Keeping in mind what we read
in Matthew chapter 24, Paul repeats much, in essence, of what our
Lord told his disciples there in his epistle, his last epistle,
to his beloved young son in the faith, Timothy. Let's read the
first four verses here in chapter 4 of 2 Timothy. I charge thee
therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge
the quick and the dead, the living and the dead, at his appearing
in 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 lust 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." That time that Paul spoke of years before this
has now arisen. that time that Paul spoke to
the elders of the churches of Ephesus when he met them on his
way to Jerusalem. That's recorded for us in Acts
chapter 20. Here's a portion of what Paul
said. When they were come to him, that is these elders, he
said unto them, you know from the first day that I came into
Asia after what manner I have been with you at all seasons. This is Acts chapter 20 verse
18. Serving the Lord with all humility
of mine and with many tears and temptations which befell me by
the lying in wait of the Jews and how I kept back nothing,
nothing be it promise or precept, nothing that was profitable unto
you but have showed you and have taught you publicly and from
house to house testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks,
repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And now behold, I go bound in
the Spirit into Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall
befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesses in every
city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me." Listen. to what Paul says in verse 24
of that chapter, remembering what we read here in 2 Timothy
4. Paul said, but none of these
things move me. Neither count I my life dear
unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy. And
the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, which is this,
nothing else, No, nothing added to, nothing in addition to, nothing
better than to testify the gospel of the grace of God. That time
had come. Paul is now finishing his course. Look at verse 6 here in 2nd Timothy
4. For I am now ready to be offered,
and the time of my departure is at hand. Paul is in prison. He says in the chapter on down
that his first answer, no man stood with him. Everyone had
forsook him. Timothy, would you bring the
cloak? It's cold here. Bring my cloak and bring the
parchments. Ever the student. For I'm now
ready to be offered. And the time of my departure,
Simeon said, Lord, let your servant depart in peace. The time of
my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight. I
have finished. My course, my race is run. I'm ready to step over the finish
line." And soon after this, Paul most likely, being a Roman citizen,
it was illegal against their own law to crucify, so more than
likely he was beheaded. Paul said, I have fought a good
fight, I have finished my course, I have kept of faith. Thank God for that faithful,
faithful man. Henceforth, there is laid up
for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but
unto all them also that love his appearing. This inspired
account is a record of Paul's last words. His last words. Again, verse 1, he says, I charge
thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ. It's as
though Paul called on God himself and the Lord Jesus Christ to
bear witness. He calls them in as witness to
the charge that he's given Timothy. Man, that's serious. That's serious. And don't consider this simply
a charge to a preacher. To a large degree, even though
you don't preach, this gospel, this precious gospel, this glorious
gospel has been committed to your trust, to your trust. So
this charge is not just to Timothy or preachers. I charge thee before
God, before the Lord Jesus Christ, and in view of this, in light
of this, Paul says, who shall judge the quick and the dead
at his appearing and his kingdom? There's no question about that.
As Peter said, in the last days there'll come scoffers and mockers
and they'll say, well that's just a fairy tale. We've been
hearing that all our life. You Christians have been saying
that all our life. Where is his coming? Where is
he at? And Peter said, they're willingly ignorant that a day
with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is
as a day. God, Paul said again in Acts
17, to those philosophers, those smart people on Mars Hill, those
blind ignorant people, Paul said, because he, that is God, had
appointed a day, just as he reminds Timothy, into which he shall
judge the world in righteousness. People say, well, God's not fair.
Oh, what a stupid thing to say. God's absolutely fair, most fair. He will judge the world in righteousness.
Everybody, everybody's going to get exactly what they deserve. By that man whom he had appointed,
whereupon he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he had
raised him from the dead." Ooh, that makes this appointment we
have before the judgment bar of God certain, doesn't it? And then in verse 2, Paul says,
he tells us what that charge was that he committed to Timothy
and reminded Timothy of. He says, preach the word. How's that strike you? Preach
the word. He doesn't say, Timothy, I charge
you to preach. Preach the word. A lot of people
claim to preach, but they don't preach the word. Paul didn't
say, woe unto me if I preach not. He says, woe unto me if
I preach not the gospel, the truth of God, the glorious gospel,
that concerns God's glorious son. Oh, does that not make it
precious? Preach nothing else. Preach it
always, Timothy, in season and out of season. My brother, the
fisherman, he says the best time to fish is when it's raining
and when it's not. Paul says the best time to preach
the gospel is in season and out of season. In other words, all
the time. When I was preparing this message,
I remembered something Brother Henry Mahan said. This may not
be verbatim, but it's pretty close. He says, preach the word. He looked down at us, a lot of
young preachers, I was young at the time. He said, preach
the word. If they rejoice in it, or if
they hate it, preach it. When they thank you for it, or
would never do, preach the word. When they pay you to hear it
or they don't, preach the word. Preach it anyway. I remembered
also a story I read related by Mr. Spurgeon. He said there was
a preacher from America visiting him one time, and this preacher
met him in his study before service, and he said, Mr. Spurgeon, you
told me something about preaching the gospel many years ago that
I never forgot. And Spurgeon said, what was it?
