Evil in the Last Days 2 Timothy 3:1-9 We return to 2 Timothy this morning after a short Christmas sabbatical. By way of quick review, 2 Timothy is Paul’s final letter. It was written in 66 or 67 AD. Paul the great apostle who literally turned the known world upside down has finished or is close to finishing his race. He is languishing in a Roman dungeon. He has been deserted by many of his friends, he is chained like a criminal, and he seems to have an inkling that death is near. What is on his heart as he writes to his faithful disciple Timothy? What did he want to emphasize as he communicated one last time with his son in the faith? The book of 2 Timothy is the answer to those questions. We said early on in our journey that the theme of 2 Timothy could be summarized like this: Faithfully persevere in the proclamation of the gospel! If you have your bibles this morning, we come to 2 Timothy 3, 2 Timothy 3, verses 1-9. In the verses before us this morning, it seems that Paul’s intention is to equip Timothy with perspective—a true perspective of what he will face in the days ahead. Specifically he wants Timothy to know that there will be evil in the last days. We were watching a Little House on the Prairie episode the other night. And the story was about a small church and a pastor’s initiative that went awry. The pastor suggested the idea of a bell for the church and everyone agreed it would be a good idea. One wealthy couple said they would donate the bell and the plaque that went with it. Well that was too much for others to stomach and before long the congregation was split down the middle and the pastor was forced to resign. In fact it all happened in about 30 minutes. I whispered to Julia that this was all too close to home. Now why do I bring that up? There is a sense that I have come to expect conflict in a church setting. It’s become part of my perspective about church life. And that’s not being negative. That’s a realistic perspective. I’m grateful that we have begun this new SS series on peacemaking. Conflict is inevitable in a family and in a church. We are all human. We all have different passions and opinions and perspectives. It is inevitable that we will have conflict. I was reminded of the conflict that Paul and Barnabas had in Acts 15 and I went back and read that this week. “They had such a sharp disagreement, the bible says, that they parted company.” I wish Luke the author of the book of Acts would have tidied up the picture of it all but he never does. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus and Paul took Silas and went toward Syria. I’m sure that there was some ultimate resolution to it all but you don’t see it immediately there in Acts. I say all that to say that if you and I have the right perspective—that conflict is inevitable--we’re equipped and prepared to navigate through it and address it when it arrives. Perspective makes all the difference.

And so it is here in 2 Timothy 3, that Paul seeks to equip his disciple Timothy with perspective: “Timothy, ministry won’t be easy.” “Timothy, you might wish that life were one long cruise in the Caribbean where all your needs are met, but that’s not the way it will be.” Timothy, there will be evil in the last days. If you have your outline in front of you, I’ve divided the passage between two points: I. Rampant Darkness (vs. 1-5) II. Religious Deceivers (vs. 6-9) Let’s begin with….

I. Rampant Darkness (vs. 1-5) 1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without selfcontrol, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. Vs. 1 But mark this—know this, understand this—again this is Paul wanting to influence Timothy’s perspective, there will be terrible times in the last days. The word “terrible” (KJV—perilous; NAS—grievous) basically means hard or difficult and implies “hard to bear” (like when you have some physical pain) or “hard to deal with , violent, dangerous” The word was used in classical Greek of dangerous wild animals and of the raging sea. Its only other NT occurrence is in Matthew 8:28 where two demon-possessed men are described. These men were so savage and untamed—Matthew says that these two demon-possessed men were so violent—there is the word—that no one could pass by. There will be terrible times in the last days. The word “times” could actually be translated “seasons” or periods of time. It may be true that there will be a general crescendo—increase-- of evil in the last days but this verse doesn’t say that. I read that the two most popular novels in the nineteenth century America—we’re talking about the late 1800’s---were Ben Hur and Charles Sheldon’s novel, In His Steps.1 We slid a long way in 115 years haven’t we? But this verse doesn’t address such a slide necessarily—it just says that there will be distressing, grievous, perilous, terrible seasons of time in the last days. What does Paul mean when he uses the term “last days”? In Scripture, the phrase last days can have several meanings. Some think “last days” refers to the time immediately 1

