The key verses in this chapter are verses 5–6, a promise also" (Matt. 6:21 nkjv).
Proverbs promises when we obey His precepts, because our obedience prepares us to receive and enjoy what He has planned for us.
People are willing to work diligently in their jobs because they know they'll earn a paycheck, but what about applying themselves diligently to God's Word in order to gain spiritual riches that are more valuable than gold and silver and jewels, riches that will last forever? (See 2:4; 3:13–15; 8:10–21; 16:16.) There's a price to pay if we would gain spiritual wisdom, but there's an even greater price to pay if we don't gain it. We must walk with God through the study of His Word.
Conditions to meet (vv. 1–12). The first condition for receiving God's guidance is that we learn God's truth (vv. 1–4). The will of God is revealed in the Word of God (Col. 1:9–10), and the only way to know His will is to study His Word and obey it. By receiving the Word within our hearts, we experience growth in godly character so that mercy and truth ("love and faithfulness," niv) become beautiful ornaments in our lives (Prov. 3:3; 1:9). It isn't enough for believers to carry the Bible in their hands; they must let the Holy Spirit write it on their hearts (3:3; 7:3; 2 Cor. 3:1–3). Obedience to the Word can add years to your life and life to your years.
Walking with the wicked (vv. 10–19). Here we meet "the evil man" and "the strange woman," two people who are dangerous because they want to lead God's children away from the path of life. The evil man is known for his perverse ("froward," kjv; crooked) words (see vv. 12, 14; 6:14; 8:13; 10:31–32; 16:28, 30). He walks on the dark path of disobedience and enjoys doing that which is evil. He belongs to the crowd Solomon warns us about in 1:10–19. The person who walks in the way of wisdom would immediately detect his deceit and avoid him.
Second, we must obey God's will (vv. 5–8). "He shall direct your paths" (v. 6 nkjv) is the promise, but the fulfillment of that promise is predicated on our obedience to the Lord. We must trust Him with all our heart and obey Him in all our ways. That means total commitment to Him (Rom. 12:1–2). The word translated "trust" in verse 5 means "to lie helpless, facedown." It pictures a servant waiting for the master's command in readiness to obey, or a defeated soldier yielding himself to the conquering general.
The "strange woman" is the adulteress, the wayward wife described so vividly in 7:1–27. If the evil man uses perverse words to snare the unwary, the adulteress uses flattering words. Someone has said that flattery isn't communication, it is manipulation; it's people telling us things about ourselves that we enjoy hearing and wish were true. The strange woman knows how to use flattery successfully. She has no respect for God because she breaks His law (Ex. 20:14); she has no respect for her husband because she violates the promises she made to him when she married him. She no longer has a guide or a friend in the Lord or in her husband because she has taken the path of sin. Anyone who listens to her words and follows her path is heading for the cemetery.
The danger, of course, is that we lean on our own understanding and thereby miss God's will. This warning doesn't suggest that God's children turn off their brains and ignore their intelligence and common sense. It simply cautions us not to depend on our own wisdom and experience or the wisdom and experience of others. Abraham did this when he went to Egypt (Gen. 12:10–20), and so did Joshua when he attacked the little town of Ai (Josh. 7). When we become "wise in [our] own eyes" (Prov. 3:7), then we're heading for trouble.
Walking with the righteous (vv. 20–22). Note the argument that Solomon gives in this chapter that begins with the "if" of verse 1 and continues with the "then" of verse 9 and the "thus" of verse 20. If we receive God's words and obey them, then we will have wisdom to make wise decisions, and thus God will keep His promise and protect us from the evil man and the strange woman. When you obey God, you have the privilege to "walk in the ways of good men" (v. 20 niv). If you follow the Word of God, you will never lack for the right kind of friends.
Share God's blessings (vv. 9–10) is the third condition we must meet if we want God to direct our paths. There's no such thing as "spiritual" and "material" in the Christian life, for everything comes from God and belongs to God. The Old Testament Jews brought the Lord the firstlings of their flocks (Ex. 13:1–2) and the firstfruits of their fields (Lev. 23:9–14), and in this way acknowledged His goodness and sovereignty. The New Testament parallel is seen in Matthew 6:33.
