28th December 2025 - Trevor Saggers

Our friends, I'll pray. Let us in prayer. Our

Father, help us and guide us as we look at your

word this morning. This is a one -off sermon,

a special one for Sue and me, as it might be

the last time that I preach here. Who knows?

But you know everything. In Jesus' name, amen.

Our friends, I'm going to talk about... Life

in the last days. But in saying that, who knows

when Jesus is going to return to judge us all

in response to him. But he will return one day.

He might not know when, but he will return. Only

his father knows when the time is obviously right

for that to occur. Matthew 24, 36. Yes, it might

be a little strange to have a sermon like this

one today, straight after Christmas, when we

celebrated his first coming. After all, I'm speaking

about how to live before his second and final

coming. Eschatology is the big word. But I think

we need to hear what God says about it all, as

we are in the last days as such. After all, it

is 2025 years, soon to be 2026 years, since his

first coming. Life in the last days does not

sound very appealing, according to God in today's

only Bible reading, the lengthy 2 Timothy, the

end of chapter 2, all of chapter 3 and part of

chapter 4 that Johanna read to us. Yes, life

doesn't sound very appealing. It might not be

a nice message to go out on, but it's reality.

I'd like to paint it with gloss and make it sound

nice, but the reality is a little different and

no doubt the reality is difficult. We are told

in the verses of 2 Timothy chapter 3 these things.

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

But mark this, there will be, and I don't like

this word, terrible times, difficult times, perilous

times, depending on your translation, in the

last days. Yes, we are in the last days. Acts

2 .17 and Hebrews 1 .2 tell us that. But it's

another question to ask ourselves as to whether

we might be in the last of the last days. Verse

2, people will be lovers of themselves, lovers

of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient

to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without

love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self -control.

I feel like stopping there, but God doesn't.

Brutal, not lovers of the good. Treacherous,

rash, conceited. Lovers of pleasure rather than

lovers of God. Having a form of godliness but

denying its power. Have nothing to do with such

people. Okay, it is nice stuff, isn't it? Not.

I recently went to an accountant here in Cairns

when I did my tax return and he said to me that

he is over it all. I said, what do you mean?

He said something like, people are always crying

poor to me but over the last year 17, yes 17

fingernail centres and Botox places have opened

up in Cairns. 17. And he said, he can't work

it out. We have so much, but we say, we cry poor.

Yes, I wonder what kind of people we are becoming.

I must admit that I didn't know what to say to

him when he said that. I probably now do. And

there's two Timothy chapters 2, 3 and 4 stuff.

Now I've carefully drawn something using my Microsoft

Texture app to show when we are told these last

days occur. Do you like this? Is this really

impressive, Brendan? That's really impressive,

okay. The bit I have highlighted is in yellow.

is the last days. It's generally from the cross

until Jesus returns. Everyone was expecting a

Messiah, but not the type he ended up being.

Before he came, many thought that the last days

would be quite short, as the Messiah would stop

the rot immediately. But after he lived for more

than 30 years and then died on a cross, and rose

from the dead three days later, and then a further

2 ,000 odd years, the last days have gone on

and on and on. And people have become very, very,

very complacent. The world is winning, so to

speak. And so in these last days, not only are

we told here in this chapter what to do, I'm

sure we all would want to know that, but we're

also told that it will be terrible, difficult

or perilous, depending on your translation. And

as expressed by my accountant friend, that he

is over it all. He's starting to see it. We are,

obviously, in the last days. People will sadly

be like this and even more so. So how does one

live in such difficult times? After all, it is

terrible. It is no wonder that some of our elderly

who have died in the faith of Christ kept saying

to me things like, beam me up, Scotty. Get me

out of here. There are at least four things that

we need to do in the last terrible days. And

this applies to us as families with children,

young children too. The first thing is this.

We must resolve to follow the best mentors. We

must resolve to follow the best mentors. I get

that from verses 10 and 11 in chapter 3. Those

two verses say this. You, however, know all about

my teaching, my way of life. My purpose, faith,

patience, love, endurance, persecution, sufferings,

what kind of things happened to me in Antioch,

Iconium and Lystra. The persecutions I endured,

yet the Lord rescued me from them all. I'm glad

the Apostle Paul said that last sentence as it

was sounding a little narcissistic to me. Me,

me, me, me. Paul is saying to Timothy and to

the church he's leading, You know me. And man,

was he a good mentor. Yes, there is a place for

good mentors. For me, Glenn Davies and a guy

who you probably don't know, Brian Kelly, have

been standouts. The first thing that Paul says

to Timothy as he leads that church in Ephesus,

modern day Turkey, Concerns teaching. Unfortunately,

the church's teaching has generally been shocking.

