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I will be reading from 2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 1 through 15. But realize this that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power. Avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women, weighted down with sins, led on by various impulses or led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannies and Janbries oppose Moses, so these men also oppose the truth. Men of deprived mind, rejected in regard to the faith. But they will not make further progress for their folly. Will be obvious to all. Just as Jannies and Jambres was there. Folly was there. Now you followed my teaching, conduct purpose, faith, patience, love, and perseverance. Persecutions and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch and Iconium and Lystra. What persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them. And that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. This is the word of our Lord. And it can be pretty heavy. But we also know that our Lord is with us. He will guide us and direct us and protect us. Pastor Brian, would you come?

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I just am so thankful for the Lord to give us his word, to give us the truth. And as Larry spoke about, it can be difficult, but yet it is perfectly divine. And it is without any mixture of error. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the truth. We thank you that in a world of lies and falsehood, of man-made devices, Father, you have still preserved your word and that you give it to us day after day. What a blessing, what a privilege. Father, as we study this, we ask you to draw us in and to be overwhelmed by the grace of Christ yet again, and that we would be changed and transformed all the more into the likeness of our Savior through the Word of God and by the power of your Spirit. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Well, as we dive into another study of the weapons of the Christian soldier, I want to mention something that I neglected to say last week when thinking of the weapon of purity. That was our weapon for last week. As we seek to live pure lives for his glory, one of the ways that we are to accomplish this is with ensuring that we are not falling for what we call the false teachings of those who are wolves in sheep's clothing. Last week I called out some names of those teachers who have popularity. What I neglected to do was to encourage those of you who would like to know more regarding these individuals and why they are a threat to the gospel. Please come and see me anytime if you would like to hear more about as to why they're dangerous, why you gotta be cautioned and warned against what they are teaching. And so if you have a question about that, please come and see me. Now, that being said, interestingly, that leads us to our passage for today. You see, in the church, in our church, there are many, many doctrines that we hold to tightly as we should, right? We hold to the doctrine, for example, of the deity of Christ. Jesus is God, and yet he's also man. So we hold to that, what we call hypostatic union, that doctrine. We hold to the doctrine that teaches us that our God is in fact triune. We hold to the doctrine of what we call justification by faith, sanctification, the doctrine of the depravity of man. I mean, the list goes on and on of heaven and of hell, of the virgin birth, and so many biblical doctrines that our God has given us as so many beautiful truths to know and to live by in and throughout his inerrant word. Well, one of those doctrines in the church that seems to have been somewhat forgotten over the years is a doctrine that our Lord Himself spoke about in his prayer in John 17. And this is the biblical doctrine of what's called separation. And what that means is separate from the world and becoming separated unto Christ. Now, before we get into this, let me give you a quick point of clarification, what I mean by that. This does not mean that we are to be like the Pietists of old who abandoned society and lived out in desert caves, away from the contact of people hoping to become godlier, like Anthony, for example, one of the desert fathers early on. No, we have a commission, don't we? We're called to make disciples, to be disciple makers, and to make the glory of God known to the world. We can't do that if we're not in the world, right? Working in the world, eating in the world, shopping in the world, all those things. And so being separate isn't speaking of human daily habits of living in necessity or of abandoning our commission from God. This is speaking of our sanctification or our godly living. What we've seen recently is the idea that our role in the world and all too often in the church as Christians either totally neglects this truth or ends up blurring the line, and we miss the benefit and the beauty of what he has for us in this life. Let me read just a small portion of John 17 in Jesus' prayer. This is verses 15 to 18. He says, Jesus himself is speaking, says, I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in truth, your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. Think about what that necessitates. That they're not of it, because they're