The Book of Proverbs

Chapter 2

In chapter 1, King Solomon began by speaking to his son, instructing him in the ways of wisdom.  We have learned that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.  Fear, meaning to have an awesome respect for our Creator, giving Him the glory that is due to only Him, and then, as New Testament believers in God’s Son, knowing what God has given us, we develop a growing relationship with Jesus.  That’s the kind of fear that the Lord wants us to have toward Him.  Then as we seek to know Him better, we will search Him out in His Word and in prayer.  As we seek Him, then knowledge will come to begin our pathway to wisdom.

• Sadly, we live in a world today where seeking after God is not only foreign, but most people are self-centered on themselves, not on the Creator who gave them life.  Being self-centered means everything is centered on me, me, me.  I don’t think about you – only me.  So then, I will do things that benefit me, forgetting that I can only go so far and then I will mess up because eventually I will learn that I cannot do life on my own.  I am the destructor of my own life.

We have learned that to get wisdom, the real wisdom in this life, we must first seek knowledge from our Creator to acquire understanding of that knowledge.  As such, we will develop a hunger after the things of God…which will bring on an understanding that we never had before.  When we understand, that will bring on wisdom – God’s wisdom.  And He will grant us His wisdom liberally to overcome the evils of this world.

Let’s now look at the benefits of wisdom as we begin chapter 2:

 Prov 2:1-2 My son, if you receive my words, and treasure my commands within you, So that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding;

 Solomon appeals to his son to receive his words and treasure his commands.  Wisdom can never benefit us if it is not received, sought after…treasured.  While the world seeks after money and fame, glory for themselves, with the temporary power that it holds, God is appealing to us, His children, just as Solomon appealed to his son, to treasure the words of the Father.  Treasure it like gold and silver, for they are worth far more than these physical commodities that come and go.  Actually, God is commanding us, which is far more explicit than appealing, to apply our hearts to understanding the knowledge that He generously gives us in His Word.

A father wants his son to have all the privileges of what he has and can give out to his child.  Our heavenly father has an inheritance that we can claim as ours, even now, while we live on this earth.  And God wants us to use what He has for us.  Knowledge, understanding and wisdom are God’s gift to us which will bring us to places and heights where we could never attain while we try to do things in our own strength.  Knowledge, understanding, and wisdom are God’s gift to us – for our benefit, as well as His glory.

 ³ Yes, if you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding,  ⁴ If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures;

 Imagine yourself going to your Bible, seeking to find hidden treasures every time you open up that book.  People will rob other people just to find a treasure map.  They will even kill to get that map in their hands.  Well, we have our map right here – in our Bibles.  It’s free – and you never have to worry that someone will rob you of your Bible – it’s your treasure map.  And when you begin to discover, meaning understanding that knowledge that you are finding in your Bibles, you will start to see that you DO have a treasure map in your hands.  You will find yourself in your Bible every chance you can get.

⁵ Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

 When you get to this point of understanding the fear of the Lord, and gaining His knowledge, you will soon find out that your search for the treasures of God’s Word was far more than gaining the knowledge and attaining the wisdom, but what that knowledge and wisdom of God will do for you personally.

• As you are growing in your knowledge of God your Creator, you are developing a personal intimacy with your God.  You discover that obedience to His Word is what you truly desire.  Your relationship with the Lord is to you personally.  It’s your life – your life in God, and no one can take that away from you.  And what you receive from the Lord is not temporary, but everlasting.  Those benefits far outweigh anything else that this temporal world could ever offer.

⁶ For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding;

God’s wisdom is far greater that we can ever imagine.  For He speaks His knowledge to us through His Word – His written Word.  For God works within us to bring His revelation, or understanding, of His knowledge.  And out of that comes wisdom – God’s wisdom.

⁷ He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly;

 True wisdom – or God’s wisdom - comes only to those who walk upright with the Lord.  God has His wisdom stored up for us as we seek after it, like a treasure.  True wisdom is found in the Lord, who gives it Iiberally to the upright.

