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 Our reading today is from 2 Timothy chapter 3. It's on page 1196. So if you aren't there yet, you can do that.

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 Starting in verse 1.

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 But mark this, there will be terrible times in the last days.

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 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud.

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 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.

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 Having a form of godliness but denying its power.

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 Have nothing to do with such people.

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 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.

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 Just as Janus and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose truth.

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 They are men of depraved minds who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected.

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 But they will not get very far because, as is the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.

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 Word of the Lord.

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 Thank you.

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 Thanks, David.

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 Let's pray and ask the Lord's help as we come to his word.

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 Let's pray.

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 Father, we do just want to recognise our need of you in these moments.

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 We're very conscious that this isn't just like a teaching exercise where I'm trying to get information out of my brain into the brains of people in front of me.

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 But this is a spiritual exercise where we are seeking together to listen to what you say to us by your spirit, through your word.

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 So we pray that you would relieve us of distractions, that you'd help us to listen well, help me to speak faithfully and clearly, and be at work for your glory and no one else's.

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 In Jesus' name.

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 Amen.

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 I'm going to hazard a guess.

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 I don't know this, but I'm going to guess that the thing that stood out to you in that reading is the word gullible women in verse 6.

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 And you might be sat there thinking, what is he going to say about gullible women?

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 And I promise you that we will get there.

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 But I want you just to shelve that in your mind for a moment, because I want you to notice before anything else that the passage is organised around two fairly simple and straightforward instructions.

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 The first one comes at the beginning, it is mark this.

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 And the other one comes partway through at the end of verse 5, have nothing to do with such people.

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 And all of the information in this passage is organised around those two to-dos for Timothy.

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 Mark this, have nothing to do with such people.

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 And so my plan for our time together this morning is just to shape our time around those two instructions.

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 Mark this, avoid this, and then see how that applies for us today.

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 So let's start with that first one.

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 Mark this, or literally, or more literally, know this.

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 Know this.

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 The word that Paul uses here is the word for understand.

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 And the point is that there is a danger to Timothy that he might be ignorant about what is going on.

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 Timothy, remember, is in Ephesus.

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 He is working in the church there.

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 Paul is his older mentor, dying in prison in Rome.

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 And he is concerned that Timothy might be confused about the dynamic of ministry in the time in which they live.

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 And so he needs to know, he needs to be clued up, fully briefed.

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 Because, as it turns out, it's going to be tough.

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 Look down at verse 1.

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 But mark this, there will be terrible times in the last days.

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 Paul's point is that the last days, days which in Bible language are the days between the ascension of the Lord Jesus and his final return.

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 In other words, today, these days, the days that Paul was living in and the days we are in now.

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 In those days, there will be terrible or fierce or troubled or grievous times.

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 The dynamic of the passage is perhaps quite easy to understand.

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 Paul is warning Timothy.

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 Think of like a seasoned mother speaking to a pregnant woman.

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 There are terrible times ahead, she says, with a knowing look.

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 Or a GCSE student looking to one of the year eights going, there are terrible times ahead.

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 And Paul seems to think, doesn't he, that there is a genuine danger of naivety for Timothy and for those in Christian ministry and for all of us in the Christian life.

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 Specifically, it seems a naivety which expects that everything will be a lot easier than it actually turns out to be.

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 Maybe, you know, oh, if I do everything right, then everything will work out and everything will be straightforward.

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 But Paul says, no, no, no, that's not what it's like.

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 Paul says, I want you to know, good churches, faithful ministers, good ministry will always face difficulty and challenge, he says.

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 Now, we do need to be careful.

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 Look down at the verse.

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 It says that not all of the last days will be terrible.

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 It's not the idea that church life is always a disaster or that ministry will never be fruitful or have a point to it.

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 That's not what Paul's saying.

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 If he wasn't, you know, you might as well give up, mind you.

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 Well, the point is that in the last days, you won't be able to avoid terrible times.

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 You know, there will be exceptions, but still there are terrible times to come and you won't be able to avoid them.

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 These are, if you like, the days of terrible times, says Paul.

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 In fact, according to next week's passage, if you glance down at verse 13, you are told it's going to go from bad to worse, not better to better.

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 Which means, I think, if anything, you and I have even more reason to listen to this than Timothy did.

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 So just there, before we even get any further, just think about this for us as a church or for me as one of the pastors or for you as a community group leader or a Sunday school teacher,

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 for you as a parent or an uncle or an aunt or a grandparent trying to teach children about Jesus.

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 Whatever it is, don't be naive.

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 Don't be naive.

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 This is going to be tough.

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 There might be seasons of blessing.

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 We are praying for seasons of blessing.

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 We are striving for them.

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 We desire them, don't we?

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 But there will certainly be challenges.

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 Terrible, chaotic, difficult, troubling times.

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 And if you're ignorant of that, if you don't realize that that's the dynamic, then you're going to give up too easily.

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 Because the truth is that God, in his providence and in his wisdom, has set church up in such a way that good ministry will always face difficulty.

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 Always.

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 And that's not a sign that things are wrong.

