0:01 Good afternoon, church family. Nice to see everyone. Praise the Lord. What a great opportunity it is to be gathered together and to uh consider the Lord, to seek to uh know his will. I um I had a burden to uh talk about 0:17 what stands in the way of being on fire. Um it we as uh Uncle uh Sanjay was praying just a moment ago, he said, "Every brother and sister on fire." That's one thing he prayed. And uh I was thinking about what's the what's what stands in the way, what 0:33 keeps us from being on fire for the Lord? And I wanted to talk about that today from Ezra, if you want to turn there. Um it it the Lord has brought me back to these books, Ezra and Nehemiah. Feel the Lord gave them to us as a church many 0:48 years ago and he's brought me back to them because in Ezra and Nehemiah, there's a picture of the Lord bringing his people back to build the church, taking them out of Babylon and bringing them to Jerusalem to build the true 1:01 church. And we believe that the Lord wants to build the true church here. And you can say the church is a fire, the church and we want the fire in each of our hearts to be burning brightly. We want to be on fire. And we know in the 1:15 book of Revelation it says, "You're not hot, so I'm going to spit you out of my mouth." But it doesn't just say that, right? It doesn't say, "You're not hot or cold. I wish you were hot or cold." What's the opposite of hot? 1:27 It's not in this sense, it's not cold, but lukewarmness is the opposite of hot, you could say. What keeps us from being on fire for the Lord? One thing that I feel Lord, the word the Lord has been putting on my heart and the word that I want to talk 1:40 about today is compromise. Compromise. As I have been uh as the Lord has been leading me to study the books of Ezra and Nehemiah again recently, as we seek to build a pure church here, as we seek to make a pure 1:58 offering in the Bay Area that is pure for the Lord. The Lord's brought me back to these books. And the thing that has struck me is how compromise hinders progress. Compromise hinders progress. Compromise 2:15 hinders growth. It kills growth. If we want to stop growing as a church, start compromising. If you want to keep growing as a church, what the Lord has said to me, if you want to keep growing as a disciple, Jeremy, no compromise. Eliminate compromise. 2:32 There can be no compromise in your life. And so I wanted to I have a burden to talk about being free from compromise. I feel this is a message that the Lord has been giving me for myself and I hope that it encourages you as my brothers 2:45 and sisters. And what we see in Ezra chapter 7 or even uh yeah, Ezra chapter 7 is when Ezra is sent to Jerusalem. Chapters 1 through 6, it's it's actually historical about a previous generation being sent 3:05 to go and rebuild Jerusalem. And then seven chapters in, we meet Ezra. And why is Ezra going? The work is somehow stalled. It's not progressing the way that God intended. And we can take that, I think, as a picture for the work at NCCF. 3:20 The Lord established us here to to uh have a pure testimony. And the question is, if once we're here, once we say we want to be a part of building the church, what's going to what's going to cause the work to stall? And what I see in the book of Ezra and 3:36 again in the book of Nehemiah >> [clears throat] >> is what causes the work of God to stall is compromise. These people who left Babylon, they come to Jerusalem, but for whatever reason, they start compromising in Jerusalem. And what's amazing is all 3:55 progress stops. When people compromise it's not just compromise in Babylon that's a concern. Even compromise in Jerusalem will hinder God's purpose. And that's what I want to talk about today. If you look with me at Ezra chapter 9, what we see in Ezra 4:14 chapter 9 is it says in verse 1 that they they start doing some work. They start you can read chapter 7 and 8, but Ezra comes back and he starts reinstituting and kind of stirring the people up to do various things that 4:26 they've been neglecting. And in chapter 9 it says in verse 1, "When these things were completed, the officials came to me and said, 'The people of Israel and the Levites and the priests haven't separated themselves from the people of 4:36 the land. But they've committed the repulsive acts of the Canaanites and Hittites and Perizzites and Jebusites and Ammonites and Moabites and Egyptians and Amorites. This is not God's will." These are people in Jerusalem who God 4:50 has set apart and called out of the Babylonian system to build a pure offering for his name and they are mixing with the world again. This is not God's will. How is it happened that this this is this is happened? How is it happened? 5:09 Why? No one was bothered by compromise. What it says here is if you look with me at verse 3, it says, "When I heard this, I Ezra, when I heard this, I tore my clothing and my robe." Now, mind you, they'd been compromising for years. 