Turn your Bibles, if you would, to Proverbs chapter 2. And then, actually, why don't you turn to Proverbs 7, because I'm going to turn to Proverbs 2 and read you one verse there. But we're going to get into it. We're going to talk about the strange woman here and and her characteristics today. We're only going to get through a few of those today and we'll pick it up again next time. And we'll see what we have time for this afternoon. If we move things along quickly, we'll see what we have time for. But I'd like to finish up some of this this afternoon if it's possible. But we'll see. And a busy time. Just remember to keep everybody in prayer. Busy time. Everybody's going in all kinds of directions. People are going to be on vacation. People are working. People are moving around and we're We're preaching and brother Ryan's moving and just the church is real busy. Everybody's got stuff going on. So let's be in prayer Always remember to pray for each other Even if you don't see each other or you're not able to be here for some reason you always keep each other in prayer That's that's we're supposed to pray for one another and make sure that we do that'll keep your heart tender by the way to each other if you're praying for people you'll be tender towards them and You and I won't be so easily to dismiss one another when we're praying for each other. It's real hard to do when we bring their name up before the throne of God, right? It'll help us to love each other, right? Not be so easily offended by one another when we're praying for each other. That's important. Amen? Just remember that. That's God's command. Brethren, pray for us. That's what the Apostle Paul said. And we ought to do that. All right. So Proverbs chapter 2 talks about the strange woman. It begins to talk about the strange woman here. We just talked about the evil man. Now we're going to introduce a new character, which is the strange woman. And the young man is warned. He was warned against the evil man. And now he's warned against the evil woman or the strange woman. She's called both here. who rejoiced to do evil, and delight in the forwardness of the wicked, whose ways are crooked, and they are forward in their paths, to deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words, which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. Now, we're gonna stop there, because we're not gonna go through every characteristic, but the interesting thing today, but the interesting thing is, this is the same thing that the evil man did. He was trained in what was right, and he forsook what was right. He forsook the instruction of his mother and father, and the godly instruction that he received, and the right way that he was to go down, and he forsook that, and he really has a bad influence on Christians. He has a bad influence on young people. to destroy their faith. And, and now this young woman is going to be the, or this strange woman is going to be the same way. She's going to have an impact on the young man and she's going to take him. Now, if you're in Proverbs chapter seven, verse number five, you know, we're given instructions all the way through here, wisdom and instruction, knowledge to keep the, and everything that we've talked about in Proverbs chapter seven. My son, verse number one says, My son, keep My words and lay up My commandments with thee. Again, he's giving instructions here the same way. Keep My commandments and live, and My law is the apple of thine eye. Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart. Say unto wisdom, Thou art My sister, and call understanding thy kinswoman, that they may keep thee from the strange woman. This book followed, the instructions from this book will keep you from the strange woman. if you follow the instructions that you're given. That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words. She flattereth with her words. The Bible says that for at the window of my house I looked through my casement and beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding. We'll talk about the simple young man as well, but not this week. It'll be a few weeks from now, Lord willing. passing through the street near her corner, and he went the way to her house in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night. And behold, there met him a woman with the attire of a harlot, and it's subtle of heart. She is loud and stubborn. We're going to talk about those characteristics this afternoon, Lord willing, if we have time, we'll see. She is loud and stubborn. Her feet abide not in her house. Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner. So we're gonna stop there, because we'll get into all of these characteristics, and these things, and the stern warning that is given. Solomon is giving this warning, because Solomon loved many strange wives. Solomon was taken by this, and he was burned by this. He didn't listen, he didn't pay attention. He was taken by this, the wisest man in the world, right at the time, and still fell for that. And any man can. Many strong men have been slain by her. Amen. That's what the Bible says, many. Many strong men have been slain by her. Father in heaven, Lord, we thank you for this day. We thank you for all that you do for us. Thank you for the word of God. Thank you for the truth of it. And Lord, help us to heed the instructions that you've given us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. You know, the strange woman is like the prostitute or the harlot. But all of these may not work for money, they may just sell themselves into harlotry and become what the Bible calls a whore and live like a whore. But God is also warning of the strange woman to mark her and to know her characteristics and to keep you from her. To keep your son from the strange woman and train your daughter not to have the traits of a strange woman. See, there's traits that are there in the strange woman, and those, if you see those in the scriptures, you ought to ask yourself and examine yourself with the scriptures, say, do I follow any of the traits of a strange woman? Because if I do, I'm not a strange woman, but I may be following the way of a strange woman, which means that I have to repent of those things. I have to change those things. I have to have a desire to change those things if that's the case. To keep thee from the strange woman, from the evil woman. Solomon had suffered sorely from this, and hence his repeated cautions and warnings to others over and over again. The strange woman always means one that is not a man's own, and sometimes it may also imply a foreign harlot, one who is also a stranger to the God of Israel. Remember, these lessons are given that they might keep thee from being taken by the evil woman. Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister, and call understanding thy kin's woman, that they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words. In essence, the strange woman is any woman that is not your wife. She is any woman that is foreign to your walk with God. In that way, in a physical way, not somebody that you know and just speak to. If a young lady talks like a strange woman, whatever religious garb she is wearing, she is still a strange woman. The first thing that he deals with is the tongue. That is the first thing he deals with. He's examining and he shows the characteristics of how she speaks. more so how she speaks than what she wears. Do you understand that? He uses the tongue first for a purpose and a reason, because it is how she speaks that is more dangerous than what she wears. So it's first. Because it can flatter a man, it can seduce a man by what she says. A woman's words can seduce a man very simply, very easily. That's why women are to be careful how they speak to men. They are to be very careful how they speak to men, because their words have an impact on men. Men are always watching, and men, they look and they listen to the words that are given to them by a woman. So number