In this sermon, David Capoccia looks at the teaching of Solomon in Proverbs 5 regarding sex and sexual sin. David Capoccia first explains from Proverbs 5 why these subjects are important to look at: the relevance of sexuality to all people, the credentials of the speaker, and the consequences of not listening to the teaching. David Capoccia then examines the main command of the passage and begins to explain why it is so important to proactively avoid sexual temptation:
- Sexual sin’s deceptive destructiveness
- God’s pleasurable provision
- God’s all-assessing eye
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good morning I’m happy to bring the wisdom of God’s word to you today I recognize it’s great responsibility but it’s also a joy because God’s word is really that great let’s pray great God lord we want to be fed by Your Word this morning you have great wisdom for us you have great good to bestow on us through your word but it’s sweet to sing these truths to give you praise God for your mercy and your kindness Lord we we Rejoice that no matter what kind of sins we have committed in our lives that there is forgiveness if we repent and turn to you you will cleanse us just as you promise and even the sins of our past there you have graciously ordained that there are ways of healing and you redeem even the evil things for a good purpose and yet God we are aware of the great damage of sin that can cause such damage that it can never be fully repaired in this life not until you create a new Heaven and a new Earth will the damage be totally removed so God I pray that you would enable Calvary and anyone listening this morning to appreciate what your word has to say so that we don’t damage ourselves so that we don’t bring Sorrows on ourselves that are totally unnecessary Lord that we can instead enjoy your Blessed Way help me God to be able to articulate this well and clearly and accurately and I pray that your spirit would work among your people today in Jesus name amen I want to begin this morning by actually reading our text so please open your Bibles to Proverbs Chapter 5 Proverbs 5 we’re going to be reading the entire chapter verses 1 to 23 I’m reading from the new am standard translation which is the version we had Pew if you would like to use those Bibles the page is Page 644 so Proverbs Chapter 5 let’s read the whole chapter starting in verse one follow along with me please as I read my son give attention to my wisdom incline your ear to my understanding that you may observe discretion and your lips May Reserve knowledge for the Lips of an adulteress drip honey and smoother than oil is her speech but in the end she is bitter as wormwood sharp as a two-edged sword her feet go down to death her steps take hold of sheal she does not Ponder the path of Life her ways are unstable she does not know it now then my sons listen to me and do not depart from the words of my of my mouth keep your way far from her and do not go near the door of her house or you will give your Vigor to others and your years to the cruel one and strangers will be filled with your strength and your hard-earned goods will go to the house of alien and you Gran at your final end when your flesh and your are consumed and you say how I have hated destruction and my heart spurn reproof I have not listened to the voice of my teachers nor inclined my ear to my instructors I was in utter ruin in the midst of the assembly and congregation drink water from your own sister and fresh water from your own well should your SP be dispersed abroad God streams of water in the streets let them be yours alone and not for strangers with you let your fountain be blessed and rejoice in the wife of your youth as a loving kind and a graceful dough let hers satisfy you at all times be exhilarated always with her love for why should you my son be exhilarated ated adulteress and embrac the bosom of a foreigner for the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord and he watches all his path his own iniquities will capture the wicked and he will be held with the cords of his sin he will die for lack of instruction and in the great his folly he will go astray the subjects of our text this morning are sex and sexual sin why does the Bible talk about these things and why are we looking at them today as an introduction I’d like to use the text itself to answer such questions why is it critical for you and I to give our full attention what we’re talking about this morning because notice that is exactly what the text itself calls us to do right in verse one my son give attention in your ear in other words listen up pay attention be all ears because what I’m about to say is very important why let me give you three main reasons three reasons why you need to listen up to what we’re about to talk about first the relevance of sexuality to each one of us the relevance of sexuality to each each one of us God created Humanity with a sexual nature so if you are human this morning then you’re included you also have a sexual nature this sexual nature is not evil in itself it was designed by God for marriage has great capacity for goodness and happiness but because of the fall of Adam and Eve it also has great capacity for evil and harm and so your sexual ity must be properly stewarded because of the way God has made each one of you therefore today’s teaching is very relevant to you more than this we live as you know in an extremely sexualized World system that presents to us many opportunities sexual Liberty and sexual sin I don’t need to give you examples you know