699. Stay Away from the Temptation of Sexual Sin - December 5, 2024

[00:00:06] Welcome to Wisdom Today. My name is Bill Kelley and I'll be your host. In this podcast we will be exploring the book of Proverbs.

[00:00:22] Let's open in prayer. Father God, I thank you for anyone listening to this podcast today. Lord, I pray that you give everyone ears to hear and a heart to receive everything you have in store for them today. I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

[00:00:38] This is Proverb 5, beginning in verse 1.

[00:00:43] My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Lend your ear to my understanding, that you may preserve discretion, and your lips may keep knowledge.

[00:00:55] For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil.

[00:01:01] But in the end, she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death. Her steps lay hold of hell. Lest you ponder her path of life. Her ways are unstable. You do not know them.

[00:01:23] Therefore, hear me now, my children, and do not depart from the words of my mouth. Remove your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house.

[00:01:36] Lest you ponder her, and do not depart from her. Lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one. Lest aliens be filled with your wealth, and your labors go to the house of a foreigner, and you mourn at last, when your flesh and your body are consumed.

[00:01:56] And say, how I have hated instruction, and my heart despised correction. I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined your ear to those who instructed me.

[00:02:12] I was on the verge of total ruin in the midst of the assembly and congregation. Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well.

[00:02:26] Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, streams of water in the streets, let them be only your own, and not for strangers with you.

[00:02:38] Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth, as a loving deer and a graceful doe.

[00:02:47] Let her breasts satisfy you at all times, and always be enraptured with her love.

[00:02:55] For why should you, my son, be enraptured by an immoral woman, and be embraced in the arms of a seductress?

[00:03:05] For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he ponders all his paths.

[00:03:12] His own iniquities entrap the wicked man, and he is caught in the cords of his sin.

[00:03:20] He shall die for lack of instruction, and in the greatness of his folly, he shall go astray.

[00:03:30] Friends, today I'm going to take a closer look at Proverb 5.

[00:03:35] As you recall, if you were able to listen to Monday's podcast, we went over Proverb 2.

[00:03:42] And Proverb 2 was entitled, The Value of Wisdom.

[00:03:48] On yesterday's podcast, we went over Proverb 4.

[00:03:52] And Proverb 4 is entitled, Security in Wisdom.

[00:03:58] Now, if you did not get a chance to listen to either Monday or Wednesday's podcast,

[00:04:05] I invite you to do that after listening to this today.

[00:04:10] But Proverb 5 basically takes off as a continuation of Proverb 2 and 4.

[00:04:21] And basically, if you follow the commandments of Proverb 2 and 4,

[00:04:28] then you can avoid what will happen to you in Proverb 5.

[00:04:36] And this is entitled, The Peril of Adultery.

[00:04:41] So ordinarily, I try not to spend a lot of time on this particular proverb.

[00:04:48] Because I talk about, you know, being righteous.

[00:04:53] I talk about doing the things that you should be doing.

[00:04:56] But it is important to be aware of the pitfalls that can happen to you if you allow your mind to wander.

[00:05:07] So what I'm going to do first is read the first six verses of Proverb 5.

[00:05:14] First, let's look at verses 1 and 2.

[00:05:17] My son, pay attention to my wisdom.

[00:05:21] Lend your ear to my understanding, that you may preserve discretion, and your lips may keep knowledge.

[00:05:32] Now, those two verses go with Proverb 2 and Proverb 4.

[00:05:37] If you do verses 1 and 2, then you can avoid verses 3 through 6.

[00:05:47] Now listen to this.

[00:05:49] For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil.

[00:05:57] In other words, it appears attractive if you allow yourself to go there.

[00:06:06] If you allow your mind to imagine what it would be like with this seductress woman.

[00:06:16] Let's go to verse 4.

[00:06:17] But in the end, she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.

[00:06:25] Her feet go down to death.

[00:06:28] Her steps lay hold of hell.

[00:06:32] Lest you ponder her path of life.

[00:06:37] Her ways are unstable.

[00:06:40] You do not know them.

[00:06:43] Now friends, I am reading out of the Nelson Study Bible.

[00:06:47] And the first thing I'd like to do is go over the commentary for these six verses.

[00:06:53] Chapter 5 returns to the theme of the immoral woman.

[00:06:59] This passage speaks strongly for marital fidelity against any and all pressure to the contrary.

[00:07:09] If you want to preserve discretion, heed these words.

[00:07:15] Lest your feet go down to death.

[00:07:19] So friends, the first point that I would like to bring up on today's lesson is wisdom and understanding will preserve you.

