(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Now, in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 1, the Bible reads, This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come. And of course, we're living in the last days and so a lot of the things in this chapter are very applicable today and even more applicable than they have ever been as we see the day approaching. Now, this morning's sermon is going to be a little bit more like a Wednesday night in the sense that I'm going to preach through this chapter. So for some of you Sunday morning glories, this will be your chance to see what a Wednesday night sermon feels like. But it says in verse 1, This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come. And the word perilous means dangerous. Peril is danger. He's saying these are going to be dangerous times to be living in. And he gives the reason why in verse 2, he says, For, because, men shall be lovers of their own selves. Then he begins to describe what that looks like, somebody who just loves their own self. Covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. Now let's look at the first few things on that list. It says, men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters. Now I find that those two things always go hand in hand, covetous and boaster. Why? Because covetous people are people who are desirous of material goods. They're materialistic. They want to have a new truck. They want to have a new car, a better house. They want fancy clothes. They want all the latest gadgets. And people that are covetous are never satisfied or content with such things as they have, but they're always just looking for more wealth, more material goods. But you'll notice that people who are very wrapped up in material goods and getting wealth and spending a lot of money are the same people who like to brag a lot about the material goods that they do have. Now they're not satisfied with what they have, but it almost seems like they're trying to tell themselves that it's enough. So they brag to you about the motorcycle and their truck and their hot rod and the RV and the summer home and they brag about it and they tell you about it all the time and it's just like, it gets annoying listening to people just brag about how much wealth they have, but then these same people are never satisfied with it. They always wish they had something else. They want to have a little more. The Bible says that a person who's like that is one that loves themself. It's a sinful attitude. The Bible says covetousness is idolatry. The Bible says that we don't even want covetous people in our church because in 1 Corinthians 5, he lists that along with fornication as being someone to just put away from among yourselves, not to even eat with somebody like that because it's such a bad influence on you, this spirit of covetousness and boasting about your wealth. Have not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he had promised to them that love him, but you've despised the poor? Do not rich men oppress you and draw you before the judgment seat? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? Look, the Bible tells us we should not be like the world where we exalt the rich and look down upon the poor. That is an ungodly philosophy. It's a covetous boasting philosophy that has the love of money at its core and the love of money is the root of all evil. So he said that it'll be perilous times because men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous boasters, proud, blasphemers. Now what is proud? What is pride? Well, pride is the opposite of humility. Someone who's proud thinks very highly of themself as opposed to someone who is humble who gives God all the glory, who does not believe or think more highly of themself than they ought to think, but rather they realize that by the grace of God they are what they are and that God can take them down at any time he wants to. Okay, so those that are proud are blasphemers. Why? Because when you're proud, you don't need God. The Bible even said, and this ties in with covetous boasters, the Bible said in Proverbs chapter 30, two things have I required of thee, deny me them not before I die, remove far from me vanity and lies, give me neither poverty nor riches, lest I be full and deny thee and say, who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and steal and take the name of my God in vain. So the Bible warns us that when people become rich, it says, who is the Lord attitude? Like they don't need God. They get a little too big for their britches and people that are proud and they think very highly of themself are not afraid to speak evil of dignities and they're especially not afraid to blaspheme God because they don't think that God has played any role in their success in life. You know, you talk to a lot of self-made men, a lot of wealthy men, and they feel that they've pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps and done everything themselves, but the Bible says in Deuteronomy 11 that God is the one who gives you the power to get wealth. And we need to understand that everything that we have in this life is by the grace of God. Those that are proud, blasphemers. The Bible is warning us today that are living in the last days that these are the type of people that we're going to be around. We need to be careful that these people do not influence us and rub off on us. We need to avoid the sin of covetousness, boasting, pride, blaspheming. You say, what does it mean to be blasphemous? Well first of all, blasphemous could just be taking the name of the Lord God in vain. Saying things like, oh my God, or Jesus Christ as a cuss word, right? I mean that's obviously blasphemous because blasphemous is when we treat that which is holy as unholy. Or when we drag God down to our level. Or when we make light of spiritual things. Or speak ill of the Father, the Son, or the Holy Ghost. Or throw their name around, or not treat it with proper respect. And it's almost universal today, people taking God's name in vain. And by the way, the word God, that's His name also. Study your Bible. Saying oh my God is taking God's name in vain. Blaspheming Jesus, when you're not talking to Jesus or about Jesus, is not showing proper respect to that name. You're being blasphemous of God's name. You know, I feel that it's blasphemous today. A lot of what we see today in the evangelical movement, for example, a t-shirt of a long-haired hippie that's called Jesus, when the Bible says it's a shame for a man to have long hair. But a long-haired hippie looking guy, and it says, you know, this blood's for you. And it's an evangelical t-shirt. Or a Starbucks logo. And instead of that topless chick with the