the immoral images words music clothing and and behavior that characterize our day many today even many Christians have been caught and ens snared by sexual sin therefore because of the world we live in today’s teaching is extremely extremely relevant for us furthermore your sexual behavior as Christians is one of the most obious testimonies as to whether you are a follower of Christ Christ or not consider in the Old Testament many of the commands given by God in the penud to Israel relate to proper sexual behavior why well because Israel was not to act like the wicked Nations that God was driving out before them God told Israel that they to be a holy nation one of the most obvious marks of that Holiness was their sexual behavior they were to be set apart totally different from the other nations contrast is even Starker in the New Testament at the Times where Jesus and the apostles Jesus or the apostles list the sins that characterize the evil heart or the evil World guess which sin is always first or second on the list sexual immorality sexual sin for examples of this you can look at Mark 7:21 1 Corinthians 69 And1 Galatians 5:19 in other places actually this is not surprising considering what we just said about man’s sexual nature when man rejects God he cannot control the powerful nature that God gave him and consequently it enslaves him just as Romans 1 says he becomes totally at the mercy of his sexual desires and therefore the Wicked Man degrades himself with greater and greater sexual perversions in contrast the expectation of Christians is that they will manifest the fruit of the spirit which includes self-control God calls each Christian man and each Christian woman possess his own vessel that is his own body sanctification and honor just as 1 Thessalonians 4:4 says therefore if you are a Christian this morning you have a High Calling how will you attain it you need to hear God’s instruction you need to hear God’s instruction in this area so again today’s teaching is exceedingly relevant to you so already we see one reason why we’ve got to perk up ears and listen we are talking about something that is critically relevant for everyone everyone here if not directly now than indirectly in the future but why else should you listen attentively a second reason the credentials of the speaker you should pay attention because of the credentials of the speaker who is it that’s going to give us this teaching on sexual sin and why should we care what he has to say well in one sense I’m the one who’s teaching you I’m the one who’s talking to you I’m not the original speaker I’m not giving you my wisdom I’m just reporting the words of another who’s actually speaking right here in our text who am I talking about Solomon Solomon the spirit filled eminently wise and righteous king of ancient is to fully appreciate the fact that it’s Solomon talking to us notice something in the text look at verse one again he says my son give attention and then down in verse seven now then my sons listen to me and then verse 20 for why should you my son notice the role that Solomon takes for himself this is a father speaking to his sons Solomon speaks as a father why does that matter because if he’s a father that means Solomon cares about his audience father does not care about his children fathers love their they want what’s best for their children they want things to go well for their children they see their children succeed and not come to harm Solomon’s audience then can take heart knowing that he speaks to them sincerely for their good these aren’t some annoying rules he’s propounding because it’s just his duty or because he enjoys making people suffer and taking the fun out of their lives these are rules designed to bring true benefit to the hearers therefore my brothers and sisters listen this morning Solomon speaks to you out of love he wants to see you benefit and live the blessed life this is really what the Book of Proverbs is all about Solomon is essentially saying throughout this book I want to show you for your own sake the best path to follow in this life but it’s not just that Solomon has sincere caring intentions he also has the wisdom to speak authoritatively this is not just an affection father speaking to Sons this is a wise King speaking to servants and subjects indeed while the speaker takes on the role and disposition of a father speaking to his sons and no doubt Solomon did teach these things to his sons or at least attempted to these teachings were actually designed more broadly for the young men at Solomon’s Court these were this was not for his actual Sons Lely but for his young men the young men who would be serving the king court or who were going to be serving around Israel and who needed to be instructed in Wise living and wise thinking Solomon was the perfect man to give them this teaching why because God had supernaturally given Solomon wisdom and understanding you remember back in first King 3 God Appears to Solomon ask Solomon what Solomon wants from God and Solomon asks for wisdom in order that he might properly Shepherd God’s people this pleased God God granted Solomon’s righteous request and so apart from our Lord Jesus Christ no one in history better understood the world the way life works and what is the best way to live that life than King Solomon none of us can hear Solomon’s words and say oh well he doesn’t really get it he doesn’t know what it’s like in the real world oh he does he understands the real world better than you do Solomon received his Discerning heart from God he knows what