Delivers Thee from Evil Women

Introduction to Proverbs 2:16-19 and the Theme of Wisdom

0:03 We return again tonight to our studies in the book of Proverbs. Just for those of you that have any interest in keeping track of how many, this is number 14 in our studies in this unique segment of God's revelation, part of that total inscripturated body of truth, which is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction, in the way of righteousness. The focus of our attention tonight will be upon verses 16 through 19. I shall read those verses, spend a few minutes reviewing,

0:45 so that we might see them in their immediate and more remote context, and then we shall attempt to expound them and apply them to God's glory and to our mutual profit.

0:58 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the foreigner that flattereth with her words, that forsaketh the friend of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her return again, neither do they attain unto the paths of life. The general theme of this second chapter of Proverbs is, I trust you remember, the whole subject, of wisdom, saving, sanctifying wisdom,

1:43 how to attain it, and the benefits that that wisdom brings. And so, in the first five verses, four or five verses, we have the path of wisdom. What is necessary if we are to attain to that wisdom? There must be exposure to the words of God.

2:01 Seeking those words diligently, praying for illumination, and then the promise of God that that wisdom shall come forth, from God to the hearts of all who seek it in that way. The great purpose of that wisdom is stated in verse 8, that he may guard the paths of justice and preserve the way of his saints. That wisdom has a moral purpose, namely to help the saints of God persevere in the way of holiness and obedience. For the scripture, which teaches the certainty of the perseverance of the saints, also teaches the necessity, of that perseverance.

2:41 It is not only certain that they shall persevere in holiness, it is necessary that they persevere. They must. And the means which God uses for enabling them to persevere is this heavenly wisdom, which comes to those who expose themselves to the words of God, who cry for illumination, who seek it diligently, and receive it then from God. And then the writer, Solomon, tells us that the way in which this functions, wisdom functions to preserve us, verses 10 and 11, wisdom shall enter into thy heart, knowledge shall be pleasant to thy soul, discretion shall watch over thee, understanding shall keep thee.

3:25 When wisdom gains an effectual entrance, verse 10, then that wisdom exerts its powerful influence, verse 11, it preserves, it keeps. Then from that point on, through to the verses we read tonight, through verse 19, we find the way in which wisdom does this preserving work. And so we looked in our last study at how wisdom effectually works to preserve us from the way of evil men, verses 12 through 15. Then verses 16 through 19, the second great way in which it does this preserving work, it preserves us from the way of evil women.

4:09 And then in verse 20, it guides us into the way of righteous men. And then the chapter closes with this general statement of promise. And so our focus tonight is upon the effect of wisdom in preserving us from evil women or impurity avoided by the power of divine wisdom. To think our way through the text, we shall consider first of all the inspired description of the evil woman.

The Inspired Description of the Evil Woman: Identity

4:42 She is described to us in verses 16 through 18. Then we shall consider the inspired prediction of all who follow her ways, verse 19. And then we shall conclude with several observations and applications derived from the exposition of the text. Now at the very outset, as we come to this section, remember that this is a father talking to, to his son.

5:09 Verse 1 of chapter 2. My son, if thou wilt receive my words. So as the father views the possibility of the son encountering impurity in the moral realm, it is obvious that he would couch his warnings in the context of evil women. But it's my contention that if he were talking to a daughter, he would warn with equal clarity about the way of evil men who would seduce, innocent women into the way of moral impurity.

5:42 So then we must not look upon the text as an exclusive warning to young men, but rather an application to young men of the warning that is applicable to both sexes, both men and women. And therefore in the exposition and the application, I will follow out that two-pronged emphasis, believing it to be the proper way to handle the passage. First of all, then, the inspired description of the evil woman. Why should we take a great segment of a worship service to describe in terms of the biblical description here the way of an evil woman?

6:25 Well, only because God has given it to us in His Word, and since all Scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness, we must not be more, more fastidious than God is. And there is always the danger that the people of God are more fastidious than God. They are more reserved than God is about dealing with subjects of this nature. On the other hand, there must never be any kind of prurient interest leading us to come to a passage like this.

7:00 There's a sense in which I come to it reluctantly. And the only reason I treat it in the public assembly is because it's here, and I'm preaching through Proverbs. I would much rather carry on with Romans 8.34 tonight if I were prepared to.

