It is easy for a professed Christian to avoid persecution, if he yields every point in which religion is opposed to the world. They're profitable. of When we know the afflictions of good people but in part, they are a temptation to us to decline that cause which they suffer for; when we know only the hardships they undergo for Christ, we may be ready to say, "We will renounce that cause that is likely to cost us so dear in the owning of it;" but when we fully know the afflictions, not only how they suffer, but how they are supported and comforted under their sufferings, then, instead of being discouraged, we shall be animated by them, especially considering that we are told before that we must count upon such things (2 Timothy 3:12; 2 Timothy 3:12): All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution: not always alike; at that time those who professed the faith of Christ were more exposed to persecution than at other times; but at all times, more or less, those who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. The real meaning of this is that all theories, all theologies, all ethics, are to be tested against the Bible. It may well be that the greatest handicap to Christianity is not the scarlet sinner but the sleek devotee of an unimpeachable orthodoxy and a dignified convention, who is horrified when it is suggested that real religion is a dynamic power which changes a man's personal life. The numbers of people who flocked to the various athletic contests, loving pleasure. And passion shall seize him that is peaceful. The volume of the book, the Old Testament, it's all about Jesus Christ. 10 But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, 11 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. And suddenly, of course, their tears were changed because Paul began to breathe and move and he stood up and he said, Let's go back in and preach some more. Note, Those are wise indeed who are wise to salvation. The New Testament had not yet been canonized. God had made Jesus to be Lord and Christ, preached Peter on that day of power, when as yet much lay hid, and the great instrument of the revelation of the mystery was still shrouded in the darkness of midnight. And that is precisely what Christianity demands that a man should do. Paul contrasts the conduct of Timothy, his loyal disciple, with the conduct of the heretics who were doing their utmost to wreck the Church. How are we to walk so as to please the Lord when disorder reigns, claiming to be the only true order? And then Jesus will come and establish God's righteous kingdom, but by then, those that will remain will be saying, Oh, God help us. Who is talking all these words without knowledge? Instead of hiding either from Timothy, he points all out to him. Lear's words remain true: "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is. Therefore, isolation is never desirable, though it may be sometimes necessary. His mind was caught; he took it back. Observe, The scriptures will make us wise to salvation, if they be mixed with faith, and not otherwise, Hebrews 4:2. Easy it seems to get sort of distracted and off course. We live in a fallen world, and there are many challenges that face the believer who has not only trusted Christ for salvation, but is also ready and willing to deny self, take up his cross, follow Christs example, and say without compromise Thy will, not mine, be done.The newbornbaby Christian has to grow in grace and mature in the faith over an unspecified periodof time, to reach this level of maturity in his faith, while other who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ may slip in and out of carnality and worldliness for many years, stunting their growth and even regressing in their faith back to spiritual infancy.Many, if not all believers, are called to become mature in the faith by walking in spirit and truth and living godly, Christ-centred lives, but few are willing to exchange the cosy blessings of early Christian infancy, for the difficulties that inevitably follow the mature believer. It is beyond argument that the Scriptures can convict a man of his error and convince him of the power of Christ. Timothy was from Lystra. So don't expect the world to speak well of you or to applaud you for your living a godly life and taking a righteous stand. But no man ought to separate himself from the children of God, unless it be a dire necessity for the Lord; it is clearly not according to Christ. The world just exists, no real goal, no real meaning; you're just existing. A form of godliness, a profession of Christian faith without a godly life . Accordingly, in much grief of heart, the apostle writes to his tried and trembling child in the faith, and seeks to strengthen him, above all things not to be discouraged, and to make up his mind to endure hard things. In this picture which Paul draws he is thinking in terms familiar to the Jews. Love of self is the basic sin, from which all others flow. Let us then see what Paul says of the usefulness of scripture. Years later that same brigand turned up again. (2 Timothy 2:1.) One only meets Satan when traveling in an opposite direction! And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men." It's twelve thousand miles a second, but that's pretty fast, too. And a less confession than this God never permitted the church to accept; nor in