You told me the best time to preach the gospel was in season
and out of season. And that brings us to verse 3.
This is our text. Verse 3, for the time will come,
this is why you should be steadfast in preaching the gospel, Timothy,
for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But after their own lust shall
they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. Sound doctrine and itching ears. That's the title of my message.
For the time will come when they won't listen to it, they won't
want to hear it, they won't put up with it. That time has come. Only a person who doesn't know
Christ, only someone who is in utter darkness, that's blind,
would deny that. That time has come. It's been
here for a while. But never, never more so than
it is right now. Right now, in the day you and
I live. Let me illustrate it this way.
Can you imagine if the Apostle Paul stepped into
the average church this morning to worship? Can you imagine that? would look at what's called worship,
would sit and listen to the message that's being proclaimed in most
places, there would be nothing that Paul would recognize. That's
exactly so. He would recognize nothing. He
saw that they say is worship, worms bragging on worms, And
Paul's message was, God forbid that I should glory, save in
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he would look around and
see him glorying in everything but that. No wonder Paul would
be amazed because there's nothing there that even faintly resembled
the gospel that Paul preached that he was telling Timothy to
preach as well. That same gospel he told Timothy
to preach is a rare thing in our day. And why? Why? Why has the message changed? You ever think about that? Has
God changed? Has God changed? Is He still
not the just God and holy? Does He still not demand perfection? Does He still not declare the
soul that sinned, it must die? As we read, God has appointed
a day in which He shall judge the world. Is that not still
true? Has God changed? Has man changed? Has he evolved
into something better than Adam was when he fell? No, no. He's
exactly the same. Exactly the same. He might stand
with a smartphone in one hand and keys to a limousine in the
next. He might get on a plane and fly across the country. But
in his heart, he's exactly like Adam was when he fell in the
garden and tried to hide from God. He does exactly what Adam
does. He sows his fig leaves to self-righteousness,
thinking God Almighty's going to accept that. But God didn't
accept it, did he? He took them away. He took away
what Adam and Eve had sown with their own hands. He said, that's
not enough. That won't do. And he gave them
coats of animal skins, a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ who
was sacrificed for us. In chapter 6 of 1st Timothy,
verse 20, Paul said, O Timothy, keep that which is committed
to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings and opposition
of science falsely so called. It might be helpful to define
a few of the words and expressions that Paul uses here in verse
3. He speaks of itching ears. What in the world does that mean? He wasn't talking about a bug
landed on your ear and you need to scratch it. Itching ears. Those people who have this ailment,
as Paul says in the verse, will not tolerate sound doctors. They would rather, as Paul says
in verse 4, hear fables. A fable is a made-up story to
enforce some moral principle, usually, but it's totally untrue,
the fable itself. Paul says folks that have this
ailment of itching ears will refuse to hear God's Word. They
refuse to believe God's Word and absolutely refuse to bow
to God's Word. I've said it before and I'll
say it today. Anybody, I don't care if they
profess to have known God for 50 years, if they refuse to bow
to the word of God, they're rebels. They're rebels. It's just ridiculous
to think someone can know Christ and be saved and refuses to bow
to him. That's just ridiculous. Itching ears, the Greek word
for itch, literally means to rub, to scratch, to tickle. And
these folks want their ears tickled. They want to be massaged rather
than a message from God. Sermons that charm them rather
than tell them the truth, that entertain them rather than edify. The people Paul warns about will
have ears which have to be continually tickled with novelties. Again,
Acts 17. Paul, on Mars Hill, when he was
in Athens, we read that those Athenians spent their time in
nothing else either to hear or to tell some new thing. That's
all they did. That's why they told Paul, let's
see what he has to say. This babbler, this seed picker,
the word means. Big time religion is big business
in America, isn't it? And they've created a monster, They've created a monster that
has an appetite for bigger and better attractions. And John,
if the pastors don't give it to them, they just won't come
back. We'll be, you entertain us, you give us skits, play,
give us anything, everything. Keep us entertained or we'll
go somewhere where they will. Jeremiah chapter 6, verses 14
and 15. They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my
people, slightly saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they had
committed abomination? No, they weren't ashamed. Neither
could they blush. Therefore, they shall fall among
them that fall. At the time that I visit them,
they shall be cast down, saith the Lord." As I read that, I'm
sending up thanks to God Almighty. He called me out of darkness,
Lester, into his marvelous light. Thank you, God, that you didn't
leave me where I was, where I wanted to be, and would still be if
you hadn't come to me and said, live. Oh, thank you. Thank you
that I'm not engulfed in that darkness. Religious, oh yeah,
religious, but lost. Thank you for revealing your
son. I was visiting my older brother,
the golfer. I think I told you one time,
We both were visiting my mother in West Virginia. He didn't bring
his golf clubs, so he shared mine. And he beat me with my
own clubs. And that's pretty sorry. But
I was visiting him one time in Ohio. I think I was going up
to Michigan to preach. And we were sitting in the living
room. He had the TV on. And I guess he thought I would
want to watch some of that religious stuff. He didn't know any better. PTL, past the loop, or something
like that. And he stopped the channel on
Benny Hinn. You heard of that huckster? And
he said, Larry, what do you think of him? He could tell my expert.
