In today’s world, we greet each other with secular sayings. We are truly afraid of “offending” the world. But we are being watched by millions of beings from other worlds, worlds who have never fallen, to see if we love the One who gave His life for us. Our angels are writing down everything we say and do. In the judgment, what will your account reveal?
In the days of the early Christians, if you accepted Jesus as your Savior, you were expected to witness for Him, sacrifice for Him and lay down your life for Him. For most Christians today, going to church is all that is expected of you.
The distinction between church people and the people of the world is nothing. Paul realized that the church people (Jews going to the temple and synagogue) of his day were no different from the world of pagans. True Christians actually live “by the grace that is in Christ Jesus”.
2 Timothy 2:1 to 2 Timothy 2:26
You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, . . .
We drink “power drinks” to be strengthened, we eat vegan to live long, and we visit psychologists to strengthen our weak and sinful minds. Few understand the strength they may receive through the “grace that is in Christ Jesus”.
The problem, as I have discovered, is our understanding of what God is willing to do for us. God does not provide us with power to do the work IN ADVANCE. He provides the power AS WE ARE ADVANCING in His work. If we stop advancing, His power stops working for us. But if we keep advancing, asking for His strength and power, He gives it.
That is a hard concept to put into practice. Before we buy a car we want to know if we have the funds available to pay for it. Before we buy a house we want to make sure we have the financing available to buy it. The same with Christ. But what we don’t understand is the fact that the “funds” are already available. The “financing” is already available. All we have to do is get up and step out in faith and God will provide as needed. Of course, we must be advancing in the right direction.
I have been experiencing this concept to a fuller extent through the medical condition I have been going through. I’m lying in a hospital bed paralyzed from the neck down. What do I hear? “Get up!” So, I have been working at getting up and walking, even though I’m not supposed to be. My Surgeon wrote, “miraculous recovery” in her report. But as I have been putting forth the effort, God has been providing the power. Easy? No! Difficult? Yes! Pain? Excruciating! But Jesus went through it day by day as He lived among men. If He can do it, I can do it in His power. He relied on His Father’s power, I rely on the Power Jesus provides. “Grace that is in Christ Jesus”.
. . . and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.
Strange to say, but the teachings of Paul are not being taught today. Even Peter recognized the phenomena of people breaking Paul’s teachings up and distorting them. “There are some things in them (letters of Paul) that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.” 2 Peter 3:16.
When you take all of Paul’s writings and boil them down to their common denominator, here is what he taught:
1) Keeping God’s Commands is what counts. 1 Corinthians. 7:19
2) So then, the law is holy, and the Commandment is holy, righteous and good. Romans 7:12
3) Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law. Romans 3:31
That we may present every man perfect in Christ. Colossians 1:28
As you can see, those teachings of Paul are not taught in the churches today. Why? Because the word “law” and “perfect” are offensive to sinful people. Therefore, when Paul is talking about doing away with church “law” with all its rituals, rites, services, feast days, traditions and holy days, they add in the moral law, the Ten Commandments, in order to do away with them. But how they love their church laws.
But we as Christians are to teach the teachings of Paul in their purity and fullness. We must understand Paul, and the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation, in order to teach the Bible in truth, and not according to man’s wisdom and understanding.
Paul took people back to the Old Testament. Paul quoted from the Old Testament. His concepts and thoughts were from the Old Testament. Paul also took people back to Jesus. He quoted from Jesus. Paul told everyone to go back to Scripture (Old Testament). “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16. That is how we become good soldiers for Christ. Are you building on the foundation of the Old Testament and Jesus as Paul did?
Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
No, not really! We want to party, dance, raise our hands and sway to our feelings in church. But to humbly live in obedience to the commands of Jesus to stop sinning, be perfect and to keep the Ten Commandments to get our eternal life, nope! Are you suffering as a good soldier for Jesus? Most Christians today don’t know what suffering is.
No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.
Oops! We love our civilian pursuits. We want to please the world. Since our worldly churches have enlisted us, our aim is to please them, not Jesus. Churches are easier to please without sacrifice.
An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.
Paul would be very surprised to learn that in today’s world you don’t need rules. Everyone can do as they please. All who compete get a prize for “winning” at something. But then again, maybe he wouldn’t be. Since the 1950’s the churches have been teaching “saved by grace” instead of “work out your salvation” as Paul taught. Society simply adapted that “saved by grace” mentality, the lie from the churches, and made it their own. Now the world can steal, rob, murder and do anything they want without any consequences. It all starts in the church. As the heart thinks, so is the man, then the family and finally society and the world. We are seeing the results today in our cities and political parties from the “saved by grace” mentality.
It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.
Not today, Paul. Now, with socialism, the hard-working farmer gets nothing so the lazy bum sitting on the couch playing video games can have it all. Government employees are stealing it from hard-working society.
Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.
Not many today know how to “think it over”. Therefore, the Lord can’t give them understanding. The Left thinks men are women, and women are men. That a fetus is a throw-a-way object. That children are not God’s but societies and are meant to be trafficked, sold and mutilated.
Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, . . .
Not many churches, pastors or denominations want to “remember Jesus Christ”. Especially as the “offspring of David”. Why? Well, if Jesus is the offspring of David, He would have to teach what the Spirit of God taught through David: obedience to the Ten Commandments. The same LORD that talked with David is the same Lord who gave His life for the world. He doesn’t change.
. . . for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound!
And that is why Paul was “bound with chains as a criminal”. He taught the same Jesus who taught in the Old Testament. We who teach the same Jesus are also persecuted, hated and will be bound with chains.
Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
Are we enduring everything for the good of the elect? There are “elect” standing around you who have not yet had the gospel taught to them. Will you let them perish?
The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; . . .
