II Timothy 3:13-15

My concern in starting off in this place is both the Bible and history show that human nature will degenerate as far as it is allowed. Evil men and impostors will wax (grow) worse and worse, or they will go from bad to worse. Human nature always has a tendency to degenerate, and I want you to tie this into the series of sermons that began two sermons ago.

Last week I said, "Do not stand still." What I am beginning to say right here, now, is that conscious efforts have to be made to keep from slipping backward. Human nature, if it is allowed, will degenerate and just keep on going. If it is left on its own, the tendency is almost invariably down and backwards.

However, we have found that if there is strong leadership, sometimes the tendency is up. The book of Judges, the book of Kings, and the book of Chronicles shows this very clearly. If there was a good judge, then people tended to follow in that direction. If there was a bad judge, the bottom dropped out of peoples' morals and ethics. The same thing happened with the kings. If there was a good king, things turned in the right direction. Human nature, you see, has this proclivity to adapt to its environment.

That is of great concern to any minister who is worth his salt, who is concerned about the well-being of the flock for which he is responsible. Paul was concerned about false teaching coming into the congregation. That is why he wrote this to Timothy to be very careful, because the proclivity of human nature is to go in the direction that is prevalent within the congregation. If there is good leadership, it will have a tendency to go up. If the leadership is weak or passive, it will have a tendency to go down. Human nature has that proclivity, and so Paul was admonishing Timothy to make an effort to continue.

It is interesting that these people who were introducing the heresies within the congregation, delusion or deception was their weapon, and it was by delusion or deception that they themselves were being slain. I am not talking about being literally killed, but they were heading toward the lake of fire through the very things that they were teaching.

I think it is my experience from reading God's Word that the hardest part of Christianity is not finding new things, but continuing in or holding on to that which we have already learned. The reason for this is because human nature is so adaptable. There is this sheep tendency that is in all of us, and we want to conform to the environment that we are in.

Out in the world, we can look at all kinds of cultures, like the aborigines, or the Pygmies, and even cannibals that have cultures we would be very quick to label as degenerate. That might be a harsh judgment of them, but we would at least say that they are primitive, that they are not as well developed culturally as we are. And yet, if you have done any kind of reading about these people who live in these kind of cultures, you will find these people have strictures, or laws, or codes that they live by that regulate their conduct. While it might be all right for them to murder and eat somebody from another tribe, it is not right for them to eat somebody from their own tribe. Minds adjust to accept that kind of standard.

Now, what is it that holds you in check? What is it that makes you keep a rein on yourself that might keep you from disobeying? What is it that says to you, "I will go this far, and no further"? Some might say it is the fear of God, and that is fine. But I think more of us would be likely to say that it is our conscience than it is the fear of God.

Much of what guides people in the Western world in which there has been a fair amount of contact with the Bible, and the religions that tend to be based at least somewhat on the Bible, that a fair amount of what guides people is not in the Bible.

The Western world thinks that what guides the people is the Bible. Even though there has been a fair amount of contact with the Bible and … . . .