Yesterday on Facebook, a quote from A.W. Tozer popped up (I follow the “A.W. Tozer - Daily Inspirations from Great Christians” FB page). It so much applied to today’s message:
"A whole new generation of Christians has come up believing that it is possible to “accept” Christ without forsaking the world." [1]
In today's world, you cannot tell the difference between many so-called Christians and the rest of the world. James, in his little letter, made a statement about being a friend of the world:
James 4:4 (NKJV) Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Yet the world tries to convince you otherwise. Today’s passage, in a larger context, is Paul giving final instructions to young Timothy. Here is the catch, Paul spends a lot time in his many letters warning about false teachers, but in today’s passage, Paul is warning Timothy about inclination of the audience for error.
2 Timothy 4:3–4 (NKJV) For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
ILL. On April 14, 1865 (the same day he was fatally shot by John Wilkes Booth) Abraham Lincoln signed legislation that would allow for the creation of the Secret Service—not to serve as presidential bodyguards ( In 1901, the agency was asked to begin its protective mission after the assassination of President William McKinley), but to help suppress money counterfeiting. Treasury Secretary Hugh McCulloch came up with the idea after Lincoln called for a commission to help stop the counterfeit money, which at that time was estimated to account for between one-third to one-half of the American currency in circulation. To this day, the Secret Service plays a role in creating new methods to fight against counterfeit bills, including training law enforcement operations to catch counterfeiters, investigating and apprehending criminal organizations and individuals, and raising consumer and business awareness about fake bills.
How do these federal agents train to spot counterfeits? Not with counterfeit money, but with the real thing. They know the real things so well inside and out. The feel, the markings, the watermarks the security strip. They know all aspects of the genuine article so well that when they encounter the false, it is obvious to them. POINT – the best way to decide if something is counterfeit is by handling and becoming familiar with the real thing. [2]
In cults (Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, plus other outlandish cults), as well as followers of the many health, wealth and prosperity preachers, many of their recruits are from Baptist churches.
Why? Because people do not know the real thing. Many do not know what they believe, they do not know the word of God, they are not familiar with the basic doctrines that the Bible teaches, they quickly fall for false teachers who miss-use scripture to tickle the ears, to appeal to the sinful nature of people. Here is the problem of the greater church today.
2 Timothy 4:3a (NKJV) For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine,
The time is coming and time has come. It is today. “They” in the verse is not talking about the world, “they” is referring to the church! Here is the world we live in:
1 Timothy 4:1–2 (NKJV) Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,
Falling from the faith because they were never firm in the faith. They never knew the deep doctrines of the Bible. As our culture becomes more and more anti-Christian, True Christians will stand out more and more like sore thumbs.
Please note I said “true Christians” because many so called Christians and Christian churches have fallen from the true faith. Their doctrines (teachings) have changed to reflect the values of the world, not those true doctrines of God as portrayed in Scripture.
Many preachers and churches water down the word and ignore the depth of Scripture of sound or healthy doctrines. They start with the verse and move on to some social and cultural issues. They are "tickling the ears" of their audience.
I am called to teach and preach scriptural doctrine, not just some cherry picked, pleasant, feel good, Bible stories.
The church going crowd in today’s world rejects sound doctrine: “but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears,” they are seeking out feel good messages. Why? Because their ears are itching. People are searching for teachers and preachers that will teach what they want to hear. And they (the false teachers and the feel good preachers) are out there. You can turn on your TV and search out and find the “Church of Feeling Good about Yourself.”
And we have whole groups of people that will follow them because they do not know the word of God. Think about it. Many do not want to know the Word. The fact is, the gospel will offend many. They do not want to know that they are sinners bound for hell. They do not want to know their lives are an offense to God and that God will punish. They want justification for their sins. So they seek after preaching that will not offend them, but make them feel good about themselves.
Think about politicians. Those running for office, wanting to get votes, and in the end they want to get power. So they say and make promises that they can never possibly ever deliver on,
yet people like what they say, their ears being tickled, and they will cast their votes accordingly. Vladimir Lenin, founder of modern communism, calls these people, “useful idiots.”
There are plenty of preachers like that, seeking "useful idiots," those that will send them money to the address at the bottom of their TV screens, to help them by a new $60 million jet because they have grown tired of the old one.
Those who do not know sound doctrine or worse yet, those who reject sound Bible doctrine because it is not what they want to hear, “they will heap up for themselves teachers.” And there are plenty of teachers and preachers out there ready to be “heaped up.” Those words “heap up” in the Greek, means to build up, like a wall around them, teachers that will teach what they want to hear, to be entertained, to make them feel good.
There is an old saying among true Bible preachers, We are to afflict those in comfort and to comfort those afflicted. It is in this vein that Paul instructs young Timothy:
2 Timothy 4:2 (NKJV) Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
God called me to preach the word. Not to entertain.
God didn’t call me to tell folks that God want to bless them with wealth and prosperity, but to preach from the word that we are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. We are sinners bound for hell and need of serious repentance (Rev 3:17).