[00:07:30] If you are wise and if you use the understanding that you have learned in Proverbs 2 and 4,

[00:07:43] then you can avoid being ensnared by this type of woman.

[00:07:52] And friends, Jesus was tempted in all ways, as are we.

[00:07:59] And yet he never gave in to the temptation of sin.

[00:08:04] If Jesus could do it, we can do it.

[00:08:08] But some people, and I would venture to say many people in the world today,

[00:08:15] have a very difficult problem with this.

[00:08:19] They can easily be seduced or ensnared when they look at someone who is seductively dressed of the opposite sex.

[00:08:30] We cannot allow ourselves to go there.

[00:08:34] Now let's look at verses 7 through 14.

[00:08:38] And verse 7 is very simple.

[00:08:49] So basically Solomon here, and I can actually say he's speaking for God.

[00:08:55] This is the Holy Spirit speaking to us.

[00:08:57] In other words, get and stay on the right path.

[00:09:02] Don't allow yourself to go off that path into these little pitfalls that we can call temptation.

[00:09:11] Remove your way far from her and do not go near the door of her house.

[00:09:18] So if you follow verses 7 and 8, then 9 through 14 will not happen.

[00:09:25] If you allow yourself to get off this path and go to her house, listen to this.

[00:09:34] Lest you give your honor to others and your years to the cruel one.

[00:09:41] Lest aliens be filled with your wealth and your labors go to the house of a foreigner.

[00:09:48] And you mourn at last when your flesh and your body are consumed.

[00:09:55] Friends, if you allow yourself to go down this path, it may cost you your reputation.

[00:10:02] It may cost you your job.

[00:10:05] It may cost you your marriage.

[00:10:07] It may cost you your health if you acquire a sexually transmitted disease.

[00:10:16] Let's go to verse 12 and say,

[00:10:20] How I have hated instruction and my heart despised correction.

[00:10:26] I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers nor inclined mine ear to those who instructed me.

[00:10:34] I was on the verge of total ruin in the midst of the assembly and the congregation.

[00:10:40] Friends, this is what can happen if you choose to go down this path.

[00:10:47] It doesn't sound good and believe me, it will not end well for you.

[00:10:54] Especially if you are married currently and have a good relationship with your spouse.

[00:11:01] We do not want to allow the temptation that this offers for a brief moment of time

[00:11:09] to jeopardize the relationship that we have built with our spouse over a number of years.

[00:11:19] So friends, my second point of today's lesson is stay away from the temptation of sexual sin.

[00:11:29] Now, let's go to verses 15 through 20.

[00:11:33] Drink water from your own cistern and running water from your own well.

[00:11:41] Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, streams of water in the streets,

[00:11:48] let them be only your own and not for strangers with you.

[00:11:54] Let your fountain be blessed and rejoice with the wife of your youth as a loving deer and a graceful doe.

[00:12:05] Let her breasts satisfy you at all times and always be enraptured with her love.

[00:12:14] For why should you, my son, be enraptured by an immoral woman and be embraced in the arms of a seductress?

[00:12:25] Now friends, first of all, I'd like to go over the commentary for verse 15 alone.

[00:12:32] It says,

[00:12:45] Drink water is an oblique reference to sexual union.

[00:12:53] And from your own cistern is a clear call to marital fidelity.

[00:13:01] One man, one woman together in marriage.

[00:13:07] So friends, my third and final point for today's lesson is drink water from your own cistern.

[00:13:16] And friends, what they're talking about here is your own spouse.

[00:13:23] Friends, the bottom line, sex should only happen inside the marriage relationship between a man and a woman.

[00:13:35] You should not share your wife or your husband with anyone.

[00:13:39] What I would like to do now is to share a very good picture of this particular topic in Scripture.

[00:13:51] And it is found in the book of 2 Samuel in chapter 12.

[00:13:57] What I'd like to do is read the first 13 verses.

[00:14:02] Listen carefully to how David got himself in trouble.

[00:14:47] And a traveler came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd

[00:15:00] to prepare one for the wayfaring man who would come to him.

[00:15:05] But he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.

[00:15:12] So David's anger was greatly aroused against the man.

[00:15:17] And he said to Nathan,

[00:15:19] As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die.

[00:15:24] And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb,

[00:15:29] because he did this thing and because he had no pity.

[00:15:34] Then Nathan said to David,

[00:15:38] You are the man.

[00:15:41] Thus says the Lord God of Israel,

[00:15:44] I anointed you king over Israel,

[00:15:48] and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.

