SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Gospel Christ Chapel podcast, where we value the exposure preaching and teaching of the Word of God for the purpose of life transformation.
SPEAKER_00: There are several examples of people who falsely preached and proclaimed that Jesus was going to return at a certain date.
SPEAKER_00: And unfortunately, that has been a plague within the church in the Western world, particularly here in America, and it impacts how you live because if you think the Lord Jesus is coming back like you know tomorrow, then you don't plan for the future.
SPEAKER_00: You're only living for the here and now.
SPEAKER_00: Whereas the scripture teaches us to plan for generations to come.
SPEAKER_00: Now, does anyone know when Christ is going to return?
SPEAKER_00: No, of course not.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not here to tell you, we got another thousand years.
SPEAKER_00: That's not my point.
SPEAKER_00: But I am saying we can't buy into foolishness.
SPEAKER_00: And what's really interesting is that people who hold this view that like the world is getting worse and worse and worse.
SPEAKER_00: And there's no way that we can sustain ourselves as a people, like the Lord, it's gonna end.
SPEAKER_00: It has to, the world's coming to an end, like right around the corner.
SPEAKER_00: They appoint they point to the apostle Paul and his writings to try to prove that the world is coming to an end, and the world is getting worse and worse.
SPEAKER_00: However, as you will see, contrary to popular belief, the apostle Paul never taught that.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, we're gonna look in our text here, really for the next two weeks, but starting today, we're gonna look in our text here, and we're going to discover the revelations that Paul revealed concerning the destiny of difficulty.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look in our text.
SPEAKER_00: It is 2 Timothy chapter 3, beginning at verse number 1.
SPEAKER_00: We'll read verses 1 through 9.
SPEAKER_00: I'm reading from the English Standard Version, and the text reads But understand this that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.
SPEAKER_00: For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.
SPEAKER_00: Avoid such people.
SPEAKER_00: For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Just as Janice and Jambus opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith.
SPEAKER_00: But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.
SPEAKER_00: And that is the reading of God's word.
SPEAKER_00: If we were to take those passages, those scriptures, we could distill the meaning down to one sentence.
SPEAKER_00: It would be as follows.
SPEAKER_00: Paul wrote Timothy and revealed revelations concerning the destiny of difficulty.
SPEAKER_00: All right, so that applies to us today.
SPEAKER_00: We could say that scripture, scripture reveals revelations concerning the destiny of difficulty.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what are the revelations concerning the destiny of difficulty?
SPEAKER_00: There are four revelations concerning the destiny of difficulty.
SPEAKER_00: The first revelation concerning the destiny of difficulty is demarcation.
SPEAKER_00: Demarcation.
SPEAKER_00: Look at the text, 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse number 1.
SPEAKER_00: But understand this that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Paul revealed the demarcation of difficult times in this particular passage.
SPEAKER_00: Now the word demarcation means set a boundary or to limit in some way.
SPEAKER_00: And so Paul informed Timothy, he revealed to Timothy that in the last days there will be times of difficulty.
SPEAKER_00: Now that phrase last days is important.
SPEAKER_00: That phrase last days denotes the time between Jesus' first coming and his second coming.
SPEAKER_00: So if you follow what I'm saying, we are living in the last days.
SPEAKER_00: And we've been in the last days for over 2,000 years.
SPEAKER_00: Theologically speaking, biblically speaking, this is understood pretty much by all scholars.
SPEAKER_00: The last days denote the time from Jesus' first coming unto his second coming.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul revealed to Timothy that in the last days there will be times of difficulty.
SPEAKER_00: You should expect them, Timothy.
SPEAKER_00: But those difficult times are demarcated by God.
SPEAKER_00: They are limited by God.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Many Christians read this particular verse, right?
SPEAKER_00: But in the last days, in the last days, there will come times of difficulty.
SPEAKER_00: And they import into the text a particular meaning that's not there.
SPEAKER_00: They read the text.
SPEAKER_00: Understand this that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.
SPEAKER_00: And they import into the text.
SPEAKER_00: In the last days, it's going to be horrible.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to be this way the whole time.
SPEAKER_00: All the way until Jesus returns.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to be horrible.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what the apostle Paul said.
