0:11 This morning. Please, Mimi, in the second letter to Timothy in chapter three. Second letter to Timothy in chapter three. Yeah. And Beginning in verse one.
0:34 Second Timothy chapter three beginning in verse one. We read here, but understand this, that in the last days, there will come times of difficulty for people will be lovers of self, lovers, and Arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, Laura, we thank you for this afternoon. And now Laura, as we open your word, your word, which stands forever, your word, though the grass may wither. And though the flower may fail, your word will endure forever. And we come to receive what you have to say, and we ask for the spirit of wisdom and revelation to assist the ministry of the word this afternoon.
1:53 Lord, we ask that our hearts would be open, that our minds, like the disciples, would have the understanding to comprehend the mind of Christ. And so Lord, in this moment, we pray that your presence be known, that your word be received, and let it melt into our character for your glory. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Especially in his deep compassion.
2:26 And so great is this compassion that stirs in the heart of God, that it is not limited to those who are merely in sin. It is even extended to those who deliberately teach falsehood. That may sound shocking to us who believe that those who are deceivers are not worthy of grace, but last week's message was a testament to that truth, that God, in fact, longs for those who are even in falsehood and are propagating deception to come to the knowledge of truth and be liberated from the grip of Satan. And this passion is so great in the heart of God that he even instructs us as the redeemed of how to be conduits so that we can offer that opportunity to those who are in that deception to come to salvation in Jesus Christ. And that's what he taught Timothy about how to be a soul winner.
3:36 Means to encourage the faithful soul winner, to stir your heart with with trust that it's possible for even the most unlikely and undeserving to actually be saved, to actually come to Christ and be transformed. Even those who are doing damage to the kingdom of God, who are trying to, relinquish the Christian message, even they, like Paul, can come to saving faith. And now we read after Paul aims to awaken this righteous optimism in Timothy. He also wants to bring a balance, and he wants to bring another word, another word that would prepare him soul winner, as a pastor of a church, of the difficult times that lie ahead for the world and for Christians. And the subject was so important for Paul.
4:31 The subject of the end times was so crucial for this apostle that he designates a portion of his final letter to expound on it. Why is it that Timothy needs to know what he just said? Why is it that the believer must know what times we will be headed towards? What kind of implications does that carry for us even now? Well, there are many, but for the sake of the context, let us consider a few.
4:59 Number one, Timothy would have to understand that although he would have a hope for people to come to Christ, this endeavor to preach the gospel will not be void of great opposition, will not be void of difficult times. Secondly, Timothy would also need to regain a fresh passion for defending the truth because he would now find out and learn the demoralizing effects of false teaching and vain ideologies. And so as a pastor, by hearing what we just read this morning, he would find the strength and this motivation to be even more serious about truth, preaching it, proving it, defending it. And lastly, those three last words of our designated text, Paul says, you need to avoid such people. In other words, after he describes the people, the the attitudes, the characters that will characterize the final days before the return of Christ, Timothy and believers today would need to make an extra effort to make sure that they are not contaminated by this crowd.
6:11 And so he says, understand this. You need to understand this. And here's the question. What was it that led Paul to transition in this thought? How did he go from what we've been covering the past few weeks to now all for a sudden introducing a subject concerning the latter times?
6:31 Well, it's not because he's just merely bringing up something fresh in his letter. It's because there is a connection to what Paul has been teaching and to what he is warning about here. Remember, you and I, over the past few weeks, have been hearing about things such as the dangers of false teaching, the necessity to rightly handle the word of truth, the corruption that can come from irreverent babble, and even last week, the rope of hope that we should extend to those who are in the pit of deception. The overarching theme is the necessity to be in truth, the necessity to avoid falsehood. And all for a sudden now he comes and he speaks about the end times.