going into it. Into foreign soil, if you will. And this doctrine isn't just spoken by our Lord and Savior there in the book of John, as if that's not enough. But this is a very reoccurring biblical theme that's laced all throughout. From God's people, the Israelites of old, to the church today, we see this doctrine being taught all over the place in our Bible. And so as we dive back into our study in 2 Timothy, we're going to see this unique weapon in the arsenal of the Christian soldier, the weapon of being separated from the world and therefore separated unto Christ. And so I'm going to read a few passages of Scripture from the Old Testament and from the New, and what we will find is this truth, that God has called his people out of the world and has set them apart for purity, like we saw last week with that weapon, which is in accordance to his law. You see, each and every week we are called to preach the gospel here at Prairie Baptist Church. Praise God. But what we must never forget is that this law, the law of God, is still active, beautiful, and needed for us as well today. Yes, Jesus has, thankfully, praise God, has fulfilled and done away with the ceremonial pieces of the law, and he has also fulfilled and did away with the sacrificial system in the law, with his death on the cross. But the moral code in the law, which is kind of a big part of it, is still just as applicable today as when it was written. The Ten Commandments have now not ceased to be relevant because we have the gospel of Christ, even though Christ also fulfilled them on our behalf. They are still just as vital and just as important as they once were when they were given to the Israelites. You see, the Ten Commandments therefore point beautifully to the gospel, in that Christ has fulfilled them on our behalf, since we cannot. But what we tend to forget is that the gospel does the same thing. It points us back to the Ten Commandments as it screams out to us that Christ has accomplished it in our place, and now we have been saved to be sanctified according to that law. We now have the obligation and privilege of being able to keep the law in ways that we never could have before the cross of Christ. And so my point is, and speaking of the need for the law, is that if we are called to be pure in accordance to the law of God, then we will necessarily have to be separate from the world and its vices and its pleasures and its ways. Listen to what the Lord calls his people unto as we reflect for a moment on this doctrine, the doctrine of separation, our weapon for today. Numbers chapter 16 and verse 20. It says, and the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, Separate yourselves from among this congregation that I may consume them instantly. Now this is on the heels of grievous sin, and in light of that. And so the Lord wanted to consecrate his people to be separate from the evil one and those who are of the evil one and of the world. Fast forwarding through biblical history when speaking about the exiles who have returned from captivity in Babylon, if you can recall, the people of God were called unto purity from their previous captors and life situation. You see, as they began to celebrate Passover again, this is what took place by the Lord's sovereign command. Listen to, and I'm going to read a few Bible passages as I said, so just follow along. Listen to Ezra chapter 6, verses 19 to 21. It says, The exiles observed the Passover on the 14th of the first month, for the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together. All of them were pure. Then they slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the exiles, both for their brothers the priests, and for themselves. The sons of Israel who returned from exile, and all those who had, listen, separated themselves from the impurity of the nations of the land to join them. And it says, to seek the Lord God of Israel, and they ate the Passover. They needed to be purified, and therefore separated, to be able to partake in the feast that separated the Lord's deliverance. Later on in the book of Ezra, in chapter 9, the prophet comes to find out that many of the Israelite men had taken on wives of the pagans near them, and so Ezra, who's all immediately intensely grieved at this, actually, he's grieved so much so that he tears his garment, he tears his robe, and he pulls even some of the hair out of his head and his beard. Now, pulling the hair out of your head, okay, I could do that, but pulling it out of your beard, ladies, and here, that hurts, okay, I'm telling you. But he does this because he's just appalled. He's appalled. Fortunately, the people repent and turn from their sin and once again separate themselves unto purity in the law that the Lord had given to them. They were not to be unequally yoked with a foreign people, not because of race, but because of worship. Same is true for us today. We are called to be equally yoked in marriage with other followers of Christ exclusively. It's another biblical example of separation, and this brings honor and glory to our God. And it's awesome, this doctrine of separation plays itself out both in the personal life and in the corporate life of the church together. For example, Daniel personally refused to be defiled by the