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206.
Very small everywhere that needs to live fully here 206.
I have a heart, brethren.
The last two chapters of Second Timothy. Often we take up the first or second chapter, but I wondered if it would be the mind of the brethren and the leading of the Spirit of God that perhaps in these four readings we could consider the 3rd and 4th chapters. We're certainly living in days very parallel to the days that Paul described here for us. If we do that, I think it would be helpful in order to get a little outline of what we have.
To maybe to today, take in the two readings, take up the third chapter, and perhaps the Lord directs that way in the two readings, uh, subsequent, maybe the 4th chapter. If we do that, then I would suggest that this morning we read the third chapter of Second Timothy.
Timothy on my heart as well. And uh, we live certainly in second Timothy days and it is a pastoral epistle. So Paul wrote pastoral epistles to encourage the hearts of the Saints, in particular to, to encourage Timothy, we know, but it is a pastoral epistle and it was written for the encouragement in the day of ruin.
Three.
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, cruise Breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce despisers of those that are good traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof from such.
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Turn away, for of this sort are they which creep into houses and lead captive, silly women, laden with sins, LED away with diverse lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jonathan withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth. Men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith, but they shall proceed no further, for their folly shall be manifest unto all men.
As there's also was. But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra. What persecutions I endured. But out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yeah, 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. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine.
For reproof, for correction, For instruction and righteousness.
That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
Well, it's been pointed out, this is a an epistle written to an individual. The apostle Paul by inspiration, had written a previous epistle to Timothy, and this is the second letter that he writes. I think it's helpful, as with all scripture, to take it up in its proper context. First of all, to realize that second epistles always bring before us and denote days of weakness and ruin and failure.
In other words, what has been exo, uh, set out in the first epistle, whether it's to Timothy or whether it's Peter's epistles or so, so on what set out in the first epistle, there's always going to be failure and ruin come in because that's the history of man. And so first epistles layout before us the truth of a certain aspect of the truth of God, a certain line of things. And then in second epistles there's warnings and end encouragement.
To return to that which was laid out in the first epistle. So second epistles always denote days of weakness and ruin and failure. Whether again 1St and 2nd Thessalonians, the 2nd Epistle to the Ephesians, you say, where's that? Well, John wrote an epistle to the Ephesians 2A, very short one in Revelation. And there we find that they had left their first love, they've been failure come in. Paul had written to them and given them that wonderful truth as to the heavenly calling of the believer, and so on.
But when John wrote to them, he had to warn them of the failure that had come in. They'd left their first love and so on. And so we find in Second Timothy that the apostle writes to Timothy, not just to warn him and certainly not to discourage him, but to encourage him to go on in days of giving up of the truth, days when the truth was being undermined and the souls of the of the Saints were being subverted.
And I say that because sometimes we read Two Timothy and if we're not careful, we can get a little downcast, we can get a little discouraged. We might say, well, can we really go on in days like we find ourselves, the days that the apostle Paul was warning in here, here in this epistle, Yes, we can. And after we go through the first few verses of this chapter where you have these warnings and exhortations, then we're going to find.
That there's encouragement, Paul's last recorded words by inspiration are to an individual to encourage him to go on until the end and to show that there are resources in Christ and provision to not just for Timothy, but for you and for me today to go on even in these last days in perilous times. One other little comment of introduction. Let's remember that what is described in this epistle.
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And when he begins our chapter by Speaking of the last days and perilous times, it's not the heathen world he's describing, nor is it so much physical things. Now, there's plenty in Scripture to remind us that the days before the Lord Jesus comes are characterized by violence and corruption and, and, and so on, like there were in the days of Noah and so on and, and, and that kind of thing. But that is not what Paul is talking about here in Timothy.
Paul is describing the professing church. It's a more, it's more of a moral side of things and it is not the heathen world he's describing. He is describing the professing church and what characterizes her in the end times, the days in which we live just before the Lord comes. And I think, brethren, if we take it up in that context, it's going to have real import to us. We think of the last days in perilous times as to what's going on and what we read in the newspaper and, and, and, and so on and what we see going on in the Middle East and so on.
Yes, that's another side of things, but what we're considering here are exhortations and warnings as to the character of the Church of God in the last days, and yet, as I say, encouragement to go on as individuals and collectively and as families in spite of it.
Notice that, uh, the first epistle to Timothy was written, Walter Scott says, about 8064, and then approximately 3 years later he's writing Second Timothy. So it does, it means really that the, uh, failure and the ruin came into the Christian testimony very quickly. And so we live in days where the truth was recovered approximately 190 years ago and, umm.
The truth of what it is to be gathered to the Lord's name and all the truth. Paul's doctrine was recovered innocent entirety and that was ministered, was taught and written of at the early part of the 1800s and the decline has been very swift in the Western Christian world, particularly during the last 50 years. The giving up of moral living, moral standards and the giving up of the truth of the that the Word of God was a principle gave us the principles of life.
