Proverbs 6 - Promises, Laziness and Lying — Shane Idleman

Lord, we want to give You the service tonight. Lord, as always, we pray that Your Spirit would descend upon this place, Lord. Lord, I pray for clarity. Lord, I pray for precision. Lord, give my words weight because they are grounded in Scripture.

Lord, I pray that tonight people will be set free. Lord, they will be delivered. That they would leave here worshiping You, Lord. That that hard heart of pride and arrogance would be broken at the foot of the cross.

And they would leave here soft and humbled by the awe of Your love and Your majesty. Lord, I also take the time to pray for our nation in these critical times, Lord. Would You break the pride of our arrogant nation?

Lord, bring us to our knees. Bring another revival, another awakening, Lord, that we would just seek hard after You. Lord, we can only build the altar to You that must bring the fire. Lord, I pray that You'd bring the fire of Your conviction, the fire of the Holy Spirit into our communities, Lord, into our church.

We don't want this, these prayers that just fall on deaf ears. Lord, we want You to move. Lord, wilt Thou not revive us again that Your people may rejoice in You? And I ask this in Jesus' name, amen. You know, it's funny, this isn't part of my sermon, but as we were singing that song, Oh, How He Loves Us, it just really struck me that we have to remember that because in Bible-believing, truth-preaching churches like this, we can get sometimes caught up on repentance and judgment and holiness and forget the love of God.

It's because of the love of God I stand up here today. It's because of the love of God that Christ hung on that cross. It's because of the love of God that He desires that none should perish, but all come to the knowledge of Him.

So we must equally balance truth and love. And I remember a few years ago, I had a guy tell me, he doesn't like to sing that song, it's not very manly, it seems a little wimpy. I said, man, you don't know about the cross.

You don't know the true price that was paid for you, that God had to send His Son to die, to take on the sins of humanity. And that should put us at this altar weeping. See, we don't know worship like the early church.

They didn't have clocks and schedules like we do. They would sit here and worship for hours because it takes a while for the heart to even break. We start to worship, press in, and then, oh, the light's on, chain's up here.

We really don't know what worship is. That's why I encourage you guys to do this at home. Put on worship, turn off your phone, don't look at the clock, and just worship. It takes sometimes 20, 30, 40 minutes before the heart finally breaks and cries out, and you don't realize, but hours have gone by.

And I say, Shane, that sounds boring. It's not boring because you're sitting at the foot of your Savior, and He's mending your heart. He's rebuilding your life. He's restoring, He's breaking, He's molding, He's shaping, and you come out of there rejoicing because now you're filled with the Spirit of God.

And that's one of my hopes for this church. That's why we start worship early. We start at 5 .15 to get in and pre-worship because you can just feel the presence of God. I want people to walk in and not feel programs and polished sermons and all these things, but feel the presence of God so when they walk in, they can say, God is truly among you.

That's why we do it. And then on that note, I've gotta start in Proverbs 6, even though there's a whole sermon right there that I could've went, took a rabbit trail on. But we are in Proverbs 6, and before I get into that, and I think this is a very important message tonight for many in this room, I wanna turn your attentions briefly to the bulletins.

I'm not gonna be able to go through it because there are so many different things in here. But before you throw this in the trash, read through it. There's a lot of things changing. There's meetings after the service for those interested in the women's Christmas dinner.

The thing we're doing with Samaritan's Purse, Operation Christmas Child is ending on the 10th of November. We're redoing the men's walk, the women's ministry and the men's ministry. We've got a big prayer and worship service Monday night before the election that we're hosting here.

We're just a host church, and so far, I think we're gonna be full based on the feedback that we're getting. That's coming up. You see that we have the first annual meeting for West Side Christian Fellowship on November 19th.

I'm gonna paint the vision for the direction of the church, where I see it going. Our main focus, though, is worship, the word, and prayer. And I've been kind of missing on that last cylinder of prayer, and I'm gonna discuss how I think we can work that in in the months to come.

So look at your bulletin. Next thing I wanna challenge you is, it's very easy. Give it to somebody this week. Christians are accused of not caring for the planet recycling. Well, we just don't worship Mother Earth.

We worship Father God, so we do care about that. And just pass this on. It's a great way to invite somebody to church, as well, instead of ending up in the trash. So with that said, now we can start Proverbs 6.

