Past Mistakes....Present Wisdom

Prov. 5

Proverbs 5:1–23 ESV

1 My son, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding, 2 that you may keep discretion, and your lips may guard knowledge. 3 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. 7 And now, O sons, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth. 8 Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house, 9 lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciless, 10 lest strangers take their fill of your strength, and your labors go to the house of a foreigner, 11 and at the end of your life you groan, when your flesh and body are consumed, 12 and you say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof! 13 I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors. 14 I am at the brink of utter ruin in the assembled congregation.” 15 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? 21 For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and he ponders all his paths. 22 The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin. 23 He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray.

Brothers and Sisters, the grass withers and the flower fades but the word of our God will stand forever

Opening Illustration examples

You can learn a lot from a dummy, buckle your safety belt (1980’s commercial)

This is solomon, he is older, wiser and has lived a bit. As he thinks on his experiences, he wants to keep the next generation from falling into the same traps of previous generations

Adultery and other perversions are ways “the systems” of the world take our focus off of what God has ordained, what God has called us to do an be. Solomon, in proverbs 5 emphatically pleads with us to be careful and watchful against the many ideas, imaginations, images that would take our eyes off of God and into a lifestyle of pain and misery.

The Word (Refresher) 1-6

It’s Time we Talk

The only way we will succeed in the battle against the highly sexualized society we live in is with the Word of God.

Solomon starts off with this in mind. He doesn’t give a 7 Keys to victory speech. He doesn’t push the nation to read some book to maximize your fight against The lust of the eyes. . . .

Rather he says be attentive wisdom, incline your ear to my understanding. . that your lips will guard knowledge.

The Life giving word is our guide. . . Its a lamp to our feet and light unto our pathway (psalm 119). We need to hear the Word, read the word so that our lips can speak the Word when trouble comes. When the temptation comes; we can exercise discretion.

How is this? Why does this matter? Look at how Proverbs paints the picture:

The word helps our lips to guard knowledge. . . so when the lips (verse 3) of temptation approaches you dripping like honey and smoother than oil we are not caught off guard.

Solomon says look when temptation comes it looks sweet. . smells delicious but in the end it Bitter. Honey at this time is the sweetest substance they had. Honey is good, honey is sweet, honey gives a feeling of satisfaction.

Solomon uses his poetical creativity to say no, this temptation.... for men (women) for women (men). . . . . It may have the looks of sweetness and satisfaction but it’s a Trick it’s bitter. Too much of it can be poisonous. The Oil, which was the smoothest substance in his day is actual sharpe as a 2 edge sword. If you play with it, you can suffer fatal wounds. It will leave you feeling empty.

Barbara Leaming in her wonderful Biography on Marilyn Monroe: deals with the emptiness of misplaced sexual emotions. She recalls a time when Marilyn, who for some time was the epitome of beauty, is now married to New York Yankee great Joe DiMaggio and she was scheduled to perform for US troops at an airbase. She said Marilyn, although very shy, loved the power she had over men. The momentary cheers of the crowd, lead to emptiness once it was over. The imagery of Marilyn on stage, led to emptiness for many troops once the show was over.

if you are seeking satisfaction outside of God’s design, you are headed down a road of emptiness. How do we fight against this?

Notice the powerful word play: the power of this temptation is as sharpe as a 2 edge sword. Sounds familiar? The fight against sexual sin and perversion is a hard fight. Solomon says trust me I know all too well; however, God offers something stronger! If we are going to survive, we can’t rely on our own strength. We must rely on God’s word.

The BIBLE says in heb4:13

Heb 4:12 “12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

In order to fight this war against Adultery or any sin we must have the Word so that we don’t follow the Path Dead End (Verse 6)

We Need the Word to help us. . . but if we don’t follow the word we will experience the WASTE

The Waste (Ruin) 7-19

Here’s what I want you to Know

If you fall away from wise words and the WORD, you will fall to Temptation and become Intoxicated by sin.

As it relates to adultery: 4 possible Losses. The passage uses general language to make the point that adultery leads to personal degeneration and financial depletion. The man who indulges himself will pay the price a hundred times over.

This section is a great example of “the terminology of my 40 year old self is screaming at my 20 year old self. Living a life giving in to the lust of the Eye causes problems.

Honor

Years

Strength

Labors (resources)

Life will be exploited- 9,10

condemned by his own conscience, 11-13

public Ruin (14)

Examples of old social media post bringing about public shame.

Examples of old photos- Jerry Jones bring about public shame.

Solomon says i want you to know: you need the Word. Living in opposition to the Word leads to waste. Lastly, God is watching. . ..

The Watcher (Redeemer) 20-23

You have a decision to Make

Yes Solomon’s words provide tangible evidence for why a person should live righteously. . . but more importantly God is watching!

Man’s ways are before the eyes of the Lord

Man’s paths are not hidden from God

Man is ensnared by sin

Man’s lack of discipline leads to death

C. S Lewis quote Mere Christianity: “No man knows how bad he is until he tries very hard to be good.”

Solomon looks back over his life and realizes his experiences can help future generations. No matter how good we try to be; without the help of Christ we are doomed. This table reminds us of a faithful God, who lived and died so we would not have to fight this fight alone.

possible illustration

tony evans#312

“You go to any cemetery and among the dead you will discover the living- people who work there who take care of the grounds. These are living people operating among the dead. They are facilitating death even though they are very much alive. Unfortunately, today, many Christians who are alive are living in spiritual cemeteries. They are living among the dead. Of all the things the Bible promises, very few of them are very real to these people because they are finding it difficult to get out of the graveyard of their circumstances.”