I didn't want to hurt Jim's feelings. I was a guest in his home. I
said, not much, Jim. And he flipped it over to another,
not much, not much. I said, Jim, do you ever listen
to what they're saying? Do you ever pay any attention
to what they're saying, what they talk about? He said, well,
what do you mean? I said, Jim, Listen to what comes
out of their mouth. It's always about money, about
your money that they want you to send to them. Give me, give
me. What does the Word of God say? They're never full. It's
never enough for these hucksters. Out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaketh. I said, Jim, that's not the Gospel. That's not the Gospel. Jeremiah
chapter 6 verse 16, thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways
and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way,
and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. Oh yeah, the old paths, the good
way, sound doctrine, sound doctrine. Notice what Paul says about these
with itching ears. They'll heap to themselves teachers.
After their own lust, shall they heap to themselves teachers.
What's that mean, after their own lust? Well, they know what
they want to hear. They've already made up their
mind. So they'll pay someone to tell them what they want to
hear. They'll heap to themselves teachers. And people that want
Such a thing will find heaps of such teachers to supply the
need. Where there's a demand for something,
there's a supply for it, is there not? The evidence of that is
the popularity of messages that make salvation dependent upon
man's will and not God's will. Go down the street. Go any direction
you want to. Those places will be packed.
They'll be packed. Because they're telling folks,
If you'll take the first step, God will take the rest. God's
done all He can do. The rest is up to you. Let's
put the crown upon your mighty free will instead of the crown
upon the head of God's free grace in Christ. They hear this faith. God is too loving to judge anyone,
to condemn anyone. God won't send a man to hell.
If God doesn't do it, who does? The devil doesn't do it. He doesn't
have that power. God does. or this, that the death
of Jesus Christ was something that only made salvation possible
and not certain. How dishonoring. How dishonoring
that is of the Son of God. If those things are true, let
me ask you this. What difference does God's will,
or the death of Christ, or the work of God's Holy Spirit make?
What difference does it make? I mean, if all is done for everyone,
then what difference does it make? And then this most popular
message that I mentioned a moment ago, God wants everybody healthy
and wealthy and content in this world. And those ear-tickling,
smooth-talking teachers can sure fill up a building, can't they?
I was visiting Brother Mike Giddens. Friday, I think it was. Thursday
or Friday. And he was telling me about a
fellow, and I met this man one time when I preached Brother
Lloyd Rogers' funeral. This fellow came up to me, grabbed
my hand, and shook it. He said, man, I don't care what
you call that. Call it Calvinism. Call it sovereign grace. Call
it what you want to. But I love that. I mean, you've
got to get together. I said, well, come by and see me. I hadn't
seen him since. That's the same fellow that Brother Mike was
telling me about. He said he sat down with this
guy and asked him point blank. Do you believe these things?
Do you believe these glorious doctrines of God's grace?" And
he said, yeah, but I can't preach. I can't preach. And I said, I'll
tell you why he couldn't, Mike. That right there, that right
there, Mike said, that was exactly right. I said across from a couple
during the conference in Danville a few weeks ago, and I see them
here and there, and I asked I said, you go to church in Birmingham?
He said, yeah. I said, do they preach the gospel there? And
I could tell it kind of made him nervous. He started squirming.
His wife sitting next to him spoke up and said, no, they don't
preach the gospel there. I said, why do you go? Why do
you go? Man, I will stay in bed before
I get up and go sit down and hear a man butcher God's Word.