he’s talking about yes Solomon himself did depart from wisdom in his later years nevertheless these writings probably written in the early to middle part of his Reign are thoroughly trustworthy and thly authoritative Solomon knows what he’s talking about so listen up give attention to the manifold wisdom of Solomon but this isn’t just Solomon Solomon May truly care and he may have great wisdom but Solomon actually speaks to us by the spirit of God so who is the one really speaking to us it is God himself it is the father it is Christ it is the holy spirit it is is our Triune God and our good God like Solomon is not promulgating tyrannical rules to our hurt he is giving us wisdom for our benefit this is so that we might be blessed this is so we might be happy Solomon May teach you like a father does his son but he’s a standing for the heavenly father who is doing the very same thing it calvary this morning your God is speaking to you like a father his son he’s saying son daughter listen to me I desire your benefit I want the good way for you these are not arbitrary commands I’m laying before you I’m giving you perfectly wise counsel so so that you might obtain the best life this is the unique thing about the angle of the Book of Proverbs the book doesn’t say do this because God so and it might make your life totally terrible but when you die everything will be much better no Proverbs is written from an angle that shows how in this life too you might know the best and happiest way to live so happens that the best way to live is also the righteous way the way that emulates God’s character way that results in eternal life we could say much more about the final judgment and eternal reward and those types of things but the angle of the Book of Proverbs is you can be blessed in this life if you listen to God’s counsel you can live the best way here so if we are willing to submit ourselves to the counsil of the supernaturally wise Solomon how much more the god of the universe the originator of wisdom the all powerful and omniscient one the king of creation he made us he made marriage he made sex don’t you think that God knows what he’s talking about you can trust God’s counsil here so brothers and sisters based on who’s speaking to us today give your full attention mark this down put it carefully in the storehouse of your mind Solomon and really God is speaking to us out of perfect wisdom and out of a genuine desire to do us good so we see a second reason we should listen the credentials of the speaker but what’s the last reason we should not only listen because the subject is exceedingly relevant to all of us we should not only listen because the speaker knows his subject perfectly and truly cares about us but there’s a third reason the consequences of not listening the third reason we should pay attention is the consequences of listening notice that this passage is bookended by exhortations relating to the teaching of the speaker as we already saw verse one and also verse two they call on the audience to listen to this instruction but notice verses 22 and 23 which say his own iniquities will capture the wicked and he will be held with the cords of his sin he will die for lack of instruction in the greatness of his folly he will go astray let these words sober you this morning what is the spirit of God saying the spirit says if you don’t listen if you treat this counil lightly if you ignore it if you depart from it know for sure that you will be ens snared by your own sin and you will ultimately die notice the word held in verse 22 this is not any old grip it could be translated held fast this is a Sure Grip Solomon is saying if you don’t listen you will fall into and your sin will hold you as an a vice grip be nearly impossible for you to escape and what will be the result then of you ignoring this teaching total Destruction you’ll be ruined you’ll be cursed by God you will die and though it’s not stated here we are aware that Eternal death too is included the of treating God’s instruction and counsel lightly is his Eternal wrath so again my brothers and sisters hear the sober teaching of godday the consequences of you’re not listening are sure ensnarement and destruction to recap then this first segment of the sermon why are we looking at this passage why are we talking about sex and sex sin first because this subject is intensely relevant to all of us due to our human Natures due to our society and due to our new calling as Christians second because of the speaker credentials Solomon knows what he’s talking about and he cares and God who speaks through Solomon knows even more he cares even more and third because of the consequences of not listening total ensnarement sin and destruction you and I need to know this teaching you and I need to be careful to apply it in our own lives and we need to be careful to teach it to our new and younger Brethren notice too that is stated right here in the text verse two Solomon gives us a purpose for his teaching look at it again that you may observe discretion and your lips May Reserve knowledge Solomon says this is for you and this is for your lips that is this is for you to teach others your lips should store up this knowledge and then make it known to those who haven’t heard it so what is God’s teaching for us then what is God’s perfect wisdom that we might walk the best way in this area of Our Lives God’s wisdom in this chapter comes down to one main erative and it’s the subtitle of my sermon and it’s found in verse 8 look at that verse Solomon says God says keep your