ResponsiveReiding

Proverbs 7:18 “Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight ourselves with love.”

Indwelling sin will do anything is can to thrive and survive. It is as though it has a mind of its own. In a sense – it does have a mind of its own – but the mind is OUR own. It dwells in the deceptiveness of our own hearts. It hates the thought of being governed by anyone or anything other than its own desires. It is constantly seeking supremacy over our being. It wants to be Lord. And it will not stop at anything to get there – even destroying us in the process.

As we noted on Sunday, one of the most potent tactics indwelling sin uses to reason us into letting it have its way is mischaracterization. Lying. As in the text above, calling an illicit sexual encounter “love.” In the broader context this is the picture of a married woman, offering her young victim a night of unbridled physical lust but naming it other than it is. Because if she called it adultery, fornication, sin – it would be offensive. It would be too ugly. He might back off. But it is the way of the World – and indwelling sin still trades in the World’s market.

Words mean something. Otherwise, there could be no such thing as education, nor communication, and certainly not persuasion. All of these trade on the fact that words carry meanings. But in the deceptive shadows of our sin-filled hearts, we allow words to take on alternate meanings so as to palliate our consciences. Hence we pick up the culture’s way of referring to sinful behaviors, rebellious behaviors – as sickness. The medical model removes the moral component. So we no longer refer to drunkards or drunkenness, but to alcoholics and alcoholism. Not that those words are wrong in themselves, they simply do not convey the whole truth.

Almost no one is unaware of the recent tragedy which came to light in the city of Cleveland Ohio where Ariel Castro, kidnapped and imprisoned Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight for over a decade. Castro sexually abused these women in his home repeatedly throughout their captivity. When allowed to speak at his trial, Fox News on August 1 reported: “Castro, dressed in an orange jumpsuit and a beard, sat motionless…He waited for his turn to tell the court that he is “not a monster.” He reminded those at his sentencing hearing that he was married, held a job as a bus driver and is happy person on the inside. “I believe I’m a porn addict,” he said. “I’m not a violent person, I just kept them there without being able to leave.”

Other news outlets reported that he simply said “I’m sick.” Never mind that he caused one of the women to miscarry 5 times through his violence.

Note carefully the words: “addict” and “sick.” These were used by Castro as mitigating words. Words calculated to take the edge off of the moral reality of his crimes. We will not argue that anyone who would do the things he did is sick – but not all sickness is merely medical and void of moral responsibility. Sin-sick – yes! But sick so as to be relieved of the voluntary and moral responsibility that belongs to each one of us? No.

Don’t get me wrong, there is no question that we can engage in sinful thought patterns and actions that over time become such bondage as leave us virtually out of control. But that absolves us of nothing. Because one may drink alcohol until they are no longer in full possession of their faculties doesn’t excuse them from the actions they take while under that influence. Why? Because they put themselves under that influence.

Christian – be careful how your own heart will lie to you about contemplated sin, by re-labeling it as something more acceptable. Don’t let your own heart deceive you. Theft isn’t the “reallocation of assets.” Fornication and adultery aren’t “love.” Giving in to homosexuality isn’t adopting an “alternate lifestyle.” Lying isn’t “creatively re-telling truths.” Revenge isn’t “justice.” Dissensions aren’t “standing upon principle.” Rivalry isn’t “competitiveness.” Jealousy isn’t “caring too much.” Fits of anger aren’t “righteous indignation.”

Call sin – sin. And you are well on your way to robbing it of its power to master you. Christ is the way, the truth and the life, not “A” way, some nice ideas and fun. Don’t be fooled.

Proverbs 7:6–9 “For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice, 7 and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense, 8 passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house 9 in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness.”

Christians seldom fall into grave sin all at once. Almost invariably, there is a progression. Knowing how this progression works, gives us a powerful means to stop it before it is too late. To stop it before as James outlines it: ”each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” (James 1:14–15) There is a roadmap to sin and this passage opens it up.

Our text traces the progression of it in this case in three movements. 1. Passing near temptation’s corner. 2. At the corner, taking the road to her house. 3. Moving closer and closer under the increasing cover of darkness.

Temptation begins in the mind. It is usually only an inward movement at first – flirting with an idea. An idea we won’t let go of. This is equally as true of temptation to sexual sin, as it is to unforgiveness and bitterness, revenge, theft and even such things as fear and anxiety. But it is at this point that temptation is still most conquerable. What we allow ourselves to dwell upon mentally, if unchecked, will bring us to taking some form of action outwardly.