7:15 But I don't feel I'm prepared yet. But if I were prepared to set before you Christ in the glory of His exaltation at the right hand of the Father and show the relationship of that to the state of no condemnation as I hope to do next Lord's Day morning, that would be a much more delightful task. But I would be impugning the wisdom of God if I bypassed the exaltation of God. I would be impugning the wisdom of God if I bypassed the exaltation of God.

7:37 I would be impugning the wisdom of God if I bypassed the exaltation of God. I would be impugning the wisdom of God if I bypassed the exaltation of God. I would be impugning the wisdom of God if I bypassed the exaltation of God. So on the one hand, we do not come to it because of some uncrucified lust to dabble in the prurient.

7:47 On the other hand, we do not come to it with any reservation that in so doing we are defiling the minds of the people of God. No, we come to it because the Holy Ghost has penned this graphic description of an evil woman to the end that being warned we might flee from this terrible danger. Now as we look at this inspired description of the evil woman, we shall do so in terms of the four things that are told us about her. First of all, there's a word about her identity, then about her activity, something about her history, and something about her destiny.

8:28 First of all, then, her identity. Who is this evil woman concerning whom this father gives warning to his son? Well, she is described in verse 16 in these words, To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the foreigner that flattereth with her words. So you have these two words identifying this woman, strange and foreign.

9:00 Now this could possibly mean one of two things. It could mean, and I believe this is the proper meaning, a non-Israelite, a woman who had come in to the geographical proximity of the people of God as a heathen woman. It was just such kind of woman that caused Solomon such trouble, for we read in 1 Kings 11, 1, that Solomon loved many foreigners, foreign women. Notice in the book of Proverbs how these two terms are used repeatedly.

9:37 Chapter 6 and verse 24, To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the foreigner's tongue. Chapter 7 and verse 5, That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the foreigner that flattereth with her words. Chapter 23 and verse 26, For a harlot is a deep ditch, and a foreign woman is a narrow pit. You see, the judgment of God upon any woman that would traffic in immorality in Israel was so severe, namely, death by stoning,

10:19 that apparently this terrible practice of moral laxity and looseness never, never reached the extent in Israel, at least in her normal times, in times of great declension it was, true, never reached the extent that it did in the heathen countries. And so when these heathen women would come into the midst of the company of the people of God, they would bring with them their loose moral concepts, indicating once more that the root of all ethics and morality is religion. Because these were foreign women, women who were strangers to the covenant and the law and standards of God and worshippers of idols,

11:02 their idolatrous worship reflected itself in their immoral living. And throughout the scripture and human history, you cannot have true morality and ethical conduct without true religion. The two stand or fall together, and our own generation is an eloquent testimony to the fact you cannot live on the borrowed capital of the true religion of a bygone generation and maintain ethical and moral standards, in your own generation. Now the other possible meaning is that she was an Israelite who had cast off all submission to the word and will of God and become a heathen in principle.

11:46 It's in this sense that God addresses Israel and calls Israel Sodom and Gomorrah in Isaiah 1.10. When Israelites who were in covenant relationship to God cast off that relationship and its implications, God then, called them heathen. Romans 2.28

12:06 He is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is circumcision that which is in the flesh, but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, whose circumcision is of the heart, whose praise is not of men, but of God. So that's the other possible interpretation, that Solomon is warning his son against the influence of women who may bear the name Israelite, but who in heart and in principle have castled, cast off all that is distinctive of an Israelite, namely covenantal relationship to God and the implications of that relationship in its moral demands. But in either case, this woman is identified as a woman

12:50 who is not subject to the rule and law of the true and living God in her life, hence there is no indication of subjection to the law of God in her morals. And so the application to us is very clear that one of the practical effects of a man or woman, a fellow or girl absorbing divine wisdom as found in holy scriptures is that they will be very, very reluctant to dabble in any kind of intimate relationship whatsoever with those who do not know the God of the Bible in an intimate saving relationship. They will be fearful of the strange and the foreign young man who is a man of God. They will be fearful of the strange and the foreign young man or young woman,

13:34 be he an outright heathen or be he one who sits in this church week after week but who has never embraced the God preached in this church from the heart. Don't tell me that you're growing in grace, young man, young woman. Don't tell me that you're absorbing divine wisdom if you recklessly enter in to intimate associations with those who do not embrace the living God revealed in holy scriptures. No, no, he says, my son, if you receive my words and lay up my commandments with thee, incline thine ear to wisdom, apply thy heart to understanding, this very wisdom will enter into your soul, it will watch over thee,

14:18 it will deliver thee from the strange woman and from the foreigner. And she is identified as the person who cast off all semblance of covenantal relationship to God. Well then, in the second place, the inspiration, inspired description of this woman moves from her identity to her activity. Verse 16.