hair hanging down, it's Jesus with a crown of thorns, Starbucks. And it says, you know, I don't know what the slogan on that was. But that kind of stuff is blasphemous. We need to be so respectful and have so much reverence for God and for the Lord Jesus Christ, that we wouldn't just use His image in some kind of a joke, or some kind of a funny little logo. Say, well, it's a way to get the Gospel. Nobody's going to get saved because of that t-shirt. You know what? Sometimes when you take your Bible and open your mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the Gospel, I don't think Peter, James, and John walked into the temple wearing some kind of an evangelical t-shirt. They walked in with the Word of God in their mouth and the Spirit of God dwelling inside them. And they opened their mouth boldly. They preached the Gospel to every creature. That's what gets people saved. And, you know, a lot of times wearing a t-shirt or putting on a bumper sticker becomes a cop-out, where somebody just feels like they're evangelizing. But they've never really given the Gospel to anybody. It's the Word of God that saves. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. It doesn't come by seeing and seeing by a t-shirt. It comes by hearing the Word of God. We need to be careful that we don't just wear a t-shirt and feel like, well, I've done my duty today. I represented Christ today. I witnessed for the Lord today because I wore a shirt. No, you didn't witness for the Lord unless you opened your mouth and a Bible verse came out. That's when you witnessed for the Lord. That's when you gave the Gospel. So this is something that today permeates our society. Blasphemy. You know, you watch TV and it's filled with blasphemy. That's why you shouldn't watch TV. You know, shows like, and I haven't seen these shows, but people are constantly feeding me material for my sermons, you know. But you know, shows like South Park, right, it's a cartoon. And I've heard that it's a very blasphemous cartoon, makes a lot of mockery of Jesus, makes a lot of mockery of church and the things of God. I'm sure a lot of other cartoons do the same thing. Whenever they go to church, there's probably just a mockery or a joke being made. Whenever any sitcom characters or cartoon characters go to church, it's probably never a faithful word Baptist-type church that they go to, you know what I mean? It's probably something that's more of a joke, okay. But it says here, blasphemers, disobedient to parents. Now you say, well, what's that doing on this list? You know, this is some pretty bad stuff. I mean, covetous boasters, blasphemers, without natural affection, fierce despisers of those that are good. And you're like, what in the world is disobedient to parents? But you know what? This is a pretty serious commandment. I mean, it's one of the Ten Commandments, honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise that it may be well with thee and thy days may be long in the earth, meaning that it's not going to be well with you and your days are not going to be long if you don't honor your father and mother. Then obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. And you know, this is a serious sin and you need to understand, children, that God has ordained your parents as an authority figure in your life and to disobey your parents is to disobey God. I'm not saying that your parents are God, but I'm saying if you disobey your parents, you're disobeying God. And that's how you need to look at it, because if God commanded you to obey them and you disobey them, you're disobeying God. You're committing sin. Very major sin to disobey parents. Of course we see today children who have a lack of respect for their parents. They mouth off to them, they noodle neck them, they give them attitude, and they talk back and they don't show proper respect for their parents. It says, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. We'll come back to unthankful. It says in verse 3, without natural affection. Now I think that this is best evidenced today with abortion, because natural affection just means that there's just a natural love that you would have for, say, your own child or for, say, your own parents or for your brothers and sisters, just a natural affinity and affection that would be there. The Bible says without natural affection, I mean a mother who would kill her own child is without natural affection. By the way, 25% of the women in the United States have had an abortion. That's a statistic I read. One out of four will kill their own child. So this is the world we're living in where people are without natural affection. Truce breakers. Truce breakers are those who basically make an agreement or they settle peace with someone and then they go and stab that person in the back. Then he says this, false accusers, incontinent. What does incontinent mean? Incontinent comes from the word contain. To be able to contain yourself. The Bible says, for example, in 1 Corinthians 7, if they cannot contain, then let them marry for it is better to marry than to burn. And he also talked about how married couples should be certain to have a physical relationship with each other regularly lest Satan tempt you for your incontinence. So incontinent are basically people who cannot contain themselves. They cannot control themselves and they live a life of lust and fornication and adultery. They cannot restrain themselves from those lusts and hold back from committing those type of sins. He says incontinent, fierce. What does fierce mean? Fierce is someone who is violent. Someone who is just vicious in their attacks on others. And then the last one in verse 3 there is despisers of those that are good. You see, whenever people are involved in a lot of sin, he just finished listing all these sins. Whenever people are involved in a lot of sin, they always hate those who are good. Now the Bible talks about Cain and Abel this way. In 1 John it says, not as Cain who was of that wicked one and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous. Marvel not my brethren if the world hates you. Now of course we know that the Bible tells us over and over again that Christians will be hated. You know, he said, ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. And we know that throughout history Christians have been persecuted. Do you ever ask yourself, why have Christians been persecuted? Why was Jesus hung on the cross? Why did they hate Stephen? Why did they hate the Apostle Paul? Look it's the same reason why Cain killed Abel. It's the same reason why Ishmael persecuted Isaac. Now throughout the Bible, the Bible says because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous. Listen to what Jesus