Tuesday, May 6, 2025

PT-4 "Opposers of the Truth" (2 Timothy 3:8-9

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/6/2025 10:52 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                              Focus: PT-4 “Opposers of the Truth”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  2 Timothy 3:8-9

 

            Message of the verses:  8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. 9 But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.”

 

            I mentioned in my last SD that I would quote the end of John MacArthur’s comments from his commentary on these verses.  I like when he kind of just goes off in explaining what he wants to explain after looking at verses.  He does this from time to time and I learn much from those times when he does this.

 

            “Sooner or later the folly of false teachers and preachers becomes obvious to all of God’s people, as also did the folly of those two, Jannes and Jambres, in ancient Israel.  While these ‘evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived’ (v. 13), their plunge into the depth of sin and error, which deceives them and other ungodly men, ceases to deceive the people of God, who see the error clearly.

 

            “This passage holds several lessons, explicit or implicit, for believers today.  First, we must realize that the church is in spiritual warfare, a warfare that will intensify as Christ’s second coming draws nearer.  Second, we must be doctrinally discerning, testing every message that claims to be Christian against God’s Word, as did the God-fearing Jews of Berea, who ‘received the word with great eagerness,’ but carefully examined ‘the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things’ that Paul and Silas preached ‘were so’ (Acts 17:11).”  That is one reason that I take time each day to “2Ti 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”  This verse is the name and theme of my blogs.

 

            “Third, we must be pure and holy vessels of honor for the Lord to use, Christ’s own righteousness is our protection against false teachers, false doctrine, and ungodly living. Fourth, we must be patient, a difficult task for many Christians today who want instant answers to their questions and immediate resolution of their problems.  We know the ultimate outcome is certain, that victory already belongs to Christ and His church, but the actual time of victory may be further away than we would like to think.  In the meanwhile, our responsibility is to remain faithful (see. 1 Cor. 4:2.”  “In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.”

 

            “The church today faces times of unparalleled difficulty and danger.  As extraordinary opportunities for spreading the gospel increase with rapidity after the breakup of much of the former Communist world, attacks on that church are also increasing with great speed.  Heresy, apostasy, self-will, and their accompanying moral decadence are engulfing the evangelical church.  Like cancer cells that rebel against the body, these evils are in rebellion against God by corrupting and weakening the church, the body of Christ.  Also like cancer cells, the evils multiply rapidly and choke out and destroy normal cells, the evils multiply rapidly and choke out and destroy normal cells.  Much like white cells in the blood, which will not attack cancerous cells because they are identified with the body, many naïve and careless church leaders take no actions against corruption in the church simply because the corruption hides behind the guise of orthodoxy.  Simply put, much of the church is in rebellion against the Lord.

 

            “In the days ahead, the escalation of violence against the kingdom of God by the kingdom of darkness will intensify.  As in any warfare, there will be times of relative calm, but God’s Word assures us of ever-increasing wickedness, which will culminate in the appearance of Antichrist, the ultimate deceiver and enemy of God except for Satan himself.  Like the wolves that would come into the flock at Ephesus from within and try to destroy it (Acts 20:29-30), Antichrist, along with other false christs, false apostles, and false prophets, will come from within Christendom.

 

            “Before the Antichrist appears, Paul informs us, the great apostasy will come first, which, by definition, is a falling away, or defection, from God and His truth.  At the peak of his power, Antichrist, ‘the man of lawlessness,…the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, [will take] his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God,… the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders’ (2 Thess. 2:2-5, 9).  We know that his defeat is certain, because ‘the Lord will slay [him] with the breath of His mouth and bring [him] to an end by the appearance of His coming’ (v. 8).  But before that final defeat is accomplished—before and during the great apostasy and before the Lord takes His own to Himself at the Rapture—the church will continue to experience expanded assaults from the adversary.

 

            “Even now, the attacks against God Himself and against His truth and His righteousness come from so many sides and in so many forms that it is hard for His people to know which front to defend.  Discerning Christians are hard put to know which falsehood to refute or moral compromise to oppose.  No believer, no matter of gifted and willing, is able to fight on all fronts.  But we are not called to win God’s battles single-handedly and are presumptuous and foolish to try.  He does, however, expect us to yield to Him all that we are and have and to be willing to be used wherever and in whatever way He leads.”

 

Spiritual Meaning for My Life Today:   “be willing to be used wherever and in whatever way He leads.”

 

My Steps of Faith for Today: “be willing to be used wherever and in whatever way He leads.”

 

5/6/2025 11:32 AM

 

 

 

           

 

 

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