We're looking at the book of 2 Timothy this morning. We've talked a little bit about this. We've kind of been in a little bit of a series in 2 Timothy. And we talked about the author of that book, Paul, the Apostle Paul. At this point in time, he is an older gentleman. He is at the end of his ministry. He is, in fact, about ready to die. He's in prison. He's about ready to be killed. And so he's leaving some advice for Timothy, a younger Christian, a younger man. And he's leaving some warnings of what things are gonna be like in the last days. And of course, that applies very much to you and I today, because when you look at the biblical timeframe and biblical history, folks, the reality is we are getting closer and closer to the last days. We are in the last days. You go through the Bible history and you figure things out, and I don't know how much time we have left. It might be a month, it might be 10 years, I don't know. But I know this, I know that sooner or later, the Lord Jesus Christ is coming back. Amen? Every prophecy in the Bible that you read, you go through there and you see time and time again, there's been prophecies that men have written down in this book hundreds and sometimes a thousand years beforehand. And they have come to pass exactly like the Bible said they would. There is no other book in the world like that. You hear a lot of people talk about Nostradamus and his prophecies. They're not even close. I mean, I can prophesy, yes, in 50 years from now, there's gonna be a big war. How many of you want to wait for 50 years to see if I'm right or not? Right? But when the Lord prophesies, He names names. He names countries. He tells where they're going to come from. He tells what's going to happen. And those things happen just exactly like the Bible says they're going to happen. And in fact, that's one of the greatest reasons why we know the Bible is true, more than any other book, is because of what we call prophecy. When you read it, you go, how on earth did the person that wrote this know that? Well, it was God. God knew what was gonna happen. That explains a lot of things. And if you can get that concept, if you can get that principle, then it's gonna help you in your spiritual life because then you'll learn to rely on this book and you'll learn, hey, what this book says is there's more to it than just, oh, my grandma just likes to be a Bible thumper. And maybe she does, I hope she does. Right? But there's more to it than that. There's a reason why she likes it. So you have this situation where this old preacher, this apostle to the Gentiles is getting old and he's leaving these things to a younger man and he's giving them warnings saying, hey, watch out for some things. We talked about chapter one, he told Timothy, hey, Timothy, you need to be prepared. You need to be full of faith. You need to be, don't be ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ. Be ready for afflictions and trials and hard times. They're going to be coming your way. And by the way, be ready for some disappointments in life because you're going to experience a lot of disappointments in life. Amen? You can't get around it. I'm sure you have found that to be true. We moved on to chapter two, and Paul told Timothy, this young pastor, this young preacher, he said, by the way, I need you to be strong, because you're gonna have to pass this faith along to other people, because the Bible is true, and if you don't tell people about it, then we're gonna lose what's gonna happen. It's our responsibility to pass this along to other people, and that's what we try to do. He told Timothy, he said, hey, listen, you're gonna have to endure through all the trials and the heartaches and the troubles of life. In fact, he said, don't get too tangled up inside with the world. You can get tangled up in anything in this life. He said, be careful of that. He said, remember, at the end of all this, folks, there's coming a time when Jesus Christ comes back and people that have followed him, people that are born again, that have trusted God as their Savior, they're going to be rewarded for their effort. You look at Christianity now and you think, why would I do that? That's no fun. Well, one, it is a lot of fun. How many of you here have fun with the Christian life? All right, you know, your hands are kind of low. Well, occasionally. No, there you go. Hey, listen, I think it's great. We just went camping with a bunch of young adults up at the river. We had a great time. We got in the lake. We did scuba diving. And some of them got introduced to what it was like to scuba dive. And we had a good time, right? We didn't have to drink beer, right? We didn't have to smoke pot. I was driving to the church this morning and I passed that new place or building down there and it's already growing. We don't need any of that stuff. Hey, the Lord gives you a way to find joy and happiness and yes, quite frankly, pleasure in ways that the world knows nothing about. You have a great time. You know what, it's great having been married for 40 years to the same wife. Now I know that's not the case for everybody, which is unfortunate. But I tell you what, it's a good thing. You say, how did you manage to do that? Hey, the Lord helped us. Right, we tried to do things his way. It's a great thing to follow the Lord. So we're going through this book, 2 Timothy, and the Lord said, remember the rain. He said, listen, remember, when this is all said and done, not only do you get blessings here, which you do, we'll talk about that a little more later, but folks, at the end, everything is gonna be set right. One of the biggest complaints that people have against Christianity is, why do the wicked seem to prosper? How come all those people that are