Look at verse number 10 where the Bible read,
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
And the title of my evening sermon is Overcoming Peer Pressure.
Overcoming Peer Pressure.
And peer pressure is not something that is only found on the school yard, is only found
in the junior high setting.
We experience peer pressure in every area of our life, no matter what age we are, what
circumstances we put ourselves in, there's always going to be peer pressure that is causing
us to sin or to go into wicked things.
And chapter 1 of Proverbs, he kind of goes into a pretty extreme example of some peer
pressure here.
We see some young men being enticed to do some very wicked things, some very ungodly
things.
And I think a lot of times when we look at people that are in gangs or that do some of
these major atrocities today, we kind of wonder how did they get there.
Well, it starts small.
At first it's just, hey, just join the gang, hey, just come on with us, just be a part
of the brotherhood, just be one of us, let's go do some, you know, stuff together, let's
go have some fun.
And it slowly escalates to a point of no return, to a very deadly and dangerous point.
When we start getting through a lot of these other verses, I mean, it's scary the things
that these people are wanting to do.
Let's keep reading a little bit, it says in verse 11, if they say come with us, let us
lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause.
That's some scary stuff.
There's literally people out there, they want to hurt innocent people.
And not only just hurt them, they want blood.
They literally want to kill the innocent today.
Let's read, keep reading verse 12, let us swallow them up alive as the grave and whole,
as those that go down into the pit, we shall find all precious substance, we shall fill
our houses with spoil.
Notice the reason that these people are willing to kill innocent lives, for money, for substance.
They want goods, they want possession, the love of money is the root of all evil is what
the Bible says.
And we see the motivation for people to kill is to take their goods.
You say why do people go to war today?
To take goods, for money, for the greed of gain, for their possessions, for the things
that they can take from them.
Let's keep reading.
It says in verse 14, cast in thy lot among us.
Let us all have one purse, socialism.
Verse 15, my son, walk not thou on the way with them, refrain thy foot from their path.
Verse 16, for their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood.
Surely in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird, and they lay weight for their
own blood, they lurk privily for their own lives, so are the ways of everyone that is
greedy of gain, which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
So when we see here, he's kind of going through and he's giving us some instruction.
He's saying when these guys come to you and they're saying we want to lay weight for blood,
we want to just hurt the innocent, say why would someone get on board with that?
The reason is is because they're filled with greed.
They're filled with gain.
They want money so bad they're willing to hurt others in order to get it.
I don't think this group of people, they necessarily are just bloodthirsty, like they
just want to kill people.
It's just they're willing to go to any extreme to get money.
They're going to any extreme to gain substance that they're willing to hurt people to kill
them just to get their money.
You know, when people go in, they rob a liquor store, sometimes they'll shoot the clerk.
Sometimes they'll shoot a person that's standing there.
Their goal was not necessarily to kill that person.
Their goal was just to get the money.
In order to get that money, maybe it was necessary for them to shoot the clerk or to shoot the
person or to go into someone's home and to rob them and invade them and to take their
precious substance.
You go to foreign countries today, there'll be people that'll hold you to gunpoint, to
knife point, to get your money, to get your goods.
It's not necessarily they just want to kill you, but they're willing to kill you in order
to get your money.
They're willing to do all manner of evil to take your precious substance.
We see in this group, there's a group of people, they want to take money, they want
to take goods, and they're willing to kill people for it.
Say, oh, I'd never kill anybody.
Well, start hanging out with these people, they're willing to do it on the drop of a
hat.
They'll just take an innocent life.
They'll just murder people.
That's why he's saying consent though not, and you say, well, how could someone get caught
up in that type of group, in that type of gang, in that type of collective?
Because they're greedy of game.
Oh, I just want all the fancy gold chains, and I just want all the money, and I just
want all the goods.
They get into the gang lifestyle.
They want the one purse, they want the brotherhood, and that comes with the sacrifice of murder.
It comes with the sacrifice of losing your own soul, of losing who you are.
These people, they just become one with their gang, with their collective, and they do all
kinds of things.
When they get pulled out of their gang and you talk to these people, they'll say, I can't
even believe the things that I did.
I can't believe all the atrocities that I performed, but I got caught up.
We were just thinking about all the money we're making and all the fun, all these things.
At the end of the day, when we look at the story, to me, the most applicable story would
be that of somebody getting involved with a gang, getting involved in these kind of
dangerous situations.
Most of you are sitting here like, I'm not about to join the Crips.
East side's not for me.
West side, I mean, we're Texas, okay?
I don't know what the main, what's the main, you know, gangs in Texas?
Anybody know?
Anybody, you know?
Where's my brothers?
Come on.
You know.
I don't know what the main gangs are here.
Most of you are saying, I'm not going to join a gang, Pastor Shelley.
Well, the reality is, we can take this story, though, and we can apply it to ourselves and
see that peer pressure works the same way, whether it is the money involved with the
gang and murder or just, hey, now I'm in a gaggle of geese who go around gossiping.
You say, how did that work out?
Well, I just really wanted to have friends, so I ended up hanging out with the wrong people
and because they like to gossip, I became a gossiper just so I could have those friends.
Hey, I, you know, I don't have any friends in church and there's all these people that
like to talk bad about the pastor, but, and I don't, I actually like the pastor, but in
order to hang out with them, I got to talk bad about the pastor.
You know, hey, there's this group, they forsake soul winning and go hang out on their yacht,
you know, after church.
I don't really, I wanted to go soul winning, but I want those to be my friends, you know.
Whatever it is, people make sacrifices of righteousness, they lower their own morale
just in order to hang out with certain people, just to have certain friends, just to fit
in because that peer pressure will bring you down to the lowest common denominator.
Whoever is the worst person in that group, they're all going to be like him.
There might have only been one person in there that was willing to kill in order to get money,
but because he was willing, the whole gang gets involved in it now.
The whole gang becomes accomplice to it.
The whole gang is brought down to the lowest common denominator, why?
Because of peer pressure.
So what do we take away from the story?
Let's read one more verse.
The Bible says, Wisdom crieth thou, she uttereth her voice in the streets, she crieth in the
chief place of concourse, in the opening of the gates, in the city she uttereth her
of words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?
And the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge.
From this portion of scripture, I can see three problems, three main problems of why
someone was to come to peer pressure.
What's the number one problem?
Well, in verse 15, let's see what it says.
My son walked naught thou in the way with them.
Who's the them?
It's the bad friends.
You say, why do people succumb to peer pressure?
Because they have bad friends.
Because they have bad influences in their life.
If you don't have any bad friends, if you don't have any bad influences, maybe you're
the bad influence.
I'm just kidding.
I'm just saying, if you don't have any bad friends, you're not going to be pressured
to do that which is wrong, do that which is wicked.
So we have to be careful what friends we make.
We have to be careful the pressures that we put ourselves into, the situations, the influences
that we have.
That's why it's good to have good friends, friends that are righteous, friends that like
good things.
Because you know why you do a lot of sin?
Because of your bad friends.
You say, hey Pastor Shelley, if we were going to look at some of the worst sins that you've
committed, you know why?
Because I had some bad friends that really liked those sins, and they got me all attracted
to those bad sins and influenced me to do those bad sins with them.
People like to do bad things together.
They want to drag you down into their bad sins.
What's the number two point?
Look at verse 19.
It says, so are the ways of everyone that is greedy of gain.
We noticed here the reason why this guy got the bad friends is because he himself desired
wrong things.
He himself was greedy of gain.
If I'm not greedy of gain, then why would I want to be friends with these losers, with
these gang bangers, with these morons?
The reason why people end up making the bad friends is because they have bad desires.
Why is it that they go join the yacht club because they're full of covetousness?