In the Western Christian world, those things have been given up very rapidly. But in Timothy's, in this epistle, the Second Timothy was written approximately 3 years, maybe four years after the first epistle. So the decline was swift. So in these epistles, these pastoral epistles, you'll notice Paul's pastoral epistles are linked, are grouped together in the New Testament. And so you have First Timothy, Second Timothy.
Titus Philemon, and the reason they're there together is they are pastoral epistles and they give us instruction. They teach us what God's requirements are largely in the day of ruin, and personally are practically what our responsibilities are and how to live and how to overcome in the days that we live in. And so Paul was very careful to teach these things, and he presents these things to an individual so that we can learn them.
It's good to notice too, in connection with Paul, if he doesn't say the whole thing is all just a disaster and the yes, there is no recovery or it's not going to be a recovery. There's not going to be a revival. In the day that we live in. We know that the Lord's coming is very near. We don't have signs of the Lord's coming. We have indications that the Lord's coming is near. And So what we see happening in the world we can look at, but there are indications that the moral Fabric of society.
It's gone, it's damaged to a point. It'll never, there'll never be a recovery. And we're living right at the end of the age. But here he gives a remedy for the individual responsibility. Every one of us is responsible not to succumb to the sorrow and the declension, but he gives a recovery. And so it focuses, I believe in this third chapter on the Word of God. We need to have the Word of God before us.
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And it's the word of God and the teaching of the truth that's contained in the word of God that will preserve us in these last days. So we have he outlines the declension, you might say, gives a little more details as to what we have in connection with the address to the latest Seans. Here's the detail. Morally, this is what was going on. This is what's going on today. We, no, we don't need to be surprised. This is what characterizes the Western Christian world and the professing Christianity.
So.
The remedy is the word of God.
OK, 13 we get the parable of the sower.
So, which I trust we're all familiar with in.
Umm.
Verse 23.
He speaks of He that received seed into the good ground, as he which heareth the word, and understandeth it, which also bears fruit, and brings forth some an hundredfold. Some 60. Some 30.
And that's the gospel of the Kingdom in Mark's Gospel chapter 4, where we get the parable it tells us in verse 20.
These are they with uh.
Mark 4 verse 19 verse.
20 Yes, these are they which are shown on good ground, such as hear the Word and receive it, and bring forth truth, some 30 fold, some 60 some 100 But in the gospel of Marcus, the gospel of the servant, so you get an increasing.
It's the individual walking with God, isn't it?
In the public aspect, it's gonna diminish.
So the last days are always characterized by individual faithfulness. But I I would like to say this too, and we'll perhaps develop it as we go through some of the later verses, that there is also provision to go on in every sphere that God has set up for the blessing of man on the earth, because God doesn't institute something and not provide provision to go on in that institution until the very end.
And so the God set up two institutions for the blessing of man on the earth. The first was the family and the second was the assembly. Now it's true that the exhortations in the last days are to individuals because we are can be no more as no more as families or collectively as gathered to the Lord's name than we are as individuals. It starts with individual exercise. And so there needs to be that real genuine consideration today in our souls as to are we going on.
Individually.
In the truth of God and walking for the Lord's glory in the days in which we live. If we are, then there's provision to go on in the family circle. But we're no more as families than we are as individuals. But if we're going on as families, then there can be power collectively as gathered to the Lord's name. And we don't have time to do it. But if we were to go through Second Timothy, we would find that he encourages us in all three spheres of life.
Individually as families and collectively. Let me just point out one example and, and I'll preface my remark by saying this, it saddens me to hear sometimes Christians say, and those who were even once gathered to the Lord's name say, well, it doesn't matter anymore. Collectively the churches, things are in ruin, things are outwardly fragmented and it just doesn't matter anymore as long as we have Christian fellowship and so on.
But just go back to the second chapter, not not to back up, but just to notice a little expression here in verse 22. He says we also youthful lust. And then he says but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace. Now I want you to notice this not just individually, but with them that call on the Lord out of a Pure heart. And so in the midst of exhortation for Timothy to walk before the Lord in the last days as an individual.
00:20:14
To me it's just as if he says, but remember Timothy, there is a collective aspect of things too. Even in the days of day of ruin. There is are those who does others who desire to go on and to walk in the truth of God and you go on with them. I've got my eye on those who he's got his eye on every believer. I don't mean that, but he said there are those who are seeking to go on for my glory collectively in a day of ruin.
And make sure that you go on in fellowship with them. And I think that's a great encouragement. And I just say again, brethren, God never institutes something for the blessing of man on the earth and that he doesn't make full and abundant provision to go on to the very end. That's why it says you do show the Lord's death till he come. Now again, people say, well, it doesn't matter where you break bread, as long as you remember the Lord in the breaking of bread.
