2 Timothy 3:1 (KJV)
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
Today's message will focus on the subject of the last days and more particularly regarding the church within perilous times before the great and terrible day of the Lord. Whereas, I know it's the goodness of God that leads to repentance and the grace of God paves the way to live in true righteousness and peace before God; and these things I will faithfully preach until He returns. Why? It is because there are too many who see God as being mad at the whole world, therefore these folks never seem to ever come into a true intimate relationship with Him, but rather they remain afraid or angry at Him due to how He has been presented by so many of His own followers. God most certainly wants you and me to be blessed with the provision of health and prosperity even as our souls prosper. Yet, our Lord did think it was important enough for us to know the end times as well, so as to be warned of things to come and not be caught unawares when they manifest before us. It's not the usual and more popular message [end times] to preach from, by those of us who fancy the teaching of the grace message; and if or should it be taught by some, it is often mistakenly preached with vindictiveness towards the believer being bathed with bitter condemnation. Even so, at the expense of being misunderstood I must preach the Word as I understand it up to this point of time. Otherwise, I do my office as a pastor an injustice while failing to prepare those to whom I am responsible to serve with the whole truth.
I say this because it has become a problematic issue you in the church today that we are either expressing the Gospel from a demeanor of condemnation and judgments, or a Gospel that appears to have no motivation and purpose to do anything accept get all we can for ourselves and make that the whole point and basis of Christianity. In other words, we have ministries that extract from the Word of God everything that supports their particular view of how God's anger is towards the world, and that is what they major on, thus condemning the world through every Scripture they point out to support this perspective. While on the other side of the religious spectrum there will be others, who will extract every nice, positive, and wonderful promise which become the basis for their teachings; while turning every harsh thing the Bible speaks of and changing it into a less severe meaning to keep the continuity of their belief system intact. These various approaches are exhausting to say the least. However, when I read the Bible I find that Jesus taught on many things of great importance and none is less or greater than any other as far as He was concerned. Jesus meant for us to be fully furnished as we renew our minds in His Words of counsel (Romans 12:2). The Bible teaches that prosperity is very important indeed, whereas, so is health. Yet, according to Scripture both of these come through the process of developing the mind (3 John 1:2).
Another very important aspect of the Bible is on the subjects of grace, peace and righteousness. But equally important is the subjects on what we are to stay away from because of their diabolical contamination to our new nature in Christ Jesus. Again we can add further, that the Scriptures deal with the all important issues of character, fruit, relationships, judging, anger, hatred, immoral lifestyles, leadership, prophecy, renewal of the mind, end time eschatology, and of course there is much more that we could list here as well. Therefore, as ministers of the Gospel we cannot hold to just our favorite subjects and ignore the other things that the Bible speaks of if we are to fully equip the saints to do the work of the ministry and prepare them for the harsher days ahead. I'm concerned that the body of Christ has been ill-prepared for the tribulation period of the church that is coming, whereas the signs tell us it is certainly near.
With that said, I don't want to get stuck trying to explain my opinion of how far into the great tribulation the church will have to go either. Many do not understand that there will be a tribulation period that the church will endure whereas she will eventually be taken out of the way [2 Thessalonians 2:7] before the more significant tribulation period which will unfold around the nation of Israel and the nations of the world when the spirit of lawlessness is loosed without hindrance for a season. This business of arguing over (pre-tribulation, post-tribulation, etc.) offers nothing more than endless discussions from inquisitive hearts simply because they don't fully understand these two different periods to which will come upon the world. We just need to be prepared spiritually through (watching and praying) and know what our God given purposes are as we continue to live out our lives in the here and now.
It is with amazement as I look around the church today, and find so many who really do not have any idea about their purpose as far as God's "will" for them is concerned. Their focus is generally on the level of seeking personal gain and happiness from the things He offers through His salvation, while ignoring the commission to go and make disciples, which by the way, is His hearts desire for all mankind. No wonder the Scriptures teach us to pray unto the Father that He might send forth laborers into the harvest that is ripe and ready. There are so few who understand or want to serve God this deeply. So what do we do as Christians? We resort to attending all kinds of meetings that tell us how to be more blessed, successful and prosperous; conferences that magnifies our gifting and self-worth, and yet in all of this, few are going out and applying these principles in the world so that we may seize the lost souls within our cities.