one, one of her characteristics is a flattering tongue. It's interesting in Proverbs 7.21, as you go down the text here, and this is after it describes another bunch of her characteristics, with her much fair speech, she caused him to yield. You know, that is the same way that the Antichrist is gonna cause those to take the mark of the beast. With fair speech is one of the major techniques that the Antichrist will use is a flattering tongue. It's what he's going to use to seduce. That's why the strange woman is a picture of Roman Catholicism as well, and false doctrine. There's a picture there of those things too, because it's a false church. It's false doctrine. It leads to death. Same way. So there's a picture there. That's why the Bible always compares, calls Jezebel a harlot, right? She's a harlot that teaches and seduces my servants to sin. Right that she's a harlot. That's what false religion is a harlot God likens the two the same in the scriptures so we can see that now Proverbs 2 16 Again says to deliver thee from the strange woman even from the stranger which flatters with her words and you know There's a warning over and over again here Turn to Proverbs chapter 5 There's another warning of her lips The way that the strange woman speaks For the lips of a strange woman, verse number 3, for the lips of a strange woman drop as a honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil. And then Proverbs 6, 24 again, warns, Solomon warns again, he's warning over and over again, this same thing, to keep thee from the evil woman. Scripture calls her an evil woman. from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. Flattery is the tool that she uses with her tongue. She flatters. It's not sincere praise. There's a difference in sincere praise. There's nothing wrong with sincere praise. Absolutely nothing. You know, somebody says, hey, praise the Lord for that sermon and praise the Lord for this. And people thank us when we're preaching out there. They're not trying, they're not, they probably mean it, you know what I mean? They're sincere about it. The people online that listen to the sermons and the preaching, they're sincere, they really are thankful for it. So they tell people, that's not flattery. It's emptiness, it's when they don't, there's no sincere heart. And they're just heaping things on to feed egos. Right? That's the purpose of it. So, they keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of the strange woman. That word, flattery, it means to please, to gratify, is to flatter one's vanity or pride. To soothe by praise. To gratify self-love by praise. To please a person by applause or favorable notice, by respectful attention, or by anything that exalts him in his own estimation, or confirms his good opinion of himself. A man that flattereth his neighbor spreadeth a net for his feet. So there's a motive behind it, and it's an ulterior motive. It's not the good of that person. It's to get gain. It's to do it for a purpose and a reason. To please or to gratify is to flatter one's vanity or pride, to praise falsely, to encourage by favorable notice, to flatter vices or crimes. To encourage by favorable representation or indications as to flatter hopes. To raise false hopes by representation not well founded. As to flatter one with a prospect of success. To flatter a patient with the expectation of recovery when his case is too desperate. It's a concert of voices. It's to please, to soothe. They use the word to wheedle or to coax, to attempt to win by blandishments, praise or enticements. So it's to win somebody over with an ulterior motive in order to, I always like it to butter you up, to stick you in the oven, to cook you. They want, they want to butter you up or they want to tenderize the meat really well before they cook it. That's what it is. uses smooth and soft words to work upon the passions. The flattery does move the affections and win the hearts of men and ensnare them and draw them to commit wickedness. Like this woman was, she was drawing this young man in to commit wickedness, to win his heart, to, to, to move him away from the principles that he learned of wisdom and instruction and guidance and to seduce him into following her and to give into passions. So that's the way the Antichrist will work, and false teachers and heretics work. With good words and fair speeches, they deceive the hearts of the simple. Romans 16, 18. With good words and fair speeches. Like Joel Osteen and men like that, they're very flattery with their words. They use flattery with what they do. Good words and fair speeches, like Absalom did. When Absalom won the heart of the people, he did it with good words and fair speeches, right? In order to win them, like politicians do. They use good words and fair speeches to deceive the hearts of the simple. That's what they do, right? They use flattery, they use words to deceive the hearts of the simple. So what God is instructing us in this chapter also is the simple young man not to be deceived, but to be prudent and to look at a matter and to think critically about things and not to be deceived by just simply somebody's words. But watch what they do. Watch their actions. She promises them a great deal of pleasure in her embraces and in the enjoyment of her, and her mouth is smoother than oil. Her fair speech is enticing words and flattering, fawning language and amorous expressions, easily to find their way and slide into the hearts of men, to prevail upon them, to listen to her and to yield to her temptation. There are women out there, there are those strange women out there that they will use the flattery of their tongue to seduce you away from the principles that you have, to seduce you away from following the Lord, and to seduce a young man away from faithfulness to God. They are out there, and they are more common than you think. With her blandishments and her lascivious talks, she overcame all his scruples and constrained him to yield. Smooth with her words. Smooth as oil. It's the speech of a prostitute. She uses the most deceitful, flattering, and alluring speeches as the droppings of the honey out of a comb. They are sweet of all. You give the wrong woman enough of your time, and just with her speech, she could sway you from the Lord. You give the wrong person enough time, male or female, You'll be flattered away, deceived away, by listening to that. Like I said, the flattering of the tongue is the same as the politicians. They have fair speeches and flattering tongues. So does the harlot. Strange woman. That's why ladies have to watch what they say when speaking to another man that is not their husband. Be careful what you say to men. Words mean something, and if you flatter another man and he praises on him, it's the characteristics of a strange woman. that doesn't mean there's sin in small talk or being kind. It's the purpose. It's the direction. It's the reasoning behind it. It means that if you are flattering or heaping praises on another man, then you are acting like a harlot, overly so. You can tell. You can see it. It's like a forward tongue, one that is bold and brassy and not modest with men. There's a shamefacedness and a modesty that women always ought to have with men. They always have that, especially men that are not their husband. They always have that, a, a, a shamefacedness and they're not, in other words, ladies, you don't open up to men that are not your husband or, you know, in speaking to your father or whatever, you, you don't, you don't open up to men like that. You don't pour your heart out to men like that. You don't do that. Why? It's not appropriate. It's not the way God intended. By the way, that's why there's godly ladies in this church that you can talk to. Like, I don't wanna, I'm not gonna, I'll put it that way, I'm not gonna sit like a psychiatrist in a couch and have you, or the confessional of a Roman Catholic church, I'm not the priest that's gonna sit there and have you tell