2 Tim., Pt. 6 (Firm Foundations in Slippery Times)

Firm Foundations in Slippery Times
(During the Terrible Times of “the Last Days”)

2 Timothy 3; Pt. 6

By Pastor Dan Kennedy
© November 1, 2015
www.pastorkennedy.com

Have you ever been around someone who seems to have an exceptional spiritual aptitude and strength, but something in your spirit made you concerned about their presence, their beliefs and their power?

Some 1,300 years Before Christ, tradition tells us that there were two brothers who grew up under a strong Satanic influence and came to wield considerable mystical and spiritistic power in the courts of Egypt, their names were Jannes and Jambres1. Around 1311 BC, another man, who looked like a Bedouin, and his brother also came to Pharaoh’s Royal court. Moses, who, over forty years earlier had been called a son of Pharaoh, demanded the release of Jacob’s family that had now grown to some 600,000 men, not including women and children. Moses was reiterating God’s demand for His People’s release following 400 years of slavery in Egypt.

1 JANNES AND JAMBRES (Jănʹ nēs and Jămʹ brēs) Two opposers of Moses and Aaron (2 Tim. 3:8). Though the names do not appear in the OT, rabbinic tradition identified Jannes and Jambres as being among those Egyptian magicians who sought to duplicate for Pharaoh the miracles performed by Moses (Exod. 7:11). The Damascus Document from the Qumran Sect describes the two as brothers raised up by Belial, the evil one. Eusebius of Caesarea described them as sacred scribes of Egypt. The Jewish tradition makes several mentions of them, but in the end they could not match God’s power displayed through Moses. From the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary.

This sheepherder, Moses, confirmed his audacious claims that the Jewish God wanted to free His People from Egyptian servitude, by performing incredible miraculous signs from God. Pharaoh wasn’t very happy with this nare-do-well, rebel rouser and his brother Aaron, but he also did not want to be embarrassed by the undeniable miracles performed in the name of the Jewish God, so Pharaoh sent for the trusted sorcery brothers from his own court, Jannes and Jambres. Their task was to debunk the miracles performed by Moses and Aaron, showing that any noteworthy enchanter could conjure up the same miracles with or without God.

Moses turned the water of the Nile into blood.
• Jannes and Jambres turned water to blood (Ex. 7:22).

Seven days later Moses called a plague of frogs on the land of Egypt.
• Jannes and Jambres produced frogs on the land through their secret arts (Ex. 8:7).

After Moses and Aaron heard Pharaoh’s plea for relief from the plague of frogs, upon leaving Pharaoh’s court, Moses cried out to the Lord to stop the plague. And the Lord did what Moses asked. The frogs died in the houses, in the courtyards and in the fields. They were piled into heaps, and the land reeked of them (Exodus 8:8–14).

But, when the frog plague was over, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and he changed his mind about letting God’s people go, so the Lord told Moses to strike the dust of the earth, which would cover the land of Egypt with swarms of gnats.

Jannes, Jambres and the rest of Egypt’s sorcerers could not reproduce swarms of gnats. “This is the finger of God,” they told Pharaoh, (Ex. 8:18-19). But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened again against the LORD and did not let God’s People go.

The next plague on Egypt was a ghastly number of flies permeating every aspect of Egyptian lives, only this time the land of Goshen, the home of the Israelites, was set apart and delivered from experiencing the clouds of despicable flies. This and all the subsequent plagues to follow were not found in the Jewish homeland, confirming the Power of the LORD’s Judgment on the Egyptians alone, through Moses and Aaron (Ex. 8:22-23).

Spiritual deceivers are “SPIRITUAL” PEOPLE who do amazing things, but in reality are in opposition TO GOD.

The Apostle Paul mentions Jannes and Jambres by name in the 3rd chapter of 2 Timothy. He equates these sorcerers direct opposition against Moses, in the courts of Pharaoh, to be similar to what will happen to believers in “the last days”.

2 Timothy 3:1–5 (NIV84)
Godlessness in the Last Days
3 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

The following is a formidable list, explicitly descriptive of the days in which we seem to be living.

Paul begins with the warning:

“There will be terrible times in the last days.”

