Disciples Church Bible Reading Plan

Saturday Study

Proverbs 7 (5-6-17)

**I want to say thank you to one of my long time disciples and fellow ministers of the Gospel, Steve Obert, who is a faithful brother who loves God’s word and has blessed us by writing this weeks Saturday Study. You will be blessed by what Steve has prepared.

Grab your bibles and let’s go deeper into Proverbs 7.

This proverb repeats some of the teaching from chapter 5.  There seems to be intentional details brought up here that were left out of chapter 5, though.  It begins much the same way:

[1] My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you; [2] keep my commandments and live; keep my            teaching as the apple of your eye; [3] bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. [4] Say to   wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call insight your intimate friend

Many times, the details provided give insight into the one sharing them.  Solomon had over 100 wives and over 300 concubines.  Solomon was not a man unfamiliar with physical lust and sexual temptation.  Often the wisest man is the one the most experience.  Solomon was not only the wisest man to ever live because of God’s blessing (2 Chronicles 1:7-12), but he also had it in his heart to chase out every temptation under the sun only to find that they are vain (Ecclesiastes 2:1-11).

Those who have struggled with sexual temptation see quickly that the author of this proverb has personal insight into the deceptiveness of the sin of lust.  This is why it so very helpful.

Solomon begins this proverb with his normal warning to the reader/the son (or less mature one) to KEEP and TREASURE his commandments.  Notice the connections he makes for us in verse 2: if we keep the commands we live; so how do we keep them? He goes on imploring the reader to make them the apple of your eye, bind them on your finger, write them on your heart, and make them an intimate relationship to you one like you would have with your sister or family member.  The clear call here is to meditate on the commands, not just the teaching that Solomon is giving in the proverbs, but the commands of God throughout all of Scripture.  Now notice he doesn’t just say what we should do; he is wise enough to tell us how to do it.  Memorize the commands, think about them daily, study the word, and let it become second nature to you.  Make it intimate; be in such a close relationship that it appears to be your relative.  When we store up God’s word in our hearts, it gives us great strength and wisdom in the hour of temptation.

Solomon then turns his focus to one of the things you’ll avoid if you heed his warning:

[5] to keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words.

What will be the fruit of immersing yourself and memorizing the Scriptures? It will keep you from the forbidden woman.

The next section describes what the temptation looks like and the characteristics of the person who falls for the             temptation:

[6] For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice, [7] and I have seen among the simple, I have     perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense

Here are the first characteristics of the one who fails to treasure the word of God.  He is spoken of as a young man (again this is not necessarily in age but maturity), and the man is LACKING SENSE!

[8] passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house [9] in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness.

Wow, how revealing the Scriptures are of our sin and how we pursue it.  Notice the action that the one who lacks sense takes.  He goes toward the house: he seeks it out and knows where it is.  In the Proverbs 5 lesson, you were told about accountability and encouraged to pursue steps to remove temptation.  These are not the actions of the one who lacks sense.  No, the one who lacks sense seeks out his sin; he goes in the dark of night and hides his sinful desires, as if it is not known to the only One who truly matters.

[10] And behold, the woman meets him, dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.

Satan is at work in this world.  He is an adversary who prowls around like a lion seeking to destroy.  If you are chasing after sin, if you are even flirting with it and in your mind deceiving yourself that it is harmless, the adversary will take advantage of your lack of sense.  Satan will meet your sinful desires with the temptation and when you give in… Well, let’s look and see what happens:

[11] She is loud and wayward; her feet do not stay at home; [12] now in the street, now in the market, and at every    corner she lies in wait.

Again, the temptation for sin just lies in waiting.  If you flirt with it, it will be there.

[13] She seizes him and kisses him, and with bold face she says to him

Those who have experienced sin (all of us, right?) in various degrees know what this seizing feels like.  There is a moment when your desire meets with the temptation to sin, and the moment of giving in to it is when it seizes you.

[14] “I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows; [15] so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you       eagerly, and I have found you. [16] I have spread my couch with coverings, colored linens from Egyptian linen; [17] I     have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. [18] Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight   ourselves with love.”

