GOD’S LESSON ON SEX

RETURN TO SYLLABUS

PROVERBS 5
Lesson #07
GOD’S LESSON ON SEX

• Memory Verse: Gen 2:24
• Read Pro 5:1-14 Instruction to My Son #10 As a young man into old age
  • In this chapter we are going to learn that in God’s perspective, a pure moral life begins early in the home, and as the young man carries that teaching through his life, it will benefit him in his own home later in life.
  • “My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding: That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.” (1-2)
    • Key words: Wisdom (skillful living); understanding (discernment of good from evil); discretion (judge what is proper); knowledge (power to know truth).
    • The believer in Jesus Christ is to pay attention to the skillful living he learns in Jesus Christ by hearing God’s words so that he knows right from wrong, good from evil. When he does this, he will be able to judge what is proper behavior for his life for his words will express the truth that is built into his heart.
  • “For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.” (3-4)
    • Key words: Strange woman (prostitute); wormwood (bitter).
    • This whole chapter deals with a young man learning to avoid giving in to the temptation to visit a prostitute. Seduction begins with deception and flattery.
      • Background and significance:
        • Remember that originally a Jewish girl was not permitted to become a prostitute. According to the Law of Moses she would be stoned. Therefore, prostitutes were foreign women. Because of that the “stranger” or the “strange woman” in the Proverbs refers to prostitution.
        • Eventually as the Israelites fell away from God and His moral law, Jewish girls did become prostitutes. (2:17)
      • The nature of the temptation by a prostitute is sweet and smooth, easy to fall into.
      • However, the result of giving in to this temptation is bitter.
      • Notice that the honey promised in verse 3 becomes bitter water in verse 4.
      • Sometimes the result can cut in two ways…incurable sexual disease and death.
  • “Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.” (5-6)
    • Notice the parallels:
      • Feet/steps
      • Death/hell
    • The result of prostitution affects the prostitute and the man that visits her.
    • If the young man thinks about the path of his life, he will discover that the life of visiting prostitutes is unstable and promises no deep feelings of love and security. The prostitute will not be faithful to one man to create a stable relationship.
    • The end result is a possible early physical death and a definite spiritual death for eternity.
      • Spiritual death is an eternal separation from a God who requires moral holiness.
      • Spiritual death is the reward of the non-believer that never humbles himself to God to ask for forgiveness of sin.
  • ^“Hear me now therefore, O ye children and depart not from the words of my mouth. Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:” (7-8)
    • The idea is to get as far away from this temptation as possible.
    • In other words, don’t even think about it.
  • “Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel: Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;” (9-10)
    • Key words: Stranger (this is the same as the strange woman = prostitute).
      • Secret sexual sins are shameful in normal society. How many celebrities, politicians, and religious leaders have traded their integrity and honor for this cheap moment of pleasure?
      • Prostitution becomes a cruel task master when it becomes a lifestyle, both for the prostitute and the man that visits her.
    • What is the cost?
      • Your wealth is given for an end that is not glamorous neither personally beneficial.
      • The young man works hard for his money only to spend it on something that will harm him in the end.
  •  ^“And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!” (11-13)
    • Key words: Instruction (moral discipline for discernment); heart (inner man); despised (contempt for); reproof (correction).
      • Notice that in the end the flesh of the body is consumed. These are the sexual diseases that have existed from the beginning of man’s fall into sin in Genesis 2.
      • When Israel entered the Promised Land with Joshua, God told them to kill all the inhabitants of the land. Why?
        • The tribes living in the land were plagued with many kinds of sexual diseases. Evidence in archaeology has verified the epidemic proportion of these diseases among pagan tribes in the Promised Land.
        • There was even religious prostitution where a pagan temple offered a prostitute as part of worship to a pagan god.
        • God wanted His people to remain pure and free from this evil practice. That is why the Israelites were to kill all the inhabitants of the land. Because they did not do that, they fell under the spell of “strange women” and the idolatry and diseases they brought to God’s people.
    • God told the Israelites not to marry these foreign women because they brought their foreign idols with them. But like the young man, they hated God’s moral discipline and correction.
      • The Israelites did not listen to God. The result was sexual promiscuity that compromised first the home and then religion.
      • Solomon is the prime example of failing to live up to the wisdom God gave him.
  • ^“ I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.” (14)
    • This is an amazing verse. It predicts exactly what happened to Israel.
      • The religious worship of God Jehovah became so polluted with foreign religions and idols as a result of intermarriage with foreign women that idols were even put into God’s holy temple.
      • Of course when that happened, God’s Holy Spirit left the temple, then Israel. The book of Ezekiel describes this apostasy.
