Counterfeit Christianity | 2 Timothy 3:1-15 | Pastor Bob Erbig

Well in 2023, a uh church in Firth, Germany hosted an experimental worship service.

Now, when I say that uh word experimental, many many of you out there might become skeptics and you say, What does that mean?

Uh what is this experiment?

Well, the entire worship service from start to finish was planned and performed by artificial intelligence.

The sermon was written by ChatGPT and delivered through an avatar on the screen above the altar.

You can see what it looked like here.

The liturgy, or the order of service, was AI constructed, although a human had to press pause when the people responded.

The service drew hundreds of people who, when surveyed afterwards, reported that the service was both meaningful and impactful.

Now you might be asking yourself, well, why would a church do this?

Well, the theologians who organized the experiment stated their goal up front.

They said, we wanted to explore whether AI could perform the functions of religion.

And their conclusion after the experiment was done was that it could.

By every measurable account, the words, the structure, the emotional cadence, the pastoral tone, the average congregant could not discern a difference.

And they felt they had an encounter with the living God.

So, MBC, what do we do with this?

Was this a real experience with God or a counterfeit simulation?

Now, the debate over AI use and ministry is raging right now.

And I would say using AI for brainstorming ideas or administrative efficiency, that's one thing.

But some practices, like the one we just heard, are extremely concerning.

In fact, I would go even further.

There's others, like St.

Peter's Chapel in Switzerland, who recently installed an AI Jesus avatar in their confessional booth.

It was another experiment, but the theologian who did that one was shocked how seriously people took the experience.

Some even thanked the chatbot on the way out for their time.

Now, this is a current issue of our day, but it's one we need to think about deeply.

Can an algorithm be your pastor?

Or does it merely give the appearance of knowing you?

Well, I think AI can have a place and maybe be a helpful tool if used wisely.

Large language models lack what Paul calls the power of the Holy Spirit.

It can imitate the words, but it lacks the spiritual power that only comes from God Himself.

And so Paul warns in 2 Timothy 3.5, which we just read, that some things have an appearance of godliness, but deny its power.

And so in our text today, Paul asks a question no AI can answer.

Is your faith real or counterfeit?

So turn with me to 2 Timothy 3, verses 1 to 15.

2 Timothy 3:1–15

2 Timothy 3, 1 through 15.

Now, AI is a new, complicated, and potentially dangerous technology.

We must be extremely discerning in our use of it.

But this illustration shows how complex and unnerving our culture has become.

Can you sense that?

See, when Paul wrote to Timothy, AI did not exist.

The first century church had its challenges, just as this 21st century church does.

And so he begins chapter 3 this way.

He says, But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.

Now last week, Pastor Dave covered the important topic of sexual temptation.

Make sure you go back and watch that message if you missed it.

The week before, we covered the end of 2 Timothy chapter 2, and Paul concluded that chapter discussing that some people in the church have been ensnared by the devil, and we need to bring them back.

2 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

And he continues that theme in chapter 3.

Understand this, that's a deliberate phrase.

It's an intention grabber.

Paul is saying, listen up, listen to what I'm about to say.

In other words, listen carefully.

The last days will bring difficulty.

Now, he's calling Timothy to understand the time, the moment that he's living in.

Paul is about to die, as we've heard.

Christians in the Roman Empire are undergoing severe persecution.

They're being burnt alive, fed to wild animals.

It was horrific.

Now, some might assume the free, whenever the phrase the last days is used, it speaks to a time future to us.

But biblically speaking, the last days refer to the entire time from Jesus' resurrection until his second coming.

And while I do think there will be an intensification prior to Jesus' return, the phrase applies to Timothy's time as well as ours.

What will happen in these last days?

They will be difficult, he says.

And if you look in the original, that's a very strong word.

In the classical Greek, it was specifically used to describe savage animals.

The word appears twice in the New Testament here and in Matthew chapter 8, where Jesus describes the Gadderene demoniacs, and those were men so violent, so out of control, so dangerous that no one could pass through their region.