7:11 He speaks about not just the end times, but he speaks about the people that will pollute the generations before the return of Christ. And the reason why this is a connection is because the times of difficulties will stem from what he has been saying over the past few weeks, pervert and difficult is because there will be a rejection of the gospel at an alarming rate. And the scriptures testify this elsewhere. If you turn to first Timothy chapter four verse one, you'll read that Paul appeals to the spirit, and he says that the spirit testifies of the later times. And it says here in verse one of chapter four, now the Spirit expressly says that in later times, some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons.
8:14 So he's saying even here what the scripture says from cover to cover that there is a strong relationship. There is a marriage between false teaching and ungodliness. Jesus himself in his own discourse about the end time says that there will be many false prophets who will arise and lead many astray only to follow that statement by saying, and because lawlessness will increase, False prophets will arise, and because false prophets will arise, so will lawlessness. And this helps us understand this list of unholy characteristics in our text this morning that will define the last days, it is because it will stem from a growing desertion from true doctrine and a growing appetite for vain ideologies that will be found within and outside of the church. If the pure truth sanctifies man, then it is the distortion of truth that warps him.
9:20 That is what we are going to see. But I can imagine after reading this that there might be some skepticism. There might be some honest doubt. Because we look at this and we read, understand this that in the last days, there will come times of difficulty, but you're fully aware that the earth is not unfamiliar with grief and toil. So what's so prophetic about this?
9:43 What's so profound about the thought that in the last days there will come times of difficulty? We've seen times of our history books testify that ever since the rebellion at the garden, we have seen craziness and rebellion. It's later on in this chapter that we see the uniqueness of this revelation. So you're there in chapter three of second Timothy. Scroll down to verse 13, and then we will understand what Paul is saying.
10:08 Verse 13 says, while evil people and imposters will go on from bad to worse. Deceiving and being deceived. There it is. From bad to worse. Meaning, as we approach the culmination of the age, there will be an escalation and amplification of ungodliness.
10:34 It's not that Paul is saying these things have never been so. He's not saying that the world hasn't seen these things that he just described. What he's saying is is that it will intensify. It will come to a point where it will drown a generation, and what is good will be evil, and what is evil will be known as good. In fact, I was reading Romans this week, and I saw an interesting phrase of Paul's separate list of ungodly characteristics.
11:00 And he says something about the people who have abandoned God and what society looks like because of that abandonment. And he says people will be, and he lists different things, and there was something that stood out to me, and it was this. They will be inventors of evil. They will be creative in finding new ways of entertaining their sin. There will be greater thoughts about unholy, unspeakable, unfathomable filth that will dominate our world.
11:34 And so keep this in mind as you read these lists. Paul is speaking about a strengthening and a spreading of a level of degradation that we've never seen before. And so then people will not just be lovers of money, they're gonna be more in love with money than ever before. People will not just be arrogant, they're gonna be more arrogant than ever before. People will not just be disobedient to their parents, they'll be more disobedient than you can even imagine.
12:03 And the way we're gonna handle this subject today is to lightly touch on each of these signs and perhaps we won't even get past the first one. Just like a a flat rock skipping over a flatbed of water, we're just going to kiss each of these things, if time permits, and see how these things that will dominate our world are in direct opposition to the world that God longs for and the world that Christ will bring in and usher in when he establishes his kingdom at his second return. And here's the application if you need one in light of this text, that if it is told to us that there will be an increase among the unregenerate in their darkness and in their despicable practices, then by the grace of God, may we match that darkness with a greater light. And may we, by the power of the Holy Spirit, overwhelm whatever part that God has given us in our neighborhoods and our workplaces and our families to outshine the darkness. And so we read here, understand this, that in the last days, there will come times of difficulty.
13:09 And in verse two, the first thing that Paul lists is that they will be lovers of self. Lovers of self. This is by divine design. For Paul by the spirit to include this as the first thing on the list implies something very, very crucial concerning what it means to be a lover of self. He places this first because self love is the swamp that every other feature of sin swims in.
13:40 It is the foundation that many iniquities are built on. In fact, Christ himself knew this. And because he knew this, he attacked this human disposition as the basic condition for discipleship when he said, deny yourself. Deny yourself. Because he knew that everything flows from the sewage of loving self.