If we don't faithfully give to the Lord, we don't really trust the Lord. Of course, our tithes and offerings aren't "payment" for His blessings; rather, they're evidence of our faith and obedience. Christian industrialist R. G. LeTourneau used to say, "If you give because it pays, it won't pay." Giving is heart preparation for what God wants to say to us and do for us. "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matt. 6:21 nkjv).
The wicked may appear to be succeeding, but their end is destruction (Ps. 37). The godly will be rooted in the place of God's blessing (Ps. 1:3), but the ungodly will be uprooted from the land. The safest and most satisfying path is the path of wisdom, the path of life.
2. Wisdom Directs Our Path (Prov. 3) The key verses in this chapter are verses 5–6, a promise God's people have often claimed as they have sought the Lord's direction for their lives. And this promise has never failed them—if they have obeyed the conditions God has laid down in verses 1–12. God keeps His
Our fourth responsibility is to submit to God's chastening (Prov. 3:11–12). Chastening is a part of God's plan to help His sons and daughters mature in godly character (Heb. 12:1–11). God chastens us, not as a
Proverbs judge punishes a criminal, but as a parent disciplines a child. He acts in love, and His purpose is that we might become "partakers of his holiness" (Heb. 12:10). Sometimes He chastens because we have rebelled and need to repent; other times He chastens to keep us from sinning and to prepare us for His special blessing. No matter how much the experience hurts us, it will never harm us, because God always chastens in love (Deut. 8:2–5).
God's path (vv. 22; see Luke 9:53), your feet walking on the right path (Prov. 3:23, 26), and even your backbone safe while you're sleeping (v. 24). If something frightening suddenly happens, you won't be afraid (v. 25; see Ps. 112:7; 121:3–6), because the Lord is protecting you. How we sleep is sometimes evidence of how much we trust the Lord (Ps. 4—5).
A positive relationship with others (Prov. 3:27–35) is a fourth blessing the believer enjoys when he or she walks in the wisdom of God. Wise Christians will be generous to their neighbors and live peaceably with them (vv. 27–30), doing their best to avoid unnecessary disagreements (Rom. 12:18). After all, if we truly love God, we will love our neighbor as we would want him to love us.
Blessings to enjoy (vv. 13–35). If we trust and obey, our Father will direct our path into the blessings He has planned for us; the first of these blessings is the true wealth that comes from wisdom (vv. 13–18). Some people know the price of everything but the value of nothing; consequently, they make unwise choices and end up with shoddy merchandise. An acquaintance of mine, thinking he was getting a bargain, bought a box of white shirts from a street vendor for just a few dollars. When he opened the box at home, he discovered they weren't shirts at all: they were dickeys made to be used on corpses. So much for his bargain. You take what you want from life, and you pay for it.
On the other hand, if our neighbor is a perverse person who scoffs at our faith (Prov. 3:31–35), the Lord will guide us in letting our light shine and His love show so that we will influence him but he won't lead us astray. Sometimes it takes a great deal of patience, prayer, and wisdom to rightly relate to people who don't want Christians in the neighborhood, but perhaps that's why God put us there.
It's good to have the things money can buy, provided you don't lose the things money can't buy. What good is an expensive house if there's no happy home within it? Happiness, pleasantness, and peace aren't the guaranteed by-products of financial success, but they are guaranteed to the person who lives by God's wisdom. Wisdom becomes a "tree of life" to the believer who takes hold of her, and this is a foretaste of heaven (Rev. 22:1–2).
It's possible to have a godly home in the midst of an ungodly neighborhood, for God "blesses the home of the righteous" (v. 33 niv). We are the salt of the earth and the light of the world, and one dedicated Christian in a neighborhood can make a great deal of difference and be a powerful witness for the Lord.
3. Wisdom Perfects Our Path (Prov. 4) The key verse in chapter 4 is verse 18: "But the path of the just is like the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." The picture is that of the sunrise ("the first gleam of dawn," niv) and the increasing of the light on the pilgrim path as the day advances. If we walk in the way of God's wisdom, the path gets brighter and brighter and there is no sunset! When the path ends, we step into a land where the light never dims, for "there shall be no night there" (Rev. 22:5).
