Good morning to everyone. Had a little snow this morning on the farm. That was a little bit frightening. But I guess it's coming. 

This morning, we're going to be continuing our study in 2 Timothy 3. And it's really a tough text. It's not a very encouraging text. We're going to bring that around. Obviously, the last half of the chapter is very encouraging. The answer is encouraging. But it's mainly a contrast. 

You'll remember at the end of chapter 2 last time, Paul was encouraging Timothy to teach the truth, to rebuke false doctrine, and not get entangled with those all hung up on words and the world's wisdom and those kind of things, and to do that with a spirit of gentleness, to do that with the right motive. And the contrast is in our text today; we're going to see the heading in my Bible says, "perilous times and perilous men." And that's the idea of the text, is that there are going to be men, people, outside, inside the church, coming into the church, affecting from the outside, that are perilous, that are dangerous through false teaching, false doctrine. And that's going to be a dangerous time for the church.

So we see here a characterization of men who teach lies. And this is manifest all through their life and their actions and how they interact with other people. What I think we should take home from this text today, before we really dig in and begin, is that the answer to false teaching, to lies, is truth. And that the need in the church is truth, in love, with a spirit of gentleness, to rebuke, to correct our thinking. The reason we come here, the reason we have the word of God for sanctification, the truth, is because we're not perfect. We have not arrived yet, as Paul says. So there should be an adjustment of our thinking. There should be an adjustment of our living through the building up in the truth of the word. So keep those things in mind as we work through our text today.

Well, Paul's writing to Timothy, the pastor of the church in Ephesus. And he's writing primarily to instruct and encourage Timothy concerning how we should conduct ourselves in the house of God. The context in which Paul writes, which I think is so important to keep in mind, is imprisonment. He's awaiting martyrdom. He's giving Timothy his last words, his most important instructions, and the reality of what he should expect in pastoring the church. 

There is a warning. There's an exhortation. In our last message, the end of chapter 2, we saw Paul exhort Timothy to strive to be a useful vessel, to take heed to himself and to the doctrine, to avoid those who are off into all kinds of false doctrines and foolish and ignorant disputes. He says that a servant of the Lord must be gentle, not a brawler, but in humility must correct those in opposition. The goal of salvation is a building up in the truth, and this must be done by preaching the truth, standing for the truth, but in love with a spirit of gentleness. These words speak to tone, to attitude, to motive, and they're very important. 

You can say a lot of hard things if you say them in love with the right motive in the right way. And the preacher must do this. He must say hard things, must confront sin and error and false teaching, whether it comes from within so-called Christendom in the church through a false man-centered, works-righteousness type of gospel, or if it comes from outside in the philosophies of the world that affect and permeate our thinking, even in the church. Paul says to do it with gentleness, with a right heart. 

And then we come to chapter 3, and Paul says, but do it. But do it. You need to be gentle, not quarrelsome. You need to have a right motive. You need to have a good, proper tone in your preaching, in your correcting. But know this. In the last times, perilous times will come. Why? Because men will be lovers of themselves. 

It's an interesting contrast as we come to our text today. The essence of the message is this: in the church, in these last days, evil men will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. They will be awful, sinful, truth-resisting men, speaking to deceive the hearts of the simple, to lead people away from the truth. And this is the kind of world we live in. This is the condition of the Christian church today. Why? Because men will be lovers of themselves. 

This is the key characteristic that leads to all the evil we see listed in our text. And this comes because of a resistance to the truth, a lack of preaching, teaching, and holding to the truth. And this is implicit in the command of Timothy in this section, as well as all of these pastoral epistles, that he must hold fast the truth. He must give heed to the doctrine, stand against error, preach the word. That's where we're moving in the flow of chapter 3 and chapter 4 as well. Because the safety, the salvation, the fruitfulness of the church depends on it. 

There's a real threat. Paul says, know this, I promise, I guarantee. Reminds us of Acts 20, where he talked to the Ephesians elders. They'll come from within. They'll come from without wolves who will not spare the flock. That the conditions of the world, and specifically the world creeping into the church, are going to bring an all-out assault on the truth and will destroy many who follow after lies. 