doing evil, according to you Bible thumpers, they seem to be the ones that have all the money, they have all the fun, they have all the power. Yeah, for right now, that's true. But even they aren't happy. Right? You say, why? Well, because they need to have more drugs just to keep up the appearance of being happy. But in the end, in the end, listen, every one of us has to stand before God and be judged. And in the end, God is gonna make all things right. And those people that did not trust Him, those people that did not choose Him as their Savior, hey, listen, they still have every sin they have ever committed. And when they go up to be judged, the Lord's gonna look at them and he's basically got one simple question. What do you have to pay for your sins? And that person can say, well, I had a great time when I was on earth. And the Lord's gonna say, yeah, but what do you have to pay for your sins? Well, nothing. You didn't trust my son. No, I didn't want to be one of those kind of people. The Lord said, all right, then you have to pay for your sins yourself. That is eternity in hell. Forever. Lake of fire, fire brimstone, you know, all that stuff that everybody likes to laugh at, but in the Bible, when it's talking about hell, it gives this description, where the worm dieth not. And the fire is not quenched. Remember what I said about prophecy? The Bible's always right. People don't believe it sometimes, but it's always right. Or you stand up before that judgment in the end, and you've lived a life, and you've tried to walk for the Lord Jesus Christ. You trusted him as your Savior. And when you trust him as your Savior, listen, the Lord Jesus Christ came down to this earth. He died on that cross. He was born as a baby. He was perfectly sinless when he grew up. Why? Because he was God. He lived his life, a sinless life. He died on that cross and when he shed his blood, listen, he shed God's blood on the cross. And he shed that blood so that you and I could have something that would pay for all of our sins. So when I get up to that judgment and I have to stand before God and the Lord asks me, what do you have to pay for your sins? I'm not gonna be able to say, hey, I was a preacher, I made it in. You guys know what preachers are like. You're not going to be able to say, hey, I was a, you know, whatever, fill in the blank. I was a good, I wasn't as bad as John down the street. Uh-oh, sorry, Johnny. That's what all your neighbors think about you. No, I'm just kidding. You're not going to be able to say that. You know what, when I get up to that judgment and I have to answer that question, he asks me, what do you have to pay for your sin? You know the only thing I'm going to be able to do is hold up the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and say, you know what, your son died for me, and I accepted it. And the Lord's going to say, that's good enough. What a great thing. What a great thing. So in the end, the Lord's gonna make it all right. It seems like it's not right now, but I promise you, in the end, it'll all be right. And then he told Timothy, he said, value your vessel. Hey, this, your vessel is, this is your vessel, your body. You know what, be careful with it. Be careful what you do with it. Why? You could really mess it up. Right? I had cousins and uncles and stuff who were on drugs and drank, and I saw them mess it up, and I got, you know, I'll pass, thanks. I mean, they thought they had fun when they were younger, but as time went on, it takes a toll on this vessel. Not worth it. Not worth it. If you can avoid it, avoid it. If you can stay away from it from here on out, stay away from it from here on out. Why? Not worth it. So we're in 2 Timothy chapter 3, and we got started chapter 3 last week, and we talked a little bit about some things that Paul told Timothy. Hey, there's some things you need to be aware of. You need to be aware of some things, Timothy. And he said, beware of this. Beware of what I just categorized this week as distorted love. Paul said, you know what? In the last days, men shall be lovers of their own selves. They're going to love themselves more than they love anybody else. Everything I do is for me. Me, me, me, me, me. He said men are going to be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. People are going to want to have fun more than they want to serve God. Tell me that's not happening. Right? And a second category, I just call this a distorted vision, and that is they don't see the long-term consequences. They only see, what do I get right now? And one of the things that is a fruit of that is you, Paul warned Timothy, hey, you know what? In the last days, people are going to be disobedient to parents. Hey, how much do you see now in school of being, public school, being taught you don't have to listen to your parents? You know what it was back in my day? I know, the old fogey stories. Can't help it. Hey, bend over, grab your ankles. Boom. Yes, I got it. More than once. Did you deserve it? I absolutely did. Right? And then you got in trouble at home. Your parents found out you got in trouble at school. There was no mom running down to the school telling the school, how dare you spank my child? He did what? Now it's my turn. That's not the way it is nowadays, disobedient to parents. You say, I don't think the Bible's true. Really? Really. I'll tell you another thing Paul warned Timothy about. He said, hey, in the latter days, men and women are going to be without natural affection. A mother is supposed to love her baby, right? How come they throw them in dumpsters? How come they abort them? Natural affection. Parents are supposed to love children. Children are supposed to love parents. That's a rare thing nowadays. Now there's just fighting