Let's open our Bibles, please, the book of Proverbs. We're in the 6th chapter. We finished the 5th in our last lesson. We're in the 6th chapter. If you wanted to kind of divide it up, verses 1 through 5, we'll call it unlimited liability. Verses 6 through 11 is the sluggard. Talk about the sluggard. Verses 12 through 15, the mischief maker. In verses 16-19, seven abominations, these six things that the Lord hates, seven is abomination inside of God. And then that's verse 16-19. And the last section is verses 20-35 is adultery. Of course, it's not only physical, but spiritual, as far as the spiritual condition of people are concerned with God. They depart from God and love the world, and it's the same thing in the spiritual way. one more untrue in marital relations. Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth." I want you to notice this. For a Christian to be surety or to co-sign or to take responsibility with someone else is a very dangerous thing. And because of the kindness of our hearts many times, we are tempted to say, well, he's a Christian brother, or maybe he's not even a Christian, maybe he's a friend, maybe he's not just an altogether immoral person or a bad person. even an unsafe person or even a safe person. You're sticking your neck out if you want to pardon the expression. Because, you know, you have the right to say no. I'm going to preach a sermon on this sometime, that the Christians' right to say no. You know, we all think that Christians have to say yes to everything because they love people and they care about people and the sympathy and kindness of their heart makes them say, well, this guy needs help, so I'll help. It's not always the best case. In fact, the Word of God here warns against it. Sometimes you make an enemy out of a friend by doing this very thing right here. Because when it ends up sour and you don't expect the thing to turn out with the bad consequences, you don't expect what's going to happen when it could happen. And sometimes it doesn't happen, that if you co-sign with someone or you be surety for someone, it amounts to one and the same thing. that you end up on the short end of the stick and you say, well, my, why did I do that? And then the other person knows that you feel bad about it and you make an enemy out of a good friend. So if it's going to end up that you have an enemy out of a friend, it's not a very good idea, is it? And you know what? If you can't go to the bank and borrow money there, you shouldn't try to get it from your friend. Did you know that? That's really true. Because if you're a bad risk at the bank, you're a bad risk with your brother. Two, the bank can suffer the loss sometimes if you have the situation there, but your brother, many times he's sticking his head out too far and he can't really suffer that loss if it actually comes back to him. And so it says, My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou stricken thy hand, in other words, if you co-signed or agreed or come to an agreement, made a contract or whatever it is, with a stranger, and sometimes friend and stranger are used intermittent, interchangeably here I should say. And he might be a close friend or he might not be such a good friend. Sometimes they've given the indication that stranger means an apostate, but the scripture doesn't carry that out. It just carries out the general terms of being surety for someone. So it says, thou art snared with the words of thy mouth. In other words, you popped off when you should have been listening. You should have kept your mouth shut when you just said, oh yeah, you need help. Well, I'll, you know, we're always ready to volunteer. if someone is in trouble. But that's a bad way to do it. Thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. See, snared and taken, meaning much the same thing. And it says, do this now, okay, if you've got yourself in this situation. Look at this. It says, do this now, my son, and deliver thyself. When thou art come into the hand of thy friend, Go humble thyself and make sure, thy friend," in other words, you do your best to get out of the situation, "...did not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids. Delivered thyself as a roll from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler." Look at that. In other words, some people do not realize the severity of the situation they've gotten themselves into. So if there's any way at all to get out of this situation, you do it, and do it quickly, is what he's saying. Look how serious it is. Deliver thyself. Some people do not realize how serious it really is. You have a right to say no, or otherwise it may. In the Old Testament days, it led many to poverty and to be sold off or to have to serve as servants under the hands of others for many years. Usually seven years was the time of servitude. In the book of Nehemiah chapter 5, I want you to notice the situation with these that had gotten themselves into trouble and possibly as a result of something like this. We don't know, but they had made bad deals and made bad agreements and contracts so that they were in bondage. If you read Nehemiah 5, I want you to begin with verse 1 through 5. It says, A great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren, the Jews." Now look, against their brethren. It says, "...and there were that said, We our sons, our daughters are many, therefore we take up corn for them that we may eat and live. Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn because of the dirt." And see, because they couldn't pay, there were also that said, "...we have bought money for the king's tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards." And it says, Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children, and lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants. And some of our daughters are brought into bondage already, neither is it in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and vineyards. Suppose you go and vote for someone for $10,000, and you've only got for five hundred and it turns wrong and you've got five hundred all you have is it written. In other words you've got to pay it right? If that other person can't pay it you're the one that's responsible. And sometimes you just have to say no, no I cannot do that. Friend I understand your need but I can't do that. And it's your right to do that. And you know sometimes you make a better friend out of that person than you might otherwise. Because they understand that you have enough sense to know what you are doing. And if it makes them mad they are not a very good friend. And you have to take that risk. I'm just telling you what the word says. You do as you please. If you want to go out there and co-sign a note for somebody. a big amount of money or a small amount of money, just remember that if they don't have the money to pay it, you're stuck with the note. And if you do have the money to pay it, even if you don't, you're stuck with whatever you're able to rake up. And of course, the balance would be due from you as a cosigner. So you better be careful in business deals. Back to this now. What are we talking about? Unlimited liability. You become liable in such a way that there is no limit to that liability. These first few verses show that very thing. I'm going to give you a sermon one of these days on seven Christians who said no. They just said no. We're not going to do that. And they're in the Bible. Seven Christians who said no. And one of these days we'll preach a sermon on that. Let's pick up with verse 6. It says, Go to the aunt thou sluggard. We're talking about the sluggard now from 6-11. Go to the aunt thou sluggard, consider her ways, and be wise. Observe the aunt's wisdom. It says, which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and giveth her food in the harvest. Look at that. The aunt has no ruler, no guide, No overseer. And yet the aunt knows what to do. The aunt is not lazy. The aunt is not a slugger. Observe its wisdom. The loafer. You know those guys always loafing around. They have nothing to do whatsoever. Absolutely nothing to do. Well, I'll tell you what. There is a payday for that kind of action. And it's usually poverty. It's usually not having enough for yourself, your family, or provision. Even for your own self. character of the extreme. And so you must be industrious. And we get our lesson from the ant. In other words, we observe its wisdom. The whole book of Proverbs is a book of wisdom. So here's another aspect of wisdom illustrated by the little ant. You ever seen that little ant going, you know, I've taken a can of kerosene or gasoline or whatever. These little red ants, you pour that on there and it seems like you've got every ant there ever could be killed. I mean, it's gone. And lo and behold, in two days, they've dug underground and there's enough of them to survive, they've built a new house right over here. Another airfield. And man, there seem to be just about as many as there was before. And you thought you killed thousands of them. I've even set them on fire. You know, put, pour the kerosene or gasoline down there and set it on fire to destroy it. And we're talking about red ants or other kinds. But this is, they're industrious. They keep on acting. First thing you know, you see them carrying something about the size of your fingernail, about four or five or six times their size, and rolling it around and carrying it, and they just keep on and keep on until they get it over there where they want it. Well, that's hard labor and it's work, but they're not lazy. But the fellow that's lazy, you know the Bible says, if any man does not work, neither should he eat. This situation here would take care of a lot of people bumming off the other fellow, wouldn't it? Say, look, fella, get to work, and you might have what you need. But if you're going to laze around all the time, you don't expect me to work hard and give it to you if you're not going to work at all. And so it gets our economy back in the right direction. I think if we had more of that in our nation, we'd get things back in the right order. It says, Provided her meat in the summer and gathered her food in the harvest. Proverbs 20 verse 4 says, The sluggard will not plow. You can look at it if you want to. Proverbs 20 verse 4. The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold, or the winter actually. And it says, Therefore shall he bag in the harvest and have nothing. I remember when I used to farm wheat. You'd get out there in the