Last week we studied a rather grim message that Paul gave Timothy regarding the last days. And as a reminder, the last days is a phrase that refers to the time period between Christ’s first appearing and His second coming. It is sometimes called the church age, which is the age Timothy was living in, and which we are living in. Obviously, we are living in the latter days of the last days, but we don’t know how much longer there is until Christ comes back.
But I say it was a grim message because Paul said there would be perilous seasons which would come in this church age. I suggested it was kind of like hurricane season which comes every year, which sometimes can be extremely damaging and dangerous. And Paul explains that the danger to the church was there would be seasons where apostasy would run rampant in the church, when false teachers would prevail in the pulpits of churches, when people would be duped by a form of religion but without the power of the Holy Spirit to change their hearts from being dead in their trespasses to being made alive in Christ.
These perilous seasons would be dangerous because there would be a powerful spirt of deception upon the church which would take people captive to damning theology. Instead of the gospel freeing them from the hold of sin, this false gospel would actually give them a false sense of security, deceiving them by means of false signs and wonders. Paul gave an example of the sort of deception that would be fostered on the church by the example of Jannes and Jambres, the Egyptian magicians that were able to duplicate a lot of the miracles that Moses did, and their deception resulted in the damnation of the Egyptians. Paul says similar deceptions of signs and wonders would be characteristic of the perilous times in the church.
He goes on to say in the passage we are looking at today, which is a continuation of his warning to Timothy, in vs 13 that “… evil men and impostors will proceed [from bad] to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” As the church age progresses, so will the intensity of these perilous times. Evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse. That means the deceptions will go from bad, which it was in Paul’s day, to worse, which I think it is in our day. An imposter is someone who pretends to be someone else. The Bible says that the devil is an expert imposter, masquerading as an angel of light, when he is actually the prince of darkness. And he is the puppet master behind the false teachers that will proliferate as the church age comes to it’s consummation.
Now if Paul stopped there, then it would be a grim message indeed. But Paul gives a counter strategy to the church so that they might survive the perilous times. Not only will the true church survive, but they can even thrive in perilous times. You know, the reality is that the church thrives in times of persecution. When the church declines it is usually in a time of peace and prosperity. But when persecution arises, the church gets stronger. Tertullian, one of the early church fathers living around 200 AD is credited to have said, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” It is when the world is antagonistic towards the church that the battle lines are more clearly drawn, and the truth stands out more clearly than the deception, but when the world and the church lie down in the same bed then it produces adultery with the world and the apostasy that brings destruction.
But in this last section and continuing in the first part of the next chapter, Paul gives us a strategy for surviving the perilous times which come upon the church, and not just surviving, but thriving. But for the sake of brevity, I am not going to really expound much more than this chapter, and wait on the part found in chapter 4, which we will address next week, God willing.
The first principle of the strategy for surviving perilous times might be summarized by the idea of discipleship. The concept of becoming a disciple is something that seems to have fallen by the wayside in modern evangelicalism. But back in the beginning of the church, before even they were called by the name “Christians”, the concept that Jesus taught was to become His disciple. What does it mean to become a disciple? It means to be a follower of Christ, one who receives and believes the teaching of Christ, who patterns himself after the behavior and actions of Christ. And by extension, it meant after Christ’s death and resurrection that one would follow an apostle, follow their teaching, their pattern of life.
And so we find that principle of being a disciple given here by Paul as part of his strategy for surviving the perilous times. He says in vs 10 “Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, [and] sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium [and] at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me!”
The significance of what he says is you followed me. Timothy was a disciple of Paul. Timothy literally followed Paul in his missionary journeys as he planted churches in the Gentile regions. In the great commission in Matthew 28:19, Jesus says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.” The mandate is to make disciples, followers of the apostle’s doctrine, followers of the apostle’s teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance persecutions and sufferings.
The life of discipleship is much more than simply profession of faith and then continuing to live as you always have lived but with the exception of an hour or so a week spent in church. Being a disciple is a new life, one that is characterized by service to the Lord, by obedience to the word, by a sacrificial love for others, and love for God. It’s a life that perseveres when it seems that there is not always evidence to support our faith. It’s a life that endures suffering for the sake of Christ, that endures persecution for the sake of the gospel.
It’s interesting to notice that Paul says Timothy followed his purpose. What was the purpose of the apostle? It was to carry the gospel to the Gentiles, to the people who had not heard the truth. Paul’s purpose was to share the gospel, to win souls for the kingdom of heaven. That’s the reason God left him on the earth after his conversion. And that’s the reason we are left on the earth. Our purpose, our mission is to go make disciples of all the nations. Make disciples of our loved ones, our families, our friends, our neighbors, our community. That’s the purpose that God has for us that are saved.