in between. It's not the way it's supposed to be. Without natural affection. I'll go there. Boys are supposed to love girls. Girls are supposed to love boys. That's not what the world's pushing. There's all kinds of things that fall under that category. Husbands are supposed to love their wives. Wives are supposed to love their husbands. You see marriages time and time again where that thing falls apart in a heartbeat. God told Timothy, hey, here's some things that are gonna be happening in the latter days. Guess what? We're seeing all of them, man. More and more and more. And it's getting worse and worse. There's always been some of this. Because sin has always been in the world. But man, it's getting a lot more prevalent nowadays. I better hurry. I'm not even through to point one for today. Now, we're gonna get into a couple more things in 2 Timothy chapter three, and I just labeled this some distorted values. Some distorted values. We had distorted love, we had a distorted vision, people didn't see the ramifications, and then people also in the last days have distorted values. It says, for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, I didn't go into every single topic, or would be here for like a year and a half, which is fine, but covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, and then this one comes up, unthankful. I thought that was a noteworthy one. Unthankful. Many years ago, there was a story told of a king, a devout king, and he was disturbed by the ingratitude of his royal court. It bothered him. So he set up a large banquet for the court. And when the king had seated all his royal guests, It was prearranged, but a beggar came walking in through the door, just some raggedy-looking beggar into this banquet that this king had set up for the royal court. And he walks up to the table, and he sits down at the king's seat. And then he begins to eat all the food from the king's plate, and then he gets up and leaves. And the royal court, they were just livid. They didn't know what to do. They were standing up. They were like, let us at this fella because we'll rip his limbs off. This guy, who does he think he is doing that? And they asked the king for permission to kill this guy. And the king replied this way. He said, that beggar has done only once to an earthly king what each of you does three times a day to God. You sit there at the table and eat until you're satisfied, then you walk away without recognizing God or expressing one word of thanks to Him. Isn't that something? One of the marks of the last days, ladies and gentlemen, is that people will be unthankful. People will be unthankful. Thankfulness is a learned trait. In other words, you can teach somebody to be thankful, It says in Psalm 104, 100 verse 4, it says, enter into his gates with what? With thanksgiving. And into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him. You know, one of the first things you need to know about God, you ought to be thankful to God. Why? Well, you're breathing today, aren't you? The Bible says, I laid down and slept and I awake because he preserved me. Listen, when you come into the house, this is talking about the Old Testament temple, I understand that, but when you come into the house of God, when you come into church, you know what you ought to be thinking in the back of your mind? You ought to be coming in with an attitude of thankfulness. The Lord is very careful, He's very concerned about your level of thankfulness. He says, when you're thankful, you have a tendency to please God. In fact, in Ephesians 5, it says this. It says, giving thanks always for all things unto God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, that kind of covers a lot, if you think about it. You say, well, I got this pimple on my face. You ever try to be thankful for that? Oh, that's gross. Maybe the worst guy in the world sees it and thinks, oh, I don't want to date her. And you just got spared a big heartache. You ever think of it that way? I mean, that's probably not very appealing for some of the younger ladies. I'm sorry. But there's a reason. God has a reason for things. Give thanks always for all things. How much do you actually give thanks? It starts with little children. Listen, teach them to be thankful. Teach your children to say thank you. In other words, make them. They're not gonna do it naturally on their own. Every one of us is selfish and stingy naturally on our own. Teach them to say thank you. Teach them to be grateful for what they get or what they have. I mean, how many times have you watched a birthday party or at Christmas time and, you know, the kids are opening the gifts and they finally get to the one big gift that they've really been wanting and they're like, oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. But for everything else, there's just not much response. Hey, you know what you ought to learn? You ought to learn to be thankful for the little things in life as much as the big things. Why? Well, the Lord takes note of that. The Lord takes note of that. I mean, you ought to be able to be thankful for a pair of socks. Why? Because the reality is you need the socks. You say, well, that's an unglamorous gift. Yeah, but you know what? In the middle of winter when you put them on, Lord, thank you for these socks. Right? I mean, it's understandable for a two-year-old not to grasp that concept. But man, by the time you're a teenager, you ought to have enough foresight, enough knowledge, enough wisdom to look and go, you know what? I'm glad that I got this given to me. It's not one of those glamorous gifts, but you know what? It's practical. It's something that was needful. And I'm thankful for it. You ought to see a little more depth in your thankfulness