PROVERBS 5:1-23
Proverbs five deals with one subject: the foolishness of sexual immorality. Contrary to societal beliefs, fornication and adultery is morally wrong. There is only one sexual union that God endorses and allows, and that is the sexual union between a man and woman who are married. Hebrews 13:4 clearly states, "Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge."
My charge to you this morning is to read this fifth chapter very carefully on your own and determine whether or not you are right with God. No one can justify fornication or adultery, and yet over my 43 years of ministry, I have heard many people futilely attempt to reason their way through this sin.
Proverbs 5:7-13 gives warning about staying as far away as possible from loose female acquaintances, and about the economic consequences and tarnished reputation of such immoral activity. Certainly, every believer must agree that purity until marriage, and monogamy thereafter, is not only morally right, but it will also prevent a garbage-truck load of problems later in life.
Solomon confesses in verse fourteen that there was a time when he himself almost fell into the very sin about which he was warning his son. News of such failure is rarely a secret and flies quickly to anyone with ears.
Solomon now turns his attention in a positive way, giving wholesome advice about maintaining fidelity in marriage as explained in verses 15-19, and the inherent joy that comes to individuals who practice such fidelity.
The chapter concludes with some final warnings. Verse 20, "And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?" Apart from whatever miserable consequences accrue from immorality in this life, there is a final consequence. God witnesses such sin and the guilty parties will someday answer to God (vs. 21). Sin, particularly of a sexual nature, weaves an entrapping web that snares the sinner. There is no escape or denial of such sin before God. Verse 23 "He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray." James 1:15 tells us, "...sin when it is finished bringeth forth death."
As so clearly stated, the point of this entire chapter is the folly, evil, and consequences of sexual sin both now and eternally.
May God keep us sane, and safe. May we avoid, and hate, the folly of sexual immorality.
Your Friend and HIS,
Pastor Abbott
MEDITATIONS
1. Why do so many people defend sexual immorality? What does it tell you about such an individual?
2. List some of the inherent joys that accompany the practice of marital fidelity.
3. What are some of the miserable consequences for those who live a life of immorality?
4. What can you or someone else do who finds themselves living in this sinful circumstance?