Most of you who know me know I'm not really into movies Not what you would call the movie buff But one movie that I do enjoy one of my probably my favorite movie the Star Wars Hopefully you guys have all seen the new trailer. It's just been released with a new Star Wars is coming out in December I hope to the year excited about that. I am But if you're anything familiar with the Star Wars, you know that episodes four or five and six came out first And then the villain in those episodes was Darth Vader And if you remember an empire strikes back when Obi-Wan Kenobi was Talking to Luke. He explained that Darth Vader. He was seduced by the dark side that Darth Vader wasn't always Darth Vader He used to be Anakin Skywalker You know, so before the first three episodes came out you know, we only were aware of the episodes four or five and six It was kind of like okay, so this evil villain Darth Vader. He got seduced. Well, how do you get seduced? It's kind of hard to imagine Darth Vader being anybody, but Darth Vader But then when episodes one two and three came out We were able to see Anakin Skywalker as a boy We were actually able to witness how he got seduced seduced by the dark side of the force And one of the things if you remember I'm not sure if we're in the stars as much as I am But in episodes one and two they warned him a matter of fact Yoda the little green guy He warned him as the Mace Windu who's Samuel Jackson, but he warned him He said that he had too much anger and too much fear So he was he was prone to to being seduced, but he did that he does warning so he kept on in his quest to be a Jedi And then eventually he was seduced by the dark side of the force and he became Darth Vader which led to much terror and much evil much heartbreak Well, we come today The Proverbs chapter seven and we have another story here of seduction and we also have a warning a warning against seduction the father's warning to a son So we open up our text beginning in chapter seven with a father sitting with the son of godly father father with wisdom Teaching his son Verse one says to a son my son Keep my words. What is he telling a son there? He's telling his son son obey my words Don't just hear what I say But listen to Oh, baby He's on the first one and treasure up my commands with you So not only is this the wise father telling his son to keep his words He's calling a son to treasure up his commands The father's desire for the son is to hoard his word The father's word is of much value. It's of great worth It's kind of like when you see like diapers on sale You want to hoard them up right because you know you're gonna need them later if you have a newborn or a small child So you hoard them up because of great value and great worth So you store them up. So this is what this father. He wants the son to store up his word hoard up on it So go on the first two he says keep my commandments And live so here it is the father. He reiterates the importance of keeping his words He repeats himself just keep my commandments and live So anytime we see repetition in the Bible that's kind of a to be where What he's about to say is important. It's wake up you know pay attention. You know Jesus used to do this right He'd say truly truly you're barely barely I say down to you. So it's it's pay attention So the father are stressing the importance of the son of keeping his word or bang his word treasureing up his word and in the father of our two who reveals What is the purpose? What is the result of of keeping his commandments? Well the result is life just keep my commandments obey my words so that you might live It's for your benefit. It's not just keeping the commands for the sake of just keeping the commands, but it's it's for life And then verse 2 he says keep my teaching as the apple of your eye So here again the father he's urging his son to protect his teaching. He's saying safeguarding saying Don't lose it. He says let my teaching in my words and in my commands. Let it be your your most prized possession You know the apple of your eye It's the people of your eye. It's it's what enables you to see So we can appreciate this because we we value our sight and we will do anything we can to preserve it And to keep our sight So how much more should we value the word? The commands of God to give us give us life. We should value those preserved safeguarding keep them cherish them President the father is on in verse 3 find them on your fingers Here we go again You see the father in his call to the son to keep us word. It just intensifies Binding the father's word and in his teaching to his fingers it would it would have been a reminder to the son It's kind of like having you're married to have a wedding ring for minor did that you're in covenant Quick story here when I love first became a Christian one of the brothers that cycled me he kind of had this rule he Reggie probably remembers this It was to carry your Bible around no matter where you were doing where you were going what you were doing You always had your Bible. So I remember we go somewhere and be at the bowling alley. We had these big Bibles you know sorts no matter where we went we always had the word I got honest like it's now with you know smartphones Most of us you probably do have the word on it might not be Visible because that the biggest the Bible of those some people would argue I've won six plus probably is as big as the is the Bible But you know even on Matt trying to be legalistic But the principle of that just having the word on you one thing it did How it helped with it was a reminder it was kind of hard to go to a restaurant or bowling alley act up when I have a huge Bible sitting on a table I'm carrying a huge Bible. It's just a reminder that we need to be keeping the the commands and and obeying the word of God You know and God gives us a reminder right that's when we have community We think it's a word's table. It's a word picture of of the gospel Why do we have reminders because we're forgetful people we forget? I mean how