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Second Timothy chapter three verse number one. Second Timothy chapter three verse number one begins by saying this note also that in the last days perilous times shall come. The title for the sermon this morning is perilous times. I sort of feel like we're living in to some extent in perilous times. You know the word perilous means kind of dangerous or risky. It's got that kind of connotation and the Bible is telling us here or Paul is telling Timothy here that as the last days approach as things get you know worse and worse you know we're going to go for these perilous times and we need to understand this is the reality of the the Christian life and you know it's going to be worse in 2022 than it was in 2021. You know it was it's worse in 2021 than it was in the days of Paul and so things are progressively getting worse and so we need to understand that you know whether or not whether we're the generation that sees the end times or not we do live in perilous times. We do live in dangerous and risky times and so we want to see what the God's word has to say how it can instruct us and the primary instruction that we see here in this chapter is to be aware of dangerous people. People that can influence and hurt you and even maybe people that are so far gone as being a reprobate. In fact if you look at verse number eight just very quickly it says now as Janes and Jambres withstood Moses so that these also resist the truth men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith and so as we continue reading through this list that we have here in 2 Timothy 3 I want you to realize that if you start to identify somebody that has a great number of these characteristics you know you can almost chalk it down that this person is a reprobate. Now the other thing that I want to be careful of when you think about this well what's a reprobate once again it's someone that has rejected God, God has rejected them, they cannot believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, they refuse to retain God in their knowledge and they cannot be saved. They've lost their opportunities to be saved not that Christ didn't die for their sins of course Christ died for their sins but salvation is by our faith by believing on the finished work of Christ these reprobates cannot do that okay they've lost their opportunity God has hardened their hearts their minds have been corrupted etc etc but in saying all of that I don't want you to take the other you know take one extreme where you know you identify somebody with one of these characteristics say well is this guy reprobate because as we go for this list I'm sure there are certain things here that you struggle with and so you know it's it's not just that there's an increase in reprobates in the last days and and there will be that but just in general our society you know our generation is just getting worse our generation becomes less godly more hardened to the things of God and so we'll see these characteristics even amongst individuals hey maybe even within your own life okay because we don't have you know the same level of strict upbringing the fear of God in our society we've lost that and it even affects Christians and so even you know we could look at this in several ways we could look at this as uh one way to identify a reprobate we can also use this list as uh as a way to identify just dangerous people in general that we should have nothing to do with that may not be reprobates but they're no help to us at all but also to identify if there are any characteristics that are in our lives within this list that we overcome these things okay so let's keep going there in verse number two let's keep going there for some two it says for men so this is what we're going to be facing in these perilous times for men shall be lovers of their own selves so what does that mean someone that is selfish or self uh uh you know they're not selfless that they prioritize themselves first and foremost what can i get out of society what can i get out of this life rather than look at how can i be a help how can it be a blessing to other people they look at what can i gain from others and i've had friends like that brethren where the lovers you know it takes time because you know we want to be good friends don't we we want to be you know someone that is loyal to our friends that gets behind them and you know if one of our friends gets discouraged or they're on a bad path we want to be able to try to help them and pull them back get them back on track you know what you're going to discover as you go through life that some of your friends are lovers of their own selves they look at the friendship as what can i get out of you what can i gain out of you but nothing what can i give in return how can i be encouragement to them eventually at some point you have to say you know what this is a person that i don't need to be around they bring me down they use me you know and and i get nothing in return and you're better off making friends with people where you're both gaining from each other you know you're helping one another you're you're investing in one another but at the same time you're also gaining fellowship uh encouragement for one another let's keep going there lovers of their own selves covetous we know what that is of course greed for money possessions or power recognition uh boasters okay so we come to a generation where people have an inflated ego and again you know i'm sure we've all struggled with covetousness to some extent i'm sure maybe we've all boasted about ourselves because we have flesh all right so you know don't think well as soon as someone is covetous or someone starts boasting about themselves oh man red flag this guy's a reprobate remember that we have a big list here and so if we're looking if we're seeing a majority or you know every box he's been ticked about this one person then yeah you are dealing with a reprobate but as i said some of these characteristics are in ourselves hey we don't want to have the characteristics of people of the perilous times we don't have these characteristics of a reprobate so if we find these within ourselves let's change that let's ask god to make a change and and humble ourselves bring for ourselves before god and say god we've got bad character please help me to live in accordance to your ways what's the next thing that's there after boasters proud so they view themselves as an elevated status above others they look down on other people they think highly of themselves blasphemers blasphemer is someone that speaks against god or you know you might have someone that comes to the church they don't speak against god because that will clearly reveal them to be unsaved or clearly reveal them to be reprobate but also be little in god you know making god of no importance and uh you know not being thankful for the for the blessing not being thankful for god's gifts in this world but thinking about themselves the only you know i am what i am because of me not because of god and and that would be blaspheming as well you know not giving god due credit for all the great things he's done next thing is disobedient to parents i'm sure we've all been disobedient to parents but listen we're living a generation where people do not respect authority and sometimes i don't blame you because our authority especially in governance governments man who wants to obey these people but you know what that's the power that that's in place recently we've just had change in new South Wales the masks are back man i think you guys are doing master i can't remember i lose track wherever the master back we're