Well, please turn in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 5. And since you're all sitting, I'm going to read what I wouldn't have known to ask, and probably wouldn't have agreed to had it been asked of me. I'm going to read the full passage this morning in Proverbs dealing with this topic of fornication. So we'll be reading chapter 5. Pick up chapter 6 of verse 20 and chapter 7. It's a long passage, but it's all here in one section in the book of Proverbs, and it all discusses the same thing. And so I'd like this morning to read it in one sitting, to read it at one time, to read it through, because there's a progression here, a summary statement, summary overview of this area, and then some very specific and detailed examples and admonitions. So I'd like for you this morning to follow along in your Bibles. We have additional Bibles in the back with the hymnals. If you don't have one this morning, please follow along as we read in God's Word, beginning with Proverbs 5, verse 1. My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Lend your ear to my understanding that you may preserve discretion and your lips may keep knowledge. For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey and her mouth is smoother than oil, 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 hell. Lest you ponder her path of life, her ways are unstable, you do not know them. Therefore hear me now, my children, and do not depart from the words of my mouth. Remove your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house, lest you give your honor to others and your years to the cruel one. Lest aliens be filled with your wealth and your labors go to the house of a foreigner. And you mourn at last when your flesh and your body are consumed and say, how I have hated instruction and my heart despised correction. I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me. I was on the verge of total ruin in the midst of the assembly and congregation. Drink water from your own cistern and running water from your own well. Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, streams of waters in the streets, let them be only your own and not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed and rejoice with the wife of your youth as a loving deer and a graceful doe. Let her breast satisfy you at all times. and always be enraptured with her love. For why should you, my son, be enraptured by an immoral woman and be embraced in the arms of a seductress? For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he ponders all his paths. His own iniquities entrap the wicked man, and he is caught in the cords of his sin. He shall die for lack of instruction, and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray. Verse 20, My son, keep your father's command and do not forsake the law of your mother. Bind them continually upon your heart. Tie them around your neck. When you roam, they will lead you. When you sleep, they will keep you. When you awake, they will speak with you. For the commandment is a lamp and the law, a light. Reproofs of instruction are the way of the Lord to keep you from the evil woman, from the flattering tongue of a seductress. Do not lust after her beauty in your heart, nor let her allure you with her eyelids. For by means of a harlot, a man is reduced to a crust of bread. And an adulteress will prey upon his precious life. Can a man take fire to his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be seared? So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife. Whoever touches her shall not be innocent. People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is starving. Yet when he is found, he must restore sevenfold. He may have to give up all the substance of his house. Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding. He who does so destroys his own soul. Wounds and dishonor he will get, and his reproach will not be wiped away. for jealousy is a husband's fury. Therefore, he will not spare in the day of vengeance. He will accept no recompense, nor will he be appeased, though you give many gifts. My son, keep my words and treasure my commands within you. Keep my commands and live in my laws, 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 nearest kin, that they may keep you from the immoral woman, from the seductress who flatters with her words. For at the window of my house I look through my lattice. and saw among the simple, I perceived among the youths a young man devoid of understanding, passing along the street near her corner. And he took the path to her house in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night. And there a woman met him with the attire of a harlot and a crafty heart. She was loud and rebellious. Her feet would not stay at home. At times she was outside, at times in the open square, lurking at every corner. She caught him and kissed him. With an impotent face she said to him, I have peace offerings with me. Today I have paid my vows, so I came out to meet you. diligently to seek your face, and I have found you. I have spread my bed with tapestry, colored coverings of Egyptian linen. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until morning. Let us delight ourselves with love, for my husband is not at home. He has gone on a long journey. He has taken a bag of money with him, and will come home on the appointed day. With her enticing speech she caused him to yield. With her flattering lips she seduced him. Immediately he went after her as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks. till an arrow struck his liver. As a bird hastens to the snare, he did not know it would cost his life. Now, therefore, listen to me, my children. 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 thus she has cast down many wounded. And all who were slain by her were strong men. Her house is the way to Sheol, descending to the chambers of death. Thus far the reading of God's Word this morning. Almighty Heavenly Father, may you write this truth upon our heart and burn it into us that we might not sin against you. Father, may you show us our need of your Word. May you convict us where we are in sin and grant us forgiveness and grant us wisdom. Father, may you speak to us through the lips of a sinner. May Your Word purify come to us this morning. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Well, what can I say? The very week that we reach the very first extended discourse, and you have to acknowledge that this is an extended discourse, Proverbs devotes this much space to no other topic. And it isn't done with what we've read. It has more to say, but it devotes this much space to no other topic. So the very first week that we reach this extended discourse against adultery is, in God's providence, the very same week that the personal and financial data of secret fornicators from a very large and famous adultery website were published on the very same web for all the world to see. credit card data, names, email addresses, all of their secret thoughts in their heart that they had shared with this secret database has all been published. It is a graphic and very close example of exactly what Proverbs speaks about in these passages. We read actually through several different lectures. We read through three different times that we were addressed as my son, my children, called to listen to the Word of God, to listen to the Scriptures, because they provide very penetrating insights into the nature of sexual immorality. The scriptures are very clear and direct in their description of the nature of sexual immorality. how it operates, how the temptation comes to us, how we fall into this sin, men and women. We need to take our example from Scripture as well with respect to our children. Paul told Timothy that he had known the Scriptures from an infant, which were able to make him wise unto salvation. Of course, he was writing before the New Testament was complete. He was referring to passages such as these that we might say are very direct in their depiction of sexual immorality. They're very direct in their depiction also of proper, of good, of wholesome marital love and intimacy. And we ought to be that way ourselves. We ought to be that way, especially with our children, direct and clear. not speaking in circuitous language and not speaking or not failing to speak about this very important area. It's very important. We see just from the mere number of pages that Solomon devotes to this topic. And the first thing that he tells us is that if we will listen to His words, this wisdom, this chokmah, this instruction, this discipline will save us. We don't have to go out and experience all this firsthand. to know about it. It's right here, right here in the holy, infallible Word of God. I'd like to look at this message this morning, this text, in three ways. First is to understand. the very powerful attraction of fornication. I want you to understand how powerful this temptation is. Secondly, I want you to understand the fruit of such fornication. And thirdly, I want you to understand how to avoid such fornication. Fornication is a deceptively powerful attraction. Fornication is not a word that was in our text yet. Fornication is sexual immorality of all sorts. The translation grabbed the sense of that when it translated in verse 3, the strange woman or the stranger as an immoral woman. Fornication is sexual immorality of all sorts, from fantasies that are played out in one's mind to the use of prostitutes. Fornication includes the following. rape, adultery, incest, sodomy, and all unnatural lusts. And I'm just reading out of our Westminster Larger Catechism. Fornication includes all unclean imaginations, thoughts, purposes, affections, all corrupt and filthy or lewd communications, that's speaking and hearing. or listening thereunto. Wanton looks can be given and received, impotent or lascivious or lewd behavior, immodest clothing, prohibiting of lawful and dispensing with unlawful marriages, such as what the Roman Catholic Church does in prohibiting of lawful marriages, prohibiting their priests from getting married. And I actually saw yesterday something I wasn't aware of, that in the Roman Catholic Church you can actually get married to Jesus Christ. And a woman got married to Jesus Christ last week in Indiana somewhere. There are apparently 300 such people in this country that have been married to Jesus Christ, their consecrated virgins, while they've been prohibited from lawfully marrying. It's the sin of fornication. Allowing, tolerating, keeping