Why is it that I surround myself with a bunch of gossipers because there is gossip in my
heart?
Why is it that I surround myself with a bunch of alcoholics because I want to drink alcohol?
Why is it that I end up having bad friends because I desire the sin in my own heart?
Let's make my third point, verse 22.
They were simple.
They were lacking knowledge.
They were not wise.
When I look at these three points, we could preach a whole sermon on just what these three
points are like, but I didn't want to leave a bad taste in your mouth.
I want to actually help you overcome peer pressure.
What have we identified?
Why are you going to succumb to peer pressure?
Because you have bad friends.
Why are you going to succumb to peer pressure?
Because that's what you want to do anyways.
Why did you succumb to peer pressure?
Because you're simple-minded.
Because you're just a silly dove.
You just go to and fro.
You're not really purposed in your heart with anything.
You just kind of, ah, I just go out, just flee with the wind, just do whatever I want.
I don't know what's going on.
That's a simple person, a silly person.
But I want to help you, so let's tackle point number one.
How do I not succumb to peer pressure?
Avoid bad friends.
Go to 1 Kings, chapter number 12.
1 Kings, chapter number 12 in your Bible.
Now let me give you a couple personal stories of mine.
Now I'm not going to go into my worst stuff, but okay, I'm going to give you some personal
experience of my peer pressure, all right?
When I was in high school, I played a lot of golf, and my coach, he had bought this
brand new golfing net, and this brand new golfing net that you would use when you had
hit golf balls, when you just practiced.
So basically you would stand, you know, maybe 50 yards away, which would be like 150 feet.
Okay, that's pretty far away.
You'd spin pretty far away, and you'd hit golf balls into the net.
You'd probably use like a wedge.
This is like a wedge net, something that you'd hit something really, that lofted club that
has a lot of trajectory, and the ball comes down pretty, you know, slowly.
It's not something you'd use like a driver.
You know, people like the driver, that's where you hit it really far, really hard.
Or like a long iron or long club.
Well, he had bought this brand new net, and they had opened it up, and they were like,
man, let's hit like driver into this thing and just see what happens.
It's like, hey, why don't you do it, Jonathan?
Why don't you try for us, okay?
Well, I didn't take a driver, but I did take a two iron.
Now, a two iron, you can hit the ball pretty hard with a two iron, okay?
And so I line this thing up.
There's this brand new net, and I'm like 10 feet from this thing, okay?
And I get my two iron, and I'm ready, I'm rearing.
Lo and behold, I'm standing like this.
My golf coach is walking right behind me.
He just happens to be walking.
So I line up my two iron.
He doesn't really even know what I'm doing.
I just sit up there, bam!
And I just destroy the lower bar.
The entire thing just collapsed and destroyed in one hit.
And my golf coach is like, what are you doing?
I was like, not only did I destroy, like watch it melt before my eyes,
then my golf coach is right behind me and then reams me.
He said, why did you do that, Pastor Shelley?
Did you just really want to destroy that net?
No, because I had some bad friends who was like, hey, here's a good idea.
Let's hit some two iron.
Now, it also hits second point.
I kind of want to do it myself.
I have some bad desires that I wanted to fulfill.
But if I didn't have those bad friends, my bad friends would say, hey, Pastor
Shelley, brother Jonathan, don't hit it in the net.
Don't do that.
You're going to break it.
You want to break it on the first try.
Let's just hit a wedge.
Maybe I wouldn't have done that foolish thing.
Maybe my coach would have liked me a little bit more,
that I didn't just break his brand new net.
Let me give you another example.
Now, this one is kind of fun.
But when I was a senior in high school, I'd wanted to be in the musical.
And I kind of wanted to be one of the male leads.
And I didn't make it into the main role.
But I was like the second male lead in our school musical.
Well, I ended up having a kissing scene.
And I had to kiss the female lead of the musical.
And all the guys would always haze each other.
And they'd be like, hey, you got to slipper the tongue or whatever.
You got to put one on or you got to really make it count or whatever.
We're seniors in high school.
I'm foolish and I'm an idiot.
And pretty much at that age, if you dared me to do something, I was too private.
I was going to do it.
I couldn't be the guy to say no or whatever.
So I go ahead.
It's like practicing.
And our director finally says, all right, no more fake kissing.
Because all the other times when we practice our scenes,
we would just kind of be like five feet apart and be like, yeah,
we kind of kissed her.
But now we had to really do it.
And of course, I, like a fool, just went ahead and kind of laid one on her.
And I mean, she just pushed me away.
And she kicked my shin.
She said, ew, gross.
And it's part of the whole cast.
They're dying laughing.
The director wants to throw me into an ISS or whatever, in school suspension.
He's even saying you could be brought up with pedophile charges.
And I was like, what in the world?
I was like, man, just being a fool.
And that could have happened.
I could have had even worse ramifications of those actions.
You say, what was your punishment, Pastor Shelley?
Well, I didn't get a punishment, because then later I married the girl.
So then the joke was Jonathan kissed her and she liked it or whatever.
At first, she didn't, OK?
She said, ew, gross.
But later when it was more proper or whatever.
But that's just some examples that I have.
And obviously, we all could succumb to peer pressure, can't we?
Why did I do that?
Well, everybody's egging me on.
Everybody's like, come on, Jonathan, you got to do it.
Come on.
You're going to do it, right?
You're not going to be a chicken.
You're not going to be a coward.
You know, they're using other language than that.
I'm just kind of rating it PG for you.
Well, look at 1 Kings chapter number 12.
Let's see someone else that succumbs to similar peer pressure.
1 Kings chapter 12 about Rehoboam.
Now, who's Rehoboam?
Rehoboam is the son of Solomon.
Solomon has ended his kingdom.
He's finally passed on.
And now his son Rehoboam's going to come into the throne.
And we read in 1 Kings chapter number 12 how Rehoboam's
going to take on the kingdom.
And it says in verse 1, and Rehoboam went to Shechem,
for all Israel come to Shechem to make him king.
So it's time for Rehoboam to sit on the throne.
It's time for all the 12 tribes of Israel to make him king.
It says in verse 2, and it came to pass when Jeroboam
the son of Nebat, who was yet in Egypt, heard of it,
for he was fled from the presence of King Solomon
and Jeroboam dwelled in Egypt, that they
sent and called him and Jeroboam and all the congregation
of Israel came and spake unto Rehoboam, saying,
thy father made our yoke grievous.
Now therefore, make thou the grievous service of thy father
and his heavy yoke, which he put upon us, lighter,
and we will serve thee.
So basically, all the people come to Rehoboam and say,
hey, we want to make you king.
We want you to be our leader.
We want to serve you.
Yet your father, he was a little hardcore.
Can we just tone it down a hair?
We'd like it if our yoke was just a little bit lighter.
If you do that, we'll serve you.
We're ready.
We're on board.
Well, Rehoboam decides to get counsel.
Look at verse 6.
And King Rehoboam consulted with the old men
that stood before Solomon's father while yet lived
and said, how do you advise that I may answer this people?
And they spake unto him, saying, if thou
wilt be a servant unto this people this day,
and wilt serve them and answer them and speak good words
to them, then they will be thy servants forever.
So notice the counsel of the old men.
This is what they say.
Hey, if you serve them, if you are an example unto them
of how to serve, they'll serve you forever.
That's good advice.
You say, hey, I want to be in leadership.
You know what leadership should do?
Serve.
And if you serve, people will serve you.
The Bible says that being a pastor
is not supposed to be a lord over God's people.
But you're supposed to be an example of the flock.
You're supposed to serve the flock.
You're supposed to help the flock.
You're supposed to build up the flock.
You're supposed to protect the flock.
You're not just supposed to sit here and just
get all the accolades and all the praise,
and it's just all wonderful.
That stuff's not even that great.
