{"id":18215,"date":"2016-04-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-03T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/2-timothy-025-follow-me-part-2\/"},"modified":"2016-04-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-04-03T05:00:00","slug":"2-timothy-025-follow-me-part-2","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/2-timothy-025-follow-me-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"2 Timothy 025 – Follow Me – Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[100],"series_event":[454],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18215","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-2-timothy","series_event-2-timothy","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"2 Timothy 025 - Follow Me - Part 2","sermon_date":"20160403","sermon_month":"4","sermon_year":"2016","sermon_notes":3506,"sermon_slides":3508,"sermon_mp3":3509,"sermon_id":"4316111311","series_or_event":454,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":100,"chapter_and_verse":"3:11-13","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nFollow Me \u2013 Part 2\n\n4-3-16\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2 Timothy 3:11-13\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 25\n\nGood morning everybody, if we could take our Bibles and open them to the book of 2 Timothy 3, taking a look this morning if time permits at verses 11-13, 2 Timothy 3:11-13.\u00a0 The title of our message this morning is Follow Me \u2013 Part 2.\u00a0 If you\u2019re with us here for the first time we have been working our way through the book of 2 Timothy, which is a book really about Christian endurance.\u00a0 It\u2019s about staying with the task when the storms of life come.\u00a0 This is Paul\u2019s final letter to a young, very struggling pastor named Timothy, who is overwhelmed by circumstances in his life, as no doubt we get from time to time, encouraging him to stay with the calling of God on his life, and pastor that great church there in Ephesus.\n\nPaul, of course, is ready to die, he won\u2019t be around forever.\u00a0 In fact, in chapter 4, verse 6 he will say that his departure is at hand.\u00a0 The mentor, who had been with Timothy for about 20 years is about to pass on and this is Paul\u2019s final word and testament to somebody that he refers to as his spiritual son in the faith.\n\nChapter 1, you recall is a generic call to endurance.\u00a0 Chapter 2 you you\u2019ll recall, and you might not recall it because we\u2019ve had a few interruptions in our study, but chapter 2 is basically ten metaphors or word pictures which explain what endurance looks like.\u00a0 We spent quite a bit of time there in chapter 2 as Paul has moved from point to picture explaining what faithfulness and endurance looks like in the Christian life.\n\nAnd then you might recall beginning in chapter 3 he begins to explain to Timothy why endurance is needed, because there is something that is going to come into the church in the last days called the last day\u2019s apostasy of the church.\u00a0 Apostasy, as we have defined it, is a departure from known truth.\u00a0 As the church age progresses the church will have a tendency to sort of run off the railroad tracks and somehow she will not be everything that God has called the church to be.\u00a0 Paul never tells Timothy that this can be avoided.\u00a0 He tells Timothy how to be faithful in the midst of it.\n\nAnd so in this section on apostasy, which begins in chapter 3, verse 1 and goes all the way through chapter 4, verse 8, Paul first describes the apostasy.\u00a0 In verses 1-7 he describes the evil that\u2019s coming. And in verses 8-9 he gives some examples of this evil. A couple of individuals named Jannes and Jambres, who opposed Moses in the Old Testament, and Paul says in the same way, Timothy, will rise up against you and oppose you as well.\u00a0 And then Paul doesn\u2019t just give the problem, or the anatomy of apostasy, he gives the antidote, and he basically tells young Timothy to do two things.\u00a0 Number 1, follow Paul\u2019s example, and number 2 (probably beginning next week) in verse 14, to preach the Word.\n\nBut we\u2019re still on this section here where Paul is telling Timothy to follow his example.\u00a0 Follow my example, first of all, Paul says, in my ministry, verse 10\u00a0 Paul had been with Timothy for almost 20 years now and he had seen (Timothy had) Paul in every circumstance favorable, unfavorable, highs and lows.\u00a0 And Paul points to himself and says imitate what I have done as\u00a0 you have watched me go through the great spectrum of ministry and life; imitate my ministry in terms of teaching, conduct and purpose.\u00a0 And then he says look at my character.\u00a0 I mean, would you do this if you were mentoring somebody?\u00a0 Look at my character, look at the Christ-like character inside of me and imitate my character in terms of faith, patience, love and perseverance.\u00a0 That\u2019s the ground we\u2019ve covered.\n\nAnd then beginning in verse 11 he brings up something that is sort of shocking at first, Paul says I want you to watch my difficulties.\u00a0 I want you, young Timothy, to remember what I was like in the midst of adversity and oppression.\u00a0 That, to me, is just astounding because if I was going to mentor somebody I would be pointing to my successes, my effectiveness, the battles that I\u2019ve won.\u00a0 Paul doesn\u2019t do that, he goes I want you to specifically remember what it was like when I was going through great adversity, difficulty and oppression.\n\nSo he draws attention, verse 11, to his persecutions and sufferings.