So Paul tells Timothy in chapter 2, stand against those men who are leading people astray. Correct them. Do it in a spirit of gentleness. And in chapter 3, he says, but you must know what kind of situation you are going to find yourself in. And you must rebuke, correct, exhort. The idea here is not that Timothy should be some sort of milquetoast, timid guy. Paul's told him the opposite. Love and gentleness are not defined that way biblically. 

The exhortation is to correct, to stand for the truth in the midst of a perilous time, but not to fall into a contentious, quarreling spirit. Rather, a steadfast standing for the truth because of a firm conviction that this is the answer to error, that this is God's means for protecting the believers and producing fruit in the church. 

Let's look at our text in 2 Timothy 3:1. Paul says, "But know this, that in the last days, perilous times will come. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Having a form of godliness, but denying its power, and from such people turn away. For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women, loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Janice and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth. Men of corrupt minds disapproved concerning the faith, but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was."

I've given you four points on your outline, we're going to kind of wrap them together here, but first, but know this, second, perilous times, third, self-love, and fourth, resisting the truth. Well, as I studied this section of scripture, I didn't really find it to be encouraging, at least not in one sense. The conclusion in the rest of chapter three that we're going to study next time is much more encouraging, but to just look at the promise here of what it will be like in the church in the last days, what the world is like, and the influence on the church because of a lack of commitment to teaching and holding fast to truth is a bit overwhelming. 

And I think we sense that overwhelming discouragement coming in from our world into the church in our time. The answer to the serious threat, the answer to discouragement, the answer to all that comes against Christ and His church is truth, is the scriptures, is the words of God. And that's why down at the end of this chapter, if you look in verse 13, Paul writes to Timothy and says, "But evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived, but you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise for 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 in righteousness in order that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work."

Very simply, this is the answer. It's the only answer, for Jesus is the answer. And this word teaches us about Him, who He is, what He has done, and the promises in life that we have in Him. The scriptures, the word, the truth is the only answer, and my friends, it is the only place we should be looking to make sense of all the difficulty of the time in which we now live. The problem is that the church as a whole is looking everywhere else. And that is why men have been able to creep in unnoticed and wreak havoc on the health and wellbeing of the body, the believers, leading them astray and taking them captive with hollow and deceptive philosophies after the wisdom of this world and not according to Christ. 

Now more than ever, as we progress toward the time of Christ coming for us and the tribulation time on this earth, as evil men grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived, as the church falls further into apostasy, forsaking the truth, we must be careful to follow the doctrine, the manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, love, perseverance, the example that we see from Paul. And we must be careful not to entertain the philosophies of the world and the wisdom of men. 

When I was studying this text, there was a major glaring link, a connection between the words lovers of themselves and the absolute carnage of character that follows in the list Paul uses to characterize false teachers in the church in the last day. Notice verse five, it says, "Having a form of godliness, but denying its power." It talks about ever learning, never coming to the knowledge of the truth. People are into all kinds of doctrine, tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine that comes along, and yet they study and they study and they're into this and they're into that, and they never come to the simplicity of Christ. 

What a statement. I think it makes clear we're talking about Christendom here, having a form of godliness, but denying its power. Christendom in the broadest sense, but in this context, it is in the church. And when we read these characterizations, these warnings, the stark reality of false teachers and false teaching in the church, I think we tend to think of some satanic doctrine, some sort of outright, clearly false gospel that comes from openly evil men. But that's not what Paul's necessarily talking about, and it's not the case in the church. These are deceivers. They have a form of godliness. 

And what is the truth about them that springs forth all of this rot and filth that we read in these verses? What is the root that produces the evil fruit Paul lists out here? It's pride and self-love. He says first, lovers of self. But know this, it's a reality, it's a certainty. This is happening in the church, and it's going to grow worse and worse until Jesus comes. The phrase, "in the last days," speaks of this time, the time between Jesus' first coming and second coming. John says we are in the last days. Paul here speaks of the time of Timothy and extends that all the way through our time and to the time of the rapture and the second coming. The last days are now, and we must know this. 

