The End of Compromise

Ezra 5:12

But after that our fathers had provoked the God of heaven unto wrath, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house, and carried the people away into Babylon.

Compromise promises so much but tears down everything it gets its way into. The Israelites thought that being like all the other nations would make them a stronger and better nation, but look at what compromise brought to them. When you read the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, you will learn compromise brought them bondage and a nation to demise. Their compromise turned the temple of God into a pile of rubbish and the wall of Jerusalem into a pile of rocks.

Compromise’s path is strewn with closed churches, families in ruin, lives destroyed by sin, and the lost not being saved. Compromise has never produced one winner, but it has left a road littered with great works of the past closed down because they thought the old paths were outdated. Let me take you on a little journey to show you the end of compromise.

Let me take you to northern California to see a thriving church that ran thousands, the North Valley Baptist Church of Redding. A new pastor came in after the man who built that church retired, and he thought compromise was a better way to build a church. Well, today, that church has closed its doors. How did the compromise work out?

Let’s take another ride to Chattanooga, Tennessee, to see the great Highland Park Baptist Church, a church God used Dr. Lee Roberson to build into a soul-saving station that ran thousands. Oh, we can't go to that church because it is also closed down. A new guy thought he knew better than the old paths preacher, and the new guy's way of compromise led to a church that is closed.

On our journey, let’s take a trip to Detroit, Michigan, to see the Temple Baptist Church that was once pastored by J. Frank Norris. While we are on this trip, we will take a drive over to see the Akron Baptist Temple in Akron, Ohio, where Dallas Billington built a thriving church that became the largest Sunday school in America at the time. Because we are in the Midwest, we will also go to Pontiac, Michigan, to see the Emmanuel Baptist Church that was pastored by Tom Malone, whom God used to build that church to become the largest church in Michigan in his day. The problem with this journey is we would only come to torn down buildings in some cases, or repurposed buildings for the world’s use in others. All of these churches have closed down because some new guy thought compromise would grow, but the only thing it did was destroy the great works of God.

At some point, we must learn that compromise has never brought life to one church. The only thing compromise has brought to a church is death. Sadly, millions of souls are going to Hell because some new guy got cute and said the old paths don't work. My question to the new guy is, how did that work out?

My friend, if you are considering compromising, you might ought to look at the road of compromise and see where it has led. Whether it is a church or a life, compromise is not a builder; it is a destroyer. Instead of compromising, let’s keep doing what we know is right to do and show another generation that God is real and that He is still capable of doing great works today if we will do those works.