The Danger of ‘Soft Things’
Scripture: Isaiah 30:10
Introduction: On Wednesday I mentioned the story of Isaiah and his call and I would like to revisit one scripture in particular that reveals the attitude of his time, because it is no different than the times we live in today. In Isaiah 30:10 the people were in their comfort zone and didn’t want to get out of it. This is how they were described:
Isaiah 30:10 – “They say to the seers, “see no more visions!” and to the prophets: “Give us no more visions than is fair!” tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions.” (NIV) “who say to the seers, Do not see; and to the prophets: Prophesy not to us right things, speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceit:” (KJV)
There was a Custer movie on the Battle of the Little Big Horn. As things looked bleak, one of his officers asked him, “Should we back off?” Custer said “Withdraw? Hell no! We have them surrounded!” That is the attitude of some people today: they simply refuse to face reality. The same thing happened in the time of Isaiah.
Transition: I would like to focus on just 2 words that the prophet said people wanted to hear: “soft things”. What are the “soft things?”
“Soft things” are good things
“Good things” in that those things that make us feel good. Like chocolate it tastes good but it’s not good for you if that’s all you eat. Or Pop which tastes good but if that’s all you drink it will cause problems. When people cried when they heard “smooth things” they were really crying for Isaiah to say good things to them, whether it was true or not. In other words, tell us that good things are going to happen, tell us lies and convince us that it is the truth. This comes from a spirit that says “I want to do bad but I want to feel good about it.” What better way to feel good about it than to have the permission of a prophet? A man once told me that if he was going to have an affair with a certain lady in church, he would surely do it “God’s way.” He wishes he was kidding, but yeah, that really happened. People still today, no matter how far-fetched it may seem, still want to indulge in sin but want God’s backing.
Today they “soften things” They would be those preachers who speak softly and who tell us that great things are going to happen to us all the time. That nothing but health, wealth and constant prosperity awaits us forever. You will never suffer a fiery dart, or a stormy ordeal, or an unfortunate illness, and if you do, it’s because you didn’t say the magic words or buy those 8 CDs on ‘How to Live Victoriously or Successfully or Abundantly or anything like that.’ Promising nothing but “good stuff” promises nothing but “soft stuff.” Jesus Himself promised us trouble in John 16:33 and we would be hated in Mark 13:13 and we would be persecuted in John 15:20. (not that there are NO good things in the word, but focusing solely on them is “soft stuff”)
The smooth things also come from those who spend all their time in the scriptures pointing to nothing but grace, but not a word about sin, repentance, regeneration, or perseverance. They speak only of the cure but never of the disease. They focus only on faith or love, but not a word about dedication, obedience or sacrifice. (Reference: Hell’s Best Kept Secret: Ray Comfort) Other “soft” talkers say that there are “biblical codes” hidden. And there are many false preachers who present themselves as Prince Charming and present God as some kind of divine mother fairy, sent to give us what we want, when we want it. A genie in a bottle. Rub that bottle a certain way with positive words and bam! You will have what you want. The Bible is not a piece of wax that can be molded to our will, and yet they hammer an issue all the way across the board and common sense should tell you there is no reason to keep hammering away. But all they know and love are those ‘soft things’.
Some “soft stuff” preachers are all style and no substance. Spurgeon said (paraphrasing) “It is a horrible gift to be able to say nothing in the extreme… There are preachers who confuse perspiration with inspiration. They run like a wild horse with a hornet in their ear until they have to catch their breath, they’re so repetitive it hurts to listen to them. They get more pity for themselves than sympathy for their subject.” But they would argue, ‘Well, I’d rather hear the congregation scream than see them asleep,’ and I agree that I’d rather hear screaming, laughing or even crying, anything but snoring. But a sermon that would make you jump all the time but wonder if the lesson was 10 minutes after it ended isn’t worth preaching in the first place. Those who are hungry for “soft things” will only get their fill from those men who offer them, but those who are hungry for substance will go home hungry. Spiritual maturity is not measured by how high you jump, but by how straight you walk once you come down. Soft stuff is good to listen to, but not much else.
