WWUTT 1364 The Adulterer Destroys Himself (Proverbs 6:20-35)

Proverbs 6 32 says he who commits adultery lacks sense he who does it destroys himself sometimes we just don't think about how destructive sin is but scripture warns us when we understand the text this is when we understand the text a daily

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Pastor Gabe thank you Becky well as she mentioned we do an Old Testament study on Thursday and we've been in the book of Proverbs we come back to chapter 6 and in the middle of the chapter we return to warnings against adultery this is going to go all the way through chapter 7 until we read about wisdom in chapter 8 let's start off here in Proverbs 6 20 through 35 my son keep your father's commandment and forsake not your mother's teaching bind them on your heart always tie them around your neck when you walk they will lead you when you lie down they will watch over you and when you awake they will talk with you for the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life to preserve you from the evil woman from the smooth tongue of the adulterous do not desire her beauty in your heart and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread but a married woman hunts down a precious life can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched so is he who goes into his neighbor's wife none who touches her will go unpunished people do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry but if he is caught he will pay sevenfold he will give all the goods of his house he who commits adultery lacks sense he who does it destroys himself he will get wounds and dishonor and his disgrace will not be wiped away for jealousy makes a man furious and he will not spare when he takes revenge he will accept no compensation he will refuse though you multiply gifts now we talked about adultery a little bit yesterday as well because we were in Romans chapter 13 and there

Paul goes through some of the commandments he says you shall not commit adultery you shall not murder you shall not steal you shall not covet those four commandments and he says these are summarized we fulfill these commandments in the command to love your neighbor as yourself love does no wrong to a neighbor therefore love is the fulfilling of the law but one who does not love and does not consider his neighbor covets what his neighbor has thinking that what his neighbor has will make him happy that it's somehow wrong for his neighbor to possess these things they should belong to me and so he covets what his neighbor has and that will include even his neighbor's wife all sin comes from an ungrateful heart we are not thankful to God for what he has given to us we are not satisfied in Christ and so we turn to the passions of our flesh and we think by satisfying our sinful appetites we will be satisfied they will always leave us wanting more and eventually will even lead to our own destruction but when we are filled in Christ in our spirits are satisfied with all that he gives us and by faith we trust in his sacrifice for us and his promise of an eternal kingdom then nothing on this earth will satisfy and in our love for God we will hate those things that attempt to ensnare us we will hate sin as God hates sin and love righteousness as he loves righteousness when we do not seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness then we will covet the things in this world and as we read in Colossians 3 6 coveting is idolatry because you're not satisfied in God you're looking to the things of the world so you have exalted something in the world to the place of God and you have said if I get this thing that I will be satisfied that has become an idol to you and when it's the sinful sexual lust of our flesh we make that an idol and will go to our destruction consider that here in the book of Proverbs we've been talking about adultery through all of chapter 5 and had mentions of it even before that but a father warning his son about adultery through chapter 5 half of chapter 6 and then all of chapter 7 so this is a pretty important warning that a father gives to his son but also notice here especially as we're getting to this latter part of chapter 6 that the the prostitute and the married woman are talked about in two different ways so let's go back to Proverbs 5 where it says my son be attentive to my wisdom incline your ear to my understanding that you may keep discretion in your lips may guard knowledge for the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil now it doesn't necessarily say here that this is a prostitute it could be the adulteress or the prostitute because as we come to inverse 20 of chapter 5 it says why should you be intoxicated my son with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress either one the the prostitute or the adulteress the married woman could be considered to be a forbidden woman you could apply that title to either one of them but it's clear what we're talking about here in Proverbs 6 is specifically the sin of adultery sexual immorality with someone that you are not married to while married to someone else so Proverbs 6 20 starts this my son keep your father's commandment and forsake not your mother's teaching and these opening verses here of this section really bridge what we just read last week in verses 1 through 19 so we had some practical warnings there warning against falling into debt and collecting a debt you had warnings against laziness you had warning against sowing discord among brothers and that's what we read in verse 19 a false witness who breathes out lies and one who sows discord among brothers this is an abomination that the

Lord hates and so in the context of that it's not like we're jumping into a new section necessarily here it's not like okay now let's go back and talk to adultery but as the warning has been one who sows discord is an abomination to God the one who sleeps with a woman who is married to another man is therefore sowing discord among brothers and and is breaking up families in fact and that is that's the context of now coming back into this warning against adultery keep your father's commandment forsake not your mother's teaching bind them on your heart always tie them around your neck when you walk they will lead you when you lie down they will watch over you when you awake they will talk with you for the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life comma that's not the conclusion of the sentence there at the end of verse 23 but let's consider that for a moment so when

