PROVERBS 5: 1-14
A Word to A SEXUALLY PERVASIVE & PERMISSIVE SOCIETY
[1 Kings 11:1-8]
A man ordered a book on sex education from Broadman Press a several years ago. The materials in the warehouse are coded by number, so the keypunch operator handling the order punched the code into the order for the shipping room. However, she punched the wrong button and thus gave the wrong code number to the warehouse. The man had ordered a book on sex education. Instead, he received a book which was entitled, "Too Old to Learn."
The truth is none of us is too old to learn, for sex is a problem that confronts us at every age. And it has always been so.
Let's ponder chapter five and learn of the poisoning and deadly consequences of sexual permissiveness (CIT). The painful experiences of others (Eccles. 7:26) should cause us with fear and trembling to listen to these words. Man's own strength, the restraint of education, or self discipline can't bind this giant within our society (Judges 16:9). Engraved wisdom and the sentinel of the Holy Spirit are the only effective Safeguards to a Sexually Pervasive & Permissive Society.
I. THE ADULTERER'S DEADLY ENTICEMENTS, 5:1-3
II. HER SHARP & UNSTABLE WAYS, 4-6.
III. KEEP YOUR VIGOR AND STRENGTH, 7-10.
IV. HER VICTIMS' DREADFUL MEMORIES, 11-14.
The teacher's appeal is again to his beloved son in verse 1. "My son, give attention to my wisdom, incline your ear to my understanding."
We are asked again to "pay attention" and with attention comes the opportunity to grasp wisdom and "understanding" which increases with age for those who will earnestly seek after them. Here again the father of a youth requests a willing ear for his wisdom for life, gained through many years of experience and observation. To hear this teacher is to muffle the call of the temptress and vice versa.
Verse 2 tells us that heeding God's teacher is the way to learn and keep knowledge. "That you may observe discretion, and your lips may reserve knowledge."
Discretion is the reflection and deliberation necessary for well-considered action. Lips which preserve knowledge are such as permit nothing to escape from them which does not proceed from the knowledge of God.
When married people honor and respect sex as God instructs them in His Word, they can experience increasing enjoyment and enrichment in their intimacy. But when people break the rules, the result is just the opposite. They experience disappointment and disillusionment and have to search for larger "doses" of sexual adventure in order to attain the imaginary pleasure level they're seeking.
God created sex not only for reproduction but also for enjoyment, and He didn't put the "marriage wall" around sex to rob us of pleasure but to increase pleasure and protect it. In this chapter, Solomon explains the disappointments that come when people violate God's loving laws of sexual purity.
Verse 3 warns us that the speech of an adulterous will come across as sweet, but the end result is destruction (Mt 7:13). "For the lips of an adulteress drip honey, and smoother than oil is her speech."
The word "adulteress" is literally "strange woman". It denotes any woman not related to man by marriage. The beginning of a sexual liaison may be exciting and sweet with kisses and words from her lips dripping like honey, the sweetest substance in ancient Israel (7:13-20). "Drip" is pour or blow out. Olive "oil" was the smoothest and slippiest substance in Israel. The words are soothing and smooth going down like that of a charmer's voice. But after the prey is trapped in relationship she shows her true colors.
Proverbs includes many warnings against illicit sex for several reasons. A strange woman's charm is used as an example of temptation to do wrong or to leave the pursuit of wisdom. Second, sexual immorality was and still is extremely dangerous. It destroys family life. It erodes a person's ability to love. It degrades human beings and turns them into objects. It can lead to disease. It can result in unwanted children. Third, sexual immorality is against God's protective law.
You should be on guard against those who use flattery and enticements that try to pull you into sin. The best advice is to avoid conversation with such people.
II. HER SHARP AND DEADLY WAYS (4-6).
The teacher's insistence is supported with strong reasons beginning in verse 4. "But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword.
Those who permit themselves to be carried away into sexual relationship find there are consequences. To listen to her is to be poisoned by wormwood or bitterness (Lam. 3:19; Amos 6:12). "Bitterness" could also be translated poison. The sharp double edged sword lit., "two-mouthed" speaks of being devoured. Her words take on a sharpness that mutilates and eats her victim alive. The disguised end or result of seduction is bitter and deeply cutting.
Third, to walk with her is to embark on the path to death and hell. Verse 5, "Her feet go down to death, her steps lay hold of Sheol."
The unbridled woman's "feet go downward to death." She brings the stiffness, deterioration and coldness of death into your life. These strange women might look seductive and seem intriguing, but they will lead to your destruction and their paths to Gehenna itself.
The Book of Proverbs emphasizes the importance of looking ahead to see where your actions will lead you (see 5:11; 14:12-14; 16:25; 19:20; 20:21; 23:17-18, 32; 24:14, 20; 25:8). The wise person checks on the destination before buying a ticket (4:26), but modern society thinks that people can violate God's laws and escape the consequences. They're sure that whatever has happened to others will never happen to them. Sad to say, their ignorance and insolence can never neutralize the tragic aftermath that comes when people break the laws of God. "Oh, that they were wise that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end" (Deut. 32:29)!
The fourth found in verse is that to consort with her is to share her disorientating intoxication, and to hopelessly wander off the path of life with her. "She does not ponder the path of life; her ways are unstable, she does not know it."
The wayward woman's paths fluctuate hither and thither. She does not think about life, considering such thing tedious or impractical and refuses to heed the warning that contemplation would give. The power of sin over her is so great that she does not even realize the instability of her character and life. She lacks the ability to concentrate and is unconscious of it. She vacillates and does not realize it.