I don't even like being called pastor.
I don't even enjoy that.
It's not even something that I look to, and I'm like, oh, man.
Pastor Shelly, pastor so-and-so.
You know what, I have respect for the title,
so I still want people to call me that.
And I still think it's appropriate.
But you know what?
It's not something that I get kicks off of.
A good person, a person that really
wants to be in leadership for the right reasons,
they don't care about all the titles and the knickknacks.
They're just there to help serve people.
They see there's a need here.
People need to be led, and someone's got to do it.
I might as well do it.
Have you ever had a job, or you've been at the job place,
and you just thought, I just really
want this to be done well, so I might as well get in there
and do it.
It's not like I really want to do that part of my job.
It'd be nice if other people could do it.
But at the end of the day, I see a need.
I just want to fill it so that we
can get the job done correctly.
The old adage, if you want something done right,
you do it yourself.
And we see that comes from the attitude of, hey,
I want it done right.
Not from the attitude, I'm the only person
that can do it, though.
I'm the greatest.
I'm so wonderful.
You need me to be your leader, don't you?
No, we just see someone, hey, I want to serve the people.
I see that they have a great need, and I'm there,
and I'm ready to fulfill their need.
That was good advice that Rehoboam got.
But what happens later?
He doesn't just immediately take their advice.
It says in verse 10, and the young men
that were growing up with him spake at him, saying,
Thus shalt thou speak unto this people that
spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy,
but make thou it lighter unto us.
Thus shalt thou say unto them, My little finger
shall be thicker than my father's loins.
He's just making some junior high, high school little
statement here.
He's trying to say, oh, yeah?
You think that he was tough?
I'm going to be 10 times tougher than he ever thought of being.
I'll show you how big a boy I am.
I'll show you how big a yoke I can lay upon you.
Says in verse 11, And now, whereas my father did lay upon
laid you with a heavy yoke, I will add your yoke.
My father chastised you with whips,
but I will chastise you with scorpions.
Man, this guy, he's just going extreme.
So what happens?
He gets advice from two different people.
He gets some advice from his peers.
But are his peers good friends?
They're bad friends.
And Rehoboam takes the advice of the younger,
and he loses 10 tribes of Israel.
Now, it was ordained of the Lord that Rehoboam
would make this mistake.
But it was Rehoboam's mistake to be made.
And Rehoboam took the bad counsel from his bad friends.
And you know what?
It cost him dearly.
It cost him the kingdom.
This is where the kingdom divides.
And Israel becomes one of the most wicked nations
to ever exist.
They get way done before Jerusalem gets done.
And they go up and serve other gods.
Jeroboam leads them into grievous sin,
and all kinds of idolatry, and false god worship.
I mean, this is a bad thing that happened here.
You say, why?
Because he hearkened unto the peers which were bad friends.
And let me help you out with something.
Just because someone is the exact same age as you
in this church does not mean they're a good friend.
You know, every other church I ever went to,
they had Sunday school classes.
And it was always based on age.
Does that automatically make me the best candidate as a friend?
Let's get all the exactly the same age person over here,
because they're all going to be the best as friends.
Look, sometimes you need to learn from other generations.
You know, you as a young person ought
to look to some of the older people and say, hey,
what would they do?
What would be their advice?
And not always listen to all the young punks that
don't know what they're saying, don't know what they're doing,
don't know what they're thinking.
You know, I have a lot more in common
with someone who's 75 years old and loves the King James Bible
and goes soul winning than any 32-year-old that just loves
football and sports and drinking.
I don't have anything in common with those people.
And if I go out and I hang out with those people,
they're going to cause me to do all kind of manner of sin
and wickedness.
I'd rather be equally yoked together
with people that are spiritually my age, not physically my age.
And you know what, Rehoboam had some bad friends,
and it caused him to make some bad decisions.
How would Rehoboam have not made the decision?
Avoiding his bad friends.
Did he have to get the counsel from the younger peers?
He didn't.
If he had just stuck with the one counsel he got
from the wise people, he would have made a good decision,
and he wouldn't have lost the 10 tribes.
Now, go if you would to Judges, chapter number 16.
Judges, chapter number 16.
Now, we see this in a lot of other ways in the Bible.
How about the Bible talking about there's
a lot of Jews that believed on the Lord Jesus Christ,
but they would not confess him openly, what,
for fear of the Jews?
That they would be cast out of the synagogue.
So what?
They had all this pressure not to identify
with the Lord Jesus Christ,
because then all of a sudden, they wouldn't be allowed
to go to their precious little synagogue,
the synagogue of Satan.
Think about how silly that is now.
Oh man, I don't want to be cast out of the synagogue
of Satan because I confess Jesus Christ.
That would seem like a no-brainer to us today, wouldn't it?
But oftentimes, that's the same case.
I don't want to give up these really toxic,
horrible friends because they love me.
They're my best pal.
We always hang out.
They always tell me how great I am.
Yeah, that's because they're flattering you.
That's because they don't actually love you in their heart.
And they say that I'm so great and wonderful.
Yeah, because they hate you in your heart.
They say that you're great to your face,
but behind your back, they're talking bad about you.
And let me help you out with something.
Every time you hang out with your friends
and they're always bad talking to one person
in your group that's not present,
they do the exact same thing to you when you're not present.
I remember I had these friends on my golf team
and they would talk the most crap on each other
whenever they were not around.
I was thinking like, what do they say when I'm not around?
I mean, you know, every single person in our entire group,
I mean, they're dissing them so hardcore.
I remember one guy, he came up to me
and I had a couple of friends and he says, so-and-so,
I'm going to give you their names, okay?
But they're not really the name.
They say we have Brett, okay?
And then we have Joe, okay, Brett and Joe, all right?
They're just two random people.
Brett comes up to me and says, man, I just hate Joe.
I can't stand Joe.
He's like the worst friend.
I don't want to see him.
And then Brett walks away.
Joe comes up and he's like, man, I can't stand Brett.
He's like the worst person.
Then we all get around and they're like, man, Joe,
you're like my best friend.
I'm just sitting here like,
do you realize what you both told me?
And he's like, yeah, me too, buddy.
I'm just sitting here, you both told me you hate each other.
And then in front of each other, you're like,
we're best buds, yeah, you're so great.
You're so wonderful.
Look, this is how people are.
And you say, I wouldn't want to give up.
Brett and Joe's my friends.
They're just such great friends.
It's like these Jews,
I don't want to be cast out of the synagogue,
you know, the synagogue of Satan,
where they're literally worshiping the devil,
where they're teaching false doctrine
and all kinds of things.
And we see good people always falling
into peer pressured situations.
Now it may not always be a group.
It could just be one bad friend.
You know, with Amnon, Amnon is the son of David as well.
Amnon just has one bad friend, Jonadab.
But Jonadab ends up convincing him
to take advantage of his own sister,
which ends up costing him his entire life.
So you can just have one bad influence in your life
that can cause you to do all kinds of damage to your life.
Let's look at Judges.
We're going to talk about a guy
who really ruined his life with some bad pressure.
Look at Judges 16, verse four, the Bible reads,
and it came to pass afterward that he loved a woman
in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.
Now who's the he?
The he is Samson.
So we're talking about Samson.
And Samson is known for being a very strong man.
In fact, he's the strongest.
He's literally like the strongest guy on the planet.
He can kill everybody.
He can wipe them all out.
You have a thousand Philistines,
I'll wipe them out with a jawbone of an ass, right now.
I mean, this guy, you can't even bind him.
You can't take him.
He's just the strongest.
But he has a problem, it's Delilah.
And he had a problem before that too, but we'll get there.
But we see he has a bad, he makes a bad friend, Delilah.
Now let's keep reading verse number five.