wheat field. You know, sometimes you'd get a cold spell even in September when wheat planting time. be planting wheat out there and just really chilly and fixing the ground and trying to get that wheat in before it's too late and uh but if you didn't do it you know if you said oh it's too cold we'll wait we'll wait we'll wait first thing you know it kept getting colder and colder and colder right then you don't get the wheat in and then next may and june july you don't have anything you got to get that wheat in the ground and if you're not going to plow by reason of the cold or by reason of the heat even in the summer when you're preparing the land. You know it's too hot in the summertime when you should be turning the ground over and you should be a mow board and then disking it and harrowing it when you're getting it prepared. If you're too lazy to do that in the heat of the day, it's about the same. That's why the Bible says that a preacher, he says, be instant, in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering and doubt. See, the preacher is responsible if people accept it, if they do not accept it. If it's warm and acceptable, or if it's cold and indifferent, you still preach, right? That wasn't very good. Well, just preach anyway. In other words, if you have people that are not receiving and don't want to receive. Isaiah, we had it last Sunday, was told to go to people that were not here. and would not see. And yet God says, you go to this people. And Jeremiah says, oh Lord. He says, how long? First he thought he was going on a great mission. God says, whom shall I send and who will go for us? And Isaiah says, hear my Lord send me. I expect he thought he was going out to a people that would just really accept the message of God. But God says, No, Isaiah, they will not hear you. They cannot see and they will not understand. They are going to reject it. And yet he was told to go and he went. So we are to be instant in season and out of season, reproved, rebuked, and exhorted with all longsuffering and doctrine. All right, let's get back to this now. It says, Go to the aunt thou sluggard, consider her ways, and be wise. So we are called to look upon the wisdom of the aunt. which having no guide or overseer or ruler," look at her character, "...provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest." It says, "...how long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?" Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep. "...so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth." And I want as an armed man. Look at that. These three verses. How long will you sleep? In other words, it's not really sleeping so much as it is putting it off. In other words, just being indifferent to it. How long will thou sleep, O sluggard? Well, probably literal sleep, too. But it indicates putting it off because of laziness and enjoyment of comfort and present leisure without ever attending to any work. That's the idea. just sleeping away, dreaming away the day, and not having any sense of responsibility or duty. You know, if you don't become responsible, then you cannot expect to profit. How long will thou sleep, O slugger? When will thou rise out of thy sleep? When are you going to wake up? When are you going to quit putting off what is necessary? When are you going to realize that it takes work and plowing and sowing to bring a harvest? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep. In other words, that's all he could be concerned about. In verse 11, so shall thy poverty come as one that travels like a vagrant, a vagabond, one that just keeps on going around like a bum. He just keeps going from place to place, and of course, the more he travels and the more he runs around and the more he's a vagrant, the more he's a vagabond, the more poverty he has to face. out on the farm they had the smokehouse you know you may have heard the story and it's pretty common even though it actually happened they had all these hams hanging up in the smokehouse and they had one special big old ham there smoked ham they said we're saving that for hard times you know and uh so they explained to the kids what hard times was said well that's when people uh come around there everybody's hungry and wanting something to eat you know and the old guy oh bomb come knocked on the door This kid goes out to the smokehouse and gets that ham and says, it's a hard time. The old bun says, it's hard times. So they thought it was for this fella and they gave him that good ham. So that may be the way you lose everything, isn't it? Okay, so shall thy poverty come as one that traveleth and thy want as an armed man. Now verse 12, we're coming to a different section. This is the mischief maker. This is the worthless or wicked person. It says, a naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a forward mouth. Look at this. Actually, the word naughty means worthless or wicked. He is a wicked person. We're talking about the mischief maker. It says, and walketh with a forward mouth. That is a lie. Forward means a lying mouth. He lies about everything. You ever seen folks like that? And it says, actually, a naughty person, it means a Belial or wickedness. Belial or a worshiper of Belial. And it's spoken of in the New