many people remember what the sermon was about last Sunday or what we talked about in home fellowship We're forgetful people so we constantly need to be reminded so the sense of the father He says buy them on your fingers and he anniversary write them on the tablet of your heart So here the son he is he is called to preserve his father's words You know I said he could recall them and so they he could use them with ease You know you want the Holy Spirit to have something to you. That's why we store the word in our hearts so that we wouldn't sin Against our Lord So the son is to internalize the father's words You have it in him so it would come out of them because if the word is in him that his actions and his motives would would be Pure and they would conform to the Bible Father continue on continues on verse 4 say to wisdom you are my sister In biblical poetry the word sister Often meant life. Let me see that look in the in the song of Solomon So in essence the father is telling the son that he used to be yoke up with the word With his word he is to have this close and this intimate relationship with the father's word First floor continue on and he says call insight your intimate friend Once again the son is to be closely acquainted with him and familiar with And close to the word that the father is sharing And so what is this this word that the father is sharing well if you look throughout problems It's about wisdom. It's about understanding If we were to do a survey can probably see the reoccurring theme It is to get wisdom to get understanding to gain insight Well, what is wisdom will simply define wisdom. It's a skill or an ability Archie's role says like this he says wisdom is choosing the best and noblest end at which to aim Along with the most appropriate and effective means of achieving that in There we go wisdom. It's having the best aim the best goal It taking the best method the best road to achieving that best goal So in a moral context Which probably comes to us in a moral context wisdom is the skill and the ability to discern between right and wrong So oftentimes when we pray for wisdom it's Lord who should I marry or should I take this job should I buy this house So I go to this church which are all good prayers who wisdom for those things but many times those aren't necessarily moral issues But we should be praying for a primary author or I know I can say my own life is for wisdom In a moral sense the ability to discern if you choose and to act wise And rightly and correctly and biblically So where does this wisdom come from? Proverbs 2 6 for the Lord gives wisdom from his mouth come knowledge and understanding How do you gain this wisdom? Psalm 111 verse 10 the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom You want wisdom? Fear the Lord honor him Revere her hold him in high esteem So what is the purpose of wisdom? the fruit of wisdom Well the father tells the son The wisdom it will keep you from the forbidden woman from the adulterous with her smooth words So you see the purpose of wisdom is to keep you from sin Wisdom will help you anticipate and avoid sin But before we transition to the father's narrative the next few verses
We need to address a couple things to keep you two things in mind One yes this text deals with The serious and grievous sin of adultery But as heinous as the sin of adultery may be It is not the unpardonable sin
So But keep that in mind there's no sin too great for the grace of God No matter what you have done or who you are If you come to the Lord if you repent and you turn from your sins In place your faith in Jesus Christ and in him alone He will save you and forgive you of adultery and every single sin Your past, present, and future
Another point I'm forgiveness if you're a Christian or anybody who's committed adultery The forgiveness of adultery does not necessarily remove the repercussions of the sin of adultery And we see this The adultery and betrayal it wrecks havoc on families and it has Lasting effects and consequences that people continue to deal with Another point If you think you are beyond falling into adultery or falling into any sexual sin for that matter Think again Look at the statistics I'm not going to go into them and boring But they're scary We know numbers don't lie But people do lie They lie often And I don't want anybody in here to lie to themselves
also This passage and the sermon it's It's not for the men only nor is its application limited to adultery and In sexual sin only so I don't want the lady here Anyone else Not married or whatever Tuning out this is application and it's relevant for all of us here And I say this when we look at the term adultery Consider What an adultery it is An adultery is A wayward and unfaithful wife And if you're here today and you are in Christ Then Jesus is your bridegroom These are husband And we are his his bride and his wife So whenever we sin against the Lord We play that role of the unfaithful wife
So ask yourself this How many times has the Lord Caught you cuddled up with sin How many times has he caught you in the arms of an idol And if so then we should be able to relate To some degree or another we should see our stuff in this text Not just as the wise father or the son who receives the wisdom But to some degree or another we should see ourselves as the foolish young man And to some degree as the adulterous or seductuous Remember it's not just sexual sin that's offensive to God All sin is offensive to God All of our sins sent Jesus to the cross There is no sin too small And there's no sin that we can just overlook Sinners rebellion against our faithful lord and savior Jesus Christ So we move on You can see here in Proverbs chapter 7 verses 6 through 9 We're going to see the characteristics and the behavior patterns Of the one who is seduced the young foolish man Perhaps we can call him The seducey and don't know if that's a word or not But however the one who seduce So in verses 6 and 7 The father begins his narrative For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice and I have seen among the simple I have perceived among the youth a man lacking sense