    • For this reason of pollution of all that is good in society when Israel brought in “strange women”, intermarried with them, and began to worship their idols, the end result of the “strange woman” is a false religion.
      • This is why wisdom in Proverbs is called a woman and speaks of the true religion of Jesus Christ
      • Wisdom as a woman shows you the contrast with the “strange woman” that starts with prostitution but ends in a false religion.
      • We see that downward slide from morality to immorality in Rom 1.
        • Read Rom 1:19-32
        • Notice that the slippery slide begins with replacing God with something else and as it progresses downward, sexual sins abound.
        • It is amazing to see this link between sexuality and religion explained in Romans 1.
        • If man does not follow God’s plan that teaches him wisdom (skillful living), he will be taught by experience which is a cruel teacher because man makes mistakes in his experiences.
      • Man’s attempt to change marriage to include a homosexual relationship is opposed to God’s original design of one man and one woman for life.
• Read Pro 5:15-23 To avoid the immoral slippery slope:
  • “Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well. (15)
  • ^“Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets. (16)
  • ^“Let them be only thine own, and not strangers’ with thee.” (17)
    • This passage is a metaphor that needs some interpretation:
      • In verse 15 the young man is counseled to act correctly.
        • He is to drink from “thine own cistern” which is a parallel with “thine own well”
        • The cistern and the well refer to sexual relations with his own wife.
        • If he does not have a wife, he should get one as all Jewish men were expected to marry.
      • In verse 16 the young man is not acting correctly.
        • “thy fountains” is in parallel with “rivers of waters”.
        • The fountains and rivers of waters refer to the male’s ability to procreate.
        • He should not wastefully scatter his procreation ability in the streets where prostitutes live. This refers to the children of prostitutes that end up living in the streets.
      • In verse 17 we see the correct behavior in contrast with the incorrect behavior where “thine own” is in contrasting parallel with “strangers”.
        • “Thine own” refers to his own wife.
        • Remember that “strangers” refers to prostitutes.
    • To understand these three verses correctly, they must be kept together so as not to lose the pattern of the Jewish style of poetry. If you don’t keep them together, you will mis-interpret verse 16.
  • ^“ Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.  Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.” (18-19)
    • God will bless the man that is faithful to his wife sexually. Marriage was God’s plan for the blessing of husband and wife and family. He will find satisfaction and affection in true love in a family that lasts and satisfies for a lifetime.
      • There is a difference between love and lust.
      • Love is of the Spirit and comes from God. Lust is of the flesh and is temporary.
    • Society, moved by Satan, attempts to remove marriage as an institution established by God. They say it is only a piece of paper with no meaning. But here in Proverbs God gives marriage meaning. (Heb 13:4)
    • Read 1Pet 3:7
  • “And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?  For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings.” (20-21)
    • Key words: Stranger (prostitute); pondereth (think deeply about).
    • What is it that the young man should think deeply about?
      • His actions are always before the eyes of God.
      • While many people say it is between two consenting adults, man forgets that God also sees it.
      • Sin done in darkness may be hidden from man’s eyes, but never from God’s.
  • “His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.”(22-23)
    • Key words: Iniquities (sins); wicked (the lawless evil doer); holden (hold firm); instruction (moral discipline for discernment); folly (foolish lack of God); astray (wrong way).
    • Notice the addictive nature of sin that firmly holds the young man with “cords of his sins”.
      • Sexual addiction can be as strong as any other addiction.
      • He will never be free because he does not exercise any moral discipline to his actions.
      • He is a fool without God in his life and will continually go the wrong way.

Homework
Proverbs 6

• Application of Proverbs 5
  • Why is it important for the young man to move away from the door of the strange woman? The result of prostitution for both the prostitute and the man that visits her is disease, physical death, and spiritual death.
  • What happens to the wealth of the young man that visits the strange woman? (9-10) It is squandered and wasted on lustful pleasure for a moment.
  • What does verse 14 tell you about the background of this young man? He knew the truth of God having grown up with believers.
  • What do you think verse 15 means? Have sexual relations only with your own spouse.
  • If the Holy Spirit convicts you of any kind of sexual sin, you need to repent and ask God’s forgiveness. He will forgive you and help you. (1Joh 1:9)
• Preparation for Proverbs 6
  • Read Pro 6:1-35
    • What is surety and why is it bad? (1-2) (see the Proverbs dictionary)
    • What is a sluggard? (9-10) (see the Proverbs dictionary)
    • What are the characteristics of a froward person? (14-15) (see the Proverbs dictionary)
    • What do you think is the most evil part of the body? Why?
    • Why does a person that commits adultery lack understanding? (32) (see the Proverbs dictionary for the meaning of understanding).
• Memory Verse: Proverbs 6:23