Welcome to the For the Gospel podcast, where we're all about providing sound doctrine for everyday people. I'm your host, Kosti Hinn, and on today's episode, I want to dig into Proverbs chapter seven and a very important topic you may or may never have thought of this way before. The episode is titled Guarding Yourself from Adultery. We are going into a provocative, detailed, and uncomfortable episode that is so vital. We need to be aware of the wiles of Satan and the temptation of sexual sin. This is a very important episode. I was reading through Proverbs the other day and I came to chapter seven as I usually do. There's 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs, and so you could pretty much read one a day and read through it every month. And if you're like me, you need a lot of wisdom. I'm not a smart guy without God's word. I need wisdom. I'm desperate for it to live in a way that glorifies God. Well, chapter seven is provocative, it's detailed, it's uncomfortable, and it gives us a look at what happens when we let sexual temptation take over our decisions and when we entertain the sexual temptations of this world. Adultery is one of the primary ways that the devil seeks to destroy marriages and relationships, along with pornography, no doubt, which we have done an episode on. But I want to zero in on the steps towards adultery and how the enemy uses temptation. Now, studies on adultery are difficult to gauge because, as you could imagine, people aren't always eager to disclose personal details. But one recent study found that 26% of its respondents had experienced infidelity in their marriage. That's basically like lining up an entire room filled with couples, and just one in every four, there's adultery. And that doesn't even include those who report emotional affairs, which would include attaching oneself to somebody of the opposite sex who's not your spouse and finding yourself all wrapped up in them emotionally, which is not the essence of what Genesis describes as leaving and cleaving, which is what men and women are supposed to do when they get married. Nobody should have your emotions, your intimate feelings, and your attachment but your spouse. In one study, when asked why do women cheat, the women reported their primary interest was emotional. They did not cheat to have sex, though that was a byproduct in most or all of the situations. They wanted emotional connection. They wanted to feel loved, they wanted to be appreciated, needed, necessary, and they wanted to develop some aspect of trust with somebody else because they did not feel like they had those things with their husband. When their husband was not there for them in those ways, they went elsewhere and fell into that sin. In the same study, men were asked why they cheat, and they reported the primary reason was sex. After children are born, in many cases, many of the men reported that their wife was little more than a maternal figure in their mind and in the home, and the early days of sexual fulfillment had disappeared. Some men did report that they cheated just to test if they see if they could still do it or still get it. You know, the idea of the male ego, I want to see if I still got it, and the it is the swag and the ability to get a woman, and so they decided to cheat to test their manhood and see if they still got it, quote unquote. Whatever the reasons in this world, the believer is called to guard their heart and be vigilant to guard their marriage. All forms of adultery are the result of giving in to sexual temptation and allowing lust to fester without calling it what it is. Many people will enter counseling and report that it, you know, it just happened, or that it was someone else's fault. But our sin is our sin. And Christians have not been left without step-by-step guidance to having wisdom on this issue. So we turn to Proverbs chapter seven, a chapter devoted entirely to the wiles of the harlot, if you will, the poisonous trap of the prostitute, the lies of the loose woman, and to be really blunt, the moronic foolishness of a man, who Proverbs 7 describes as lacking sense. We gotta go there. And in the privacy of wherever this episode finds you, I pray the word of God will hit your heart. And I pray that every step we walk through makes your skin crawl with conviction, if you will. I pray that the fear of God and affection for Him would eclipse all the temptations of the enemy that bombard your life and mine. Now, Proverbs 7 is part of a bigger picture that Solomon is painting. It's chapters five through seven, really, that drive home the pitfalls of immorality. Leading up to that, chapters one through four lay a foundation for wisdom, why you should want wisdom, how you ought to seek wisdom, how wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord, and why we ought to treasure wisdom. You can picture a lot of the Proverbs as a father appealing to his son, saying, This is the way of life that will lead to blessing. And here are some of the pitfalls that are going to lead you into destruction. We're not left without a clear picture of the consequences from sin that gets left unchecked and when wisdom is ignored. No Christian should ever say this. You know, I I just I don't know how it happened. It just ended up like this. You read through the chapters in the book of Proverbs, and you will see quickly. Sin kills, it steals, it destroys, and wisdom is calling out in the streets. And she is ignored. And you know Satan loves it that way. He hates you, by the way. He hates your marriage, he hates your purpose, he hates your kids, he hates the kids you haven't even had yet, he hates your grandkids, he hates your God. So armor up, don't sleep on the job, stay alert, be sober minded, as Paul calls the New Testament church to, and be aware of the wiles of sin. Proverbs 7 begins with My son, keep my words and treasure my commandments within you. Keep my commandments and live, and my teaching is the apple of your eye. The eye here is the key. In the ancient