Welcome to from the pulpit and classic sermons
each week You bring you a different message
for some of history's greatest speakers and the
Christian faith and powerful sermons for modern preachers,
too This week we have Chuck Smith with
his message the danger of compromise Good to
be back It's funny I'd like to talk
to you on the subject of the danger
of compromise It seems like the enemy is
Always seeking to get us to compromise Somewhere
along the line in our walk with the
Lord but here in Exodus chapters 8 and
10 we find that the subject of compromise
is brought up as Moses has gone before
the Pharaoh to demand the freedom of the
people to go into the wilderness and worship
God Which the Pharaoh refused saying who is
the Lord?
That I should obey his voice to let
Israel go.
I do not know the Lord Well, I'm
sure that he saw he ever said that
because the Lord began to show him who
he was and the plagues that came upon
Egypt wiping out the the land and When
Pharaoh saw that Moses was going to be
Persistent in the desire and in the demand
that he released the people to go and
worship the Lord He first of all began
to offer suggestions of a series of compromises
and When Satan sees that you have that
commitment and you're gonna serve the Lord he
so often comes to us with suggestions of
compromise and He follows really basically the same
pattern that he followed with Moses in Exodus
828 we read that the Pharaoh said I
will let you go That you may sacrifice
to the Lord your God in the wilderness
only You shall not go very far away
and pray for me Don't become a fanatic.
Oh go ahead and you know, give your
life to the Lord and all but Don't
become a fanatic.
Don't go very far God forbid that you
should worship him more than in one service
during the week Read your Bible, but don't
make a serious attempt to really know the
scriptures Don't be one of those who are
always quoting scriptures Never share your faith with
others.
You might offend them and they might make
fun of you You might believe but try
to keep it a secret You may give
But only that which you can afford to
give never give a tithe You might become
a fanatic about football or basketball and That
the games you can yell and scream when
your team scores a victory But don't show
any emotion over the victory that the Lord
gives to you over sin in your life
Don't become a fanatic You were destined once
for hell But God has turned you around
and now you're headed for heaven, but try
not to show any excitement over it You
were dead in your trespasses and sins, but
now you're alive in the spirit, but try
to keep it a secret There was a
little boy who was going to summer camp
and it was a secular camp And he
went to his pastor and told him, you
know, I'm going to go to camp this
next week and I Want you to pray
for me that the Lord will help me
to you know to just live a life
for him while I'm at camp and so
the pastor prayed with him and the next
week when The little boy came to church
again.
The pastor saw him and said well, how
did it go Johnny?
And he said oh great pastor, thank you
for the prayer they never found out But
so often I'm afraid that we're like little
Johnny we try to keep sort of under
wraps our Walk with the Lord and we
don't want anybody Making fun of us or
ridiculing us for our trust and commitment to
the Lord There in the 10th chapter verse
10 The Pharaoh offers the second compromise as
he said unto them let the Lord be
so with you as I will let you
go and Your little ones look to it
for evil is before you basically, he is
saying I'll let you go but Don't take
your children Don't let them have to experience
the rigors of the wilderness Do not expose
your children to that Don't force your children
to go Don't deprive them of the pleasures
of Egypt Pat pastor Brian last week pointed
out that this history that we have of
their deliverance Out of their slavery and bondage
in Egypt was typical history in other words
It is a type of other things Egypt
is a type of the world and their
bondage in Egypt is the type of the
bondage that people experience living in the world
and Their Deliverance out of Egypt is a
type of the coming into that new life
in our new relationship with God through Jesus
Christ and the typology is very beautiful as
you look at it and as you study
it and You may deny yourself and Take
up the cross to follow Jesus, but don't
require your children to do so You don't
want them to be different from the world
growing up I Never went to the movies.
My mother was a very beautiful woman in
every respect physically and spiritually and For a
time she worked in the movie studios and
she saw the lives of the people and
the stars Behind the scenes the immorality of
the industry and she would never let us
go to movies Where the rest of the
kids in school always went to the Saturday
matinees We always just played ball when the
movie Snow White came out and There we
were living in Ventura and there was a
wealthy lady in Ventura Who saw the movie
and felt that every child should see this
exciting Disney movie?
She paid the theaters to Allow every child
in the public school system in Ventura to
go and see Snow White Now I realize
that Snow White is a very innocuous kind
of a film But yet the whole principle
of the Industry was such that my mother
did not want us to go and see
even Snow White and so she wrote a
note to the school and Requested that my
brother and sister and myself be excused not
to go to see the film Snow White
and Thus where the rest of the school
all went we did not go and We
sort of stood out, you know kids would
say You know, what's wrong with going to
see Snow White?
well, we really didn't know but we just
knew that it was something that mom didn't
want us to do and So she held
her ground Now no compromise The interesting thing
is that today Both my brother and sister
and of course myself.