SPEAKER_00: I realize I'm challenging your thinking today.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not what he said.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what the text states.
unknown: Dr.
SPEAKER_00: Kenneth Gentry has done a lot of great work on this topic.
SPEAKER_00: And he points out that the word for times in difficult times is the Greek word kairos.
SPEAKER_00: And it means like a moment of time.
SPEAKER_00: Or you know, like a period of time, a season.
SPEAKER_00: That word is different than the other Greek word that could have been used to chronos, which means all of time.
SPEAKER_00: Where we get the word chronology, like all of time.
SPEAKER_00: Alright?
SPEAKER_00: So, so follow the fall.
SPEAKER_00: From creation, Genesis 1, 1.
SPEAKER_00: All the way until the Lord returns.
SPEAKER_00: Or we can even go so far as to say the new heavens, the new earth.
SPEAKER_00: That's the chronology.
SPEAKER_00: There is a point A and there is a point B.
SPEAKER_00: There is a beginning and there's an end.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the prophet Isaiah said that God declares the end from the beginning.
SPEAKER_00: And what we're experiencing right now is God's history of redemption.
SPEAKER_00: God is moving throughout the world, saving his people, redeeming his covenant people, and restoring all things.
SPEAKER_00: So in the chronology, you get to a shorter period of time where we are that's called the last days.
SPEAKER_00: And within the last days, there are periods or moments of time that are times of difficulty.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean that all of the last days is marked by difficulty.
SPEAKER_00: It just means that there are seasons in which there are difficult times.
SPEAKER_00: And the reason why that's so important is when you grasp that truth, it emboldens you to be faithful for the Lord Jesus Christ, to endure no matter what you're going through, because the difficult time is demarcated by God.
SPEAKER_00: There's a beginning and there's an end.
SPEAKER_00: It's not going to be characteristic of all of the age, but just a short season.
SPEAKER_00: Now, we just happen to live in an epoch or an era of time in which it's somewhat difficult.
SPEAKER_00: But I submit to you that what we're experiencing right now, at least in America, is vastly better off than what the Christians were experiencing in the first century in the Roman Empire.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not being dragged to the Colosseum eaten by lions.
SPEAKER_00: Your children and your wife isn't being impelled to a wall wrapped in flammable material lit on fire by Nero to light up the streets of Rome at night.
SPEAKER_00: So, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: We have some difficult times.
SPEAKER_00: We have a pushback of evil against the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
SPEAKER_00: But it's a relatively mild pure time of evil in America.
SPEAKER_00: Now, that can't be said for all around the world.
SPEAKER_00: If I was in a different context, I might have a little different understanding of, hey, this is a really difficult time.
SPEAKER_00: But it's not going to be that way for all of time.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Paul is teaching us.
SPEAKER_00: So what this does is encourages you to endure for the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Because God, who is sovereign over all things, and according to Acts 17, 26, by one blood, he created all the nations of the earth and preappointed their times and their dwellings.
SPEAKER_00: You would live in the time period in which you live.
SPEAKER_00: I live in the time period in which I live.
SPEAKER_00: I live where I live by the will and the sovereign plan of Almighty God.
SPEAKER_00: He has us here right now because we have the ability through the power of the Holy Spirit and the written word to be what stops the great pushback of evil against the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And so fortify your steel.
SPEAKER_00: Have a spine.
SPEAKER_00: Get some courage and stand for the Lord Jesus Christ because it's not always going to be this way.
SPEAKER_00: The church will prevail.
SPEAKER_00: So the first revelation concerning the destiny of difficulty is demarcation.
SPEAKER_00: The second revelation concerning the destiny of difficulty is disposition.
SPEAKER_00: Now look at the text.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 2 through 5.
SPEAKER_00: For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.
SPEAKER_00: Avoid such people.
SPEAKER_00: So far, Paul has revealed concerning the destiny of difficulty, the demarcation.
SPEAKER_00: Now he has revealed the disposition of difficult times.
SPEAKER_00: The word disposition means the inclination to act a certain way.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: So Paul said, look, when you come up to those seasons of difficulty, those moments or those periods of time in which it's difficult, then this is how you're gonna know.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna recognize because this will be the general disposition of those times.
