The Danger of 'Smooth Things'
Scripture: Isaiah 30:10
Introduction: Wednesday I mentioned the story of Isaiah and his calling and I would like to revisit a particular scripture that reveals the attitude his time, because it isn't different from the times in which we live in today. In Isaiah 30:10 the people were in their comfort zone and they didn't want to leave it so this is how they were described:
Isaiah 30:10 – “They say to the seers, “see no more visions!” and to the prophets, “Give us no more visions of what is right!” tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions.” (NIV) “which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:” (KJV)
There was a movie of Custer in the battle of little big horn, As things were looking grim one of his officers asked him: “should we retreat?” Custer said “Retreat? Heck No! We got 'em surrounded!” That is the attitude of some people today: They simply refuse to face reality. The same was true in Isaiah's time.
Transition: I would like to focus on just 2 words that the prophet said the people wanted to hear: “smooth things”. What are “smooth things?”
“Smooth things” are good things
“Good things” in that those things that make us feel good. Like chocolate tastes good but not good for you if that's all you eat. Or Pop that tastes good but if that is all you drink, it will cause problems. When the people were crying to hear “smooth things” they were really crying for Isaiah to tell them good things, whether it was true or not. In other words tell us good things are going to happen, tell us lies and convince us that it is the truth. This comes from a spirit that says “I want to do bad but I want to feel good about it.” What better way to feel good about it than to have a prophets permission? I once had a man tell me that if he were going to have an affair with a certain lady in the church, He would be sure to do it “God's way”. I wish I was joking but ya, that really happened. People still today no matter how far fetched it may seem still want to indulge in sin but want God's endorsement on it.
Today “smooth things” would be those smooth talking preachers that tell us that there is nothing but great things going to happen to us all the time. That nothing but health, wealth, and constant prosperity is in store for us forever. You will never suffer a fiery dart, a stormy trial, or unfortunate illness, and if you do, its because you didn't say the magic words or buy those 8 CD's on “How to live victoriously or successfully or abundantly or something along those lines”. Promising nothing but “good things” is promising nothing but “smooth things”. Jesus himself promised us trouble in John 16:33 and we would be hated in Mark 13:13 and we would be persecuted John 15:20. (it's not that there are NO good things in the word but to focus on them solely is “smooth things”)
Smooth things also come from those that spend all their time on scriptures that point to nothing but grace, but not a word about sin, repentance, regeneration, or endurance. They speak only of the cure but never about the disease. They focus only on faith or love but not a word about dedication, obedience, or sacrifice. (Reference: Hells Best Kept Secret: Ray Comfort) Other "smooth" talkers say there are hidden "bible codes". And there are many a false preacher that portray themselves as prince charming and portray God as some sort of fairy God mother, sent to give us whatever we want, whenever we want it. A genie in a bottle. Rub that bottle a certain way with positive words and bam! You'll have whatever you want. The Bible is not a lump of wax to be shaped at our will, and yet they hammer one subject all the way into the board and common sense should tell them there is no reason to keep hammering anymore. But all they know and love are those 'smooth things'.
Some preachers of “smooth things” are all style and no substance. Spurgeon said (paraphrasing) “It is a hideous gift to be able to say nothing at extreme length.... There are preachers who mistake perspiration for inspiration. They run around like a wild horse with a hornet in their ear until they have to catch their breath, are so repetitive that it's painful to listen to. They receive more pity for themselves than sympathy for their subject.” But they would argue, 'Well, I would rather hear the congregation shout than see them asleep', and I agree I'd rather hear shouting, laughter, or even crying, anything but snoring. But a sermon that would have you jumping all the way through it but have you wondering it's lesson was 10 minutes after it's over isn't worth preaching in the first place. Those that are starving for “smooth things” will only be satisfied from those men who offer them, but for those that are starving for substance they will go home hungry. Spiritual maturity isn't measured by how high you jump but how straight you walk once you come down. Smooth things are good things to hear but not much else.
Smooth things are popular things
Isaiah was the guy that nobody wanted to know, the nutty naked man, the killjoy that people would say “GUY, SHUT UP ALREADY!” They hated him, and they hated him because they hated the truth. Isaiah was a true messenger of God, Isaiah was such a true messenger of God that his work is directly quoted 21 times in the New Testament. Isaiah’s message was a great warning to a people that had slowly drifted into moral and spiritual decay.
Isaiah shot it straight, but He also pleaded for them to repent to a good God: “the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice Blessed are all who wait for him!” (30:18) He wasn't some crazy preacher screaming down judgment on everyone that came by. He just simply told the truth. And because the truth was too hard to hear, the people hated him. What should you do if someone is headed toward danger? The kindest thing to do is to warn them of the danger they are in right? That's what He was doing, that is what he did!
They thought by gaining control of the messenger they could control the message, and distort and refuse God’s real word. There was another prophet like Isaiah found in 1 Kings 22, named Micaiah. During the reign of Ahab and Jehoshaphat. Ahab was king of Israel and Jehoshaphat was king of Judah. Ahab was a wicked king and Jehoshaphat was a godly king. Ahab wanted Jehoshaphat to help him wipe out Ramoth-Gilead so they asked all the prophets to tell them if they should go. And all 400 of them led by the false prophet Zedekiah, knew what they wanted to hear and said 'yes, go and the LORD will give it into your hands'. But Jehoshaphat wasn't satisfied, So Ahab said this (I Kings 22:8) - “The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, “there is still one man through whom we can inquire of the LORD, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah” King Ahab despised Micaiah because he wouldn't say anything good about him. Well whose fault was that? If Ahab was good I'm sure Micaiah would have said so. Micaiah was just speaking for God, it wasn't personal.