So here we go I have the father The wise father watching this young man So this young man he's ignorant to the fact Did he's being watched You see not only was this young man being watched by the father in this narrative He was being watched by God the father Psalm 139 verse 7 It's on the day he says Russia I go from your spirit or where shall I flee From your presence There's nowhere as you can go Wherever you are if you ascend into heaven or descend down to sheol God is there. God is he's on the present He's everywhere There's nowhere that you can't go where God can night see you There's nothing that you can do that is hidden From the sight of the lord So that's one characteristic of the young man and one Character trait that makes us prone To seductions to being seduced is that we forget about the omnipresent of God I'm the presence of God. It's not just a theological concept Right, it's not just an attribute perfection of God. It's it's practical So that's the difference between wisdom and knowledge because we can know these things We can know and we can say that God is omnipresent But what impact that I have on the way That you live your life And how you deal with sin if you know that God is watching He's always watching Moving on you see that in verse 7 The young man is described as being Simple So what does it mean to be simple It means that he was naive or that he was gullible That he was foolish Even that he was seducable The young man has also described as lacking sense So in other words, he is devoid of wisdom and understanding You see so that's why he could be called naive and gullible And foolish and seducable and simple Because he did not seek wisdom this the foolish simple young man did not listen to his father He did not obey his father's teaching he did not keep his father's commands He has no wisdom therefore He is a fool Let's see moving on to verse 8 Let's see that the young man is in the wrong place Verse 8 says passing along the street near her corner You see this young man he was on the corner in the streets He was in a place where sin happens Wisdom tells us that there are some places where we should not be
We know brothers and sisters that holds true For us there are just some places that we need not go And see the problem is is that anytime we try to lay boundaries or set standards We get accused or we might think all we're being legalistic The brothers I don't think if you've been coming to East Point Church for any length of time We know that we are not saved by keeping the laws You're saved by the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ so boundaries and keeping the commands or a reasonable expectation for us as Christians now that God has saved us therefore how should we live We should live in a way that glorifies the Lord and avoids sin at all costs. So if there's a situation or a place There should be more prone to sin than I should do all that I can wisdom would have me To avoid that place again. What is wisdom? It's using the highest goal the highest goal is the glory of God To be pure as God is pure. I want to glorify him So what's the best means that means might be setting a boundaries Staying away from the place to where I may fall victim to sin to where I may be seduced
But not only is the young man the young fullest man in the wrong place He is headed in a wrong direction verse 8 also says he's taking the road to her house The young man is headed in the wrong direction Once again this demonstrates that he has no wisdom. He has no insight. He has no understanding He has no direction We can even say those who have no direction End up going in the wrong direction But it only is a young man in the wrong place and he's going in the wrong direction He is out at the wrong time Verse 9 in the twilight in the evening at the time of night and darkness How much more prone to read to commit sin at night when we think No one is watching But again God is watching Again, it's not about being legalistic at night much sin happens Not to say that sin doesn't happen in the daytime But we know there are certain sins that are more prone to happen at night So what does wisdom tell us wisdom tells us maybe we should go to bed Earlier maybe Maybe we should we should stay indoors All right, we're not doing these things again in order to be saved in order to merit something from God We're doing these things because we are saved and we want to please God You know, I think it was Houdini he said he said it right. He said the freaks come out at night Right, maybe we should heed that that might be some wisdom there the freaks come out at night Well, that's what if the freaks come out at night and the faithful Christian he comes in at night
It's moving on I love you know 80s 80s 80s best on her music ever 80s It's moving on to deal with the next few verses proper 7 verses 10th and 12 Now we're going to take a look at the characteristics and the behavior patterns of the the draughtress the unfaithful life the seductress the one who seduces Verse 10 and behold the woman meets him dressed as a prostitute wily of heart So here we go We have this young foolish Simple man If you use this analogy, he's about to get cooked right now. He's he's he's in the kitchen Right now, but then we get the first tense as behold a woman meets him dressed as a prostitute Wily of heart. So here's this dramatic shift. This all of a sudden So now if he was in the kitchen before because he was in a wrong place wrong direction one time now the the oven door has Opened up So now that this woman has come out to meet him We know the likelihood of this young man escaping this seduction it has just significantly decreased You see that one of the characteristics of the seductress is that She's wily of heart In other words, she is crafty and she is she is cunning She is no fool and like the young man So here it is. Here's the face off. Here's the match if you have the foolish