The Inspired Description of the Evil Woman: Activity

14:41 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even the foreigner, that flattereth with her words. Now the full description of her activity awaits chapter 7, where you have Solomon, as it were, looking out through his lattice work and beholding the subtle, seductive activity of this evil woman, upon this guileless young man. And there you find that her wiles are more than her words. But in this particular summarized description of the activity of the evil woman, he picks out above all other characteristics this one.

15:22 She flattereth with her words. And we read a similar statement in chapter 6, I believe it was, in verse 24, to keep thee from the evil woman, from the flatterers, of the foreigner's tongue. So then the predominant aspect of her activity in her work of seduction is that of using her words as a magnet to draw the young man into the orbit of her wicked designs and her selfish, lustful longings.

15:59 Now words are amazing things. It's by words that God revealed His mind to our first followers. It's by words that God revealed His will to Adam by direct, intuitive revelation. He spoke to Adam.

16:16 He put him in the garden and gave him commandment to dress and to keep it. And He spoke to him and said, Of all the trees you may freely eat, but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat. For the day that thou eatest, thou shalt die. Gave him responsibilities, the mandate to replenish the earth, subdue it, etc.

16:34 It was by words that Almighty God conveyed His mind, to His creature. But it was by words that they were led to revolt against that God. The serpent spake unto Eve, saying, Yea, hath God said. And it was by words then, and listening to those words, and embracing the thoughts they conveyed that our parents were turned into a path of sin.

17:01 And it was by words that God came seeking His creatures. Adam, where art thou? The Lord God spake, and it's by words that God has carried on that work of seeking men. And it's by words that the devil carries on his work of seducing men into the paths that please him.

17:22 And so we see the power of words as the evil woman with the flattery of her words ensnares the young men. Hence, as true wisdom enters your heart, it will make you very, very cautious, about the influence that anybody's words have upon you. And so when the young man begins to whisper sweet nothings in your ears, young ladies, and begins to tell you that you're his one and only, and that he loves you truly, and you're his true love, and when you mention objections to the things he's suggesting, and he tries to batter down that resistance with flattering words,

18:05 may the Holy Ghost bring to remembrance the words of divine wisdom. That's the evil man, the evil woman, who would move you one degree from mathematical parallelism to the law of God with his flattering words. That's the instrument that will be used. That's the thing that prevails with many a young woman to give up her virtue.

18:25 Flattering words. The assurance that she's loved so much that biblical standards don't matter. That's the thing that causes many a young man to become ensnared in the terrible, terrible, addictive power of fleshly lust and appetite. It is the smooth and the flattering words.

18:46 And as Solomon thinks of sending his son out into a world where he'll meet wily, experienced women who have brought multitudes into their nets by their words, he says, Son, son, it is the word of divine wisdom which alone can preserve you from the words of the flatterer. And so her activity is described as, Son, of words of flattery. And then we have a word not only about her identity and her activity, but a word about her history. Verse 17.

The Inspired Description of the Evil Woman: History

19:23 The inspired description of this evil woman tells us something about her history. Verse 17. Two things. She forsakes the friend of her youth and two, she forgets the covenant of her God.

19:38 Now what does it mean when it says that forsaketh the friend of her youth? It's the friend of God. It's the friend of God. It's the friend of God.

19:42 It's the friend of her youth. Almost all of the commentators are agreed, and I have come to their mind, though I did not share it in the beginning, I have yielded to the pressure of the general consent of the servants of Christ, that the guide of her youth is none other than her husband. She married in her youth and her husband became to her the guide of her youth. And the thing that settled it with me is when I found it in a parallel passage, Jeremiah chapter 3, verses 3 and 4, that God actually uses this concept, the guide of the youth, to describe the husband-wife relationship.

