Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] All right, it's good to see everybody again. Let's turn to Proverbs chapter. We're actually going to be looking at chapter primarily six and seven, but just start in chapter five of proverbs, just to go into review.
[00:00:17] Let's pray, and then we'll begin our review here.
[00:00:23] Lord in heaven, we thank you that you have given us a great wisdom and spoken directly to our condition and the temptations and snares that Satan has put all around us to protect us, to keep us, even as some of these verses that we've heard this morning that remind us to use wisdom and to flee from that which is harmful and evil.
[00:00:52] Lord, we pray that you bless our Sunday school lesson today. And we pray that you would be our teacher and our instructor, and you would help this lesson to be a blessing to each and every person in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:01:05] I wanted to give you, last week we're on the subject of the women and proverbs and particularly the strange woman.
[00:01:13] And last week, we, we made the comparison of the strange woman, which, of course, in scripture is dealing with an actual literal woman who, you know, in that kind of way.
[00:01:28] But we have applied it in some cases to the, to the pornography industry because I think there's a lot of parallels. And so last week I brought up some statistics that I was quoting to describe the prevalence of this problem among men, not only men, but also women, as you'll see in a minute.
[00:01:56] And these are just some random statistics on that subject that deal with. I mean, look, anybody who's involved in that, anyone who's involved in that kind of sin is involved in, with strange women, even if they're separated by hundreds of miles via the Internet.
[00:02:17] Strange women, that is a, it's just a modern, it's just a modern method to access strange women. That's all it is. And every time there's a new technology that comes out, there's a new way to sin. But it's the same old sin. It's the same sin that's been there ever since the beginning.
[00:02:41] So on this subject, it says general prevalence, and there are sources to this. But just to give you some basic idea, approximately 92% to 98% of men report having viewed pornography at some point in their lives.
[00:03:02] And 50, depending on which statistics you look at, 50. At least 50% of women have done the same.
[00:03:14] Young adults, particularly those 18 to 34, are the most active consumers of pornography.
[00:03:21] About 57% of young adults, 18 to 34 frequently seek it out at least monthly.
[00:03:30] All right, 57% and 29% of those above 34 of older adults, which I guess that that's what I am, an older adult, 57% of, I'm sorry, 29% of older adults seek it out monthly. And, you know, you think about these statistics, these surveys, you know, there is, and should be a rightly is a shame factor associated with this subject. So, you know, there's, you know, these surveys are only as good as the honesty of the, of the people who are responding to the surveys. So it is my view that in all likelihood, these numbers are higher than what they are given here.
[00:04:22] Among younger men, 17.3% of them of men under 30 report daily use.
[00:04:32] Daily use. And then this is an interesting statistic. A small percentage of users exhibit problematic Internet pornography use. Okay. It actually has an acronym, PIPU, as if there's a way to view it without being problematic. And there's not. But that's the way science goes sometimes. So, as you can see, there is the. I read some other statistics about how this affects how many marriage problems are related to this subject, this sin. Not only that, but what's also just, in my view, just as alarming, is how within the marriage context, there are marriages in which the wife doesn't care that this kind of sin, the husband is engaging in this kind of sin that is just, it's just demonstrative of how depraved the society is. And on that, you know, on that subject, I think, you know, having just come back from Florida and you know how Florida is, you just wonder why people do what they do. And honestly, I think sometimes people decide they're not going to have a problem with certain things like this, so that they give themselves room, so that they themselves can practice it without any. In other words, if I let you do it, you can't criticize me if I do it kind of thing. And all of that is just totally outside of the will of God, is just sinful. And so this is a major problem. But again, we find the answer to this problem in the scripture. Now, it might not be directly addressed in the way that we would most commonly think about it, but when we look at the subject, it's a strange woman. We can find principles and truths that will protect us and will help us to identify these things and avoid it, indeed, flee from it. So in proverbs five, we looked at several verses, and we saw how that the strange woman association with a strange woman is an association with death. Proverbs five five, her feet go down to death. Her steps take hold on hell. And there is a strong connection, not only with. And we looked at this death in the physical sense, as in the connections made between a man who's involved with a strange woman and all the other things, dangerous things that he might be involved in, such as alcohol and drugs and other vices of life that tend toward death. In other words, it's a package. It goes together, and that's true of the strange woman.
[00:07:33] But there's also an aspect of spiritual death where sin grabs ahold of a man and will bind him up such that he cannot free himself. It will bind his very soul.
