Our scripture text today is found in much of three chapters of the Book of Proverbs, Proverbs 5, 6, and 7. We'll read all of Chapter 5, a portion of Chapter 6, and all of Chapter 7. But first let us pray and ask God's blessing upon the reading and the preaching of His Word. Almighty God, we do bow before You in submission because You have spoken. As Savior, You have spoken to give us the way of salvation. As Lord, You have spoken to show us how we are to live as saved people. So we pray, O Lord and Savior, that Your Holy Spirit would open the hearts of any who have been closed to Your Saviorhood to receive Him by the hearing of the Word of God. And we pray that You would further enlighten those who have vowed before You as Lord that we would search our own hearts and bring our lives by your help into stricter conformity to your will. We pray particularly now for all of us as we consider this very practical subject. We pray that you would bless us with open, honest hearts, helping us to remember that those who think they stand should take heed lest they fall. For the name of Christ we pray, amen. Let us stand for the reading of the Word of God. Proverbs, Chapter 5. My son, give attention to my wisdom, incline your ear to my understanding, that you may observe discretion, and your lips may reserve knowledge, for the lips of an adulteress drip honey, and smoother than oil is her speech. But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death, her steps lay hold of the grave, She does not ponder the path of life, her ways are unstable, she does not know it. Now then, my sons, listen to me and do not depart from the words of my mouth. Keep your way far from her and do not go near the door of her house, lest you give your vigor to others and your years to the cruel one. Lest strangers be filled with your strength and your hard-earned goods go to the house of an alien and you groan at your latter end when your flesh and your body are consumed, and you say, How I have hated instruction, and my heart spurned reproof, and I have not listened to the voice of my teachers nor inclined my ear to my instructors, I was almost in utter ruin in the midst of the assembly and congregation. Drink water from your own cistern, and fresh water from your own well. Should your springs be dispersed abroad, streams of water in the streets, let them be yours alone and not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed and rejoice in the wife of your youth. As a loving hind and a graceful doe, let her breast satisfy you at all times. Be exhilarated always with her love. For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an adulteress, and embrace the bosom of a foreigner? For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he watches all his paths. His own iniquities will capture the wicked, and he will be held with the cords of his sin. He will die for lack of instruction, and in the greatness of his folly he will go astray." Chapter 6, verse 20, through the end of that chapter. My son, observe the commandment of your father, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother. Bind them continually on your heart, tie them around your neck. When you walk about, they will guide you. When you sleep, they will watch over you, and when you awake, they will talk to you. For the commandment is a lamp, and the teaching is light and reproofs for discipline or the way of life, to keep you from the evil woman. from the smooth tongue of the adulteress. Do not desire her beauty in your heart, nor let her catch you with her eyelids. For on account of a harlot one is reduced to a loaf of bread, and an adulteress hunts for the precious life. Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Can a man walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? So is the one who goes in to his neighbor's wife. Whoever touches her will not go unpunished. Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry, but when he is found he must repay sevenfold. He must give all the substance of his house. The one who commits adultery with a woman is lacking sense. He who would destroy himself does it. Wounds and disgrace he will find, and his reproach will not be blotted out. For jealousy enrages a man, and he will not spare in the day of vengeance. He will not accept any ransom, nor will he be content, though you give many gifts." Chapter 7. My son, keep my words and treasure my commandments within you. Keep my commandments and live, and my teaching is the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers, write them on the tablet of your heart. Say to wisdom, you are my sister, and call understanding your intimate friend. that they may keep you from an adulteress, from the foreigner who flatters with her words. For at the window of my house I looked out through the lattice, and I saw among the naive, I discerned among the youths, a young man lacking sense, passing through the street near her corner, and he takes the way to her house in the twilight, in the evening, in the middle of the night, and in the darkness. And behold, a woman comes to meet him, dressed as a harlot and cunning of heart. She is boisterous and rebellious, her feet do not remain at home. She is now in the streets, now in the squares, and lurks by every corner. So she seizes him and kisses him, and with a brazen face she says to him, I was due to offer peace offerings. Today I have paid my vows, therefore I have come out to meet you, to seek your presence earnestly, and I have found you. I have spread my couch with coverings with colored linens of Egypt. I have sprinkled my bed with myrrh, aloe, and cinnamon. Come, let us drink our fill of love until morning. Let us delight ourselves with caresses, for the man is not at home. He's gone on a long journey. He's taken a bag of money with him. At full moon he will come home. With her many persuasions she entices him, with her flattering lips she seduces him. Suddenly he follows her as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as the one in fetters to the discipline of a fool, until an arrow pierces through his liver as a bird hastens to the snare, so he does not know that it will cost him his life. Now therefore, my sons, listen to me and pay attention to the words of my mouth. Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways. Do not stray into her paths, for many are the victims she has cast down, and numerous all her slain. Her house is the way to the grave, descending to the chambers of death." You may be seated. God places a high value on purity and chastity between men and women. He's jealous for the sanctity of marriage and family, and as one has said, any violation of the sacred character of marriage is a heinous offense, calling down the punishment of heaven both upon the offender and the society that condones the offense. Rush Dunia said this, Normal sexuality for Christianity is marital sexuality. Adultery, sexual unfaithfulness in married people, is a violation of that relationship and an abnormal criminal act and assault upon fundamental order. In fact, adultery is so abominable in the sight of God that its only just punishment is death, because it is such a vicious assault upon marriage and family. In the Bible, adultery is placed in the same category as murder, in that it is a murderous act against the cornerstone institution of any healthy society and culture. And if you think that is an exaggeration, listen to the word of God in Deuteronomy 22, 22, and remember the word of the Lord endures forever. If a man is found lying with a married woman, Both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman and the woman. Thus you shall purge the evil from Israel." In this American culture, immorality in singles is considered normal, natural, and healthy as long as it's practiced moderately and safely. Immorality among married people is looked upon with less and less condemnation, and it's actually recommended by some in order to strengthen your marriage. We had a woman attend church here, this is really true. We had a woman who attended church here for several Sundays many years ago. You could hear her coming in with all the jangles and bangles everywhere. And she wrote a book and sold several thousands of copies of this book. And the title of the book is How Playing Around Saved My Marriage. She was never a member. To consider adultery between consenting adults as sexual perversion and a capital crime is so repugnant to this age that Christians who believe and say such things are labeled as representatives of the American Taliban. For these reasons, we as Christians must make sure that we understand the chasm between marital love and all forms of immorality. We must pursue purity and avoid immorality with all our heart and soul and strength and mind. The book of Proverbs tells us how we can avoid all forms of immorality, because if we don't know how to resist it, and if we're not successful in resisting it, then immorality will destroy us, it will destroy our families, our children, and our culture. Turn back now to the fifth chapter of Proverbs, and let's see how God deals with the subject, and how God encourages us to be moral, godly Christians, and avoid immorality at all cost. In the first six verses of chapter five, he tells us how to protect ourselves, protections for marital faithfulness, protections against marital unfaithfulness and immorality in singles. It says in verses one and two, my son, give attention to my wisdom, incline your ear to my understanding that you may observe discretion and your lips may reserve knowledge. One thing I want you to notice in this text is this is parental advice time and again. He says, my son, listen to what I tell you. My son, listen to what your mother tells you. So the point you have here is that parental advice based upon the word of God Carefully heeded by children is a great protection in your life against immorality. But now also remember that these words are the written word of God. So that at an even higher level we can say that devotion to the word of God is our best preventative against immorality. When you and I give ourselves to careful and submission attention to the teachings and warnings and promises of the Word of God, we protect ourselves. And when we devote ourselves to God's Word, two things result, says our text. We observe discretion, and our lips are reserved for knowledge. That is, we live wisely and we speak wisely. When you devote yourself to be governed in all of your thoughts and actions and behavior by the Word of God, out of love for the Lord Jesus Christ, you are empowered and enabled to live wisely and to speak wisely. Not only to live in a wise way as you relate to other people, male and female, but in the things that you say, you're able to say helpful things to encourage other people to live wise and moral lives. Now, what is wisdom? If we were to summarize the book of Proverbs in one word, that one word would be wisdom. The book of Proverbs was written so that you could be a wise person. And whenever you think of the word wisdom, think of two words, because these two words comprise the ingredients of wisdom. Insight and skill. Insight and skill. Insight and skill. Wisdom is true insight into the nature of things. It's true insight into the way God thinks, it's true insight into ourselves, why we do the things we do, what makes us tick, why we respond the way we do, true insight into life, and then the practical skill to do something with that insight and to apply it to our own lives in the way we make decisions, in the way we express ourselves, in the way we relate and behave in this world. We get the insight from the Word of God. That's the only place in the world that you can get true insight into the nature of things is by being a diligent student of this Word. But insight without practical application of that to everyday life can only make a person proud. You need wisdom as well, which is prayed down from God. You study the scriptures, you seek to understand and continually and increasingly understand what they promise you and what's demanded of you, and then the whole time you pray, Lord, give me the ability to apply these to my life. Show me how to practically put these things into effect in my own life. And so when we devote ourselves to the Word of God, we think about it, we meditate on it, we are always studying it and reading and reading good books about it, not so that we can increase our IQ, but so that we can live wisely and speak wisely in this world. And when we do, we are bringing protections into our lives against immorality. Listen to what Matthew Henry said. He said, Solomon's lectures are not—Solomon wrote the book of Proverbs—he said, Solomon's lectures are not designed to fill our heads with notions, with matters of nice speculations or doubtful disputations, but to guide us in the government of ourselves that we may act prudently. Then after telling us that devotion to the Word of God is our best defense, he warns us in verses 3 through 5 about two things that we should be aware of and guard ourselves against. Notice in