Living in Perilous Times

If you put in your Bibles tonight, turn to second Timothy, chapter three.

There in two Timothy 3:14 says, but continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them, that they are encouraged, and Timothy is encouraged to continue before that. There in the first of the chapter, he gives us some signs or some indications of what the end times will be like, or the coming of the end times.

So let's read that and then we'll get into this tonight.

Second Timothy three, one this know also that in the last days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, bolsters, proud blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful and holy without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers in content, 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. Turn away for of this sort and we're going to stop there.

But it continues with giving you some of those things that are going to happen as the end time approaches.

And again in verse 14, he encourages Timothy to continue the things that have been taught and to remember that the word of God is the inspired, inerrant word of God. Look at verse 16.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Amen. I'm going to cough some tonight too. Sorry. I bet you that sounds really good on the Internet. Lord is so good.

And tonight again, we're going to cover some things that again that prelude the coming of Christ prelude the coming of Christ most evangelical christians, most christians today, most Bible believing christians believe that the next event to happen in prophecy is the rapture. Is the rapture. And that is what the Bible indicates. That's what the Bible says.

So that we are looking for the blessed hope, looking for Christ to return.

And we believe, and the Bible teaches that that return could be at any time all prophecy that needs to be fulfilled has been fulfilled in order for Christ to return and for us to be raptured out or caught up with him in the air, as Thessalonians describes it. But there are indications of those things. There are signs of those things, and we'll cover some of those. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, bless again your word and bless the preaching of the word. And, lord, may we live in light of your return in Jesus name. Amen. Lord, it's been so good to us. You think about being well.

Acts chapter 17 says that God hath appointed the time and place in which we would be born. Aren't you glad you were born in America?

Aren't you glad that you were born in this great country, that you weren't born in the Middle east, that you weren't born in China?

It's amazing to me what's happening in other countries and how our country continues to support other countries that are diabolically opposed to freedom and to religious worship. Freedom of worship such as China. I don't know why we're buying anything from them. It's unbelievable what China has done to Christians.

How can we be friends with and support these countries who do these things? And yet we do, and it's just ludicrous. But it is a sign of the end times.

If you read Matthew 24, and though Matthew 24 is primarily talking about what is happening in the tribulation, it does lead up to that. It leads up to and gives us signs of what it's going to be like when Christ returns.

And so here we have a list, a list of things that are transpiring up until the time in Christ returns, and of course, afterwards as well. If you remember that Ephesians. I'm sorry, second Peter, chapter three is a counter or not is a sister chapter of this particular chapter.

Both describe some of the same things, so we'll cover that as well. This is such a big subject, and I don't want to spend so much time in certain areas. That's why I'm kind of hesitant here as to which direction to go.

I'm thankful that I know that when he returns, if he was to return today, that I would be caught up, raptured up to be with him. He is coming for his saints. That's the next event on the prophetical timetable.

And then seven years later, he'll come with his saints at the end of the tribulation, at the battle of Armageddon. Matthew 24 36 says we are not to fix a date. And we see people still in this day and age fixing dates to the Lord's return.

And we are told, the Bible says there in Matthew 24, but of that day and hour knoweth no Mandez. But it is important to understand that first, Thessalonians five two, six says he will come as a thief in the night.

And he says we should watch and be sober, looking again for that appearing of Christ living in light of his return. But there are signs of his coming. And as I said, in two, Peter three, and here in two, Timothy three, we have descriptions of the end times.

Isn't it amazing that that little bitty country is tiny? When we went there, we've been, there's a couple of times. It's one of the things that really sticks in my mind is how small the country is.

It's tiny and yet it's the center of attention, this tiny little place.

We know that Israel has been set aside, but one day will be put back on track and become the center focus once again of the Lord during, actually during the tribulation. So we have the resurgence of Israel as a sign of the times and the end times a sign that Christ will return.

And then we have the resurgence of iniquity or sin. Luke chapter 17 speaks of this. And again the reference is made to lot.

And then as the days of Noah and the days of lot, so shall the coming of the son of man be. Matthew references that. Matthew 24.

I'm thankful that first Thessalonians five nine says that God's children are not appointed unto wrath, that we will be caught up and we will be taken out of here before the tribulation. And again, I want to encourage you and explain and emphatically say that the Bible teaches that the rapture happens before the tribulation.

It's not an opinion. Most evangelical. Those who are of the christian persuasion believe that. And there are some who don't, but they are the, not the majority.

Does that make sense?

So if you're listening to somebody who's saying they believe in post wrath or they believe in, you know, that the rapture happens after the tribulation and the millennial kingdom and all just realize that they are the minority. By far the minority. Not even close.

