Series in Proverbs - Playing With Fire

 

Playing With Fire

Proverbs 7:1-13 Part I

In keeping with the verse by verse study of Proverbs, I want to progress to the first part of chapter seven and finish with the last three verses of chapter six. 

I once listened to a pastor of a large church preach on the effects of adultery and immoral sins in general. He said it is like people playing with fire, but even worse, this sin is a spiritual flame of judgment that leads to eternal torment. 

God is a compassionate, merciful, and loving God, whose whole desire is to draw His creation back from the consuming fire of judgment, AKA ‘Lake of Fire’. He hates sin, but he loves His creation and wants to “rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment.” (Jude v.23 NLT)  God will ultimately discipline and punish the sinner who will not listen and the rebellious who chooses the sin of immorality.

So let’s read the first portion of the text.“My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you; keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye; bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call insight your intimate friend, to keep you from the forbidden woman,
from the adulteress with her smooth words.”

Again, Solomon is the proactive parent urgently trying to persuade his son(s) to get wisdom from God through His Word and His commandments. As well, he reiterates the urgency of intimately wrapping God’s Word and commandments around their hearts and minds, making them the most precious thing in their lives. Wisdom and insight (knowledge and discernment) were to be like family or a most intimate friend to those that will listen and obey God’s Word, His voice, and the command to run from and abstain from all forms of immorality: adultery and harlotry, etc.

Solomon seems to have had encounters with the mistresses and misters of the harlotry industry of idolatry (i.e. the two prostitutes from court) For throughout the world before Solomon and after, harlotry and idol worship were closely meshed together. The forbidden was clamoring and calling for the simple, wayward, and the naively and sensually curious.

Application - Continuing in the same vein of understanding from scripture, we must be proactive in our raising and teaching of God’s Word, and the invaluable treasures of God’s wisdom, insight, and discernment. As a godly parent, I tried to instill in my children an understanding of God’s Word, but even more a love and intimacy with God and for Him. It is in this intimate relationship with God the Father and His Son, Jesus; and that they wouldn’t turn to the world on immortality. 

But the greatest example of God in the life of a person is in my own life as a parent. To live a vow before God like Job, "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman." (NIV) I remember when I attended a Christian university, I was married and we had three children. But as a married man, I had a different point of view about women than the boys at the University. They saw the girls and ladies as eye-candy. As I listened to them talk about the girls at the University, I had to remind them that these girls and ladies are their sisters in the Lord. Also that Jesus didn’t like or view them as they did. I learned later that the girls did the same thing as the boys. 

God our Father gave us His Word to lead and keep us from the sin of immorality. Jesus also taught us that the eye is the window into the heart. “The eye is the lamp of the body. You draw light into your body through your eyes, and light shines out to the world through your eyes. So if your eye is well and shows you what is true, then your whole body will be filled with light. But if your eye is clouded or evil, then your body will be filled with evil and dark clouds. And the darkness that takes over the body of a child of God who has gone astray—that is the deepest, darkest darkness there is.” (Matt. 6:22-23 Voice)

Next Solomon drives home the adversity of following, and or participation with adultery and harlotry. Let’s read the final portion of the text. “For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice, and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense, passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness. And behold, the woman meets him, dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart. She is loud and wayward; her feet do not stay at home; now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner she lies in wait. She seizes him and kisses him, and with a bold face she says to him…” “He who commits adultery lacks sense;  he who does it destroys himself. He will get wounds and dishonor, and his disgrace will not be wiped away. For jealousy makes a man furious, and he will not spare when he takes revenge. He will accept no compensation; he will refuse though you multiply gifts.” (Prov. 7:1-13; 6:32-35 NIV)

How similar is Solomon’s advice to his son as the incident of David watching from his rooftop and Solomon’s looking out through his latticed window. It all begins with the curious or innocent viewing from a vaulted position that overlooks the mundane and ordinary and leads to the promiscuous and the unchased world of darkness. The view seemed to captivate the observer, as they watched the simple and naivety of youthfulness interacting with the debauchery and wanton mindset of the vile darkness of immorality. Solomon describes the encounter, in a brusque and sultry voice she calls out into the night with the air of pleasure and the promise of wayward fun and fantasy. The temptress was draped in the finery of a wanton woman, wily in attitude and wicked inclination in her approach to the foolhardy person as she rambled through the streets, markets, and selected secluded corners waiting for her next lover. Before long, she spots her inamorato, for he saunters slowly amused by the darkness and waywardness of the night. She approaches him in a sultry manner and brashly kisses him and leads him to her boudoir. Likened to her counterpart the adulteress, she has allured her lover with the promise of ecstasy and euphoria. 

Now both the simple and adulterer lack wisdom and insight of God’s Word and understanding of His omniscience of man’s acts and thoughts. Their senses are corrupted by the desire of temptation to the inducement of sin’s ironhold grasp upon their souls. The future holds only wounds and disaster for both of them. Disgrace and dishonor will be their legacy and their chaperones in life. 