[00:07:47] And so in this way, and we'll see this a little bit later, but in this way, pornography and any association with a strange woman can actually be hazardous to one's own soul, whether they can determine whether they go to heaven or go to hell. People often, it's not uncommon for someone to reject Christ, because remember, when we talk about Jesus, Jesus stands in stark contrast to sin, right?
[00:08:17] This idea that Jesus is talked about and presented as being. How many of you have seen these ads?
[00:08:24] Jesus gets us. He gets us.
[00:08:27] It's a huge, expensive ad campaign, and it tries to present Jesus as, you know what, brother Pete? Jesus gets us. So he gets what you do. He gets where you are. He gets you. And it never comes out and says it, of course, because this is obviously satanic, but without coming out and saying it, it strongly implies that Jesus is okay because he understands. He understands. He understands our sins.
[00:08:59] That is what's behind that ad campaign, and that's what's behind. And you see it in the. Because it comes out in different forms. And one of those forms, one of the forms we have to understand in this association is Jesus, indeed, in scripture, stands opposite, in contrast, the very. The very antithesis to sin. So whenever we talk about Jesus, we're talking about the opposite of sin.
[00:09:25] We must always present the Lord in that way.
[00:09:28] He is not in favor of sin. Just because he loves sinners doesn't mean in some way that he is turning a blind eye to it or in any way. And that's what some people think. Well, God in the Old Testament is, you know, is mean and talks about sin a lot. And Jesus, he doesn't care if we sin. False, false. You need to read to the end of the book, right? And of revelation, when you see his eyes on fire, that is not, in fact, that is more akin to the God of the Old Testament than to the false perception that we see that Christianity presents Jesus as Jesus is.
[00:10:09] His mercy endureth forever.
[00:10:11] But when it comes judgment time. His judgment is like a burning fire. He's a God of war. The Bible says so in this when we know that Jesus stands opposite to sin. Sometimes when a person is confronted with the Lord Jesus and the gospel, they turn away from him because they know that what must be, what will be sacrificed is sin. In other words, they must turn from it.
[00:10:44] And that's the whole idea of repentance. Now, you and I know you should know that. Repentance, the idea that you stop sinning and then Jesus will save you. That's not what the scripture teaches at all. The idea that somehow you can stop sinning and make yourself more fit for salvation, that's false, totally false, foreign to the Bible.
[00:11:04] But there is a sense in which in our heart, we must confront the reality that Jesus is against our sin. Right? He is against it, and we cannot come to him with it in our heart, with our affection set upon it. And for that reason, people that are intertwined with the strange woman sometimes reject the Lord Jesus because they know that he is against it.
[00:11:33] And that is dangerous to the soul. But it might not be that sin. It might be many other sins. But the same truth bears out. Now, we talked about how in chapter five, how that the life is wasted by association with her. And again, we're not just talking about a physical woman, but also all the various manifestations of the strange woman.
[00:11:56] The waste of one's personal honor, the waste of one's years time, the waste of one's wealth. And we noted that how often. We'll see it again this morning, how often the wealth is mentioned, how often loss of money is mentioned in association with a strange woman, which is notable. And then also the wasting of one's health. Look at chapter six, if you would. Verse number 23.
[00:12:26] Verse 23 says this, for the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light. And reproofs of instruction are the way of life to keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of the strange woman. Lust not after her beauty in thine heart, neither let her take thee with her eyelids.
[00:12:46] For by means of a whorish woman, a man is brought to a piece of bread. That's the loss of wealth. And the adulteress will hunt for the precious life. Notice that.
[00:12:58] That means you're prey, right? You're being pursued.
[00:13:06] How many of you. I mean, just. Just be honest. How many of you, in your email or on some web innocent website, you have been attacked by trash. Yeah, that's. It. Takes nothing to get there because you're being targeted.
[00:13:22] You're being hunted.
[00:13:25] And that's. Is that not in perfect alignment to what we see here? Not only that, so we have to be careful because Satan, being the one behind this, using the means of a strange woman, sees us as prey.
[00:13:43] And he will devour us.
[00:13:46] He will devour us. We know that from the New Testament.
[00:13:49] And you got to remember that you and I are being targeted for money.
[00:13:56] There is a strong association with money.
[00:14:00] You're being targeted because you might not know it. Those ads are being popped up. Somebody's paying for those ads. But they're not paying for the ads just because they want to spend their money. They're hoping to get a return of investment to drive you to that website so that you will put your money in it.