SPEAKER_00: People will have an inclination to act this way.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul just painted with a broad brush.
SPEAKER_00: He just, I mean, there's no way to list everything, right?
SPEAKER_00: But he just kind of painted with a broad brush and he he kind of rattled off 19 sinful characteristics.
SPEAKER_00: I think those 19 sinful characteristics could be lumped into three separate categories.
SPEAKER_00: That's how I do it in my mind.
SPEAKER_00: So hey, if you don't follow that, it's all right.
SPEAKER_00: But in my mind, when I read this text, that's how it divides out for me.
SPEAKER_00: So those those 19 simple actions and characteristics could be put into three broad categories.
SPEAKER_00: Category one, egocentric.
SPEAKER_00: People will be egocentric.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: It says there will be lovers of self, proud, arrogant, swollen with conceit.
SPEAKER_00: Egocentric.
SPEAKER_00: The second category, heathenistic.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, they just act like heathens.
SPEAKER_00: Abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.
SPEAKER_00: Heathenistic.
SPEAKER_00: Just act like a heathen.
SPEAKER_00: And then the third broad category would be hedonistic.
SPEAKER_00: You know, chasing nothing but pleasure.
SPEAKER_00: A hedonist.
SPEAKER_00: Hedonistic.
SPEAKER_00: And we know because we're told it says there will be lovers of money and lovers of pleasure.
SPEAKER_00: Like I just, I'm seeking pleasure.
SPEAKER_00: And so when you find yourself, or we as a culture, we as a church, find ourselves in this difficult time, a moment of time in history in which it's difficult, there's opposition against Christ and his church, Christ and His gospel.
SPEAKER_00: You will also have to deal with people who exhibit these characteristics.
SPEAKER_00: That's the disposition of the times.
SPEAKER_00: Bart Starr, many of you who follow football might recognize that name.
SPEAKER_00: Bart Star.
SPEAKER_00: Reportedly, Bart Starr was at a men's meeting, a luncheon, in which he was telling a bunch of businessmen about how it was to play for Vince Lombardi and how Vince Lombardi held absolute power and control over the organization.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Bart Starr said, Whenever you walk into Vince Lombardi's office, right there you were greeted with this massive mahogany desk.
SPEAKER_00: And behind it on the wall was this huge, impressive flow chart.
SPEAKER_00: And at the top of the flow chart was a big block.
SPEAKER_00: And in that block it was written, Vince Lombardi, head coach, general manager.
SPEAKER_00: Under that block, you know, was a line to the next block in which it read, everybody else.
SPEAKER_00: And if you stop and think about that, there are people in the world like that.
SPEAKER_00: Like they're at that top block, and then there's everybody else, including God.
SPEAKER_00: They're egocentric, it's all about them.
SPEAKER_00: They're hedonistic, they're only for pleasure, and they're heathens.
SPEAKER_00: And what's really sad is that Paul said that these characteristics will be exhibited in the church.
SPEAKER_00: He said, In the last days you will deal with these people who have a form of godliness but deny the power.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
SPEAKER_00: They have a form of godliness, an appearance of godliness, but they deny the power.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, they look like Christians, but they live like the devil.
SPEAKER_00: They deny the power of the gospel to change their life.
SPEAKER_00: They give lip service to it, but their heart is far from it.
SPEAKER_00: They claim to love God, but they only love what they get from Him.
SPEAKER_00: They claim to serve others, but they're only serving themselves.
SPEAKER_00: Their public persona is that they live a life of righteousness and purity and holiness.
SPEAKER_00: But privately they indulge in sexual and spiritual and moral perversion.
SPEAKER_00: They are just as Jesus said in the gospels.
SPEAKER_00: They are whitewashed tombs.
SPEAKER_00: They've been decorated, they look nice, but they still contain dead men's bones.
SPEAKER_00: What do we do?
SPEAKER_00: What do we do with this truth?
SPEAKER_00: Well, first of all, search your own heart.
SPEAKER_00: Search your own heart.
SPEAKER_00: Have you been or are you now egocentric?
SPEAKER_00: Like, do you just live for yourself?
SPEAKER_00: Are you the most important thing?