Another blessing is harmony with God's creation (Prov. 3:19–20). The person who walks according to God's wisdom can sing, "This is my Father's world," and really mean it. The wisdom of God brought everything into being (8:22ff.), including what science calls "the laws of nature." Obey these laws and creation will work with you; disobey them and creation will work against you. People in the so-called "New Age" movement try to be "at one" with creation, but they're doomed to fail because they reject the wisdom of God. Christians who live by God's wisdom will be good stewards of His creation and will use His gifts for His glory.
God has a plan for each of His children (Eph. 2:10), and if we walk in His wisdom, we can confidently say, "The Lord will perfect that which concerns me" (Ps. 138:8 nkjv). Our path may not be an easy one, but it will always be a fulfilling one as we walk in the will of the Father. This involves three responsibilities on our part: knowing God's Word (Prov. 4:19), trusting God's providence (vv. 10–19), and obeying God's will (vv. 20–27).
A third blessing is the Father's providential care (3:21–26). Because God directs our path, He is able to protect our path. The Lord isn't obligated to protect His children when they willfully go their own way. They're only tempting Him, and that's a dangerous thing to do. Back in the early 1940s an angry unbeliever asked a pastor friend of mine, "Why doesn't God stop this terrible war?" My friend quietly replied, "He doesn't stop it because He didn't start it." It was started by people who rejected God's wisdom and pursued their own selfish plans.
Knowing God's Word (vv. 1–9). Some children don't like to hear Dad say, "Now, back when I was a boy …" but they might learn a lot if they paid attention and listened. He learned wisdom from his father, and now he's passing it on to the next generation. This is the primary way God has ordained for His truth to be preserved and invested from generation to generation (Deut. 6:3–9; Eph. 6:1–4; 2 Tim. 1:3–5; 2:2; 3:14–17). Children who have godly parents and grandparents ought to give thanks to the Lord for their rich
When you surrender yourself to God, every part of your body belongs to Him and will be protected by Him. He will help you keep your eyes from wandering (v. 21), your neck from turning your face away from
Proverbs
Obeying God's will (vv. 20–27). This is a wonderful paragraph to us as a personal spiritual inventory to see if we're really living in obedience to the Lord. Let's ask ourselves: heritage, instead of scoffing at that heritage and abandoning it for the way of the world.
"Get wisdom" (Prov. 4:5) suggests "buy wisdom" because the Hebrew word carries the idea of a commercial transaction. There's a price to pay if you want to know God's truth and obey it. "Buy the truth, and sell it not" (23:23). Parents and grandparents can teach us, but only we can receive the Word into our hearts, cherish it, and pay the price to obey it.
"What comes into my ears?" (v. 20). Whatever enters my ears will ultimately influence my mind, my heart, and my decisions, so I'd better be careful what I listen to. Paul warns us to beware of "obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking" (Eph. 5:4 niv), and Psalm 1:1 tells us to avoid ungodly counsel. When people speak, we must be able to identify God's voice (John 10:3–5, 16) and obey what He says.
The father tells his sons to treat wisdom the way they would treat their mother, sister, or wife: love her, honor her, embrace her, exalt her! The bumper sticker that asks, "Have you hugged your children today?" ought to be balanced with, "Have you hugged wisdom today?" In Proverbs, Wisdom is personified as a beautiful woman who invites us to her lavish banquet, while Folly is the adulteress or prostitute who tempts us to poverty and death. The one you love is the one who will control your life. Embrace Wisdom and you will have security (4:6), honor (v. 8), and beauty (v. 9).
"What is within my heart?" (v. 23). Whatever the heart loves, the ears will hear and the eyes will see. When our children were small, no matter where we were driving, they could usually find the ice cream shops and the toy stores; I must confess that I managed to locate the bookstores! "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life" (v. 23 niv). If we pollute that wellspring, the infection will spread; before long, hidden appetites will become open sins and public shame.
Trusting God's providence (vv. 10–19). When you receive God's truth into your heart, God renews your mind (Rom. 12:2) and enables you to think wisely. This helps you make right decisions and experience the guidance of God day by day. God in His loving providence directs us and prepares the path for us. Augustine said, "Trust the past to the mercy of God, the present to His love, and the future to His providence." But King David said it better long before Augustine: "You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore" (Ps. 16:11 nkjv).l
The Bible warns us to avoid a double heart (Ps. 12:2), a hard heart (Prov. 28:14), a proud heart (21:4), an unbelieving heart (Heb. 3:12), a cold heart (Matt. 24:12), and an unclean heart (Ps. 51:10). "Search me, O God, and know my heart" (139:23).