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 It's just a sign of the way things are.

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 And if you and I are going to keep going, then like Timothy, you and I need to be made aware of it.

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 Perhaps you are only too aware of it this morning.

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 I think most of us know what it's like to be through tough times.

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 Perhaps you had expectations of church and it turned out to be worse.

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 Maybe you had expectations of teaching your children about Jesus.

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 And, well, it turns out they were never interested.

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 You were excited about a talk that you were going to give to the youth club and it bombed.

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 No one listened.

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 You thought getting married might make it easier to read the Bible together, but actually it's turned out that it's made it even more difficult.

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 You thought that merging two churches together would solve all of our problems, but it's brought new ones and different ones instead.

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 But such is faithful ministry, right?

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 Don't give up.

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 Don't be naive, says Paul.

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 Don't be able to understand.

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 But there's more to this because in Paul's mind here is not so much a sort of a general difficulty of ministry, but rather a specific cause of terrible times.

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 And you'll notice that the cause of these terrible times is verse two.

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 What?

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 People.

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 People.

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 That's the problem.

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 Specifically the problem of people's hearts.

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 And then what follows are 19 descriptions of people problems.

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 19 inclinations of people's hearts in these last days.

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 Now, I think Paul has got what you might call flow here, right?

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 These are just tripping off his tongue.

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 And there is some overlap, and there are some themes in these verses,

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 like the attitude to oneself, or view of authority, or relationship difficulties.

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 But I don't think really, as you look down at the list,

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 it's not really that you're supposed to notice the organisation of the list.

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 Rather, you're to notice this is overwhelming.

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 This is just coming at me, and at me, and at me.

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 This is a big problem, not a niche one.

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 That's what Paul is communicating.

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 This is bad, really bad, he says.

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 And the emphasis, if you remember, is not so much, Timothy, don't be like that.

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 It is that in part, and we will come to that a little bit.

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 But really, the emphasis is, no, know that people are like this, Timothy.

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 That in the last days, people will be like this.

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 Spot this. Look out for it. Don't be naive.

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 Don't be blindly optimistic about people.

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 Now, with that in mind, let's run through the list.

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 And I apologise. I don't apologise to you.

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 I warn you that this is going to be overwhelming, okay?

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 But look down at the verses, and let's follow them through.

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 Firstly, you find that people will be lovers of themselves.

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 Now, several of the words in this list are composite words of the word for love with another word, right?

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 And here, firstly, it's a combination of the word love and the word self.

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 And Paul says the trouble in these last days is going to be people's self-preoccupation.

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 There will be an inappropriate obsession with people's own wellbeing.

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 The next word, the next composite word, is the composite of the word for love and money.

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 We've got lovers of money.

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 Similar idea.

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 People, as well as being obsessed with themselves, will be obsessed with money.

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 Money will be a god to people.

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 Everything will be about possessions and acquiring wealth.

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 That will be a big source of trouble.

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 Next, we find that going to be boastful.

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 This really is spoken pride.

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 Proud is the next word which follows.

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 That's primarily about the attitude of the heart, boasting outwardly, inwardly, really being self-obsessed.

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 Having an over-inflated view of our own importance, of our own skill.

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 Always on about themselves and what they're doing and how they are and what people think of them.

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 Next, we find they're abusive.

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 Literally, the Greek word there is blasphemous.

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 But it seems so much about what they say about God as blasphemy against God, but really blasphemy against others.

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 Saying what is not true in order to destroy someone.

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 John Stott, who's written a commentary on these verses, says that this kind of abuse is the evil twin of pride.

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 If you're going to have an over-inflated view of yourself, in order to kind of maintain that, you're going to have to consistently put other people down, abuse others, and puff yourself up.

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 Next comes disobedient to parents.

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 It seems that turning over the authority structure in the family, uncontrollable children whose parents are helpless, is not a new problem.

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 It's been going on for at least 2,000 years.

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 The next word is ungrateful.

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 Ungrateful.

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 These now are composite words again of the word anti and another word.

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 So here is the word anti-thankfulness or anti-grace.

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 There is no sense in these people that they are indebted to anybody else.

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 There's no sense for them that they owe anything to anybody else, that they have anything to be grateful for.

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 I made it myself, they say.

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 I've earned it all.

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 Next, it's anti-holiness.

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 Unholy.

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 Ungodly.

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 No desire to follow God's law.

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 No sense that obedience to God's commands is how we're intended to live our lives.

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 The separation from evil is good.

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 They are unholy.

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 Anti-holiness.

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 Then they are without love.

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 Heartless.

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 Lacking in ordinary, normal human affection.

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 Unmoved by the plight of others.

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 Without pity or kindness.

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 They are unforgiving.

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 Refusing to be reconciled to others.

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 Unwilling to absorb the cost of other people's wrongdoing, which is so important, isn't it, in our world, where bad stuff happens all the time.

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 Then you find that they are slanderous.

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 Slightly different to the word abusive.

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 Here it's not so much bad words spoken to another person, but bad words spoken about another person.

