This question was asked by a
brother in the church named Danny, who has been delivered from a
lot of addiction in his life and had an acquaintance, a longtime
friend, that would come around often and bring with him in his
visits drugs and alcohol and a lot of temptation to Danny.
And the question was, Is it okay for me to tell him he can't visit
me anymore when he's engaging in these activities? And so this
is the answer that we gave him. And this might not be exactly
in context. I can go through the New Testament.
I can show you place after place after place where it talks about
fleeing sin and fleeing temptation. But as far as an exhortation
goes, I think that this is a good place. It says, so flee, youthful
passions. Therefore, pursue righteousness,
pursue faith, pursue love, pursue peace, along with those who call
on the Lord from a pure heart. And then it talks about having
nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies because they breed
quarrels. And it says that the loyal servant must not be quarrelsome.
So get that picture in mind for just a minute, just from a point
of exhortation, rather than, don't do this, don't do that,
don't do that. We know we ought not to be drunk. We know we ought
not to take illegal narcotics. We know. So we flee those things,
and we flee the temptation of those. Jesus tells us to even
pray, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And
so we pray that the Lord would not deliver us, I mean, would
lead us not into temptation. We know that He's not, but we
pray that He wouldn't, that He would help guide us and steer
us out of it. Part of that is the discernment, the discriminating
spirit you had of like, I don't really want this guy in my house.
But at the same time, there's a worldview that most people
have who are nice and benevolent to think, well that's really
rude. And so here's what I, to answer your question. His question
was, there's a gentleman that likes to come stay with him and
visit who's still into things like drinking and drugs and things
that Danny has been freed from, but is still tempted by. And
is it wrong that he told him he couldn't come? And no, it's
not, because it is part of pursuing that which is holy and righteous.
But I would go a step further, not just to say no, but to say
no because I am a child of God and the life that you currently
live is not good for me. And I don't want to bring your
lifestyle back to my doorstep. I love you. I pray you would
be delivered and to share the gospel with Him. And even to
the point, I know it's awkward and you've been trying to skirt
the issue, but I would just go straight to the point and say,
I love you, I pray for you, but your soul, your life, your eternal
salvation is what I care most about. we're not perfect, none
of us, and you won't understand this, but until you turn away
from these things, we cannot be together as friends. The same
thing would be as if we had brothers in the church. that wouldn't
give these things up. We cannot associate together
if we're continuing in sin. Certainly if it's true like that
for us who claim the name of Christ, it's also true for those
who are our friends outside of Christ and our acquaintances.
I look back at my life and I was never involved in drugs and alcohol
and all that stuff ever, but I have other temptations. I mean,
when I hear a pool table rack up, man, I just, I get scratchy. I mean, you know, I'm like, it's
time to cash in on this thing. And I just don't, and I've had
people, hey, come down here and join this tournament, join this
tournament. I mean, I'd probably do okay for the first few days
or first few times, but the minute somebody, if I'm on a good game
and somebody says, hey, you wanna make five grand, I'm gonna be
like. I mean. It's going to be a temptation.
Man, I sure could use that, put some floor in. I could serve
the Lord with that. You know? No. So I'm not even
going to go there. You see what I mean? There's
a Bible study at a pool hall. I'm not in it. I'm just not going. And I'm not apologetic about
it. No, I have a guy all the time,
the guy that, he works here in town, and he found out I was
a shooter and I played on the semi-pro circuit years and years
and years ago. And he said, dude, you wanna
come down here and we can, man, the Calcutta alone, you can make
$6,000 in a weekend. I'm like, no. And I said, don't
ask me to go again or you and I aren't gonna talk. Because
I don't, so I think it's not, we don't have to be ugly, and
of course not self-righteous, but those things, and some of
us have temptations all over the place. So we don't want those
people coming in that we know are gonna tempt us for that stuff. And even if later, let's just
say the brother was saved and he got clean and years went by
and y'all had a good relationship, he comes over one day and pops
a beer, I'd send him packing. Very politely. Brother, you're
not going to have that in my house? I appreciate it going out. Does that make
sense? Feel justified in your spirit
that that is a godly thing to do. Huh? Yeah, he's not going to come
around. And when he is healed, if God
does save him, you're the first person he's going to want to
tell. And most importantly, pray. Pray
for wisdom and pray for the brother so that God would save him. Good
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