"What is upon my lips?" (v. 24). Whatever is in the heart will ultimately come out of the mouth (Matt. 12:33–34). God's children must be careful to have "sound speech that cannot be condemned" (Titus 2:8), speech that's gracious and "seasoned with salt" (Col. 4:6 nkjv). The ancient Romans, listening to one of their orators, would look at each other, smile, and say, "Cum grano salis"—"Take it with a grain of salt." But Christians are supposed to put the salt into their speech and keep their words pure and honest.
If you are willing to do God's will, you will have God's guidance (John 7:17), but if you treat God's will like a buffet lunch, choosing only what pleases you, He will never direct you. As I've said before, the will of God isn't for the curious; it's for the serious. As we look back on more than forty years of marriage and ministry, my wife and I can testify to God's providential leading in our lives in ways that we never suspected He would use.
As we shall see in a later chapter, Proverbs has a great deal to say about human speech; in fact, the word mouth is used over fifty times and the word lips over forty times in the Authorized Version. Among other things, Solomon warns us about perverse lips (Prov. 4:24), lying lips (12:22), flattering lips (20:19), deceptive lips (24:28), and undisciplined lips (10:19). "He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin" (13:3 niv).
But God's children can't expect God's leading if they shuttle back and forth between the path of wisdom and the path of the wicked (Prov. 4:14–17). Stay as far away from that path as you can! Don't enter it! Avoid it! Don't go near it! Go as far from it as you can! Certainly we must witness to unsaved people whom the Lord brings to us, but we must never adopt their lifestyle or imitate their ways. God doesn't guide His children when they're walking in darkness. When you're living in the will of God, the path gets brighter and brighter, not darker and darker (1 John 1:5–10).
"What is before my eyes?" (v. 25). Outlook determines outcome. Abraham was the friend of God because he walked by faith and "looked for a city … whose builder and maker is God" (Heb. 11:10). Lot became a friend of the world because he walked by sight and moved toward the wicked city of Sodom (Gen. 13:10, 12). Everybody has some vision before them that helps to determine their values, actions, and plans. We would all be wise to imitate David who said, "I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes" (Ps. 101:3), and the writer of Psalm 119 who prayed, "Turn my eyes away from worthless things" (v. 37 niv). If you are "looking unto Jesus" (Heb. 12:2) as you walk the path of life, then keep that posture of faith. If you look
The danger is that we let the lessons of wisdom slip through our fingers and we lose them. "Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go" (Prov. 4:13). Hold on to wisdom the way a child holds a parent's hand and trusts Mother or Father to guide and protect. God is able to keep us from stumbling (Jude 24) if we'll keep ourselves in His wisdom.
Proverbs including government officials, Hollywood stars, sports heroes, and (alas!) preachers, but that doesn't make it right. Sexual sin is one of the main themes of numerous movies, TV programs, novels, and short stories; yet popularity is no test of right and wrong. Many things that the law says are legal, the Bible says are evil, and there won't be a jury sitting at the White Throne Judgment (Rev. 20:11–15; 21:27; 22:15).
back (Luke 9:62) or around (Matt. 14:30), you may go on a detour.
"What is beyond my path?" (vv. 26–27). The Hebrew word translated "ponder" means "to weigh" or "to make level." It is related to a word that means "scales" (16:11). In his final speech before he drank the hemlock, Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living"; Paul wrote, "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves" (2 Cor. 13:5 nkjv). The Lord is weighing our ways (Prov. 5:21) and our hearts (21:2), as well as our actions (1 Sam. 2:3), and we had better do the same. Life is too short and too precious to be wasted on the temporary and the trivial.
Why worry about sexual sins? These three chapters of Proverbs give us three reasons why we should worry if we break God's laws of purity: because sexual sin is eventually disappointing (Prov. 5), gradually destructive (ch. 6), and ultimately deadly (ch. 7). That's why God says, "You shall not commit adultery."