king's food, and Daniel 1, maybe you recall. That's of course an example of personal separation. This kind of l that kind of living is true for us today as well, but it also carries over to all of us together as a church. That's why the Lord speaks directly to the church as a whole in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 regarding this kind of life. And so if you want later today, read that on your own and you'll see that. But listen to some other New Testament calls for separation in our lives and in the church. We've touched on it in the Old Testament, but but bringing it full circle here in the New, in the book of Matthew, and speaking of the end, the return of Christ, he says this. He says, But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, just picture that, then he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations, that's everybody. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another. As a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. But maybe the most stark and revealing passage that speaks of this doctrine, I'm speaking of this for a reason, okay? This speaks of this doctrine of separation, I think, is found in the book of 2 Corinthians. And let me tell you, this is such a magnificently beautiful passage when you think of the grace of our Lord and his gospel. Just listen to 2 Corinthians 6, 14 to 18. It says this do not be bound together with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness, or what harmony has Christ with Belial, another word for Satan, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has a temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God. Let that sink in. Just as God said, I will dwell in them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Talk about his grace. Therefore, the Caico goes on, therefore, come out from their midst and be separate, says the Lord. And do not touch what is unclean, and I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. Now that just kind of says it all, doesn't it? Be separate, come out from them. Again, but Jesus' prayer says, You're in the world, though, right? So you see the distinction here. I'm gonna give you one more as we scratch the surface of this biblical doctrine, and this one's kind of the umbrella, Philippians 3.20. It says, For our citizenship is what? In America? No. It's in heaven. If you're in Christ, you have citizenship eternally in heaven. He says, from which also we eagerly await for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, this is not our permanent home. Praise God. We are citizens of another place, of heaven, with Christ and his ministering angels. Therefore, we are to live in light of the home that we have. We're just ambassadors representing our kingdom. Once we're in Christ. And so we are not to live as though we are all in regarding this world and its systems and its structures. Now, to answer your question, you're undoubtedly thinking, why am I speaking of all this in light of what we're studying in 2 Timothy? Well, as we've seen all throughout, Paul is really calling Timothy to be different from the world, and especially those of the world who would come into the church and teach a worldly and what Paul always calls a demonic set of doctrinal beliefs. So he says, separate yourselves from them. That's really what Paul's driving at. Don't be yoked with something that's going to take you from the Lord and his word. And like what we studied last time, we are to be pure, and so we find that this is akin to what we're studying today. It connects well together. So the doctrine, the weapon of the Christian soldier of being altogether separate from the world and its devices, that's what we are to be wielding daily. But the question is, what does that look like? What does it look like for us to separate ourselves as a people of God? How do we faithfully wield this weapon while we still reside here before the Lord takes us home? Now, again, we know it's not possible for us to simply not be a part of the world at all. So what do we do as a people of God who seek to live pure and separated unto Christ in the midst of this world that has so much chaos and rebellion in it? Look again at verse 1 with me. Verse 1. Paul begins chapter 3 by speaking to the fact that this is the last days. He says, difficult times will come in the last days. What is he speaking of when he says that? This is important for us to understand the rest of the passage. He is simply speaking of what we call the church age or the messianic age or the gospel age. This is the age from the first Advent of Christ. Remember Christmas, where he came as a babe and then went on to die as our atoning sacrifice and raised as our Savior. And so it's from the first time of that first coming to the time when he comes again at the second advent, which hasn't happened yet. So that age, that at least 2,000 years so far, age-ish. That's what he's talking about, this last days. So it is in this age that Paul, who by the way, has no idea when the Lord's returning, he says, in these days, difficult times will come. Why? Is it because money's gonna run short? They're gonna stop finding gold? Maybe it's famine's gonna plague us. Pestilence is gonna be the norm, right? Wars and rumors of wars. No, that's not