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 The word is literally diabolos, from which we get the word devil or adversary.

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 It's this malicious intent to bring others down.

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 Saying stuff that will damage their reputation.

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 Next we find lacking in self-control.

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 Literally self-indulgent.

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 It's another twin of pride, isn't it?

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 And self-importance.

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 Why would I deny myself anything?

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 I'm the most important person in the room.

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 If you want to know more about self-control, come this evening.

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 David is talking about that for us tonight.

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 Next we find brutal, fierce, savage towards others.

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 There's no gentleness here.

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 Weaknesses of others are exploited ruthlessly as a means to bring them down.

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 Next they're not loving the good.

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 They are against good.

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 It's dumb, but it's true, isn't it, that in the last days people will look at what is good and be hostile to it.

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 Don't we see that?

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 Marriage, family, meekness, innocence, integrity.

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 Goodness that's not treasured by our world, but hated.

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 Number 15, if you were wondering where we're up to.

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 Treacherous, traitors.

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 Friends who betray family and the truth of the gospel.

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 People who will sell others out just for a quick win.

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 They're willing to trash relationships because they're too weak to stand up for what's right.

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 Too interested in themselves.

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 16, they're rash.

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 Go ahead without thinking about it.

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 No consideration, no seeking of wisdom, no listening to the counsel of others.

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 I'm just going to do it.

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 Just jumping forward with their own ideas.

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 17, we're nearly there.

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 Conceited.

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 An extreme pride.

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 Literally here, I think it's sort of swollen with a self-inflated view of themselves.

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 And then, as we were saying earlier in the last two characteristics, the idolatry of all this comes through.

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 They are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

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 It's just like the opening line in verse 2, isn't it?

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 Lovers of self.

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 They're displacing the love of God with love for self-indulgence.

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 It's a false religion, isn't it?

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 It's making an idol of pleasure and self instead of worshipping the God who made us.

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 This is, if you like, it's kind of self-worship, isn't it?

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 The idol behind all the idols really is me.

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 It's what I want it to be like.

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 Self-worship.

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 Which brings you to the final trait in verse 5, which says that they have a form of godliness, but deny its power.

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 Let me say to you this morning, I think this is the big shock at the end of the list.

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 Maybe you read the list and you think, well, what is it that Timothy's not to be naive about?

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 You know, you hear that list and you go, Timothy's like, I've seen all of that.

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 I've watched the news.

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 I know that that's what this world is.

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 I don't know what this is for.

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 I've encountered that at work.

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 I've seen that in people.

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 But when you get to the end of the list, you realize, no, the thing that Timothy's not to be naive about is that these things are characteristics in the church.

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 These people are people who are in the church.

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 These things are dressed up as godliness.

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 We're following the Lord, they say.

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 But they're not really.

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 You know, the big house.

00:15:55.799 --> 00:15:56.899
 Oh, we're going to buy a big house.

00:15:57.500 --> 00:15:58.659
 It's going to be for hospitality.

00:15:59.720 --> 00:16:00.480
 No, it's not really.

00:16:01.659 --> 00:16:03.379
 Oh, it's not slander.

00:16:03.460 --> 00:16:04.340
 It's a prayer point.

00:16:07.659 --> 00:16:08.919
 The love of money.

00:16:09.940 --> 00:16:12.480
 Oh, well, I was just, it's just, I'm working for the Lord.

00:16:13.159 --> 00:16:15.419
 He wants me to work hard, earn well.

00:16:16.379 --> 00:16:19.379
 The brutality was, I've just been honest with you.

00:16:19.379 --> 00:16:22.439
 The rash decision.

00:16:23.159 --> 00:16:24.779
 I was following the spirit.

00:16:24.779 --> 00:16:37.000
 But in reality, it's a fake godliness by people who are fake teachers and fake believers, giving the impression of serving the Lord, but are actually just in it for themselves.

00:16:37.639 --> 00:16:44.000
 Using ministry, positioning in the church as a means of gaining influence or reputation or status or lifestyle.

00:16:44.559 --> 00:16:48.379
 A way of commanding people's respect and leading them to follow themselves and not the Lord.

00:16:48.379 --> 00:16:52.799
 And so, says Paul, they deny, notice, the power of the gospel.

00:16:53.620 --> 00:16:55.460
 How have they denied the power of the gospel?

00:16:55.960 --> 00:16:57.620
 What is the power of the gospel?

00:16:58.259 --> 00:16:59.399
 The power of the gospel.

00:16:59.539 --> 00:17:01.340
 This is why the gospel is good news for you this morning.

00:17:01.419 --> 00:17:03.519
 If you're not a Christian, this is why the gospel is good news for you.

00:17:03.519 --> 00:17:10.879
 The gospel alone has the power to liberate you from self-worship, to worship the God who made you.

00:17:11.339 --> 00:17:13.099
 And that is what life is for.

00:17:13.759 --> 00:17:15.539
 And only the gospel has that power.

00:17:15.859 --> 00:17:21.619
 But they are denying its power because they are using the gospel as a means of worshipping themselves.