said in John chapter 7 verse 7. You wonder why Jesus was hated? You wonder why the Pharisees plotted to kill him? You wonder why they held a council together how they might destroy him? You wonder why he was beaten and spat upon and mocked and hung on a cross? The Bible tells us why he was hated. The Bible tells us why Stephen was hated. The Bible tells us why the Apostles were hated. John 7, 7, Jesus said it best. He said the world cannot hate you. He's talking to his unsaved brethren who did not believe on him. He says to unsaved people, the world cannot hate you, but me it hateth. And he tells us why. Because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil. See if Jesus would have kept his mouth shut, they wouldn't have hated him. They hated him because he testified of the world that their works were evil. Now let me ask you this. Did they hate Jesus because he said love one another? Did he say love one another? Yes. But is that why they hated him? Did they hate him because he said if you have two coats, you know, imparted unto him that hath none? Did they hate him because he said whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain? Did they hate him because he said love your enemies? They hated him because he testified of the works of the world that they were evil. He preached against sin and exposed the sin and evil of his day, therefore he was hated. And so it makes perfect sense back in 2 Timothy chapter 3 that we see a lot of sinful, blasphemous, covetous, prideful, fornicating, adulterous, you know, incontinent kind of covers that. People, wouldn't it make sense that they despise those that are good? Wouldn't that make sense that they would hate Christians and hate those who are righteous and godly and trying to live above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, trying to shine as lights in the world? It says that they are lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. In verse 4, look at verse 4, traitors. You say what is a traitor? A traitor is someone who betrays you. Remember Judas Iscariot betrayed the Lord Jesus? He is also called the traitor in one of the gospels. It says Judas the traitor. Traitor means you betray. Now the Bible tells us that in the last days, this is found in Matthew 24, it's also found in Matthew 10, it says that the brother shall deliver up the brother to death and the father the child and the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death. Do you call that a betrayal? I mean if the children are rising up against their parents and causing them to be put to death, turning them in, you say I don't think that would ever happen. Well it happened in Nazi Germany, it happened in the Soviet Union, it happens all the time in North Korea, where in North Korea today, people turn in their parents to the secret police, they turn in their brother for their own personal advancement, for their own gain. They will even betray a child, betray a sibling, betray their parents. The Bible tells us that in the last days, and especially in the times of the tribulation, the Bible says that the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death. Probably kids that came out of public school. Because if you think about it, I mean if they were homeschooled, where would they have gotten that doctrine of, you know, just hating and despising everything that their parents stood for? Or if they were dropped off somewhere totally different for 8 hours a day, where they're being indoctrinated in the teachings of Satan, that's probably what happened. For them to rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death, that means the parents were of God. Because he's talking about it in the context of Christians being persecuted, so we're talking about believing Christian parents being put to death because their children have turned them in. Where'd they learn that? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. Who hath hindered you that you should not obey the truth? You see, somebody has to teach you that. And there's a whole bunch of somebodies and a whole bunch of somewheres that are teaching a whole bunch of something to a bunch of somebodies about sin and Satan and sodomy and, you know, whatever else starts with an S. But anyway, Satan, yeah exactly, I think I already said that though. So we got here traders, traders, people who would betray their own loved ones. They would betray people unto the devil's order. Hedy. Now you say, what does the word hedy mean? Well, the word hedy is one of those words that's kind of changed in meaning over the years. Today's meaning of the word hedy is not the same as what it meant when the Bible was translated into English. Back then it was more like our word headstrong. And if we said someone's very headstrong, it means they want everything to be their way all the time. That's what hedy meant at that time. You know, they basically want everything their way. They're very stubborn, self-willed is another word that the Bible uses that is synonymous with hedy. Self-willed, stubborn, they don't want to hear anybody tell them, hey, you can't always have things your way. You know, it's a selfish wanting everything to be your way. That's what hedy means. High-minded. Again, this is someone who thinks that they're smarter than they really are. You know, those at the university today, they're very high-minded. But I think they're just high, is what I think. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, they're high-minded all right. You know, I don't know what they're smoking, the stuff that they believe down there, especially about the way that the universe was created, you know, especially about the way that this earth has been around for billions of years and came from nothing and things came to life by themselves. I mean, they're definitely high, but they're high-minded because they think that they're much smarter than everyone else and professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. And the Bible says, traders, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. You know what this is? This is, I don't have time for church, I'm too busy skiing. I'm too busy boating. I'm too busy riding a dirt bike. I'm too busy racing cars. I'm too busy picnicking and hiking and frolicking. I don't have time for church. Why? Because they just want to have fun. And I remember inviting someone to church recently and they said, is it fun? Will it be fun? Doesn't matter whether it's fun. It's not supposed to be fun. If it's fun, I'm doing something wrong as a pastor. No, I'm just kidding. Just kidding. I'm just saying, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God is where basically we put the Bible on the back burner, right? We put prayer on