The Deadly Drama of Adultery Proverbs 7

22 Pages·2014·0.29 MB·English

The Deadly Drama of Adultery
Proverbs 7

Well, we have another sermon on this topic. But that's because
Proverbs talks about it again. We are going through the first nine
chapters of Proverbs, which form a unit, and serve as foundation for
the rest of the book. And within these foundational chapters the father
repeatedly addresses his son on this all-important topic, which actually
was first mentioned in Prov 2:16-17 (and appears more in the book!).
He wants his son to be prepared for this powerful temptation.

He's preparing his son for war.

Even if Proverbs didn't address this issue in three straight chapters, we
it would still be worth studying God's plan for marriage and sexuality
in a series of messages. Where else will you hear God's truth on these
subjects?
• Kids hear it in schools. Who's better a parent/pastor with an
open Bible, or a ten year old at recess?

• A recent study at Nebraska asked incoming freshmen, “How much
influence did your church play on your view of sexuality? Only
2% said that the church had anything to do with their views on
sexuality. How sad!

Long Intro. I would like do an extended introduction today, since this
is the last talk for a while on this topic, and also to help you talk about
it to others. One of the goals of preaching is that you not simply
become receivers, but that you become reproducers –– re-teaching it.
Consider this two things:
• Why is sexual sin so pervasive today?
• What should we remember when we teach/talk about this issue?

Why Is Sexual Sin is So Pervasive Today?

We can rightly answer historically, "It's always been pervasive." Just
read the Bible and history books! Correct. We could also answer
theologically, "It's because of sin, the world, and the devil." Correct.
These enemies are at work behind it. But I'm thinking practically.
How is the evil one at work in our world right now in this way. What
are the tactics? Here are some two challenges facing everyone in
general, and youth in particular: culture of accessibility and a culture
of autonomy.

Reason #1: A Culture of Accessibility

Pornography
• The internet. How many of you had no internet when you were
teenagers? Virtually everyone who was born after 1981
(Millennials) have grown up with the internet. I was in the middle
of the transition. I was taught how to do email in college! I thought,
"This will never catch on!" If you grew up with the internet, then
you grew up with both blessing and curse, and one of the dangers
is pornography.
• If you've grown up with a cell phone, the same is true. I went
through High School, College, and almost all of seminary without a
phone. Cell phones can be blessings (I love the map app); but one
can get in a lot of sin with a cell phone, browsing, texting,
gaming, etc.
• With technology, pornography is now very diverse, instant,
constant, and perhaps worst of all, secretive. Consequently, it’s
the silent killer of our day.

• It used to be maybe one kid in school had a magazine. Now, kids
have phones, computers, and the like, and middle school boys look
at it before school starts in cafeterias. This is deadly.

• My friend Jimmy Scroggins, who has spent much of his life
teaching youth ministry (and has 8 very manly boys), recently
summarized youth culture with the following bullets:
• Porn is a given. It’s not if, but when and how bad/long.
• Sex is a given (90% of teenagers lose their virginity in High
School). They will be viewed as "radical" if they deny it.
• Gay is okay. Even conservative kids, in conservative churches
view this is acceptable.
• Marriage is a capstone not a cornerstone. After they do
everything else, then they may cap it off with marriage - but
first after they get their degree, get a job, and so on. Worse yet,
there a Christian parents who talk the same way.

We have the wrong priorities!
• The higher priority is marriage, not your degree or your job.
• The priority is purity not prosperity. Don’t wait long if you are
engaged! "It's better to marry than burn with passion"

Physical Adultery and Sex Trafficking
• One can find ways to easily commit physical adultery.
• Pastor Mark Driscoll tells the story...
• Example: Young pastor I knew... (Network, Panel, collegues etc)
• Some sick men even get into the dark world of sex trafficking.
Countless American business men provide the demand, wicked
men provide the supply -- often young girls. Atlanta is now the #1
City in America for this: Here's how one article described the scene
in Atlanta:
Instead of traveling to Thailand to have sex with a child, men
are traveling to Atlanta. They are picked up at Hartsfield
Jackson International Airport by a pimp who takes them to have
sex with a child sex slave. They are then dropped back at the
airport and fly back home to have dinner with their family the
same night. (Atlanta Human Trafficking Project).

• It's fairly safe to say now that if you're viewing pornography, you
are involved in sex trafficking. Often those you are looking at are
enslaved; and if not, then you are perpetuating the culture of
sexual sin, creating the demand -- not to mention, deadening
your own soul! Today the craze is to stamp your hand with this
sign, saying "End it." You need to "end it" in your own life first.

Keep this problem of "accessibility" in mind as we look at Proverbs 7
in a bit...

Reason #2: A Culture of Autonomy
• Some studies show that the #1 reason college students abandon
the faith is to express sexual freedom.

• Culture says no one has the right to tell you how you should
express your sexuality.
• Not only does secular culture champion this, they celebrate it.
One divinity school not far from here, even has a class on
"Beyonce's Sexuality."

What Should We Remember When We Teach/Talk About this
Subject?

1. Be prepared to lose your head. Today, nothing is more
offensive than to tell someone that there really is a right and
wrong way to express their sexuality. But we are in good
company. John the Baptist was beheaded for preaching against
sexual sin! But remember, that the only preachers who are liked
by everyone are false prophets. We must candidly, clearly and
boldly talk about this subject. You can’t afford be vague.

2. Emphasize and be clear on the Gospel. We must remember
that sex is not the center of Christianity, the Gospel is.

Remember to speak compassionately and redemptively.

