2 TIMOTHY 3:1-5 (NIV)

1 BUT MARK THIS: THERE WILL BE TERRIBLE TIMES IN THE LAST DAYS. 2 PEOPLE WILL BE

LOVERS OF THEMSELVES, LOVERS OF MONEY, BOASTFUL, PROUD, ABUSIVE, DISOBEDIENT TO

THEIR PARENTS, UNGRATEFUL, UNHOLY,

3 WITHOUT LOVE, UNFORGIVING, SLANDEROUS, WITHOUT SELF-CONTROL, BRUTAL, NOT LOVERS OF THE GOOD, 4

TREACHEROUS, RASH, CONCEITED, LOVERS OF PLEASURE RATHER THAN LOVERS OF GOD-- 5 HAVING A FORM OF GODLINESS BUT DENYING

ITS POWER. HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THEM.

1. RELATIONSHIPS WITH STRINGS ATTACHED WILL NOT

LAST LONG

• JOHN 13:31-38 (NRSV) • 31 WHEN HE HAD GONE OUT, JESUS SAID,

"NOW THE SON OF MAN HAS BEEN GLORIFIED, AND GOD HAS BEEN GLORIFIED IN HIM.

• JOHN 13:21 (NRSV) • 21 "VERY TRULY, I TELL YOU, ONE OF YOU

WILL BETRAY ME.”• 25 SO WHILE RECLINING NEXT TO JESUS,

HE ASKED HIM, "LORD, WHO IS IT?”

• 26 JESUS ANSWERED, "IT IS THE ONE TO WHOM I GIVE THIS PIECE OF BREAD WHEN I HAVE DIPPED IT IN THE DISH." SO WHEN HE HAD DIPPED THE PIECE OF BREAD, HE GAVE IT TO JUDAS SON OF SIMON ISCARIOT.

• 27 AFTER HE RECEIVED THE PIECE OF BREAD, SATAN ENTERED INTO HIM. JESUS SAID TO HIM, "DO QUICKLY WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO."

• JESUS KNEW ALL ALONG THAT JUDAS WAS THE BETRAYER

• JOHN WAS THE ONLY ONE THAT KNEW THAT JUDAS WAS THE BETRAYER

• JOHN WAS AMAZED TO SEE HOW JESUS HANDLED THE BETRAYAL

• JOHN’S FUTURE MINISTRY AND LIFE MESSAGE WAS FORMED IN THIS INSTANT

• JOHN’S LIFE MESSAGE:• 1 John 4:7-12 (NIV) 7 Dear friends, let us love

one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

• 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

2. THE LOVE OF GOD TOWARDS US IS PURE WITH NO STRINGS

ATTACHED• God’s love is meteoric, his loyalty

astronomic, His purpose titanic, his verdicts oceanic. Yet in his largeness nothing gets lost; Not a man, not a mouse, slips through the cracks. (Psa 36:5-6 MSG)

• 5 Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. (NRSV)

3. WE ARE CALLED TO BELIEVE GOD AND LOVE EACH OTHER

• 1 JOHN 3:23, “AND THIS IS HIS COMMANDMENT [SINGULAR], THAT WE BELIEVE IN THE NAME OF HIS SON JESUS CHRIST AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER, JUST AS HE HAS COMMANDED US.”

• JOHN 13:34-35 (NKJV) • 34 A NEW COMMANDMENT I GIVE TO YOU,

THAT YOU LOVE ONE ANOTHER; AS I HAVE LOVED YOU, THAT YOU ALSO LOVE ONE ANOTHER. 35 BY THIS ALL WILL KNOW THAT YOU ARE MY DISCIPLES, IF YOU HAVE LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER."

• 1 JOHN 2:8 IT IS A NEW COMMANDMENT THAT I AM WRITING TO YOU, WHICH IS TRUE IN HIM AND IN YOU [IT’S TRULY NEW IN JESUS, AND IT IS TRULY NEW IN YOU], BECAUSE THE DARKNESS IS PASSING AWAY AND THE TRUE LIGHT IS ALREADY SHINING. “WHOEVER SAYS HE IS IN THE LIGHT AND HATES HIS BROTHER IS STILL IN DARKNESS. WHOEVER LOVES HIS BROTHER ABIDES IN THE LIGHT.”

CONCLUSION• JOHN 15:9, “AS THE FATHER HAS LOVED

ME, SO HAVE I LOVED YOU. ABIDE IN MY LOVE.”