times, the eye was seen as a portal into the soul, and the apple of the eye being the pupil, the center of the affections, and what it sees and what it wants. You could connect this over if you cross-reference to first John 2 15 to 17, where he lays out lust of the eyes. The eye sees what it wants. Well, if you keep the teaching of wisdom as the apple of your eye, well then that is the thing that you are beholding, that is the thing that you will keep central. Bind them around your fingers, he goes on. Write them on the tablet of your heart, the will center of who you are, your heart. Say to wisdom, You are my sister. Call understanding your intimate friend. And then verse five in chapter seven says, Why, that they may keep you from an adulteress. So this is very clear. There is an adulteress, she is targeting you. Sexual sin is lurking, waiting. It's not to be trifled with. He writes From the foreigner who flatters with her words. There's one of the first things we see, flattery. She flatters with her words. This is appealing to his ego, stroking it, puffing it up, letting him know that he's a real man and she's the solution to his insecurities and his feelings of inadequacy, the foreigner who flatters with her words. And then it becomes even deeper. For at the window of my house I looked out my lattice and I saw among the naive, I discerned among the youths a young man lacking sense. Well, now you're seeing that this woman she targets those who lack sense. This young man isn't thinking straight. He doesn't have wisdom around his neck. He's not listened to the instruction he's been given. He's ignored wisdom. Passing through the street, verse eight, near her corner, he takes the way to her house. Well now he's just looking for it. He is looking for a loose woman. He is entertained the flattery. He has been targeted by her, no doubt. But then he goes the way to her house. His steps go the direction of sin. And listen to when he does this. In the twilight in the evening, verse nine, in the middle of the night and in the darkness, and behold a woman comes to meet him, dressed as a harlot and cunning of heart. So it's in secret, it's in the night. She is dressed as a harlot. That means she's provocative. She looks like a prostitute. She's out looking for someone to look at her. She's cunning. Verse eleven, she is boisterous and rebellious. She's out on the town. Her feet do not remain at home, he writes. She's out there looking for this sort of thing. So is he. She is now in the streets, now in the squares, verse twelve, and lurks by every corner. And then verse thirteen, we see that she's a promiscuous and aggressive woman sexually. She seizes him, verse thirteen, and kisses him, and with a brazen face she says, This is a woman who doesn't care about getting caught. She is brazen, she's bold, and she says, I was due to offer peace offerings. Today I've paid my vows, therefore I've come out to meet you to seek your presence earnestly, and I have found you. She's lustful. She has been wanting to make this happen. In verses sixteen and seventeen, you see that adultery doesn't find people with a oops, I don't know how this happened. She says, I've spread my couch with coverings, with colored linens of Egypt, I've sprinkled my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. This is a an adulteress who's prepared for sexual immorality. She has premeditated it, he has premeditated it and looked for it. She says, Come and let us drink our fill of love until morning. Let us delight ourselves with caresses. For the man is not at home, he is gone on a long journey. That's her husband. He's taken a bag of money with him, and at full moon he will come home. She expects sex. She cheats on her husband. And don't miss what most commentators and scholars agree as a reference to having meat in the home and preparing a sort of feast for this man who lacks sense. When she says I was due to offer peace offerings today, I've paid my vows with a brazen face, she says that back in 13 and into verse 14. Well, she would have had temple meat that she had offered. Maybe she has some left over, and what she's essentially saying is I'll make you a steak dinner. Let me make you some of the meat. Come to my home. I've prepared it for you. I'm ready for sexual immorality. I want this. Cheat with me. My husband's gone. He won't be back. Come over. With her many persuasions, she entices him. With her flattering lips, she seduces him. This is verse 21. She is persuasive, she is seductive. And then verse 22 Like a piercing arrow to our hearts, we're watching as this young man now goes like an ox to the slaughter. Suddenly he follows her. As an ox goes to the slaughter, she's a poisonous woman. The writer continues, or as one in fetters to the discipline of a fool until an arrow pierces through his liver. That's a kill shot. As a bird hastens to the snare, he's done. So he does not know that it will cost him his life. Friends, I'll stop there before the last few verses and we land the plane on this. Adultery's not a game. It's not a stupid app called Tinder and just sowing your wild oats. To those of you who are younger and you're preparing for marriage, the habits you form now are going to go with you into marriage. If you do not fall to your knees in repentance, if you don't take the porn and put it at the foot of the cross, if you don't take the promiscuous, loose, wild living and falling into all your temptations as though you deserve to feel all the feels and to do whatever you want. If you don't take those passions and crucify them, put them at the foot of the cross to kill the passion of the flesh so you can walk by the Spirit, all of these habits, all of these temptations, they'll go with you into marriage, and you will have still not had a strategy, a game plan, or history of bringing them under the subjection of the Holy Spirit. Am I saying you'll never be tempted? No, we all are. First Corinthians 10 13 is so clear about that. But 1 Corinthians 10 13 is also clear that no temptation