\u00a0 And then while he\u2019s on the subject of sufferings he gives an example, verse 11, a promise, verse 12, and a reason for the promise, verse 13.\u00a0 But notice, if you will, verse 11, as Paul says this to Timothy.\u00a0 He says, \u201cpersecutions, and<\/em> sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and<\/em> at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all,\u201d not some, \u201cout of them all the Lord rescued me!\u201d\u00a0 The whole basis of this letter is imitate me as I imitate Christ, 1 Corinthians 11:1.\u00a0 [ \u201cBe imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.\u201d 1 Corinthians 11:1,]\n\nThe whole basis of this letter of be imitators of me, 1 Corinthians 4:16. \u201cTherefore I exhort you, be imitators of me.\u201d\u00a0 This is why Paul had the influence that he had, over Timothy and others.\u00a0 He simply did not point to his words but he pointed to his life.\u00a0 And that, of course, is the great secret to having influence; people need to see in one\u2019s life actions and behavior and character that match their rhetoric. And you can really tell a lot about a person in terms of their character by watching them, not on the mountain tops of life but in the valleys.\u00a0 That\u2019s when our true character comes out.\u00a0 Not in the midst of prosperity but in the midst of adversity.\u00a0 Paul had such a walk with the Lord that he exuded tremendous character and he was not ashamed to call Timothy\u2019s attention to his valley experiences, that Timothy, no doubt was there to see.\n\nNotice first of all this word, verse 11, \u201cpersecutions.\u201d\u00a0 Notice that the noun is plural there.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t \u201ca\u201d persecution, it wasn\u2019t \u201ca\u201d difficult time, it was perpetual persecutions.\u00a0 Now of all of the subjects that Paul knew a lot about it was persecution.\u00a0 Why do I say that?\u00a0 Because Paul was probably, prior to his conversion in Acts 9, the greatest persecutor of Christianity.\u00a0 Acts 9:1-2, prior to Paul\u2019s conversion, when he was still Saul says this: \u201cNow Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, [2] and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way,\u201d that would be the new church, \u201cboth men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.\u201d\n\nWhat was Saul before he came to Christ?\u00a0 He was a person who breathed out murderous threats against the church.\u00a0 Paul, in Acts 22:4 says, \u201cI persecuted the way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons.\u201d\u00a0 1 Corinthians 15:9, he says, \u201cFor I am the least of the apostles, [and not fit to be called an apostle], because I persecuted the church of God.\u201d 1 Timothy 1:13, Paul says, \u201ceven though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief.\u201d\n\nAnd isn\u2019t it sort of interesting that although Paul, when he was Saul, brought this wave of persecution against the early infant church, that the moment Saul became Paul by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ is the moment the persecution that he once wielded against others was suddenly aimed at him.\u00a0 In Acts 9:23 it starts, right after Saul\u2019s conversion.\u00a0 He is now Paul; Acts 9:23 says, \u201cWhen many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to do away with him.\u201d\u00a0 And from that moment on, Saul, who was now Paul, knew nothing but persecution and adversity.\n\nPaul summarizes his sufferings in 2 Corinthians 11:23-33, I\u2019ve read that passage before but it\u2019s the Word of God so let\u2019s read it again.\u00a0 \u201cAre they servants of Christ?\u2014I speak as if insane\u2014I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. \u00a0[24] Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes.<\/em> \u00a0[25] Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. \u00a0[26] I have been<\/em> on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my<\/em> countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren;\u201d and he continues on right through the end of that chapter, 2 Corinthians 11 describing his persecutions.\n\n[27, \u201cI have been<\/em> in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. \u00a0[28] Apart from such<\/em> external things, there is the daily pressure on me of<\/em> concern for all the churches. \u00a0[29] Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern? \u00a0[30] If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness. \u00a0[31] The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, He who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. \u00a0[32 In Damascus the ethnarch under Aretas the king was guarding the city of the Damascenes in order to seize me, [33] and I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and so<\/em> escaped his hands.\u201d]\n\nAnd Timothy, you watched me go through many of these things and I want you to remember what my character was like in the midst of all of that.\u00a0 And how easy it is for us in the United States of America, sitting in a comfortable air conditioned room to forget the reality that the Christian life is a life of persecution.\u00a0 In fact, America is an abnormality, it\u2019s a bubble in the great sweep of human history.\u00a0 Most of the Christian world has been under persecution, is under persecution worldwide, and yet we in America today are living in sort of a bubble or an abnormality for one reason or the other.\u00a0 We enjoy religious freedom and other things, which could be taken away in a nanosecond.\n\nAnd because of our position of comfort we look at suffering as some sort of\u00a0 unwanted intruder that doesn\u2019t belong.\u00a0 And we forget that we are called into suffering.