What is Your Passion!

2 Timothy  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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In the last days man will desire himself more then God. Man will find himself in bondage to sin instead of finding freedom in Christ.

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2 Timothy 3:1–5 HCSB
1 But know this: Difficult times will come in the last days. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, blasphemers, 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!

Difficult Times in the Last Days

2 Timothy 3:1 HCSB
1 But know this: Difficult times will come in the last days.
2 Timothy 2:1 HCSB
1 You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
2
1 Thessalonians–Philemon (King James Version) A. The Godless Marks of the Last Days, 3:1–9

Introduction: this is a picture of future society—a terrible picture of what the last days of human history will be like. But note a shocking fact: it sounds very much like the society of today. We just do not think of our day as being so terrible; we seldom sit down and study the godless marks of society. But this is exactly what this passage does: it discusses the godless marks of the last days, marks that come close to painting a picture of our day and time

1 Thessalonians–Philemon (King James Version) A. The Godless Marks of the Last Days, 3:1–9

This fact points to our day as being part of the last days

1 Thessalonians–Philemon (King James Version) A. The Godless Marks of the Last Days, 3:1–9

(3:1–9) Introduction: this is a picture of future society—a terrible picture of what the last days of human history will be like. But note a shocking fact: it sounds very much like the society of today. We just do not think of our day as being so terrible; we seldom sit down and study the godless marks of society. But this is exactly what this passage does: it discusses the godless marks of the last days, marks that come close to painting a picture of our day and time. This fact points to our day as being part of the last days. It is very possible that the Lord’s return is at hand. One thing is sure, we must do just what Christ said: be prepared for His return, for He can return at any moment. (Note: a person may need to split this passage because of its length. Points one and two could be the first study, and points three and four the second study.)

1. Mark 1: a terrible and perilous time (v. 1).

2. Mark 2: a godless world (vv. 2–4).

3. Mark 3: a powerless religion (v. 5).

4. Mark 4: a corrupted ministry (vv. 6–9).

1 Thessalonians–Philemon (King James Version) A. The Godless Marks of the Last Days, 3:1–9

Perilous times means difficult, troublesome, trying, uneasy, hard, violent, threatening, and dangerous days. The picture is that of people turning to and fro, here and there, not knowing which way to turn. “The last days” is a Biblical term that points to the end of the present age, the days right before the return of Christ, and the end of the world. It should be noted, however, that the marks of the end time are somewhat characteristic of all ages, but they are to be intensified in the last days

Last Days

A Godless World

2 Timothy 3:2–4 HCSB
2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, blasphemers, 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,
2 Timothy 3:2–4 HCSB
2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, blasphemers, 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,
2 Timothy 3:

1) Lovers of Self

1) Lovers of Self

1 Thessalonians–Philemon (King James Version) A. The Godless Marks of the Last Days, 3:1–9

It means selfishness and self-centeredness …

• to focus upon oneself and one’s own pleasure and flesh instead of upon God and other people

• to put oneself before others: wife, husband, parent, child, friend, neighbor, God

• to put one’s own will before God’s will

• to seek one’s own desires without considering others

• to go after what one wants even if it is unwise and hurts others

• to feel that everyone and everything should revolve around oneself

• to focus upon one’s own pleasure and flesh and ignore the crying needs of the desperate and dying

Self-love sets one up like a god and feels that nothing matters as much as the pleasure of oneself. In the last days people will love themselves more than they love anyone else. Selfishness will be one of the terrible marks of the last days.

In chapter 2 of 2 Tim we see three examples of what Godly Commitment
Soldier who is committed to the War and does not get entangled in the concerns of civilian life
A hardworking farmer who gets the first share of His Labors
Athlete who is crowned only if he competes by the rules
Passion and Desire are great it just you have to constantly be asking your self where is my passion and desire pointed - am I more passionate about me, myself, and I and the outcomes in my life or am I more concerned with God
Am I getting tangled up in the things of the world am I being held in bondage because I cannot escape the grasp of Satan hands and fall pray to His sachems and sway
Am I working had on the Lord’s work and reaping the rewards of my Labors or am I working for the Wold and trying to please them
Am I living life by God’s rules am I more passionate about God’s rules then the rules of the world - what am I competing for
Lovers of Self have a passion and a desire of self more than of God and this keeps them in bondage to sin and they cannot know the freedom of God’s love and His Gospel message
Matthew 25:43 HCSB
I was a stranger and you didn’t take Me in; I was naked and you didn’t clothe Me, sick and in prison and you didn’t take care of Me.’
Matthew 25:-
1 John 3:17 HCSB
If anyone has this world’s goods and sees his brother in need but closes his eyes to his need—how can God’s love reside in him?
It is easy today to fall pray to self and to worry more about oneself than others, to put God’s Call in second third or fourth place in our Life
Paul tells us that this is only going to get worst

2) Lovers of Money

1 Thessalonians–Philemon (King James Version) A. The Godless Marks of the Last Days, 3:1–9

2. People will be covetous (philarguroi): the word means lovers of money and possessions. People will want more and more and bigger and bigger and better and better, and they will seldom be satisfied with what they have. In the last days people will focus upon …

• money, banking more and more.