If we're walking in the way of wisdom, God promises to protect our path, direct our path, and perfect our path.
1. Sexual Sin Is Eventually Disappointing (Prov. 5) 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.
All folly can offer us is danger, detours, and disappointments, ultimately leading to death.
It shouldn't be too difficult to make the right choice!
Notes 1 This has been my life verse since 1948 when I entered seminary to prepare for ministry, and I can bear witness that it has never failed me. When you walk on God's path, you delight in God's presence and enjoy God's pleasures. You have life, joy, and pleasure—and it gets better and better as life progresses!
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.
CHAPTER FOUR Proverbs 5–7 THE PATH OF FOLLY AND DEATH Y
Their experience goes from sweetness to bitterness (vv. 1–6). We've met "the strange woman" before (2:16; niv, "adulteress") and she'll be mentioned again (5:20; 6:24; 7:5; 20:16; 22:14; 23:27; 27:13). The word translated "strange" basically means "not related to." The "strange woman" is one to whom the man is not related by marriage, and therefore any sexual liaison with her is evil. The beginning of this sinful alliance may be exciting and sweet, because the kisses and words from her lips drip like honey (7:13–20), but in the end, the "sweetness" turns to bitterness, and the honey becomes poison (5:4).
ou shall not commit adultery."
The Lord God spoke those words at Mount Sinai, and we call what He said the seventh commandment (Ex. 20:14). It declares that sexual intimacy outside the bonds of marriage is wrong, even if "between consenting adults."1 This law specifically mentions adultery, but the commandment includes the sexual sins prohibited elsewhere in Scripture (Lev. 18; Rom. 1:18–32; 1 Cor. 6:9–20; Eph. 5:1–14). God invented sex and has every right to tell us how to use it properly.
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).
However, on hearing the seventh commandment, many people in contemporary society smile nonchalantly and ask, "What's wrong with premarital or extramarital sex, or any other kind, for that matter?" After all, they argue, many people indulge in these things and seem to get away with it. Furthermore, these activities are more acceptable today than they were in Solomon's day; why make a big issue out of it? "Life is a game in which the rules are constantly changing," says a contemporary writer; "nothing spoils a game more than those who take it seriously."2 So, the verdict's in: sex is fun, so don't take it too seriously.
Their experience goes from gain to loss (vv. 7–14). Temptation always includes hopeful promises; otherwise, people would never take the devil's bait. For a time, it seems like these promises have been fulfilled,
It's true that some well-known people have indulged in sexual escapades and even bragged about it,
Proverbs and satisfaction; they won't look around for "the greener grass."
and sinners bask in the sunshine of pleasant experiences and false assurances. This is what family counselor J. Allan Petersen calls "the myth of the greener grass."3 People who commit sexual sins think their problems are solved ("She understands me so much better than my wife does!") and that life will get better and better. But disobedience to God's laws always brings sad consequences, and sinners eventually pay dearly for their brief moments of pleasure.
Their experience goes from freedom to bondage (vv. 21–23). Freedom of choice is one of the privileges God has given us, but He instructs us and urges us to use that freedom wisely. The laws of God are guideposts to lead us on the path of life, and He watches the decisions we make and the roads we take. "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good" (15:3).
When you read verses 9–14, you hear the words of a suffering sinner lamenting the high cost of disobeying God's laws, because the most expensive thing in the world is sin. He discovers that the woman's husband is a cruel man who demands that he pay for what he's done, so the adulterer ends up giving his strength to others and toiling away to pay his debt. Instead of luxury, the sinner has misery; instead of riches, poverty; instead of success, ruin; and instead of a good reputation, the name of an adulterer. He looks back and wishes he had listened to his parents and his spiritual instructors, but his wishes can't change his wretched situation. Yes, God in His grace will forgive his sins if he repents, but God in His government sees to it that he reaps what he sows.
As long as we use our freedom wisely, we will mature in Christian character, and God can trust us with more freedom. But if we abuse our freedom and deliberately disobey His Word, our freedom will gradually become bondage, the kind of bondage that can't easily be broken. "The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin hold him fast" (5:22 niv). Those words could have been used as an epitaph for Samson (Judg. 13—16).