00:17:22.420 --> 00:17:23.759
 So they've denied its power.

00:17:25.720 --> 00:17:27.799
 It's all a bit overwhelming, isn't it, I think.

00:17:28.379 --> 00:17:32.079
 You know, maybe you think, oh, Paul, he just, maybe he's just a bit dramatic here.

00:17:32.079 --> 00:17:34.779
 But let me try and prove to you that he's not.

00:17:35.759 --> 00:17:37.480
 Take a guy called Diotrephes.

00:17:37.599 --> 00:17:38.639
 You've maybe not heard of him.

00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:40.079
 You'll be forgiven for that.

00:17:40.179 --> 00:17:42.579
 But 3 John in the Bible is all about him.

00:17:43.139 --> 00:17:46.419
 He was an elder in a church, but turns out he was in it for himself.

00:17:46.879 --> 00:17:50.179
 We are told in 3 John he loved to be first.

00:17:50.519 --> 00:17:51.720
 That's how he got described.

00:17:52.579 --> 00:17:54.000
 Diotrephes loved to be first.

00:17:54.119 --> 00:17:55.659
 And so he didn't welcome others in the church.

00:17:55.779 --> 00:17:59.399
 In fact, he used his influence and his control and his status all for himself.

00:17:59.400 --> 00:18:03.800
 He threw people out of the church rather than have people there who would challenge him.

00:18:04.580 --> 00:18:06.540
 He gets a New Testament letter written against him.

00:18:06.620 --> 00:18:07.400
 What a claim to fame.

00:18:09.400 --> 00:18:18.360
 What about Giovanni de Lorenzo de Medici, the cardinal of the church, age 13, because of the power of his family?

00:18:18.359 --> 00:18:22.939
 Age 37, in 1513, he became Pope Leo X.

00:18:23.459 --> 00:18:30.099
 He loved art and luxury so much he is supposed to have said, since God has given us the papacy, let us enjoy it.

00:18:31.099 --> 00:18:36.059
 And he extorted money from the poor to pay for the building of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome,

00:18:36.979 --> 00:18:42.599
 telling the poor that as soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.

00:18:42.599 --> 00:18:48.279
 Martin Luther wrote his 95 thesis against him and sparked the Protestant Reformation.

00:18:49.500 --> 00:18:51.019
 And countless others have followed, haven't they?

00:18:51.099 --> 00:18:52.500
 Some are small-time operators.

00:18:52.699 --> 00:18:53.459
 Some are big-time.

00:18:53.859 --> 00:18:56.000
 Some just ruin their small group at church.

00:18:56.159 --> 00:18:57.359
 Some ruin their marriage.

00:18:57.939 --> 00:18:59.459
 Some ruin the eldership of the church.

00:18:59.639 --> 00:19:00.980
 Some ruin the whole church.

00:19:01.459 --> 00:19:02.599
 Some ruin whole denominations.

00:19:03.959 --> 00:19:04.699
 Some are famous.

00:19:04.839 --> 00:19:07.659
 They use ministry to get rich, to gain influence, and to build a brand.

00:19:08.179 --> 00:19:09.259
 They twist the truth.

00:19:09.259 --> 00:19:12.619
 They try to guarantee ends that they can never promise.

00:19:13.759 --> 00:19:20.379
 People like Benny Hinn, or Mark Griscoll, or David Oyedepo, or Joseph Prince, or Joel Osteen.

00:19:20.819 --> 00:19:27.980
 Some of them you'll never have heard of, often in small churches where church is no longer a place to lay down their ambition and their pride,

00:19:28.099 --> 00:19:32.900
 but to fuel it and to facilitate a lifestyle they wouldn't otherwise have been able to have.

00:19:33.720 --> 00:19:37.879
 And our big danger is that that happens and you're unaware of it.

00:19:37.879 --> 00:19:38.940
 We're naive.

00:19:39.680 --> 00:19:45.480
 And either we unwittingly get sucked in and fall in line with them, or we despairingly give up.

00:19:46.640 --> 00:19:49.000
 Now, there is more to say on it, and we're going to come back to it at the end.

00:19:49.059 --> 00:19:51.200
 But let's notice the second instruction before we do.

00:19:51.539 --> 00:19:52.879
 It's there at the end of verse 5.

00:19:52.940 --> 00:19:54.200
 Have nothing to do with such people.

00:19:54.440 --> 00:19:55.599
 We're going to use the word avoid.

00:19:55.819 --> 00:19:56.160
 Avoid.

00:19:57.640 --> 00:19:58.819
 Now, we'll deal with this more quickly.

00:19:58.920 --> 00:20:00.539
 There's not a long list of offenses here.

00:20:00.539 --> 00:20:05.659
 Instead, this is Paul's weapon for Timothy in the context of these terrible times of false teaching.

00:20:06.180 --> 00:20:10.680
 And his recommendation, his advice, or his instruction, really, is avoid.

00:20:10.920 --> 00:20:16.779
 Not just as in swerve or ignore, but rather actively and proactively avoid them.

00:20:16.879 --> 00:20:19.119
 Have nothing to do with these people.

