Thank you for your graciousness toward us. We thank you for the blessings that are ours in Christ. Thank you for the fellowship. We can have one with another for each one who has come here today. Thank you that we can seek to honor your name and worship and study. And we pray that you would bless as we look at your word today, give us understanding of it and help us to apply it to our hearts. I pray that we might grow and that what you'd have for us. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Okay, we are in 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter three, 2 Timothy chapter three, and we, Let's just reread a few verses. We haven't got too far into the chapter yet. But in chapter 3, verse 1, it says, This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good. That is as far as we got last time. And let's see, perilous times, we talked about Thanksgiving, unthankfulness, I don't know, this clicker sticks a little bit. But false accusers, I hope this doesn't offend anybody, but kind of like, was it a year or two ago that the child got in trouble for using his pointer finger or making believe it was a gun at school? That's not what we're talking about here, but anyways. And so the next one, next verse is verse number four. It says, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. Whoops, I went too far here. Well, here's the New Year forecast. And, you know, we have the weather forecast ahead of time so many times. And, you know, I'll look at the weather and look at the 10-day forecast. But, of course, by the time it gets anywhere near the 10th day, a lot could have changed, so to speak. But my curiosity is around, oh, yeah, it looks good. And, in fact, the weather looks good this coming Friday, by the way. But 60 degrees, you know, so forth. But a lot can change. But anyways, the forecast here, and these are some of the words from this verse. So the first one in verse number four, traders. It's the concept of just basically one who betrays, a betrayer. We see that characteristic in our society, you know how it is. Somebody that they think is working for the United States as going undercover, gets hired by some other nation to be a spy for them. The traitor concept. one that would betray his nation. And those of you who have studied history, if I say the word betrayer, does any particular person come to mind? You know, sometimes we associate a certain name. I think about American history, who might come to your mind? Okay, Benedict Arnold, and you think about, and he's betraying his country and so forth. So that reputation goes with the title, so to speak. We think about those things. But we don't wanna be a traitor concerning the Lord's work and so forth. But this is a characteristic of the last days, the betrayers. And then the second term in verse four is heady. It literally means falling forward or being prone or inclined, ready to do anything. You know, you hear the expression of going headlong into something. It's the concept of being rash in our actions. Ready to do anything without concern for the consequences. You know, when you think of what's going on in our country, you know, some of these protesters going out and getting into the heat of the moment with a crowd and, you know, some of the things that they're doing, you know, seeing pictures of smashed windshields and starting trash containers on fire and other things going on that would perhaps depict people that would be rash to do anything. The concept of people that would massacre people and getting involved in things that would disturb society and even prove to their own ruin. This is the concept of being heady. I don't know if this brings any thoughts to your mind. Brings any thoughts to your head concerning... Can you think of any other illustrations in our society today where you see people acting like this in this fashion, in a headlong... situation, so to speak, as it would jump into something. Any other thoughts as we look at our society today? Perhaps you can think back maybe in high school where maybe you or someone you were acquainted with did something that was heady, as it were, and jumping into something and maybe regretting after. Anybody have any illustrations of that? Take you back. You know, you think about going back to high school, and for some of us it's a little bit longer than others, and you start counting the years since you graduated, you know, it's quite a... The number can be large for some of us. You know, I was teaching over at Westfield for about a year and a half, and telling some of the students, you know, and I said, back in the early 60s, you were alive then? You know, it's like, really? And I tell them when I was born, you know. No! Unbelief, you know. Any thoughts concerning this being heady? Heady? All right. Okay, so we see that in our society today. picture of the last days, and then the next one, okay, traders heady, high-minded. We've kind of talked about this concept in a similar terminology here, but being puffed up is the concept, inflated with pride or self-conceit, depicting the age, and we see that in our society, and we think about even responses to the election we just had, and people being puffed up, inflated, and so forth, self-conceit. And then the next term, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. So the concept of being more interested in self and pleasure than the Lord, and I think about as I've been here in this church for 40 some odd years, so to speak. I was thinking 45 years, about 40, no, 47 years. 