2 Timothy Series - Last Day's Depravity

 

Last Day's Depravity

2 Timothy 3:1-5

Today, we see the sordid evidence of living in the last days all around us that Paul spoke about. From the deception that Jesus warned the church about to the immoral depravity that is manifested in many cultures, to the hatred of God’s people, both Jews and Christians. Jesus told us that these days would come but not to be afraid but to stand firm in His peace and be holy for He is with us, He’s overcome the world. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (Jn. 16:33; 1 Jn.4:4)

Paul now writes to Timothy, not something new, but a reminder of these things that have plagued mankind from the earliest times. For mankind’s sinful human nature has continually revealed the carnality of man. So let’s read the first portion of the text, “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive…”

Paul understood the law of Moses like a pharisee. He could point out the depravity of society by the law, and his own past sinful depravity as a Pharisee, but he saw the decadence that had spread throughout and from the gentile world. He exhorted Timothy not to let these things infiltrate his life and permeate in the church. Timothy was to standfast in the truth and the Spirit against all depravity of mind, spirit, and soul especially of the godless traits of false teachers and unbelievers. Paul’s words were also prophetic to the last days of mankind. As bad as the days were in which Paul and Timothy lived, they would get exponentially worse in the last days. As Jesus said it would be like the days of Noah in the last days; “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” “For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. “ (Gen. 6:5, Matt. 24:37)

Paul now unravels the atrocities of the godless traits of mankind. Men would be lovers of self,  lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive…” Paul had seen how Narcissism was popularized from Greek mythology in the gentile world as well as in the religious world, the inflated self indulgence of Narcissism was everywhere. People were enamored with themselves and all that they had done. They crowed about their achievements and their status. They lifted up their works and proclaimed their names and exalted the names of their buildings and works above God, much like king Nebuchadanezzer (Dan.5:20-21) and king Herod (Acts 12:21-23). It was this love of themselves Paul warned Timothy to abstain from. 

Paul continued in his litany of debauchery, lover of money. He had addressed this issue in the first letter to Timothy “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.” (1 Tim. 6:10). For Paul would have heard of Jesus’ denouncing of the Pharisees for their love of money (Luke 16:13-15).

This leads to the next three godless traits, “proud, arrogant, abusive.” As Paul had taught about humility in his letter to the Philipians (2:1-11) and the Corinthians (2 Cor 11:1-15). Paul looked to and taught that our humility and service should be like that of Jesus. He was the example for all christians, And in the second Corinthian letter he contrasted the false humility, pride, arrogance, and abusiveness of the false apostles, prophets, and teachers.

Application - Narcissism is alive and exponentially growing in our days, look at the social media and the enamoring bent of selfies. We are a worldwide culture of Narcissism. The ungodly trait of self interest and promotion is beyond healthy to a proliferation of lovers of self. For even the youngest are addicted to their self image and to their promotion of it in social media. The church is not exempt, for the movement to reach the lost by all means has embraced the whole of self promotion in the name of their churches, the publicizing of leadership to almost rock star levels, and the aggrandizement of all they have to offer above other churches.

For the other ungodly traits of a lover of money, the old saying is evident “Follow the money.” I saw the exposed bank accounts numbers of terrorist leaders, and they were all millionaires or more. Then we see the echelon politicians and their proliferated bank accounts and homes, not to mention the high profile religious leaders. Many have fallen to the love of money and its root system of evil. And all of this leads to the abusiveness, pride, and arrogance we hear and see in a multitude of personalities, from the top to the bottom of society. 

Now we as believers in Jesus Christ must abstain, run away from, and guard against these sinful traits. For as Paul said, they facilitate the flesh  and can get us to wander from the faith. Our lives, heart and minds, should be focused on Christ not on this world or its fleshly traits. “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Col. 3:1-3) For we have the peace of Christ that guards our hearts against these traits of the flesh. “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:7) 

Last, we are to live in the humility of Christ, “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices …Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” (Col. 3:9, 11-13) Christ is coming back for a blameless and holy church, and these qualities or traits of the world shouldn’t have any part in the body of Christ.

Paul’s admonition now focuses on the general state of the world’s debauchery. Paul warns Timothy of the sordid state of the world they had ministered in and will minister in. The people from young to old were facilitating the itchiness of the flesh. So let’s read the next portion of this text, “disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”

Again this litany of wickedness begins with the family unit. Paul knew the teachings of Jesus (Matt. 10:16-22). The people who receive Jesus’ salvation were ostracized by those in the family who didn’t understand salvation through Jesus. For within the unregenerate families, the children were disobedient even with the most sane, wise, and loving instruction from parents because of the child’s rebelliousness. They were ungrateful for the provision of God, and sought the temptations that Satan offered to worship him and to be like the world and its god. “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” “The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” (2 Cor. 4:4, 1 John 3:8). 