20:25 And so allowing Scripture to be its own interpreter, I read these two verses. Jeremiah 3, verses 3 and 4. Therefore the showers have been withholden, there hath been no latter rain, yet thou hast a harlot's forehead, thou refusest to be ashamed, wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth. And so here is that concept, you see, in the infidelity of Israel to her husband, Jehovah, the concept of the guide of the youth.

21:06 Hence, the history of this woman is the history of a person who has left the influence under the influence after which God ordained to hold her in check. The guide of her youth was her husband. And she saw that the only way she could follow out the pursuits of her carnal desires was to reject the restraining influence of her legitimate mate. Hence, she forsook the friend of her youth.

21:35 And secondly, in so doing, she forgetteth the covenant of her God. And what is the covenant of her God? Since I'm convinced she is not an Israelite, but a foreigner, it could not speak of the covenant in the sense that an Israelite would be in covenant relationship to God, but it speaks of the marriage relationship. And again, the parallel passage in Malachi 2.14

22:00 would bear this out, that the covenant of her God was the marriage relationship itself, which has the blessing of God, and which is a covenant entered into under the eye of and under the approval of God Himself. Malachi 2.14 Yet ye say, wherefore, because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously, though she is thy companion and the wife of thy covenant. And so marriage is a covenantal relationship in which a man and a woman pledge to leave father and mother and commit themselves one to another.

22:44 Now the only way this woman saw that she could be a woman, she could go on in her course of wantonness, was to deliberately abandon the restraining influences put upon her by common grace. As long as she lived with her legitimate husband, the friend of her youth, and gave to him his due, and he received from her her due in the conjugal relationship, and as long as she lived under the covenant of marriage in which she pledged herself to one man, she could never become this evil woman who would be a source of danger to any young man that came by. And so it had to be at the expense of breaking

23:28 the boundaries of common grace to give herself to this course of uncleanness. And what she did, men continue to do, read Romans 1. And as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to what? They abandoned the natural use of the woman, burned in their loss one to another, etc.

23:52 You have that same pattern of God imposing in common grace certain relationships, husband, wife, parent, child, and there need be no special saving grace operative within that framework, but in common grace it restrains men from sin and from evil. But men are so set upon evil that they say, let us break their bands asunder, cast away His cords from us, even the cords of common grace, and I say by way of application to you dear young people who have parents who teach you and set standards as to when you'll be in and where you are before you come home and with whom you spend your time and in what circumstances. Oh, thank God for those boundaries set around you.

24:37 Thank God for them. And don't break those boundaries. Don't cast them off. For if you do, you'll do at the expense of immersing yourself in the terrible, terrible sins the result of which as we'll see further in our study in most cases are hopelessly and irreversibly tragic.

25:02 Her history was the history of forsaking the guide of her youth, her legitimate husband, forgetting the covenant of her God, the sanctity of the marriage vows, and in so doing her history is but a type, a representative of everything every young person who forsakes legitimate influences imposed by God in common grace and gives himself or herself to a course of abandonment to sin and uncleanness. Well then, there's a word about her destiny. Not only is she described in her eye, given her identity as the foreign woman, her history, but now her destiny. Verse 18

The Inspired Description of the Evil Woman: Destiny

25:45 For her house inclineth unto her house, unto death, and her paths unto the dead. In other words, Solomon says to his son, everything that relates to that woman has stamped on its face this word, death. Look at her house. She's made a sign and she's made it in neon lights and it blinks on and off and says, all who come hither find life with a capital L.

26:20 But God, God has stamped in eerie looking horrible, grotesque letters above her neon sign. This is a house of death. Is that what he says? Her house inclineth unto death.

26:39 Her destiny is death and her paths unto the dead. And what is that death spoken of here? Well, as we shall see as we come into chapter 7, some of that, that death may be the immediate workings of the effects of sin described so graphically in chapter 7 and in other places of Proverbs of some of the built-in retribution of God upon sins of this nature when men's bodies waste away through diseases contracted by dalliance in this type of sin. Solomon stood where modern science stands shaking its head saying they cannot understand the almost mysterious mystery of sin.