young man The simple man in one corner, and then you have the wily cunning crafty seductress in the other corner So what else do we learn about this the install first this the seductress We learned that she is out in about all the time versus 11 as well. She is loud in wayward Her feet do not stay at home now industry now in the market and at every corner she lies in weight You see the seductress in this description she kind of sounds like our adversary the devil Satan who prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour The seductress she is she is like the thief that we learned about last week when pastor leach priest He's like the thief who comes only to steal and kill and destroy We might even say that this seductress is the embodiment of the devil and the embodiment of sin She is crafty just like the serpent who deceived Eve by his cunning She is deceitful like sin which seizes and deceives and kills us as Paul reminds us in Romans 7 Now moving on to the seduction we see that in Proverbs 7 verses 13 through 20 The plot intensifies the bell has run The fight is on Who will strike first So now if the oven door was open Now the temperature is being turned up and up and up So we see verse 13 who strikes first She sees it and kisses him So right out of the gate the seductress comes out swinging or maybe we should say she comes out grabbing and kissing She has a lesson for us here if you don't make the first move Again sin sin will make the first move and sin does make the first move Wisdom would say flee flee from sexual immorality flee from sexual sin flee from fornication See but wisdom does and it dissipates sin and because this young man this foolish man had no wisdom What happened to him he was caught he was seized by the seductress But seductress not only uses actions to seduce The seductress begins to seduce with her seductive words Verse 13 and with bold face he says to him I had to offer sacrifices and today I have paid my vows boldly he says this so the seductress he speaks unashamedly and confidently assertively with no sense of shame no sense of guilt no sense of wrongdoing in her approach As a matter of fact she adds the dose of spirituality to her seduction Verse 14 it says her offering a sacrifices um this you offer sacrifices So the fact is he offers sacrifices and indicates Of the commentators say that this was a it was a peace offering So the seductress offers a peace offering And a peace offering it symbolizes communion between God and his people And what would happen to meet from this peace offering it was to be eaten before The end of the day So here the seductress is Offering up this peace offering you think having this meat that needs to be eaten before the end of the day So in meat in those days it was a it was a luxury item I would argue still a luxury item in our day You know I'd love to eat some meat that's always good thing So the seductress not only see seducing this young foolish man with her body She is seducing him with a good meal As they say that the cookers rate to a man's heart is through a stomach, right But I hope when that we just don't look at the hypocrisy in the life of the Subjectors, but that we would see even hypocrisy in our own life So how often do we take what belongs to God and we use it for sinful and for self-escape Our bodies were purchased by the blood of Christ who were bought with the price and the Bible Causes to honor God with our bodies, but how often do we take them and use them for sin for sexual sin And how often do we worship God here on Sunday morning Sunday afternoon with lifted voices and and lifted hands We do this in a daytime Then at night we use those same voices in them same hands to engage in sin How often does that happen? Thank God for a savior If you don't know anything by now come with the Eastmore Church you need a savior you need Jesus Christ
Moon on we see that the seductress begins to flatter the young man That's what seduction does it flattles Someone who is going to seduce they're going to be Cracking and cunning and using flattery you see that in verse 15 So now I have come out to meet you to seek you eagerly and I have found you To see not one verse the word you was mentioned three times. I come to meet you. I came to seek you eagerly and I have found you So the duxers he makes this man feel like a million bucks Well, I guess I don't have bucks like this or maybe check this make them feel like a million checkers You see the focal point of sin is always self See we sin when we make much of ourselves and not of God For the wise and humble person The wise and humble person is not seduced by flattery because that person understands that they are nothing apart from Christ So the duxers continues to continue to seduce we see that the seductress appeals to the young man's senses versus 16 to 17 I have spread my cows with coverings covered in linens from the Egyptian linen I have perfumed my bed with murr alos and cinnamon Now consider all the senses that were involved in this seduction One she seized him and kissed him appealing to his sense of touch Two she speaks to him with confidence appealing to his hearing Three she presents him with the meat from her her peace offerings appealing to his taste Four she flatters him Appealing to his sense of pride Do you guys thought we only had five senses right but I added a six one then there we have this the sense of pride so this flattery to the peeling to a sense of pride And five she speaks of the colored linens Appealing to his sense of his sight and in six now she speaks of perfumes Appealing to his smell You see this young man he's fully engaged in her seduction This whole person is completely drawn in And that's what seduction does that's what sin does it captures our mind our emotions And our senses it draws us it it brings us in And some next see the seducers gives the invitation So here it is the oven door has has been open the temperatures rising and now if that the hot point now here it is Everything's starting to to reach this climax first 18 Come let us take our fill of love till morning. Let us delight ourselves with love Now notice what this deductor stuff She makes sin out to be good by substituting the word love what was really going down What was really going down? This is not love. This is adultery In its sin it is lust it is sexual immorality it is It is fornication You can insert any one of those words into the text in order to get to the truth of the matter You see that's what wisdom does wisdom calls sin what it is sin You can baptize sin in any language, but it's still and it's always sin