Testament, you know, what fellowship hath Christ with Belial. Now then, notice what it says here. He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers, forwardness, that means perverseness. and lying tongue, forwardness is in his heart, it comes out of his mouth, and he devises mischief continually, he soweth discourse. Therefore shall this calamity come suddenly, and it says, suddenly shall he be broken without remedy." In other words, there is always a time that a person will sow what he reaps. Now notice this again. He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers. It's like, you know, I saw the illustration of where the the guy that was bribing the judge in a court, they had already determined that if he put his finger up like that, you know, showed his finger, that meant that he would pay him the bribe, you know. Okay, as agreed. Then if things got worse and he put two fingers up, that means I'll double it, you know. So it's all kinds of signs from the individual that are deceitful. And misleading. So he's lying in every sense of the word. He didn't even have to speak it out. So it's showing here that his whole character is corrupt. That his feet, look at this again. He winketh with his eyes. He speaketh with his feet. In other words, he can't be still. He has to move around. And all the movements of his body shows the deceitfulness of the person. He teacheth with his fingers. See there? Fraudliness is in where? In his heart. He deviseth mischief continually. And he soweth disgrace. Therefore shall this calamity come suddenly, suddenly shall he be broken without remedy." Let me give you a reference. Look in Isaiah 30, verses 13 and 14. Isaiah 30, verses 13 and 14, and you'll see what happens. Isaiah 30, verse 13 says this, "'Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach, ready to fall. swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant." In other words, his destruction suddenly comes, doesn't it? "...and he shall break it as the breaking of the potter's vessels that is broken in pieces. He shall not spare so that there shall not be found in the bursting of the sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal." out of the pit. For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest shall ye be saved, and quietness and confidence shall be your strength. But you said no, for we will flee upon horses." In other words, there is the rebellious, God promised salvation, God promised deliverance, but the rebellious are going to have to pay the consequences. That same thing back in our text. Verse 15, back in our text, "...therefore shall his calamity come suddenly, suddenly shall he be broken," and then it says, "...without remedy." You know, once you have to suffer the consequences of certain things, there is no remedy of the situation gone too far. You study the book of Amos, we've taught it here on Wednesday nights, I believe, and it says in several places, the first section of the Book of Amos says, for three transgressions, now listen, and for four I will not turn away the punishment thereof. And he said that concerning various heathen nations, and then he said that concerning Judah and Israel. Some of you remember studying that. I can see the nods there. So what he's saying, for three transgressions I restrained you, I warned you, I told you what was going to happen, and finally for four You tipped the scales. You've gone one too far. And God said judgment was inevitable. And that's what happens sometimes to individuals. They just go too far. I have another message on when God's patience wears out. God's patience came to an end with Noah's world, with the whole world in Noah's day, didn't it? And he endured with great patience. And finally, his patience came to an end. His patience came to an end with the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Remember old Belshazzar? What happened? He had so defiled the holy vessels of God, and God says, he wrote on the plaster of the wall, and finally Daniel was called to interpret it, and it says, Meaning, meaning, take away your portion, which means, thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting. Tonight, the kingdom is going to be taken from you, destroyed and taken from you and given to the means and the persons. And it says, In that night was bailed the child of the king, slain, and derised, I believe it was, that took the kingdom. quotations there wrong, but you can look and find. But the situation is there, that the handwriting was on the wall, wasn't it? So right here you have the sudden coming. In the book of Proverbs also it says, he that being often reproved and hardened his neck shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. Let's see if that's 29 verse 1. Let's look at 29. Yes, it did. It says, "...he that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed," now here you have it, "...and that without remedy." The same thing we're talking about over here in our text. 6, verse 15, "...therefore shall his calamity come suddenly, suddenly shall he be broken without remedy." Much one and the same thing. Now, in verses 16, you have our text, 6, verse 16-19, you have seven abominations, 16-19. Notice what it says here. It says, These six things that the Lord hates, yea, seven, are