27:23 This power of those social sins connected with this type of uncleanness, this type of activity, Solomon saw it in his day and speaks of the man whose body wastes away before his time. There is death stamped upon that woman's house. Her destiny is death but certainly it speaks of that ultimate death which is nothing less than the horror of eternal death. The lake of fire, and if the Bible speaks with explicit clarity about anything, it says that those who give themselves to adultery and to fornication and to sexual impurity shall burn in hell unless their way is corrected

28:08 by deep and thorough repentance. Be not deceived, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6, 9, neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor unclean nor effeminate shall inherit the kingdom of God. Revelation 21, but the fearful and the unbelieving and all whoremongers and adulterers and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and with brimstone. Let our own generation start its gay-libbed clubs.

28:43 Let them have their playboy clubs and their playboy and penthouse magazines. Let them, as it were, laugh and mock at any concept that there is any such sin as fornication and adultery. But the word of God stands. All adulterers shall burn in the lake of fire.

29:04 All whoremongers shall burn in the lake of fire. All fornicators shall burn in the lake of fire and let God be true and every man a liar. Her destiny is death. Her house inclineth unto death.

29:24 And her paths unto the death. Why does she cast off the guide of her youth? Why is her history one of forsaking the guide of her youth and forgetting the covenant of her God? Because she's bored with life under the restraints of common grace.

29:42 She's bored. Her husband's become all hap to her. And there's his hankering for strange flesh. For exotic experiences.

29:53 And so she pursues this course. Why? Thinking that in it there is life with a capital L.

30:02 She reads to many of the current ladies' magazines which tell her there's life to be had in extramarital activities.

30:11 He's the young man that believes the Hugh Hefner lie. That there is life to be had in these rather surface relationships with other women. There is life to be had in all of this. She and he believes the lie but God says the destiny is death.

30:37 I speak to every young man or woman in this place contemplating any deflection from that high standard of the word of God concerning sexual purity. I don't care how much it cries out saying this is the path of life. Never forget that path is the path of death. Never forget it.

The Inspired Prediction for All Who Follow Her Ways: Irremediable Bondage

30:59 Her destiny is death. And that moves us very quickly then into the second main division of our study tonight. Having looked at the inspired description of the evil woman consider in the second place the inspired prediction of all who follow her ways. Verse 19 None that go unto her return again neither do they attain unto the paths of life.

31:26 And what is this prediction for all who follow her ways? It's a two-fold prediction. One it's a prediction of irremedial bondage and secondly it's a prediction it's a prediction of the forfeiture of life. Look at these strong words.

31:43 None that go unto her return again. Now granted that's a figure of speech what we call an absolute for the relative.

31:55 Does the Bible teach in this passage that no one who enters that path of lecherous sensual activity is ever restored? No. The Bible says such were some of you but ye are washed out of the water. Ye are sanctified.

32:11 Ye are justified. Paul could write to the Corinthians having described those sins and say such were some of you. Thank God we know this is not an absolute statement. It's a figure of speech.

32:23 It's an absolute for the relative. In most cases those that go in that path never return again and thank God there's some living examples in this place that some do return. So the word none is used here as it's used in Isaiah 59. 4 and 64.

32:41 7. There is none that stirreth up himself to take hold upon thee. Well there were some. Isaiah was one of them.

32:48 But by and large as you looked at Israel you'd have to say there's nobody praying. It's an absolute for the relative. So what Solomon is saying is this. For the most part this is the prediction.

33:02 All who follow her ways enter into that peculiar bondage which is found in sensual sins that once men and women are hooked upon them 99 cases out of 100 they're done for eternity. And I want you young people to listen to me if you've not listened to one word I've said in the past six months. Shame on you. But even if you haven't I want you to listen to me tonight.

33:28 Listen. Listen. I'm going to read from chapter 5 verses 20 to 22. Listen to what God says.

33:36 Why shouldest thou my son be ravished with a strange woman and embrace the bosom of a foreigner? For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord and he maketh level all his paths. His own iniquity shall take the wicked and he shall be held with the cords of his sin.

33:56 You see what it's saying? That very sin that beckons saying come this is the path to liberation. That very sin makes cords and binds a man until he's chained irremediably to his lust.

34:17 Young people this is what makes these sins so frightening and why Solomon warned his son. Oh my son he said here's the divine prediction of the course of all who follow her ways. None that go to her return again. I've seen them go down that path by the hundreds and so few return that for all intents and purposes I may say none that go down will ever return again.

