Sermon Tone Analysis

“The time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”[1]

There is an old saying that is sometimes heard among Christians in the southern United States that cautions, “Scratch a saint and you find a sinner underneath.”

This is one of those sayings that lends itself to various understandings.

Unquestionably, it points out the fact that we are each sinful, though we may be saved.

Even the bravest among us can be frightened and act cowardly.

Even the boldest Christian can be intimidated into silence.

The godliest individual is capable of tolerating and even justifying unthinkable evil.

At a more superficial level, this old saw addresses the fact that not everyone who professes to be a Christian acts “Christianly.”

A church always represents a mixed multitude; growing together in God’s garden are wheat and weeds sown by the enemy.

In any congregation there will be pretenders, and there will be sheep that are readily influenced to act unconscionably by the actions and pleas of others.

Though we must guard against all such infiltration of evil, according to the words of the Master, it is inevitable that such will occur [see *Matthew 13:24-30*].

Nevertheless, these are perilous times for Christians.

It is not dangerous for Canadians to go to church, nor even to be religious; however, to live a life of commitment to Christ—adhering to His Word and conscientiously endeavouring to do what pleases Him—exposes the child of God to serious risks in the world.

Outsiders accuse the people of God of bigotry because they will not approve of the sinful lifestyle adopted by and tolerated in the world.

Professed believers are offended because commitment to Christ makes them unpopular with the world.

Even fellow believers who indisputably love the Master may become testy if pet doctrines are ignored.

Additionally, there is a constant struggle arising from within the Master’s congregations.

At any given time, we will find saved individuals that “will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”

Among the professed people of God, personal comfort is often of greater importance than is fidelity to the Word or conscientious commitment to the way in which Christ would have us walk.

The sentiment is “Tickle my ears, but don’t scratch my heart.”

*The Tenuous Hold of Sound Doctrine* — “The time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching.”

It is sometimes said that the Faith is but one generation from apostasy; I suggest that a congregation is always one sermon away from apostasy.

After a congregation has become apostate, their defection is obvious to anyone with a modicum of spiritual perspicuity.

However, when an assembly first begins to tolerate a little bit of error, it is difficult to say with certainty that the congregation is apostate.

At first, the subtle deviations from sound doctrine are distractions—bothersome perhaps, but hardly worth rupturing fellowship.

As the error becomes more blatant, we find we are uncertain when to pull the plug and leave the fellowship.

The great English divine, Charles Spurgeon, struggled with that very issue in his associations with the Baptist Union of Great Britain.

One of the major crises in his life was known as “the Downgrade Movement.”

He remonstrated privately with leaders in the Baptist Union of Great Britain, pleading with them to remove pastors and teachers that openly denied the Faith.

When that effort was rejected with the plea that they sought to maintain fellowship, he publicly quit the association.

His church stood with him in withdrawing from association with error.

After the breach was complete, he looked back and wrote, “I have taken a deep interest in the struggles of the orthodox brethren; but I have never advised those struggles, nor entertained the slightest hope of their success.

My course has been of another kind.

As soon as I saw, or thought I saw, that error had become firmly established, I did not deliberate, but quitted the body at once.

Since then my one counsel has been, ‘Come ye out from among them.’”[2]

This battle is not new, it has continued since the earliest days of the Faith.

Peter wrote of the saints who preceded him, “False prophets also arose among the people,” and he warned of what awaited those to whom he wrote, “just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them” [*2 Peter 2:1*].

Then, in agreement with our text he cautioned, “And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed” [*2 Peter 2:2*].

The elders are charged to be ever watchful against infiltration, but the error introduced and tolerated among otherwise sound people is excused because those who are led astray plead, “We know these men!” Paul warned the Ephesian elders who met him as he sailed to Jerusalem, “From among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them” [*Acts 20:30*].

It would be some who had once stood firmly in the Faith and who had once taught the Word faithfully who would themselves lead the flock astray.

How is this possible?

Spurgeon, in the previously cited Sword and Trowel article answered that very question.

“Failure at a crucial moment may mar the entire outcome of a life.

A man who has enjoyed special light is made bold to follow in the way of the Lord, and is anointed to guide others therein.

He rises into a place of love and esteem among the godly, and this promotes his advancement among men.

What then?

The temptation comes to be careful of the position he has gained, and to do nothing to endanger it.

The man, so lately a faithful man of God, compromises with worldlings, and to quiet his own conscience invents a theory by which such compromises are justified, and even commended.

He receives the praises of ‘the judicious;’ he has, in truth, gone over to the enemy.

The whole force of his former life now tells upon the wrong side.

If the Lord loves him well enough, he will be scourged back to his place; but if not, he will grow more and more perverse, till he becomes a ringleader among the opposers of the gospel.

