You say that a flood-gate of iniquity is opened by our doctrines. So be it. Ungodly men are part of that evil leprosy aforementioned, which we must endure. Nevertheless, these are the very doctrines which throw open to the elect, who fear God, a gateway of righteousness, an entrance into heaven, and a road to God! If, as you advise, we should keep off these doctrines and hide the word of God from men, and leave them all to labour under a false assurance of salvation, never learning the fear of God and true humiliation, and so never coming through that fear to true, saving grace and love—why, then we should have shut our flood-gate to some purpose; for in its place we should set open before ourselves and everyone else broad gates, yes, gaping chasms and raging whirlpools, to take us down not only into sin, but into the very depths of hell! Thus we too should fail to enter heaven ourselves, and hinder others who were entering (cf. Matt. 23:13). (Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will).
The above quote by Luther should open minds to reality. Parts of the modern professing Church has eschewed the so-called seeker oriented part in theory, but have swallowed some of its practices. We are being taught to be gracious and winsome rather than to teach the truth. The truth of God will always be hated by people in this world. The truth of God will always have its rough edges when applied to the hearts of those who hate Him. The Law of God, when spiritually applied to the consciences of sinners, will evoke unpleasant responses. We cannot expect to have peace in this world unless we are enough like it to pare the rough edges of biblical truth down to where men will not be offended at it. To achieve peace within denominations, churches, and with other people we attempt to pare down the Word of God and make it palatable. But this is to hide the truth from people. Professing Calvinists want to be accepted and have honor among their denominations as well, so they take the rough edges off their teaching which is to make it just like the others at the heart of it. But this is to hide the truth from people for the sake of our comfort and ease and so we can have honor in our denominations. This is idolatry (John 5:44).
The preacher of the Gospel must constantly keep God as the focus and not humans. There is no true love for human souls or good done to human souls apart from the glory of God being the true focus. When human beings focus on sinners and they know that they are the focus then the idea is left with the sinner that God is focused on him or her. That is the heart of idolatry. Sinners must repent of their self-centeredness and of their very selves and become God-centered in order to be converted. If that is correct, and certainly Jesus said that we must deny self in order to follow Him, then a focus on the sinner and giving the impression that God is focused on the center is to communicate that which is opposite of the Gospel. When the doctrines and teachings of the Gospel are watered down in order to make them palatable to man and so we can be more gracious, what we have done is to think our graciousness is stronger and better than the grace of God. It is also to hide the truth about God and His Word from men and to leave them in their self-centeredness. It is a very self-centered thing to do on our part. It is also an idolatrous thing to do on our part as we would rather have men like and honor us than to hear the truth of God.
The love of men is a massive cause for stumbling in our day. Our society and culture is awash with niceness and politeness rather than love. So the professing Church has been filled with the same thing as well. This means that preachers are fired for teaching the truth, but violating what many think of as love. But in fact the brutal truth of it all is that man is man-centered rather than God-centered and has been washed off the biblical rock with humanism. The Gospel of grace alone must be preached or we are not preaching the Gospel. The doctrines of man’s utter helplessness in sin and of sovereign grace must be preached or the Gospel is not being preached. Oh how so many want to hide these necessary truths under a biblical cloak these days, but the reality of it is that if the Gospel is to be preached these cannot be hidden. Oh how deceitful our hearts are to try and hide the truth from men while making religious excuses for it. It is the Pelagian heart that is ashamed of these things and wants to hide them. It is the Pelagian heart (even if wrapped in Reformed clothing) that thinks these things can be hidden from souls and then spring it on them later after they are more mature. The Gospel is offensive when it is preached in truth!
Those who love the honor and praise of men rather than God should wake up and realize that they are idolaters and not preachers of truth. In order to be a true preacher of the Gospel a person must preach the truth of God and about God. It is actually hatred for souls if we are willing to try to please them rather than God. Indeed when we try to hide the truth of these things from people we are shutting the door to the truth to them and to ourselves. That is precisely what lovers of self do, even if they have the form of truth and orthodoxy. It is, after all, just a form.
God Loves... Himself 
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