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“The Great Future Hope of the Christian” (2 Timothy 3)
Recently I taught my oldest son, Jeremiah, to iron. A man should know how to iron a shirt, so I set out to teach him. I taught him how to progress through different parts of the shirt, how to use the steam function, and how to lay the shirt on the ironing board. I taught him the potential challenges of which to be aware. I also told him that the key to ironing well is in how you use the iron to your benefit.
Well, Paul is continuing to teach Timothy how to live and lead as a faithful servant of God, and he’s continuing to do so in today’s passage. He’s told him how to lead the church well. Today, he’ll tell Timothy of challenges that he can expect along the way. Then, he’ll remind Timothy of the key to being a faithful servant of God: the Bible.
As we journey through this passage, let’s pay attention as we discover “The Great Future Hope of the Christian.”
Pray with me before we go any further, and let’s ask God to speak to us.
(prayer)
Ok, let’s look at the passage together. Let’s read all of 2 Timothy 3. Follow along as I read:
1 But know this: Hard times will come in the last days. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, 4 traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to the form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people.
6 For among them are those who worm their way into households and deceive gullible women overwhelmed by sins and led astray by a variety of passions, 7 always learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so these also resist the truth. They are men who are corrupt in mind and worthless in regard to the faith. 9 But they will not make further progress, for their foolishness will be clear to all, as was the foolishness of Jannes and Jambres.
10 But you have followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, and endurance, 11 along with the persecutions and sufferings that came to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured—and yet the Lord rescued me from them all. 12 In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 13 Evil people and impostors will become worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you, 15 and you know that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God, and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
I want us to pay attention to four discoveries in this passage.
First, let’s discover that . . .
I. The future for Christians will be challenging.
Paul has told us this before. Jesus has told us this before.
Yet, Paul wants to make sure that Timothy understands this, so he comes back to it again.
Paul says in verse 1, “But know this: Hard times will come in the last days.”
Hard times will come, church; we must not be surprised.
Paul speaks of these hard times coming in the last days. Well, when are the last days?
I really like the way the New American Commentary explains “the last days.” It says, “In the New Testament the phrase [the last days] refers to that entire time from the completion of Christ’s redemptive work until his return.”
In other words, we are in the last days now, and the church has been in the last days since Jesus went back into heaven. Jesus Christ will return, and we are one
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By First Baptist Church Bartow
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Recently I taught my oldest son, Jeremiah, to iron. A man should know how to iron a shirt, so I set out to teach him. I taught him how to progress through different parts of the shirt, how to use the steam function, and how to lay the shirt on the ironing board. I taught him the potential challenges of which to be aware. I also told him that the key to ironing well is in how you use the iron to your benefit.
Well, Paul is continuing to teach Timothy how to live and lead as a faithful servant of God, and he’s continuing to do so in today’s passage. He’s told him how to lead the church well. Today, he’ll tell Timothy of challenges that he can expect along the way. Then, he’ll remind Timothy of the key to being a faithful servant of God: the Bible.
As we journey through this passage, let’s pay attention as we discover “The Great Future Hope of the Christian.”
Pray with me before we go any further, and let’s ask God to speak to us.
(prayer)
Ok, let’s look at the passage together. Let’s read all of 2 Timothy 3. Follow along as I read:
1 But know this: Hard times will come in the last days. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, 4 traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to the form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people.
6 For among them are those who worm their way into households and deceive gullible women overwhelmed by sins and led astray by a variety of passions, 7 always learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so these also resist the truth. They are men who are corrupt in mind and worthless in regard to the faith. 9 But they will not make further progress, for their foolishness will be clear to all, as was the foolishness of Jannes and Jambres.
10 But you have followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, and endurance, 11 along with the persecutions and sufferings that came to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured—and yet the Lord rescued me from them all. 12 In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 13 Evil people and impostors will become worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you, 15 and you know that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God, and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
I want us to pay attention to four discoveries in this passage.
First, let’s discover that . . .
I. The future for Christians will be challenging.
Paul has told us this before. Jesus has told us this before.
Yet, Paul wants to make sure that Timothy understands this, so he comes back to it again.
Paul says in verse 1, “But know this: Hard times will come in the last days.”
Hard times will come, church; we must not be surprised.
Paul speaks of these hard times coming in the last days. Well, when are the last days?
I really like the way the New American Commentary explains “the last days.” It says, “In the New Testament the phrase [the last days] refers to that entire time from the completion of Christ’s redemptive work until his return.”
In other words, we are in the last days now, and the church has been in the last days since Jesus went back into heaven. Jesus Christ will return, and we are one