A passage like Colossians 3:16–17 takes on huge importance in this regard. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

If the subject matter of God’s Word takes on an increasing place in my daily thought life, coupled with expressing the bounty of those things to others, and rejoicing in them in a life revolving around magnifying the name of Jesus and filled with thanksgiving – it is hard for sinful things to find much root. Thankfulness in particular may be the single greatest weapon in the arsenal – as a mind that is full of what it DOES have, doesn’t leave room for musing on what it doesn’t. When I am convinced (as is true) that Christ really does have my best interest at heart and has never deprived me (and never will) of what is best – lusting after revenge, position, material goods, attention from another person, power etc., is defanged.

However, once failing to check our thoughts, it will not be long before we verbalize those thoughts. It may start by only saying it to myself in the mirror, or in a journal, or diary. Then maybe on – Facebook, MySpace, Pinterest, a text or an email – whatever.  This is taking the road to her house, after having passed by her corner. It is the next step. We know it will bring us closer, but we convince ourselves it is not “actual” sin, and so it is harmless. That saying isn’t doing. Which is true – but not completely. Even our legal system has laws against conspiracy to commit a crime. Saying it is often the first motion of doing. And stopping the flood here, while not impossible, it exponentially harder than before. For in verbalizing the matter, we’ve started the process of growing accustomed to hearing it out loud without objection. We’ve normalized to ourselves. We’ve said it out loud, and lightening didn’t strike – we’re still OK. And we dwell there.

Thirdly, we inch closer and closer to actually acting in the sin, after building layer after layer of what we think is protective secrecy. Maybe I can’t do it in broad daylight, but I flirt with doing it in the evening, at twilight. And if I’m too discoverable then, I’ll wait until it is fully night – and dark. When no one (I imagine) can see.

And at this point, the possibility of escape is nearly gone. I’ve circumvented all the roadblocks. I’ve schemed around every objection. I’ve said “yes” – even though the act isn’t consummated. But I have at last given myself permission. And I am ignoring the fact that death cannot be far behind.

Beloved, hear the Spirit’s voice through Solomon, and begin to examine and seek His power to control your thought life now – or you will find yourself in pain and shame of such bondage as you’ve never imagined. Christ has made a way of escape for us – but we must take it.

Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Proverbs 7:1–5 My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you; 2 keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye; 3 bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. 4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call insight your intimate friend, 5 to keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words.

It is hard to miss the repetition and emphasis in these opening words of Proverbs 7: “keep”, “treasure”, “keep”, “keep”, “bind”, “write”, “say”, “call” – All in reference to God’s Word. Solomon is truly driving his point home. He is telling his son that he not gain expect to gain the mastery in his struggle against sin – especially given the deceitfulness of his own heart – with a mere passing interest in God’s Word. It is meant to be bread, and life.

It is interesting to note that Solomon’s choice of words here by the Spirit’s superintendence is not to be ignored. “Keep” is repeated 3 times alone. And while we rightly think of keeping God’s word in terms of obeying it, that is not the only signification of the word. In fact, it seem that it is almost always also tied up with the second word Solomon uses – treasure. In other words, to keep God’s word is not merely to obey it, but to keep it as a treasure – to cherish and value it, and in some cases, even to protect it.

Here is then is one great “secret” to obedience – that God’s Word is “treasured”, prized and delighted in. And not because of the material only, but especially because of Who has written it to us. We delight in Him and therefore want to know everything He has said. When that kind of love is at the bottom of our reading and study – we are never in the place of simply carrying out commands, we are indulging ourselves in our highest Love.

Only an entranced love can keep you from the seductions and wiles of the enemy. Nothing else will do.

As the 19^th century Scottish divine wrote in his famous treatise on “The Expulsive Power of a New Affection”: “There are two ways in which a practical moralist may attempt to displace from the human heart its love of the world – either by a demonstration of the world’s vanity, so as that the heart shall be prevailed upon simply to withdraw its regards from an object that is not worthy of it; or, by setting forth another object, even God, as more worthy of its attachment, so as that the heart shall be prevailed upon not to resign an old affection, which shall have nothing to succeed it, but to exchange an old affection for a new one… In a word, if the way to disengage the heart from the positive love of one great and ascendant object, is to fasten it in positive love to another, then it is not by exposing the worthlessness of the former, but by addressing to the mental eye the worth and excellence of the latter, that all old things are to be done away and all things are to become new.”