back to restrictions here one person two square meters in the church building uh but you know what that's the power that's the authority and you'll find that people will creep into churches and they'll be rebellious against authority yes rebellious against parents of course and they'll try to make you rebellious against the pastor you know pastor has authority in the church i thought rebellious against authorities governance authorities you know rebellious against employers you start identifying this person just rebellious about everything you know they can't be submissive you know that's a major red flag what else do we learn here uh disobedience parents unthankful so um they they have a sense of self-entitlement i deserve what's coming to me and instead of being thankful to god or thankful to others for being a help to them they think they're just self-entitled to receive whatever they i feel like this is the generation we live in but things are getting progressively worse worse and worse as we go through these latter times then unholy unholy is the next thing on that list in verse number two unholy you know what holy means to be separate to be set apart you know we talk about being holy set apart for god you know we don't want to live just like the rest of this world we want to be different people but these people are unholy you cannot tell any difference between uh them and the world okay they can put up a show potentially at church but once they leave church they're just like anybody else anybody else in the world you wouldn't even be able to determine hey there's something different about this person there's you know there's a fear of god of this person you won't be able to sense that in that individual let's keep going verse number three without natural affection without natural affection now this is definitely a tell tale sign of a reprobate without natural affection now what is that you know obviously if we see a human being it doesn't even have to be a brother in the lord you know if we see a fellow man just hurt him who's suffering who's going through anguish you know there's a part of us that that that that fuels that pain there's a part of it that kind of reaches out on an emotional level and understand you know if we see someone on a hot day and their car breaks down and they you know you you have that sense about you are you know maybe i'll pull over and see if i can help this person or uh you know if you see an accident you know you you take out the phone and maybe ring an ambulance someone's been injured or something like that right does that sense of understanding someone else's pain that's natural affection or just love in the family love for your spouse love for your children wanting your children to do the best and you know people that are are reprobate don't have this natural affection they don't feel these emotions they are lacking empathy and the other you know criteria that falls in that in the scientific realm is a psychopath they they lack empathy they don't have that natural affection they can fake it to some extent but really they don't have it they don't know how other people feel and so it's very easy for them to hurt people without feeling any sense of guilt whatsoever okay without natural affection in fact that phrase without natural affection is also mentioned in romans chapter one verse number 31 romans 131 where we also have a great list of those that have been given over to a reprobate mind so this is definitely a telltale sign we have it mentioned a couple times in the bible next thing there is truce breakers truce breakers now what's a truce well you have a truce when you have conflict with someone right you're you're maybe you've had an argument and you just decide let's just make peace all right we may not see eye to eye on this topic or you know we've been fighting let's just make peace let's just you know let's just go about our own ways let's not cross paths you know well let's stop the argument but these people they'll break that truce you know that they don't want the peace they want to continue going down and arguing and fighting and uh you know etc etc you know causing conflicts so they break their truces false accusers so first accuser of course liars slanderers railers incontinent incontinent is someone that is lacking self-restraint or self-control you know they blow off emotionally and or that they they don't act you know within social norms that they can't control themselves okay that is someone that is incontinent fierce fierce is someone that is overly aggressive or cruel right they go about trying to hurt people you know they just they just they just got a critical heart right when they see something wrong they just want to bag people out you know kick them while they're down that would be someone that is fierce and the next one is interesting despises of those that are good despises of those that are good so people that are trying to just live godly and holy lives that are just trying to please the lord they despise them and then they'll try to turn people that are just loving god serving the lord they'll try to turn others against that person and and the reason for that is you know they because they want the attention they want to be the one that is being recognized and when someone is actually doing great works for god it bothers them you know that they they they don't have that natural affection right but if a brother in the lord is doing well like if they live in a godly life we should be able to rejoice in that right if someone gets a promotion on the job we should be able to say praise god for that right a brother in the lord a sister in the lord has some level of success has some level of joy right we should be able to get behind them say praise god for you rather than getting all uncomfortable and uh you know trying to take them down because now they feel uncomfortable you know or that they want to be recognized as the one that is the best listen we're not in competition with one another we are all running a race but that race is our own race to serve jesus christ you know we're not there comparing ourselves you know we're all at different levels spiritually we shouldn't shoot down people that are just trying to serve god faithfully and so please don't be a discouragement to brethren because this is an attribute of a reprobate an attribute of people that we should have nothing to do with what else verse number traitors okay so they'll throw you under the bus right i mean they might be your friend and then they'll throw if they're going to benefit from throwing you under the bus or backs avenue they will um heady or heedy heady so um i'm not i wasn't sure what this meant i had to look this one up but heady is basically someone that is reckless um or they take risks but they don't count the costs right i mean you know life life is always about risks we're always taking different elements of risk but before we take a risk we count the cost right is this you know if this fails you know if it falls apart you know are we able to carry on and you know what if it's not worth the risk we're not going to take it well that's not how these people are these people in these last days they take unnecessary risks they don't count the cost they destroy their lives they destroy the lives of others and so that's what it means to be um heady then you've got high-minded high-minded is someone that is arrogant okay at the level of arrogance next thing we've got there is lovers of pleasures more than lovers of god lovers of pleasures more than lovers of god and so you know it's interesting what we think you know i guess sometimes when we read this passage we