THE CHOICE BETWEEN COMPROMISE AND CONVICTION

“Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My zeal.”  (Numbers 25:11)

I have had a few flat tires in my lifetime.  Progress comes to a halt, and if you are traveling at a high speed can be dangerous—even deadly.  It may be the result of hitting a big pothole or sharp object, but not typically.  What usually occurred is that the tire had been losing air almost imperceptibly, and I had failed to be vigilant.  The result was a horrible noise, difficult steering, and finding myself beside the highway with a flat tire. 

I still remember the warning given by the man who once pastored my home church, Dr. Thad Dowdle.  He said, “Most spiritual failures are not the result of a blowout, but a slow leak!”  How true!  We see someone who has wrecked their marriage, totaled their testimony, and are sitting on the side of the road of life, and wonder what happened.  We may conclude it was a sudden event—and it can be—but not usually.  It was the little compromises—the neglect of the spiritual life—failing to be vigilant and diligent in maintaining Biblical convictions that brought the catastrophe.

This is the way the Devil operates.  We observe it in the twenty-fifth chapter of Numbers.  Balak, the King of Moab, had tried to hire Balaam to curse Israel, but each time the false prophet opened his mouth, God cause a blessing rather than a curse to be spoken.  Balaam’s plan then became to send beautiful Moabite women into the camp to seduce the gullible Israeli men, leading them to worship Baal.  Since Balaam couldn’t get God to turn from Israel, he decided to get Israel to turn from God.  Then he knew that God would bring His wrath upon the idolatry.  He knew there was more than one way to skin a cat!

The plan worked perfectly.  Their compromise in their relationship with heathen people—being “unequally yoked,”—led to contamination of their morals, and what we would call “backsliding.”  The wages of sin is death—and we see the high price of low-living.  24,000 died in a plague sent as a punishment from God.

What saved the day?  The zeal of Phineas stopped the plague.  This godly man was stirred to action.  A man named Zimri had given his heart to a pagan woman, who in turn had led him to give his heart to idolatry.  What magnified his sin was that he was a leader in Israel, and so Zimri not only hurt himself, he led others astray.  Phineas took radical action and stuck a javelin through the two compromisers—surgically removing the moral malignancy threatening to kill the nation.  Phineas is commended by God for his zeal—a zeal for holiness like his Lord—and blessing is promised to him and his descendants.

Today you will likely face a temptation—will you respond with compromise or conviction?  Satan whispers, “It is such a little thing.”  It might be—the little compromise added to the little one from yesterday, and the day before—and you may be closer to ruin than you imagine.  May we seek the zeal of Phineas and kill the compromise!  The great old Puritan, John Owen, said, “be killing sin or it will be killing you.”  Click on the link for more from Owen on this vital matter.

https://youtu.be/qU5b3uzqZMc

THE PATH TO PROSPERITY

And whatever he does shall prosper.  (Psalm 1:3d)

Would you like to prosper in anything you do?  Do I have your attention?  God promises that in Psalm 1.  The issue is, “What is true prosperity and how do we get it?”  Most would equate prosperity with money. Yet, you would find some of the richest people to be the most miserable.  True prosperity is wrapped up in the word, “Blessed.”  In the original, it is a plural word.  God’s blessings are always many.  When He gives one, another follows.  It is speaking of a state of blessedness.  This is a life enriched with the friendship and favor of God.  The Psalmist points us to the path that brings us into true prosperity.

There is A DANGER TO AVOID (v.1).  The psalmist begins with a negative. There are both positives and negatives in Scripture.  One danger to avoid is secular counsel, “the counsel of the ungodly.”  Everyday we are inundated with information—a multitude of talking heads telling us what to do.  Some of it is merely nonsense, much of it destructive.  It is Satan’s propaganda, slickly packaged and authoritatively presented by some expert.  Stop your ears to it!  Another danger is sinful companions, “the path of sinners.”  Scripture warns that a companion of fools will be destroyed.  Peer pressure is another powerful force to shape us.  Stay away!  One more peril is scornful cynics, “the seat of the scornful.”  Our age has become increasingly cynical.  It is the inevitable consequence of those who begin to listen to wrong philosophies and doctrines.

The path to prosperity not only has a danger to avoid, but A DELIGHT TO APPLY (v.2).  “But” draws the sharp contrast between the ungodly and the godly.  He does not listen to the wisdom of the world, but of the Word!  He does not linger in the path of sinners, but in the presence of the saints!  He doesn’t learn from skeptical teachers, but the Scriptural truth!  Believers are blessed when they have a passionate love of God’s Word, “his delight is in the law of the Lord.”  Is studying the Bible a duty or delight?  If we do not delight in God’s Word, what does that indicate about our spiritual state?  Then there will be a persistent learning of God’s Word, “in His law he meditates.” The word has to do with rumination—as a sheep chewing its cud.  We are God’s sheep and need to fully digest His truth.  Then comes a practical living of God’s Word, “day and night.”  There needs to be a consistent application of God’s truth.  We are not to be mere hearers of the Word, but doers also.

Then the path to prosperity features A DYNAMIC TO AQUIRE (v.3).  God’s dynamic power is unleashed!  We will be planted, “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water.”  There will be stability and sustenance whether in seasons of deluge or drought.  We will be productive, “that brings forth its fruit in its season ”  This is the fruit of the Spirit.  Fruitfulness requires patience and pruning—God as the Divine Gardener does this.  We will be perennial, “whose leaf also shall not wither.”  We won’t wither in heat of summer, fall off in fall, and vanish in winter.  There will be consistency in our character and conduct.  We will be prosperous, “and whatever he does shall prosper.”  We will enjoy the blessing of God that touches every dimension of life.

There are two directions with two destinations (v.4-6).  Which will you choose?

REACH FOR GOD AND RESIST THE DEVIL

 

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  (James 1:7-8)

We have as much of God as we want.  We also experience victory over temptation to the degree we desire.  Reaching for God will effectually result in resisting the Devil.  There is no cause to blame God if He seems far away—He is where He has always been: near those who seek Him!  The issue is that I have moved.  My heart has not been diligent to pursue God.  Should I complain that God has not given me the power to overcome sin, then, I am again shifting blame to the wrong source.  God made a way of escape, but rather than running from the temptation, I was drawn to it by my lustful heart.  James had earlier said this,

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.  But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.  Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.  (James 1:13-15)

I cannot enjoy the presence of God and the pleasures of sin simultaneously.  The sad reality is that the same person can do both—just not at the same time.  Why would I want something other than God?  His presence is the great joy—here and hereafter.  Sin, although sweet to the taste, is poison to the soul when swallowed.  It doesn’t lead to the good life; it brings death.

Where I have sinned, it is time to come in brokenness before our God.  The cleansing fountain that flowed from Calvary has not lost any efficacy to wash my dirty hands.  My heart problem can be healed by the Great Physician, if I will but seek Him rather than my sin.  I can enjoy God’s presence today to the degree I will reach for Him.  I can experience His power over temptation in the amount that I will resist the Devil.  Vitality and victory are my birthright as a child of God.  What folly it is to choose the opposite!