Brother, he wouldn't say till I come if he wasn't going to make full provision for us to meet on a scriptural ground until He comes, doesn't ask us to do something, that he doesn't provide a scriptural basis and ground on which to do it. Well, I say not to digress from what we have here, but again, we're going to see as we go through these chapters that there's provision to go on to the very end. But brethren, we do need the warnings too. We need to be aware of what we are dealing with.
And I believe that's why in the midst of all this, we have these first few verses here, these first nine verses of this chapter, to make us aware of what is what, what we're dealing with. Not to discourage us, brethren, but to show us what the characteristic of professing Christendom or the professing church is in the days in which we live.
And when we're told to separate from evil, when we're told to come out from that which is not according to the mind of God and the word of God, we need to know what it is.
How are we going to detect it if we don't know what it is? By being familiar with it and immersing ourselves in it. No, not a chance. That's not. That's only going to defile us. That's only going to discourage us. But to be aware of it so that we can then, by the grace of God, walk in a path of separation from it.
We need to separate from because if we don't, it will affect us. And so it might be good to look at these things in this, uh, second verse says men shall be lovers of their own selves. We see that in the world around us. The common expression you'll hear in advertising is, umm, you need, you need to get this because you deserve it. The advertising, uh, merchants.
Appeal to self love. But we forget how insidious this is. I've heard people say, well, uh, they left the meeting. They left the assembly because they said I didn't get anything out of it.
Why did they come?
Did they come to get or they come to give? Now of course we come to get, we received from the Lord, but if we're looking at it from our own self love standpoint, we're gonna look at it from what did I get? And so it says here, men shall be lovers of their own selves. Covetous. What does covetous mean?
Covetousness is reaching out with the heart and mind for something that God has not granted, and this whole society is full of it, and it affects us too.
Uh, posters. Well, we, that's pretty common. We are boasting all the time. Proud. Well, we see pride in others.
But we're very prone to it ourselves. Blasphemers. Could someone tell us what blasphemy means? It's a word that you don't hear very much anymore.
Please of divine subjects.
So denigrating the person of Christ or denigrating the glories, His glories, His people, His word is speaking in a derogatory way of divine things or divine persons. Interesting that when the Lord Jesus confessed that He was the Son of God, the High Priest accused him of blasphemy because supposedly the Lord Jesus was.
00:25:19
Denigrating God. And that's the so that's a good definition. Denigrating God. You see that in in in Romans chapter one.
Romans chapter one.
Verse 21 Because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God. That's a real responsibility.
A while back I was, umm, looking at a website of a company supposedly run by Christians and they had an interview of the president of the company and the president of the company.
Talked about the man upstairs.
That's no way to speak of God the man upstairs, but very acceptable in in the the world we live in.
And so that's impious, as you mentioned, brother. And then it says disobedient to parents. Well, we know what that is.
And it's a challenge to each one of us here who have parents still.
Disobedient to parents, then it says unthankful and unholy puts 22 interesting things together. We tend to forget to give thanks. We tend to be ungrateful, realizing that we forget that everything we have we have received.
And but it's to me, it's interesting that the two things are put together unthankful, unholy. That is, if we have a hard heart where we are not willing to thank God for what we have.
The very next step is to embrace evil, unthankful, unholy, and again you see that brought together in Romans chapter one.
Notice Romans 21 again back to verse 21, Romans chapter one, verse 21, the middle of verse. Neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. If we if we aren't thankful for what God has given us, we leave ourselves open to unholiness.
It's interesting, John, that you've compared to Romans, because in Romans chapter one, we have really the heathen or the godless world described. And here we find that things have become very parallel. The very things that describe the unregenerate man without his knowledge of God in that way now have come into the professing church in the last days. And I think there's a warning to all of us, brethren, because whatever characterizes the spirit of the age can affect us far more than we realize.
And that's why Timothy, and that's why we need these warnings. That's why we need to be aware of what characterizes professing Christendom today. So what what characterized what Paul described as characterizing the heathen world in Romans. Now he's warning Timothy that those very aspects of things have come into the professing church. And really as you if if if you were going to sum up what John has said.
It really all goes back to the fact that it's self-interest, isn't it? It's me first. Well, you've heard me say this before. It's not really even me first. Today my generation was the me first generation. The next generation is the me only generation. And isn't that as you say, I deserve it. I, I, I, I need. The world owes me something. God owes me something. I remember a man got on a plane one time in Saint Vincent.
And those little Dash 8 planes, they give you a boarding. When they give you your boarding pass, they give you a seat number.
For security reasons. But when you get on, it's open seating, you just get on and you sit down and everybody understands that that ever flew Layette, which is the local airline, a man got on one day. He was an older man and somebody was already sitting in the seat that had his boarding pass, had the number up. And he he made such a ruckus about it that they finally called the captain of the plane. But what struck me was he kept saying that seat, to sit in that seat is my God-given, right?