verses 3 through 5, for the lips of an adulteress drip honey and smoother than oil is her speech, but in the end she's bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword, her feet go down to death, her steps lay hold of the grave. And here's the two things he warns us of. Beware that we do not listen to the alluring and exciting seductions of immorality, for the lips of an adulteress drip with honey. Beware that you do not listen to the alluring and exciting seductions in books, televisions, movies, ordinary conversation, in alluring seductions to immorality. The pleasure of immorality is tempting because it is a very real pleasure, though short-lived, and its consequences are fatal. And what are the consequences of giving yourself to immorality? It says there in our text, she is as bitter as wormwood and her feet go down to death. That is, you will experience the terrors of conscience and the terrors of hell. Give yourself to immorality. and you will be terrified by your own conscience, so you won't be able to sleep at night, and you'll be terrified at the thoughts of the hell that awaits the Amari. Beware that we do not come near the edges or the fringes of immorality, he says. Keep your way, said Solomon, keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house. You avoid to the temptation of immorality by not coming even near the edges and the fringes of it. You don't play with it. You don't enjoy it for a moment. As soon as it raises its ugly head in your mind, you turn from it and you so fill your mind with the Word of God and cling to it that you will close your ears and your eyes to the seductions of immorality. and to the sinful lusts of your own inner life. Learn to dread and detest immorality, and learn to love the Lord Jesus Christ more than you love yourself. And if you're going to be able to avoid even the edges and the fringes of it, you must fill your mind with the Word of God. And I tell you something, beloved, memorization of scriptural verses is not enough. You must know what those verses mean. You must know how those verses are to be applied in your life. Teach your children to memorize Scripture. Teach your children to memorize the Shorter Catechism. You memorize the Shorter Catechism. What's the value of it? The value of it is to help your children know what these verses mean so that they can fill their minds with the Word of God. and be able to avoid the tragedy of immorality. Then in verses 7 through 14, we see the devastating effects of marital unfaithfulness and unchastity in singles. Because immorality is so evil and so destructive, Solomon's advice to us is, flee from it in your thoughts, in your actions, in your relationships. Notice what verses 7 and 8 say, keep your way far from her. Don't even go near the door of her house. And flee is not too strong a word. You remember what Genesis 39, 12 says, it says, and she, that is Potiphar's wife who was trying to seduce godly Joseph, and she caught Joseph by his garment saying, lie with me, and he left his garment in her hand and fled. 1 Corinthians 6.18 in the New Testament exhorts us, flee immorality. Be so afraid of it, be so disgusted by it, that whenever it appears, you run from it. You say, won't that show my weakness? Sure will. Now, what are the devastating effects of immorality? Look at verse 9 and 10. lest you give your vigor to others and your years to the evil one, lest strangers be filled with your strength." What's one of the effects of immorality? The loss of physical strength, physical health, physical vitality, the joy of life. That's not just metaphor today, that is literal. With all the threat of AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases and venereal diseases, immorality will kill you. Verse 10, and your hard-earned goods go to the house of an alien, the cutting off of your generations and of your wealth and of your influence from the people of God. Verse 11, and you groan at your latter end when your flesh and your body are consumed. Physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual degeneration. caused by sinful habits and uncontrolled passions and a heavy burden of guilt. Look at verses 12 and 13, and you say, how I have hated instruction and my heart spurned reproof, and I have not listened to the voice of my teachers nor inclined my ear to my instructors. What's the effects of immorality? Unbearable regret, debilitating guilt. paralyzing shame that often lead to callousness of conscience and cynicism. Verse 14, a verse worthy of much meditation, I was almost in utter ruin in the midst of the assembly in the congregation. You must see that the effects of immorality can be total ruin even in the midst of the church. The one place where people are supposed to be morally pure, the one place where you're supposed to be morally safe, can be a place that can ruin you. if you do not protect yourself against immorality. I've seen figures about the percentage of people that commit immorality, and whether you're an evangelical Christian, a member of an evangelical Bible-believing church that believes in the infallibility of Scripture, or whether you are an unbeliever, the percentages are almost the same as far as immorality is concerned. So Solomon here is warning us. He says, take seriously what immorality can do to you. But then he changes gears. And after warning us about the devastating effects of marital unfaithfulness, he encourages us to avoid immorality by explaining the beauty and the blessing of marital love. I love this passage of Scripture. Let's read it. Verse 15. Drink water from your own cistern and fresh water from your own well. Should your springs be dispersed abroad, streams of water in the streets, let them be yours alone and not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed and rejoice in the wife of your youth. As a loving hind and a graceful doe, let her breast satisfy you at all times. Be exhilarated always with her love." Notice what verse 15 says. Verse 15 teaches us that there is deep refreshment and soul satisfaction in marital love. Drink water from your own cistern and fresh water from your own well. A husband or wife is not self-contained and not self-sufficient. Each is codependent on the other for holiness and happiness. In 1 Corinthians 11, God says, man was not created for the woman's sake, but woman for the man's sake. However, in the Lord, neither is woman independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. A husband and his wife are not sexual performers competing for an Academy Award. They're intimate