Perilous times will come in the church. The word literally means difficult, treacherous times, dangerous times. And then we see the linking word for. It could be translated because. Why will there be perilous times in the church? Why will there be dangerous and difficult times in these last days? Because there are dangerous men who are pretending to be shepherds, who are lovers of themselves. 

Dangerous men with dangerous doctrines. And I find it amazing that he uses this term, lovers of themselves. Philatos, phileo, affection, brotherly love. Autos, self. Men will have affection for themselves. Now we really must not gloss over this. We really should camp here for a while because it's so instructive, so illustrative of the truth of the situation that the church finds itself in, the reason why we are seeing all of these evil behaviors, these actions typical of the last days. 

I asked Bobby the other night when I was studying, I said, if you asked 100 professing Christians today, how important is self-esteem? How important is loving yourself? What do you think they would say? He said, I think they would all affirm how important these things are. So I asked, where do you think they got that idea? She said, psychology. And then Sarah, who was reading a book at the table, looked up and said, "What's wrong with loving yourself?" And Bobby said, "See?" 

When we read of evil men growing worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived, when we read of those in the church taken captive by hollow and deceptive philosophies, when we read this list of that which will characterize our world in these last days, as well as the church because of the influence of the world, I think we think of someone else. I think we think of Satan worship doctrines or at least false gospels of those like the Judaizers or something like that and certainly that kind of false teaching is in view here and it's happening, a works righteousness, a man-centeredness in the broad Christendom spectrum. But what does the text say? What is the characteristic that gives birth to being lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving? Self-love. 

Having an affection for yourself and your desires. And the contrast to all of this that brings clarity is in verse four, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Self-love sits in contradiction as an outright adversary to loving God. The Bible nowhere tells us to love ourselves. The idea did not exist in the church until very recent times and it does come from psychology. It's not that self-love didn't exist, obviously it did, but the church did not teach self-love as a virtue, but rather condemned it until recent times. 

It comes from the wisdom of this world and the philosophy of men. Let me ask you to be honest, to assess the condition of the church, even our own thinking. How much do you think the self-love lie has impacted the thinking of the church? My own thinking. All of the problems listed here, all the problems of sin and unholiness and selfishness come from loving ourselves too much. It's not that we need to love ourselves more, it's that we love ourselves too much. 

And the Bible simply assumes that we will love ourselves. Jesus said, "love your neighbor as yourself." The assumption is that we will love ourselves. The instruction is that we need to love our neighbor. Turn over to Ephesians 5 with me, please. Ephesians 5:25. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 

So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself, for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it just as the Lord does the church. What does God's Word say? Verse 29, "No one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes it and cherishes it." Husbands must be exhorted to love their wives. This does not come naturally, but supernaturally. But loving yourself, caring for yourself, no one ever hated his own flesh. That's a natural kind of love. The self-love lie of psychology has so permeated our thinking, so affected our perception of life and godliness and reality. 

I suppose some of you are sitting here now thinking, but pastor, don't we need to love ourselves? Don't we need to esteem ourselves highly? Isn't self-esteem important? I can't find it in the Scriptures. What I do find is exhortation after exhortation not to esteem ourselves highly, not to put ourselves first, but rather a continual instruction to esteem others, to love others, to put others before ourselves, to look out for the interest of others. 

Self-love is assumed, assumed to a point of being a major problem that leads to all sorts of sin and truly gives us an understanding of the world in which we live and the influence of that world on the church. I remember when Bobby was in college learning to be a teacher, and this was all, you know, in the 80s and 90s, was all the rage, and then implementing that in the schools. We hear it constantly. 

Turn over to Philippians 2:1 with me, please. Philippians 2:1 says, "Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross." 