Next you see the seductors she gives a shirt She puts the cherry on top First 19 For my husband is not at home He has gone on a long journey He took a bag of money with him at full moon he will come home Undoubtedly the seductors say it's her biggest and best lie for the end The lie is this is that your sin has no consequences. There are no repercussions for your sin You can get away with it If you think you won't be caught in your sin You can be sure of this Sin has caught you You can never be safe in your sin Why? Because sin is never safe Now perhaps a young man might escape the seductors his husband But you can be sure of this He will not escape God And neither will we You might think we might get away with sin in a temporal sense and in short-term sense But our sins are not hidden before God Either you will pay for your sins Or Christ has paid for your sins And if Christ has paid for your sins Then that should be enough motivation and inspiration for us to do everything we can not to sin So what do you see what happens next? The seductors wins Game over He's in the oven, oven door closed It's about to get cooked versus 21 through 23 with much seductive speech he persuades him With their smooth talks he compels him All at once he follows her as an ox goes to the slaughter Or as a stag is caught fast in an arrow pierces its liver As a bird rushes into a snare He does not note that we'll cost him his life So here it is the seductors She persists in her seduction and with her seductive speech The end result the young foolish man is seduced She wins seduction wins The seductors wins She turns them aside She leads them history She sees the text that says all that wants It happens suddenly and immediately He follows her He surrenders He gives in Not much of a fight, huh See this is how seduction works It keeps building and building and building It keeps building until you begin yielding And yielding and yielding seduction builds And then people yield And notice that this young man He's compared to an ox Going to the slaughter A stag being caught fast And a bird rushing into a snare You might even say that Upon giving into this seduction And falling into this This sin This young man is reduced to a beef Just like an animal He was dumb And unaware And ignorant to the danger that That lie before him Now how easy it is for us And the third person Looking outside of the situation To say what a shame But hopefully we would share those same sentiments About our own foolish sin We would take a step outside And look at our own self and say What are we doing Let us not fall into that To send what a shame How foolish How ignorant How dumb We can be It's in a young man He also failed to count the costs Of his decisions And his actions So let this be a reminder In a warning to us To count the costs And here's the thing If we count the costs of sin We will always conclude The sin has a bad Our lie If you don't know what our ROI is Talk to Elder B.J He'll explain that to you And so then finally We go to the end of chapter 7 And it it ends Where it begins With a call To listen to the words of the father Versus 24 through 27 And now all sons Listen to me And be attentive to the words of my mouth Like not your heart turn aside to her ways Do not stray into her past For many of victims she has laid low And all her slain are mighty for all Her house is the way to she all Going down to the chambers of death So you might ask Well how can I avoid being seduced How can I not fall victim to seduction How can I avoid the seductor It was just like the father Told us then in the beginning Be attentive to the words of my mouth Keep My commandments obey my teaching treasure it up That's what Jesus tells us Jesus tells us that We should live by every word That comes in the mouth of God The question is what happens if What happens is when I give in to seduction When I am seduced When I do so What do I do? You look to Jesus You believe in the gospel You see the son is instructed By his father to keep his commands But Jesus who is the son of the God Perfectly kept the fathers Commands You see the young man in this narrative gave in to temptation But Jesus he was tempted and never respect as we are Yet he was out he was without saying He did not give in to temptation To the young man in this narrative He wondered in the darkness But Jesus He is the light of the world Who shines in the darkness And the seductor So what does she do? She offered profane sacrifices But Jesus He offered himself up As the perfect sacrifice Truly and fully pleasing to God The seductor She offered the covering The fine Egyptians But Jesus offers the covering of righteousness In his blood To the young man he delighted himself in lust In adultery But Jesus delighted himself in doing the will Of the father To the young man in his sin He was like an ox Who's headed to the slaughter But Jesus Who was the Lamb of God He was slaughtered for our sins To the young man sins They cost him his own life But it was our sins That cost Jesus his life For the seductor Sir house It was the way To she all But for Jesus he says I am the way He is the truth In a life He is the way to the father And he is Eternal life So that's the good news That is the gospel You want wisdom Get Jesus Because the Bible says That Jesus he is The wisdom The righteousness He is our wisdom And he is our righteousness All the churches of wisdom and knowledge Are found in Christ And found in Christ alone