Illustration, Preaching Today, “Literary Slide”

preceding the rapture of the church and the second coming of our Lord. But I am prone to think it means the time between Jesus’ first coming and his second coming—in other words the church age. Let me take a minute and try to substantiate that with a couple of verses. Hebrews 1:1-2 1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 2 The writer of Hebrews says that God has spoken to us in the last days through Jesus. Peter seemed to say the same thing when he preached on the Day of Pentecost. You remember that the disciples and others were gathered together in a room, there in Acts 2 and there was the sound like the blowing of a violent wind from heaven and tongues of fire seemed to come to rest on everyone there and they began to speak in foreign tongues. Some there were amazed. Others laughed thinking that the men had been drinking. Peter stood up and said, “These men are not drunk as you suppose. His next line is kind of funny—it’s only 9:00am. No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people…yours sons and daughters will prophesy. Peter basically says, “let me tell you what is going on here…what is going on here is what Joel prophesied would go on in the last days. Joel prophesied that the Spirit would be poured out in the last days. So in light of those references, I believe the phrase “last days” are the days in which Timothy lives and they are the days in which you and I live some 2000 years later. That the last days are present time for Timothy—and you and I-- is evident even in the passage before us. Even though Paul uses two future tense verbs in verses 1 and 2… vs. 1 there will be terrible times, vs. 2 People will be lovers of money, look at what Paul commands Timothy at the end of verse 5. Have nothing to do with them. In other words, Paul has basically said, Timothy you will encounter the people that I have talked about here, you will encounter evil run rampant in the hearts of men, you will encounter men who have a form of godliness but deny it’s power. Have nothing to do with them. Verse 2 really should begin with the word “for” (the NIV obscures the connection between verse 1 and the rest of the passage). In other words, there will be terrible times in

2The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House) 1984.

the last days and the reason there will be terrible times in the last days is that evil will be loosed in the hearts of men. Before we move into a description of the evil in the last times, let’s gather up all that we’ve learned so far. First Paul would have Timothy-- and you and I-- know that we live in the last days. Yes we live almost 2000 years after Timothy but 2 Peter 3: 8 reassures us that “with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” 3 We live in the last days. Someone has described the march of time this way. Until Christ came to earth the first time, it was as if time was marching on a plateau toward a cliff edge and the cliff edge was finally reached when Jesus came to earth. In the 2000 years or so since he came the first time, time has been marching along the cliff edge ready to fall off at any moment. And you and I should live our lives as if that moment could be today. We live in the last times. Secondly Paul would have us know that there will be terrible seasons of time in the last days—you and I must have the perspective that there will be seasons when evil is rampant. We shouldn’t be surprised. We shouldn’t be discouraged. We should know that it will be like that. Thirdly, the terrible times that we will encounter will be the result of sin and evil in men’s hearts. Now with that summary, let’s move forward. Let’s look at verses 2-4 as a unit and then discuss vs. 5 separately where Paul says evil men will have a form of godliness but deny its power. In verses 2-4, Paul employs 18 expressions to describe how evil will be manifested in people’s lives in the last days. As we look at these descriptions in detail I’m convinced that you will admit that this is the perfect description for the times of our lives. Vs 2 People will be lovers of themselves and lovers of money. Now go to the end of verse 4 and you will see that they will be “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” The bookends, so to speak in these three verses—the first two descriptive phrases (vs. 2) and the last two descriptive phrases (vs. 4) have to do with misdirected love. People will love themselves—Phillips says it this way, people will be utterly self-centered4-- they will love money, they will love pleasure but they will not love God.

3The New American Standard Bible, (La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation) 1977. 4

