Studies in Proverbs | Chapter 6 | Lesson 14

(soft music) - Welcome back to our study of the Book of Proverbs in which still in chapter six, but we're making progress. So we're going to look at verse 24 and read all the way through to the end of the chapter. So let's begin, Proverbs six, verse 24. To keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress, do not desire her beauty in your heart, do not let her capture you with her eyelids. For on account of a harlot, one is reduced to a loaf of bread and an adulteress hunts for the precious life. Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned or can a man walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? So is the one who goes into his neighbor's wife, whoever touches her will not go unpunished. Men do not despise a beef, if he steals, to satisfy himself when he is hungry, but when he is found he must pay sevenfold. He must give all the substance of his house. The one who commits adultery with a woman is lacking sense. He who would destroy himself does it. Wounds and disgrace he will find and his reproach will not be blotted out for jealousy and rage as a man. And he will not spare in the day of vengeance. He will not accept any ransom nor will he be satisfied though you give him many gifts. Let's go to Lord in prayer. Father, thank you for your word. And all this is, although Lord, this is a very dark passage. Lord, please put a genuine and healthy fear in all our hearts to know that the family is sacred and marriage is sacred. Let the young people know from an early age that to make a vow with another is a quite serious thing. Father also help us to see that in this passage, it has a general application to all kinds of sin, to every temptation. And Lord, help us to overcome, to be a pure people, a people of light in this age of darkness. In Jesus name, amen. Now, in this whole chapter, we've gone through several different kinds of what we call spiritual dangers. That's why we talked about this entire chapter is about navigating through this very difficult sea of life. So in verses one through five, it was the sin of rationalists, of making decisions quickly without consulting the Lord without following His word. And then verses six through 11, slothfulness. And I want to say again, often times in movies and film, slothfulness appears to be something funny, but it's actually quite deadly. It is a sin and it leads to death. And then verses 12 through 19, there was wickedness. Now, all sin is wickedness, but there is a settled wickedness in the heart of a man who is determined that with his life, he will not follow the law of God. And then finally, we have another and great danger. It's in verses 24 through 35, and that is unfaithfulness. Now, this is with regard to marriage, with regard to family, the relationship between spouses, between a husband and a wife. But also as we look through here, we can see that there's an adulteress. It is a sinful woman who comes and tries to destroy a marriage between a man and a woman. But what we need to see is this adulteress also represents any kind of temptation, any kind of sin. It always comes to lead us away from God, to lead us away from virtue, and it always leads to death. So let's start. First of all, I want you to notice that there's a transition here. You know that in the previous lesson, we were talking about the Word of God, in fact, the last several lessons, talking about the Word of God. And look what it says in verse 23, for the commandment is a lamp, and the teaching is light, and reproofs for discipline are the way of life, to keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress. Now again, we can generalize this to keep you from anything, and anyone that would tempt you to deviate from the path of God. Now, you may say, I'm going to walk with God. Well, let me tell you something. You're going to walk with God to the degree that you take seriously your need to feed upon the Word of God. No more, no less. Now, let's look at this adulteress, who is coming in and is going to, in this case, take a husband away, but it could also be an adulterer, a man who comes in and breaks up a family and takes the wife away. In either case, it's evil. Now, the first thing that we learn from this is in, in verse 24, it says, to keep you away from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress. Now, the adulteress here is literally a, how can I say it? It's a foreign woman. Now, what can that mean in this context? It sometimes translated the strange woman, but the idea is a woman that is foreign. So foreign in what way? Well, there's two possibilities here. One is that it's a reference to a woman outside of Israel, outside of the people of God who follows another God and has another view of life and oftentimes what you need to understand is that the pagan nations around Israel were just filled with horrid immorality and unfaithfulness. And so it could be referring to a person like that. Someone outside the community of faith. And this is one of the reasons why the Bible says that we should not be unequally out. That means that if we're believers, we should only marry and look for marriage from another person who is also a devoted Christian. But there's another possibility here. It could be referring to a woman who is part of Israel, to an actual Israelite woman, but in her heart she is foreign. In her heart she is wayward. In her heart, even though she carries the name of being a part of the people of God, she lives like someone who