We are very committed in following the Lord
and serving the Lord one of the evils
of Israel was they offered their children to
the false God of Molech in sacrifices to
Molech Unfortunately today People are doing much the
same thing Sacrificing their children to the God
of pleasure to Molech and Offering them on
the altars to Molech because some Godless Psychologists
has suggested that you should not force your
child to go to Sunday school Let them
make up their own mind.
Do not force them to go to church
and as a consequence So many children have
been lost to the kingdom of God because
we don't want to force them To go
to Sunday school or to go to church
However You force them to eat their vegetables
Why?
Because you know, they're good for them You
know that they need vegetables to be strong
and to be healthy and yet we say
well I don't want to force them, you
know to go to church because they might
resent it and whatever but You see the
inconsistency of it, you know It is good
for them spiritually if they are going to
be strong and healthy Christians they need the
influence of the Sunday school.
They need to learn the stories of the
Bible and we Say well, you know, you're
going to go like it or not Because
we're not going to compromise our children We
are not just wanting deliverance ourselves But we're
gonna take our children with us.
They will go with us though.
It may be a rigorous experience they're going
to be strong by it and They'll grow
as the result of it.
So We know that their eternal destiny is
at stake and So we don't let them
make their own choices But as long as
we are able we Encourage and we force
them to follow the things of the Lord.
I used to tell my boys as Long
as you're living in the home that I
am providing Eating the food that I am
providing You're going to abide by the rules
that I make Now the day that you
think that you don't want to live by
the rules of the house Then you're free
to move out and you can live on
your own.
You can pay your own bills you can
Rent your own place But as long as
you're living in the home that I am
providing you're gonna live by my rules No
compromises, you know, I Think that it's wrong
to just let the children get by with
doing things that we know are harmful to
them Just because we're afraid of offending them
No compromise Moses said to the Pharaoh We're
gonna go and we're gonna take our children
with us Well in verse 24 of chapter
10 the Pharaoh tries again He called unto
Moses and he said go and serve the
Lord Only let your flocks and your herds
stay behind let your little ones go with
you also and Moses said we must give
Sacrifices and burnt offerings to the Lord our
God and our cattle will go with us
because We don't know just what Sacrifices the
Lord will require when we are there Go,
but don't give up your security Don't be
reckless with your future Make sure that there
is always something that you can fall back
on Keep your bases covered Step out in
faith, but make sure that there is a
safety net under you The compromise is something
less than a full commitment Holding back something
for yourself Looking at the story from a
typical interpretation.
It is leaving a part of your life
still in the world But make a clean
break from the world a total break This
was an actuality when Israel Got into the
tough wilderness They began to look longingly Back
at the life in Egypt, but there was
really nothing to go back to They had
developed what you might call a selective memory
They remembered the sensual things We remember the
leeks the garlic and they were saying we
remember the fish Which we ate freely in
Egypt the cucumbers the melons the leeks the
onions the garlic But they forgot the horrible
bondage that they were experiencing the weariness at
night as they Climbed into the their beds
their bodies aching because of the forced labor
The beatings that they had received when they
didn't produce the full amount of bricks that
they were required to make They forgot the
long nights of crying out to God for
help and deliverance It was like God almost
did them a disfavor in Delivering them from
that old life You know some people when
they recount their testimony of coming to Jesus
Christ When they talk about the life that
they once lived in the past The things
they used to do there sometimes is almost
a smack of the lips as they recount
how evil they were How easy it is
to forget the bondage and the misery and
the hopelessness As Paul wrote to the Ephesians
that at that time you were without Christ
Being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel.
You were strangers from the Covenants you had
no hope and you were without God in
the world easy to forget that God wants
you to have a clean break with the
old life Take with you all of the
things that God has blessed you with Don't
try to hold on to the past if
it had value take it with you Don't
leave anything behind that might tempt you to
want to go back no compromise If God
has blessed you with it take the blessings
with you leave only the sorrow and the
bondage behind There are some people that sort
of emphasize What I gave up to follow
Jesus Christ I think of the words of
that song I worked so hard I Often
boast and say I sacrificed a lot of
things to walk this narrow way I gave
up fame and fortune Lord I'm worth a
lot to thee and then I hear him
say so tenderly I left my home in
glory.
I Counted it, but loss My hands were
nailed in anger upon the cruel cross Be
faithful weary pilgrim the morning.
I can see just take your hand Take
my hand and follow Close to me It's
not what I gave up to follow Jesus
Christ It's what I've gained in following Christ.