the back burner. We put church on the back burner. We put soul-ending on the back burner because we just want to enjoy pleasure. We just want to have fun. We just want to relax and we want to watch movies and we want to go out and play games and you know, nothing wrong with having some recreation in your life as long as it's clean and godly recreation. But you know what? We love that more than you love God. Well, we'll find out when it's time for you to read your Bible. And when you put down the Bible and you pick up the magazine, then we know that you love pleasures more than you love God. You know, and when Sunday rolls around, it's time to go to church and you choose some other activity then probably that shows that where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. We can see where your heart is by where you invest your time, where you invest your money, where you invest your life. We can see where your heart is at. And so the Bible teaches here that in the last days, people will be lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. That's why the average church today is more about pleasing. What's the first word of pleasure? The first few letters form the word please, pleasing yourself. The Bible says we ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. And yet churches today are geared toward just pleasing you. They want you to like it. They want you to have fun and enjoy it. And the fun center today, the pleasure centers of today have replaced Bible-believing churches instead of a church saying, what would be honoring to God for us to sing? What would be honoring to God for us to preach? What would be honoring to God for us to do or for us to have for a church service? It just becomes, what do people like? What will please man? Because they don't love God as much, they just love pleasure. They love pleasing and being pleased more than they love God and preaching God's word, believing God's word, and hearing God's word. Look, what do you love more? God or pleasure? Having fun or learning the Bible. You know, serving God, being pleasing to God, or just having a good time and if it feels good do it. You know, today we live in a day where people love pleasures more than they love God. But look at verse 5, but they have a form of godliness. So people today, even though they really love pleasure more than they love God though, they still want to feel religious. Because you sometimes wonder, why do people even go to these liberal churches? Why don't you just not go to church at all? There's no Bible really being preached there. The Gospel's not being preached. You're not really serving God. You're not getting anybody saved. What are you doing? Why do you go through the motions by going to these watered down fun centers? The reason why is because people still like to have a form of godliness. They still like to have, you know, the ability to be able to say, hey, I go to church. I'm Christian. I go to church. But they don't really want a Bible believing church. They don't really want to learn the Bible. They don't want to read whole chapters of the Bible. They don't want to hear Bible preaching. They don't want to hear preaching against sin, like Jesus preached, which is why they hated him. They don't want to hear doctrine. They want it to be smooth. They want it to be simple. They want it to be sweet, okay? And they want to get in and get out and have a form of godliness but to deny the power thereof. And the Bible says, from such turn away. Also when I see verse 5, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof, from such turn away, I think of basically the people who think that, basically unsaved people, unsung believers who think that the Bible or church is good just because it has good morals in it. But they don't really believe in the supernatural aspects of the Bible. Now Brother Garrett, he went to Fuller Seminary. Wasn't that a teaching that was pretty prevalent there? Like I think they taught Garrett at Fuller Seminary that Jesus, you know, he didn't really walk on the water. He was on like an underwater land bridge. There's like a ridge of earth that he kind of, you know, walked on, right? Isn't that what they taught you, Garrett? Aren't they denying the power of God that Jesus could supernaturally walk on water? And they taught a doctrine that Jesus, in some classes he was taught, didn't you say it was called the Jesus Superman theory? That basically Jesus was a human being, right? And that he basically was just a really great guy, you know? And basically what they're doing is, and there are a lot of churches today in Tempe that honestly do not believe in the supernatural aspects of this book. You know, and they're like the Sadducees who denied the resurrection, they denied angels, they denied spirits. So basically we have people today who think Christianity is good for a moral compass. I mean I know people who go to a Baptist church every week who will flat out tell you, I don't believe the Bible is the word of God and I don't believe in creation from the Bible. They think it's just big bang, evolution. They don't believe Jesus really died on the cross and rose from the dead. But they just enjoy the morals, they enjoy the pep talk, they enjoy the self-help that they get, they enjoy the motivational speaker, they enjoy the music, they enjoy the friendships, they enjoy the social networking. Look they have a form of guidance but they deny the power thereof. Look I believe in the miracles of the Bible. I believe that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into a fiery furnace that was so hot that the people who threw them in even burned up and that they didn't even smell like smoke and that the ropes burned off their hands. I believe that that happened. I believe that Jonah was swallowed by the whale. I believe that God created this earth. I believe that the world was flooded, the entire earth was covered in water covering the highest mountain and that no one in his family were the only ones who survived. I believe Jesus turned the water into wine, fed 5,000 people with five loaves and two fishes. I believe he walked on water. I believe he healed the sick. He raised the dead. He cleansed the leper. I believe in the power of God today. And I believe that God could still perform miracles today. He will perform miracles in the future. Supernatural things will happen in the book of Revelation that have not yet happened. God can heal. For example the Bible says, is any sick among you let him pray. He said let him call the elders of the church and let them pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up. If you have committed sins they shall be forgiven him. I'm not talking about Benny Hinn. I'm not talking