Soft things are popular things
Isaiah was the guy no one wanted to meet, the crazy naked man, the killjoy that people would say “DUDE SHUT UP NOW!” They hated him, and they hated him because they hated the truth. Isaiah was a true messenger of God, Isaiah was a true messenger of God that his work is directly quoted 21 times in the New Testament. Isaiah’s message was a great warning to a people slowly sinking into moral and spiritual decay.
Isaiah was direct, but he also pleaded with them to repent before a good God: &# 8220;the LORD wishes to have mercy on you; he stands up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who hope in him!” (30:18) He was not some crazy preacher shouting judgments on everyone who passed by. He simply told the truth. And because the truth was too hard to hear, people hated him. What should you do if someone is headed toward danger? The kindest thing to do is warn them of the danger they’re in, right? That’s what he was doing, that’s what he did!
They thought that by gaining control of the messenger they could control the message, and distort and reject the true word of God. There was another prophet like Isaiah found in 1 Kings 22, named Micaiah. During the reign of Ahab and Jehoshaphat. Ahab was king of Israel and Jehoshaphat was king of Judah. Ahab was a wicked king and Jehoshaphat was a godly king. Ahab wanted Jehoshaphat to help him take down Ramoth Gilead, so he asked all the prophets to tell them if they should go. And all 400 led by the false prophet Zedekiah, knew what they wanted to hear and said ‘yes, go and the LORD will deliver him into your hands’. But Jehoshaphat was not satisfied, so Ahab said this (I Kings 22:8) – “The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat: “There is still one man by whom we can inquire of the Lord, but I hate Him because He never prophesies anything.” good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imla.” King Ahab despised Micaiah because he didn’t say anything good about him. Well, whose fault was it? If Ahab was good, I’m sure Micaiah would have said so. Micaiah was just speaking for God, it wasn’t personal.
Micaiah is called to Jehoshaphat and Ahab and at first sarcastically tells them what they want to hear, but later, when pressed for the truth, Micaiah tells them in (I Kings 22:17) – “Then Micaiah replied: ” I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep without a shepherd, and the Lord said: This people has no master. Let everyone go home in peace.” After this, Ahab complains that He never says anything good, only bad. So what is Micaiah supposed to do? He told them what they wanted to hear and they were not happy. And then he told them the truth and they weren’t happy. So what happened to Micaiah for NOT agreeing with the popular soft message? He was reprimanded and slapped in the face and then sent to prison! And in case you didn’t know, everything he said would happen, happened.
Charles Spurgeon said “The very church that the world loves most will surely be the one that God hates&. #8221; Soft things are popular things because they don’t convince us to change. They do not challenge us to deny ourselves, take up the cross and follow Christ. Matthew Henry said “Unity is not always the mark of a true church and true ministry. Here were 400 men who prophesied with one mind and one mouth, and yet all in error.” There is a reason Christ calls our way narrow. Soft things are popular things.
soft things are dangerous things
Solomon once said “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; There is nothing new under the sun.” Ecc. 1:9 He may have heard the phrase “those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.” Well, the truth is that they are doomed to repeat it, whether they learn from it or not, because while technology may change, our carnal desires and sinful nature never will (Romans 3:23) and we must wrestle with it ( Romans 7:14). -25)
One of those desires is to enjoy sin and salvation at the same time. It is easier to listen to preachers who speak softly and make us comfortable in our sins than to listen to the Isaiahs of the world who speak frankly and make us confront our sins. And we are warned that this same problem would also face our generation. Paul told Timothy:
2 Timothy 4:3 – “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to satisfy their own desires, they will gather around them a host of teachers to say what their eager ears want to hear.
The time will come when men will tire of listening. the plain old gospel, like those in the desert who were not satisfied with bread from heaven, will long for something new. They will want new teachings, something interesting, something nice, something other than the old gospel, by which my grandmother was saved, or that old gospel preached by Billy Graham, DL Moody, Charles Spurgeon, John Bunyon, George Whitefield, and Martin Luther. ! They will crave something different! And therein lies the problem!
You can ask some aficionado of “soft stuff” if they had a good message some Sunday morning and said “Oh yeah, the preacher was on fire this morning!” you say “great, what was the message about?” they say ‘uhhh. Well, it was around… (then they impress themselves to remember a few sentences or a catchphrase or an illustration). They are like a child picking something up off the ground and licking it up, and you ask “what is that?” They reply “I don’t know…