1. Compromising is listening to the enemy instead of listening to God (1Ki 20:31-33). Ahab should not have listened to the overtures of the King of Syria in the face of the definite instructions that he had received from God. Neither must the Christian pay attention to the suggestions of Satan, as Eve did; nor listen to the longings of the natural heart, as Achan did when he coveted the forbidden things; nor must we pay heed to what half-hearted Christians say. We must follow the Lord fully, as Caleb, and be willing to be thought "eccentric," "odd," "extreme," "faddist," "peculiar," &c.
2. Compromising is receiving favours from those who are God's enemies (1Ki 20:34). It would have been perfectly right for Ahab to have received the cities that his father had lost from the hand of God, but to receive them from Ben-hadad was wrong. In like manner, for the believer in Christ to receive anything from the world in the shape of money to carry on God's work (3Jo 1:7; 1Cr 9:15-18; 2Cr 8:5), or to adopt methods that are of the world, is to put the unconverted in a wrong position, and to bring discredit on the name of Christ.
3. Compromising is to enter into a covenant with those who are not the Lord's (1Ki 20:34). 2Cr 6:14-18 is very plain as to the attitude the believer in Christ should maintain. The only place of safety is separation unto Christ. Separation unto Christ! Not separation for separation's sake, for that would be Phariseeism, but separation for Christ's sake, because He commands it; for we cannot have fellowship with Him and the world too.
4. Compromising does not pay (1Ki 20:42-43). Ahab had to pay very dearly for his self-will and disobedience. To be "out and out" is the best policy, looking at the question from policy's standpoint, which is not the Christian's ground. Better for our own sakes to keep to the lines of God's truth, for then we shall surely make progress, even as the train does by keeping on the metals.