\u00a0 Jesus said in John 15:20, \u201cRemember the word which I said to you, \u2018A slave is not greater than his master.\u2019\u00a0 If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will also keep yours also.\u201d\u00a0 And\u00a0 yet when we go through unfair treatment by people we have to remember that not only are we within the will of God but the favor of God rests on us.\n\nRemember what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount?\u00a0 Matthew 5:10-12, \u201cBlessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. [11] Blessed are you when people<\/em> insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. [12] Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.\u201d\u00a0 I have to admit, my first reaction at persecution is not to rejoice and be glad.\u00a0 But Jesus says \u201cRejoice and be glad\u201d because you\u2019re in the norm, you\u2019re in the groove, you\u2019re living out what is normal.\u00a0 In fact the way they\u2019re treating you is the way they treated anybody in past history, like the prophets who wanted to live for God.\n\nTimothy, I want you to call and reflect upon my persecutions, and I want you to remember something else, also in verse 11.\u00a0 I want you to remember my sufferings.\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice in verse 11 it says \u201cpersecutions\u201d and then the next word there is \u201csufferings.\u201d\u00a0 [2 Timothy 3:11]\u00a0 Keep in mind that the noun, once again, is plural.\u00a0 It\u2019s not just a momentary difficulty, it is perpetual suffering that he endured.\n\nAnd it\u2019s so easy to read Paul\u2019s letters at race value and see this.\u00a0 Paul, in the book of 1 Thessalonians, chapter 3, and verses 2-4 says this: \u201cand we sent Timothy,\u201d see how Timothy was there when these things happened, \u201cwe sent Timothy, our brother and God\u2019s fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith, [3] so that no one would be disturbed by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we have been destined for this.\u201d\u00a0 That is an astounding statement there, people want their destiny in God.\u00a0 Paul says this is my destiny in God to suffer various afflictions.\u00a0 [4, \u201cFor indeed when we were with you, we kept<\/em> telling you in advance that we were going to suffer affliction; and so it came to pass, as you know.\u201d]\n\n2 Corinthians 1:6 says, \u201cBut if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer;\u201d\u00a0 Paul says there are things that God is doing through our lives in the midst of suffering that He does not do during times of prosperity.\n\nPaul, in 2 Corinthians 12:10 says, \u201cTherefore I am well content\u201d contented with what: \u201cwith weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.\u201d\u00a0 Paul understood that in the midst of adversity he had nothing to rely upon but God.\u00a0 And consequently that was the source of his strength.\n\nRomans 8:18 says, \u201cFor I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 The New Testament message is a message of suffering to all who seek to live out the reality of their faith.\n\nI like the way Peter puts it in 1 Peter 4:12, \u201cBeloved,\u201d writing to believers, \u201cdo not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Peter says when the\u2026 not if, but when the fiery ordeal comes I don\u2019t want you to be surprised by it, I don\u2019t want you to be shocked by it, I don\u2019t want you to look at it as some kind of unwanted intruder.\u00a0 I want you to understand that it is something that God has allowed into your life and not think it some strange or odd thing.\u00a0 I think in America we have difficulty with this because we hear so much about success and prosperity.\u00a0 We have lost sight of these New Testament passages which seem to teach the opposite.\n\nNow Paul, you went through a lot in your life, do you have a specific example you can call to our attention?\u00a0 Paul says I\u2019m so glad you asked that question.\u00a0 Notice the rest of verse 11 there, \u201cpersecutions and suffering, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured,\u201d now you\u2019ll notice here that Paul makes reference to Antioch.\u00a0 He makes reference to Lystra.\u00a0 Now why would he all of a sudden draw Timothy\u2019s attention back to Lystra and Antioch in southern Galatia?\u00a0 And the answer is very simple; that\u2019s where Timothy\u2019s home town was.\n\nActs 16:1 says, \u201cPaul came also to Derbe and to Lystra.\u201d\u00a0 Same area, \u201cAnd a disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek.\u201d\u00a0 Paul, I believe, is dialing back to his first missionary journey, which is recorded in Acts 13 and 14.\u00a0 I think Paul here is primarily reflecting upon experiences that he had in Acts 14 and the reason he is drawing that to Timothy\u2019s mind is this was Timothy\u2019s home town.\u00a0 This was Timothy\u2019s first exposure to Paul, the apostle.\n\nThere\u2019s a map with a circle around it, this is the area of southern Galatia that Paul traveled through on missionary journey 1, you\u2019ll see, if you can look very carefully there the different cities, Derbe, Lystra, Antioch, this was where Timothy was reared by a Jewish mother and grandmother, and a Greek father.\u00a0 This is most likely where Timothy came to personal faith in Christ for the very first time.\u00a0 This goes back almost 20 years into Timothy\u2019s background.\u00a0 Paul is dialing back into a 20 year relationship that he had with Timothy.\u00a0 And he says I want you to remember what happened when I first came in contact with you, young Timothy.\n\nWell, what did happen exactly?