimony don't they and sometimes some of us who have been brought up in Christian homes we think boy I wish I had a testimony like that I'm boring is my conversion that's just not the way the Bible views these things did you know there are advantages in being brought up in a Christian home did you know there were some my first memory my first my very first memory as far as I can stretch back sitting in the bathtub when my mother did me she was pretty efficient when my father did me he told Bible stories he'd review the last one you know from the last bath and move on a little farther in the narrative there's some Bible stories that are very effective in the bath name and getting dunked in the Jordan River seven times you know very effective in the bath yes and and on Sunday afternoons we played games and a lot of them were Bible games I got an awful lot of facts out of Bible games when I was growing up and we sang we always saying we say we not only hymns and I was brought up bilingually and English with Sankey's hymns all 1200 them and I could have sung any of them on the French side it was today's la fois and I could have sung Aloha 549 of those two because we sang and sang in our home how could you know how much doctrine you get it a good good songs as opposed to just praise courses which have very little doctrine and and and some of the songs we sang we're cssm that's that's dead as a dodo now Canadian Sunday school mission which which which had all kinds of songs for teaching you stuff you know data these are the names of Jacob's sons gad and ashur and simeon reuben Issachar Levi Judah Dan and Naphtali 12 in all but never a twin Zebulon Joseph and Benjamin do you know the name of the twelve tribes I got another one for the 12 apostles but also Maps you know now first the line of coasts we make then madam next the marshy lake then comes dear old Galilee exactly east of Carmel see the Jordan River flows through both into the Dead Sea on the south meanwhile the Great Sea westward lies out stretching far to sunset skies that's verse one by the time you got the four verses in then you've got the towns and the regions and all it's all there you know why because I'm smart no because I'm godly I wish I were but because I was brought up in a Christian home that thought that indoctrination was important you have known from infancy the scriptures oh I know all that stuff doesn't make you saved I know that but on the other hand it's part of the grist of the mill that gives me a knowledge of scripture that probably you can't get if you get converted at 23 at least you can't get it without a lawful out of pain I got it as fun in family devotions it's an incalculable privilege to have that heritage and we ought to be figuring out how we'll get past that heritage on to our own kids it won't all look the same I know different cultures do different things but this is part of the heritage and moreover they didn't learn just data and maps sung to Tannenbaum no no no no listen what the text says how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus ultimately they learn the scriptures in such a way that with the preaching of the gospel and the announcement of Christ they saw how the Bible is really Christ centered they understood what the gospel was that was Timothy's heritage it's possible to have a whole lot of facts about the Bible and not know Christ but they have so been taught the scriptures that in the fullness of time when the gospel was presented on the ministry of Paul and others did you know it all came together because they saw the purpose of the scriptures and the holiness of God and what's needed for forgiveness of sin and how to live with with eternity values in view what what what salvation looks like did you see it's all there and out of this framework Timothy is to understand that all Scripture is god-breathed and is useful for teaching rebuking correcting training and righteousness so the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work how do you combat this world and it's characteristics of the last days you combat it with the Word of God which doesn't just mean at 9 o'clock or 11 o'clock on Sunday morning means in in family it means one-on-one it means an evangelistic Bible study small groups friends there are little books today on how to read the Bible with a friend did you know what would you like to read the Bible with a non-christian friend if you read the Bible with a non-christian friends to help you do that and that will be helping to undermine the characteristics of this last days did you see and finally hold out the Bible to others hold out the Bible to others hold on to the right mentors hold few illusions about the world hold on to the Bible and hold out the Bible to others in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus chapter 4 who will judge the living and the dead and in view of his appearing in his kingdom I give you this charge preach the word now that does not necessarily mean preached in a formal setting behind a lectern of some sort it means announce you announce it you announce it you can announce it to your friends you can announce it in family bible studies you can announce it one-on-one Bible reading courses with other people but but you see if you're going to confront this lost world you can't simply be ingrown the way you confront this lost world with all of the characteristics of this these last days is is by holding out the Bible to others that that's the point the same thing is said elsewhere for example in Revelation 12 when you're exposed to what Satan is doing and and all of his vicious fury because he knows his time is short and the Christians were told overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony and something else we know don't need to go into by the word of their testimony that doesn't mean that they gave their testimonies a lot it means they bore testimony to the gospel they overcame the devil by bearing testimony to the gospel by witnessing did you see by proclaiming the gospel how does the gospel make its way in North America how do we expect things to to change do we expect things to change by advocating a certain political position well there may be better and worse political positions to advocate fine fine do we do so by having another pressure group on Washington well you know it's a democracy we have some responsibilities to speak up but how do you actually get people who are born-again and are no longer living lives that are characteristic of the last days well what that happens by the proclamation of the gospel and maybe the Lord in His mercy will give us so many conversions that there will be a change in temper in the whole country it's possible this happened before and if not then we'll be faithful even obedient unto death whatever but meanwhile preach the word that's what you do in the last days I adjure you in the presence of God and in view of his appearing and his kingdom preach the word be prepared in season out of season correct rebuke with encouragement patience careful instruction because the time comes when people don't listen to that sort of thing they face that already in the first century that that happens instead to suit their own desires they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear so what are you gonna do teach falsehood because it's more popular no you continue preaching the word what else is there to do and sometimes the Lord in his mercy gave gives you great attentiveness and power and ocean and men and women are converted you keep your head in all situations and your hardship do the work of an evangelist what that means is do gospel work preach the gospel that that's what you do that's what transforms discharge all the duties of your ministry for this is the way the church moves from generation to generation Paul finishes up by saying don't you understand I'm I'm done this is the last letter that Paul wrote that has come down to us I'm done I'm I'm ready to be poured out like a drink offering he's going to get butchered at the hands of Nero he knows it time's up I finished the race I've kept the faith so now it's your time now it's your turn I'm in my 60s haven't asked Ryan how old he is but he's considerably younger but he's not twenty in 40 years you're not going to have Ryan here the generations come and the generations go and the way the gospel of the advances and the evil of this last day comes to an end finally it comes to an end when Christ returns but the way it's confronted now the way Christians handled it now is a new generation is raised up following the mentors of previous generations reading the world or right holding on to Scripture understanding the gospel and then preaching the word not just from the pulpit but in the life of the entire congregation that's the whole plan that's what God is doing in this world until the Sun comes back and that's how you handle the characteristics of the last days let us pray Oh Lord God this glorious gospel is so wonderful and it has come to us and has genuinely saved so many of us in this room help us to see then that we are debtors to grace and for those who are gathered here who who hear these things and for whom they are still so very alien open their minds and hearts to the glory of the gospel of Christ to the simple truth that he came to save sinners dying in their place that they might receive the righteousness of God through faith in Him granted where they sit right now from their hearts they may they may look heavenward and cry God to be merciful to me a sinner and the grant that for all of us we will be much concerned to grow and press on in the Christian faith confronting the characteristics of these last days for Jesus sake amen

Channel: DESERT SPRINGS CHURCH

Views: 57,177

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Id: zRebREH64HQ

Length: 50min 58sec (3058 seconds)

Published: Tue May 08 2012