Hence the need for organisations like Gavcon.

But it isn't just teaching that matters, it's

the example of life too. And here Paul says to

Timothy, you know me. You know what I've been

through for the gospel. You know how I have suffered

for the gospel. Verses 11 and then 12. And then

Brian, a good mentor of mine, suffered big time.

So did his wife, Julie. And not only was he an

alcoholic in his past life, but had to kick out

his son from their own home. As his son got into

drugs big time and started pinching things from

his mum, Brian's wife Julie. And then, it seems

to me, pawning them for drug money. And all of

this was happening as Brian pastored a very large

church. Yes, he was a good mentor of mine. I

still miss Brian. He died from liver cancer and

is now with our Lord big time. He has been beamed

up. And then there's Glenn Davies. Well, besides

the fact that he is still a wonderful teacher,

he has endured much as he is regularly ostracised,

sadly in God's church, sadly. in God's church,

for his faithful views. And by the world, for,

as they say, not progressing with them. No wonder

he advises Gavcon on matters. And no wonder he's

known for speaking the truth in love. That is,

having a velvet glove. I personally can sniff

out the truth. I'm okay with the glove bit. But

I need to keep working on the velvet bit. On

how to express God's truth to others. Yes, these

are two men who have been good mentors of mine.

Not only do their lives reflect the gospel, but

they've been tested over and over and over again

and have been found. Not in the least of the

field of religion. I'm sorry. And being found

faithful and being found protected by God. In

a world of many pop idols, not least in the field

of religion, we must be intentional about choosing

faithful mentors. Or by default, we will probably

choose poor ones. Brendan. Choose a good mentor.

And please keep being humble. Changing the subject

slightly, but then again I don't think I am.

Yes, choose a good mentor, but don't go AWOL

when your pastor retires. A good mentor will

tell you to remain. And especially remain when

your new pastor, Brendan, is trying to be faithful.

For example, I once a month have a Zoom meeting.

Well, I had a Zoom meeting with my pastoral supervisor.

Something, a good thing, that the Diocese of

Southern Cross requires. My pastoral supervisor

said to me in our last Zoom meeting this month

something that surprised me, greatly surprised

me. He said that, quote, when a founding pastor

leaves, in my case retires, 30 % of people usually

stop coming to that church. 30 %? Now, I know

that in how we were established three years ago,

it isn't quite a church plant, but it is also.

Can I say, don't do that. Don't be one of the

30%. Don't drop off. Keep following Jesus through

your local church. For many of us here, it is

NRJ, Northern High Banglican. Don't drop off

because Sue and I aren't around. Don't. Yes,

keep following Jesus through your local church.

It will be different. But Jesus is the same.

Hebrews 13 .8. And he shall return. Matthew 24

.30. Yes, don't drop off. And a good mentor will

help you in that. The second thing that this

chapter tells us is this. We must be realistic

about the world. We must be realistic about the

world. Yes, we must be realistic about the world.

We find that also in chapter 3 and this time

verses 12 and 13. Verses 12 and 13 say, in fact,

everyone who wants to live a godly life, I'm

guessing that's you want to live a godly life,

in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. While evil

doers and impostors will go from bad to worse,

deceiving and being deceived. We should, in a

word, expect opposition. If we do expect it,

we shall not be surprised by it. In every generation,

evil people spiral downwards into hopeless corruptions.

We should therefore not be surprised by this

general downward spiral and opposition to the

gospel. Apart from the intervention of the grace

of God, this is what sin does to people. I therefore

regularly say, there but the grace of God go

I. Ephesians 1, 7 to 8. Yes, we need to be realistic

about the world. Just as the prince of this world

might have been ultimately defeated on the cross,

and he was, but he is still the prince of this

world. and wants to take people captive and therefore

do what he wants. 2 Timothy 2 .26, we heard about

it. That is, take people down with him. Satan

himself is the major influence on the opinions,

goals and views of the majority of people. His

influence, 1 John 5 .19, encompasses... the world's

philosophies, education and commerce. When people

live as if there is no God, they by default follow

the God of this world, Satan. And they therefore

please him. The unholy thoughts, the destructive

ideas, the wild speculations and false religions

of the world have sprung from his lies and deceptions.

