2 Timothy chapter 4, verses 3 and 4. 2 Timothy chapter 4, verses 3 and 4. For a little bit of context, I'm gonna start my reading at verse 1. I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead, as appearing in his kingdom, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 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. And they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. You may be seated. Let's join our hearts together in prayer as we come to the climax of public worship, the preaching and hearing of the word of God. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for this opportunity that we have. We pray that your word would go forth in power and with life and with joy. And we pray for your people that they will be attentive to the word and they will be hungering and thirsting after receiving and hearing your word and being doers and hearers of your truth. We pray thanking you for this time. Help me please to have the strength and energy and passion and zeal by the power of the Holy Spirit to preach faithfully. Help me not trust in the wisdom of men or the arm of the flesh, but in your spirit to enable me to preach faithfully. Help me in Jesus' name, amen. We have seen, we saw last Sabbath day, the reality of the need for Timothy as he was charged by the Apostle Paul, by and through the Holy Spirit, because of the scriptures being the means that brought him to conversion through faith which is in Christ Jesus and those same scriptures that make him complete as a man of God and a minister of the new covenant are completely sufficient to save him and sanctify him, to convert him and to grow him. He is charged therefore before God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, his judgment, his appearing, and his consummated kingdom to do one primary thing, preach the word. That was Timothy's task in light of the judgment to come, in light of God and Christ and his kingdom and his appearing, he was to preach the word. And I try to convince you that there's nothing more important that the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ can give herself to than the faithful preaching of the Word of God. And therefore, Timothy is to be preaching the Word of God in season and out of season, when people want to hear it and when they don't. He is to be convincing people of their sin, rebuking them, and exhorting them to obedience, all with long-suffering and teaching. So Timothy is charged to do these things before God and the Lord Jesus Christ. And now it brings us into one of the reasons why Timothy is to preach the word in season and out of season. And we'll see that in this text, 2 Timothy 4, 3 and 4. So the main point of this sermon is ungodly people who claim to be a part of the church will heap up for themselves false teachers and turn away from the truth to fables. Ungodly people who claim to be a part of the church will heap up for themselves false teachers and turn away from the truth to fables. So my first point, ungodly people who claim to be a part of the church will heap up for themselves false teachers. My second point, ungodly people who claim to be a part of the church will turn away from the truth to fables. So again, my first point, ungodly people who claim to be a part of the church will heap up for themselves false teachers. Again, Timothy is commanded, and every man of God since then, any minister of the new covenant is commanded to preach the word, in season and out of season. And as I said, there is no other season. It's either in season or it's out of season. And Timothy is to preach that word. Again, what it means by in season and out of season. In season is when people want to hear it. Out of season is when people don't. But regardless, Timothy is to preach the word. And he's to do it with application and exhortation. with longsuffering and teaching. So Timothy is to give himself to preaching. The reason is because, verse 3, he says, for or because. Timothy, you must preach the word. Men of God, you must preach the word because Because the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. The reason Timothy must preach the Word in season and out of season is there will come a time in the Church, and it's something that will happen in Timothy's day and it's going to happen to the end of the age, where people who claim to be a part of the Church would say that they know God, would say that they are Christians, would say that they've been born again by the Holy Spirit, can not endure sound doctrine. They will not endure it. This is the first step to apostasy. This isn't full-blown apostasy, but where does it begin? It begins by a professing child of God, someone who says they know Christ, bored, apathetic, or indifferent to the word of God. They might have, for a time, sprung up and looked like, as we see in the parable of the soils, as if they were interested in the word of God. and desired it and hungered for it. But after a time, they showed that they became indifferent and apathetic to the word of God. They went from professing and even showing as if they loved it, because we know in the parable of the soils, only one of them is saved, the last one who bears fruit, the three other are lost. But two of them spring up as if they are saved. as if they genuinely know God. We know that they don't, we know they fall away, not because they lost their salvation, but because they never had it in the first place. The last one truly has it, that's why they bear fruit, 30, 60, and 100 fold. But there can be those who profess to be part of the church, who in truth are not, but profess to be part of the church, who for a time look like they're interested in the word of God, but in reality, they are not at all. And they will not endure sound doctrine. This is how it begins. you begin to become critical of faithful preaching. You begin to become indifferent to it. You almost become hostile to it. Why does he have to say this? Why does he have to say that? Why does he have to point out sin so specifically? Why does he have to preach so passionately? And you begin to be hardened and become the not endure sound doctrine. You are not that upset that you have to miss public worship. Sometimes people do for genuine reasons have to miss public worship. That's not the criticism. But when people are indifferent and don't really care that they missed it, that's a bad sign. Because it shows that they are not willing to endure sound doctrine. They're not sad that they can't be there. They're actually glad they're sick because they don't want to be there. Anyways, one of the reasons you can tell in a child, one key way that a child grew up in a Christian home, how you know one reason that they actually have the rudimentary in them, that they've actually repented and believed the gospel of Jesus Christ, is they go from not