an abomination unto him. We can go through the book of Proverbs and show various things that are abomination to God, and sometime I'll sum up all of those. But right now, let's just keep our attention to these six things, I mean these seven that are abominations. So it says, here it names them. First of all, it says a proud look. A proud look is detested. A proud look, God detests a proud look. A proud look is unfit for the reception of grace and mercy. Did you know that? If you're trying to be so proud and so uppity well then you're not opening yourself to the reception of the mercy and grace of God. Some people are so... it says pride goeth before destruction and a haunted spirit before fall, right? So if you've got a proud look, and if you're always above everything and everybody, including God seemingly, that you cannot receive His mercy and His grace, you have to be humble. God says that God resists at the proud, but giveeth grace to the humble. In other words, if you're humble yourself in the sight of Almighty God and realize that we're sinners, and we need God's mercy and grace, then you're a fit subject for the reception of that grace. And that's about the only way you'll ever get it, because he says he resists the proud. So it says a proud look. And look, a lying tongue reveals a deceitful heart, and hands that shed innocent blood. to bloodshed. It leads in this direction. One of these things, you know, we've given you some time or other the Beatitudes and how the first is linked to the second and so on and so forth, and they're like links in the chain. These are also that way. You see a lying tongue and hands that shed innocent blood. A lying tongue reveals a deceitful heart and the heart yields to join its hands in bloodshed. So it's just a sequence of evil above evil. worse all the time, and it leads to every evil suggestion, and finally leads to discord among the brethren. The attitude is a proud look. The attitude is one of thought, and it comes out in speech. a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, this is action, and heart that deviseth wicked imagination, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren." Now, look at these things, how they are connected. You have a proud look, then you have a lying tongue, and then you have that leads into hands that shed innocent blood, and then a heart that deviseth wicked imaginations. And then the feet that are swift in running to mischief, and a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among the brethren." No wonder the Lord hates all these things. Look at all the parts of the person revealing his character. Look at all the parts of the anatomy. First of all, a proud look would involve the eyes, right? You have the eyes, you have the tongue, you have the hands, you have the heart, you have the feet, you have the false witness, that's the tongue again. The one that sows discord among the brethren, that's also speaking out in evil. It causes three kinds of evil. If you notice, trying to sum them up, a lying tongue, verse 17. In verse 19, a false witness that speaketh lies, there is the tongue again. And he that soweth discord among brethren, there is the tongue again. Slander, telling lies. Did you know that if God's people would avoid all of these things, it would be a very sweet day in the church and house of God. If we would learn to avoid every one of these seven things that are really abomination in the sight of God. And let me tell you something, beloved, it can be done if we are willing. Let me read a verse for you. Psalm 133 is only three verses. 133rd Psalm. There are only three verses. And I want you to notice this. Beloved, if we could keep this kind of atmosphere, look what it says. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. That is a blessed verse. It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard. The ointment or anointing to Aaron was a symbol of God's anointing and presence and power and blessing upon him, it says. Even Aaron's beard that went down to the skirts of his garments, as the dew of Hermon, as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord commended the blessing, even life for evermore." Look at that! That's a wonderful little psalm, isn't it? With three verses. Don't you look back at verse 1 again at this? "...Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." keep that kind of atmosphere in their church. Well, someone says, well, I don't agree with Brother so-and-so. Well, maybe I don't either. That doesn't mean I can't love him and fellowship with him. That doesn't mean we can't understand. each other's differences. You know, if we were all alike, wouldn't that be a terrible world? What if every one of us were alive? I can't think of what it would be if there was only one kind of ice cream, just vanilla. No other kind. No chocolate, no strawberries, nothing. Wouldn't that be an awful thing? What if there was only one kind of food? Only one kind of bread, just white bread. No wheat bread, no other kinds of loaves. Why, man, that would be the worst thing in the world. And all of us, a variety, It really makes for a good blessing if we can learn that we don't have to be, just because we're different, we don't have to be indifferent. And so we