Proverbs’ Repeated Warnings Against Adultery

Interesting title there, Promises, Laziness, and Lying. And it all fits together. Trust me, I'm going somewhere. But before I get to Proverbs 6, verse one, I'm actually gonna read this. If you see your notes, I'm gonna read it from the end of chapter six first, and we're gonna be talking on this issue briefly of what the Bible says in Proverbs, beware of adultery.

And some of you, like me, might be saying, what is this guy's problem? Every single week, we're talking about adultery, chapter two, chapter four, chapter six. Yeah, we got it, we got it, Shane, very clear.

What's this guy's problem? Well, let me tell you what his problem is. Number one, he didn't just sit down and write this over the course of a few days or a few weeks. Probably years of writing Proverbs.

Solomon, to his son, wrote most of the Proverbs. And he'd sit down, he'd write, and he'd see the destruction in life and the wisdom that God gave him, he would write. And then through the course of probably many years, he would write these things.

He'd go back to this issue, son, this is so dangerous, watch out for these things, watch out for these things. So that's why it's repetitive. And one of the challenges is, I've told you, that for me to do expository preaching through Proverbs is challenging because it's not a book to be read systematically.

It's a book that you usually take topics from and then pull in different scriptures. Because this guy switches, he'll talk about a fool and then wisdom and then adultery and watch out for this and the lying tongue.

It's just everywhere. But I wanted to set out for you what I do at home. I wanted to try to model that here as I do go through it and say, okay, Lord, what are you speaking to us? It's okay to go through the Bible.

It took about one minute and 45 seconds to read chapter six, two minutes. And then you sit and you meditate on it. So that's what we're doing here. We're going through each chapter methodically. In some chapters, for example, chapter seven, we've already spoke a lot about that.

If you weren't here last week, get the message entitled, I think it's Overcoming Sexual Immorality or something along those lines. We had a guest speaker and I kind of opened up. He brought in the middle, the meat, and then I ended the service.

Go back and watch that. The feedback's been really encouraging. A lot of people are seeing some light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to this issue of sexual immorality. But before I read, let me talk about that.

We talked last week about, from 1 Corinthians 6 .18. I want everybody to listen up for a minute. Why is this so distinctly different? Sexual immorality, Paul says, flee it. All other sins that a man commits are outside his body.

But he who sins sexually sins against his entire body. Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? And we would see throughout the Old Testament when the people brought profane things in the temple of God, it upset him.

He says, my anger is a rose against my people until there's no remedy. Because they bring, so we have to handle this topic very carefully. It's not a, yeah, no big deal. It's a very big deal. Do not be deceived.

Neither adulterers, nor fornicators, nor homosexuals will enter the kingdom of God, along with other things there. But that's pretty powerful. And we read in 2 Samuel, or 1 Samuel, actually, if a man sins against another man, God will meditate, or I'm sorry, mediate for him.

But if he sins against God, who is going to intercede? And what happens with sexual sin is we are sinning against our own body. That's why the destruction is greater. That's why marriage is break apart, health issues.

We feel distant from God because we are profaning the temple of the Holy Spirit. Now let me bring a word of encouragement here. I'm not talking about a life of perfection. If it was, I would not be up here.

I'm talking about a heart committed to wanting to honor God. And there's a big difference between a struggle and a lifestyle. Most men are gonna struggle with this issue. It's just plain facts. And women, too.

So we have to address this head on. And we have to look at God's word. What does it say about this? So what I want to do is start from the end of chapter six. And I'm actually gonna do something different here.

I'm gonna, when I get to the end of this section on adultery, I'm actually gonna read chapter seven. Because six and seven go together. Remember, verses and chapters were just added 500 years ago. They would read this sometimes.

Proverbs, sometimes you can read it in length. Sometimes there's just little nuggets. But I want to conquer chapter six and chapter seven tonight. And then as we go forward, we're going to eight, nine, and 10, and 11, and 12, and so forth.

Because they go together. So let me open with this. Chapter six, verse 20. And let me just say this up front. Try to get everything off your mind that's going on right now. What we have to do later tonight, how hungry we are, what we're eating, what, you know, this or that.

Let's listen what God's word is gonna say to us. Because you really don't need me up here. If you just read the word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. I remember Martin Luther was convicted just from Romans.