• houses in the best neighborhoods, on the seashore, in the mountains, and by the rivers.

• furnishings and property.

• possessions—such as clothes, jewelry, antiques, art, and vehicles.

• travel, seeing more and more sights.

• property, stocks and bonds—owning more and more.

• power—controlling more and more.

Men will love money, what it buys and allows them to do, and they will covet more and more of it and the things it buys. Their eyes and hearts will be focused upon money instead of God. They will indulge and hoard instead of meeting the desperate needs of the poor and lost of the world.

1 Timothy 6:10 HCSB
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
1 Timothy
James 5:3 HCSB
Your silver and gold are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You stored up treasure in the last days!

3) Boastful

1 Thessalonians–Philemon (King James Version) A. The Godless Marks of the Last Days, 3:1–9

braggarts, pretenders, vaunters, swaggerts. It is a person who …

• boasts in what he has

• pretends to have what he does not have or to do what he has not done

Bragging may involve a job, a deal, a possession, an achievement—anything that may impress others. It is a person who feels the need to push himself above others even if it involves pretension, deception, make believe, and lies.

The world is full of boasters and braggarts:

⇒ teachers who pretend to be wise

⇒ politicians who pretend to have the utopian state

⇒ business people who pretend to have the product that brings health, beauty, and happiness

⇒ religionists who pretend to have the revelation and gifts and to be more spiritual than others

Acts 8:9 HCSB
A man named Simon had previously practiced sorcery in that city and astounded the Samaritan people, while claiming to be somebody great.
Romans 1:28–30 HCSB
And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a worthless mind to do what is morally wrong. They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
2 Peter 2:18 HCSB
For by uttering boastful, empty words, they seduce, with fleshly desires and debauchery, people who have barely escaped from those who live in error.
Romans
2 Peter

4) Proud

1 Thessalonians–Philemon (King James Version) A. The Godless Marks of the Last Days, 3:1–9

self-exaltation, conceit, arrogance; being haughty; putting oneself above others and looking down upon others; scorn, and contempt. It means to show oneself; to lift one’s head above another; to hold contempt for another; to compare oneself with others. Pride can be hidden in the heart as well as openly displayed.

Very simply stated, the proud person feels that he is better than others. Note that this is a feeling within the heart. The proud person may appear quiet and humble, but within his heart he secretly feels better than others. God resists the proud.

I did right you did wrong
Luke 18:9–14 HCSB
He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else: “Two men went up to the temple complex to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee took his stand and was praying like this: ‘God, I thank You that I’m not like other people —greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’ “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, turn Your wrath from me —a sinner!’ I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other; because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Matthew 23:12 HCSB
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Matthew
Galatians 6:3 HCSB
For if anyone considers himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
Galatians

5) Blasphemers

1 Thessalonians–Philemon (King James Version) A. The Godless Marks of the Last Days, 3:1–9

the word means to slander, insult, rail, revile, reproach, curse. Blasphemy is usually thought to be against God, and it is. But it is also a sin against men. Men can blaspheme men. Think of the cursing and insults thrown against God and men today. Practically everyone is cursing and reviling someone: mothers, fathers, children, teachers, professionals, actors, comedians, politicians, even some professing religionists feel the need to occasionally curse in order to be acceptable.

Why is there so much cursing today? Because there is a loss of respect for both self and others, for both position and authority. People rail, revile, insult, reproach, and curse when they are disturbed within—when they sense dissatisfaction, disapproval, unacceptance, bitterness, emptiness, loneliness, and reaction within their heart. A disturbed and dissatisfied heart causes people to blaspheme God and man, including themselves (blaming and cursing themselves when they fail and come ever so short).