Matthew 8 · chapter mention

How many of you have been to the zoo recently?

Alright, a few hands.

My kids love the zoo.

Right?

The Philadelphia Zoo is great.

The Bronx Zoo, if you haven't been there, it's enormous.

And the favorite exhibits are the big cats, the lions and the tigers and the leopards.

Now, most of the time, if you've been, those cats are asleep.

Not very menacing.

But if you're fortunate, maybe you'll see them prowling around, staring you down through the glass.

At the Bronx Zoo, the lions are so far away, there's a ditch in between you and them.

Why?

Because they are dangerous and savage.

You don't want to be in the cage with the lions.

But what happens if you are?

How would you live?

Timothy is living in savage times and his faith will be tested.

Now, Paul is saying that this is not some distant time for Timothy.

This is what he's been given right now.

In other words, if his faith is not real, if it is counterfeit, he will not remain faithful to the end.

So does anybody think we're living in savage times today?

Here's a couple examples.

The American family is in danger.

Marriage and birth rates have been declining.

We may not have anybody to pass the faith on to.

The mind is being weaponized.

The rise of AI that I just mentioned, reality itself is being questioned, and absolute truth is contested at every corner.

And the church is under attack both within and without.

While there are signs of revival, Pew Research still shows a 12-point decline in the number of Americans who identified as Christians between 2011 and 2023.

The Barna Research Group consistently finds that only 10% of people who call themselves Christians hold a true biblical worldview.

I would submit we're living in the last days.

They are savage times.

And the question before us is this how do you know if your faith is real or counterfeit?

And that's the topic of 2 Timothy 3, 1 to 15.

Paul's not just addressing Timothy here.

His principles are timeless.

They speak to the first century church and the 21st century one.

So how do you know if your faith is real in these savage times?

Well, Paul says that real faith, you can tell it from its counterfeit in three ways.

Number one, in what it loves.

Number two, in what it seeks, and third, in what it costs.

So let me pray, and then we'll look at each of those in turn.

Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for your goodness and your grace and your mercy.

Lord, I thank you for each person who is here, who's here in person, who may be watching, who may be listening later on.

Lord, I ask that you would speak to our hearts.

Holy Spirit, would you both confront us, challenge us, as well as motivate us to live for you?

That you would get the glory, that people would see you in the way that we live and in what we love, Lord God.

Help us to love you above all things.

And speak to us now in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

So first, you know real faith by what it loves.

Now I want you to think for a moment about what you love, right?

Make a list in your head.

Everybody loves something, right?

For most of us, we have people that we love.

That could be a family member, a friend, maybe even a coworker, right?

Some of us have activities that we love.

That could be camping or pickleball or shopping.

Some of us love those things too much.

You might love food or movies or learning or, you know, the list can go on and on and on.

What do you love?

Now I want you to notice that everything on the list that I just gave you requires potentially time.

It requires money.

It probably requires attention.

See, when you love something, it it consumes you.

This is good when your love is rightly ordered, but if if your loves become disordered, it's a problem.

So look at what Paul says in verses 1 and 2.

He continues.

He says, but understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.

Why?

For people will be lovers of self.

Lovers of self.

Now we already discussed the first part of this verse.

The days will be hard, they'll require our attention, but now Paul turns his focus toward examples of the difficult days, and he starts with us.

Now, as you read on, I want you to take note of something really important contextually for these verses.

Many people mistakenly read these verses and say that, oh yes, in the last days, the world's gonna be evil.

Everybody in the world is terrible, I know.

I have to watch out for them.

It's gonna be dark.

And that may be true for certain, but in these verses, Paul is not talking about the world out there.

He's talking about those inside the church.

And so instead of focusing on the people that are out there, the world that's out there, these verses should be read and how the world's influence has made its way in here and into your heart.

What is the first piece of evidence?

He says, people will be lovers of self.

Now you might say, well, what is wrong with that?

What's wrong with loving yourself?

I thought that was a virtue.

After all, 13 years ago, Queen Elsa told me to let it go.