14:10 Self love is not equal to self respect. Self love is not equal to self care. Self love is about the elevation of one's own desires and wants as a supreme motivation in one's life. Self love is the frame of mind that places me at the center. Me is the main concern in my decisions and in my desires, even to the point of dismissing the rights of my fellow man and diminishing the rightful place of God as a supreme object of my affection and devotion.
14:43 If self denial is the basis for righteousness and holiness to flourish in a way that would bless others, then surely self love breeds a series of corrupting sins that bring so much pain in so many ways. I I want you to see an example of that from the Old Testament. Meet me in the book of second Samuel chapter 16. Excuse me. Chapter 23 verse 16.
15:10 Second Samuel twenty three sixteen. Here's a interesting snippet in David's life. David is here in a cave. He's hiding, and he has a band of mighty men by his side. And in this chapter, we get a description of not just those 30 mighty men, but even among the 30, there was three special elite officers.
15:34 And the Holy Spirit makes a a distinction about why these three men were the three mighty men among the three thirty mighty men. And David, at one point, he expresses a desire. He he begins to feel homesick. He gets nostalgic, and he says, Oh, that I would have a drink from the well that is at Bethlehem. He didn't make it a command.
16:00 He didn't ask the mighty men to go. Bethlehem was under siege. Bethlehem, there was a garrison of the Philistines. There were troops of the enemy that were there, But David all for a sudden just peeped out this longing to have a cold glass of water, perhaps remembering when he was a shepherd boy, how he would scoop he would scoop from that well when he was thirsty as he served his father's farm. The three hear it.
16:24 They don't even ask. They go undercover. They go in stealth mode, and they begin to now travel to Bethlehem. And who knows how they did it, but they grabbed water in a jar. And they come back to David, and there's David probably sitting there reminiscing about all the memories of those innocent days as a shepherd boy.
16:42 And the three mighty men approach him, and they say, here's your water. And he's shocked. And he's there in verse 16. Then the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water out of the Well Of Bethlehem that was by the gate and carried it and brought it to David. But he would not drink of it.
17:03 Perhaps they're ready to put it at his mouth. He stops himself, but he would not drink of it. He poured it out to the Lord and said in verse 17, Far be it from me, oh Lord, that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood of the men who went at risk of their lives? Therefore, he would not drink it.
17:22 These things the three mighty men did. It's an example of David who's a picture of Christ. And what makes a mighty man a mighty man of God is that he's willing to do the little things for Christ. He's willing to serve not just like the 30 mighty men might have done, defeating great armies and giants. No.
17:40 Even when the king asks for a glass of water, you're willing to risk your life to give him that glass of water. But notice what David does here. What a picture of selflessness. What a picture of consideration. What a picture of self denial.
17:55 This man here could have simply drank the water, gulped it down, and extended his gratitude to these others who have risked their lives for him to be satisfied in this way. But right here we read that after he had realized how they have jeopardized their lies for the sake of him fulfilling the small desire, he would not dare quench his nostalgic heart at their expense. David, at this moment, was more concerned about their well-being than about his wish being satisfied. And he refused to drink it. That's a picture of what self denial looks like.
18:33 It does not put others at risk of harm, of danger, of pain to gratify yourself. Self denial looks like when you have desires and plans, and even when you are experiencing these wishes, you are able to manage all things because you are mindful of all people. You're not thinking about me. You're thinking about those who are affected by your decisions. The those who might be robbed of their rights, though you wanna satisfy your own.
19:05 And somebody made a brilliant observation in light of this text, and here it is. If only David had applied the same principle that we just read here when he was consumed with longing for Bathsheba. If only he had applied the same conviction years before when he was on that rooftop, and his heart began to thirst for a woman that did not belong to him. Picture of self denial, David on that rooftop is a picture of self love, because in that moment, he did not think about Uriah. He did not say to himself, Uriah will be hurt by this.