34:45 Let me illustrate. Suppose it was known that there was a deep pit somewhere out in the west something like a grand canyon filled with sights that brought great delight to the eyes sounds that brought great delights to the ears but it was known that of every thousand people that went down into that pit to behold its beauties only one ever returned to tell about it. The rest died in the pursuit of what ever delights were there in that pit. Now follow.

35:23 Of every thousand people only one returns 999 never returned from that pit. If you knew that would you think it worth your while to drink in a few temporal sights and sounds of beauty and run the risk of being one of the 999?

35:48 If there were a sign out in front of that pit beware only one of a thousand ever returns. Would you have such disregard for your life that you'd hope the law of averages would settle on you being that one out of a thousand? Would you? Would you?

36:09 If you had half an ounce of sense in your head you'd say I care not whatever beauties of sight and sound may be in that pit the risk is not worth it. That's exactly what Solomon is saying to his son here. Oh there may be one in a thousand who returns from that path but my son for all intents and purposes following the course of impurity and sensual sins regardless of what temporal delights they bring to you my son none that go return again and I speak out of the burden of my heart to you dear young people

36:52 saved or not saved if you had to sit where I've had to sit in my study and have grown adults come and pour out the misery and the woe contemplating self-destruction suicide because they can no longer look themselves in the mirror with respect no assurance of salvation no sense of spiritual bearing why? because they thought they could go down into that pit and come out scot-free and their hell by the cords of their sin there is some peculiar power in sensual sins to train the whole man

37:37 the whole woman I don't understand it it's not my business to but it's here in the word and it's confirmed by sad sad human experience and oh you dear young men and women in God's name hear the preacher tonight not this preacher this one none that go return again you who attend this ministry know right well I'm not saying that those sensual delights in the sacred confines of marriage are evil no marriage is honorable in all in the bed undefiled this very book sets forth a beautiful wholesome picture

38:22 of the sanctity of sex in the marriage relationship I'm not speaking of Victorian pruning I'm talking about the gutsy reality of a father's who's seen many a man drop over the pit and who says my son don't go there this is the prediction of God none that go return again there is that that irremediable bondage Satan baits by the pleasures of sin in this most powerful of all human desires next to hunger and if he can't get you any other way he'll get you there and you're not exempt because you're a Christian

39:05 if you think that's true think you are, open up your Bible and start reading it. There was no little flea-picking Christian that fell before this sin and walked to the rest of his days crippled. His name was David, man after God's own heart. Not only is the prediction one of an irremediable bondage, but look at the last part of the verse. It's one that predicts the forfeiture

The Inspired Prediction for All Who Follow Her Ways: Forfeiture of Life

39:35 of life. Look at it. Neither do they attain unto the paths of life. What are the paths of life? It's the path of the redeemed. Psalm 1611, Thou wilt show me the path of life in

39:51 Thy presence. There is fullness of joy at Thy right hand. There are pleasures forevermore. So if it's a prediction that they shall not attain the path of life, there's only one thing to do. There's only one thing to do. There's only one thing to do. There's only

40:05 one thing to do. There's only one thing to do. There's only one thing to do. There's only one thing left. They shall certainly attain the path of death. And I repeat what I said

40:12 earlier of the destiny of that woman. The destiny of all who follow in that path is nothing less than eternal death, the lake of fire itself. I want you to listen carefully again to something I'm going to say, and I hope it'll rivet itself in your mind and your heart. When the fires of passion begin to burn, remember this. To quench those fires

40:36 with illicit activity, is only to throw fuel upon those fires, and to lay up a store of fuel for the fires of eternal hell. Now the fires of passion are very real. You live in our day, you're either not human, or blind, or you've been glorified before time if you don't know the reality of what I've said. Because there is everything all around us to inflame the fires of passion and illicit, hungering and longing and yearning and yearning and yearning and yearning and

41:16 yearning and yearning after strange flesh. If you're a normal human being, you feel the reality of that. But now listen. When the fires of passion begin to burn, and claim to be satisfied by illicit activity in any area of moral purity, remember that to throw upon them the fuel, thinking you can in any way assuage those passions by gratifying them, no. It's like throwing kerosene upon a fire.

