Urgency of Preaching: Aligning Desires with Truth

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Preach the word this way because the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers that accord with suit their own desires and passions they will turn away from listening to the truth and they will wander off into myths. [00:02:25]

Now whenever I see a sequence of events like that no longer enduring sound teaching having itching ears accumulating teachers that fit their own passions turning away from truth wandering off into myth I pause and I ask what what order did these actually happen in which is the most basic what step which the root cause and what led to the next and the next. [00:03:08]

Their own passions should we mention first passions desires when it says their own it means their own private desires that are not shaped by sound and those passions give rise to a desire and an itch in the ear I only want to hear things that scratch where I eat and my itch is determined by me and my desires. [00:04:05]

Truth goes away from truth in other words when your passions and your desires become totally controlling and they begin to control what you want to hear you will only hear what suits your passions then you have forsaken truth as the criterion of your life and have replaced your subjective passions. [00:04:52]

Preaching is so crucial because without it look what happens passions take over in people's lives they don't have preaching to transform their passions that seems to me to be implied here and it's just massively important for how we understand this heralding work of the preacher our work is in the power of the Holy Spirit. [00:06:52]

Our work is in the power of the Holy Spirit in the season out of season with rebuke and and reproof and exhortation and patience and teaching to seek to create new passions new desires that itch for truth and gather true teachers and this and thus undo the power of myths. [00:07:17]

The deep problem that preaching addresses is passions or desires that create itching ears that turn from truth that gather false teachers who replace truth with myth and now we might have some sense of what sound means here the time is coming when people will not endure sound the word is healthy teaching. [00:07:43]

Sound here is virtually the same as truth right they turn away from listening to truth they won't endure healthy teaching here's an interesting confirmation of that over in 1st Timothy 6 3 to 5 down here in verse 5 he refers to people who are depraved in mind and that were depraved but the opposite of healthy and strong and whole. [00:08:03]

The truth is designed by God to be suitable to the mind to do away with depravity and overcome it and make them mine healthy and right at the heart of that healthy healthy mind or healthy doctrine is this I'm going to first Timothy 1 the law is not laid down for the just but for whatever is contrary to sound healthy healthy doctrine. [00:08:46]

The gospel is right at the heart of the truth that creates healthy doctrine which maybe I'm gonna I'm gonna hit clear here so you can back this up if you want to look at it maybe that's why it ends as for you be sober and or suffering do the work of a gospel er fulfill your ministry because this truth is the heart of this healthy teaching. [00:09:22]

Inside and outside the church the preached word always does the work of gospel evangelizing and not just that doesn't just mean telling unbelievers how they can be saved it means telling believers how precious the gospel truth is and keeping them sound in teaching so that their passions conform to the glorious gospel. [00:10:01]

The gospel truth is and keeping them sound in teaching so that their passions conform to the glorious gospel. [00:10:22]

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