And I mean, come on.

What does she sing on the mountaintop?

It's time to see what I can do.

I gotta test my limits, I gotta break through.

No right, no wrong, no rules for me.

I'm free.

It's about me.

Now that song captures a modern cultural sentiment.

Love yourself first.

You are enough.

What did Oprah say?

You be you, right?

Now here's a smattering of sayings from various self-love quote-unquote blogs.

Put yourself first.

Self-love is not selfish at all.

Be a master of loving yourself, and people will follow.

You are powerful, provided you know how powerful you are.

Do you know how powerful you are?

Now, I don't want to come across as deriding the sentiments here because I do believe it's important to care for yourself when you need it.

There's a reason they tell you to put your mask on first on the airplane when it gets decompressed because you can't help others if you don't.

But I also want you to recognize that the criticism I'm offering is counterintuitive to the modern American ear.

So even now, some of you are wondering, well, is this true, Pastor Bob?

Right?

Is love of self really a bad thing?

I mean, if Paul is just, his advice is antiquated.

And to that objection, here's what I would just say: that if you read the Bible, you read the whole Bible, and you look at the different characters and the admonitions and the things that are in there, you will not find people struggling to love themselves.

The Bible is full of people who love themselves, who live however they want, right?

And what they do is they wind up forgetting God.

Now, in the Bible and in real life, people don't struggle to love and live for themselves.

What we struggle is to live for and love God.

That is what you see in Scripture.

Now, how many of us can honestly raise our hands and say, I love God more than myself?

See, God calls us to live a life of self-giving love, of sacrifice.

Yes, be confident in who God created you to be.

But you are not the center of the world.

You are not the protagonist of the story.

Jesus is.

We must love Him and worship Him above all else.

And when we do, that's when everything else falls into place.

When we don't, the fruit of disordered love manifests itself.

So Paul continues.

People will be lovers of self.

Now listen, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with inflammation of conceit.

Man, I'm out of breath.

Just go through that list.

But notice that there's a reason that love of self heads the list.

Because everything that follows is the fruit of this disordered self-love.

So if you look at this list, ask yourself: do I display any of these characteristics?

Or would I want to be friends with somebody who displayed these characteristics?

I won't go through them all, but let me just highlight a few.

Lovers of money.

Now, money is a part of life.

Indeed, some of us have a God-given skill set that helps us make money.

But love of money is somebody who hoards wealth and harms people to achieve it.

Is that you?

Disobedient to their parents.

Now, kids, I'll just pick on you for just a second here.

I know, I know everybody in this room and those watching at home, they are they obey their parents all the time, right?

Nobody gives their parents gray hairs or talks back to them, right?

We love Jesus at NBC.

This is not nobody here in the room, okay.

But but let's just say you did.

Let's just what would the root of that motivation be?

Could it be selfish desire?

Unappeasable.

What does that mean?

We don't talk about the unappeasable that often.

What what is he getting at here?

It refers to an unwillingness to be reconciled with others.

It's my way or the highway.

And in fact, there may be a lack of peace between you and others, and no matter how hard others try to make peace with you, you cannot be appeased.

Does that describe anybody?

Why can't you be appeased?

Now I can go on and on and on, but you you see you see the list up here.

You get you get the point.

Paul bookends this section with a convicting statement in verse 5.

So he comes, he concludes with, We are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.

He says, Avoid such people.

Wow.

All right, Paul, calm down.

Paul, Paul and his lists, man, he's always gonna get you.

Now the list began with a love of self, but see, it ends with a love of pleasure, and they're two sides of the same coin.

As Martin Luther put it, it's a love that's curved inward towards us.

But I want you to notice that there's an exchange happening here.

Rather than loving God, you love pleasuring yourself.

It's a disordered love.

Now, the middle clause in the verse is extremely convicting.

He says, people who love themselves rather than God can have a what?

Can have an appearance of godliness.

And when you focus on yourself and take matters into your own hands, you deny the power of the gospel.

You become your own savior.