what Paul says. He says it's gonna be very, very difficult because the people of the earth will rebel against the Lord and his word in constant and increasingly rebellious ways. That's what marks the last days from the world. So many times, especially today, we hear preachers and teachers going on and on about the difficulty of living in these perilous times and how this thing symbolizes that thing, and how wars and rumors of wars are now beginning to fulfill prophecies. Have you seen it? Have you looked at it? They speak often of America and how this is it, right here, it's coming. Look around, they say, they speak of these catastrophes and natural disasters and all these different events taking place, and it must point to this or that. You've heard all those, right? But you rarely hear those same guys speak about the last days and spend an abundance of time on what the Bible spends an abundance of time on when it speaks of the last days. Wicked and depraved men. Like what Paul describes here. And I would say that Jesus and Paul spoke more often of being sanctified and separated for his glory when thinking of his return than they ever did about the details and specific occurrences. That shows us, oh, it's here. Yet that's what we constantly hear being preached, isn't it? Oh, this thing's going on in Israel, it must be this, it must be this. Okay. But what about what the Bible teaches? Let me ask you this question to help solidify that. What prepares you well for the last days in the return of Christ? What can you do in preparation? Do you want to be prepared for the return of Jesus Christ? What prepares you? Is it knowing the signs and events, which we are very prone to getting wrong? Or is it seeking to live a holy and a godly life knowing that that day is approaching? Which one prepares you for Christ? And so I say, let us be concerned with an abundance of weeping over our own sin first, that we would never, ever find ourselves in the list of verses 2 to 5. And then especially let us weep over the sins of those who do not know him as we think of this last age. Let us be overwhelmed with lives of prayer for the sanctification and purity and separation when thinking that the Lord may return at any moment. It is the last age. And let the details and thoughts of those ushering events be a side dish at best to our desire to see the Lord return because of the sin that reigns in the hearts of men. Paul says here, in these last days, difficult times will come. We must not be naive about this. We must realize that difficult times will come for those who seek to live for Christ. The one who lives is Christ and seeks to separate themselves from the unholy and profane things of the world. Paul says we're suffer for it. And yeah, I know, it's so easy. As you think about that, I don't want to suffer. I don't want to have all that. And fear just continues to bombard us for what's coming for the world, even. But since the ones who are in Christ have nothing to fear of the judgment of Christ, I say that if we are going to fear anything, if we are going to fear anything at all, it would be that we would end up living lives that resemble verses two to five. That we would abandon Christ, not necessarily with our mouths, but with our lives. Let that cause us to stay up at night. Fearing that we would or have dishonored our Lord. And let that fear turn to trust as we repent and confess and start living for Him. Let's look at what he says here, starting in verse 2, about this. To be of the world, to be of the evil one, to be against Christ is to be a lover of self. And this first one kind of covers a lot of the substance of the rest of them. And this can be overt or it can be subtle. And really, this is all about self-worship. The charge of being boastful, arrogant, conceited, unholy, and all the like, they stem from self-worship. And so what we quickly realize is that this is a major problem because God is no longer the object or isn't the object of our affection and our worship. Instead, we are. And this plays out in so many ways, even in the church. But what is really going on here, especially in the church, is that we have forgotten God. I mean, I still think of him, but I've forgotten him intentionally and I don't live for him. Some in this world forget him in their intentional hatred of him, like that. Some forget him in their desire to live for themselves. They just get so clouded in it. Some forget him as they claim to be his and then deny his lordship in their lives, that he's ruler. All of that is love of self. Now hear me, not that all self-love in and of itself is bad. Jesus said that we need to love others as much, if not more, than we love ourselves, because we feed ourselves, don't we? It's an act of love. We maintain ourselves, we clothe ourselves, brush our teeth, hopefully. It's not speaking of those things, it's speaking of robbing God of worship by how we live and how we show our love. You see the bloated nature of the world's self-love as an indication of the imminent return of the king. And remember, much of this warning is because this is creeping into the very church of Jesus Christ. Paul is speaking to Timothy and warning him about purity and separation needed in the church from these kind of things and these