about the holy rollers and you know being slain in the spirit, but you know we could pray and God could perform a miracle and heal. It's still biblical. God does have power. He says in verse 6, for of this sort, these kind of people that have a form of godliness but neither power thereof, for of this sort are they which creep into houses and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lust. So these false prophets, because as we go forward here we find out he's talking about false prophets. Let's read forward. It says that these kind of people they creep into houses and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lust, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Janus and Jambres withstood Moses, by the way those are pharaohs, false prophets, pharaohs, sorcerers, and preachers of false religion, so do these also resist the truth men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith. Verse 9. But they shall proceed no further for their folly shall be manifest unto all men as theirs also was. Meaning Janus and Jambres' folly was manifest. But thou has fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience. You see here that these false prophets or false teachers similar to Janus and Jambres, they creep into houses and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lust. Now look, this is even easier today with TV and Internet. For them to creep into houses, right? I mean they don't even have to physically go there. They can creep into houses through TV and through Internet, basically your TV preachers, your Internet preachers that basically preach false doctrine and lies. And let me tell you something, you'll notice the comparison here where he talks about the fact that they're false teachers, they're teaching false doctrine, but then he also brings up divers lusts. And then he also brings up the word reprobate. Now it's interesting, if you study the word reprobate in the Bible, the first time it's used is in Jeremiah 6.30 when the Bible reads, reprobate silver shall men call them because the Lord hath rejected them. So something that is reprobate is something that is rejected according to Jeremiah 6.30. If you look it up in the dictionary you'll see the same thing. Reprobate means rejected. It's something that you would cast aside as worthless, okay? Reprobate silver, that's talking about in a refining process of purifying silver, the part that is refuse or waste, reprobate silver is cast away. He says the Lord has rejected them. Then if we go to Romans chapter 1, you don't have to turn there, but in Romans chapter 1, which is pretty much the reprobate chapter, half the chapter, the second half of Romans 1, God goes into great detail about how a person becomes a reprobate or rejected. And he goes down the list and he explains that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. He says who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator who is blessed forever, amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections. Vile means what? Gross, disgusting, vile. He said for this cause God gave them up unto vile affections. For even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lusts one toward another. Men with men working that which is unseemly and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. Not convenient means they don't come naturally, okay. He says to do those things which are not convenient, being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication. I'm not going to go down the list because I'm not preaching on Romans 1 this morning. But what I want to show you from that passage is that three different times it says God gave them up, God gave them up, God gave them over. He said they're reprobate, meaning that they're rejected. Look it's possible, and this is not a popular doctrine and I get all kinds of flack for preaching this, but I'll preach it until the day I die because it's biblical. It's possible for people to cross a line where they can no longer get saved anymore, where it's too late for them. Look it's biblical doctrine. It is biblical doctrine that a person can cross a line where they become reprobate, where they become rejected. Look it's proven right here when it says, look down at your Bible, are you still in 2 Timothy 3? Look what the Bible says in verse 7, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. And then the next breath, what does he say they are? Reprobate concerning the faith. He says look, it doesn't matter how much they learn, they're not able to come to the knowledge of the truth because they're reprobate concerning the faith. That's why Jesus said in John 12, he says therefore they could not believe because that God had blinded their eyes. Now look, I'm not a Calvinist. I believe that God's desire is for everyone to be saved, that He died on the cross for everyone. He's the savior of all men, especially of those that believe. The Bible says for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. But let me tell you something, He died for everybody. He wants everybody to be saved, but that doesn't mean that people don't get to a point where it becomes too late. Now for some people that's when they die. Because obviously when you die unsaved, it's too late, right? But a lot of people cross that line sooner. The Pharisees crossed that line sooner. Jesus said, you blasphemed the Holy Ghost, you have no forgiveness in this world or in the world to come. And He said of the same group, they could not believe. He said, well what if somebody, what if somebody's reprobate but then they believe on Jesus? Then what? You know, but the Bible says avoid foolish questions. That's a foolish question because the people that are reprobate, the Bible says God has blinded their eyes. He's darkened their heart. They could not believe. They are ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now some people have worried because they did, they've done weird stuff or satanic stuff in the past, right? And then they're like, Pastor Anderson, I'm worried that I could be reprobate. But here's the thing, if you believe in Christ, there's no way you would reprobate because just the fact that you can believe in Christ proves that you're not reprobate. So if you believe in Christ, you're saved. The Bible says that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life. The only thing you have to do to be saved is believe. And the fact that you can know and understand and believe the Gospel, you're saved. You say, well what's the evidence that I'm saved? The fact that you believe. Faith is the evidence. And let me tell you something, those who are reprobate cannot believe. The Bible's real clear. Their mind is darkened, their heart is darkened. And then