can learn to fellowship with each other and have fellowship with one another. There are certain basic things that we need to be unified in, the basic things, the fundamentals of the faith. We need to certainly all believe. in the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. We all need to believe in the sinlessness of Christ. We need to believe in the substitutionary, sacrificial, atoning work of Christ, that we are redeemed by the blood of Christ. This is our unity. This is the strength of our unity. But if someone comes along with a little different interpretation of a verse of Scripture where there is possibility that either side could be, it could be one way or it could be the other, and there is no definite spelling out that it is one way or the other. And sometimes we have things like that in the Scripture where we can have a little difference of opinion and yet not disagree on the fundamentals of the faith. And that should never divide God's children. It should keep us in unity. Your interpretation, your thoughts may be far better than mine and sometimes mine may make some sense and maybe yours doesn't make quite as good a sense. So we have to learn to get along in these things. And sometimes it's a matter of deeper knowledge and teaching in certain aspects too. You know on the surface a lot of things do not always give the full revelation. of what is revealed in the word. A person will take a scripture and they'll just take that one scripture and without comparing all the reference scriptures and getting the full study of that particular subject together, they'll draw their conclusions without coming to any full study of the situation. We call that prejudice in a way. Because you're prejudging before all the evidence is in, right? You've got to get all the evidence in first. Someone says, well, that scripture teaches so and so. Well, let's see. Let's don't draw the conclusion until we have all the evidence in. The Bible says, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Some people say, well, that means you have to be baptized to be saved. No, it didn't say that. It said, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, didn't it? Okay? But it says, He that believeth not shall be condemned. It didn't say, He that is baptized not shall be condemned, did it? So then baptism must be not the essential part, but something that follows the necessary part. See, you've got to get all the evidence in. And there's too many other scriptures that says, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. So it doesn't say anything about being baptized, and thou shalt be saved. And baptism just makes it more comfortable. I could just say, if a fellow goes down here and catches a bus, to go to Roswell, he's going to go to Roswell, right? But if a fellow goes down here and catches a bus to go to Roswell and takes a seat on that bus, he's going to Roswell. Now, he'd be far more comfortable if he sits down on the way, wouldn't he? But if he wants to stand on the bus, he's still going to get to Roswell, right? If he wants to hang on the bunker, he'll get there. If he wants to stick half his body out the window, if he just don't fall out, he's still going to get there. That's like, he that believeth shall be saved, and he that believeth that is baptized shall be saved. See? And so you're more comfortable if you follow the other aspects of the comfortable trip on the way. But you're going to get there regardless if you meet the essential requirement, right? So there's a lot of things that we take draw conclusions to before we have all the evidence in. And that's why I'm a Baptist. I've tried to get the evidence in. And, beloved, I believe we have some evidence on our side. I believe we've got some real, firm, scriptural, biblical evidence on our side as Bible-believing Christians and as Baptists. And I'm not saying that all are that way, and I know there are some that are going off on the deep end in every direction. But if we'll stick to the Word of God, I believe you can find out the truth. All right, let's look at this. It says in verse 20, My son, keep thy father's commandments, and forsake not the law of thy mother. Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. Look at that. When thou goest, it shall lead thee. When thou sleepest, it shall keep thee. And when thou wakest, it shall talk with thee. Three things, lest we go the wrong way. When we are not awake to any danger, it says, When thou goest, it shall... First of all, it says, When thou goest, it shall lead thee. And that means that the Word of God, if we follow it, we might go the wrong way, but if we'll go and follow its leading, it will lead us. And when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee. When we're not awake to any danger, yet if we're in danger, we're going to be kept because we follow the Word of God. It says, And when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. When we need someone to talk to, God's Word will talk to us. Someone said, I need someone to talk to. Well, let God's Word speak to you, and then you speak to God in prayer, and you have a conversation, and you have some counsel, and you have some guidance. It says in verse 23, For the commandment is a lamp. The law is