really wanting to be under preaching, not really caring, to when they can't come, they're upset about it. They're grieved. I want to be there. I wish I could go. I don't want to be sick. Children that are unconverted that have to go, they're so happy they're sick. Oh, it's great. I can be home. I don't have to go. This is great. Children that are converted, they're not like that. They go from being indifferent to preaching to loving it. And one of the ways you know a person truly came to faith in Christ is they no longer tolerate preaching they love it. Because you can get a lot of people that tolerate preaching. But they don't really love it. And here we see people, the step begins with they will not endure it. They want something different. As one preacher put it, they want puppets, ponies, and programs. That's what they want. Puppies, programs, and puppies, ponies, and programs. Those three P's. That's what they want. And people could call about, what does your church offer? And you say, well, we have a prayer meeting and we have two public worship services on the Lord's day, but lots of preaching and lots of Bible, we'll find somewhere else. That shows that they will not endure sound doctrine. What do they want? They want to be entertained. They want their children to be coddled. They want to know how they can have their best life now, but they don't want sound doctrine. They don't want sound doctrine. They will not endure it. They will not handle it. They will not be satisfied with it. And so we should all guard our heart and say, if I am living and I am becoming apathetic, indifferent, or even hostile to sound doctrine, watch lest you apostatize from the Christian faith. And we must never think that any of us is beyond or above or past rejecting Christ. Because therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. When a person says, there's no way I could fall away, that person is prone to wander and they might very well fall away. We should always watch and pray lest we enter into temptation. And there are people that will be in the professing church of God that will say, I don't want that type of preaching. I don't want faithful preaching. Don't give that to me. I remember one church I was part of. There was a man who was part of what they would call, quote unquote, the worship team. And his wife went to a, probably an apostate church because she didn't want long preaching. She wanted the 15, 20 minute sermonettes. But she was willing to go somewhere else where her husband wasn't going for the sake of getting a sermonette so that she would not have to sit under preaching that was actually more than 15 or 20 minutes. that person probably is about to apostatize or did. With that attitude, I don't know where exactly this person's at now, but that type of spirit is someone who does not want to endure sound doctrine. And that's why Timothy, people in his time and throughout, there can be people, especially in immature, unhealthy churches that say, pastor, why does your sermon have to be so long? Pastor, why does it have to be so specific? Why do you have to seem like you're so passionate about it? Can't we just get TED Talks? Can't we just get something to motivate us for the week? Can't we just get a good spiritual word that we might just feel built up for the week to come? Why do we have to have all this preaching? Don't you know you shouldn't preach at people? Don't you know you shouldn't preach to people? That is a spirit of someone who will not endure sound doctrine. And yes, there can be preaching that even for the most sincere believer is dry, stale and boring. And therefore there is a sense which like, wow, this is hard to endure because it's stale preaching. That is true, there is such thing as stale preaching. But we should seek by God's grace, as long as the preaching is faithful, we should seek to love it as best we can and pray that that man would become more passionate, more zealous and more committed to the word of God in the pulpits. But this is what we need. This is what we need. We need to be those who not only don't just tolerate sound action, but love it. Ask yourself this question. How excited are you to hear preaching? Not preaching online, not preaching from a recording, but preaching in your own local church. Not also because of me, but because it's the word of God. How desirous are you to it? How many of you took up my exhortation and prepared for this week? How many of you took up my exhortation to prepare so you'd be more ready for preaching this week? Ask yourself the question, that shows you how ready you are for preaching. My exhortation being read the text, pray over it, even look at commentary so that you're ready, so you know what the text is gonna be about. I even sent you a text yesterday so you will be reminded of it. So that you can get everything out of preaching. So that you will not become indifferent or intolerant to preaching. but that you would love it and desire it. But we see there comes a time when even those who say they know God cannot endure sound doctrine. And that's when Timothy, if Timothy went back to Paul and said, Paul, they don't want to hear preaching. They don't want to hear sound doctrine. What should I do? He would say, preach the word. He might go back and say, Timothy, or he might say to Paul, Paul, but they don't want that. They don't want me to preach. What should I do? Preach the word. But if I do that, they might leave. Let them leave then. If they, but if they leave, I might not get paid. Don't worry about your money. Preach the word. If I do that, we might have a small church. That's okay. It's better to have a small church that's faithful than a big church that doesn't care about God's word. But if we do that, then we might not have the impact that we could have. The only impact that you could have for eternity is based on truth, not on calling people. But if we do that, you're right. Preach the word. Preach the word. Don't care. Don't be concerned about people who want to endorse sound doctrine. Let them leave. Let them go somewhere else. Because if they're not willing to endorse sound doctrine, it's better that they're not there unless a little leaven leathers the whole lump. Do we understand this? I think sometimes people think that if people leave or things aren't prospering, it could be because the church isn't being faithful. That is possible. That is possible that they're not doing what they should do. But sometimes it's because we live in a culture in America that's under the judgment of God. Do we understand that? And so many in America or most do not want sound doctrine in the grand scheme of the people in America. And therefore we should be preaching the word whether people want to hear or not. Yes, there's a way to be tactful. I'm not denying that. Yes, there's a way to be