Demand and Supply
“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.”
-II
TIMOTHY
4:2-3 [KJV]
Paul
predicted the time would come when people would not receive the
gospel of grace, but, motivated by carnal desires, they would seek
out, find and listen to those preachers whose objective is to tell
folks what they want to hear. Surely the season about which Paul
prophesied has arrived. The philosophy of consumerism has been
carried over from the marketplace into churches. 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 may be likened to a shrewd businessman;
he is consumer oriented and motivated by personal success.
His
job is to discover what religious customers want and then provide it.
As that is fundamental to success in the secular world, that is also
the key to making it big in the religious arena. Multitudes of
preachers are saying virtually anything people want to hear and if,
for some reason, you don’t like what one preacher is saying, shop
around, there’s always another one who will adjust their message to
suit your taste. The demand creates the supply; hearers determine
what their preachers will say. As one old writer 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
summed up in II
TIMOTHY
4:2:
“Preach
the Word.”
God’s
men boldly proclaim the truth as it is in Christ. THEY
SEEK THE APPROVAL OF GOD, NOT THE APPLAUSE OF MEN
[GALATIANS
1:10].
Having no selfish ambitions or lofty, personal goals, they desire THE
GLORY OF GOD IN ALL THINGS
and like Paul, are “determined
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified”
[I
CORINTHIANS
2:21].
They set forth God as being sovereign in all that He does. They
proclaim “Salvation
is of the LORD”
[JONAH
2:9]
and man’s total depravity and utter inability to save himself or
make himself acceptable before a holy God.
They
set forth the successful, redemptive work of Christ for His people
and the necessity of the quickening grace of the Spirit to reveal the
Savior. They boldly and unashamedly announce, “CHRIST
IS ALL:”
all
to be known, all to be seen in the Word of God and all to be
preached. They declare how God can be Just and justify the ungodly
through the death of the Lord Jesus. Whether their hearers approve or
disapprove, they still preach Christ crucified in obedience to the
charge they’ve been given. The world’s rule of demand and supply
is of no concern to them. The message God has supplied and demands
them to preach, that is what they proclaim.
—Gospel
report by preacher
Jim Byrd
Thirteenth
Street Baptist church of Ashland, Kentucky USA
Please
find enclosed link to Audio Gospel Sermons & Contact Info:
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