So if you're listening to somebody on podcasts or listen to somebody on the Internet who's espousing that doctrine, they are wrong. They're biblically wrong. Pretty cut and dry, too. We'll cover some of that over the next few weeks. I just want to just kind of lay that down there.

But we do know that in the Len times, there is a resurgence of sin. We haven't seen that at all, have we? You say, well, sin has always been around, and, you know, I've told you this before.

They're bad, a lot of them. It was the roaring twenties for a reason. There was a lot of. A lot.

Fort Worth mayor did. It's unbelievable. Go back and read it. It's fascinating, but we see that, and we know that there has been sin all along.

But I can tell you this, that though there has been some times which America has been steeped in moral degradation, there is no time in history in which you can go back and just see that. That moral degradation, that immorality happening in such a flippant way.

In other words, out in the open, most of the time, that was done in a, you know, a half acre or in an acre or it was done, you know, behind closed doors. But today, it's just out there. It's out there, and most of the time, accepted as normal. It's crazy. We're living in a day.

We're living in perilous times. That's what Timothy's saying here. We're living in perilous times. Dangerous, rebellious times. A wild time, difficult times. A selfish time.

I already referred to Luke 17. You can look it up later. It refers to Noah and lot. That's the kind of times we're living in. Now, notice these words.

I know it's kind of boring to go through these words, but I do want to cover them. With you once again. It's been five years since we covered them. Look here. For men shall be lovers of their own selves.

We see this today again, selfishness. But here is particularly talking about humanism.

The me generation, the odd generation, the self indulgence that we see today, the entitlement mentality. Kids aren't taught to share that. Lovers of their own selves. It's all about me. It's all about me. What can make me happy? What will make me happy?

What will give me joy? Discounting my family, discounting many times my neighbors or whomever. What will bring me joy? Lovers of their own self. The rise of humanism.

That I am number one. Number two is covetousness. Says men will be lovers of their own selves. Covetous. The love of stuff. We don't see this happening, do we? Strongly.

Strongly desires other people's stuff. Kavachus is strongly desiring other people's stuff. We live today in a buy now, pay later society. Young couples, please be careful.

You cannot have everything that your parents have accumulated in 30 years. In 20 minutes. Get married. You take a credit card and go down and buy stuff. Don't do it. Don't get caught in that trap. You'll regret it.

Don't get caught in that trap. Don't get into debt. Think about the national debt. Think about what our politicians have done. Why is there not a balanced budget amendment?

Because most politicians are crooks. I hate that. I hate to say that, but they are. They don't care about the nation as it is, or as it was.

In other words, with that debt comes so much other things. But that can happen in your own life, too. I won't have you raise your hand, but most of you can kind of just kind of look down.

How many of us have allowed ourselves to get into debt at certain times in life? And the slave, we became a lender. We became a slave to the lender. Be careful, covetous. Don't live a life of covetous. Have a budget, have a plan.

Don't have credit card debt. Don't, don't. Don't have credit card debt. Don't do it. Or can I move on? Or should I stay there? Dave Ramsey, whatever.

This bolsters lovers of their own selves. Boasters, inflated egos full of big words. No, people with no humility. We don't have anybody, any of the athletes standing up saying, I'm the best.

Do we? Oh, my.

I watch the interview of the NBA, the National Basketball association for the Ladies and that lady who's of caucasian persuasion who in her interview said I'm the best player there's ever been. And she goes through it and she says, I carry the whole league on my shoulders. Go read it. Go look at it. Don't read it. Go watch her interview.

Some of y'all know who I'm talking about. She's become very much part of in the news here of late. No humility. Proud. The Bible says proud. The word proud means haughty. Thinks of them again.

Thinks better of themselves than of others. Arrogant and above others. The Bible says God resisted the proud. Y'all still with me? I know this is a list. Blasphemers. Evil. Speaking against God.

Blaspheming is speaking evil against God in sacred things. Speaking evil against God and sacred things. We see that today on a monumental scale, making fun of sacred things.

We see it on tv sitcoms that make fun of biblical morality and lift up immorality. And we as christians are guilty of laughing at it.

We see again this happening in many areas where christians are made fun of by society that if you hold this certain morality or you believe that there is a God who created all things or you believe in creation, a seven day, six day creation, man, they'll make fun of you all day long. I'm just going to stand on the Bible. Amen. What does the Bible say? But we see this today. Blasphemers.

Christianity mocked and then it says disobedient to parents. We have today the breakdown of parental authority.

I was again seeing where in Sweden or one of those countries this last week where a child was taken away from parents because they would not condone that transgender and blockers and the medicine that they wanted to give this child, the government took the child away from them. We have today a breakdown in parental authority not only from the kids perspective but also from the politicians perspective.

