We’re continuing our series on the books of Timothy, and we’re almost through. There are four chapters in 2 Timothy, and we are going to look at Chapter 3 today. So if you have your Bible handy, we’re going to look at Timothy, Chapter 3, verses 6-9.
The previous verses and the following verses are very familiar. In fact, I’ve given the following verses on Mother’s Day a couple of different times–and the previous verses I’ve used in other sermons regarding the end times.
So I kept bouncing back and forth, which one do I use? I really didn’t want to repeat myself with the same verses over and over again, so I decided to use a set of verses in between. The problem is–I’ve used these verses too. But not as a basis for an entire sermon, just included in a sermon. So let’s look at those and go from there.
Scripture: 2 Tim. 6-9 says: 6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are 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.
I know what you’re about to say, “Again with the false teaching?” Yeah, it is a big deal in the New Testament. And of course, like I’ve said a dozen times before, Christianity was new, there was no Bible, so there wasn’t a whole lot to refer to–no chapter and verses like we have today–that says, “Here it is. It is written.”
So, getting off track would have been more common then. Today, you would think it would be just the opposite. As I’ve said before, The Bible is everywhere, you can read it online for free, you can search commentaries for free, you can get ahold of good Christian material at your fingertips, you can have it delivered to your door within a few days…there’s TV, radio, internet…a church on every corner…
Yet there has never been a time, at least in American history when Christian teaching has been so skewed. You really have to watch out because today’s false teaching comes from four different angles in particular–the New Apostolic Reformation; The Prosperity Gospel; Word of Faith–which is a combination of the two; and Progressive Christianity. You could add in “New Thought” as well, but New Thought is not so much its own separate subject, but it’s woven into all of those.
There is a good video just released this past week by Melissa Dougherty on the subject, and this is one of those sermons where I wish I had the ability to use video technology with my sermon because I wish I could give you all sorts of YouTube clips that exemplify what I’m about to say. There are some free clips of a documentary called The American Gospel on YouTube, and you can rent the whole documentary on YouTube. I would recommend it because it truly does exemplify what I’m going to talk to you about today.
Going back to our verses, who is Paul talking about here? Who is always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth? Well, that’s said in the first five verses, which we skipped over, but if you skim over, you can see, it’s the people of the Last Days. Verse 5–which we’ve used very often–says that they will have a form of godliness but deny its power.
So what Paul is saying here is that “[people of the last days will have] a form of godliness and deny its power…always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
Beginning with verse 6, these false teachers, “are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
Asbury Bible Commentary says that: Paul describes the actions of these hypocrites. Worm is an apt verb for their techniques, and is perhaps suggestive of their master. Their targets lack assurance of freedom from sin and power over temptations, and they are easy prey for false teaching. This would support the cultural situation where the Ephesian women have received a new freedom and status in Christ, but at least some have not yet fully appropriated the sound teaching and lifestyle required of a Christian.
So I’m going to take a moment, and look at the phrase, ‘worm their way into.’ Some Bibles may phrase it differently–creep (ESV), craftily sneak (TLB), work their way into (NLT), go secretly (BBE), slip into homes (NAB), by means of insinuate (NET).
The Greek word Paul uses here is the word Enduno, which comes from a root word which was used to describe “the setting of the sun” which is so slow as to be almost imperceptible, and yet it is most certainly actually taking place.
Precept Austin says that in a similar manner, these heretics don’t come knocking loudly on the front door, but sneak quietly in the back door (so to speak) while no one is watching or even if they are watching, the movement is so “slow” as to be imperceptible. They are very good at being bad. They are continually stealthily sneaking (present participle) into households, creeping in undetected, disguising “themselves as servants of righteousness” (2Cor 11:15).
They are like those described by Jude who “crept in unnoticed,… who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (Jude 4–note).
Peter also warned the saints about the clever nature of “false teachers among you who will secretly introduce destructive heresies…bringing swift destruction upon themselves (cf “they will not make further progress… “) (2 Peter 2:1-2–note)
Then Paul says that after they worm their way into homes, they gain control over or captivate women. Also from Precept Austin, the Greek word for captivate–is too long and hard to pronounce–but it means literally to take captive at spear point which is a clear picture of someone gaining complete control over another. And thus by either force or deception these serpentine shysters cause these women to become prisoners of a very real spiritual war for the hearts and souls of men.
So why am I taking so long to describe just half of a verse? Because you can see how, with modern technology, these things can still happen today. Paul could have been talking about a number of things that these teachers did to manipulate women–adultery, money, other kinds of favors–these so-called pastors of the time were not pastors but really cult leaders. That’s his basic point.
Now, I know I’ve said that TV and internet are good ways to obtain good teaching, but they are also good ways to obtain false teaching. You have to really be discerning when it comes to who you let into your home via electronic screen. This is where I wish I had an electronic screen to demonstrate who they are and what they say. But like I said, The American Gospel documentary is a good place to start.