And he says, you should be avoided.

I'll come back to that in just a moment.

But I want you to sit for a second with the phrase appearance of godliness.

What does that mean?

What does that look like?

And does anybody sitting here today or listening have an appearance of godliness and they're not what they seem?

See, the phrase is pointing out something that does not reflect reality.

It's a facade, it's artificial, it's it's a costume, if you will.

Much like our AI pastor illustration at the beginning, it's a godliness with no real power.

Now I know it's May, but um, let's let's just pretend it's it's October.

It's how well actually it kind of feels like October outside.

Uh it's a Halloween, let's pretend it's Halloween for a moment.

How many of you get dressed up in costumes for Halloween?

All right, some of you?

Okay, good.

Now, usually those costumes don't reflect your true self.

Or maybe they do, I don't know.

But even if you wore, let me just say, even if you wore Superman's cape, gentlemen, you can't fly.

Don't try it.

Ladies, you can don Wonder Woman's tiara, but I don't think the lasso of truth will work on the average person.

Or maybe it will, I don't know.

Maybe maybe you do have a superpower.

See, my point is, it's easy to wear a costume, especially a church, that we craft an appearance of something we are not because we think we're supposed to act a certain way.

And the appearance of godliness does have an incentive.

So you might think if I if I appear godly, I can gain power, I can gain influence in the church if I wear the right costume.

You can look like Bible man, but your heart posture must match your head knowledge.

So ask yourself: am I wearing a spiritual costume?

Do I have an appearance of godliness?

Now, Paul was confronting the false teachers of his day who did this very thing.

But it happens all the time in the church.

See, my heart breaks every time I hear of church leaders and pastors who are convicted of crimes or whatever it is, that they're wearing a costume, they're living out an appearance, but they're denying the power of the gospel in their lives.

So, church, if you if you want the power of the gospel to heal and convict you, you have to be honest about who you are.

You have to confess your sin.

You have to repent of your self-sufficiency, and you have to trust in the finished work of Christ on the cross.

That's what Paul's getting at here.

Real faith is known by what it loves.

You will love yourself or you will love Jesus, and it will be evident to all.

Who do you love?

Now, before I move on, let me talk about Paul's final command.

Avoid such people.

Is this an average churchgoer?

Well, in Paul's context, he's specifically talking about these false teachers he's been combating.

They are people who obtained religious credentials.

They appeared legitimate, but they denied the gospel and were just in it for their own gain, whether that was financial or fame or both, or both were selfish.

I think the proper application for this section is to ask, can I recognize a counterfeit gospel?

Or put another way, can you see the crazies out there?

Like we live in a time of deep fake AI videos or nonstop social media posts that look real, but you have to discern fact from fiction.

What we need is more Bible knowledge and wisdom.

Because not everything you see, counter to popular belief on social media or the internet, is in fact true or real.

Can you tell the difference between a true gospel teacher and a false one?

There's a Bible teacher named Mike Winger who runs a ministry called the Bible Thinker.

He's got really great videos.

You can check him out at BibleTinker.org.

Recently, he felt called to expose false teaching in a particular movement.

A recent social media post had him write, I exposed a lot of bad guys today, and I'm asking for prayer related to that.

See, when you recognize somebody teaching a counterfeit gospel, Paul says you have to mark and avoid.

But it's also worth clarifying that when Paul says avoid such people, he's not telling us to never engage people like this.

Rather, he's saying we should avoid prolonged intimate association with those who peddle a false gospel.

Confronting heresy is good, but we must avoid its influence in our lives.

So how do you know if your faith is real or counterfeit?

Examine what you love.

But second, real faith is known by what it seeks.

By what it seeks.

What do you seek?

See, if verses 1 to 5 focused on our loves, our heart motivations, verses 6 to 9 speak to our actions when our loves are disordered.

So he continues in verse 6.

Listen.

For among them, these false teachers, are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.

And you're saying, Paul, my goodness, what are you talking about?

Paul's always got these crazy things he's saying.