41:48 to put it out it only inflames the passion and every tongue of flame that reaps up from it is but a preview of the billows of the flames of hell that shall come upon those who forfeit life for the titillation of sexual desire listen to the words of jude chapter verse 7 even as sodom and gomorrah and the cities about them having in like manner with these given themselves over to fornication and gone after strange flesh there it is what are they they are set forth as an example

42:29 suffering the punishment of eternal fire every time you read the narrative in genesis and you read these words and the smoke from the fire and brimstone went up from those planes god says that smoke is a sacramental representation of what happens to all who hanker after strange flesh remember that young men next time you go to buy a newspaper and you see the glossy front page of playboy and penthouse and swank and whatever else garbage is being paraded remember the flames of hell are in those pages you start dabbling in that and it won't be long before you'll be hooked on that and you'll

43:11 be moving to something more so-called sophisticated until you become a pornography addict oh you say there's no such thing you don't think there is just go down sometime with companions ship to make sure you don't fall before the seductions and stand on one of those streets there the center of new york between 40 42nd 44th and watch grown men some of them sophisticated businessmen going from one porno shop to another drinking in the swill of that what's happened the wicked shall be held by the cords of his own sin that's it they become as addicted as the poor

43:55 junkie with his heroin that young woman that dallied sexual impurity and that young man until they're absolutely addicted to lechery and to filth they can't even fill their mind with three minutes thoughts about heaven and sin and the law of god or hell that's why they never enter life there's one thing that matters from morning till night the gratification of passion and appetite and solomon says none that go in unto her return again they do not attain to the powers of

Concluding Observations: Discreet Frankness of God's Word

44:38 now in the light of this exposition of this description of the evil woman secondly a prediction of the destiny of all who follow her there are three concluding observations and exhortations i should like to bring the first is this will you know the discrete frankness of the word of god in treating these delicate issues the discreet frankness there's absolutely nothing in this passage ever to stir up in a person any desire to go out and commit the sins it's warning

45:18 about never that's the absolute difference between the word of god and its treatment of these things and so-called modern honest authors they write about these things in such a way as to inflame the passions of men to commit them the word of god writes about them with frankness and plainness but in such a way that unless you're half asleep in one foot in hell it strikes terror to your soul makes you almost want to go create a monastery if that would help the discreet frankness of the word of god in treating these issues and what does that say to us that says that's exactly how we must

45:58 treat them how i must treat them in the pulpit and how whenever i come to a passage like this i cry to god for wisdom lord help me not to be more fastidious than you are to be honest with the text but to be discreet in my frank exposition you as parents this is the model for your children god help you if you're hung up with such unbiblical views of your own sexuality and your own temptations that you can't do what this father did with his sons and what he would have done with his daughters god help you as a christian parent god have mercy upon you if you cannot sit down with the book of proverbs and in a constant

46:43 context of discreet frankness, warn and instruct your sons and your daughters. The second place, note that the only way to be preserved from such sins is laid out in this passage. Verse 16 begins with the words, to deliver thee from the strange woman. And what is the connection? The connection is this, verse 10, wisdom shall enter into thy heart,

Concluding Observations: The Only Way to Be Preserved

47:12 knowledge shall be pleasant to thy soul, discretion shall watch over thee, understanding shall keep thee, to deliver thee from the strange woman. That's the way of deliverance. The way of deliverance is not the so-called way of profuse sex education. These poor Mary Calderones and her bunch, blind as bats, ignorant as they can be, thinking that the way to counteract sexual conflict is to deliver thee from the strange woman.

47:45 The way of promiscuity is profuse, unfounded, as biblically unbounded as sex education from the cradle to the grave. No, no, that's not the way. The way to be kept from these sins that cripple and wound and damn and destroy is to be thoroughly acquainted with the Word of God. And to have that Word enter into the soul and be precious to us. And of course

48:19 the soul is not the way. The soul is not the way. The soul is not the way. The soul is not the way. The soul is not the way. The soul is not the way. The soul is not the way.

