PLAYING WITH SIN IS NOTHING MORE
THAN COMPROMISING WITH SATAN

Text: James 4:7 and I Timothy 6:11-14

James 4:7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

I Timothy 6:11  But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
I Timothy 6:12  Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
I Timothy 6:13  I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;
I Timothy 6:14  That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Statement: The day you stop being built up in your most holy faith is the day your faith will begin to start to break down.

I. Don’t for one moment think that Pharaoh didn’t understand that Moses’ request "let my people go" meant " let them go altogether". That is what Pharaoh didn’t like. Satan also understands that God intends to free His followers from the power of sin altogether. Satan doesn’t like that any more than Pharaoh did. Thus, Satan desires to let us go like a cat let’s a mouse go. Ever watch a cat play with a mouse? The cat never lets the mouse get out of reach. The cat toys with the mouse, tormenting him. The cat has great fun, the mouse is living his last few minutes. Satan will never let us out of his reach. Only God can free us from the power of Satan.

Once you become a Christian by surrendering to Jesus as your Savior and Lord, then God puts a hedge of protection around you. We are God’s property. Satan can’t touch us unless God gives him permission or we give him permission. If we give in to temptation or compromise our stand we become Satan’s play toy.

Sin is a very insidious thing. Because of that, Christians play with sin, thinking it won’t bite. At first it seems so harmless - then when it has a good hold, its bite proves fatal. It starts with what seems to be a small, little sin. But that single compromise can give a person a false sense of security. We feel we can get away with it or we can control it. But whenever we compromise we are giving Satan the assistance he needs to set up a stronghold in our life.

Sin always cost something. Why did the Israelites start out with such a big bang (leaving Egypt), only to end with a whimper (wondering in the wilderness)? The answer is simple: they wanted to see how far they could live on the edge with sin. That’s what happened. Instead of staying close to the God who had led them out of bondage, they took the blessings, provisions, and direction of God for granted. They misused what they had been so freely given, and eventually they lost everything.

Whose fault was it that the Israelites fell in the desert? It is clear that their failure was not due to a lack of provision. Their failure was a result of their compromise. They played around with sin, so sin played around with them.

Please understand that it has always been and will always be that every person is responsible for their own spiritual success or failure. If we succumb to the enticements and temptations of Satan, we must take responsibility for that.

II. Before Moses can even think of leading the Israelites out of Egypt, he has to get them to accept Yahweh as their God. Strange, the chosen people didn’t even know their God. Strange, but many church members don’t know their God either. In order to accomplish this, Moses request permission from Pharaoh to take the Israelites on a three day journey into the wilderness for the purpose of a religious retreat (Exodus 5:3-4) Exodus 5:3 And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the LORD our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword. Exodus 5:4  And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? get you unto your burdens. Such a celebration would serve to stimulate a sense of unity and attachment.

Pharaoh interpreted the request as evidence of both idle time on the part of the Israelite slaves and labor agitation on the part of Moses (5:5-9) Exodus 5:5  And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens. Exodus 5:6  And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying, Exodus 5:7  Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves. Exodus 5:8  And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish ought thereof: for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God. Exodus 5:9  Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words. He reacted not by giving permission, but by increasing the work load on the Israelites. He demanded the same quota of bricks, but he no longer permitted them to use straw which made the clay easy to handle.

This reprisal was so effective that the Israelites accused Moses and Aaron of making their life more difficult (5:21). Moses in turn protested to Yahweh (6:12).

After spending some time with God, Moses returns to Pharaoh (7:8-13) to demand the release of the Israelites. God has given Moses the ability to perform supernatural acts with his rod. He can cause it to become a serpent. But the Egyptian magicians can duplicate the trick. However, Moses serpent devours the Egyptian serpent. Pharaoh’s heart is hardened.

The first of two plagues are also matched by the Egyptian magicians, but the remainder of the plagues they openly acknowledge is beyond their powers. The ten plagues occur during a relatively short period of time. Each time Pharaoh continues to harden his heart and tries to get the Israelites to compromise their faith.

1. Look at Pharaoh’s first suggestion. Don’t get too involved with this God. After four of the plagues (water to blood, frogs, lice, and flies) had been sent, Pharaoh acknowledges the existence and power of a God he had professed not to know. But he only acknowledged God as Israel’s God. He told Moses he could go into the desert to worship God, but stay in the land of Egypt (8:1 & 25-28).

The suggestion is nothing more than compromise. Satan tells us today to only come to church once in a while. Don’t get too involved. Stay in the world as much as possible and spend as little time as you can with God and His church.