19:50 Reputation as a king, as a righteous man, as a psalmist, will be affected by this. All he wanted in that moment was to quench that lust. And so great was that self love that he was willing to even step on you, right? To cover his sin because that's what self love looks like. I have to kill this man because my reputation is more important than his life.
20:19 Aw, David. If only you've applied that same principle with that glass of water, when you were faced with that lust that try to consume you. That is just one illustration of what it's going to look like in the last days. When Paul says that they will be lovers of self, that is just the foundation, and you can imagine what will spring forth. Let me say it this way.
20:41 You're gonna see much more adultery than we've ever seen. You're gonna see much more murder, lying, cheating, corruption, hypocrisy. Because self love is the mother that births and nurtures all these other vices. And there is no doubt that the prediction of people being lovers of self is not far fresh from our experience today in society. Self love is on the rise.
21:11 It's on the rise, and it's everywhere you look. Everything from the seemingly innocent selfie culture that has given every human being an invitation to have a platform for everybody to praise you and adore you, to the humanistic ideologies that are being taught in our schools that life revolves around you, that there isn't a creator that you are held accountable to, but your cousin is a monkey, and you're just the outcome of some explosion and some happenstance. And so survival of the fittest, go out there and do what you desire and live according to your impulses. And unfortunately, this idea of self love is not only practice and praise, it is considered as a virtue. It's about you.
22:02 It's about you. In fact, even in modern psychology and counseling, when people come to receive some kind of clarity about their behavioral patterns and their habits, most psychologists will blame everything around you and not you. It's about the way you grew up. It's about the trauma, and though that might play a part in it, it's amazing how we don't even wanna pin any responsibility on the individual anymore. Why?
22:30 Because we want to make sure that people have self esteem and self worth and self love. This is in direct opposition to the message of the cross. Die to yourself. Crucify your flesh. Take responsibility for your actions.
22:55 Because if you blame everybody else for your sins, God can't forgive you. He'll forgive them if they repent, but he'll forgive you once you acknowledge that you played a part in whatever sin you think is caused by something or someone else. Here's the problem. This perverted view of self love is having its way in Christendom. I challenge you to just make a simple search of the most popular sermons today and read the titles alone.
23:24 And you will get an idea of what I am speaking about. It's a majority about winning the most views and attendances because they are all self help. Concepts that provide motivation for the moment, but no transforming power from Christ. If discerned correctly, if you really listen carefully, these talks are nothing more than skewed insights about how God is on your side to fulfill your dreams and your desires. Doesn't matter if they have to do with his kingdom.
23:57 As long as it's yours, he will help you while totally neglecting the declarations of the glories of Christ that compel us to submit to his lordship and live according to his law and his rule. If he's mentioned, it's a footnote. And if he's mentioned there, it's for him to help you make more money, be more beautiful, be more successful. And just because people hear verses or because there's a cross in the background, that's enough for them to eat it all up, not knowing that they are actually strengthening the self love that Christ wants to kill. In fact, you read this list here, and it's amazing that Paul brings another list in Romans one.
24:47 And I want you to turn there because I want you to see this afternoon how morally shattering it is when society, whether it is secular or whether it is religious, how shattering it is when we place man in the place of God, when we make man the center instead of God being the center. And in Romans one twenty nine to 31, we read. And in another list that's very similar to what we have this morning in two Timothy three. Romans one twenty nine, they were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness.
25:29 They are gossips, slanders, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Very similar to what we read this morning and invert verse 32 he adds, although they knew God's righteous Yeah. Those who do such things deserve to die. They not only practice them but give approval to those who do It's It's another disturbing commentary about the corruption of mankind, but there's a flow of thought that led Paul to this text. There's a flow of thought that led him to list these things.
26:15 And the idea is, well, how is it that that man has steeped to such shameless sin? How is it that man can come so low to accepting and praising things that just fifty years ago would be labeled as insanity? Do you know where it begins? Do you know where it all started according to Romans one? For there to be unnatural relations between man and man, woman and woman, for there to be debased minds, for there to be all these ugly things that we just read to be common and known and praised.
