A Portrait of Difficult Days
By Jeff Cranston
As America progressively loses its Judeo-Christian heritage, paganism is growing bolder. Difficult times are coming, and we should not be naive about it. However, if we know what is going to happen, we won’t be surprised when it does [1]. In 2 Timothy 3, the apostle Paul paints a picture for us of what the Last Days will look like.
REALIZE the times in which we live.
“But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God … ” – 2 Timothy 3:1-4
In these verses, Paul is saying that in the last days people will be:
1. Self-centered: lovers of self
2. Self-serving: lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving and irreconcilable
3. Self-gratifying: malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless and lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.
RECOGNIZE the times in which we live.
“ … holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.” – 2 Timothy 5-9
Now Paul tells Timothy to recognize those who give the Christian faith and Jesus nothing but lip service. Their lives and actions do not match their words. They only possess a form of godliness, but in actual fact, they live and act as unbelievers and thereby deny God’s power in their lives. They speak well of God and yet immerse themselves in sin—and they see nothing wrong with that arrangement.
People like that are dangerous and destructive. That’s why Paul warns, at the end of verse five, “Avoid such men as these.” Why? Because they “enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:6-7).
What does he mean by this? He’s reminding us of false teachers again. They sneak in like weasels, undetected and without anyone’s knowledge. And then they begin their damage. Like squirrels in the attic, you don’t know about it until the damage has been done. That’s the idea here.
When Paul says “women” in this passage, it’s not the usual New Testament word for women; in fact, this is the only time in the New Testament this word is used. It points us to other words: weak, silly, little, and vulnerable. Paul is not saying this about every woman, of course, only those who are being misled by false teachers.
When Paul says, “weighed down with sins,” he doesn’t describe what these sins are, but they include the sensual kind. I think the point we can make here is that whenever we are weighed down by the guilt of our sin, we will grasp at anything—false teaching or false doctrine—that will offer us a way of relief, rather than seek out the scripture’s teaching and then cry out to God in repentance.
And men, we’re not off the hook because Pausl now turns his thoughts to depraved men. He’s still talking about false teachers, and he compares them to Jannes and Jambres, two wicked Egyptian magicians who stood in opposition to Moses and Aaron in Exodus 7 and 8. Paul is referencing Jewish tradition here because their names appear nowhere in the Old Testament. But, the point is, as Pharaoh’s magicians opposed God’s saving work then, gospel opponents “oppose the truth” now. This leads men to a depraved mind, where anything but God goes, and others are destroyed in the meantime. Paul says, don’t you worry though: Their folly will one day be exposed—it will “be obvious to all.”
RESPOND to the times in which we live.
So, how do we respond? We:
1. Stay godly.
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! Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. – 2 Timothy 3:10-13
2. Let your life be an open book for everyone to read.
We have to say like Jesus said: “… in secret have I said nothing” (John 18:20). Timothy knew Paul well and had known him for quite a few years. Paul lived his life openly and productively, not hiding behind anything. Our lives are to be lived the same way. Paul lived his life so boldly open that he lists off characteristics that he wanted Timothy to emulate.
3. Practice what you preach.
Timothy was quickly able to recall that the great apostle had been driven out of Antioch and Iconium and how he had been stoned and left for dead in Lystra. He would also recall God’s faithfulness and how the Lord had rescued Paul from all of these things.
Paul also reminds us that “all of us who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” He is saying, “If it happened to me, it will happen to you, and remember how God was faithful to me through what all I endured and find comfort and hope in that.” And then, Paul seems to intimate, that if you think it’s bad now, just wait! “Evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
But stay true to the Word, stay true to God, and let your behavior back up your belief.
4. Stay focused.
“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. 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.” – 2 Timothy 3:14-17
Stay focused on the scriptures. We have here four reasons why we should make scripture an integral and crucial part of our daily lives. Let’s look:
Teaching — How are we to know God except for the Bible? Archibald Alexander, an early 19th-century theologian who taught at Princeton, wrote, “Theology is the study of God. It is the inquiry of God. It is the searching and understanding of God and the meaning of His word, His truth and His revelation. It is the activity of thinking: thinking about God and asking ultimate questions.”[2]
One pastor writes, “What you believe about God’s nature—what he is like, what he wants from you, and whether or not you will answer to him—affects every part of your life. Theology matters, because if we get it wrong, then our whole life will be wrong.”[3] The Bible teaches us what we need to know.
Reproof — This word has a negative connotation, but it shouldn’t. It’s necessary for us. It leads us to biblical convictions which result in strong evidence. The Bible corrects heresy. It corrects our misconceptions of God. Reproof is like a warning label on medication, that if taken wrongly, will do more harm than good. The Bible warns us against eating and swallowing false and heretical teaching which will prove deadly to our souls.
Correction — We all know what this is. Biblically this means to set something straight again; to take something that was crooked and make it straight. When we accept the Bible’s teaching and reproof, we’ll find that our lives will begin to straighten out.
Training in righteousness — “Training” carries the idea of tutoring or educating someone by training. The Bible trains us in the right way to live. “Righteousness” means your Christian conduct in your everyday life. This particular word also carries with it the ideas of kindness and graciousness.
The Bible aligns our beliefs and our behavior. Because of it, we can believe what is true and pure and honorable and right. We will believe the right things in the right ways. Where does its power originate? Paul tells us that, too. “All Scripture is inspired by God … ” Literally, that means that all scripture is God-breathed. God has given His people a Book they can and must trust in. All we need is the word of Jesus Christ on this matter, when He said, “Your Word is truth” (John 17:17).
I believe the Bible is the Word of God. LCC believes the Bible is the Word of God. We believe the Bible is the Word of God, and we are going to stand upon it. We have staked our lives upon that fact. This doctrine is the foundation of everything else we believe, and if the foundation is strong, you can build a house that will stand during the storm while other houses are blown away by the howling winds of unbelief.
Jeff Cranston is the lead pastor of LowCountry Community Church in Bluffton, South Carolina.
[1] Perilous Times. A sermon by Ray Pritchard. Accessed 21 July 2021.
[2] Accessed 21 July 2021. https://gracequotes.org/topic/theology-general/
[3] Josh Harris. Source unknown. Accessed 21 July 2021. https://gracequotes.org/topic/theology-general/