Nothing has the power to move us from something we love (even a sin) than loving something else more. But, you cannot love whom you do not know. And you cannot know Christ – apart from His Word. We cannot have the freedom we desire, until we love the One who is supremely lovely, and the object most worthy to be loved and adored above all else.

So it is when confronting our sins, we always have to ask ourselves, why is it my love is so deficient, that the love for this sin rules? And then seek to remedy that condition, thru exposing ourselves incessantly to the wonders of His beauty and grace and goodness, until our hearts are brought to the full.

Lord Jesus – let your Spirit truly cause our hearts to overflow with your love – that we might love you as is fitting, and so walk with you in all freedom and joy. Master us in your love.

Proverbs 6:26–29 “for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread, but a married woman hunts down a precious life. 27 Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned? 28 Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? 29 So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; none who touches her will go unpunished.”

Sex. Talk about the obsession of our age. Sex is it. So it is E. L. James’ erotic novel 50 Shades of Grey has sold of 70 million copies and is the fastest selling paperback of all time. So it is that everything from beer to cars to internet services to bikinis for 8 year olds to an infant’s t-shirt that says “I’m Hot!” flood the marketplace. So it is that sexually explicit sermons mark many ministries today. And who hasn’t heard about the grotesquely sexualized performance by Miley Cyrus at last week’s VMA’s? The fact of Paul’s assertion in Romans 1 that the wrath of God upon fallen humanity is revealed in how we’ve been given over to “lust and impurity and the dishonoring of [our] bodies among [ourselves]” is daily re-established in every medium known to man.

In one way then it is obvious that the World makes altogether too much of sex. Given prevailing attitudes and actions, one would seem to be amazed to find that no one EVER died from a lack of it. There is no question that sexual urges, are indeed strong, but there is no reason why they cannot be controlled. Such control is fundamental to a New Covenant worldview lived in the power of the Holy Spirit. Society says it is unreasonable for young people to remain sexually pure and celibate, but the Bible says otherwise. And even in the Church it can be heard that “Men will be men” – so women ought to turn a blind eye to pornography or other sexual sins. We are told that “sex is all men think about.” Yes, we are bombarded with images, yes we are visually affected in ways most women are not by those images – but absent that exposure, we are no more prone to dwell on sex than women. I personally heard extra-marital sex justified among Christians by the argument that “sex is everyone’s right no matter what their circumstances.”

Solomon addresses the reality of this state of affairs in warning his son especially against seeking sexual gratification outside of the marriage relationship – either in the form of prostitution or adultery. And his words in regard to prostitution – sexual gratification granted for money (whatever the form) – he exposes the severely distorted value system by telling his son: “the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread.” In other words, when it is all said and done, in the grand scheme of things – sex is so unimportant, you can buy it for a loaf of bread. So why in the world would you expose yourself to the wickedness of adultery and its horrid outcomes for something so truly worthless? Not only that, but like a loaf of bread, which is common and consumed in the eating – satisfying for only a moment – so is sex. Why give your life to what is so fleeting and common?

On the other hand, we have to note that the World makes far too little of sex, because it has absolutely no concept of the glory of it within the plan and purpose of God. The World makes it dirty instead of holy and sacred. They focus on the physical aspect instead of the Spiritual union intended to give us foretaste of our holy union with Christ. They can have no conception of sex as an aspect of worship. They can have no conception of sex as genuine ministry between married believers. And while the physical relationship between a husband and a wife (the ONLY Biblically sanctioned context for sexual gratification) IS important – it is not even CLOSE to all important.

Virtually every animal in creation can have sex. Only the believing married couple however can truly ascend above the physicality of sex, and then beyond even the psychology and emotion of sex to the type and shadow of intimacy with Christ sex is meant to give us insight into. The secret to a happy sex life isn’t technique or frequency or anything else of the kind. It is found in Ministry. Husbands ministering to their wives in making them feel cherished and safe. And wives ministering to the husbands in making them feel accepted and impactful.

What if each married person used the physical relationship as an opportunity to let their partner experience absolute acceptance, value, safety and impact in KINDNESS turned into physical pleasure in the light of Ephesians 2:4-7? “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

What if each married partner, in the act of physical intimacy was communicating to the other: “God has this in store for you in eternity – experiencing the immeasurable riches of His grace and kindness toward you – and I want to be the means of you having a taste of it here and now.”

