Published by admin on 27 Oct 2017 at 01:28 pm
THE SIN OF COMPROMISE
There are few things I can think of that displease the LORD more than our disobedience, whether that be of outright disrespect for Him, or merely exerting our own will over His by compromising what we know to be His will, but doing our own anyway. The common excuse I hear is “We are not under the Law, but under grace.” True, we have been given grace, AMAZING, UNDESERVED GRACE. Indeed, we are for the most part a rebellious, stiffnecked people. And yet, we want God to bless us with abundant health, abundant finances, nice homes, new cars. The truth is, we have gotten FAR away from the Gospel of the Kingdom of God that Jesus preached, and the disciples after Him preached. These days, it’s all about pleasing our flesh.
I for one believe in the “hereafter”, and I’m here after every blessing the LORD says I can have. But with every promise of God, there is a “catch”, and it’s usually the word “IF”. If I do such and such, God will do such and such. IF I believe, IF I obey, IF this, or IF that, and that means I have a part in taking part in that blessing. But flesh is flesh, so we want the blessing without the IF. Come on now, I’m just being honest with you; we want what WE want. But God is not Burger King where we can have it any way we want it, He is the King of KINGS, and LORD of LORDS. And yet at times, He can be reasoned with and can be persuaded to see things our way. Let’s look at an example of this with King Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20:1-6,
1Kings 20
1 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live. note
2 Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, saying,
3 I beseech thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. note
4 And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying, note
5 Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD.
6 And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.
7 And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.
The remaining time in his life King Hezekiah served the LORD with all his heart, but after he died, his son reigned in his stead, and we can read about him here:
2 Kings 21
1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hephzibah.
2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.
3 For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.
4 And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD said, In Jerusalem will I put my name.
5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.
6 And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
7 And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house, of which the LORD said to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever:
8 Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers; only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.
9 But they hearkened not: and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel.
10 And the LORD spake by his servants the prophets, saying,
11 Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols:
12 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle.
13 And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down. note
14 And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies;
15 Because they have done that which was evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day.
16 Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the LORD.
How did the nation fall from it’s state of grace to a state of destruction? By compromising the Word of God. I look at this passage and I see such grace was given to Israel under King Hezekiah, and as soon as his evil son took over, that grace was gone like last week’s paycheck. Friends, don’t think for a moment that because we are in the “age of grace” that God will continue to wink at our disobedience to Him.
God gave grace to King Hezekiah because he humbled himself and repented and was obedient to God. Now in the days of Jonah, God sent him to Nineveh to tell them He would destroy them unless they repented. Jonah WANTED to see them destroyed, so he avoided going to Nineveh to warn them. We all know the story of how Jonah ended up in the belly of a whale for three days, and after the whale vomited him out on dry land, Jonah decided he’d better do what God told him to do, and so he went and preached repentance to Nineveh. And Nineveh did indeed repent before God, and God granted them a stay of judgment of about 150 years. Yes, God did judge Nineveh, but gave them grace after they repented.
I’m saying all that to say this: God has given this great nation grace beyond grace, and yet we have allowed our leaders in the past to lead us down the path of compromise against God. Are we stronger than He? Will we provoke the LORD to jealousy and rage by our stiffnecked ways? We can see how that worked out for Israel and other nations the LORD destroyed, like Sodom and Gomorrah for their sins. ARE WE BETTER THAN THEY? Would God permit the destruction of our nation because it has turned to secularism? Surely not…right? I mean, we are the chosen of God, the mightiest nation on earth, why, we help other nations obtain freedom from oppression. Surely God wouldn’t punish us just because we have shed the blood of MILLIONS of babies, and allowed our corrupt leaders to push God out of our country. OR WOULD HE?
God has indeed punished those in the past who have done less wickedness than OUR country has done, and the Bible says GOD CHANGES NOT. So, is there still time for us to repent on our knees before God and avert His anger? Well, it is written in 2 Chronicles 7:14,
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Unfortunately, I realize my words will for the most part fall on deaf ears, for people will continue to do what they want to do. BUT…that verse said IF MY PEOPLE… which means, those who are NOT His people won’t humble themselves and pray and seek His face and turn from their wicked ways anyways. BUT..some will listen and repent, and God will heal THEIR land, THEIR household. Maybe you’re one of them. There is still time, but only God knows how MUCH time we have left to get right before Him. If I were you, I’d make sure to do it RIGHT NOW!!