The kingdom led obviously by the king, by Jesus,

is not, not of this world. Now, I don't want

to blame it all on Satan. But this world is still

under his control. When someone comes to Jesus,

one is no longer under Satan's control. No longer

of this world, but now of the kingdom to come.

And it will. It will one day come. But in the

meantime, it's not going to be that great. Those

around us who won't acknowledge Jesus will probably

go from worse to worse to worse to worse. Or

they'll simply accept it all. Hence they are

deceived. Hence why followers of the real King

Jesus suffer. for righteousness or are persecuted

for righteousness. And the father of lies is

the one behind such deception. John 8, 44. The

third thing that this chapter tells us is this.

We must rely on the Bible. Friends, this is what

it all comes back to. This. We must rely on the

Bible, no matter how grim, how terrible, how

difficult, how perilous things become. We must

continue in it. It's very sad that parts of the

church no longer hold to it. Some parts of God's

church no longer read it anymore, let alone are

faithful to it. Not only should the scriptures

shape the Christian's mind into the right view,

Romans 12 .2, a view alien to the secularist

and endlessly selfish person, and not only do

the scriptures make us wise for salvation through

faith in Christ Jesus, verse 15, but precisely

because they are God -breathed, verse 16, the

Bible, the scriptures, are useful. They provide

what is needed and we must rely on them no matter

how the world might be indifferent towards God's

people. They might mock you for it. They might

oppose you because of it. They might even persecute

you for it. Hence only the Bible, the scriptures

can be used for teaching, rebuking, correcting.

and training in righteousness nothing else no

matter what it is can be referred to as the bible

the scriptures are god breathed i get quite concerned

when i go to an evangelical conference and the

bible itself is sidelined rather the fad for

the day is highlighted yes i get concerned We

must, must rely on the Bible. We must not bring

to it what we want it to say. We must let God

speak to us. We must therefore be humble and

accept it by living it out. James 1 .21 So they

are the three things that we must do in the last

days. We must resolve to follow the best mentors.

We must be realistic about the world and we must

rely on the Bible. The fourth thing is this.

We must proclaim the Bible. There is a difference

in this point and the last point we looked at.

We must keep proclaiming what is true even if

it's not palatable because the world thinks differently

now. Even last week when reading Waiting for

the Christ, I think it was reading from day 22.

A book that many of us are doing. We'll perhaps

finish now. Yes, the book said, quote, Christians

can count on things getting worse before Jesus

returns. These challenges should not discourage

us and cause us to doubt. Instead, they should

remind us that Christ is coming soon. It's strange

to think about challenges as encouragements.

but this seems to be an important implication

of Jesus' teaching. Today, when we feel like

the golden era of Christianity, whenever that

was, is behind us and the world has turned against

us, we should not be discouraged. This is not

a sign of failure, but of promise. Jesus said

that the world would hate us on account of him.

I would add John 15, 18 says that. And this hatred,

as it increases, is a sign that his coming is

growing nearer. End of quote. We must rely on

the Bible and we must keep proclaiming it. For

example, Jesus is the only way back to the Father.

John 14, 6. One cannot rely on what the Bible

says and then keep it to oneself. Go tell it

on the mountain. It must be proclaimed. Hence,

there will come opposition. Hence, the last days

aren't crash hot. May we at NHA, Northern Hope

Anglican, Under your new pastor, Brendan, keep

proclaiming the Bible. The Bible is God's words

to us. We must therefore need them. We must therefore

heed them. Yes, Brendan, keep proclaiming the

Bible no matter how the world is going. Even

if we think it is the last of the last days,

I should say... especially if we think it is

the last of the last days. You know, one of my

favourite verses, well, there are two verses

in it, John 6, verses 68 and 69. Do you know

John 6:68

John 6, 68 and 69? Karen, do you know it? Peter,

a follower of Jesus, says this, Lord, to whom

shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

We've come to believe and to know. There is a

subtle difference between believe and know. Yes,

we have come to believe and to know that you

are the Holy One of God. At times when I wonder

about things and where everything is heading,

A retirement for Sue and for me. Well, in the

short term. I come back to these words. Lord,

to whom shall we go? But we, Sue and I, have

come to believe and to know that Jesus is the

Holy One of God. And if he is, and he is, we

must proclaim him to the nations. And that includes

all of us. Yes, keep proclaiming Jesus. Keep

living for him. Goodbye for now. Amen.