The Gospel According to Proverbs: Wisdom Will Deliver You

We pray with me, our gracious God and our Father. We thank you for the privilege of gathering together in your presence and among your people to worship you. We thank you for the reminder to day of. The joy and duty and responsibility and the stewardship that comes with raising and preparing and training and discipling the next generation. Grant by your grace that we might not only be reminded of this, but that our commitment may be renewed, our efforts redouble, our passion restored, and Grandfather, that as we continue now in your word, that we might become better equipped for the task. We pray and ask these things in Christ's name and for his sake. Amen. Well, I was informed just a few days ago that today was the special service for the Eagles Nest, and my immediate response was panic, because I thought, okay, well, I didn't realize that this was you know, when I've had this date for a year, I didn't know that this was going to be happening on this date. And now we have, you know, the Eagles Nest and the Grade sevens. And then all of a sudden, in the midst of my panic, I was reminded that My series in the morning was on the Book of Proverbs, which is a father speaking to his son. So suddenly I realized that my panic was completely unwarranted, and that God, in his providence, had taken care of it all. Amen, join me if you will, if you have your Bibles with you. In the Book of Proverbs. Today we'll be looking at verses sixteen through nineteen, but by way of review, we'll read the whole of chapter two. And remember that this is the king speaking to his son. This is the King preparing his son and his sons to live well and to rule well, to live godly lives. This is a picture of a father mentoring discipling his sons. But it is also picture of those who are more mature in Christ mentoring and discipling those who are less mature in Christ, and even those who do not yet know the Lord. This is about laying a foundation in the lives of our children so that they might come to know God rightly. This is also a picture of what it looks like to disciple those who are. Young in their faith. With that in mind, begin with me in Proverbs chapter two, Verse one, My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding. Yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom and his mouth, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints. Then you will understand the righteous. Then you will understand righteousness, and justice and equity, and every good path. For wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you, delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech, who forsake the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness, who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil, Men whose paths are crooked, and who are devious in their ways. And now our text for this morning, so you will be delivered from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words, who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God. For her house sinks down to death, and her paths to the departed. None who go to her come back, nor do they regain the path of life. Amen. Our series is the Gospel according to Proverbs, and today the title of today's messages Wisdom will deliver you. We've seen Wisdom's sermon. Wisdom has been personified here. There are two great figures of characters in the book of Proverb. One is Lady Wisdom. The other is Dame Folly. We're going to see another personification today, who is a minor personification, if you will, but still a picture of Dame Folly. But Wisdom was seen. As preaching in the streets, calling to the simple ones, preaching this message and calling away from Folly and calling towards God. We understand that this wisdom is the wisdom of God. We see this as we read chapter two. We're defining wisdom for this series as the righteous application of true knowledge, the righteous application of true knowledge. Not just the application of knowledge, but the righteous application of true knowledge. Again, we must apply these things righteously, and we can only do that in Christ. And it's the righteous application of true knowledge. Our young sister who came and gave us that wonderful and rousing speech, gave us a great example of the difference between just knowledge and true knowledge. Knowledge would say that the world came into existence through the Big Bang, that nothing exploded, and then the explosion of nothing. We got everything. That that's knowledge. It is the knowledge that is received and accepted by the majority of the people in the world today. However, there is also true knowledge. You can apply that knowledge and you end up in a ditch. If you can't say amen, you aught to say ouch. True knowledge, and our sister also reminded us of that true knowledge is that there is a God who spoke the world into existence. This is true knowledge. And the righteous application of that true knowledge is wisdom. And so here we've seen how wisdom brings us to righteousness because it brings us to God. We saw that in a previous message, and now we see how wisdom delivers us. And in this text we have a specific instance of deliverance from the forbidden woman from the adulteress. Remember that as we talk about the Gospel according to Proverbs, we're looking at two great enemies to the Gospel. One great enemy to the Gospel is the enemy of legalism. Legalism is the