Overcoming The Dangers of the Last Days
(1) You should know this, Timothy, that in the *last days there will be **very difficult times.
• *last days:
o The phrase "the last days" is eschatais hemerais in the Greek. “eschatais” is where we get the word “Eschatology” (the study of prophecy). It normally refers to those days just prior to Christ's return.
o A New York Times book review began, "Some 50 million Americans share a belief that these are the last days."
o It would be tempting to get sidetracked into prophecy and lose our focus on 2 Timothy, but, if we look at 2 Timothy as a whole, Paul is specifically warning Timothy (and us) what is going to happen in “Christendom” as the time of the end approaches – false teachers, false religions imitating true Christianity, abandonment of the Bible as the source of truth. See 2 Timothy 4:3-4 below. Is this happening today? I remember taking the religion class at Butler University, which was a required class even for those of us majoring in chemistry. The professor, who was also an ordained minister of the so-called “Disciples of Christ Christian Church” tried to convince everyone that the Bible was just a collection of myths, that none of the miracles happened and even questioned whether Moses, David, Solomon or even Jesus were actual historical figures! What do they teach in the Methodist Church today – that Jesus was just a great man, like Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. That’s what was being taught in the Methodist Church I went to in the seventies, let alone now! How well 2 Timothy 4:3-4 applies today. Who are the most popular preachers today (Joel Olsteen) and the biggest churches – those preaching a false prosperity gospel.
o 2 Timothy 4:3-4: For A TIME IS COMING when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths.
o 1 Timothy 4:1: Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons.
• **very difficult times: perilous or menacing times. The word he uses for "difficult" (chalepos) is used only one other time in the New Testament (in Matthew 8:28) where it describes two demon-possessed men who were "exceedingly fierce," so that none could pass by them. So, the last days are going to be demon-possessed times. Were the Jewish leaders who had Jesus crucified demon possessed? Nero? Was Hitler demon possessed? Stalin? Mao Tse-Tung? Pol Pot? Arafat? Were the founders of Islam, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christian Science, Mormonism, etc. demon-possessed? Was Jim Jones of the Peoples Temple? Is Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran (Persia), demon-possessed? Is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (the “Supreme Leader” of Iran) demon-possessed? Osama bin Laden? We could go and on with others! The bloodiest century in the history of mankind is the 20th century with the two bloodiest and most horrific events: World War I (8.5 million) and II (61 million) where a total of 70 million humans died. This does not include the two holocausts that Joseph Stalin (1879-1953) and Mao Tse Tung committed. Joseph Stalin and Mao Tse-Tung together killed 120 million of their own citizens. This is more than the number of people who died in World War I & II combined. Counting the deaths of 120 million by these two evil dictators plus 70 million more deaths for both WW I and II, we have a staggering total of 190 million that died during the 20th century, not counting deaths resulting from the other wars of this century. Prophecy states that the two world leaders The Beast (political leader), and the False Prophet (religious leader), will both be possessed by Satan and by demons, and that the False Prophet will work miracles in the sight of men as proof of their authority. And the tragedy...MOST OF HUMANITY WILL EMBRACE THEM AS SAVIORS!
o Ephesians 6:12: For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
(2) FOR people will *love only themselves and their **money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred.
• *love only themselves - Greek philautos.
o Today, we have what is known as the "Me" society. The focus is all on "my" -- my rights, my needs, my views, is all we hear about on every side. The first question that is asked about anything is, "What am I going to get out of it?"
o Our society is heavily intoxicated with "love for self." The best-selling book of 1977 well illustrates this, “Looking Out for Number One”, by Robert Ringer.
o "It is no accident that the first of these qualities will be a life that is centered in self. Love of self is the basic sin, from which all others flow. The moment a man makes his own will the center of life, divine and human relationships are destroyed, obedience to God and charity to men both become impossible. The essence of Christianity is not the enthronement but the obliteration of self." (Barclay)
o “'Lovers of self' aptly heads the list since it is the essence of all sin and the root from which all the other characteristics spring. The word is literally 'self-lovers' and points to the fact that the center of gravity of the natural man is self rather than God." (Hiebert)
• **money: 1 Timothy 6:10: For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.