We’d find out what it means to move beyond exciting, ecstatic or exceptional sex – to eschatological sex. What only a Believing couple can do for one another in genuine Gospel ministry.

The World hasn’t got a clue.

Proverbs 6:12–15 “A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech, 13 winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, points with his finger, 14 with perverted heart devises evil, continually sowing discord; 15 therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.”

Christians are to be people of truth. We come to know our need of salvation, only when we are exposed to the truth of the Fall. We come to know our separation from God only when we realize the truth that God is – and then contemplate that we do not know Him. We only come to be saved, by knowing that Christ died in the place of sinners, and that all who put their trust in His substitutionary atoning sacrifice on their behalf may be reconciled to God, forgiven of all their sin, and granted the gift of eternal life. And we only live the Christian life in power when we come to know the truth of the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God. Indeed, Jesus Himself declares that He IS “the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

Christianity thrives on truth, the revealed truth in the Word of God. Not on myths, theories, suppositions, imaginations, mere customs, traditions or hearsay. As Peter reminds his readers in 2 Peter 1:16 “we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” Then Jesus tells us “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24 )  Ps. 51 says “Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being.” Couple this with the startling pronouncement of Jesus in John 18:37c “Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” And the weight of knowing and living in the truth comes home with unavoidable force.

It isn’t a mystery then that our text binds those who play fast and loose with the truth through “crooked speech” and by means of being indirect and subtle with the “worthless” and “wicked” man.

Lying in our public figures has become such a way of life in America today, no one even blinks an eye anymore. It seems everyone lies about everything and that’s just the way it is. Yet how completely antithetical to Biblical Christianity can this be? And how easily can we as Christians slip into the same way of thinking and living. Which begins by the way – living in untruthfulness inwardly, with ourselves. Lying to ourselves about the depths of our own sin, the reality of our great need of Christ, and the lack of true progress in growing in His image. It then moves from lying to ourselves, to lying to others. The reality is, those who fall into the habit of indirect communication fall into the company of those who are dishonest and villainous. We cannot avoid the connection.

We are to be a plain spoken people. That does not mean we are to be crass, harsh or overly blunt. It is to say we are to say what we mean, and mean what we say. Hints, innuendo, curved words – are not the way of truth.

And where does this need to be played out more than in our homes. With ourselves, our spouses, and our kids. How much of the strife that our homes endure, is due to the fact that we want others to pick up on our hints, interpret our signals and divine the inwards moods and emotions we couch in indecipherable coded actions, words and tones of voice?

This is not loving toward one another, and it is not the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Truth.

From time to time I am challenged again in this capacity when I re-read the way Jesus dealt with people in the Gospels. Bold, loving frankness. The kind of which is all but absent in our day. Even with the Church, in His messages to the 7 in the opening chapters of the Revelation. See how He is unsparing in His searching out their ills, while affirming them in all that He can – and all with an eye toward their good, and increasing intimacy with Himself.

Our sweet Savior never soft-soaps our sin, nor fails to hold and affirm. For without truth, we cannot love. We may side-step our own discomfort for a moment, but in the end, we sin against those with whom we will not walk in honesty and truth. It takes the kind of courage only authentic love can carry out.

Never forget, we owe our eternal salvation to that fact Jesus never lied to us or misled us in the slightest. Nor could He be our Savior if He did. What a great Savior we have.

Proverbs 6:6–11 (ESV) — 6 Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. 7 Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, 8 she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. 9 How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? 10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, 11 and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

Mentoring is big in our culture right now. This is true both inside and outside the Church. Executives and business people of all stripes look for those who can be their “life-coach” or “mentor”. The idea is to have someone more experienced you can dialogue with on an ongoing basis, to help you make decisions and mature in how you manage your life and career. It’s nothing new. The master/apprentice relationship worked much the same for hundreds if not thousands of years.

Actually, the Bible has had a word for this for centuries – we’ve called it “discipleship.” Think of Paul and Timothy or Barnabas and John Mark – or as far back as Moses and Joshua and Elisha and Elijah. The New Testament addresses it quite plainly in Titus 2:3–5 “Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, 4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.” As well as other places.

