When I preach on a Sunday morning, I want you to leave edified. I want you to leave encouraged. I want you to leave feeling blessed. But occasionally, we need to leave cautioned. We need to leave warned. There’s a place for that, and the Scriptures obviously do that. Paul does this in his letters.
As we continue our study through 2 Timothy, we come to chapter 3—and this is a passage we need to hear carefully. It will take us a couple of weeks to work through it properly.
The Spirit Explicitly Warns
Paul has been writing from his jail cell, deeply concerned for the church and for Timothy, this young pastor facing the days ahead. Even though he’s already warned Timothy about false teachers and the scheming activity of the devil, he’s going to drive it home again. It’s that important. It’s that big a deal.
“But know this, Timothy.”
You might remember these words from Paul’s first letter to Timothy, chapter 4:
“Now the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will depart from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared.”
I want you to think about these words for a moment. Those are sobering words. Paul says that the Holy Spirit explicitly—he uses that term—emphatically, without question, declares the problem.
And here’s the problem: there will be Christians, saints of God, who will depart from the faith.
What causes them to do so? One of the major reasons is that they begin paying attention to the wrong things being delivered through the wrong channels. They start believing wrong things delivered through the wrong channels.
The Real Enemy Behind the Scenes
Timothy had been left in Ephesus to establish the church there, and you probably remember what Paul wrote to the Ephesians about the armor of God and spiritual warfare. In Ephesians 6:10-12, he says:
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
I know that most of us don’t walk around in our day-to-day living thinking about the enemies mobilized against us. That would be a little overwhelming, wouldn’t it? But it is careless on our part not to take this into account, not to consider the real causes behind the evil we see in the world.
Paul states that the ultimate enemy is the devil, and he is constantly scheming up ways to do what he does: kill, steal, and destroy. Throughout the world, he is at work destroying people’s lives through sin, through evil ideologies, through false religions.
Satan knows that ultimately, the gates of hell will not prevail against the church of Jesus Christ. He can’t stop the church. When we pray “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done,” that isn’t wishful thinking. That’s banking on a promise. That’s believing in a truth. We know that God’s victory will be full and final, and the devil knows that too. So he just wants to inflict as many casualties in the church as he can before his time is over.
Paul says we are living in a present darkness. That darkness, then and now, is engineered and spread through a hierarchy of evil. He uses terms like rulers, authorities, cosmic powers, spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places. This isn’t a Marvel movie. This is true. This is real. And its influence is felt in every sphere of our lives.
Listen again to Paul’s words to Timothy with that background in mind:
“Now the Spirit explicitly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and the teaching of demons through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared.”
He’s simply saying clearly that the false teachers you deal with, the underhanded people trying to sabotage life in the church and sabotage the faith of others, these liars who exist within the church have behind them deceitful spirits—teaching of demons.
Understanding “The Last Days”
Now let’s look at 2 Timothy 3:1:
“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.”
A side note here: At least once a year in conversation, somebody will talk about hard things going on in the world and say, “You know, we’re probably entering the last days.” Maybe you’ve said that. Listen carefully: The last days, New Testament-wise, began with the incarnation of Jesus coming into this world.
The old age was passing away at that point. The new age had come. The last days were those days and these days.
You might remember that in Acts, when the Holy Spirit was poured out and Peter got up to preach, he talked about the prophet Joel saying, “In the last days, I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.” That was exactly what was happening on the day of Pentecost.
Hebrews 1 says, “In times past, God spoke to the prophets, but in these last days, He has spoken to us through His Son.”
The last days began with the arrival of Jesus, and they will culminate with the second coming of Christ as the righteous judge of all the earth. The last days aren’t coming. They’re here. They’ve been here.
So these warnings were for the church then and now.
Three Root Sins
Paul launches into a list describing the behavior of false teachers in verses 2 through 4:
“For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”
That’s quite the list. Paul uses 19 different words to describe the evil of that day. But verse 2 and verse 4 sum up their condition:
- Lovers of self – Narcissism. The world revolves around them—their success, their happiness, their pleasure, their goals, their comfort, their control. They are totally wrapped up in self.
- Lovers of money – Materialism.
- Lovers of pleasure – Hedonism (verse 4). They are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.
All those 19 things can be summed up in these three: narcissism, materialism, hedonism.
Perhaps you remember the words of the Apostle John in 1 John 2:15-17:
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh (hedonism), the desires of the eyes (materialism), and pride or boastful pride of life (narcissism)—is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires. But whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
All sins can be found flowing from those three areas.
The Form Without the Power
Look at verse 5:
“Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to the form of godliness, but denying its power.”
It’s important that we keep in mind that Paul, in a broad sense, can be talking about sinful, unredeemed people everywhere, but he is talking specifically about false teachers—people who enter the church and spread false doctrine, the doctrine of demons.