Now remember, Paul is talking here about people who need to be avoided.

And now he's getting specific about their actions and why they're untrustworthy.

And he makes a pretty, pretty strong accusation here.

These people creep into households and capture weak.

Women.

These are the original creepers, my friends, right here.

Now, before your mind starts to run wild, let's discuss what he means.

First, he is describing, indeed, predatory behavior on the part of these false teachers.

They are systematically targeting immature households, people who have been captured by their youthful passions that he was talking about in chapter two, likely newer believers who have not fully left their life of sin.

And make no mistake, the tactics of these false teachers are sinister, and they are done with the end goal of establishing a type of psychological dominance over their victims.

This is serious stuff.

Now, the phrase weak women, you might say Paul, Paul and him talking about the women, right?

Weak women, it's not meant to target women specifically.

Rather, these are women in the context of Ephesus who are spiritually stunted, captured by the local gods of the area.

They are not strong, godly women who can discern this false teaching from a mile away.

And it's also plausible that these women came from influential families that these false teachers were trying to ingratiate themselves towards.

So when he says these women are burdened with sin, it means their desires were controlling them rather than the other way around.

In other words, the false teachers chose them because they thought they were easy to win over with their words.

Now, verse 7 speaks to their spiritual immaturity further.

He says, These women were always learning and never arriving at the truth.

Now you might say, Pastor Bob, well, isn't learning a good thing?

I thought I was supposed to be a lifelong learner.

And yes, I am a big proponent of lifelong learning, but that is not what Paul's talking about here.

These women were intellectually curious, but they never reached a genuine understanding of Christ or the gospel.

So people who are curious in this way will often entertain all types of beliefs, but never commit to understanding the truth.

And so that's why I say real faith is known by what it seeks.

Because we can seek all types of things, right?

We can keep asking questions, but at some point we need to make a decision.

See, as a pastor, I've met many people over the years who are exploring faith.

Very curious people, yes.

They may attend Bible studies, they may meet for coffee or dinner and ask questions about Jesus.

But some of those people will get stuck in a cycle of questions.

Have you met with or witnessed to somebody like this?

The questions aren't bad, they're good, they're good questions, but ultimately the issue is about a resistance to surrender to acceptance of Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Why?

Because it means that their lives then will radically change.

They still want to functionally be the God of their life.

And the false doctrine will lead to a sinful behavior because they've not given Jesus authority in their life, even though he has it already.

So if you know somebody like that, don't be afraid to challenge them with the gospel and call them to repentance.

Paul's main concern here is spiritual stagnation that comes from seeking the wrong thing.

And now he gives an illustration of that in verse 8 and 9.

He says, Just as Jonas and Jambray oppose Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith.

But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.

Now again, some of you are saying, here goes Paul, he's naming names.

Have you been reading 2 Timothy?

Paul is calling out people by name over and over and over again.

I mean, and to be fair, this guy's about to die.

He's like, all right, I'm done with it.

No, the filter is off, okay?

He's like uh George Costanz's dad, Frank, in his festival celebration.

He's airing the grievances.

I got a lot of problems with you people.

Now you might ask, well, who in the world are Jonas and Jambray?

Have you ever heard of these people?

When did they oppose Moses?

In fact, go back and read the Exodus account, Exodus 7.

Are they there?

Spoiler alert, they're not.

They're not in there.

These names come from Jewish tradition that says these men were the chief Egyptian magicians who opposed Moses and Aaron when they went before Pharaoh.

But the Old Testament does not record their names in Exodus 7.

So if you'll remember, these magicians were said to match Moses' miracles.

They could even change water into blood.

They brought the frogs, right?

But they couldn't duplicate things like the plagues.

And they're not mentioned in the Old Testament, but the Jewish believers at the time of Paul would very much have known the tradition and who these people were.

So why does Paul name these two men?

Well, first, they were counterfeits, just like the false teachers of his day.

Second, they opposed the power of God through Moses.

Paul includes them to show that the true gospel is more powerful than a false one.

