Guarding the Truth Entrusted to Us
Studies in 2 Timothy #8
What Did You Expect?
2 Timothy 3:1-9
August 26, 2012
Love GOD and Leave the TROUBLEMAKER.
2 Timothy 3:1–9 — 1 BUT realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of
self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving,
irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless,
conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; 5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have
denied its power; and avoid such men as these. 6 For among them are those who enter into households and
captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, 7 always learning and never able
to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8 And just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also
oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected as regards the faith. 9 But they will not make further
progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, as also that of those two came to be.
Here are the questions I believe Paul is answering in this passage…when will difficult times come? Why
will difficult times come? What are those who cause those difficult times to come like? What are the ways
they operate in the Church? And what will happen to them?
Let’s get real about serving Jesus in the Church…
1. ADMIT that we live in difficult times. 2 Timothy 3:1-4
a. They LOVE the wrong things. Look at vv.2 & 4…“lovers of self, lovers of money…lovers of
pleasure rather than lovers of God.”
b. They THINK the wrong way. Boastful and arrogant in v.2 refers to people who are selfpromoting and stuck up. Romans 12:3 — 3 For through the grace given to me I say to every
man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as
to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.
c. They TREAT OTHERS the wrong way.
d. They LIVE TO GET THEIR OWN way.
So what’s the cure for this kind of person? If you start seeing these kinds of qualities showing up in your
life, what should you do? If you think you just need to try to be a better person or turn over a new leaf,
you’ve missed the point. These are the qualities of a person who has a love problem. They love
themselves more than anything. That leads to a love of money because they believe money can get them
what will make them feel important and valuable. They love pleasure because they believe that will satisfy
the hunger that nags at their soul. But the only thing that will satisfy the yearning of your heart is the love
of God for you in Jesus. Before you can really demonstrate genuine love through serving others, you need
to make sure that your love relationship with your heavenly Father is right.
2. AVOID people who cause our difficult times. 2 Timothy 3:5-9
a. They engage to take ADVANTAGE.
6 For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins,
led on by various impulses, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
They worm their way into households, they’re devious in the secretive infiltration they engage in. And
who are the targets of their devious ways? Paul refers to them as weak women, gullible women. Could it
be that the women he’s talking about in this passage are those who weren’t adorning themselves with
proper clothing demonstrating a modesty and discreetness that is consistent with a women who claims to
be godly (1 Timothy 2:9-10)? Could these be the women who had abandoned God’s design for women and
who were attempting to take upon themselves an authority God said they didn’t have (1 Timothy 2:11-15)?
Are they women who were giving themselves to wanton pleasure, who in disregard to Christ, give in to
sensual desires (1 Timothy 5:6, 11) and spend their days flitting from house to house spreading the false
teaching they have heard from the troublemakers Paul has been warning Timothy and the Church about?
Why are they weak when it comes to the influence of these troublemakers?
i. Paralyzed by our Past – weighed down with sins. Sometimes the past can overwhelm
us. Guilt and bad memories can cripple us as we seek to follow Christ. If we don’t find
complete forgiveness through repentance and faith in Christ, we may run into some
common pitfalls: being attracted to self-help schemes and doctrines that will make us
feel better temporarily but not deal with our real problem; dredging up past
memories and the shame that went with them; our guilty feelings would then render
us both ineffective in Christian service and lacking in confidence; allowing low selfrespect to make us feel powerless, causing our sinful desires to take control;
rejecting the central teaching of salvation—that our sins are forgiven and
forgotten—and instead dwell on and attempt to solve our sin problem without
Christ’s help.
ii. Perplexed by our Present – led on by various impulses. This is the other extreme that
makes serving Jesus in the Church so difficult. These are people who readily admit
their faults, their shortcomings, their sin…but they don’t do anything about them.
They don’t deal with the guilt of their past by confessing their sin to God and
whoever else they have sinned against. They don’t let the forgiveness that they have
received motivate them to live a godly life. And they don’t submit to the Holy Spirit’s
transforming power in their lives to give them the strength they need to break the
destructive cycle that has developed in their lives.
iii. Pacified by our Prospects – always learning and never able to come to the knowledge
of the truth. They are incessant learners who constantly seek out any new approach
to dealing with their past guilt and their present habits in the hopes that they will find
some magic bullet to rid them of all their problems. And every time some new
approach to life comes along, they embrace it and feel good about what they believe
it will do in their lives. That makes them vulnerable to troublemakers in the Church
who engage to take advantage of others.
b. They oppose the TRUTH.
8 And just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind,
rejected as regards the faith.
c. They will be EXPOSED.
9 But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, as also that of those two came
to be.
Let’s talk about serving Jesus in the Church today…
1. What is it about today that makes serving Jesus in His Church so difficult?
2. What is wrong with the idea that you must love yourself before you can love others?
3. How can you enjoy all the things that God richly supplies us with without becoming guilty of loving
pleasure?
4. What is the difference between a form of godliness and living godly like Paul describes in 2 Timothy
3:12?
5. What’s the difference between hypocrisy and apathy when it comes to real godliness in our lives?
6. What is it about our past that makes serving Jesus in the Church so difficult and what can we do
about that?
7. What is it about our present that makes serving Jesus in the Church so difficult and we can we do
about that?
8. What is it about troublemakers in the Church that make them so easy to follow?
9. Why should we be encouraged when we think about serving Jesus in the Church?