This led Paul into warning the church and Timothy of the wiles of the devil, the works and schemes of the devil and of the flesh, “unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit…” Each of these godless traits are manifested in the works of Satan and of the unregenerated flesh of mankind were evidenced in the world and appearing in the church. For the workings of the flesh had produced heartlessness towards all others, especially those who they were to love (one another and neighbors), they were unsatisfied with what they had and craved (envy) for what they desire. They wouldn’t be content. This led to many slandering others for these faults that they themselves manifested but didn’t recognize. For they were without control over their mouths and actions, brutally bashing what they didn’t understand. They called good evil and evil good. 

In their treachery and recklessness, they made devious plans and innuendos of lies to destroy the works of God in the lives of those who had come to salvation in Jesus, and to undermine those in leadership. 

Last, Paul addresses the concept of Epicureanism, the teaching that life had its greatest fulfillment in seeking and finding the highest pleasure in the mind and the physical.

This teaching had been propagated in Greek culture as well as Roman, but Paul knew that it went back even as far as the days of Noah, “...every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” (Gen. 6:5b) For the hearts of mankind sought out pleasure over God, or assimilated it into their worship and religious activities. They had lost the holy reverence and fear of God that had distinguished them from the world, and sought to fill this void with fleshly pleasures. This led Paul to address the godliness and the powerlessness of religion without submission, yielding, and reverence for God. Paul was adamant to Timothy to avoid this and its adherents at all cost in his life and in the church.

Application - Again the litany of vices and ungodly traits listed by Paul for the last days are definitely evident in all facets of our societies. It was Peter speaking about the last days in his second letter that admonished the believers to ask this question, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives.” (2 Pet. 3:10-11)

  With all the admonitions from Jesus through the Apostles Paul and Peter, why is it that we still see the proliferation of these ungodly traits in the church and in our homes today? We are to run away quickly and abstain from all the appearance of these traits. We know what kind of people we should be, and we can only be holy by faith and covered with Christ’s blood and the power of the Holy Spirit living in us. It is the humbling of submitting and yielding to the Holy Spirit, to the obedience to the Word of God and the will of God for our lives, and truly loving others more than ourselves. We can only do this by trusting our Lord and Savior for our salvation by grace through faith and the mercy he lovingly gives us with the blood covering of his righteous salvation.

I’m again including the ABC’s of salvation (JD Farag). Please, Jesus, God the Son, came to this world to save all who would believe and trust in him. He desires to reveal himself to you, He is the Light that overcomes the darkness of this lawless world. He hears your prayers, and all authority in heaven and earth have been given to him. He will answer you if you will truly believe. If you haven’t asked him to be your Lord and Savior, today could be that day.

 First, A - Admit that you are a sinner. This is where that godly sorrow leads to genuine repentance for sinning against a righteous God and there is a change of heart, we change our mind and God changes our hearts and regenerates us from the inside out. Romans 3:10 - As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one." Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (We are all born sinners which is why we must be born spiritually in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven). Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. The bad news is that the wages of sin is death, in other words our sin means that we have been given a death sentence, we have the death penalty hanging over our heads, that's the bad news. But here's the good news: The good news is that the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Ephesians 2:8-9 - For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. Second,

 B - Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and that God raised Jesus from the dead. This is trusting with all of your heart that Jesus Christ is who he said he was. Romans 10:9-10 - That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Third, 

C - Call upon the name of the Lord. Every single person who ever lived since Adam will bend their knee and confess with their mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, the Lord of lords and the King of kings. Romans 14:11 - For it is written: "As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God." Don't wait until later — do this now. Romans 10:13 - For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." "O God, I am a sinner. I'm sorry for my sin. I want to turn from my sin. I believe Jesus Christ is Your Son; I believe that He died on the cross for my sin and that He was buried and You raised Him to life. I have decided to place my faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior, trusting only in His shed blood as sufficient to save my soul and to take me to heaven. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for saving me. Amen."

Please share this with someone this week, the Lord knows that we and they need it.

If you would like other lessons, please go to http://pmdinhisservice.blogspot.com 

Until next week, In His Service Mike Davis