• The Hebrew meaning for “upright” is: full, complete, prosperity, integrity, simplicity and innocent. 

God then is our shield – our protector because we walk complete with integrity, simplicity, innocence and fullness of life before our God.

⁸ He guards the paths of justice, And preserves the way of His saints.

God guards our path of His divine law (as the Hebrew meaning of justice would say),  and watches the way of His saints.  How then would we describe our path?  Looking ahead at verse 15, we see that our path is like cart tracks or wagon ruts or grooves.

These ruts press down upon the earth of a trail as the wagon wheels of our life are formed - to where it eventually dries and hardens.  Our lives are filled with these ruts – they become the pathway for our life.  As such, wisdom helps us to make good and useful “ruts” or habits.

I am reminded of the wonderful proverb in our next chapter that says: Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your hearts, soul and strength, and lean not on our own understanding.  In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path.

Again, we bring out other scripture to confirm what God is telling us that all true wisdom comes from God, and if we want to stay on the right path, we need God to direct the direction of our life continuously.  Not only do we follow the ruts of God (meaning His wisdom) that lay right before us, these ruts, which eventually dry and hardened makes our way very clear as it takes us on a path that leads to God’s eternal wisdom.

Once the ruts dry and harden, it then becomes harder and harder to sway away from out of those ruts.  They are hard and go down deep.  In other words, the more you follow in the path of God’s wisdom, the easier it gets, and the less you want to go off of those ruts on your pathway to God’s ways.  Those deep ruts have become a part of who you are – and how you conduct your life.  And those deep ruts are good ruts – righteous ruts.

⁹ Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path.

After we have walked in the ways of the Lord for a while, revelation of His truth begins to enlighten us to where we distinguish or discern the difference between God’s ways and the ways of the world.

Not only will we be seeking after God’s righteousness, justice and fairness for everyone because Jesus tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves.  Jesus is no respecter of persons, where we are all created equal in His eyes, and that is how He wants us to treat others as well.

While the Book of Proverbs was written under the Old Covenant when the Holy Spirit did not indwell believers, but only rested upon them for anointing, we, as New Testament believers can take these same Old Covenant Scriptures and apply them to our lives, knowing that the Holy Spirit now indwells believers to guide us into all truth.

We have a huge advantage over the Old Covenant people.  When we are walking in the Spirit, we are not fulfilling the desires of the flesh.  We don’t even have to wonder because the indwelling Holy Spirit will enlighten us immediately. Gal 5:16  says: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.  We won’t need to know why something is wrong because it will be revelatory to our spirits immediately.  As we are walking in the Spirit, we simply obey; therefore, avoiding any problems in our life.  In other words, we will be walking by the Spirit instead of the flesh.  And when we walk in the Spirit, we will not walk by the deeds of our flesh - wanting only the things of God.

Our Human Spirit

10.  When wisdom enters your "heart," and knowledge is pleasant to your soul,

The "heart" is the bridge that joins the human spirit and the human soul.  We are a spirit, we have a soul, and we live in a physical body.

Let's examine the chart below to help understand how the spirit, soul, and body function together.

We are a spirit, we have a soul, and we live in a body

Our human spirit is the real us - the God part of us in which God created us like Him when He created us.  Within our spirit lies our conscience and intuition, as well as our connection to commune with God.  It is the core of our life.  It is not physical or temporal, but spiritual and eternal.  Our human spirit does not live within our physical heart, but resides down deep in the core of our being.

When we ask Jesus to come into our lives, the Holy Spirit comes to indwell our human spirit.

Right now, rest your hand on your stomach.  Remember when you have gotten butterflies in your stomach, or you got startled over something?  Place your hand on that spot.  You have just located the area of where your spirit and soul lies.  It's deep, very deep, and it's invisible, but you feel it in you.  John 7:38  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. NKJV

Our Soul

Our soul is not located within our brain, as you might think, because our brain is part of our physical body and, in its simplest terms, has many functions, but used as a storage for information taken in.  Our soul is also located deep down in the core of our being and is connected to our spirit by the spiritual heart, which simply refers to the combination spirit and soul.  Both are immortal and eternal.  This is not the physical heart as that is a physical organ that rests in our chest, being mortal and will one day die and decay.. 