While this is a desirable circumstance, the truth is, it doesn’t always happen. And there is no shortage of complaint to be heard from all corners about the lack of having the advantage of a mentor. Some in fact, use the absence of one almost as an excuse for why they have failed to engage some things in life well. They had no one to show them. No one to guide and teach them. No one to take them under their wing.

On the one side, this points up a need within the Body of Christ, that we all seek out ministering to one another in this way. As Paul’s 2^nd letter to the Corinthian Church opens, The Holy Spirit reminds us that even our sufferings are not our own – but are to be seized upon so as to give the benefit of how we’ve experienced Christ’s keeping power in them to others. Has God blessed you in a trial? Be ready and willing to come along side others who may be suffering now as you did – and share how Christ met you there, so that they may more easily meet Christ there. Don’t be selfish with your pain. As you’ve been ministered to, so minister to others. You’ve been given His comfort when you received it, expressly to give it to others when they need it.

On the other side, what do you do if you have no “mentor”, no “life-coach” or discipler? Sit and sputter? Bemoan the vacancy? Get bitter and wallow in self-pity? Excuse your lack of spiritual progress on the fact God has let you down in this area? Or run to the pages of Scripture and in prayer begin to let the Holy Spirit fill that role directly?

Let us take our text today and apply it to ourselves in just such a circumstance. God has not left you without. But you might have to do some heavy lifting and actually seek out someone to help. More, ask for good Biblical resources to read and study and listen to. Take every advantage of the teaching opportunities your Church gives you. Join Bible studies and ask around for things others have found useful. Read your Bible. Pray. Meditate on God’s Word. But please, please, don’t just sit there. Do not allow yourself to excuse inaction by the fact you have no one to “mentor” you. Even the ants can do what they need to do without a commander or overseer. It is good when leadership is available, ready and willing. But even when it is not – we are still responsible to be about Kingdom business – especially in regard to our own souls. Christ will attend you. The Spirit indwells you. The Word is available to you.

Never forget that even when human “shepherds” fail or are not available – the Great Shepherd is always attending you. He never leaves nor forsakes you – EVER.

Proverbs 6:1–5 “My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, have given your pledge for a stranger, 2 if you are snared in the words of your mouth, caught in the words of your mouth, 3 then do this, my son, and save yourself, for you have come into the hand of your neighbor: go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor. 4 Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber; 5 save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler.”

One of the dangers of reading Proverbs rather casually, is that it can easily degenerate into being interpreted as merely moral or ethical advice. That then can degenerate further into Imagining that Christianity itself is just ethics and morals – do the right thing and you’ll have acceptance with God. New Covenant or not, being a Christian is just following the “new” rules Jesus brought. Forgetting the types and shadows of Christ throughout, so that you miss the Cross in it all.

On the other hand, some ignore Wisdom literature like Proverbs, setting the ethics and morals aside completely, because they’ve come to know grace and reconciliation to God in the imputed righteousness of Christ and don’t know how to balance the two. They live in a painful, unresolved tension between grace and works (not a true tension, but one bred of misunderstanding) and so leave those portions alone because they fear falling into works salvation. They do not grasp how these precious texts give us insight to how holiness is lived out in the power of the Spirit. So we do not want to ignore the morals and ethics altogether, or we miss some of the gifts God has treasured up for us in them.

In the text above we get an opportunity to explore what happens when two ethical principles seemingly collide.

Solomon warns his young son first of all to avoid committing himself to a “neighbor” (some translations “stranger” – not a family member) in an arrangement like co-signing for a car loan or a mortgage, etc. Not being the guarantor to someone else’s debt. Not taking their responsibility on himself. As we discussed in our sermon yesterday, this is over-involvement that is unhealthy. But it often appeals to us either because of pride – “I can be the rescuer” or perhaps out of a misguided sense of obligation in friendship. Obligation which in this case is out of proportion given the relationship.

So what is one to do in such a case? Isn’t it ethical to keep one’s word and go thru with it (once agreed to) even though one realizes it is a bad idea? We can’t just renege on it can we? We have to be men and women of our word – being honest and upright.

Solomon does not counsel failing to follow through even though it might be very costly and detrimental. What he does counsel is to do everything you can to re-negotiate, and put yourself out of harm’s way. And that, is humbling and embarrassing. Yet how many of us would rather suffer the consequences than humble ourselves sin such a matter?