is not. And this shows us something very, very important. And this is very important for you that are listening, especially for young people, just because you call yourself by the title Christian, doesn't mean you're Christian. Just because your parents are Christian, it doesn't mean you're Christian. Have you truly repented of your sins and trusted in the person and work of Jesus Christ? Are you trusting in him alone as your Savior and has it had an impact on your life? That doesn't mean that the moment you become a Christian, you become perfect or some super spiritual person. No, but there is a change. And then that change continues on throughout your life because as Paul said, he who begins a good work in you will finish it. So can you identify with this woman who's destroying a marriage? Are you totally outside the people of God and living by a whole different set of rules? Or do you claim to be part of the people of God and yet your life is a contradiction of what you claim? So first of all, in this scripture, so we see that she is a foreign person or at least acts like one. Now second all, in verse 24, it refers to her as an evil woman. Now that's a pretty strong language. I mean, if we tell someone you're a sinner, they make it angry, but they'll even become more angry if we say, you're evil, but that's what the word means here. She is evil. Now, I want you to see something. Why is something evil? It's evil because it contradicts the nature of God and the will of God. So it contradicts who God is and what God has determined as good. Now, you may say to yourself, yes, of course, she's an evil woman because she's destroying a marriage, she's destroying a family, she doesn't care who she hurts, but here's something even more important that you need to see. She's evil because she's doing all that, but she's evil for another reason that's even greater. You see, marriage is God's plan. And so this woman is not just attacking a marriage. She's not just attacking a man or a woman. No, she's attacking God and she's attacking God's plan. God says that a man and a woman ought to come together and marriage and it ought to be permanent. Their vows ought to be for the rest of their life. They ought to live together in faithfulness. Even if there's problems, even if there's sickness, even if there's poverty, even if there's struggle, they should remain faithful to one another. This woman is saying, no. I don't agree with God's plan. I hate God's plan. I'm going to destroy God's plan. And that's why it says she is evil. And also I want you to notice that it's not just that she does evil, but she is evil. Now, there's a very important principle. It's found in Matthew 7, 17 and it's this, a bad tree bears bad fruit, a good tree bears good fruit. Now what does that mean? Well, a theologian that lived many years ago, he wrote a book called "Bondage of the Will." His name was Martin Luther. And what it means is this is that our actions are tied to our nature, okay? They're tied to what we are. Let me give you an example. Pigs, and I know this. I was raised on a farm. Pigs eat garbage. Pigs will eat almost anything. Pigs will eat rotten things. They eat garbage because it's in their nature. They can do it. They don't get sick. They love it. They're a pig and they eat like a pig, okay? A man has a different nature. He can't eat what a pig eats. He doesn't desire what a pig desires. So what I want you to see is that when a person does something evil, it's not just a mistake. It is a manifestation of what we are inside. And that is why if we want to change, we got to get to the root of the problem. And how do we get to the root of the problem through the gospel? God has to take out our heart of stone that is dead to him and alive to everything evil. And he has to replace it with a new heart that loves him and delights in him. And so becoming a Christian isn't just, will I turn over a new leaf or decided to live a different way? It's I met Jesus and Jesus changed me, okay? So very, very important. So it says that she's a foreign woman. It says that she's evil. And now in verse 24, it also says that she is very convincing. She has a smooth tongue. Now the devil has a smooth tongue. The world has a smooth tongue. What does that mean? It means that they say things that you like to hear. They say things that kind of boisterous up your pride that kind of promotes your ego. They say things you want to hear. Now I want you to look at something. This is the very opposite of what we found in verse 23. Do you realize that? Look at verse 23. The reproofs of discipline are the way of life. So reproofs, when someone reproves you, that's not smooth. It's rough, okay? Very rough. It goes against you. It makes you feel bad. You don't like it, do you? But what does it do? It saves your life. But then comes along this woman or any temptation and what? Her words are smooth. The devil's words are smooth. He's always going to tell you exactly what you want to hear. And it's the very opposite of love and it does not lead to life. So I want to look at a few things here. This is the way the adulterer, the woman who's an adulteress. This is the way she talks. This is the way the devil talks. But this is the way that anyone who would tempt you to depart from the path of God, this is the way they're going to talk. Now listen to Proverbs 2, 16. To deliver you from the strange woman, from the adulteress who flatters with her words. Proverbs 7, 5, that they may keep you from the adulteress from the