We have states in our own union that put kids words over in adult words who say that parents don't have the right to dictate whether their kids have a certain surgery or not. In California and many other places, I'm thankful I live in Texas.

Listen, the school has no right to dictate to me as a parent what I do with my kids. The school district has no right. The school district wasn't given those kids by God. I was.

It's a gift for me from God and I am responsible for raising my kids, not the school district. The school district was there to teach writing, reading and arithmetic. And now what they've done they've become a social experiment.

There never should have been a sex ed class at school. They have no right to teach our kids anything in regards to those things. You as a parent should be doing that. Hello.

We've let the school system get way out of control, and that is affecting all of this. This disobedience of parents is not just talking about the kid being disobedient, but just the breakdown in authority of parents over their children.

You think about again as we try to raise our kids up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And we use biblical principles and biblical rules to do that, such as corporal punishment.

And yet we are sneered at many times because we believe that spanking your kids is okay. In fact, our Bible says that if you don't spank your kids, you hate them. That's pretty blunt.

Oh, by the way, it says if your kid cries out, they won't die. I love that. They won't die. Again, you shouldn't beat your kids.

God's given a proper place on the backside of a little kid where they should be spanked, and there should be, again, loving and compassionate. You should never spank your kids when you're angry, then you just become the bully. You take time, you train them. They should know why and what.

And that you love them again. I had this conversation with somebody the other day. Well, spankings just don't work. Well, rules without reasons, and relationship produces rebellion.

Yeah, the spanking won't work if you have no relationship with that child. You have a relationship with that child, and you've spent time with that kid. Love is spelled t I m eternat. I'm telling you.

God promises that it will work, and therefore it will work. Disobedient to parents and then unthankful. Unthankful. Again, not appreciative. Ungrateful. Without gratitude.

A lack of thanksgiving, not only towards others, but towards God. Thankless. We live in that today, don't we? Just unthankful. Again. Ingratitude takes root in the home. That's where they learn it.

That's where we learn in gratitude. We need to teach our kids to be thankful again. I know it's real practical, but you should be teaching your kids to say thank you.

You should be teaching your kids to say please. Right. Grandma gives them something. You should tell your child now tell grandma thank you. That's part of the training.

And if they don't, you take care of it. You apply the boards of education to the seat of understanding. Until they do say thank you or please teach them gratitude.

By the way, they ought to see you practicing the same thing when the waitress comes to your table. Wouldn't hurt to say thank you now and again. Wouldn't hurt to say please now and again. Wouldn't hurt. Amen.

But we see in the last days again, this ingratitude. Ingratitude. I could spend some more time there, but I won't unholy the next one. Unholy, ungodly, profane wickedness devoid of piety.

In the end, the end times will be a people who are unholy. We see this in the sixties with the hippie movement, the erosion of moral morality in America and religious values.

And I'm thankful that there was a correction made, but it wasn't a nationwide correction. It wasn't national revival. There were certainly pockets of it. But unholy, a sign of the end time, the perilous times is ungodliness.

And we see this today. It is common. It is almost the majority. If you look it up, I can't say statistics. Sorry. That's pretty close.

Sleeping with somebody you're not married to has been accepted as normal. The Bible says it's sinhouse. Adultery is sin. Hello. It's a sin to live with somebody you're not married to.

Unholy homosexuality again, we think about again that without natural affection, transgenderism, and all the things that are happening today, the moral decadence going on today and in our society accept it as normal, especially one political party. It's crazy. Some of that stuff's so crazy. God made male and female. If you believe you're other than that, you have a mental disorder.

It's called dysphoria. And it used to be treated. It still should be treated. They need help. And instead of giving them help, we're giving into their delusion. Hello.

Don't go to sleep on me. Stand up for right. Stand up for righteousness. Stand up for biblical morality. Again, I'm thankful. Again.

I live in Texas, where there's some common sense still in place. But you look at some of the states around us, our own president and vice president, giving in to things that don't even make sense.

Don't make common sense. We live in society without common sense. Man, this is a downer, isn't it? Tonight, preacher, move to something else. Without natural affection.

Actually, without natural affection is talking more about we live in an age in which it's amazing to me how parents even don't have natural affection for their kids. Like, we have moms walking away from their children. We have dads walking away from their children. Just not natural.

By the way, having an abortion is not natural. That don't come natural to somebody doesn't come natural to a woman. By the way. Women are the only ones who can have babies. There, I said it.

But we see today this being accepted in society as normal. You know, think about that. Without natural affection. It's amazing to me how we can see young people beating up on old people.