47 years, could that be possible? that I've been going to church here and just watching people's lives and people coming, you might say coming and going somewhat, and that way perhaps in any local church. But as people's lives become interested in self and pleasure and what I want, and all of a sudden Sunday becomes the day that they want to do their own thing. you know, and you go visit them and they say, well, you know, Sunday is the only day I have with my family, you know, and we like to go places and, you know, we like to do camping or this or that and so forth and so, but it's not just an occasional Sunday, it's become like every Sunday and so you see them no more, so to speak. But interested in their own pleasure, rather than interested in God, so their focus of attention. We see that by and large in America, in America in terms of people that Sunday was church and they went to church and so forth, and now we have a society that you might say likes to play all the time and own pleasure and self and being fascinated with different things and so forth and on and on it goes. lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. And so these things becoming more important to you than in any fashion worshiping God. So God is put to the side and pleasure becomes first place. Any thoughts that you have up through this verse so far? This one or the previous one? Any thoughts that you have? All right, we'll continue on. having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof from such turn away. Having a form of godliness. And then reading this particular quote, it says, it's much easier for men to observe the forms of religion than it is to bring the heart under its controlling influence. It poses no restraint on their passions, and carnal propensities. So we see people that would observe, you might say go through the motions of religion, but not have a heart to change, a heart that's willing to cause itself to serve God instead of serving self, a form of godliness, going through the religious motions. And I've had many Catholic friends over the years and so forth, and you know, just watching their lives and their you know, making sure they go to their Saturday night mass, you know, and so forth. And, you know, but in terms of changing their lives or bringing it under any kind of moral value, you know, oh, yes, maybe they went through a time where they went to confession, you know, just mechanically, so to speak. And I was friends with quote, an altar boy, and he had some stories to tell, so to speak. and the concept of having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. And then it goes on in a further description concerning this verse, concerning this concept, the form of godliness. Religious, you might say, on the outside, but just not changed as far as the heart goes. But this description is found in verse Number six, it says, for of this sort are they which creep into houses and lead captive silly women, laden with sins, led away with divers lusts. The look at, it says, of this sort, look, thinking back, and it's coupled with verse number five having a form of godliness, you might say religious on the outside, and trying to influence people with their, quote, religion, and are which they creep into houses. Now, it's probably, or perhaps probably, talking about the house churches on that particular day. You know, they didn't have the public buildings where the church met. They had public buildings, but as far as where the church met, and they would meet house to house and so forth. But the people that doing this would lead captive silly women. Now, I used to think that as you read this verse that captive silly women like as if the women were captive. I mean, but rather to lead captive and the concept of leading captive back in that time period meant to take with a spear. In other words, lead away being forced. into captivity, and this is what they would do religiously, you might say, lead them, captive, silly women. Now, you know, sometimes we think of the word silly as, you know, it's the junior high girls sleepover. you know, let's get together and giggle or something, but that's not really the concept there. I hope nobody's offended by that. But anyways, so the word silly speaks of idle or foolish woman. may even have the inference of being weak, a poor, weak woman, silly, and we, I think perhaps Proverbs may use that term silly in one of the verses there, but lead captive silly women laden with sin, talking about under the influence of sinful desires. In other words, these women easily led astray, and probably talking about Those under the influence of religious leaders who might flatter them in some sense of the word, led away with diverse lust or various lusts, possibly element of vanity, pride, maybe love of novelty perhaps. being susceptible to a type of flattery. In other words, easy prey for the deceivers. And I think I made reference to it maybe two or three weeks ago about the old-time TV evangelist. And you know, those that might be sweet-talking and influential and trying to influence others and bring them to their side. And I think, of course, elections have been on our mind this past week and so forth, but I can remember back in the Bill Clinton, when he was being elected president, that some of the women were saying, Oh, he's just so handsome. I'm going to vote for Bill Clinton because he's so handsome. And you think about how crazy, ridiculous reason to vote for a president of the United States is because, quote, they're handsome. And of course, we knew some of the character that went along with Bill Clinton, but we won't go there. But the women being flattered by religious teachers seeking to influence them, and so forth. Any comments up through verse number six? Yes. As we look at this modulus of Andrew, we see that some of these things are things that we would consider kind of respectable, but we see that it leads to us having a form of godliness but not having power of it. And I believe that's probably one of the things that has hurt our churches more than anything, is Christians that call themselves Christians and perhaps go to church, but they live a life that's contrary to what the scripture said. They think it's okay to be self-indulgent. They think it's okay to love themselves. The world says it all the time. But our children and other people, whether it be silly women or children or weak Christians, are tremendously hurt when they see people that proclaim to be a child of God, but have no power in their life, have no power over sin, have no power over self, have no power over the world, that they're just being pulled along. And I think what we read here is really a mark of today's Christianity. Okay, good comment. All right, anything else? Any other thoughts? All right. Okay, and then verse 7 says, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. In other words, never acquire the true knowledge of salvation or proper Bible doctrine. And many become busy and active in religion, learn many things about it who still may remain strangers to the saving power of the gospel. And you