Spirit/Soul

Our spirit and soul both work together to form who we are.  The two working together is the heart of who a person is.  The heart of man is like a bridge that connects the spirit and soul.  When we read in the Scriptures about the heart, we are referring to the spirit/soul of a man.  It is the core of man's being!  We cannot have one without the other, as both are eternal.  A spirit without a soul may have life, but it has no character or personality - no identity.  A soul without a spirit may have a personality, but it has no life.  The two work together to form who we are, and will live on eternally as a spirit/soul being - the heart of man.

Our Physical Body

Then we live in a physical body made up of flesh, blood and bone.  This is where our five physical senses lie - seeing, hearing, taste, touch, and smell.  This is the part of us that is temporal and will one day decay and die, and go back to dust.

It is within our soul where we make the decisions of who is going to run our life.  The natural response, because of the sin nature in man, is to have the body run our lives.  The soul then gives in to the body needs.  The God response, however, is for the soul to make the decision to allow the Holy Spirit, which is housed in our spirit, to rule over our lives.  In other words, as we renew our minds to the will of God, we learn to make the choice turning over our will to the will of God, which is housed in our spirit.  Then the Spirit controls the soul, and then the soul tells the body who is in charge.

Romans 12:1-2  I beseech your brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may know what is that good, and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Wisdom is acquired within our soul, where we first learn our information, gather our thoughts to understand what we have learned, and it is where we make our choices.   As a believer in Christ, having the indwelling Holy Spirit, it is the Holy Spirit that enlightens our soul to understanding, and the wisdom of God, based on how much of God and His His Word we have put into our souls.  Wisdom, however, also involves the spirit - the part that makes us God conscious because it is the Holy Spirit within our human spirit that enlightens our soul about the will of God.  And then, the heart is the bridge that pulls the spirit and soul together - the spirit and soul combination to work together.

Enjoy Wisdom

To repeat verse 10 again -  When wisdom enters your "heart," and knowledge is pleasant to your soul.  The more knowledge one learns, leading to understanding and wisdom, the more one desires and enjoys it.  Just as this verse says, it is pleasant to our soul, wanting more and more of it.  Our soul will crave God's wisdom.

In order to lead a godly life, knowledge and wisdom must enter into one's heart - our spirit/soul.  Solomon later defines this in Proverbs 20:27 in which he says: The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, Searching all the inner depths of his heart. NKJV

While the terms soul and spirit are not exactly synonymous, they do work together.  As such, we can see the importance of what King Solomon has been stressing all along.  Wisdom needs to permeate every aspect of who we are.  This is the heart and soul working together to overcome the desires of the flesh.

Discretion Will Preserve You

¹¹ Discretion will preserve you; Understanding will keep you, ¹² To deliver you from the way of evil,  From the man who speaks perverse things,

Wisdom wants not only to come in to your heart, but it wants to reside their permanently.  Wisdom wants and will protect you, preserve you from the evil ways of the world when you renew your minds to the will of God.  You won't even want to do things the way the world does them.  Discretion will tell you that it is evil, and those who practice it will eventually fall.  In that way understanding and discretion wil preserve you, keeping you from many foolish choices and harmful consequences in life.  

Being with anyone who speaks perverse things will be recognized by you immediately, and your heart will desire to flee those who speak and act in that manner because the wisdom of God only desires God's protection and the good things He provides for us.  

¹³ From those who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;  ¹⁴ Who rejoice in doing evil, and delight in the perversity of the wicked;  ¹⁵ Whose ways are crooked, and who are devious in their paths;

It is sad when someone who once walked with the Lord chooses to turn his or her back on the Lord, choosing to return to the ways of the world.  A temptation has overtaken him or her and fell to that temptation - now being in the grips of Satan.  While that temptation may bring them temporary satisfaction, they begin to enjoy doing what they once knew was evil, which God calls the perversity of the wicked.  It was as if they never had gotten wisdom in the first place. 