partners. and into their sexual intimacy they bring all the meaning and value they attach to their entire marital life together. Marriage, of course, would be deprived without the gift of sexuality, and the gift of sexuality would be meaningless and cheap apart from the stability, the mutual responsibilities, the security, and the love that marriage brings to it. Dwight Small said this, Marriage is the consummation of a growing relationship of love and personal commitment. It is the consummation of two people's commitment to a life together. Similarly, marital sexuality is the consummation of a growing physical intimacy. In God's design, the twin consummations are meant to converge at the point of marriage. The commitment of love is matched by the commitment of sexual intimacy." But one thing must be understood that's often confused today. Although marriage is the God-given sexual relationship between man and woman, it cannot be understood simply in terms of sex. Sex is but one aspect of marriage. Therefore, we must avoid two errors that are commonly made today in people's attitude toward sexuality. First, the unbiblical attitude that sex is necessary and embarrassing and evil. You have to do it, but don't talk about it, and you certainly shouldn't enjoy it. That's a contradiction of Genesis 131 that says when God created everything, including man's physical body, He called it very good. And the second, misunderstanding of sexuality is that it is the essence of marriage. This is a frequent idea held in the minds of singles who are longing to get married because of the influence of movies and televisions. This is to over-glamorize sexuality. Modern men and women often ask more of sex than it was created to give. and therefore they're often disappointed and frustrated with it, seeking novel and perverted sexual stimulation. But our text says that godly marital love and marital sexuality is like a cool, refreshing, satisfying, invigorating drink of water in the desert. that marital sexuality is an oasis in a dry and weary land. Drink water from your own cistern, fresh water from your own well. Listen to what J. Adams says. He says, get your joy, satisfaction, and thrills of sexual pleasure from relations with your own wife. This is the pure water. from which you should drink, not the muddy, foul, polluted waters of immorality and adultery. And I say to you, beloved, that if your well of marital sexuality becomes bitter and tasteless, if you never look forward to it anymore, It is usually the cause of some undealt-with sin in your life and in your marriage that has been for some time polluting that well of yours." And here again in verses 16 and 17, as he talks about the richness of marital sexuality, he goes back to contrast it with the perversity of marital unfaithfulness. Notice in verses 16 and 17. Should your springs be dispersed abroad, streams of water in the streets? Let them be yours alone and not for strangers with you." These two verses picture the evil of wasting one's sexuality on another person outside of marriage. To avoid immorality, avoid becoming emotionally entangled with strangers. You see what it says? It says, let them be yours alone and not for strangers with you. Why pour out your life on strangers? What communion hath light with darkness? What's a stranger? A stranger is one of two things. A stranger is someone who does not share our way of thinking and living. He's not a Christian. Or he is a professed Christian who acts like a stranger. Avoid them. Don't let yourself get entangled with them. Beloved, you and your spouse have a shared secret. Nobody else is in on this secret. Just you and your wife. You're the only two that share it. And that shared secret strengthens the bond that you have together. Beware of sharing secrets with a third party. It can weaken and destroy the bond you have with your spouse. Well, now he goes back in verses 18 and 20 to the subject he enjoys speaking about, the joy of marital love and marital sexuality. Let your fountain be blessed and rejoice in the wife of your youth as a loving hind and a graceful doe. Let her breast satisfy you at all times. Be exhilarated always with her love." Let me point a couple things out here in this text carefully. Joy, rejoicing, blessedness. Let your wife be to you like a loving hind in a graceful doe." You know what that is? Have you ever gone out in the woods and you've seen a deer, a fawn, or a doe, or an antelope? How graceful, how beautiful it is, you can't take your eyes off of that creature. Well, it's saying here, let her movements, the movements of your wife, have that effect on you, that you can't take your eyes off of her. You love her movements. Let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Now, I love that word exhilarated. You know how else it can be translated out of the Hebrew? Intoxicated. Ravished. Be exhilarated always with her love. Marriage partners should expect their times of lovemaking to be enjoyable, to be pleasurable times together for each other, and not just for one partner, usually the man, trying to get sexual satisfaction from the other. Much lovemaking, even in Christian marriages, is ugly and detestable. and unsatisfying to at least one partner. One of the things that makes lovemaking so pleasurable for a man and his wife is that it provides a husband and his wife with a language which cannot be matched by words. I love verse 21 in this context. You see how it begins. It begins with verse 4. And so that relates it to everything that's preceded it. Let your fountain be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth. Love her movements. Let her breasts satisfy you. Be exhilarated with her love. Why she should be exhilarated with an adulteress. Embrace the bosom of a foreigner. For, or as they say in West Virginia, for because the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord and he watches all his paths. Brothers, why should you find joy and pleasure and satisfaction in marital sexuality with your wife and seek to love her to the best of your ability every time you make love to her because God loves to watch you? The eyes of the Lord are on all the ways of a man's life. And therefore, when it comes, says the Lord, to catechism, to conjugal duties, it says, be diligent in your calling. And love your wife to the best of your ability, to the glory and honor of our great God, remembering the way to glorify God who is watching you in your lovemaking, remembering that it is more blessed to give. than to receive. If we cannot smile on marital