SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/11/2013
9:56 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Sexual Sin
is Eventually Disappointing PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Proverbs
5:1-14
Message of the
verses: Today we begin to look at
Proverbs chapters 5-7 as we move into chapter four of Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary
on the book of Proverbs in which he entitles this chapter “The Path of Folly
and Death.” As you can see from the
focus part of this SD the subject will be sexual sins throughout these three
chapters of Proverbs.
At the end of his introductory commentary in this chapter
Dr. Wiersbe writes the following in order to tell us what the subject matter
will be in these three chapters of Proverbs:
“Why worry about sexual sins? These
three chapters of Proverbs give us three reasons why we should worry if we
break God’s laws of purity: because
sexual sin is eventually disappointing (Pr. 5), gradually destructive (chapter
6), and ultimately deadly (chapter 7).
That’s why God says, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’”
He then writes the following at the end of his
introductory commentary on the fifth chapter of Proverbs, “In this chapter,
Solomon explains the disappointments that come when people violate God’s loving
laws of sexual purity.”
Their experience
goes from sweetness to bitterness (vv. 1-6): “1 ¶
My son, give attention to my wisdom, Incline your ear to my
understanding; 2 That you may observe
discretion And your lips may reserve knowledge. 3 For the lips of an adulterous drip honey And smoother
than oil is her speech; 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 take hold of Sheol. 6 She does
not ponder the path of life; Her ways are unstable, she does not know it.”
In verse three we see the term “an adulterous,” but in
the KJV we see the words “strange woman,” and the word strange means “not
related” and so the woman is not related to the person she is having sexual
relations with, and thus we have the word “adulterous,” in the NASB. We have seen this woman in earlier chapters
of Proverbs and will see her in latter chapters too.
We also see in verse three that it seems that the beginning
of this adulterous relationship that it is sweet for her lips drip honey thus making
us believe that things are starting off on a sweet note, but that may be the
case we will see that it doesn’t last long as we look at verse four.
As we look through the book of Proverbs we will see the
importance of looking ahead to see where our destination lies, for life is like
taking a journey and so we need to see where we are heading in order to make
the trip more pleasant. Solomon is
warning his son here that sexual privileges are for those who are married, but
are harmful if the experience is outside the bounds of marriage. God wrote the Ten Commandments and the
seventh commandment states that ‘You shall not commit adultery.” Did God put that in there to take all the fun
out of life? No that is not why it is
there, for as we see in sections like we are looking at sexual sin can cause
much pain, and even death. God knows the
consequence of sexual sins and therefore wants to protect us from the hurt and
pain of it.
Their experience
goes from gain to loss (vv. 7-14): “7 Now then, my 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 Or you will give your vigor to others
And your years to the cruel one; 10 And strangers will be filled with your
strength And your hard-earned goods will go to the house of an alien; 11 And you groan at your final end, When your
flesh and your body are consumed; 12 And
you say, "How I have hated instruction! And my heart spurned reproof!
13 "I have not listened to the
voice of my teachers, Nor inclined my ear to my instructors! 14 "I was almost in utter ruin In the midst
of the assembly and congregation.’”
Let us talk a bit about temptation. The events that Solomon is talking to his son
about can only happen through temptation.
We read that Jesus was tempted in all things, yet without sin, and so we
have an example to follow. Jesus was
tempted in the wilderness by Satan as seen in Mark chapter four and Matthew
chapter four. Jesus was at His weakest,
for He was fasting and when you fast your body becomes weak. Satan came to Jesus at His weakest moment at
that point in His life. Jesus gave us a
wonderful example of what to do when tempted, and that is to quote the Word of
God when we are tempted. Hebrews 4:12 says,
“12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper
than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul
and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and
intentions of the heart.” This verse
speaks of the power of God’s Word, and that is what Jesus used to turn away the
temptations that Satan was giving to Him.
Psalm 119:133 says, “Establish
my footsteps in Your word, And do not let any iniquity have dominion
over me.” “Ps 119:11 ¶ Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I
might not sin against thee.” Romans 12:2
says “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,
so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and
acceptable and perfect.” The
transforming of your mind is through the Word of God. Jesus wanted Peter James and John to stay
awake and pray with Him before He went to the cross to suffer and die for their
sins and ours, but they could not stay awake and so He said to them in Mark
14:38 “"Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation;
the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.’”
The Word of God helps us to defeat temptation and also praying helps us
to defeat temptation. In what we call “The
Lord’s Prayer” we see the following, “Mt 6:13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the
glory, forever. Amen.”
Now we better get onto looking at our text in Proverbs. In
verse eight Solomon tells his sons not to go near to the door of her house, to
keep far away from her. In a sermon that
was given to us at the beginning of this year we were instructed to not get too
close to sin, to stay far away from the temptation of sin, for if you get close
you will eventually fall. This is
exactly what Solomon is telling to his sons in verse eight. As I continue to think about temptation and
sin I think about a verse in the 11th chapter of Hebrews, the
chapter on faith where the author says this about Moses, “24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused
to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25
choosing rather to
endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures
of sin, 26 considering the
reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was
looking to the reward.” We see in this
section of Hebrews that sin does bring pleasure, and the pleasures that Moses
would have had were great quantities of gold, more gold that one could spend in
a hundred life times, and yet Moses considered the reproach of Christ greater
riches than the treasures of Egypt because Moses was looking for the reward
that God would give him.
Speaking of the results of sexual sin and the pleasant experiences
that it first gives J. Allan Petersons describes it as “the myth of the greener
grass.” People who commit sexual sins
think their problems are solved for sometimes when a man or woman go outside of
marriage for sexual pleasure they believe that the person they are now with
better understands them and will fulfill all their desires, however that will
not be the case for they are going against the Law of God which will have
consequences.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “When you read verses 9-14, you hear
the words of a suffering sinner lamenting the high cost of disobeying God’s
laws, because the most expensive thing in
the world is sin. He discovers that
the woman’s husband is a cruel man who demands that he pay for what he’s done,
so the adulterer ends up giving his strength to others and toiling away to pay
his debt. Instead of luxury, the sinner
has misery; instead of riches, poverty; instead of success, ruin, and instead
of a good reputation, the name of an adulterer.
He looks back and wishes he had listened to his parents and his
spiritual instructors, but his wishes can’t change his wretched situation. Yes, God in His grace will forgive his sins if he repents, but God in His government sees to it that he reaps what
he sows.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: There are a lot
of things in these verses, and one thing is for sure that it is far better to
follow the Laws of God concerning sexual practices than to disobey them. It is good to be able to teach children and
grand-children the importance of these things that were taught by Solomon to
his sons.
My Steps of Faith for Today: When temptation comes, and it will, pray, and
quote the Word of God to defeat the temptation that I am facing. Make sure that I have hidden God’s Word in my
heart so that I will not sin against Him.
Watch and pray for the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 121:1-4
1 I will lift up my eyes to the mountains, for where
shall my help come? 2 My help comes from
the Lord who made heaven and earth. 3 He
will not allow your foot to slip; He who
keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold He
who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
Turning Points Wisdom for
today: “If you pray for bread and bring
no basket to carry it, you prove the doubting spirit which may be the only
hindrance to the gift you ask.” (D. L.
Moody) “With men this is impossible, But with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 26:19)
1/11/2013 12:02 PM
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