It's impossible to sin without being bound. One of the deceitful things about sin is that it promises freedom but only brings slavery. "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin" (John 8:34 nkjv). "Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?" (Rom. 6:16 nkjv)
Their experience goes from purity to pollution (vv. 15–20). Solomon compares enjoying married love to drinking pure water from a fresh well, but committing sexual sin is like drinking polluted water from the gutter or sewer. Sex within marriage is a beautiful river that brings life and refreshment, but sex outside marriage is a sewer that defiles everything it touches. To commit sexual sin is to pour this beautiful river into the streets and the public squares. What waste! If you "drink deep" of the wrong kind of love (7:18 niv) it will destroy you.
The cords of sin get stronger the more we sin, yet sin deceives us into thinking we're free and can quit sinning whenever we please. As the invisible chains of habit are forged, we discover to our horror that we don't have the strength to break them. Millions of people in our world today are in one kind of bondage or another and are seeking for deliverance, but the only One who can set them free is Jesus Christ. "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed" (John 8:36 nkjv).
The commitment of marriage is like the banks of the river that keep the river from becoming a swamp. God's holy law confines the waters within the banks, and this produces power and depth. Extramarital and premarital affairs don't satisfy because they're shallow, and it doesn't take much to stir up shallow water. A man and woman pledged to each other in marriage can experience the growing satisfaction that comes with love, commitment, depth, and purity.
No wonder the father warns his children to stay away from the adulteress. "Remove your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house" (Prov. 5:8 nkjv). "Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death" (7:27).
2. Sexual Sin Is Gradually Destructive (Prov. 6) Chapter 6 deals with three enemies that can destroy a person financially, physically, morally, or spiritually: unwise financial commitments (vv. 1–5), laziness (vv. 6–11), and lust (vv. 20–35). It is not unusual for one person to be guilty of all three, because laziness and lust often go together; people who can easily be pressured into putting up security for somebody can be pressured into doing other foolish things, including committing adultery. "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matt. 6:21).
But there's something else involved here. Solomon admonishes the husband to be "ravished" with his wife's love (5:19–20); the word translated "ravished" also means "intoxicated" or "infatuated."4 The adulterer watches the river turn into a sewer, but the faithful husband sees the water become wine! I think it's significant that Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding feast, as though He were giving us an object lesson concerning the growing delights of marriage (John 2:1–11).
When a husband and wife are faithful to the Lord and to each other, and when they obey Scriptures like 1 Corinthians 7:1–5 and Ephesians 5:22–33, neither of them will look for satisfaction anywhere else. If they love each other and seek to please each other and the Lord, their relationship will be one of deepening joy
We will consider Proverbs 6:1–11 in our study of wealth and work. Verses 12–19 will be included in chapter 5, in our study of "the wicked people" mentioned in the book of Proverbs. In verses 20–35,
Proverbs sinful ways: "Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods" (1 Cor. 6:13 nkjv). But Paul made it clear that the believer's body belongs to God and that the presence of a desire isn't the same as the privilege to satisfy that desire (vv. 12–20).
Solomon deals with adultery and points out what people will lose who commit this heinous sin.
They lose the Word of God (vv. 20–24). In chapters 5—7, each of the warnings against adultery is prefaced by an admonition to pay attention to the Word of God (5:1–2; 6:20–24; 7:1–5). It is by our trusting and obeying His truth that God keeps us from believing the enemy's lies. Certainly children have the obligation to honor their father and mother (6:20; see 1:8), and God's children have the responsibility and privilege of bringing glory to their Father's name. "Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge" (Heb. 13:4 nkjv).
Solomon used a similar approach in Proverbs 6:30–31. Certainly hunger is a strong force in human life, and the only way to satisfy hunger is to eat, but if you steal the bread that you eat, you're breaking the law. You'll end up paying more for that bread than if you'd gone out and bought a loaf at the bakery. As you sit in jail or stand in court, the enjoyment you had from that bread will soon be forgotten.
Adultery is stealing. "For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality … and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter" (1 Thess. 4:3, 6 nasb). When adultery enters a marriage, everybody loses.