I was a kid I was raised on my father's commandments and my mother's teachings my parents raised me in the discipline and the instruction of the

Lord when I left home and I went to college I did my first semester okay but then after that I started entertaining passions of the flesh and I started going after things that even when

I was in high school I was not even thinking about but bad company ruins good morals as it says in first Corinthians 1533

I started hanging out with a with the wrong kind of friends and I was dating the wrong kind of girls and I started getting into some stuff that when

I was under the protection and care of my parents I was not getting into but I'm thankful for this

I could have gone way deeper into sin that I did I could I could have done more things that had more lasting consequences than I had to deal with what protected me even when

I was not fearing the Lord and I was going after the passions of my flesh well it says in Psalm 119 109 even though I take my life into my hand continually

I will not forget your law so though I was going my own way my parents instructions did stick with me

I wasn't always listening to them they weren't always convicting my heart but they did on most occasions and I could have gone into deeper sin than I did but because of what my parents taught me

I was convicted when when facing that sin now sometimes I ignored the conviction I went ahead with the sin anyway but other times that conviction kept me from doing worse than I did and so they were were around my neck they were leading me they were watching over me even when

I was not watching over myself I did have a fear of God I mentioned a moment ago I wasn't fearing

God yeah not not as I should have been but there were still times when something would be right in front of me and I would think to myself

I could really face judgment for this the Lord I know has said that I should not do this and I managed to abstain from it it wasn't necessarily pure in my thinking even in those moments but I did not indulge in things that would have had more disastrous consequences if I had gone that way so the teaching of my parents remained with me whether I chose to acknowledge it or not even in some of those moments the commandment is a lamp and the teaching of light and the reproofs of discipline are a way of life

I wish I had cherished that more in those years but I'm thankful that because of what my parents taught me

I didn't do worse than I did by the grace of God then notice here what the commandment does how it benefits verse 24 to preserve you from the evil woman from the smooth tongue of the adulterous now the commandment of dad and the teaching of mom also had its benefits in practical wisdom in the stuff that we read in Proverbs 6 1 through 19 but the specific application that's coming in here is avoiding the adulterous woman that woman who's married to somebody else or if you're married to somebody else and then going after another woman and bringing a destruction upon your family verse 25 do not desire her beauty in your heart and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread but a married woman hunts down a precious life so consider that the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread like what do you get for a prostitute you're gonna spend money that you should have been spending on food other provisions for your family things like that but if you sleep with an adulterous it destroys your life it destroys her life it destroys the life of her family it destroys lives in your family community is affected here so remember going back to Proverbs 6 19 one who sows discord among brothers is an abomination to the

Lord adultery here when you're married to somebody else she's married to somebody else and then you have a sexual relationship that is meant only between people who are married to each other a man and his wife married to one another that's what sex is for you start bringing that into other marriages not your own and you start wrecking families and communities remember the words that we have in Hebrews 13 for let marriage be held in honor among all and let the marriage bed be undefiled for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous and I believe it was yesterday

I also read from 1st Thessalonians 4 beginning in verse 3 this is the will of God your sanctification that you abstain from sexual immorality that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor not in the passion of lust like the

Gentiles who do not know God that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter because the

Lord is an avenger in all these things as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you for God has not called us for impurity but in holiness therefore whoever disregards this disregards not man but God who gives his

Holy Spirit to you so adultery wrongs not just yourself not just brings condemnation upon yourself not just condemnation upon the person that you sleep with but it even brings consequences upon that person's spouse when they are not guilty of this sin to deserve those consequences the commandments preserve you from the evil woman from the smooth tongue of the adulterous so this is not a woman who enters into this tango unwillingly she is enticing you into it do not desire her beauty in your heart and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread but a married woman hunts down a precious life she doesn't care anything for you you might you might be enticed by her come hither look but she will destroy you and her own family and your family verse 27 can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned another way of saying this if you play with fire you're gonna get burned or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched playing with fire so is he so is he who goes into his neighbor's wife none who touches her will go unpunished dude if she is married to someone else or if you are married to someone else then another woman is a forbidden woman another woman not your wife is forbidden that doesn't necessarily have to say anything of her character she is off -limits to you the one whom you are to enjoy in your marriage is your wife remember back to what the father said to his son back in Proverbs 515 drink water from your own cistern flowing water from your own well should your springs be scattered abroad streams of water in the streets let them be for yourself alone and not for strangers with you let your fountain be blessed and rejoice in the wife of your youth a lovely deer and a graceful doe let her breasts fill you at all times with delight be intoxicated always in her love and then verse 20 again which