me every little thing that you feel or think in your heart as a woman. First of all, I love you and I care for you and I pray for you, but I'm not a woman. And I really don't wanna hear it. Amen. I'm just being real with you. It's not my place to hear that. There are godly ladies and if something needs to be done as a pastor, my wife and I will be in the room and we'll talk about it. But you know what? Other than that, nah, I'm not your dear diary. You're not going to write to me and tell me all the feelings and thoughts that you have. First of all, it's not a good idea to tell your husband every thought you have either. That's a really bad thing to do too. Or a husband to do that to a wife. You take some of those things to the Lord. You don't take those to any man. There are some things that no one else needs to hear except the Lord. Amen! I'm being real. Why? Because I've had a thousand bad thoughts go through my head all at once and there ain't no way I'm sharing those with anybody but God. Amen? That's the way it's supposed to be. I don't ask you to do that. Don't tell me all you're deep in dirt. I don't want to hear him. And I'm talking to men. I don't want to hear him either. Don't be telling me that stuff. You tell Jesus. I'm not the confessor. This ain't the confessional booth. You know what the Bible says, 1 John 1, 9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You have a high priest and he's in heaven. It ain't me, Jack. All right? Just remember that. I'm not the high priest Jesus is. I'll do whatever I can for you. I'll help you. And if you need to talk about some things, I've talked about some rough things with people. I'll do it. I've done it, but you know what? At the end of the day, your relationship needs to grow with the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not a replacement for Jesus. I'm here to guide you and lead you to Christ, right? Always leading you to Jesus, always leading you. Now there's some things that we got to talk about. I get it. I'm not, I'm not trying to turn that all away. Don't ask if you're desperate and you're hurting and there's something bad and come talk to me. I'll listen to you. I will, and it's fine, it's okay. Believe me, I can handle it. God's grace is sufficient. But you need to take things to the Lord. You need to always be taught to take things to the Lord. You don't use other people before the Lord in that sense. Now, look, if you're a lady, there's ladies here you can talk to. Believe me, you think, well, they can't understand what I'm going through. Oh, I think they probably can. I think they probably can't. You'd be surprised what they could understand. Amen. And God has uniquely fit them. Why? Because it don't mess with their brains like it would mess with the guy's brains for you to talk about stuff that they don't need to hear. Amen. See, I didn't, early on in my pastor, I didn't understand some of that stuff. Man, I had a lot of stuff thrown at me. Did I? I didn't get a lot of this. Man, I was a young pastor. I didn't, I'm like, okay. That's what I'm like, I'm like, really? We didn't cover this in Pastor 101, right? I'm like, okay, what are you gonna do about this one? I have no idea. But the longer I've been saved and the more that God has seasoned me and taught me things, he's taught me, you know what, there's some things that are just appropriate for ladies. You know why? Because some women, they have to pour something out to somebody and it ain't another man. It's a woman. That's who they do that to. Unless it's your wife, and she can pour out whatever she needs to to you, right? Or if my daughter needs help or something, there's an appropriateness there, right? But with women in general, no. That's why there's older ladies to pray with, and sometimes people need pastoral guidance. I get it. There's some situations that are very complicated. By the grace of God, we'll be there, amen? But as a whole, That's what women are for. That's what God gave older women in the church for. That's the purpose. For them to do that. Amen. It also protects the pastor from a lot of things too. Amen. That's important. Isn't it? I think it is. I think it, you know, when, when we, I, I'm going out and leading men to preach the gospel out there and on the front lines of war, I don't need any compromising situations that could, that could develop that Satan would want to develop in order to make something happen. Amen. Come on now. That's just real. I'm being real with you. That's many, many strong men have been slain by her. That's it right there. Amen. Alright, I know I'm preaching, but you gotta listen to it. It's good help. It'll help you. It's real stuff. It's everyday stuff, man. Everyday stuff that we go through as Christians that we have to understand. So you gotta be careful with those things. I'm not saying that's always flattery either. What I'm saying is, though, is there's an appropriateness there. Women don't speak boldly around men. They just don't. It's the loud and stubborn thing. We'll talk about that later. I'll keep moving here. But it's the same thing. Some ladies talk very boldly and forward to men as if they are men themselves. No modesty in their language, no shamefacedness, not scared at all to argue with men or forwardly speak to him as if they are all the same. There's this unisex philosophy. They have a desire to constantly talk to men and to flatter them. There's some ladies that will flatter other men or a preacher rather than heaping praise on their own husband. I've seen that. That's very dangerous. There's something wrong there with that. That needs to be fixed. Amen. There's something there. You got to fix that. I'm not talking about a lady saying that that message was a blessing or something like that. It's not, that's not what I mean. Preachers or preachers allowing the wife of another man to confide in them or unload on them. No, no. If there's something that's a serious issue, then the pastor, his wife, and the wife and the other one will be involved with that in that case. There's no secret unloading of things. We don't do that. Definitely don't do that. That's a no-no. It's not good at all. Amen. By the way, that'll keep a lot of preachers out of trouble, you know that, right? Because I had preachers tell me, I had pastors tell me, well, you know, I can counsel with women alone and it's not a big deal. The guy that trained me told me that. And me, I'm sitting over here, he goes, some guys have a problem with it, but I don't have a problem with that. And I'm standing over there, I'm like, well, I got a problem with it. I got a problem with it, I don't want to do it. Too dangerous. Amen. By the way, same thing goes for you. It's too dangerous for you, too, to be around another woman that's not your wife like that for, and confiding in a confiding situation. You all have to work around women. You all have to be a part of that. It's a part of the world that we live in. We don't get to change that. But just remember, you're not the, You're not that person's confidant. Don't do that. Quickest way to get in a trap and get taken is for you to develop a relationship like that with somebody. Because they will flatter you. And it will come. And they'll want your wisdom and instruction in that way. And that's a trap. It's a trap. One that you need to avoid. Amen. I'm giving you, look, I care. I'm giving you practical stuff here. It's real, I've seen it, I've watched it, it happens. So it is with other relationships, with neighbors and friends, all too easy to speak to another man. Do not believe one second that it is merely a warning to the single son or daughter alone. Never forget, this account is of a married lady. That's who they're talking, that's who Solomon is describing here. It serves as a warning to all of us to be careful. But the strange woman or the harlot has the characteristics of a flattering tongue. Flattery is a very dangerous tool. Flattery is, in Psalm 5 9, for there is no