We just keep attending and promoting more meetings. Therefore, this is why I believe the church is ill-prepared for the harsh times that are on their way and in some places around the world it is already here [not intending on sounding like a doomsayer]. But read you're Bible and you will see that this world will not continue to sustain the same routines that we love and have gotten used to. Have you looked at the condition of your country lately? It is changing and not for the good no matter what some blind folks may be saying! There is coming a terrible change and its victors will be those who have spiritually speaking: trimmed their lamps and stored up oil for that hour. Let us look at the Word and see if we are ready for these last days to which our Bibles speak of.
Luke 11:21-23 (KJV)
21 When a strong man armed keeps his palace, his goods are in peace:
22 But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he takes from him all his armor wherein he trusted, and divides his spoils.
23 He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathers not with me scatters.
If our adversary wants to spoil the house he will first bind the strong man. This can be looked at in two different ways, however, we will observe it in this manner. Who is this strong man referring to? It is you and me, the believers in Jesus Christ. We have many precious promises that provide us with everything that we could possibly need by the grace of God and our enemy wants to steal it away. Therefore, he sets out to bombard our lives with troubles and chaos in order to keep us away from fully looking into the truth; once this is accomplished we become bound, and its not God's Word that is bound either! We must be armed and stay armed for we have an adversary who seeks whom he may devour and destroy their lives. In light of what we are trying to convey in this teaching today, if we are ill-prepared for the light afflictions of life, how much greater will the harsher things set us back, or worse yet, overtake us? As you can see when we live life based on chasing God's wonderful benefits and that remaining our total perspective of pursuing Christianity and believe that to be what Christ was all about; then we will feel the backlash of crippling despair when those things elude our grasp. Many at this place of hopelessness will quit on the Word of God and resort to self-preservation. The Bible calls it a great falling away. Look with me at what it shall be like during the tribulation period of the church.
2 Timothy 3:2-5 (KJV)
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
There are nineteen words or phrases used from this passage to describe the last days according to JVM's excerpts on these perilous days to which I would like to add here for a better clarification on what these days shall look like.
1. "Lovers of their own selves" -- self-lovers. This is very much in evidence in our culture today. An article by a newspaper correspondent, who had covered Washington, D.C., for many years, noted that the one thing which has characterized Washington for the past twenty years are those who are in position want the reporters to praise them. In fact, they insist upon it. This is not confined to just Washington either. Hollywood is probably one of the greatest places for scratching each other's backs. One actor will publicly say something nice about another, and then the other one will return the favor. You find this in every walk of life. Even schools have self-love. If a man promotes a school, then the school promotes him by giving him an honorary degree. Also, you can find this within the church. Paul goes on to say, in chapter 4, verse 3, that congregations will follow teachers "having itching ears." These teachers will want their ears scratched -- they want to be complimented. To be complimented, you have to compliment. So these teachers will compliment their congregations and their church directors. They don't tell the people that they are doing something contradictory to God's commands; they just tell them how wonderful they are and nothing need be done on their part to change some irregularities that oppose their true nature. It is interesting that the love of "self" characterizes our contemporary society. Probably there has never been a time when it has been so common as the days to which we are now living.
2. "Covetous" which means lovers of money. This follows self-love, because lovers of self become lovers of money. This old nature likes to have a lot of money spent on it. Remember that Paul said in 1Timothy 6:10, ". . . the love of money is the root of all evil." Money itself is not bad. The problems come in our attitude toward our money. Covetousness reveals itself not only in the acquisition of wealth but also in the use of it. God's Word is clear that there are some who will believe that great gain is godliness and we are told to separate ourselves from such (1 Timothy 6:5).
3. "Boasters." That word has in it the idea of self-righteousness. You can sometimes tell a proud man by the way he walks. He walks around like a strutting peacock; he swaggers and beams with arrogance.
4. "Proud" means haughty. It is a characteristic of the highest display of evil for it cares of no one but itself. Therefore, it will do anything to protect itself and its reputation. This characteristic is not limited outside of the church only by the way.
5. "Blasphemers" is better translated an evil mocker. Well, mockers include those who are always poking their noses into somebody else's business so as to tear them down.
6. "Disobedient to parents." Certainly this is self-evident. Oh, the thousands of boys and girls and teenagers who are in complete rebellion against their parents!
7. "Unthankful." Many people receive kindnesses from others without even thinking of thanking them. And they accept everything from God without ever returning thanks to Him. These believe life owes them everything.
8. "Unholy" is profane. They are actually against God in their conversation and in their manner of life.
9. "Without natural affection" means having abnormal relationships. We are living in a day when homosexuality is being accepted as normal conduct. Yet in Romans 1:24 Paul clearly states, "Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves." Humanity sinks to its lowest level when it accepts homosexuality.
