Wow.
This looks a lot different than it did when I was kind of rehearsing these things on my back porch with no one, but uh thank you.
Uh my name is Jack Simmons, and my family and I uh married, have kids uh 18, daughter 18, a daughter 16, and a son who's 13.
We've been coming here six or eight years, I kind of lose track.
But uh this is my first year as an elder here, and I've known all the elders before now, uh, but have gotten to know them a lot better over the last six months or so, and I can always say it's been it's been a pleasure to get to know them and to pray for our church.
Um, I've really enjoyed it.
So so thank you for that.
Um a little about me.
I've I've learned just in these last few months, that you guys who are into the Enneagram, I'm a I'm I'm I knew I was a number nine, which means you're like you're you're a peacemaker and you don't really like the spotlight.
You kind of want to be kind of left alone and not too much attention.
So this is great.
Um and I also I've learned my friends have told me, oh, you might be a nine, but you definitely have an eight-wing.
I'm like, okay, what's that?
That's like, well, you really want peace, but you can't help but keep your mouth shut.
I mean, you can't help but uh you can't keep your mouth shut when there's something you don't disagree with.
So I feel like that's a psychological disorder.
Like you love peace, but you can't help but argue.
So anyway, um pray for me in that.
Um you guys are a great audience, by the way, thank you.
Um these are like real church jokes.
So so um one of my friends who knows me the best, you know, found out I was doing this and was praying for me.
I won't name them, but they said, I'm I'm happy for you and praying that this will be a delight for you.
And know that the the only time I ever understand you is when you talk about God's word.
So again, that I think that was a compliment.
I think that was meant to give me hope.
So so that's that's where we're at.
Um after uh after college, I spent a couple years in youth ministry and then was uh kind of pleasantly dismissed by my pastor.
So you need to go to seminary.
So I went to seminary for a few years.
We had some life circumstances that I didn't I didn't wind up finishing.
We can talk about that another time.
But I I started at one seminary and then transferred to another one, which I loved, Westminster Theological Seminary, and uh but did never finish, uh, which means I can kind of talk about these things and I enjoy them, but I never got to the preaching classes, unfortunately for you and and for me.
But aware of this inexperience, I talked to a few of you and uh and our pastor, Russ, and said, you know, Russ, you know, what what's it like?
What do you do?
And I'm all the more thankful that he does this every week for all the things that he does.
I've learned that we do have a few things in common.
I grew up, uh my glory years were spent in a Toyota four-wheel drive listening to kind of the rebirth of country music and Garth Brooks.
So I like fishing like him, and I like old Broncos like him.
So past that, I'm not sure what similarities we might have.
But um uh today we'll be looking at uh 2 Timothy chapter 3.
And before we get to that, just a quick recap, hopefully quick recap of what we what Sam's covered in the last few weeks if you haven't been here.
Uh this is likely maybe Paul's last letter.
He's uh his second letter is Timothy, who's a young pastor in the church at Ephesus.
Paul is riding from a prison, which uh probably be uh where he spends his last days.
I don't think he ever again breathes freedom.
So uh up to this point, Paul has been kind of the most traveled missionary.
Most scholars believe that he's traveled some 10,000 miles by foot.
That's equal to walking from Los Angeles to New York four times.
Not to mention the distance he's traveled on ships.
He's been uh almost beaten to death three times, stoned once.
That's where your peers disagree with you, put you in the middle, and throw rocks at you.
I mean, that didn't sound great.
Uh he's been shipwrecked uh three times, spent several nights in the Mediterranean Sea floating on driftwood.
Maybe he lives, maybe he doesn't.
So that, but he did all of that because he heard this message that changed his life, and he had gone from the greatest persecutor of the Christian church with an unmatched religious zealotry to now one who could not be stopped for spreading the gospel.
So here he is at the end, his life's work.
He's uh kind of passing it along to Timothy at uh the church at Ephesus.
And so you can begin to imagine the kind of emotion and earnestness in which he writes this letter.
Um, the gospel message had so consumed Paul's life that when he spoke to Timothy, he used words like, be a good soldier, like a farmer, a hard worker, like these were all-consuming metaphors that he he talked to Timothy about.
And this was not some kind of religious obligation.
I'm sure Paul knew of this passage uh in Matthew that when Jesus is talking about the kingdom of God.
And he says, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field which a man found and covered up.
Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Jesus says, again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who on finding one pearl of great value went and sold all that he had and bought it.
As we read Paul's writings and read about his life, he undoubtedly had this view of God's kingdom and uh God's message and the gospel of Christ.
Uh and so we have this final charge from Paul to Timothy, and he is really telling Timothy, hey, like myself, who viewed this message as something life-changing, you too, for the joy set before you, listen to me and do these things.