\u00a0 I believe the event that Paul is referring to is in Acts 14:19-20 which says this: \u201cBut Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead.\u201d\u00a0 They took Paul, these unbelieving Jews and they threw so many rocks at him that people thought he was dead.\u00a0 Now what would you do if that had happened to you?\u00a0 I mean most of us would be feeling so sorry for ourselves.\u00a0 What did Paul do?\u00a0 [20] \u201cBut while the disciples stood around him, he got up and entered the city. The next day he went away with Barnabas to Derbe.\u201d\n\nPaul is telling Timothy that I\u2019m not just lecturing you on enduring in the midst of adversity, I want you to remember that I lived this out; I want you to remember the time in history when I first met you in southern Galatia where people pummeled me so badly that they actually thought I was dead.\u00a0 And I want you to remember that I did not quit, I did not give in, but I went back into that identical city that had pummeled me and I completed the task that God gave me to do.\n\nTimothy, I want you to think about that the next time you\u2019re interested in or contemplating throwing in the towel because life is just too hard.\u00a0 We quit so easily on things.\u00a0 It\u2019s in our sinful nature to quit and to give up.\u00a0 God places all kinds of tasks in front of us to do.\u00a0 We all have different callings but at the first sign of adversity I think we must be out of the will of God.\u00a0 In fact, the adversity, many times is the direct will of God, and God does not want us to quit in the midst of adverse circumstances.\n\nAnd so what great teaching came out of that ministry in southern Galatia?\u00a0 This is what people started to say, Acts 14:22, \u201cstrengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying,<\/em> \u201cThrough many tribulations\u201d plural, \u201cwe must enter the kingdom of God.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0You\u2019ll notice that the kingdom of God is yet future, as we teach here.\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice that we, as God\u2019s children one day will enter the kingdom of God but we\u2019re not in the kingdom of God right now.\u00a0 So prior to entrance into that glorious kingdom one day what\u2019s the norm?\u00a0 The norm is \u201cmany,\u201d not some, \u201ctribulations\u201d plural.\u00a0 \u201cThrough many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s what came out of Paul\u2019s first missionary journey into southern Galatia; that\u2019s what was role modeled and there was somebody watching, named Timothy.\n\nAnd let me tell you something; the world is not watching us when things are going well.\u00a0 The world has our attention when things aren\u2019t going well because they, instinctively know that God is going to be real or not, not in an up time but in a down time.\u00a0 And we need to start seeing the tribulations that we are under as evangelistic opportunities because people will have a chance to see something in you which is unnatural, the strength of God, the power of God and the presence of God as we rely upon God in the midst of adversity.\u00a0 This, I believe, is probably the seminal event that most likely attracted young Timothy to the cross of Christ, and actually allowed Timothy, as the book of Acts continues to become a great participant, a great contributor, a great co-laborer, if you will, into the ministry of Paul.\n\nYou say well, this is sort of depressing, I mean, all these trials.\u00a0 But notice the rest of the verse, \u201cand out of them all,\u201d not some, \u201cout of them all,\u201d that\u2019s these many trials that he went through, \u201cout of them all the Lord rescued me!\u201d\u00a0 One of the great things about living longer, I\u2019m going to be hitting the ripe old age of 50 in September so I\u2019m not as old as some of you all but I\u2019m catching you, and I was a Christian at the age of 16 so I\u2019ve been a Christian a lot longer than I wasn\u2019t a Christian in my life.\u00a0 The majority of my life has been \u201cin Christ,\u201d I praise God for that heritage.\u00a0 Some people don\u2019t have that.\u00a0 But let me tell you the advantage of that heritage.\u00a0 The advantage of that heritage is you can look back on a track record of God, you can see a pattern of God.\n\nAnd I can look back at the times where God delivered me from circumstance after circumstance after circumstance.\u00a0 And looking back on that pattern it develops faith in this: if God delivered me in the past, this is going to be interesting, how is God going to pull it off this time.\u00a0 God, You\u2019ve been so creative in delivering me in the past and I\u2019m in yet another place of difficulty, and I just can\u2019t wait to see Your hand move in my life.\u00a0 I can\u2019t wait to see how creatively and how strategically you pull me out of this one, because Lord, I\u2019m at the same place, I\u2019m out of intellectualizing my problems, I can\u2019t figure my way out of this one, just like I couldn\u2019t figure my way out of any other ones. \u00a0That\u2019s what a trial is, it\u2019s something beyond your ability and you look back and you see how God came through, over and over again and we look back and we say wow, how\u2019s God going to do it this time?\n\nI would encourage you to do that; maybe you\u2019re a journal person, journaling or not, maybe you\u2019re a diary keeper, maybe you\u2019re not, but always having some kind of e-mail or written record somewhere on file, for when those times of despondence and discouragement come because of life\u2019s circumstances to remember that I was here in something similar, five years ago, ten years ago, fifteen years ago and God helped.