A CURE FOR ITCHY EARS

Thursday 27 March

For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 2 Timothy 4:3 (NKJV)

Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 1 Timothy 4:1 (NKJV)

Our opening verse was written to Pastor Timothy by Apostle Paul. He was prophesying to his disciple that would be a time in the future where people would not put up with sound doctrine. It didn’t say that they would not put up with doctrine. It was the kind of doctrine or teaching that is at question here.

We know from this that there is a line of demarcation between what is sound and what is not sound according to Paul. Most people assume whatever they hear from the pulpit is sound doctrine but this is not automatically the case.

Think about the Bereans. The Bible says they were more noble than the Thessalonians because they searched the scriptures daily to see if these things were so. What things? Whether or not the teachings of Paul and the other Apostles were sound doctrine.

Why the scriptures? Remember the scriptures are referred to as Genesis to Malachi. Look at what Jesus said to the disciples on the Emmaus Road in Luke 24:27.

‘And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.’

‘Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me”’ Luke 24:44

In other words the scriptures. What do you think Apostle Paul preached from initially in the early church? Think about it. They didn’t have the gospels or the epistles because they had not been written yet. That leaves once again Genesis to Malachi.

So now we have established what the scriptures are; what are the epistles? Technically they are not the scriptures, they are the revelation of the scriptures. What about the gospels they are neither. Although Jesus quoted from the scriptures, it is His historical account set within the Law of Moses. Who is the central character of the scriptures? Christ concealed. In the epistles, it is Christ revealed.

When we understand this, we begin to see that the misinterpretation of the scriptures has a flow on effect to the way we interpret the revelation of the scriptures in the New Testament. Jesus even made corrective statements using the phrase ‘you have heard it said, but I say unto you’… He was separating the message of Himself who was the personification of grace from the accusation of the law. This is the job of sound doctrine.

Understanding Genesis to Malachi requires systematic and careful explanation. The Old Testament is without a doubt the most complicated, compilation of writings in this world. Don’t forget that the New Testament came out of the writings of the Old Testament so if our teaching of the scriptures concerning Christ is incorrect then our perspective of the message of Christ will be skewed.

The problem with unsound teaching is there are enough words in the Bible that you can literally make it say just about anything. There is ‘excavation’ of the Word and there is also innovation of the Word. It stands to reason that when you are a person who is sense ruled that you will want the Bible to say what appeals to your sensual desires.

Some people like to gather teachers who will tickle their ears, egos, appetites etc. All of this comes about when we fail to preach Christ. They start to develop what I call itchy ear itis . Don’t be one to listen to Ahab’s prophets who tell you what you want to hear, regardless if it’s true or not.

The Amplified Classic version says they are ‘chosen to satisfy their own liking and to foster the errors they hold,’

Don’t be one to get tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. Stay your mind on the Word.Embrace sound teaching and leave what feels good to the senses to be permanently cured of itchy ear itis.

APPLICATION

Study our opening scripture and the account of Ahab and Micaiah in 1 Kings 22 to see the parallels between them and be quick to let go of beliefs that cannot be verified in the Word of God.