When a non-believer is in the presence of a Spirit-filled born-again believer they will be uncomfortable with us even when we say or do nothing.
Non-believers can sense the Holy Spirit, it is convicting to them. It is not us that convicts of sin it is the Holy Spirit. They think we are the problem because they do not recognize the Holy Spirit.
John 16:8 "8 And when He comes, HE will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 in regard to sin, because they do not believe in Me;…"
The Holy Spirit is restraining unbelievers in our day. When the church is taken out of the world in the rapture the restraint is lifted and the unbelievers will have free reign to act as wickedly and spitefully as is possible for a "desperately wicked" unregenerate person can act.
Mankind without Christ is at the mercy of their emotions and baser nature but even worst of all they are vulnerable to the influence of the devil as he works to foster the evil within the nature of the unregenerate untransformed person.
The devil speaks lies into the hearts causing people to hate believers. They don't know why they hate them, only that they do. I am now convinced that the devil uses "feelings" far more than ideas. The reason I believe this is because many people react badly to us when we have done nothing wrong or when we do something good. They have a bad feeling and assume we must have done something wrong.
The born-again believer is the best influence a non-believer can have. The born-again believer presents Christ to the one who is missing joy and peace. They cannot be close friends to the unbeliever until that unbeliever repents of their sin and trusts in Christ. The love of presenting Christ is greater than anything anyone can give the non-believer.
Ephesians 1:18
"Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,"
When an unbeliever trusts in Christ they become freed from their baser nature of evil to enjoy a life of joy and peace they could not have had without Christ. Even adding to this is the amazing inheritance in heaven where there is beauty and love beyond anything a human on this earth can imagine.
Why anyone would prefer their sinful lifestyle and path to hell over knowing Christ and enjoying His protection and provision is beyond my understanding.
I was miserable in my sin before I was born again. It was Christ Who freed me from all of that, my eyes were opened and I have never looked back. The sins that I used to enjoy I now hate as much as God hates them. Goding back after becoming transformed by Him is not possible, but not because I choose not to, because I have been changed, I cannot return to it.
There have been those who want to keep me stuck in my unregenerate state in their own mind in order to feel superior to me. I ignore these people they are being used of the devil to poke at me in hopes that I will give up and return to my slime. The devil and the people he uses cannot ever cause me to do that and their desire to believe I have not changed does not return me. They do not know that when Christ transformed me it was not a work of mine, it was His work and for eternity. Their ideas about me cannot have any affect on me, it only isolates me from them until they become born again, then we would be siblings in the Lord.
This ought to be the mindset of every born-again believer. If someone remains tempted continually and keeps going back then perhaps they have not been born again, they have not been transformed into a new creation. Their Christianity is cultural rather than Spiritual.
A cultural Christian is one who follows the rules, or at least some of them in our day, while still thinking, acting, and speaking as they did before they were born again. In essence, there has been no change in them, so they return to their vomit without conscience.
The church gatherings today are not helping, they are enabling and fostering rebellion in the pew people by not calling them to account for their sin. One of two things will happen when a pew person is challenged to confess their sin and be restored to Christ. They will either become enraged and leave the church or they will be ashamed and confess to be cleansed. 1 John 1:9
Those who become enraged and leave must not return until they have become born again. Those who confess to be cleansed will grow and so will the rest of the congregation for having to stand for righteousness. Relationships will be restored the right way without compromising God's Word.
Coddling the sinner who refuses to be changed by Christ only causes sin to grow in the body. Never chase after the rebellious raging sinner who refuses to be corrected.
1 Corinthians 5:6-7
"Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed."
Yeast represents growing sin. The more we tolerate sin the more it influences other weak believers in the body. The leaven, the sin must be dealt with and the rebellious person must be removed.
1 Corinthians 5:1-2 "5 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife. 2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you."
This principle applies to families as well as personal relationships. If someone does not want to follow Christ, even encouraging us to abandon our Christian principles then they must be removed from our life.
When a friend or relative rages at us for standing for the truth of the Bible then is time to remove ourselves. Someone who rages will not hear the truth nor are they open to anything you say and do from that time forward. We must leave them to God while protecting ourselves from corruption.
1 Corinthians 15:33-34 " 33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good character.” 34 Sober up as you ought, and stop sinning; for some of you are ignorant of God. I say this to your shame.…"
Never feel guilty about leaving a relationship that would ultimately influence you to abandon God's principles. We must surround ourselves with people who love the Lord and love us enough to help us progress in our walk with Christ. We must be this kind of friend for our brothers and sisters also.
If we cannot find friends who are like this, just as in the days of Noah and Lot, then we must be content to remain alone with Christ. God does send people but in our day they are mostly on the internet because often those in our own towns are following the world and are resistant to His Word.
We must not be discouraged by a lack of friends!!!! We have some, they come and go but Chrsit never leaves us.