The Bible says,
and the Lord of the Philistines came unto her
and said unto her, entice him,
and see wherein his great strength lieth.
And by what means we may prevail against him,
that we may bind him to afflict him.
And we will give thee every one of us
1100 pieces of silver.
And Delilah said to Samson, tell me I pray thee,
wherein thy great strength lieth,
and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.
Now the thing that's interesting about this story
is where do we start the sermon?
Proverbs chapter number one.
What was Proverbs chapter number one about?
Oh yeah, a group of people that are willing
to literally slay innocent blood for money.
Now what does Delilah end up becoming?
The victim to those people.
What is she willing to do?
Slay Samson for 1100 pieces of silver for money.
Another guy, Judas.
Hey, I think this theme's just kind of running
through the Bible, isn't there?
So we gotta take note and pay attention
that there's bad people out there, there's bad friends,
they'll literally slay you for money.
They'll literally kill you for money.
In fact, most of my friends that I think of,
I'm pretty sure if people would just offer them
lots of money, they'd be like, sure, you know, no problem.
Put him to death, who cares about that guy?
No big, no skin off my back.
But we see Delilah is willing to sell him out.
And we see in verse number six that she comes into Samson,
she says, tell me, I pray thee,
where in thy great strength lieth
and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.
Why is she asking him that question?
Because she wants to sell him out,
because she wants to hurt him,
because she wants to afflict him.
She's a bad friend.
Look at verse 10.
It says, And Delilah said unto Samson,
behold, Vallas mocked me and told me lies.
Now tell me, I pray thee, whereth thou mightest be bound.
So Samson, the first time she asks,
he just tells her, he just makes something up.
He just tells her something that's not really true.
And then when she actually tries it on him,
and it doesn't work, then she's somehow the victim.
Isn't that interesting how women can be a victim
in every situation?
I'm just kidding.
We see, she's just like, you mocked me.
I know I tried to hurt you with exactly what you told me,
but somehow I'm the victim here.
Somehow I'm in the wrong, because you lied to me.
You're such a liar.
You're such a terrible person.
You're like, you literally tried to kill me.
You're literally trying to hurt me.
It's like telling her that the safety's, you know,
not on when it really is.
And then she pulls the trigger and then she's mad at you.
You're like, what, what are you doing?
Why'd you lie to me?
Why are you trying to kill me?
But we see in verse number 10
that she's going to use this influence
to try and get him to tell her what's really going on,
where his real strength comes in.
His strength's coming from his hair,
is what the Bible teaches.
And verse number 13, it says,
And Delilah said unto Samson,
Hither to thou smokest me, and told me lies.
Tell me where ith thou mightest be bound.
And he said unto her,
Ith thou weavest the seven locks of my head with a weapon.
So what's happening?
She keeps coming back to him saying,
hey, where's your strength coming from?
And he's not telling her that it's from
the length of his hair,
the fact that he's never been shaven or shorn,
that his hair has never been cut that way,
because he has a Nazarite vow from his birth
that was given by the angel.
Now there's other aspects to the Nazarite vow.
He's also not supposed to eat grapes or drink wine.
But we also see from his hair
is where his strength is coming from.
And he's not really being honest with her
exactly where his strength's coming from.
And this just keeps going back and forth.
He keeps telling her, and he's just like,
man, you lied, you're mocking me.
So she's putting pressure on him.
And here's the fact.
You know where peer pressure comes from?
It comes from bad friends,
but your bad friends are relentless.
Delilah is relentless.
She's, the first time you say no,
they're not like, oh, okay, no big deal.
Hey, Jonathan, why don't you give her
a big smack in the musical?
No, I'm not interested.
Okay, no big deal.
Oh, what are you, a coward?
Oh, come on, buddy.
Oh, you're a chicken, you're not gonna really do it?
No, I don't think that's the right thing to do.
Oh, come on, you gotta do it, come on.
They're relentless.
They keep putting more pressure
and more pressure and more pressure.
They're ready for you to succumb to their pressure.
They're not gonna stop.
Delilah doesn't stop.
She doesn't say, oh, you lied to me the third time.
No big deal.
No, she keeps pressing him and pressing him
and pressing him and pressing him.
Look at verse number 15.
And she said to him, how canst thou say,
I love thee, when thine heart is not with me?
Thou smocked me these three times,
and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lie.
She's now bringing, you don't even love me.
Oh, you don't love me.
Does she love him?
She's literally trying to get the guy killed for money.
And she has the gall to accuse him of not loving her.
Look how cold-hearted this person is.
Talk about a bad friend.
Talk about a person that you can get in bed with
that's just a horrible person.
Let's read verse 16.
And it came to pass when she pressed him daily
with her words and urged him,
so that his soul was vexed unto death,
that he told her all his heart and said in her,
thou hath not come a razor upon mine head,
for I have been a Nazarite and a god for my mother's womb.
So we see what happens.
She just presses him and presses him and presses him
and presses him and then just squeezes the truth
out of him, doesn't she?
Now, was Delilah gonna stop?
Never gonna stop.
And he gets to such a crazy point in his life,
he just has to spill the beans.
So you say, how can you avoid that situation, Pastor Shelley?
Don't make friends with Delilah.
Point number one, avoid bad friends.
Because your bad friend will not stop.
There are certain people in your life
that you need to look at and say, I'm walking away.
You're not gonna be my friend.
You know what, you're a bad friend.
You're a person I should avoid,
I shouldn't have anything to do with.
Why, because you're not gonna stop pestering me with sin.
You're not gonna stop pestering me
with doing bad and wicked things.
You can't make friends with Delilah.
Some people you have to walk away from.
Some people you have to just say no.
It's okay.
That's why I even say this.
You have to be friendly to every single person
in this church.
You don't have to be friends with anyone.
And look, not everybody in church is a good friend.
And I say that, why?
Because there's bad people in church sometimes
and there's bad friends.
Even in the midst of the congregation.
You know what, when we look at a lot of the bad friends
in the Bible, oh yeah, Judas, he was one of the disciples.
I'm pretty sure he was at the church service or whatever.
You're gonna have bad people in the congregation
and you're even have people that are not a Judas,
but they're just a bad friend.
They're a bad influence on you.
They're gonna cause you to stumble.
They're gonna wanna influence you into their sin
and to their problems and to their bad philosophies
and to their bad doctrine.
Hey, what do you think about the earth?
Do you think maybe it is flat?
And let me tell you something about flat earthers.
They will not stop.
They are implacable.
I mean, the only thing they care about is the flat earth.
I remember, look, when I went to Faith Ward Baptist Church,
Pastor Anderson outside the pulpit
is like one of the nicest guys.
He's super friendly, easy to be entreated.
It pretty much never happens that he gets mad at somebody.
But I remember there was one night
that I'm just kinda like, everybody's kinda like mingling.
I'm kinda walking by.
All of a sudden, he's just screaming at this guy.
And I'm like, what's going on?
He's like, I will not debate the flat earth with you.
You just get out of here, you flat earth.
You bring that up to me again.
There's some guy that keeps harassing him
with the flat earth like nonstop.
He'll just come to the church
and the only thing he'll ever bring up.
And Pastor Anderson said, look,
I'll talk to you about anything, not the flat earth.
I'm not gonna debate it.
You can go listen to a sermon I did,
but I'm not gonna talk about it.
Guy would not stop bringing up.
He says six months later,
he runs into the same guy at a workout place.
The guy walks straight up and he's just like,
hey, you wanna see this verse about the flat earth?
They will not stop.
Implacable.
And look, you have bad friends
who they will not stop with their sin,
with their bad influence.
Once you realize someone has some kind of toxicity,
leave them alone.
Don't touch them with a 10 foot pole.
Delilah was not someone to keep hanging out with.