The Word should be bound to the heart (Ps. 119:11), because the heart is "the wellspring of life" (Prov. 4:23 niv).5 God's truth should also control the neck, because a man might be tempted to turn his head and look at a beautiful woman for the purpose of lusting (Matt. 5:27–30). He may not be able to avoid seeing the woman the first time, but it's looking the second time that gets him into trouble.
They lose their good sense (v. 32). King David was a brilliant strategist on the battlefield and a wise ruler on the throne, but he lost his common sense when he gazed at his neighbor's wife and lusted for her (2 Sam. 12). He was sure he could get away with his sin, but common sense would have told him he was wrong. Every stratagem David used to implicate Bathsheba's husband failed, so he ended up having the man killed. Surely David knew that we reap what we sow, and reap he did, right in the harvest field of his own family.
The Word of God in the mind and heart is like a guide who leads us on the safe path and protects us from attacks. It's also like a friend who talks to us and counsels us along the way (Prov. 6:22). We walk in the light because the Word is a lamp (v. 23; Ps. 119:105, 130). If we listen to God's voice in His Word, we won't fall for the enemy's flattery (Prov. 6:24).
Read 1 John 1:5–10 and note that "walking in the light" assures us of hearing the Word of God, while "walking in darkness" causes us to lose His Word. If we disobey Him, we don't do the truth (Prov. 6:6), we don't have the truth (v. 8), and His Word is not in us (v. 10). There is a gradual erosion of the spiritual life, from light to darkness, and with this erosion comes a deterioration of Christian character.
They lose their peace (vv. 33–35). The angry husband will use every means possible to avenge himself, for a loving husband would rather that his neighbor steal his money than steal his wife. "For love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame" (Song 8:6 niv). The offender will have no peace, and no amount of money he offers the husband will be accepted. The adulterer loses his reputation in the community and might actually suffer physical punishment. Of course, he and the woman were supposed to be stoned to death (Lev. 20:10; Deut. 22:22), but we're not sure this penalty was always exacted.
They lose wealth (vv. 25–26). This parallels 5:7–14, and see 29:3. To be "brought to a piece of bread" means to be degraded to the lowest level of poverty (see Luke 15:13–16, 30). If the adultery results in scandal, a lawsuit, and a divorce, the price will not be cheap; in this day of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, the adulterer is taking chances with his health and his life.
In today's society, if a person has enough money and "clout," he or she might be able to survive an adulterous scandal, but life is still never quite the same. Whether in this life or the next, sinners can be sure that their sins will find them out. Indulging in sexual sin is always a losing proposition.
They lose enjoyment (vv. 27–31). Fire is a good thing if it's confined and controlled. It can keep us warm, cook our food, drive our turbines, and manufacture our electricity. Sex is a good gift from God, but like fire, if it gets out of control, it becomes destructive. What begins as a "warm" experience soon becomes a burning experience, like holding a torch in your lap or walking on burning coals.
3. Sexual Sin Is Ultimately Deadly (Prov. 7) For the third time, Solomon calls the young person back to the Word of God (vv. 1–5), because keeping God's commandments is a matter of life or death. The adulteress lives on a dead-end street: "Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death" (v. 27).
"But sex is a normal desire, given to us by God," some people argue. "Therefore, we have every right to use it, even if we're not married. It's like eating: If you're hungry, God gave you food to eat; if you're lonely, God gave you sex to enjoy." Some of the people in the Corinthian church used this argument to defend their
The familiar phrase "apple of your eye" (v. 2) refers to the pupil of the eye, which the ancients thought was a sphere like an apple. We protect our eyes because
Proverbs out about it (except that somebody's watching, 7:6) and that her husband won't be home for many days. They have plenty of time to enjoy themselves.
they're valuable to us, and so should we honor and protect God's Word by obeying it. Sexual sin often begins with undisciplined eyes and hands (Matt. 5:27–30), but the heart of the problem is … the heart (Prov. 7:2–3). If we love God's wisdom as we love those in our family, we wouldn't want to visit the house of the harlot.
He tempts the Lord (vv. 21–27). When we pray, "Lead us not into temptation" (Matt. 6:13), we know that God doesn't tempt us (James 1:13–16); yet we may tempt ourselves, tempt others, and even tempt God (Ex. 17:1–7; Num. 14:22; Deut. 6:16; Ps. 78:18, 56; 1 Cor. 10:9). We tempt God when we deliberately disobey Him and put ourselves into situations so difficult that only God can deliver us. It's as though we "dare Him" to do something.