James 3:8–9 HCSB
but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. We praise our Lord and Father with it, and we curse men who are made in God’s likeness with it.
Ecclesiastes 7:22 HCSB
for you know that many times you yourself have cursed others.
James
Ecclesiastes 7:22 KJV 1900
For oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth that thou thyself likewise hast cursed others.
Exodus 7:22 HCSB
But the magicians of Egypt did the same thing by their occult practices. So Pharaoh’s heart hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

6) Disobedient to Parents

1 Thessalonians–Philemon (King James Version) A. The Godless Marks of the Last Days, 3:1–9

refusing to do what one’s parents say; rebelling against one’s parents; showing disrespect to parents; rejecting parental instruction; dishonoring parental example. If a child will not honor and respect his mother and father, who will he respect? If a child will mistreat his parents—those who are the closest to him—who else will he mistreat? If a child will not obey his parents, those who love and care for him most, who then will be obey? Parents are the ones who gave birth, loved and cared for the children of the world. If the children are not loyal to them, then the children will not be loyal to anyone. The home, society, and civilization will crumble.

Exodus 20:12 HCSB
Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
Deuteronomy 27:16 HCSB
‘The one who dishonors his father or mother is cursed.’ And all the people will say, ‘Amen!’
dt
Ex
Matthew 15:4 HCSB
For God said: Honor your father and your mother; and, The one who speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death.

7) Ungrateful

1 Thessalonians–Philemon (King James Version) A. The Godless Marks of the Last Days, 3:1–9

no sense of gratitude or appreciation for what one has and receives; no giving of thanks to God or man. Many persons feel that the world and society or business and government owe them the good things of life. They have little if any sense of debt to others. This is the reason many waste time on the job, do mediocre work, and feel little obligation to the world and society. They fail to see how privileged they are to be alive and to live in such a beautiful world and to have a job and friends and neighbors. They fail to see how good God has been to them, and how caring and responsible some people are. Therefore, they reach out to get more and more without sensing any need to express thanks and appreciation. They take and take and forget all about the thanksgiving—the debt and contribution—they owe to God and men.

Romans 1:21 HCSB
For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened.
This idea of General Revelation and knowing that God exist but failing to acknowledge and to admit it - this is foolishness

knowledge was discernible through creation, probably intuitively, and perhaps also as a result of contemplation of the created order. Such knowledge was clearly limited—it was not saving, and, as far as Paul was concerned, rendered humanity ‘without excuse’.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 HCSB
Give thanks in everything, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Psalm 100:4 HCSB
Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His name.

8) Unholy

1 Thessalonians–Philemon (King James Version) A. The Godless Marks of the Last Days, 3:1–9

profane, indecent, shameless, given over to the most base passions, being blind to modesty, decency, purity, and righteousness. The unholy person …

• is mastered by passion

• seeks constant gratification of the flesh

• senses little shame

• is blind to decency

• seeks his pleasure in the abnormal. (Just think of the abnormal sex that is flaunted today.)

2 Corinthians 7:1 HCSB
Therefore, dear friends, since we have such promises, let us cleanse ourselves from every impurity of the flesh and spirit, completing our sanctification in the fear of God.
2 Peter 3:11 HCSB
Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, it is clear what sort of people you should be in holy conduct and godliness
2 pt
2 cor

9) Unloving

1 Thessalonians–Philemon (King James Version) A. The Godless Marks of the Last Days, 3:1–9

abnormal affection and love; heartless, without human emotion or love; a lack of feeling for others; abuse of normal affection and love. Others become little more than pawns for a man’s own use and benefit, pleasure and purposes, excitement and stimulation.

Man has been created to be affectionate—to have affection for others. It is normal and natural for a person to have affection for his family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and to a certain extent for the stranger and fellow-citizens of the world. But in the end time, people will be so set on satisfying their flesh and pleasure that they will forget family, friends, and everything else. They will be so set on doing their own thing and so self-centered that they will have little affection for anyone or anything else.

⇒ There will be little affection for the normal and natural. People will turn to the abnormal and unnatural in relationships and behavior, pleasures and sex.

⇒ There will be little affection for the home. Home will be nothing more than a place to change clothes and sleep.

⇒ There will be little affection between husband and wife. A spouse will be little more than a person to help pay the bills and to keep up a front for social acceptance. Men and women will become unfaithful and perverted.

⇒ There will be little affection for friends, country, and earth. All will be abused and ignored, neglected and polluted. Selfishness will be the law of the last days.

⇒ There will be little affection for God and the church. God and church will be fitted in when they do not interfere with personal desires and pleasures, rest and recreation.

Mark 12:30–31 HCSB
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. “The second is: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other command greater than these.”
John 13:34–35 HCSB
“I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Romans 12:9–10 HCSB
Love must be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good. Show family affection to one another with brotherly love. Outdo one another in showing honor.
Rm 12:
Jn
1 John 3:23 HCSB
Now this is His command: that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another as He commanded us.

10) Irreconcilable

11) Slanderers

12) Without Self-Control

13) Brutal

14) Without Love for What is Good

15) Traitors

16) Reckless

17) Conceited

18) Lovers of Pleasure than Lovers of God

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