Remember that God can transform anyone, and if we don't
believe that just read through the gospels, and look at how many
adulterers experienced Jesus' grace.

Remember, Satan is an accuser and a deceiver, and only the
gospel can overcome these schemes - we must expose sin
(deception), and comfort the forgiven (overcoming accusation).

3. Be humble and examine yourself. We must "take heed lest we
fall" (1 Cor 10).
Remember, the Bible is an equal opportunity offender. It's easy
to rail upon one person's sin while ignoring our own forms of sin,
folly and rebellion. Hence, again, the need to speak with humility
and grace.

4. Remember "not having sex" is not the goal: Christ-likeness is
the goal. "Not having sex" is simply part of something much
greater and more important. We want students not just to say "no
to sin" but to say "yes to God." You could abstain from sex and
still go to hell. You need Jesus. We want to see people treasure
Christ and be conformed to Him, not simply adhere to a moral
code.

5. We need ongoing conversations not a one-time talk -- like here
in Proverbs 7 (and it appears throughout the book).

We should be careful not to use triumphalisitic language. For
many, this problem won't be cured instantly; though it can;
but for them it will be a lifelong battle.

6. We need to develop a culture of honesty and repentance and
mutual support in the fight.

It's okay to not be okay, but it's not okay to stay that way.

You can be honest, repent, and get help. And we want to help
you.

Don't "fake it" until you make it. Get help. Start by being
honest before God and repenting of sin.
Proverbs 7

Keep all of this in mind, as we now turn to Proverbs 7. Hopefully, I
can do what I just said!What's different about this chapter
compared to 5 and 6 (20-35)?

This chapter is provides a drama/Illustration, of how one falls into
adultery.

And really it's a drama about how one falls into any sin. So everyone
can benefit from the lessons in this chatper.

There are three parts to this illustration: Prologue, Drama, Epilogue.

I. Prologue: Treasure God's Word (1-5)

The father is instructing his son. He's not just giving him advice. He's
given him God's Word. His authority it backed by God's word.
Father’s need to teach their sons – yes – but what? The Bible.

The father begins by emphasizing the need for his son to treasure
God's Word, and to keep it in order that he may "live." (1-2a)

King David asked the question some 3,000 years ago, "How can a
young man keep his way pure?" And the answer 3,000 years later is
still the same! "By guarding it according to your word" (119:9). He
goes on, “I have treasured your word in my heart that I might not sin
against you.” (Psalm 119:11)
"Sin will keep you from this book, or this book will keep you from
sin."

Why do professing believers fall into adultery?

They neglect personal time in God's Word.

The father then applies the need to treasure God's Word with some
practical instructions.

1. Value the Scriptures, “as the apple of your eye” (2)
• Your eyes are important! They are tender. They are critical.
Value the Bible like you value your eyes.
• Love the Bible.
• They say when Francis Schaffer, a famous theologian, was
dying that he had people read it t him. And he wanted it beside
his bed because he wanted to out it near his chest and hold it.

2. Dwell on the Scriptures, “bind them, write it” (3)
• The string to remind yourself.
• Like a post-it note as if they’ve been around – a little scribble
here or there. Why? To review the information.
• "write it." Perhaps, you use a journal to do this? Just write and
review.
• "Oh, I how I love your law! I meditate on it all day" (119:97).
Does that mean, all he does is sit around and read the Bible?
No. It means he internalizes it.
Do not be content with once a week of a sermon. Don't just get a
little thimble full here ... and come back for another next week... Eat
everyday!

Have you ever went grocery shopping when starving? You'll buy
anything, like rice cakes! "I've always wants to try those." No you
didn't. You're starving. And you will do Consume anything when
hungry. (Cf., Prov 27:7)

Col 3:16 - after talking about holiness: “Let the word of Christ dwell
in you richly... Teaching one another ...” Personally and relationally

If you aren’t dwelling on His Word, then you're a walking disaster
zone .…It is not about if you will fall, but when. How hard? What
area? How visible will your fall be? Those are the questions.
Neglect of God’s word is destructive.

Donald Whitney writes about the tragic story of an influential
minister abroad. After losing his ministry to an adulterous scandal, the
man openly confessed that the beginning of his downfall was
becoming “so busy in the Lord’s work” that he “simply neglected to
read the scriptures and pray.” When he was telling this story to a well-
known British minister, the Englishman said, “I almost interrupted you
before you told me why because I knew the reason. This is true of
every known case of ministerial adultery in the UK!”

Adultery does not just happen with a woman jumping out a cake;
it is a slow drift from God that begins with a neglect of God’s
Word.
3. Live in Relationship to God through the Scriptures. (4-5)

• "Sister" here is not a reference to a sibling but of a bride, as we
see in Song of Songs 4:9.

“You have captured my heart, my sister, my bride; you have
captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of
your necklace.” (Songs 4:9)

• The use of "sister" as a term of endearment between couples in
the Near East and Egypt is now well documented. (Longman)

• In the context, it's probably a metaphor not of one's spouse but
for Woman Wisdom, which we know points us, prepares us for
Christ.

• Proverbs 5-7 teaches us to live in intimacy with your spouse
(5:18), and with Woman Wisdom (Jesus).

• It is through God's Word that we learn wisdom, and not just
principles, but we commune with Wisdom Himself.

• v. 5: The alternative is to listen to and live in communion with the
forbidden woman.

• Two Sermons are being preached! Which sermon will you hear?
God’s wisdom saying, don’t be a fool, treasure Christ. Or the words
of the adulterer who deceives you