of mistresses, stews, resorting to them, entangling vows of a single life That would be maybe even a more accurate description of these consecrated virgins who are supposedly married to Christ. Undue delay of marriage. desertion, idleness, gluttony, drunkenness, unchaste company, lascivious songs, books, pictures, dancings, stage plays." Lascivious dancings is what happens at any rock concert I've ever seen a picture of. and all other provocations to, or acts of uncleanness, either in ourselves or others." If you want a place to start on what is fornication, what are we talking about this morning? That's a good place to start. That's a good place to start. Lascivious books, pictures. Dancings is people jumping around. We see so much of that today in any music concert. Lascivious dancing is fornication. It's a provocation too. It's an act of uncleanness in ourselves or others. Fornication. All of those things that I've listed constitute a deceptively powerful allurement to men and to women in different ways, in different ways to be sure. But it is to both men and to women. The picture here in our text is that of a woman seducing a man. But men can also seduce women. More than any other sin, fornication initially feels good. It seems that way. It seems that way. Murderers don't describe usually the satisfaction or how wonderful it feels when they commit murder. When you've been watching these videos of horrible murderers, they don't have any of those feelings of goodness. In fact, they have just the opposite. There's an unnatural horror at what they're doing. Even among people that aren't Christians, they realize this isn't good. Thieves don't have the same, theft doesn't have the same feel-good nature to it. Lying doesn't have the same powerful physical feelings connected with it. Something that is unique to the sin of fornication, it begins as our text lays out, with delightful words, smooth words. The lips of an immoral woman drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil. Words that convey mystery, excitement, delight. These are words of flattery. And in the Hebrew, Professor Walke even points out, it even sounds somewhat beautiful. I'd try to pronounce it if I could. Nefet Tetafna. Nefet Tetafna. I listened to the rabbis pronounce it in a copy of the Old Testament I have that they read. Nefet Tetafna. And there was an assonance to it. It's a description of the flattery that comes from an immoral woman. The flattery, the lies, the deception, that ensnare a man. But it's also the description of a kiss. The lips of an immoral woman drip honey in her mouth. That word for mouth is used in other places. It's translated in other places, the roof of the mouth. Tongue that cleaves to the palate. The lips of an immoral woman drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil. Proverbs 7, I'm sorry, Song of Solomon has a similar description of the kiss of fornication. I'm sorry, of the kiss of marital love. In 4 verse 11, honey and milk are under your tongue and the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon. Your lips, oh my spouse, drip as the honeycomb. Honey and milk are under your tongue. What are the lies of this strange woman? what the New King James translates immoral. It's a strange woman because she's a stranger to the covenant of marriage. This is somebody to whom you are not in the covenant of marriage with. Remember, Paul describes us as Gentiles as strangers to the covenant. We were strangers, aliens to the covenant. And that's the sense in which this word is used here. It's not the only word for a harlot. It's not the word, for example, that's used in Joshua to refer to Rahab. The word here is simply strange from the lips of a stranger, the lips of a stranger, the lips of someone who is a foreigner, an alien to the covenant of marriage. If you are in one and if you aren't in one, then she's still an alien to the covenant of marriage. You are not in a covenant, a marital relationship. And so therefore, this woman is a stranger. The woman that you see on the billboard, the woman that you see on the computer screen, the woman that you see in the pages of books, is not a woman that you are married to, and therefore is a strange woman. That's what it's talking about here. It's not necessarily the person that lives on the other side of the tracks that you have physically gone to. This is a strange woman. Somebody that you are not in a marriage covenant with. What are the lies that come from the lips of this strange woman? There are a couple. One is that everyone thinks that they are the exception. That they won't be caught. That no one will ever know. Wasn't that her? statement, her argument in chapter 7, my husband is not at home. He has gone on a long journey. He has taken a bag of money with him. He's not here. He will never find out. It's lie number one. You're the exception. You notice when he went there in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night. Why? Because he's keeping it secret so no one will ever find out. That's the lie of the strange woman, that no one will find out, that you won't be caught. And that's the lie that everyone that engages in this sin believes. That they can engage in it and not be caught. That no one will find