idea that being made right with God comes from keeping the law. And we've also looked at the fact that legalism has to reduce use the law because it doesn't take long for the legalists to realize that he can't keep all of the law. So what the legalist does is reduces the law to some laws that can be kept, or at least some laws that we are deceived into believing that we can keep. But legalism is an enemy of the Gospel because if we can keep the law, then why do we need Christ. It negates the person and work of Christ. The other great enemy to the Gospel is moralism, and we've talked about the fact that moralism. Moralism is the real enemy here when we look at Proverbs, because the way we look at Proverbs, the way we read Proverbs is usually to moralize proverbs. Moralism has the idea that the way we are made right with God is by being made good, moral, upstanding people, doing good things and not bad things. Moralism sees Christ as a mere moral example. We talked about that phrase that was so popular a while back, what would Jesus do wwj D. In other words, we live our lives looking at circumstances and asking ourselves what would Jesus do. At the heart of that is moralism. Jesus is just our moral example. And again moralism is an enemy of the Gospel, because if Jesus is just our moral example, then the question, just like with legalism, is why why did Christ have to die? More specifically, why did the father crush and kill his only begotten son in whom that was found no sin? If all we need to do is keep the law, and if we're capable of keeping the law in and of ourselves, or if all he was here to be was a moral example, then why does Christ go to the cross? It is useless and it is senseless if moralism is the answer. However, you and I both know that the way we usually read the Book of Proverbs is pure moralism, but a right understanding of the Book of Proverbs. As we've tried to attain over these last eight messages, it is now our ninth message in the series points us not to moralism, but again and again and again points us to the cross, points us to the person and work of Christ. We are reminded again and again that Christ is the wise son of Proverbs. He is that son of Solomon, who is the wise son of Proverbs. He is a physical descendant and heir of Solomon. He is the promised heir of Solomon. He is the one to whom the Book of Proverbs points and he is the only one who is the wise son of Proverbs. The rest of us are the fool. Amen, it's amazing when we read the Book of Proverbs, we want to make ourselves the wise son. Stop that you're not the wise son. You're the fool. If you see yourself as the wise son of Proverbs, you are deceived. You are not the wise son. You are the fool. And apart from Christ, that's all you ever will be. It is only in Christ. It is only when Christ is formed in us that we begin to resemble the wise Son of Proverbs. And here in this text. We have for the first time this specific application to what wisdom does, this specific application to how wisdom changes our lives, the specific applic cation to how wisdom delivers us, And this specific application is in the area of adultery. I know the question is it right to talk about sexual sin in public? Is it right to talk about sexual sin in church? Is it right to talk about sexual sin in front of young people? Isn't the American just being inappropriate? But before we answer that, let me give you a few facts about adultery in the Bible. Number one, adultery is a prevalent theme throughout the entire Bible. We see the word adultery throughout the Pentitude. All of the books of Moses mentioned adultery. The Wisdom literature, as evidenced by our reading here in Proverbs mentions adultery. The prophets not only mention adultery, but adultery is a prevalent and primary theme in the Prophets. In fact, when the Prophets talk about Israel's sin against God and their faithlessness against God, what is the word that they use to talk about Israel forsaking God? It is adultery, this spiritual reality. When we get to the New Testament, we find adultery mentioned prominently in the Gospels and in the epistles, and even in those books of the Bible where the word adultery might not be mentioned, It features. For example, in Old Testament narrative, usually won't find the word adultery. However, in Old Testament narrative, who is the most prominent character? In Old Testament narrative? The Old Testament narrative books first and second King versus Second Chronicles First and second Samuel. Who's David? And what is the most prominent event in David's life outside of killing the Giant? It is his adultery with Beth Sheepa. In the Book of Revelation, you won't necessarily find the word adultery. But when you read about the horror of Babylon, what is it that she seduces the world to do to commit adultery with her? In other words, you can't read the Bible without reading about adultery. So if we don't want young people to hear about adultery, don't let them read the Bible. Now, we laugh because we know that's ridiculous, right, But can I ask another question? If you can't read the Bible without reading about adultery, and one of the things that we want to do as parents who want to raise godly children is to inculcate in them the habit of reading the Bible. Then why is it that we're uncomfortable with talking to young people about one of the most prevalent issues that they will find in the Bible that we're trying to teach