Nothing can stand in its way.

And the parallel structure here matters immensely.

Paul has been exposing these false teachers in the church.

He says, have nothing to do with them.

And then he offers this comparison with these two Egyptian magicians who opposed the people of God.

Paul says, just like them, the current false teachers oppose the truth, they're corrupted in mind, they're disqualified.

Don't seek them.

And if you cannot see it yet, the followers of these two men will eventually be exposed as believing in folly.

Now, this middle section, I will admit, is very hard-hitting.

Paul is offering strong evidence and a strong warning for us.

He's saying there are false teachers in the church and within the culture, and we need to be more discerning than these women of Ephesus he was talking about.

We have to learn to mark and avoid the false teachers.

So to give you an illustration, let me just say this.

You know, as I drive around the area, I periodically see storefronts advertising psychics who can read tarot cards.

Have you seen these?

Right?

And there used to be one up across from the Mount Bethel Meeting House.

There's one down in Sterling next to the bike shop.

Pass by it every time I go to ShopRite and I look at it and I say, do people go in this place?

And the lights are on, so I guess people do.

But I'm reminded by that that there's always people seeking, always asking questions.

But real faith is known by what it seeks.

The problem is that when you search for answers in the wrong places, you'll continue in darkness.

Oh, the psychic, they'll give you an answer, but it's not going to be Jesus.

The cultural idols of money and sex and power, those are false gods.

The world props up.

They promise solutions to your problems, but they can easily take you away from Jesus.

And what good is that?

Friends, today needs to be the day you stop asking the questions, maybe, and start surrendering and committing to the Savior of the world, the real one.

Real faith doesn't keep searching, it eventually surrenders and arrives at the truth.

So be careful, little minds, what you seek.

The answers are not always good and profitable.

How do you know if your faith is real or counterfeit?

Examine what you love, be careful what you seek.

Now, finally, real faith is known by what it costs.

By what it costs.

Following Jesus is not cheap.

Although we live in a day and age where we're always trying to get a deal, right?

We never want to feel ripped off.

And if you're looking for a deal on your spiritual life, though, you're missing the point.

It does cost.

I had a friend in high school who used to talk with me about the Christian faith, and he had one of those guys that had questions.

I think he grew up Catholic.

And I'll never forget, we're sitting in geometry class one day, I think it was 10th grade, we're talking, and he says, you know what?

Once you ask Jesus in your heart, isn't that it?

Like you're good, right?

Then you can live however you want because Jesus is always going to forgive you.

And I looked at him and I said, Well, actually, no, that's not how it works.

Okay.

Right?

You know, Paul tells us in Romans 6, should we keep on sinning that grace may abound?

Right?

And what does Paul say?

In very strong words, in the Greek, he says, May it never be.

In other words, heck no.

No.

No, your life is evidence that something is different.

What good is it to say you follow Jesus and live like the world?

You are no better than the false teachers.

Real faith is known by what it costs.

You have to give your life to Jesus.

Now I know this has been a hard, hard passage, right?

But in these final few verses, Paul's tone shifts.

Now he moves to encouragement.

He moves to encourage Timothy.

And he continues in verse 10.

He says, You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra.

Which persecutions I endured, yet from them all the Lord rescued me.

Do you see the change of pace here, right?

You, however, he's setting up a contrast.

He's telling Timothy, yes, avoid those false teachers, don't be like them, but now be different.

Be different.

How?

Paul has given him a model to imitate.

He highlights his teaching, his conduct, his focus in life, his patience, his endurance.

Take a look at those characteristics now.

Has anybody modeled those for you?

Is your life different through what you teach and your conduct and your and your purpose?

Do you have faith and patience and love and endurance?

Are you willing to go to the end for Jesus?

I mean, good night.

Listen, have you read the book of Acts recently?

Do you remember how many times Paul was stoned?

In verse 11, he highlights his journey in Acts 13 and 14.

Go back and read that.

That's his missionary journey.

In Antioch and Iconium, he went to the Jewish synagogues first, and he told the Jews about Jesus, and he caused quite a stir.

