We Need Annointed Preaching.

 2 Timothy 4:3

"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."

"The time will come when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep, the church will have clowns entertaining the goats." (C.H. Spurgeon)

I remember years ago hearing a story about a man who saw Satan speaking to a crowd of people out on the street. As he got closer he could hear that Satan was preaching a sermon about the gospel of Jesus Christ. The man waited until he was done and when the crowd had dispersed he went up to the devil and asked him, "Why would you, the enemy of Jesus Christ and the gospel, be preaching the gospel to all of these people?' The devil responded, "I have discovered that the best way to deceive people is to preach the gospel without the anointing of the Holy Spirit."

WE HAVE AN EPIDEMIC OF UNNANOINTED PREACHING TODAY!!

When we hear the words of Paul to Timothy and the words of Spurgeon, it is easy to think of the popular word/faith and health/wealth preachers like Joel Osteen, Jesse Duplantis, and Benny Hinn, who are so far off the plantation that it's hard to believe that anyone takes them seriously. But as in so many things, it is the SUBTLE deviancies from the pure gospel that we need to beware of. Jesus said in Matthew 24: 24: 

"For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect."

Most churches today act as if Jesus never said these words. But he did warn about them and not just once. There are many warnings in the New testament about false teachers and we are fools if we ignore them.

An incomplete gospel

One of the main charactoristics of unannointed preaching is that certain aspects of the gospel are left out or are treated with unimportance. Usually there is very little said about sin and coming judgment for the unrepentant. If sin is mentioned at all it is treated as something unfortunate that keeps you from reaching your true destiny. 

Sin is a direct assault on God himself and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23, Ezekiel 18:4, 20). When this is glossed over the message becomes an anemic gospel and it is not life-changing. 

It has been said that the gospel message is convicting but not condemning. Actually the gospel message is both. It is convicting to those who are being saved but it is condemning to those who are not being saved. As Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones said, "The gospel has a message to the unrepentant sinner -- judgment awaits."

If the message glosses over tthe unpleasant aspects of the gospel about judgment and the need to repent, then it is an un-annointed gospel.

Next I want to briefly mention two things that lead to un-annointed preaching and we must not allow ourselved to do or allow either one.

Compromise

I remember one time raising an objection about a teacher because he taught some completely unbiblical ideas about spiritual gifts. The response was, "We shouldn't dismiss someone simply because they may be off in an area." I would agree that may be true in areas where the Bible is unclear, such as specifics about end time prophecy. But when it is clear from scripture and the teacher persists in the error, then they should be called out. And if they expressed their false views publicly then it needs to be called out publicly.

Making excuses

Another time, regarding another leader, the response was, "But he has done a lot of good." 

I argued that this pastor had done a lot of damage and the leaders didn't disagree, but they were willing to overlook that because of the, at least perceived, good he had done.

Often compromise and excuse making come disguised as 'extending grace and mercy,' and 'striving for unity.' Jesus never commanded us to extend grace toward false doctrines and he commanded us to separate ourselves from that which is false. Read Jesus's words in Matthew 7:15-20;

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them."

It wouldn't be enough for a wolf to simply dress up like a sheep. They would have to put on a really good act and behave like a sheep,... for a little while at least. 

We must remember that the enemy is out to deceive. He is very clever and he does a really good impersonation of Jesus. 

A wolf in sheep's clothing.

And most of us have no idea that he is doing his work right under our noses because we are so naive.

Jesus said the deception would be so subtle that it might be possible to deceive the very elect. That means that the deception won't be obvious on the surface. Jesus also said we would know them by their fruit. Often it can take a while before you see the actual fruit. I remember when I lived in Florida we bought a house that had a number of citrus trees on the property. They all looked the same until the fruit started to mature. Then we realized that 2 of them were grapefruits, 2 were oranges, and one was a lemon. And even then, it wasn't until we opened the grapefruits up that we saw one was a pink grapefruit and the other a yellow grapefruit.

Don't be too quick to accept someone's teaching until you really know them. Sometimes that can take a while. We must be ever vigilant.

So here are some things to keep in mind:

1. Don't compromise with Biblical truth.

2. Don't make excuses for leaders.

Finally

Acts 17:11

"Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true."

If you are not doing as the Bereans did, it is not a question of whether you will be deceived, It is a question of when and to what extent.

Don't be deceived! 

And don't put up with anything but sound doctrine!