Join us as we delve into a thought-provoking discussion on the perilous times described in 2 Timothy 3:1. In an age where morality collapses and secularism is on the rise, this episode explores the signs of the end times and how faith provides hope and resilience. Through a biblical lens, we highlight the spiritual and social challenges of today, urging individuals to prepare themselves and others for the second coming of Jesus Christ.
00:28:46 Reassurance and Encouragement in Persecution
00:31:20 Final Exhortation and Relying on Scripture
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SPEAKER 02 :
Now, these are dangerous days in which we live. The Bible calls them in 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 1, perilous times. We might call them dangerous days. I believe with my heart and soul that the sands of time are are running low for this generation. I believe that we are in the shadows of the end of an age. And I believe that Jesus Christ is coming soon. Now, grant you, I could be wrong. I’m not a date setter. I have no right to set a date. But yet I cannot deny the feeling of my heart. I’ve preached the Bible for a long time. I am an observer of the times. I am a student of the Word of God. And I believe that God is about ready to step down out of heaven and judge the wickedness of this old world. I am not out to try to save the world. And anybody who knows the Bible would not be so foolish as to try to save this world. This world is on a collision course with judgment and with disaster. Now let me tell you what the purpose of the gospel is. The gospel is not intended to save civilization from wreckage. The gospel is intended to save men from the wreckage of civilization. Now, what the gospel is for is to snatch men, women, boys, and girls as brands from the burning and let them know that this world is headed for judgment, but bless God, there is a new world coming. What we need to do, dear friend, is to find out what our posture should be in these last days. And how, as I’ve said before, not only to survive, but to thrive, to be victorious, to get ready to go to heaven, and to take as many as we can with us. And I believe that’s what the Apostle Paul is talking about here in 2 Timothy chapter 3. God has laid on my heart… A series of messages that are going to deal with contemporary issues. Issues that we’re going to face if our Lord tarries. Indeed, we’re already facing those issues. In the course of this message, I’ll mention those issues because this message is to give us but simply an overview of all of those issues. We will take them one at a time. with the newspaper and the journals in one hand, and the Bible in the other hand, we’ll see what the Bible has to say about these contemporary issues and these challenges to the cross and these things, these ideas, these philosophies, and these preachments. that are seducing the American mind. 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 1. This know also in the last days perilous times shall come. This word perilous is used only one other time in the New Testament. It’s used in Matthew chapter 8. It speaks of two demon-possessed men. And there it is translated exceeding ferocious. Fierce. Exceeding fierce. And so these are exceedingly fierce days. Now I am not a calamity howler. And I’m not just simply a picker picker. of garbage when i tell you that our world is facing moral spiritual social political national and international darkness anybody who can pick up the newspaper can find out that nations are collapsing all around us you say well that that’s wonderful what is happening in the communist countries and we see the collapse of communism Well, it gives us a window to preach the gospel. It gives us inroads to preach the gospel, and well, we ought to do it. But my dear friend, what you’re seeing is the foregleam of the coming kingdom of Antichrist. And don’t forget it. This world and all of these things that are happening and are happening quickly… are simply setting the stage for that globalism that one world leader, the Antichrist, that the Bible says will come. And where is he going to come from? He is going to come out of a reunified Roman Empire out of Europe. And what you’re having right now is the stage being set for that. Now, we should not be surprised that all of these things come to pass. They certainly shouldn’t cause us to panic. As I’ve told you before, there’s no panic in heaven. And even if it gets dark, for the child of God, it gets gloriously dark. Because you see, dear friend, the morning star appears after the darkest hour of the night. And we’re waiting for the Lord Jesus Christ to come. Now, God tells us what dangerous days are. Look, if you will, and see if you cannot find a description of the days in which we live in this pertinent and pregnant chapter in which we’re studying tonight. Look, for example, if you will, in verse 2. The Bible says, “…for men shall be lovers of their own selves.” What is the tone of this age? No longer do we have the hippies who are socially minded. No, we’ve gone beyond the hippies, gone beyond even the yuppies. Now what is in is cocooning. which just simply means turn