An Unchanging Message to a Changing World | Part 2

Should there ever be division in church?

Listen to Adrian Rogers. We must never, never, never divide over incidentals, but we must stand for conviction if we have to stand alone. Sometimes denominations have to stand alone. And if they won't, churches have to stand alone. Not only do churches have to stand alone, families have to stand alone.

Sometimes you might be in a church that doesn't take a stand for the Word of God, then you need to get your family in another church. Sometimes individuals have to stand alone. You may be the only one in your family that stands up for the truth. But it is better to stand alone with the truth than to be wrong with a multitude.

Welcome to Love Worth Finding. In part one of today's message, pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers revealed that it's better to be divided by truth than to be united in error. It's also better to speak the truth that hurts and then heals than to tell a lie that comforts and then kills. And it's better to be hated for telling the truth than to be loved for telling a lie. What happens when we stand alone for truth rather than be wrong with a multitude?

What happens when lies temporarily succeed? If you have your Bible, turn to 2 Kings chapter 22 as Adrian Rogers delivers an unchanging message to a changing world. What we have here is the story of a good man. His name was Jehoshaphat, but he was a good man who tried to do a good thing, but he did it the wrong way. He got himself in league with an ungodly man whose name was Ahab, and he's about to reap the consequences. And so like many people today they plan, they plot, they agree, and then after they've done it they carry it to God in prayer and ask God to rubber stamp their plans. And so let's look in verse 5, and Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Enquire I pray thee at the word of the Lord today. Now Jehoshaphat said, you know we ought to pray about this thing. Remember he's already made up his mind. He's already given his word. He's already entered into an alliance and then he tries to get God to rubber stamp it.

And so he says, let's pray about it, we need a word from God. Now the king, the wicked king whose name was Ahab he had his court prophets. He had his paid pussy footing, pandering prophets. There were 400 of them and he called them together. Notice in verse 6, and the king of Israel gathered the prophets together about 400 men and said unto them, Shall I go against Ramoth Gilead to battle or shall I forbear?

And they said, Go up for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king. 400 preachers speaking with unanimity. At that time Jehoshaphat knew something was really wrong when 400 preachers get together about anything.

And so he's getting a little nervous now and he says, I'm a little suspicious of this. Instinctively he knew that something was wrong and he said, isn't there someone else that we can get other than these 400? And notice in verse 7, and Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides that we may inquire of him? Now notice verse 8, And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him for he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.

That is king, give him a chance. Let's hear what this 401st prophet will say. And so they ask him to prophesy.

Let's go get Micaiah. Ahab said, I don't want that preacher around here. He never says anything good to me. He never says anything good about me. He never prophesies good concerning me.

And of course he couldn't. How can you say anything good to or for a bad man? This was God's man, Micaiah. But they sinned for Micaiah because Ahab needs Jehoshaphat and he doesn't want to lose that cooperation. So they sinned for Micaiah. The answer that this man of God gave, whose name was Micaiah, has put steel in my backbone. And I pray God that every man of God will resonate with the words of Micaiah. Look if you will in verse 14, And Micaiah said, As the LORD liveth, what the LORD saith unto me, That will I speak.

That's underscored in my Bible. As the LORD liveth, what the LORD saith unto me, That will I speak. It may not be pleasant, but I'll say it. It may not be prudent, but I'll say it. It may not be pleasing, but I'll say it. It may not be profitable, but I must say it.

I may go to jail, and by the way He did. They may kill me, but I'll say it. I may not get a promotion, but I will say it. I will not be intimidated by the King. The King can't put strings on me. Do you know the difference between a puppet and a prophet?

A puppet has strings on it. No man of God can have strings on him. And so He said, What God says to me, that I will say.

Now, here's the first thing. It is better to be divided by truth than to be united in error. There's a lot of sentimental preaching about Jesus being the great unifier, but Jesus has caused more division than any other force since creation. Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 10, verses 34 and following. Jesus said, now these are the words of Jesus.