00:30:03
That's that's what he felt. You see, it's, it's again, it's, it's, it's me first. We'll bring God into it, but it's really self-centered. Now again, I know we've gone over some of these things, but I'd like to just go back to two verses. First of all, in second Corinthians 5.
2nd Corinthians, chapter 5.
And verse 15.
Let me read verse 14 to get the connection. For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead, and that he died for all. Now notice this, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again. So we're not to live to ourselves, we're not to be the center of our world, we're to live for Christ glory in his interests.
Now I'd like to go over to Romans chapter 12, repeat something that I know we've said many times, but I think it bears on what John has brought out in the beginning of our chapter, Romans chapter 12.
And again I'll read verse 1 to get the connection. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God, So as we had in Corinthians, we're not to live unto ourselves.
We who have come to know the Lord Jesus and rested on the finished work of Christ, we are to have Christ as our center. And that's really what we have in the second verse of Romans chapter 12. And I say that because when we read Romans chapter 12, we tend to think of being not conformed to the world as many outward things. Now it certainly has its application as to outward things, but I don't believe that's really the thrust of what we have when it says be not conformed to the world.
The work and what he's Speaking of is that the man of the world draws a circle, puts himself in the center of that circle, and he does everything for himself. Everything revolves Arkansas around him. He's the center of his of his world. When I was growing up in Montreal, they had a Canada Centennial, a great exposition in Montreal, and it was called Man and His World.
Man was the center of his world and different countries put up pavilions and brought their exhibits. Of course, if if you saw the things that were exhibited then as advancements in technology and society, why we we laugh at them now because that was back in 1967 and I'm no good at math. So you can figure out how many years ago that was. But my point is, brethren, we are not to live to ourselves now in our chapter these first.
A few verses to the probably to the end of verse four really have the thought it's worldliness. That's what he's taking up Worldliness has crept into the Church of God and what characterizes the worldly person self-interest. They're the center of the this their their world. What again, what is to be our center Christ and not just Christ, but if Christ is our center, then his interest here in this world, whether it's his people. We have the same care one for another. The members have the same care one for another. The giving out of the gospel.
Can be brought, brought in, and so on. Christ is our center.
That the Lord was not surprised as to how Christianity would end up. And I was thinking of Genesis chapter 49. There are prophetic scriptures. This, what we're reading is prophetic in the sense that the Spirit of God was recording what Christianity, what the profession of Christianity would develop into and what its end would be. Paul was used, Peter was used to speak prophetically of it. John was used to speak prophetically of it. God is not surprised, but it says in Genesis 49.
The Spirit of God uses the same wording and he says that Jacob called unto his sons and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. Now he speaks prophetically of what would take place, and he speaks of things from a Jewish perspective, from the perspective of the children of Israel. He speaks of the 10 tribes and then he speaks of their relationship to their Messiah, verse 25, even by the God.
00:35:16
Of thy Father who shall help thee, and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with the blessings of heaven, above blessings of deep, of the deep that lieth under blessings of the breasts and of the womb, and the blessings of thy Father that prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors under the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.
Now he says, and it uses the same term in the chapter that we're just reading in the last days. But now this is from the church's perspective. So Israel's history, even with all the failure, it's going to be a glorious end. He says I'm going to tell you all about the last days and it's an encouragement to Israel. But now he says in the last days of the Christian testimony on this earth is going to be.
Awful it's going to be, he says, perilous times, dangerous and difficult times because of the moral situation that we find ourselves in. But what's the end of it? Chapter four, we need to remember that the chapter divisions are not divinely inspired. What's the end in chapter 4, verse 8? Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness as an individual, which the Lord, the righteous judge shall give me at that day.
And not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. So what is appearing? There's going to be great glory. There's going to be he's going to display, He's going to come with all of his Saints, and the whole end of it all will be glory brought to the Son of God. And so Paul encourages Timothy in this way. He uses the same term in the last days. But what's the last days of the church?
Really, a glorious church, not having any spot or wrinkle or any such thing. And the marriage supper of the land will come and she'll be displayed. And all that fine white linen which is the righteousness of Saints. It's going to be a grand display. But in the meantime, the reality of it is that everything that is committed to man falls into ruin. And so he gives these 19 characteristics. It's quite a solemn list, 19 things.
Detail and the Spirit of God is not surprised at what takes place. So as I say, it's prophetically written. Paul was used of God to tell us the future.
Verse four, if you notice, Mr. Darby's translation is profane and it says of Esau that he was a profane person. Why was he profane? Because he didn't value the inheritance. He didn't value the birthright. And brethren, again, we need to be careful. I know that there are, I'm gonna make a little application here and I, I know there are some here who have not been brought up in a Christian home perhaps. And thank God, you've been saved and.
The Spirit of God has LED you along in the truth and so on, and you find yourself happily gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus. But many of us here were brought up with a godly heritage. Esau had a godly heritage, but as a profane person, he was willing to sell it for that which was momentary gratification, as we would say in modern day language. Just Ebola porridge. That's what he sold it for. No wonder God calls him a profane person.