inward, live for self and self alone as if Jesus Christ never lived, as if Jesus Christ never died. Somebody has described it me-ism. There’s a lot of that around. A very prominent feminist wrote this, we must destroy love. Can you imagine anyone saying that? We must destroy love. And here’s what she says. Love, an institution by definition, which is generally recognized as approval and acceptance. Love promotes vulnerability, dependence, possessiveness, susceptibility to pain, and prevents the full development of woman’s human potential by directing all her energies outward in the interest of others. Can you imagine a person saying that? We must destroy love. She says, what you need to do is forget about directing your energies outward. Forget about such things as taking care of children, loving your husband, being a good citizen, doing unto others as you would have others do unto you. Now the Bible says in the last days there will be perilous times and Jesus said, Iniquity shall abound and the love of many shall wax cold. But look again in God’s Word in verse 2. Not only shall they be lovers of their own selves, they will be covetous. Now look around. What are people living for today? They’re living for what they can grab, not for what they can give. The Bible teaches that we’re to worship God, love people, and use things. But what we do is ignore God, love things, and use people. He goes on to say that we’re going to be in the last days boasters and proud. We’re continually boasting of our human greatness, of our human achievement, and like egomaniacs, We are strutting to hell thinking that we are too good to be damned. Civilization is coming apart at the seams. It is a shamble. And yet we are marching headlong to Armageddon. He goes on to say that men will be blasphemers. Do you see that in verse 2? I am ashamed… to be an American sometime when I turn on the television. I wonder what those who visit our country, so-called God-blessed America, must think. The devil is piping both profanity and pornography into the living rooms of America. And it seems as though an open sewer has broken and people are blaspheming the name of God. George Will… A conservative commentator that I like to listen to from time to time said this, and it is by now a scandal beyond irony that thanks to the energetic work of civil liberties fanatics, pornographers enjoy expansive First Amendment protection while first graders in a nativity play are said to violate First Amendment values.” An educator, Dr. Pierce, from Harvard, was lecturing 2,000 teachers in Denver, and this is what he said. I want you to listen to it. He said, “…every child in America who enters school at the age of five is mentally ill because he comes to school with an allegiance toward our elected officials, toward our founding fathers, toward our institutions, toward the preservation of this form of government.” Patriotism, nationalism, and sovereignty. All of that proves that children are sick because the truly well individual is one who has rejected all those things and is what I would call the true international child of the future. Now you say, well, that was just some man from off the wall. No, he was from Harvard. You say, well, he was talking to the ill-informed. No, he was talking to 2,000 teachers, saying that when boys and girls come to school with a love for parents, a fixed standard of right and wrong, when they believe in my country, when they believe in nationalism and patriotism, they are sick. John Phillips said, who is a wonderful student of the Word of God and a great commentator, gave us this insight. And this is what John Phillips said. He said, Even conscientious parents are finding it increasingly difficult to cope with the rising tides of promiscuousness tolerated by society with the secular values taught in public schools. He went on to say, Schools across the country simply ignore parental objections with the liberal teaching on homosexuality, Abortion, birth control, sexual indulgence, and relative morality. And of course, the teaching of the Bible is banned from our classrooms. We can assign for reading and discussion any filthy book that comes off the press. We can study Karl Marx and George Bernard Shaw. We can invite witches, homosexuals, and anarchists into our classrooms to air their ideas, but we must not teach the Bible nor have token prayers nor scripture readings in our schools. And then he asked this question, is it any wonder that one quarter of all America’s 15-year-olds and one-tenth of all 13-year-olds have already experimented with sex? Think of it. 25% of all 15-year-olds. When I was in school, there were a few kids who did certain things. And everybody knew who those kids were. And they talked about them. But today, my dear friend, there’s something that’s happening that is heartbreaking. Then he goes on to say in this passage of Scripture that they are going to be without natural affection. Do you see that in verse 3? Without natural affection. Now what that word literally means is without family love. without family love. As I was driving out of the parking lot this morning, I had my radio on, and it told about a murder that had