Dr. Ronald Powell

This Week's Message

The conditions which exist in the "Last Day Church"

"A sign of the times"

Our Text:

2 Timothy 3:1-9 (AMP) 1 BUT UNDERSTAND this, that in the last days will come (set in) perilous times of great stress and trouble [hard to deal with and hard to bear]. 2 For people will be lovers of self and [utterly] self-centered, lovers of money and aroused by an inordinate [greedy] desire for wealth, proud and arrogant and contemptuous boasters. They will be abusive (blasphemous, scoffing), disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane. 3 [They will be] without natural [human] affection (callous and inhuman), relentless (admitting of no truce or appeasement); [they will be] slanderers (false accusers, troublemakers), intemperate and loose in morals and conduct, uncontrolled and fierce, haters of good. 4 [They will be] treacherous [betrayers], rash, [and] inflated with self-conceit. [They will be] lovers of sensual pleasures and vain amusements more than and rather than lovers of God. 5 For [although] they hold a form of piety (true religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it [their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession]. Avoid [all] such people [turn away from them]. 6 For among them are those who worm their way into homes and captivate silly and weak-natured and spiritually dwarfed women, loaded down with [the burden of their] sins [and easily] swayed and led away by various evil desires and seductive impulses. 7 [These weak women will listen to anybody who will teach them]; they are forever inquiring and getting information, but are never able to arrive at a recognition and knowledge of the Truth. 8 Now just as Jannes and Jambres were hostile to and resisted Moses, so these men also are hostile to and oppose the Truth. They have depraved and distorted minds, and are reprobate and counterfeit and to be rejected as far as the faith is concerned. 9 But they will not get very far, for their rash folly will become obvious to everybody, as was that of those [magicians mentioned].

Introduction:

The Church in the world has been secularized significantly...there is no longer a Christian mindset. Christians have been so brainwashed by secularism that they do not think like Christians. Their world and life view has its roots not so much in the Bible as in the agenda set by the world.

America has produced a generation of self-centered, withdrawn, unsympathetic, irreligious, unpatriotic and characterless young people...Men cease to be men, losing those human characteristics and forsaking any decent world and life view that once distinguished men from pigs and dogs.

The passages in II Timothy three begins with the words "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come" (II Timothy 3:1).

Dr. J. Vernon McGee said the Apostle Paul is telling us in II Timothy 3 "what is to be the future of the church - it is not a very bright future for the organized church.

'The last days' is a technical term...it speaks of the last days of the church" (J. Vernon McGee, Th.D., Thru the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1983, volume V, p. 469; note on II Timothy 3:1). Dr. McGee went on to say,

In II Timothy 3:1-4 we are given 19 words or phrases that describe these people in our churches in "the last days."

1.  "For men shall be lovers of their own selves." Lost people in the churches mirror the world by loving themselves more than Christ. Self-love is so prominent that most church members won't even come to a Sunday evening service anymore. They love themselves so much that they will not go on visitation or soul-winning now. This is because we have packed the churches with unsaved people.

2.  "Covetous." Actually it means "lovers of money." Man's carnal nature loves to have a lot of money spent on it, because it loves itself more than Christ. The Bible says, "The love of money is the root of all evil" (I Timothy 6:10). Many lost young people stay in the church as long as their parents pay for everything. But soon after they get a job of their own, they leave. That is what "covetous" means!

3.  "Boasters." The Greek word is found only here and in Romans 1:30, where it is used to describe the condition of the pagan world. When we hear so-called "testimonies" today, they are often little more than a series of "boastings" about how bad they were, and how good they are now - with very little mention of Christ. It's as though they saved themselves by a work of self-reformation! They do not glorify or magnify Christ because they have never been saved. They give a long story of how bad they were, and then say, "I was saved." Where is Jesus in that? It is only boasting!

4.  "Proud" - filled with pride, not humble. What a picture of lost church members in the "last days."

5.  "Blasphemers," literally "railers." When new people come to a church they are often turned off when they see so-called Christians railing against someone else in the congregation. This reflects the railing accusations that the world brings against godly Christians. The Hippie generation has always railed. It is one of their most common characteristics. Look at "Occupy Wall Street." And when they come into a church they keep right on railing!

6.  "Disobedient to parents." How can people like that submit themselves to God? They can't! Those who are disobedient to parents will rebel against authority in the church, as they do in the world. What a picture of the Hippie generation and their offspring! I think these are the very ones that are spoken of in this verse. No wonder they cause one church split after the other!

7.  "Unthankful." The Greek word is found only here and in Luke 6:35, where Jesus spoke of "the unthankful and...The evil." No matter what kindness is shown to them, it never enters their mind to be thankful! We have seen people brought to church in our cars, fed at our expense, and even taken into our homes and cared for as if they were our own family members, only to have them leave the church without one word of thanks. They are so calloused that they can't feel thankful! We have had people come under our roof, eat our food, steal jewelry and cast spells before they left the church without a word of thanks. "Unthankful." We have seen it time after time in this evil generation.

