Script embedded in HTML

“I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;  Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”[i]

In this second book that Paul wrote to his young protégé Timothy, Paul responds to some of the difficulties that Timothy faced. He wrote to encourage, instruct, and to warn him on how to handle the conditions in the church where Timothy served as pastor. He counseled him on how to live a godly life in his church and how to lead his people.

This particular section in chapter 4 continues what actually begins in chapter 3. At the beginning of chapter 3, Paul warned Timothy and reminded him of those in the Church who would love themselves, who would not follow the truth, and who would try to draw others away from the truth, “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.”[ii]

This section from 2 Timothy 4 describes the conditions and causes among professing believers that give rise to false prophets and teachers who have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof. These conditions give them opportunity, encourage them to foster their fallacies and errors, and enable them to step into the vacuum where they can assume positions of leadership and lead people astray.  Those same conditions exist now. They infect the professing Church of Jesus Christ today. The counsel that Paul gave to Timothy can instruct and warn the existing church.

First, the professing believers disavowed sound doctrine. “They will not endure sound doctrine.”[iii]  Paul states—and he says to them very clearly—“There is going to come a time when people among you will disavow sound doctrine. They will go after that which is false, and they will not adhere to that which is true.”

What does it mean when it says they will not endure sound doctrine? It means, very literally, they won’t stand for it. They will not let it happen. They won’t let it have its emphasis. They will not put up with it. They want something else.

What sound doctrine will they not endure? The literal meaning here actually means “the teaching.” What, then, is the teaching?  A little earlier in his first letter to Timothy, chapter 1, verse 10, Paul used the exact phrase “sound doctrine” and explained what it meant in verse 11. He stated that sound doctrine was “According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.”[iv]

The sound doctrine that Paul described to Timothy, which professing believers would not endure, was the gospel. They would not endure the good news of the gospel that would save them and bring them back into relationship with God the Father. This group included not just those on the outside of the Church, but also those within the Church, Church members and professing believers, who said they followed Christ. These would not put up with the gospel. 

The professing church faces a grave problem today, the misstatement of the gospel. The truth of the gospel is not proclaimed but disguised. Part of it is presented as the whole of the gospel. Therefore, many people think they have obtained salvation but they have not obtained it. They have accepted a portion of the gospel, not the whole gospel. They have not heard the totality of the gospel.

For example, the modern day presentation of the gospel avoids the issue of sin, because people do not want to hear about their sins. However, the preaching of the “gospel” without including the sinfulness of mankind eliminates the key element of the gospel. The gospel provides salvation from sin. Sadly, many professing believers think they have received salvation, but they have never come to recognize their dire sinfulness before God. No one has ever talked to them about it.

Another rejected portion of the gospel involves the fact that no one contributes anything to his or her salvation. One preacher said wisely, “The only thing that you bring to the salvation experience is your sin.” Sinners, utterly helpless and dead in their trespasses and sins, obtain salvation only by a gift of grace from God. The presentation of the gospel today frequently excludes this truth as part of the gospel. It is assumed that sinners supply something to their salvation. However, salvation is neither a cooperative experience nor a synergistic one where each party participates on a sharing basis. No, sinners contribute nothing to their salvation but their sins.

Leaders and people within the professing Church today follow the exact same practice that Paul warned Timothy people would practice in that day. They will not endure the gospel.  They will not put up with it. They do not teach it. They don’t call for its responsibilities.  They don’t explain it in its fullness and all of its parts. This describes the first issue that Paul’s warning to Timothy emphasizes, which gives rise to false prophets: people do not want the gospel.

However, there is something else these professing believers will do. They delight in satisfying their fleshly natures and desires: “…but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.”[v] The phrase “but after” means they do not want this, but they do want something else. They did not want a spiritual emphasis in their lives, but they delighted in the pursuit of their lusts. That captivates their interests.

Someone has described the professing Church today as a mile wide and an inch deep. Sadly, the professing church today is neither a mile wide nor an inch deep. Professing believers, who lack interest in the spiritual condition of their lives, fill the church today. Holiness appears reserved only for the devout. Interest in knowing God intimately has declined significantly. Unfortunately, many professing believers want to know God, as that song says, “at a distance.”

They say, “Don’t interfere with my life too much, God.  You know, just kind of stand over there at an arm’s length.  Don’t interfere with my life, my desires, and my plans.  Don’t try and teach me to trust and walk with You in faithfulness and in obedience.”

The professing Church lacks interest in a deep walk with God: understanding Him, knowing Him, and pursuing after Him. These people lack the desire to grasp the truths revealed in God’s Word about God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 

Instead, they departed after those who would satisfy their fleshly desires. To soothe their itching ears, they “heaped to themselves” pastors and leaders who fostered and appeased their fleshly natures. Instead of the gospel and holy living, they wanted things that would appeal to their lusts. These professing believers sought out teachers who would scratch their ears and make them feel good. These conditions give rise to false prophets and to false teachers.