For the adulterer, he will face a jealous and murderous husband, whose fury is well placed against both adulterous participants. And for the wayward simpleton, his compensation of the night's activities will be engraved into the memorial book of God’s awaiting wrath. God will not be mocked or ignored by the promiscuous lifestyle of either the man or the woman, the boy or the girl. Each will face a righteous and just God whose ledgers are complete with the acts of the darkness and immorality of the world.

Application - It isn’t hard to spot the immorality in the world, because it has become chic and popular, much celebrated on the streets of big cities as well as on the internet. The world is motivated and profits greatly from immorality to such an extent that its products are one of the greatest exports in our times.

Now to the viewing or scoping out as some young people have called it of those who prefer the darkness and not the light. I come back to Jesus’ words in Matt. 6:22-23. “The eye is the lamp of the body. You draw light into your body through your eyes, and light shines out to the world through your eyes. So if your eye is well and shows you what is true, then your whole body will be filled with light. But if your eye is clouded or evil, then your body will be filled with evil and dark clouds. And the darkness that takes over the body of a child of God who has gone astray—that is the deepest, darkest darkness there is.” I believe  what we watch has a great effect on our minds and hearts, it leads us to follow the darkness and be captivated and entangled in the thrall of sin. As John stated in his first epistle,  “Don’t fall in love with this corrupt world or worship the things it can offer. Those who love its corrupt ways don’t have the Father’s love living within them. All the things the world can offer to you—the allure of pleasure, the passion to have things, and the pompous sense of superiority—do not come from the Father. These are the rotten fruits of this world. This corrupt world is already wasting away, as are its selfish desires. But the person really doing God’s will—that person will never cease to be.’ (1 Jn. 2:15-17 Voice) And Paul exhorting to the church, “It’s clear that our flesh entices us into practicing some of its most heinous acts: participating in corrupt sexual relationships, impurity, unbridled lust, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, arguing, jealousy, anger, selfishness, contentiousness, division, envy of others’ good fortune, drunkenness, drunken revelry, and other shameful vices that plague humankind. I told you this clearly before, and I only tell you again so there is no room for confusion: those who give into these ways will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Gal. 5:19-21 Voice)

It is clear from God’s Word that this will not end well for those who are enticed and encaptured with the devious and depraved morals of this world. Let our eyes be fixed on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith. “...let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith…” (Heb. 12:1b-2a NLT) And our hearts and minds need to be set on the One above, for He is coming soon. “So it comes down to this: since you have been raised with the Anointed One, the Liberating King, set your mind on heaven above. The Anointed is there, seated at God’s right hand. Stay focused on what’s above, not on earthly things, because your old life is dead and gone. Your new life is now hidden, enmeshed with the Anointed who is in God. 4 On that day when the Anointed One—who is our very life—is revealed, you will be revealed with Him in glory!” (Col. 3:1-4 Voice)

Last, remember that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. And God the Holy Spirit doesn’t want to have any part in immorality or of any sin.

As always, I want to end with presenting the gospel in the form of the ABC’s of salvation for all those who have not yet received Jesus Christ for salvation. For Jesus, God the Son, came to this world to save all who would believe and trust in him. He desires to reveal himself to you, He is the Light that overcomes the darkness of this lawless world. He hears your prayers, and all authority in heaven and earth have been given to him. He will answer you if you will truly believe. If you haven’t asked him to be your Lord and Savior, today could be that day.

 First, A - Admit that you are a sinner. This is where that godly sorrow leads to genuine repentance for sinning against a righteous God and there is a change of heart, we change our mind and God changes our hearts and regenerates us from the inside out. Romans 3:10 - As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one." Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (We are all born sinners which is why we must be born spiritually in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven). Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. The bad news is that the wages of sin is death, in other words our sin means that we have been given a death sentence, we have the death penalty hanging over our heads, that's the bad news. But here's the good news: The good news is that the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Ephesians 2:8-9 - For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. Second,

 B - Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and that God raised Jesus from the dead. This is trusting with all of your heart that Jesus Christ is who he said he was. Romans 10:9-10 - That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Third, 

C - Call upon the name of the Lord. Every single person who ever lived since Adam will bend their knee and confess with their mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, the Lord of lords and the King of kings. Romans 14:11 - For it is written: "As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God." Don't wait until later — do this now. Romans 10:13 - For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." "O God, I am a sinner. I'm sorry for my sin. I want to turn from my sin. I believe Jesus Christ is Your Son; I believe that He died on the cross for my sin and that He was buried and You raised Him to life. I have decided to place my faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior, trusting only in His shed blood as sufficient to save my soul and to take me to heaven. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for saving me. Amen."

Please share this with someone this week, the Lord knows that we and they need it.

If you would like other lessons, please go to http://pmdinhisservice.blogspot.com 

Until next week, In His Service Mike Davis

I have revised my webpage on Spiritual warfare. Please give it a look. Thank you. 

http://uss-warfare3.webnode.com