(People will be like Jannes and Jambres)

• lovers of themselves,
• lovers of money,
• boastful,
• proud,
• abusive,
• disobedient to their parents,
• ungrateful,
• unholy,
• without love,
• unforgiving,
• slanderous,
• without self-control,
• brutal,
• not lovers of the good,
• treacherous,
• rash,
• conceited,
• lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—
• having a form of godliness but denying its power.

Paul concludes the list by saying:
“Have nothing to do with them.”

He continues writing to Timothy about how various “religious” leaders, who oppose the truth, will conduct their godless and immoral lifestyle, eventually revealing themselves to everyone.

2 Timothy 3:6-9
They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.

8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth—men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9 But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.

As time progresses in the last days, good becomes evil and evil becomes good. Even extremely evil and immoral things somehow are whitewashed and become swept away from the public’s calloused consciousness. Right and good are demeaned and irreverence and rebellion are applauded.

“Be sure your sin will find you out.”

Sin and evil will eventually catch up to itself. This is obvious in multiple statistics revealing themselves in our world today, pointing to the reality that unrelenting participation in the pleasure of “sin for a season” has hell to pay in the end.

Jannes and Jambres heatedly opposed Moses and Aaron, but watched in helplessness as plague after terrible plague revealed their impotent power.

• Jannes and Jambres each tragically lost the firstborn in their families, by the angel of death, in the final plague.

• They watched disbelievingly when some two million slaves walked to freedom out the front gates of the Egyptian cities.

• Had Jannes and Jambres vindictively and defiantly advised Pharaoh through spirit mediums, to pursue the hoard of rebellious slaves and bring them all back to face cruel whips and certain death?

• What did they think when they heard that all of the Israelites including every vulnerable sheep, goat and livestock walked across the depths of the Red Sea unscathed and on dry ground, with “walls of water” protecting them, while Pharaoh and his world-class, “undefeatable” army was swallowed up? They were totally powerless against Israel’s God, as He sent the crushing avalanche of water cascading back to the sea which propelled Pharaoh, his weaponry, and his army into defeat, oblivion, and ignominious death!

• Jannes and Jambres also lost their political power, prestige, and positions when Pharaoh and his military might were drowned in the Red Sea and never came home.

• Who would want to believe and follow Jannes and Jambres now?

It will be the same in “the end”…the end of each individual’s life,
And, the end of the age.

Power, pleasure, spiritistic dominion and defiance against God live only as long as those who perpetrate it have life, or retain the authority of their position.

One day, the end will come for each life, for each defiant coalition, for every nation’s authority and every dominion in this world’s kingdom.

The end will come and eternity will begin.
What then?

Paul presents his case for an alternative to a worldly mindset: a Godly lifestyle.

2 Timothy 3:10–11
10 You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.

Paul counters the world’s destructive outcome with the outcome of his own life before God, which Timothy had observed firsthand:

An Honorable Life before God

• My teaching,
• my way of life,
• my purpose,
• faith,
• patience,
• love,
• endurance,
• persecutions,
• sufferings—
• what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured.

Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.

Antioch, Iconium and Lystra

Antioch
Barnabas brought the fledgling convert Saul (before his name was changed to Paul) from his home town Tarsus, to Antioch, and they met with the church there a whole year and taught a great many people. Scripture confirms to us that it was here in Antioch, where believers were first called Christians. (Acts 11:25-26) Other happenings in Antioch included:

• James, the brother of John, was killed with the sword, by the orders of King Herod.

• Herod saw this made the Jews happy, so he imprisoned Peter.

• God miraculously delivered Peter. (Acts 12)

• There were many prophets and teachers in Antioch at that time. This is when the Holy Spirit set apart Barnabas and Saul for a special missionary work, and after prayer and fasting, the church at Antioch laid hands on them and commissioned them to this special ministry. (Acts 13:1-3)

• “The word of the Lord spread through the whole region. But the Jews incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. So they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 13:49-52)

Iconium
Acts 14:1-7
At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed. 2 But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. 3 So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders. 4 The people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles. 5 There was a plot afoot among the Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to mistreat them and stone them. 6 But they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country, 7 where they continued to preach the good news.

Lystra
8 In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed 10 and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.
11 When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” 12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. 13 The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.
14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: 15 “Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. 16 In the past, he let all nations go their own way. 17 Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.” 18 Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.
19 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. 20 But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.