way far from her and do not go near the door of her house this is such simple command this is such simple counsel and yet it is so profound are you hearing the wisdom of the Lord this morning keep your way far from her and do not go near the door of her house let’s expound this teaching for a moment who is the her and verse 8 this is the adulteress in in verse three the Hebrew word translated adulterous here is zor the word can be translated strange woman woman who turns aside to Lodge or a foreign woman this is not a woman that you already intimately know through theen of marriage this is any other woman who tempted to go outside God’s design for sex such women were often times literally foreigners in ancient Israel they were not Hebrews and they professed allegiance to Yahweh therefore their sexual morals were quite different but because of this definition of zor it is is right for us to understand the adulterous to represent not simply a female adulterer but any kind of immoral Temptation so we’re talking male and female tangible and intangible within the heart and outside with the body any kind of immorality is represented here by the adulteress so throughout this sermon when I to the adulterous understand that I’m referring to sexual sin in general enal in Israel what would this have looked like well this would have been Temptations toward lustful thoughts fornication relationships with yet married though the Israelites tended to marry young so fornication wasn’t as much of an issue adultery anding prostitutes and or cult prostitutes that would be what the original speaker has in mind now where did these various Temptations towards sexual sin take place in Israel it married but there are certain common situations a prostitute might solicit customers in public spaces like City Gates or the city Square we see Tamar judah’s daughter pretending to be a cult prostitute and doing Justice in Genesis 38 a prostitute might simply provocatively and walk the spaces near her home so that she might easily return home with her customers a cult prostitute might work advertised near a shrine to a pagan deity as a horrific example of this according to Second Kings 23 during Josiah’s Reign King Josiah had to tear down rooms made for cult prostitutes had been built into God’s Temple itself that was going to be their place of operation God’s Temple and of course there was the Wayward husband or wife whose house and place of Temptation could be anywhere unlike the prostitute the adulterer or the adulteress tried to keep his designs totally secret from the community in reaction to these vared kinds of Temptation notice again God’s counsel keep your way far from her and not go near the door of her house this is essentially one command given in two different ways the Hebrew verb translated keep your way far can also be translated widen your way remove your way draw your way be a good way off the Hebrew verb translated do not go near can also be translated not approach what Solomon is saying here is that you and I take note where the adulteress lives and where she frequently goes and then don’t even go near those areas what the Temptation is or is likely to appear don’t approach Don’t Go Near her house Don’t Go Near her street don’t go to the places that she frequents if a prostitute is flying her trade in one gate use a different one or if you know she’s there at a certain time of day don’t go there during that time of day it doesn’t matter how wide you need to make your way make sure as much as possible that you and she do even get close to each other note this is not merely a reactive strategy this isn’t oh there’s the adulteress with a provocative get up I better leave that’s good you need to do that but you need to do better than that you need a proactive strategy that says I want to make sure that I don’t even see her if possible I don’t want to risk even running into her Temptation so an approach is extremely Furious perhaps at first glance this seems strange to us or even ridiculous one might ask you’re going to go through all that trouble just to avoid passing by one prostitute the answer is absolutely yes why why such a serious stance against sexual sin why work so hard to keep your way far from temptation why suffer any cost to avoid it as much as possible the anwers to that question occupy the rest of the passage and therefore they’re going to occupy the rest of the sermon Solomon is going to give us three reasons why taking such a serious proactive approach towards sexual temptation is necessary each one of us if we want to live the wise and blessed life I’ll give you the three reasons and then we’ll look at each in turn as we move to the text we’re actually only going to be able to get through the first reason today we’ll have to pick reasons two and three next week but here are the three reasons in our passage why do whatever it takes to keep your way far from the adultery reason one because of sexual sin’s deceptive destructiveness reason two because of God’s pleasurable provision reason three because of God’s all assessing eye let’s start with the first this is going to occupy the rest of the sermon today what’s the first reason again sexual sins deceptive destructiveness keep your way far because of sexual sins deive destructiveness back up with me to three where we begin to see this point it says for the Lips of an adulterous honey and smoother than oil is her speech Solomon is richly ping for us how attractive the adulteress and consequently adultery with her can appear it’s like her lips are dripping with