Tidings for Tuesday
Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you. For so did their fathers to the false prophets. Luke 6:26
I remember hearing of a man who was preaching the Gospel, and did very well at it. When he was shaking hands with the people after the meeting, one brother approached him with warm praise, saying, ‘That was an excellent message!’ The preacher smiled and responded, ‘I know, brother, the devil told me that before I got off the platform.’ He was wise enough to know the danger there is in being proud of our own abilities and failing to give to God all the glory. It is a good lesson for us that the praise we hear is not always for our own good. Around us we have many people seeking to please everybody they encounter. It can’t be done, as the politicians discover when they straddle the fence on important issues. Neither can it be done in matters concerning the Scriptures, godly living, the Gospel, and Assembly principles. The truth is the truth, and there are no grey shades of truth in the Word of God. Neither should there be any grey shades of truth with us.
The Lord Jesus speaks of the false prophets who declared that which their audience wanted to hear. 1 Kings 22 tells us of King Ahab of Israel who asked King Jehoshaphat of Judah to help him take Ramoth-Gilead from the Syrians. Jehoshaphat agreed, but wanted to hear a word from the Lord. Ahab gathered about 400 prophets who told him what he wanted to hear, how the campaign to take Ramoth-Gilead would be a big success. Unsatisfied, Jehoshaphat asked for a prophet from the Lord. There was only one, a man named Micaiah, who Ahab hated because he spoke evil against him. But Jehoshaphat asked to hear him, and Micaiah foretold defeat at the hands of the Syrians, and also of Ahab’s death in the battle. So Ahab had Micaiah taken to a prison to be fed with bread and water. Most of the people around us don’t want to hear the truth any more than Ahab did. That’s why there are so many religious denominations that focus on soothing doctrines that don’t make anybody feel uncomfortable, on easy fixes to sinful calamities, on avoiding embarrassing anyone, especially those who can contribute money. False prophets with false words of false comfort are just as popular today as they were in the Old Testament. And in our text, the Lord Jesus pronounces a woe on them all.
There is seldom a reason for insulting people when we present the Gospel. But we need to speak the truth. We do no favours to anyone by ignoring their very real need of repentance and the very real hell that awaits the unrepentant. We also need to carefully and faithfully warn young Christians about the perils of the world, the flesh and the devil. Unless we teach them the need for separation from the world and commitment to Christ, we will see little of profit for the Lord in their lives.
We are in trouble if we place popularity before faithfulness in the things of God. – Jim MacIntosh