\n\nIs God not the same yesterday, today and what?\u00a0 Forever.\u00a0 Does not the prophet Malachi, chapter 3:6 of God\u2019s character say, I am the Lord your God, I do not change.\u00a0 [Malachi 3:6, \u201cFor I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.\u201d]\u00a0 His character is what we would call immutable; if His faithfulness was evident then, why would it not be evident now.\u00a0 And Timothy, what you need to understand, Paul says, is I have no corner on God.\u00a0 My relationship with God, Timothy, is just like your relationship with God.\u00a0 God is faithful to me; you watch Him, He\u2019s going to be faithful to you. I know there\u2019s somebody out there that needs to hear this because I know how life can get in terms of discouragement and adversity.\u00a0 Psalm 34:19 puts it this way, \u201cMany are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.\u201d\u00a0 Same idea.\n\nI\u2019m reminded of what the three Hebrews youths, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, those are the names we know them by, there Hebrew names were Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, who were, as very young men thrown into that fiery furnace by Nebuchadnezzar of Neo Babylonia for the simple reason that they would not fall down and worship a graven image.\u00a0 And I\u2019m reminded of what these youths said as they were moving into what seemed to be their fiery destruction.\u00a0 Daniel 3:17 puts it this way:\u00a0 \u201cIf it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king.\u201d\u00a0 Nebuchadnezzar, you can throw us into this fire if you want but let me educate you on something; if God wants to deliver us, He will; if He wants us to perish, as Paul would say, \u201cabsent from the body is to be\u201d what? \u201cpresent with the Lord.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cTo live is Christ, to die is\u201d what? \u201cgain.\u201d But if it\u2019s not your time to go, if it\u2019s not our time to go, God can and will deliver us.\u00a0 Is that your attitude as you look into your fiery furnace this morning?\n\nThat example is followed by a promise in verse 12, \u201cIndeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.\u201d\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t say you might be persecuted, you could be persecuted if you desire to life a godly live in Christ Jesus; it\u2019s an ironclad promise that you will be persecuted.\u00a0 Wow!\u00a0 And I have these little books at my house that have the promises of God in them, and they\u2019re always happy promises, God will provide, God will strengthen.\u00a0 Those kind of things.\u00a0 Well what about this promise?\u00a0 This to me looks like a promise: \u201cAll who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.\u201d\n\nWhy is that?\u00a0 I was trying to explain this to my daughter last night because we go over, as a family, the verses that I\u2019m going to cover that particular Sunday morning.\u00a0 How do you explain this to a nine year old, excuse me, almost ten, she\u2019s going to be ten on the fifth, how do you explain this to her?\u00a0 The best I could come up with in my awkward finite mind is this: We are living, not on God\u2019s turf but on the devil\u2019s turf.\u00a0 As long as we are operating for God in this fallen system that we are in, orchestrated by Lucifer himself, we naturally attract opposition.\n\nWe naturally attract opposition, first of all from the unsaved world; secondly from our own fallen natures, and thirdly, from the fallen angelic realm, the devil himself, who works to oppose, constantly, progress in God\u2019s people.\u00a0 This is not front page news, this is not new teaching, Jesus gave the same truth in the Upper Room in John 15:18-19, he said, \u201cIf the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated<\/em> you.\u201d\u00a0 This didn\u2019t start with you, Jesus says, this started with Me.\u00a0 [20] \u201cIf you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.\u201d\n\nIsn\u2019t it interesting that people will attack and criticize and victimize somebody that\u2019s different than them.\u00a0 Too fat, too tall, too short, wrong hair color, just look at how kids treat each other.\u00a0 If one of those kids stands out in any way the rest are like\u2026 it\u2019s like a mob mentality, persecuting this child that\u2019s done really nothing wrong, other than being a little different than the rest.\u00a0 And isn\u2019t it interesting how that same concept applies its way out into the fallen world.\u00a0 If you are a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ you walk to the beat of a different drummer. \u00a0Your value system is different.\u00a0 The things you say are different.\u00a0 Where you spend your time is different.\u00a0 You stick out and that naturally brings forth opposition from people who are threatened by that.\u00a0 The moment you begin to stand out for Christ is the moment a light goes on, there\u2019s\u00a0 standard and the unsaved world doesn\u2019t want a standard, they don\u2019t want a light so they work overtime to put the light out, either through invitations to compromise or through outright persecution itself.\n\nJesus said in John 16:33, another promise, \u00a0\u201cIn the world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0[John 16:33, \u201cThese things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.\u201d]\u00a0 We have a tendency in the midst of opposition to say Lord, what am I doing wrong?\u00a0 And the Lord is grinning from ear to ear and saying it\u2019s not what you\u2019re doing wrong, it\u2019s what you\u2019re doing right.