48:20 The substance of that Word is Christ Himself in the glory of His person, in the perfection of His work, and it's in the intimate experimental knowledge of Christ as our wisdom and as our sanctification that we are enabled to stand in the midst of all the pressures in this direction. The whole connective of verse 16 goes back, I say, to verses 10 through 12. And therefore I say to you, dear young people, what's the only true preservative in the midst of the age in which you live? Feed upon the Word of God. Pray that the Christ of that Word will become precious to you. As a young

49:00 man, he was tempted in all points like as you are. And if you say that meant he had no temptations in this era, you make him less than a man. He was a man. And all the reality of his manhood, yet without sin, he is wisdom incarnate. He conquered that he might conquer

49:20 again. In you by the grace and power of His Spirit. So then the only way to be preserved from such sins is to be in that relationship of intimate acquaintance with Him, to know Him as your own Savior and Sovereign, to know Him as He's revealed in the totality of His own precious Word. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto

49:48 according to Thy Word. Thy Word have I laid up in me. I have laid up in me. I have laid up in my heart that I might not sin against Thee.

Concluding Observations: Marvel at God's Grace for Exceptions

49:57 And then in the third place, marvel at the grace that has made some of you blessed exceptions to the statement of the text, none that go unto her return again. And if any of you are ever tempted to speak in a way of braggadocio about your checkered past, O God have mercy upon you. Let this be the most humbling thing in the world, that you are one of the one of the thousand who has come out of the pit and lived to tell about it. If you have come down that

50:34 path, and have entered into something of the binding, chaining power of those sins, how you should be a constant magnifier of Sovereign grace and mercy that God has set you in His church as a living monument. That you were one of the living things in God's world. one of those exceptions not an exception because you were better able to break the chains but because the lord jesus would magnify his liberating power in the likes of you and some of you should be prostrated in humility and in a sense of great praise that it is said of you such were some of

51:18 you and and listen to me now those of you say well if that's true and they have a greater sense of gratitude then maybe i'll dabble a bit so i'll no no my friend listen magnify the grace that preserved you from ever entering such sense whether it was common grace that hedged you in with mums and dads who had standards for you or whether it was an early marriage and a sense of faithfulness to the marriage covenant even though you weren't saved bless god for everything that hedged you up from entering that way of death and never never covet the person you love who's actually entered and say, well, you know, I wish maybe I knew a little bit more about sin than I know. No, no, my friend, listen.

52:04 Whatever you may not know of the sense of deliverance from the awful bondage, thank God you don't know anything about the scars those people carry and will carry to their graves.

52:17 If you as a young man can one day look a young woman in the eye and say to her, dear, by the grace of God, I've been kept pure for you. What a precious gift to give to a young woman. For you as a young woman to be able to look that young man in the eye and say, by the grace of God, I've been kept pure for you. What a privilege.

52:45 What a privilege. What a privilege. What a privilege.

52:51 And then you'll thank God for every influence that hedged you up. You'll bless God for those crazy standards that you've been given. You'll thank God for those stupid regulations that made you get in at a certain hour. And you'll thank God for those old-fashioned cranky parents that wanted to know where you were and what you were doing.

53:13 And the longer you live and see how your life is much more rich because you don't have those awful scars to deal with, you'll thank God for it more and more. You say, how do I know? I know from experience, kids. Oh, how I chafed.

53:29 Why do I have to be in? I look back now and realize the difference between being in at 11 o'clock and 1 o'clock was probably the difference between my entering marriage and being able to say those words to my wife and not being able to.

53:45 And I thank God for that difference of the two hours.

53:50 And I say to you parents, God help you to discharge your responsibility in the realm of common grace. You can't put sanctifying grace in the hearts of your kids, but you can sure put up some hedges that under God will be used to keep them from roaming out in the wastelands of lechery and sins of this nature. May God be pleased to take this portion of his word and to burn it into our hearts and cause us to magnify him for this great practical effect of the preserving power of divine wisdom. I have no thought whatsoever

Final Exhortation and Prayer

54:35 that threatening you young people with the awful judgment of hell upon such sins will ever keep you from. The only thing that will keep you is grace in your heart. The word of grace in your heart. But thank God that will keep you though our nation becomes a veritable Sodom and Gomorrah.

54:55 You'll be that righteous lot in the midst of it. Your soul vexed day by day but kept by sovereign grace and sovereign mercy. And if any of you enter into that, one day find yourselves in that pit of eternal burnings because you gave yourself to this sin. There's one creature whose conscience will be clear that you didn't go to that place unwarned.

55:27 May God help us to receive the exhortation, the warnings, and the positive direction of this portion of his holy word. Let us pray.

55:50 O God, our heavenly Father,