And so we always say here at Christ the Redeemer, and I'm glad that we do, that we are more broken and sinful than we ever imagined, and uh more loved by God than we dare to dream.
And so it's that dare to dream that drives us forward.
It this is no way Paul's kind of uh advice to Timothy to how to win God's favor.
No, it's like, hey, you know what's good for you.
Do this.
Um and Paul himself kind of saw this.
It's like Paul had tasted God's goodness, Timothy had tasted God's goodness, like many of us.
We've tasted God's goodness, and we know that he's good, yet we we often need as many reminders as we can, like, yes, it is good.
We see that in Paul and Romans.
Romans 7, a lot of you know this passage.
He says, For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.
Now, if I do what I do not want, it's no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, in my heart.
But I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive of the law of sin that dwells in my heart.
Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?
Thanks be to God through Christ Jesus our Lord.
So here we have Paul saying, yes, uh, he's not some kind of pristine uh clean commander who's given his orders from an ivory tower.
He's like, No, Timothy, I'm just like you.
Uh I still struggle with sin.
I mean, he wrote about it for thousands and millions of Christians to hear about afterwards that yes, I still I still go through hard times that are my of my own doing.
Um you know, I find that true, right?
You probably you as well, that we need someone who can sympathize with our weakness.
Hebrews tells us that we have Jesus, who became the great high priest, who suffered just as we we have suffered, yet without sin, so that he might help us in a time of need.
And, you know, I find that true uh unfortunately through too much trial and error, like with my own kids.
You know, when you're when they're little, you can kind of tell them, just do this, do that, and they just listen without questioning.
Well, as they get older, shocker, they question.
And uh it's a time you can say, Well, you know, I too have struggled with those things.
And sometimes I wasn't so proud of how I acted, and sometimes went well, but here's how they went.
And I noticed that when I'm right down there with them, like Paul was with Timothy, like eye to eye, hey, we're in this together, um, defensive posture goes away and we just talk.
Um, so I think Timothy had that relationship with Paul.
Paul had that relationship with Timothy.
Um 27 more pages to go.
So we'll get into this um this passage.
But before we do, just so you know, there's good news and bad news, and you always want the bad news first.
If you want the good news first, you're a psychopath and you're not to be trusted.
So everybody wants the bad news first.
So Paul gives us the bad news first, we'll talk about the bad news first, and then we'll we'll get to the good news.
So I'll read the passage here, the first chapter three, verses one through nine.
But understand this that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.
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, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.
Avoid such people, no problem.
For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sin and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth, just as Jonas and Jambus also opposed Moses.
So these men also opposed the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith.
They will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.
All right, so this is a pretty common theme in scripture that there will be hard times.
And uh we heard Russ mention it when he was speaking of Revelation, like that the that book was full of hey, there will be hard times, there will be trials and tribulations.
And we heard Sam mention the last couple weeks as he's talked about 2 Timothy, Paul reminding us that there will be hard times.
And I think that's that's good to know.
Like, okay, I didn't necessarily cause this, I didn't, it's it's not, it's not always my fault.
There are gonna be hard times.
And Paul's speaking very specifically here about these quote difficult times.
There's a certain type of time that he's talking about.
And this word that's translated as difficult is the Greek word kalepos.
You know, I did my homework.
I'm I know that's always really smart when you can quote Greek stuff, but you can find it on Google, it's not that hard.
Um the the Greek word kalepos is also used in scripture and other places and in uh other Greek literature to refer to violent and dangerous animals and a raging violent sea.
So Paul's talking about more than just like hurt feelings here.
He's talking about, hey, could be the worst of times will hit you sometimes.
Times of despair, times of loss, uh, and they'll even be made worse by these guys if you listen to them.
Uh so one of the things that Paul talks about here, and he's just as a quick disclaimer, you might read this list or see this list of, well, sometimes I'm I'm a lover of myself, I'm a lover of money.
Sometimes I'm proud of it.
Yes, true.
Uh that would be true sometimes of all of us, I would think.
But Paul's talking about here, these guys, it's like their life's compass is their own ego.
Uh there's no there's no place of repentance and turning here.
So John Stott, in his uh commentary on this passage, says, once Paul said that they were lovers of self and that their ego was their compass, kind of everything else falls in place, right?
If you if your one guide is your self-love and your self-promotion, well, of course you love money.
Money buys all the things I want to make me prestigious and valued and and high in everyone's eyes.
So, yes, lover of self leaves lead leads to a love of money, and then of course you're proud because look what I did.
Arrogant, you're full of yourself, you're not listening to your parents.
I always like it when scripture talks about that, right?
You know, that helps me as a parent.
It's like, hey, remember, the Bible says don't be disobedient to your parents.
