Do not Walk in the Way with Them

"My son, if sinners entice you,

    do not consent.

If they say, ‘Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood;

    let us ambush the innocent without reason;

like Sheol let us swallow them alive,

    and whole, like those who go down to the pit;

we shall find all precious goods,

    we shall fill our houses with plunder;

throw in your lot among us;

    we will all have one purse’—

my son, do not walk in the way with them;

    hold back your foot from their paths,

for their feet run to evil,

    and they make haste to shed blood.”

“Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain;

    it takes away the life of its possessors.” (Proverbs 1:10-16,19 ESV)

Who are these sinners? They are all who are falling short of what God approves. They are the depraved, the detestable, the unrighteous, and the ungodly. They are all who practice wickedness, immorality, evil, wrongdoing, lying, cheating, stealing, and committing adultery, and the list goes on. For they are the disobedient who do not obey the commands of God, in practice, but who make sin their practice, instead. And some (or many) of them also profess faith in Jesus Christ and claim heaven as their eternal destiny.

As those who are followers of Jesus Christ, we have died with Christ to sin, and we were raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness, by the grace of God. Now we are to live in self-denial, in daily dying to sin, and in following Jesus Christ in obedience to his commands (New Covenant). Sin is no longer to have mastery over our lives to where we obey its desires, for if sin is what we obey it leads to death, not to life eternal (Romans 6:1-23).

This is not saying that as followers of Christ that we will not ever sin again, for we might, but that sin should no longer be our “go to,” our habit, our practice. Now righteousness and holy living and moral purity, honesty, faithfulness and walks of obedience to our Lord should be what we practice day by day, in the power of God. So, did Jesus save us from our sins? Yes! He did! But many people are using the phrase “saved sinners” to describe Christians, but which then gives the impression that we are still “sinners.”

Are we still capable of sinning against the Lord Jesus? Yes! Because we still live in flesh bodies. Do we still have the propensity to sin? Yes! Are we still tempted to sin? Yes! But that doesn’t make us “saved sinners” who are merely saved from hell and from the punishment of sin. If we have died with Christ to sin and we are now living to his righteousness, in obedience it him, it makes us the righteous and the saints of God who are now living holy lives, pleasing to God, by the grace of God and in his power and strength.

So, please don’t buy into the lie that all Jesus did was to save you from hell so that you can now go to heaven when you die. For true “sinners” are enticing Christians to believe that lie so that the believers in Jesus Christ will believe that they can now continue in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord and that it will not be charged against them. For Jesus died to deliver us out of our slavery (addiction) to sin so that we will now serve the Lord with our lives in obedience to his commands, in his power and strength.

So many of those who are addicted to (in slavery to) sin will attempt to entice the godly to sin against the Lord. But one of the ways in which they do this is via deception and manipulation of truth to convince Christians that their sins no longer matter to God, or that God doesn’t even see when they sin or that he just looks the other way. Or they will try to convince them that God has abandoned them or that they are deserving of some “recreation” (immorality) to comfort them in the difficulties of life.

So don’t get this idea that sinners are just going to come straight out and invite you to sin against the Lord. They may, but more likely they are going to engage in some type of deception and manipulation and trickery and twisting of truth to persuade you that God will not be upset with you if you do “such and such,” or that he will not judge you, or that your salvation is secure regardless of how you live. For Satan is behind all of this temptation, and his desire is for us to fail, to sin against God, and to not obey God.

And if you get caught in their net of deception, and you begin to take chances with your salvation, and with your relationship with God, and you begin to believe that you can engage in what is contrary to God’s will and purpose for our lives, and that you can now live more for yourself and for self-pleasure while you neglect the commands of the Lord, and while you neglect his calling upon your life, then you are in a dangerous place. For if sin is what we practice, and not obedience, we do not have life in God.

Now, this is not teaching that in every act of sin against God that we immediately lose our salvation. But it is also not teaching that we can freely continue in deliberate and habitual sin against our Lord without consequence, and without risk of losing our salvation when it comes to Christ’s return for his faithful bride. For many who call Jesus “Lord” will hear him say, “I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of lawlessness,” because sin is what they practiced and not obedience to our Lord.

So, don’t buy into the lies that you can live your life however you want and still have salvation from sin and eternal life with God. That is not what the Scriptures teach. They teach that if sin and disobedience to God are what we practice, that we will not inherit eternal life. Those who have eternal life with God promised to them are those who make their practice obedience to our Lord and to his commands and moral purity, honesty, and faithfulness. 

So don’t give in to the liars who entice you to sin. Keep obeying the Lord, even if you get hated and rejected by others who profess faith in Jesus Christ because you don’t make compromises with the world.

[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Corinthians 5:15; Galatians 5:16-21; Galatians 6:7-8; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 10:23-31; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]   

Hear My Cry

By G. M. Eldridge

When my soul is worn and weary

And my eyes are filled with grief,

When my hands in desperation

Reach to heaven for relief,

Would I find the words there waiting

If I had the strength to start?

Could a mortal tongue interpret

All the sorrow of a heart?

Spirit, search me in my weakness,

And discern this growing gray.

Intercede in understanding,

Hear the things I cannot say.

Hear my cry, heav’nly Father,

You have known my ev’ry pain.

You have seen all my sorrow,

Hear my cry once again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOJiTN56xTg

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