•Why do we sin?
•There is only one reason!
•We do not see sin as God sees it
We’ve been preaching about reasons not to sin, but tonight we want to talk about one simple truth that ties them all together.
Proverbs 16:25
25There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Hebrew Language
•In the Semitic languages, many prepositions or words having to dowith direction or orientation are derived from parts of the body.
•AT THE HEAD: signifies first, beginning, top (“at head of class”)
•AT THE HAND: signifies standing next to someone
•AT THE FEET: signifies submission or worship to someone
•AT THE FACE: signifies standing before someone
•AT THE BACK: means “that which comes after”
ACHARIYTH
•Hebrew word for “back”
•meaning: back, that which comes after, result, after-effects, final consequences, end, ultimate outcome
•From our ordinary human vantage point, we cannot see that which comes after, the final consequences of a matter, the ACHARIYTH.
•But God always sees the whole picture. In His eyes, the ACHARIYTH is always in full view.
•If we want to live holy lives, it is CRUCIAL that we gain God’s perspective on sin!
•65 times in Old Testament, 13 times in Proverbs – 20% of the time!
•The whole purpose of Proverbs can be summed up in one verse: Proverbs 19:20
Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end. (ACHARIYTH)
Proverbs 16:25 (TEXT)
There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof(ACHARIYTH) are the ways of death.
He never shows us the ACHARIYTH.
•Remember Esau, who sold his lifelong birthright for one meal, just because he was hungry at that moment.
•Afterward, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected, though he sought it with tears. His ACHARIYTH was miserable!!
Before I yield to sin next time, I need to remember how I felt after I sinned this time! But my fallen nature just wants to think about now.
MANY VERSES IN PROVERBS WARN ABOUT THE “ACHARIYTH” OF
SEXUAL IMMORALITY:
Proverbs 5:3-14
3 The lips of an immoral woman are as sweet as honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil. 4 But the result (ACHARIYTH) is as bitter as poison, sharp as a double-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave. 6 For she does not care about the path to life. She staggers down a crooked trail and
doesn’t even realize where it leads.
7 So now, my sons, listen to me. Never stray from what I am about to say:
8 Run from her! Don’t go near the door of her house! 9 If you do, you will lose your honor and hand over to merciless people everything you have achieved in life.
10 Strangers will obtain your wealth, and someone else will enjoy the fruit of your labor. 11 Afterward (ACHARIYTH) you will groan in anguish when disease
consumes your body,
12 and you will say, “How I hated discipline! If only I had not demanded my own way!
13 Oh, why didn’t I listen to my teachers? Why didn’t I pay attention to those who gave me instruction? 14 I have come to the brink of utter ruin, and
now I must face public disgrace.”
•No matter how good the seductive woman looks, the consequences of associating with her will be disastrous!
In 1984, a Long Island businessman met an attractive young lady who offered him sex, making arrangements with him to meet her at a specific location another day. But when he met here and went inside the house, he was ambushed by several other men and women, then bound and gagged and brought to an abandoned apartment building in the city. There he was held
captive in a room that had been specially prepared for this moment, with extra boards over the windows to muffle the noise of his cries. They began to torture and abuse this man, burning him with cigarettes over his whole body, sodomizing him with such force that some of his internal organs were severely damaged. They made him relieve himself in a diaper, and for the last five days of his life, they starved him as well. And, even though his wife agreed to pay a ransom for him, they beat him to death before the money could arrive.
IF ONLY HE COULD HAVE SEEN HIS ACHARIYTH! If only he could have seen himself screaming in agony, pleading for mercy, tortured and molested, beaten and humiliated, starved and bound – then lying motionless, a bloody corpse. If he could have only seen the final consequences of his adulterous
lust, he would have never gone near that young woman, no matter how goodlooking she was, no matter what physical pleasures she offered him. He would
have sworn off sex for the rest of his life rather than meet such a terrible fate.
BUT HE DIDN’T SEE HIS ACHARIYTH!
•That’s why the warnings in Proverbs are so urgent!
There was a pastor who became very discouraged and as a result completely backslid one night. He ended up getting drunk and going to a party where people were exchanging sexual partners freely. And somehow, he fell so low that he had sex with another man. The next day reality set in. He agonized and grieved, repenting deeply, and gradually getting to a place of restoration. And then his ministry continued, as if everything were back to normal. But it wasn’t.
In that one night of terrible disobedience, he had contracted AIDS, and by the time he found out, he had infected his wife and the last child she bore him. IF
ONLY HE COULD HAVE SEEN HIS ACHARIYTH! If he could have seen his family and friends grieving at his funeral as the coffin housing his emaciated body was lowered into the ground. If he could have seen his wife and son gradually withering under the onslaught of that same dread disease. If only he had seen the final end! He would have never gone near that bar where he got drunk, no matter how depressed he was. He would have said to his wife, “Tie me to the bedpost and lock the door!” Anything to keep him from that disastrous end. BUT HE DIDN’T SEE HIS ACHARIYTH!
•It’s not worth it! No amount of pleasure is worth it! AND NONE OF US ARE EXEMPT FROM TEMPTATION!
•God shows us the traps in advance. Satan only shows us the bait.
Proverbs 23:31-32
31 Don’t let the sparkle and smooth taste of wine deceive you. 32 For in the end (ACHARIYTH) it bites like a poisonous serpent; it stings like a viper.
Today, on the streets of some of our major cities, there are winos and crack addicts laying in their own waste, their faces bloodied from a fall on the
concrete, their lives totally destroyed – but five years ago they were successful doctors, or prominent lawyers, or happily married athletes. What happened?
Well, they were under a lot of pressure, or some tragic event took place, or one of their friends introduced them to a new thrill. After awhile, that fix became a daily affair, and then it began to dominate them, until they ended up losing their
jobs, losing their families, losing their homes, and then living on the street. IF ONLY THEY COULD HAVE SEEN THEIR ACHARIYTH! Nothing could have possibly driven them to drinking or drugs. BUT THEY DIDN’T SEE THEIR ACHARIYTH!
•Sin’s end result is the total opposite of what was promised! It offered delight but brought death! It guaranteed a high but instead brought hell! (i.e. Marlboro Man – died of cancer)
Psalm 37:37-38
37Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end (ACHARIYTH) of that man is peace. 38But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end (ACHARIYTH) of the wicked shall be cut off.
•This is the psalm that tells us “Fret not thyself because of evildoers” (v 1) and “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread” (v 25).
•NLT (v 38) – “But the wicked will be destroyed; they have no future.”
•But the righteous have a “wonderful future”!
Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future!” (ACHARIYTH)
•The Bible says that the ACHARIYTH of believers will be blessed forever!
•I apologize to you if your first contact with Pentecost was a backslidden Christian, or someone who sinned with you! You’ve been ripped off! You’ve only seen the fake! They have no future and they are dragging you down with them!
Numbers 23:10 (False Prophet Balaam)
Let me die the death of the righteous, and may my end (ACHARIYTH) be like theirs.
•Everyone wants to die the DEATH of the righteous. But to do that, you have to live the LIFE of the righteous!
Psalm 73:1-3, 17
1Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. 2But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. 3For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 17Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. (ACHARIYTH)
Deuteronomy 32:29 (God’s Words)
O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! (ACHARIYTH)
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