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. This mind, "phreno," to be disposed toward an attitude, a disposition of the mind, a way of thinking. And what is the mind we are to have? The mind of Christ. He did nothing through selfish ambition. He esteemed others better than Himself. He was equal with God in glory, but did not hold on to that, did not consider it something to be grasped, to love Himself, but rather made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, listen, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. This is the ultimate example of sacrifice of self, of laying aside all self-interest, self-preservation, self-love, and we are to have this mind. 

Do nothing, Paul says, do what? Do nothing through selfish ambition. That pretty well rules out these manifestations we see in our text of self-love. And what is absolutely fascinating to me is when you look at the text before us is that Paul links this long list of debauchery and sin to this very root, this very source. And I believe this gives us an explanation for all that we see in our world today. 

And even in the church, those who have a form of godliness but deny its power, all the churches that claim the name of Christ but they deny Him by their doctrine and their practice. I'm wrapping these points together, but know this, he says, it's a certainty, a promise that dangerous times will come in the church, difficult times where there's a subtle but pervasive influence of false teaching consuming and corrupting the church. And the main manifestation of this false doctrine is this, self-love, self-focus, selfishness. 

And again, there's a connection, a link, a flow, if you like, self-love results in all these horrible manifestations. It reminded me of the old Stuart Smalley daily affirmations, a very few of you might remember that. But at the end, he would look in the mirror and say, I am going to be successful today because I am good enough and I am smart enough and doggone it, people like me. 

It's Norman Vincent Peale's power of positive thinking. It's psychology at its heart and it's humanism. No matter how many times I look in the mirror and tell myself these things, no matter how fervently I make a positive confession of these things, my brothers and sisters, the truth is this: I am not good enough, I am not smart enough, and quite frankly, it doesn't matter if people like me. 

Look at Paul's life in ministry. What was he consumed with? Where was he at when he wrote these words? He was in chains in the Mamertine prison. Did people like him? They were ready to cut off his head and what was he doing? Preaching Christ. What's he writing to Timothy? Timothy, I'm getting ready to die, I'm being poured out as a drink. Remember this, preach the word, rebuke, correct, exhort. Here's the problem, there's all these false teachers and false teaching in the church and they love themselves and therefore they do all these bad things. Correct them with the truth. 

The truth is, I am what I am by the grace of God. And without Jesus, I can do nothing. I don't need to look in myself to myself because there's nothing profitable there, aside from the person of Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the power of God working in me and through me as I look to Him, esteem Him, love Him, abide in Him. Whatever fruit is produced for His glory is not me, but by His power. 

How distorted the teaching of the church has become and it has been corrupted by the wisdom of the world. This is not a very encouraging text, but it's a necessary truth to understand and grapple with and respond to with the words of God, with sound doctrine. 

Now look at the fruit of self-love: but know this, that in the last days perilous times will come for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power, and from such people turn away. 

Turn away. Avoid them. Who? Those who manifest the fruit of self-love and all its humanistic variations, those who teach a self or works salvation or sanctification. The first result of loving yourself, having great affection for yourself is that you will get all you can any way you can. Look out for number one. Loving myself certainly in this context means that I am most important. Esteeming myself higher than others will lead me to esteem my desires and wants and wishes above others and it will lead me to do what I must for myself and to others in order to fulfill my lusts: lovers of silver, of money. 

This is the driving force of our self-love world. Money is the means to happiness, to fulfillment, to power, to getting all that I want for myself, actually what I deserve. You see, because I matter most. And if I'm the most important, the premier consideration, then I will boast. This is one of the most telling indicators, in my opinion, of the spiritual state of a man: boasting. Not that we all can't fall into that, right? But a loudmouth boaster is one indication of one who does not realize his dependence on the grace of God, does not have a proper understanding of the gospel of God and who he is and who God is. 

There's no room for boasting in the world of biblical Christendom, but only thankfulness and worship and praise for the God who has blessed me so abundantly by His grace, His unmerited favor in Christ. In Romans 3, Paul says, boasting is excluded by what law? The law of faith. The rest of the list in verse 2 goes with this: proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. 