faithfulness in their mouth. Their inward part is very wicked as their throat is an open sepulcher. They flatter with their tongue. How many times have we seen that in the world? We go out there, they flatter with their tongue, but they're getting ready to stick you, they're lying to you the whole time. They try to do that to us all the time. Want to give you an example when we're preaching? They go like this. They're like, I like what he's saying, but you're a jerk. Why can't you be more like this guy? Right? How many times, what are they doing? They're just flatter you. They don't like what you're saying. They don't like you either. But they flatter, right? They're using that as a tool. It's a tool of manipulation. That's what flattering is. It is a tool of manipulation. And it's one that women have to guard against. Listen to me, please listen to me very carefully. Women by nature, one of, by fallen nature that is, by their fallen nature, one of the things that they can so easily do is to flatter, is manipulate. They, it's part of their, of the fall. It's part of that, but it's something that they are very keen to do. Why? Because they are the weaker vessel, because they are the opposite sex, because of those things, they can and will flatter you. And it's a tool of manipulation. Yes, men do it too. I'm not saying they don't, but I'm saying, ladies, you have to guard yourself against that. And you have to examine yourself and make sure that you're not being flattering like that, that you're not doing that. because it is very easy to do. It's very easy. I'm not talking about being kind, I'm not talking about talking to one another. I'm not saying you're gonna all walk around and nobody's gonna talk to each other in the room, we're all just gonna be quiet. No, we're not talking about that. We're saying that it's the direction, all right? It's the direction of it. But it's very, it's one of the things that women are very, because men look at women differently, real men, look at women differently than they do other men. So when they look at them, they can be easily and they listen to them. They can be flattered by them very easily. That's why the warning is here five or six times. He warns them over because it's, it's something that men ever, Solomon was flattered. King of all Israel, right? King of, I mean, he had God's favorite and what was, he was flattered by women and it took him. They flatter with their tongue. He referred to the inward part, or the heart, and to the throat as being depraved and evil. The Bible refers to another member of the body as equally depraved, the tongue. Instead of being employed to utter truth and to give expression to the real feelings of the heart, it was employed to flatter others with a view to lead them astray or to make use of them for base or selfish purposes. The propriety of the representation is like Absalom and his co-editors. No one can fail to see that Absalom had the characteristic of the Antichrist and he flattered those men's hearts and told them what they wanted to hear so they would follow him. And he seduced them away from David. So David is a picture of Christ, right? Absalom is a picture of Antichrist. Absalom grew up around David. He understood David. He understood who his father was. He understood that he was the king. He understood what David's position was. And Absalom was able to steal the men's hearts. and be an Antichrist figure, how he got all of Israel to follow him. That's how he did it. He did it for years, and he got them to follow him. That's a picture of Antichrist. That's why he is such a picture of that. That flattery is manipulated to control or play upon by artful or unfair or insidious means, especially to one's own advantage. You might have grew up with a manipulating mother. Some of you did. You grew up with that, you watched that, you watched them manipulate others. Let me show you a scenario of that. I'll give you a scenario of that. One of the children doesn't treat mom, and this is after even they're grown, doesn't treat mom good. All right, or even in the home, doesn't treat mom good. So that mom goes and tells the other child what this child said to them. Why? Because they're manipulating. Then they'll manipulate the two children against each other and then they'll grow up with rage against each other. Sound familiar? Then one child will grow up to hate the other, one brother will grow up to hate the other brother. They'll have animosity towards each other. Sound familiar? Right, they do. And what is it though? It's manipulation. It's the art of manipulation. It's using the tongue. They can use flattery, they can use manipulation, but that's what they're doing. Right? It's dangerous. And that's what this woman, this strange woman, that's what she manipulates with her tongue. The tongue is the weapon that she uses to manipulate them. And it's very effective. One of the ways was that there was a disregard of truth. By the way, let me back up here. Psalm 12 2. They speak vanity everyone with his neighbor with flattering lips and with a double heart. Do they speak? So the Bible is saying the person that uses the flattery tongue, the woman that uses it, the strange woman, or even a Christian that is not right with God that uses flattery or the strange tongue, what are the strange woman's characteristics? What do they do? They have a double heart. They speak with a double heart. So a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways, right? They have ulterior motives for why they're doing what they're doing. They have a double heart. They're not sincere. What they're telling you is not sincere. What they're saying to you is not sincere. But they have a motive for what they're doing. One of the ways was that there was a disregard of truth, that no confidence could be placed on the statements of those who professed to be pious, that they dealt falsely with their neighbors. The word vanity here is equivalent to a falsehood, that they spoke with a vain and empty thing instead of being the truth. It had no reality and could not be depended on. Flattery is the ascribing of qualities to another which he is known not to possess, usually with some sinister or base design. With flattering lips as Cain did to Abel. As Joab did to Amazah. As the Herodians did to Christ. As Judas did to his master. False teachers to those that are simple. Hypocrites to God himself. Remember God said they flattered, he said in Psalm, I think it was 77 or 78, one of those, David said that they flattered God with their tongues. They flattered him with their tongues. They weren't sincere, they really didn't believe that about God, they flattered him. with their tongues, but their heart was far from Him. When they draw nigh to Him only with their lips, and all formal professors to the churches of Christ, when they profess themselves to be what they are not, and this is further proof of the justice of that complaint that they use, that flattery, Psalm 12.3, the Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things. which flattereth with her words, her lips are nets, whose hands are bands, whose words are cords, to draw man in as a fool to the stocks and an ox to the slaughter, which flattereth with her words, which useth all arts and ways to allure men to unchaste actions, one kind being put for all the rest, with her much fair speech, with her blandishments and lascivious talk. With the flattering lips, she forced him to go along with her, not against his will, but with it. Though at first, there was some reluctance. Remember, there's some reluctance from the simple young fool. Why? Because he was taught what was right. So he doesn't give in right away to it. He fights it a little bit. But if he doesn't stay strong on his principles and stop listening to whores, if he doesn't walk away from the flattering slut that's trying to take him, if he doesn't stop listening to her words, he'll be taken by them. Amen. He'll be seduced by them. He'll