Solomon wrote, “My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.”  No one in the world should take these words more seriously than Christians.  To consent with sinners is to walk according to the flesh.  It is to live carnally, ignoring the exhortations of the scriptures.  Through the Word of God, the Spirit urges us to not make friends of the world, let alone consent with them.    

1 John 2:15 (ESV)
¹⁵  Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 

James 4:4 (ESV)
⁴  You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Romans 12:2 (ESV)
²  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

In all these passages, the “world” involves more than people.  It encompasses anything contrary to the will of God, that is, the realm of unrighteousness over which the devil rules (2 Corinthians 4:4).  The ungodly occupy this realm and live according to its rules.  Why would anyone who claims to be a Christian take advice from or consent with such a person?  As James said, to do so is to make oneself an enemy of God.

If you are a Christian, you must be secure with who you are, and understand the value of what you are in Christ.  Children of God who consent with sinners are usually those who are too insecure to stand alone, not realizing that we are never really alone as long as God is with us, and that He is always with us when we decide to please Him by doing His will.  Jesus serves as our greatest example of this.

John 8:29 (ESV)
²⁹  And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”

This is the key to a life of fellowship with God—striving to always do what is pleasing to Him.  We may not achieve this perfectly as our Savior did, but we can make it the practice of our lives.  When we do this, we will not consent with sinners, but, instead, we will be appalled by their lives and expose their evil ways, not join them.

Ephesians 5:11 (ESV)
¹¹  Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.

Let us be the kind of Christians who do not consent with sinners just to be popular with the world, but rather, are secure enough to know that if we are pleasing to God, we do not need to worry about what the world thinks of us.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.