I Tim. 5:22 ... "Do not ... share responsibility for the sins of others; keep yourself free from sin."
If sin always immediately produced the effects that it invariably does in time -- misery, pain, shame, failure, loss and death -- it's doubtful if many people would choose to engage in it, or if anyone would sin carelessly or very often. But the horrible results of sin are usually deferred, and then take effect gradually. It is characteristic of people to think they can sin with impunity, for each individual tends to think he is the exception to the rule stated in Gal. 6:7-8, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption." The alcoholic, the drug addict,the criminal on death row, and the man dying of aids did not intend to come to such an end, but at the beginning of the road that brought them there they each thought the first drink, the initial "high" of some narcotic, robbing a convenience market and killing the clerk, or a night of being promiscuous, would bring them to harm. But sin cannot be outrun. It usually gives the one who commits it a headstart, so that for a while he thinks he is getting away with the transgression. Then sin begins the pursuit, which is both tireless and persistent. We are strictly warned in Num. 32:23 that we can "be sure your sin will find you out." And when it does, it destroys the one who committed it.
Sin should therefore be avoided at all costs. Initially, it offers pleasure, delight, exaltation, progress, and what is often called "the good life." It is readily admitted in Heb. 11:25 that one might indeed "enjoy the pleasures of sin," but then adds that they are only "passing," ("for a season," KJV). If sin did not offer pleasure in committing it, few would care to indulge in it. No one deliberately sits down in thorns, walks on glass, or reaches in the fire to take out a red coal with bare fingers. Such acts produce instant pain and tissue damage and are considered by everyone to be foolish. But sin at first feels good, is exciting and fashionable, and that is why it draws us into it so easily and quickly.
It is often quite tempting to a Christian to watch as people about him revel in the pleasures of sinful activities and feel the urge to experience the thrill of it himself. Not only may the illicit activity itself seem rather appealing to the senses, but the camaraderie of the group practicing it broadens its scope and intensifies its impact. In the face of such magnetic evil persuasion, a Christian needs all the power available to him to resist being overcome. To succeed, he first must look up to God who is offended by sin, who will at last crush it and those who practice it, but who will also empower anyone, who wishes, to share His opposition to it. Second, the Christian must look back to Jesus for the perfect example of meeting and defeating sin. And third, he must look into God's word which has the power to identify sin, unmask its deceptive facade, and condemn it to eternal destruction.
Though "the way of the world" is enslaved to the appeal of sin, the undeceived Christian will turn his back upon what is popular, fashionable, and prevalent to walk the uncrowded path of righteousness. His goal is to keep himself pure in body, mind, and spirit in order to be presentable to God. Those who choose to live in sin to enjoy the pleasures it offers, will be excluded from God's home. We are told in Rev. 21:27 that "nothing unclean and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life." The people whom John saw in heaven in Revelation 7 were those who "come out of the great tribulation (i.e., this world of temptation and sin) ... and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." The ultimate in pleasure and social acceptance for a long lifetime on earth is a wretchedly paltry exchange for an eternity of glory in heaven, (see Mat. 16:26). This is why the thoughtful Christian refuses to participate in the sins of those about him.