Tell lies on God. I'll not do it. My presence gives the appearance
that I agree with that, and God forbid, God forbid, we both can't
be right. If salvation's by God's will,
then I'm telling you a lie, or rather by man's will, then I'm
telling you a falsehood. Oh no, it's by God's will. And
every needy sinner that's been made to know their need, they'll
rejoice in that message. Oh, they're glad to hear that.
Oh, they're glad to hear, it's not of him that willeth. Oh,
those that want their ears tickled, no, that won't please them. But
oh, a sinner, a real sinner, when he hears it's not of him
that willeth, nor him that runneth through religious hoops, but
him that showeth mercy, oh, he'll thank God for that. And he'll
cry like Barnabas, oh Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy
on this sinner. And you know what Jesus Christ
does every time he hears that cry? He stops in his tracks. Glory to God, because he delights
to show mercy. Isn't that good news? Isn't that
good news, Billy? The glorious gospel of the blessed
God. I had a friend, this is what
I'm speaking of, brethren, We have to be decided. We have to
take a stand in this day. This is just exactly as Paul
told Timothy to do. I had a dear friend whose son
wanted him to attend the baptism, so called, of his daughter, this
brother's granddaughter, infant. Well, it wasn't baptism at all.
It was sprinkling on a unfilling, unknowing infant, and the brother
thought, well, if I attend, it will be as though I'm giving
my approval of that. By my very presence, people will
think that I believe that, and I don't. He said, I don't. That's
contrary to God's Word. That's a denial of salvation
by grace alone, in Christ alone, through faith alone. On the other
hand, if he didn't attend, his son wouldn't understand, would
probably be very upset and would risk alienating his son and not
seeing his precious granddaughter. That's tough, that's tough. But
he didn't and that's exactly what happened. Why? Because we
have to obey God rather than men. God's glory is more important
than what man desires. It may be painful, it will be
painful, but oh God give us grace to do so. Listen to what Paul
wrote in 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 3. And I besought thee to abide
still at Ephesus when I went into Macedonia that thou mightest
charge them that they teach no other doctrine. Neither give
heed to fables and endless genealogies which minister questions rather
than godly edifying which is in faith so do. Now the end of
the commandment, the purpose, is charity out of a pure heart
and of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned, from which
some, having swerved, have turned aside unto vain jaggling, desiring
to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof
they affirm. But we know that the law is good
if a man use it lawfully, knowing this. that the law was not made
for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient,
for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers
of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers,
for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men-stealers,
for liars, for perjured persons. And if there be anything, any
other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, now get this,
get this, That's contrary to sound doctrine, not according
to political correctness, or only if it's in fashion or not,
or the acceptable practice or not, or whether it will offend
anybody or not, but, verse 11, but according to the glorious
gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust. If a man dares preach the truth
of God's word today, I speak from experience. He'll be called
a bigot. He'll be called narrow-minded.
He'll be called unloving and hard, uncaring, offensive, homophobic,
all kinds of things. But Paul says, Timothy, preach
sound doctrine. Now let's get to that. Sound
doctrine. Sound. Define that. Well, you
know when it's a legal term, or it's used in the legal profession,
You write out a will. I, being of sound mind, at least,
leave all my earthly goods to that lady right there. It ain't
much. Of sound mind, I know what I'm
doing. Paul says, applies that rather
to sound doctrine. It's truth. It's safe. It's solid. You can fall down
on it and rest easy. I can fall down on what thus
saith the Lord. 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 13. Hold fast the form of sound words. Sure, solid, certain truth which
thou hast heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. Titus chapter 1 verse 9. holding
fast the faithful word as he had been taught, that he may
be able with sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the
gainsayers. Chapter 2, verse 1 of Titus,
but speak thou the things which become sound doctrine. Sound doctrine. That is, I repeat,
sound doctrine, the truth, the word of God, the word of God,
the gospel, And remember this, the Word of God. This book that
you have in your lap, I hope you do. This book, the Word of
God, from Genesis to Revelation, is about God the Word. That's
what Jesus Christ said. He expounded to them in all the
scriptures the things concerning himself. Remember what we read
in John 1? The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Without the Word of God, Without
the book, the Bible, you would never know God the Word that
was made flesh. Jesus Christ, John 1 and 18,
no man has seen God in any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. I hear men say, oh, I worship
God going out in the woods, hunting, or sitting by the riverbank fishing,
looking up at the stars, blah, blah, blah. No, you won't find
God that way. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as the only begotten
of the Father, the express image of God, the expression of God,
the Word, the Word, the Word was made flesh, was made flesh,
and revealed Himself to us. And concerning both, concerning
both, this is what God says in Psalm 138 and 2, Thy Word, Do you have magnified thy word
above all thy name? Oh, how precious. What a Savior. Sound doctrine is important because
our faith rests on it. It tells us about our redeeming.