people. He is saying any other kind of worship in the church other than God glorifying word-centered worship is idolatry and will have to be snuffed out quickly. Even if it seems subtle. Each and every church is prone to this because the church is full of sinners like your pastor. This is why the Word of God needs to be ultimate and needs to be the constant authority. Unfortunately, we've probably all seen this kind of thing play out in real time, when a preference in the church maybe becomes ultimate and sparks a feud. When someone wants to leave because they're not getting what they want or what they had as a tradition for years, maybe you've definitely seen that. When anything, including what can be considered good intentions, become the mode by which someone operates instead of the word of God, what ends up happening is self-love and self-worship have won the day. And it makes it difficult for everybody. This kind of living, this kind of self-love is what pervades the times of the church age, is what Paul is saying. Look for this. And so we need to be on guard and watch out for this first in our own lives and then collectively together. Because it is the humble Christ worshipers who long for his appearing to abolish this way of living. You see, the Christian in the Church of Christ must separate herself from these things. And we have to be selfless in our love, sacrificial in our love. That's that agape love? That must be the theme of the church. Because that kind of love crushes arrogance. It obliterates boastful living and it annihilates the love of self. So good. Paul also speaks here of loving money, money worship. I mean, it sounds kind of ridiculous, right? Like you would put it up on a stand with some candles and you know. Sounds absurd, but it is very real. And it always has been. Here's a hypothetical. If you came to Christ and He said for you to inherit eternal life, you would need to empty out your bank account, your retirement, your stocks would go away, your nice cars, your house would even go away. You'd give it away, in fact. And now you're going to live in a small shack with dirt floors with your whole family, all 12 kids. What would you say? Would you say, Yes, Lord? Whatever you say, I'm yours. Or would you end up being like the rich young ruler who loved his money and his stuff over and above God? I'm not saying that's what the Lord is calling you to do right now. But if all your money and all your ability to make money, if all of your stuff, meaning that which you can't take to heaven, if all of that went away for his sake and for his name, will you still worship him alone with relentless fervor as you cling to his goodness and shout out his sufficiency? Do you love money? It characterizes the end of days. Paul still says in verse 2 that in the last days there's going to be revilers against Christ and his gospel, and he's speaking even in the church. Of course, they won't be his saints, but they will be there infiltrating. They will revile Christ by how they live and what they worship. Again, the love of self will trump the worship of Christ in obedience to his word. Paul says that kids are going to hate their parents. Have you ever seen that? Now we're not just talking about the ones who look like punks. But most kids will end up hating their parents. This will increase, disdain for parents will increase. Think about it. Paul wrote that 2,000 years ago. Now I'm not a historian, but I think that it has increased. The respect for parents is dwindling quickly. Speaking to the kids in here. Now you can decide whether or not you're fitting in that category. I know that you see this kind of thing all the time from friends, classmates, and neighbors, don't you? This kind of living, ungrateful, rebelling against your parents. And so I just simply encourage you, something simple, okay? Encourage you, refuse to be like that. Separate yourself unto God and lovingly obeying your parents as he leads you in the Bible. The world will show you how to be ungrateful, unholy, and unloving, and so will your own flesh. But look to Christ and his people and see what it looks like to put others first, to regard others as more important than yourself, and therefore walk in holiness, walk according to his word, even if those around you revile you, or what that means is don't like you for it. The last age necessarily brings forth an ever greater sense of ungratefulness in the face of the work of Christ on the cross. And this is even in some who claim to be of Christ and go to his church. You see, these folks he's speaking of will not be living with the joy of the Lord. Because they don't have that thing. Or they don't like that person, or look at what's going on in our country, or look at what's going on in my life. It's not fair. All the while they are looking right past the cross and they're flipping past the vast majority of the pages of the Bible that speak of the glory of the gospel as they seek to find that verse that pacifies their anger at God because they didn't get what they want. And therefore they are spitting on the cross and making a mockery of the gospel with their ungratefulness for what they don't have that's ironically from the world. And so they will be profaning the Christian life, living unholy