Misplaced Love

2 Timothy 3:1-5

INTRODUCTION: The last days are highlighted by folks loving the wrong people and wrong things. Due to this, loves that once seemed natural become laborious and rare. When found, we assume godly loves to be awkward and unusual, at times even repelling.

I. THE PRESENCE OF IMPROPER LOVES (2 Timothy 3:1-2)

A. The Product of Improper Loves – “perilous times” (2 Timothy 3:1)

B. The Content of Improper Loves (2 Timothy 3:2-4)

1. “For men shall lovers of their own selves” (2 Timothy 3:2)
2. “Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:4)
3. Examples
a. Loving “evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness” (Psalm 52:3)
b. Loving “darkness rather than light” (John 3:19)
c. Loving “the praise of men more than the praise of God” (John 12:43)
d. Loving “money” departing from “the faith” (1 Timothy 6:10)
e. Loving “this present world” departing from the service of God (2 Timothy 4:10)

II. THE ABSENCE OF PROPER LOVES (2 Timothy 3:3)

A. The Impossibility of Coexisting Conflicting Loves

1. “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15)
2. “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other” (Matthew 6:24)

B. The Absence of Natural Affections (2 Timothy 3:3)

1. The Lord and His word (Mark 12:30)
2. The saints of God (1 John 4:11)
3. Our families
a. Husband’s love for his wife (Ephesians 5:25)
b. Wife’s love for her husband (Titus 2:4)
c. Love for children (Titus 2:4)

III. THE DANGERS OF MISPLACED LOVE

A. The Determination of Love

1. “Love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave” (Song of Solomon 8:6)
2. “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it” (Song of Solomon 8:7)

B. The Decision of Love

1. To love the Lord and those who love Him
2. To love those “that hate the LORD” (2 Chronicles 19:2)

C. The Discovery of Misplaced Love

1. Only one love can satisfy – “He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase” (Ecclesiastes 5:10)
2. All other loves will eventually become destructive (Jeremiah 4:30; Lamentations 1:19)
3. All other loves will eventually leave one comfortless (Lamentations 1:2)
4. Other loves will lead to sorrows (1 Timothy 6:10)

CONCLUSION: Who is the recipient of your love? Is your greatest love presently reserved for self, for sin, or for the Saviour?