sexuality, if this has sort of made us uncomfortable, and we can't smile on this verse, our perspective on marital sexuality is not the same as God's perspective. God looks at you loving your wife and He smiles. Now in verses 22 and 23, Solomon comes back again to contrast everything he said, and he shows the end of an immoral person's life. It says in verses 22 and 23, his own iniquities will capture the wicked, and he will be held with the cords of his sin. He will die for lack of instruction, and in the greatness of his folly he will go astray. The person who gives himself or herself to immorality will be enslaved, in other words, and trapped by his or her own emotions and desires, impulses, and lusts. He or she will be held down by the chains of sinful lust. They'll go astray and apostatize as the fools they are, and they will die in guilty ignorance because they did not fill their mind with the Word of God. You see what it says? He will die for lack of instruction. Are you instructing yourself in the Word of God? Do you want sermons to instruct you in the Word of God? What are we back to? We are back to doctrine and theology. This man died for lack of instruction in biblical doctrine. He didn't have the strength or the wisdom to say no when he should say no. because his mind was filled with other things than the revealed truths of Holy Scripture. What fills your mind? Do you know enough of the Scripture to even think about it for more than five minutes? Are you able to think deeply and long about the various truths of God's Word? Christians today are such easy prey for immorality because they don't have much to think about that's rooted in God's Word. But by God's grace, it is the duty of a preacher to do everything he can to his last breath to help keep his people from immorality by preaching and teaching and expounding over and over and over again the revealed truths of the Word of God. Because unless your mind is filled with those things, You are easy prey and you will die for lack of instruction. Now we come to chapter 6 in Proverbs. Chapter 6 is concerned with hindrances to wisdom. What keeps you from being wise? What keeps you from having real insight into the nature of things? What keeps you from wanting to practically apply what you know to your behavior? Well, in verses 1 through 5, he says irresponsible debt. Irresponsible debt will consume you and is a hindrance to wisdom. Verses 6 through 11, laziness is a hindrance to wisdom. Verses 12 through 15, lawlessness is a hindrance to wisdom. Verses 16 through 19, lovelessness. is a hindrance to wisdom. And then we come to verse 20, to the end of chapter 6, and we see that immorality is a hindrance to wisdom. And we're back to this subject that he keeps coming back to. You see how repetitive he is? Look at verses 20 and following. He says, My son, observe the commandment of your father, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother. Bind them continually on your heart, tie them around your neck. When you walk about, they will guide you. When you sleep, they'll watch over you, and when you awake, they'll talk to you. For the commandment is a lamp, and the teaching is light and reproofs for discipline of the way of life to keep you from the evil woman and from the smooth tongue of the adulterous. What will keep you from the evil woman and the smooth tongue of the adulteress? Love for, devotion to the law of the living God, recorded in Holy Scripture. It's your fortress. Without love for and devotion to the Word of God, you're standing out there totally Baltimore. You need a fortress around you. And the Word of God is that fortress. You see what it says? It says in verse 22, when you sleep, they, the commandments, will watch over you. They'll be your protector, they'll be your fortress, and they'll be your guide and your light in this world. They help you make, when you devote yourself to them and you understand them because you've spent time studying them and hearing them preach, you have more information. You have stronger principles, you're able to think through things more clearly, when without this extensive and in-depth understanding of the Word of God, all you have is a little fluff and powerful impulses and emotions. And fluff! is no match for powerful emotional drives. The only thing that can match powerful emotional drives is an in-depth, broad understanding of love for and commitment to the Word of God. Without that, you're a sucker for everybody that comes along that wants to use you. Notice what verse 22 says. When you walk about, they'll guide you. When you sleep, they'll watch over you. Verse 23, for the commandment is a lamp and teaching is light. 23 and 24, and reproofs for discipline or the way of life to keep you from the evil woman. You see, what happens when you love the Word of God and you fill your mind with it, you become a student of it, and you read it, and you increase your knowledge and understanding of it, and your prayers that God would give you the ability to apply it to your life, That strengthens your resolve. That strengthens your determination. The Word of God is a powerful thing. It strengthens your imagination so that you find it difficult. The more you're in the Word of God, the more difficult you find it to let your imagination go back to the gutter. It strengthens your will. It strengthens your desire to be morally pure, and there is no other power other than that commitment to God's Word in all of its glory and in all of its aspects that can strengthen your imagination and your resolve and your desire to keep you from immorality. The Bible says it exactly in Psalm 119. He says, how can a young man keep his way pure? by keeping it according to your word. With all my heart I have sought you. Do not let me wander from your commandments. Your word have I treasured in my heart, that I might not sin against you." The only power greater than the power of immoral temptation is the power of the Word of God loved and obeyed. Now, how does immorality and sexual lust hinder wisdom? We said that this chapter 6 was concerned with hindrances to wisdom, and immorality was one of those hindrances. How does immorality hinder wisdom? It floods the mind. It floods the emotions. It floods the heart. It suffocates spirituality. It suffocates love for wisdom. It calluses the conscience. It hardens the heart. It makes us insensitive to the demands of wisdom. And therefore, we should avoid immorality like the plague. Consider the perversity of it. Immorality is far worse than many other sins. At least that's what the 30th through the 35th verses of our text say. Consider the effects of immorality on you. In verse 27, can a man take fire into his own bosom and his clothes not be burned? Immorality is self-destructive. Verse 32 says the one who commits adultery with a woman is lacking sense. Literally in Hebrew is lacking heart. And he destroys himself who does it. And then our text also says that the effects of immorality are often irreparable. That is, sometimes they can never be healed. So stand guard over your own heart, your eyes, and your mind. Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow all the basic issues of life. Consider the benefits of wisdom and of giving yourself to it. The commandment-led life is far safer than the feeling-led life. Write that down on the inside of your eyelids. The commandment-led life is far safer than the feeling-led life. If you're a person that's just led like a little puppy dog by your feelings and your emotions and impulses, then you're easy prey for everything and you're living a dangerous life. Discipline yourself to live by the law of God out of love for the Lord Jesus Christ, even when emotionally you're not in the mood to do it. That kind of life. is a far safer life than the life lived by feeling and impulse. If you're married, be diligent in loving, knowing, cherishing, and nourishing your wife. If you're unmarried, search for a spouse. Until then, practice self-control, self-discipline, and pour out to God the needs and the aches of your heart, and know that when we commit ourselves to the Lord and rest in Him and trust in Him, He will give us the desires of our hearts. Well, in chapter 7 we come to a study in seduction, the purpose of which is not to entertain, but to help us once again know how to avoid committing immorality. Look again at verses 1 through 5. Guess what it's about. My son, keep my words. Treasure my commandments within you. Keep my commandments and live, and my teaching as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers. Write them on the tablet of your heart. Say to wisdom, you're my sister, and call understanding your intimate friend, that they may keep you from an adulteress, from the foreigner who flatters with her words." Guess what he's doing again? You've got to stay in the Word of God. There is no protection for you if you're not keeping God's Word and treasuring His commandments. Not just holding the Bible close to your chest and say, oh, I love the Bible, and then not knowing anything about what's in it other than the superficial knowledge. You must treat the law of God as a valuable treasure. You must value the law of God more than your own life. Keep my commandments and live, he said. You must treat the law of God as the apple of your eye. You know what the apple of your eye is? It's the most tender place on the most tender part of the body. Try touching your eye. I mean, well, anything comes near my eye, everything in me protects that apple of my eye. How do you treat the Bible as the apple of your eye, as the second verse says? The point is, even a little sin offends us. I mean, you may not even be able to see the little speck of dust that's in my eye, but brother, I'm telling you, it hurts me when it's in there. I may not even be able to see it, but I can't stand it till it's out. We're to treat the law of God as the apple of our eye, but knowing that the slightest, smallest sin offends us. Is that the way we think? We must keep our consciences tender and clear in regard to God's law and be afraid of the least violation of it lest we grieve our Father's love for us. That's the way people used to live many generations ago. To us now it sounds so legalistic, so boring, so strict. I tell you, beloved, unless your life is strict and you seek to guard your conscience as you guard the apple of your eye, you will be prey for immorality. Bind them on your fingers. Write them on the tablet of your heart. Treat the law of God as a precious diamond ring that's always in view. It's always on your finger. It's always the standard governing everything you do. It's written on your heart, the thing that you're the most fond of, the thing that you meditate upon and seek to study day and night. Look at verse four. Say to wisdom, you are my sister. and call understanding your intimate friend, we must become intimately acquainted and conversant with the Word of God in exhaustive detail. If you and a friend were to talk about the teachings of the Word of God, how long would the conversation last before it would have to go on to something else? It says, I call her, I call the law of God, my sister. It's not simply treating the law of God and the Word of God as an intimate friend. It's being able to call, or it's to be conversant about these things. How long a conversation can you carry on without getting off on football or anything else about the teachings of the Word of God? Is the Bible for you an intimate, dear, and constant companion? Then if it is, It can keep you from the adulterous and from the foreigner who flatters with her words. And then in verses 6 through 23, we have one of the most vivid studies and seductions ever written by man. You see a young man, I want you to turn there with me. We'll spend the rest of the time looking at it. It's about a young man who destroys himself by yielding to the seductions of an immoral married woman. Let's read the story, verse 6. For at the window of my house I looked out through the lattice, and I saw among the naïve, I discerned among the youths a young man lacking sense. Passing through the street near her corner, he takes the way to her house in the twilight, in the evening, in the middle of the night, and in the darkness. And behold, a woman comes to meet him dressed as a harlot and cunning of heart. She is boisterous and rebellious, her feet do not remain at home. She is now in the streets, down the squares, and lurks by every corner. And so she seizes him and kisses him. With a brazen face she says to him, I was due to offer peace offerings. Today I have paid my vows. Therefore, I have come out to meet you, to seek your presence earnestly, and I have found you. I have spread my couch with coverings with colored linens of Egypt. I have sprinkled my bed with myrrh, aloe, and cinnamon. Come, let's drink our fill of love until morning. Let us delight ourselves with caresses, for the man is not at home. He's gone on a long journey. He's taken a bag of money with him. At full moon he'll come home. With her many persuasions she entices him. With