persuasive in a loving way. I'm not denying that. But if they don't want sound doctrine, we don't change our doctrine to suit people. And Paul was willing to say, in season and out of season. The Apostle Paul, if he was here now, I believe based on a text like this, he would say it's better to have little numbers for people who love sound doctrine than big numbers of those who could care less. And many churches in America, sadly but truly, or many so-called churches, maybe better way, quote unquote churches, so-called, in name only, are more concerned about the numbers than they are about sound doctrine. And that's why he says, preach the word in season and out of season, when they wanna hear it and when they don't. Preach the word because there'll come a time when they will not endure it. They will not desire it. And that's actually the time where all the more the man of God must preach the word of God. That's all the more because they will not endure it. And so the question for our church is, You have to ask yourself this question with judgment and honesty, just like I do. Do we desire more, more numbers or more faithfulness? Not that they have to be necessarily mutually exclusive, but when you have a small church, the danger is to compromise so that more people would be interested. The danger is to say we shouldn't be so committed to this or that because people might not like it. But we have to ask ourselves the question, if we have many people and we're faithful, praise God. If we are a small church and faithful, praise God. But I don't want, as the pastor, to compromise truth for the sake of having more people. I don't want to stop preaching the word so that people would feel more comfortable here. Yes, we should love. Yes, we should be tactful. Yes, we should be lovingly persuasive. All that yes, but not at the expense of sound doctrine. Not at the expense of truth. Because we do not want to coddle those who will not endure sound doctrine. We do not want to coddle those who will not tolerate the truth. And then it says, goes on to say in verse three, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers. So it starts by they won't endure sound doctrine. They won't tolerate it. They don't want it. And therefore according to their own desires, their own lusts, their own sinful desires. Because they don't want sound doctrine, so they want something else. And the only thing that is either sound doctrine or unsound. It's either healthy or unhealthy. So what they're wanting is poison, because they don't want the healthy stuff, they want the poison. And therefore, because of their own sinful desires, because they have itching ears, because they have ears that want to be tickled, they don't want to hear the hard things of God's Word. They don't want to be pressed with truth. They want their ears to be tickled. They want to hear peace, peace, when there is no peace. They want to hear about those things. And therefore, because they have sinful desires, because they have itching ears, because they don't want the truth, because they don't want God's ways, because of that, they heap up for themselves teachers. I find it very interesting that it does not say they won't understand doctrine, They have their own desires, they have itching ears, and therefore, they reject Christ. It doesn't say that. That's a very interesting point that you should notice from the text. It does not say, don't endorse non-doctrine, have itching ears, have their own sinful desires, therefore, they say, I don't want anything to do with Christianity anymore. They still want the name Christian. They just want a Christianity, quote-unquote, that they've made up. They want a palatable Christ, not the biblical Christ. They want a palatable morality, not biblical morality. They want spirituality. They just don't want the Holy Spirit. They want to feel religious. They just don't want the religion of Christ. They want to make it seem like they're good with God. They just don't want the biblical God. Because it's interesting that they don't just go and say, I don't want anything to do with Christ anymore. They want something to do, quote unquote, with Christ, but according to their own desires, according to what they want Christ to be like, according to what they want preaching to be like. And so they heap up for themselves teachers. They heap up for themselves teachers that will allow them to feel like they are Christian, while all the while they profess to know God, but in works deny Him. All the while they have a form without the power. They want people that will coddle them in their sin, coddle them in their hatred of sound doctrine, so that they can feel like I'm good with God, while all the while they have no interest in the word of God or faithful preaching. What a dangerous place to be. And this is what happens. This is why false teachers, you might be thinking, why are false teachers so popular in our day? And they are! What is Phil with CBN and these Christian, quote unquote, so-called, quote unquote, very important, Christian television shows? They're Phil with false teachers. Why? Because that's the markets. These TV shows are a business. And they know, what do people want? They want false teachers, so let's give it to them. They want people that will tickle their ears. Why is there such a market for false teachers? Because it allows people to feel spiritual without actually having repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. It allows people to feel, I'm good with God. I'm spiritual. I'm religious. I know God. Well, all the while, they hate sound doctrine. And if anyone came and actually preached a biblical sermon, they would say, we don't want that. We want our best life now. We want every days of Friday. We want that. We want the power of I Am, which are books written by Joel, and he wrote a book called The Power of I Am, The Reality of Your Best Life Now and Every Days of Friday. People love that. You don't have to be born again to want that. You just have to have sinful desires. The power of the I am is not the power of God who is the I am, but the power of your personal I am. What in the world is going on? Why do people love that? Because they wanna feel spiritual without Christ. That's why. That's why. And therefore they heap up for themselves teachers. Why is there such a market for false teaching? Not because the Bible isn't true, but because it is. The Bible warned us. There were apostolic churches, beloved, that were riddled with false teaching. What do we think about now, all those years after the apostles? We should not be surprised that false teaching is rampant. The Bible told us it would be. The Bible told us there would be people who wouldn't want sound doctrine, and therefore they heap up for themselves teachers. The Bible told us that that would be the reality