out. Well, as all the people that were in that database of that website, who thought that they were in a secure database that was private, that no one would ever know about, have to their great chagrin, the world is found out about. But also, it says that the Lord knows. Verse 21, the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord and He ponders all His paths The ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord and he ponders all his paths. It's repeated a little bit later as well. The first lie of the strange woman is that you are the exception and no one will know. It's a lie. The second lie is that it doesn't hurt anybody. If you kill them, that hurts a lot of people. If you steal from them, that hurts people. If you lie about their name and reputation, there's injury that's done to that person. Everybody acknowledges that. But when it comes to this area, the strange woman, well, that doesn't hurt anybody. The Bible says just the opposite. Her mouth is smooth as dripping honey, smooth oil. But the end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death. Her steps lay hold of Sheol. Her ways are unstable. Her path is unstable, unlike the path of the righteous. We'll talk more about that in a minute. The other point regarding the nature of fornication and the allure of its attraction that you need to understand this morning is that it is a slippery slope. It is a slippery slope. It doesn't just happen all at once, without any warning. It is a process. It's a process that begins in the mind. The strange woman exploits every weakness. She seizes every unguarded moment. She entices at every gate. Remember we talked about those gates a couple of weeks ago. She entices, the strange woman entices at every one of our gates, beginning with the ear gate and the eye gate. and then the fuel gate. And then the mouth gate and even the nose gate is involved in this slippery slope. The strange woman entices at every one of our senses, every one of our gates. And she exploits every weakness. She seizes every idle moment, every unguarded thought, every idle hand. Just look at this narrative. The immoral woman, the strange woman, she has this mouth that is full of flattery and lies and deceptions. That appeal to this young man described in chapter seven. And so what does he do? A man devoid of understanding. He's walking where he shouldn't be walking. He takes the path near her house, never intending to go there, never intending to do anything, just wants to go there to see. He does it in the black of night when he thinks no one can see. And there a woman meets him with the attire of a harlot, dressed like a harlot. There are a lot of people today dressed like harlots. There is the attack upon his eyes through his eye gate. And she has a crafty heart. And she is loud and rebellious. And he believes her words that come out of her mouth. And what's next is the feel-gate. She catches hold of him, and there's the feeling. And she kisses him. There's the feel-gate and the taste-gate. And with an impotent face, she says to him, I have been looking for you. I have been looking for you. Just for you. Been looking all night just for you. That's the smooth mouth, the flattering lips. Actually, the Bible says she was outside looking at every corner in the open square. She wasn't looking just for him, but that's what she tells him. Tonight I have paid my vows. I have come out to meet you diligently to seek your face. She makes him feel special. She makes him feel like he alone is the object of her immorality, her immoral affection, her fornication. But then it goes on, she describes the aroma of fornication, and she appeals, lastly, even to his nose-gate, every gate, the eye-gate, the ear-gate, the feel-gate, the mouth-gate, the nose-gate, the strange woman attracts or addresses. She addresses. It is a slippery slope. It starts out with just the thought. It starts out with, I just want to look at this. I just want to go here. I just want to see what it's like. And the Bible says, don't do it. Don't do it. It's a slippery slope and it leads to death. And you're a fool. If you believe that it won't affect you, that you're the exception, that you can go and look and not be scarred. Remember that path, it starts in the heart. Attacks at the eye gate, the ear gate, and then the feel gate, and then the mouth gate, and even the nose gate. And every one of those gates need to be resisted. Every one of those gates is an opportunity for the fool who is following the strange woman to wake up and to realize that he's on the path that leads to death. All right, that's the nature of fornication. What about the fruit of fornication? This is something the Bible sets before us. It's something that we need to hear, that we need to remember, for it will keep you from the strange woman. There have been a lot of people who don't know the Lord at all, who because they've known and understand the fruit, the potential fruit of the strange woman, have been preserved from some levels of fornication. They're spelled out for here, they're spelled out in the scriptures. But the first fruit that you need to understand is that it leaves an indelible mark. It leaves a mark that can never be erased. It can never be removed. Wounds and dishonor he