been planned between a son, his father and mother were going to murder the son’s wife, their daughter-in-law, because of the insurance that she had, and they had planned to murder her. But then, according to the news report, they found out that the insurance was no longer in effect, so the parents turned around and murdered their son instead. without natural affection. Another feminist said, she said, since marriage constitutes slavery for women, it is clear that the women’s movement must concentrate on attacking this institution. Freedom for women cannot be won without the abolition of marriage. You say, well, Pastor, there are a lot of feminists who believe in marriage. Indeed, they do. and they would not agree with this woman. But again, this is the kind of thing that is in the woodwork of the society in which we live. There are many who think that having a family, rearing children, is a burden, and an imposition. And then on top of that, we have the homosexual movement. When the Bible says without natural affection, it speaks of not having the family love that God expects people to have, a man for a woman, a woman for a man, one man for one woman, till death do them part. He goes on to say, truce breakers. Now these are the dangerous days in which we live when men will be truce breakers. That is, we have come to a day when a man’s word means nothing, whether it’s a business contract, a marriage contract, or a treaty between nations. May God have mercy on a nation that has throwaway marriages. We have an incredible thing today called a no-fault divorce. That’s a travesty. It is a national tragedy. And many are living together without even the benefit of marriage. Truce breakers. He says they are false accusers, incontinent, that is without self-control, fierce despisers of those that are good. Our jails today are filled with hoodlums. We don’t have enough space to warehouse the criminals. I think the most tragic day in American history, perhaps, was in 1973 when little pre-born babies were given the status of non-persons. When Adolf Hitler wanted to eliminate the Jews, what he did was simply this, to have them classified as non-persons. What he did was to redefine personhood so that the Jews could be excluded from the protection of the law. Now that’s exactly what the humanists and the secularists have invaded us to do today. We have reclassified little babies as non-persons for the convenience of some women and men who want to do away with these little babies. And tomorrow, if it is a normal day in America, four and a half days thousand little babies will be put to death. I preached on abortion about a year or so ago to our church, and I got a letter from a person who was irate that I would stand in the pulpit and preach on that subject. And what she said was, that is a political matter, and you ought to keep politics out of the pulpit. But on the other hand, my dear friend, if you talk to a politician about abortion, he will say that is a religious matter and you need to keep it out of politics. He’ll say, you know, I personally am against abortion, but what a person does in his or her own life is not any of my business. That would be like someone say, you know, I am personally against exterminating Jews, but what somebody does in his own private gas chamber is none of my business. And so if we preachers stand up and talk about the snuffing of the lives of these little babies, they’ll say, stay out of politics. But when the politician stands up, he’ll say, hey, that’s a religious matter. Well, friend, you can call it political or you can call it religious, but the little babies are being killed. And we need to stand up and we need to speak out. Did you know that 97% of all these abortions take place for some form of convenience? Not to save the mother’s life, not for rape, not for incest, but simply convenience. Abortion is becoming one of our nation’s biggest means of birth control. But here’s what he says. We are people who are fierce despisers of those that are good. The hero today is not the man of God, not the missionary, not the preacher, not the soul winner, not the godly, not the mama who stays home and takes care of the kids. These are not the heroes of today’s youth. They despise those that are good. Now, Notice in verse 4, he says that these people are lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. Now, my dear friend, the Bible is not against pleasure, not against true pleasure. Thank God you don’t have to choose between God and pleasure. The Bible says in Psalm 16, verse 11, speaking of God, “…thou wilt show me the path of life.” In thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. Friend, the way of Jesus is the way of genuine pleasure. But the problem comes when we have a society that loves pleasures more than they love God. And Sunday today has become a day to do almost anything but worship God. No longer do we call it the Lord’s Day. We simply call it the weekend. Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. Continue to read in verse 5. They have a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof. My dear friend, there is no shortage of religion in America. Most Americans do not need religion. They need to turn from religion to a commitment to Jesus Christ. They have a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof. It will be form without force. It will be religion without reality. Religious… Participation of some form is at an all-time high in America, and so is our crime rate. Something is desperately wrong. Now, continue to read. I read in verse 6, talking about this religion without reality. “‘For of this sort are they which creep into houses “‘and lead captive silly women,’ laden with sins, led away with divers lust, or different kinds of lust. Now, what he’s saying is this, that false religion will be the order of the day, verses 6 and 7. Do you see the word silly that’s used there? The word silly doesn’t mean giddy. That’s not the idea. But it literally means weak-willed. It has the idea of creatures of impulse susceptible to insinuation. What this refers to, I am convinced, is, quote, liberated women, end of quote, who have thrown off all authority from the Word of God and the headship perhaps of their husband, and they are living now by impulse. And then he goes on to say, laden with sins. Do you see that? Actually, the word laden with sins doesn’t mean they’re vile and sinful. That’s not what it means. That may be true, but that’s not what this means. It means that they have the heavy weight of sin. Every person does. Every man, woman, boy, and girl in this world is laden with a burden of sin. That’s what keeps the psychiatrist going. That’s why we have so many sedatives sold. That’s why there’s so much alcohol consumed because people are trying to forget. They don’t know what’s wrong, but there is this oppressive weight. They are laden with sin. And then he goes on to describe them here. If you look at them and you’re going to see how they are a sitting duck for the devil. Led away with divers’ lusts. Now what does that mean? Does that mean that they are sexually lusting after men? No, that isn’t what it means. It means, literally, divers’ lusts means all kinds of desires. unfulfilled desires. Now what you have, let me give you three words that begin with the letter G. Gullible, guilty, and grasping. Gullible, weak-willed, ready to believe anything. They’ll go down here and buy some magazine at the supermarket and Shirley MacLaine will talk to them about New Ageism. They’ll pick it up and read it. Why? Because they’re looking for something, that gullibility is there, and they’re looking for something to remove that guilt. feeling that they have. And on top of all of that, there’s an emptiness. There are these unfulfilled desires, and this is what you have in the heart and mind of many today. Now, on top of that, you find in verses 7 and 8, and knowledge explosion, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. As I’ve told you, facts may double, triple, knowledge will increase, but not truth. If it’s new, it’s not true. My dear friend, we are to earnestly contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. Here is a generation looking for some new thing. It’s compounded even more. Look, if you will, in verse 8. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth. Men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning faith. Who were Jannes and Jambres? Jannes and Jambres were magicians who opposed Moses by imitating and mimicking his miracles. In the last days, Satan is going to come. You’re going to see more miracles. than you’ve ever seen in these last days. Most of them will not be done by God, but will be done by the power of darkness and the power of Satan. And the Bible says you can look for an explosion of the occult, miraculous, even as it was in the day of Moses when Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses. and they perform their miracles. And many are going to be swept up by these miracles. These, my friends, are dangerous days. Now, what have I given you a description of? Let me put it in a sentence, and you’ll see some of the subjects we’re going to be dealing with. Humanism. New Ageism, religious syncretism, the coming Antichrist, evolution, homosexuality, the breakup of the home. These are the subjects that we’re going to be dealing with. And my dear friend, the Bible tells us that this is the dangerous time, the fierce times in which we are to live. Now, thank God we don’t have to face these days without hope. God tells us what we must do. He tells us, first of all, that we must withdraw ourselves from these things. Look, if you will, in verse 5. He speaks of those that have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof from such turn away. People need to get out of liberal churches and They need to get out of churches that are not preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. They need to withdraw themselves from these kind of places. You say, Adrian, do you think your church is the only good church, the only true church? No, God knows we’re not what we ought to be. I’m telling you, my dear friend, there are many wonderful Bible-believing, Christ-honoring churches, but there are many that are not. And if people are staying around, they say, well, you know, Grandma’s buried in the