III. KEEP YOUR VIGOR AND STRENGTH (7-10).
In verse 7 the father renews his insistence that his sons listen and obey. "Now then, my sons, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
Again the admonition to listen and obey. Temptation includes luring promises; otherwise, people would never take the devil's bait. For a time, it seems like these promises have been fulfilled, and sinners bask in the warmth of pleasant experiences and false assurances. This is the myth of the greener grass. People who commit sexual sins think their problems are solved ("She understands me so much better than my wife does!") and that life will be better and better. But disobedience to God's laws always brings sad consequences and sinners eventually pay dearly for their brief moments of pleasure.
Verse 8 urges us not to turn . . . from wise teachings, but to turn from the adulteress. "Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house."
Some things and people you must keep your self far from if you are going to remain pure. The adulteress is certainly one. The underlying assumption that it is better to avoid temptation than to fight off temptation. The suction is so great close to this pits' mouth that we must be wary.
A similar lesson is taught in Matthew 5:28. A longing, desiring look is sin. God would keep us clear beyond the reach of the vile charmer's hypnotizing, mesmerizing eye. Hear him young men and love your life and value the virtue of your soul.
Failure to keep away from the adulteress can result in many losses; two given in verse 9 are a loss of energy and fulness of life. "Lest you give your vigor to others, and your years to the cruel one."
Failure to keep away from promiscuity can result in many losses. The first is a loss of youthfulness. Yes adultery may seem attractive because of the immediate pleasure it offers and irresponsible freedom it and Hollywood hype glamour it brings, but the end result is what you are left with.
Sin is a cruel taskmaster. Adultery saps your body of useful, profitable energy. Adulterers are unproductive laborers, who lose their zest and zeal for life.
Oh, the cruelty of a broken life, a broken heart, a broken home, and a broken body—all the needless results of promiscuity. Verse 10, "Lest strangers be filled with your strength, and your hard-earned goods go to the house of an alien;"
Sexual permissiveness leads to an ease of being exploited by others. The idea of being unable to produce is change to the lose of what you do produce (lit. what gives one "strength" to cope with life's needs). This is part of the high cost of immorality. Instead of luxury the sinner has misery, instead of riches, poverty and instead of success, ruin. (And friends I'm not just talking about alimony). The hard earned "labors"and the accumulate of a lifetime fly out the window and settle in a place where they do not belong—the house of a foreigner. [I wonder if that is why it is the illegal aliens are doing much of the hard labor in America today?]
IV. HER VICTIMS' DREADFUL MEMORIES, 11-14.
Another set of bleak outcomes found in verses 11–14 is the bitter regret that will be banefully acknowledged by the transgressor. Bereft of the energy and material goods that sustains life he is left with nothing to do but as verse 11 says to groan (or "growl" like a beast mortally wounded) as his flesh and body is consumed. "And you groan at your latter end, When your flesh and your body are consumed;"
Here is the end to which those deluded by sexual promiscuity are brought. The sorrowful sound of despair elicits from him. His flesh is consumed for sensuality and vexation have worked together to undermine health. The word flesh ( ) is closely related to muscle and sinew, denoting the flesh with respect to its muscular nature and its adhering to the bones. The whole skeletal frame with its muscular attachments are mall-functioning and wantonly cease functioning as intended.
Verse 12 begins the salty confession of those who spurn God's Word. "And you say, "How I have hated instruction and my heart spurned reproof!"
When the adulterer has reaped and then has sown the results of his actions he is regretful for his lack of wisdom and self-restraint. What he should have treasured and preserved, he hated and despised (or disdained). He wishes he could turn back the hands of time and do things differently but he has unmade his bed and must lie in it.
Adultery and sexual immorality are probably the most highly touted sins in our generation. "If there is one sin that you could commit and get away with, it's adultery," our generation says.
Television, movies, literature-all promote a life of guilt-free sexual indulgence. But like cigarette advertising, it doesn't tell the whole story. It doesn't show the lifelong smoker gasping for breath as he dies from emphysema. It doesn't show the pain and nausea from chemotherapy and radiation following disfiguring cancer surgery.
And so the promise of guilt-free sex does not show the pain of broken homes, the debilitating loneliness and humiliation of venereal or the agony of AIDS. Three thousand years ago Solomon warned us to shun immorality.
Verse 13 calls attention to his stony obstinance toward the teacher's lessons. "And I have not listened to the voice of my teachers, nor inclined my ear to my instructors!"
"Have not listened" is did not cleave to hearing. At the end of your life, it will be too late to ask for advice. When desire is fully activated, people don't want advice--they want satisfaction. The best time to learn the dangers and foolishness of going after forbidden sex (or anything else that is harmful) is long before the temptation comes. Resistance is easier if the decision has already been made. Don't wait to see what happens. Prepare for temptation by deciding now how you will act when you face it.
Adultery can rarely be kept secret, and its perpetrators are cursed if it is and destroyed if it isn't. Verse 14, "I was almost in utter ruin in the midst of the assembly and congregation."
He who comes too late to consider his ways is at the brink of "utter ruin." He externally worshiped and met with the congregation but knew himself a hypocrite. An unclean heart and mind will bring ruin upon the life of those who so mocked the service of the Lord.
Note the word "almost." It is never too late to find God's forgiveness and God's path so that you don't go on to "utter ruin." Despite the trauma it may cause it must be forsaken and confessed if it is to be cleansed.
It has been wisely said that tomorrow is the best reason for doing right today. Yes, there is pleasure in sin for a season (Hebrews 11:25), but the end is destruction. You'll be ruined and disgraced. You'll regret the strange woman until the day you die
CONCLUSION
The writer of Proverbs has reminded us of the consequences of sex outside of the marriage bond. Sexual permissiveness is not simply wrong because God forbids it. God forbids it because it is wrong. May we be as Joseph and his sexual immorality and save ourselves for future usefulness to God and man.