will get, verse 33 of chapter 6 says, and his reproach will not be wiped away It's a stain that never leaves. God can redeem those who are trapped in it, yes, and there is forgiveness. But in this life, there is a stain that can never be removed. The effects can never be erased. When I was young, like six, I had a younger brother. We lived on a farm that had two houses, two families lived on this farm. Houses were within sight of each other and there was a barn between them. It was wintertime and I was following my father around. There was snow on the ground. And in this barn, this barnyard, there were a lot of cattle. And right outside of the cattle area was a pit for the manure. It collected there and went drained away. But it was covered over with snow and a crust. And we walked around this barn, and we were kind of strung out a little bit. And my father walked around, and I came around. And a little bit later, my brother came around. And my dad and I walked around this pit, but my brother was very young and didn't realize it. And he walked over it and fell in it. And thankfully, this neighbor family saw him and rescued him so he didn't drown. He was a mess, but he was cleaned up. A few minutes, change of clothes, a bath, he was clean. But that's not what happens with fornication. That leaves a stain that you can't wash away with a bath. It produces children. It can produce children that are created in the image of God. Verse 9, Don't go near the door of her house lest you give your honor to others. That which should be reserved for your wife you've given to others. You've given your honor away even. There's shame in this sin, probably more than in any other sin. And it's one of the one of the bitterest fruits of fornication is the shame that's attached to it when it's discovered. And it will be. It brings slavery and bondage lest you give your honor to others and your years to the cruel one, lest aliens be filled with your wealth and your labors go to the house of a foreigner." It brings slavery and bondage. It brings bondage. Today, many, many people are in bondage to fornication through pornography. It brings slavery. Think of all the money, the wealth that is spent in what? For nothing. It's wasted. It's in the hands of a foreigner, a strange woman. It has also brought literal slavery as well. in the ancient world where slavery was much more common. What happened to Joseph, captured, stripped of his clothes, sold into slavery, could happen much more easily than it does today. But it still happens today. It's called sex trafficking, where people are sold into slavery, literally sold into slavery. And it often starts, when it happened in the ancient world, it often started by men going to prostitutes. They opened themselves up to be sold into slavery. They provided an opportunity to have all their wealth stolen away. There is also, notice, total ruin in the midst of the congregation. I was on the verge of total ruin in the midst of the assembly and of the congregation. There's the public shame that's attached to the sin of fornication. But it also, fornication also, unlike any other sin, it brings a physical destruction. The Bible says that when you commit another sin like theft, it's outside of your body. But fornication is in your body. It's a sin against your own body. The Bible says that when a man who's hungry steals, you can understand that. But the sin of fornication, only fools commit. Because it's a sin that has physical destruction attached to it in a way no other sin does. V. 11 your flesh and your body are consumed. That's not a figure of speech. That is speaking literally. What we call venereal diseases, AIDS, chlamydia, some forms of herpes and warts, gonorrhea, syphilis and all sorts of other things are actual diseases that are uniquely attached to the sin of fornication. And some of them are lethal. They kill you. And they kill you slowly. One of the myths of the strange woman is that if you get these things, you can be cured of them. And if you get these things, we have a drug that you can take. That was the message of the Navy. When I was in the Navy, they used to show us these films. And the message was always get treatment. when I was just looking on the internet and found some, I wasn't looking for something else, but I found some movies that the Navy had done in World War II about this topic as well. And they had the same message back then. You can get treatment. There's a drug that'll cure this, what the Bible calls here, the destruction of your flesh. But it's a lie. It's a lie. We found that out to our chagrin when AIDS came around. And back in the 80s, there was this fear that AIDS was going to take over the society. We couldn't cure it. There was no cure for it. And you could pick it up in any casual connection. And you had all these stories about how people were getting AIDS who were hemophiliacs or who were medical responders or police. They got AIDS from some kind of non-sexual contact. Well, what's happened? Has AIDS taken over the world? No, it's pretty much constrained to the fornicators, especially the homosexual fornicators. And we don't have a cure for it. Syphilis leads to insanity when it's untreated, when it gets into the brain. These are gruesome diseases. Gruesome