They no longer can be trusted, because they are no longer trustworthy.  While your heart grieves for them, and you pray for them to return to the ways of the Lord, you know that you can no longer associate with them because they have chosen to follow after the ways of Satan, giving them momentary pleasure, and they could pull you down as well.  As such, you must flee.   You also know that those who chose to walk away from the things of the Lord will digress even further because Satan has them in his grip, and the end is always destruction and death.  

Wisdom is never meant to be temporary.  God wants wisdom to reside in our hearts continuously - to live there permanently.  It will, however, take us to continuously yield to the voice of the Holy Spirit within as God gives us commands in our lives.  Temptations are real, always looking to pull people back into its trap.  As such, it it will take our continuous yielding over to God's will to keep wisdom from leaving us.

^{God's wisdom protects us from the various evils of the world.  His kind of wisdom was what Solomon was trying to teach his son, and in the same way, God was using King Solomon to teach us to live holy lives for the Lord.  This holy lifestyle then leads us to be discerning followers of Christ.} 

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^{A Society Without God}

^{16 To deliver you from the immoral woman, from the seductress who flatters with her words,  17 Who forsakes the companion of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God.} 

^{As we look at Proverbs 2:16 and 17, we see King Solomon reminding his son of the sexual immorals of the world and the importance of staying away from them.  In the same way, God is speaking to us today through Proverbs of the dangers of sexual immorality in the society in which we live.}

• God's seventh commandment toward His people explicitedly teaches from Exodus 20:14 that "you shall not commit adultery."  Adultery, meaning any sexual encounter outside sanctity of the marriage bed.  This not only applies to all Old Testament saints, but New Testament believers as well.  God's commandments are ageless, in that He meant His covenant applies to the whole family of God  -then and now, and will apply for all future times as well for His people as well.  

Both males and females are subject to sexual immorality.  Here King Solomon is warning his son about the seductress - one who seduces - a woman who uses flattering words to lure him into sexual immorality.  It could be a prostitute or any woman who is willing to use sex to gain her influence over a man - young and old alike.  Solomon knew that his son, like many young men, could be easily deceived and trapped by the immoral woman.  By applying God's wisdom, however, this could protect him from the snare of her and the destruction that would follow.

In the same way, while not stated here, a father's advice to a daughter would be the same - stay away from anyone who would bring on the destructions that come from sexual immorality - meaning any kind of sex outside of sanctity of the marriage bed.

What is Sexual Immorality?

^{Mankind, as a whole, however, does not want to be ruled by God Almighty, and as a result, sexual immorality ruled over heathens and pagan people throughout the Old and New Testament alike.  Sexual immorality also rules over our world today as Satan has his way with people.  Only those who choose to follow after God and His ways live by the commands and the teachings of the Word of God.}

^{We think we live in a world where sexual immorality has gone off of the charts in debauchery.  Nothing is new under the sun.  What was going on during the days of King Solomon are still being done today as well.  There were prostitutes - male and female, homosexuals, even transgenderism, along with gender identity issues, and every kind of kinky sex going on back then as is going on today.  It probably is more blatant today because of modern surgical and electronic technology, in that you now see it in any imaginable form.}

What then, according to the Word of God, is sexual immorality?  What did God, through the pen of King Solomon mean by sexual immorality back then and even apply to us today?

All sex outside of the marriage bed between a husband and wife, even if you think you love a person, but you are not married is a sin. It will come back to bite you some day because the trust level is gone between a husband and a wife.

• This also includes perversions or mutiliation of the bodily sexual organs are all part of one sin - sexual immorality.
• One sin - one judgment by God.