\n\nNow you might say to yourself, well, pastor, you know my life is pretty good from the human point of view, I have a lot of luxury, I have a lot of leisure, I have a lot of prosperity, people pretty much treat me favorably.\u00a0 If that is your life perpetually then maybe you\u2019re not fulfilling your part of the bargain, because what does verse 12 say?\u00a0 \u201call who desire,\u201d the Greek word there is th\u00e9l\u014d, which means wish or desire, \u201call who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.\u00a0 Jesus said, \u201cWoe to you when all men speak well of you\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 [Luke 6:26]\n\nMaybe if your life is characterized by perpetual lack of opposition, maybe the problem is you, maybe you really don\u2019t desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus.\u00a0 Maybe the ambition to live for God just isn\u2019t there for whatever reason, because it\u2019s very clear from this verse, based on this promise, that once that ambition enters the heart of a person they will know nothing all the days of their life but perpetual opposition.\u00a0 A lot of people will start opposing you, they themselves don\u2019t even know why they\u2019re opposing you\u2026, because you\u2019ve just entered into the angelic conflict.\n
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  1. Vernon McGee, several decades ago wrote this: \u201cMelvin Laird, long before he was Secretary of Defense, made this statement in San Francisco at a Republican convention. I don\u2019t know the circumstances which prompted the statement but he said, quote, \u201cIn this world it is becoming more and more unpopular to be a Christian. Soon it may become dangerous.\u201d\u00a0 Close quote.\u00a0 \u00a0Dr. McGee goes on and he says, \u201cWe are seeing the accuracy of this statement, \u2018Real Christianity and real Christians are becoming unpopular.\u2019\u00a0 I\u2019m not really moved today when the press cries out that there is no freedom of the press.\u00a0 The bleeding heart press has played that theme for all it\u2019s worth, but have they said anything about the fact that real Christianity is stifled by the press?\u201d Question mark.\u00a0 \u201cWhen was the last time you read a sympathetic article of the biblical position?\u00a0 The media stifles news that presents real Christianity. If a fundamental preacher gets any publicity it will be distorted and misrepresented.\u00a0 Of course, if a preacher gets on the wrong side of the law he will make the front page.\u00a0 But if he saves a group of people from going to hell he is ignored.\u201d\u00a0 McGee concludes with this sentence: \u201cFriend, we are moving into an orbit when Christians may have to pay a price to stand for the faith.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nOf course that statement is inaccurate in and of itself because Christians, as I speak, all over the world are paying\u00a0 a price for standing for the faith.\u00a0\u00a0 They\u2019ve always paid a price.\u00a0 What he\u2019s saying here is this unique window or bubble that we have which we Americans think is normal is in fact an abnormality.\u00a0 And we need to, in many cases, prepare ourselves for suffering.\n\nI recall, I was taking a doctoral class at Dallas Seminary.\u00a0 One of my favorite teachers, Dr. Stan Toussaint, he was taking us through the book of 1 Peter in the Greek, and 1 Peter, as you may know, is a book about suffering.\u00a0 And one day in the middle of his lecture he sort of paused and spoke something almost prophetically; he says I want you to understand, you men, ministers in training, that this culture in America is turning.\u00a0 It\u2019s turning against Christ, it\u2019s turning against the church, it\u2019s turning against Christianity.\u00a0 And you need to steel\u201d now when he used the word \u201csteal\u201d it wasn\u2019t theft steal but steel, s-t-e-e-l-i-n-g, like the Steeling the Mind conference that I\u2019m involved in, which means to strengthen, to fortify, \u201cyou need to steel your minds for coming persecution and you need to start preparing your people for persecution.\u201d\u00a0 And then he just continued right on with his lecture.\n\nMay I just say to you that the American church today is woefully.. WOEFULLY unprepared for persecution of any sort.\u00a0 Of course we have exceptions here and there but you see, the American church is filled with the gospel of success and prosperity.\u00a0 The churches that get the budgets and attention and the airtime, I realize there are exceptions, but by and large are not places that are teaching what Paul is teaching us here, this reality of persecution.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the promise of God, \u201call who seek to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.\u201d\u00a0 [2 Timothy 3:12] Now why is that?\u00a0 He gives a reason, verse 13, and with this verse we will conclude.\u00a0 Notice verse 13, verse 13 is an explanation of the promise in verse 12, \u201cBut evil men and impostors will proceed from bad<\/em> to worse, deceiving and being deceived.\u201d\n\nWhy is it that a promise of persecution for the person that desires to live a godly life in Christ Jesus exists?\u00a0 Because of the state of the world and its deterioration and because of the state of the church in its deterioration.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting that he uses this expression, \u201cevil men,\u201d the Greek there \u201cevil\u201d is the same word that\u2019s used to describe \u201cthe evil one,\u201d Satan, over in Matthew 13:19.\u00a0 [Matthew 13:19, \u201cWhen anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road.