We have seen in the last decade an exponential growth of the false doctrine of “the prosperity gospel.” It’s all over the place...all over the place in the evangelical church! The two largest congregations of professing Christians in America today are both solidly committed to the prosperity gospel of health and wealth: ‘God doesn’t want you to be ever unhealthy, ever unhappy, ever unwealthy. If you only have enough faith, you’ll have everything you want.’ “Reverend” Robert Tilton advertises a book, “How to Be Rich and Have Everything You Ever Wanted.”
(3) They will be *unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have **no self-control. They will be ***cruel and ****hate what is good.
• *Unloving: “Without natural affection” in the KJV – Greek astergo. The acceptance of homosexuality today! This word literally means "without family affection" or "without love for kindred." It is frequently used of parent-child relationships. This is the sort of degradation that allows mothers to have abortions or to leave their babies in trash cans. Certainly, basic family love is lacking in our culture today. Every few months we hear of some woman who gives birth in secret, and throws the baby away, discarding it as something inconvenient.
The most common Greek words for “love” are eros, (physical love); phileo (emotional love) and agape (God love or self-sacrificing love). But there was another word for love. And that was stergo. And that was the love in the family, the love for your child, the love for your parents—stergo. Now in Greek, “a” is a negative prefix. You put “a” in front of stergo and you have astergo, which is without love, or without natural love. It all comes back to lovers of their own self. That self love, me-first love. Not willing to make a sacrifice, not willing to do without, in order that you might be able to provide for your children and all. “My marriage is all about me.” “My career is all about me.” “My “friendships” are all about me.” “Me first!”
• **no self-control: The story of no self-control can be written across almost everything today - sex, drugs, alcohol, food, work. “Sexual orientation” laws are the legal embodiment of the old ’60s slogan, “If it feels good, do it.” Over the past 90 years, a steady campaign has unfolded in this country and in Europe to overthrow Christian morals and self-control.
• ***cruel (brutal): The Greek word is anemeros. It’s usually used of a wild beast. Men will become like wild beasts—fierce. Cruelty and brutality are nothing new in the world; but Paul is saying that the last days will be marked by a particular brutality. Ask yourself: are men brutal in a special measure today? Is this an indication that we may be in the last days? Look at the “terrorists” – what is their goal? What are their methods?
• ****hate what is good: Greek – aphilagathos. The word means "not lovers of the good" or "not fond of goodness." Men will continue "to love darkness rather than light" and will despise all genuine good and this will become worse as we approach the end.
(4) They will betray their friends, be reckless, be *puffed up with pride, and **love pleasure rather than God.
• *puffed up with pride: The root word was used to describe being "filled with smoke," a very appropriate imagery for man's pride. The man who is "swollen with conceit" is really just "filled with smoke" for all his accomplishments will be reduced to nothing more than smoke and ashes one day. 2 Peter 3:10.
o John Lennon, the former Beatle, once stated, "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now." All that John Lennon ever accomplished will be turned into wisps of smoke (Malachi 4:1), but Christianity will continue to flourish until "…the earth will be filled with an awareness of the glory of the Lord." Habakkuk 2:14.
• **love pleasure rather than God: This is the key to the problem.
(5) They will *act religious, but they will reject the **power that could make them godly. ***Stay away from people like that!
• In other words, Paul says that the primary cause of these repetitive cycles of stress and danger is the hypocritical lives of Christians who outwardly look pious, religious, committed and devoted, but are actually unchanged inside. Hypocritical Christianity -- that is the bottom line in these times of stress.
• *act religious:
o Here is a great group, which Scripture faces, of those who are not saved but think they are. That is the group that is being confronted in this passage. Jesus said, "Many shall come to me in that day and say 'Lord, Lord, have we not done many mighty works in your name, and cast out devils in your name, and preached in your name?' And I shall say to them, 'Depart from me, I never knew you.'" (Matthew 7:22-23).
o There is a phony "folk Christianity" around today that will enable you to apparently escape all these persecutions. In every church there are people who are trying to put on a Christian front. Paul described them as, "having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof," in the KJV. They act like Christians, they read the Book, and sing the hymns, but they have no reality of Christ in their lives. That kind of Christianity does escape a lot of persecution because it never stands for anything. But, in the end, it perishes along with the world; it is destroyed in the judgments of God.
o Titus 1:16: Such people claim they know God, but they deny him by the way they live. They are detestable and disobedient, worthless for doing anything good.
o Jude 1:12: they are like dangerous reefs that can shipwreck you. They are like shameless shepherds who care only for themselves. They are like clouds blowing over the land without giving any rain. They are like trees in autumn that are doubly dead, for they bear no fruit and have been pulled up by the roots.