00:20:19.259 --> 00:20:20.659
 Don't share a platform with them.

00:20:20.720 --> 00:20:22.200
 Don't invite them to speak in your church.

00:20:22.279 --> 00:20:23.559
 Don't align yourself with them.

00:20:23.559 --> 00:20:24.779
 Don't listen to them.

00:20:24.899 --> 00:20:25.500
 Boot them out.

00:20:25.799 --> 00:20:26.879
 Don't appoint them as leaders.

00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:29.119
 Remove them from positions of influence.

00:20:30.440 --> 00:20:36.000
 And to cement his instruction of avoid, Paul goes into detail with Timothy about their method.

00:20:36.659 --> 00:20:38.159
 This is their method, says Paul.

00:20:38.259 --> 00:20:39.480
 Look down at verse 6.

00:20:40.059 --> 00:20:44.359
 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women,

00:20:44.679 --> 00:20:48.639
 who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires.

00:20:49.740 --> 00:20:50.819
 We've arrived there.

00:20:50.819 --> 00:20:55.500
 These false teachers prey on gullible women.

00:20:56.259 --> 00:20:59.139
 Not because all women are gullible.

00:20:59.399 --> 00:21:01.139
 That's not Paul's point here.

00:21:01.779 --> 00:21:05.419
 Paul actually has women teaching theology in his mission team, right?

00:21:05.759 --> 00:21:06.779
 Paul is pro-women.

00:21:06.879 --> 00:21:07.919
 He's not anti-women.

00:21:08.939 --> 00:21:11.799
 Paul's target here is not the women, but the false teachers.

00:21:12.559 --> 00:21:16.759
 Saying that they are deliberately targeting people who don't know,

00:21:16.759 --> 00:21:19.039
 who are already compromised in sin,

00:21:19.039 --> 00:21:21.240
 who are already weighed down by evil desires.

00:21:21.659 --> 00:21:24.920
 People interested in the latest desires, but no concern for the truth.

00:21:25.339 --> 00:21:26.799
 They are their target audience.

00:21:27.960 --> 00:21:29.500
 This is like that sort of comment that we make.

00:21:29.879 --> 00:21:33.059
 This is like taking candy from a child, right?

00:21:33.480 --> 00:21:34.639
 It's easy to do it.

00:21:34.980 --> 00:21:36.500
 The person who does that,

00:21:36.819 --> 00:21:39.339
 they are abusing the vulnerability of the child.

00:21:39.339 --> 00:21:44.899
 It's like an online scam where they try and phone the weak and the vulnerable,

00:21:45.039 --> 00:21:46.079
 and they select them.

00:21:47.119 --> 00:21:50.199
 Or a drug dealer who is selling to an addict,

00:21:50.539 --> 00:21:53.939
 knowing that that person will pay anything to get the latest hit.

00:21:54.679 --> 00:21:57.559
 The vulnerable who, in a sense, are sort of asking for it.

00:21:57.919 --> 00:21:59.799
 And that's what's going on here.

00:21:59.799 --> 00:22:05.639
 Here, these false teachers in the church make their way to the people who they think are most likely

00:22:05.639 --> 00:22:08.500
 who are already compromised.

00:22:10.619 --> 00:22:11.759
 Or already weak.

00:22:12.799 --> 00:22:15.599
 And of course, that's still how it works today, isn't it?

00:22:16.539 --> 00:22:20.919
 I think that the obscenity of the prosperity gospel preacher

00:22:20.919 --> 00:22:24.740
 is not just how much money they make,

00:22:24.740 --> 00:22:28.500
 but it's that they take it from the poorest and the most vulnerable, isn't it?

00:22:30.420 --> 00:22:34.079
 Targeting their promises of, you know, abundant life,

00:22:35.079 --> 00:22:38.019
 fulfillment, everything you could ever want.

00:22:38.440 --> 00:22:41.339
 Targeting those promises to people who are desperate,

00:22:42.759 --> 00:22:45.279
 who will listen because they are lonely,

00:22:45.779 --> 00:22:48.839
 they're unemployed, they're homeless, they're desperate, whatever it is.

00:22:49.440 --> 00:22:52.140
 Promising them the worldly treasure that they long for so much

00:22:52.140 --> 00:22:53.620
 and they have no right to promise to them.

00:22:53.619 --> 00:22:56.979
 They're like Jean and Jambra in verse 8,

00:22:57.119 --> 00:23:00.579
 who are probably the Egyptian magicians who opposed Moses

00:23:00.579 --> 00:23:03.619
 by copying the plagues with their magic arts.

00:23:04.279 --> 00:23:07.899
 These false teachers oppose Paul and Timothy.

00:23:08.659 --> 00:23:10.959
 But like Jean and Jambra's were found out eventually,

00:23:11.139 --> 00:23:13.579
 so will these men be, who according to verse 9,

00:23:14.079 --> 00:23:16.339
 their true colors will show themselves eventually.

00:23:17.819 --> 00:23:19.199
 This is fascinating, isn't it?