that's when you see people do some really vile and wicked sinful, I mean you look at these horrible just, you know, Jeffrey Dahmers or just people who seem like you have no conscience just do a lot of really weird stuff and a lot of stuff where you're like, how could a human even do that? Because they've been given the heart of a beast because they're reprobate, okay. And that's what we see here. That's part of the reason why it's going to be perilous times because there are more reprobates walking around today in the United States of America than there ever have been. How many more do you see that are men with men? Women burning in lust one toward another. I mean you see the signs of being a reprobate everywhere. You see Romans 1 being played out. You see people who are despisers of God, haters of God, who do not even want to retain God in their knowledge. They're so hateful toward the Word of God and toward the Lord. And so we see this playing out. 2 Timothy 3, look down at your Bible there, we saw these reprobate false teachers who resist the truth. Did it say they've never heard the truth? No, they resist the truth. This is like when the Bible talked about when they knew God they glorified him not as God. Let's keep going down the list here. It says, but they shall proceed no further. Verse 9, for their folly shall be manifest unto all men as theirs also was. Verse 10, but thou has fully known my doctrine. So he's putting himself, the Apostle Paul, in contrast with these false prophets and false teachers. He says, but thou has fully known my doctrine, manner of life. And by the way, when you're a preacher, your manner of life is just as important as your doctrine. It's important that you practice what you preach and that you don't just talk the talk but that you also walk the walk. He says, my doctrine, you've known it. My manner of life, you've known it. My purpose, faith, long-suffering charity, patience, but look at verse 11, persecutions. So you've known my persecutions and afflictions which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, and you can read about all three of those in the book of Acts, those persecutions that took place. The persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me, yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, but evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. So what we see here is that in the last days there's going to be an increase in persecution. That's part of why it's called perilous times or dangerous times. There's going to be increased persecution and affliction of God's people for the reasons that we mentioned earlier. Now this persecution can manifest itself in various ways. You see a lot of times when persecution came in the Bible days, it was often masked as some other reason why they were being arrested or some other reason why they were being persecuted. For example with Jesus, they were constantly trying to find a way to get Jesus arrested. Now what they really hated about him was just the fact that he preached the word of God, preached against sin, he's exposing the Pharisees, he's exposing the Sadducees, but they had to find a way to get him arrested. So they would try to find these other roundabout ways, like for example taxes. You know they said let's figure out, maybe he doesn't pay taxes, you know, maybe we can get the IRS on him or whatever. And so they go and they say, you know, they send people to, you know, doth not your master pay tribute? You know, and Peter says yes, you know, and Jesus paid the taxes, and they're like okay that's not going to work, you know. And then they, you know, they bring him the coin and say, you know, tell us, is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar or no? You know, they try to get him any way that they can. They tried to get him to speak evil of Old Testament biblical commandments from Moses. They tried to get him on taxes. They tried to just catch him in his talk. They would bring people to him that needed to be healed and try to get him to heal them on the Sabbath day just so that they could accuse and say this guy's working on the Sabbath day. They're trying to trap him and of course he would heal the people. He'd say I can do whatever I want on the Sabbath day, you know, I'm Jesus, I'm the son of God. My father worketh hitherto and I work also. You know the Sabbath was for man to rest from his work showing that God does all the work for salvation. That's why Jesus did things on the Sabbath because he was the son of God and that's a whole other sermon. I've already preached that in other sermons and shown that from Matthew 12 and other places but we see that persecution can manifest itself in many forms. Like today, you know, we're starting to see some persecution of Christians in America. Now make no mistake, there are parts of the world where people are being killed for the cause of Christ. People are being thrown in prison, beaten, and even killed for the cause of Christ in other parts of the world. Now in the United States, that's not really happening yet as far as oh, you're being killed because you're a Christian or because you're preaching the Bible. But you know what? We do see people being persecuted today in the United States in roundabout ways. Like for example, you know, some cake decorator is told, you know, decorate this cake for two homos that are getting married, right? And then they won't do it and then they lose their whole business because they get fined, you know, $10,000 fines and you know, I don't think cake decorating is probably the most lucrative business in the world anyway. It's not, you're probably not cutting any fat hog as a cake decorator. You know, I'm sure it's not just a gold mine but you know, and then when they start hitting you with these fines and you're getting dragged into court and it's a $10,000 fine and a $20,000 fine and people are picketing in front of your store and causing you problems, you know, that could be a persecution of what you believe. You know, you're just trying to exercise what you believe. And Christians are often being forced to do things that they don't believe in. And people say, that's not persecution. That's not religious persecution. But you know what? When businesses are being forced to pay for abortions for their workers, paid for contraception for their workers, and then it's always this deceptive thing like, oh dude, they're denying these women's right to be a whore and use birth control and go out and sleep around. But you know what? Nobody's telling her she can't do it. They're just saying, we don't want to pay for it. Right? It's like, oh man, they're trying to tell their workers how to live. They're trying to control their workers' religion. No, they're