The just shall live by faith. John Wesley was converted reading the introduction to Luther on Romans. Just by hearing the scripture. So there is so much power in scripture that I want to get as much of this as I can into you.

It's not what does Shane have to say, because I could be wrong. Look at what I say according to scripture, but scripture's not wrong. And it can transform and change your life if you listen, but if you obey it.

There's many people that are gonna hear what I'm saying tonight. But guess where it's going? Out the next, what's going on? I was just at church, it doesn't matter. The power is in the application. I say that often.

I'll probably say it till the day I die because that's the truth. The power is in the application of scripture. Not knowledge alone, but in the application. When you apply it to your life, that's when you see the change take place.

So with that said, chapter six, verse 20. My son, keep your father's command and do not forsake the law of your mother. Bind them continually upon your heart. Tie them around your neck. When you roam, they will lead you.

And when you sleep, they will keep you. And when you awake, they will speak with you. For the commandment is a lamp and the law is a light. Reproofs of instruction are the way of life. To keep you from the evil woman and the evil man, if I may add that.

From the flattering tongue of a seductress. Do not lust after her beauty in your heart, nor let her allure you with her eyelids. For by means of a harlot, a man is reduced to a crust of bread. And an adulteress will prey upon the precious life.

Can a man take fire to his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Rhetorical question, the answer is no. Can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be seared? No. So is he who goes into his neighbor's wife.

Whoever he touches, they shall not be innocent. And he's saying here, wisdom leads you, it keeps you, it speaks to you. When we begin to apply these things, as the seductress, as the adulteress, and as we learned last week, that could be easily applicable today as pornography.

Absolutely, it's alluring, it's seductive. The look, everything is meant to draw you in. That's what the devil does. He knows it looks good. That's why it's enticing. If it didn't look good, nobody would take the bait.

And the flesh says, feed me, feed me so I can destroy you. Remember that, your worst enemy is within. A lot of people don't like to hear that, but it's true. Our worst enemy sometimes is within us. The flesh saying, feed me more, feed me more so I can destroy you.

The flesh is never satisfied. You've either gotta eradicate it and crucify it, and it dies, or it continues to grow, and it'll kill you, something in your life. Every counseling we do, every marriage I've seen fall apart, every destruct, every person walk away from Christ, I mean, everything, you name it, sin took hold, and it began to grow, and it began to grow, and it began to grow.

As James says, when sin is fully grown, it brings forth death. Death of a family, death of a marriage, death of your relationship to the Lord. I would say that most young adults begin to walk away from Christ because they get involved in sexual morality or pornography, and that pull is stronger than the pull of the spirit within them, because they're not feeding the spirit, they're feeding the flesh.

And you cannot serve two masters. It's not possible to serve both masters. You will bow to one of those masters. Paul says, do you not know yourself that whatever you choose to obey becomes your master?

We choose our master, Christ. Are you my master, Holy Spirit, will you lead me? We make those choices that either build that relationship with God, or it pulls us away. So we have that choice, the power of choice.

Next verse, verse 30. People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is starving. Yet, when he is found, he must restore sevenfold. He may have to give up all his substance of his house, but whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding.

He who does so destroys his own soul. Now let me stop there for a minute. What he's saying here, I believe, I didn't look up in commentary, so again, measure all this. He's saying even people don't even despise a thief when he steals, if he's truly in need, and he's starving, his family is starving.

Okay, you stole, I understand why you've gotta repay that. But a man who commits adultery doesn't even make sense. He's destroying his own soul. You're allowing the lust of the flesh to pull you into a snare, into a trap that will destroy you.

Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant, but he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of hell. That's pretty honest. That's what happens. So he's saying here, listen, we even understand a thief when he steals if he's poor, but we don't even, you don't even understand, you lack understanding if you go in that direction.

And there's many people, this might not affect, this goes out on the radio, internet, some people not. You might need to hear this message in two months. You might be real, oh, saying I'm solid right now, I'm great, be careful.

Because the devil looks for opportune times. He wants to come in, your marriage is strong now, he's waiting for that time when it's not strong. My wife's not building me up, she's not esteeming me, she's not respecting me, she's not doing all the stuff she used to, there's this other person who's saying all the right things.

Yeah, it's called seduction and alluring and lying. It looks good. They tell you what you wanna hear, so you're pulled in that direction. Sin always looks good, always looks good. But if you look down the road of where it's leading, you'll see the death in it.