be taken by them. There was some reluctance. Conscience rose up and opposed it, but her words, which were smoother than oil, found a way into his heart and prevailed upon him. You young men, listen to me, and listen to me good. You're going out, all of us, but listen, you're going out in the world, and you're going to be working, and you're going to see women, and most of these women are going to be strange women. And they don't have any standards. They don't have anything that they've held to. They don't have anything. They may have grown up even with some religion so they could speak a little Christian language to you. But let me tell you something, their heart is not set on what you have been trained to be set on. And if you fall for them, they will take you. If you listen to their words, if you take their enticements, they will take you. Amen. That's why you cut it off and you don't listen to it. They found a way into his heart, those words, prevailed upon him to yield to her entreaties. He could no longer withstand her attacks, but surrendered to her. Her charming voice and flattering lips had more effect on him than her kisses. Notwithstanding these, he was reluctant, but could stand it out no longer against her alluring words and soothing language. You know why? Because you're supposed to do what Joseph did. Run. Run. Amen. The Bible warns us, flee youthful lust. Run like the devil's chasing you, because he is. You get out of there. You don't stay there, you don't stick around there, you don't listen to the flattery. I'll tell you, it's very common, too, if married men aren't careful, too, because they, you know what, marriage, and even married women, marriage brings its own struggles. Marriage, listen, I'm gonna be honest with you, marriage is work. Every relationship is work. And if two lazy people get married, they're going to have a really rotten marriage if they don't want to work on things. If they don't want to work and they think they'll just kind of coast through life and not love one another, not be, not, not, not cherish one another and not have charity one towards, you know what? Children start coming along, bills come, boy do they ever, and all those other things come along with them. And you know what? There's a strain on that relationship, but some hussy can come around that can flatter you and talk to you about things and use her to, and act like, you know what, I don't feel that way and I don't think, and represent something to you that is false to flatter you and to get you away from your responsibility, to take you off of the path that God has for you and seduce you away from it, to sell you on some dream, to sell you on something that is not real. For you to abandon everything that you have, your children, your wife, your devotion, your God, and to get you to walk away from it. See, I know what I'm talking about. It's real and it's there. And that's what the world is. That's what the world wants to do. See, you just, you just have this, sometimes this naive thought that people are not out to destroy your faith. And I have this really strong urge to tell you, they want to stop it. They want to destroy it because they have the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. And you should not trust them. You should not trust them. And you should not trust yourself. You should trust God. And you should follow Him. And you should obey Him. And you should not trust Him. Why? Because yes, you really think these people would be out to bring me down. Oh, I don't think it. I KNOW IT! I don't, I don't, I don't think any of that. I know it according to the scriptures right here. God is telling you by the authority of the scriptures right here that there are women and there are men and they want to talk you out of your life. I'll talk you out of that Christian walk. They want to talk you away from, they want to seduce you away from faithfulness. And one of the main ways they do it is with the tongue. So you just stop listening to him. Well, I don't want to seem unkind. Who cares? I don't want, I don't want people to think I'm not nice. Hey, people think I'm not nice. Why? Well, because you stand for something. You're not like, uh, what was his name? He's like a jellyfish. What's his name? The guy from the JWs. What's what? Judge Rutherford. Yeah. He's like a jellyfish. He's like, wasn't that what he said? Something like that. You know something, when you stand for something, people aren't going to like it. And by the way, there's sometimes when you're faced with that kind of temptation, that you got to be straightforward. You got to make the lines clear. Amen. Because you can easily be taken by that if the lines are not clear. And that's any of us, by the way. That's any of us. With her much fair speech, she caused him to yield. First, she influenced his mind and bent his will to her purpose by her evil eloquence. See, she talked him over. She used words first. She used flattering words. She got to his mind first. Though indeed he had put himself in the way of temptation, and had now no power to resist her seductions. Then with the flattering of her lips she forced him, she drew him away. His body followed the lead of his blinded mind, and he acceded to her solicitations. The danger of this young man, if you are listening, is that this young man knew the truth. He had some good principles that he listened to, but he listened to the woman too long. He allowed that strange woman to seduce him with her mouth. Long before his body was taken, his mind was taken! Do you understand that if the mind is taken, the body will follow? If you're convinced of something in your mind, it's only a matter of time before your feet follow. That's why it's so dangerous to isolate yourself from God's people, from the book, from fellowship with others and everything else. Why? Because when you get in your own mind, you're gonna think that you're right about everything. You're gonna think that everybody else is wrong about everything, that there must be something wrong and the best thing I can do is just take my feet and leave. So when you're defeated in your mind first, then the body follows. That's how it works. You get defeated in the mind first. There's men that can be defeated their mind. They can't even get off the couch. And they say, well, there's, they go to a doctor. There's nothing wrong with your body. It's fine. It's your mind. So their answer is to give them funny pills. See what I mean? When somebody's mind is overtaken by, that's why you're to renew your mind daily. That's why you're to be in the Word daily. That's why you're not to lean on your own understanding. That's why iron sharpens iron and we all need one another. Right? We can't be by ourselves like that. It don't work that way. We'll get ate up. We need each other. Iron sharpens iron. And when you get yourself isolated, man, you'll start thinking a lot of goofy thoughts. You'll start chasing those rabbit trails down. You'll start thinking all kinds of things. And by the way, that can be in an hour drive. You'll start evil surmising. It can happen to any of us. You'll start getting taken over by it. That's why when the mind is taken, you're in trouble. It's dangerous. What he should have done, this simple young man, is run. The most dangerous part about her is not her body, but her tongue. There is a force in words which is often almost impossible to resist. Good words have a wonderful virtue in them to work upon the mind. And a great part of the good which we are called to do in the world is to be accomplished by means of that little member of the tongue. But corrupt minds are often found to have greater intelligence in persuading men to sin, because human nature is depraved and needs only a temptation to draw men to the practice of the worst of evils. No words have greater force in them to persuade men to sin than the flatteries of the strange woman. And therefore the Apostle Paul, who directs us to strive