2 Timothy 3

Have you ever noticed that there are certain Bible verses which people tend to like to put on their walls or refrigerator? Usually they pick inspiring verses about God’s love for us, and His grace He pours on us. Others pick verses about God’s plans to prosper us.

Today we’re looking at some verses, which fall more on the other end of the spectrum. While God does have plans to prosper us, and His love does endure forever, the harsh reality is that so long as we’re in a fallen world, life will be hard.

In 2 Timothy 3, Paul describes just how harsh things are going to be.

TERRIBLE TIMES

1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

As a warning these verses would be terrifying by themselves. Unfortunately, as you read these verses it sounds exactly like the world we live.

• People will be lovers of themselves,
• Lovers of money,
• Boastful,
• Proud,
• Abusive,
• Disobedient to their parents,
• Ungrateful,
• Unholy,
• Without love,
• Unforgiving,
• Slanderous,
• Without self-control,
• Brutal,
• Not lovers of the good,
• Treacherous,
• Rash,
• Conceited,
• Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
• Having a form of godliness but denying its power

That’s a perfect description of our world! All of us could easily give examples of each of those.

Unfortunately he doesn’t end there. There’s more bad news.

YOU WILL FACE PERSECUTION

10 You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

One of the stated promises in scripture is, “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” You don’t see that on a lot of refrigerators. You don’t see that verse on many t-shirts.

But if you’ve spent any time following Christ, you know it’s true.

You can quickly look at a few examples of celebrities who have made Christian statements. They’re quickly dragged over the coals. This last December Candace Cameron Burre (she was on the TV show FULL HOUSE), stated in an interview that she submits to her husband in accordance with Ephesians 5. Immediately countless blogs and websites started to heavily criticize her words as setting women back. One national publication claimed she set women back roughly 1,000,000,000 years!

You don’t have to look very hard to realize that we live in a culture, which is hostile to TRUTH.

While up to this point this chapter has been a bit of a downer, it ends with hope. God gave us something to prepare us for what’s to come.

HOW DO WE ENDURE

14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

God has given us something, which equips us for EVERY GOOD WORK.

In troubled times...

In persecution…

In the good…

In the bad…

You can be prepared for every good work God has called you to do because we have His Word. We don’t have to guess about what we should be doing or how we should be living. We don’t have to wonder about God’s character. God has revealed Himself to us through His Word.

The strange thing is that God has revealed Himself to us, but far too often we ignore the book where He did so.

Occasionally I play video games. Personally I don’t like any game where I have to guess what I’m supposed to do next. Trial and error video games aren’t even remotely interesting to me. The great thing about being alive in the 21st century is that we have the internet. With a quick Google search you can find multiple guides on how to play through ANY game. All of the trial and error I hate about some games is removed. You can just have fun playing your favorite game. Sometimes things are challenging, but you know what you’re supposed to do.

God has given us a guide, which tells us how to live this life. We don’t have to guess as to what right and wrong is. We don’t have to do trial and error to discover what satisfies. The creator of this universe has revealed Himself and His plan for His creation.

In these troubled times, it is more important than ever that we turn to His Word and submit to His guidance.

Sean Chandler | Associate Pastor

Sean has been a part of the association of Hill Country Bible Churches for over twenty years. He received Christ as a youth while attending Hill Country Bible Church Austin. He attended Hill Country Bible Church NW from 1989 to 2002. At that time he began attending HCBC Pflugerville. He served as a student ministry intern there for two years. In 2008, Sean graduated from Columbia International University with a double major in Bible and Bible teaching. Sean married his wife, Jennifer, in 2006. Their first child, Liam, was born in 2012, and their second, Chloe, was born in 2014.

He blogs regularly at seanchandler.net.