Proverbs 1:13

What an offer! How can you resist? Unity with others! All precious substance! Houses filled with spoil! Beware! Death and hell are hidden in the words. The world does not entice you to sin by offering pain and trouble. It entices you by offering friendship, pleasure, and success. But all that glitters is not gold, and sin will bring your total ruin.

Here is a lesson in peer pressure. Solomon warned his son to reject sinners enticing him to participate with them in their folly (Pr 1:10). He warned against their promises of unity and good success (Pr 1:11-14). And he concluded by telling his son to stay away from their sins and the horrible judgment that would surely come on them (Pr 1:15-19).

A large part of wisdom is rejecting ungodly friends. It is a common warning of Scripture (Ex 23:2; Ps 1:1; 26:4-5; 101:1-8; I Cor 15:33; II Cor 6:14-17; Jas 4:4). But Solomon emphasized it for the safety of his son (Pr 1:15; 4:14-15; 9:6; 13:20; 14:7; 19:27). Good parents will be vigilant to protect their children from ungodly influences of evil friends.

Every sin offers a desirable motive, great pleasure, or promise of success; otherwise men would not sin. Eve thought she could become like God, if she ate the forbidden fruit. Samson thought Delilah would make him happy. Ananias and Sapphira thought they could keep some of the money and still be big givers in the church. Sin is a deceitful lie!

There may be some short-term pleasure in sin, as the Bible admits (Heb 11:25), but it will never come close to the damning and destroying consequences of sin. Lot was sure the nice subdivision with good schools near Sodom would benefit his family – in his worst nightmare he could not imagine what actually happened to his family of seven.

Sin lies! Lusts lie! They tell you the pleasure will be great and the consequences small. The Bible warns about the deceitful nature of lusts and sin (Ep 4:22; Heb 3:13). Amnon wanted sex with his sister Tamar so bad he fell sick, but after doing the heinous act, he was worse off than before, lived in constant fear, and was killed for it (II Sam 13:1-39).

The devil and his world make tempting offers. They seldom admit they hate God, want to violate His word, and cannot wait for hell. They appear as an angel of light and ministers of righteousness telling how to have your cake and eat it too. Satan comes as another Jesus, presenting a popular gospel, and oozing another spirit (II Cor 11:3-4,13-15).

It is the perilous times of the last days: evil seducers are worse than ever (II Tim 3:1-13). Carnal Christianity is full of them. One of their sweet lies to compromise truth is the offer of growth – you can have a mega-church – just like the cutthroats in this proverb. But Paul condemned the end-justifies-the-means crowd and their heretical measurement of godliness by gain (I Tim 6:3-5). He told Timothy to get away from such men (I Tim 6:5).

What is the cure for these lying tempters? “But godliness with contentment is great gain” (I Tim 6:6). Peer pressure cannot affect a man committed to godliness and content with what he has. Seducers have no opening in such a man’s life. Paul warned further about the grievous dangers of worldly ambition (I Tim 6:7-10). Moses should be your example: he forsook all the opportunities of Egypt to suffer with Christ’s people (Heb 11:24-26).

Sin lies! Lusts lie! What will you do when convicted and it is too late to undo your folly (Pr 5:12-14)? What will you do when you are gasping for your last breath (Pr 5:11)? The sins of your youth will punish your final thoughts – before God confronts you for your lusts over the blast furnace of a burning hell. Who will you believe today – God and His warnings in the Bible, or your lying sinful lusts? Flee youthful lusts – now (II Tim 2:22)!