5:28 But Ezra is the first person we we learn of tearing his clothing. "I pulled out some of the hair of my head and my beard and I sat down appalled at the shame of it. Then everyone who trembled at the words of the Lord because of the unfaithfulness 5:44 of the exiles, they gathered to me and I sat appalled until evening. And the evening offering I arose from my time of humiliation and penitence and having torn my clothing and my robe, I fell on my knees and I stretched out my hand to God. 6:00 Isn't this an I was so touched to see Ezra's zeal here. He was so burdened by the sin of the people. This is a righteous response to compromise. He's burdened, he's broken, he's and his prayer is amazing. His prayer brings about about revival. 6:16 But the thing that the Lord spoke to me is why why did it take Ezra? Why did he have to come from, you know, Susa or wherever he came from, right? We're seven chapters into the Lord having sent people back to Jerusalem. 6:29 Why Ezra? And I was really challenged to see if you look at uh verse two it says 9:2, "They have taken some of the daughters as wives for themselves and their sons so that the holy race has 6:48 intermingled with the people of the lands. Indeed, the officials and the chief men the officials and the chief men have been foremost in this unfaithful act in direct violation of God's will. And then look, you you want to know who? 7:02 Look in chapter 10 and verse 18. It says now among the sons of the priests who had married foreign women were found of the sons of Jeshua the high priest the son of Jozadak and his brothers. And it names four of the high priest's sons 7:19 who had married outside of God's will. So why So the question is why did the work stop? Because Joshua the high priest had no moral authority to enforce God's word 7:38 because he compromised. That really challenged me, family. We, and you can take it as as a as a head of your household, if you're a husband or a father, we lose all moral authority in our homes 7:57 when we compromise. Why did the people Why did the work stop? Because those who were responsible for proclaiming God's word and who were responsible for making sure the people obeyed, disobeyed themselves. 8:15 And the work totally stopped. And why did no one Why was no one else's heart broken, so to speak? Because they were guilty, too. That's why we see only Ezra. He He He hadn't compromised. That's why his heart could be broken. And here's what the 8:31 Lord spoke to me. A compromiser will never be appalled by compromise. It's only the one who does not compromise who will It says Ezra's, you know, verse 9 We did or chapter 9. We just read that. I was appalled. Why was he appalled? Because he wasn't a 8:51 compromiser. Why was no one else appalled? Because they were guilty of compromise, too. Dear family, this is what the Lord is speaking to me. If you want to uphold a righteous standard at NCCF, you cannot compromise. If you want to uphold a righteous 9:09 standard, dear brothers, in your family, you cannot compromise. And the Lord is I feel is is a very strong word that he's speaking to me. You lose all moral authority in the church and in your home if you're compromising. 9:26 Gone. And years will pass and no progress is made. What we see here in Ezra is the priests went home. They aren't even offering offerings anymore. The entire purpose of God, I believe, in restoring a remnant in Jerusalem was to offer sacrifices and 9:44 worship him according to his command. It wasn't so they could live in Jerusalem because it was a nice place. God wanted an offering to his name, a holy offering. And you look in Ezra 9 and 10, the priests have gone home. It 9:57 happens again in Nehemiah. You look in these chapters, the priests have gone home. The one purpose of God totally thwarted. Why? Because those who are responsible for leading the people have compromised. And so all of the work 10:11 stops. And this was a real warning to me, dear family, and I think it should be a warning to every one of us. If we want to accomplish God's purpose in this generation at in this church at NCCF, we cannot compromise. We have to see compromise will kill all 10:33 progress. It's not like, "Oh, we'll just start moving more slowly, but we can still, you know." No, we lose all progress. >> [clears throat] >> And Ezra's prayer, if you look with me, it's an amazing prayer. It starts in 10:50 verse 6. He says, "Oh my God, I'm ashamed and embarrassed to lift my face. My God, for our wrongdoings. Since the days of our fathers to this day, we have been guilty. And on account of our wrongdoings, we and our kings and our priests have been 11:04 handed over to the kings of the lands and to the sword and to captivity and to plunder and to shame, just like it is today. It's still a shame today. Why?" Ezra's brokenhearted over this. And his prayer, as I said, it brings about 11:21 revival. If you look at it starting in chapter 10, it says verse 1, "Now while Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping, laying himself down face down before the house of God, a very large group from Israel of men, women, and 11:34 children gathered to him, and the people wept bitterly. Ah, what a scene. Where were these people before? There was no one who had not compromised. Who was devastated by the state of the church. Anyone who compromises will not be 11:54 devastated by the state of the church. They go, "Oh, yeah, that's just how it is." But the one who doesn't compromise, when they see sin, when they see that God's purpose isn't being fulfilled, they'll be devastated