God blessed sex within the marriage structure for both companionship and procreation.  It began with Adam and Eve, and has never changed.  God set up marriage and the marriage bed, and it is good.  God gave the man and woman the gift of sexuality where they could be joined together, to complement each other, as “one flesh.”  Actually, one's sexuality within the marriage bounds is part of our Christian holiness.  It is the enhancement of the one-flesh relationship.  It is meant for pleasure of the married couple whose love can be expressed and nourished over and over again.

Outside the sanctity of marriage, however, sex becomes an evil and destructive force in human life, calling for God’s redemptive power to deliver humans trapped within that force.

• And yes, it is a force.  It has momentary good feelings.
• But it pulls...becoming an evil spirit that pulls you into more and more.
• Once tasted, it is hard to live without it...wanting more.
• And in God's eyes, any sex outside of the marriage bed is a sin.

God expects His family of believers to honor their bodies, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit – to possess our bodies in sanctification and honor – in other words exercise self-control.

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Eight Deviations of Sexual Immorality

 There are eight deviations of sexual behavior outside of marriage that are condemned in the Bible that God wants His family to observe.  God considers these behaviors shameful and forbidden.

1 & 2.  Fornication and adultery...any sex outside of the marriage bed - adultery and fornication.  

1 Th 4:3-5  For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication (meaning sex before marriage): That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; Not in the lust of concupiscence, (lascivious sexual passion) even as the Gentiles (or heathens…or non-believers) which know not God:

The Old Testament tells us that those who committed adultery were put to death.  Lev 20:10  And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

Our New Testament tells us that fornicators and adulterers, including homosexuals, and anyone who abuses their body will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

1 Cor 6:9-10  Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, (homosexual) nor abusers of themselves with mankind….shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

3.  Rape - where someone violates a person's will, using force for sexual intercourse.  According to Deut 22:25-27, a rapist was put to death. 

Deu 22:25-27  But if a man find a betrothed damsel (girl or woman) in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die: But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is this matter: For he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her.

4.  Incest - is an abomination to God, and those who do this will have to stand before God in judgment.

Lev 18:6  None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness...

1 Cor 5:1  It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife…..

5.  Prostitution:  A woman can lure a man, as we have seen King Solomon warning his son.

^{Prov 2:16 To deliver you from the immoral woman, from the seductress who flatters with her words,} 

God is pointing out how a man who is lured into a bed by a woman is simple and void of understanding.  Her bed is the way to hell.

• There are many scriptures throughout Proverbs, as well as the Bible about having sex with a prostitute

6.  Homosexuality:  To find out what God’s Word says about homosexuality, we need to look at other similar words.

Just as the word sex is not found in any of the authorized versions of the Bible, other words are often used.  We need to treat the word homosexuality the same way. That word is not found in the Bible, however, there are other words used.

• In Genesis 18-19 God tells us about a group of men who had sexual relations with other men and were wicked perverts.  They were called sodomites, who formed acts of sodomy – The act of “sodomy” is named after the city of Sodom.  Any form of sodomy is forbidden by the laws of God. 
• In Deut. 23:17 sodomy is listed in the same class with a whore/female harlot or prostitute.

Deu 23:17-18  There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel. Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God.

A Dog – Greek: A male prostitute, whoremonger, men having sex with men.

• God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of the perverted sexual sins that had corrupted the minds and flesh of the people within those two cities.

Lev 20:13  If a man also lie with mankind, as he would lie with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

 Having sex with someone of the same sex is an abomination to God.

People want to say a person can be born a homosexual.

God would not call something a sin – a perverted abomination - if a person was born that way.  Perverted spirits attach themselves to people, to families, to generations where perverted spirits have been allowed to roam.  Homosexuality, or any sexual sin, is a sin turned into a bondage. 

Some will say “I felt this way all my life.”  Society wants to support that feeling as normal.  Wrong - we all have tendencies toward certain sins (i.e. gluttony, alcoholism, anger, unforgiveness, etc.). We call it a sin and deal with it – not accept it as our lot in life.