I probably pull that out way too much at my house.
But um, if their guide is their their love of self, then kind of all these other terrible characteristics just fall into place.
Uh Paul says about them that uh in verse uh four that among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions.
So, now real quick, we the biblical view of women is not this, to think weak women.
We know in Genesis that God says he created man and woman in his own image, he created them.
Like he's they're equal in his eyes, uh different and equal.
And we know in uh Proverbs 31, like the woman is spoken of as industrious, uh, respected by her household, respected by the leaders of the city.
So I want to give that quote apologetic, so you don't at me as the kids say, the uh the uh the biblical view of women is one of value and respect.
But we do know in cultures there is sin and that uh women have been mistreated at times, um and and as men, but that is not God's view of the or the or scripture's view of women.
But in this society, uh these these per particular teachers and leaders would go in kind of at the weakest point, and they would find folks who were already burdened by sins of their own choice, you know.
Um and when you're burdened by your own sin, like you and the you've caused yourself pain, this could be men, this could be women, the first thing you want to do is get out of it.
Like we want out of the pain, out of depression, out of the brokenness.
And that's where these folks kind of work their way in.
There's a particular message that resonated with these people, and uh it would be a message of has to be a message of denial, right?
Oh, it's not your fault.
Um so any any message that we hear in moments of hurting, that especially this kind that Paul's talking about, where we're burdened by our own sin, any message that doesn't start with uh uh the grace of the God that comes from confession and repentance is a lie.
Um so Paul says, avoid avoid those messages, don't listen to them.
Paul gives two examples of these uh these kind of teachers.
Maybe you've never heard of them.
Uh I don't even know how to say their names really.
Jonas and Jombris.
Now, these guys aren't mentioned in scripture, but uh Jewish history doesn't let them off the hook.
Uh Paul Paul mentions them here, doesn't mention them in the Old Testament, but the setting is uh from Exodus 7, and the the Israelites are in Egypt, they're enslaved, and God tells uh Moses and his brother to go before Pharaoh and tell him to let you go.
You know that you know the scene.
And he says, uh Pharaoh's gonna say, give me a give me a miracle so that I can know that uh you you are from God and that God sent you.
And so that's where we pick up this story of Jonas and Jomrus in Exodus 7, although they aren't mentioned by name, I'll just read it.
So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded.
Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent.
Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret acts.
For each man cast down a staff, and they became serpents.
But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs.
Still Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.
So that's Jonas and Jombres, those those wise men.
Now, note these guys were leaders in their society.
They were the kind of men that kings would turn to for insight and wisdom.
Uh they were respected, they were powerful, but Paul says, hey, those those messages won't save you.
They'll just lead you to a greater burden and a greater pain.
Don't listen to them.
Um so that's the bad news.
Um let's talk about the good news.
So let's read the second half of this passage.
You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra, which persecutions I endured.
Yet from them all the Lord rescued me.
Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learnt it, and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
All scriptures God breathed, uh sorry, all scriptures breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete and equipped for every good work.
So, the bad news is that for all who follow Christ, there will be treacherous and trying times brought about by treacherous and trying people with a very difficult message.
Paul gives Timothy a greater hope and us a greater hope, and how we are to live and hope through these times.
And what Paul is saying here is two simple things, I think, in other words are actually passive.
He says, remember.
When these times hit, when your worst times hit, remember.
Remember, remember.
Remember who you are.
Remember what you've seen in me, Paul.
Remember that remember my life.
These terrible times that I live through, but God rescued me.
And he's saying that to Timothy.
Uh Timothy, remember those who have loved you.
We know from elsewhere in uh in the scriptures that Timothy's grandmother and mother raised him on the scriptures, and that uh he gained wisdom from them.
So now our young people who are going to college a bit, and some of you who are just growing in your own independence, uh, you will undoubtedly have times where your doubt arises and that you will think, does God really love me?
I mean, if God really loved me, I wouldn't be going through this.
Those times will come.
They come for every adult and they come often.
But remember who you are.
Remember who God has declared you to be.
From the beginning, God has always reminded us to remember.
When Adam and Eve sinned and were cast out of the garden and God's justice, banished from unbroken fellowship with him, God made them garments of clothing so that they remember, hey, I still love you.
You've broken our fellowship, but I still love you.
I have not forgotten you.
God, God wanted them to remember.
Remember the story of Noah.
Because of the evil of the world, God cleansed the earth, but said to Noah and his family, like, I'm gonna put my rainbow in the sky so that you'll know that I always love you and I will never do this again, and there will be a different plan for redemption.
God put that there that they might remember.
And he says to us, he says to Timothy, remember.
Remember Jacob as he wrestled with God uh in the Old Testament.