SPEAKER_00: Are you at the top of the flow chart and everybody else, including God, is underneath you?
SPEAKER_00: Are you heathenistic?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, like, really?
SPEAKER_00: Not your public persona, but who you are.
SPEAKER_00: Are you a heathen?
SPEAKER_00: Does your lifestyle resemble more like the devil than the Holy Spirit conforming you to the image of Christ?
SPEAKER_00: And so, repent.
SPEAKER_00: Come to faith in Christ now.
SPEAKER_00: Like, in other words, in other words, listen, before you start thinking of people who fit this general characteristic, right?
SPEAKER_00: Before you start kind of picking at the speck of sawdust in their eye, why don't you deal with a two by four in yours?
SPEAKER_00: Like, like search our own hearts.
SPEAKER_00: Are we now or have we been in this sinful characteristic trait?
SPEAKER_00: And so repent.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, this is the great thing about living in the era, the season of time in which we do in the last days.
SPEAKER_00: This is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ calling you to repentance, to come to faith in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: You can leave those lifestyles.
SPEAKER_00: You can know what it's like to truly serve God.
SPEAKER_00: You can know what it's like to truly love other people.
SPEAKER_00: You can repent of your sin and come to faith in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: If we continue to have people like that in the local church, you avoid them.
SPEAKER_00: You have nothing to do with them.
SPEAKER_00: Avoid them.
SPEAKER_00: And I know that goes against what you've been taught in the American church.
SPEAKER_00: You just gotta love everybody.
SPEAKER_00: Just love everybody.
SPEAKER_00: Let them do what they want to do, but that's not biblical.
SPEAKER_00: Especially if they claim to be a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: And they're part of a local church.
SPEAKER_00: You avoid them.
SPEAKER_00: You have nothing to do with them until they repent.
SPEAKER_00: So the second revelation concerning the destiny of difficulty is disposition.
SPEAKER_00: The third revelation concerning the destiny of difficulty is description.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is interesting.
SPEAKER_00: Let's read this.
SPEAKER_00: We have to unpack this.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 6 through 8.
SPEAKER_00: For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Just as Janice and Jambras opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith.
SPEAKER_00: So Paul revealed here the description of the difficult times by describing to Timothy that among the church there will rise leaders.
SPEAKER_00: And these leaders are false Christians and false teachers who oppose the truth.
SPEAKER_00: And they capitalize on the disposition of a difficult time.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Remember, disposition, a person who is egocentric, hedonistic, hedonistic.
SPEAKER_00: False teachers see that.
SPEAKER_00: They sense it.
SPEAKER_00: It's like blood in a water to a shark.
SPEAKER_00: A con man knows who they can con.
SPEAKER_00: They can sniff it.
SPEAKER_00: They can smell your innocence.
SPEAKER_00: They can smell how naive you are.
SPEAKER_00: How gullible you are.
SPEAKER_00: And they will con you.
SPEAKER_00: Teachers are very similar.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul described how they do it.
SPEAKER_00: They creep into churches and they creep into homes.
SPEAKER_00: They infiltrate the home and they capture weak women.
SPEAKER_00: Now, when we say the phrase weak women, it does not mean intellectually weak or inferior, nothing of the sort.
SPEAKER_00: It means spiritually weak.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, probably weak women in the home, meaning their covering, their head, their husband, or so on, is not there, and so it's like free game for these false teachers to come in, they infiltrate, and they go after weak women, spiritually weak women.
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible describes further what Paul means by that.
SPEAKER_00: He says they're burdened down with sin, their guilt.
SPEAKER_00: Now we don't know according to the language, we're not certain if it meant they're still feeling extreme guilt from their previous life before Christ, like pre pre-conversion sins, or are we talking about they're feeling guilty from post-conversion sins, like they've come to faith in Christ, but they're still committing these sins.
SPEAKER_00: And we don't, regardless, what we do know is they're weighted down, they're burdened down with guilt, shame.
SPEAKER_00: And these false teachers know it.
SPEAKER_00: They come in, they promise this grand message.
SPEAKER_00: Now we can help you.