After it seizes you, it is unashamed in its talk.  It (sin) has now seen the hold it has, and it no longer flirts; its aim is to take you further than you ever wanted to go and do more damage than you ever imagined you would.  Notice the first step, though, is you flirting with it instead of putting it to death.  Then it seizes you, then when you’ve allowed it to take hold of you it gets extremely bold with its enticing alluring.  “Come in I made sacrifices, I fully intend to sin with you and it will be ok because we can make sacrifices again.”  Notice the deception of sin and how quickly it says whatever you want to hear and whatever will make you pursue it.  In verse 15 the woman says. “I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, I have found you.”  This is again a lie. The story just said that the young man was the one looking for it; however, you feel more special if the sin has sought you out eagerly.  Unfortunately, this is the same thing that’s said to every young man passing by looking for her.  Sin is so deceitful; it is always aiming to take your life.  Please be aware of the deceitfulness of sin.

[19] “For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey; [20] he took a bag of money with him; at full moon    he will come home.” [21] With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him.

Let’s ramp up the excitement by adding some danger and more sin.  Sin begets sin.  The more you sin, the more sin you find, and the more you sin.  Sounds silly, right?  It is the proverbial snow ball effect: as it rolls downhill, it grows larger and larger until it hits something and explodes.  This is how sin works.  If it wasn’t enough for the sin of sexual immorality, let’s add in the excitement of possibly getting caught and the allure of having something that does not belong to you, for she has a husband.  This is the seductive speech and the smooth talk that seduces the young man, because he lacks sense.

[22] All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast [23] till an arrow pierces its liver;             as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.

And just like that, he gives into the temptation and brings himself to the death of true life in God in trade for momentary pleasures that if unrepented of will lead to eternal suffering and separation from our great God.  As any of you who may have been a part of FFA growing up or were raised on a farm knows, the animals led to the slaughter go willingly.  They have no idea of what’s about to happen.  They allow you to take them there.  This is what is being said of the young man.  Consider this: the average weight of an ox that would be slaughtered is around 1500 lbs.  If that animal knew you were walking it to its death, couldn’t it stop you?  Of course; however, because it is ignorant of what is about to happen, it willingly goes along.  Here is the problem: the deceitfulness of sin says like Satan did in the garden to Eve, “Surely you will not die.  If you do this, you will gain.”  And even though we have been told by God who cannot lie that we will die if we do this, we still buy into the sin and pursue it.  This is what happens to those of us who lack sense and do not treasure the word of our God.  Let’s continue:

[24] And now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth. [25] Let not your heart turn aside to her    ways; do not stray into her paths, [26] for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng. [27] Her            house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.

Solomon pleads with the listener again to avoid the sinful woman.  Her way leads to death.  This can be said of all sin: its ultimate aim is to kill you eternally.  For the saints, we may take heart.  Since it is God who saved you (not you yourself), you cannot lose salvation.  However, we can lose life, in a sense of the quality of our life, the effectiveness of our life for God’s glory, the joy that we could have in God in this life is robbed by sin, etc.

I remember standing with Pastor Joshua in my early 20’s as God was doing a work in my heart.  I was sharing with him my struggles with lust and saw another young man who was coming out of drug addiction.  I said to Josh, “Man, here I am complaining about lust when this guys has to deal with true addiction and the fight of that.”  Josh responded to me, and I will never forget his words, as they have rung true in my life of ministry: “I have seen more men fail and fall because of women or lust than I have ever seen from addiction.”  Solomon finishes the chapter by saying that “many a victim she has laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng”.  Do not be wise in your own eyes: the temptation of lust, particularly sexual lust, is very powerful and always aims to take life from you; if not eternal life, then as much life now as is possible.  Do not be fooled; you are not the one who can withstand it.  Instead, treasure up God’s commands within your heart.  Memorize Scripture that in times of temptation you may see through the deceit of sin and stand strong in the grace and mercy of our Lord!

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church