They may surprise you. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother-in-law, and a man's foes shall be they of his own household.

And some of you could say that is true in my house. Ever since I gave my heart to Christ, there's been strife in my house, and there's been a division in my house concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who value unity above truth have missed the Spirit of Jesus. It is better to be divided by truth than united in error. Now again, I want to say, I am not asking God's people and good people to divide over incidentals. But when the great eternal values of the Word of God are jettisoned and crucified upon the altar of conformity and cooperation, it is a sin against Almighty God. Not only is it better to be divided by truth than united in error, but number 2, it is better to speak the truth that hurts and then heals than to tell a lie that comforts and then kills.

These 400 men told Ahab and Jehoshaphat a lie. It was a lie that Ahab loved to hear. He loved these pandering preachers because they told him what he wanted to hear rather than what he needed to hear, and as a result fell into great calamity. Preachers need to stop trying to win popularity contests.

I want to say it again. It is better to tell the truth that hurts and then heals than to tell a lie that comforts and then kills. Now Ahab said, I hate the message that this man brings. He saw a man who was his friend as his enemy. The former pastor of this church, Dr. Robert G. Lee, used to say when he preached on hell, some will call preaching about hell cruel. But Dr. Lee used to say, I'd rather be called cruel for being kind than to be called kind for being cruel.

Rough truth is better than polished falsehood. Let me give you some verses. Ecclesiastes 7 and verse 5, it is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools. There are some people today in our churches who are hearing the song of fools. Do you know what is happening in some schools of church growth?

Church growth now is being studied in America. And they're saying, don't on Sunday morning, don't say anything that might offend. Don't preach on judgment. Don't preach on hell. Don't preach on separation. Don't preach these things because if you do, this generation of people will be turned away.

Just talk to them in glittering generalities. There's a man that typifies that. He's a well-known preacher in California.

He's on many television stations. But I want you to hear what he said. This is a quote taken from Christianity today. I don't think anything has been done in the name of Christ and under the banner of Christianity that has proven more destructive to human personality and hence counterproductive to the evangelism enterprise than the often crude, uncouth, and unchristian strategy of attempting to make people aware of their lost and sinful condition. This same preacher said, my number one role is that I don't want to do anything that would turn somebody off so they will not be open to listening to my invitation to accept Jesus Christ as their best friend.

A friend, people need a Savior. They need to know that they're lost. They need to know that they're sinners under the wrath of a righteous and holy God. That's not a popular message.

But it is better to tell the truth that hurts and then heals than to tell a lie that comforts and then kills. I've told you of the sailors who asked the chaplain this question. Chaplain, do you believe in hell? He said, yes, I do.

Why do you ask? They said, for this reason. If there is a hell and you don't believe in it, we don't want you for a chaplain. And if there is no hell, we don't need any chaplain.

There is, friend, the wrath of God. Micaiah refused to be bought. He refused to be intimidated. He knew it's better to be divided by truth than united in error. He knew it was better to tell the truth that hurts and then heals than to tell a lie that comforts and then kills. I don't believe that we ought to go out of our way to be rude to people. But primarily, it is not my job to fill the pew.

It is my job to fill the pulpit, to preach the Word of God. It is better. It is better to tell the truth that hurts and then heals than to tell a lie that comforts and then kills. Let me give it to you from the Word of God, Proverbs chapter 27, verses 5 and 6. Open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. What Ahab was receiving was 400 kisses from faithless prophets who had never heard from God, rather than hearing and wanting to hear the wound of a friend, a man who wanted to tell him the truth. The third thing is this, it is better to be hated for telling the truth than to be loved for telling a lie. Ahab said concerning this man, I hate him.

Look if you will in verse 8, and the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, there is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him. And I say this, that every man of God is not going to be loved. And I want to be loved. I love to be loved. I don't like to be disliked. But it is better to be hated for telling the truth than to be loved for telling a lie. Micaiah was a man of God. We don't have to be elected clergyman of the year.