00:23:19.479 --> 00:23:20.539
 Do you see what's happening here?

00:23:20.539 --> 00:23:24.319
 The false teachers are, if you like, they're building a false world.

00:23:26.039 --> 00:23:29.960
 So the world of the false teachers has them at the center.

00:23:30.759 --> 00:23:32.359
 And you know that's not the real world, right?

00:23:32.359 --> 00:23:35.000
 Because the real world has God at the center, not the false teacher.

00:23:35.399 --> 00:23:39.980
 And so what happens over time is that that world crumbles because it's unreal.

00:23:39.980 --> 00:23:44.980
 And so it's really important that Timothy's not ignorant of the false teacher,

00:23:44.980 --> 00:23:50.240
 but also he's not to be over-invested in it or in trying to sort it out himself,

00:23:50.240 --> 00:23:55.400
 because it will sort itself out eventually, because that world is a false world.

00:23:56.200 --> 00:23:58.500
 Time will demonstrate the folly of these people,

00:23:58.940 --> 00:24:03.039
 because the world has, well, their fake world doesn't exist,

00:24:03.160 --> 00:24:04.799
 and reality has a habit of biting.

00:24:05.639 --> 00:24:07.599
 And so in time, people will see through these people.

00:24:07.720 --> 00:24:11.039
 You know, Jean and Jean, their snakes got eaten by Aaron's snakes.

00:24:11.619 --> 00:24:12.740
 People were able to see.

00:24:14.159 --> 00:24:15.319
 So here's what's going on then.

00:24:15.399 --> 00:24:18.359
 God has allowed false teaching and false teachers in the church.

00:24:18.680 --> 00:24:22.460
 He has allowed people in the church to be lovers of pleasure and not lovers of him.

00:24:23.180 --> 00:24:25.339
 And you and I need to be aware of that, not naive,

00:24:25.579 --> 00:24:28.480
 not willing to follow anyone who comes and says, hey, follow this way.

00:24:28.480 --> 00:24:33.519
 We also need to understand, don't we, that God has set limits for that false teaching.

00:24:33.660 --> 00:24:36.380
 It will only go so far before it unravels.

00:24:37.380 --> 00:24:40.960
 I wonder, as we finish, if you could think with me, just why?

00:24:41.400 --> 00:24:41.599
 Right?

00:24:42.140 --> 00:24:43.460
 Why might that be the case?

00:24:44.640 --> 00:24:47.460
 Why would the Lord not make the last days easy?

00:24:48.480 --> 00:24:49.759
 Look down at chapter 3, verse 1.

00:24:49.799 --> 00:24:53.299
 Why does chapter 3, verse 1 not say this, but mark this, Timothy?

00:24:54.380 --> 00:24:56.759
 There will be awesome blessing in the last days.

00:24:57.319 --> 00:24:58.259
 Why does it not say that?

00:24:58.920 --> 00:25:00.119
 That's what people tell you, right?

00:25:01.099 --> 00:25:04.539
 That's what Christian organizations put on their social media accounts

00:25:04.539 --> 00:25:06.099
 in order to generate enthusiasm.

00:25:06.579 --> 00:25:07.599
 Awesome blessings are coming.

00:25:09.099 --> 00:25:11.420
 But Paul doesn't seem to think we need warning about blessing.

00:25:12.259 --> 00:25:17.359
 He seems to think we need warning about a surprising dynamic of false teaching in the church.

00:25:17.480 --> 00:25:17.740
 Why?

00:25:19.799 --> 00:25:23.619
 Well, at one level, we need to say we don't know why God has allowed it to be this way,

00:25:24.420 --> 00:25:26.960
 why God in his wisdom has organized it like that.

00:25:26.960 --> 00:25:28.180
 He doesn't owe us an explanation.

00:25:29.819 --> 00:25:32.400
 But I think this is to borrow from next week's passage, really.

00:25:32.600 --> 00:25:38.740
 The reality is that the darkness of this false teaching in the church makes the light of gospel

00:25:38.740 --> 00:25:40.759
 preaching even more clear.

00:25:40.759 --> 00:25:42.599
 Look down at verse 10.

00:25:42.599 --> 00:25:53.459
 You, however, know all about my teaching, says Paul, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecution, sufferings.

00:25:53.799 --> 00:25:58.179
 What kind of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, the persecutions I endured,

00:25:58.259 --> 00:25:59.799
 yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.

00:25:59.799 --> 00:26:04.440
 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

00:26:04.619 --> 00:26:09.339
 while evildoers and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

00:26:10.159 --> 00:26:11.000
 Here's the point.

00:26:12.299 --> 00:26:15.259
 This is how we know the truth in the dark world,

00:26:15.740 --> 00:26:20.419
 because the light of the truth is the opposite of the darkness of false teaching.

00:26:22.139 --> 00:26:26.019
 Yet Paul is calling Timothy to genuine light-giving ministry.

00:26:26.019 --> 00:26:32.039
 Of course, he's calling him away from these temptations for self-worship and self-love and idolatry.