against sin, calls loudly to us to flee youthful lusts. Such lusts can scarcely be conquered but by flight, because the temptation to them when they meet with a simple mind and an impure heart are like sparks of fire lighting upon stubble fully dry. The force that is in the tongue of the strange woman will not excuse the deluded youth, for his yielding to her is to be attributed to the depravity of his own heart, which inclines him to prefer the advice of a bad woman to the counsels of the Almighty God. The adulteress is here called the strange woman because no man that has any wisdom or goodness in him will have any acquaintance with her. She is to be shunned by every man as if she were a heathen and a stranger to that sacred commonwealth. A strange woman indeed, utterly estranged from all principles of reason, virtue, and honor. It is a great mercy to be delivered from the allurements of the adulteress. Amen. How false she is! who will have any dealings with those that are made up of such treachery. She is a strange woman. She is false to him whom she entices. She speaks fair, tells him how much she admires him above any man, and what a kindness she has for him, but she flatters with her words. She has no true affection for him, nor any desire of his welfare, any more than Delilah had to Samson. All she designs is to pick his pocket and gratify a base lust of her own. Next, you will notice that the evil woman is the same as the evil man. We are given these instructions to keep us from being taken from the evil strange woman. Young man, you will learn about the simple young fool in the weeks ahead. He is the one that does not take heed to his father and his mother's instruction. The reproofs of instruction are therefore the way of life to thee, because they are designed to keep thee from the evil woman who will be certain death to thee, from being enticed by the flattery of a tongue of a strange woman, who pretend to love thee but intends to ruin thee. My son, Keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother. Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. When thou goest, it shall lead thee. When thou sleepest, it shall keep thee. And when thou wakest, it shall talk with thee. How does it talk with thee? God brings to your conscience and remembrance the things that you have learned. Right? He uses it. The Holy Spirit uses the things that you have learned and speaks those things to you and warns you. You know that's not right. While you're awake, it warns you. While you're walking along, it keeps you in the way. It shall talk with thee. The wisdom from the Word of God and from your godly parents will speak to your heart, and will warn you against a strange woman, and will keep thee from her snare, from her flattering and flirting tongue that is designed to ruin you, designed to take you and devour you. Proverbs 6, 23 and 24. The Bible says, For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life. to keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. She is that woman that was in the faith before. She knows what it means to be religious, just like the dangerous evil man along the way. When you study Proverbs 7, what you realize is she talks about offerings and sacrifices and religious things. She is a religious woman, just like Rome is very religious, right? Rome is very religious. And they bring you things, and they tell you things, and they speak of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, don't they? They speak that same language, but they offer false sacrifices. See, the Bible says, "...to deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flatters with her words." What did she do in verse 17, Proverbs 2, 17? It says this, "...which forsaketh the guide of her youth." She's the woman that forsook the guide of her youth. She forsook the truth. She moved away from it. She didn't listen to it. She didn't hearken to it. She didn't stay in the way. And forget it, the covenant of her God. She knows also what is right. She used to walk like that, but turned out of the way. And outwardsly, she walked like that when she had to. Listen to me. But then as soon as she got her freedom, she was gone. and knows enough to be dangerous. And that could be any young man or young woman, old man or old woman, it doesn't matter who it is, it could be anybody in this room. You could know the truth, you could follow it, only till a certain time. And young people, this is the danger that you have as you are raised up in a godly church, and one that preaches the word of God to you, one that warns you to flee from the wrath to come, one that has taught you what the right way is to go. and that you were to walk in it. And one of the dangers is as soon as you get the opportunity and the freedom to do what you want, that you skate out of there and you live the life you want to live. There are scores of children now that have done that. They are all over the place. You see them everywhere. And we've talked to them on the street. I hope you're not going to be one that we talk to on the street. I hope we're not going to see you on the street like that and look at you and you be doing the things that you ought not to be doing and you walking away from the Lord and walking away from the truth and say, Well, I only did it because I had to. Boy, I sure hope not. I sure hope not. Because it's the Word of God that can change your heart. We can't save you. We have to do all that we can do to lead you in paths of righteousness. We have to do all that we can do, but ultimately, it is between you and God. You must turn to the Lord. You must turn to Christ. You must have the power of the Holy Ghost of God in you to keep you in the way that you should go. All we can do is direct you in the right way. If you have a heart of rebellion here today, if you have a heart to run as soon as you get the chance. If that is in your heart, then it won't be long before your steps follow. You're only waiting for opportunity. And we beg you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled unto God. That's my desire of you, because I know the way that you will go. I was in that way. I walked in that way. I know what it leads to. I know the wages of sin lead to death. I know the desperation, discouragement. I know what the sin does. I know what the defiling nature of sin does to a mind and heart. I know what it means to have your heart broken, ripped out ripped out by women and by other situations because of fornication and to be used and to be taken advantage of and all of those other things. That's the road that that goes down. That's where that's headed. And the world will eat you up alive. It will destroy you. So the warning for you is this, that you make sure that your heart is right with God. You know what? You can come to church. You could have, your parents can teach you. They can give you the Bible. They can give you godly instruction, but it is your heart before God. You must stand before God. Your heart must be right. You must be saved by the grace of God, and you must have a desire to follow the Lord and be surrendered to Him. And by the way, the best time to surrender is not when you're 18 years old. The best time to surrender is now. The best time to surrender to God's ways is now. The best time to obey God is right now. The best time to decide that your life is not your own and to understand that you're bought and paid for with a price is now. That total submission and surrender to God Almighty is a daily thing. Daily you must do it. Daily you must seek God's face. Daily you must stay surrendered to His Word. You are, if you are a disciple of Christ, then you're to be named among the saints of God and you're to follow him. If any man come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. That is daily. Take up his cross daily because your temptations are only going to get worse. The longer you're on this, in this earth, the longer you serve God or the longer you go, the