I will not preach that it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere and that Jesus is a way to heaven, but God called me to preach from the word that Jesus is the only way to heaven. (John 14:6)
I will never preach that you can love the world and Jesus too, but God called me to preach from the word that to be friends with the world is to be enemies with God (James 4:4).
God didn’t call to preach that by accepting Jesus that your life will be all cheery and happiness, but to preach from the word that by becoming a true follower of Jesus, the world will hate and reject you because it first hated and rejected Him (John 15:18).
God didn’t call me to tell you that after coming to Jesus you can sit back, take your ease, eat, drink and be merry (Luke 12:19), but to tell you from the word that Jesus commanded his followers to take up their cross daily and follow Him (Luke 9:23).
God didn’t call me to tell you to build up your fortunes here on the earth, but how many times in the Word to did Jesus say your true treasure are those stored in heaven? (Matthew 6:19-21)
I was not called to preach that life here on earth will be easier with Jesus, but to tell you from the word that Jesus said in this life you will have tribulation, but rejoice because He has overcome the world (John 16:44).
Many do not to hear all this from the word, they are offended by the Word, so they seek out teachers to tell them what they want to hear. And when they find them they will:
2 Timothy 4:4 (NKJV) and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
Many will not believe the truth, they would rather believe the lie. The word that is translated “fables” is from the Greek word “mythos” where we get out word “myths.”
A person’s doctrine will be evident in their behavior. You cannot separate behavior from doctrine. If you really believed the sound doctrines in the Bible, your life will reflect it. If you believe the doctrine (teachings) of the world, your life will reflect that too.
But people like their sin, and many will choose to believe those things that will be justify their sins.
Many have come up and ask me legalistic questions, like is it ok live with my girlfriend/boyfriend if we really love each other (or other like question). My answer to them is if you have ask the question, you already know the answer. Do not ask me to justify your sin. But many will find someone who will justify their because they have itching ears.
The Bible warns of a great falling away (apostasy). This falling away the Bible speaks of is not directed at the world, but the church. Even today, We see whole denominations falling away, giving themselves over, not to the sound doctrines of the Bible, but the sinful and condemning doctrines of the world. And Scripture tells us that God will honor their desires:
2 Thessalonians 2:11–12 (NKJV) And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
"In the twenty-first-century West, examples abound with books and speakers garnering followings (and often profits) based on views regarding eschatology, sexual behavior, theories or purported discoveries proving the Bible is not true or needs radical reinterpretation, sensational religious experience, including wealth acquisition through faith, and other titillating claims, like describing what it is like to die and go to heaven. Paul’s words are a reminder that such fascinations are nothing new. North America and other relatively affluent regions, with their consumerist and often narcissistic social orders, decreasing biblical literacy, and lack of appetite for features of the gospel and God as presented in Scripture, are prime venues for such activity." [3]
But we see this as nothing new. It was a problem in the OT times as well.
Jeremiah 5:30–31 (NKJV) 30 “An astonishing and horrible thing Has been committed in the land: 31 The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule by their own power; And My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end?
The prophets prophesy lies and the people love it! Imagine that!
Today there are those who justify sin by saying that God is love and if two men or two women love each other, why not let them marry. Our culture have bought into the lie, hook, line and sinker. And there are preachers who will preach the lie and the people will love it.
I do not want to be anywhere near those preachers come judgment day. I shake in my boots when I consider that I will stand before almighty God and answer to Him for what I have preached and failed to preach from this pulpit.
Are you here this morning wondering how you appear to God. Not how you appear to the world, but to God.
If you are not offended by the word, then something is wrong. The Word tells us that all have sinned (Romans 3:23).
The most dangerous prayer in the Bible is:
Psalm 139:23–24 (NKJV) 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; 24 And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.
Ask God to reveal what is offensive to Him in you. Yes, the gospel is offensive, but it should offend you to righteousness. It should offend you to you knees in repentance begging Almighty God for forgiveness. Ask God to clean you. And you will be made clean by the blood of Jesus that was shed for your sins. It is only by the blood of Jesus that we are cleansed and made right before God. The world does not want to hear this, but that is the Gospel. We are sinners, but Jesus can make us whole.
We are sinners in need of saving. Jesus is not a way to be saved, He is the only way to be saved. Have you turned your eyes to Jesus.
[1] A. W. Tozer, Gems from Tozer (Camp Hill, PA: WingSpread, 1979), 51. (from "Man: The Dwelling Place of God"); and also at www.facebook.com/AidenW.Tozer
[2] www.mentalfloss.com/article/76335/7-facts-about-counterfeit-money; and www.secretservice.gov/about/history/events/; and www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/1-counterfeit-1-joseph-rodgers-sermon-on-distinguish-forgery-236679?ref=SermonSeriesDetails
[3] Robert W. Yarbrough, The Letters to Timothy and Titus, ed. D. A. Carson, Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; London: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos, 2018), 439.