Oh yeah, you keep telling me,
hey, where's your strength?
It's in this.
You tried it and then you tried it and then you tried it.
Maybe Samson should have been like, I need to walk away.
If I tell her the real truth, she's gonna do it.
Do you really think,
I can't even imagine Samson going to bed that night.
Well, she's tried every other single thing that I told her.
I wonder what she's gonna do when I go to bed tonight.
Oh yeah, she's gonna try it.
I mean, this guy is like love struck beyond.
I don't know what's going on with him.
You know what, she's asking for this love.
But here you say, why did Samson do this?
Okay, ultimately, why did he have the bad friend?
What was my second point?
He had the ungodly desire in his heart.
Samson desired ungodly women.
Samson desired fornication and he desired the wicked woman.
That's why he made friends with Delilah.
Look at verse number one in chapter 16.
Then went Samson to Gaza and saw there in Harlot
and went in unto her.
He just sees a Harlot, oh, gonna lie with her.
Nothing stopping that.
I mean, he just sees one in.
It says in verse two,
and it was told to Gazite saying,
Samson has come hither and they compassed him in
and they'd wait for him all night in the gate of the city.
And were quiet all the night saying in the morning
when it is day, we shall kill him.
And Samson laid till midnight and rose at midnight
and took the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts
and went away with them bar and all
and put them upon his shoulders and carried them up
to the top of an hill that is before he brought.
Notice this guy is strong, all right?
And in verse four, and it came to pass afterward
that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek
whose name was Delilah.
So he likes this Harlot, just lies with her.
How do you get to the point he is now?
Well, at the beginning of the story of Samson,
he ends up seeing a Philistine woman.
He desires her and he ends up taking it as her wife.
And then she ends up ratting him out through peer pressure.
There's pretty much this entire book
just about peer pressure, okay?
I mean, she gets all this peer pressure from her,
you know, Philistine comrades
that they're gonna kill her and her father.
So she rats him out for his riddle that he has.
And then they end up killing her.
But what's the problem with Samson?
He desires ungodly women.
So you know what he ends up doing?
He starts surrounding himself with ungodly women
and makes bad friends.
You know how you don't become a friend of Delilah?
You don't desire an ungodly woman.
If you didn't even desire the ungodly woman,
then you're not gonna be best friends with Delilah.
Why would I wanna be friends with this woman,
with this whorish woman who's just constantly lying to me
and saying how much she loves me?
Oh, where's your strength, buddy?
Oh, let me try it on you now.
That should've been red flag number one.
You should've walked away at that point.
First of all, you should've walked away since she's a whore.
Did we ever read about their marriage?
Oh yeah, but they're lying in bed together.
And let me help you out.
If you're living together, you're in fornication.
I don't believe this junk.
Some people say, oh, we live together,
but we're not in fornication, liar.
People that live together are in fornication together.
That's how it works.
And we notice that Samson has an ungodly desire in his heart
that's why he's surrounding himself with bad friends.
So you say, why am I surrounding myself
with all these bad friends?
You need to check your heart.
You need to check your desires.
You need to check what's going on inside and see,
you know what, maybe these friends
are gonna foster this bad behavior outside me.
Now let's go to Proverbs chapter 31.
Proverbs chapter 31.
So what's my point number two?
If you wanna overcome peer pressure,
you have to avoid deceitful lusts.
You have to avoid deceitful lusts.
We have to avoid the bad friends.
But we ultimately have to judge ourselves
and realize at the end of the day, we have free will.
At the end of the day, we have free choice.
We can't just blame our friends for everything.
The reason why most people make the bad decisions
is also because they wanted to do it in their heart.
Because their heart had that bad desire too.
Their heart wanted to do the wicked thing too.
That's why we have in Proverbs chapter 31,
let's read verse one.
The words of the king Lemuel,
the prophecy that his mother taught him.
What my son, and what the son of my womb,
and what the son of my vows,
give not thy strength unto women,
nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings.
What a verse that Samson needed to read, didn't he?
The strongest guy on the planet
gives all of his strength unto one little woman.
Delilah could have been the weakest woman on the earth,
but you know what?
Samson gave all of his strength unto that woman.
By her protesting, by her pressing him sore,
he became weak as other men.
And we ought not give our strength unto others.
And look, big strong men,
they can give all of their strength unto a woman
that can force them to do all manner of evil,
all manner of wicked.
We see Ahab greatly influenced by his wicked wife Jezebel.
We see, oh yeah, Adam influenced by who?
Eve.
We see men could give their strength unto women.
That's why it's important for a man to rule the house,
for a man to lead,
for a man to stand up and sometimes say no,
and to do that which is right,
and to not hang out with the whorish women.
It says in verse four,
it is not for kings, O Lemuel,
it is not for kings to drink wine,
nor for princes strong drink,
lest they drink and forget the law
and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.
Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish
and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.
Let him drink and forget his poverty
and remember his misery no more.
So the Bible's bringing up two things,
whores and drunkenness.
Now they go together really well in the Bible.
They usually, one leads into the other,
but we notice, why would I hang out with a bunch of drunks?
Because I want to get drunk.
Why do I end up hanging out with a bunch of whores?
Because I have a desire for horse women.
Why did Samson make friends with Delilah?
Because he desired the horse women in his heart.
And we have to be careful not to give our strength
unto women, give our strength unto alcohol.
Alcohol can make you weak as well.
Go to Proverbs chapter 23.
Proverbs chapter 23.
Alcohol can be the one that's driving you around,
that's making you do your actions.
You say, all right, I'm not going to hang
out with the horse women.
Well, alcohol can make you do that.
Alcohol can be the one in the driver's seat.
You could think I would never commit adultery on my spouse.
Well, alcohol says differently.
Alcohol says you could definitely do it,
whether you want to or not.
Look what it says in verse 29, who hath woe, who hath sorrow,
who hath contentions, who hath babbling,
who hath wounds without cause, who hath redness of eyes,
they that tarry long at the wine,
they that go to seek mixed wine.
Look not thou upon the wine when it is red,
when it giveth its color in the cup,
when it moveth itself aright,
at the last it biteth like a serpent,
and stingeth like an adder.
Look at verse 33.
Thine eyes shall behold strange women.
Does it say there that they might?
Maybe.
It says thine eyes shall behold strange women.
Notice it says thine heart shall utter perverse things.
We notice when you start drinking alcohol,
what is it gonna do?
It's gonna be your bad friend for you,
and then it's gonna let all the nasty,
wicked desires of your heart come out,
and you know what?
You're gonna look at those perverted women,
and you're gonna desire those perverted women,
those strange women, those perverse women,
those hoarse women.
What's perverted?
It's not normal.
It's not natural.
It's something that's been defiled.
It's something that's been corrupted.
These hoarse women, they've been corrupted.
They've been perverted by society,
by their fathers not loving them,
by them not knowing the word of God,
and then they end up just defiling themselves with mankind,
destroying themselves.
You know, they're abusers of themselves with mankind
is what the Bible says.
And so if you want to overcome peer pressure,
you must avoid bad friends,
but you also must avoid deceitful lusts.
By you desiring alcohol,
it can lead into the perverse woman,
which then can lead to death and destruction.
Look at Samson.
Samson got his eyes poked out and then died in ruin.
Why?
Because of peer pressure.
Would Samson have ever gotten there
if he had never made friends with Delilah?
I mean, not unless Delilah number two came around, right?
What if he just didn't desire an ungodly woman?
What if he only wanted to be married to a children of Israel
to a godly woman, to subservient woman,
and he kept his eyes only unto his wife,
and he never drank any alcohol,
which I don't think he did.
We don't have any proof of that,
but if he's keeping only under his wife,
he would have never been destroyed.
He would have never given his strength unto women.