light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life. You have a repeat here of what you had before. Look, compare the first part of verse 22 with the first part of verse 23. When thou goest, it shall lead thee. A lamp leads us. A lamp shines in the darkness, and if we follow it, it will lead us. And when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee. It says the law is light, but when it's dark and we have no light, well, it's going to to also show us the way. And reproofs of instruction are the way of life. Now, the last part of verse 22 with verse 23. Notice that. And when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. In other words, even if it's reproofs of instructions, it will show us the way of life. It will talk to us about what's good and bad and right and which way to go. Verse 24. To keep thee from the evil woman, now here we come across From verses 20 to 35, we're going to study under this heading. We've already been getting some instructions, but all of this will help us to consider the way that would cause us to fall, the way of adultery. Let's look at verse 24. To keep thee from the evil woman, and from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. The word strange woman indicates an adulteress or even an harlot, and it says, lest not after her beauty in thine heart. God's word tells us how to react to these temptations. Neither let her take thee with her eyelids, for by means of a whorish woman a man is brought piece of bread. And it says, And the adulterous will hunt for the precious life. It says, Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Can one go up on hot coals and his feet not be burned? Can you imagine a man walking on hot coals and not burning his feet? It says, Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his soul when he is hungry. Wait a minute, I skipped a verse. Verse 28 says, Can one walk upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? So he that goeth into his neighbor's wife, that is, commits adultery, whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent. In other words, he's playing with fire. It says, men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his soul when he is hungry. In other words, if there is some consideration of this kind of a crime, and he has to pay the consequences, even the thief, but men sometimes make at least some concession to this kind of an action if he is stealing to feed his family. when he's hungry, or his own soul even. But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold. He shall give all the substance of his house. In other words, he has to make amends, doesn't he? He has to make restoration sevenfold according to the book of Exodus. But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding, and he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. And there's no exception. Did you know this particular thing has caused more men to fall of every social standing? And once it happens, their fall They cannot recover from such a fall. There is just absolutely no way to really completely and finally and totally recover. If the thief steals, he can repay sevenfold and sometimes he can go on with life without this being brought up. And he can start living the right kind of life and it will never be brought up again. in his life at some point in time, he can prove himself. But if a man commits adultery, usually it stays with him all of his life, some way or another. And it says here, he destroyeth his own soul. If you take this in a spiritual way, we talk about the destruction from God. In other words, the same spiritual attitude toward God and joined with the world, then it leads to spiritual and total destruction. It says, a wound and dishonor shall he get. And his reproach shall not be wiped away. take her, go in and commit adultery with her. Let's read verse 8. It says, But he refused and said unto his master's wife, Behold, my master wadeth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to mine. There is none greater in this house than I, neither hath he kept back anything from me but thee. That was his wife. He says, Because thou art his wife, how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? We are living in days when Sin against God is not even brought up, is it? It's just called lifestyle, promiscuity, whatever people want to do. No laws, no rules, no regulations. And we're living in a day and hour when it's become less and less demeaning to a person, and yet underneath it all there is still this destruction that comes and this dishonor that comes and this reproach that shall never be wiped away. The last two verses say, For jealousy is the rage of a man, therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance. He will not regard any ransom, in other words, if a person is caught. with another person's wife. It says, Jealousy is the rage of a man, for husband comes home. Thou for he will not spare in the day of vengeance. And God will not spare either if it pertains to the spiritual that we're talking about. And we're using the physical and material to illustrate and picturize the spiritual and eternal in a relationship with God as well as the miracle relationship actually that's seen here. Thank you for your patience and your kind attention.