They Will Not Endure Sound Doctrine” But Why?
Rod Jones powerfully writes below, letting the Scriptures speak of the time of the apostate church in these last days. He writes of so-called believers who are so fleshly that they do not want to hear the sound Pauline doctrine that is able to convert and renew their souls in righteousness. He writes of the nature of and history of man’s rejection of God. He begins;
2nd Tim.4:3] 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;
[4] And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
Rom 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Rom 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
The question becomes for the reader of 2nd Timothy chapter 4 verse 3: ‘why is it that there will be a time when man will not endure sound doctrine?’ The answer is found also in verse 3: “but after their own lusts.” This negative response to God’s word began in the garden with Adam and Eve, and it was because of their own lusts as well as the saw that the tree was “good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise,” these are all after the “lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, the pride of life.” Man has always chosen his lusts, and his wisdom over God’s word of Truth, we must understand that whether it was God Himself talking directly to the man, or His power being made known unto man, the wisdom of man, his lusts, and the pride of the man is what many men have continued to operate upon, and when he views God’s Holy Word, he puts his wisdom, his lusts, and his vain pride at the forefront.
Rom 1:25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
Gen 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
Gen 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Gen 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Moreover, just as Romans chapter 1 testifies, man had “changed the truth of God into a lie,” and this is because of man’s ‘blind heart,’ he only sees God’s word through his own carnal eyes of understanding, and assumes that God’s love, and God’s will, and God’s objective centers around whatever the man loves, and whatever the man’s objective is, and whatever the man endeavors to do in this ungodly life. This is how this wisdom of man operates, he walks by what he sees, and what he hears, and what he had fallen in love with, and God’s word becomes a doctrine for the happiness of man, and a doctrine of physical blessings, and that God is waiting for man to use his carnal wisdom to understand what God ‘is really saying.’ This is what happened with Adam and Eve and unfortunately has continued throughout time unto this present day.
Act 4:14 And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.
Act 4:15 But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves,
Act 4:16 Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it.
Act 4:17 But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.
Act 4:18 And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
Act 4:19 But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.
And as previously stated, man has rejected direct commands from the mouth of God, and after seeing undeniably the mighty power of God, so when God sent His Holy men to preach, and write His Word, they too were also rejected, and persecuted unto death.
The “Word [Christ] became Flesh, and dwelt among us,” and the man “knew Him not,” and not because he did not physically see Him in that day, or hear Him; whether by mouth, or by the mouths of His preachers, man’s foolish heart “became hardened,” and he chose to continue to place his faith in his own ‘power.’ He continued to operate upon the lusts of his flesh, the lusts of his eyes, and the pride of his life, this is his religion, and his faith has operated this ‘way’ since the beginning. Man creates his own system of ‘laws,’ or ‘commands,’ and he puts the men of this world under his ways, and walk by his commands.
Act 7:51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
Act 7:52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:
Furthermore, if the men of this world will not “hearken unto” his voice, then the man will execute his own form of judgment against the man. Now, many would think that I am referring to civil, and criminal laws and statutes of man’s law, but this is not the case at all. The religious men of this world have always operated upon his own traditions and commandments, and these things were created so other men would possess his heart, and his thinking, and that these men would teach other men to walk in his ways and think like he does. But this is Satan’s plan, to not only “be like the Most High,” but to have his ministers operate with “a form of godliness.” Therefore, the man “will not endure sound doctrine,” with his carnal mind he feels that he will accept only the things that pertain to his flesh, and its lusts. The men of this world have a desire to have men to worship them, and be in their image, and after their likeness.
Joh 8:40 But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.
Joh 8:41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.
Joh 8:42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Joh 8:43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Joh 8:45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.
Simply put, the Apostles to the circumcision who were given direct revelation from the Lord, “disputed daily,” and tried to “convince the gainsayers.” The Lord Himself spoke to the religious men of His time and was rejected by many of His own Nation. And God the Father has been rejected by many who heard and saw His Almighty power. It all goes to show the power that man places in his heart’s desires, and that he will endeavor to fulfill the traditions and commandments of men and teach those ways unto others. And whether His word came from His own Son, or directly out of His own mouth, the men of this world will continue to operate upon the “blindness of the heart,” and it is the heart of the man that must ‘submit’ unto the power of God, or unfortunately unto the power of Satan. And it all boils down to whether the servant desires to give up of themselves for God the Father as a “living sacrifice,” or continue to ‘live unto themselves,” and fulfil the lusts of their flesh. And the enticing things of this world caters to their own “good pleasure,” and not the good pleasure of the Father, this is because as 1st John chapter 2 says, “the love of the Father is not in him.”
1Jn 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1Jn 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Jn 2:17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever
By Rod Jones
https://supplyofgrace.com/2022/11/07/they-will-not-endure-sound-doctrine-but-why/