• **power: 1 Corinthians 1:18: The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.
• ***Stay away: Today, people who do the things on this list are not only common in our society, they are our cultural heroes. The simple responsibility of Christians is to turn away not only from these attitudes, but also from the people who do these things. Many think it is enough if they themselves are not like this, and give little heed to the company they keep. But if we spend time with people like this - either personally or by allowing us to entertain us - they will "rub off" on us. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:33, “bad company corrupts good character.”
There is a story of John the Apostle, who, when he found himself in the bath-house in a city in Asia Minor, and he heard that the false teacher, Cerinthus, was also in that same bath-house, he fled from the bath-house saying, “Surely the roof will come in because of this heretic Cerinthus here!” He avoided him! And we need to avoid false teachers.
6) They are the kind who work their way into people’s homes and *win the confidence of **vulnerable women who are burdened with the guilt of sin and controlled by various desires.
• *win the confidence: Greek take captive.
• **vulnerable women: Literally, “little women”, a contemptuous term indicating feebleness of character, as contrasted with Timothy’s mother and grandmother.
(7) (Such women are forever following new teachings, but they are never able to understand the truth.)
(8) These teachers oppose the truth just as *Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses. They have depraved minds and a counterfeit faith.
• *Exodus 7:11: Then Pharaoh called in his own wise men and sorcerers, and these Egyptian magicians did the same thing with their magic. The magicians were allowed to imitate Moses up to a point and then God stopped them.
• There are many counterfeit Christians who pretend to know the Lord, but lack genuine saving faith. Even the best counterfeit faith that comes close to resembling the kind of faith that justifies one before God is inadequate for getting someone into heaven. Imposters are eventually exposed because their faith does not produce good fruit. Paul talks about the type of faith that is based on good deeds. When writing to the Ephesians, Paul makes it clear that a faith that relies on good deeds is inadequate to meet God’s standards. (Ephesians 2:8-9) Another type of counterfeit faith believes in right doctrine but not in redemption through Christ’s righteousness alone. Many denominations teach the necessity of faith plus additional requirements for salvation. Some people have an intellectual understanding of correct Biblical doctrine, but they may lack a conviction that brings one justification through Christ’s atoning blood. Everything God does, the devil tries to counterfeit. The devil's counterfeit looks like the real thing.
• We live amidst false teachers who propagate all kinds of counterfeit "Christian" ideologies, philosophies, and worldly false religions, every "ism" and "wasm" imaginable!
• Simon the Sorcerer was one such false teacher mentioned early in the Scriptures. After his baptism by Philip, Simon attempted to buy the office of apostle from Peter, hoping to obtain the power to grant others the Holy Spirit. Motivated by his greed for wealth, power and influence, he faked conversion to appear Christian (Acts 8:9-23). Later historical sources indicate that he blended various philosophical elements of paganism, humanism, mysticism and gnosticism into a counterfeit-Christian theology of humanism and psychology.