Return to Antioch
21 They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, 22 strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said. 23 Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust. 24 After going through Pisidia, they came into Pamphylia, 25 and when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia.
26 From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed. 27 On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. 28 And they stayed there a long time with the disciples.

Who a person is, no matter what they say, or what they may seem to be spiritually, is revealed in:

• What they teach,
• how they live,
• their purpose,
• their faith,
• their patience,
• their love,
• their endurance,
• their persecutions,
• their sufferings—

and how they handle the trials, tragedies, blessings, joys and disappointments that have come to into their life, which all can see.

Paul’s life revealed the truth of his teaching.

Two Realistic Truths about a Real Christian
Paul continues by asserting two truths of the non-glorious, unglamorous and often unacknowledged realism of an outcome of a Godly life:

1. 2 Timothy 3:12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

The spirit of Satan, prevailing in the world, will cause persecution against Christians whenever possible.
There is a form of persecution for anyone who wants to live a Godly life in Christ Jesus.

2. 2 Timothy 3:13 while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

The spirit of Satan, prevailing in the world, causes those in the kingdom of darkness to have a growing hatred (not a growing love) toward followers of Jesus Christ.

We should not believe that people who have their hearts embedded in the world will eventually gain a better attitude and respect toward dedicated and committed Christians, who want to live an honest, upright and honorable life before God and others. Instead, those following the dictates of their own evil and deceptive heart will be consumed into deeper and deeper self-centered, self-pleasurable, and perverse ways, unless there is the intervention of the Spirit of Christ drawing them to Salvation.

The spirit of Satan, the god of this world, metastasizes a growing hatred in his kingdom’s inhabitants, causing rebellion in the most vitric way, against his greatest enemy: God, His Son, Jesus Christ…and God’s Children!

Paul’s Advice to Timothy

1. Continue growing in your faith in Christ, which you have learned and observed in the lives of the ones who mentored you.

2 Timothy 3:14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it,

2. Continue growing in your faith in Christ, which you have seen and learned as a child from your family, if you were taught the things of God.

2 Timothy 3:15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

3. Continue growing in your faith in Christ by reading and studying the Bible because what you are learning are the inspired Words of God Himself.

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

4. If you continue growing in your faith in Christ by doing these things you will be thoroughly equipped to do all the good work to which God has called you!

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Who Do We Allow to Speak into Our Life?

Do you know people who like to act spiritual and feign knowledge of God and seem to be familiar with “spiritual” books like the Bible?

Does the depth of their life match up with what they are trying to have people believe about them?

Or, does their life match up with what Paul was writing about in 2 Timothy 3:2-5: are they “lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power?”

These folks may love to mentor others and give lots of advice on how to live… but, how does Paul tell us to respond to them?

“Have nothing to do with them.”

How can we discern a person who has an Honorable Life before God?

A Person’s life is revealed in:

• What they teach,
• how they live,
• their purpose,
• their faith,
• their patience,
• their love,
• their endurance,
• their persecutions,
• their sufferings—

And, how they handle the trials, tragedies, blessings, joys and disappointments that have come to into their life, which all can see.

What are Two unpopular but Realistic Truths about a Real Christian life?

1. “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” 2 Timothy 3:12

The spirit of Satan, prevailing in the world, will cause persecution against Christians whenever possible.

2. “Evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” 2 Timothy 3:13

The spirit of Satan, prevailing in the world, causes those in the kingdom of darkness to have a growing hatred (not a growing love) toward followers of Jesus Christ.

What was Paul’s Advice to Grow in Christ?

1. Continue growing in your faith in Christ, which you have learned and observed in the life of the ones who mentored you.

2. Continue growing in your faith in Christ, which you have seen and learned as a child from your family, if you were taught the things of God.

3. Continue growing in your faith in Christ by reading and studying the Bible because what you are learning are the inspired Words of God Himself.

4. If you continue growing in your faith in Christ by doing these things you will be thoroughly equipped to do all the good work to which God has called you!

“All Scripture is God-breathed
and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting
and training in righteousness,
so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped
for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16

How Firm a Foundation
Author: “K” (Unknown)

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
You, who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?

Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand
Upheld by My righteous, Omnipotent Hand.

When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.

The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.