We have to stop running for popularity contest. The Apostle Paul would not give way when he talked to the Galatians and he told the Galatians that they were off in doctrinal era and then he said to them, he asked them this question in Galatians chapter 4 and verse 16, am I therefore your enemy because I tell you the truth? I'm not your enemy because I tell you the truth.

But sometimes somehow we think that those who tell us the truth are enemies. I was in my car in South Florida supposed to go to an engagement and I was on a very fine road in a good rental car. It had beautiful music. And it was wonderful. The sun was shining.

The car was running smoothly. I'm praising the Lord, driving along there listening to this music. But I got a suspicion that something was wrong. I wasn't seeing the right signs that I needed to see that was to get me to my destination. So I asked a highway patrolman, is this the way to thus and such? He said, mister, you're headed the wrong way and you're way away from where you ought to be.

I want to ask you a question. Was that man who told me I was on the wrong road, was he an enemy or a friend? I mean I was enjoying myself on the wrong road.

I mean it was wonderful. He was a friend. He didn't bring me good news. He brought me bad news but had he not told me it would have been worse news.

I did make my engagement because a man told a man on the wrong road in a good car listening to beautiful music on a sunny day, you're headed the wrong way. Am I therefore your enemy because I tell you the truth? Micaiah told the truth and they put him in prison on bread and water.

Jesus told the truth and they crucified Him. I had a woman in a former church call me on Monday. She was a friend. She said, Pastor were you preaching to me Sunday? I said, Bertha, I was shooting down in a hole.

If you were down in it I can't help it. I loved her but she was wrong and she knew it. We're not called on to be loved by everybody else but to bear the reproach of Jesus. As a matter of fact if you'll study the Bible it's almost impossible to find anybody in the Bible who stood for the truth who was loved by everyone.

As a matter of fact it was impossible. Abel was killed by his brother. Noah was so hated that he could not get seven converts in 120 years. Joseph was sold into slavery. Moses was hated and ridiculed by his family. Elijah was chased. He thought he was the only prophet left. Elisha was called a bald head.

Isaiah preached to deaf ears. Jeremiah was a weeping prophet because of the recalcitrance of those that he preached to. Daniel was put in the lion's den. The Hebrew children were put into the fiery furnace. David was chased and hunted by Saul and John the Baptist lost his head and Peter was crucified upside down and Stephen was stoned and Paul was left for dead outside of Lystra. John the apostle was exiled on Patmos.

James was martyred and Jesus was crucified. Must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease while others fought to win the prize and sailed through bloody seas? Sure I must fight if I would reign. Increase my courage, Lord. I'll bear the toil and endure the pain supported by Thy Word.

Here's a fourth thing I would say to you. It is better to stand alone with the truth than to be wrong with a multitude. Look if you will in verses 13 and 14 again. And the messenger that was gone to call Micaiah spake unto him saying, Behold now the words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one mouth. That is there's unanimity. Let thy word I pray thee be like the word of one of them and speak that which is good.

And Micaiah said, As the Lord liveth what the Lord saith unto me that will I speak. That is I'll not make it unanimous. I don't care what 400 preachers say, I'm going to say what God says.

It was 400 to 1. Do you know what I've learned in life? The majority is almost always wrong. The majority in America is generally and almost always wrong. What we're headed for today is where everybody wants the spirit of uniformity. And what the Antichrist is working to build is a world church and a world state. And they're those who want to homogenize society and obliterate conviction. And the religion of America today is get along-ism. And we're almost un-American if we don't put our arms around everybody else's shoulder and say, Your religion is just as good as mine. And to say that Jesus Christ is the only way.

To say that the Bible is the Word of God is to brand you as a bigot, narrow, uncooperative, and horror of horrors a fundamentalist. But men of God have always stood alone. Noah had to stand alone when he preached. Elijah stood alone on Mount Carmel against the 450 prophets of Baal.