Why such a suggestion from Satan? Because he knows the power of God and he doesn’t want us close to that power. When a person puts their trust in Jesus and surrenders all to Him, they come under God’s divine protection. God promises His faithful followers that angels encamped around them (Psalm 34:7; are ministering to them (Heb 1:13-14); and are upholding them (Psalm 91:12). Psalm 91:12  They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

It stands to reason that if this is the case, the Christian would want to stay as close as possible to the Source of one’s protection. But, Satan tries to get us to get as far away from it as he can. He does so by getting us to compromise.

2. Notice Pharaoh’s second suggestion. After God sent four more plagues (live stock stroke, boils, hail & fire, and locust) Pharaoh said go, but don’t take the women or children. The word men here is different that in verse seven. In verse seven it includes women and children, here it means only adult males. So, Pharaoh told Moses that he could take the adult Israelite men out into the desert, but not the women or the young children (10:8-11).

The suggestion is nothing more than compromise. Satan tells us today to go to church occasionally, but don’t train the children in the ways of the Lord (Proverbs 22: ). Don’t bring them to the church educational programs for Christian training and values. Let the TV, movies, community activities, etc give them their values. Satan’s compromise is "Don’t force religion on your children, let them choose." Why? Because he knows they will choose the world over religion every time.

It stands to reason that if God is good and His values perfect, that parents would want there children to know and serve God. But, Satan tries to get parents to allow him to train the young children in their values.

3. Pharaoh’s third suggestion. God sent another plague (darkness) on the land, and Pharaoh told Moses to go but to leave their flocks behind (10:24-26).

This compromise is the most crafty of all - don’t really turn from your wicked ways. Satan tells people today to go to church when you want, but don’t support it in any way. Don’t become a member, don’t attend all services, don’t give your money, don’t serve in positions, don’t use your gifts or talents, don’t pray for it, don’t give it importance. Satan attempts to hold that which we feel is important and dangle it in front of us in order for us to follow him. Satan wants to hold your interest in the things of this world.

III. Compromise is always Satan’s game. Compromise is Satan’s favorite resort, but it should be an abomination to the spiritually minded. We must remember that it is hard to fight Satan if you invite him to look into your life:

1. Look at King David as he played on the edge with Bathsheba. Amazing he faithfully served God for twenty years before this (II Samuel 11-12). When David went up on his roof top, he didn’t do so to see Bathsheba. While he was up there he accidentally saw her. That wasn’t sin. If he had turned away and not held his gaze or returned to look again, everything would have been alright. But, he enjoyed watching and then desired her. He played with sin and sin played with him. Like a cat plays with a mouse.

2. Look at Joseph as he resisted Potiphar’s wife (Genesis 39:7). How did he resist? He fled just like God’s word says to, "Flee fornication." (I Corinthians 6:18a). He fled sin and sin didn’t have its way in his life.

3. Look at Samson (Judges 16). He was a man of supernatural strength, but fell because he played with sin and wound up yielding to his natural desires. He too played on the edge of sin, and sin played with him. Like a cat plays with a mouse.

The mature Believer realizes that there is always a long way to go in their walk with Jesus. They realize that there is always the potential for sin within them. They are constantly on guard against Satan and sin.

The biggest problem that faces today’s Christian is the fact they don’t understand the importance of maintaining a close walk with God. Our relationship with Jesus requires constant maintenance. Like any relationship if left alone it goes no where. The best way not to go backwards in our Christian walk is to keep going forward. Any time we stop, we actually wind up going backwards. There is no such thing as a stand still in the Christian walk. There is no way we can compromise with sin and keep going forward.

Compromise is out of the question to the Christian walk. A compromise between vice and virtue is an insult to virtue. To compromise a truth, is to give place to a lie. Half truths are nothing but disguised lies. God’s Word is to be obeyed, to not obey is to disobey.

Moses refused to compromise with Pharaoh and finally Pharaoh told Moses to go and take everything (12:31-34). The Egyptians even gave the Israelites their valuables (12:35-36). The great shame is that after the Israelites had witnessed the awesome power of God, by the time they got to the promised land they were living on the edge, playing with sin, taking God for grant and their existence was nothing more than a whimper.

Let each of us heed the warning. If you live a life as a compromising Christian. If you play on the edge of sin. Then the end of your lives here on earth will be nothing more than a whimper. Just like the Israelites. May God give you the faith to be an un-compromising Christian.