Thomas Lee, The New American Commentary, page 224

Someone has pointed out that misdirected love is the root of all sin and evil. If we were to go back to the Garden of Eden and replay the tape where Eve fell to Satan’s temptation, we could envision a happier ending. We could envision Eve holding the fruit that was good for food and pleasing to the eye and desirable for gaining wisdom. We could imagine her thinking, “I will enjoy this. I will gain wisdom. I will be like God” And then….heading toward a happier ending…she says…but I love God more than all of this Misdirected love is the root of all other sins. Show me someone who loves themselves and I will show you someone who has no regard for others whatsoever. Show me someone who loves money and I will show you someone who will do what it takes to succeed. Show me someone who loves pleasure and I will show you someone who jettisons one relationship after another when they get hard. I’m sure this is why Jesus said the most important commandment is“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” Julia is reading a parenting book by Paul David Trip called The Age of Opportunity. Up front the author addresses the idols that we as parents can have in our hearts. We can secretly serve the idol of success, or appreciation, or respect or comfort. Listen to what he says about the “idol of comfort”—and again the connection to our text is when comfort is our idol then we have succumb to love of self and love of pleasure. Here is what the author says: “Secretly in our hearts, many of us want life to be a resort. A resort is a place where you are the one who is served. Your needs come first, and you only do what you want to do when you want to do it. The only demands you deal with in a resort are the demands you put on yourself. At a resort, you live with a sense of entitlement. You’ve paid your money, and you have the right to expect certain things. I am afraid that many of us live for comfort and bring this entitlement mentality to our parenting. We reason that we have the right to quiet, harmony, peace, and respect, and we respond in anger when we do not get it.” 5

In the last days, Paul says people will have a resort mentality—they will be lovers of self, lovers of money, and lovers of pleasure Well let’s work our way through the other descriptive phrases…continuing in verse 2 people will be boastful and proud The classic distinction between these words is that “boastful” deals with behavior and “proud” deals with feelings.6 Regarding that word proud, Barclay says it literally means “to appear above” and you get the picture of a man who stands on his own self-directed pedestal and looks down on everyone else, secure in his own arrogant self-conceit.

5 6

Paul David Tripp, Age of Opportunity, page 31 Mounce, Word Biblical Commentary, Pastoral Epistles, page 545

The next descriptive phrase there in verse 2 is abusive. The NAS uses the word “revilers”, the KJV uses the word “blasphemers”. The issue here is ugly, mean-spirited speech. Run into any of that lately? The next five descriptive phrases are related by the fact that they all have a prefix in the greek that means “without” or “un” like unloving, ungrateful and the thought seems to be that there is a tragic absence of qualities that one would normally expect. First, and continuing in the middle of verse 2, they are “disobedient to their parents” Now that’s interesting isn’t it? Where honor and respect are God’s design, in the last days there will be disobedience to parents. Next is ungrateful. Paul in Romans put ungratefulness at the headwaters of the slide away from God. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile… (Romans 1:21) Unholy—this word describes the man who not only has no regard for God’s laws but he also has no regard for the unwritten laws of common decency. The word was used to describe a man who refused to bury his dead.7 We come to verse 3, unloving—and the word here means without family affection. There is a certain natural affection between parents and children. This term pictures those who lack even the normal compassion linking family members together. We would see this characteristic reflected in family abuse and abortion. Next in verse 3 is unforgiving—the word literally means “without a truce.” It describes a hostility so intense that a truce is impossible. 8 It describes people so much in revolt that they are not even willing to come to the conference table to negotiate. They will be unforgiving After unforgiving in verse 3 is slanderous—the Greek word—diabolos—is used of the devil. The devil is always pictured uttering false statements aimed at damaging a third person’s reputation or character…in the last days people will be like the devil, slanderous without self-control—driven by outside influences Brutal—fierce, untamed, and savage…the word was used fittingly to describe wild beasts, especially lions. This word is the antithesis of what is civilized. Clearly some of the images that have come from Iraq would illustrate this word perfectly. I read an Associated Press article about how on New Year’s Day, three years ago passers by robbed the body of a Las Vegas woman killed after she was hit by three cars. Las Vegas police said that the first two vehicles that struck 42 year old Lynette Spiller drove away. While Spiller’s body was pinned under the third car, passers-by combed through her

