Sermon Tone Analysis

Difficult Times in the Last Days

2

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

(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).

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:

1) Lovers of Self

1) Lovers of Self

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:-

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

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

3) Boastful

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

Romans

2 Peter

4) Proud

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

Matthew

Galatians

5) Blasphemers

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.