But because he had the ungodly desire in his own heart,
that's what caused him to succumb to the peer pressure.
And we ought not always just blame our bad friends.
We ought to look internally and realize,
oh, okay, it's also my fault.
Some people, when they think,
well, I was just pressured to do it.
Yeah, but didn't you kinda want to?
Mom and dad, I didn't, you know,
I ate the cookie because my brother said so.
Didn't you wanna eat the cookie, though?
Well, yeah.
Obviously, we gotta work on ourselves.
If you don't wanna do the sin,
it's gonna be a lot harder to be influenced to do it.
It's gonna be a lot harder to be tempted
with that peer pressure.
Go if you go to Romans chapter 13, Romans chapter number 13.
How can you avoid the bad friends?
Well, you need to realize when they're pressuring you
to do that which is wicked,
when they're pressuring you to do that which is wrong,
and if they're not willing to fix it,
you need to just move on.
You need to find some new friends.
Additionally, you have to look internally in your own heart
and say, am I desiring those wicked things?
Am I desiring these deceitful lusts?
And I need to avoid them.
Look at Romans chapter 13, look at verse 10.
The Bible says, love worketh no ill to his neighbor,
therefore love is the filling of the law,
and that knowing the time,
that now it is high time to awake out of sleep,
for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed,
the night is far spent, the day is at hand,
let us therefore cast off the works of darkness,
and let us put on the armor of light,
let us walk honestly, as in the day,
not in rioting and drunkenness,
not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envy,
but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and make not provision for the flesh
to fulfill the lusts thereof.
Now, let me say this.
Obviously, it'd be great if we could just take
a little notch in our heart and just turn it
to where it's like, I only love the Bible.
I only love soul winning.
I love coming to a church that's super hot
on a Sunday afternoon and hearing a sermon
about peer pressure.
You know, a lot of us are probably thinking like,
yeah, there's some other things I'd rather be doing,
and maybe even sinful things.
We're honest with ourselves.
Yeah, sometimes sin is desirable, isn't it?
Sometimes it's a little, it sounds good sometimes.
Why?
Because your flesh desires that which is sinful.
Because your flesh is not desiring that which is right,
which that is good.
So when you identify, I have a problem in this area.
Alcohol sounds good to me, Pastor Shelley.
Okay, look, I'm sure a lot of people's flesh desires that.
My flesh desires fornication, Pastor Shelley.
Well, so does 99% of people,
because they all commit fornication
before they get married.
My flesh desires all these wicked things.
Well, when you identify you have that problem,
you ought to not make provision for the flesh.
Hey, I desire fornication.
Okay, we'll always be around other people and public.
Don't ever get in a private area with the opposite gender.
Don't go off in some place where that can even happen.
Why don't you get married too?
Why don't you just find a wife?
Why don't you desire a godly woman?
And then you can not even have to worry about fornication.
Hey, I struggle with alcohol.
Well, don't go to the bar.
Don't go to your buddy's house where it's loaded with beer.
Don't go to your dad's house
where he's got a liquor cabinet
and you know they're gonna drink
and you know they're gonna have a party.
Make not provision for the flesh.
You say, man, I just can't overcome
the peer pressure, Pastor Shelley.
I mean, I go to the Christmas party with my family
and they're all drinking Jack Daniels
and they're handing me a Jack Daniels
and they're saying, come on, drink with us.
You're a coward, are you too good for us?
And then I end up drinking.
I'm not shocked.
You know how you avoid that?
You realize that you have that desire in your flesh
and you say, I'm not gonna go there.
I'm gonna say no thanks.
I'm gonna go to the Christmas service at my church
and I'll drink milk, I'll have good milk
and hot chocolate chip cookies or something.
You make not provision for the flesh.
So whatever it is that you struggle with,
you have to identify and then say, you know what,
I'm gonna set a boundary here
where I can't even get close to it.
Because you can't just blame all the bad friends.
Now obviously the bad friends are gonna be a factor here.
We've already identified that, bad friends.
You know why you have a lot of those bad friends?
Because you have those bad desires.
Because you wanted to drink the alcohol.
Because you wanted to gossip.
Because you wanted to commit fornication.
Because you wanted to do the drugs.
Because you wanted to do whatever manner of sin it is.
Hey, why do you find yourself at the football game
with all your football buddies?
Because you wanted to go.
Oh, but they gave me free tickets.
Well, why'd you ask about it?
Hey, do you have any tickets to the game?
Yeah, I've got some tickets.
Well, they were just handing me tickets.
How did that work out, Aaron?
Oh, this golden calf just came out of the fire.
But didn't you ask for all the gold?
Uh, I don't know how that worked.
Obviously he had a bad desire in his heart, didn't he?
Now go to Matthew chapter 13, Matthew chapter 13.
We have to avoid our deceitful lusts.
We have to realize we're human.
We have to realize that we're flesh and blood.
We have to realize that we're weak.
And we need to lean upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
We need to lean upon the scriptures.
And the Bible teaches us very clearly
that God is not gonna just take every single sinful desire
out of your flesh before you go to heaven.
It's not gonna happen.
There's not a person, Paul says I'm carnal.
Paul says he does the things that he hates.
Oh, but I'm so much more spiritual than the Apostle Paul.
Oh, you don't understand.
I've been delivered from that.
You've been delivered from nothing.
You've been, you know, you're possessed by devils
is what you probably are.
These deliverance doctrines, they're garbage.
We gotta realize, why do people go into sin?
Well, a lot of peer pressure.
And if you put yourself in the bad situation
around the bad friends, you're gonna succumb
to all kinds of bad things.
Look at Matthew chapter 13 verse 22.
It says, he also that receives seed among the thorns
is he that heareth the word and the care of this world
and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word
and he becometh unfruitful.
Now, who are we talking about?
The parable of the sower is talking about saved people.
It's talking about Christians that bear no fruit.
It's talking about Christians that just endure
for a little while.
Then it's talking about people that would've produced fruit
but the thorns choke the fruit that they're producing
to where it didn't become good fruit.
And then we have the good fruit.
So yeah, some people, they start coming to a good church.
They kinda start going out.
Maybe they're a silent partner.
They're starting to learn the gospel.
But then all of a sudden, man, you know,
if I get into this, I'm not gonna really get
that fancy vacation that I wanted.
I'm not gonna really be able to travel like I wanted.
This is kind of a waste of time.
Football season's about to start.
I mean, we've already hit the preseason games, Pastor Kelly.
I mean, you really expect me to miss the Cowboys?
I mean, Arlington's not even that far away.
How am I gonna miss this football game, you know?
I mean, I got the cool box office.
I got all these things.
What happens?
It starts choking.
It starts choking that fruit that was about to be produced
and then they end up producing nothing.
We're not talking about Judas here.
We're not talking about a bad person.
We're talking about your Sunday night Baptist member.
The guy that goes to church, he's doing good.
But then that little bit of covetousness in their heart
starts to get that flicker.
Little bit of gasoline starts getting poured on it.
And because you have the covetousness in your heart,
you start finding a few other people
that are covetous like you.
And then they start planting bad, covetous ideas
into your head.
Oh, we should get into this mutual fund, buddy, together.
We should start selling all these products together.
We should start a new business.
We should start, you know,
just think about all the money we could make.
Just think about Easy Street, man.
Then you can go soul winning later.
You can go soul winning, we make all our money,
we're rolling all our dough.
Then you can live it up later, you know.
Let's just get in all this money.
All this covetousness, all the idolatry, and guess what?
They end up not producing any fruit.
You say, why did that happen?
They had the bad desire in their heart.
If you desire to be rich, you oughta flee covetousness.
And you oughta flee covetous people.
You oughta make sure all your friends,
they don't like money.
They don't wanna have a lot of money.