SPEAKER_00: And the scripture says, and they're drawn away, they're pulled away, they're led by their passions, their desires.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, false teachers will tell you what you want to hear.
SPEAKER_00: And rather than being led by sound doctrine, you're led by feelings and emotions.
unknown: And it captures people.
SPEAKER_00: Consequently, the weak women were always learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because false teachers were denying the truth, not only denying the truth, actively opposing the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, they are corrupt and they're disqualified regarding the faith.
SPEAKER_00: They're fake Christians, they're false teachers, and we shouldn't have anything to do with them.
SPEAKER_00: And then Paul illustrates his own point.
SPEAKER_00: He said they're just like Janus and Jambus who opposed Moses.
SPEAKER_00: Now, we're not as familiar with that, but when you go back and read in history, you discover Janus and Jambris were two of the magicians in Egypt who opposed Moses and Aaron in Exodus chapters 7 and 8.
SPEAKER_00: They opposed Moses.
SPEAKER_00: They opposed the truth and they actively opposed it.
SPEAKER_00: They even performed miracles.
SPEAKER_00: For example, their staff turned to serpents.
SPEAKER_00: They even brought frogs upon the land just like Moses and them did.
SPEAKER_00: But the thing is, the source and the end result of their miracles was marked by demonic activity and deception.
SPEAKER_00: And listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: They couldn't make anything any better.
SPEAKER_00: They only made it worse.
SPEAKER_00: Think about it.
SPEAKER_00: What good if Moses and Aaron, you know, under the direction of God, turned the water into blood, the Nile River and so on, what good did it do for the magicians to come along and turn even more water into blood?
SPEAKER_00: Or when Moses and Aaron came up for a plague and the frogs came out all over the land?
SPEAKER_00: What good did it do for the magicians to bring more frogs?
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, the first church that I pastored, I never will forget this as long as I live.
SPEAKER_00: We got there and and and within a few months, literally, we walk out into our driveway and we said, What is this?
SPEAKER_00: I felt like I had been transported back in time when I'm standing in Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: There were crickets everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: And when I say, bro, it looked like the yard was crawling.
SPEAKER_00: The driveway was black.
SPEAKER_00: You drove down the street, you were, and then it stuck.
SPEAKER_00: You walk into the church and they're everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: You try to vacuum and it stinks.
SPEAKER_00: You go to the restaurant and you're eating with crickets.
SPEAKER_00: They're everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: Turns out every, do you remember the years time frame?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I don't, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: They told me.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't care.
SPEAKER_00: I was like, we gotta do something about this, people.
SPEAKER_00: How do y'all live like this?
SPEAKER_00: They're like, oh, you'll get used to it, preacher.
SPEAKER_00: It happens every, how many every years?
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, what?
SPEAKER_00: Now, let's just say that you walk outside today and it's like that.
SPEAKER_00: What good would it do if I walked to you and said, hey, hold on, guys, I can help.
SPEAKER_00: And I bring forth more crickets.
SPEAKER_00: What?
SPEAKER_00: Don't you think somebody in here, hopefully somebody in here, would go, how about making them go away?
SPEAKER_00: But Paul deliberately uses those two individuals for an illustration.
SPEAKER_00: He's showing false teachers who promote false doctrine and people who embrace it never come to truth.
SPEAKER_00: They do not help you, they only make matters worse.
SPEAKER_00: And even though they look like they can do miracles, and even though it looks like they're doing this grand work, they're actually keeping you in your bondage.
SPEAKER_00: Actively opposing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: They promise freedom, but you never find it.
SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking of these so-called self-proclaimed false apostles today.
SPEAKER_00: You can see them on the Facebook and internet and YouTube and Instagram and everywhere else.
SPEAKER_00: And they're like, oh, you you sin.
SPEAKER_00: They have these deliverance, so-called quote-unquote deliverance ministries, right?
SPEAKER_00: You you sin because you've got a demon.
SPEAKER_00: No, bro, you sin because you sin.
SPEAKER_00: Now, can it can there be demonic activity?
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not denying that.
SPEAKER_00: But not every sin that you commit is because of a demon, it's because of rebellion against God's law.
SPEAKER_00: And it takes discernment to know which one you're dealing with.