fact in Jerusalem itself was less ever accepted than the naming the name of the Lord. Verse 2 Timothy 3:1. In 2Baruch we get an even more vivid picture of the moral chaos of these last times: And envy shall rise in those who had not thought ought of. 2. menin the professing Church. (4) Let those who have never been persecuted in any way, inquire whether it is not an evidence that they have no religion. We must remember that Timothy's work lay in Ephesus, perhaps the greatest market in the ancient world. Persecution and hardships will come, but of two things Paul is sure. Whatever duty we have to do, whatever service is required from us, we may find enough in the scriptures to furnish us for it. Marks of Perilous Times; Excellence of the Scriptures. shall suffer persecution; it is the will of God, and the appointment of heaven; Christ has foretold it, that so it shall be; and he the head has suffered it himself, and it is necessary that his members should, that they may be conformed unto him; it is the way Christ himself went to glory, and through many tribulations his people must enter the kingdom; and this is the common lot and certain case of all the saints, in one shape or another; for though all do not suffer confiscation of goods, beating, scourging, imprisonment, or a violent death; yet all are more or less afflicted and distressed by wicked men, and are subject to their reproaches and revilings, which are a branch of persecution; and that for professing Christ, and living a godly life in him and under his influence: and since such suffer as Christians, and not as evildoers; and this is the common condition of the people of God, in this world, it should not be thought strange, but be cheerfully endured; to encourage to which is the apostle's view in this passage. It opened at the Sermon on the Mount. It is still possible for a teacher to gain an undue and unhealthy influence over others, especially when they are impressionable. I think the next major event, Revelation 4:1 . James encourages us by explaining that those who persevere under trial, on the journey to maturity, will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him, and He exhorts us to consider it all joy, when we encounter various trials.There is an urgency in this final letter thatPaul wrote before his death, to remind us that ALL who live godly lives in Christ will certainly suffer persecution. There can come a time in a man's life when the company of good people and the presence of good things is simply an embarrassment. Verse 4. We must remember that they were Gnostics and that the basic principle of Gnosticism was that spirit was altogether good and matter altogether evil. They love pleasure more than they love God; that's the indictment. Vincent, Marvin R., D.D. The word is almost exactly the English swelled-headed. As individuals, we should sometimes ask ourselves: what is our aim in life? (3.) But you see, if you start whacking away at the story of Jonah, and say, oh, I can't really buy that. Assuredly he would rejoice to scare Timothy from the field of serving Christ, and would shrink from no means to secure it. One day they said to Jesus, Show us a sign. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work." Our God is much too small. (This book is used for definition of Greek words. Amidst all the stories one fact stands out--Jannes and Jambres became legendary figures typifying all those who opposed the purposes of God and the work of his true leaders. (iii) The Scriptures are valuable for reproof. How appropriate that "trucebreakers" is for this day. And this, I believe, is much to be considered. "Blessed is he who will come in the name of the Lord" ( Psalms 118:26 ). "Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all" ( Psalms 34:19 ). The Greek word literally is fully matured or of full age, fully matured, that the man of God might be fully matured. For that very reason it is unanswerable that, whatever a man might argue about the rest of the Bible, it is impossible for the Church ever to do without the Gospels. It is not the question of discipline dealing With evil ways; but here we are in a state of things where we are in danger of being mixed up with vessels unto the Lord's dishonour. He brings out the infinite value of the Scriptures, that is of what was written, the one transcendent resource for perilous times when we have not the presence and personal help of apostles. 2 Timothy 3:12 "Many are the afflictions of the righteous," the psalmist writes (Psalm 34:19).Peter supplies a partial answer to this in I Peter 4:12: "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you, as does Paul's statement in II Timothy 3:12: "Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer . Observe, (1.) Rather than a verse-by-verse approach, the authors have crafted chapters that explain and apply key passages in their assigned Bible books. Moreover, as soon as zeal for God is manifested by a believer, it kindles the rage of all ungodly men; and, although they have not a drawn sword, yet they vomit out their venom, either by murmuring, or by slander, or by raising a disturbance, or by other methods. [2.] They claimed that the law was so imprinted on the heart and mind of a Jewish child that he would sooner forget his own name than he would forget it.

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