He says they’re “holding to a form of godliness.”
If Satan showed up looking like Freddy Krueger in your bedroom and asked you to do something with him, you’d probably reject that fairly easily. But that’s not how he shows up. The Bible says he can disguise himself as an angel of light.
The enemy doesn’t show up with full-fledged rebellion. No, he shows up with, “Has God said? Is that how you interpret the Word? Was the pastor really right about that? Don’t you think you owe yourself something?”
He doesn’t show up in his absolute brutality. He shows up as brutal with a smile on his face.
What Does “Holding to the Form of Godliness” Mean?
Let’s say a false teacher was in your church. They greet you warmly. They sing the songs, maybe lift their hands to the Lord. Maybe they bow their heads and pray the Lord’s Prayer, give the confession of faith. Maybe they come down the aisle to receive communion. They’re friendly and outgoing, and everybody thinks, “Oh, what a nice visitor. How wonderful to have someone so nice.”
You would not know. That’s why this is so important. You would not know that they are coming under the influence of deceitful spirits.
Sadly, what Paul says here is that often they don’t even know it. Their consciences are so seared. They’ve rejected the Holy Spirit for so long. They have frustrated the grace of God in their lives for so long. They have resisted coming under the instruction and tutelage of God’s Word. They have resisted the transforming power of grace in their lives to the point that they have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof.
Spurgeon on the Power of Godliness
Let me read you a quote from Spurgeon. He says:
“What is that power? God Himself is the power of godliness. The Holy Spirit is the life and force of it. Godliness is the power that brings a man to God and binds him to Him. Godliness is that which creates repentance toward God and faith in Him. Godliness is the result of a great change of heart in reference to God and His character.
Godliness looks toward God and mourns its distance from Him. Godliness hastens to draw near and does not rest until it is home with God. Godliness makes a man like God. Godliness leads a man to love God and to serve God, and it brings the fear of God before his eyes and the love of God into his heart.
Godliness leads to consecration, to sanctification, to concentration. The godly man seeks first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and expects other things to be added to him. Godliness makes a man commune with God and gives him a partnership with God in His glorious designs, and so it prepares him to dwell with God forever.
Many who have the form of godliness are strangers to this power, and so are in religion worldly, in prayer mechanical, in public one thing, and in private another. True godliness lies in spiritual power, and as they are without this, they are dead while they live.”
Casualties.
Avoid False Teachers
Paul says to Timothy: avoid these people.
Avoid who? Obviously we can’t avoid people without Christ. In the chapter right before this, Paul says those wonderful words about how the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil.
So we’re not to avoid unbelievers outside the church, but we are to avoid false teachers inside the church. And they don’t just show up in your local congregation. The church is bigger than that. They show up on radio stations and TV stations and YouTube channels and a dozen other ways.
We’re not to avoid unbelievers outside the church, but when it comes to false teachers in the church, we are to resist it and stand against it.
Who Do We Invite Into Our Homes?
Paul talks about their methods in verses 6-7:
“For among them are those who worm their way into households and deceive gullible women overwhelmed by sins and led astray by a variety of passions, always learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
Now, what’s Paul not saying? He is not saying this describes all women. Of course not. Women were prominent leaders in the church, and many were successful business people who funded the churches and Paul’s missionary activity.
Here’s the thing: In the Greco-Roman world of the times, the majority of women were uneducated. They were considered property, held in low esteem. But they’re human beings, eager to learn, eager to know about forgiveness. They want to know about God.
So they willingly invited false teachers into their homes, and those homes became footholds for error. They were always learning but never coming to a knowledge of the real truth. Why? Because they were paying attention to deceitful spirits, the doctrines of demons, through those evil men.
And it still goes on, doesn’t it? Not just with women, with all of us.
Who do we invite into our homes? Who do we invite in the things we listen to, the TV we watch, the movies we enjoy, the internet we explore? You and I both know that the doctrines of demons are readily available.
I heard someone say, and it really resonated with me: Beware of what you invite into your home that makes evil beautiful—that tries to make evil attractive, that makes evil funny, that makes evil a viable option.
And again, it doesn’t come with its fangs bared. It comes with milk and cookies.
Learning from History
In verse 8, Paul mentions someone you will not find anywhere else in Scripture:
“Just as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so these also resist the truth.”
Who are those two? You won’t find their names mentioned anywhere else in the Bible, but you will find them in extant literature of the time. These two men were believed to be some of the magicians in Pharaoh’s court who tried to duplicate some of the miracles or signs that Moses performed. They were resisting Moses, and in resisting him, they were resisting God.
Paul says they are “men who are corrupt in mind and worthless in regard to the faith. But they will not make further progress, for their foolishness will be clear to all, as was the foolishness of Jannes and Jambres.”
