Not wanting to hear the truth?

Sermon notes from Sunday 22 October 2017

2 Timothy 4 verses 1 - 8

This letter has been penned by Paul some centuries ago but he talked about something that we can see happening right before our eyes today. Paul is coming to the end of his life, he is sitting in a prison cell, he was waiting for his executioner to come to his door at any time.  Verses 6 - 8.  He was faithful in a ministry that cost him dearly.  If we are to step out for the Lord, to get saved tonight it will cost us very dearly.  It is not an easy path to take.  Here was a man who proved that.  He found many difficult situations along his life.  Are we ready tonight if this was to be the last night on earth would you say "I am now ready Lord, you can call me at any moment in time because I have trusted the Lord as my own Saviour, my sins are washed away never to be remembered again"?  Here is Paul in a prison cell writing to Timothy and he was pointing out something very grave.  Chapter 4 verse 2 "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."  Remember what Amos said "I will send a famine in the land, not of a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water but of hearing the words of the Lord."  Is that day coming to our society, to a place where we have known the sound of good solid preaching for many years and it is possible that people are turning their ears away?  One day God will draw back his word, the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.

He is speaking of a determined time.  A time set aside by God himself.  There is coming a day when the God of heaven will send his son again, not as a baby to Bethlehem or to die on Calvary because that is a finished work, but one day he will come to the air with a shout and the sound of the trumpet.  The dead in Christ will rise first.  That means all those who trusted Christ as Saviour and have passed away will rise to the air first.  Their bodies are in the grave tonight but one day when the Lord comes again to take the church of Christ home every saved man and woman will be taken out of this world but first the dead in Christ will rise.  Their bodies will be raised again to that spirit.  "Of that hour knoweth no man" Jesus once said.  Many are saying they think it will be such and such a time but only the Lord knows the time when he will come again.  Matthew 24 "be ye also ready for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh."  Maybe you are not even concerned about it but rather thinking of tomorrow and what will happen then.  Yet the Lord could come to the air at this very moment.  How would you stand?  Would you be taken to meet him in the air or left sitting in the pew?  The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine which really means they will not want to hear the preaching of God`s word.  A distinguished time because of its deceit and deception.  1 Timothy 4 verse 1 "The Spirit speaketh expressely that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils."  Paul spoke to the Thessalonian church of a "great falling away".  Paul is encouraging young Timothy to preach the word at every opportunity.  There will come a time when he would not be able to do that because the people will not want to hear it.  Men and women will not endure sound doctrine.  We need to be so careful that we do not give up something we have and cherish.  There is coming a time when men will not endure sound doctrine.  Chapter 3 verse 1 get as much of life as you can, there will be times of persecution in the future.  We can see that happening today.  Nation is rising against nation, there are famines and earthquakes happening all around us.  They point to one thing - that Christ is coming again.  Are you ready for such an event?  Paul tells Timothy to preach the word because there is coming a day when you will not be able to do that.  People will not want to hear the sound doctrine.  Can you not see it happening already?  People want a softer approach to the gospel.

A denial of the truth.  There is a time defined here.  It is a denial of the truth and yet there will be an influx of preachers.  1 Timothy 1 verse 6 from which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling."  In other words emptiness, nothingness.  Paul is talking about a deliberate act - turning away from deep thinking of the faith.  A rejection of biblical truth.  There are those tonight who reject the resurrection.  1 Corinthians 15 verse 4.  That is biblical but many say that is not right, it is unheard of.  No-one has ever come back from the dead.  Stephen was on trial in Acts 7 for his working and witnessing.  The Sanhedrin brought him to trial, questioned him and a sentence was passed that he should be stoned to death.  Stephen looked up during his stoning and witnessed God waiting for him to come home.  The Bible says those men who were stoning him rushed on him and closed their ears because they didn`t want to hear what he had to say.  A denial of the origins - that God created everything around us yet they say that could never happen.  There had to be a big bang millions of years ago and everything then appeared as it is today.  There is a denial of the resurrection and a denial of origins.  There is also a denial of gender.  You see people are finding it hard to identify to which gender they belong today.  God made them male and female.  There is no confusion there but now of course we need gender neutrality in everything.  Young men and women need time to realise what they are today.  We need gender neutral toilets, gender neutral uniforms, gender neutral toys.  You only need to turn on the radio, the television or the internet and these things are coming up day after day.  We need to have gender neutral names.  Gender defines who they are but people don`t want that now.  Whenever the children of Israel came into the promised land God gave them certain commands to follow.  Deuteronomy 22 verse 5 "the woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman`s garment; for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God."  Distinctions of the gender.  The definition of the gender.  The Lord had no problem with it.  You have the man and the woman distinguished by their clothing.  There is no cross dressing as far as the Lord is concerned.  Jesus speaking to the religious leaders on marriage took them back to the scriptures to sound doctrine.  "Have ye not read that he which made them in the beginning he made them male and female."  There is no confusion there.  There is marriage today in that anything goes.  Jesus said of marriage in that same passage we were talking about of male and females "for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one flesh."  One man and one woman.  There is an indication of a depraved nature.  Man is born of sin and shapen in iniquity.  Every part of man is affected by the fall in Genesis 3.

The devious teachers.  When we see people not wanting to hear the truth the next step is to have teachers who will preach what they want to hear.  Is that a society we are coming up with - that we want to leave for a next generation?  There is an influence of preachers, false preachers who only preach what people want to hear.  In the days of Isaiah we read of a people that the prophets come to.  They came out to them but prophesied not the right things.  Speak unto us smooth things, the things they wanted to hear, things that were nice, that satisfied their ears.  Didn`t want to hear the things of God.  That is what we have in our province.  There is an influence of preachers who want to satisfy what people want to hear.

A disastrous turn. Sadly what will the end be?  Right now there is a softening.  The old devil is working today, softening down the preachers, don`t preach that hell fire stuff and people will come in again.  Do a social event and that is all they need.  There is the softening down process, watered down.  When the anti-Christ comes men and women will be programmed to believe the greatest lie ever.  Romans "God gave them up and God gave them over."  Do you want that?  Here you are, wouldn`t it be awful thing if God took away the witness and filled the gap with a false teacher?  If you are not saved come to Christ.  There is coming a day when the gospel will be watered down and people will turn away from sound doctrine.  You have an opportunity to come to Christ tonight, to trust him as Saviour and Lord for all eternity.  We are still in the day of grace.  Trust Christ now.