It’s also important to notice that Timothy followed the apostles teaching. Teaching is doctrine. And the doctrine taught by the apostles is the doctrine which the church is to hold fast to, to listen to, and to obey. Paul refers to it as sound doctrine in his previous letter to Timothy. He says in 1Tim. 4:6 “In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, [constantly] nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following.” Part of discipleship is following sound doctrine. There is a lot of deviant, deceitful doctrine that is being taught in the church today, which is a hallmark of the perilous times of the last days. We need to be like the Berean’s, who studied the word daily to see if the things being taught to them by Paul was correct. Sound doctrine has it’s basis in the words of scripture. And we need to ask the Lord for discernment so that we can check the doctrine coming from our pulpits with the scripture, so that we may know the truth. But being under the teaching of sound doctrine is a vital part of discipleship. You cannot be a disciple and not be under the preaching of sound doctrine.
So being a disciple is a complete life of devotion to the Lord. It’s living a life that is conformed to sound doctrine, that exhibits godly conduct, that fulfills the purpose which we have been given, that perseveres in faith, that has patience and love for others, and which does not waver in persecution and suffering. It’s not just a matter of making a profession of faith and then coming to church once in a blue moon. But it’s a life that is patterned after Christ and the apostles. Walking in the footsteps of Jesus is discipleship. When you are walking in the footsteps of Jesus in your day to day life, then you will be preserved from the perilous times which are coming upon the church in the last days.
The apostle Peter said in 1Peter 2:21 “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.” That’s our purpose, to follow in the steps of Christ, doing what He did, living as He lived, even to the point of suffering as He suffered for the sake of the gospel. You might not be called upon to suffer on a cross, but you are told to take up your cross and follow Christ. That means dying to self, dying to self gratification, and living for the Lord.
Paul says that suffering is a part of discipleship, in vs. 12 “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” That’s a sobering statement. All who follow Christ, all who desire to live godly lives, will be persecuted. Not maybe will be, but will be. Persecution may not always be physical, but it will come in attacks from the enemy, ridicule from the world, difficulty in the work environment and antagonism from your own family. I will tell you something that wasn’t true 50 years ago. And that is that there are very few occupations that you can be involved in today in this culture that are not in some way or another hostile to Christianity. You’re probably going to have to make a decision in your job in some way, some day soon, where you will be forced to cave into the demands of the culture, or stand up for your convictions and your faith and bear the consequences of possibly being censured, or forced to take sensitivity training, or even fired for your faith. But that day is already here for many careers and occupations. The same is true for colleges and universities. They are hostile to Christianity. If you are a Christian in a secular college today you will either have to cave in to the pressure, or risk being ostracized and perhaps cancelled because of your faith. I hope that when that day comes, you will not waver in your faith.
So discipleship is the first way to survive in perilous times. The second principle is to walk in the truth. Paul speaks of walking in the truth as continuing. To be a disciple, to be follower, means to continue to follow, to continue to walk in the truth. He says in vs 14 “You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned [them,] and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
This continuing in the apostle’s doctrine is the emphasis that Paul is making as a strategy for survival. The life of the disciple is not start and stop, take a break for a while. The life of a disciple is continuing to follow, continuing to fellowship, continuing to learn. The preaching of the word is one of the primary ways in which we learn the truth, and then we continue to apply ourselves to that truth. Timothy knew that apostle intimately. He knew that he could trust his word, trust his message as the truth of God. It was the same truth that his mother Lois and grandmother Eunice had taught him.
You know the truth of God is self validating. As you learn the truth, and apply the truth, it becomes more and more evident that it is the truth. When you first come to Christ and you are converted, the Bible is something which you have to believe by faith. There isn’t a lot of support from the world that the Bible is God’s word, that it is truth. But as you believe it by faith, and start to apply it to your life, the truth is manifested as being true in your life. That’s why Jesus said, “you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” The truth of God’s word is believed by faith, but it is validated in application.
I believe that if you are going to be a disciple, then you are going to want to be in a Bible preaching church every time the door is open. You cannot walk in the truth, you will not continue in the truth, if you forsake the assembling of yourselves together. The word of God is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path. And when you start skipping church, skipping Bible study, you’re going to find that you are going to be wandering and straying from the path of following Jesus. Your attendance to church is a like a spiritual thermometer that everyone can see. When you are absent more than present, its evident that your love for God has grown cold. When you are eager to hear the word, then its evident that your faith is hot.
Another important principle to notice here in this passage is one that parents should take note of. And that is Timothy was taught the Bible from childhood. The word Paul uses which is translated childhood literally means infancy. The sacred writings is a reference to the Old Testament. That was all that they had available at that time, for the most part. But his mother and grandmother instilled the scriptures into him from infancy, and throughout his childhood. The best insurance you have as a parent that your kids will turn out all right is to raise them in the church, and teach them the scriptures from a very young age.