kind of think you know that they love sin because sin can be pleasing you know there is there is uh there is some level of satisfaction and joy within sin you know but it's only for a season and so we might say well you know that they love sin more than they love god but you know in many ways when we do all sin we are kind of making that choice that we love this sin rather than loving what god wants from our lives but when i think about lovers of pleasure you know we can have pleasure in this world you know we ought to enjoy life as it were right we ought to take it you know appreciate what god has given us the blessings and i often talk about how beautiful the sunshine coast is and you know i miss it i'm in this concrete jungle of sydney i've missed the the beautiful landscape of the sun goes you know we've we've got certain pleasures and we should enjoy what god has given us but still as far as a priority goes god comes first right i mean if you have a choice i don't know how what the weather is like that this morning you know you got a choice do i go to the beach and enjoy the pleasures of having a good swim in in nice warm weather or do i go to church okay which one are you going to prioritize of course you're going to prioritize god's house i hope you will i hope there's not someone there that's oh man i went to the beach the other week you know and i missed out on church but you know that's what it means to prioritize that we're more lovers of god than we are of the pleasures that we can find on this earth but these reprobates these wicked people in these last days they much prefer the the pleasures of this world rather than what god gives let's get going in verse number five this is interesting as well having a form of godliness now as we've been going through the perfect man series um i did refer to you know this idea of godliness you know are striving for this and you know when we talk about godliness what we're saying is we're being more you know we're we're we're lowering our will and we're lining ourselves up to the will of god and that's what the godliness is right the goodness is that we're trying to reflect the light of jesus christ we're trying to reflect the love of god in our lives uh but they they appear to be godly but it's just a form of godliness that's interesting isn't it they're not actually godly it's just like for it's an imitation it's a pretend it's a mask okay it's a mask that they they come and then you know praise god hallelujah but really they're just wicked people uh within and so they're not actually godly but they are imitating something similar all right but they're not only they're having a form of godliness so they they appear to be all righteous and god etc but then it says this but denying the power thereof denying the power thereof interesting because you know as we strive to be godly you know we give all credit and all praise to god right if we achieve something for the lord we say you know thank you lord we say for the grace of god we've been able to accomplish this and that and this and that you know we thank god for our salvation and you know we we understand that we're really nothing without the grace of god praise god you know we give god our glory we give god our praise and so any reflection of godliness about us we just thank god if someone says thank you pastor for that sermon you know thank god i you know appreciate the feedback but you know thank god thank you lord that you know you've been able to help me be used as a vehicle to encourage the brethren but these people with the form of god they deny the power you know instead of saying it's because of god they deny that because me right they deny the power of god in that that's that godless form and then they boast of themselves right uh you know i'm i turn from all my sins you know i'm the one living i you know i'm just uh i'm just a wise intelligent man you know and they just boast about themselves they they don't give glory to god and so they've got that form of godness but they deny the power of god and then it says this from such turn away you know i remember i think it was one of um brother jason's one of his first sermons was from such turn away i still remember that that sermon in my mind but yeah you know what when you start to identify this person again it doesn't necessarily mean they're a complete reprobate here okay it could it could be that they are but i'm saying like there are just wicked people we live in a wicked society we live in a wicked generation and if you're finding yourself getting you know uh making friendships or acquainting yourselves with people that and you start to look at this list and say man this person is basically all of this oh this person is a great majority of all this the barber says from such turn away have nothing to do with them break fellowship with these people right i mean if someone comes to our church and has all these characteristics they're denying the power of god right they're boasted on themselves you know what they had to leave the church you know we we don't want to associate from these people with these people from such turn away this is right sometimes we think you know no we're just going to put up with people you know i'm saved i'm a christian and i just have to put up with everybody in my life no sometimes the bible tells us instruct us to turn away from certain people why because they're going to damage you they're going to hurt you they can damage the church right and and this is the big battle that paul has been fighting you you'll notice throughout his whole ministry you know that he's fighting against the false prophets he's fighting against the reprobates that have crept into the church and as you may recall second timothy is paul's final uh epistle before he passes away and so this is again on his mind you know we need to turn away from such people we shouldn't think we're so righteous and holy that we should just put up with people forever no once they become a major disrupt disruption or hurt to a church or to people we must turn away from such people okay not to be fellowshiped with let's keep going there verse number six for of this sort are they which creep into houses that's another interesting thing they creep into house what does that mean they desire to get into your personal life right they've got no boundaries they just think well you know what uh you know how else can i say this you know that they might say to you you know oh what's your children how about you and your wife you guys go out on a nice date together oh come into your house oh what's your children or people that just come up to your house uninvited right and they just show up and you feel bad you feel bad well i mean they turn up i guess i have to learn the house they creep into houses they creep into your family right it's like oh you know tell that you know tell the kids to call me uncle you know tell the kids to call me uncle even though they're not the uncle i mean that they want to get involved in your family they want to get involved you know for for harmful reasons okay and so these this is this is wrong you know one thing that i you know i i highly esteem uh families and the boundaries of families and not getting yourselves involved in other families problems but you know what these people are completely opposite they want to get involved in your problems they want to be there every day they want to be just just uh take up your time consume your time where you can't give your time to your own family but not only that what what what reason potentially could they do this it says here and lead captive silly women laden with sins led away with diverse