Self-love and self-focus leads to all these things, for if I love myself first and foremost, which is what we are continually taught to do, then why would I consider the desires of my parents, or the well-being of others? Let me ask you this: have you ever said to your child, "If you would have talked to my mother that way"? Why do they talk to us that way, even in Christian families? Because they love themselves. They regard their own desires above obeying and honoring their parents. Because they are choosing to love themselves, not God, not their parents, but themselves. And this has been drilled into their minds in secular education for generations, and unfortunately often even in the church. 

One of my favorite Farside cartoons has one frame with the title 1960 above it, and there's the principal and the teacher and the parent all towering over the naughty child. And the next frame has the title 2000 over it, and there's the principal and the parent and the child all towering over the teacher. 

Despisers of self leads to me being the center of the universe, and then you see I am unthankful, unholy, disobedient, in fact headstrong and haughty toward anyone who would get in the way of what I want. Verse 3 of our text is absolutely astounding: what is the fruit of self-love, psychology, and humanistic philosophy? Unloving, unforgiving, slanders, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good. If we choose to love ourselves, esteem ourselves, then we do not love God and others. 

And if our wants and desires are paramount, then there will be unloving, unforgiving attitude toward others. They just get in the way of what I want. Turn over to James 4:1 with me please. James 4:1 says, "Where do wars and fights come from among you? Where do they come from? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have, you murder and covet and cannot obtain, you fight and war yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Anyone who wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." 

The word unloving in our text speaks of a lack of natural familial love. This is amazing. A lack of natural familial love. Not a supernatural love of self-sacrifice, but a most natural love for family, for her children, a husband for his wife. And Paul says it's going to get so bad because of self-love, because of self-satisfaction and selfishness that people will lack a normal, natural love for family. 

Why does a woman drown her four children in the bathtub? Because they stand in the way of something she wants. You murder, James says, because you do not have what you want or something stands in the way of your desires. This is where self-love, self-focus, and all that resists truth leads, and we see it in the last days in our world and in the church. He goes on: without self-control, brutal, despiders of good, traitors, headstrong, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. 

These men who so love themselves seek only to satisfy their lust for pleasure. This is the pursuit of the man of our world, to avoid trouble and trial and to experience pleasures. Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die. They do not love God. There is no fear of God before their eyes. These are carnal men living for the flesh, but Paul says these men, these teachers are in the church. 

And unfortunately, these ideas have had an effect on the church. It's not a far stretch when you make self-love the first priority to extend that to a hedonistic existence, a love of money, of fulfilling lust, of pleasure. This is where this false teaching of the world takes us. And if my desires are most important and the highest goal is my well-being, then I can conform a theology into health, wealth, and prosperity pretty easily. You see, this is where it leads: they have a form of godliness, but denying its power. 

They make the gospel all about me. God wants me to be happy. God wants me to be rich. God wants me to be healthy. And if I'm not, someone else is to blame. Some in evangelical Christianity don't go so far; they teach that Jesus is going to make your life better gospel. He isn't going necessarily to make you rich and keep you healthy, but He's going to fix your marriage, He's going to make you happy, and He's going to give you a life of ease. What a false gospel. 

Let's turn the corner here. The discouragement doesn't end for a while, but let's turn the corner. The true power of the gospel is this: salvation from the wrath of God for my sins. A substitutionary death in our place for our sins so that we might be released from the penalty of sin which is eternal death in the lake of fire. You probably heard that old illustration; I can't remember the guy's name now, but he talks about if you're on an airplane and you offer someone on an airplane a parachute, and they think, you know, the parachute's going to make their flight better. You say, "Does this make your flight better? You're going to enjoy it more, it's going to be great." 

This is kind of like the feel-good gospel today. It's not going to make their life better. It's going to make them uncomfortable in their seat. It's not going to help them at all. But if you tell them the plane's getting ready to dive, the engines are failing, we're going to crash and burn, then he's going to be glad to put on that parachute, isn't he? This is the gospel. We're going to perish. If we don't repent, we're going to perish. Believe Jesus because He's going to save you from your sins, and not only that but release you from the controlling power of sin in this life so that we might live a new and wholly transformed life as a witness to the power of the gospel. 