[00:14:16] So there's a profit motive to empty your pockets and to enrich those people who are practicing that. I just want you to understand that's a scriptural truth that's been in proverbs for this some 3000 years. Since proverbs was written.
[00:14:33] There's a financial benefit. Notice what it says, verse 27. Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Of course not. Can one go upon hot coals and his feet not be burned?
[00:14:46] So he that goeth into his neighbor's wife whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent. So what's interesting is this strange woman is married. We saw that in chapter five as well. But not every wicked woman is a woman who is just running around to the clubs or whatever. No, no, no. There's women who have husbands that are involved in this. That's what we see here.
[00:15:08] Men do not despise a thief if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry. But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold. He shall give all the substance of his house. But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding. He that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. A wound and dishonor. That's what we saw in chapter five. Shall he get. And his reproach shall not be wiped away. Listen, there are some sins that once you've been tagged, once we've been tagged with that sin, it doesn't ever go away.
[00:15:45] Well, that's not very loving.
[00:15:48] That's the way it is.
[00:15:50] So what is, then? The encouragement for us in those cases?
[00:15:56] What's the response? Run away from it as fast as you can. Go.
[00:16:02] Right. Run away from it. Run away from it. You know, here's the thing I want you to understand, modern Christianity wants to present sin as if it's something that can always be undone.
[00:16:15] It's something that can always be undone.
[00:16:22] I hesitate to bring this up a little bit, but my wife told me about when she was, I mean, this is 20, 2030 years ago, she heard about a singer, a christian singer, who described herself as a recycled virgin.
[00:16:40] That's how she described it.
[00:16:45] Here's the thing. There's no such thing as that.
[00:16:49] What do I mean? What I mean is that's decades ago. But that has been, that mentality has been brought into our time.
[00:17:01] And it is the teaching that somehow, no matter what you've done, that it can be undone just like it was never done.
[00:17:11] That's not scriptural. Now, God will forgive any sin.
[00:17:16] God forgives the word. He forgave Saul of Tarsus, who, who was holding the clothes of one of his choice servants. Surely he can forgive sexual sin. And he does. God does. But that reproach, listen, now, what we see is the reproach that comes from sin is not necessarily wiped away. Especially there are some sins, adultery being one that's actually named here, that nothing takes that away.
[00:17:47] Nothing. Now, that doesn't mean that God, again, God doesn't forgive you. God does for you. You can be right with God and all that, but that doesn't mean that the reproach of that is just automatically taken away as if you, the warning is stay away from it. Right? And those of you that have, that have been involved in sins that carry that kind of albatross, and they're, you know, and it exists, and it's a burden to people. Now, you can, here's the thing. You can know that God has forgiven you and still feel bad about having done that thing.
[00:18:21] Regret. Right?
[00:18:24] And you know what? Regret doesn't mean you don't understand God has forgiven you. It just understands that sin has permanent consequences.
[00:18:33] So that's where you are uniquely positioned to look at someone younger than you that hasn't yet done those things and say, listen to me. You don't want this.
[00:18:46] Right? You don't want this.
[00:18:51] You don't want this.
[00:18:54] See, others who have never, who don't carry that burden of regret don't have the authority to speak on that as much as someone who has.
[00:19:06] But the exhortation is, you run away from it. Run away from it. It's bad. You will regret it.
[00:19:16] So it's just a good warning for us to keep that, keep in our minds and our hearts that this idea that somehow that we can sin and there'll be no lasting regret. Shame, reproach, blot.
[00:19:31] God will forgive you, but those consequences will remain.
[00:19:35] And that's not something we want to bear.
[00:19:39] Okay, let's go to chapter seven, verse five, verse four. Rather, say unto wisdom, thou art my sister, and call understanding thy kinswoman, that they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.
[00:19:59] For at the window of my house, I looked through my casement and beheld among the simple ones I discerned among the youths. A young man, void of understanding, passing through her, through the street near her corner.
[00:20:15] And he went the way to her house. See, he was aware of where she lived.
[00:20:19] He was aware. Hold your place here and look at romans 13.
[00:20:29] If you follow the verse I'm about to read right now, it will help you.
[00:20:36] Romans 1314.
[00:20:46] But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. What does that mean, make provision?
[00:21:00] You see, it means to provide opportunity to fulfill lust. Notice it says, the lusts of the flesh. All right. Lust of the flesh comes in many forms. But on this subject of the strange woman, that's definitely within the lust of the flesh. Definitely.
[00:21:21] And to make provision means that we put ourselves in a place where there is opportunity to fulfill these things. That's exactly what this young man does.