foreigner who flatters with her words. Now, since the, in verse 23, we understand that rough words rebuked. They lead to the path of life. They are the path of life. That means that smooth words, flattery, someone always telling you exactly what you want to hear. That leads to death. Now, in Proverbs 29, 5, it says, a man who flatters his neighbor is spreading a net for his steps. Now look at what it's saying. If you have someone around you that is kind to you, encouraging speaks, encouraging words to you, that's wonderful. But if they stay around you long enough and they really, really love you, they're going to have to rebuk you and tell you you're wrong. Okay? That's a true friend. That's someone who loves you. That's why your parents are so often telling you you're wrong. They love you and do not want to see you harmed. But if you have people around you that are always flattering you, always telling you what you want to hear, always encouraging you to go your own way, they do not love you. They're using you. They've got a motive behind what you see and it's dangerous and it leads to death. So let's go on. The adulteress, she's foreign, she's evil, she's convincing, but she's also a luring. Okay? That means she uses her physical beauty and her charms to get what she wants. Now, this is the adulteress, of course. But it's also the way the devil works and the way the world works. I have a dear friend in Peru, his name is Puckellaus and he always talks about the world's propaganda that at the, he always uses his illustration at the door to hell. There's all these beautiful signs talking about entertainment and fun and have a good time and all these things, all these promises and then the person walks through the door to hell and finds just the opposite. And when they ask the devil, hey, this is completely different. The devil says all those signs were just the propaganda to get you here. This is the real deal. And that's the way it's always going to be. They're gonna use whatever they got, whatever they have to entice you, to allure you. That's why the kind of the same word is used adulteress, even a stronger word, is used in the book of Revelation to describe the world, you know, as this woman with a painted face, always trying to do what? To draw the saints in, okay? But not for their welfare, for their destruction. So let's say this about this part. First of all, physical beauty is a blessing from the Lord and it's morally neutral. Now I never had the problem with physical beauty, most of us don't, but physical beauty, even in the Bible, it's spoken about in a very positive light. So there is nothing wrong with being beautiful or handsome. And it's not something that you have to hide. It's not something you should flaunt, but it's not something that you should hide. Another thing, to use one's beauty to attempt others is a great sin. Do you know why? Because there's a sense in which if your handsome or beautiful, your body is strong, athletic, whatever attractive, that's a gift from God. To use that gift, to draw attention to yourself and worse, to use that gift to actually draw others into sin is a very, very wicked thing. You're using the very things God gave you in order to violate the will of God, okay? Now, another thing that I need you to see, that when someone like this woman uses their beauty or their intelligence or any gift they have from God, to entice others, they're basically doing what we find in James chapter one. And I just have a few moments here. I wanna read it to you. James chapter one, listen to what it says, verse 14, "But each one is tempted [BLANK_AUDIO] carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust is conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. So what does it say? Inside of all of us, there is still, even the most mature believer, there's still something that we call the flesh. It's the residue of our fallenness, and it can be enticed. And so the devil will come and put something in front of us that appeals to the flesh and draw us out. And that's exactly what this woman is doing here. She's using her beauty to entice someone else's husband, drawing him out, okay? Drawing him out. And he may think that this is a good thing, but what does the Bible teach us in James? He gives birth to sin, and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Now, I want to finish by saying this, in Proverbs 11, 22. And this applies to girls, it applies to boys, okay? So let's say as it is in the text, Proverbs 11, 22, as a ring of gold in a swine snout. So is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion. So a gold ring in the nose of a pig, that's not very pretty, but that's what beauties like. It's like that gold ring. But if it's in a person who has no virtue, then it's an attractiveness, but the thing itself is very, very ugly, unwanted, disgusting. And so if you have a woman or a young girl, or a young man, that may not be that physically attractive, but they have the virtue of Christ, there will be a beauty there that's undeniable, very attractive. But if you have a person that has physical beauty, or a young man that is very, very handsome, and yet doesn't have virtue, they're ugly, no matter what they look like. They could look like a movie star, but they're still going to be ugly once you get to know them. Well, let's pray. And I pray, O dear God, that you would use it in the heart of these young people who are listening. Please God, protect them from evil, through your word, in Jesus' name, amen.