Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20121028.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
2 Timothy: God's Directives For Church Leaders Amid Hardships
Part VII: Responding Well To False Teachers Amid Ministry Hardships, 2 Timothy 2:14-4:8
E. Protecting Ourselves From Abusive Apostate Deception
(2 Timothy 3:10-17)
  1. Introduction
    1. All who disciple face spiritual persecution from deceivers, 2 Timothy 3:12. It is fueled by Satan as we learned in 2 Timothy 2:26, and it accompanies the effort to oppose God's truth, 2 Timothy 3:8, 13.
    2. We who disciple must guard ourselves from such abusive apostate deception as 2 Timothy 3:10-17 shows:
  2. Protecting Ourselves From Abusive Apostate Deception, 2 Timothy 3:10-17.
    1. Paul prefaced his claim in 2 Timothy 3:12 that all who will live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution by recalling in 2 Timothy 3:10-11a his own past persecutions in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra .
    2. However, Paul explained that the Lord had delivered him out of all of them (2 Timothy 3:11b), and viewing those events in Acts reveals those persecutions and divine deliverance (as follows):
      1. In Acts 13:8, Paul faced Elymas who perverted the truth Paul taught, so God rescued Paul by striking Elymas with a physical malady to counter the effectiveness of Elymas' opposition, Acts 13:9-12.
      2. In Acts 13:14, 45 at Pisidian Antioch, Paul faced envy and abusive talk, so God rescued him by giving him the Holy Spirit's boldness to speak the truth and to separate from his foes, Acts 13:46.
      3. In Acts 13:50, Paul was expelled by authorities from Pisidian Antioch for teaching the truth, so God rescued him by arranging for him to brush off his feet against his foes and be filled joy, Acts 13:51-52.
      4. In Acts 14:2 at Iconium, Paul faced foes who turned the minds of his hearers against him, so God delivered him by letting him stay long there to do many miracles attesting to his credibility, Acts 14:3.
      5. In Acts 14:5, Paul faced a plot stirred up by Jewish foes in Iconium to mistreat and to stone him to death, so God delivered him in allowing him to flee for safety, Acts 14:6.
      6. In Acts 14:19, God allowed Paul's foes at Pisidian Antioch and Iconium to follow him to Lystra and stir up hearers there to stone him, but God delivered him by causing Paul to rise from the dead, return to the city of those who had stoned him and continue ministering there and elsewhere, Acts 14:20-25.
    3. Paul thus clarified how other servants of God are to handle persecution and to guard themselves from similar abusive apostate deception, 2 Timothy 3:13-17:
      1. First, God's servants must realize that evil apostates will proceed from bad to worse, 2 Timothy 3:13.
      2. Thus, God servants must effectively guard their minds and hearts as follows, 2 Timothy 3:14-17:
        1. They must continue in the things they have learned, 2 Timothy 3:14a. There is a reason why God lets His servants learn what they have, so they must not waver from those past instructions.
        2. They must continue in what they have become convinced (pistoo, aor. passive) is true, 2 Timothy 3:14b; Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 671. There is a reason why God has allowed His servants to become convinced in the past of what was His truth .
        3. They must continue in what was taught to them by godly men, 2 Timothy 3:14c. There is a reason God has let His servants be exposed to godly men, that they might accept their teaching as true.
        4. They must ultimately recall the written Scriptures that are able to make them wise unto salvation, the Scriptures that bear God's permanent authority (theopneustos = "God breathed," a verbal adjective formed by the suffix -tos and carrying a perfect passive participle force, Bruce M. Metzger, Lexical Aids for Students of N. T. Greek , 1970, p. 44), 2 Timothy 3:15-16a NIV.
        5. Hence, Scripture equips God's servants to teach, rebuke, correct and train in righteousness so that they might be thoroughly equipped (exertismenos = perfect passive participle of exartizo, "equip, furnish," Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 273), or be passively and permanently equipped unto every good work by God's written Scripture, 2 Timothy 3:16b-17 NIV.
Lesson: Though God's servants through Church History will face growing degrees of abusive apostate deceivers, they must handle such persecution by protecting their minds and hearts by adhering to what God has let them learn and become convinced was true by godly forerunners, and by using Scripture.

Application: May we handle growing abusive apostate deceivers by heeding Paul's instruction above.