lusts so what are they doing why are they creeping to families why are they creeping to houses because they've got lusts okay yeah maybe there will be silly women that they're after right they might work out times when the husband's at work or the husband's not at home and they'll try to creep into the house while the wife is alone or something like that okay i mean these people are wicked people right and they they've got their lusts or they try to find a long time with the children like i said to you right complete pedophiles or reprobates you know you know yeah complete pedophiles wicked people you know we i don't know if it's happened in our church or not but you know what we are going to face that situation when someone comes into our church not because they love the lord not because they love the church not because they want to learn doctrine they come to church trying to figure out which family is weak which family can they get involved in because they've got their sick lusts because they're reprobates because they're wicked because we live in perilous times and let me encourage you especially parents do not leave your kids unsupervised even in church you know even in church please don't take your you know husband please don't take your wife's soul winning alone and leave your kids in the care of other people in the church i don't care how well you think you know each other brethren okay i mean don't even risk it don't even risk it in case there is a rep bait on the loose but number two why put that burden unnecessarily on another brother you know if one of your children get hurt or something happens you know that other family is going to feel like man you know feel responsible for something that may have happened that was outside of their control and so let me encourage parents please keep us close to the vision on your children at all times you know don't allow these people to creep into your houses please don't allow them to overstay their welcome you know and and try to involve it and use up all your time you've got to learn how to set boundaries you've got to learn how to say no okay and look sometimes people just mean well they they do mean well they want to come into your house they want to be a help they actually mean well they want to have beer help to you they want to serve you and they have no they have no a desire for any kind of lust and things like that you still need to set boundaries you still need to say no no this is not your time now okay hey we'll fellowship in church we'll fellowship after service we'll go so in together but when it comes to my daily household needs listen i i need to spend time with my family we need to continue pushing forward in what we do in our in our in our homes and that will definitely protect you from any kind of rep rate that's trying to sneak into your house let's keep going there verse number seven ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth another telltale sign of a rep is someone that is ever learning now brethren we are always learning though like you and i you know even me as a pastor i'm continually learning and every time i prepare a sermon i study god's word i'm learning something or relearning something i forgot we are also i'm not trying to say that we stop learning in life okay but the difference between us and a reprobate is that once we learn something we learn it we learn something new these rep rates they never learn anything they stay on the same topic over and over again they never get it they never get basic doctrines they never get the gospel they never get that they just don't get it they mess it up over and over and over again listen when someone's just not getting basic fundamental truths black and white scriptures then there's something wrong with that individual i tell you what's wrong with them they haven't got the holy ghost and if they haven't got the holy ghost they're not saved okay i mean they're not might not be a reprobate they just might not be they just might be an unsafe person and they just don't get core fundamental doctrines and so um you know i'll give you an example of this you know we had a friend once i won't name the name because i i don't know if she's a reprobate or not but we had a friend and uh you know family friends you know we spent time together etc etc and uh as far as i was aware she was saved she believed the right gospel salvation but every time you know we would go over the house every time she'd bring up the gospel again she'd bring up salvation again and i think why do we have to keep talking about the gospel like i mean it's wonderful to talk about the gospel don't get me wrong but if you're already saved i'm already saved we can talk about so many things like the gospel is the most easiest doctrine to understand christ did it all and it's our faith on christ that saves us amen i mean besides and the not of works not of church not of anything else plus nothing minus nothing it's all in christ amen but uh every time we'd go you know you know at first we just thought okay you know maybe we're just clarifying some some things and just clearing some cobwebs maybe this individual has just heard some bad preaching we're just being helped there but we would go time and time again and should be constantly not knowing what the gospel is but surely just believe in but you know and then it's kind of like but but catholics believe that jesus he died on the cross you know and it's just it's like yeah but they don't believe in christ alone they believe in their in the sacraments they believe in their good works they believe in their church etc and every time we would go it's just this this sort of doubt on the gospel you know at some point i tell my wife you know what from such a turn away you know what we're not we're not benefiting from from being a friend to this person that they're stuck on the gospel i don't believe this person's even saved because this is the most basic salvation this is the most most important doctrine that we just need to narrow down and then we move on all right we preach the gospel to other people so they may be saved but listen if a so-called christian just can't understand the gospel you know what there's something wrong with that person all right so again i don't know i'm not saying that person was a rep mate i'm just saying from such turn away ever learning never able to come to the knowledge of the truth look at verse about eight now as jane is and jamborees we've stood moses so do these also resist the truth men of corrupt minds reprobate concern in the faith so let's have a look at the story if you can keep your finger there let's go to exodus chapter seven exodus chapter seven let's have a look at jane's and jamborees we stand in moses now these names they're only told us in the new testament you know the holy ghost revealed their names in the new testament but you won't find their names in the old testament okay but it's pretty straightforward as to what event is taking place in okay so exodus chapter seven please exodus chapter seven verse number eight exodus chapter seven and verse number eight exodus seven verse number eight bible reads and the lord spake unto moses and unto aaron saying when pharaoh shall speak unto you saying show a miracle for you then thou shall say unto aaron take thy rod and cast it before pharaoh and it shall become a serpent and moses and aaron went in unto pharaoh and they did so as the lord commanded and aaron cast down his rod before pharaoh and before his servants and it became a serpent so god does an amazing miracle aaron's rod becomes a serpent the moment he throws it down right showing the power of god showing