Paul stated that He died daily. Do we? Or do we just “die” once at baptism and then rejoin the world in our church? We cannot be resurrected with Him if we do not die daily to the world with Him.
. . .if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; . . .
I think that if we were given the chance to see what the angels are recording about us, we would be reading, “Denied, denied, denied, denied and denied”. All day long, in word, look and action, most are denying Jesus. Few are enduring unto the death of pride, ego and the world for Jesus?
. . .if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.
We may deny Jesus, but He will never deny Himself and His Law. He will never abolish it as He never abolished it when He walked on earth: He lived it unto death. He remains faithful. Are you?
Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers.
I am not sure if there are any churches, denominations or pastors left who “remind them of these things”. Instead, whole congregations and households are being destroyed by churches, denominations and pastors who are arguing over words. All we are commanded to do by Jesus is to teach what He commanded: Stop sinning, be perfect and Keep the Ten Commandments to get eternal life. That’s it. Everything else will fall into place if we simply live in obedience.
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
“Rightly handling the Word of Truth.” I do not know of any pastor, church or denomination that is doing that. They all have their own “spin” to the “Word of Truth”. It is all politics and money. If they taught the Word of Truth rightly, they would have very few followers and members. People don’t want truth, they want their church’s truth. Therefore, they run around trying to find a church, pastor or denomination that will teach them the “truth” they want to hear. “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.” 2 Timothy 4:3.
But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, . . .
Most of what is propagated by religions, pastors, churches and denominations is “irreverent babble”. Most just love to hear themselves “babble”. For some satanic reason, they think that their “babble” is acceptable to God. It isn’t. But in today’s world you must “babble” and do it loudly and often in order to impress people. Jesus wasn’t interested in impressing anyone. He created everyone, therefore He didn’t need to impress them. He wanted to heal them of their “babble” and bring them to quiet submission at the feet of Truth.
. . .and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, . . .
I have never met Hymeanaeus and Philetus. I don’t know anything about them except that they talked too much “babble”. So much so, they “swerved from the truth” and their lies “spread like gangrene”. Why is it that gangrene spreads faster than truth? All I know is, you can substitute almost any pastor, church and denomination today in their place.
. . .who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some.
Most religions won’t say outright that the resurrection “has already happened” or is a fable, but in reality, that is exactly what they are saying. As far as the pastors, churches and denominations are concerned, Jesus is dead. They don’t believe in Jesus because they refuse to accept what He teaches. They love Easter, Christmas and Halloween because they are pagan days. So in reality, the pastors, churches and denominations are pagans. And yes, they are upsetting the saints who trusted in their pastors, churches and denominations. It is time to get out!
But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”
Let them babble on. It won’t change “God’s firm foundation”. Souls will be lost forever, but that is the nature of sin. Only those who live as Jesus commands: perfect, sinless and Commandment keeping are being sealed in Jesus. You can’t depart from iniquity if you don’t know what iniquity is. So the devil has all the pastors, churches and denominations babbling over foolishness while people keep on in their iniquity. If you claim to be a Christian and believe in Jesus, then it is your duty to learn what Jesus commands is iniquity so you can depart from it. If not, you are lost.
Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable.
Yes, there are some for honor and some for dishonor, as Hymenaeus and Philetus were dishonorable. As Jesus said, there will be wheat and tares growing together, or, claiming to be saved, claiming to be Christian and believing in Jesus. But that won’t save them. Stop looking around for the dishonorable and make sure you are living the honorable, perfect, sinless and Commandment keeping life.
Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.
Therefore, get out of your church and cleans yourself from what is dishonorable and be set apart as holy and be a useful worker for the Master: “ready for every good work”. And just to be clear, going to church does not make one holy. To be holy is to be living the perfect, sinless and Commandment keeping life.
So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
The world today is full of “youthful passions”. If you have ever looked at the Facebook pages of the youth, it is all about themselves. It is all about “who I want to be”. Nothing about what God wants them to be. Many claim to be Christian, but they do not “call on the Lord from a pure heart”. Their hearts are full of pride, ego and selfishness. Few are pursuing “righteousness, faith, love and peace”. Just try expressing another point of view with them and watch their love, inclusion and peace go right out the window.
Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.
“Foolish, ignorant controversies”. There is an awful lot of that going on in our churches, in our denominations, among pastors and especially on the internet. Since righteousness is peace, peace does not produce “clicks” and therefore what most people want are “foolish, ignorant controversies” to get “clicks”. And yes, “they breed quarrels” to the destruction of souls.
And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness.
I’m guilty. I’m working on it. There has been a lot of hate and quarrelsome material coming at me. It is easy to let down the guard and lash back in kind. But I am learning, and God is helping me, to stop and look to Him first. When it comes, I must stop and look to Jesus and calm my spirit so I can respond, not as my human heart wants to respond, but with the spirit of Jesus: “patiently enduring evil”. And of course, “correcting his opponents with gentleness” is another trait I am working on. Very hard to do. Jesus has given us the example, let us follow so that . . .
God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, . . .
I must always keep in mind that the end result is not to win but to lead to repentance. That is how we win. So many of us want to “win” the battle and show how knowledgeable we are. But the knowledge we have comes from God, therefore, it isn’t ours to own but to share in love.
. . .and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
“Come to their senses”. In today’s world? not likely. There isn’t much “sense” left in people. The world is getting farther and farther away from God and His truth. It is all about “me and my truth” and nothing about humbly kneeling before God and His truth. The world is in chaos because the children have been taught they are not responsible for their actions. Selfishness reigns.
I pray that people will come to their senses “after being captured by Him to do His will”. Doing His will is what life is all about. In doing His will we develop His character. Without His character no one will enter Heaven.