I find it ironic that Christian parents seem to leave Christian education up to their child to decide if they want to participate. They don’t leave it up to the child to see if he wants to go to school, or to decide what he wants to eat, or whether or not to wash up and brush his teeth. But yet they leave the most important aspect of life, a person’s spiritual health, up to the child to decide if they want to come to church or not. No, start their education as an infant and continue with it until they reach the age where they no longer are under your roof.
Notice Paul said the scriptures were able to give Timothy the wisdom that lead to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Faith is founded upon truth, it’s founded upon the scripture, it’s founded upon the promises of God. Faith is not a feeling, it’s not conjuring up some emotion, faith is not imagining something really hard and trying to visualize it. Faith is believing what there may not seem to be any evidence for, but which you are convinced is true. And the word teaches that salvation is from the Lord Jesus Christ who died in your place, to take away your sins, and give you new life through Him.
So the other aspect of continuing in the truth is to walk according to the word of God. Paul gives a tremendous statement about the authorship and authority and sufficiency of the scriptures that everyone should take the time to study and even memorize as the definitive statement about the scripture.
He says in vs 16 “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” There are so many vital principles that are contained in this verse. But first of all notice that he establishes the authority of scripture. All scripture, both the Old and New Testaments, even though it was not all written at this time in history, all scripture, is inspired by God.
What does inspired mean? Literally, the word mean’s “God breathed.” That refers to the divine breath, the Spirit of God. The human authors were guided and directed by the Holy Spirit. I’m not going to try to take the time today to give an apologetic about the scriptures which we have in our Bibles. That is a study that would take far more time than what we have today. But I will emphasize what I said earlier, that the truth is self validating. God’s word attests to it’s own authenticity.
God used human authors to write the words that God breathed into their minds. The individuality of the human author is not override, but instead incorporates their own personality, their education, their style and language. Peter spoke of inspiration this way in 2 Peter 1:21 “for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” God spoke through men by the Holy Spirit. That’s inspiration.
So all scripture is authored by the Holy Spirit, and it is authoritative because it is the word of God. God spoke as men were moved by the Holy Spirit. It’s God’s word, thus it is truth, it is reliable, it is authoritative. Jesus said in Matt. 4:4, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.’”
And all scripture is profitable. It is profitable to the disciple who submits to it’s teaching. The Bible is instructions from heaven to earth. It’s God’s instructions and principles which are given to man so that he might know how to live and how to live more abundantly. Timothy was able by the wisdom of the word to gain the knowledge of salvation. And so are we. The scriptures are God’s will for mankind revealed. It is the truth of God revealed to us so that we might walk in the light of God.
Paul says the scriptures are profitable for reproof. I said the other night when we were studying the Psalms, that though David asked that God would not rebuke him, he undoubtedly needed to be rebuked. The word of God rebukes us when we need to be rebuked. It corrects us, corrects our thinking, aligns our minds with God’s minds, our attitudes with God’s attitudes, our desires with God’s desires. To be reproofed is to be turned back from a false way.
And the word of God is profitable for training in righteousness. Training is an integral part of discipleship. That’s why we walk in the steps of Jesus, so that we might be trained how to walk. And in the same way, the word of God teaches us how to walk, how to we are to conduct ourselves, how to be godly, how to be righteous. When we read and study the word, it trains our minds which then trains our bodies. Psalm 119 says, “your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
Finally, the word of God is sufficient. Do you want to be a disciple? Do you want to follow the example of Christ and the apostles? The word of God is able to supply all that you need to know in order to be a disciple. Paul says the word is sufficient so that the man of God is adequate, and equipped for every good work. All the things we have been purposed to do, we are able to do as we walk according to the word of God. It’s able to strengthen our faith. It’s able to give us sufficient knowledge that we can share the gospel. It’s able to equip us with the tools we need to fight the good fight of faith in the midst of persecution and sufferings. It’s sufficient for everything that we need. It’s like a manual for discipleship which covers every thing that we need. It’s sufficient to help us survive in the perilous times that come upon the church, when false teachers prevail and the world ridicules and the enemy attacks.
When we read the gospels we see that Jesus Himself relied upon the scriptures, even quoting the scripture repeatedly to combat Satan’s attempts to tempt Him in the wilderness. The word of God was sufficient for Jesus, and it will be sufficient for us as we go through the perilous times of the last days which lie ahead. Paul gives us the certain hope that if we are disciples who continue in the sound doctrine and practice of our faith as exemplified by the apostles, as we walk according to the word of God, we will not be overcome by the world, or by the perilous times ahead, but that we will prevail by the power of the Spirit and the word of God.
Listen, the strategy for avoiding the pitfalls of the perilous times ahead is to draw near to God and He will draw near to you. As we stay close to the Lord and follow Him, stay in the word and submit to it’s teaching, then you will be preserved from the deception and destruction that comes in the last days.
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