This chapter vividly describes a naive young man who falls into the trap of the adulteress. Note the steps that lead to his destruction.
He tempts himself (vv. 6–9). You get the impression that this young man is either terribly dumb or very proud, convinced that he can play with sin and get away with it. But he's only tempting himself and heading for trouble. To begin with, he's out at night ("walking in darkness," see 2:13; John 3:19–21; 1 John 1:5–7), and he's deliberately walking near the place of temptation and danger. He didn't heed the wise counsel of the Lord: "Remove your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house" (5:8 nkjv). God's Word wasn't controlling his feet (3:26; 4:27).
The youth made a sudden decision to follow the woman, and when he did, he began to act like an animal. He was no longer a young man, made in the image of God, but an ox going to the slaughter or a bird walking into the trap. Human beings are the only creatures in God's creation who can choose what kind of creatures they want to be. God wants us to be sheep (Ps. 23:1; John 10; 1 Peter 2:25), but there are other options, such as horses or mules (Ps. 32:9), or even hogs and dogs (2 Peter 2:22). When we live outside the will of God, we lose our privileges as human beings made in His divine image.
During more than forty years of ministry, I've listened to many sad stories from people who have indulged in sexual sin and suffered greatly; in almost every instance, the people deliberately put themselves into the place of temptation and danger. Unlike Job, they didn't make "a covenant with [their] eyes not to look lustfully at a girl" (Job 31:1 niv), nor did they follow the example of Joseph and flee from temptation (Gen. 39:7ff.; 2 Tim. 2:22). We can't help being tempted, but we can certainly help tempting ourselves.
By going to her house, her table, and her bed, the young man willfully disobeyed God's law, but the Lord didn't intervene. He allowed the youth to indulge in his sensual appetites and suffer the consequences. God could have stopped him, but He didn't, because the Word says, "You shall not tempt [put to the test] the Lord your God" (Matt. 4:7; Deut. 6:16). If instead of tempting the Lord, the youth had looked up to the Lord and remembered His Word (Prov. 7:24), looked within and kept his heart focused on God's truth (v. 25), and looked ahead to see the terrible consequences of his sin (vv. 26–27), he would have turned around and fled from the harlot's clutches.
He is tempted by the woman (vv. 10–20). Like the deadly spider in the web, the woman was watching at the window, ready to pounce on her prey. She was a man's wife, but when he was out of town, she dressed like a prostitute so she could attract the men who were searching for her services (Gen. 38:14–15; Ezek. 16:16). While her husband was away, she saw no reason why she shouldn't make some money and enjoy herself at the same time. She'd been in the streets, looking for victims (Prov. 7:11–12), but now one was coming right to her door!
Society today not only smiles at sexual sin, it actually approves it and encourages it. Perversions the very mention of which would have shocked people fifty years ago are openly discussed today and are even made the subject of novels, movies, and TV dramas. What Paul saw in his day and described in Romans 1:18–32 is now apparent in our own day, but people resent it if you call these practices "sin." After all, "Everybody's doing it."
She caught him (Gen. 39:12), kissed him (Prov. 5:3), and convinced him that it was an opportune time for him to visit her. Before leaving town, her husband had gone with her to the temple where he'd sacrificed a peace offering (Lev. 7:11–21), and she had some of the meat at home. She would prepare him a feast that he would never forget. "This is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats and wipes her mouth, and says, 'I have done no wickedness'" (Prov. 30:20 nkjv). She appeals to the young man's male ego as she flatters him and makes him think he's very special to her. What she's offering to him she would never offer to anyone else! She appeals to his imagination as she describes her beautiful bed and the expensive spices that perfume it. She assures him that nobody will find
But the gospel is still "the power of God unto salvation" (Rom. 1:16), and Christ can still change people's lives (1 Cor. 6:9–11). It isn't enough for Christians to protest the evil; we must also practice the good (Matt. 5:13–16) and proclaim the good news that sinners can become new creatures in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17).
If the world had more light, there would be less darkness.
If the world had more salt, there would be less decay. If the world heard more truth, there would be less deception.
We have a job to do!