just saying, look, I'm not going to pay for you to be a whore. I'm just not going to pay for you to go out and buy all these implements and use all this stuff that I don't believe in. Look, wouldn't you think that if I run a business, I'd be able to hire who I want? And that I could basically just not say, you know what, sorry, I don't pay for your whoredoms. I don't pay for you, single girl, single man, to go out and commit all this debauchery and fornication. Do, you know, if I don't know about it, if I don't see it, if I don't hear about it, whatever, but I'm not going to pay for it. But you know what? That's a persecution of Christians when Christians are being forced to do stuff against their conscience. When they're saying to you, pay for this stuff that you don't believe in, and then you have to ask yourself, okay, well does God want me to pay for this? Does God want me to participate in this? The Bible says have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather approve them. You know, I mean, it's to the point now where literally, you know, churches are being forced to hire people that are homos, because it's like, well, equal opportunity employer. As long as it's not a clergy position, you know, as long as it's the janitor or, you know, the secretary or whatever, you have to hire anybody. They don't even have to be saved. I mean, these are the kind of bizarre laws that would cause Christians to be persecuted basically by shutting down their business. You know, or just shutting them down, persecuting them, making things hard for them. And then another way that Christians are being persecuted today indirectly in the United States is that, you know, the Bible clearly tells us to spank our children. You know, the Bible says he that spareth his rod hateth his son, but he that loveth him chasteth him at times. The Bible says withhold not correction from the child, for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod and shall deliver his soul from hell. But today, there are people whose children are taken away from them just for spanking their child. Now look, I don't necessarily always agree with exactly how every parent raises their child, right? I mean, I might look at somebody and say, wow, that person spanks their kid too hard. I might look at another person and say, wow, that person doesn't spank their kid hard enough. That's my opinion. But guess what? It's none of my business. I'm just going to mind my own business. I mean, if someone doesn't spank their kid at all, that's their business. You know, I'm not going to go force them to spank their child or spank it for them. But you know what? Just because you might think, well, I just don't approve of the way so and so does with their kids. You know what? Why don't you mind your own business? You know, because guess what? Not everybody has to be exactly like you and exactly the same and different people do different things. And you know, part of freedom is being the king of your own castle and being able to raise your children the way you want. But there are people today who spank their children and they're not abusive. They're just spanking their children the way people have done for thousands of years, the way Americans have done for centuries, and their children are taken away from them. That's a pretty severe persecution. I mean, if somebody's taken my kids away from me, that's pretty severe. That's tantamount throwing me in prison. I mean, I'd rather be thrown in prison than have my children taken away because at least then my children would be raised by my wife, right? I love my wife and children. I wouldn't want the children to be taken away. But what I'm saying is that is a persecution and that is happening today in the United States. You see parents in the United States even persecuted for homeschooling in some places now. Persecuted for spanking. Persecuted for taking a stand on what they believe. What I'm saying is that persecutions already exist. Obviously they're more minor in the United States. They're a lot more severe in other parts of the world that are more godless. But the Bible tells us that in the last days, perilous times shall come. Persecutions and afflictions will increase. All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But it's going to increase as we see the day approaching. It's going to become worse. It's going to become more serious. The Bible says evil men and seducers, verse 13, shall wax worse and worse. It means that they're only going to get worse. Wickedness will increase as time goes on. They will be deceiving and being deceived, but look at verse 14, but continue thou and the things which thou hast learned. See a lot of people just look at this, and this chapter could be a scary chapter to them. Say, oh man, look at all this sin and ungodliness and wickedness. And then we're all going to get persecuted and everybody's going to despise us and hate us and persecute us and afflict us. And he says all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But the Bible tells in Revelation 2, 10, fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison that ye may be tried and ye shall have tribulation ten days, be thou faithful unto death and I'll give thee a crown of life. But look at this key verse in verse 11, persecutions, afflictions which came unto me at Antioch at Iconium at Lystra. What persecutions I endured, was he spared persecution? Was he spared affliction? But look at the last phrase, but out of them all the Lord delivered me. So look, we're more than conquerors through him that loved us. The Bible tells us in Psalm 34, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. We see that fulfilled in the life of the Apostle Paul. So we don't want to hear this message and be downhearted or downtrodden and say, I just don't think I can handle the persecution. I don't think I can live in a society that's so ungodly. I just don't know, I just, and just start panicking. And be fearful and scared and say, you know, maybe we do need to tone down our preaching. Maybe we need to join a different church than Faithful Word Baptist Church, because this is probably one of the first ones that they're coming for, you know? We need to get, you know, we need to go somewhere else, a little bit more low key, under the radar. You know, a lot of people might look at this and be fearful and scared and just get nervous. Look what he says in verse 14, but continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned, and watch this, and that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through all your good works, is that what it says? No it says salvation through faith, because salvation is by believing, it's by faith, it's not of