They were fools to resist God, fools to dabble in the dark arts of their day, fools to listen to the doctrines of demons rather than embracing the God of Israel. And there’s a Red Sea between Moses and them to prove it.
Timothy’s Different Path
Verse 10:
“But you—but you, Timothy—you have followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, and endurance.”
When it comes to doctrines of demons, when it comes to deceitful spirits, when it comes to false teachers, the teaching is all they are about. All they do is disseminate their false, damnable doctrines.
Paul says, “You have followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, and endurance.”
In other words: Timothy, I don’t just have a form of godliness. I am possessed by the power of that godliness. The Holy Spirit dwells in me, and you see evidence of that in my life. You’ve seen it in my love. You’ve seen it in the purposes I hold to. You’ve seen it in the faith that I proclaim, the patience I’ve done it with, and the love I have for God’s people. And the endurance.
Paul continues: “Along with the persecutions and sufferings that came to me in Antioch and Iconium and Lystra—what persecutions I endured and yet the Lord rescued me from them all. In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”
You may not be experiencing that personally, but there are many of our brothers and sisters around the world who experience it in horrible and horrific ways.
Verse 13: “Evil people and imposters will become worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
Continue in What You’ve Learned
“But as for you—as for you, Timothy—continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you, and you know that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures.”
A Word to Parents
Mom and Dad: Start early. Start early.
I have a loved one who no longer shares my faith, but who could still recite to you the Apostles’ Creed, who knows the Lord’s Prayer, who has scriptures that come to her mind and songs that she sings. I was sitting with her at lunch and she talked about how she can still say that creed from memory. I looked at her and said, “Well, mission accomplished.”
While there are no guarantees—we can’t guarantee what our adult children will do—I’ll tell you this: If you don’t immerse your children in the Scriptures, if you don’t have them in church, if you don’t help them grow in their faith, then they’re going to be even less equipped to stand against the deceptions that will surely come their way from the YouTuber, the TikToker, the professor, and even in some places, pastors.
You can’t go wrong teaching your children the Scriptures. But you can go horribly wrong in not doing that.
They need you to help them understand and know and learn the Word of God. I am believing that the Word of God that comes forth from His mouth will not return void but will accomplish the purpose for which it was sent.
My wife and I are in this for the long game. We’re praying. We’d like some immediate miracles, but whether or not the immediate miracles come, we’re in this for the long game. I have grandchildren in my heart. I have their children’s children yet to be born who are in my heart. And I am believing that the seed of God’s Word will never leave them alone.
Paul writes: “You know that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”
Mom and Dad, you can’t give your child faith, but you can give them wisdom. You can give them wisdom for salvation that helps them to understand salvation, to embrace salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
The Authority and Power of Scripture
Paul concludes this section with words many of us are very familiar with:
“All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete and mature, ready for every good work.”
The Scriptures are God-breathed. They originate with God. They were not dictated by God but breathed out by God through human authors whose personalities, levels of understanding, and education were all different. But He breathed through them the Word He wanted preserved.
Larson said: “The power of the Bible to affect change and demand obedience resides in the fact that all Scripture is God-breathed. The Bible originates with God. Claims of origins carry great significance because authority lives in the Creator. This is why people invest such Herculean efforts trying to disprove God as the earth’s creator, questioning its authenticity, questioning the Bible. Why? Because admitting to God’s authorship is an acceptance of His authority over every aspect of life.”
By stating that Scriptures are God-breathed, Paul established the Bible’s claim as God’s authoritative Word over all things.
The Word of God is breathed out by God and is profitable, is useful for:
- Teaching – teaching what is right
- Rebuking – rebuking what is wrong
- Correction – steering people back to the right ways of thinking
- Training in righteousness – equipping us for every good work
I would suggest that this equipping is the very thing Paul talked about in the previous chapter: being ready to answer our critics, being ready to answer every challenge, being ready to answer the lies of the enemy, being ready to answer the world’s pressure with the truth of God’s Word.
The more faithful we are to continue in God’s Word, the more faithful we are to make God’s Word part of our daily lives, the better we will be able to answer those things. Because God’s Word will teach us, correct us, rebuke us, and train us.
Stand Firm
God’s Word is breathed out to you and me so that we can avoid false doctrines, false teachers, and doctrines of demons. We will see a deceitful spirit in someone before it has the chance to spill its poison into our lives.
Let’s seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness in our lives.
In these last days—days that have been ongoing since Christ came and will continue until He returns—may we be people who hold not just to the form of godliness, but who know and experience its power. May we be equipped by God’s Word to stand firm against every scheme of the enemy.
And may we be faithful to pass on that same Word to the next generation, planting seeds that will bear fruit long after we’re gone.