without self-control, mocking the fruits of the Spirit by hating what is good, as they confess not Christ, but what they perceive are the benefits of Christ. It's of the world. Paul goes on here to mention malicious gossips in verse 3. You ever been on the receiving end or maybe the front end of this? Is there any other kind of gossiping other than maliciousness? It's all malicious. When you are seeking your own advancement at the expense of others? When you seek to demean someone else as you maliciously gossip or speak about them without their permission? Hear me. The Bible says you have become the very mouthpiece of Satan. That sounds bad, doesn't it? Because here's what's interesting. The Greek root word here for malicious gossip is diabolos. Sound familiar? You could translate that diabolical or diablo. Satan. And so the what Paul is saying is those who gossip maliciously are diabolically devilish in their speech. And this will continue to increase in our world. And so we've got to separate ourselves from that form of speech, right? Never allow the worship of self to cause you to speak lowly of others so that you can feel and look more highly in your own mind, even if it's framed as a prayer request. We've heard that. Paul goes on, verse 4, to speak of treachery. What he's saying here as an illustration is that there will be Benedict Arnolds that will come into the camp of the church. They will have high marks and badges, but they will apostasize and go over to the enemy when the time seems right. Be on guard when another gospel or teaching comes to your ears. Separate yourself from that stuff. Paul speaks of being reckless in how people live in verse 4. This is not a beneficial attribute. God is never reckless, and neither are his people when speaking of obedience to his word and will. The world is reckless and careless with their souls, but the man or woman of God who has separated themselves unto the worship of God, you can call it relentless, but never reckless, even though the song may say so. And so basically, what we are seeing here is a kind of people that are just lovers of worldly pleasure. They claim to know God, but they don't love God, and in fact, they're faking it and portraying a form of godliness, Paul says, that's not only shallow and unholy, it is pagan and ripe with the absolute desire to love myself above everything. And so Paul says, verse 5, this is kind of where we get the separation piece from this. Paul says, verse 5, right at the end, avoid such men. What he means by this is flee from them. Don't allow them to have a place in your life in the church. They may look Christian, they may speak Christianese, they may have nice big smiles and say nice things, they may be on the TV or radio program, and they may claim Christ, they may dress nice, they even may give big. But they will prove themselves to be those that will prey on the ignorant, on the naive. Or as Paul says here in verse 6, on the weak-willed women that are living in sin. Avoid those who simply, what he's talking about is those who hear about the truth. Maybe they learn some things about the truth, but they have no faith-filled resolve to live it out and love the glory of God and his appearance. Men who know the word inside and out and use their platform as a place to cause doubt and division as they use their influence to turn people actually away from God with a message of self-love and self-perceived knowledge of the truth that has led them to be bloated with arrogance and pride as they actually reject the gospel of Christ. They may say nice things, but they are the charlatans that we spoke of last week. They're wolves in sheep's clothing. They look and speak like Christians, but they end up being, as the Bible says, Satan's ministers. And they have blasphemies and soul-stealing, false gospel-touting speech that is nothing but a doctrine of the evil one. They are no different than Janus and Jambris. Household names, right? Look at verse 8. Now, these two men are probably, most likely, these are the ones who tried to perform the same signs that Moses did back in Egypt with Pharaoh. Remember that from Exodus? To the world and the naive, they look pretty awesome. They look like great religious leaders. But as one commentator said, they're nothing more than snake oil salesmen. Selling a doctrine of demons that gets them rich. One day, as Paul says in verse 9, their folly will be evident to all, and the Lord will repay them for their evil deeds. I don't need to tell you that's not a good place to be. The Lord will repay. And so for us today, again, we are called to separate from them in that kind of living. To be separate unto Christ, away from the world. Now, as we continue through this passage, I want us to see what it looks like to be separated for and unto God as a Christian in this life. Look at verse 10. Now, again, there's not going to be anything groundbreaking here. It just simply begins by following the teaching of the Word and cherishing the gospel of Christ. The more you know the Word of God, the more the teachings of those false teachers will become abhorrent to you. If you stick to the Word, you study its truth, you live out its commands, you separate yourself under Christ, the more your lives conform to the