and can bring about a 12:05 revival. And what's amazing to me, Ezra, as far as we know, there's no compromise with him. He's always using He could be saying, "They sinned. They They" But he doesn't say they in his prayers. If you look at his prayers, he says, "We Our 12:18 sin. We have transgressed. We" And that really blessed me. To see the one who doesn't compromise is the only one who can say, "They sinned." But the one who doesn't compromise is the one who's who Only such one will say, "We Us Our" 12:36 Not pointing the finger, but broken before God with a sense of ownership and responsibility for the church. To me, the thing that the Lord spoke to me here is, "Compromise should never be normal." Ever. And the problem with Israel when Ezra 12:54 arrived is it was totally normal. Joshua, four of his sons intermarried. He's This is the guy who Malachi and Zechariah are encouraging and uplifting. If you read those books, they're talking about Zerubbabel and Joshua. And yet Joshua allows four of 13:10 his own sons to intermarry. And everybody goes, "Yeah, that's just normal. It's just what happens." Family sin and compromise should not be normal. It must always be tragic. And if we aren't careful, we grow accustomed to, 13:25 "Oh, yeah, leaders fall, you know" we we we start making excuses and the work will stop. The work will stop. Here's a simple principle. There's no progress when there's compromise. You cannot compromise and make progress. 13:43 All progress halts where compromise creeps in. And we have to we have to see the Lord wants us to deal with compromise very sincerely. Or else we lose moral authority in our families and in our church. In 14:01 our church, we can be here for years, just like the Israelites were. This is what scares me. We can be here for years and no more progress will be made. Wouldn't it be tragic, family? I mean this in all sincerity. I say 14:16 it in the name of the Lord. Wouldn't it be tragic if we learned we're meeting here all these times and we're not accomplishing God's will? Would you be brokenhearted in heaven if we get to heaven and we learn we had all 14:28 these midweek meetings, we had all these weekend meetings, and yet the wall was never rebuilt, and yet the offering wasn't wasn't restored in a way where the fire fell and the Lord was pleased? Would you be brokenhearted over that? 14:43 I would be devastated. Or I would I want to think that I would be. I don't know. I want to think that I would be devastated if I learned all of our meeting was for nothing. And these people, they're here for years and all of their meeting is for nothing. 14:56 And it's only the person who comes in who's not compromising who can see it. And what He doesn't come in pointing the finger and making accusations. He's just broken before God. But when he's broken before God, it it it causes others to be 15:09 broken as well, and revival begins. But the tragedy here, we see the same thing in Nehemiah. Nehemiah was not a compromiser, either. And And long as he was with the people, they they uh you know, made progress. But then he 15:26 leaves. If you look with me, turn to Nehemiah chapter 13. He leaves and the problems begin. If you just read in verse 6, we we there's there's lots of history here. Um but but just to get to the point, it says in verse 6, 15:43 "During all this time, Nehemiah 13:6, I was not at Jerusalem because in the 32nd year of ex es, king of Babylon, I went to the king. Then after some time, I asked the king for a leave of absence and I came to Jerusalem. And then I 15:56 discovered this evil stuff that was going on while I was gone. And it was displeasing to me, so I threw them out. And I gave an order and they cleansed the rooms. And I put back utensils in the house of God." But what the reason I mention Nehemiah we see 16:10 it's it's a pattern. It happens again. But the reason I mention Nehemiah is because it tells us something very important. If we look at Nehemiah, it tells us something very important about compromise. Very important. Because 16:22 look, if you look with me quickly at the failures that Nehemiah had to address. Look at verse 10. "I discovered that the portions due the Levites had not been given to them. So they had started neglecting their tithe." Verse 15. 16:35 "In those days I saw that Judah were treading the wine presses on the Sabbath and bringing in sheaves and sacks of grain and loading them on donkeys, so I protested." So they were they were they were ignoring the Sabbath. That's the 16:46 second thing. Then verse 23, look, it says "In those days I also saw that Jews married women from Ashdod and Ammon and Moab." And here's the troubling thing, family. None of these things, if you read, we don't have time to go into it too 17:02 deeply, but if you read what you see is none of those three things, what I just say? They neglected the tithe. They ignored the Sabbath. They allowed their children to be given to mixed marriages. None of those things were area surprise 17:14 areas of unconscious sin. And it's very helpful to define compromise. Because I said compromise kills progress, right? Compro- That was That's the point. Compromise kills progress. It prevents us from being on fire, prevents us from 17:29 building the church. But then you should ask a question, and children, you should probably, if you're listening, be asking yourselves this question. What is compromise? How do I know if I'm compromising? And what I have found is the enemy can 17:41 kind of He can get us to to to to think it's this nebulous, it's this unclear thing, and we can always live in fear. Am I compromising? Oh, no, am I compromising? But what we see here in Nehemiah is the things that Nehemiah 17:53 pointed out were known failure modes, so to speak. Compromise is not doing what you know is right. Very simply, I'll say it again. Compromise is not doing what you know is right. 