honey the Hebrews knew nothing sweeter than honey the adulteress appears to be full of sweetness to be enjoyed abundant sweetness speech moreover is smoother than oil word for speech can also be translated mouth or pallet her mouth appears smooth and attractive even Anointed with a perfumed olive oil now while this is an appealing visual picture Solomon evokes more than the appearance of the adulterers these pictures are also metaphorical for the words she says the reason her lips drip honey and her mouth is so smooth is because she has not away with words her words en chanting we saw an example of this earlier in our service our reading in Proverbs 7 the adulteress says things to you that make her love and her sexual pleasure sounds so irresistible she makes you feel good about yourself she flatters you she makes promises to you she makes you feel wanted and special she makes you feel secure she talk talks you in exactly the way you want to be talked to she really seems to care about you and what you want and need when it comes to sexual Temptation we often discuss the power of visual stimula especially toward men but just as powerful if not more powerful for both men and women is the power of the spoken or written word skillful words can fully engage the imagination and greatly Stoke desire it’s no wonder that many ancient cultures connected skill with words with magic or Divine ability it’s almost like the smooth talker is able to lay a spell on someone with his words this is essentially what sexual sin is able to do whatever your previous vows and convictions your previous love of the Lord the adulteress is able to make herself appear so desirable to you that you easily forget or ignore all those reasons why you must resist her tragically this is exactly as many of those who have slipped into deep sexual sin have confessed when ask why they did what they did they say things like I didn’t even think about the consequences I wasn’t thinking at all do you see then why it’s so important for you to keep your way far from don’t give her a chance to sweet talk you don’t give her a chance to you with her looks don’t give her a chance to cast her spell on you truly sexual sin it presents its full charms to you is very difficult to resist therefore if you want to be wise don’t even risk meeting with it if you accidentally encounter the adulterous flee but otherwise keep keep your way far from her because the reality is she is at all like she seems sexual never delivers to you what it promises the sin May good for a brief amount of time but then verse four says in the end she is bitter as wormwood sharp as a two-edged sword you let charm you you seek to taste her sweetness and for a little while she is quite enjoyable but then the aftertaste comes and it’s bitter as wormwood the wormwood plant is used throughout the Bible as a symbol of bitterness the plant actually contains a poison gives it its extremely bitter taste large amounts of this pois actually lethal the adulteress doesn’t satisfy at all she leaves a horrible and bitter taste and even worse her mouth is not smooth but razor sharp like a double-edged sword a danger weapon designed for injuring and killing to kiss the seemingly sweet mouth of the adulteress is to taste bitterness and gash yourself grievously the preceding verses make this even clearer look at verses five and six her feet go down to death her steps take hold of sh she does not Ponder the path of Life her way are unstable she does not know it she’s not just bitter and injuring she actually people down towards total death and ruin now in mind in this description and explanation about death we are aware that the penalty for adultery in Israel was actually death so this could be literally fulfilled you’re found to be an adulterer if you’re caught in adultery you could be put to death though as Pastor has made clear in some of his sermons it’s not likely that that rule or that death penalty was enforced all the time in fact it probably was rarely enforced instead a divorce or you couldn’t actually prove that the person was caught in the act you only had the suspicion so it’s possible that the death penalty is meant here but it’s certainly more than that whether you are put to death by the legal system or not you will go towards death you will suffer death of a kind because she is walking on the path toward grave but the thing is according to verse six she doesn’t even realize what she’s doing she does not Ponder she does not think about the path of life she’s never stopped to consider whether what she’s doing is good or whether will lead to True benefit in her life or in the lives of her lovers she chooses not to think about it she doesn’t consider the future and she doesn’t want you to either keeps on staggering toward the grave inviting you to come along notice the phrase in verse 5 take hold this is the same word that’s used in verse 23 which means hold fast she’s got a firm hold on sheal is definitely her destination the place of the Dead that is where she is going and she wants you to go with her do you see again why you need to keep your way far from the adulter far from sexual Temptation she is bitter and destroys she doesn’t realize it and she doesn’t want you to either but there’s more Solomon gets even more specific about the damage sexual sin will do to you look at verses 9- 14 we’ll read those again or you will give your Vigor to others and your years to the cruel ones and strangers will be filled with your strength and your hard earned Goods will go to the house of an alien and