It's a profane person is one who will give up something of value.
For momentary gratification. And isn't that what we see in the world today? If it feels good, do it.
And let your appetites and lusts go. And I sometimes hear people say, well, God made me that way, so why should I? Why should I limit myself in something that I want to do? Well, Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of porridge. And I, I look into the faces of many of us, like myself, who had a wonderful birthright. Are we going to give up that heritage for something that appeals to the flesh? You know, there's plenty in Christian circles.
There's plenty in professing Christianity Today that appeals to the flesh. And it may not be moral degradation, it may not be something that you could go to a list of very bad sins, so to speak, and say, well, this, I'm not going on with that. But there's that which appeals to the natural senses, and we want to be careful that we don't bring it into the things of God, into worship.
00:40:18
Into a Christian gathering. We don't, you know, the enemy is very busy today to add the word Christian to a lot of things. I I'm going to speak very freely for a moment. You know, I travel in, I traveled and I do travel in heathen countries. And not long ago I was in the jungle of South America, Guyana, South America. They're still voodoo. They're still the Amerindian religion. I've been in the interior of West Africa years ago.
I've been in Hindu and Muslim countries. You'll feel the power of darkness.
And you hear the beat of a TomTom drum at night and feel the darkness that is connected with it.
And then you come back to the western world and you turn on your radio and you hear that same underlying beat. And sometimes, and I'm gonna be very frank, brethren, and I hope I won't offend anybody, and if I do, so be it. You can turn on your Christian, so-called Christian radio and you'll hear the same underlying beat. And those of us who heard it in the jungle and felt the power of darkness connected with it, we wanna get as far away from it as we can.
Some of us were talking about tattooing. I'm speaking very plainly.
You know they have Christian tattoo houses now.
You see how clever the enemy is. He comes along and he says, well, those people, they profess Christianity and they, they know certain things are wrong. But I'll put a Christian spin on it. Brethren, we need to be careful. Remember what is being described here, not the heathen world, but what we do see coming in as the light of true Christianity and the word of God is being given up is that which comes from heathendom.
Sweeping in, not to push Christianity out, but to fill the vacuum, the void that is left as we give up Christianity. And I have seen in the jungle tattooing and body piercing and the the beat of the TomTom drum. There's no new thing under the sun. And when you see that which has been connected with heathendom for thousands of years come in amongst the Christian community with the banner of Christian on it, brethren, it's a warning to us and it's very, very serious and solemn. I know I've spoken very plainly, but I believe it's the truth of God and a warning for us.
Thing in an unprincipled manner, Doesn't he hear? And so people don't have principles today. Do we have principles? There are those things that are according to the truth of the word of God. And that's how we live in a principled way. And so in connection with the umm, natural affection and truth Breakers, we make an agreement. Do we keep our agreements? I give you my word, we shake on it or whatever it is. I know that there are business arrangements made in the past.
Used to be that brethren could shake on it, and their word was solid. Can we trust your word? Can you trust my word? And so we need to live in those principles that are given to us in the Word of God. False accusers, incontinent or implacable. I think Mr. Darby's translation. Fierce despisers of those that are good.
It's possible for us under the name of Christianity, to live in an unprincipled way. And so Paul brings this before us, that we need to have principles. We need to have convictions, not opinions about how to live, not opinions about how we should, uh, treat one another or how we should speak, but we need to have a conviction to live in a principled way. And so he brings out prophetically that in the last days just before the Lord would come.
There was going to be an unprincipled way of speaking and what would characterize those, and perhaps we might say in the Western Christian world, is unprincipled living.
Traders, heady, high minded lovers of pleasures rather than loving of lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof from such turn away. So we're given absolutely the instruction to turn away from that which is unprincipled in the Western Christian world, even connected with Christianity.
00:45:05
About that, that word in verse, uh, three, uh, incontinent and Darby rendering that implacable, uh, to most people, uh, one translation may not be a whole lot more helpful than another. Implacable simply means not willing to have peace.
Because they're, they're, uh, it describes a person who's, uh, always, umm.
Irritating situation stirred as we say, and don't we find that even in the business world today? Well, it's my way or no way. And again, that can affect us in spiritual things, things as well. And brethren, we need to be careful again, we're speaking very plainly when it comes to issues amongst the Lord's people as much as lias in it within us. We're to live peaceable with all men. That doesn't mean we ever compromise the truth.
But we need to be exercised that we seek to go on with our brethren in a way that glorifies God. And so it's as you say, it's really a person who can't be appeased. And I and I and I, I know believers that you just no matter what you do, you can't please them. I've sat in brothers meetings and it's to my shame, but I have sat in brothers meetings and there are brothers. No matter what you say or no matter how you acquiesce to them, you're never gonna, you're never gonna please them. Brethren, we need to be careful again, not to get caught up with this kind of thing, but just to move along a little bit because we, I, I see this reading meetings almost over, but.