has overtaken you as such as is common to man. And God who is faithful will not tempt you beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide a way of escape so you can endure it. You are given an out every step of the way, including right now, listening to a podcast on this subject, and where the Holy Spirit works is through his word. And when people preach the word and speak the word, when your friends, your family, your pastors, those around you call out to you, you can imagine that as what Proverbs describes as wisdom calling out to you in the streets to listen. Why? Because sexual sin can cost you your life. Adultery destroys, and Satan loves it. He is cheering you on to go the way of the adulteress. And if you're a woman listening to this, maybe you you feel like it doesn't apply to you because it's a man who lacks sense and then the harlot is the one targeting. Well, just flip it. To a man who's seeking to target a woman to enter into sexual immorality with, and you being the woman who lacks sense. Either way, we all can apply Proverbs seven. Now listen to how it finishes. Now therefore, my sons, listen to me. You can hear the plea of a father, and pay attention to the words of my mouth. Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, don't stray into her paths, for many are the victims she has cast down. This woman has a body count behind her, and numerous are her slain. She is a home wrecker. Her house is the way to Sheol, descending to the chambers of death. That is the twenty-seven verses in Proverbs chapter seven. She lives, as Warren Wearsby says, on a dead end street, and when you go to her house, it is the way of death. Now, can the Lord restore? Yes. Can you repent? Yes. But the damage done by adultery is in many cases irreparable from the standpoint of trust, emotional security, the memory of children, the involvement of other people. It's like a forest fire, if you will. It burns everything it touches. Now, do things grow back? Yes. Does the heat and the pressure of the fire create new growth? Yes. Absolutely. We know that. But what a perfect picture. It's still lit the forest ablaze. There still are dead trees. The land still has shades of black, and yet there is green growing. That is the grace of God. But friends, you don't want to grow that way. You don't want to enter into the fires, if you will, of adultery in order to see God grow you. We are meant to deal with sin before it destroys. Let me give you three applications to close. Number one, kill sin. Kill sin. Deal with it, rip the band-aid off, bring it to the light, confess it to your spouse, confess it to a pastor, confess it to Christ, of course. Like John Owen said, be killing sin or it will be killing you. Deal with it. I know that there's fear, and I know people get scared and they're afraid to deal with the consequences. The consequences of keeping that sin under the covers are far worse. Deal with it. It's like an infection. Better to open it up, scrape it out, endure the pain, but get it treated properly than to leave it under there and then lose a limb. Number two, don't just kill sin, consume God's word. Psalm 119 105. Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path. You want to avoid the way of darkness, you want to avoid the harlot's house. Follow the word of God, and he will illuminate your path, and you will walk in truth. I would recommend if you have never done this before, read Psalm 119 daily this month. Spend 30 days just meditating on all of the ways that the psalmist describes, the commands and the statutes of God being a safeguard to our soul and rooting us in truth and setting us on the trajectory of God's will and nothing else. Number three, don't just kill sin and don't just consume God's word, but now take action. Keep a close watch on your eyes. Number three, keep a close watch on your eyes. Now we are in a world where you can't avoid temptation. It happens. The lust of the eyes is everywhere. But what are you doing to guard yourself? Are you excusing your sin? Because, like some people say, whatever, it's just the world we live in. What do you want me to do? Go be Amish, go live in some convent, you know, gouge my eyes out. We need to realize that that's an overreaction. No one is saying you got to go live on a deserted island. The question is simply, what are you doing to guard yourself? Are you going into situations and downplaying the reality that there's going to be provocatively dressed women? Or are you going into situations blind, thinking, ah, there's no big deal. I'm in the world. What are you going to do? Everybody struggles with it. I'm no different. Who cares? No, don't downplay sin. Don't downplay enemy strategies because you don't want to make hard decisions. Think about these things. Discuss them with your spouse. Get honest. Tell her or tell him what you wrestle with, and then come up with strategies. Maybe there's certain environments you're not meant to go into. And maybe for other people, they don't wrestle with that particular environment as much as you do. So make the difficult decisions. Your convictions should drive this. Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you. But you should be thinking about your eyes, thinking about wisdom, and thinking about what you're going to do in the fight against sexual sin. Because Satan is working overtime with his team of demonic agents, hoping you don't have a sword in your hand and you don't have a clue how to fight. So, friends, do not live in denial. The steps to adultery are clear. Satan is banking on you doing nothing, but God has given you the wisdom. You can know what to do. I hope this episode stirs your prayer life. I hope you go to the Lord and his word and get out front of sexual temptations, whether you're married or not. Guard your heart. We live in a dark world, but we have the light of God's word. Thanks for listening. For loads of free digital resources, go to our website at forthegospel.org. 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