[00:21:36] He carries his feet, carry himself to a place. Now, him walking down that street is not a sin, but the foolishness of it is he walks where he knows that woman is and thereby makes a opportunity, creates his own opportunity, not even counting what the devil. The devil is praying on him and seeking opportunity. But no, this is his own work, his own feet carrying him to the place where this woman is found, making opportunity.
[00:22:07] So listen, if there's a place, if there's a website, if there's a situation that repeatedly causes you to be in a place where you're tempted, stay away from that place.
[00:22:20] Right? Keep away from it.
[00:22:23] Don't scroll there. Don't go to that website. Delete that app off of your phone. You know what you find when you take away the provision? Just like if you have a potted plant, right? If this was real, you have a potted plant here. When you take away its provision of water, you know what happens?
[00:22:38] It dies.
[00:22:40] But see, as long as you keep that thing watered, it'll grow. That's not what we need to do with lust. So the Lord says, make not provision. Take away its provision, its opportunity. And what you'll find is the temptation will weaken but this man doesn't do that. He goes that direction. He makes provision. Verse nine. In the twilight in the evening. In the black and dark night. Remember, be careful of darkness. Right.
[00:23:11] If you're a man, be careful of the dark. You know what you need to do when it gets dark. Go to bed.
[00:23:20] Don't step. Looking at the computer, looking at the phone. Go to sleep.
[00:23:25] Unless you're with your wife, and that's fine.
[00:23:29] Go to sleep.
[00:23:30] The darkness and the night. Gets a lot of men in trouble with this strange woman.
[00:23:37] Things are hidden downstairs on the computer. Nobody knows that kind of stuff. Many, many men have fallen in this way.
[00:23:47] This is when temptation comes. So go to sleep. Verse ten.
[00:23:52] And behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot. Does it matter what a woman wears? Yes.
[00:24:00] Yes. We'll see more of that in just a minute. And subtle of heart. She's tricky.
[00:24:06] You're not getting the full picture. She's not transparent. She's deceptive.
[00:24:14] Notice she met him.
[00:24:17] That's that thing popping up when you weren't looking for it. Coming after you.
[00:24:22] Coming after me. That's what it is. It's that strange woman seeking out her prey. That's what we see here. Verse number eleven. She is loud and stubborn. Pause here and look at verse.
[00:24:38] Chapter nine. Just a couple pages over. Chapter nine. Verse number 13.
[00:24:46] Chapter nine, verse 13 says a foolish woman is clamorous. She is simple, knowing nothing. Now this is a description of the foolish woman. But notice the word clamorous. That means noisy, loud.
[00:25:00] Now I'm going somewhere with this. But just hang tight for a second.
[00:25:06] She is loud and stubborn. Her feet abide not in her house. Verse twelve. Now, is she without. That means outside, now, in the streets and lieth in wait at every corner.
[00:25:20] Now look at chapter 23, verse 27, if you would.
[00:25:24] In proverbs 23 27, it says this, for a whore is a deep ditch and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
[00:25:39] She also lieth in wait as for a prey. And notice this increaseth the transgressors among men. Why does that matter? Why does the listen. Why does the devil create strategies to increase our transgressions? Why does he do that?
[00:26:00] Do you know why?
[00:26:03] It's because sin itself is ensnaring.
[00:26:10] And sin itself will drag us away from God. The shame of it, the addictions of it. All the lusts of it.
[00:26:23] It's not a simple, like a simple, isolated act. No. Every time we sin, a cord gets wrapped around and it tightens to hold us where we are. And then it drags us with the current of this world away from God. That's why sin is so dangerous. Now we.
[00:26:40] There's no hope for us. Listen to free ourselves from these cords. No, no, no. God does that as a miracle. God comes to us bound up in our sin, right. And he frees us from it. But then, as a believer, well, are we gonna return to it like a dog to the vomit and wrap ourselves back up into it? That should not be what we do, obviously. Go back to chapter seven. Seven, if you would. The Bible says, notice she is loud and stubborn. Her feet abide not in her house. Now is she without now in the streets and lieth away at every corner.
[00:27:17] Now, here's what we see about this woman.
[00:27:22] Pause before I get there. Verse 13. So she caught him and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him, notice that impudence. You know what impudence is? Impudence means you're shameless.
[00:27:36] You're shameless. You can't blush, ladies and men, too. But this is talking about ladies.
[00:27:45] You should be able to blush.