Micaiah is called in to Jehoshaphat and Ahab and at first He sarcastically tells them what they want to hear but then when pressed to tell them the truth Micaiah tells them in (I Kings 22:17) – “Then Micaiah answered, “I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd, and the LORD said, These people have no master. Let each one go home in peace.” After this, Ahab complains that He never says anything good, only bad. So what is Micaiah supposed to do? He told them what they wanted to hear and they weren't happy. And then He told them the truth and they were weren't happy. So what happened to Micaiah for NOT going along with the popular smooth message? He got rebuked and slapped in the face and then sent to prison! And in case you didn't know, everything he said would happen, did happen.
Charles Spurgeon said “That very church which the world likes best is sure to be that which God abhors.” Smooth things are popular things because they don't convict us to change. They don't challenge us to deny ourselves, pick up the cross and follow Christ. Matthew Henry said “Unity is not always the mark of a true church and a true ministry. Here were 400 men that prophesied with one mind and one mouth, and yet all in an error.” There is a reason Christ calls our road a narrow one. Smooth things are popular things.
Smooth things are dangerous things
Solomon once said “What has been, will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” Ecc. 1:9 You may have heard the phrase “those who don't learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.” Well the truth is, they are doomed to repeat it whether they learn from it or not, because while technology may change, our carnal desires and sinful nature never will (Romans 3:23) and we must wrestle with it (Romans 7:14-25)
One of those desires is to enjoy sin and salvation at the same time. It's easier to listen to smooth talking preachers that make us comfortable in our sins than to hear the straight talking Isaiah's of the world that make us confront our sins. And we are warned that this same problem would face our generation as well. Paul told Timothy:
2 Timothy 4:3 – “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”
The time will come when men will get tired of hearing the plain old gospel, like those in the desert that weren't satisfied with bread from heaven they will long for something new. They will desire new teachings, something interesting, something pleasing, something that is not the old gospel, that my grandma was saved by, or that old gospel that Billy Graham, D. L. Moody, Charles Spurgeon, John Bunyon, George Whitefield and Martin Luther preached! They will long for something different! And that right there is the problem!
You can ask some fan of “smooth things” if they had a good message some Sunday morning and they will say “Oh Ya, the preacher was on fire this morning!” you say “great what was the message about?” they say “uhhh. Well it was about … (then they impress themselves to remember a few sentences or a catch phrase or illustration). They are like a child picking something up off the ground and licking it, and you ask “what is that!?” they reply “I don't know what it is but it sure tastes sweet!”
Some things that are sweet can be dangerous if you don't know what's in it. I read an article about some common things around the house that are dangerous. One of them was antifreeze, which has a substance called, Ethylene glycol, and it is very sweet to the taste but obviously very deadly. Animals, pets, even people die from drinking it. Animals don't realize that what taste so sweet is so deadly. But unfortunately their ignorance is not only bliss it is death. There are false preachers that preach sweet tasting sermons that have us love ourselves more than we love our brethren and have us love ourselves more than our God and then convince us that God wants it that way. And that is dangerous!
Conclusion:
I remember years ago we owned a Saturn, and the 'check engine' light kept coming on, so I did what every responsible person would do and I took some electrical tape and I put it over the check engine light. It wasn't long until the car wouldn't run altogether. I heard other people doing this same thing and felt better about myself. The fact that some other person did the same dumb thing I did wasn't going to drive me to work the next day, however. The warning sign was right there in front of my face. The engine wasn't going to fix itself! The truth is I just didn't want to deal with it! In short: I was in denial.
Smooth things are dangerous because they keep us in denial. They keep that tape covering the warning sign that would tell us what we should do. There was a man who came to our house and curbed our landscaping and asked me what it was that I did for a living, and I told him. He then told me that He had recently lost his mother. I told him I was sorry to hear that and I tried to offer him some comforting words. He went on to tell me that his brother gave a speech during the funeral, and that he didn't know what to say so He talked about Ice Cream. I thought it was a strange subject for such a somber occasion. But He said “oh ya, He talked about chocolate ice cream and vanilla ice cream and strawberry ice cream, and a whole lot of different flavors, but everyone asked him after the funeral why He didn't mention my mother?” He then began leave reassuring himself saying “but it was good. It was good. … It was good” No matter how hard we try to replace hard truths for smooth things, it won't change reality. It just means we are in denial.
The people of Isaiah's time were in denial. They loved to hear pleasant things, and pleasant things is all they wanted to hear. If they could have taped over Isaiah's mouth to avoid hearing God's warning they would have. Anything to keep from being reminded that a major breakdown was coming if they didn't repent. If we don't avoid the “smooth things” then we are headed the same direction of Ahab, Haman, and the people of Isaiah's day. Deal with the hard things head on and you will receive more comfort and peace than you've ever known! Don't let the car break down before you fix the engine. Don't let your family fall apart before you learn to communicate. Don't go bankrupt before you learn to pay your debts. God gives us warning signs for a reason. He would that NONE should perish but all would have everlasting life! Don't go to hell before you learn to repent. God is always waiting for you.