10. "Trucebreakers" are people who are impossible to get along with. They are irreconcilable and they won't let you get along with them. I read about a little sign in a restaurant out in West Texas which read, "We can't please everybody, but we try." Well, you can't please everybody; there are folks who are impossible to please.
11. "False accusers" certainly abound today! People will lie on you at the drop of a hat and never feel bad about it. These false accusers will assassinate many people's character over a life-time.
12. "Incontinent" which simply means without self-control. That, again, characterizes a large segment of our contemporary society. There is no need for self-control because we all deserve to do whatever makes us feel good no matter if it hurts someone else or not.
13. "Fierce" means to be like savages. In our day the city streets have become asphalt jungles. Many of them are unsafe even in the daytime. They are inhabited by such lawlessness that in many of these places around our country the policemen will not even enter because of the danger.
14. "Despisers of those that are good" is better translated haters of the good. We see evidence of this everywhere! I cannot tell you how much we see those who are pursuing the good of life for all people and they are attacked viciously by those who hate the very idea of them because it reveals their own evil more blatantly.
15. "Traitors" are betrayers." There are folks whom you don't dare trust. These folks are not trustworthy people; nor will they ever be. You work a deal with them and you will surely smart for it. Why? You're shaking hands with the devil and he will never keep his word.
16. "Heady" means reckless. These are lives that have no sense of direction; therefore they are driven by every wind of doctrine that blows in. They are unstable in all of their ways.
17. "High-minded" means blinded by pride or drunk with pride. These are those who seek to remove the speck from your eye while ignoring the plank in their own eye.
18. "Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." This actually characterizes mankind in our day. Never has there been a time when so much money has been spent in order to provide pleasure. Look at the athletic and entertainment events of today. These are the things that are attracting millions of people even in down-turned economy. It's much like the costly Dallas Cowboy stadium that exceeds the imagination where the cost of tickets and for parking is off the charts when so many say they don't have finances to live. That is exactly the route Rome took when it went down. The mob was provided with grain and circuses, and then Rome fell. That same thing is happening today. I don't blame any man for making as much money as he can, but the point is that billions of dollars are being spent for entertainment because men are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away [2Tim. 3:5].
19. "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." They go through the rituals of religion but lack life and reality. Today it seems everybody goes to church at some point or another within the year and deem themselves as committed believers in God. We will tell anyone who asks about our faith that we believe; but if one looks at the level of how many Christians are choosing to live this Christian life, it is usually found to be more for themselves than it is for God. I don't mean to sound judgmental here, but God did say we would be known by our fruits and of course this includes me or anyone else. If our lives are culminating to essentially be only a self-seeking pursuant of happiness, then we have failed to participate in the family business which is to do everything we can to disciple others into the kingdom of God.
The Bible tells us "From such turn away" which means that the believer is to avoid them. Let this question be posed to you that may be reading this article today: If you are attending a dead, cold, liberal or legalistic church, and you are a true believer, what are you doing there when the Word of God says to avoid those things? All across this country there are wonderful pastors who are faithfully preaching the true Word of God in its entirety. Why aren't you supporting and standing with these fine men and women of God? We need to be around those who live a life prepared and who are preparing diligently others for standing in the last days as well.
It is true indeed that Jesus has provided us with daily benefits that none should be denied the truth of their very existence for those of us that belong to Him. But we as the church should not get so caught up in mesmerizing ourselves within these wonderful blessings to the point that we think that it's all about how perfect and swell this life will be as we have fully understand who we are in Him and what He has provided for us. This truth is important for sure, but this life will hold a great deal of trouble to which the blessings cannot be the basis of comfort or proof that we are His. This is sure to be a detriment within your life should these difficult times come upon you if it is believed as such. Why? You will have forgotten that this world will hate you if you are His. Secondly, the apostle Paul has noted this very important observation to which we would be wise to consider more closely.
2 Timothy 3:10-13 (KJV)
10 But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience,
11 Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.
12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
Here is the Scriptural antidote for standing strong in the last days so as it will not lead you away from the truth though the blessings and provisions of God may seemingly be stripped away from you at that time. We should be living spiritually prepared in the abundance or when there is little without wavering in our faith; redeeming the time for the days are evil (Ephesians 5:16). Jesus told us that when we see these things come to pass we would should remember that He told us they were coming upon the whole world. But be of good cheer! This is not a time for basking in fear, nor should we look at this prophetic declaration from the Word of God with trembling. We that are ready will not fall in that hour if we are grounded in the Word.
2 Timothy 3:14-17 (KJV)
14 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;
15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