Paul’s warning to Timothy fits the church today. Unhappily, these conditions describe today’s church services. The rise of false prophets and teachers fills this need, this desire by those who profess to follow Christ. They pursue and look for those who will give them what they want. At the demand of a spiritually declining church, these teachers have arisen and have come to satisfy those needs. They will scratch the itching ears. 

The Bible expressly speaks against these demands. Paul wrote to his friends at Rome, “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing.”[vi]  He also warned them in chapter 13 not to make provision for the flesh:  “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.”[vii]  This reference combines the things that people reject. They reject the putting on of Christ, and they pursue after the satisfying of their flesh and their lusts.  Paul said, “Don’t do that. That is not the way you should live as a follower of Christ.”

In addition, the Bible describes many who delighted in pursuing after God. David in a number of writings in the Psalms expressed his passion: “I delight to do thy will O God. I delight in your precepts.  I delight in your law.” Psalm One describes the blessed man, the one who experiences the blessings of God, as one who delights himself in God’s law.  “But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.”[viii] These represent a host of examples exactly opposite to what many in the professing Church follow today.

Note the consequences that Paul identified: “And they shall turn away their ears from the truth.”[ix]  They disowned the truth. One of the great challenges facing the professing Church today centers on the debate on the existence of truth.  The world has said this for a long time, trying to debunk and degrade the gospel and the Scriptures. They have said, “Well, you can’t know the truth. There is no truth. Truth?  What is truth?  You can’t ever know the truth. You tell me that you know the truth?  You don’t know the truth any more than I know the truth.”

Of course, the world would say that. They don’t want to face up to the truth, because it describes them as they are, and they don’t want that.  But, it becomes an entirely different problem when men and women, who profess themselves as followers of Christ, assume positions as leaders and pastors of churches and say, “You can’t know the truth.” Sadly, many of the leaders who say, “You can’t know the truth” write books, travel on speaking tours, and pastor churches. 

In essence, they teach that every one can know their truth but cannot know God’s truth. When a false prophet, teacher, pastor, or leader makes these kinds of claims, (s)he establishes himself or herself above God. They propose themselves as the presenters of the truth, not God. 

The false prophet or teacher who says, “You can’t know the truth,” contradicts Scripture. They sound like the serpent in the Garden of Eden who said to Adam and Eve, “You’ll not die. God hasn’t told you the truth.  I am telling you the truth. Believe me. Don’t believe God.”

On the night of the Last Supper, Jesus gave a series of messages to His disciples on a variety of issues. One of the greatest issues concerned the Holy Spirit in John 14, 15 and 16. Jesus called the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Truth.  On more than one occasion, He called Him the Spirit of Truth and told how the Holy Spirit would guide believers into the truth. “And when He comes, He will guide you into the truth. Many things I cannot tell you now, because you cannot understand them, you will not endure them, nor will you understand them. You cannot grasp them now. But when He comes, He will guide you into the truth.”

Further, Jesus Himself said, “I am the truth.” In His prayer in John chapter 17, Jesus talked to His Father and said to Him, “One thing you will do Father; you will sanctify these people in the truth.” The Bible presents each member of the Triune God, the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, as providers, teachers, and revealers of truth. To declare that no one can know spiritual truth defames the triune God.

False teachers and prophets welcome the opportunity to encourage their followers to enjoy an easy and false doctrine. They do it subtly, carefully, and persuasively, so that it sounds like the truth when, in fact, it is error.

Last, this passage reveals the ultimate consequence of those who will not endure the gospel, but will pursue after the satisfaction of their own lusts. They will turn to error. In the process, they will reject any interest in spiritual emphasis in their lives and will gather to themselves false prophets who will deny the truth. Ultimately, they will turn to fables.  They shall turn unto fables, imaginations, and stories: something false and not true. They will believe and follow error, not the Bible. Presently, the church has just begun to enter this phase of decline.

The church must be warned.  The church must have her eyes opened to the truth. The truth exists and believers can know the truth. It will set them free.  This whole sequence presented in 2 Timothy 2.3-4 describes some of the most recently published Christian magazines, and television and radio broadcasts. These false prophets and teachers write and present articles over the internet. They preach in churches and to vast crowds all over the world. Organizations have risen in the last few years for the sole purpose of presenting error as true Christianity. It is here. You may have missed them, but, they are here. 

Has it gobbled you up?  Have you fallen prey to it?  Have you thought that in your own mind, “Well, maybe there is something to what they say? Maybe that is true.” Here is a warning. It is false.  It is fable.  It is imagination.  It isn’t true.

Thank you, heavenly Father, for your great grace in making provision for your children by giving them warnings.  In giving the warnings you present that which is true and that which is false and the consequences of that which is false.  And, Father, by your Holy Spirit, apply these truths in our lives, that we might be taught by them, encouraged by them, strengthened by them, reaffirmed in the truth by them, corrected by them, conformed more assuredly and more completely to the truth. We will give to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all of the glory for what you accomplish.  Amen.