in our generation. We were told that there would be people that would not endure it and therefore heap up teachers. They don't want the truth of the Word of God, but instead they want shallow and superficial preaching of false teachers. They have itching ears and therefore they heap up for themselves teachers, false teachers. It's interesting. I saw this week the reality of, and I knew many texts in the Word of God had this, but 25 out of 27 books in the New Testament talk about false teaching. There's 27 books in the New Testament, 25 out of 27. I'm gonna have us turn to some of these texts, but I just wanna read this list. Matthew 7, Mark 13, Luke 11, John 10, Acts 20, Romans 16, 1 Corinthians 11, 2 Corinthians 11, Galatians 1, Ephesians 5, Philippians 3, Colossians 2, 1 Thessalonians 5, 2 Thessalonians 3, 1 Timothy 1, 2 Timothy 4, Titus 1, Hebrews 13, James 5, 2 Peter 2, 1 John 4, 2 John 1, 3 John 1.9, Jude 3 and 4, Revelation 2. All those texts in the Word of God are related to false teaching. All those sections, 25 out of 27 books in the New Testament are connected with false teaching or have something to say about false teaching. Why? Because false teaching is a reality. False teaching is real. False teachers are real. So we should not be surprised that there's false teaching. We should be surprised when there isn't because false teaching is a real reality. Let me show you some of these texts. If you turn with me to Matthew chapter seven, Matthew chapter seven, as we see the warnings and the talking about false teachers in the word of God, the danger of false teachers, Matthew seven in verse 15 and 16, actually 15 through 17. This is in Jesus' most famous sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, as he warns his disciples of false teachers. He says in Matthew 7, verse 15, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. So we see here that Jesus says, beware of false prophets, false teachers. And what are false teachers known by? What are they marked by? They have sheep's clothing, but inwardly they're ravished wolves. What is he getting at here? False teachers are deceptive. False teachers use deceit. They look like sheep, but inwardly they're wolves. They're ravenous wolves. And so Jesus himself, in his most famous sermon, he thought it was necessary to talk about false prophets, false teachers who would come to you looking like sheep, but inwardly are wolves. And so we see that reality. Then if you turn with me to Acts chapter 20, we see in the apostle Paul, as he's talking to the Ephesian elders, One of his focuses is false teachers. When he's talking to the Ephesian elders, he thought it was necessary and important to warn them about false teaching. So Acts chapter 20 and verse 28 to start all the way down to 32. Acts 20 verse 28. It says, therefore, take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone, night and day with tears. So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you inheritance among all those who are sanctified. So we see in this text, he warns the church, or he warns the elders. He says that they are to take heed of themselves and all the flock. The reason is because that church was purchased with the blood of Christ. Because after Paul departs, savage wolves will come in, not sparing the flock, false teachers. What does he call false teachers? He doesn't call them false teachers. He calls them savage wolves, savage wolves. And what do they do? They don't spare the flock. And then he says, from among your own selves, men who are in the congregation will rise up and they will draw disciples away after themselves. And so he warns the elders, take heed to yourself, to all the flock, because there will come people, there will come men who will speak perverse things, savage fools who will not spare the flock. So watch, watch, because false teaching and false teachers are real. Romans 16, again from the Apostle Paul, by the Holy Spirit, as he's writing the book of Romans, Romans 16 and verse 17 and 18. Romans 16, 17, and 18. He says, Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. He says, note those who cause divisions and offenses, which is contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and do what? Avoid them. He warns the church of avoiding false teachers, because they're not serving our Lord Jesus Christ, they're serving their own belly. And therefore, by smooth words and flattering speech, they deceive the hearts of the simple. He warns them against false teachers. He says, be on guard as they teach contrary to the doctrine which you have learned. Be on guard against them. Note them and avoid them. Note them and avoid them. Because they will lead you astray. Especially the simple hearts of God's people. Then if you look at Galatians chapter 1. Galatians chapter 1, verses 6-9. Galatians 1, 6-9. He says here, he says, I marvel that you are so, that you are turning so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. We see he's marveling, he's shocked that they would turn away from the grace of Christ to a different gospel. And he says to them, if anyone, even an angel from heaven, if we are an angel or anyone else comes and preaches any other gospel to you, let that person be accursed, damned by God. Why? Because in the first century, there were people who were preaching different gospels than the one that was the apostolic Christ-exalting gospel. given to them by Jesus Christ. So if an angel, or they, or anyone else preaches a different gospel, let it be a curse. Why? They were so passionate of warning the church about false teaching, the danger of it. And then if you turn with me to 2 Peter, 2 Peter, 2 Peter chapter two. This whole chapter is actually about false teachers. 2 Peter 2, the entire chapter is about false teachers. It's all about the danger of false teaching and false teachers. I think I'm gonna read 1-3 in 18-22. It says in chapter 2, verse 1, it says, but there were also false prophets. among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words. For a long time their judgment has not been idle. and their destruction does not slumber." We see he's saying, just like there were false prophets among ancient Israel, just like there were false prophets in Israel, there will be false teachers among you. There were many false prophets among Israel who said, peace, peace, when there was no peace. And just like there were false prophets among them, be on guard against false teachers among you. And what will they bring in? Destructive heresies, destructive heresies. They even deny the one who they say bought them. And because of this, because of their destructive ways, many will follow their destructive heresies. And because of them, the way of truth will be blasphemed. Isn't that true in our day? Many people, all they know about quote unquote Christianity is Benny Hinn, Joel