\u201d]\n\nYou might recall that when we were looking at the condition of the apostasy we looked at nine characteristics.\u00a0 Number 6 I said breaks the mold because it\u2019s not an alpha privitive, it doesn\u2019t have a negation in front of the word, and yet number 6 explains everything else on the list because it says people are malicious gossips.\u00a0 [2 Timothy 3:2-3, \u201cFor men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, [3] unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,\u201d]\n\nNow what is a malicious gossip in Greek?\u00a0 It\u2019s \u03b4\u03b9\u03ac\u03b2\u03bf\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2 [diabolos] \u00a0Satan, whose name means slanderer. What Paul is predicting in the last days through the repetition of this word \u201cevil\u201d is Satanically energized people in the world and in the church will not deteriorate, will not decrease, but they will actually go from bad to worse as we get closer and closer to the end of the age and the rapture of the church.\u00a0 This is what makes the whole Kingdom Now, postmillennial, amillennial argument a total farce.\u00a0 People think that we are going to \u201cChristianize\u201d the culture. I\u2019m not denying the fact that we can\u2019t have progress in terms of evangelism and discipleship and temporary lulls in evil, but the progress of evil cannot be stopped.\u00a0 At best the progress of evil can be slowed down some.\u00a0 When we slow down the progress of evil what we say is okay, I\u2019m going to go over the cliff at 55 instead of 75, but the fact of the matter is, we\u2019re still going over the cliff because it\u2019s a promise from the apostle himself as he writes under the inspiration of the Spirit of God.\n\nYou\u2019ll notice also there in verse 13, \u201cevil men and imposters,\u201d now what is an imposter?\u00a0 I believe that he is referring back to Jannes and Jambres, who he mentioned in verses 8 and 9, magicians, religious leaders if you will, in Pharaoh\u2019s court.\u00a0 Who opposed Moses?\u00a0 It was the religious hierarchy of Egypt.\u00a0 It was the religious aristocracy.\u00a0 It was the people that had the veneer of spirituality.\n\nLet me ask you this: who did Jesus not get along with? \u00a0Pharisees!\u00a0 You look at the love of God as expressed in the incarnate Son of God, you see Jesus\u2019 love for everyone, even the outcasts.\u00a0 But the crowd that He speaks most aggressively against, Matthew 23, the whole chapter would be an example, would be this religious crowd, this crowd that has a veneer of spirituality.\u00a0 Paul says this is what it\u2019s going to be like in the last days, you\u2019re going to get opposition from the people that you least expect it because they are the \u201cimposters.\u201d\u00a0 You\u2019re going to get opposition from people who should and ought to know better, because they are satanically driven, influenced and energized people, having a veneer of spirituality.\n\nNotice verse 13 once more, they \u201cwill proceed\u2026\u201d look at this, \u201cfrom bad to worse, waxing,\u201d some version say \u201cworse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.\u201d\u00a0 You might remember when I laid out the characteristics of apostasy; one of the characteristics we talked about a few Sundays back was Matthew 13:33, where Jesus made this prediction about the interadvent age.\u00a0 He said yes, God will be at work in the interadvent age, the period of time we\u2019re living in now.\u00a0 Yes, there will be some spiritual successes and victories.\u00a0 Yes, god is building His church, but He also said something else, the yeast will work its way through the dough.\n\nMatthew 13:33 says, \u201cHe spoke another parable to them: The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three pecks of flour, until it was all leavened.\u201d\u00a0 Now my friends that are involved in Kingdom Now theology tell me that the leaven is good, it represents the success of the church, the success of the gospel.\u00a0 My response to that is you show me one example in the Bible, anywhere, I don\u2019t care where you go, Old Testament, New Testament, where leaven ever refers to something good.\n\nWithout exception leaven Always, with a capital A, refers to something evil.\u00a0 Even in that same Gospel did Jesus not say in Matthew 16:13, just a few chapters later, \u201cBeware of the leaven of the\u201d who?\u00a0 \u201cthe Pharisees and Sadducees.\u201d\u00a0 If we allow the Bible to interpret itself we know that 2 Timothy 3:13, Matthew 13:33 is talking about something that you\u2019ll hardly hear any pulpit mention today, the progress of evil.\u00a0\u00a0 [2 Timothy 3:13, \u201cBut evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.\u201d\u00a0 Matthew 13:33, \u201cHe spoke another parable to them, \u2018The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.\u2019\u201d]\n\nWhy would we not expect that considering the fact that we\u2019re living on Satan\u2019s turf.\u00a0 Paul never tells Timothy here\u2019s five things to do to stop evil.\u00a0 What he\u2019s saying is it\u2019s coming; your choice, Timothy, is how are you going to react in the midst of it?\u00a0 Are\u00a0 you going to become despondent and discouraged or are you going to stay at the task in spite of satanically motivated and energized hatred until the very end of your life.\u00a0 That\u2019s your choice.\u00a0\u00a0 You don\u2019t have the choice of whether you get out of evil or not, it\u2019s coming.\u00a0\u00a0 Your choice is how are you going to respond in the midst of it, \u201cevil men and impostors waxing worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s sort of like a snowball rolling and as that snowball rolls it keeps growing and growing and growing.