Ironically, it was the Gentiles who came to faith as he preached to the Jews, even as the unbelieving Jews poisoned their minds at Iconium, we're told.

And then Lystra was Timothy's hometown.

That was his his turf.

What happened there?

It was there that Paul challenges the Greek idols of the day.

He challenges Zeus.

Zeus, the god of what?

Thunder.

You see, whenever you challenge the false gods of the day, they get angry and they send people after you.

Look at what happens in Acts 14, 19.

We read that the Jews came from Antioch and Iconium.

Having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.

It's like Paul's going today, he's going down to Washington, D.C.

and Philadelphia, and then the people from there follow him all the way up to New York City as he's preaching up there to stone him.

Which maybe from Philadelphia will come.

I don't know.

But listen, they're following him from these other towns after he was preaching Jesus.

They hated him so much, they hated the message so much.

Why?

Because they didn't want to surrender their power to Jesus Christ.

And so Paul is stoned.

He almost died.

It cost him.

And since Timothy was from Lystra, this memory would have been emblazoned in his mind.

He knew what it meant to follow Jesus.

But still, Paul keeps preaching the gospel.

He kept starting churches despite this danger.

And friends, listen, this is still happening today.

Can you imagine what it's like to be a Christian in Iran or Nigeria?

What is it like to name the name of Jesus in places like China, where your allegiance is to your God over your government, or North Korea?

See, to believers in those countries and to us too, he says, endure the persecutions.

The Lord will what?

Will rescue you.

Now that word persecution refers to a systematic program of harassment or oppression.

This was a targeted effort to silence Paul and keep people from hearing about Jesus.

But he resisted, and it almost cost him his life then, and it will cost him his life shortly after penning this letter.

So now Paul writes a famous verse about the Christian life in verse 12, and it shows us what true faith is.

He says, indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

While evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

Real faith is known by what it costs.

That if you live a godly life, a true godly life, you will eventually bump up against the power structures of this world.

You will eventually have a target on your back.

And this here is a universal principle.

It's not a conditional threat.

What does Jesus Himself tell us?

John chapter 15, Jesus says, if the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

John 15 · chapter mention

That if you were of the world, the world would love you as its own.

But because you are not, you are not of the world, I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

And that's, listen, that's a counterintuitive statement, especially if you're somebody who wrestles with people pleasing.

That's a hard verse.

You want to be loved, you want to be liked, it feels good.

But Jesus says to follow me costs you that shallow love.

If you have real faith, you are not of this world.

And you will have to choose whether you will resist and endure the persecution or go with the flow.

Which will you choose?

But your response will provide evidence of whether your faith is real or counterfeit.

See, if you're not encouraging or encountering persecution, he says you might be an imposter.

Another hard word.

That second statement in verse 13 reveals the destructive nature of self-deception.

Now, what's interesting about that verse is that it points out the evil people are deceivers, but they also are themselves deceived.

The false teachers are deceiving people with their lies, and at some level, maybe they believe their own lies.

If you tell a lie enough times, you may eventually start to believe that it's true, and that is a dangerous place to be.

See, if you get there, you are lost in the darkness.

And the only way back is to pray that Jesus will show you the light.

Are you there today?

Have you been living a life of deception?

And how would you know if you've been deceived?

See, if that's you, Jesus is calling to you right now.

He says, Come to the cross, confess your sins, give your life to me, follow me.

The sacrifice will be worth it.

Now, if you're interested in learning more about Jesus, I would invite you to attend our Christianity explored class we're running right now.

I'd love to tell you more about that, or I'd love to grab a cup of coffee with you and talk with you.

How do you know if your faith is real or counterfeit?

And I would just submit that real faith is revealed not by what it looks like on the surface, but by what it loves, what it seeks, and what it costs.

So what do you do now?

How do you expose the counterfeit?

Well, Paul ends the section by reminding us that the story doesn't end with us.

It must be passed on.

It's not yours alone.