you groan at your final end when your flesh and your body are consumed and you say how I’ve hated instruction and my heart spurn reproof I have not listened to the voice of my teachers nor inclin my ear to my instructors I was almost in utter ruin in the midst of the assembly and congregation how precisely will the adulteress hurt you what will messing with sexual sin cost you verse 9 it will cost you your time and energy while your strength should be spent serving God and caring for your own family sexual causes you to waste your time chasing after sexual pleasure and working hard to keep it a secret from others it will cost you your wealth you will have to keep using up your family’s resources to pay for prostitutes the goods you obtain in your job which are meant for your family instead must be used to satisfy your adulterous lover the money you worked hard to earn so that you might provide for your children must instead be used to support the children that were born illegitimately in other words your sexual sin is going to cause your wealth to be transferred to people who have scant relation to you in fact who have no relation to God’s people at all the wealth God gave to you to enjoy and to instead goes to Godless strangers and aliens vers 11 it will cost you your health the stress of maintaining secret sin will take its toll on you the extra work that you have to do because your living cost have skyrocketed will break your body and numb your mind and sharing sexual partners with others will soon likely give you a painful and embarrassing venal disease verses 12 to 13 you’ll be filled with regret at the end of your life due to how you didn’t listen to warnings and rebukes you had the teachers you had the instruction available to you you had people who cared about you and who reached out to you but you would not listen to any of them and instead decided to reap what you sowed this will be very bitter to you when you realize it and then verse 14 a curious verse it translated multiple ways as translated The New American Standard it seems to indicate that even in this Bleak situ there’s still some hope because he says I was almost in utter ruin I didn’t make it into utter R ruin but I was close that is one way to translate it but the word translated ruin or but the word translated almost can also be translated soon that is the opposite of a hopeful interpretation I was soon in utter ruin I was quickly in ruin it didn’t take long for me to ruin myself also the word translated ruin is literally the word evil that was soon or almost in all evil utter evil so there are two broad senses we can take these verses either the sexual sinner one day confess that he quickly ruined or nearly ruined his whole life by his sin or he will confess that he gradually lost almost all shame and restraint in pursuit of his sin he was soon in all evil nothing could stop him from going after his L he craved it and sought it more and more and greater degrees and all of this in the midst of the assembly and congregation his sin is no longer secret his ruin is no longer unnoticed everyone in the community can see how he has ruined himself by pursuing sexual sin the sinner has completely lost the community’s resp respect and is now merely an object of contempt and pity he has become a tragic tale to warn others do you want this to happen to you are you willing to risk it can you see why God is so wise to counsel you keep your way far from her don’t even go near the door of her house you cannot afford to play with sexual fire immorality is too deceptive and too destructive for you to even go near it you want to be happy if you want to be blessed do whatever it takes to stay far away but someone will say I can handle it I can go near without getting burned I’m too smart for the adulteress I’m strong enough to resist her charms I have great faith please do not think so foolishly this scripture does not say in vain and as we read earlier Proverbs 7:26 for many are the victims that she the adulteress has cast down and numerous are all her slain I’m sure there were many people who thought oh I’m strong enough they were just another victim 1 Corinthians 10:12 similarly cautions therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall you need to listen to instruction if you think you’re standing you need to listen to instruction to actually make sure you don’t fall that you don’t hurt yourself don’t overestimate your own abilities those who are truly wise and truly strong in faith believe God enough to not even go near your sexual sin if you really have faith then you won’t go near that’s the way you prove whether you’re really mature you see this is God’s heart God wants to spare you Solomon wants to spare you I want to spare you Don’t Go Near sexual Temptation don’t simply it when it comes that’s good but you must do more think ahead and avoid the people the places and the activities sexual temptation is going to be a real danger to you know that that doing this will you there will be some useful places that you will no longer be able to visit there will be some pleasant activities you will no longer be able to partake in there will be some entertaining people she’ll no longer be able to hang out with also if you heed God’s counsel many many people will think you are just plain weird even Christians but this is the wise and good way of God he’s made it PL to us listen to your heavenly father he knows what he’s talking about he genuinely cares for you and in this the wisdom of God is totally consistent in the scriptures Jesus the full