To avoid such an end it becomes us ever to stand fast.”[3]

In short, a good man begins to love the praise of men, and in order to secure that praise he makes just a little compromise for the sake of “fellowship.”

The members of the congregation are at first somewhat alarmed, but they know him to be a good man—they trust him; and so they dismiss his deviation as transient and momentary.

However, they have made a fool’s bargain, exchanging the truth for a lie.

Having tolerated “a little bit of error,” they will find it easier still to make the next compromise, though they cannot imagine that they will be required to make more accommodation for deception.

Their conscience is quieted as the explanation is provided for why they can accept the error as truth and as God’s will.

Defection from the Faith is more widespread and more commonplace than we might ever imagine, for God has clearly warned that error will be introduced within the congregations of the Lord and even tolerated as the people of God grow quiescent and become spiritually senescent.

Near the end of his ministry, the Apostle Paul warned, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons” [*1 Timothy 4:1*].

Here is a frightening warning that has been issued by the Spirit of God.

We saw earlier that even from among the elders some will arise who deceive, but here the Apostle says that from within the Faith there will be ongoing departures.

We know that a person who has been born from above cannot be unborn.

These are not lost people who are in view, nor are they people who somehow became “unsaved;” rather, Paul is focusing on believers—members of the congregation, who reject the hardship of the Faith.

Paul has in view redeemed individuals who turn from healthy teaching so that they can feed on the sweet sop that they want rather than the healthy foods that they need.

Listen to Eugene Peterson’s interpretation and translation of the Greek behind our text.

“You’re going to find that there will be times when people will have no stomach for solid teaching, but will fill up on spiritual junk food—catchy opinions that tickle their fancy.

They’ll turn their backs on truth and chase mirages.”[4]

The Apostle says we can anticipate that some believers will turn away from “healthy teaching.”[5]

They will prefer spiritual junk food because they cannot tolerate healthy food.

This is an ongoing challenge to the teacher of the Word as he seeks to build the Body and strengthen believers.

There will be constant resistance, as some supposedly spiritual individuals channelling Rodney King plead, “Can’t we all just get along?”

To be certain, there are deceivers who sneak into the assemblies and insinuate themselves into positions of prominence and authority.

Jude warned against such people when he wrote, “Certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” [*Jude 4*].

Certainly, that is the tenor of Peter’s previously cited warning.

However, in our text, Paul seems to be warning that it is believers—people that have been born again and who should know better, who will seek to gorge themselves on spiritual junk food.

Because this is a constant danger, the people of God must guard against every deviation.

Elders must “preach the message, be[ing] ready whether it is convenient or not” [*2 Timothy 4:1*].[6]

Members of the congregation must familiarise themselves with the Word, ensuring that what is taught accords with the Word.

Together, the people of God must hold one another accountable, refusing to permit errant teaching to slide.

Though I recognise that in the popular view this passage is relegated to ordination sermons, the implication of the Apostle’s words is of such significance that all believers must take the teaching to heart.

Each Christian must accept responsibility to ensure that this truth is applied consistently in the services of the congregation.

I understand that the Spirit of God guards the congregations of the Master.

I understand that we have the Word of God delivered for our benefit and instruction.

However, there is obviously a grave danger that believers will ignore sound doctrine, even tolerating speakers at the sacred desk who prove to be “liars whose consciences are seared” [see *1 Timothy 4:2*]; otherwise, the Spirit of God would not have appended the warnings which we have just seen, nor would it be necessary to caution those who preach the Word to guard their teaching, being prepared to “reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” [*2 Timothy 4:2*].

Throughout Canada are multiplied empty church buildings that once housed congregations that stood firmly for the Faith of Christ the Lord.

Those congregations defected from the truth and wandered off into myths.

Now, the buildings built by these faithful saints stand empty or have been taken over by the world to serve as bars and barns.

Who will listen very long to fables?

Who can build their lives on fantasy and grow strong?

There are multiple denominations in our nation that were once identified as valiant for the Faith; yet, today within these same denominations one is hard-pressed to find a vibrant messenger of the Faith of Christ the Lord.

The people imagined that the finest thoughts of mere mortals were superior to the revealed mind of God.

They thought that tolerance of wickedness was pleasing in the sight of the Lord, and so they showed the breadth of their compassion through accommodating practises which are unacceptable to the Living God.

We have come to a day in which gathering a crowd is more important than maintaining fidelity to the Word—the size of the crowd is taken as evidence of divine blessing.

Whether a preacher is well liked in the community is of greater importance than whether that preacher boldly declares the whole counsel of God.

Have such preachers never heard the Word of the Master, “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets” [*Luke 6:26*]?

There is, in the prophecy of Isaiah, a startling description of the condition of God’s people when they insist on hearing what is pleasant rather than what is needful.

“They are a rebellious people,

lying children,

children unwilling to hear

the instruction of the Lord;