cemetery in the backyard. Friend, if Grandma could, she’d get up and get out. I’ll guarantee you. And what you need to do is to do the same thing and just simply saturate that place with your absence. Listen, dear friend, we are to witness to the people of this world, but we’re not to hobnob with them. Look, if you will. As he says in 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 14, If any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man and have no company with him. Romans 16, verse 17, Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them. 1 Corinthians 5, 11, But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such a one know not to eat. 1 Timothy 6, verse 5, It speaks of those who hold perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness. From such withdraw thyself. 2 John, verse 10, If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him Godspeed. Now, the Bible doesn’t say that we have to put our arms around other people and say, well, your ideas are just as good as ours. The Bible calls for a last day coming out. It is not simply coming out. It is also going in. Those of you who are parents, You need to see to it that your children are in these kind of programs. You need to see to it that your children are in Sunday school. And my dear friend, you need to see to it, if you’re a young married people, you need to see to it above all that you yourselves set the example by continual church attendance and obey the Word of God where the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 25, We are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching. What Hebrews 10 verse 25 tells us is this, that the closer we get to the second coming of Jesus Christ, the more you need the house of God, the more you need the people of God. We need to practice separation from the world and communication with the people of God. It’s not going to be very easy, but You’re going to suffer in these last days, but it won’t harm you if you have the Lord Jesus. Look in verses 10 and 12. Paul says concerning these days, But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience. Persecutions and afflictions which came to me at Antioch and Iconium, at Lystra. What persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. How many of you are suffering persecution? MY DEAR FRIEND, IF YOU’RE NOT SUFFERING PERSECUTION, IT IS BECAUSE YOU’RE NOT LIVING GODLY IN CHRIST JESUS. SOME PEOPLE GET THE IDEA, WELL, YOU KNOW, IF WE LIVE GODLY, WE’LL ESCAPE PERSECUTION. NO, YOU WON’T. MY DEAR FRIEND, JESUS DIDN’T, PAUL DIDN’T, AND YOU WON’T. YOU’RE A TWICE-BORN PERSON IN A WORLD OF ONCE-BORN PEOPLE, AND YOU’RE GOING TO BE GOING AGAINST THE TIDE ALL OF THE TIME. AND THIS WORLD IS NOT GOING TO HONOR YOU IF YOU TRULY LIVE FOR THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. IT’LL BREAK YOUR NECK IF IT CAN. Now, the Bible says all who will live, that is all who determine to live godly in Christ Jesus. Now, Paul concludes this chapter by saying that we had better get hold of the truth. Verse 13 he says, But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse. You say, Brother Rogers, is the world getting worse or better? The answer is yes. Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But God’s people, as they get closer to the second coming of Jesus, I believe, are getting brighter and brighter. I know more people who know and love the Lord Jesus, who believe the Bible, who are solid and square in this day and age than I’ve ever known before in my life. But my dear friend, you’d better know where you stand and what you stand for because it is going to get worse and worse and the devil will do his work by deceiving. There’ll be all kinds of charlatans and it’s going to get worse. What do you do? What do these young people do? Look in verse 14. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them, and that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Jesus Christ. Remember what you’ve learned. My dear friend, don’t doubt in the dark what God has shown you in the light. Remember what you have learned. Remember it. Remember the Word of God. And remember who you learned it from. Now that’s what the Apostle Paul is saying. He’s saying, don’t you be blown around by this. Continue in the things which thou hast learned. and been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them. Dear friend, God has given us the Word, that God has given us the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make us wise unto salvation, that is, deliverance through faith in Jesus Christ. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. It’s profitable for doctrine, that is, to show us what’s right, for reproof, That is to get us when we’re wrong. For correction, that’s to get us back right. For instruction in righteousness, that’s to keep us right. That the man of God may be perfect. That means mature, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. My friend, all that we need to live in these last days is right here. We need to be saturated with the Word of God, motivated by the Spirit of God, and activated in the work of God.
SPEAKER 01 :
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