• In the third century, Constantine, came to power. He successfully molded ancient Roman political and pagan doctrine with Christianity to form a new universal Roman controlled religious. The early Roman church under the auspices of the Roman government eventually sold indulgences to the wealth oriented, materialistic class of merchants, businessmen, politicians etc. They were to give a certain portion of their income, or profits, to the church in exchange for the church's blessing and "seal of approval" upon their worldly business, their political ambitions and upon all their other worldly, personal endeavors. In those early centuries the counterfeit Christianity that the apostles of Jesus Christ had fought so hard to contain grew in size and popularity. Historians still marvel at the brilliance with which Constantine converted the sun-worshipping pagans to Christianity. By fusing pagan symbols, dates, and rituals into the growing Christian tradition, he created a kind of hybrid religion that was acceptable to both parties. Egyptian sun disks became the halos of Catholic saints. Pictograms of Isis nursing her miraculously conceived son Horus became the blueprint for our modern images of the Virgin Mary nursing Baby Jesus. And virtually all the elements of the Catholic ritual---the miter, the altar, the doxology, and the communion were taken directly from earlier pagan mystery religions. Some of the old heathen feasts became church festivals with change of name and of worship. About 405 AD, images of saints and martyrs began to appear in the churches, at first as memorials, then in succession revered, adored and worshiped. The adoration of the Virgin Mary was substituted for the worship of Venus and Diana; the Lord’s Supper became a sacrifice in place of a memorial; and the elder evolved from a preacher into a priest. The church and the state became one when Christianity was adopted as the religion of the empire, and out of the unnatural union arose two evils, one in the eastern, the other in the western provinces. In the east the state dominated the church until it lost all energy and uplifting life. In the west, the church gradually usurped power over the state, and the result was not Christianity but a more or less corrupt hierarchy controlling the nations of Europe, making the church mainly a political machine.
• Although Alexander Hislop, author of “The Two Babylons” carefully pointed out---with much historical documentation---that the modern Roman Catholic Church is a continuation of the ancient Babylonian mystery system, and that its religious festivals and most of its practices were drawn directly from the Babylonian religion and its priesthood.
• “It has been known all along that Popery was baptized Paganism; but God is now making it manifest, that the Paganism which Rome has baptized is, in all its essential elements, the very Paganism which prevailed in the ancient literal Babylon, when Jehovah opened before Cyrus the two-leaved gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron.... Her judgment is now evidently hastening on; and just as it approaches, the Providence of God, conspiring with the Word of God, by light pouring in from all quarters, makes it more and more evident that Rome is in very deed the Babylon of the Apocalypse; that the essential character of her system, the grand objects of her worship, her festivals, her doctrine and discipline, her rites and ceremonies, her priesthood and their orders, have all been derived from ancient Babylon; and, finally, that the Pope himself is truly and properly the lineal representative of Belshazzar. In the warfare that has been waged against the domineering pretensions of Rome, it has too often been counted enough merely to meet and set aside her presumptuous boast, that she is the mother and mistress of all churches----the one Catholic Church, out of whose pale there is no salvation. If ever there was excuse for such a mode of dealing with her, that excuse will hold no longer. If the position I have laid down can be maintained, she must be stripped of the name of a Christian Church altogether; for if it was a Church of Christ that was convened on that night, when the pontiff-king of Babylon, in the midst of his thousand lords, ‘praised the gods of gold, and of silver, and of wood, and of stone’ (Daniel 5:4), then the Church of Rome is entitled to the name of a Christian Church; but not otherwise. This to some, no doubt, will appear a very startling position; but it is one which it is the object of this work to establish; and let the reader judge for himself, whether I do not bring ample evidence to substantiate my position” (Hislop, pp. 2–3).
• Later, Hislop describes how the Catholic “confessional” was borrowed from paganism, giving priests greater authority over the lay members. He explains that the pagan festivals of Christmas and Easter were introduced into “Christianity” centuries after Christ revealed the full Truth to His apostles. “Indeed,” Hislop writes, “it is admitted by the most learned and candid writers of all parties that the day of our Lord’s birth cannot be determined, and that within the Christian Church no such festival as Christmas was ever heard of till the third century, and that not till the fourth century was far advanced did it gain much observance. How, then, did the Roman Church fix on December the 25th as Christmas-day? Why, thus: Long before the fourth century, and long before the Christian era itself, a festival was celebrated among the heathen, at that precise time of the year, in honor of the birth of the son of the Babylonian queen of heaven; and it may fairly be presumed that, in order to conciliate the heathen, and to swell the number of the nominal adherents of Christianity, the same festival was adopted by the Roman Church, giving it only the name of Christ. This tendency on the part of Christians to meet Paganism half-way was very early developed” (ibid., pp. 92–93).