that god can create life from non-life let's keep going in verse number all right up to verse number 11 then pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers okay so the wise men and the sorcerers and these this is basically who jane's and jamborees were okay they were these wise men these sorcerers it says now the magicians of egypt they also did in like manner with their enchantments for they cast it down every man his rod and they became serpents now you say pastor kevin hold on how is it that they were able to use their rods and and convert them into make make them into serpents well there's basically two answers okay number one satan is able to do some strange things as well satan has some element of power okay and so it could be definitely that these rods became living serpents um in that sense um i think i think most people actually believe that's the case i i do not believe that's the case i actually believe this is like a trick like like an illusion i mean i'm sure we've all seen magic tricks and illusions and like how do they do that you know and yet when you find out how they do it's like oh is that all it's not a big deal right and so i actually believe they're just doing they're just doing illusions and tricks and uh it they made it appear as though they threw down a rod but actually what they really did throw down was a serpent because i don't believe these men or satan can create life from scratch and i'll show you this in a moment i'll prove this in a moment okay anyway whatever the fact is right they've done this everyone's wondering wow you know there are these serpents that the magicians have been able to do and then it says they're at the universe i'm 12 but aaron's rod swallowed up their rods okay so it's interesting right so even though they did the same miracle in a sense okay aaron's snake the one that god used actually ate up the other snakes swallowed them up okay so you can see which one was the greater power it was it was the serpent that god used okay the serpent that uh became from aaron's rod and so we see these people are basically trying to combat they've you know i would say they've got a form of godliness they're kind of doing the same miracle that we see aaron doing okay but it comes short their form of godliness actually ends up failing because aaron overcomes them with his serpent okay now if you can also now turn to uh exodus chapter eight turn to exodus chapter eight for me turn to exodus chapter eight and uh also go back to um uh second timothy chapter two oh sorry three please go back to second timothy chapter three and let's have a look at verse number nine as well verse number nine it says but they shall proceed no further for their folly shall be manifest unto all men as theirs also was and so while these reprobates have a form of godliness that comes they're not going to continue forever at some point their mask is going to fall off at some point they're going to manifest themselves to not be truly saved they're going to manifest themselves to be wicked people manifest themselves to be reprobate okay this happens to all that try to creep into our church that are reprobate that are wicked people that try to hurt our church eventually brethren they're going to reveal themselves for the wicked people that they are okay this is why i'm not on some witch hunt trying to find the rep bait because they're going to manifest themselves in due time god's word promises us this okay we just have to make sure that we protect ourselves from people that may be like this now you go back to exodus chapter eight and verse number 16 exodus of the eight verse number 16 we have another miracle another plague that uh god uses to deliver the israelites out of the hand of the egyptians but they're in exodus chapter 8 verse number 16 the Bible reads and the lord said unto moses say unto Aaron stretch out thy rod and smite the dust of the land that it may became become lice throughout all the land of egypt okay so now god is doing a miracle for this the same rod that has the Aaron has and the dust of the land is going to become life so once again god creates life out of non-life okay something that god can do verse number 17 and they did and they did so for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod and smelt the dust of the earth and it became lice in man and in beasts all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of egypt so notice verse number 18 and the magicians did so with their enhancements to bring forth lice but they could not okay so they try they try with their magic tricks sorceries you know devil worship and their illusions or whatever they're trying to bring forth lice from the dust and they can't do it okay it says yeah so there was so there were lice upon man and upon beasts now notice what was verse number 19 then the magicians said unto Pharaoh this is the finger of god and Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he hearkened not unto them as the lord had said so the egyptians get to a point where they can't do this they can't replicate this miracle turning dust into lice and that's what i'm saying to you i actually don't believe when they convert the rods into serpents so they actually did that because they're actually identifying to turn something non-living into a living organism this is the hand of god this is not something the devil can copy this is not something that you can actually manifest in real life and that's why i just believe these guys have that form of godliness but at some points when they try to do godly works when they try to imitate what uh Aaron and Moses are doing they come short they've manifested themselves to be not of god they've manifested themselves to be a people that cannot do the works of god and they've revealed themselves they really reveal themselves to not be mighty magicians and and sorcerers that they cannot they that they don't live up to the standards that god requires from his people okay they manifest themselves they show themselves to come short of what a true christian is okay and so that's why i'm saying to you once again i don't actually believe though i'm not i could be wrong but i don't actually believe the rods that they use to turn into serpents actually became serpents in real life i do believe it was an illusion okay and that only god can create life from non-living material back to uh second timothy chapter three please second timothy chapter three let's go back to verse number eight i know we read verse number nine let's go back to verse number eight now as janice and jambries we've stood moses so do these also resist the truth okay they resist the truth now again you know we've already seen that these these are people that are disobedient to parents these are people that hate authority okay they resist the truth you know they might come to church they'll hear the preacher from my pastor and they'll resist it okay why because they don't they don't they hate authority right i mean they're so boastful that they're so full of themselves they think well i know more than the pastor i know more than whatever preaches behind there and so they'll resist whatever truth might come not because that they're necessarily against the truth but they're against the people of god okay they hate those that love the lord and they cannot accept things that have been received that coming from men of god what else do we learn there this is true men are corrupt minds right we saw that they're they're haters of god they don't want to retain god in the knowledge and so their minds become corrupt and darkened and as it said there reprobate concerning the faith now as many of you know the word