[00:15:51] I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your keeping,

[00:15:56] and gave you the house of Israel and Judah.

[00:16:00] And if that had been too little,

[00:16:03] I also would have given you much more.

[00:16:07] Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight?

[00:16:14] You have killed Uriah the Hittite with a sword.

[00:16:17] You have taken his wife to be your wife,

[00:16:21] and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon.

[00:16:26] Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house,

[00:16:31] because you have despised me,

[00:16:34] and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.

[00:16:40] Thus says the Lord,

[00:16:41] Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house,

[00:16:48] and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor,

[00:16:55] and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this son.

[00:17:00] For you did it secretly,

[00:17:03] but I will do this thing before all Israel,

[00:17:08] before the son.

[00:17:09] So David said to Nathan,

[00:17:12] I have sinned against the Lord.

[00:17:15] And Nathan said to David,

[00:17:17] The Lord also has put away your sin.

[00:17:21] You shall not die.

[00:17:24] Friends,

[00:17:26] David made a mistake.

[00:17:29] David paid a very heavy price for that mistake.

[00:17:36] David was not planning on making Bathsheba pregnant.

[00:17:43] David was not planning on having Uriah,

[00:17:47] a general in his army,

[00:17:49] a good friend of his,

[00:17:51] someone he knew very well.

[00:17:52] He did not intend on murdering him,

[00:17:55] or having him murdered.

[00:17:57] Friends,

[00:17:59] this is very costly.

[00:18:02] Now David is a little bit different than you and I are,

[00:18:08] because he had wives already.

[00:18:11] But back then,

[00:18:12] especially if you're the king,

[00:18:14] he could have as many wives as he wanted to.

[00:18:16] He had wives already.

[00:18:19] He did not need another one,

[00:18:21] or he did not need another man's wife.

[00:18:25] But when you are tempted

[00:18:28] and allow yourself to go somewhere you should not go,

[00:18:35] this can happen.

[00:18:38] It's happened to many people,

[00:18:39] and it will continue to happen to many people in the future.

[00:18:43] I'm begging you,

[00:18:45] please don't allow yourself to go there.

[00:18:49] So that is my call to action today,

[00:18:53] is to heed the instruction of King Solomon in Proverbs 5,

[00:19:01] specifically verses 15 through 19.

[00:19:05] Let me read them one more time,

[00:19:09] and confess out loud,

[00:19:13] yet you will not do what David did.

[00:19:17] It says,

[00:19:18] Drink water from your own cistern

[00:19:21] and running water from your own well.

[00:19:23] Should your fountains be dispersed abroad,

[00:19:27] streams of water in the streets,

[00:19:29] let them be only your own

[00:19:32] and not for strangers with you.

[00:19:34] In other words,

[00:19:35] only have sexual relations with your spouse.

[00:19:41] Let your fountain be blessed

[00:19:43] and rejoice with the wife of your youth.

[00:19:47] As a loving deer and a graceful doe,

[00:19:50] let her breasts satisfy you at all times

[00:19:55] and always be enraptured with her love.

[00:19:59] Friends, at one point,

[00:20:01] you were enraptured with your spouse.

[00:20:06] Go back.

[00:20:08] Ask God to rekindle that if you have lost that.

[00:20:13] I beg you,

[00:20:15] do not allow yourself to go where David did.

[00:20:19] Friends,

[00:20:20] I will never end a podcast

[00:20:22] without giving anyone

[00:20:24] an opportunity to receive Jesus

[00:20:26] as your Lord and Savior.

[00:20:28] If there is anyone listening today

[00:20:31] and you've never taken that step,

[00:20:32] I invite you to repeat a simple prayer after me today.

[00:20:36] Jesus,

[00:20:38] I confess that I am a sinner

[00:20:40] and in need of a Savior.

[00:20:42] I ask you to come into my heart.

[00:20:45] I make you my Lord and Savior.

[00:20:48] Friends,

[00:20:49] if you said that prayer,

[00:20:51] I believe you have been born again.

[00:20:54] Welcome to the family of God.

[00:20:56] Now,

[00:20:57] may the Lord bless you

[00:20:58] and keep you.

[00:21:00] The Lord make His say,

[00:21:02] shine upon you

[00:21:02] and be gracious to you.

[00:21:04] The Lord lift up His countenance upon you

[00:21:07] and give you peace.

[00:21:09] Friends,

[00:21:10] please join me again tomorrow

[00:21:11] as we close out the week

[00:21:14] with wisdom today.