works, lest any man should boast. He says, through faith which is in Christ Jesus, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Let me ask this, may the man of God be perfect and thoroughly furnished unto all good works even in the last days? With the Word of God? That's what the Bible says. And look what he said, from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures. Let me say this, a lot of people today say, I don't want to bring children into this world, because it's just an ungodly world. There's too much sin, there's too much ungodliness, there's too much wickedness. Or they'll say, man, I don't want my children to grow up and be persecuted. Oh, what if they're thrown in prison? What if they're beaten? What if they're persecuted? What if they're killed for the cause of Christ? What if actually the second coming of Jesus Christ happens in our lifetime? And they even go through the tribulation, you know. And they just say, I just don't even want to have children because the Bible says, woe unto them that are with child in those days and them that give suck in those days. You know, it's better to just not have children. But you know what the Bible's teaching us in this chapter? That you can still continue and do what's right, even in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom you shine as lights in the world. What he's saying here is that you can still raise a godly child in this last days. Your children can from a child know the holy scriptures which are able to make them wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. And he says you can still be a man of God. You can still preach the Bible. You can still preach doctrine. You can still reprove. Parents can still raise godly children. Women and men can still live for God today and serve God and win souls to Christ. And I love what the Bible says in Daniel chapter 11. And speaking of the tribulation itself, it says they that do know their God and be wise, he said they shall do exploits. He talks about the fact that in the last days some of the greatest Christians will do some of the greatest works for God in the last days. It's not time to throw in the towel. It's not time to quit. It's not time to back off. It's time to realize that you know what, we have the word of God, the sword of the spirit. We can still raise a godly child. That child can from a child know the scriptures. That child can be saved. That child can grow up and not be a traitor. Not betray their parents. Not live a godless life. We as preachers can still, you say well you can't preach like that anymore. Oh really? I just did. But people literally say oh you can't preach that way. And I remember I heard people sometimes say, you know let's say an evangelist would come through. Sometimes an evangelist would come through and he'd preach a really hard edge sermon and then people would say yeah the pastor kind of has to you know smooth things over after he's gone. The pastor has to kind of pick up the pieces after he's gone, you know what I mean? And try to calm everybody down. And a lot of times I've even heard people look at like an evangelist or somebody who preached in like a college somewhere and they'd say well you can't preach that way as a pastor though because nobody will come to your church. You know you've got to tone things down as a pastor. Oh really? Because I've been preaching this way for the last seven and a half years and our church just keeps growing every single month. Every year our church grows. Our church is bigger than it was last year, bigger than the year before. And you know what? I'm still preaching just as hard. I'm still screaming just as loud. I'm still rebuking sin everywhere I see it. I'm preaching the whole council of God. Look it's possible today to have a Bible believing church that's on fire for God, that's winning souls to Christ, that rebukes sin, and that compromises, never, it's possible. And it's possible for you to be a godly parent and a godly child and don't use as an excuse today well it's just almost impossible to live for God today. Well you know what? Maybe it's almost impossible, but with God all things are possible. Don't use as an excuse the fact that we are living in a godless society. Look that just allows your light to shine even brighter. The darker it is in this world, the brighter the light of the glorious gospel can shine. That's what I love about this chapter. It starts out pretty bleak in this chapter. Verse 1 is talking about perilous times, sin, ungodliness. Then he gets into persecution. That's where it really hits home. But he ends on a high note saying, you know what, you can raise a godly child, you can be a godly child, you can be a man of God, you can be furnished unto all good works, you have the word of God to instruct you in righteousness. And I love that word in verse 14, thou. But continue thou in the things which thou has learned. You know, the word thou is a beautiful word because it's singular. Thou means you singular. The word you in the Bible, whenever you see ye, you, you're in the Bible, that's plural. And whenever you see thee, thou, thine, it's singular. Modern Bibles, they lose this because they want to get rid of those awful thes and thows. They're so hard to understand, you know, I just can't learn this one vocabulary word that thou means you. So I just need to retranslate the whole Bible. But in reality, if you have one of these modern Bibles, you can't even differentiate between the singular and the plural. And there are a lot of times in the Bible where it changes the meaning, whether he's talking to one or whether he's talking to many. And I love that in the midst of all this plural, look at all the plural. You know, truce breakers, plural, boasters, plural, blasphemers, plural, right? It's all plural, plural, plural, despisers, plural, traitors, high minded, plural, plural, lovers of pleasure, plural, plural, plural, all the multitude, all the crowd, what most people are doing. But then it's like thou. You're doing all that bad stuff, but continue thou. And the thing is, look, sometimes you have to stand alone. Even if you're the only one, be a thou. Be that singular person that God's talking to and saying, you know what, I don't care if everybody around you is doing wrong, continue thou to do right. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word and for this great chapter. We just pray that you would help us to be that thou that you're talking to and that we would just continue. And even when things get hard and we feel like quitting, help us to just continue and not let this world get us down. Help us not to be dragged down by this world. We love you and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.