00:26:32.619 --> 00:26:36.960
 But he is calling him to a genuine ministry that lays itself down,

00:26:37.180 --> 00:26:40.119
 that, like Paul, knows about suffering, that endures.

00:26:40.519 --> 00:26:43.359
 So that in a world of self-interested charlatans,

00:26:43.759 --> 00:26:49.740
 Christians should look out for pastors with private jets and smooth suits and bright lights.

00:26:50.460 --> 00:26:52.099
 They should be warned about them.

00:26:52.099 --> 00:26:56.819
 And in the darkness of those things,

00:26:57.559 --> 00:27:00.359
 you should look out for a pastor who has tears in his eyes,

00:27:00.959 --> 00:27:03.980
 who's weeping over his weakness and his brokenness,

00:27:04.480 --> 00:27:06.799
 and the brokenness and the weakness in your life,

00:27:07.619 --> 00:27:10.259
 who walks with a limp from the suffering of ministry,

00:27:11.059 --> 00:27:13.339
 who's wounded for standing up for the truth,

00:27:14.459 --> 00:27:16.179
 willing to suffer for your good,

00:27:16.259 --> 00:27:19.399
 not wanting to make you suffer for their good.

00:27:19.400 --> 00:27:24.480
 Let me try and illustrate how this works.

00:27:25.380 --> 00:27:31.960
 My understanding is that the gas that would come out of the gas pipe in your house

00:27:31.960 --> 00:27:35.880
 is naturally odourless, right?

00:27:36.420 --> 00:27:37.200
 It doesn't smell.

00:27:38.360 --> 00:27:40.840
 But because gas is really dangerous,

00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:42.820
 it can kill you, right?

00:27:42.860 --> 00:27:43.700
 It can blow up your house.

00:27:43.800 --> 00:27:44.759
 It can asphyxiate you.

00:27:44.759 --> 00:27:49.079
 Because of that, the gas companies add an acrid smell to it.

00:27:49.740 --> 00:27:51.319
 So if you leave your hob on,

00:27:52.019 --> 00:27:53.259
 you know within a few seconds,

00:27:53.359 --> 00:27:56.039
 because the room smells, doesn't it?

00:27:57.200 --> 00:27:58.500
 Smells like rotten eggs.

00:28:00.099 --> 00:28:02.879
 You know, when I was a student at university,

00:28:03.019 --> 00:28:04.519
 we had one of those eye-level grills.

00:28:04.640 --> 00:28:06.640
 You know those eye-level grills on a gas cooker?

00:28:06.640 --> 00:28:09.700
 And my friend, who was a little absent-minded,

00:28:09.840 --> 00:28:10.440
 turned it on,

00:28:11.259 --> 00:28:13.920
 and then turned around and started talking to the rest of us in the room.

00:28:14.960 --> 00:28:16.480
 Lit a match, turned back,

00:28:16.520 --> 00:28:17.000
 and we were all going,

00:28:17.120 --> 00:28:17.540
 no!

00:28:17.820 --> 00:28:18.580
 Like that, and lit it,

00:28:18.660 --> 00:28:19.380
 and it, pfft!

00:28:20.220 --> 00:28:22.720
 Had no eyebrows for a few months, right?

00:28:23.460 --> 00:28:26.940
 They add that smell so that you don't do that,

00:28:27.040 --> 00:28:27.880
 so that you know.

00:28:28.900 --> 00:28:29.620
 And if you like,

00:28:29.640 --> 00:28:32.100
 that's what's happening in 2 Timothy chapter 3.

00:28:32.099 --> 00:28:38.939
 Paul is warning Timothy by adding an acrid smell to the false teaching.

00:28:39.659 --> 00:28:41.519
 What is the smell of the false teacher?

00:28:43.179 --> 00:28:44.159
 Self-worship.

00:28:44.659 --> 00:28:45.199
 That's it.

00:28:46.099 --> 00:28:47.079
 Self-love.

00:28:48.259 --> 00:28:48.679
 Money.

00:28:49.299 --> 00:28:49.759
 Love.

00:28:50.259 --> 00:28:50.779
 Pride.

00:28:51.799 --> 00:28:52.559
 And Paul is saying,

00:28:52.839 --> 00:28:53.779
 when you smell that,

00:28:54.399 --> 00:28:57.139
 when you begin to smell this person is in it for themselves,

00:28:57.619 --> 00:29:00.539
 this person is really rich and is making everyone else really poor,

00:29:00.539 --> 00:29:02.500
 promising them stuff that you have no right to promise.

00:29:02.879 --> 00:29:04.460
 When you smell that,

00:29:04.559 --> 00:29:05.559
 turn the telly off.

00:29:06.460 --> 00:29:07.240
 Close YouTube.

00:29:08.059 --> 00:29:09.259
 Block the Instagram account.

00:29:10.059 --> 00:29:11.159
 Leave the church.

00:29:11.599 --> 00:29:15.720
 Because the fresh air is about God and his glory,

00:29:16.180 --> 00:29:17.399
 not the glory of the preacher.

00:29:18.899 --> 00:29:20.180
 You see, let's end with this.