Just to SU to summarize again, so in verse one we have he's he's describing difficult times, the last days and difficult times as to just as you say, Robert, just before the Lord comes just before the rapture. Then as he goes on to enumerate certain things in verses 2-3 and four, it's worldliness. You know the churches in the world, but let's be careful. We don't get the world in the church.
That was the problem in the early days when Constantine, the emperor, the Roman emperor, emperor, embraced Christianity as an outward form of religion. What happened? It brought the world into the church, and I suppose there's never been a full recovery from that ever since. And so we have worldliness in the professing church, and then in verse five we really have the denial of the presence and power of the Spirit of God.
It's having an outward form of godliness but denying the power thereof. What is the power for the Christian life, whether it's our individually, whether it's as families are collectively, What is the power for the Christian life? It's the Spirit of God. That's why the Lord Jesus four times in the upper room before he left the disciples, and I think Phil mentioned it in his prayer. Perhaps the Lord Jesus spoke of the coming of the Spirit of God. He said he will be.
With you that's collectively, and in you that's individual. So there's the power of this and presence of the Spirit of God. It's unique to Christianity to be our bodies of the temple of the Holy Ghost. But the church collectively is also the temple of the Holy Ghost. But there are those today who deny it. How do they deny it? Well, one way they deny it is to set up a clergy in a hierarchy. That really is a denial of the power of the Spirit, the Spirit of God.
There are Christians come together and they come together and there's a man or man.
Sometimes women too, sad to say, who are appointed to take care of what they call the worship service or the teaching or the evangelical aspect of things and the general population in the fellowship they don't have an opportunity to take part of the Spirit of God would would would lead them. That's part of denying the the the power and presence of the Spirit of God. It's having a form of godliness.
But denying the power there are, there are certainly other things too.
Implacable.
Is, umm, oftentimes connected with wanting my own way? And so in the assembly and in the thing, in things of life and our family lives in, even in business life, it's God's desire that we shouldn't, umm, reflect the spirit of Christ. He never wanted his own way. A man that never wanted his own way. I do always those things that please my father.
00:50:09
And so we find in Christian testimony that men want their own way. We have a little, umm, illustration of it in connection with Barnabas. He wanted his own way just in one thing, in connection with the relationship of his, uh, nephew, I believe it was, perhaps it was a cousin, but, uh, he wanted that individual to be engaged in the work of the Lord with him and Paul. He wanted his own way, just in one little thing. But God has so ordered.
In Christianity.
That is the will of God and the word of God that governs, that ought to govern our assembly life, ought to govern our lives as individuals. It's the will of God and the word of God. And so he gives this list. It's a very, very strong indictment of the condition of things in which we live. And he says turn away from such. Turn away. It means reject.
And so you're Speaking of how the Spirit of God is displaced, Mr. Darby said. It was the sin of the against the Holy Spirit that really characterized the day that we live in at the end times. And so we're to reject that line of things. We're responsible as individuals to reject that which claims to have a form of godliness but denies the power, denies the Spirit of God and the activity of the Spirit of God.
His rights, you might say, to govern and to guide in the Assembly.
51 for a minute, just for a couple of verses in regard to this. This is, of course, David's confession in connection with his sin. But I think there's a couple of things that are good for us to consider in relationship to what we've been saying. We've just noticed that there are those who have an outward form of godliness, but there's no inward reality, and they deny the power thereof. And just notice what David says in his prayer here in verse 6.
Behold thou desirous truth in the inward parts. Again, we want to make this very practical as we go along. And brethren, God doesn't just want an outward show of things. And we can, even as gathered to the Lord's name, fall into that crap if we're not careful, because we can come to the meetings and we can carry on in an outward form. You know, it's interesting in Ephesus that they left their first love, but they were going on in such.
Order outwardly that they were even able to detect the false apostles. Things were in very much order outwardly, but it was no longer truth in the inward parts. And so we want to be very careful in that regard. But I want to notice something else in the in Psalm 51 as well. Again, as a warning to us in verse 11, the last part of verse 11. Now I'm gonna read this in Mr. Darby's translation.
Take not the spirit of holiness from me. Not an interesting statement. In other words, David said, don't let me get used to sin. Don't take the spirit of holiness from me. And brethren, again, as we said earlier, we can. We are more affected by what we see around us, even in the professing Christian world than we realize. And we can get used to things. We can get worn down. We can become insensitive.
We can even become callous to these things. I have. I know those that I've grown up with, true believers who love the Lord, and they're going on with things today. It's not that they've given up the Lord entirely, but they're going on with things today that are not according to the Word of God. And they're in systems today religiously that are doing things that are unbelievable, teaching doctrines that are are blasphemous, teaching that the Lord could have, could have sinned.
