Review some of the passages we have read this week. Think about the things we have talked about lust, temptation, and sexual impurity. I hope that just because I haven’t added a prayer the last few days that you haven’t been praying. Pray about this for a while.

Read Proverbs 7 again.

This is s very sad story. A story about a person who has not committed himself to wisdom. This person is taking a walk and just happens to walk through an area near the “forbidden woman” we have talked about. One of the saddest parts of this story is what the woman says. Look at verses 10-20. Verse 14 shows us that the woman is a religious woman, she goes and asks for forgiveness and gets ready to commit sin. What a terrible picture but often a true one. Christians are not immune to sin like this. Christians are not immune from either being the unsuspecting one who is seduced or the one doing the seducing. In the end the simple man gives in because he had not guarded himself. No one is immune, no one is above falling into sexual sin. Not you, not me, not even pastor Marty. We all have to stay on guard and we all have to protect ourselves. We have to continually watch our eyes our thoughts and our hearts to make sure that we do not fall into the same trap the person in the story did. We must continually seek to live by what wisdom teaches us. We must make sure impure thoughts are cut off at the beginning. We must make sure we are not trying to act or dress seductively. We must make sure that we stay far away from people who would try to tempt us. Remember this is about more than just sex. This is about conducting ourselves in a way that is pleasing to God. It is about living by wisdom now so that we can have a bright future tomorrow.

Read Proverbs 7

As you can see, we are still on the same topic. Look at verses 4-5, it says that the purpose of this wisdom is to keep us far from people and by implication situations that will lead us to sexual temptation. But the only way it can be successful is if we commit to wisdom. The purpose of these things is to protect us, the question is will you follow them so that they will protect you?

Read Proverbs 6:20-35.

Proverbs often personifies people in order to make it’s point. It has used s women to represent sexual temptation, as we have seen. Well it is important to realize that we cannot just blame other people for tempting us to sin. Read James 1:14-15. We must take responsibilities for our own actions. Some people think it is ok to think about sinful things as long as they don’t act on them. This is wrong in two ways. First the bible is clear that even if all we do is think about things it is still a sin. Lust is a thought but it is also a sin. Second, the idea that we can just think about things and not act on them is also false. Thoughts lead to actions, James makes that clear. If we allow our minds to physically desire people we aren’t married to that is lust. And lust will lead to actions. That is why we must control our desires. That is why Proverbs tells us to not even desire someone who is not our spouse. Read verses 27-28. It is impossible to carry fire on your chest and not get burned. This is a weird analogy but you get the point, lust is dangerous and if you play with it you will get burned! You must control you mind. You must not allow yourself to desire others physically who are not your spouse. This is so important! We will come back to this tomorrow.

I want to point out one more thing from verse 26, this verse focuses on the worth of waiting for sexual activity. There is no payoff whatsoever to having sexual activity outside of marriage, while waiting will produce a “precious life”. Are you willing to wait for sexual activity now in order to have to have a better life later?

Read Proverbs 6:20-35.

We are going to come back to the first part of chapter 6 next week. For now I want us to focus on what we have been taking about; sexual purity. This passage once again focuses on people who tempt us to sexual impurity, in the personification of the “evil woman”. Here it focuses on desiring her or being captured by her looks. This is where sexual sin begins, in our hearts. Lust is a powerful and destructive action. How closely do you watch what you look at and desire?

Read Proverbs 5 focus on 7-23

This section contrast the results of being sexual impure and the biblical vision of someone saving themselves and delighting in only their spouse.

Read verses 7-14 again.

This section begins with a command and then the explanation of this command. The command is to stay far away from people who will lead you into sexual temptation. This can be anyone who is not committed to sexual purity or is not disciplined enough to control themselves. The reason for this is because of how dangerous sexual impurity is. Sexual impurity is a lasting mistake; it is not something that goes away easily. These kinds of mistakes can haunt people for years and this proverb shows that, look at verses 12-14. This is trying to show us how even when we are old, the decisions we make today can affect us for years to come. When we give ourselves to someone who is not our spouse, even if it is not sex, we are doing something that was designed to be done in the context of a lifelong marriage relationship. When this is done outside of marriage it can have extremely damaging affect. You must realize that this is about more than just one action, this is about how God created life. God made sexual activities binding because they were designed for lifelong relationships. Now contrast this with verse 18-23. This is the right context in which sexual activities are supposed to happen. Do you believe that marriage is the right context for sexual actions? Are you willing to wait, not just for sex, but all sexual activities for marriage?

Read Proverbs 5 again.

Focus on verses 7-14. Here the proverb focuses on how we are supposed to stay away from people who do not have a biblical view of purity and the lasting result of being careless and falling into sexual impurity. Let me first remind you that sexual impurity is much more than just sex! It is anything that is inappropriate before marriage, this could be anything from other physical things that you should not be doing to sexting, to pornography, to getting into a relationship that is way too serious. I have two questions for you to think about today. First, do you stay away from flirting with and getting into relationships with people who do not have a biblical view of purity? Second, are you aware of /believe the   Consequences of sexual impurity?

Read Proverbs 5

Ok, things might be a bit awkward tonight, but sometimes you have to make it awkward.

As I mentioned this morning there are two ways to look at this Proverb. The first is hardly even mentioned because it is assumed, the bible sometimes assumes it is speaking to people who really try to please God. So before we talk about staying away from people who tempt others we have to make sure we are not these people. In order to do that I want to talk about a few things that are not necessarily found directly in this passage but that relate to this topic. One of these things I bet you can guess; how you dress. It seems to me like many people don’t think about modesty when they are getting dressed. How you present yourself is very important. The parts of your body that you try to draw attention to can decide which character you play in this Proverb. Are you the one who is being warned or are you the one that some are being warned to stay away from? This can sometimes be determined by how you dress. This is a very important thing to consider so do not move on too quickly. Even if you don’t try dress like this all the time, what about on special occasion like a date, homecoming, or when you dress casually? Another important area is how you speak and act around people of the opposite sex. As we saw this morning in verse 2 it said that your lips are supposed to guard knowledge. One way this can be compromised is if we are flirtatious with our words and actions. As you can see in the verse 3 the proverb is very concerned with how the “forbidden woman” speaks. This is because often people who want to be desired will say anything to attract others. Are you a flirtatious person? Are you careful with how you talk to people especially people you are interested in dating?

Read Proverbs 5

This chapter focuses on two specific sins that are related, lust and adultery. For the morning I want you to focus on two things. The first 6 verses focus on how tempting some people can be. Some people will do anything to tempt others to desire them sexually. So I have two questions for you to think about. First, do you sometimes try to get people to desire you in a way that is inappropriate (through the way you dress, talk or act)? Second, do you sometimes fall into these traps and desire others in an inappropriate way?

Read Proverbs 4

Today is simple, seek wisdom, see it as worthy, don’t give up, and don’t get distracted. I know we have talked about these things a lot and you are probably ready to quit talking about what it takes to walk the path of wisdom and start walking, well we are almost there. I want to say one last thing about the journey. Read 20-27. Wisdom takes discipline. I want to make sure to point this out because discipline is not fun and most people live very undisciplined lives. However if you want to become a wise person you must be disciplined. You must learn to focus on the wisdom God will put in your heart (2:9-10), you must be disciplined to think about these things often, meditate on them. This is a life long pursuit and we have to learn to focus on the goal ahead and not get distracted with all the things that pull at our attention.  We must focus on it.

We have focused on the other things enough this week. I hope you really have paid attention because if you don’t see how good wisdom is and how much it is worth than it will be very hard for you to strive for It like you are supposed too.