That's what he's saying here, be careful. Verse 33, wounds and dishonor he will get and his reproach will not be wiped away. For jealousy is a husband's fury. Therefore, he will not spare in the day of vengeance.

He will accept no recompense. Nor will he be appeased though you give him many gifts. And what he's saying there is the husband will come home angry and upset and this person will lose their life. On that note, let me say something.

Sin takes you farther than you wanna go, it costs you more than you wanna pay and it keeps you longer than you wanna stay. You want me to repeat that? I'm gonna try to remember. Sin will take you farther than you wanna go, cost you more than you wanna pay and always keeps you longer than you wanna stay.

If you entertain it, if you follow it, if you're enticed by it, it will take you farther than you wanna go, cost you more. I never thought it would cost me this much. Yeah, it'll cost you more than you've ever thought before.

It'll keep you there, it'll keep you here longer than you ever thought you'd stay. You'll stay there, that was what sin does. It's meant to kill, to steal and to destroy. This is a serious issue. This is the stuff to put Christ on the cross.

That's why I get passionate about this. And people just label me, oh Shane, he's hardcore, he's sin, he's repentant. Yeah, absolutely. Paul says, flee this stuff, get away from this stuff, crucify, yet the modern church wants to coddle what we're supposed to crucify.

It's no big deal, the Holy Spirit will change him. Right, he changes him through the power of God's word from preaching from the pulpit often that convicts the heart so it breaks and says, Lord, I need you.

This is not a time for humor up here. It's a time to preach God's word and the power of the Spirit so lives are changed. I don't want to play church anymore. I'm tired of people coming in and not changing.

Let God's word do what it's meant to do. It's meant to convict. Christ said, I did not come to call the righteous, I came, my whole purpose from stepping down from heaven, I came to save the sinner from death and hell and destruction.

Therefore, God has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name. Therefore, at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Christ is Lord. Why is he Lord?

Because he took on the form of sinful man, a bondservant, humbled himself to the point of death, even death upon a cross. That is pretty serious. That's why we preach repentance, that's why we preach judgment, and that's why we preach the fear of God.

Because sinful man doesn't want to hear this so we have to bring him back to the magnitude of sin. But please don't hear the pleading of my heart, I don't say this in anger, oh, how he loves us. He calls us back to prodigal son when he came to himself.

Jesus has spent his whole ministry, the woman caught in the act of adultery, I don't condemn you, but don't go and sin no more. He didn't say, I don't condemn you, it's no big deal. No, these guys in church, they're all legalistic.

He said, don't do it anymore. Listen, this is a serious issue. And once you begin to see sin as God sees sin, you can walk in victory. Because now I see the mouse as a destruction with that pornography, it's going to destroy my marriage and my preaching and my life and my relationship with the Lord.

I see the death in it. It's not a little fun thing to try out now and then no big deal, we need an outlet. No, you don't need an outlet, you need to break. The outlet should be the cross of Christ and worship, that's the outlet.

That's why so many people, especially men in the church today are passionless about the things of God. They don't have that relationship. They have so quenched and grieved the spirit of God that they have no passion anymore for the things of God.

I'll have asked for a prayer meeting and a worship night, four guys will be here. And that's if Monday night football's not on. I mean, look at the condition of our heart. Men should be falling hard after God, repenting of their sin.

It's okay to use that word because you know what it does? Repentance is so powerful that if you do not know Christ and you repent of your sin and turn to him, you are now saved. Repentance is so powerful for the unbeliever that it saves you through faith in Christ.

If you confess Christ as Lord, you will be saved. But repentance is so powerful for the believer because it restores right relationship with God. When you repent, you say, Lord, I'm sorry, I need you, I confess, this is wrong, take this out of my life.

And he comes in, he rebuilds and restores and you walk in the spirit. But everybody wants to play church. They wanna put on their smile, I'm perfect, bro, I don't do anything, I'm good, I haven't done.

No, you need repentance just as much as the rest of us. That's why this whole thing is so serious. He's saying it destroys your own soul. We can't take white out. I don't like that part. I don't like this part and I don't like this part.

Well, you're gonna be white outing your Bible for about a month. But why does God do that? Think about that. Why does, you know, why does he have these difficult messages? Do you remember what I said a few months back right before the fall of Jerusalem?