rep means rejected okay so if we read it like that rejected concerning the faith they rejected from the faith they cannot come to faith in christ jesus they've lost their opportunity to be saved because they it's impossible for them to to they resist the truth number one and then to place their faith on the truth is that they're incapable of doing it god has given them corrupted minds god has given them reprobate minds they've been rejected by god because they rejected because they rejected god first okay and so we need to be aware once again reverend these people are going to creep into our church and i have a suspicion maybe they've every tried maybe some people have already tried you know we've had people come into our church they try to get a footing in here and then they leave when they realize we don't accept you know unsound doctrines you know we don't accept you know other gospels or other other you know views you know we stand true on god's word listen that we've got open space for discussions and and some difference of opinions but again when it comes to the fundamental truths the core teachings of the bible the things that are black and white for everyone the truth which is so clearly displayed for us in the word of god we are uncompromising we stand on god's word brethren that's what i love about new life at the baptist church i know several of the men you guys love the truth you love the truth you love it and at the same time we're able to share some differences of opinions and we still love each other because we're saved we have a love for the brethren and that's what i love about our church uh very very much and uh so yeah we've seen that we've seen verse number eight we've looked at verse number nine you know these people will manifest themselves again we don't need to be on this witch hunt looking for reprobates eventually they're gonna they're gonna fail they're going to show themselves that you know the the wolf's ears are gonna stick out of the sheep's uh you know what is it lamb and sheep's clothing all right they're gonna stick out eventually at some point you're gonna see the teeth you're gonna see the ears of the wolf verse number 10 now paul says all right i've just given you a great list of reprobates wicked people people that are living in these last days these perilous times and again brethren if you've got friends and acquaintances that make up a majority of that list from such turn away please protect yourself protect your family protect your church there are people that we should just have nothing to do with you're not going to be able to help them okay but verse number 10 now he compares those people with himself okay someone that is sound in doctrine someone that is truly saved someone that truly is serving the lord someone that god has used in a mighty way for his kingdom verse number 10 he says but thou has fully known my doctrine manner of life purpose faith long-suffering charity patience timothy says look paul uh paul says to simpson look you've seen in me the qualities of a christian someone that loves the lord you know it's very it's vastly different from these other people that have that form of godliness so what does he elevate what does he identify as something as someone that you can trust him right like if you're going to trust in this pastor and look i want to get back up there as soon as i can but you know i want to i want your confidence i want you to know that you know when i get behind the pulpit i've done my research i've done my studying that you have the confidence that i'm a safe man that i'm being used by god that you know you know you know god can teach you great truths uh for me as a vehicle you know that you know because of the glory of god right and so it says here that has known my doctrine what's doctrine to teaching your beliefs you know i hope you can say look we know what pastor kevin believes he doesn't try to sugarcoat things you know he's black and white in his preaching right and look sometimes i don't know i don't always have an answer and i'll just say to you look i don't know the answer to that okay if i say that i just truly don't know but listen if i know if i forgot if i got clear scriptures of my beliefs and my doctrines i want to tell you i want you to know exactly where i stand on doctrines okay and i want to also believe and see in the scriptures that it's sound that it's based on scriptures right so if you have that person hey yes this is not a rep mate this is our teacher this is someone that we can learn from this is not someone that's trying to destroy my life my family uh or my church he says my manner of life he says look my lifestyle is consistent with the doctrines that we teach you know my lifestyle you know it's holy versus the unholy lifestyle of the of the reprobates right we're separated we're different we don't we don't try to pattern ourselves after this world you know we try to live righteous and godly lives matter of life purpose he's got purpose you know he's not self-focused he's not self-centered right he's got purpose for for for for uh for being a religious leader he's trying to encourage the brethren he loves the lord he's trying to serve the lord he's trying to increase the kingdom of of jesus christ hey that's his purpose his purpose is to to be a servant for god but the purpose of the other person that we saw here the rep mate the the wicked man was it's all about him what can i get what can i get out of out of church what can i get out of different families right it's all self-centered and then we have faith long-suffering charity patients all of these are evidence of the fruit of the spirit and so he's demonstrating that hey my life is full of the fruit of the spirit and the only way you can have the fruit of the spirit consistently in your life of course is by the holy spirit working within you proving that you are a saved man and that you that the holy spirit is doing a great work in your life let's keep going there verse number 11 persecutions so paul's gone for difficulties persecutions afflictions which came unto me at antioc at iconium and lystra what persecutions i endured but out of them all the lord delivered me hey there's another piece of evidence i've gone through hardships and difficulties but you've seen the hand of the lord take me out of those difficulties of course if it's the hand of the lord taking him out of those problems brethren then we definitely know that paul was a saved man a great man a great christian that god was using a great apostle that god used in the new testament times but i want you to also notice there you say well you know some false prophets can suffer persecution and afflictions and they can okay but i just want to bring back to your remembrance please go back to second timothy chapter two go to chapter two in verse number eight chapter two in verse number eight let's remind ourselves why paul is suffering persecutions why is he suffering afflictions again is it because he's just a troublemaker is he causing problems right is he is he's shoving his face into issues that are not his own no it says here in second timothy chapter two verse eight remember that jesus christ is the seed of david so the other seed of david was raised from the dead according to my gospel wherein i suffer trouble trouble why did he suffer trouble because he's preaching the gospel that's why he's being persecuted that's why he's suffering afflictions wherein i suffer trouble as an evildoer they treat me as an evil person but all i'm doing is preaching the gospel of jesus christ even unto bonds but the word of god is not bound so again when you go back to second timothy uh second