Also, I mentioned Melissa Dougherty, she, Holly Pivec, Alisa Childers, and Mike Winger are good resources who point out the false doctrines permeating the airwaves and bookstore shelves and counter that with true doctrine.
In the Bible, Peter ends his second epistle also talking about the last days, and ends with the warning to, “be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Paul warned the saints at Colossae to, “8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.”
Jesus warned his listeners to, “15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them.”
Because these false teachers are like wolves in sheep’s clothing, and not only do they look and sound like the real thing, but they ‘worm their way in’ and through a little trickle of deception here or there mixed with truth, they say something that’s false smoothly, and the audience starts nodding their head.
Remember when the crowds were amazed at Jesus because they never heard teaching like this before–and never heard it said with authority before?” That’s how false teachers creep in, especially in the NAR. They’ll stand at the pulpit, and the congregation will say things like, “Wow, I’ve never heard of teaching like this before. This is amazing!” And more dynamic preachers will sometimes say downright demonic doctrines but so authoritatively that the audience will still say, ‘yes and amen.’ How, why? It’s all in how they say it. Just like a politician.
…but I won’t go there…
Other than, beware of sheep in wolves’ clothing when it comes to politics, too.
Paul goes on in verse 7 with, “always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.” I have to admit that because the verse splits the sentence, I have always misunderstood the sentence. I had always thought they were two sentences, but verses 6 and 7 are all part of the same sentence. The women who are being deceived are the ones always learning, but never able to come to a knowledge of truth.
Why? Because they are being taught falsely.
Have you ever met or seen people like that? They go to church or say they are Christian, but what comes out of them is definitely unChristian. And I’m not talking about coarse language and gossip, I’m talking about The Bible and the simple doctrines of Christianity itself.
I’ve often used the LGBTQ example, and it’s probably the most divisive issue within Christendom today. This is the main issue that splits churches and whole denominations. A lot of the LGBTQ churches want to be affirming because they want to be the good guys. They want to reach out and show love and compassion. Which is what we are called to do, but affirming and loving is not the same thing. Frank Turek points this out very well in a great YouTube post called, “This lie about love can wreck your family.” He’s another one I’d highly recommend.
Love, as we’ve talked about before, is how we treat people; but affirming is not in the Bible. Affirming is a form of enabling. In Christianity, we are called to die to ourselves daily and follow Christ, not the other way around.
Affirming people as to who they are is enabling a sinful lifestyle and throwing repentance out the window. However, liberal Christians will encourage repentance for judging someone’s sexual lifestyle. And therein lies the genius of the lie. Like I said, God did not create Lucifer to be dumb. He’s a genius–especially at lying.
Are we to repent for judging people? Yes. Because we’re all in the same boat. We can’t judge because we’re all sinners, and we don’t have the ability to truly judge anyone because judgment depends on God’s perfect holiness, his grace, his omniscience, and his sovereignty–none of which we have. But we can at least point out what the Bible says and acknowledge what is and isn’t sinful. And this is where the false teaching comes in. In fact, they’ll harp on a supposed misinterpretation of a Greek word that Paul used to describe homosexuality, which isn’t a misinterpretation–perhaps not a literal interpretation but also not a misinterpretation–and dismiss all the other verses on the subject.
And that is an example of, “always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.” They’re learning, but they’re not learning the truth. People are being deceived by false teachers who are deceiving themselves. Like I said, they are trying to do the right thing in their own minds.
One of the things I learned about writing a novel is that the secret to writing a good villain is to have the villain as the hero in his own mind. What he believes he is doing is for the greater good. You’ve seen it in the Avengers movies; some of the Batman movies; the Star Wars prequels when Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader…The Church of Satan believes it. And they don’t even believe Satan is a real being, they believe he is a mythical creature that they use as an illustration of fighting tyranny because they see God as a mythological tyrant.
And that is also taught in higher education institutions as well. Many atheistic professors who teach mythology, humanities, and so on will say the same thing. So universities are another example of “always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.” And we wonder why young adults are not coming to church anymore. Because they learn stuff like that and think it’s the truth.
Here’s another place where I wish I had a way of showing you some video. I used to think Charlie Kirk on campuses debating students was a bit aggressive, but now I don’t because he’s correcting a lot of students on a lot of issues, and Christianity is one of them. What he’s doing is really missionary work on college campuses. I wish more people would do that.
Paul says to the Roman church, 14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who [b]preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”
16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
So again, they’ll hear about Christianity, but from one-sided atheistic professors. Unless there is someone who gives them the truth and is able to answer their questions with love and insight, as we once again quoted from Peter last week, then these students who were not brought up in a good Christian environment will, “always be learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are 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.