her flattering lips she seduces him. Suddenly he follows her as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as one in fetters to the discipline of a fool, until an arrow pierces through his liver as a bird hastens to the snare, so he does not know that it will cost him his life." I want to talk about three things here—the young man, the adulteress, and the kill. The victim, the hunter, and the kill. First of all, the young man. He trapped himself by giving himself into temptation. He did not adequately consider that giving into his lusts would rob him of his life and energy, debauch his mind, and open the way for an increasingly wicked life. More importantly, he tried to live without biblical principles. We're back. He tried to live without biblical principles governing and filling his mind. Notice two things it says about him. He was one of the naive people who lacked sense, that is, understanding. Naive is not a nice word in Proverbs. There are some place times when naivete is good. Here, it's not good. A naive person was a simple-minded person in that he did not think beyond his impulses and his drives, that his thoughts were not governed by the Word of God. He lacked sense. He lacked understanding. He tried to live without biblical principles. Charles Bridges, who wrote a great commentary on Proverbs, says that, unarmed with principle, the weakness of resolution yields to the seduction of lust. In other words, because the young man had not studied the Word of God and spent much time in it, he had no arguments to overcome the powerful, powerful persuasions of this temptress. I mean, she is brilliant here. She is brilliant, and he did not have any arguments that were stronger than hers to keep him from saying yes to her. Notice in verse 7, he kept bad company. It says, and I saw among the naive, those who don't live by biblical wisdom, If this young man had associated with wise and mature Christians rather than naive people, he would have been safer. I say that to you as adults and those of you as young people. If you run with the naive, if you run with those who do not live by biblical wisdom, you put yourself at risk. Associating closely with those not committed to the wisdom of God. breeds lawlessness. You remember the simple and profound statement in 1 Corinthians 15? Don't ever act like it's not true. Don't ever act like you can contradict it. Bad company corrupts good morals. It doesn't say bad company corrupts bad morals. It says a person who has good morals can be corrupted by bad company. Notice also in verse 7, he was idle. Wasn't doing anything useful. He was just hanging out. He wasn't necessarily looking to commit a crime or a sin. He was just sort of keeping his options open and giving sin a chance. And I tell you, beloved, adults and young people, idleness, tempts, the tempter to tempt you. It makes you easy prey for evil. On the other hand, self-discipline, self-control, orderly living, useful, constant work, and the active use of physical and mental energy are all used by the Lord Jesus Christ to keep you from immorality. Notice verse 9, and notice it well, and don't look for excuses to avoid it. He was a nightwalker. He was up at all times of the night. Verse 9, in the twilight, in the evening, in the middle of the night, and in the darkness. He didn't use the day to work and the night to rest. He used both to play. It's easy when you're in college and a young adult To get used to staying up late at night. And to do things late at night with other friends. Let me, my dear young friend, encourage you to reorient your life. You say, well, we haven't gotten into trouble yet. Yet's key word here. There was a time in my life in which I was night oriented. when I was in college and shortly thereafter, and I would stay up late, and I was really going strong, about 11, 12, 1 o'clock. And then I'd sleep late, and when my senior year in graduate school, I didn't have a class before 11.30, but I missed that a lot of time, hadn't slept through it. And then when I did, I was groggy, I couldn't think, hadn't taken a nap in the middle of the afternoon so I could be strong at night. And so as a result, I was just spinning the wheels. I didn't have any energy. I couldn't think clearly. Remember, this young man that was easy prey loved staying up at all times of the night. The night is for resting so that during the day you can be strong for work and to think clearly to the glory of God, particularly on Saturday nights. When Sunday, the loftiest day of your week, and you come to worship God, you want your thoughts to be clear and you're strong and you to be alert. So don't stay up late to all the times of the night on Saturday night. It's a breaking of the Sabbath to throw away your strength and your energy at night so that when you come to church, you're half asleep. This was a nightwalker. And nightwalking gets you in trouble. Say, well, preacher, you're going a little far on that. Why did he say that in the Bible? All right, let's go on. He disobeyed God. He refused to steer clear of those who would seduce him away from godly living. Now, let's look at the woman, the seducer. Notice she was a married woman. And notice that she did not dress modestly. She dressed like a harlot, says the Word of God. Matthew Henry said, Purity of heart shows itself in modesty of dress. If we were to put this in the language of the 21st century, we would say her dress was too tight and too short at both ends. Now, beloved sisters, if you don't appreciate men gawking at you, why do you give them the impression that you do want them to gawk at you by your short dresses, tight dresses, short at both ends? You leave the impression. Come on. This woman was immodest in the way she dressed. And it says she was cunning of heart, conniving, treacherously scheming, always daydreaming and satisfying her unrestrained lust with TV, magazines, romance novels and the like. She was loud and stubborn rather than chaste, modest, guilt and gentle. She was talkative, self-willed and headstrong. She will have her way, right or wrong. She will not be controlled or counseled. She was not a keeper at home. She had no sense of calling as a homemaker, and therefore she saw her house as a confinement to escape, and housework as degrading employment to be hated. And her tactics were brilliant. She said to the young man, I've just been to church, worship God and put my money in the offering plate and paid my dues, and now it's time for me to fellowship with you." She impresses him of her wealth and what she could