temptations are only going to get worse. And if all you are waiting for is the right opportunity to sin, then it will happen. But if you ask God to change your heart now and to make you the person that He wants you to be, that you are totally surrendered to the Lord now, if your heart is fixed on God now, then God will keep you in the way that you should go. And He will spare you. And when you get to that time of marriage and you get to that time of seeking out a spouse and all those things, you'll do it God's way and you'll be blessed. God will bless you and He will keep you. And He will protect you and guide you through that. But if you give in to your own will and base passions and desires and everything else and say, I'm going to go my own way, I'm going to do my own thing, that will lead to destruction. And all you are is waiting for an opportunity. That's it. Let me ask you, young lady, young man, how is your heart? Is this you? Are you just waiting to rebel against God or your parents when you get the opportunity? Those questions need to be asked. We all ought to be challenged by those things. All of us, right? That's all of us. But with young people especially, are you waiting for the right opportunity to do what you want to do? Is what you want to do what God wants for you? Because if what you want to do isn't what God wants for you to do, you ought to throw that thing away. You ought to pitch it and say, Lord, thy will be done. You ought to surrender to God's will and say, you know what? I'm going to honor the Lord as my life. I'm going to live my life for Jesus now. If you're a child of God, you have a duty to do that. Are you waiting for that? Are you only waiting for the right opportunity to do wrong? See, many of you young people aren't tested until you start to get out in the world and you start to get a little bit of liberty and freedom in different areas of your life. Then is your, all that your parents taught you and all that your pastor preached to you and all that the Lord is, then that's tested in your life. It's tested. It'll be tested all the way up through there, but it'll be tested then to see where your heart is. If you really want to follow the Lord, if you really want to obey him and follow him. Or do you look to be free from the castle because you see it as a prison? God's protection in a godly home are seen by some as grievous and burdensome. Will you be like Dinah and look out at the daughters of the land and seek them out and visit them to be like them? turning your back on everything you've been taught, and all the time and love that has been invested into you, if you turn your back on it and go after the world? It's a real question. It's a real thing that ought to be answered in your heart. Will I follow Christ? Will I obey Him? Will I obey my parents? Will I follow their leadership and instruction? Amen. The only remedy for that is Christ. If you're saved, repent of this terrible thing in your heart. The slightest bit of rebellion that wells up into your heart against your parents or against the teaching and preaching of God's Word, against your pastor, against the direction that God has for you, and all that he's given you in that, repent of that and get that right with God. Don't let that well up in your heart, because all you'll look for is the right opportunity to sin against God, and you'll walk away from everything that you've been taught. If that's not in your heart, if you have that little bit in your heart, you take that to the Lord and you get that right. Don't let that fester, don't let that grow. You need to get that right with God, you need to lay that down. Let the Lord deal with that in your heart. Don't let that rebellion get into your heart like that, because you'll rebel against your parents. As soon as you get a chance, you'll shame your mother and your father. Any one of us, any one of you. It's possible. The only remedy is Christ. If you're saved, repent of this and have a heart of true submission. If you're not saved, examine your heart with the scriptures. Turn to Christ and beg him to make you a Christian. Beg him to save your soul. Believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. Ask the Lord to change you and make you a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. You young man, best if you were never born if you give over to the flattering tongue of the strange woman. Boy, she'll make your life miserable. All your upbringing, all the love of your parents and family and pastor and church, will you throw out away for a cheap whore? Good question, isn't it? Will you throw it all away and cast all your principles away that you have learned for Satan's cheap imitation of what God wants to give you? Will you give in to the pleasures of sin for a season and shack up and fornicate and be a simple fool for a strange woman? For her house inclineth unto death and her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold to the paths of life. that thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous. For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it. Many a man never recovers from the strange woman." They never come back. God can do anything. It's not because God's not there for them. God's merciful. Long-suffering, kind, and patient. Many a man never comes back to the right way after marrying a strange woman he slides. Like Solomon, who was warning. Solomon loved many strange women. He gave himself over, they took his heart and he lost most of the kingdom because of it. He repented at the end of his life but it was too late, the damage had been done to his family and to Israel. 1 Kings 11 verse 1-6 But King Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Edomites, the Zinnians. the Hittites, of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go into them, neither shall they come in unto you. For surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods. Solomon clave unto these in love. And he had 700 wives, princes, princesses, excuse me, and 300 concubines, and his wives turned away his heart. The wrong wife will turn away your heart. You marry the wrong person, or get into a relationship with the wrong person, they'll turn your heart away from God. You choose the wrong person, you choose to develop a relationship with the wrong person, they'll turn your heart away from God. If you don't think you'll fall for it, Solomon fell for it. Who God appeared twice to. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods. And his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Asherah, the goddess of the Zidians. and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil on the side of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord as David his father. Then did Solomon build a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Moloch, the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise did he for all the strange wives which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods. And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice. And he commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he kept not that which the Lord commanded. Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant, my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. Solomon destroyed his testimony and caused many to slide because of it. Caused the land to be filled with... You never think that Solomon, who God appeared to twice... There's no way he'd worshiped Shemosh. Well, he didn't worship him directly, he allowed others to. He went after them and he allowed them to. He said, well, you know what? I'll add Jesus in with a little bit of this. Don't we see that today? We'll add Jesus in with a little bit of this. Only Solomon was actually God's child. Why? He was punished for it. God dealt with him. God took the kingdom away from him. left him one light in Judah and Benjamin at the time. Left him one light. The rest of them were taken away. The kingdom was split and taken from them. There's a lot of pictures there. Those that will be wrought upon by flattery make themselves a very easy prey to the tempter. And those who would avoid that snare must take well-instructed reproofs as great kindness and be thankful to those that will deal faithfully with them. You better be thankful that there's some people that'll tell you you're wrong. That that's wrong. That what you're doing is wrong. The direction you're going is wrong. You're supposed to be thankful for that. You're to love reproof. That's what the scripture says. And you have to ask yourself, do I love reproof when God straightens me out? Or when the preaching straightens me out? Or when a brother or sister straightens me out? Or something happens and I get straightened out? Do I love that reproof or do I hate it? Do I just get angry with it? Well, at first you might get mad. We all can do that. But afterwards, do you receive it and thank God for it? Thank God that there's somebody that'll tell you no. Somebody will tell you that you're wrong about the direction you're going to. To warn you not to go that way. That's what we're to do, right? We're to warn them. That's what we go out and do. That's why we do what we do, right? We warn the righteous and the wicked. And the righteous need to be warned. The saints of God have to be warned. We do both. We're out there on the streets, we do both. If there's saved people there, we don't tell them they're not saved. What do we say to them? You better get right. If you say you're a child of God and you're saved, then you better get right with God because you're going the wrong way. That's warning the righteous and the wicked, isn't it? That's what we do. And God's people, we all have to be warned if we're going the wrong way. To avoid the snare, we must take well-instructed reproofs as great kindness to be thankful to those that deal faithfully with them. The greatest kindness we can do ourselves is to keep at a distance from this sin and to look upon it with the utmost dread and detestation. Proverbs 27, I think we read that verse, we'll read it again. Verse five and six. Open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. We must make the Word of God familiar to us. Consult it. Consult its honor and take pleasure in conversing with the Word of God as that which we make use of for our defense and armor to keep us from the strange woman. This book will keep you from the strange woman. You know why I'm not a Roman Catholic today? Because of this book. Right? That strange harlot religion. Isn't that why you're not? Don't you see the scriptures that God gave you? He says, well, I couldn't be Roman Catholic because of what this book says. I couldn't. Why? Well, that's a harlot religion. I couldn't be that. I couldn't follow that by the grace of God. He shows me what I'm to be in here. And it's not Roman Catholicism. It's not the false daughters of Rome. I like that one preacher, J.W. Porter, that goes, wrote the Bible makes us Baptist. You just read it, what would you be? The Bible says, right? Those characteristics, the ones we follow, those fundamentals that we believe and hold to, they're distinctive. They're scripture, that's why. They just happen to identify with that. We must take the word of God, though, to keep us from the strange woman, from sin, the flattering but destroying thing, that adulterous, particularly from the sin of uncleanness. Let the word of God confirm Let the Word of God confirm our dread of that sin and our resolutions against it. Let it discover to us its fallacies and suggest to us answers to all its flatteries. See, giving in to flattery is a lack of sobriety. Being influenced by it, overly influenced by it, to take you off your guard, it's to not be sober. When somebody is overly flattering you like that, that's what it does to a man, the attention from a woman. When a woman gives too much attention to a man, that's what could happen. It could happen the other way around if a man gives too much attention to a woman that's not their wife or whatever. Same thing could happen. Giving too much attention causes a lack of sobriety there and they get Twitterpated by it and they get taken by it. That's what happens. Right? That's why you don't spend that much time talking in those long conversations and private conversations and things like that with the opposite sex. That's why, that's why we, that's why we practice those things. That's why we don't do youth departments the way the world does youth depart, or the way most churches do youth departments. We don't have banquets. We don't have youth banquets. which is the world, which is the Christian way of having a dance without dancing, I guess, I don't know. That's what I always seem as. But, because that's what I went to is those school dances when I was a lost man. And I know what proms were like and I know what they were for. So I don't, we don't want to do anything like that, right? We don't encourage that. Why? Because we'll someday, you know, I do encourage you to be kind to each other because you might be marrying one another one day. So you should be kind. There's going to come a day you, if you're in here long enough and you're all together and you children grow up and there's 40, a good chance some of you are going to marry. So don't be too mean to that girl or that boy and don't do too many embarrassing things because they'll always remember. Right, but that's the, there's, and the good news is you'll know what a boy and a girl is, and they're gonna be here, so that's awesome that you won't have to like wonder, man, what is that? Amen? Well here we thought it was for another reason, now we're starting to learn as time goes by, it is for that reason, but it's more. There's more, we're gonna have real boys and girls here, everybody else is gonna be a hybrid out there, so. Amen. That sounds crazy, doesn't it? It sounded crazy 10 years ago when we said things like that, but it don't sound as crazy now, does it? But anyway, so you don't, the characteristics, the first one we covered was the flattery of the tongue. We're gonna talk about being loud and stubborn. That's the next one. But for right now, we'll finish up, we're finished with this one. But you know, again, you may not be a strange woman, but you don't wanna follow her characteristics either. So you want to be careful about that. You want to watch that. You want to watch your conduct. See, our conduct and the way that men and women deal with each other, it matters. It does. We always believe that. I mean, we do. We believe that. This church believes that. I know each family believes that. I know they do. I've watched it. I've watched it. So I know you believe that. But it's just, we're careful with that. Right? Because remember, we're raising children up and teaching them the distinctions between those sexes and the appropriateness and everything else. Right? So, amen. We learned some things. Father in heaven, Lord, we thank you for your church. Thank you, Father, for the word of God. Thank you for instructing us and correcting us and teaching us. Lord, help us to learn from it. We love your word, Lord. We're thankful we have it. Lord, there's people that don't know what they have. They don't even have a Bible. Thank you for what you've given us, Lord, the perfect Word of God. Help us to follow it. Help us to learn from it. There's a responsibility, Father, that we know we have because we have it. Thank you for it. Thank you for each and every lady here that has a good heart to follow you. Young person, old person, doesn't matter. We thank you. Thank you for each man that leads their home. Each man that stands up and leads. And thank you for fathers and mothers. God, thank you for them. And Lord, would you please bless us today and give us good and sweet fellowship. Bless the food to our bodies. Bless the time and the prayer time later and the time we have together. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.