\n\nI was at a conference in Spokane and a fellow came up to me and he said tell me about the last days revival of the church?\u00a0 And I said I don\u2019t see a single prophecy in the Bible that predicts a last days awakening or revival for the church.\u00a0 And he looked at me, and as people do when they don\u2019t get the answer they like he got somewhat rude and he said I cannot believe that you are a speaker at a conference and you do not understand that there\u2019s coming to the church a last days revival and awakening?\u00a0 And I said in response, have you learned how to distinguish the prophecies given to the church versus the prophecies given to Israel?\u00a0 And he looked at me like I was from Mars, and that basically ended the conversation.\u00a0 Why would he think that there is coming into the church some sort of last days revival or last days awakening?\u00a0 Why would he even think that?\u00a0 The reason is because he\u2019s going to Joel 2 and other passages which speak of God\u2019s program for Israel and he\u2019s applying them to the end of the church age.\n\nLet me tell you something, I\u2019m going to be as nice about this as I know how to be: if you do not have the ability as a Bible reader to understand which prophecies go with the church and which prophecies go with Israel, then you are not even out of the crib yet in terms of Bible interpretation.\u00a0 You have not even learned how to count to ten, you haven\u2019t even learned the ABC\u2019s because that is such a fundamental thing to understand to keep yourself unconfused in these last days.\u00a0 I\u2019m watching people constantly taking prophecies that apply to Israel\u2019s program as a covenanted nation and her restoration and applying them to the church.\u00a0 The church has no such prophecy.\u00a0\u00a0 If you want to\u00a0 know God\u2019s program for the church read verse 13, \u201cevil men and imposters will wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.\u201d\n\nNow can God send a revival if He wants to?\u00a0 Can God send an awakening if He wants to?\u00a0 Of course He can, He has done it at various times in history.\u00a0 But those things are not simply a guarantee, those things are actually not guaranteed.\u00a0 Revival is not promised but apostasy is promised and predicted.\u00a0 I hope to God God sends another great awakening on the United States of America.\u00a0 In fact, our family prays for that quite frequently.\u00a0 But I don\u2019t sit here and look at God\u2019s Word and say when\u2019s it coming Lord, You obligated Yourself to send it.\u00a0 If it comes it comes out of a supernatural work, sovereignty and spontaneously out of the grace of God.\u00a0 It would be an abnormality.\u00a0 What is normal is verse 13, \u201cevil men and imposters will wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.\u201d\n\nNow you say well wait a minute, here it says they\u2019re deceiving others because they are deceived.\u00a0 So if they\u2019re, these apostates are deceiving others because they\u2019re deceived, how can God hold them accountable?\u00a0 Thomas Constable writes this:\u00a0 \u201cThe wickedness of evil men, particularly charlatans and imposters, will increase as time passes, proceeding from bad to worse.\u00a0 They will not only deceive others but their sins and other deceivers will deceive them, deceiving and being deceived increasingly.\u00a0 Such is the perversity of sin.\u201d\n\nAnd people are deceiving others, Paul says, because they themselves are deceived.\u00a0 Well, if they themselves are deceived how can God hold them accountable for deceiving somebody else?\u00a0 And here\u2019s the answer: People move into a state of spiritual deception because they want to be deceived.\u00a0 You say well, wow, do you have any biblical authority to make a statement like that?\u00a0 I do, I\u2019m glad you asked.\u00a0 Jeremiah 5:31, a tremendous verse, \u201cThe prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule on their own authority;\u201d so the prophets are lying in Jeremiah\u2019s day, the priests aren\u2019t following God, they\u2019re doing whatever they want to do, and the verse doesn\u2019t stop there, it says, \u201cAnd My people love it so!\u201d\u00a0 The reason you\u2019re being deceived by (A) false prophets, and (B) false priests is because you want to be deceived.\n\nNow this will become a very big deal when we get over into chapter 4 and verses 3-4, when he will speak about false teachers in the last days coming because they have a propensity to tickle people\u2019s ears, to not tell them what they need to hear but what they want to hear.\u00a0 Could you imagine going to a doctor and the doctor doesn\u2019t tell you what you need to hear, he tells you want you want to hear?\u00a0 Would not such a doctor immediately have his license suspended or\u00a0 revoked.\u00a0 And yet in the world of spirituality, in the world of ministry this is the norm.\u00a0 People flock to a person who tells them what they want.\u00a0 And so Timothy, as you live in the midst of this you\u2019re going right uphill and consequently you have a promise from God: \u201cThose who seek to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.\u201d\u00a0 Shall we pray.\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for these final words that You spoke through Paul at the end of his ministry to\u00a0 young Timothy.\u00a0 Help us to take these things into consideration and look with great sobriety over the times that we\u2019re living in.\u00a0 Help us to be a people that will be faithful to You in the midst of it.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t