• Jesus condemned the religious leaders of His day for their hypocrisy. Those ecclesiastical figures made a pretense of being godly, yet refused to follow the spiritual intent of God’s law. Jesus attributed to them Satan’s own character, using the analogy that since their father was Satan, they could only behave “like father, like son.” The Devil lies and murders, so who should be surprised if the Devil’s children do the same, preaching a perverted gospel of deception and falsehood?
• James 2:17: So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.
• Matthew 23:28: Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.
(9) BUT they won’t get away with this for long. Someday everyone will recognize what fools they are, just as with Jannes and Jambres.
(10) BUT YOU, Timothy, certainly know what I teach, and how I live, and what my purpose in life is. You know my faith, my patience, my love, and my endurance.
• Timothy has followed a markedly different path than the pious counterfeits described in verses 5-9.
• Paul saw Jesus as his own personal Savior Who forgave him his sins, who picked him up when he was discouraged, who stood by him in times of pressure. He saw Jesus as his Companion, as his dearest Friend who never left him. That is the secret of standing today. Christianity was never intended to be merely a creed that you believe, or certain doctrines that you subscribe to. Christianity is a Person whom you know, whom you live with, rely upon and walk with day-by-day.
• Paul was consumed by his purpose in life and kept his eyes riveted upon that great eternal goal - ". . . that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings. . . " Philippians 3:7-14 (KJV).
• In Acts 14:12 and many other passages, the Apostle Paul indicated his purpose: He was determined to take the gospel as far as the Lord would let him take it. He wanted to see Gentiles converted. He wanted to see Jews converted. He was ready to lay down his life so that people would come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. In fact, he said, ‘Lord, if You would save all of Your ancient people—my kinsmen in the flesh, the children of Israel—if You would bring all of them savingly to Christ, I would be personally willing to be damned, if You would just bring them to Jesus Christ.’ And the Apostle Paul is saying, ‘Timothy, you followed me in that purpose. I see it in your heart; I see it in your life.’
• So, how are we to live in such a day? 2 Corinthians 5:9: So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him.
o Everything Paul did in life was done with the understanding that it would either please the Lord Jesus or it would result in grief of heart to him. That was Paul's guiding light. When you’re 80 years old (if you live that long) and you look back on your life, what will you see? What are your goals in life?
(11) You know how much persecution and suffering I have endured. You know all about how I was persecuted in Antioch, Iconium, and *Lystra—but the Lord rescued me from all of it.
• *Lystra is where Paul met Timothy. Acts 14:5-7, 19-20: Then a mob of Gentiles and Jews, along with their leaders, decided to attack and stone them. When the apostles learned of it, they fled to the region of Lycaonia—to the towns of Lystra and Derbe and the surrounding area. And there they preached the Good News. … Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowds to their side. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of town, thinking he was dead. But as the believers gathered around him, he got up and went back into the town. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.
Paul reminds Timothy of the specific occasions of persecution which he endured: at Antioch, where Paul was kicked out of the city for preaching the gospel (Acts 13:50), at Iconium, where Paul was almost executed by stoning (Acts 14:5) and at Lystra, where they actually did stone Paul and left him for dead (Acts 14:19).
• Acts 9:16: And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake.”
• Galatians 6:17: From now on, don’t let anyone trouble me with these things. For I bear on my body the scars that show I belong to Jesus.
(12) Yes, and everyone who *wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
• *wants: “is determined” – Weymouth
• More Christians have been put to death for Christ's sake in this century than in any other century since the very beginning.
• 1 Peter 4:4: Of course, your former friends are surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do. So they slander you.
(13) But evil people and *impostors will flourish. They will **deceive others and will themselves be deceived.
• *imposters: The word for "imposters" (goes) is significant in this context. It is found only here in the New Testament and is used for "magicians, enchanters, swindlers or jugglers." These men will be out to deceive by whatever trick or sleight of hand it takes to "deceive the hearts of the simple."
• **deception is one of the marks of the end times.
(14) BUT YOU must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you.
(15) You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus.
• The effect of the Scriptures is to save us, to transform us, to keep us from the downhill slide that is evident in every life not in touch with the Word of God. Everybody starts out life with certain hopes, dreams and ideals, but unless he has the guiding of the Scriptures, inevitably he will find himself not moving toward, but away from the high ideals with which he began. But Timothy had, and it was transforming him, delivering him, saving him.
