The Conquest of Compromise, Part 1

The Bible says that we are in the world, but we're not to be of the world. We're to be different than the world. But that's the downward spiral that a lot of us find ourselves intertwined with or entrapped by. And we've got to be careful. And I don't know where you are today. I don't know if you're at the point where you're just starting to care for the things of the world, or you have all of a sudden been companioned with the world. You love being there so much. So much so that now you even smell at the world.

You're contaminated by the world. Or maybe you've gone so much or so far down the road that you are now controlled by the world. I don't know where you're at. But Lot was controlled by the world. He went down the spiral all the way to the pits of despair. The cause of compromise is worldliness. It's an attitude. It's a hard attitude that cares for what the world has to offer more than what God has to offer. How about you? Where are you today? And so you move from the cause of compromise to the consequences of compromise.

You see, if you go that route, the consequences are devastating. And we talked about it last week, that Lot went on for quite a while before he ever really faced serious consequences. You see, that's the problem with compromise, is that we can go on and compromise little things in our lives and never face serious consequences and think it's not that bad. It's okay. Everything's going to turn out okay. And so I compromise a little bit more and a little bit more and a little bit more until I have compromised a whole lot.

And then all of a sudden my world comes crumbling down around me and I wonder what happened? How did everything that was at one time so good get so bad so quick? And that's the way it was with Lot. It got bad and when it got bad it went downhill so fast he couldn't stop it. He couldn't stop it. The consequences, listen, one word, wretchedness. Wretchedness, that's the word. Absolute wretchedness. This man was a wretch of an individual. I mean so much so that he would lose his family. And the reason I'm not going through the verses here because we've covered them in detail for the last eight, nine weeks and I'm just referring back.

This is just all review for those of you who have been with us. But you know, the man, he sacrificed his family. His own wife didn't have a relationship with the Lord. His own wife would be condemned along with the world. But this man's daughters, I mean, he would sacrifice their virginity for the sake of the two men that came to see him when the homosexuals came that one night to beat down his door. I mean, he lost his family. The man lost his credibility in the city. In Genesis chapter 19, verse number 9, the people in the city wanted to have nothing to do with this man.

They wanted to treat him as an alien and a stranger. He lost his credibility with his family, his sons-in-laws, as they would laugh at him and as they would think that he was just joking about the fact that somehow God was going to destroy Sodom. That's not going to happen. They didn't even see him as serious because he had lost all credibility. He had lost his testimony, his credibility, his family. He lost his legacy. He lost everything. The bottom line is absolute wretchedness. That's where he found himself.

It says over in 2 Peter, the second chapter, these words about Lot. We've read it before, but let me read it to you again.

And if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly thereafter, and if he rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men, for by what he saw and heard, that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day with their lawless deeds. Here's a man who went to bed with his soul tormented every single day and did nothing about it. Nothing.

And that, by the way, is how you know. How you know for certain that you're really truly born again. Is that even if you have engaged in things of the world, you know that the evil deeds of unprincipled men weighs heavily upon your soul, and your soul is tormented day and night. If you go to bed, and you're living in the world, and you've companioned yourself with the world, and are contaminated by the world, and it affects you in no way whatsoever, and your soul is not tormented, then you can bank on the fact that you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

You don't know Him. Because if the Spirit of God indwells you and lives you, He will convict you of sin. He will convict you of your ungodly lifestyle, and your soul will be tormented day and night, as Lot's was. And even though this man was a wretch of a man, and even though he would sacrifice his family for his own personal welfare, and even though he was not the influence in that city he should have been, he should have been salt, and he should have been light, and he wasn't, this man experienced tragic results.

So much so that when he ended up in Genesis chapter 19 with his daughter sleeping with him and then having two sons, that's the end of the story as far as Lot's concerned. He's never mentioned again except in 2 Peter chapter 2. To tell us that he was a righteous man, even though his life was unrighteous, it looked like he was a righteous man. So how do we not find ourselves in that category? How do we escape that? If we understand the cause of compromise is worldliness, if we understand that the consequences of compromise is wretchedness, then what is the conquest of compromise?

How do I find myself not following after Lot? How do I find myself living the exemplary life? How do I find myself doing the things I should be doing? Well, the key to that is one word, and that is wholeness. Wholeness. And I want to talk to you about the healing of your soul. The wholeness of your body. With the remainder of our time this morning, and then, of course, next week. It's so important that we understand this. I don't want you to compromise. I don't want to compromise. You know, I want you to stand strong on truth.

And I begin to ask myself the question, why is it there so many churches don't preach on the cost of compromise? It's because they compromise. They can't preach on it, right? I mean, how could somebody get up and preach on the cost of compromise and the conquest of compromise who lives a life of compromise? Right? It just doesn't happen. So how do we pattern ourselves after Father Abraham and not after Lot? We must understand the conquest of compromise. And let me give you the points.

I'm not going to give them all to you this morning. I might get through the first one this morning. But here's the first one.