7 8

Sermon by Dwight Edwards Guthrie, The Pastoral Epistles, page 168

purse, wallet and backpack. That is a picture of what this word brutal means—robbing the body of a dead woman. 9 not lovers of the good treacherous—disposed toward betrayal and being a traitor. The word was used of Judas who betrayed Christ. rash—disposed toward recklessness and thoughtlessness. You get the picture of a kid in a car driving down a highway at 80 miles an hour with his headlights off. Conceited—this word literally means “being puffed up” John Lennon the former Beatle once said, “Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn’t argue about that; I’m right and I will be proved right. We (the Beatles) are popular than Jesus now.” 10 That is a picture of conceit. Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God Well we come to verse 5 and Paul surprises us with the fact that some of these people whom he has described are people that are outwardly religious—they have a form of godliness but deny its power. It seems that Paul here, begins to narrow his focus a bit. He’s moved from the large group of people in the last days within whom evil has run rampant. And his focus has turned to a subset of that larger group who are outwardly religious—they have a form of godliness—they have an outline of real Christianity, they attend the worship services of the church, they sing the hymns, they say amen to the prayers, they put their offering in the offering box but it is all a show. It is outward form without any real power. It is religion without relationship. It is liturgy without real spiritual life. True Christianity is godliness—the word here means reverence and respect and piety. It means heart worship and life change. And true Christianity-- when it’s not just a form of religion but an inside job where hearts are changed-- is powerful. It’s powerful because the Holy Spirit is involved. It’s powerful because the gospel changes lives. It’s powerful because God is all over it. In the last days there will be many religious looking people who have the trappings of the religion but deny its true power. Paul tells Timothy to have nothing to do with them. I hope that such a description does not describe you.

II. Religious Deceivers (vs. 6-9) Well out of this group of people who have a form of religion but a powerless form of religion, out of this group come religious deceivers. 9

Illustration from Preaching Today, Associated Press article 1-03-02 Sermon by Dwight Edwards

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They are the kind, verse 6, who worm their way into homes and gain control (the Greek word means “to capture and take as a prisoner of war”) over weak-willed women. The women chosen as victims by these religious deceivers are weak in two ways: 1) First they were morally weak, vs. 6 they are loaded down with sins and swayed by all kinds of evil desires. Their sins were to them both a burden and a tyrant and the false teachers take advantage of that.11 2) They were intellectually weak, unstable and gullible vs. 7 always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. Paul continues in verse 8 and compares these religious deceivers to Jannes and Jambres 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth— men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. Now who are Jannes and Jambres? It turns out that these are names that were traditionally given to chief magicians in Pharoahs court back in the book of Exodus. In fact they were supposedly brothers. Let me make sure you understand what I am saying. You won’t find these names anywhere in the scriptures besides here. You will find them in the Jewish literature outside the scriptures. And Paul refers to that tradition here. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9 But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone. Paul is saying that the religious deceivers—like Jannes and Jambres—will eventually be exposed. Keep a finger here in 2 Timothy and let’s see how Jannes and Jambres finally got exposed. Turn to Exodus chapter 7. We’ll begin in verse 10 10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. 11 Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: Now skip down to verse 19-20, Moses turned the water in Egypt into blood. In verse 22, the Egyptian magicians did the same thing.

11

Stott, The Message of 2nd Timothy, page 89.

Now flip over to Exodus 8:6 Aaron stretched out his hand and frogs came from everywhere. Graduates of TCU would have been in Frog heaven. In chapter 8:7 But the magicians did the same thing with their secret arts One final contest…verse 16-17 of chapter 8. Aaron stretched out his hand with the staff and struck the dust of the ground, and gnats came up everywhere. But look at verse 18 of chapter 8: But when the magicians—again over time they came to be called Jannes and Jambres—when Jannes and Jambres tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not. And the magicians said to Pharoah, vs. 19 “This is the finger of God.” Jannes and Jambres were exposed for what they really were Well turn back to 2 Timothy chapter 3. Paul tells Timothy the trail of the religious deceivers in his day will parallel what happened to Jannes and Jambres. They will be exposed. Their folly will become clear to everyone. verse 9 But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone. We sometimes get distressed in our day—rightly and understandably—by the false teachers who oppose the truth and trouble the church. But we need have no fear even if falsehood becomes fashionable. Because there is something patently wrong with heresy and something self-evidently true about the truth and the truth will win out. Martin Luther said it best, And tho’ this world, with devils filled, Should threaten to undo us, We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph thro’ us; The prince of Darkness grim, We tremble not for him; His rage we can endure, For lo, his doom is sure, One little word shall fell him. 4

That word above all earthly pow’rs, No thanks to them, abideth; The Spirit and the gifts are ours Thro’ Him who with us sideth: Let goods and kindred go, This mortal life also; The body they may kill:

God’s truth abideth still, His kingdom is forever.12

12Joyful Noise Music Company, Logos Hymnal, (Fort Worth, TX: Joyful Noise Music Company) 1994.