That is important to me Paul the Apostle
Talked about the things which were once gained
to me I Counted loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Jesus Christ For whom
I suffered the loss of all things, but
I count them as refuse That I might
know him and be found in him not
having my own righteousness Which is of the
law, but the righteousness which is of Christ
through faith Not what I gave up.
It's what I've gained.
That's the important thing.
That's the thing I like to emphasize the
rich full Abundant life that I have in
Christ as he said the enemy has come
to steal to kill and to destroy But
I have come that you might have life
and that more abundantly And so this beautiful
abundant life that we have in Jesus Christ
years ago when I was between my junior
and senior year in college my brother younger
brother myself we decided that we'd like to
see America and drive across and see the
rest of the United States had never been
further than Arizona and Would like to just
see America.
So we Wrote to a lot of pastors
and churches across the country Telling them that
we were going to be in their area
and we would be available to hold services
in their church and it lined up sort
of a series of meetings where we would
have a place to minister as we were
going across the country sort of giving us
an excuse to make this trip and we
started out in his little 38 Ford and
Driving across the country to visit places across
the United States When we were in Toledo,
Ohio we were holding services in the church
there and The Engine began to knock and
we realized that the rod was going out
and so we dropped the motor and we
replaced the rod and the inserts and rods
and Continued our journey Coming home.
We we stopped in Omaha, Nebraska But as
we were coming through council bluffs We began
to hear the rods knocking again and realized
that this little car wasn't long for this
world and so We were having a meeting
in Omaha and we called my dad and
said dad having car problems Can you wire
us some money so we can get another
car?
To make it home in and so he
wired us some money and we went out
and bought a beautiful Cadillac convertible We
decided we might as well drive home in
style But the prices between cars in Omaha
and California were such that we figured when
we got to California We could sell the
Cadillac convertible and pay for the trip with
the profit that we can make off of
it So it looked like a good deal
to us and to my dad.
And so we bought this Cadillac convertible to
drive home We made the mistake of driving
it out to the church where we were
holding the meetings So We didn't get much
of a love offering there But
the young guys oh man Did they take
up with that car?
I mean they you know put the top
up and down the windows up and down
and all and it was just a beautiful
car and we just Enjoyed really all of
the attention that we got driving that car
around But When the guys would come up
and admire it We didn't say oh, well,
you know to get this car We had
to sell that little 38 Ford with the
motor that was you know Knocking and all
and we didn't tell what we had to
give up to get it You know But
sometimes people are always talking about what they
gave up in order to get the blessings
of God upon their lives Well, I gave
up this or I gave up that for
the Lord.
Oh in reality.
Give me a break what did you give
up all of the misery and all of
the world and the things of the world
in order to have this rich full life
in Christ and I always sort of question
when people are talking about what they gave
up in order to gain what God has
given to us as Paul said, you know
the present Sufferings are not worthy to be
compared with the glory that shall be revealed
in us And so what we gave up
is is nothing it gave up misery gave
up sorrow gave up Bondage to sin and
What have we gained this rich full life
in Christ Jesus?
And so Jesus did not come to strip
you But to give to you as he
said it's the thief that comes to steal
To kill and to destroy but I've come
that you might have life and that More
abundantly and so the joy and the blessings
of this more abundant life that we now
experience and know in Christ Jesus Compromise yes
Satan is going to try to get you
to compromise You can go but just don't
go too far.
Don't get carried away Yes you can Commit
your life to Christ, but just don't become
a fanatic don't go too far and His
saying to us, of course Don't make your
children have to follow You in your walk
with the Lord let them that have the
freedom to do what they please but yet
be careful of these compromises because they will
always Cause you to come short of what
God has in store and what God Wants
for each of us as we seek to
serve him and follow him Compromises are always
dangerous They always leave you with less than
what you could have had had you maintained
and just Continued in that commitment to the
Lord.
It's going to be full.
It's going to be complete it's going to
be the Lord all of the way and
You'll never regret not making compromises, but if
you do make the compromise it seems like
it'll always come back and You'll always regret
that day that you settled for something less
Than God's best for you Father we thank
you that you have called us to this
rich full wonderful life in Christ And Lord,
we realize that Satan is constantly coming with
compromises Something less than your best but Lord
help us that we will hold to the
position that our life is going to be
completely yours Fully committed to you no compromises
no holding back Lord, but all for you
and Just complete full Commitment to your plan
and your will for our lives Help us
Lord this day to hold firm to our
convictions To not settle for second best But
to press on Lord into the fullness that
you have for us We ask this in
the name of Jesus our Lord and for
his glory Amen You've been listening to the
from the pulpit and classic sermon series This
week you heard Chuck Smith with his message
the danger of compromise Tune in next week
to hear Bill McLeod speak about Jesus training
the 12 on from the pulpit and classic
sermons