patterns of God's truth, like Romans 12 says, the easier it will be to spot the errors in our own lives. And in the lives of those who would come in and seek to snatch us away from the truth. And so we've got to study. Last night my family was going through the book of Hebrews, and we came upon chapter 5 where it talks about those who drink the milk. They should be teachers by now, but they refuse to eat because they don't practice. They can't even tolerate the word of righteousness. It's because they don't want to study. They'd rather just drink the milk and be babes, infants, immature, tossed by the wind and the waves. And so we gotta discipline ourselves to study. Study the word. Not only at home on your own, but together as a church when the doors are open. So we gotta study. We must worship Christ. We must know him and his word. We have to figure out how to chew on the word. And not say, oh, that's just over my head. How do I ingest that? How do I live that? That's what Paul is speaking of when he says, now you've followed my teaching there in verse 10. Because he knows, Paul knows better than any, that this is the antidote to worldly living in false Christianity, is the word, studying of the word and applying it. Following the teachings of the word, following its law with the grace of the gospel, provides right conduct. Not merely being a good citizen of America, but a faithful citizen of heaven. And so our attitude, our speech, our actions will be that of heavenly ways and godliness. We will live holy lives if we live in accord with his written word, by the power of the Spirit in us. Our purpose in life will be right and according to his word. That's your purpose in life, by the way. Faith, right living, seeking Christ's likeness, living separated for his glory above all else, making disciples. Because here's the thing. Here's the thing I want you to hear. The absence of what Paul initially talked about, the absence of worldly self-love, becomes the presence of right worship. It's a patient life. Waiting patiently for the king. Loving with the love of Christ in us, preserving and persevering in any and all things that the world has to throw out at us. This kind of living even causes us to be able to rightly endure what Paul says here are persecutions that will inevitably come to all who are in Christ. How's that hit you in America? Free America. Look at verse 12. All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be what? Blessed? Yes. Yes, and amen. Eternally, absolutely. But that's not what Paul says here. He says it's they're going to be persecuted. Why? Because we don't look like verses 2 to 5, like the world does. We look like Christ. As you live for him, separated from the love of the world and the love of self, clinging to his sufficient and inerrant word, you will even be able to be like Paul and endure these things. Isn't that good news? I mean, Paul suffered in his life, didn't he? He has a whole list in 2 Corinthians. But he did it for the gospel and the glory of his Savior. He suffered multiple times in many places. One of which he lists here in verse 11 is the town of Lystra. Now, this is where he's. Do you know this? He was stoned and left for dead. In fact, they all thought they'd kill him because who survives a stoning? Remember, this is from the religious of the day. Jews from Iconium and Antioch. They won over the crowd so that Paul would be stoned to death. You see, the truth of the gospel is not going to be a popular thing among fake followers nor the world. So our task at being set apart for the glory of God and holy living is great and it is needed. But don't worry, as with Paul, the Lord will rescue you from all the sufferings this life has to offer. Do you know that? But there's a qualifier to that rescuing. It's probably not going to be like standing up like Paul right after you got stoned. That was unique. But when we go to be with him in glory. That's our rescue. In his timing, the Lord will perfectly show you his complete rescue, and it will be of your soul. Eternally. Again, verse 12: You will be persecuted if you want to live for Christ. But the Lord is with you, and he is preparing you for an eternal home of bliss and security. You and I who are in Christ are even separated unto suffering, as the Lord sovereignly calls us to. That should encourage us and not worry us. And Paul says in verse 13, these evil men, these false teachers, these charlatans, are actually going to continue to get worse, and they will deceive more and more weak-willed people. They will be puffed up with their self-perceived knowledge. But you, however, dear saint of the Lord, verse 14, you are commanded to continue in the word and the word alone. Not personal special revelations, not self-loving help books, or whatever those are called, no new age philosophies that are all going to fall flat. No, my brothers and sisters, it says, continue in the truth. We must continue in the word and the gospel of Christ. The gospel is not a one and done. We have to continue in it. It's not, I say it, I said a prayer and I'm good. It is a complete transformation, a new birth, a new life, a daily continuance of relying on his power and his truth and his grace. It is studying it, reading it daily, knowing it, speaking