That God sent messengers to his people, warning them because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place, but they mocked his messengers, despised his word and scoffed at his prophets until the anger of the Lord arose against his own people until there was no remedy.

And I asked the question, what do you do when God says you want it, you got it? That's just Bible, that's just truth. He loves us so much that he calls us back. But he sends messengers, he sends his word, he sends a prophetic voice that preaches with boldness.

He calls his people back. But when you scoff at that and when you mock that and when you reject it, God has to say, I turn you over to yourself. Look at Romans one. He gave them over to a corrupt and debased mind.

They suppressed the truth and all ungodliness suppressed. They could have received it, they suppressed it. You have to receive it and embrace it. We would experience revival in the church in America if people would embrace the truth, repent of their sin, cry out to God and begin to worship him.

It would be amazing what would happen. Now let me read chapter seven real quick. A minute and 45 seconds. But this is gonna be powerful if you take this in. It might take a little longer if I stop and comment.

Wisdom’s Call to Keep God’s Commands

Verse chapter seven. Now in context, everything I just said, read in context now. Chapter seven, my son, keep my words. He's always keep my words, keep my words, keep my words. If you do this, if you do that, if you turn from sin, if you flee sexual morality, if you confess Christ as Lord, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways.

If you keep my commandments, those who say they know Christ and do not keep his commandments are a liar and the truth is not in him. You can tell a real believer by the application of God's word in their life.

True believers apply God's word to their life. And that's what he's saying here. Listen, my son, keep my words and treasure my commands within you. Keep my commands and live in my law as the apple of your eye.

Bind them to your fingers, write them on the tablet of your heart. Say to wisdom, you are my sister and call understanding your nearest kin that they may keep you from the immoral woman, from the seductress who flatters with their words.

For at the window of my house, I looked through the lattice and I saw among the simple, I perceived among the youth, a young man devoid of understanding. He was passing along the street near her corner.

Notice how he was positioning himself right where this seductress would be. It's all, it's positioning. He could have fleed sexual morality or chose to take this path. Once he takes his path, verse eight says, and he took the path to her house in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and the dark of the night.

Remember what grows in the dark is killed in the light. Sin loves to keep stuff in the dark and it grows in the dark. People do their deeds in the dark. They don't want people to see it's this darkness of covering.

Whatever grows in the dark, you will kill it if you bring it to the light. One of the best ways to bring this issue to the light is bring it and say, Lord, I need you. I repent of this. I'm turning it over to you.

This is wrong in my life. This is destroying me. You are exposing it to the light of the gospel and the light of the cross. And God's word is stronger than any other thing that we will encounter. You have to remember that God and the devil are not opposing forces.

God is sovereign. He reigns. The devil was a created being who rebelled against God. He has no authority, no jurisdiction other than what he sets under God's sovereignty and control. So greater is he that is in you than is he that is in the world.

No temptation has overtaken you. Nothing. But what is common to man that God will make a way of escape that you may be able to bear the temptation. Now with that said, verse 12, at times she was outside, at times in the open square.

She was all over the place trying to allure this man, lurking in every corner. So she caught him and kissed him with an impudent face. She said to him, basically the face, I don't care, I don't care what happens.

I have peace offerings with me. Today I have paid my vows. So come out to meet, I came out to meet you and to diligently seek your face. See how sin's enticing him? Oh, look it, this is my chance. God must have set this up.

God must have brought you into my life. This is wonderful. Look it, I've been planning, I've been making vows to meet someone like you. See how it works and entices. He opens the door and it just comes in and looks appealing, looks presenting.

Verse 14, I have peace offerings. Today I've paid my vows. So I came out to meet you, to diligently seek your face. And I have found you. I have spread my bed with tapestry, colored coverings of Egypt.

I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until morning. Let us delight ourselves with love. For my husband is not at home. He has gone on a long journey.

He has taken a bag of money with him and will come home on the appointed day. With her enticing speech, she caused him to yield. With her flattering lips, she seduced him. Immediately he went up after her as an ox goes to the slaughter or as a fool to the correction of the stocks.

Till an arrow struck his liver as a bird hastens to the snare, he did not know that this would cost him his life. That's pretty serious. And it goes on to say, now therefore, listen to me. Because of this, my children, listen.

Pay attention to the words. Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways. See, you don't even turn to it. When sin, there's an opportunity, right there, you flee it. You don't turn to it and let it pull you in because it'll entrap you.