diseases that kill their victims slowly and gruesomely and painfully. So the fruit of fornication is the destruction of your honor, the loss of your wealth, the loss of your home, your marriage, bondage, and the physical destruction of your very body. and also the regret. Can't forget the regret. In some ways, that's the worst. Verse 12, when all these things come upon you, your flesh is consumed, your body is destroyed, your honor is gone, you're in a public disgrace, your wealth has been given to strangers, then what do you say? Oh, I have hated instruction. Now that how has a lot more force in the Greek than what comes across in our English. How I have hated instruction. It's a cry of lament. Judah cried out to his father or how shall I go up or to Joseph, how shall I go up to my father and not and the lad not be with me? Remember, he had given himself as a surety to his father that Benjamin would come back. And Joseph was now threatening to take Benjamin. And he cried out, how shall I go back to my father? My father had said I would bring down his gray hairs to Sheol if Benjamin didn't come back. David said of Saul, the beauty of Israel is slain upon thy places. How the mighty are fallen. You remember David lamented when Saul fell. God said of Israel through Jeremiah, I will feed this people with wormwood, and he was speaking of harlots, Israel, and give them water of gall to drink. I will scatter them among the heathen, for the voice of wailing is heard out of Zion. How we are spoiled. In fact, this word, how, There are other words for how, but this particular word for how, this cry of lament is used 19 times in Jeremiah, more than twice any other book. It's a cry of lament. It's a cry of deep and great regret. How I have hated instruction. My heart despised correction. I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me. That's the cry of lament of those who have known the fruit of fornication. It's not worth it. The Bible says it's not worth it. Lastly, understand how to avoid fornication. It's by listening, first of all, to the words of wisdom of God. That's three times in this passage. Three times we're told to listen to God's words of instruction regarding the strange woman, My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Lend your ear to my understanding that you may preserve discretion and your lips may keep knowledge. My son, keep your father's command. Do not forsake the law of your mother. Bind them continually on your heart. Tie them around your neck. When you roam, they will lead you. When you sleep, they will keep you. When you wake, they will speak with you. For the commandment is a lamp and the law is a light. Reproofs of instruction are the way of life to keep you from the evil woman. My son, keep my words and treasure my commands within you. Keep my commands and live, and my law is the apple of your eye. Write them on your fingers, bind them on your fingers, write them on the tablet of your heart. Say to wisdom, you are my sister, and call understanding your nearest kin, that they may keep you from the immoral woman, from the seductress who flatters with her words. See, you need to put the Word of God, the truth of the Word of God, up against the lies of the strange woman. God's Word is true. The strange woman's words are lies. You aren't the exception. You will be found out. You will be caught. You will experience the destruction that the Word of God says you will. Do you believe the Word of God? It talks about keeping it in your heart. You have to memorize it. Recall it to mind. Don't push it aside. When the Word of God comes to you, as your heart is contemplating the strange woman, listen to those words. They're true. And they will save you from the strange woman, if you listen to them. Secondly, remember that you don't understand all that you think you understand. You don't understand all that you think you understand. The Bible is true. The Word of God is true. When it says that you will bring destruction on your flesh, that's the truth. And your mental rationalizations about how you can engage in this virtual fornication and not experience the ravages of your body, you might think you understand, but you don't. You don't. Her feet go to death, her steps lay hold of Sheol, lest you ponder her path of life. Her ways are unstable. You do not know them. You don't know them. You think you do, but you're deceived, and I'm deceived if we think that we do. God says you don't understand the slipperiness of this slope. You don't understand the allure of fornication. You are like a naive person, like an ox going to the slaughter. As they walk up that ramp to where their pin will pierce their brain, they don't know what they're going to. They walk up there and the next thing they know, they know nothing else. So the Bible says we are like, we are like an ox that goes to the slaughter. If you're going to avoid fornication, we have to remember the Word of God and listen to it. And that tells us that we don't understand what we're up against. We don't understand the ways of the strange woman. We don't understand the allure of fornication. We don't understand the slipperiness of the slope that leads to it as all of our gates are attacked. We don't understand. We don't know. We