it, living it, applying it to every situation, every circumstance, every conversation. It's marveling over it. It is in fact how we get to God. Therefore, we have to continue in it. And if we want to have life with him, John 8, Jesus says this if you continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine. That's kind of clear, isn't it? If you continue in my word. And then look at 15. As we wind down, look at 15. What a gift. To have been raised to hear the gospel. If there's any parents in here and you're giving the kids the gospel, you are giving them an incredible leg up on all of humanity for knowing Christ. Timothy was raised to hear the gospel. It says from his mother and his grandmother, as we talked about in 1 Timothy, we're not 100% sure where his father's at, if he's alive or dead, but he's obviously not teaching him. But as we will talk about next week, this is from the Old Testament that pointed to Jesus. They taught him the truth of God from a very young age. The implication here is infancy. Parents? Grandparents? Do you want to help your children or your grandchildren live for the Lord or live for the world? If you want them to live for Christ, then teach them about Christ. Show them through the scriptures from birth that the sacred writings are the only essential thing they need for true meaning and eternal life. Show them how to walk. Okay, do that. Show them how to read, how to ride a bike, help them figure out their life aspirations, maybe career goals, whatever. But all of that pales in comparison to showing them Christ and his gospel every single day, both in what you say and in how you live. That's what matters. Even if your kid turns out to be a 27-year-old who doesn't know how to walk or ride a bike, not because of physical inabilities, but because you didn't teach them anything and somehow they just stumbled along, that may be embarrassing, but it doesn't matter eternally. They need the gospel. Timothy was in part where he was at this great pastor, this great leader, because of his grandmother and his mother's faithfulness. Timothy is blessed to have heard the word from his childhood from both of them. And Paul is saying here that if Timothy or anybody else wants to be a follower of Christ, then he or she must, must separate themselves from the patterns of this world and have their minds renewed and to live according to the patterns of the scripture, the very words of God. And we've got to do that from a young age. Not that God can't save later. But what a blessing to give the young ones. Notice what Paul says at the end of verse 15. I'm going to start reading in 14. It says, You, however, continue in the things you have learned to become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings, which, listen, are able to give you wisdom that leads to salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. Do you see how important the doctrine of separation is as it aids us not only in obedience but our assurance? It is by grace through faith that you have been saved. But the whole context of 1 to 15 is that it is proved and exemplified by your transformation and now how you live. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 13 that we're to daily examine ourselves to see if we're in the faith. Not that we come to Him with doubt and fear of hell every morning when we wake, but a regular assessment of whether or not our life looks like verses 10 to 15 without 13, or if they look like verses 2 to 5 or 2 to 9. Are we showing the fruit of salvation or are we showing the fruit of false conversion? Examine yourself. Are you separated unto Christ? Have you forsaken the patterns of this world? Maybe you were raised in them. And are you following the pattern laid down by our Lord and by his servant Paul? Difficult times will come in these last days. Again, these last days are 2,000 plus years, and the last days are still going on, speaking of the church age. And Paul is saying that it's not going to be easy for you to live for Christ, following his word alone in this life, from within and from without. So the charge is to be separated from all that is impure and unholy, from all that is profane and treacherous to the gospel of Christ. Can you think of anything in your life that fits that category? Separate yourself. Cling to what is good, cling to the truth of his word alone, cling to the one who saved your soul, cling to the one and only gospel, the only eternally good news. Live separate. Not isolated from all who are not in Christ, but separated from all that is not for the glory of Christ, and separated for the benefit of your own soul and all of those near you. I just ask you again, who are you? Are you a Christian following Christ? Are you following the patterns of his word and will? Are you following the patterns of the world? Beg God that he would give you a heart to follow him alone in this life. Let's pray. Father, we thank you again for the truth of your word. And we would just beg you that you would give us a conviction to live for you every single day. That that would never waver, that it would only grow stronger as we think of your glorious grace. May your name be glorified in your people as we continue in worship. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.