18:09 It's not unconscious sin. In Nehemiah 10, if you just turn three pages or two pages to the left, here's the amazing thing. All of the people gather together to sign a covenant. Okay? And it lists all of the people who signed the covenant, but just look with 18:28 me for it for exa- for really quickly. What are the things that they agreed to? Number one, verse 30. We will not give our daughters to the people of the land in mixed marriages. Number two, verse 31. We will honor the Sabbath. 18:47 Number three, verse 32 through 39. We will give our tithes. There's seven verses on tithes. So, what am I saying? The three things that Nehemiah found, compro- areas of compromise in Nehemiah 13, are the three things they all 19:03 covenanted to God they would not do. We will tithe. We will honor the Sabbath. We will not give our daughters in marriage. And then when Nehemiah comes back years later, he goes, "Whoa! Not here all of the sins that you're 19:17 unconscious of. Here's all the stuff you didn't know was against God's will." That's not what compromise is. Compromise is Nehemiah goes, "Guys, we signed a covenant that we would honor the Sabbath and that we would tithe and 19:31 that we would not give our daughters. And yet I come back and what do I find? You're not honoring the Sabbath and you're not tithing. The priests have all left and you're giving your daughters in marriage." And this is helpful to me because it 19:45 helps me clearly define what is compromise. Nehemiah was not condemning them for things they did not know were wrong. He's condemning them for things that they themselves acknowledged were sin. That they themselves had vowed and 20:02 covenanted with God to avoid. And the reason I mention this is because the enemy wants us to be vaguely paranoid in our lives about some kind of surprise. He wants us to think about the judgment day and the final days there's 20:15 going to be a gotcha moment. GOD'S GOING TO GO, "AH, HAHA, you didn't know that was wrong but I got and the enemy causes us to be paranoid and jumpy and we don't compromise. I don't know, am I compromising right now?" Right? We can 20:26 hear a we can hear a message about getting rid of all compromise in our lives and then immediately be paranoid saying, "Am I a compromiser?" Dear brother, dear sister, are you doing all that you know God wants you to do or not? 20:43 If there are known areas of sin, yes, you are a compromiser. If you are keep if you are living as it says as Paul says in Acts, "I do my best to keep a blameless conscience." Dear brother, dear sister, you're not a compromiser. Praise the 20:58 Lord. But we don't have to have this nebulous kind of paranoia. Am I a compromiser? That's not That's not what is going to make us a a compromiser. In 5 years, the cause of us, if we if it's found that we are compromisers, it 21:15 won't be because of some unknown thing that's a surprise. It won't be It won't be some gotcha that God reveals to us. It will be because of our blatant disregard of something God has told us. That's what's compromise. And there's 21:32 uh in Matthew 25 in the parable of the talents, we know there's this wicked lazy slave, right? There's two good slaves who are faithful, who do what they're supposed to do, but there's this wicked lazy slave. Maybe we can turn 21:43 there with me. Matthew 25. There's this wicked lazy slave, and it's really It's really telling to look at his explanation. The one who received one talent, verse 24, Matthew 25:24. The one who received one talent came forward saying, "Master, 22:02 I knew you were a harsh and demanding man. Reap Look at this. Reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you didn't scatter seed." Do you think God is going to be gathering where he didn't scatter seed, so to speak? W- And what I take that to 22:17 mean is, do you think he's going to demand of you that which he has not commanded of you? No. God is not a wicked master who's going to come in the final day and say, "Aha, I got you. You never knew it, but I wanted you to do this." No. 22:34 He is going to say, "Have you done what I made clear to you?" And we have to be careful as as new covenant disciples to banish all of these thoughts of paranoia. Maybe I'm a compromiser and I don't know it. That's See it as 22:50 treasonous accusation, just like this wicked lazy slave servant who said, "Oh, I know you're harsh. I know you gather where you didn't sow seed." God does does gather where he did not sow seed. He's not going to expect of you that 23:04 which he has not sown into you. But what he will expect is where has he sown? What has he told you? Do that. Dear family, if you are not doing what you know God has told you, you're a compromiser. But if, according to the best of your 23:20 knowledge, you are living with a clear conscience before the Lord, praise God. You don't have to have some paranoia. You don't have to be afraid. Those who willfully ignore what they know to be God's will should fear. Absolutely. 