Planting God's Flowers In The Devil's Dirt

PLANTING GOD’S FLOWERS IN THE DEVIL’S DIRT

Topic: COMPROMISE

Illustration: Don’t Negotiate With Satan

A hunter raised his rifle and took careful aim at a large bear. When about to pull the trigger, the bear spoke in a soft soothing voice, "Isn’t it better to talk than to shoot? What do you want? Let’s negotiate the matter." Lowering his rifle, the hunter replied, "I want a fur coat." "Good," said the bear, "that is a negotiable question. I only want a full stomach, so let us negotiate a compromise."

They sat down to negotiate and after a time the bear walked away alone. The negotiations had been successful. The bear had a full stomach, and the hunter had his fur coat!

Satan says to you, "Let us negotiate." But there are some things that cannot be negotiable.

We cannot negotiate or compromise the church with the world.

Everywhere you see a compromise struck in the Bible you also see a loss.

Adam compromised God’s law and fell right in with his wife’s sin. He lost paradise.

Abraham compromised the truth and lied about Sarah. He almost lost his wife.

Sarah compromised God’s Word and sent Abraham to her servant, Hagar, who bore Ishmael. We lost peace in the Middle East.

Esau compromised for a meal with Jacob. He lost his birthright.

Aaron compromised his convictions about idolatry. He lost the privilege of seeing the Promised Land.

Samson compromised righteous devotion as a Nazarite. He lost his hair, his strength, his eyes, and his life.

David compromised the moral standard of God and committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered Uriah. He lost his child.

Solomon compromised his convictions and married foreign wives. He lost the united kingdom.

Ahab compromised and married Jezebel. He lost his throne.

Ananias and Sapphira compromised their word about giving. They lost their lives.

Judas compromised his supposed love for Christ for thirty pieces of silver. He lost his eternal soul.

When we compromise with the world we lose our fellowship with God.

We compromise when we Justifying Wrong Behavior

When a person tries to justify his wrong behavior by pointing to the conduct of others, he isn’t aiming high enough.

This is also true if he patterns himself after someone who gives the Lord only partial obedience.

A college student learned this lesson when he was reprimanded by the school president for misbehavior. The young fellow offered this lame excuse for his questionable conduct:

“But, Sir, you’d find it difficult to locate 10 men in this school who wouldn’t have done as I did if they had been in my circumstances.”

The president replied, “Has it ever occurred to you that you could have been one of those 10?”

Daniel 1:1-20

The life of Daniel is the story of a young man that “Lived a Life Without Compromise.” The setting for the book of Daniel is during the third year reign of Jehoidakim king of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon occupied the territory of Judah.

Nebuchadnezzar’s father, Nabopolassar was the reigning monarch of the kingdom of Babylon. While Nebuchadnezzar was gathering the treasurers and hostages in Judea when an emergency call came from Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar’s father had died and he needed to go back home.

Among the hostages Nebuchadnezzar took with him back to Babylon were Daniel and his three friends. Daniel was from a royal family and only a teenager at the time as were his three friends also teenagers. They were forced to travel 1,500 miles to Babylon.

Daniel 1:3-5: Nebuchadnezzar was a smart political leader. He chose the most gifted princes from Judah and planned to train them to team up with him as political leaders. Nebuchadnezzar ordered his chief officer to “bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility – young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. The kind assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service.”

Daniel 1:8: “But Daniel (along with his three friends) resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and win, and he (Daniel) asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.”

With unshakable conviction, Daniel and his companions revealed their extraordinary gifts of wisdom and character. Whether they should eat the king’s food was much more than a questions of expedience or health. It related to the integrity of their vows of consecration as Hebrews to the God of Israel.

Regardless of the cost they would not defile themselves by eating any food dedicated to false gods.