Osteen, and Creflo Dollar. And they think that's Christianity. And therefore the way of truth is blasphemed. They say, I don't understand how these people, what they're doing, and they blaspheme the name of Christ because they think this represents true Christianity. They think Joelstein, Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn, that represents true Christianity. And because of them, the way of truth is blasphemed because they profess to know God, but in works and by their lifestyle, by the way they live and their teaching, they deny him. And therefore the way of truth is blasphemed because they bring in destructive heresies. And then we see the reality that They will, because of their covetousness, they will exploit you with deceptive words. Because they love money, they will exploit you with deceptive words. For a long time, their judgment has not been idle and their destruction does not slumber. Swift destruction will come upon them. They will be judged more severely because they claim to be teachers when they weren't teachers. But the way of truth is blaspheme because of false teachers. They twist the truth of God and therefore the way of truth is blasphemed. And the dangerous thing about false teaching is false teaching and false teachers usually are not unbelievably blatant in their heresy. Sometimes they are. Sometimes it's just unbelievably how blatant, but many times it's taking truth and twisting it. There's some truth with a lot of error. There's some accuracy with much heresy. And so it's a twisting of the truth. It's deception. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words. With deceptive words. But then if you look with me at verse 18 of the same chapter, it says, For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure you through the lust of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption, for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, a dog returns to his own vomit. and a sow having washed to her wallowing in the mire." So we see that these false teachers, they speak great swallowing words of emptiness. That's what the text says. Great swallowing words of emptiness. And they, when they promise freedom, are slaves to sin, slaves to their own corruption. And after they had professed to escape, that's what it's getting at, the pollutions of this world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled. They make a profession and they show that they never truly had salvation. And it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it, having been exposed to it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it happened according to the true proverb, a dog returns to his own vomits. False teachers are marked by a perverting of the truth and being enslaved to sin. If you turn with me to the book of Jude, this will be where I'll stop talking about, or turning us to text about false teachers, I believe. I think this will be my last one, Jude. Jude chapter, or Jude verse three and four. It says, beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness, and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Jude says, I was very desirous. I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation. He wanted to talk about Christ and his gospel and salvation. That's what he wanted, but he found it necessary. He felt a divine compulsion to warn them, to contend earnestly for the faith, to be on guard against false teachers, those who have crept in unnoticed, who were long ago marked out for this condemnation. They were ungodly men. What did they do? They turned the grace of our God into lewdness. They make it seem that repentance is not necessary. You can live however you want and God's fine with it. You don't need to repent, you don't need to believe, you're fine. And they deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. In truth, while they profess to know God by their works, they deny him. And so Jude spends his entire book, even though he wanted to write about our common salvation in and through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, he took a whole book to say, You need to be on guard and contend earnestly, passionately, zealously for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. False teaching and false teachers are real. And therefore they must be noted and avoided. Note it and avoid it. And if you're not sure about someone, ask a brother or sister that you trust. Ask me about these things. Someone that can help you discern And the thing about it as well, there's so many good teachers out there, why waste your time on those who you're not quite sure? There's so many good teachers. Why waste your time on someone that might be good, might be bad? You have to spit out a lot of bones, maybe there's a little bit of meat, but lots of bones. Why not get someone that has a lot of meats and a little bit of bones? But we also see in this chapter of 2 Timothy, that false teachers, people are not ultimately victims of false teachers, but they are willfully deceived. They are willing to receive the deception. Why? It says they will heap up for themselves teachers. They heap them up themselves. They want false teaching and therefore they find teachers that will suit their own itching ears. Why do people love false teaching and false teachers? Because that's exactly what their carnal heart wants to hear. Why do people want false teachers? Because it makes them feel comfortable in their sin and rebellion against God, even though all the while they are lost and dead in their trespasses and sins. And therefore they heap up for themselves teachers. There would be no market for false teachers if there's not many that wanted it. Why, again, do the quote-unquote so-called Christian television shows and programs, so-called Christian, why do they promote some of the worst of the heretics? Because that's what those people want. If they want it, the Votie Bauckhams and the Paul Washers and the Steve Lawsons and the John MacArthurs, and you name other faithful preachers, they would put them on because it's a business. But what do people want? They want the tickling of their ears. They want peace, peace when there is no peace. And therefore they put them on because they know that's what people want. They know that's what they desire. They know that's what they long for. They don't want to hear about God's holiness and justice and wrath. They don't want to hear about their sinfulness before God and that in themselves they are condemned and there's nothing good about them to commend them to God. They don't want to hear that they are terrible sinners before God and they will be judged for their sin. They don't want to hear about Christ, about the One who alone can save them by His own person and work. They don't want to hear about Christ, His death, His resurrection, and the need to repent of sin and put your faith alone in Jesus Christ. They want to hear about how they can make themselves better and how they can have their best life now and how they can get money and health and success. They want selfism called Christianity. They want me, myself, and I religion while all the while saying it's connected with Christ. They don't want to hear about the justice of God, the wrath of God, the holiness of God, and the need to repent and put their trust alone in Jesus Christ. What is false teaching? What is it usually marked by? A low view of God, almost always a low view of God, a high view of self, a low view of sin, and a low need of our need for salvation through Jesus Christ. Sometimes these preachers, you'd almost think that they're Jesus himself, the way they pick themselves up and parade themselves as if they're the Messiah. But no, they want people to be deceived. and many times they're deceived themselves. False teachers want you to think much of self and little of God. They want you to think much of what you can do and little of your sin. They want you to think little of the person and work of Christ. False teachers are not, people are ordinarily not victims of false teaching. They love false teaching because that's what their sinful desire wants, their sinful desires. Yes, can true believers be led astray and prone to give in to false teaching? Yes. I'm a prone example of that. Some of you know this already, but I grew up in a context where Joel Osteen was liked, and would listen to Joel Osteen a lot of times. And it wasn't until my freshman year of college, I believe I was genuinely converted at 11, but because of a lack of good discipleship, I just didn't know any better. He wasn't the main one we listened to, but until college, I came to realize that Joel Osteen was not a good preacher. And so true believers can for a season be deceived. But when they're exposed to truth, repentance happens. But if they're exposed to truth and there's a hostility to it and a rejection long term, what you say is that person is not truly one of God's elect, one of God's people. At least they're not showing at that moment that they've repented and put their trust in Christ. And so false teachers are popular because that's what people want to hear. That's what they desire. That's what they long for. That's what they want. And now my second point. Ungodly people who claim to be a part of the church will turn away from the truth to fables. So we see that these people, they want to endure sound doctrine because they have sinful desires, they have itching ears, and therefore they'll heap up teachers, and then what happens, they turn full sail away from truth to fables, to myths, to lies. They turn from the truth of God to a lie, to the lie. And they desire no longer to hear the truth. They want fables. But beloved, all the while they still profess to know God. All the while, they say that they're Christian. All the while, they say that they're good with God. It's not people turning aside to fables, I don't think, as people who are saying, I don't want Christ anymore. It's people who still profess Christ. It's still people who say they have a form of godliness. It's still people who say that they know God. But instead of wanting the truth, they want fables, they want lies, they want myths. And this is why you can have people all over the world that claim to be speaking for God and following God and serving God while they are living and following fables and myths and lies and living for things that are not right. And beloved, what's going to be more and more in our generation is people saying you can live and practice things that the culture says is acceptable while saying you know Christ. Andy Stanley publicly recently said that you can be, that homosexuals are sometimes our best church members. He's saying stuff like this. that they're actually some of the best, because if they're willing to come to a place that doesn't want them or rejects them and all that, and they're willing to come, and he's talking all the while like they're actually Christians, with not repentance, that they're still living this way, but they're willing to come. That's where more and more of the false teaching is gonna come, where people who seem as if they are wanting to promote Christ, but they're saying, you can have your sin in Christ at the same time. They turn the grace of our God into lewdness, or to sin. They make the grace of God a license to sin. And you know where? It's not going to be things that the culture argues against. It doesn't take courage to speak against things that the cultures are against, like sex trafficking, or adultery, or these type of things. The cultures are against those things. It's easy to say, you shouldn't do sex trafficking, or you shouldn't commit adultery. The culture already agrees with that, for the most part. Less and less about physical adultery. Especially sex trafficking. There's at least a common appeal. But things like abortion and homosexuality and these type of things are getting more and more hard because by saying you can't have this and Christ, it's gonna be more and more offensive. And so what false teachers are gonna say is you can have your sinful lifestyle and still be part of our church. You can live the way you want while still saying you know Christ. turning the grace of our God into sin, into lewdness. And so they turn away their ears from hearing the truth. They didn't endure it, and now they turn away from it. We see that progression. They don't endure it, and then they turn away from it. At first, they're bored, they're apathetic, they're indifferent to it, then they say, I don't want this anymore, I want something else. They want something else. They turn away their ears from hearing the truth, and they turn aside to fables. This is why us as God's people must pray and desire and long for the good pastures of God's word. You should want to hear about God and sin and salvation in Christ. You should want to hear about the glories of the God who loved us and gave himself for us, the Lord Jesus Christ. You should love to hear about your sinfulness before God, not so you feel bad about yourself and you stay there, but so you might look all the more to Christ You should want to feel the weight of your sin when you're in sin so that you would say, Father, help me. I want to turn from this to Christ. You should want to feel the reality of God's holiness and the reality of our standing before him naked and undone in ourselves so that we might find salvation in Christ. And you should want to hear, how can I live a faithful Christian life so that we can be more and more obedient to God? Not how can I be coddled in my sin, but how can I turn from sin to Christ in obedience? We should want and long for the pure word of God. We should not just tolerate sound doctrine, we should love it. And not just sound doctrine theoretically, but sound doctrine put into practice. Sound living, sound living. And we should desire from the heart when we stumble and fall and we sin to confess and forsake and turn unto new obedience. And so God's people should love sound doctrine and we should guard our hearts against a drifting away from sound doctrine to professing that we love it, to enduring or to tolerating it, but not loving it, to turning away from it. We must be a church that's committed to sound doctrine. But if you're here today and you're without the salvation that comes through Jesus Christ, you are right now in fables. You're right now living for lies. You're right now living in sin. You are right now wanting your ears tickled. But the only hope that you have before God is found in the truth and the one who is the way, the truth, and the life, the Lord Jesus Christ. The only hope that you have before God is not found in fables, is not found by making yourself feel better about yourself. It's by feeling very, very bad about yourself so that you look to Christ who alone can save you. Feeling bad about yourself is not a means to an end, but it is a means so you know that you need Christ. And the gospel call for you is to repent and believe the gospel. The only hope that you have before a holy God is that you will be found in Christ with all your sins covered by his blood. Right now, without Christ, you stand before God as an object of his divine wrath. You stand before God as one who is under sin. But in Christ, you can be forgiven of all of your sin. You can be washed clean, and you can have a relationship with God of peace and love and harmony. But only in Christ. Only in Christ, the gospel call for you is whosoever wills, let him come. The only thing that's stopping you from believing the gospel is you. The only thing that's holding you back is you. The only thing that's stopping you is you. God's arms for any person without Christ are open wide. Whosoever will, let him come. Christ says himself, come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And you might be saying, but pastor, I've tried. I want to be saved, but I don't know how. Well, if you want to be saved, the only thing that's stopping you is you. Maybe you're not willing to give something up. Maybe you're coming in hypocrisy. Maybe you're coming saying you want to be saved, but not in God's terms. Maybe you're saying you want salvation, but in your own way. Because he who comes to Christ, he will know why he's cast out. And if you're seeking, continue to seek. Continue to seek. Seek, knock, ask, pursue until God saves you. Don't give up. How desperately do you want it? How desperately do you want to be saved? You might say, I want to be saved, but are you desperate about it? Are you desperate to be saved? Is there a, as Spurgeon would say, a holy violence? Is there an desire to be saved or is just, well, it'd be nice, but God won't save me. He won't save you because you're not truly seeking him. You're not truly wanting it. You're saying you want it, but not in truth. And so you must seek God while he may be found. Call upon him while he's near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Until you come to the point where you feel despair because you're not saved and look to Christ. That's where you must be. You must despair any hope in self, any hope in your own strength. Despair any hope that you might look to Christ and be saved. Cut off any rope that is tied to anything else besides Christ so that you might rest in him. Don't look to any other boat but the boat of Christ. Don't go in any other ark but the ark of Christ that you might find him a perfect savior. Oh, it's my desire for you, that those who are not saved, and there are here those who are not saved, that you would know Christ, that you would know Christ, and I plead with you on Christ's behalf, don't hear God's word in vain. You don't know how long you have, and the more and more you harden your heart to God's truth, the harder it will be, and the more roots of sin you'll have. Oh, that you would know Christ. And he says, all that the Father gives me will come to me, and he who comes to me I will never cast out. And then for God's people, we must pray that me as a man of God and you as the people of God would seek sound doctrine, love, delight in it, and want it by the grace of God. Let us be those who love sound doctrine. Praying for me, praying for yourself. Praying that God would give you a love for it. Not a toleration of it, but a love for it. A desire to hear it and heed it and obey it. That you might walk in God's ways. We need a love for truth. We need a growing love for truth. Because what do we want to win people to? If they're gonna come to our church and be here, what do we wanna win them to? Truth. We want them here because they love the truth, just like we wanna love the truth. That's what we wanna win people to, to the truth. That's what we want people to know and love and bask in, is the truth. And if we win them to this church, or win them in any other way besides the truth, we didn't actually win them. We might have won them to ourselves, but not to Christ. Because Christ only wins people by the truth. He is the way, the truth, and the life. And so we must pray as a church that we might love the truth all the more. What does our church need? What does every church need? More love for the truth. More love for the truth. We should pray consistently, Father, sanctify us by the truth. Your word is truth. That the spirit would lead us into all truth. Because what is the Bible but the word of truth? And so we must love truth. And if you feel in your heart, any uneasiness to sound doctrine, any tolerating it, apathetic to it, bored by it, pray that God by his grace would cause your heart to turn away from that sinful path. Don't let your sinful desires lead you astray. Because you go from tolerating it to turning away from it. And you can only tolerate sound doctrine for so long. You can only tolerate it for so long until you return a sign to fable. So we must be on guard. We must be on guard. Some people are shocked when young people go to college and they turn away. Doesn't shock me at all. Doesn't shock me one bit. Because when they grew up, they tolerated it. When they had freedom, they turned away from it. That's what happens. Kids that go to college and when they get older, it's not because something radically happened. It's just now they have the freedom to do what their heart always wanted. They go from tolerating it to turning away from it. So we should not be deceived. When I was in college and saw people who grew up in church and go away, it didn't surprise me because why? Now they have the freedom to do what they always wanted to do. They used to have the freedom because their parents were watching them. You really see where someone's heart is when they have the freedom to do other things and they still choose God's path. That's when you see it. Not that you can't see it earlier, you can see the fruit of regeneration, but really the test is when people have more freedom and they still choose God's path. And so we must be those. who continually choose God's way. We must guard our hearts and keep our heart pure that we might desire God's truth. And you know, one of the quickest ways to get your heart hostile to sound doctrine, holding on to sin without repentance. Being unwilling to come clean to God or even others about sin. That's one of the quickest ways to become hostile to sound doctrine. Because what happens? You know you're living a life of hypocrisy and sin. You're not repenting. If there's repentance, there's freedom. Blessed be God. Repentance brings times of refreshing. But if you're not willing to repent, what happens? You hear the word, and it feels like you're being hit with arrows, and you hate it. And you hate it. I had a student in my Bible class, I had an essay on one of my tests, and they actually put, they were honest, they put that at the beginning of the year, because they were not doing what they ought to, they hated Bible class, and they hated what I was saying. Why? Because they knew they were living in sin. I was so encouraged that they put this on the paper. They were honest about it. Now they're, I think they're in a better place, but this person was honest by saying, I didn't want to be there. Why? Because I knew I wasn't doing what I was supposed to do. I hated Bible class because I felt like you were talking right to me. I'm glad that person felt that way. Why? Why did they hate it? Why did they, they tolerate it because they had to be there, but they weren't because they were holding on to sin. And that's one of the quickest ways. to become apathetic or hostile to the word of God. That's why we should throw aside filthiness and the overflow of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save our souls, as James 1 verse 21 says. So you should come on the Lord's day, the day before, two days before, and make sure before God that you are not holding on to sin without repentance. that you're not holding onto it, lest you come and say, he's speaking right at me and I hate this. But instead it's coming and say, I know this was sin, I confess it. And you can feel the balm and the refreshment of God's word of saying, knowing that in Christ there's forgiveness and there's new obedience that is more and more by his grace. And so you must be as well on guard against false teachers. Be discerning. you have to grow in your discernment. And what's the best way to grow in discernment? By knowing this book very, very well. That's the best way to grow in discernment, by knowing this book very, very well. So that when it sounds off, you might not always know why, but because you have this book through your mind and in your heart, you know, this doesn't sound right. There's something just not right about this. I don't know why, but it doesn't sound right. And you're able to turn away from false teaching. And again, the way to fight false teaching is by loving the truth, by loving the truth. and by knowing the truth so well that a counterfeit is easy to spots. Famous example, but the people who look at money, why do they look at the real thing over and over again? So that when it's something fake, they know. They know because they've looked at the real thing so much that when they see a counterfeit, it's obvious. And when you know this book so well that you're able to study it and look at it and ponder it in that way, because you've hidden this word in your heart that you might not sin against God, when you see something that contradicts this book or is not in accordance with it, you say, that is not right. That is not right. And that's why you need preaching. That's why you need personal reading of the word so that you more and more can have your mind and your heart bade in the truth. And so we must be on guard as a church and as individuals against false teaching. And pray for me that I would, regardless of the faces or smiles or frowns of others, would preach the word in season and out of season. That's what you need. Because there's gonna be times when because of your own sin or your stubbornness or your unwillingness to heed, you're gonna be upset with me maybe because I'm preaching. Pray that I would never stop preaching to you and at you. Pray that I will continue and continue and continue. That I wouldn't stop because your faces don't like it. Or because you don't like what I'm saying. I will continue on preaching whether you want it or whether you don't. And then hopefully God, by his grace, you would feel I'm being foolish. It's my sin, not because of anything that he's doing. It's because I'm being stubborn right now. so that you might desire more and more God's Word and I might be faithful to it. And that we would trust if God grows our church exponentially, it's because of truth. And if God doesn't, we're still sticking to the truth. Regardless, we're sticking to the truth. Regardless, we're sticking to the truth. There are ways that we could do things that could attract people. We could change things up. We could make things more creative. We could have more this, more that. We could do things that might be more attractive. But then we'd be compromising for the sake of numbers. Do I want more people to come here? Yes, I do. Do I want more people to grow and be saved and be sanctified? Yes, I do. But not at the expense of truth. Not at the expense of truth. And pray that we as a people and me as an individual would have that mindset. Because what can easily happen in smaller churches, many things can happen that are not good, but one thing is say, we gotta do something different. We gotta do something different. Well, if what we need to do different is according to God's word, let's do it. But if it's just to get numbers, let's not forsake the truth for the sake of more people. May God help us to love his truth, to live his truth, to learn his truth, that we might be people of the book. that we might not only endure sound doctrine, or that we would not be those who would just tolerate it, but we would love it, that we would bask in it, and that we would be faithful to it. How much are you getting out of preaching? How much are you desiring sound doctrine? Be those who suck everything out of preaching that you might grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Our Father, we thank You for Your Word, and we pray You would apply these things to our heart and to our life. Help us be doers of the Word, not hearers only, deceiving ourselves. In Jesus' name, Amen.