timothy chapter three there we see that the persecution the afflictions that he's suffering is because he's preaching the gospel he's preaching the word of god and this is getting him into problems okay and so don't think just because somebody is going for difficulties that they've been persecuted because of god they might be being persecuted just for being a troublemaker okay that doesn't prove that person is a christian man or a godly man that god is in a great way okay let's keep going verse number 12 yay and all that will live godly in christ jesus shall suffer persecution and so again we're being reminded that in his latter days we will suffer persecution if we just live godly if we just preach the gospel and brevin that's the reality of your lives please accept it please understand the more you stand on god's word the more you proclaim god's word you are going to be persecuted people are not going to like you okay and we're living in perilous times things are going to get worse as i said 2022 is going to be worse than 2021 there's going to be greater persecutions every year that we live our life every generation until the coming price the persecution and the afflictions are going to become worse and worse and society's just going to continue getting bad because it says in verse number 13 but evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived hey these wicked men are just going to get worse all right worse and worse so the wicked prophets that we have in this day the wicked reprobates that we have in this day they're worse than the false prophets and the reprobates that were living in the times of paul and timothy so we need to prepare ourselves you know stand strong get grounded in god's word right these people seek to deceive deceiving this is why i always separate someone that might be messed up on on some core doctrines you know i'll separate a rep obviously the rep is someone that is deceiving all right they're they're trying they're leading other people to hell but i don't always view the deceived as someone that might be rep bait or even sometimes christians saved christians can get deceived you know get cobwebs and get confused on doctrine but you know when you show them what is right and they get back on the on the program that proves that they were always saved but you know even christians can get deceived this is why we have the warning here in the bible make sure you be careful about the men that you listen to okay i hope i've done enough to prove over these past four years plus that you know you can trust me that you know that i'm preaching sound doctrine on god's word i'm not i have no desire to deceive you brethren have no desire to deceive you all right uh but not only that deceiving and being deceived so these these rep baits are at deceiving and then they get deceived themselves right they don't know the scriptures that they listen to whatever popular opinions out there you know they get tossed to and fro a very window doctrine you know these people are not grounded and and they'll keep shifting in different places on core doctrines key beliefs they'll keep shifting and you'll know that these people are just not there's something wrong with them okay let's keep going verse number 14 but so this is how we combat from being deceived but continue thou in the things which thou has learned and has been assured of knowing of whom thou has learned them so there's a few key things here okay we need to continue in the things that we've learned okay but not just the things that we've learned because sometimes we can learn wrong things can't we like even me as a preacher i can make mistakes all right and i'm sure that there are very well-meaning pastors that are truly saved they just love the lord they have said wrong things okay so yes continue that they are in the things that has learned but then says and has been assured of so what's important for us brethren is when we learn something when when when someone preaches a doctrine you need to assure yourself of that doctrine in the word of god okay is this black and whites can i hang my hat on this doctrine and if you can you continue in that same thing brendan continue and then it says knowing of whom thou has learned them hey if you're learning great doctrines from a preacher and sound doctrine you're cementing it in the word of god just remember the person you learn from be able to mark that person say you know what this is a godly man god has used this man all right and don't like you know sometimes people turn against the preachers and the pastors that have got them in such to such a great level in the spiritual life you know i i'll just share with you and there's one pastor that i love very dilly you know we've not been able to see eye to eye on on a certain issue and uh you know he said some cruel things to me all right now i can i can get offended by that i can get upset and start you know slandering this guy and and trying to destroy his reputation but you know what no i'm going to remember all the great things that i've learned all the sound doctrine that i've learned and i'm going to remember you know the changes that he's he's helped me make in my life because of the preaching and i'm going to be able to separate just the the thing that we can't see eye to eye on and i'm going to be thankful for the man that god has used to get me to a certain level in my spiritual growth okay so you know we should not be people that just throw out you know a preacher pastor that's been a great help to you yeah you know we're still people we're still flesh and blood we can still make mistakes we can still let people down okay but we should not just throw people under the bus when we've learned great truths from them we know that god has used them you know and we've gained knowledge from the preaching of that person and also think just wicked thoughts of that person because he didn't see eye to eye about something or he offended you you know about some some minor issue you know we shouldn't be these people that just you know throw out the baby with the bathwater as it were okay let's keep going there verse number 15 and that from a child that has known the holy scriptures so not just the preachers you've learned from not just paul that you've learned from timothy but we know that he uh as i said there sorry i'll just read to you second timothy one five when i call to remembrance the unfamed faith that is in thee which dwelt first in thy grandmother lois and thy mother eunice and i'm persuaded that in thee also so even when you're a child you've learned great truths from your mom from your grandmother right continue to honor those parents that have taught us great things i know many of you have not been from a christian home but i was saved from a christian home my mother gave me the gospel i'm going to continue honoring my mother my father for the great christian and spiritual truths that they've given me and then from a child that has known the holy scriptures verse number 15 which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in christ jesus you know what i love about this passage it says that a child is able to be made wise unto salvation you know there are people that say children should not get saved because they don't recognize their sinful condition enough like it's it's too hard for them to understand generally speaking these people believe in some type of workspace gospel that's why they think children they haven't sinned enough to turn from their sins but you know what even a child can be made wise unto the salvation of gospel you know what if your children know the gospel and they're saved the bubble says they're