And you say, oh, is that the poor people?
Not necessarily.
Lots of times the poorest people
are the ones that are most covetous.
You know, they play the lottery.
When you find out your friend plays the lottery,
and you have a little bit of covetous in your heart,
drop them.
When they have a get rich quick scheme,
when they have their little self-starting business
that they're trying to make a whole bunch of money,
drop them as a friend.
Stop being their friend.
Why?
Because that covetousness in your heart
is only to get fed by that bad friend,
and then you're gonna be this person in the story.
You know, every single person in this room is in the story.
Which one are you?
Are you the one that's producing no fruit?
Are you the one that endured just a short space?
Are you the one that got choked
with the cares of this world,
with the deceitfulness of riches,
with the deceitfulness of lust,
or are you the one bringing forth lots of good fruit?
You're good soil, you're bringing forth all these things.
Whether you like it or not, you're on this list.
Whether you like it or not,
your life will be reflected by the word of God,
and my question is, where are you?
We already had the drawing from this morning.
Go to Daniel chapter one, Daniel chapter one.
I'm gonna finish on this last point.
You say, how can I overcome peer pressure, Pastor Shelley?
How can I overcome it?
Well, first of all, don't have bad friends.
If you don't have bad friends,
then you're not gonna have any of that peer pressure, right?
Number two, you need to avoid your deceitful lusts,
and look, both of these could happen.
You could actually be purposely trying to avoid it
and just end up making a bad friend
or having people come around
and press you to do that, which is wrong,
and whenever you're not making provision of the flesh,
you're gonna be a little bit more sober to just say,
no, I wanna get away from you,
or perhaps maybe you don't have a bad friend,
but you have a deceitful lust.
You could get into sin on your own.
I mean, don't get me wrong.
Eve just had the devil tempting her, didn't she?
She had the deceitful lust.
So all of these can happen in different ways.
I'm just kind of trying to tie them together for you,
but the real reason, the real way
that you overcome peer pressure
is by purposing in your heart not to sin against the Lord,
is by purposing in your heart
that you wanna do that which is right.
That is how you truly overcome the peer pressure,
because no matter what I say,
you're gonna make a bad friend.
Bad people are gonna come around you
and try and influence you.
No matter what I say, there's gonna be a point in time
where you get caught up,
and that deceitful lust is gonna rear its ugly head,
and you're gonna have the opportunity to sin.
You're gonna have the opportunity
to make the bad decisions.
You're gonna put yourself in the wrong place
at the wrong time.
It's gonna happen.
It happens to every single person.
So you say, all right, I have the bad friend influencing me
and something that I kinda wanted to do.
How was I gonna avoid that situation then, Pastor Shelley?
You had it purposed in your heart
that you weren't going to sin against the Lord.
That's how you're gonna ultimately overcome it.
Look at Daniel chapter number one.
We're gonna see Daniel,
he's gonna end up having some bad pressure put upon him,
but not by choice.
We're gonna see it's probably the things
that he would say I like,
because he's gonna be tempted to eat meat.
I bet Daniel liked to eat meat.
I mean, I love to eat meat, all right?
Every hair-legged man, every prophet of the Bible,
they like to eat meat, okay?
He's gonna be tempted to eat meat.
I'm sure he wants to do that,
but it was meat sacrificing the false gods, probably,
when you read the context.
And he's gonna be influenced by his captors,
not something he really picked upon himself,
but they're gonna put a lot of pressure on him
to do that which is wicked.
But why did he not succumb to it?
Well, Daniel chapter one, look at verse six.
Now among these were the children of Judah,
Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,
under whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names,
for he gave unto Daniel the name of Beltress Azar
to Hananiah of Shadrach, and to Mishael of Meshach,
and to Azariah of Abednego.
But Daniel purposed in his heart
that he would not defile himself
with the portion of the king's meat,
nor with the wine which he drank.
Therefore, he requested of the prince of the eunuchs
that he might not defile himself.
So notice, Daniel has already purposed in his heart,
I am not gonna commit that sin.
I am not gonna do that which is wrong.
So then, even though he gets put in the situation,
by, in my opinion, no fault of his own,
he's able to overcome the bad friends.
He's overcome, obviously these are,
I'm using friend as a light word here, okay?
These aren't really his friends,
these are the people that are taking him captive.
But we see the people that are influencing him in his circle
are trying to get him to do that which is wrong,
trying to get him that which is not right.
And I'm sure he had, in his heart,
he would desire to eat that food, I'm sure it was good food.
I'm sure it tasted really good, it was the king's dainties,
but he purposed in his heart,
he's not gonna defile himself with it.
Look at verse 10.
And the prince of the eunuch said unto Daniel,
I fear my lord the king,
who hath appointed your meat and your drink,
for why should he see your face as worse liking
than the children which are of your sort?
Then shall you make me endanger my head to the king?
So Daniel, he doesn't wanna eat it.
But, like I said, guess what the bad friends do?
They try to influence you again, don't they?
We see he tries to put more pressure on him,
saying, I can't do this, because then whenever you look sick
and you're weak and you're feeble,
which is pretty much anybody on a vegetarian plan,
I'm just kidding, pardon my joke.
But he's saying, if I put you on this plan,
you're gonna be likened on worse.
And by a miracle, they don't, okay?
Again, my joke, right?
By a miracle, they're on this vegetarian diet
and the lord gives them more strength,
they're more fatter in the flesh.
But why, because he purposed in his heart
that he wouldn't defile himself with the king's meat.
Look at verse 17.
As for these four children, God gave them knowledge
and skill and all learning and wisdom,
and Daniel had understanding all visions and dreams.
So we see Daniel had decided,
I don't care what happens to me, I'm not going to eat it.
I'm not going to drink it.
Therefore, when he's put in that really difficult situation,
he's able to still say no.
You say, I don't wanna drink, Pastor Shelley,
but you end up finding yourself around your friends,
around your family member, around the holidays or whatever,
and they start putting that really bad pressure on you,
because you already purposed in your heart,
you can just say no.
Not gonna do it, you flee from it, you get away from it.
If you don't purpose it in your heart now though,
whenever that pressure really comes on strong,
it's gonna be easy to succumb to the pressure.
The key is purposing in your heart now,
you know what, I wanna do that, which is right.
Go to chapter three, look at verse number 14.
Now this great influence of Daniel
obviously rubs off on his friends.
They see that Daniel had already decided,
I'm not gonna do that, I'm not gonna go down that bad road,
I'm not gonna defile myself with this.
Look at Daniel chapter three verse 14,
we see his friends basically do the same thing.
Nebuchadnezzar spake and said to them,
is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego,
do not you serve my gods nor worship the golden image,
which I have set up?
So what happens?
Well, Daniel's three friends are brought out
into the plains of Dura, is what the Bible said,
the plains of Dura, and they're supposed to worship
a false god and everybody's bowing down
and worshiping this false god but them.
They have people accuse them and bring them before the king
and the king's like, are you guys really not gonna do this?
So what he's doing, he's pressuring them again.
He's saying, are you really guys not gonna do this?
Let's see what they say in verse 15.
Now if you be ready that at what time you hear the sound
of the cornet, flute, heart, sack, butt,
psaltery and dulcimer and all kinds of music,
you fall down and worship the image which I have made well.
But if you worship not, you should be cast the same hour
into the midst of a burning fiery furnace
and who is that god that shall deliver you out of my hands?
Now this is what we call intense peer pressure.
When you're literally threat, hey, we're gonna just put you
in the hottest fire immediately when you don't succumb.
How can someone literally stand in the face of death
and still do that which is right?
Let me give you the answer.
It's purpose in their heart.
There's gonna be a time and day when Christians
are gonna be put to death for their faith.
How are they gonna be able to stand that kind of pressure?