[00:27:47] And if a woman doesn't blush at things which should cause her to blush, she might be a strange woman.
[00:27:55] That's what we see here. This strange woman doesn't blush.
[00:27:59] Look at. I want to point out a few things. Look at one Timothy, chapter two. Just as a comparison.
[00:28:07] First Timothy, chapter two.
[00:28:22] First Timothy, chapter two, verse number nine.
[00:28:30] Now, as we read these two passages, I want you to think about what we just read in proverbs about the strange one.
[00:28:37] Verse nine says this and like manner. Also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel. See that? The mentioning of the clothing which was also mentioning, mentioned in the strange woman in chapter seven of proverbs, the attire of an harlot. Okay, so there's something. Listen, you're not going to get me. And you're not going to find in the Bible where the Bible says, well, this is what she was wearing and the godly woman is wearing. You're not going to find that. There are principles that deal with that, but you're not going to. Everybody's looking for a law, you know, everybody's looking for a law where it's, you can't wear this, can't wear this, can't wear this. And you must wear this and wear. It's not the way it is. You're going to have to use the spirit of God and the word of God to come down on where using the principles of scripture to decide what you're going to wear. If you're a lady. That is consistent with a godly lady. Like we see here, women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety. You know what shamefacedness says?
[00:29:41] It's that you can blush.
[00:29:43] Right? The opposite of the strange woman who's impudent.
[00:29:48] She talks about things that aren't that a godly woman. If those were discussed in her presence, she would blush. That's not something she would be comfortable. You say, well, that's prudish. That's puritanical. These are the terms that the world uses to describe what I'm saying right now.
[00:30:11] And sobriety. Not with broided hair or gold or pearls or costly array. That is, concentration in the outward appearance. Verse ten. But which becometh women professing godliness with good works instead of concentrating on the inward man. Look at Titus. Chapter two.
[00:30:34] This world absolutely hates when we blush at things that they talk about openly, because it's a rebuke.
[00:30:46] It's a rebuke to them. Titus two.
[00:30:50] Look at verse number, verse number four.
[00:30:57] That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet. Discreet means displaying good judgment. Notice chaste. Chaste means pure from unlawful sexual impurity.
[00:31:16] It's not only actions, but it's also any association with those unlawful kinds of things.
[00:31:27] Chaste keepers at home. I know some people that bounce up and down on that one verse, bounce up and down that one verse, that argue that it is actually a sin for a woman to be employed.
[00:31:42] But the problem with that is when you look at which, this is the parallel to proverbs 31. When you look at proverbs 31, you see this woman.
[00:31:51] She's using her talents to make money for her family. But notice the difference is that it's family focused. That's what you see in Titus. Loving her husband, loving her children, keeping at home. No, she's taking care of the family. It's family centric. That's exactly what we saw with a virtuous woman. Right. In proverbs 31. And the opposite to that is the woman. In proverbs seven, it says, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Now go back to proverbs seven. Notice this.
[00:32:34] She is loud and stubborn.
[00:32:37] There's not this blush. There's not this quietness, this submissive spirit.
[00:32:43] She's the opposite. She's bold.
[00:32:47] She's not ashamed at what she does. She is not home and family centric. And focused because she's her feet of buy, not in her house.
[00:32:57] She is without verse twelve. In other words, she's not really concerned with what's going on in her house. She's got business outside.
[00:33:05] In other words, you could see the opposite of being family focused versus not being family focused.
[00:33:17] He says, verse 13. So she caught him and kissed him. And with an impudent face said unto him, I have peace offerings with me this day have I paid my vows. Therefore came I forth to meet thee diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry and with carved works with fine linen of Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love into the morning. Let us solace ourselves with loves.
[00:33:46] She's speaking the language that men want to hear.
[00:33:56] But here's something I want to remind everybody of.
[00:34:03] The problem is the context is wrong.
[00:34:07] The problem is that this woman is speaking to a man that's not her husband. That's the problem.
[00:34:15] But if you switch the context out, you go back to chapter five. What you'll find is it is perfectly holy and good for this lady, in the context of her own marriage, to say these very things to her husband. In fact, it is to be encouraged.
[00:34:37] And you don't have to look any further in chapter five to prove that.
[00:34:42] So the problem is that, remember, she's chaste. That doesn't mean she never discusses those things. No, no, no. It just means she discusses it in the place where it should be discussed. You see, that's what chastity is.
[00:34:57] And that is right. And that is good.
[00:35:01] All right, we'll have to pause there. Let's pray.
