Lovers of God

Most people around us will follow false doctrine

With combustible material in one hand and a lighted match in the other what will happen when the hands come together? Fire!

So far, we’ve seen that Satan is trying to disseminate false doctrine, and that we have a natural tendency to avoid sound doctrine. That is a deadly combination! What do you think the outcome will be?

The outcome is that most people around us will follow false doctrine. That’s exactly what Paul tells Timothy in 2 Tm 3:1-9.

2 Tm 3:1-9 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.

In 2 Tm 3:1-9 we see that Paul says that there will be people who are always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Sunday after Sunday these people hear the pastor preach. Wednesday after Wednesday these people engage in Bible Study, studying one book after the other. But if you look at their life over a span of the last few years has anything changed for the better? They still get angry and irritated, they still speak evil about others behind their back, they still harbor thoughts of resentment, they still love money, they still value the things of the world, they still haven’t forgiven those who have sinned against them – the list goes on. Always learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth – that is indeed an apt description.

A good question to ask ourselves is whether we are in this category of people. The knowledge of the truth will set us free from sin because Jesus said that the truth will set us free (Jn 8:32). So if we are studying the Bible alone or in a group, and reading Christian books and not becoming more and more free from sin then we do belong to the category of people who are always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Now Paul goes on to say that such people oppose the truth, are of depraved mind, and are rejected in regard to the faith. He says that they will not make further progress and their folly will be obvious to all. If we oppose the truth how will we be able to have sound doctrine? After all, sound doctrine is the truth, and if you oppose the truth then you are also opposing sound doctrine. You cannot get what you oppose.

Now, taking into account what has been said so far, think of this – you’ve got false doctrine all around you, and you’ve got everyone around you believing such false doctrines. Do you think it is going to be easy to identify what sound doctrine is? Further, do you think it is going to be easy to stand for the sound doctrine while everyone else is following a false doctrine? Not at all! In fact, the ones who have the sound doctrine are very likely going to be called heretics!

The people of Jesus’ day called Jesus – the very Word of God – a heretic. How ironic is that! What then will they call His disciples?

Mt 10:24-25 "A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household!"

With most people following false doctrine it is going to be difficult to hold on to sound doctrine.