Paul says, I delivered unto you first of all that which also
I received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures, and how that he rose again the third day according
to the scriptures. Nothing ambiguous about that. Nothing muddy. Oh, no. How do
you know, I've been asked, and I'm sure you have too. People
say, how do you know that the Bible's true? Robin's son asked
her that now and then. Mama, how do you know it's just
not a myth? How do you know it's true? How do you know man? It's a man-made-up story. It's just a myth. How do you
know the Bible's true? I'll tell you what, I'll tell
you right now. I can't prove that this is God's Word to you.
I can't prove it. God doesn't call me to prove
it, but to expound it. I can't prove that. But I'll
tell you what, God can. God proved his word to me. John,
I know this is God's word because I read in it, Jesus Christ said,
come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll
give you rest. And I came to him in that condition,
laboring, heavy laden, like Bunyan's pilgrim, with that burden on
my back and I couldn't get it off. Come to the altar, and I
went, but the burden was still there. Repeat after me, and I
did, but the burden was still there. Say the sinner's prayer,
I did 100 times, and the burden was still there. I'm burdened.
I'm heavy laden. Oh, I'd like to lay down and
rest tonight. I was so confused, John, I thought,
well, God's just not going to save me. I've gone too far. I've crossed the line. God won't
save me. And then I had this crazy thought, but you have to
remember the state of mind I was in. I thought, well, these folks
are all telling me I'm saved. Well then, if this is salvation,
it's not enough. I'm too hard a case for even
God. Oh, the confusion in my mind. Oh, I want rest. I just want rest. I just want
to know, before another sleepless night goes by, I want to know
that my sins are forgiven. I want to have peace with God.
And as the pile of nothing that I was, being drawn to Christ by the
Father, I came. And he gave me rest. I know it's
the word of God. He said, come to me and I'll
give you rest. And I did. I read here, look unto me and
be ye saved. And I did. I looked. I looked. He gave me eyes to see. And I
looked. And I beheld the Lamb of God. Oh, yes. I know it's not a myth. Sound doctrine is important because
we must discern the truth in a world of falsehood. Do we not?
Many false prophets have gone out into the world. We read in
1 John 4, sowing tares among the wheat. How would you know
that falsehood if you don't know the truth? The best way to expose
a crooked stick is just to lay that straight one right down
next to it. The straight stick of God's gospel. Sound doctrine is important because
the end of sound doctrine, the purpose of it is this. Paul,
again, In 1 Timothy 4, 16. Take heed unto thyself and to
the doctrine. Continue in them, for in so doing
this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. It pleased
God through the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. And what a comfort. I'll wrap
this up. What a comfort. God's Word, the gospel is to
a child of God. The psalmist said, great peace
have they which love thy law by word and nothing shall offend
them, nothing shall make them turn back or stumble. The Lord
Jesus Christ, we didn't read down that far but in Matthew
24 verse 35, he said heaven and earth shall pass away but my
words shall not pass away. Peter repeats that. in chapter
1 of his first epistle, verse 23, being born again, not of
corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. For all flesh is grass, and all
the glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass withereth,
and the flower fadeth. Rather, the flower thereof falleth
away. The word of the Lord endureth
forever. Now catch this, catch this. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. How important is that to you?
This is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
In a few days, in a few days, we're going to have the blessed
opportunity and privilege of hearing the everlasting gospel. Same gospel that Paul preached,
that Timothy preached, that Jesus Christ preached. Preached to
us for three days by six gospel preachers. Oh, I'm looking forward
to that. I need that. Don't you? Pray
that God will be pleased to meet with us as we gather here to
hear that glorious gospel of the grace of God that's in Christ
Jesus. I thank God for you that are
faithful to that gospel, that support the gospel, that love
to hear the gospel, even from this obviously earthen vessel. Grace, the hymn writer said,
grace is a charming sound, harmonious to the ear, heaven with the echo
shall resound, and all the earth shall hear. A charming sound,
there's nothing as sweet as Oh, let thy grace inspire my soul
with strength divine. May all my powers to thee aspire, and all my days be thine. Saved by grace alone, this is
all my plea. Jesus died for all his own, and Jesus died for me. What a
wonder. God bless you. Thank you for
your attention.