Question: My friend is very worldly minded, goes to clubs, and has a non Christian girlfriend. But he can come to church, close his eyes, raise his hands, talk in tongues, shout, and dance in the aisles. I talked to him about this and he said, “If I get blessed and speak in tongues and dance, then surely that is proof that I am right with God.” This has confused me and I don’t know how to answer him. Is that so?
In a word the answer is NO, he is not right! None of those things prove that anyone is right with God. The idea that if only you can get an individual to dance, or shout, or talk in tongues then everything is all right, only serves to develop hypocrites. Often people are deceived into thinking that if they conform outwardly then that is holy living. Let me explain.
I am all for freedom in worship because it pleases God. However, such liberty is not proof of one’s spirituality, for all of these things can be counterfeited. We are warned in the Bible that there will be hypocrisy in the church in the last days. If someone speaks in tongues and they are not wholly committed to Jesus, doing as the Bible says, then you can be sure no matter how spiritual they seem on the outside, their actions are not inspired by the Holy Spirit.
I am sorry to say this, but your friend has deceived himself. There is only one way for a person to get rid of sin in their life, and that is by confession, repentance and forsaking it. You see, he has convinced himself that he is right with God without repentance, and now he is trying to deceive you by convincing you of the same thing. Study carefully 2 Timothy 3:13, and you will see that unless he repents and straightens up his life very soon, he will go downhill fast. So to hide one’s sin behind some “spiritual” activity is playing the hypocrite. And that is a dangerous game.
The Bible commands in 2 Corinthians 6:14 for us not to be unequally joined with unbelievers. This means that you should only marry believers. By dating this girl this young man is going down a path to marry an unbeliever. On the other hand, if he is dating an ungodly person and does not intend to marry he should seriously question any fleshly motives he may have.
Jesus said in Matthew7:21: “Not everyone that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven.” It’s not what we say but what we do that makes one a disciple; not in the claiming but in the obeying; not in the profession but in the submission of the individual to God and His Word. And that is just where your friend has been deceived. The Bible condemns his ungodly manner of living, yet he does not acknowledge his sin and repent of his misdeeds. God is merciful and longsuffering; however, God does not tolerate sin indefinitely. Let all of us therefore walk in the fear of the Lord. Faithfully warn your friend; if he fails to hear you then you may be able to influence someone else who has not gone too far down that road.
The above has been adapted from an article written for a magazine by David Gray.
Pastor J Downs