And you stay with me because at the end, you're going to see how it all comes together. But number one, you must install Christ as your priority.

You must install Christ as your priority. He's got to be number one. He's got to be number one. He's got to be above everything else and anyone else. For Abraham, God was number one.

For Lot, God wasn't even in the top ten. The question is, where is God for you? Is he your priority? Turn with me to Galatians chapter 2 for a moment.

Galatians chapter 2. The apostle Paul was a man who had Christ as his priority. Let me explain that to you.

Very familiar verse. Most of you probably know it. But let's look at it together. Galatians chapter 2, verse number 20. Paul says, Now here's a man who understood what it meant to install Christ as the number one preeminent thing in his life.

God is number one. Why? Because I, Paul says, I live the extinguished life. I live the extinguished life. Now when you have a candle or you have a match and you extinguish that match or that candle, you blow it out, the flame is gone. Paul says, I am crucified with Christ. I am a dead man. I killed myself. I died with Christ. So when Christ says, take up your cross daily and follow me, if any man came after me and doesn't do that, he's not worthy to be one of my disciples.

Paul understood that. He says, I am crucified with Christ. I died with Christ. I live the extinguished life. Number two, I live the relinquished life.

He says, not only am I crucified with Christ, so much so that it says, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. I am so concerned about exalting Christ. I am so concerned about making him my priority that it's no longer I who live, but it's Christ who lives in me. I have subjugated myself to God. He is number one.

He is the ruler. I have extinguished my life. I have relinquished my rights so that he would be the priority figure in my life so everybody sees Jesus Christ. You say, well, wow, man, if we're going to go around blowing ourselves out so nobody can see us and just kind of giving all our rights to God, I mean, what kind of people are we going to be? Number three, you're going to be the distinguished person.

The distinguished person. If you live the extinguished life, if you live the relinquished life, then you live the distinguished life. Listen to what Paul says. He says, the life which I now live in the flesh, the one that you're seeing, the one that is present with you, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and delivered himself up for me. My friends, that is the distinguished life. It's based on two things. Number one, Paul was a dependent man.

A dependent man. He says, the life which I now live in the flesh, I live, how? By faith. I walk by faith, I don't walk by sight. I live my life dependent upon God. He is my number one, he is my priority.

I am going to follow him, I'm going to live for him. Contrary to how Lot himself lived. Lot didn't walk by faith, he walked by sight. The distinguished life is the dependent life. And number two, it is the devoted life.

He says, the one who loved me and gave himself up for me. I am devoted to him. I am completely, utterly devoted to Christ. And if he did that for me, so that I might be saved from my sins, the least I can do for him is live for him. Live by faith, totally devoted to him, dependent upon him. That is the distinguished life. And that's how Paul himself lived his life. Look what Paul says to those in Philippi. He says, we'll start with verse number 19. For I know that this shall turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I shall not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness Christ shall even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

Paul says, look, as always, I've sought to exalt Christ in my body. So like now, while I'm in prison, while things don't look really well for me right now, I want Christ still to be the priority. I want him to be exalted. I want him to be lifted up as I have always done. And whether it be by life or by death, he is my priority. He is the preeminent one in my life. He is the one that is to be exalted. You see, the reason Paul lived a life of no compromise, the reason he lived a life of faith, the reason he lived a life of dependence upon God, the reason he was as powerful as he was is because he installed Christ as his priority.

Never was Paul the priority. Never was his ministry the priority. God was the priority of his life. And if we are going to live a life of no compromise, if we're going to live a life that conquers compromise, then we must live a life that installs Christ as the priority. Remember John the Baptist? He must increase, I must decrease. Lot wasn't interested in that. God wasn't his priority. Lot was his priority. His whole life was his priority. What he wanted to do was uppermost in his mind. How about you?

Is Christ your priority? Is he number one? You know, as we focus in on the Christmas season, I can't think of a better way to understand the significance of the birth of Christ than to sit back and say, you know what? He is the most important thing, person, individual in the world. And he must be my number one.

Let me ask you a few questions. And you answer them to yourself to see whether or not God is your priority. Number one, do you talk about God?

Do you proclaim God? Do you speak of God? Paul said over in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, excuse me, 1 Corinthians chapter 9, these words. For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of. For I am under compulsion. For woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. Is there a compulsion about you to speak for God? Do you feel like you are a cursed man if you don't preach for God? If not, Christ is not your priority. You say, wow, pastor, that's kind of a harsh statement. I know, but it's true. He says, woe is me.

I am an ambassador of God Almighty. I am his representative. And if I don't do what God has called me to do, woe is me. I'm a damned man, he says. The word woe means damned, cursed. But out of compulsion. There's something inside me that moves me, that people need to hear the truth about God. Let me read to you what Thomas Vincent said.

