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Journey Of Life
Living by Our Convictions

by Alistair Begg

There will be seasons or spells in the journey of life that are painful and perilous. Opposition to the truth of the Gospel is not a passing feature; it is a permanent fixture.

Any notion that serving Christ in the cause of the Gospel is an invitation to tranquility certainly cannot be learned from the Apostle Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy. Keenly aware of the hostility of the times, Paul also is aware of the timidity of Timothy and of the absolute necessity of providing for Timothy the keys to stability in a shaky world.

Paul urges Timothy not to be ashamed,(1) but to aim for God’s approval(2) and to continue in the faith.(3) Paul seems to be saying to Timothy, "I know you’re young, I know you’re timid, but let me make this absolutely clear. Terrible times will appear, and the environment in which you are to exercise the ministry of the Gospel will be as follows."(4)

Then Paul writes, "There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God--having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them."(5)

"Opposition to the truth of the Gospel is not a passing feature; it is a permanent fixture."
Paul is not giving simply a litany of the chaos in the culture, but he is identifying the fact that when we find religious profession interwoven with godless living, we need to exercise careful discernment. And he is urging Timothy to avoid religious hucksters.

Indeed, when we think about the ministry of Jesus, the mercy of God was extended to every penitent sinner so as to grant cleansing and forgiveness and restoration. Jesus’ most stinging condemnations were reserved for religious con men and for those who tolerated their activities.

These false teachers prey upon a certain kind of individual, one who displays both a moral and an intellectual weakness, and who is burdened by sins. These teachers can play upon such people’s sense of guilt and can feed their minds with all kinds of deceitful lies.

These teachers are pretenders who use the right kind of language but at the same time distort its meaning. They reveal the corruption of their minds and the condition of their lives. Paul adds these striking words: "So also these men oppose the truth--men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone."(6)

When Paul left the Church in Ephesus after having established the work there under God, he said to the people, "I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears."(7)

In Paul’s words we see this striking, passionate emphasis on being alert, being discerning, being discriminating, being watchful. Paul writes Timothy that he is to pay attention to all of the things that Paul has told him.

And here is a lesson for us: Let us not be believers who scurry around for access to the latest notions, grab for the newest gimmicks, run for the next conference in the hope that we