Uh that was his personality, like one who was a great manipulator.
Like he already knew the promises of God, but he couldn't stop kind of manipulating his own circumstances and trying to bring about what uh you know the desires he wanted.
And he wrestled with God, and God kind of touched him in the hip somehow and made him limp for the rest of his days that he might remember.
Hey, you're never going to win this wrestling match, but I have a better plan for you than you can have for yourself.
That was God's way of telling Jacob to remember.
All through the history of Israel and through the Old Testament, um, under Moses, Joshua, all the kind of horrible kings through David and Solomon, Israel had that Ark of the Covenant.
Now, if you remember from your Bible history, this was this big kind of golden box with angels' wings on both sides of it covering that they always had with them to remind them that, hey, God is always with you.
And in this box, there was the manna.
Remember as the Israelites were kind of wandering around the desert, they were thinking, we're going to die.
We've got no food.
I mean, it's the desert, you know, there's nothing around.
And they thought, God doesn't love us, and God made the food, the manna, fall from the heaven.
And so God commanded them, hey, keep that manna in this ark of the covenant, symbolic of my presence, so that you'll always know I care for you and then I'll always provide for you.
He wanted them to remember.
Also, in that same ark was the uh the Ten Commandments.
He wanted them to always remember that, hey, I've called you out of the world to be my people, this to be a holy people set aside for me.
Like, don't forget, remember.
Um, there are all these feasts and festivals in the Old Testament.
Like, look them up, they're awesome.
Um they were designed by God in detailed precision.
Like, do do these things exactly these way, these ways, so that you'll remember certain things.
And there's always these feasts, right?
So first they would sacrifice like the fatty parts.
You know what the fatty part of steak smells like, right?
It smells delicious.
But they would they would burn these first, and it would all scripture would always say it's an aroma pleasing to the Lord.
So you get this vision of this like delicious smelling smoke rising to the sky and filling the camp thinking the Lord is pleased.
And you know, the scientists have shown us that the uh there's the sense of smell, like how that's tied to memory and emotion.
Like it's a it's our greatest how am I trying to say this?
That uh that smells have a stronger link to memory and emotion than any of the other senses.
So God designed these festivals and these feasts so that we might remember like all of these blessings that He had given the people of Israel.
And he prescribed these to happen every certain amount of time, every few years, but to go on as long as there were people so that they might never forget his provision.
Um of my friends say to me, You like you like the Old Testament.
You love it.
Well, I do, but I only love it because it kind of loved me first as you know, through some of my darkest and deepest times where I don't really feel like studying or really dissecting things.
Um, I was like, you know, I'm just gonna read this.
I'm gonna read it like a book.
And there are always like these wonderful things, wonderful pictures of redemption and uh God's grace that come out of these obscure places.
So maybe that's maybe that's something for you.
Um if you're you know in those places, just pick it up and read it.
Read as fast as you can, like a story, like a book, like a story that it is.
Um Paul says uh about this uh scripture.
He says that it is breathed out by God.
This word breathed out is it's it's really just one word in Greek.
It's theop neustos.
Again, not hard to look up, but theop neustos, like theo, like from theology, like God, where we get God.
And neustos from the from the Greek word like pneuma, where we get like words like uh pneumonia, you know, lungs, breath.
And so this is like a one-word thing, like it's it's God breathed, like a more that's kind of the more literal translation that maybe some other past, I think the NIV translates it that way, that that this word is God breathed.
And this is a remarkable claim that Paul is making.
Because you remember in Genesis when man was created, humans were created, like God breathed life into them.
So he's saying that Timothy, here's your hope.
Keep listening to this word, because the very God who breathed life into you also breathed out his story for you, that you always might have hope, and that you may be made perfect and complete for everything that he has for you.
Um, in other passes, similar to the passages like Psalm 46, 10, you probably know, be still and know that I am God.
So God says, Remember in these dark times, Timothy, remember who you are, who I am, and keep listening to my God-breathed word.
Um, because we are more sinful than we'll ever know, and more love than we can ever imagine, God reminds us that our hope in these treacherous times is to remember and listen to his immutable, unchangeable word.
Like that's that's great news.
Like in treacherous times brought about by kind of the wisdom of the world, which is always growing and always changing, but never really arriving at the truth, Paul says to Timothy, remember and listen, and you will have hope.
So let me pray for us.
Father, I thank you for your word, and even as we go, may you continue to whisper to our hearts the truth that we are beloved and that we are hidden in Christ, and that when he appears, we also appear with him in glory.
Continue to whisper to us what it means to be adopted children of the King.
We thank you for your goodness and pray that you might constantly remind us of who you are and who you have declared us to be.
In your name we pray.
Amen.