Literally physically beating up on old. That's not natural. He goes on and describes many other things here in the end times. Truce breakers. Truce breakers. Those who don't keep their word.

It's amazing how we used to be able to shake a person's hand and they keep their word. And now you have contracts that are 50 pages long. We're living in the last days. There's little doubt we're living in the last of the last days.

As Brother Stuart puts it, we're living in the end times, but we're living in the last of the end times. Christ could return at any moment. We think about the rest of this description, and you could make a long list.

And that list that is found here in two Timothy. False accusers, slanderers, those who are incontent, those who lack control and have no power over themselves. Have you seen that today?

Like people having no self control, no effort to restrain themselves. Fierce. That means untamed or savage or wild. We don't have any of that going on today, do we? They're burning down cities.

Despisers of those that are good.

It's not that they are immoral and they are fierce and they are false accusers, and you go through the list, but they also despise us that are trying to live moral lives, who are trying to live righteous lives, who are trying to live right.

Again, we see this in society today, where they want others to be okay with their lifestyle, acceptance of what they say, but they don't want to accept us for who we are. Despisers. Isn't it amazing that that's in the Bible? Despisers of those that are good disdained by society.

Today, the ideal of being good and living a moral life is ridiculed. Oh, you've never drank?

I saw that interview they had of Trump where he said he'd never drank a drop of alcohol, and this reporter was just blown away. Now, he may have had other reasons why he's never drunk alcohol, and you can go read about that. But it's amazing how they make fun of us.

You've never had alcohol? I love it when you go to the doctor and they ask you, do you smoke? Do you chew? Do you go to girls that do? And you say, no, no, no.

And they're like, what's wrong with you? Traitors. Those who are untrustworthy, think of Judas heady.

Those who are rash and reckless, headstrong, high minded, rude and arrogant, and a lack of respect. You see that today, don't we? Lovers of pleasure, more than lovers of God. This is one that really speaks to the heart of a Christian.

Even in Christianity, even among christians today, we see those who have lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. Sundays used to be the Lord's day and things were closed. And now it's just again. I don't get it.

As I said this morning, people out mowing their yards on the Sunday morning, like, why would you mow your yards instead of come to church? Can I remind you again that we ought to seek first the kingdom of God? Amen. Set your affections on things above, as I think about again, the list.

Lastly, look at verse five. Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof from such turn away.

We as christians need to be aware that we are living in the last days not having our head in the sand, but understanding too that we are under the scope as well. That we have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof.

That many times we have christians who are living lives that are hypocritical, not living for the Lord. Outwardly religious, but on the inside, full of moral degradation. We need to walk with the Lord. Excuse me. Sorry. We all fail, don't we? We all fail.

We all stumble and fall. How are we to have a life that's pleasing the Lord? How are we able to say that I love the Lord and truly mean it?

How do I say that I truly love my wife? How can I say that? I say that because I've spent time with her. Because we have a relationship.

We've gone through good times and bad times, and we have a relationship. We spent time together. If we, in this day and age of these end times, these perilous times are to not only survive, but thrive.

We need a daily walk with the Lord. How's your Bible reading? How's your daily walk with Jesus? Are you living in light of his return? He could return today, he could return now.

Christian, we do stumble and fall. Let us never be guilty of living outwardly something that we are not inwardly, by the way it eventually creeps out, makes its way out.

May we live for the Lord. May we spend time with him daily. May we take the time to spend with him daily. May we teach our kids and train our kids to spend time with the Lord.

Dad and moms, having devotions with your kids, being here as you are tonight, as faithful as you are in the last days, perilous times shall come. Jesus Christ is coming soon.

Let's keep our eyes on the sky at the same time, keeping a bended knee, knowing that he's returning, knowing that he can return today. Not keeping our head in the sand, being aware of the times we live in, but not being a part of those times.

Come out from the world, be separate, right? Live a life that's pleasing to Jesus Christ. We live in the last days. I want to encourage you.

There's a book by Paul Chappell, and there's a couple of them still left on the end times in our bookstore. And we're going to cover follow a couple of those things over the next few weeks, and then we're going to get into the book of Daniel.

And so, taking the time to cover in the book of Daniel, there'll be lots of things we get to cover in our first part of Daniel. We're going to cover Daniel himself. And by the way, he chose to live, right?

But then Daniel's prophecy in Daniel chapter two and Daniel chapter seven and Daniel chapter eight.

And all these prophecies will cover Daniel's 70 weeks, which has an impact on our pre trib belief and understanding that Christ is going to return for his saints. We'll cover all those things. I'm looking forward to it. I have. Looking forward to that. Let's all stand. We'll have a verse invitation tonight.