SO THERE

2 Timothy 3:12-15 (KJV)

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.

But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;

And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

First and Second Timothy are letters written by the Apostle Paul to Timothy, a younger preacher who had trained under him.

Paul knew that his life was now short – he would soon be executed for his faith. In these two letters Paul gives Timothy the best counsel and instruction he can give him in such dire circumstances.

What was Paul’s best turned out to be God’s perfect Word.

In verses 9-11 Paul tells us that Timothy had been fully trained

·   Theologically

·   Ecclesiastically and

·   Anthropologically

From there Paul gave to Timothy

·   Two prophecies and

·   One response

*I. THE FUTURE OF THE GODLY

2 Timothy 3:12 (KJV)

Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

Have you ever felt like you were surrounded by an enemy?

Have you ever been in a situation where, everywhere you looked your problems were bigger than they were the last place you looked?

Paul told Timothy “they that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution”

Timothy has to know it is true on the basis of what he has already been told:

2 Timothy 3:1-5 (KJV)

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

This sounds bad – terrible – frightening.

For a minute there I thought this passage might become actionable on November 9^th.

I don’t think we are far from it.

If we dodged it at all, it wasn’t by very much was it?

If you choose to live godly in Christ Jesus, you are going to suffer persecution for it.

The way things look right now you might suffer persecution if you have a Trump sticker on your car!

Hillary Clinton hates what we as Christians stand for, but she at least has some political restraint.

We are learning that those who supported her have almost no restraint.

There is no telling how badly they might treat people they perceive as helping to defeat her.

Think of that same hatred being turned against Christianity in general.

Paul had already told Timothy in verses 1-5 it was going to get bad.

But he does not end there. Paul went on to speak briefly about

*II. THE FUTURE OF THE EVIL

2 Timothy 3:13 (KJV)

But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

There are three things I want to address from here”

A. Evil men will get worse and worse

“The word “wax” has to do with advancing. They will proceed to get worse and worse)

Not just get worse but get worse and worse.

That’s worse multiplied.

They will begin to get worse and they will get worse by leaps and not steps.

*I saw this graphic from a PragerU[1] facebook page after the election.

Unless a revival happens, at some point in our nation’s future, there will be more of these who are now “18-25” than there are of the more level headed practical, conservatives and our country will go downhill, not in increments like it is now, but in a huge leap.

*^(back)B. Evil men will deceive

I think we see enough of that now to know it is true.

The tendency of government to lie is so profound that we accept that as standard regardless of which party we mean.

Sadly

C. Evil men will be deceived

The reason the most recent voters believe as they do is because they have been purposefully, maliciously and meticulously indoctrinated to believe that way.

·   They learn it in their school

·   They learn it from their friends

·   They learn it from the Television

·   They learn it in the songs they listen to

·   They learn it in the movies they see

They learn it so subtly at first but persistently that, by the time they are 18 years old, they won’t listen to:

·   Their parents

·   Their preacher or even

·   Their past heroes

They have been completely blinded by lies and deceit.

Then Paul turns to Timothy to give him,

*III. THE EFFECT UPON THE BELIEVER

2 Timothy 3:14-15 (KJV)

But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;

And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

What do you do?

Knowing that it is bad and getting worse – and going to get worse than that.

What do you do?

Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned…

Have you ever heard that phrase idiom, “The definition of foolishness is to continue doing what you have been doing and expect a different result.”?

From the Christian perspective that isn’t Biblical.

Christians are not turning this world around

·   They have never turned the world around and

·   They are not going to turn the world around

That doesn’t mean what God told us to do should be adjusted.

We shouldn’t change our strategy as Christians at all.

We should continue to:

·   Be assured of the Scriptures

·   Trust our preachers and

·   Preach salvation through faith in Christ Jesus

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[1]https://www.facebook.com/prageru/photos/a.187956274580570.43905.127225910653607/1213726485336872/?type=3