26:47 Go back to verse 21 of the same chapter in Romans one. This is where it all starts. This is where it all starts for the individual. This is where it all starts for a city. This is where it all starts for a nation.
26:59 This is where it all starts. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened. Do you understand what Paul is saying here? The two means, the very two stumbling blocks that were the cause to all the things that you just heard plaguing the general population is number one, that there was a refusal to honor God as God. Notice it says though they knew God.
27:38 Though they knew God, there wasn't an absence of belief in God. In fact, the verses before says that the glory of God, the eternal power of God is made known through His creation. So so God is there. People it's very difficult for you to deny that there is a God based on creation. Oh, never mind special revelation from his word.
27:59 Creation itself testifies of the glories of God. And though they knew God, though their minds, their conscious, their inner man, they realized that there is a moral compass in my heart, that there is intelligent design. Though they knew God, it's not that the lack of the knowledge of God caused these things. They knew Him, but they refused to honor Him as God. They refuse to place Him where He belongs, where He is glorified, and magnified, and extolled, and adored, and praised, and given credit for all these things that we enjoy and see on a daily basis.
28:38 They refuse to honor him as god. So guess what? This morning, if you know that there's a god, you can still be a vile sinner. You can have a knowledge that there's a God and you can even have verses that you would agree with. My bible tells me although they knew God, it's not the knowledge of God necessarily.
29:01 That's where it begins. It's what you do with that knowledge. So eat up all the sermons you want. You can still live in adultery. You can still be an unrepentant homosexual.
29:13 You can still be a thief. You can still be given over to murderous anger, though you know that there is a God. The differentiating factor is that they did not honor Him as God and not just honor Him as God. Secondly, they reserved a recognition of Him being the provider of all good things. They did not give thanks to God.
29:35 Would it stir you for me to tell you that all those things that you read that we often go to when we try to describe God's passive wrath with all the debauchery and the filth and the sexual looseness, would you believe this morning that it all stems from a lack of thanksgiving? Of course it does. Because there's a refusal of acknowledging him. And just because there is a people who refuse to worship God and place him at his rightful place, does not mean that they're not worshiping something else. Because they are.
30:13 You read in the same chapter that we read that they exchange the glory of God creation, and they worshiped images of beast and man. Just because you're not worshiping God, doesn't mean you're not a worshiper in my friend. You might be worshiping yourself this morning. When the heart does not have God as the center of its worship, when the heart does not have God as the object of its deepest gratitude, then that heart, as we just read in verse 21, will be darkened by futility and foolishness. That's the law.
30:52 People are not out there because they have reached some intellectual peak, and they think that believing in God is just barbaric and ancient. No. It's because they did not honor God as God. They refused to honor him, and they refused to give thanks to him. And that's why they are swimming in their own sin and are drowning in it.
31:12 I've talked to many atheists. I've lost count. And I've said this before, and maybe somebody needs to hear it this morning. And I can tell you this, that 99% of the time, after all the debates about dinosaurs and the bible written by man, where did it all start from, why did that, all these things, I just say, look, why don't we just save ourselves two hours, and let's get just straight to the heart of the matter. What do you need to see to believe?
31:35 Come on. What do you need to see to believe? And you know what I found in my years of speaking with atheists? I found that as much as they think that they are smart and superior intellectually, when I ask them that question, they seem to stumble over the words. Well, I I don't need to see anything.
31:55 And they scratch their heads, and sometimes they're paralyzed with their thoughts. And I look at them, and I say, let me finish your sentence for you. You don't want there to be a God. Because you know the moment that you acknowledge that there is a God, that you will be held morally accountable. So believe all the foolishness that you want, and try to convince yourself and others it's because you've reached and you believe in science and you've reached some kind of understanding that we don't have.