manifestation of God’s goodness righteousness and wisdom says this in the sermon on in Matthew 5 actually please take your Bibles and go over there Matthew 5 Proverbs Matthew 5 m Matthew 5 this is Page 960 in the Bible actually 961 because we’re looking at verses 27 to 30 as part of his Sermon on the Mount Jesus happens to visit the subject of adultery notice what he says verse 27 you have heard that it said You shall not commit adultery but I say to you that everyone who look a woman with Lust For Her has already committed adultery with her in his heart and now notice this next part if your ride makes you stumble tear it out and throw it from you for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body a useful part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell if your right hand makes you stumble cut it off and throw it from you for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body then for your whole body to go into hell Jesus says the same thing that Solomon does No sacrifice is too great in order to keep you out of the path of sexual sin now obviously you are not to take yourself out of the world that’s clear from other scriptures you say well that’s a logical extension I just have to totally away from people no you still have to be in the world short of taking yourself out of the world there is no relationship no place no experience no activity worth keeping if sexual danger lurks within it if you want to be happy if you want to be blessed listen to the wisdom of God this is all the first reason why we keep our way far keep your way far because of sexual sins deceptive destructiveness before we move on from this point and really close today please let me ask you some questions to get you think about the application of this truth please ask yourself these things is there sexual sin in your life have you been ignoring its deceptive destructiveness somehow believing that you will be the exception you will be able to enjoy it unscathed this is not true this sin will only ruin you more and more and then damn you forever repent now Escape now turn away from your sin now and turn to Christ he is willing to forgive he will heal but you must turn away from and cut off access to that old sin so that it doesn’t again bring you under bondage do you only have a reactive strategy to sexual sin or do you actually have Implement a proactive strategy active strategy is not enough sexual sin is too deceptive and too destructive for you to treat so lightly where in your life do you find the strongest and most frequent sexual Temptations where have you been excusing the presence of sexual orentation in order that you may enjoy something else say certain television show certain video game or a certain relationship with another person you are going to need to move your way if you want to be wise if you want to be blessed you cannot even go near sexual sin you can no longer excuse its presence you must totally off access that is God’s wisdom do you pray to God God please deliver me from sexual sin and sexual Temptation and yet at the same time contradict your prayers by constantly presenting yourself to the presence of sexual sin do you think God will hear your prayer when you con what you ask trust God enough that no matter the C of cutting off sexual sin the prospect of gaining God’s blessing and of ultimately enjoying fellowship with Christ himself because you can enjoy fellowship with Christ and still hold on to your sin do you believe that it’s worth it to gain Christ it to gain God’s blessing is worth it no matter the cost because God really knows what’s good please consider these questions even as we end today sexual sin is serious we need to treat it that way now as with so many of God’s commands God doesn’t simply command to put off the evil thing but he also says to put on the righteous thing to every negative command there is a positive command and and so it is here God doesn’t simply say to remove yourself from the charms of the adulteress he also commands that you present yourself receive and enjoy the charms of your spouse this is a beautiful and incredible part of God’s counsil and it’s our next point but we have to pause we have to pick it up there next week so I hope be back to hear the positive side of God’s command let’s close in prayer father this is a great word it is a wiise word it is such a realistic word God we can come up with our own wisdom or we can look to the wisdom of the world or we can come up things that contradict what your word actually says and we think that that’s worship but God you’ve made yourself so plain God the the way you’ve created us is good the way you’ve created marriage and sex is good but God it’s so good and and so powerful that we know we need to Steward it in a serious way and part of that stewardship is doing exactly as you demanded here keeping our way far from sexual Temptation not even going near it thinking about where it might appear and not even risk going that direction God you were so good to let us know about this because you want to spare us you want us to be happy you want us to be blessed we thank you for your heart God I pray that you would cause the people who have heard this teaching who have heard this word to believe you and to wait for your reward to say I am willing to give up these things if that’s God’s counsel because I can trust God I can trust my father who really cares about me Lord I pray spirit that you’d make the eyes of all of our hearts open and that we would be applying this Truth for our own benefit in Jesus name amen