In systems that are now confused as to the Lord's coming and the appearing and so on and going on with things that really are are unholy, but in the in the name of Christianity, they've got used to sin. David said take not the spirit of holiness from me, brethren. What is going to preserve us? Well, we're going to find it out as we go on to the rest of the chapter. But I stress again, this has already been said by others.
What is going to preserve us in the midst of all that we are taking up is to walk in the presence of the Lord with the truth of God before our souls. When David sinned, what did he do when it was brought before, he immediately got into the presence of the Lord. Now I know it's di a little different there. It was an individual sin, it was a moral sin, but I believe the principle is the same. What's going to preserve us, to go on collectively is gathered to the Lord's name.
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I trust there's no pride in our hearts at all. It's only grace if we find ourselves where we're at.
But what is gonna preserve us there, brethren, is to go on in the presence of the Lord, with a sense of His Holiness and what is acceptable to him, and according to his mind.
A little indication as to the work of the enemy. There's two groups that are mentioned. There are those that are LED, those that lead and those that are LED. And so there is a work of the enemy to deceive. He's a deceiver. He's presented in the scriptures as an old serpent, very experienced. He has tactics that work, They work very well. And so he, uh, his working is using those tactics and he has agents that are, he is using those that have.
In some way gone on in an unrighteous way and have had unrighteous thoughts and believed and swallowed some of the unrighteous teachings as to the person of Christ and his work. And he uses those agents to do his work. Some of them, sad to say, as you say, are believers. Those I, I've known real believers, true believers that love the Lord and are relying upon him have believed in faith that Christ died for them.
But they teach that Christ could have sinned. It's an awful thing. It's a blasphemous thing. God is the Son of God came into this world, He's God and he could not sin. He did not sin, he could not sin. And so here it says there, there are those that will lead. That's their purpose to lead. And their work is to lead captive into a line of umm, doctrine that is opposed to the truth of God. So they lead.
And their purpose really, they, the Spirit of God uses very plain language. They creep in to the houses, lead captive, silly women. It's really those that have no UMM have lost their ability to discern. They've lost their discernment. Often times in the Western Christian world, in the Christian UMM profession, even in the last 100 years, it's women that have been used of the enemy to rise up and to propagate some.
Line of uh, umm, error that has drawn away many others. And so there are those that lead and there are those that are lead LED away with divers lust. So speaks of those things that would they have a carnal nature, a carnal side of things that appeals to man and man in the flesh may not even be saved, but it appeals to him and we need to be careful. He's sounding a warning.
He's telling us how the enemy would achieve his purposes.
I don't think it's when he says silly women and I agree with you, but it's not limited to that. It's those again, as you said, and those driven by emotion and out of control. And again, there's a lot in Christendom today that's driven by emotion. And I have talked to some of my Christian neighbors even and they'll tell you on on Lord's Day on Sunday, they'll say, oh, it was so wonderful and this and that took place and.
And it's interesting that people will talk about, uh, experiences and experiences and experiences and, and, but what does it glorify? Does it glorify Christ? And let me say this too, very frankly, they talk sometimes people will talk about the Spirit, the Spirit, the Spirit. We need to be careful. The main work of the Spirit is to glorify. Christ doesn't glorify himself. The only time the Spirit of God occupies us with ourselves.
Is in self judgment, but otherwise the main function of the Spirit of God is to glorify Christ.
And again, the Lord brought that out in the upper room when he spoke of the Spirit coming in anticipation. And if something makes so much of the Spirit, but doesn't glorify Christ, brethren, it's a yellow light. It, it, it's, it's a, it's a warning to us. And so there's these little tests that we can, we can practice in our lives. Is this making a lot of self? Well, I had this experience. I did this, I did that. I spoke in tongues and I, I was slain in the Spirit. I'm being very frank. And the Spirit did this and the Spirit did that. Oh, be careful, brethren. It's a form of godliness. But denying that, really denying the power thereof.
01:00:36
And what's the result? They're LED away with divers loss. That that. And you, you often find that, don't you? That the end result of it then is that there's empire flipping.
Yeah, so when there's false doctrine as to the person of Christ and the work of Christ, often times it brings in immorality and a loose life.
You know, if we wrote this today, if one of us wrote this today, we'd raise some eyebrows. There'd be some brethren that would come to see us maybe or send us letters or emails. They wouldn't dare to see us maybe. But uh, Paul was writing by inspiration and he spoke the truth. And so we need to remember that these are inspired. These words are inspired of God and he speaks of the truth in connection with their activity, to have religious activity, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
So they read the scriptures, they read the scriptures, they read the scriptures, but they really are not submissive to the teaching of the Spirit of God in connection with what he's teaching because they have a preconceived notion and they're trying to make the scriptures fit their line of doctrine. And so when we come into the presence of the Lord and we're taught by the Spirit of God, the word of God judges our thoughts, judges our motives.