We are in a day where homosexuality, gay marriages, and now transgenderism and any sexual orientations are freely called an alternative lifestyle.  It was, however, no different 3000 years ago when King Solomon and 2000 years ago the Apostle Paul wrote to the Roman Church. Homosexuality was accepted then by the norm of that society and it is excepted by the world even today.

Today, in most states homosexual marriages are legal.

Some health insurance companies grant policies to homosexual partners like they would to husband and a wife.  Many homosexuals, especially homosexual women, are adopting children who will be exposed to that perverted sin all of their growing up years, and run the risk of become homosexual themselves.

Let’s look at some New Testament Scripture on homosexuality.  God tells us what these last days are going to be like.

2 Tim 3:2-3  For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

If there is natural affection, which God says is good, then there is unnatural affection.

2 Pet 2:9-10  The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness (impure sex), and despise government. Presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.

Remember, sexual uncleanness is compared to dogs, and used of whoremongers who are male prostitutes – males having sex with males.

2 Pet 2:11-13  Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord.  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption; And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. 

2 Pet 2:14-15  Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;……

2 Pet 2:22  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

Col 3:5-6  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:

What about homosexuality with women? 

Today we call it lesbianism.  In this scripture passage, both men and woman are talked about.

 Rom 1:21-24  Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness (male whoremonger) through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

 God will allow a person to digress in their perversion if that is what they want to do.  They profess themselves as wise – but God calls them fools.

Rom 1:26  For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

 Women with women (lesbianism).  God calls it vile affection….vile meaning loathsome, disgusting, morally depraved.  And it goes against nature

 And the following verses tell us what comes out of those sins….

unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

This verse is stating here that perverted sins lead to other sins……and then comes the judgment.

Eph 5:5-6  For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.

• Whoremonger: Homosexual, unclean person: Impure, leud, filthy, unclean.

Let it be established that an unclean person is considered by God in the same category as a homosexual, which is impure, leud, filthy and unclean...and an abomination to God.

7.  Bestiality:  An abomination unto God.

Lev 20:15-16  And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast. And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman, and the beast: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

Lev 18:2-24  "'Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable. 'Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion. Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled.

What we have seen is a digression of the same sin.  While sexual immorality has degrees, or digression of perversion, in the eyes of God it's roots carry the same sin - Sexual immorality.

8. Pedophilia:  An adult who is sexually attracted to a child or children and preys upon them.  ALL pedophiles, without exception, were at one time prey of another pedophile when they were children.  Pedophiles can kidnap children, or it could be your friendly neighbor down the block. Often pedophilia behavior goes on within families.

1. Adultery
   
2. Fornication
3. Rape
4. Incest
5. Prostitution
6. Homosexuality
7. Bestiality
8. Pedophilia

 Everyone of these sins are still the same sin – having the same spirit – only varying degrees of digression of the same sin.

It only gets more and more perverted and disgusting.

Rom 1:32  Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death…

Those who follow the lusts of the flesh in homosexuality thinking and behavior either have no covenant with God, meaning they are unbelievers, or if they claim to be a Christian are in severe danger of breaking their covenant with God.

• Whether knowing or unknowingly these people have gotten themselves into an entrapment in the hands of Satan, and the eyes of their understanding are clouded by the deceptions of the enemy.
• This one sin – sexual immorality, is such a strong force which pulls people into other sins.

The Bible tells us that what is done in secret will eventually come out to be public.

• First there is shame
• Then when shame is exposed, it turns to false pride, and then the devil can do whatever he wants in people.

Have you noticed when you see public display of sexual immorality, you see a cluster of other degrading sins as well?

• you also see alcohol, drunkenness,
• drugs – cocaine, heroine, and other drugs, drug dealing
• Prostitution, escort services, hidden whore houses
• Gay bars
• Pornography
• Crime, rape, murder, and just about every crime you can think of.

They all run hand in hand.

Sexual immorality, no matter at what stage of digression is evil and destructive force in the lives of people.  We can’t let the devil get a foot-hold.  But it is not hopeless.  God can deliver – when a person wants to be delivered. 