Amos stood alone in the courtroom at Bethel. True prophets must stand alone. They tried to soften Micaiah up.

They tried to save Micaiah. Get along with a ministerial alliance. Four hundred preachers have agreed on this. I want to say again that we must never, never, never divide over incidentals.

But we must stand for conviction if we have to stand alone. Sometimes denominations have to stand alone. Sometimes churches have to stand alone when I came to be the pastor of this church. And they asked me about my relationship to the denomination. I said, I am a Southern Baptist. I love Southern Baptists. I was saved in a Southern Baptist church. I said, I want you to know this, that I'm a Christian first, a Baptist second, Southern Baptist third, but I will not be a Southern Baptist if it means that I have to compromise the Word of God.

And I want you to know that going out ahead of time. Now I love this denomination. I believe it's worth struggling for and I believe it's worth preaching to and it's worth loving.

And I believe that though we're light years from being perfect, we are moving in the right direction. And for that I praise and thank God. But denominations have to stand alone and if they won't, churches have to stand alone. And not only do churches have to stand alone, families have to stand alone. Sometimes you might be in a church that doesn't take a stand for the Word of God, then you need to get your family in another church. You say, but I've been a member of this church for so long and besides that my grandmother is buried in the church cemetery in the backyard.

Well I'll tell you grandma would leave if she could, I'll guarantee you. Sometimes individuals have to stand alone. You may be the only one in your family that stands up for the truth.

Again, don't divide over incidentals. If it be possible as much as lies in you, live peaceably with all men. But it is better to stand alone with the truth than to be wrong with a multitude. Now here's the fifth and final thing.

It is better to ultimately succeed with the truth than to temporarily succeed with a lie. Look if you will in verse 34 of this same chapter. This concerns Ahab, and a certain man drew a bow at a venture and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness. Wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, turn thine hand and carry me out of the host for I am wounded. It was a tragic battle for Ahab. He would not listen to the man of God and the word of God.

The preacher was thrown in prison. But give God time for God's arrow found Ahab and God's crown has found Micaiah. It is better, my friend, to ultimately succeed with the truth than to temporarily succeed with a lie. Now, the thing that is desperately needed in today's world is the truth.

The Bible contains the precepts of truth. Jesus is the person of truth, and the Holy Spirit is the power of truth. What we desperately need in today's world is the truth, and Jesus is the person of truth.

Do you have a personal relationship with him? Maybe you have questions about who Jesus is or what he means to you, or how to surrender your life fully to his lordship today. Go to our Discover Jesus page at lwf.org slash radio.

You'll find resources and materials, answers to many questions you may have about your faith. Go to lwf.org slash radio and click Discover Jesus. For a copy of today's message, request one by the title An Unchanging Message to a Changing World. Call 1-877-LOVEGOD to order. Now, this message is also part of the powerful series Standing for Light and Truth. For the complete collection, all 11 insightful messages, call that number 1-877-LOVEGOD or go online to lwf.org slash radio.

Or you can write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Thanks for studying with us in God's Word today. In these tense times, I can't help but hold tight to these comforting words.

Adrienne Rogers said, in America, we need to come to a fixed standard, not of conservative versus liberal, but of the Word of God versus everything else. Don't forget to tune in next time for more timeless truth right here on Love Worth Finding. Here's a powerful message from a listener who wrote us recently. He said, I claim Pastor Adrienne Rogers as my mentor because of his simple, practical presentation of biblical principles. I've watched lots of his messages from YouTube for personal development, and I've adopted sermon presentations as a pastor. He is a blessing to me.

He lives on in my heart. We are glad to share these messages and resources to help equip listeners with the truth of the Gospel in some very dark days. This month, as a thank you for your generous support, we want to send you the book, Standing for Light and Truth. The book's a collection of Adrienne Rogers' best love messages that reveal the causes of America's moral darkness and the destiny of those who turn away from the light. Request this book when you call with a gift right now at 1-877-LOVEGOD or give online at lwf.org slash radio.