know, how many people have even been brought up in a fundamental Baptist church, so to speak, and never get saved? You know, that happens all the time. So we see the concept, ever learning, never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Oh, I missed this slide. That's right, okay. That one comment from the last verse, such women are easily flattered and charmed by graceful manners and religious instructors. Okay, maybe I did make that comment. Okay, so ever learning, never able to come to the knowledge of truth. And of course, there are those that put education way up on a high pedestal, so to speak. in our country, our land, and yet they think, yes, so educated, and yet people rejecting the Bible, the scripture. I had an uncle that was extremely brilliant according to the world standards. I remember he was a professor at Brown University, and he had his picture on the cover of Evolutionist magazine. He's looking at some skeleton or something. Extremely brilliant, and yet, rejecting the truth of the word of God. promote evolution and, of course, in opposition to Bible teaching and what the Bible says about creation. Ever learning, never able to come to the knowledge of truth. Now, you've heard of the concept of having good horse sense. Well, this is it. You can lead a human to knowledge, but you can't make him think. It kind of reminds me of some kind of a saying. It's so similar. Does anybody remember that? Does that ring a bell with anybody? Anybody help me? You can bring a horse. lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. Okay, well, you can lead a human to knowledge, but you can't make him think. All right, well, I just put that slide on. I was just horsing around a little bit, all right. Okay, so that's the horse sense for the day. Let's see, now let's look at verse number eight. Chapter three, verse eight, it says, now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, So, too, these also resist the truth. Men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning faith. Now, it mentions the name of actual people, Jannes and Jambres, but these, Names are actually not found anywhere else as far as the scripture goes, and it's believed by Bible commentators that it's having reference to the magicians that resisted Moses. Now let's look back at Exodus. We don't have you turning to too many other Bible verses, but we're gonna turn there and keep your finger in Timothy, 2 Timothy, Exodus chapter seven. Exodus chapter 7 and verse 11. It says, then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers, now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. Okay, so remember the Egyptian magicians were seeking to follow or pattern doing the various things that Moses was doing, copying them and so forth, who opposed Moses. Now we're going to, Don't lose Exodus, we're going to reference that a little further shortly. Okay, we'll come back to that in a minute. But these particular individuals opposed the miracles and those of Moses and Aaron and so forth. Now, the Jennys and Jamborees apparently was mentioned by other Hebrew writers, not part of scripture, but writers and others that apparently where this reference may have obtained from. So now looking back at Timothy, and it says, men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the truth. The word reprobate suggests being cast away or not to be regarded as true leaders, put aside, so to speak, or failing to pass the test. So in terms of faith, men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith, cast aside, they do not pass the test of true faith. And so in terms of the Old Testament, talking about Jannes and Jambres, they obviously didn't cut the mustard, so to speak, in terms of truly being from God, and that's for sure, being false in terms of what they were doing. And of course, they were not promoting the things of God, they were against it. And ultimately, the false teacher in Timothy's day may look like they're promoting the things of God, but their doctrine is twisted, as it were, in drawing people to themselves, perhaps out of pride seeking to promote self in some fashion. But in verse nine, verse number nine, it says, but they shall proceed no further, for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was. So in other words, the false teacher is going to be stopped and what the information they're bringing is going to be proved that it's not true, that it's an error. And then this particular quote, error is often so plausible at first that it seems to be true. It wins the hearts of many people and leads them astray. It flatters them with the hope of a better state of things in the church and the world, but the time will always come when men will see the folly of it. Okay, so false teaching will be shown forth. Its error will eventually come out and be made public, as it were. Their folly shall be manifest or shown forth unto all men. It says, as theirs was. And looking back at Jannes and Jambres. Okay, so let's look back and see if we can find that in the, Scripture, going back to Exodus for a minute. Exodus, this time chapter 8, just one more chapter. Don't forget we were holding on to that passage, right? Chapter 8 and verse 18 it says, and the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not. So there were lice upon man and upon beasts. Then the magician said unto Pharaoh, this is the finger of God. And Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he was heart and he hearkened not unto them as the Lord had said. So the magicians realized this is the finger of God, and they were pointing that out to that was not upon pointing that out to Pharaoh and coming to the realization, you know, this this is out of our hands, so to speak. But Pharaoh still had his heart hardened at this particular time. So as this truth was manifest, the false magicians were shown forth publicly. So it is that error will be shown forth and demonstrated publicly. It'll eventually come out, the error of man and seeking to lead people astray in terms of false doctrine. Any thoughts that you have in regard to this? Seems like there's an illustration somewhere in the New Testament, but somebody trying to perform some kind of miracle. Somebody help me. During the early days of the apostles, possibly in the Book of Acts. Was it Simon the Sorcerer? Okay, that's