8.  "Unholy." The word means "profane." They live their lives in rebellion against God, and yet think they are Christians! They are rebellious against all authority.

9.  "Without natural affection." This means they have no natural love, either for their own flesh, as we see in abortions, or in unnatural sexual relations. They murder their babies and put their own parents in a horrible "rest home," and seldom if ever visit them, and yet call themselves "Christians." They are "unsympathetic." What a horrible picture that is!

10. "Trucebreakers." These are people that are irreconcilable. They refuse to let you get along with them. You can't please them no matter how hard you try! You cannot make peace with them.

11. "False accusers." My, how they love to spread rumors and attack others! Sadly, this is now as true in the church as it is in the world! Lost church members delight in backbiting others in the congregation.

12. "Incontinent." This means "without self-control." We see that all the time in our degenerate society. They come into a church, but they don't stay very long, because they have no self-control. They are as wild as untamed animals. How horrible! They go from one church to the other. As Spurgeon said, "They are birds of passage, which nest nowhere."

13. "Fierce" means "savage". In our day the streets are often unsafe even in the daytime. And many churches are no safe haven for new Christians! So-called "Christians" are often as savage as the world around us! These are indeed "perilous times!" One teenager tried to murder her mother for imposing a curfew on her! That's right! I read it in the newspaper Thursday morning. Young people do things now that we never even heard of in the 1940s or 50s!

14. "Despisers of those that are good." It literally means "haters of the good." It is the opposite of "a lover of good men" in Titus 1:8. A good, decent man is hated, while an evil man who is "cool" is loved. We see that in our elections, as well as in our churches. That is one of the main characteristics of this generation. They are "despisers of those that are good." (i.e. Dan Cathy Chick Fil a)

15. "Traitors." This literally means "betrayers." These are people you just can't trust. They will betray you every time, because it is their very nature to do so. By nature they are "betrayers."

16. "Heady" means "reckless, headstrong in the pursuit of a bad end under the influence of passion" (Dr. Marvin R. Vincent). This describes those who act hastily and thoughtlessly. They no sooner join a church, than they leave it! You cannot trust reckless people! They are too "headstrong" and "reckless."

17. "Highminded" means blinded by pride. This is the same Greek word used in I Timothy 6:4, "He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings." According to one survey 89% of pastors have had to deal with so-called "Christians" like this, people who cause church splits. Think of it, 9 out of 10 pastors have experienced church splits because of people like this! They are "clouded [or blinded] with pride" (Dr. Vincent).

18. "Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." Literally "pleasure-lovers rather than God-lovers" (Dr. Vincent).

Dr. McGee said, "Never has there been a time when so much money has been spent in order to provide pleasure...billions of dollars are being spent for entertainment because men are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God" (ibid., p. 471).

This also explains why unsaved young people spend endless hours each day playing video games on a computer, but say they have no time for daily Bible reading and prayer! No wonder they don't experience real conversion! They love pleasures more than God.

19. "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." They have "the mere outward semblance, as distinguished from the essential reality" of godliness. "They go through the rituals of religion but lack life and reality" (Dr. McGee).

People who are satisfied by just coming to church without knowing Christ are "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (II Timothy 3:7).

You can preach the Gospel to them until you are blue in the face and they will go right on being satisfied with having "a form of godliness" without ever experiencing "the power thereof." Sadly, there are many such people in our churches every Sunday!

What a picture of the "Hippie Generation," those who are about 45 to 65 years old now - and to a somewhat lesser extent of their children and grandchildren!

Dr. Lindsell described them; they are "self-centered, withdrawn, unsympathetic, irreligious, unpatriotic and characterless."

They are described in II Timothy 3:1-8.

Now, if any of those 19 descriptions fit you, what is wrong with you?

Notice the word "men." It appears three times in the passage. "Men shall be lovers of their own selves" (verse 2). "So do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds" (verse 8). "But evil men...shall wax [grow] worse and worse" (verse 13). These references refer to lost people in a church, both men and women.

1.  "They love themselves, not God.

2.  "They resist the truth.

3.  "They will grow worse and worse.

"Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived" (II Timothy 3:13).

Close:

Once people reach that stage they are seldom if ever converted because they are given up by God. When God gives up on you, it is everlastingly too late to be saved. But don't comfort yourself too much. You can remain in a church and still be given up by God. I have seen that happen many times. However, if your conscience bothers you about your sin there is still hope for you.

If you are lost isn't it about time you got very serious about seeking Christ? How can you stand going on and on knowing you could descend into Hell at any time? How can you live like that day after day? Jesus said, "Strive to enter in at the strait gate" (Luke 13:24).