other than just what makes you really happy and what pleases you right this instant. You learn to be thankful. It's a great trait. Try it. You'll be a lot happier in life, I promise you. You ought to be happy that somebody cared enough about you to give you what you needed, not just what you wanted. Amen? How about adults? Let me ask you this. What does it take for you to be thankful? Or what does it take to cause you to be unthankful? Again, this issue in the last days is, again, lost and saved alike. We're all gonna struggle with these principles in the last days, and you're gonna be unthankful for certain things, and you just gotta be aware of that and be careful when that crosses your mind. Why? Because, folks, that's the spirit of the age. And if you let that thing captivate you, you'll wind up being unthankful for your husband, your wife, your kids, your job, and just go down the list. And pretty soon, you'll just be some old grump. Right? I mean, nothing will make you happy. You need to learn to be thankful. You know what's hard to watch? I'll tell you what's hard to watch as a Christian that started off on the right track. And then over the years, because things didn't go their way, because there were some hardships along the way, because there were some storms, because they maybe suffered some losses along the way, somehow or another they lost their thankfulness, they lost their joy. That's tough. It's tough to see that. Maybe they're filled with regret or disdain or unfulfilled desires. Who knows? Life didn't go the way they wanted. They think that somehow or another they weren't treated fairly. And their response to that is to become unthankful. Exactly the opposite of what you need to do. That's not how a Christian should respond. Right? If you can learn to be thankful for small things in life, Right? Then you can learn to be thankful for difficult things. Lord, thank you for taking me through that trial. Although I didn't like it, you know what? On the other side, I learned some lessons that are gonna help me immensely in my life. I learned some things that I shouldn't do because they kind of got me into a mess. And you know what? Thank you, Lord, because I'm not gonna do those things anymore because I don't want to get in that kind of mess again. You learn to be thankful for difficult things in life. It says in Proverbs 27, it says this, it says, Faithful are the wounds of a friend. The wounds of a friend. In other words, that hurt. But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. You know what our problem is most of the time? We like kisses better than wounds. But you know what's more needful sometimes? Is when your friend comes up and tells you, hey, you know, that thing you said to so-and-so, that was kind of harsh. And you go, yeah, I guess I better put it. Well, praise the Lord you got a friend that would come up and talk to you like that. Somebody that would tell you the truth. Why? Because they care about you. because they care about you. You learn to be thankful for people that care about you and even maybe have to tell you some things that are difficult. Do you know what people that are unthankful tend to think about somebody who is thankful? They think this. In their mind, they think, well, that person is only thankful because first, they were blessed. They've got whatever it is. The nice car, the big bank account, whatever, the happy marriage, and they think, well, the only reason they're thankful is because they have been blessed. I'm not gonna ask for a show of hands how many times you've thought that, because I know we all have. You know what the reality is, folks? The reality is that thing is completely backwards. You know what you find? You find when you learn to be thankful, you actually become more blessed. And you know this. you give a kid, you know, let's say you give a little kid a piece of candy, and they're like, oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. You sit back and you go, oh, man, that's awesome. You know what you want to do? Hey, let's give them some more. I really like that reaction. You give a kid a piece of candy, and they go, oh, I don't like that kind. Why don't you give me? You know what you think? You go, see if I bring you any candy anymore. Even you think that way. Right? One of the problems in the last days, Paul warned Timothy, he said, listen, people in general, people in general, now we're supposed to try to break that mold. And that's why we go over this, so that we can catch ourselves. People in general say, you know what, they just become kind of unthankful. Well, I didn't get as much of a raise as she got. Well, maybe she's been working longer. Or maybe she works harder. Or maybe it's just random unfairness and you just got caught in the middle of it. I don't know, but at least you got a raise. It's better than getting a pay cut. You gotta learn to be, you gotta learn to be thankful. You gotta learn to be thankful. Listen, the reality is, is even if you have exactly the same amount of, quote, stuff, when you're thankful, you look at your situation, your lot in life, and you think, man, the Lord has blessed me. Same amount of stuff. If you have a spirit of unthankfulness, you look at the same situation, the same lot in life, and you go, man, I've sure been cheated. Thankfulness is a powerful thing, and it's something that God cares an awful lot about. Someone wrote this. They said, ingratitude denotes spiritual immaturity. Infants don't always appreciate what parents do for them. They have short memories. Their concern is not what you did for me yesterday, but what you're doing for me today. The past is meaningless, and so is the future. They live for the present. Those who are mature are deeply appreciative of those