• It was not, of course, the Scripture that saved him. The Bible itself does not save anybody, but the Scriptures are able to bring us to faith in Christ Jesus. He is the one who saves us. The Jesus who saves is the Jesus who is revealed only in the Bible. The only way we can come to know this Redeemer, this Savior of men, this One who can deliver us from the bondage of our own selfishness, is revealed in the pages of the Scriptures. That is the uniqueness of the Bible. In it, you will find revealed a Person, and he will become even more real to you than the Book itself. That is the wonder and the glory of the Scriptures.
• Paul is calling on Timothy to live by the Book.
(16) ALL Scripture is *inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.
• *inspired: Greek – theopneustos = God-breathed.
o Just as God breathed into the dust of the ground and made it be a living, vital person, so he breathed into the words of men the Spirit of vitality and life. So these words have a unique quality about them: Whenever a heart is touched by them, it moves toward life. That is the quality of the Word of God. Theopneustos is a combination of theos, meaning God, and pneō, meaning "to breathe or blow." Ancient Greek writers used this word to describe wisdom, dreams or speech that came from the gods.
o God breathed into the nostrils of Adam the breath of life Genesis 2:7 and Jesus breathed on his disciples, and said, " Receive the Holy Spirit;" John 20:22. The idea seems to have been, that the life was in the breath, and that an intelligent spirit was communicated with the breath.
o Psalm 33:6: The Lord merely spoke, and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born.
o Genesis 2:7: Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.
• There are at least 332 distinct Old Testament predictions regarding the Messiah which Jesus fulfilled perfectly (such as His birth in Bethlehem, His emergence from Egypt, His healing of the sick, His death on the cross, and so forth). Professor Peter Stoner has calculated that the probability of any one man fulfilling eight of these prophesies is one in 100,000,000,000,000,000 (10 to the 17th power).
• This is Paul’s answer to the perilous times of the “last days.” People need the Word of God. They need the Scripture which is inspired by God.
• Our Bible is composed of 66 books, by about 40 different writers of various backgrounds, living during a period of about 1,600 years -- yet they present one message. Such a miracle can only be explained by there being one divine Author, who was in control of all these human writers. The Bible writers came from many walks of life, including kings, peasants, philosophers, fishermen, herdsmen, poets, statesmen, scholars, soldiers, priests, prophets, a tax collector, a tent-making rabbi, and a Gentile doctor. The Bible was written in three different languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.
• The French philosopher Voltaire boasted that within 100 years of his death, the Bible would disappear from the face of the earth. Voltaire died in 1728, but the Bible lives on.
• Matthew 10:20: For it is not you who will be speaking—it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
• John 5:39: “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!
• Luke 24:27: Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
• 2 Peter 1:20-21: Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.
• James 1:18: He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.
• 1 Thessalonians 2:13: Therefore, we never stop thanking God that when you received his message from us, you didn’t think of our words as mere human ideas. You accepted what we said as the very word of God—which, of course, it is. And this word continues to work in you who believe.
• Hebrews 1:1: Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets.
(17) God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
• Romans 15:4: Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.
• The truth of the Bible leads to life, not death. Anybody who believes that truth, and acts on it, will become enriched. Life becomes peaceful, calm, and joyful even in the midst of trouble. The Bible invariably imparts an inner strengthening to those who live by it.
• Everyone wants to be a "whole" person, healed of all his inner conflicts, able to cope, able to handle life. That is exactly what this Book is provided for. It is the Book that goes with man. It is the instruction Book that will work out all your kinks and quirks, and enable you to be a whole person as God intended you to be, through faith in the Lord Jesus whom the Book reveals.
• One of the characteristics of the last days will be a turning away from God’s Word and replacing it with “vain philosophy”.
• We now see the intended purpose of the word of God for the man of God. It is to "fully equip" him for his tour of duty as a "good soldier of Jesus Christ."
• God gives to us through the Word, guidance for life. It furnishes us to deal with the issues of life. Only the Word of God can feed the spirit.
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NOTE:
Unless otherwise noted, the scripture version used is the New Living Translation.
Sources and References are on-line at:
http://2timothy-study.blogspot.com/2011/03/2-timothy-references.html