SPEAKER_00: And unfortunately, people who want to go around casting out a demon after every, you know, chair, corner, or whatever, they never really lead you to truth because truth is only found in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Now, do I believe in demonic activity?
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: Do I believe in the power of the gospel over?
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm not going to let you pass the buck either.
SPEAKER_00: You have to know the scripture.
SPEAKER_00: John chapter 8 makes that clear.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what good would it do to bring about more frogs?
SPEAKER_00: What good would it do to bring about more blood?
SPEAKER_00: What good would it do to tell you to go this, do this, this, this, and this, and you'll find freedom when really all you need is faith in Jesus Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Become disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Know what it's like to follow his word.
SPEAKER_00: That's how you find freedom.
SPEAKER_00: What do we see?
SPEAKER_00: What's interesting is when you really stop and listen to these preachers, these false preachers, their message sounds good on the surface.
SPEAKER_00: It sounds theocentric, it sounds like it's about God.
SPEAKER_00: But really, upon closer examination, it's egocentric.
SPEAKER_00: It's all about the man.
SPEAKER_00: It's all about helping you become a better you.
SPEAKER_00: I literally read just this week.
SPEAKER_00: Not on purpose, looking for something else.
SPEAKER_00: I saw this picture of this so-called apostle.
SPEAKER_00: And she says, Do you ever know what it's like?
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to know what it's like to live a life free of worry and fear and poverty?
SPEAKER_00: False prophet.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said the opposite.
SPEAKER_00: Not that we should worry to the point of sin, but he did say in John 16 that, hey, in this world you're gonna have life.
SPEAKER_00: I mean you're gonna have tribulations and trials.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's part of it.
SPEAKER_00: We've talked about this even in 2 Timothy.
SPEAKER_00: That's part of the process.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're in it, hey, just let me go ahead and tell you right now.
SPEAKER_00: I listen, I've been emptying out churches since 2005.
SPEAKER_00: I don't mind telling you right now.
SPEAKER_00: If you're in here because you think that you're gonna get something from God, you have the wrong motive.
SPEAKER_00: And you need to search your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Now, does God bless his people?
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: But he nowhere promised that you'll never have another financial worry ever in your life.
SPEAKER_00: He never promised you'd never have another sick day.
SPEAKER_00: He never promised that you'll have a never ever have to have another concern about your kids or grandkids or your family.
SPEAKER_00: Never promise that.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone who tries to paint that picture is a false prophet.
SPEAKER_00: And you need to pay attention because what they're doing is they're trying to infiltrate into your home.
SPEAKER_00: See, back then they actually had to go do it.
SPEAKER_00: Now they come in through social media.
SPEAKER_00: They infiltrate your home and they're trying to capture you.
SPEAKER_00: Promising these miracles, but all they do is make it worse.
SPEAKER_00: What do we do?
SPEAKER_00: Well, there's a few things that we can do.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, submit to a local church that's led by a qualified elder or elders.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 13, 17, we don't have time for all of this today, but that's that that would be the text, you know.
SPEAKER_00: Obey your leaders, submit to them, for they're keeping watch over your souls.
SPEAKER_00: Now, obviously, the writer of Hebrews is presupposing that this is a godly shepherd, right?
SPEAKER_00: Not a false prophet.
SPEAKER_00: So you you want to submit to a local church that's led by qualified elders, someone's preaching the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: And hey, embrace sound doctrine.
SPEAKER_00: That will protect you more than you realize.
SPEAKER_00: Because what that does is to make sure that you are led by the word of God and the true spirit of God as opposed to your emotions and feelings.
SPEAKER_00: Embrace sound doctrine.
SPEAKER_00: Titus 1.9 would be a great example of that.
SPEAKER_00: We should walk in obedience to truth.
SPEAKER_00: I will read this one.
SPEAKER_00: This was good.
SPEAKER_00: 1 John chapter 2, verses 3 through 6.
SPEAKER_00: And by this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments.
SPEAKER_00: Whoever says, I know him, but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
SPEAKER_00: But whoever keeps his word in him, truly the love of God is perfected.
SPEAKER_00: By this we may know that we are in him.