wise wise unto salvation which is in christ jesus you know let's you know uh right now you guys um are in or we are we all are and children in school holidays you know there's going to be a lot more children at the doors when you go door to door so when you please take advantage of this opportunity okay because children can be made wise okay now look obviously let's be careful obviously if there's very young children the parents aren't home you know leave them a gospel tract or ask them if the parents are there you know you want to make sure that you don't put yourself in a compromising situation there but generally speaking you know why younger people they're more ready to receive the gospel and let's make sure we use this time wisely school holidays the the christmas holidays um to preach the gospel to this community let's keep going there verse number 16 all scripture is given by inspiration of god this is why i prioritize the chapter by chapter um studies um in our series like i know i'm doing the perfect man series and that's important but i much rather prioritize the chapter by chapter the verse by verse because all scripture and you know sometimes when you do topical sermons you're not going to touch on certain scriptures but when you're going chapter by chapter you've got no choice but to touch on every verse that you come across right so all scripture is given by inspiration of god and it's profitable it's all profitable brethren you know what when you're reading the Bible you get through the genealogies and i know it's hard to get through you know what you know what's going to get you through that genealogy it's saying this is profitable to me i don't know exactly how it's profitable for me right now god but you promised me it's profitable for me i'm going to read through this genealogy and i'm going to try to poke pay attention to who begat who who begat who okay because it's profitable for you okay uh profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness so the first thing that's profitable for here is doctrine so it's our teaching it's our beliefs i don't know how preachers get behind the pulpit and teach without scripture and you guys know it happens you know there are many churches though if something gets up behind the pulpit they might read one verse at the beginning and then the next they're preaching for an hour or half an hour or something and they're using no scripture it happens okay how is it the only way that people in church can profit is by all scripture being used okay for for doctrine next thing that's mentioned is reproof so the word reproof is like being rebuked if you're being rebuked or uh you know you're getting your face ripped and i'm sure there are times that i'm preaching things and you're uncomfortable and you know you come short in that area and i i know i come shortly many areas that we see in the scriptures but that's what the reproof so we know we're not doing what is right okay next thing that gets brought up is for correction so once you identify that which is wrong in your life then god wants you to correct it to fix it right god the scriptures are there to help you fit not just there to just bring you low and and and make you realize you know how far you come uh short of god's standards and and holy living but that god will then make a change in life we need all scripture to make those changes for those corrections that we can live lives that are glorious to god and then it says for instruction in righteousness so to to walk in those righteous paths okay instructions in righteousness that we can walk in the righteousness of jesus christ and then it says in verse number 17 that the man of god may be perfect truly furnished unto all good works and um you know verse 16 and 17 is applicable to all of us but again let's not lose sight of what first and second timothy is these are pastoral epistles the apostle paul is writing to pastor timothy and when it says here the man of god this is a phrase that is used for pastors pastors are called the man of god in the bible okay but notice that the man of god may be perfect and we are going for that perfect man serious right i mean my my goal is that we would all be perfect that we would all be complete as it were we would all be we would all have everything needed in the christian life that we can flourish and that god will look down at each individual person each family and say this is a perfect man this is a perfect woman but notice the pastor should also strive to be made perfect to be made more complete meaning that you know i'm not like this you know i try to set a high standard i try to be an example of the believers but you know what i've not reached where i need to reach i still need to study i still need to grow i still need all scripture to continue to develop my own life to develop my own family right to continue showing myself to be a a godly example for the rest of the brethren okay but the pastors need to spend time in scripture to accomplish this freely furnished unto all good works that all that we try to do for the lord that it would result in being profitable and good and pleasing to the lord and as i said yes prior the priority here is the pastor but again this is for all of us we can take the lessons here we know we're trying to go for that perfect man series okay that we may be perfect so what do you need you need all scripture you need all scripture to which is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness okay and so brethren this is what we're seeing here we're seeing the differences the title for the sermon tonight this morning sorry was perilous times and i do believe we're really living in perilous times unsettling times things are getting worse and worse in our society as as things get worse so will people that will get worse and worse there's going to be an increase in reprobates there's going to be increasing just in a wicked society brethren we need to be careful about the people that we make friends with that we get acquainted with we're going to be careful about the kind of preachers that we listen to we're going to be careful about the kind of friendships that we even allow within the church you know we're going to make sure we develop boundaries that people will not be able to come into our lives personal lives and hurt us there are so many great truths that we can learn from here you know what and we see this great separation this great difference between those that are wicked in this sense that are waxing worse and worse that may very well be reprobate versus someone that truly loves the lord like the apostle paul and you know what i i trust my hope is that everybody in our church just loves the lord that it's truly saved that we don't have some wicked reprobate in our church okay and uh you know what once again if you identify some of these qualities in your own life you need to change that okay change it for yourself but also if you have some of these qualities and you don't change it people in your church might start thinking hold on you know this person's living this life i say this this person's life in this list might light up a red flag okay it's something we need to change okay let's be be careful of one another let's be careful of the friendships that we we develop let's not get overly involved in other people's lives and families because this is this is what the rep rate does we've got to be careful protect our children okay god has given us this great list so we would not be without excuse you know that we would protect ourselves protect our families protect our children protect our church from these people during these perilous times okay let's pray