23:36 And if you are living in willful, known disobedience, you should fear. 100%. But But if you are not, praise the Lord. You don't need to be paranoid. And you need to be careful to get rid of those paranoid thoughts because that's 23:52 actually what will cause you perhaps to be a bad steward in the final day. If you think God's going to demand something of you that he hasn't told you, no, he won't. He won't. And so get rid of those thoughts. Romans 14:23. 24:07 This is a great verse. Romans 14:23. He who is uncertain is condemned if he eats because he isn't acting from faith, 24:27 but whatever is not from faith is sin. And in the amplified Bible, it says, "Whatever is done with doubt is sinful." So, if you want a clear definition of what is sin to me, what is an area of compromise? Whatever God has given me faith for. 24:44 If I know that God has spoken to me in regards to something, take it seriously. That's my point. Take it seriously. Don't despise even the little commands. Like I was talking about at conference last week. Little ones, humble ones who 25:00 will inherit the kingdom, love little commands. And they take little sources of stumbling very seriously. Praise the Lord, we all should. But we don't have to be paranoid. That's the That's the encouragement, family. We don't have to 25:11 be paranoid looking over our shoulder, am I a compromiser in some way? No. To him who knows what to do and doesn't do it, that is sin. Anything that's done with doubt is sin. And so, dear family, let's pay close attention to what the Lord has 25:28 commanded us. As Paul says, I do my best to maintain a blameless conscience. That's what he says, I think it's Acts 24. That's not just a nice sentiment. We can hear that and go, oh, what a wonderful thing for Paul. No, it's the only way for us to 25:42 make progress as disciples. That should be all of our testimony, dear family. We should be able to say with the Apostle Paul, I do my best to maintain a blameless conscience. Why? Because compromise kills all of my progress. That should be 25:59 our testimony as a church. We do our best to always maintain a blameless conscience. This is Acts 24:16. Acts 24:16, I always do my best to have a clear conscience. What does it take to restore the purpose 26:21 of the Lord in the church? Someone who says, I refuse to compromise. An Ezra, a Nehemiah, a Paul, someone who says, I won't compromise. Last thing I want to mention is compromise has consequences beyond just 26:40 ourselves. We can think sometimes wrongly, oh, I'm just ruining my own life, you know. At least I don't I did This doesn't This doesn't involve anybody else. It's just me. And that is a mistake, family. That's a mistake. If you turn with me back to 26:55 Nehemiah, this is the last verse I want to mention. Nehemiah verse 13. I see this really sad sentence here that I just wanted to point out to in rebuke to the attitude that says, "My sin doesn't affect anyone but myself." 27:13 Look with me at this verse and I'm I'm interpreting this a little bit, but I it challenged me. Nehemiah 13:24. As for their children, none of them knew how to speak the language of Judah, but only the language of his own people. 27:26 Wow. Here is why our children may be so fluent in the ways of the world. They don't know the language of heaven. Compromise. We may think it's just a little thing. It's just a little compromise. No. Compromise has consequences. And what we 27:44 see here in the in the lives of Israel, those who had been restored to Jerusalem, it says, "They Their children did not know the language of Judah. They could only speak the language of the world around them." And I see that as a picture of 27:59 Do we want children? Do we want a a another generation who are disciples, who are whole-hearted? We cannot compromise. If we compromise, we cannot expect to raise a generation who know the language of heaven. That's how I take that. 28:16 If we compromise, we will only see a generation who know the language of this world. And we want children. I know if I talk to any one of you one-on-one, you go, "I want heavenly-minded children." Okay. Are you obeying everything the Lord has 28:32 said to you? If so, praise the Lord. Don't be paranoid. But if not, don't lie to yourself. All progress stalls. Compromise is the reason the progress stalls. I pray that the Lord would preserve us as we seek to build a pure testimony for 28:50 him. He has to do it. We have to take sin very seriously. And we have to see that the opposite of fire isn't ice. It's just a little bit of compromise. That's what will keep us from being preserved in fiery devotion to the Lord. A little bit 29:08 of compromise. I pray that the Lord would deliver me for sure and deliver each one of us, deliver each of our families from that we would be totally free from all compromise so that he could continue to be pleased to bring about his full 29:22 purpose here. Amen.