You’re probably searching in the recesses of your memory trying to figure out who Jannes and Jambres were. You’re probably reminded of the time when Miriam and Aaron confronted Moses because of his Cushite wife. But who are these other two? Well, if it makes you feel any better, this is the only place in the Bible where their names appear.
But remember Paul was originally a Jewish Rabbi, and so he’s referring to some Jewish texts that Timothy was probably aware of as well.
Gotquestions.org explains that Jewish tradition says that Jannes and Jambres were the two chief magicians who opposed Moses and Aaron in Exodus 7. According to one Jewish text, the two magicians left Egypt with the Israelites after the first Passover (see Exodus 12:38) and were later instrumental in promoting the worship of the golden calf that Aaron made (Exodus 32). Another Jewish text identifies the “two servants” of Balaam as Jannes and Jambres (Numbers 22:22). And in other sources, Jannes and Jambres continued to exert a wicked influence on Israel until the time of Phinehas (Numbers 25).
So again, these are ancient Jewish texts, but we should be careful to not take them as equivalent to The Bible. So if they may not be truly inspired texts then why would Paul use them as examples? Well, as I might use a movie or a TV show episode as an illustration, Paul’s intention was to use their stories to demonstrate the widespread, active rejection of the truth in the last days.
Verse 8 again says, “Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers [of the last days] oppose the truth.” These teachers who promote LGBTQ literally oppose the truth. These teachers who are in the pulpit and say that abortion is godly, oppose the truth.
There is a well-known viral video that’s been going around lately of a woman pastor who has said some really absurd things regarding Jesus and abortion. I sent this yesterday as a teaser for today’s sermon.
She has said from a pulpit–while wearing a Planned Parenthood stole around her neck–by the way, she volunteers for Planned Parenthood–that, “I can affirm that I have felt something sacred happening in my gestating body during those pregnancies. I can also attest that I felt God’s presence with me as I made the decision to end two pregnancies. And I felt no guilt, no shame, no sin.”
She also said, in another post, in another so-called sermon, “If Jesus were here today he would be a clinic escort distracting women from the hatred of the protesters, or he would be an abortion Doula holding women’s hands and offering support and love as they end their pregnancies; and I expect he would have a stern word for self-righteous legislators who use abortion as a political issue rather than showing compassion for the people seeking abortion.”
…and she’s said a lot more, but I’ll stop there.
By the way, I had never heard of an abortion doula before, so if you’re wondering like me, I had to look it up. According to Wikipedia, an abortion doula is, “someone who provides care before, during, and after an abortion, with support varying by patient and their informational, emotional, physical, and practical needs.”
So you can see the genius of deception here, again. Wasn’t Jesus compassionate? In a way, yes, but also…he would not be an enabler of sin. He would be compassionate to those who are seeking an abortion because these women are in a very difficult situation. But he wouldn’t encourage abortion. And it would be the abortion providers that he would have stern words for, in fact, he may even cast out a few demons from those providers. Another video I’d like to show you is where someone is protesting an abortion clinic, the doctor comes out and confronts the protester and suddenly starts acting demonic.
Paul concludes this by saying, “But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.”
Everyone? I mean, how can it be everyone when so many people are now and will be deceived? Jesus said that in the end times, “For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”
In 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul, Silas, and Timothy all said that in the end times, People [will] perish “because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie”
So there will be a strong delusion in the last days, a delusion of the truth of God, and many will follow the Antichrist. And he will be the one performing signs and wonders to deceive many, and if possible, God’s chosen ones–or his Holy ones. Those who are His. But notice Jesus said, “if possible.” In other words, God is not going to allow His children to be led astray. Again, the idea of ‘once saved always saved’ refers to those who are truly saved and God’s true children. He is going to give them wisdom to see right through the deception.
Therefore, the ‘everyone’ that Paul is talking about is God’s own chosen people. His Holy ones, His elect. His children will not be deceived.
Going back to Matthew 24, Jesus said, “10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
So my message to you today is this: be the one who stands firm to the end. There will be temptations to follow the world, to follow the teachings of society as some churches already have because it makes you look and feel more loving and kind to be an abortion doula or an LGBTQ -affirming church. But what that kindness and so-called compassion is affirming is carefully disguised sin. Sin disguised as love. Wolves disguised as sheep. Satan disguised as an angel of light.
No one wants to be the bad guy. No one wants to be the one who will be hated. Jesus said at that time many will turn away from the faith and therefore implies that they will be the ones to betray and hate each other–including those who stick to the true faith.
We will be hated for our so-called hatred. Isn’t that ironic? Hated for hatred that isn’t hatred. So stand firm, stand in love, speak the truth in love–as we talked about last week–and continue doing the opposite of verse 7, which is always learning, therefore being able to come to a knowledge of the truth.
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