it, okay. I knew there was someone slowly coming to me. All right, the next verse tells us, in chapter three and verse 10. It says, but thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, patience. Now let's consider that first one. And of course, Paul is speaking here and saying, but thou has fully known my doctrine. He's drawing a distinction between the doctrine of the false teachers and his own doctrine. And of course, Paul's doctrine was from the Lord. And so his doctrine was not designed to deceive. And when we look for a pastor, which we did last year, and by the way, it's been a year since the omen's been here. happy anniversary, I guess you could say. I hope you're happy. And happy anniversary. But when an interviewing pastor, there are certain things you look for, so to speak, in terms of doctrine and making sure they're following the word of God. But here's just a thought. A little hard to read, but I'll read you some of these captions. These are people, and they're looking for the pastor or wanting him to do certain things. Little comments people are making. I have to get close myself. It says, remember how much money I give each week, one sign. Make sure there are enough programs for my kids. Tell me how much again God wants to bless me. Please refer to sin as bad choices. Don't mention hell. It makes me feel uncomfortable. Or what can Jesus do for me? And if you don't do things my way, maybe the rest of the sign is hitting. Let's see. Only good news. Don't tell me how much to give, so to speak. Ouch or something. And so we're thankful that our people here didn't hold up signs so that Pastor Oman could go along with these concepts and so to speak. The thought is that we need to have Bible doctrine. It's important not to just please or tickle the ears of the people or just to try to impress them or bring them forth, so to speak. All right. Let's see. So doctrine. So 310 continuing, but that was fully know my doctrine and manner of life. Paul had a manner of life that matched his doctrine, so that might be a characteristic of a Paul's teacher, is to have a life that does not match the doctrine, so to speak. Match the doctrine and purpose, and referencing Paul's purpose, his plans, his designs, what he was seeking to do, was not trying to promote himself in any fashion. Manner of life, purpose, faith may have reference not just to salvation faith, but to type of fidelity or faithfulness. Paul was not one that quit the job partway through, just kept on going in spite of the circumstances. Long-suffering and may have a deal with the evils of others or those seeking to injure, to be long-suffering toward a charity or love. And then patience, suffering without murmuring or discontent. perhaps would be the concept here in this particular verse. So as we look at the life of Paul, his doctrine matched his character. And so this was important, of course, for Timothy to see as he was going to face persecution himself. And then in verse 11 it says, persecutions, afflictions which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, what persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me. out of all these persecutions. Now, it mentions several different places. It just happens that this map, we see these places, as it were. Lystra and Iconium, and also... Antioch. And we'll look at the book of Acts just briefly and a few little illustrations here that some of the locations where he was in Acts chapter 14. You can turn there for a minute. Is it something I said? Yeah. Okay, Acts chapter 14, and here is Paul, the Apostle Paul at Lystra in verse 19. It says, and there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium who persuaded the people, and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead. So here he is at Lystra, gets stoned, dragged out of the city, and they're thinking he's gone. Probably had passed out, been knocked out, and so forth. Verse 20, how be it as his disciples stood round about him, he rose up and came into the city, and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe. So after being stoned, he gets up from it and moves on. On verse 21, and when they had preached the gospel to that city and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium and to Antioch. What's interesting about this is he gets stoned at Lystra and then he returns to Lystra. This passage always amazed me. And if you went to a place where you had literally rocks thrown at you, beat you down to the ground, probably knocked you out and so forth, would you say, Hey, let's go back there again. That was just so much fun. I want to go back to Lystra and see what they can do to me this time. Maybe they'll use bigger rocks. So that's probably not the way he thought of it exactly. But to go back to where you were treated in such a fashion, it designates the fact that this man had faith. This man had the power of God upon his life. And I guess that's all we'll look at right now in Acts, but we see that. that he went through persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, what persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me. And so he brought him through every single situation that he was going through. And he was able to get up again. And you know, sometimes we think about life and our situations and the important thing is that we get up again. You know, sometimes we fail the Lord and our attempts to live the Christian life and so forth and our walk with him. But the important thing is to get up again. And sometimes we may be discouraged by the trials of life or situations or finances. And I'm sure that If you thought about your life, you might be able to name a few other things that might fit. But we have to push on, as it were, and seek to be faithful to the Lord. Any thoughts you have before we close up shop, so to speak? All right, let's look to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for the life of Paul and thank you for the way that he exercised his faith in terms of being able to withstand persecution and go through it and to come out victorious and to call upon your name. Pray that you would help us to be a witness for you during the day that we live in. And we pray that you would bless our meeting today in worship service. Guide us, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.