And so he ends with words of hope.

Verse 14, he says, But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

Hear those words.

Continue in what you have learned.

Continue in what you have learned.

Now notice as our series theme suggests, there is a passing of the faith.

That Timothy heard about Jesus from somebody.

He believed in him, and now he must pass on the faith to the next generation.

Will it be easy?

No.

Will it cost him?

Yes.

Is it worth it?

Absolutely.

Continue in what you have learned and believed.

See, these verses are a challenge to pastors and to ministry leaders and to parents.

How are we helping the next generation become acquainted with the sacred writings of scriptures?

This is how faith is passed on.

And I don't know about you, but I want my children to be wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

Think about that for a moment.

Who taught you the scriptures?

Who did you learn from?

They passed the faith to you, and now you must pass it on to others.

Friends, your faithfulness to the gospel matters.

Your life matters.

Continue in what you have learned.

And so as you depart today, allow me just to offer three questions and then close with a story.

And they come right from our outline and our text.

During your time with the Lord this week, ask yourself, what do I love?

And that's a question of the heart, yes.

What you love you cannot live without.

What you love drives your motivation.

What you love can become more important than Jesus, and he is jealous for your love.

Your love can become distorted, and that makes all the difference in life.

So evaluate it this week.

Second, what do I seek?

And that's related to the heart, but it's a question of action.

What do you actively pursue?

If you love money, you might pursue fame and fortune.

If you love a person, you certainly will sacrifice for them.

But if something becomes more important than Jesus, you will seek this world before his kingdom.

Evaluate it this week.

And then third, how much?

What will it cost?

It's a question we ask about everything.

What you love and seek will drive you to count the cost.

And if you don't love Jesus above all else, when your life is on the line, you will not choose him.

That's a question of eternal significance.

Following Jesus will cost you everything, but Jesus gave everything so you can follow him.

That's not something you can fake.

Real faith is revealed not by what it looks like on the surface, but by what it loves, what it seeks, and what it costs.

As the worship team comes and we prepare for the table, let me finish now with a story.

These verses remind me of a friend.

So many of you know Amy Huber.

She plays on the keys here every week.

Not Amy back at the Welcome Center, but Amy over here at the Keys.

She faithfully serves on our worship team week in and week out.

And what some of you might not know is that she's the executive director of First Choice Women's Resource Center, a pro-life pregnancy center committed to protecting the unborn.

And as Amy tells it, and she can correct me, the reason she took that job is that somebody shared first the message of Jesus and then the message of life with her as a teenager, and she answered the call.

Now, has that position been a joy?

Yes.

Has it been easy?

Amy will tell you, no.

Amy and First Choice have been committed to their mission despite persecution.

And if you were with us on Vision Sunday back in November, Amy shared about the subpoena from the state of New Jersey that they've been fighting and her impending trip to the Supreme Court of the United States because they believed that subpoena was unjust and targeted.

And so they prayed and they fought and they waited for relief until a decision was handed down.

And I have to say that Amy and her team just have embodied the call of 2 Timothy 3.

That their faith in Jesus is real and they understood the cost of standing for life in our current culture.

And praise God for that endurance because this week, if you did not see, the Supreme Court handed down a rare 9 to 0 decision for First Choice Women's Resource Center.

Victory.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your word.

Thank you for the challenge that Paul gives us in 2 Timothy 3.

And Lord, I pray today for those that may be struggling, Lord, I pray that you would meet them where they are.

Lord, I pray that you would pull people out of the darkness if that's where they are.

Questions are good, Lord, but I pray that you would bring people to a point.

Of decision today to know that you are the Savior of the world.

You are the truth, Lord.

Help us to seek you above all else.

Lord Jesus, may we leave today both with conviction, with motivation, may we lift our eyes up to you, recognizing that you need the glory for our life.

You are jealous for that, Lord God, and you are worthy of that.

And as we come to the table, Lord, may we confess our sins, may we repent, and may we come back to you and receive your healing and hope.

We pray that in Jesus' name.

Amen.