There is a moment in time where you say no. If you do not say no, you're basically saying, yes, let me investigate, what's this all about? And it pulls you in. That's what Steve talked about last week if you get the video.

When he walked into that adult bookstore and pornography took a grip, it was like something took over with him because he opened the door. We see this in the demonic realm when people open the door to these Ouija boards and vampires and witches and spells and we just open the door to it.

Well, no, it's no big deal. Really, it's no big deal. Darkness should not entertain light. When darkness entertains you, there is something wrong in your heart. Think about that. What are we allowing into our home?

What is entertaining us? Verse 26, for she has cast down many wounded and all her slain were strong men. See there? All those who have been slain were strong men. This won't happen to me. I can handle this.

No, it won't. The enemy loves to hear that. He'll say, oh, it'll never happen to me. Yeah, he will. As soon as that, great is your fall, prideful man. Great is my fall. The more we think, oh, it'll never happen to me, the better the chances are that it will.

You remember I told you about that book I read many years ago that interviewed the top 250 men in Christian ministry that fell. The top four things. Number one was, it'll never happen to me. They all said, it'll never happen to me.

I hear the baptismal draining. That's not a good thing. Better check on that one. No, might be all right. That devil's trying to get me off track again. Most of that wasn't even in my note, so I hope it was a benefit.

But now let's get into the application of that. Remember, the power is in the application. I wanna give you guys two things. I know I'm talking mainly to men, but this applies to women as well. There's something that's called, when this area of seduction, this area when the lust is coming in, you read it in books and things, bouncing the eyes.

I know it sounds a little funny, but once you see something, oh, that's going to be enticing. I'm not going to look that direction again. You bounce it. A girl at the gym, a girl here, a guy at the gym, whatever you're, girls and women, when you see it, you have the opportunity to allow that temptation to come in and penetrate your heart.

That's when lust starts. See, temptation is not wrong. You see an attractive person, okay, I walk away, I bounce my, that's not wrong. That's temptation. Christ Jesus was tempted in all points like we are, yet he was without sin.

All that's in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, the pride of life, that's what the enemy uses. So it's not sin until what? James says, when that desire is conceived, oh, attractive, wonder, hmm, and you start to lust in your heart.

Then that temptation now turns into an open door with sin. So that's why we always encourage guys, when you see it, you better bounce. You better look the other way because there's a brief moment in time there.

You start to play with that lion, it'll bite you. The other thing when it comes to pornography, the next, what you need to do is you need to, when you see that woman, when you're thinking about that, you think of that little two-year-old girl running to her dad or her mom.

That used to be somebody's daughter, two years old, three years old. If that doesn't break your heart, then something's wrong with your heart. See this as precious little children that have been enslaved in this business and they're using it against you to pull you, look at the little girl, two, three years old, running to dad, running to mom.

It's all about perception. How do you see, how do you look at sin? And the church is gonna have to tackle this issue head on, month after month, year after year, because it is not getting easier, it's getting more difficult.

It's everywhere. From Carl's Jr. commercials to selling cars, it is everywhere. Why? Because sex entices. So you've gotta be on the guard with that. And again, it lies in the power of the application.

Promises, Integrity, and Keeping One’s Word

So that's the intro and the exit of this whole adultery issue. Now the message itself, if I have time, is on dangerous promises in the rest of Proverbs 6. Let's pick up at verse one. My son, if you become surety for your friend, surety for your friend, I should say, if you've shaken hands in a pledge for a stranger, you are snared by the words of your mouth.

You are taken by the words of your own mouth. Do this, my son, and deliver yourself, for you have come into the hand of your friend. Go and humble yourself, plead with your friend, give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids.

Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter and like a bird from the hand of the fowler. You might say, what is this surety? What's he talking about? Basically, that means one who guarantees something.

One who guarantees. You're saying, yes, cosigning would be probably applicable what this is talking about. But the overarching principle still applies. If you say something, perform it. You're snared by the words of your mouth.

I remember just 25, 30 years ago, my dad didn't know anything about signing contracts. It was a handshake, and a man's word was good enough. Let your yes be yes and your no be no, James 5, 12. But above all else, my brothers, do not swear by heaven or by earth, but let your yes be yes and your no be no, so you do not fall under condemnation.