How many have become engaged, and know full well that there are warning signs all over the place that it is not a good match. And yet, the invitations have gone out. The rooms booked. The shower gifts opened. And rather than suffer the embarrassment, an ill-advised marriage headed for disaster is launched.

How powerful is this principle? According to Matt. 14:9 – it boxed Herod into beheading John the Baptizer. And in Judges 34, it resulted in Jephthah sacrificing his daughter, even though the Word of the Lord was clear on the subject of human sacrifice.

The text is calling for nothing less than a Spirit enabled death to self in extraordinary terms.

Beloved, if you have entered into an improper or foolish agreement, then do everything you can within Biblical bounds to extricate yourself from it. Some things ought never to be promised, and then certainly never carried out. Oh that Jephtha had done this. His foolish, careless, rash oath to sacrifice the first thing that came out of his house ought to have been  recanted of and NOT fulfilled. It was time for him to humble himself, rather than keep his pledge to do that which God never would demand, and at the cost of his daughter’s life.

Now this is good and sound but please – DO NOT stop at the ethics! If you do, you’ll miss the point. Because it is in precisely this kind of tension that we can see the root of the Gospel being exposed – the wonder of how God can be both just, and the justifier of sinful men. How can He remain holy and still save us? Not by being paralyzed by seeming collision between the two. But in the miracle of the substitutionary death of Jesus at Calvary. Christ our surety. Christ our guarantee. Christ Jesus, the answer to the REAL dilemma of the ages. In Him, the resolution of the cosmos is possible.

What a glorious Savior He is!

Proverbs 5:3–6 “For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, 4 but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. 5 Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol; 6 she does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it.”

We have noted that Proverbs uses the imagery of the “forbidden woman” as a type of all temptation to sin. The picture is especially poignant for a young man, but we do not want to lose the impact of it for both men and women in all sorts of temptation. The idea is, that it is alluring and appeals to the natural appetites, but contains the element of drawing us toward what is not rightfully ours.

The 6^th verse contains a massively important insight.  Temptation always includes this element of failure to consider the end of what it is proposing.

The first part of that diversion is found in that It offers “an” end – some pleasure, some satisfaction, to supply something which we imagine is missing and “ought” to be ours – but not THE end. It obscures, distracts us from seeing the ultimate end of succumbing – death.

Here is why the appeals of sin and temptation have such an apparent sincerity to their claims – they are deceived themselves. The arguments they use are plausible and seemingly filled with good will. But the deception of blindness is there. And we must bring the Light to it to understand. We must bring Christ into the situation. We must ask: How does what we are contemplating accord with Who He is and what He is about in the world? This is the question which must ever be in our hearts and minds.

We must also ask – as Believers – How does what we are contemplating accord with who WE are IN Christ? With how our mission as His ambassadors in the world fits with this act, or attitude, or pursuit?

This theme of considering what is fitting given who Christ is and who we are in Him is found throughout Scripture – and it brings us back to think about ultimate ends versus immediate ends. If I have planned a trip to California as a final destination where my family is and my job is and all the things I truly love are, but someone has said if I go to New York City I will be really happy for a day – I have to ask myself, can going east get me west? No. Obviously not.

Can any sin move me closer to Heaven? No. Can any sin move me closer to the image of Christ? No. Can any temporary pleasure which will be immediately followed with days or even years of guilt, shame, regret and the ruinous impact on other’s lives if not my own really be worth it? No! And yet that is the very decision we often make. No wonder one old wag said that “sin is the divorce of reason from the will.” In it, we will what is in the final analysis unreasonable.

So the Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 5:2–3  — “And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.”

We don’t want to overstate this, but in some ways, more important than asking “does the Bible say this is sin or that is OK?” is asking – how does this fit with who I am as God’s image-bearer? Is it “proper” among the saints? Does it fit? Will it take me where I am supposed to be going?

Proverbs 5:15–20 “Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well. 16 Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets? 17 Let them be for yourself alone, and not for strangers with you. 18 Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, 19 a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love. 20 Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?”

It is ESSENTIAL in overcoming temptation that we are taking full advantage of what God HAS given to us, so as to prevent having much of an appetite for what He has not. This is an abiding and vitally important principle. It was established for us back in Eden.

Before God’s command to our first parents forbidding them to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, came this: Genesis 2:15–16 “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden.” It is interesting that this “permission” (“you may”) is prefaced in the text by saying “the Lord God commanded.”