They've already purposed it in their heart.
They've already decided they're gonna do that
which is right.
How am I gonna be faithful for my entire Christian life,
Pastor Shelley?
You purposed it in your heart.
Because I guarantee you, you're gonna have bad friends.
You're gonna have bad desires.
And people are gonna fall out of this church by the droves.
Why?
Because of their bad friends,
because of their bad desires.
Ultimately, why?
Because they didn't purpose it in their heart.
And look what they say in verse number 16.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered
and said to the king, Olga, Nebuchadnezzar,
we are not careful to answer in this matter.
Why were they not careful to answer?
Because they had already decided.
I'm not gonna serve this false god.
It's not happening.
I don't care what you threaten me with.
I don't care what you say about me.
I don't care how many times you protest.
I'm not serving your false god.
They had already purposed it in their heart.
How many people in this room have already said,
you know what?
I don't care what happens to me.
I'm going to church three times a week.
I'm just gonna purpose that in my heart.
You say, why do people get out of church?
Because they don't really know if they're coming to church
the next service already.
They're like, maybe.
I don't know.
What's the weather like?
What's on the TV?
What are we having for dinner?
And guess what?
They're not gonna continue producing fruit
for the rest of their life.
Because they're gonna have a bad friend come along,
they're gonna have bad desires,
and it's gonna get them out of church.
Why?
Well, you know what?
Maybe I'll go soul winning.
Why don't you just purpose in your heart,
I'm going soul winning every week of my life until I die.
And then you know who's gonna go soul winning
for the rest of their life?
That guy.
You know who's not gonna go soul winning
for the rest of his life?
The one who won't go now when it's free and easy.
Because it's gonna get harder.
It's gonna be more difficult.
There's gonna be more pressure.
The government's gonna say,
we're gonna kill you if you preach the gospel.
They're gonna literally behead people for Christ.
You can't even preach it now when it's free and easy.
You know why?
Because you're filled with that covetous bug.
You're filled with the lust of the flesh,
with the desires of the flesh,
because you're so carnal,
because you're so carnally minded,
because you're at enmity with God.
We need to be careful and make sure,
hey, you know what?
God takes away those branches
that aren't bearing any fruit, don't see them.
Say, how can I overcome that peer pressure
to stop going soul winning?
Purpose in your heart.
When your family and friends say,
ah, soul winning, does it really work?
How many people did you get baptized after the soul winning?
How many people started coming to church?
Well, if you've been soul winning for six months,
you probably have a zero there.
And guess what?
If you do it for your whole life,
it probably won't be a huge number, but there'll be some.
There would be some.
He that goeth forth bearing precious seed,
you know, he's gonna return rejoicing,
bringing his sheaves with him, is what the Bible says.
If you go out and weep, you have a tear in the eye,
if you bear the precious seed,
you're gonna come again rejoicing,
bringing your sheaves with him.
You're gonna see people's fruit remain.
You're gonna see the good fruit.
Look, the Christian life is not one of a year.
Two years.
We're gonna hit our five year mark.
That's not a lot of time.
That's a lot of people's just college career or whatever.
We're talking about a lifetime here.
And you say, how am I gonna survive?
You have to purpose in your heart.
How am I gonna raise a godly family in this world today?
You must purpose it in your heart.
You know what, it takes a lot of dedication in your heart
to raise a virgin to say I do on her wedding night.
Why?
Because at any moment that you slip,
you could throw it all away.
It takes 18, 19, 20, 25 years
of just constant determination to keep her pure,
to keep her right with God.
And you say, what dad is gonna do that?
It's the dad that's purposed in his heart.
I'm not gonna let her get defiled.
I'm not gonna let bad things happen to her.
I'm gonna keep her in my sight.
And the guy that decides, I don't know,
the game's on, you just go have fun
with your friends tonight.
Just go do whatever.
Go hang out with so and so.
Yeah, I know he lives by himself,
but I'm sure y'all just hang out until midnight
playing checkers, having a Bible study.
What do you think two young people that are dating
when they go to a house by themselves do at night?
It's not a Bible study, my friend.
It's not, you know, let's just read Daniel.
Oh, he purposed in his heart.
Oh, he's so, look, we're talking,
what was the number two point?
Avoid deceitful lusts.
You wanna avoid fornication?
Don't put yourself in that situation.
Now you're gonna avoid sin, purpose in your heart.
And look, none of us is gonna ever be perfect.
None of us is ever gonna be without sin.
But at the end of the day,
there are certain sins that we look at
and we have a lot of disgust for,
we feel very agreed with,
and we say, how am I gonna avoid that, Pastor Shelley?
You have to purpose in your heart right now.
You have to say, no matter what it takes,
I'm just gonna avoid it.
If that means losing some, you know,
what seems like freedoms now, some friends now,
some of my things that I like to do now, so be it.
Because I've already purposed in my heart.
You know what, you throw me in the fiery furnace,
it doesn't bother me.
I'm not careful to answer thee.
I'm gonna serve God.
So what have we talked about?
Let me give you a quick overview.
We've talked about peer pressure.
Peer pressure's gonna come when you have bad friends.
Peer pressure's gonna come when you have the deceitful lust
and peer pressure's gonna come when you're just
simple-minded, you're silly, you're lacking knowledge.
And how you avoid those, you have to avoid the bad friends.
When you identify the bad friend, get rid of them.
Trust you not in a friend, is what the Bible says.
You can always make a new friend.
I'm being honest.
If you have a bad friend, if you have a toxic friend,
get rid of them.
There's so many bad friends in the Bible.
Number two, we have to not make provision for the flesh.
We have to avoid our deceitful lust.
Identify your problems in your life and set up boundaries.
If you do not set up boundaries, you'll think back
and you'll say, oh, how I hated knowledge!
How I hated reproof!
How I despised wisdom!
You're gonna look back at the tunnel of your life
and say, why did I do that?
Because you didn't make a plan to avoid it.
Because you didn't see it coming.
And number three, how are you gonna do that
for the rest of your life?
Purpose in your heart now.
Decide in your heart now.
When I look at this church and I look at a lot of churches
like it, unfortunately, it's a revolving door.
People coming and going.
I mean, how many people in this room
were at the first service?
One.
One person.
How many people have been here,
were here for the first year?
This is the first year of the church.
Two.
That was only three years ago.
And look, I guarantee there's a lot of other churches
where we play the same game and be real similar.
Take my words very seriously.
You must purpose in your heart to serve God.
If you don't purpose, and look,
maybe some people, they go to a different church
and they're still serving God.
You don't have to be in this church to serve God, okay?
We're not a cult here.
This isn't the one, this isn't the way.
Jesus is the way, okay?
But at the end of the day, most of the people
that were in those church services,
and you could ask these two guys,
most of those people that were there and are not here,
they're not in a good church.
You know where they are?
They're loving money.
They're at the bar.
They're at the sports game.
They're watching Will and Grace right now.
They're taking a nap.
They're going and doing whatever.
You could be that person.
So you have to purpose in your heart
so that you can overcome the pressures of this world.
Let's close in prayer.
Thank you, Father, so much for your word.
Thank you for giving us power and knowledge
through your commandments, through your proverbs.
We know that pressures are gonna come
and temptations are gonna arise.
I pray that you would just help everyone in this room
that actually wants to purpose in their heart
and do that which is right,
that you would provide a way of escape
when those temptations come, when those trials come,
when we struggle in areas of our life.
And I pray that you would just help us,
that you wouldn't lead us
into the hardest trials and temptations,
but we'd have free course to preach the gospel,
we'd have free course to raise a godly family,
that you would just give us just liberty and freedom,
as much as we could possibly have
to allow your word to go out,
and that this entire world could see
the light of the gospel.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen.