From 1st Timothy 4:1-5
by John MacArthur
Now I’ll ask you a simple question. Why are people unwilling to endure sound teaching? Because they love…what?…sin. Sound preaching confronts and rebukes sin and people with love for sinful life style will not tolerate it, they just want their ears tickled. Paul says we can’t do that…we can’t do that.
They want to be entertained. We can’t do that. I think there are thousands of evangelical churches worldwide that can’t even tolerate sound doctrine. They wouldn’t listen to it for two weeks in a row because it would confront their sin, it would confront their error, convict them, call them to truth and obedience. They don’t want healthy teaching. Why? Because they’ve been corrupted by the world. They don’t want to give up their sinful life styles. They want someone who makes them feel good about the way they live.
And what do they want to hear? Ear tickling stuff and they will literally heap to themselves teachers who give them that stuff. In periods of unsettled faith, says one writer, and skepticism and mere curious speculation in matters of religion, teachers of all kinds swarm like the flies in Egypt and the demand creates the supply. The hearers invite and shake their own preachers. If the people desire a calf to worship, a ministerial calf maker is readily found.
That’s happening in the church today, I believe. Evangelicalism has lost its tolerance for biblical preaching and now the church is flirting with serious doctrinal error. The church is throwing its arms open wide and embracing every kind of aberrant viewpoint. Christians madly pursue extrabiblical revelation in the form of prophecies and dreams. Preachers deny the reality of hell. The modern gospel promises heaven apart from holiness. Churches ignore the biblical teaching on women’s roles, homosexuality and other issues that are somehow politically charged. The human medium has overtaken the divine message and this is evidence of a serious doctrinal compromise.
Look again at that verse, verse 3, they want their ears tickled. They don’t want to be confronted. They don’t want to be convicted. They want to be entertained. They want pleasant feelings, anecdotes, humor, psychology, motivational lectures, reassurance, positive thinking, self-congratulation, ego- massaging sermonettes and small talk, not biblical reproof, rebuke and exhortation. But the truth of God doesn’t tickle your ears, it boxes them. It burns them.
From the sermon ‘Ministry in the Age of Itching Ears’
I am currently reading this fine book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1433509059/ref=oss_product in which the author makes the several excellent points. Namely, many Christians have an unbiblical, idolatrous view of love and many churches treat their people as consumers, offering them what they want rather than what the Word proclaims. This goes directly contrary to the Scripture, which tells us, in Romans 13:14 “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.”
EMERGENT CHURCH HERETIC SERMON JAM OSTEEN !
MRWBBIII,
There’s a problem with your video – “An error occurred, please try again later.”
FYI – mixed case is your friend. ALL UPPER CASE is not pleasant to read.
“Knowing me will get you to hell…knowing me is not going to help you.” – Perry Noble
Amen.
“You don’t understand how little I care.” – Perry Noble
I think I do Perry.
It really is sad that false teachers will always have a job because there will always be people that will want their ears tickled. Basically all of the world believes in god, they just don’t believe in the God of the bible; they believe in a God that is fashioned into their own image; a god that even a pagan can love. One of the saddest things is a person that professes to be Christian but their life is contrary to their profession. Churches are full of people that have been dunked in a tank and think they’re good to go because they have fulfilled a requirement, etc. They do God a favor and put their hour in every Sunday and it never bothers them that their life hasn’t changed per regeneration, mainly because the teaching is so rarely heard from the pulpit today. I remember when I was a kid that it was very common to hear about the reprobate that got saved and is now a “reborn again Christian.” I can’t tell you the last time I have heard this said about anyone. Today its more common to rebuke the brother for mentioning that there may be something to be concerned about because a professed Christian isn’t showing any fruit. I’m not saying we need to go around and nit pick the brethren because we are all undergoing sanctification and everyone has a different level of maturity, etc. but that is completely different from the guy that is living the way he has always lived; except now he says “In Jesus’ name”, etc.
Wade,
Amen. A fellow in a small group I meet with on Friday mornings (men from various churches, discuss a book – currently this one: http://shop.churchandfamilyreformation.org/Doctrines-of-Grace-Rediscovering-the-Evangelical-Gospel-BKDOGJBPR.htm ) has told us that he has little interest in the Bible, has boiled his “Christian life” down to a few trite phrases, and was offended when I observed that a Christian will have a hunger for the Word of God; that no one should blithely accept the word of a preacher that he is saved. Examine one’s self? What an odd idea?
sigh
Manfred,
Amen to everything you have said. I grew up believing everything the minister stated and as a result of that, had a very poor understanding of doctrine and had an atrocious theology that I adhered to. The gospel has been watered down and theology has been dumb down out of attempts to provide quick and easy answers for a generation that demands instant gratification. Love for the word is a gift beyond description and when someone doesn’t have that in their life, they don’t know what they are lacking.
I hope your words to your friend are seed that fell on good ground and that your friend will ingest them in a fashion that will give rise to fruition. If he isn’t saved, then lets pray for God to draw him to Him so that he may be saved in spite of his poor understanding that he has now.
Thank you for the info about the book, I may give it a go.
God bless,