are like the ox going to the slaughter. Okay, that's what you need to say in your mind. That's what you need to tell yourself. Like David did in the Psalms when he would say, why my soul are you cast down? You have to say, why my soul am I pondering the way of the strange woman? Why am I thinking I'm the exception? Why am I thinking that I won't be found out? Why am I thinking that I understand the subtlety of this temptation when the Bible says I don't? Why? Talk to yourself. Bring the Word of God to yourself. but we also are taught how to act. Taught how to think to avoid fornication, but we're also taught how to act. And that is to flee fornication. Flee fornication. Remove your way far from her and do not go near the door of her house. God knows our heart and its sinfulness. He knows the allure, the powerful allure of fornication, the slipperiness of that slope. And that's not anything that any person, man or woman, can toy with, can play with. Can a man take fire into his bosom and not be burned? Can he walk on hot coals and his feet not be seared? So is he who goes into his neighbor's wife. Whoever touches her shall not be innocent." The only answer to the temptation of fornication is to flee, to not go near it. to not go near it, to put away from your eyes, to put away from your ears, to put away from all of your other senses, but especially those two, because those two are the start of that slope, to put away anything that would tempt to fornication. Do not go near the door of her house. Don't walk down to the red light district just to see what's down there. Don't walk in to any place associated with fornication just to see what's there. Because you're curious. When you do that, the Bible says you are like an ox going to the slaughter. Flee it. Flee it. Remove your way far from her. It's the idea of seeing the strange woman come down the street and turning around and going the other way. And if you have questions or need help in fleeing, in recognizing or in how to flee, how to go the other way when the strange woman appears in front of you, then ask your elders. Ask for help in fleeing fornication. That's the same counsel, command that Paul gave to the Corinthians is to flee fornication. 1 Corinthians 6. Flee sexual immorality. He's just talked about not being unequally yoked. Our members are members of Christ. Our bodies are members of Christ. Shall I then take members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Fornication does. It takes the body of Christ and makes it the member of a harlot. Certainly not. Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For the two, he says, shall become one flesh. But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body. But he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. It's fornication. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is with you, whom you have from God? And you are not your own, for you are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which is God's. Flee, flee fornication. Don't think that you are smarter. than the Word of God, and that you can play with this fire and take it close to you and not be burned by it. That would be to believe the flattery and the lies of the strange woman. Now, the Bible also gives the answer to this problem, this universal problem, to what is sometimes called the oldest profession in the world. And that is, after the things that we have spoken about, it then speaks about the proper and wholesome intimacy in marriage. And we will look at that, Lord willing, in the next time that we look at this text. Today, I just want to leave you with this message. To understand, understand the allure, the lies, the flattery of the strange woman. They're lies. It's a slippery slope. that leads literally, figuratively, and in every other way to death. It leads to death. Not just in the by and by, but now. Now. It leads to the destruction of your flesh, the ravage of your body with disease, to shame, to dishonor. and to making the body of Christ one with a harlot. As you go from here today, remember that in everything you see, God is sitting with you, seeing it. In everything that you hear, God is sitting with you, hearing it. In everything that you touch, God dwells in you. that God is also there dwelling in you. And you are bringing the body of a harlot into the body of Christ. The ways of man are before the ways of the Lord. May God give us wisdom to remember and to learn and to heed that wisdom of God's Word. The ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord. Almighty Father in Heaven, we thank You for the truth of Your Word, its clarity, its perspicuity. We thank you that you love us, that you have provided a way of escape, that you have been tempted in every area, even as we are. There is no temptation that is unique to us that you have not known. Yet you are without sin, and you have provided also a way of escape for us. We pray, Father, that You would give us wisdom. We cry out to You this morning as those who are ignorant, as those who are without Your grace foolish, and ask that You would instruct us, that You would teach us. We ask that Your Word might be burned upon our heart. and that You would preserve us this week from this strange woman. In Jesus' name we ask, Amen.