"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables" (2 Timothy 4:2-3).
Paul predicted that the time would come when people would not receive the gospel of grace. Motivated by their carnal desires, they will, therefore, seek out, find and listen to those preachers whose objective is to tell folks exactly what they want to hear. Surely the time about which Paul prophesied has arrived. The philosophy of consumerism has been carried over from the marketplace into the church building. The rule of the day among false religionists is demand and supply. Whatever the congregation demands, that’s what lying prophets are ready to supply. The average preacher today may be likened to a clever businessman. He is consumer oriented and motivated by personal success. His job is to find out what religious consumers want and then provide it for them. That is the secret to success in the business world, and that is the secret to making it big in the religious arena. There are multitudes of preachers saying virtually anything anybody would want to hear. The demand creates the supply. The hearers determine what their preachers will say and do. As one of the old writers said, "If the people desire a golden calf to worship, a ministerial calf-maker is readily found."
Though most preachers are ready to supply the demands of the multitudes, the Lord still has His servants who are faithful to their commission which is summed up in 2 Timothy 4:2, "preach the Word." God’s men boldly proclaim the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. They seek the approval of God, not the applause of men. They have no selfish ambitions; they have set no lofty, personal goals. They seek the glory of God in all things and, as Paul told the Corinthians, they are "determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." They faithfully set forth God as being absolutely sovereign in all that He does. They proclaim that "salvation is of the LORD" (Jonah 2:9). They proclaim man’s total depravity and his utter inability to save himself or make himself acceptable before a holy God. They proclaim the successful, redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ for His people. They proclaim the regenerating grace of the Holy Spirit. Boldly and unashamedly they declare that "Christ is all." He is all to be known, all to be seen in the Bible and all to be preached from the pulpit. They proclaim how God can be Just and justify the ungodly through the doing and the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. When their hearers are amening the sermon, they preach Christ crucified. When their hearers are ready to stone them to death because of the gospel they proclaim, they just continue preaching the Word of the Lord in obedience to their Master. The world’s rule of demand and supply means nothing to them. The message God has supplied and demands them to preach, that is what they proclaim.
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