Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20000917.htm

STAYING SPIRITUALLY VIBRANT IN THE CHURCH'S LAST DAYS
Part III: Ministering In Depth To "Lambs" Afflicted By "Grievous Wolves"
  1. Introduction
    1. In Acts 20:28-30 and 2 Timothy 3:1-5, Paul revealed "grievous wolves" would afflict God's flock in the last days of Church history. Thus, we need to know how to minister to "lambs" who face such "wolves."
    2. Paul provides such insight in 2 Timothy 3:13-4:5 in light of Acts 20:28-30 as follows:
  2. Ministering In Depth To "Lambs" Afflicted By "Grievous Wolves"
    1. The Apostle Paul predicted that "lambs" in God's flock would be very vulnerable to spiritual harm:
      1. Paul predicted "grievous wolves" would afflict God's people in the latter days by teaching distortions (diestrammenays, UBS Grk. N.T., p. 499; Lightfoot, Philippians, p. 117) of the truth. They would do so to compete against church leaders to gain a following of "lambs" in local churches, Acts 20:28-30.
      2. Paul warned in 2 Tim. 3:13 that such men would go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
      3. What would intensify this crisis was the carnality of the sheep themselves putting them in harm's way:
        1. At first, many "sheep" would actually heed "healthy" doctrine, 2 Timothy 4:3a implied.
        2. However, due to living by the lusts of the flesh, of the eyes and the pride of this earthly life (1 Jn. 2:15-16), they would find "healthy teaching" not meeting such lusts, so they would seek teachers to say what would "scratch their ears" in gratification of such lusts, 2 Timothy 4:3b,c.
        3. That would lead them to abandon the Bible text and become preoccupied with "fables" (muthos), or fictional religious words about Biblical issues, Hendriksen, I-II Tim.-Tit., p. 312, 58-59; UBS Grk. N.T., p. 736. Eventually that would lead to deep theological error, 2 Tim 4:4; 2:17-18; 3:13.
    2. Accordingly, Paul talked of a comprehensive way that Timothy, a pastor (or any mature believer for that matter) could minister in depth to "lambs" to address this critical state of affairs (as follows):
      1. First, Timothy was to guard his own mind from the deceptions of "grievous wolves" as follows:
        1. Timothy was to hold onto the beliefs he had been taught before the wolves arose, 2 Timothy 3:14a.
        2. He was to hold the beliefs he had become convinced were true before the wolves came, 3:14b.
        3. He was to hold onto these beliefs since they had been verified through the lives of the godly men who had taught and effectively exampled these truths for him, 2 Timothy 3:14b with 3:10-12.
        4. Timothy was also to recall how God had long revealed His truths to him from his own Bible study; this would build his confidence that Timothy himself could discern truth if facing "wolves", 3:15.
        5. Finally, Timothy was to believe that Scripture was God-inspired and thus the sufficient means for any believer at any time to be equipped for every good work (i.e. discerning the truth), 3:15-17.
      2. Second, Timothy was to be sure that Christ was sovereign over the sheep in their troubles with wolves:
        1. Though men like Hymenaeus and Philetus had overthrown the faith of some with errant teaching, God knew and preserved His true believers in the Church, 2 Timothy 2:17-19; Matthew 16:18.
        2. However, God permitted defections caused by "grievous wolves" to reveal those God approved as being godly for the edification of weak believers in the flock, 1 John 2:18-19; 1 Corinthians 11:19.
      3. Armed with this viewpoint, Timothy was (a) to recognize his sober accountability to Christ at His return (b) always, (c) unconditionally to (d) proclaim the (e) Scripture's text itself (Bible exposition), (f) applying it to the spiritual conditions of men using (g) great patience & (h) careful teaching, 2 Tim. 4:1-2 NIV. (i) He was to minister thus whether things went smoothly or not en route, 2 Tim. 4:2, 5.
Lesson: A mature believer must (1) keep HIMSELF from error by (a) holding to that which he has been taught and which he has become convinced was true before the deceivers come along. (aa) This happens by his recalling the credible lives of the men who applied and taught him such teachings (bb) and by recalling how God had led him in his OWN past to adhere to the truth from his own use of Scripture. (b) Hence, he was to trust God's capacity NOW to teach him from Scripture to equip him fully to handle all errors that "grievous wolves" would throw his way. (2) Then, knowing that (a) the carnality in the "flock" ITSELF would leave people susceptible to "wolves," he was to (b) expound the text of Scripture to supply such "lambs" what godly forebears had given HIM in turn to protect and edify the "lambs" from deceivers! (c) The mature was to do this in view of his accountable to Christ!