do, all of the precious, beautiful things in her bedroom. She was a woman of means. She knew what we often are dulled to remember, and that is the craving for material wealth and possession. ease and affluence, melts down resistance to sin. She was impressing him with her false piety. She tries to convince him and perhaps herself that she's a very religious woman. She thinks that she gives God his due and that gives her the license to sin more freely. As long as God gets his and nobody gets hers, it's okay. You ever notice how amazing it is? the way we play games with our conscience in order to do whatever we want to do, to sin and yet see ourselves as religious. You know, the favorite mistress, the favorite prostitute of King Louis XIV of France was so rigid in her religious duties that during Lent her bread was weighed so that she would not transgress the austerity of fasting. When the weightier matters of God's law are disregarded or transgressed, the guilty party becomes absorbed with detailed observance of the minutiae of the law, thereby trying to ease and calm the conscience. She pretended affection for this young man. She wants him to think, she put such high value on my company. Surely it would be wrong to deny her poor lonely thing. She needs me, I'm so wonderful. Beware of those who offer cheap and easy affection, easy kisses, easy embraces, and counterfeit smiles. She was seducing him by convincing him that their meeting was arranged by God's providence. Look at verses 14 and 15. I was due to offer peace offerings. Today I've paid my vows. Therefore, I have come out to meet you, to seek your presence earnestly, and I have found you. She's saying God set all this up. I remember one song that said, I Believe in Miracles. Remember that rock song, I Believe in Miracles? Why did he believe in miracles? He finally got to sleep with the girl that he'd been fantasizing about. You remember the other song? There's a line in another song for the same reason. Somebody up there likes me because I'm sleeping with this girl. I knew, it's a true story, I knew a married woman one time who was famous for teaching women's Bible studies in Atlanta and She was coming to me for counseling because she was having an affair with this man, and she said this to me. She said, Joe, I think God wanted me and my male friend to have an affair so my husband, who is such a good man and who is so dissatisfied with me, would have biblical grounds to divorce me so both he and I could marry other people. After all, my lover and I do pray together. every time we see each other. The games we play. And so with all these tactics, more powerful than any ammunition he had, because he was not armed with biblical principle, she tempted him to sleep with her and she said, let us drink our fill of love. Of love, she says. There's nothing about this situation that relates to love. Let us drink our fill of lust. Let us drink our fill of each other, but let us drink our fill of love. There is no love here. And the kill. The temptation was successful. The young man's sinful corruptions triumphed over his moral convictions. The strength of his resolve was not strong enough. It was not supported and strengthened by biblical truths and the power of God's wisdom to hold out against such skillful seduction. He gave up persevering and gave in to temptation's pull. He deliberately suppressed the truth in self-deception and went to his ruin. closing his eyes to the consequences. What the Puritans said centuries ago is still true today. You must always be at killing sin, for it is always at killing you. And sin is ambitious. If you let it alone, it will always strike out to accomplish the worst and the biggest sins imaginable. Well, Solomon concludes his discourse in verses 24 through 27 by once again giving his final exhortations. How do you keep from being seduced? What's the purpose of this story? Not just to entertain, but to show you how wisdom can triumph over immorality. How can you keep from being seduced? How can you keep from seducing somebody else? How can you avoid immorality? Look at the verses. Now, therefore, my sons, listen to me. and pay attention to the words of my mouth. Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, do not stray into her paths, for many are the victims she has cast down and numerous are all her slain. Her house is the way to the grave, descending to the chambers of death." What's the counsel? Verse 24, "'Let wisdom and the fear of God rule in your hearts. Now therefore, my sons, listen to me and pay attention to the words of my mouth. Verse 25, guard your mind, for you're in danger as soon as your thoughts wander in his or her fatal direction. Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways. Keep away from any situation, any person, any relationship, any activity, any music, Keep away from anything, anywhere, anybody that leads you closer to immorality. Do not stray into her paths. And keep in mind what immorality has done to people and what it will do to you. Verse 22, suddenly he follows her as an ox goes to the slaughter or as one in fetters to the discipline of a fool until an arrow pierces his liver. as a bird hastens to the snare, so he does not know that it will cost him his life." Verse 26 and 27, "'For many are the victims she has cast down, and numerous are all her slain. Her house is the way to the grave, descending to the chambers of death, for one small sip of pleasure.'" This young man had to drink an ocean of divine wrath. Is it worth it? And remember, the love of Jesus Christ is the only power strong enough to counteract and overcome the lust of your heart. The next time you're tempted to immorality, use your imagination for something else. Use your imagination to think of Christ as looking into your heart, boiling over like a cesspool with all of this sexual lust. And as you're imagining Christ looking into your heart, imagine Him showing you the wounds in His hands and His side and around His head, saying to you, Love me more than you love yourself. I gave my life for you. I knew what was in your heart before I died. Now look at what I've done for you. Love me more than yourself and turn from the immorality. And without that love for Christ that fills the heart, you'll not avoid immorality. Let us pray. We thank You, O God, for Your Son who is saved from sin, from the guilt, the consequences, the power of sin. We pray, O Lord, that He would continue to save us in this age and culture that is devoted to immorality. Oh God, keep us pure. For Jesus' sake, amen.