Eat! Was the first command. And with it, the reminder that they may “surely eat of EVERY tree of the garden.” In other words, have as much as you want. Taste as many different things as I have given you. And do not let yourself go hungry, you may SURELY eat. Scope it out. Sample them all. Eat to your heart’s and stomach’s content. Eat!

It is only AFTER this that man is commanded to refrain from the forbidden tree. God is not interested in depriving us and then setting us up to fall. He provides for us out of the rich bounties that are at our disposal.

It is for want of reveling fully in His goodness and grace and filling our souls with the delights which do rightly belong to us, that we are so powerless to refuse those things which are not appointed for us, when offered. This is true in every area of temptation, but it has special application to the married.

For married couples, there can be no doubt that the Writer’s words are aimed especially at making sure your physical and emotional desires are being properly met WITHIN your relationship. If you give up there, or begin to grow dissatisfied, much care must be taken to be sure one or the other is not defrauding their partner and thus creating a scenario where temptation has a better chance of getting a foothold.

In order for this to be a reality for most of us, the truth is that husbands and wives must discuss this with one another, and take responsibility toward one another in it. It must be talked about. Calmly. Lovingly. Thoughtfully, allowing for each other’s varied needs and differing appetites. But when such talk is off limits; when we are too embarrassed or unwilling to open up to one another – and not loving enough to accommodate one another (this is NEVER one-sided) we will inevitably run the risk of unspoken and un-agreed upon expectations driving a wedge between us. In practice then, we add weight to our spouse’s already existing burden of temptation. And what can be more unloving than to weaken our partner’s ability to fight the temptations which accost us all? So that each is tempted to find solace in places they were never intended to.

What a practical way to learn how to “love one another, as I have loved you.” (John 13:34)

Proverbs 5:3 “For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil”

As we saw in the sermon yesterday, Proverbs 5 is what we might call a “strong meat” passage. Solomon doesn’t mince words with his son. Since the subject matter impacts the eternal state of his son’s soul, he spares nothing. He is bold and plain in his speech.

In our politically correct day – the tendency to be overly polite has crept even into the Church, so that our words are often “defanged” in an all-costs effort not to offend anyone. Offending people has taken on the character of being the only real cardinal sin of our age. You can say anything, as long as in reality it says nothing that can bother anyone else.

The Bible treats people as more valuable than that. It assumes that what is most loving, is what is actually best for people not what may or may not make them feel best. It respects us as being able to grapple with the truth, and not needing to live in a fantasy world where all is lilies and puffy clouds. God is a God of truth. And as made in His image, humankind is to be a race of truth – hard as some truths may be.

Let me remind you briefly of two things which appear in the text above, and which were amplified in the rest of this chapter.

1. Useful for our studying the rest of Proverbs (as well as other passages of Scripture) is to bear in mind that the idea of a “forbidden woman” is not ONLY an appeal to dealing with sexual sin for men – but a picture of all temptation to sin, for men, women and children alike.

All temptation – no matter what the object, calls us to partake of the forbidden, what God for whatever reason(s) has put off limits to us. As forbidden, it is some thing (or some one) we have no right to.

With that, comes a promise of certain “sweetness” – a seductive good implied in what is being proposed. This is accompanied by arguments in the heart and mind to smooth out any objections to pursuing the proposed good our consciences, God’s Word or anyone else might propose to us. The power of which resides in the fact that our own hearts are self-deceptive: Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

2. The unmasking of sin is one of our greatest weapons in overcoming it. Seeing it for what it really is. Stripping away the illusion. It is a constant battle, and a tactic which cannot be overestimated. We desperately need to see things as they are from God’s perspective. What Francis Schaeffer used to call “real reality.”

Our culture has decided to not call sin sin anymore. We concoct an entire glossary of terms to avoid it. Alternative lifestyle. Parsing facts. Polyamory. The “disease” model for drunkenness = alcoholism. Positive self-image. Addictive behaviors. Creative or un-orthodox accounting practices. Any way of describing things so as to denude them of any moral content. So we paint sin in the best possible light. We give it a pretty, or at least a non-offensive mask to hide behind. We excuse it in others so that we can excuse it in ourselves if need be. And more than anything, we avoid connecting it with the out-pouring of God’s wrath on Christ in our stead at Calvary.

Solomon wanted to make sin as repulsive to his son as he possibly could. A tactic we need to employ for ourselves. One which should bring us back to contemplate the horror of the cross again and again.