I read to you earlier why should you be intoxicated my son with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress she hunts down a precious life she is playing with fire so is he who goes into his neighbor's wife none who touches her will go unpunished people do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry but if he is caught he will pay sevenfold he will give all the goods to his house when a thief steals if he's hungry if he's a poor man and he's hungry and he steals that's still wrong but there's still something of a pity for the guy right well he shouldn't have stolen that was wrong but I understand the guy was hungry he still has to pay back what it is that he took but when you get to verse 31 it says if he is caught he will pay sevenfold he will give all the goods of his house therefore we know we're not just talking about a poor man here we're talking about a man who had enough but he went and stole anyway so this is like the adulterer he's married he's got a wife who can satisfy those passions of the flesh that we have and in some cases are very good that God has given us that that we can enjoy in a marriage between a husband and a wife but if he goes after another man's wife and he is caught he will pay all the goods of his house his house will become a desolation in the house of the one whom he went after as well verse 32 he who commits adultery lacks sense he who does it destroys himself

I have a note written in my in my journal Bible here that says do not forget and then has the name of an elder that I used to serve with and the date that I had to go and confront that man at his office and I wrote in my journaling

Bible do not follow your wayward friend who became as Judas and devoured the flock may

God grant him repentance but you do not walk in his ways his eyes full of adultery

I saw a man who had everything was blessed with such a good family and he went after the way of an adulteress and he would not be convicted in his sin his demeanor toward me completely changed nothing that I said to him after that was taken charitably he believed that I was always out to destroy him but the reality is that he destroyed himself he was such a gifted teacher and he made a shipwreck of his ministry he can never serve in that position as elder or a pastor again because he is no longer above reproach as it says in 1st

Timothy 3 2 he lacked sense he destroyed himself and to this day

I pray for his children that the errors that he committed and what he threw away will not be reflected in their lives and they will not follow in his same path he will get wounds and dishonor it says in verse 33 and his disgrace will not be wiped away for jealousy makes a man furious and he will not spare when he takes revenge we're talking now about the jealous husband of the wife who went after another man he will accept no compensation no gifts will be able to satisfy this guy's now thirst for blood you had a thirst for flesh he's got a thirst for blood and he will accept no compensation he will refuse though you multiply gifts now let's say you committed adultery and got away with it nobody found out well there is still an

Avenger who is going to come against you for this sin that you have committed as it says in 1st

Thessalonians 4 6 that the Lord is an Avenger in all these things as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you you must confess your sins as it says in James 5 16 confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working

I mentioned a moment ago an elder that I used to serve with you became an adulterer I remember something that he used to teach and I remember him saying this to somebody whom he was attempting to convict of their sexual immorality he said that sin that is not confessed is sin that is not repented of now he wasn't saying that you have to confess every single sin you've ever done and if you haven't confessed that sin well then you're going to be condemned for it what he was saying was if you have this attitude where you're trying to cover up your sins maybe if nobody finds out about this then

I'll be in the clear it'll be as if I've never done it well then you've not truly repented of that sin and you will be condemned if you do not confess your sins before God especially something as serious as adultery 1st

John 1 9 says if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness if you have committed adultery

I encourage you to talk to an elder or a pastor follow their counsel for you confess your sins to those whom you have wronged and especially confess your sins before God he is gracious and merciful he will restore us we must face the consequences for our sins lest we face judgment on Judgment Day let us pray

Heavenly Father I ask for your forgiveness that we would desire to walk in the path of righteousness not after the passions of our flesh but after the things that delight

God may we take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ may we not wrong one another in sexual immorality but may we hold each other accountable as we read yesterday in Romans 13 let us walk properly as in the daytime not in orgies and drunkenness not in sexual immorality and sensuality not in quarreling and jealousy but put on the

Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires convict our hearts lead us in paths of righteousness for your name's sake we ask in Jesus name amen this has been when we understand the text of pastor

Gabriel Hughes for all of our podcasts episodes videos books and more visit our website at www .utt

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