This sermon emphasizes the danger of compromise in our walk with the Lord, using the story of Moses and Pharaoh in Exodus as an example. It warns against compromising our commitment to God, especially when faced with suggestions to hold back, not fully commit, or allow compromises in our faith journey. The message encourages a complete, unwavering commitment to God without settling for anything less than His best for our lives.

Good to be back. This morning 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 ever said that because the Lord began to show him who he was and the plagues that came upon Egypt wiping out 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 going to 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 8, 28, 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. 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 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 psychologist 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 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 going to 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 a 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 going to 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 going to go and we're going to 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 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, and 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 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 yet? 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 a 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 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 light 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 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. Shall we stand? The pastors are down here at the front to minister to you today. Maybe you've been guilty of making compromises, and you've been robbed of that blessing of the Lord that he wishes to bestow upon you. You've come short of the fullness that God has for your life. You've been hurt and hindered because you made compromises along the way. Time to renew the commitment. Time to say to the Lord, all the way, Lord. Nothing held back, going to serve you fully, completely, going to go all the way, not going to leave anything behind, Lord, that would draw me back into the things of the world, but just, Lord, pressing on to higher heights, to richer experiences in you day by day. These men are down here to pray for you, to help you to be reestablished in the Lord and in the things of the Lord, and so we would encourage you, as we're dismissed, if you've been guilty of sort of compromising along the way, we would encourage you to come and renew the commitment that you once had, and you once had made to the Lord, and that determination that you're going to go all the way with him, and so they're here to minister to you and to pray with you. We encourage you, as we are dismissed, make your way forward and just let these men pray for you and minister to you today. You'll never be sorry, I guarantee. The Lord bless thee, and keep thee. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. God bless you.