32:23 You love your sin. Only a few times have I met somebody who says, well, I just need to see this, and I I knew they were genuine. They refused to honor him as God. They refused to give thanks to him. And then from that funnel, all of those things that we just read are reality and an outcome of that heart posture.
32:42 And we know this to be true for an unbelieving world, but let me shock you even more today. That it's not just reserved for an unbelieving population. That when a church, a ministry fails to keep honoring Christ and placing him at the center, and when that church does not continue to recognize him as the main mission and purpose, it will invite unholiness in the midst of no time. Keep Christ in the center, and you will draw in a holy people. Move Christ from the center.
33:16 And that list that I just read, never mind the world, it'll be here. In the last days, there will be times of difficulty because people will be lovers of self. That's gonna be the atmosphere, and we're already seeing it. We're already feeling it. But have you ever wondered this morning, Have you ever wondered today?
33:38 What is it going to be like when Christ comes to rule and reign? What will be the atmosphere? What will be in the air? What what will we see in every direction? Oh, and the Bible invites you to study the word of God because it's sprinkled in different portions of our text.
33:55 And you see in one place where it says that Jerusalem, where Christ will come physically to rule and reign, Jerusalem will be a joy and the people will be a gladness. And then we read there in that famous text in Isaiah that he will come with his government and to that government there will be no end and no end of peace either. And in another place, we read that during that rain, when Jesus comes and he plants those pierced feet on the Mount Of Olives, and he comes to have the pierced hand with a rule of an iron scepter, there will be what? No sound of weeping or cry of distress. And that that should cause us to say, Maranatha, come Lord Jesus and have your way.
34:42 And I'm telling you this that as we approach the end of times, as we see these things amplify and magnify, so will that cry in our souls be more desperate than ever. Has that been your cry in the past year and a half? Has that been your cry in the past two years with all the craziness? One little invisible virus caused the world to shut down, and we think we're sovereign. Maranatha, come.
35:09 What will make it so contrasting to this? So that in the last days, there will be times of difficulty. Why? Why the difference? And I'm sure you know the answer.
35:17 Because Jesus Christ himself will come and usher in his government free from corruption, free from pollution, free from hypocrisy, and we say amen to that. But there will also be something else that will contribute to it. There will be a collective effort by those who will be living during that time when Jesus will rule and reign for a thousand years that will cause them to do something, will cause them, as they're compelled by His wisdom and His unfiltered power and His might and His justice, to make him the absolute focus of absolutely everything. And I want you to see that to be true as a prophecy is given by the prophet Zechariah in the last chapter. You have to see this for yourself.
36:07 In Zechariah 14 verse 20, after describing the second coming of Jesus Christ in such a way that you would think that it's it's in the book of Revelation, the harmony of scripture is supernatural, we come to an interesting couple of verses that will give us a snapshot of what life will look like when the last days come to an end and Jesus comes to put it to an end by ruling and reigning for a thousand years before the eternal age comes. And look at the description. You thought you were just gonna float in a cloud for all eternity, right? And it's gonna be foggy, and you're gonna hear some music. No, no, no.
36:51 Zechariah 14 verse 20, we read. Now remember, this is not speaking about heaven. Let me just pause here. This is not speaking about heaven. K?
36:59 We're we're right now in the church age. We are still as a church winning and bringing in a harvest by the power of the spirit and through the gospel. Then the tribulation period is gonna kick off for seven years, and at the end of seven years, Christ will return, and that's not when heaven comes. That's when he rules and reigns physically on the earth to fulfill his promises to David and Israel. Not because he favors a man or a nation from all other nations, it's because he's a promise keeping God.
37:27 And he made certain promises, and they have yet to come to pass. And because he wants to declare his faithfulness to a generation, he will make them come to pass. If that offends you, deal with it with him when he comes. Zechariah fourteen twenty, we read what the world will look like when Jesus Christ establishes his government on the earth. And on that day, there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses holy to the Lord.
37:55 Pause there. Scripture uses horses as a clear illustration and image of war. Place on a horse, it meant war. When he came on a donkey, it meant peace. But here on the millennial reign, the horses will not be used for for war.
