Staying Tender Hearted In a Cruel World
Series: Grace Energized Men
John Barnett
Titus 2:2e
Love is the greatest of all the manifestations of God at work in the life of His children.
That is why Jesus warned His disciples that it would be increasingly harder and harder to maintain that strong and healthy love, in this ungodly world.
As we open to Matthew 24, we are watching Jesus sit down near the end of His earthly ministry and paint a vivid picture of what the world would look like as it neared its final days. We have studied that message in Matthew 24 many times. But today I would like you to look at just two verses in that chapter with me-v. 11-12.
Matthew 24:11-12 "Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.12 "And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. NKJV
Note the two indicators Jesus mentions:
False Doctrines Increasing and Genuine Love Decreasing
Jesus warned that: as the end of days approaches, false doctrine would increase and that real love would decrease. The word "grow cold" is not an adjective describing a condition; it is a primary verb describing that the active display of love will be radically decreased.
Repeat those two indicators with me, we are in a world where:
? False doctrine will what? INCREASE (right); and where
? True love would what? DECREASE.
So the church nearing the end of the age is faced with increasing false doctrine and decreasing genuine love.
Of course, to prepare for such an onslaught facing Christ's church, God had a plan. That plan is the fifth of the Titus 2 qualities that God wants to be lived out in the godly older men. We find it in that second verse of Titus 2:
Titus 2:2 that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; NKJV
Notice the proximity of "sound faith" (vs. the false doctrine) and "sound love" (vs. the defective love) in this passage. Paul was addressing a current and future need in ...
Series: Grace Energized Men
John Barnett
Titus 2:2e
Love is the greatest of all the manifestations of God at work in the life of His children.
That is why Jesus warned His disciples that it would be increasingly harder and harder to maintain that strong and healthy love, in this ungodly world.
As we open to Matthew 24, we are watching Jesus sit down near the end of His earthly ministry and paint a vivid picture of what the world would look like as it neared its final days. We have studied that message in Matthew 24 many times. But today I would like you to look at just two verses in that chapter with me-v. 11-12.
Matthew 24:11-12 "Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.12 "And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. NKJV
Note the two indicators Jesus mentions:
False Doctrines Increasing and Genuine Love Decreasing
Jesus warned that: as the end of days approaches, false doctrine would increase and that real love would decrease. The word "grow cold" is not an adjective describing a condition; it is a primary verb describing that the active display of love will be radically decreased.
Repeat those two indicators with me, we are in a world where:
? False doctrine will what? INCREASE (right); and where
? True love would what? DECREASE.
So the church nearing the end of the age is faced with increasing false doctrine and decreasing genuine love.
Of course, to prepare for such an onslaught facing Christ's church, God had a plan. That plan is the fifth of the Titus 2 qualities that God wants to be lived out in the godly older men. We find it in that second verse of Titus 2:
Titus 2:2 that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; NKJV
Notice the proximity of "sound faith" (vs. the false doctrine) and "sound love" (vs. the defective love) in this passage. Paul was addressing a current and future need in ...
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