Rom 1:32b…not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.  NKJV

There are those who profess to be Christian and claim to be homosexual.  They are walking on thin ice…because the Bible gives this promise – they keep on practicing that same lifestyle – they cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Period!

So many in the church now approves of that kind of lifestyle?  We all know people who are gay.  It may even be a family member.  Do you approve of their lifestyle?  How do you respond?

While none of us are without sin, we are never to judge another person, but we can still hate the sin.  The Bible says we will know them by their fruit.  We love the sinner – but hate the sin.   And then we pray…..

¹⁸ For her house leads down to death,  and her paths to the dead; ¹⁹ None who go to her return, nor do they regain the paths of life—

Knowing that her house leads to death is an important part of wisdom’s protection - to see where a path leads. Time with the flattering seductress seems wonderful, but wisdom helps us to understand where it leads – and that is down to death.

None who go to her return - meaning their hearts have become so hardened to where it is very difficult to come to the point of repentance and lving a chaste life again.    

Sexual immorality may be the ways of the world around us, then and now, but there are always negative consequences for following in the ways of the world.  As a believer in Jesus Christ, we keep learning by scripture that any sexual immorality is a trap that pulls you down by force.  It gives momentary pleasure, but that pleasure will drive you to want more and more.  It is a force to where you keep wanting to go down its path of deception - which leads to destruction.  Once traveled down that road, there is no turning back because you will be in the sexual trap of wanting more continuously.

Stay on the Path of Righteousness

King Solomon continues to warn his son to walk righteously before God - to walk in His goodness, not in the ways of the world.

 ²⁰ So you may walk in the way of goodness, and keep to the paths of righteousness.

As a warning - even before his son would even consider going down that road of destruction, to keep on the path of righteousness that is filled with knowledge, understanding, and wisdom.  Don't even consider going down such a destructive path.  Don't look to the left or to the right, but keep his focus straight ahead, looking at the path that leads to life.

In the same way, God is telling us to keep on the path of righteousness that is filled with His knowledge, understanding, and His wisdom.  Keep trusting God that He know what is best for you - on the pathway that leads to life in Him.  It is far better to never leave the pathway of righteousness than to take a peek at any sort of sexual immorality because it deceives and pulls one downward to destruction and that one little peek took you off of the pathway that leads to life and suddenly you are on the path that leads to death.

²¹ For the upright will dwell in the land, and the blameless will remain in it;

That pathway of the upright is a place of protection, peace and contentment – and as long as you follow in the knowledge, instruction and wisdom of God, you will delight in the path you are on.  It will, however, take a continuous choosing to grow in the things of God as you increase in Godly knowledge, relying on the Holy Spirit for understanding, and then God's wisdom will become your daily friend.  

^{Bad Choices - Bad Consequences}

²² But the wicked will be cut off from the earth, and the unfaithful will be uprooted from it.

There are always consequences for making bad choices.  We bring them on ourselves.  Those who choose to sway off of the path of the righteous, or those who never got on God's path in the first place will live in the perverseness of the world, which is unrighteous and wicked in the eyes of God.  King Solomon is saying to his son - "son, don't do it!"  God is saying to us - "my child, don't do it - stay on the path I have chosen for you.  Don't uproot yourself and go your way.  This uprootness will bring on negative conseqences that only lead to death.

We make choices every day whether to seek God's wisdom in all aspects of life.  God's wants us to keep yielding ourself to Him, staying on the path of righteousness each and every single day.

King Solomon who wrote these proverbs was once considered the wisest man on earth.  Even he, however, fell off of God's path to the evils of sin.  He was walking in the wisdom of God, but made some very bad choices, which turned out to be his pathway to ruin, taking him downward to where he ended his life in despair.

• So let’s seek the words that God instructed Solomon to say when he walked in God's wisdom, but not follow after his life.
• For he was vulnerable just like any human being, in need of God’s daily discipline, and he made some very bad choices.

God bless!

 Pastor Joyce Erickson
Believersbibleschool.com