2Timothy 4

I charge you therefore before God and

the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge

the living and the dead at His

appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach

the word! Be ready in season and out

of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort,

with all longsuffering and teaching.

3 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; 4 and they will turn their ears away from

the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

5 But you be watchful in all things,

endure afflictions, do the work of an

evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

NKJV

2Timothy 4

I charge you therefore before God and

the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge

the living and the dead at His

appearing (epiphaneia) and His

kingdom: NKJV

"The words 'shall judge' more literally

are 'is about to be judging'; they point

to the fact that Paul was living in the

hope of the imminent return of Christ."

Hiebert

2Timothy 4 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season

and out of season. Convince, rebuke,

exhort, with all longsuffering and

teaching.

NKJV

Mark 114 Now after John was put in prison,

Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the

gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 and

saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the

kingdom of God is at hand. Repent,

and believe in the gospel.” NKJV

2Timothy 4 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season

and out of season. Convince, rebuke,

exhort, with all longsuffering and

teaching.

NKJV

Psalm 11912Blessed are You, O LORD!

Teach me Your statutes.13 With my lips I have declared

All the judgments of Your mouth.14 I have rejoiced in the way of Your

testimonies, as much as in all riches.

15 I will meditate on Your precepts,

And contemplate Your ways.16 I will delight myself in Your

statutes;

I will not forget Your word.

NKJV

Jeremiah 2316 This is what the LORD of Heaven’s

Armies says to his people: “Do not

listen to these prophets when they

prophesy to you, filling you with futile

hopes. They are making up everything

they say. They do not speak for the

LORD!

17 They keep saying to those who

despise my word, ‘Don’t worry! The

LORD says you will have peace!’ And to

those who stubbornly follow their own

desires, they say, ‘No harm will come

your way!’

18 “Have any of these prophets been in

the LORD’s presence to hear what he is

really saying? Has even one of them

cared enough to listen?

NLT

2Corinthians 45For we do not preach ourselves, but

Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as

your servants for Jesus’ sake.

NIV

2Timothy 4 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season

and out of season. Convince, rebuke,

exhort, with all longsuffering and

teaching.

NKJV

2Corinthians 215 For we are to God the fragrance of

Christ among those who are being saved

and among those who are perishing. 16 To

the one we are the aroma of death

leading to death, and to the other the

aroma of life leading to life. And who is

sufficient for these things?...

2Corinthians 3: 5 Not that we are

sufficient of ourselves to think of

anything as being from ourselves, but

our sufficiency is from God, 6 who also

made us sufficient as ministers of the

new covenant, not of the letter but of

the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the

Spirit gives life. NKJV

2Timothy 43 For the time will come when they will

not endure sound (hygianouses)

doctrine,

NKJV

John 660 When many of His disciples heard it,

they said, “This is a hard saying; who

can listen to it?”… 66 After this many of

His disciples turned back and no longer

walked with Him.

ESV

The Biblical preacher will comfort the

afflicted, and afflict the comfortable.

Isaiah 309That this is a rebellious people,

Lying children, children who will not hear

the law of the LORD;10 Who say to the seers, “Do not see,”

and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to

us right things; Speak to us smooth

things, prophesy deceits.

11Get out of the way,

Turn aside from the path,

Cause the Holy One of Israel

To cease from before us.”

NKJV

2Timothy 4 3 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;

NKJV

The human heart works hard to fortify itself

against truth, creating rationalizations and

systems of thought to justify selfishness.

Unfortunately, there are teachers and leaders

who give people what they want to hear, tickling

their itching ears with curiosities that allow them

to remain untouched by God’s transforming

power. Larson, K. (2000). I & II Thessalonians, I & II Timothy, Titus, Philemon

(Vol. 9, p. 320). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

When I first came to California, the late Dr. Arno

C. Gaebelein, a great man of God who had

been a very outstanding teacher, wintered out

here in Pasadena, and I went to visit him. He

asked me how I liked California, and I replied, “I

love it here, but it’s very interesting that if I

teach the Book of Revelation, I can fill the

church (even during midweek service), but if I

begin teaching the Epistle to the Romans, I can

practically empty the church.

I find there are people who will run all the way

across this area to find out from a speaker just

how many hairs are in the horse’s tail in

Revelation.” He then made a statement to me

that I shall never forget, “Dr. McGee, you’re

going to find out in your own ministry that there

are a great many people more interested in

Antichrist than they are in Christ.” McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Epistles (1 and 2

Timothy/Titus/Philemon) (electronic ed., Vol. 50, p. 131). Nashville:

Thomas Nelson.

2Timothy 4 4 and they will turn their ears away from

the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

NKJV

When a man rejects God's truth, it isn't

that he believes in nothing: it’s that he

will believe in anything.

Because of their “itching ears” they would

accumulate teachers who would satisfy their

cravings for things that disagree with God’s

truths. The fact that a preacher has a large

congregation is not always a sign that he is

preaching the truth.

In fact, it may be evidence that he is tickling

people’s “itching ears” and giving them what

they want to hear instead of what they need to

hear. It is but a short step from “itching ears” to

turning one’s ears away from the truth. Once

people have rejected the truth, they turn to

fables (myths).

It is not likely that man-made fables will convict

them of sin or make them want to repent! The

result is a congregation of comfortable, professing

Christians, listening to a comfortable, religious talk

that contains no Bible doctrine. These people

become the prey of every false cult because their

lives lack a foundation in the Word of God. It is a

recognized fact that most cultists were formerly

members of churches. Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p.

254). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

Ephesians 411 Now these are the gifts Christ gave

to the church: the apostles, the

prophets, the evangelists, and the

pastors and teachers. 12 Their

responsibility is to equip God’s people

to do his work and build up the church,

the body of Christ.

13 This will continue until we all come to

such unity in our faith and knowledge of

God’s Son that we will be mature in the

Lord, measuring up to the full and

complete standard of Christ. 14 Then we

will no longer be immature like children.

We won’t be tossed and blown about

by every wind of new teaching.

We will not be influenced when people

try to trick us with lies so clever they

sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will

speak the truth in love, growing in

every way more and more like Christ,

who is the head of his body, the church.

NLT

2Timothy 45 But you be watchful in all things,

NKJV

Psalm 11Blessed is the man

Who walks not in the counsel of the

ungodly, Nor stands in the path of

sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the

scornful; 2But his delight is in the law of

the LORD, And in His law he meditates

day and night. NKJV

2Timothy 4

…endure afflictions,…

NKJV

2Timothy 4

…do the work of an evangelist…

NKJV

2Timothy 4

…fulfill your ministry.

NKJV