Judges are actions. It's the Word of God that judges us. We don't judge the word of God. And so that's why when we come to a reading meeting like this, we don't say, well, I think, and then we give a line of things that we think our opinion. And then another brother says, well, I think, and then he gives his opinion. We're not talking about opinions. It's what the Spirit of God teaches in the truth of the Word of God, what he has brought before us and taught.
Now, I only went to a couple of different, uh, uh, Bible study groups, they call them at high school. When I was in high school, the women didn't cover their heads. Uh, the women took an active part and that sort of thing. I was encouraged as a young, uh, person to go to one of these groups. I went a couple of times, as I say, and that's how it was. My opinion is this, Well, the Presbyterian was speaking in her opinion was this. And then there was someone from the United Church, His opinion was this.
Someone from the open brethren, his opinion was this, we're not talking opinions and this is what the Spirit of God is bringing before his before us here, ever learning, never able to come under the knowledge of the truth. It's the word of God in submissive, in submission to the teaching of the Spirit of God that will give us light.
There's a great deal of education. People are learning, learning. They go on the Internet.
And you learn a lot of things off the Internet and there never was a day when there was so much information available so easily.
But that is not how we learn truth.
Everlearning says here, and this is sad, you think of people who spend their lives studying things, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Why is that? Because they don't come to the fountain of truth, the Lord himself. Uh, this couple verses worth looking at one in Proverbs.
Proverbs, chapter 14.
And verse 6A corner seeketh wisdom and findeth it not white. His attitude is wrong.
But he had someone, uh, during the prayer meeting, read about Mary sitting at Jesus feet and hearing his word. There was a place of submission there. There was the right attitude and she heard and she learned The scorners seeketh wisdom and findeth it not, but knowledge is easy to him that understand it. Understanding is has to do with hearing. And uh, just to reinforce that Proverbs chapter one.
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Proverbs chapter one and verse 5A wise man will hear.
Now who is he supposed to hear? Turns to Psalm 119.
So I'm 119 verse 97.
How many of us can say these words truthfully? Psalm 119, verse 97. Oh, how I love thy law. It is my meditation. All day through Thy commandments Thou hast made me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for Thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients. Who should know more than the ancients?
Because I keep my precepts, so on verse 102 I have not departed from my judgments, for thou hast taught me when we're taught by the Lord.
It humbles us.
Uh, like I said, man, make people in religious circles today. Today people make a great deal of education and the educated make a great deal of what they know. But if we're really taught by the Lord, we're humble. The truth, the truth of God properly taken in, humbles us.
It's very similar, Brother John in the 25th Psalm, verse 9. The meek will he guide in judgment, and the meek will He teach His way. And so instead of exalting self, it's meekness and taking a low place in the presence of the Lord and being open to hear His word and be submissive to what He teaches. He's not going to tell us what we want to hear.
He's going to tell us what we need to hear and then on our part is submission and obedience.
Well, especially with this ever learning, there's uh, uh.
A lot of information that can be gathered and we all like to learn, uh.
It was, uh, brother, my age gathered to the Lord's name, umm, and we were discussing some things. He said it doesn't matter what translation of the Bible that you use, Brother Robert was just bringing before us of uh, uh, the person and work of Christ and how important it is. I had a translation once I was reading in Hebrews chapter 4.
The end of verse 15.
Where it says that he that wasn't, that wasn't all points. Tempted like as we are, it said, yet without sinning.
In other words, he probably could have given the opportunity, but he just didn't.
That book went in the trash and it's a well known translation that many people use as a translation of the word of God. It's not the word of God yet with out sin it touches his character. Be careful what you take up, but don't just pick up any translation to beat your soul. You'll get doctrines wrong, you'll come in subtly, and be careful what you leave at extracurricular.
Helps with the Bible. We talk about ever learning and when was there ever a day when of the making of books. There is no end but not just the making of books but of so-called Christian books.
The Christian bookstores are full of books being turned off the press every hour, it seems. But, and I'm not saying it's all wrong and I'm not saying it's all error, but brethren, we need to be careful. It says, considering the end of their conversation or their life. When I pick up a book that was written by a person who went on in the truth of God till the end of their life until the Lord took them, I have a lot more confidence in that purse, that book.
Than I do in someone who perhaps never has come into the truth that some of us by the grace of God have been brought into.
01:10:03
Us to be gathered to the Lord's name and so on. And often too, if you just read the flyleaf of the book, you can tell whether this book exalts self or whether it exalts Christ. Often just the flyleaf or the back cover will be enough. So as Mark said, there are translations out there that are not sound. We need to be careful, but there's much so-called written Christian ministry that we need to be very, very careful of as well.
They're ever learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
And Satan's great attempt is to mix a little error with the truth. It's like in the sons of the prophets in the Old Testament. Just a little bit of that wild gourd caused the whole pot of of me of of pottage to be become de defiled and unpalatable. Doesn't take much.
259.
No.
I'll get more Jesus, open heart and the poor life and again.
We shall give all.
The time as my fool and his death.