SPEAKER_00: Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Lastly, one thing we can do if we're dealing with these difficult times in which these false people are trying to creep in and take you captive is simply to reject false teaching and the false teacher.
SPEAKER_00: Reject them both.
SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't matter who it is.
SPEAKER_00: I don't care how big their church is.
SPEAKER_00: I don't care how many followers they have on social media.
SPEAKER_00: Don't listen to them.
SPEAKER_00: The apostle Paul said it this way in Galatians chapter 1, verse 8 and 9.
SPEAKER_00: But even if we, so the apostle said, even if we, even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, let him be accursed.
SPEAKER_00: As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
SPEAKER_00: The apostle Paul doubled down on it.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, he said, I said what I said.
SPEAKER_00: This is exactly the way it is.
SPEAKER_00: So reject them.
SPEAKER_00: The third revelation concerning the destiny of difficulty is a description of how they operate.
SPEAKER_00: And the fourth and final revelation concerning the destiny of difficulty is destruction.
SPEAKER_00: This is the point we need to grasp.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse number 9.
SPEAKER_00: But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.
SPEAKER_00: And so the apostle Paul revealed the, you know, the destiny of difficulty, and he talked about how they operate.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, he described what they do.
SPEAKER_00: These false teachers and they come in, these people oppose the truth, they oppose the gospel, they try to capture people and so on.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, but look, look, look, look, here's what I want you to know.
SPEAKER_00: You need to read 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse number 1 with 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse number 9.
SPEAKER_00: And if you'll keep that as bracketed, you'll realize, oh, huh.
SPEAKER_00: The Apostle Paul didn't teach that times get worse and worse and worse and worse and worse in the end.
SPEAKER_00: It's just around the corner.
SPEAKER_00: Because he said, in the last days you have difficult times.
SPEAKER_00: And in verse number 9, he says, but they won't get very far.
SPEAKER_00: Because their folly will be played to see to all, just like these two men, talking about Janice and Jambers.
SPEAKER_00: Alright?
SPEAKER_00: So, in other words, we would say this the apostle Paul revealed to Timothy that he should expect difficult times.
SPEAKER_00: He should expect false teachers and false prophets in the church.
SPEAKER_00: He should expect people to have a disposition to be egocentric and hedonistic and hedonistic.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's part of the times in which we live.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not going to be every single moment of time.
SPEAKER_00: There's just going to be moments of time or seasons in which that is true.
SPEAKER_00: And next week we'll learn he gave us the antidote, he told us what to do.
SPEAKER_00: Hold fast to the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's really important that we get this.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, the apostle Paul said it this way: Difficult times are destined for destruction, but the church is destined for victory.
SPEAKER_00: We'll say that again.
SPEAKER_00: Difficult times are destined for destruction, but the church is destined for victory.
SPEAKER_00: And this has always been the motif all throughout scripture.
SPEAKER_00: Goliath opposed David.
SPEAKER_00: He was defeated.
SPEAKER_00: The false prophets opposed Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: They were defeated.
SPEAKER_00: Janus and Jambers opposed Moses.
SPEAKER_00: They were defeated.
SPEAKER_00: Rome opposed Christians.
SPEAKER_00: They fail.
SPEAKER_00: On and on I could go.
SPEAKER_00: This is the thing, guys.
SPEAKER_00: Even though times may be difficult now, better days are ahead.
SPEAKER_00: Difficult times are destined for destruction, and the church is destined for victory.
SPEAKER_00: What we have to do is to remain faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ and endure to the end.
SPEAKER_00: Because for whatever reason, in God's divine sovereignty, he appointed us to live right here, right now, in this moment of time.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, he has empowered us by his Holy Spirit to accomplish the purpose so that the church will prevail.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 16, 18 tells us, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter how difficult the times get, the church will prevail.
SPEAKER_00: The word of God promises it.
SPEAKER_00: Difficult times are destined for destruction.
SPEAKER_00: The church is destined for victory.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And amen.
SPEAKER_00: Will you stand your feet with me this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Today's text provided four revelations concerning the destiny of difficulty.
SPEAKER_00: First difficulty is demarcated.
SPEAKER_00: It's limited.
SPEAKER_00: It's only for a season that we will prevail.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, there's the difficulty is the disposition.