Thomas Vincent was a Puritan who wrote in his book The True Christian's Love to the Unseen. Listen to what he says. He says this. It is observed and it is greatly to be lamented that there is of late years a great decay in the power of godliness among those that are sincere. And is it not evident in the great decay of love, even in true Christians, unto Jesus Christ? Is it not evident that you have but little love to Christ when he is but little in your thoughts and meditations? You can think often of your food, but how little do your thoughts feed upon Christ, who is the bread of life?

You can often think of your raiment, but how little do you think of the robes of Christ's righteousness? You can think often of your earthly friends, but how little do you think of Jesus Christ, your friend in heaven? Moreover, does it not argue little love to Christ that you speak so little of him and for him in your conversing one with another? If you had much love to Christ, would not this love breathe forth more in your discourses? You can readily discourse of news and public occurrences, but when you leave Christ quite out of your discourse, it shows that you have not an abundance of love to him, because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth will speak of their riches, such as have much love to pleasures, will often speaking of that subject, such as love their friends, much will often speaking and commending them when they are in company.

And when you speak but little of Christ, it is a sign that you love him but little. That's true. Very, very true. Last night, my family and I were invited to one of the ABFs of our church to be a part of their Christmas gathering in one of their homes. And so we went, and we ate with them and had fellowship with them, and they had a little program designed, and it was all about the Lord. People gave testimonies about different verses pertaining to Christmas that meant most to them, and the testimonies that were given were longer than what they asked me to speak.

Imagine that. But it was all filled with Scripture, songs about the Lord, testimonies about the Lord. The whole evening focused on Christ. It was about the Lord. But is it not true that so many times we converse and talk about everything under the sun, but a lot of times we just don't even talk about Jesus? So I ask you, do you proclaim Him? You talk about Him. You speak to other people about Christ. Does He just flow off of your lips because He is all to you? You want to tell people about Him? You know that He has the answer to whatever problem they have?

So you just tell them. That's how you know you've installed Christ as your priority. Number two, do you even portray Him?

Do people see Him in your life? Paul would say, follow me as I follow Christ. Be imitators of me as I follow Christ, he says. Paul would say over in Philippians chapter 1, verse number 27, these words. Do you do that? You know you've installed Christ as your priority if you make sure that He is spoken of through your life and He is seen in your life. There's a third way, and that is this.

Do you please Him? Not only do you proclaim Him, not only do you portray Him, but do you please Him? Paul said in Galatians chapter 1, verse number 10, if I seek the favor of man, I forfeit the favor of God. Do you seek to please God? Over in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, Paul said this, verse number 1, finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that as you receive from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God, just as you actually do walk, that you may excel still more.

Paul was concerned that those in Thessalonica please God. They were concerned that they please God. Are you concerned that you please God? Not only do you speak for God, not only is God seen in your life, but when God looks down from heaven, He is satisfied with your life. There's a smile upon His face because He knows that it's your ambition to please Him. Is that your ambition? To please God? Let me quote to you once again Thomas Vincent, same book.

He says, Your love to Christ is known by your obedience unto Christ. If Christ is your beloved, He is also your Lord. If you have true affection for Him, you will yield subjection unto Him. If you love Christ, you are careful to please Christ. You are not the servants of the flesh to take care to please the flesh, but you are the servants of Christ to take care above all persons and all things to please Christ. If you love Christ, you are fearful of giving just occasion of offense unto men, but above all, you are fearful of displeasing and offending your Lord.

Do you labor so to walk that you may please Christ in the way of sincere and universal obedience? Are you hearty in your obedience unto Christ? Have you a respect to all His commandments? Is it your grief that you fall short in your obedience unto Christ? If you can say in the presence of the Lord and your hearts that you do not live and allow yourselves in the practice of any known sin which Christ forbids, nor in the neglect of any known duty which Christ commands, this is sure evidence of true love to Jesus Christ.

Do you please Him with your life? Do you praise Him with your life? Whoso offereth praise glorifies me. Psalm 50 verse number 23. Do you praise Him with your life? That's how you know you've installed Him as your priority. See, the word God's so practical, isn't it? Just can't get around it. So true, so simple to understand. Is God my priority? If He is, then I'm gonna speak about Him. People will see Him in me. He'll smile upon me, and I'll sing about Him. I'll give praise to His name. Hebrews 13 speaks about the continual offering of praise because that's what pleases God.

And lastly, there's more, but let me give you this one. Do you pursue Him? See your chief pursuit in life? Paul would say in Philippians chapter 3 verse number 10, that I may know Him, that I may know Him. His chief pursuit in life was to know Christ, to know Him in an intimate way. He would talk about pressing on toward the mark, never looking back, because I have a pursuit in life. I really want to know Him. I really want to be with Him. I really want to commune with Him. Do you pursue God with every ounce of energy that you have?

If so, you know that you've installed Him as your priority. I trust that's the case for you today. If you want to conquer, compromise in your life, that's where it begins. That's where wholeness begins. Installing Christ as my priority. Let's pray.