38:14 They will actually be instruments of worship. Lined up to have nation against nation will actually have bells on them. So every time you hear the horses galloping, you're gonna look out, you're gonna see that on those bells. Those horses are actually part of the lot in the atmosphere of the glory of Christ on earth. And the pots in the house of the Lord shall be as the bowls before the altar.
38:43 Now look at this in verse 21. And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holy to the Lord of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil the meat of the sacrifice in them. And there shall no longer be a traitor or Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts on that day. There's a phrase that when I read this, it it it's so ministered to my heart. Because in verse 20, we read that as we read in the Old Testament, there are vessels and instruments used for the worship in the house of God.
39:16 But when Christ comes to rule and reign, he's not only going to sanctify specific vessels in the house of worship. We read in verse 21, and every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holy to the Lord of hosts. What does that mean? That when Jesus comes to rule and reign, there will be no separation between secular and sacred. When Jesus Christ comes to rule and reign, even the most common thing will be sanctified for worship.
39:50 Even something as insignificant as your pot, dedicated unto God and will be set apart for his glory. In other words, if the last days according to second Timothy three will be smeared with self love, self focus, self attention, self praise, when Jesus Christ comes to rule and reign, everywhere you look, you're gonna see Jesus Christ. Fill up your car with gas, Jesus Christ. When you get dressed, everything will have the imprint of God on it. So that wherever you look, you will see his beauty, and you will see that he is sovereign over everything.
40:38 When he comes to rule and reign, he will claim everything, even your pots. Because all things have been created through him and for him. And although this world is trying to clutch on to land and buildings and names and bank accounts and weapons, when Christ comes, he will strip them out of their hands like taking a toy out of a baby's grip. And he will say, it belongs to me. Now notice this.
41:09 What's the connection? Make it a study of yours to see what your home is going to look like, what the world is going to look like when Jesus Christ returns. Joy, righteousness, peace, so much peace that the world isn't gonna know what to do with their weapons. They say we gotta turn this to farming equipment. We're not using our tanks.
41:28 We're not using our AR fifteens. We don't need this anymore. And and the the the question is, how? How is the world going to be like that? One, yes, Jesus Christ is going to rule and reign, but two, because everybody will make Jesus the focus.
41:45 And we think this is a future reality and it is, but I've been taught and you've been taught to pray let your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. In other words, you and I should ask God to make what that kingdom will look like a present day reality as much as possible. Do you wanna know how you can have joy, peace, no wars in your family? You wanna know how you can have harmony, order, purity in our church? Do what Zechariah says will be done.
42:17 Make everything about Christ. Sanctify everything unto Christ. Realize that your body doesn't belong to you. Realize that your money doesn't belong to you. Realize that he is the center.
42:28 He is the one that we worship and adore and serve. And when you do that, it's very difficult to have war. It's very difficult to see self love. So you and I have to understand that although the kingdom of God is a future reality, there is a present application because we have the kingdom of God reigning in our hearts. Christ is king today, not just when he returns.
42:53 So what does that mean for you and me? As the world increases in self love, you and I must say, Lord, I sanctify all things unto you, and I say it's holy for you. It's separated unto you. My tongue, my thoughts, my hands, my feet, my clothes, my resources, all yours. And as the world is being eaten up by corruption because of that self love, the church will grow in greater power and joy in the Holy Spirit and harmony and unity because we are walking in the opposite spirit.
43:24 That's the invitation today. And what a beautiful way to transition as we come to break bread together, declaring that Jesus Christ is king, declaring that with this one loaf, we are indeed one, declaring that, yes, his body has come and that there was a prepared frame for him so that God would find the suitable sacrifice for our substitution. But at the same time, we are one body. We do not live according to self love. We let the love of Christ compel us.
43:57 And when it compels us, each of us, then we will see the fruit of the kingdom of God in our midst, even now. Can we prepare our hearts to feast together?