SPEAKER_00: There will be sinful characteristics of people that unfortunately exhibit it in the local church.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul told us in Corinthians that when a brother or a person who names the name of Christ and yet they're living.
SPEAKER_00: Well, in Corinthians, he mentioned sexual perversion because that's what he was dealing with.
SPEAKER_00: But if he lives in contradiction to the scripture, then you're not to have anything to do with that person until they repent.
SPEAKER_00: And then search your own heart.
SPEAKER_00: Where are some sinful dispositions, some inclinations in your heart?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe, maybe we should repent of that today.
SPEAKER_00: Thirdly, the description.
SPEAKER_00: False teachers, false Christians, they infiltrate the home, and they come in.
SPEAKER_00: They don't announce, hey, listen up, I'm about to teach false doctrine.
SPEAKER_00: Creepy capture spiritually weak people.
SPEAKER_00: The way not to be spiritually weak.
SPEAKER_00: And then lastly, the destiny of difficulty is destruction.
SPEAKER_00: Christ promised to build his church at the gates of hell.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know a certain situation or what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're here this morning and you've never heard that you should repent of your sin and come to faith in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And I just sort of threw that out there like it was common knowledge.
SPEAKER_00: Part of the gospel that we preach, the word gospel just simply means good news.
SPEAKER_00: It's the good news of Jesus' birth, his life, his ministries, death, his burial, his resurrection, it's coming again.
SPEAKER_00: It's the basics of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: You see, every person was born a sinner.
SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 5.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, every person sins and has broken the laws of God, and they're destined to spend an eternity in hell unless they repent to come to faith in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Christ provided a way of salvation by coming to this earth.
SPEAKER_00: Born of a virgin, he lived a sinless life, never committed one sin in thought, action, or speech, and yet he willingly gave his body to be beaten and to be whipped and to be nailed to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Not for anything that he did, but for everything that you do.
SPEAKER_00: For he died, he was a propitiation.
SPEAKER_00: He bore the wrath of God.
SPEAKER_00: The wrath of God should have been poured out on you instead.
SPEAKER_00: It was poured out upon Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Who died and they took him off the cross and buried him in a tomb, but on the third day he rose from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: He's alive forevermore.
SPEAKER_00: He is seated to the right hand of the Father, and one day he's coming back for those who believe in him.
SPEAKER_00: And the scripture makes it clear, Romans 6, when you repent of your sin, you place your faith in Christ, you're in unison with him.
SPEAKER_00: Your sin has already been judged and you're raised to new life in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And according to Corinthians, you become a new creation in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That's what it means to repent and come to faith in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That's what it means to be saved, that's what it means to be born again.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're wondering what to do, Romans 10, that's a great chapter to read.
SPEAKER_00: It says, if you believe in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: And of course you repent and you confess that Jesus is Lord, you'll be saved.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not a mere just repeating words.
SPEAKER_00: There's no mantra, there's no magical incantation, there's no words that you can say and it's done.
SPEAKER_00: It's but it's confessing that Jesus is Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You live by confession, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: Like it reorders everything about your life.
SPEAKER_00: You submit to the kingship of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Is there anyone here today who needs to repent and come to faith in Christ?
SPEAKER_00: If so, man, just kind of slip up your hand.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to pray with you.
SPEAKER_00: We're not here to make a show or anything like that, but I want to talk to you.
SPEAKER_00: Is there anyone here that needs to repent and needs to come to faith in Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, I want to challenge you as Christians to think about this message.
SPEAKER_00: And to rewire your brain from the world is getting worse and worse and worse.
SPEAKER_00: In the end, it's just around the corner to hey, we live in some pretty bad times, but God has me here by the power of the Holy Spirit to do something about it.
SPEAKER_00: It completely changes the way you view the world.
SPEAKER_00: You're here, empowered by the Holy Spirit to do something about it.
SPEAKER_00: Church service is designed to glorify God and worship and equip you to go do it.
SPEAKER_00: So take a minute, literally 30 seconds.
SPEAKER_00: Ask the Lord to empower you by the Holy Spirit to stand firm in these difficult times.
SPEAKER_00: And to promote Christ through the gospel.