00:29:20.259 --> 00:29:21.799
 Look back at that list.

00:29:23.019 --> 00:29:24.599
 Notice that the Son of God,

00:29:25.279 --> 00:29:29.019
 the one who left the glories of heaven for the filth of a Roman cross,

00:29:29.019 --> 00:29:30.940
 to give his life in our place,

00:29:30.980 --> 00:29:32.160
 to face our punishment,

00:29:32.920 --> 00:29:34.420
 to save us from our sin.

00:29:35.039 --> 00:29:38.079
 Notice that he is the opposite of all of those things.

00:29:38.279 --> 00:29:38.359
 Yeah?

00:29:39.680 --> 00:29:43.139
 He gave himself out of love for others

00:29:43.139 --> 00:29:46.299
 and did not save himself out of self-love.

00:29:47.759 --> 00:29:50.879
 He wasn't a lover of money or a lover of luxury.

00:29:50.880 --> 00:29:55.420
 He left the glories of heaven for a stable.

00:29:56.600 --> 00:30:03.180
 He left the adulation of the angels for the jives of a cross.

00:30:04.080 --> 00:30:06.020
 He's not boastful or proud.

00:30:06.160 --> 00:30:07.180
 He's meek and gentle.

00:30:07.880 --> 00:30:09.920
 He's not slanderous or abusive.

00:30:10.260 --> 00:30:12.840
 He himself is slandered and abused.

00:30:14.420 --> 00:30:16.020
 He's not unholy.

00:30:16.019 --> 00:30:18.519
 He is holiness himself.

00:30:19.639 --> 00:30:21.279
 He's not rash and impulsive,

00:30:21.539 --> 00:30:24.420
 but wise, fulfilling the eternal plan of the Father.

00:30:25.319 --> 00:30:27.079
 He is a lover of God, his Father,

00:30:27.240 --> 00:30:28.940
 even in the absence of pleasure,

00:30:29.299 --> 00:30:32.119
 not with a hollow form of godliness that has no power,

00:30:32.200 --> 00:30:34.619
 but full of the Spirit and full of power,

00:30:34.720 --> 00:30:36.920
 the only one able to liberate us

00:30:36.920 --> 00:30:39.680
 from this tyranny of sin.

00:30:40.879 --> 00:30:44.440
 You know, he stands out from the rotten egg smell of the world,

00:30:44.440 --> 00:30:46.019
 light in the darkness,

00:30:47.279 --> 00:30:50.340
 as through his suffering you and I might receive life.

00:30:50.940 --> 00:30:53.220
 That in a world of liars and charlatans

00:30:53.220 --> 00:30:54.759
 who prey on the weak and the vulnerable,

00:30:55.259 --> 00:30:57.400
 when we are tempted to go there ourselves,

00:30:57.880 --> 00:31:00.059
 Jesus is our only hope.

00:31:00.759 --> 00:31:03.700
 He alone is the one with the power to rescue and to liberate.

00:31:04.360 --> 00:31:05.440
 So mark this.

00:31:05.840 --> 00:31:07.059
 It's going to be difficult.

00:31:07.920 --> 00:31:09.420
 There are going to be terrible times ahead.

00:31:10.720 --> 00:31:11.840
 Avoid the fakery

00:31:11.839 --> 00:31:14.099
 and cling to Jesus,

00:31:14.659 --> 00:31:16.220
 who has the power to liberate

00:31:16.220 --> 00:31:17.579
 and bring us home.

00:31:18.339 --> 00:31:20.019
 Let me pray as we close.

00:31:20.019 --> 00:31:32.079
 O loving Heavenly Father,

00:31:33.460 --> 00:31:35.859
 please forgive us for the naivety

00:31:35.859 --> 00:31:38.480
 about the temptations that we face in our own lives.

00:31:41.480 --> 00:31:43.539
 Forgive us, we pray,

00:31:43.759 --> 00:31:46.420
 for a naivety which is listened to those

00:31:46.420 --> 00:31:48.000
 who shouldn't even be listened to.

00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:50.819
 Thank you for Jesus.

00:31:52.240 --> 00:31:54.500
 Thank you for his power in the gospel

00:31:54.500 --> 00:31:57.000
 to liberate us from sin,

00:31:57.900 --> 00:31:58.940
 not just our own,

00:31:59.519 --> 00:32:01.019
 but the sin and evil in this world

00:32:01.019 --> 00:32:02.640
 to bring us home to be with him.

00:32:03.460 --> 00:32:05.380
 We thank you that Christ alone

00:32:05.380 --> 00:32:07.759
 is our hope in life and death.

00:32:08.359 --> 00:32:09.359
 We trust in him

00:32:09.359 --> 00:32:12.380
 and we ask, please, Lord, keep us,

00:32:12.900 --> 00:32:15.039
 watch over us in his name.

00:32:15.680 --> 00:32:15.980
 Amen.

00:32:15.980 --> 00:32:16.140
 Amen.

00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:18.880
 Amen.

00:32:18.880 --> 00:32:18.880


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