So now my focus has gone from myself and self-love and what I want and making my life better to living for Him because He died for me, to focusing on Him, to thanking Him. True godliness, true salvation, the true gospel brings thankfulness for His grace, for a release from the bondage to fear of death, from eternal punishment, and brings a fervent desire for holiness, a new life for His glory. 

But they resist the truth. They resist the truth, and such people turn away. Paul says they are of the sort who creep into households and make captives of gullible women, loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but it always reminds me of snapping beans while my mom was ironing and we were watching soap operas. 

They creep into houses, gullible women loaded down with sins, with various lusts. We could talk about Jehovah's Witnesses, right? They come knocking when the men are at work, or they used to work anyway, and they prey on women. Always learning, never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. That doesn't mean they're learning the truth, learning the Scripture; it means they're into some doctrine that these people are bringing them, and they're into it, and they're studying it and they're searching out all the details, but they never come to the truth. Janice and Jambres resisted Moses. This is the illustration. These also resist the truth. 

The key phrase here is this: they resist the truth. And we don't have time to develop the illustration about Janice and Jambres, but I want you to see that the key, as always, is truth versus error. And these men, these false teachers who have infiltrated and affected the church resist the truth. We're going to see next time clearly that it's Timothy's job to preach the truth, to hold fast to the truth, to dispel the error with the truth, call these men out and kick them out. The battle against error, the perilous fruit that flows from error, as we have seen in our text, can only be won, can only be corrected by truth, truth of God's Word. 

So what is the truth? What does the gospel teach us? One might say at this point in this message, shall we then hate ourselves? Shall we then despise ourselves, deprecate ourselves? Here's what I'd say. The Bible encourages us to make a right estimation of ourselves and of God and the world. 

So what does the Bible say about who I am, who God is, what the world is all about? In this new covenant salvation provided by Christ, we see that the truth is that I am a born one of God. I'm a new creation. I have died to sin, I've died to the law, I've died to the fear of death. I'm a new man with a new heart, and the Holy Spirit permanently lives in me, and Jesus lives in me and through me as I abide in Him. So I am not what I once was in Adam. This is a right estimation. 

I'm not a vile, wretched sinner. I'm not an enemy of God. I'm a child of God. I'm a co-heir with Christ and I should expect to live a holy life each day in light of who I am and what God has done and is doing in and through me. This is who I am in Christ. Not because of me, not for me, but because of Christ, by the power of God, by the grace of God, one day at a time. 

So the Bible tells me as I live this life, as I walk this walk, I am to look unto Jesus. I'm not to look unto myself. I'm not to look inside myself as if there was something good in me, of me, in myself. That's what humanism teaches. That's not what the Bible teaches. And when I look to myself, when I seek to love myself, I will become discouraged and depressed and hopeless. We see it all around us in this world of self-love, even in the church. But when I look to Jesus, what's the Bible say? 

When I make a right estimation based on the truth of God's Word, of who I am, of who God is, who Jesus is, what He's done for me, of His promises and the reality of my eternal life with Him, when we look to Jesus, we will never be disappointed. 

I hope you can see the subtlety of the lie and all that it produces. I would exhort each one of you, all of us, to stop being conformed by this world system and be being conformed, transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God so that we might present our bodies a living sacrifice to God for His purposes, not my own. 

Resist those who resist the truth and refute error by the words of God. This is the call. This is the application for Timothy and for us in the church today, existing in the context of these perilous, dangerous times. Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we thank You for Your Word, Your truth. We thank You that You continually adjust our mind, our thinking to Your thoughts through Your Word, through Your Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth. Thank You for Jesus who produces life through us, who is the vine and we are the branches just abiding in Him and He's producing the fruit for without Him we can do nothing. I pray, Lord, that we would have a right estimation of who we are in Christ, of who You are, of who Jesus is, of Your promises, Your salvation, Your plan, Your purpose, and that our life would be one of total dependence on You, looking to Jesus so that You get all the glory. In Jesus' name, amen.