them to read. There's a couple of possibilities. Possibility Number one is God is inappropriate. Now you know better than that, Amen, God's a lot of things we heard about, many of them omniscient, omnipotent, I'm the present, Amen, all knowing all wise? Are all knowing? All wise? God is not inappropriate. The other possibility is that our attitude toward this subject is inappropriate. That's the more like that's the more likely scenario. Our attitude toward this subject is inappropriate. And that's what I'm arguing, that our attitude toward this subject is inappropriate. God makes it very clear that this is an important issue, and in the book that is our model for parents modeling and discipling and mentoring their children. The first practical application of the principal issue in the book. The principal issue in the book is wisdom, and the first practical application that the father gives to his son about wisdom is a warning about adultery. Why is this. So important? Well, I think The answer is found in the text. Let's look at it again, beginning at verse sixteen, our particular text, So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman from the adulterous, with her smooth words, who foresets the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God. For her house sinks down to death, and her paths to the departed. None who go to her come back, nor do they regain the path of life. Several truths that I want to lift from this text. The first is this when we talk about wisdom delivering you. The first it's a simple one, but it's incredibly important, and that is that wisdom delivers us. We see that in verse sixteen, So you will be delivered. What do you mean, isn't that obvious? No, no, it's not obvious, because remember when we read the Book of Proverbs, we always turn it into moralism. And if you remember. Back to our introductory message, I talked about two ideas, indicatives and imperatives. You remember that as I see some of you going like this, others of you like you know what farmers call that, look a calf staring at a new gate that wasn't here before. No indicatives and imperatives. What is an indicative and indicative indicates what something is. This is a microphone. An imperative tells you something to do. Speak into the microphone, fair enough. Indicative, imperatives indicative, This is what it is. Imperative, This is what you do now. One of the things moralism does is it turns indicatives into imperatives, because the moralist is always going to the Bible looking for a list of things that we must do. And so a. Moralist would read this passage of scripture and come away with we must guard ourselves, deliver ourselves, free ourselves from the adulteress. But I want you to notice that there is not a single imperative in this passage. Let me read it again. An imperative tells you something to do, so you will be delivered from the forbidden woman, from the adulters of their smooth words, who forsakes the companions of her youth and forgets to come to her God. Her house sinks down to death, her paths to the departed. None who go to her come back, nor do they regain the paths of life. Were you told to do anything in that paragraph? Not one single thing. Now, I am not saying that there's nothing for us to do in regard to adultery or sexual sin. That's not my point. What I'm saying is there's another message that this text is trying to deliver. Solomon's trying to say something to his son, and what he's trying to say to his son is that this wisdom delivers him. The tense and voice of the verb here is key. This is passive means it's something that is done to you. There's also parallels here, a parallel to Verse twelve, delivering you from the way of evil from men of perverted speech. This is what wisdom does. Wisdom delivers. And remember, when we seek wisdom, we find God a seeking wisdom. This wisdom comes from God. This personification of wisdom is the wisdom that we find in Christ. Christ is our wisdom, Who delivers us. Wisdom delivers us. Who's wisdom referring to here Christ, Christ delivers you. The law doesn't deliver you from adultery, and moralism doesn't deliver you from adultery. Christ delivers you. By the way, this is true of all sin. Christ delivers you. He is the one who gives us eyes to see temptation, grace to resist temptation, and the ability to flee from temptation. God is our deliverer. In fact, he says of himself, I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Our very understanding of the nature of God is to understand that He is a deliverer. Two Timothy, Chapter one, verses eight through ten. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the Gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. God saves sinners. God delivers sinners. It is his work and his work alone. This is why legalism is a lie and moralism is a lie. Legalism says you can save yourself by keeping the law. Moralism says you can save yourself by being a good enough person. But the Gospel says Christ saves, and He alone saves. Flee to Him for salvation, Luke chapter two of verse eleven. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord. He is a savior Jude verse twenty five. To the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, be glory and majesty, dominion, authority before all time, now and forever more. Christ indeed is our Savior. Wisdom delivers, Wisdom delivers, and it may seem like a small semantic as well. Of course, yeah, we understand that, right. No, no, no, no, no, we don't understand that. We don't understand that. We believe that. We believe that God gives you the ability and the strength and the knowledge and the wisdom to deliver yourself. We believe that God helps you to deliver yourself. We even have phrases for it. Right. God helps those who help themselves. By the way, that's not in the Bible, unless your Bible contains the Book of Second Hesitation. God helps those who realize that. They cannot help themselves. Amen, that's a more accurate rendering of the way the Gospel is presented to us. Wisdom delivers us, what does to deliver us from two things, the wrath of God against sin and from sin itself. Delivers us from God's wrath, from the punishment that we deserve because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And then it delivers us from sin itself. We talk about this in the order salutis, or the order of salvation and justification. We are declared righteous and it frees us from the penalty of sin and sanctification. We are made righteous progressively and it frees us from the power of sin and glorification. In glorification, we are ultimately righteous in glory and we're delivered from the very presence of sin. But who does this delivering in justification and sanctification and glorification. It is Christ himself who delivers us. God delivers from sin. And so when we were talking about this personification of Lady Wisdom, the reminder here is that wisdom delivers flee to this wisdom, which will lead you to God, which will lead you to righteousness, and therein you find deliverance. Again, we don't use the Bible, how do we use proverbs often? How does the moralist use the Book of Proverbs? The moralist uses the Book of Proverbs as a book filled with principles for a successful life. Do this and this and this and this and this and this and this, and you will have a successful life. That's the wrong answer. That's moralism's answer, and it is an affront and an offense to the Gospel. We flee to Christ. Secondly, wisdom delivers us from our weakness and sin. It's interesting when you look here at the picture of the adulteress and know this that the reason that the Bible speaks so much about adultery is because adultery is used not only for the actual sin of adultery itself, but for the spiritual reality. Of our proneness. To wander away from God, prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it, prone to believe God I love. Here's my heart, Lord, tak and seal it. Seal it four that courts above that wandering in a spiritual sins is often communicated to us, especially in the prophets, as adultery, and so adultery here is used two ways. Number one for the actual physical sin, for the actual sin of adultery, but number two for the spiritual reality of wandering away from God, and we'll see that as we go further into the text. But because of these two ways that it is used, it were reminded that what's happening here is that we are being delivered from our own sin and weakness. When we sin, we like to point fingers and we like to find that, well, why did it happen? And usually when we talk about why it happened, we're not pointing here, We're pointing out there. Why did this happen? Well, you know, I was raised in a family where that happened, and therefore, well you know, I was raised in circumstances where this was common, and therefore, well you know, I had this experience in my childhood, and therefore, well you know, there's all this stuff on TV, and it just creates these appetites, and therefore, well you know, well, you know, well, you know, always pointing outward. But I want you to see something here. Look at verse sixteen again, so you will be delivered from the forbidden woman, from the adulterous last phrase, with her smooth words, with her smooth words. The idea here is that we are enticed why are you enticed because of desires that you have the emphasis on her smooth words implies that this enticement is coming from within us. That the adulteress knows the sin and weakness that is in us and plays on the sin and weakness that is in us. We don't just fall to sexual sin because of what our eyes see or because of what our bodies want. And our adversary knows that the adulteress and by extension, Satan, knows to attack where our defenses are weak or non existent. Hence the enticement. James Chapter one, beginning of verse twelve gives us a beautiful picture of this enticement. Blessed is the. Man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires. Then desire, when it has conceived, gives gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings death. We are enticed by our own desires. Proverbs, Chapter six, verse twenty three to twenty eight. The adulters shows up. The forbidden woman shows up many times in Proverbs. This is a recurring theme. Go to chapter six, verse twenty three, for the command 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 her smooth tongue, or from the smooth tongue of the adulteress. Do not desire her beauty in your heart. 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 pressure 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? We could look again in chapter seven and see similar warnings a warning about this enticement. Why is this important? Remember that there are two pictures here. One is a physical reality of the other as a spiritual one. Adultery is a multi layered sin. First, it involves the breaking of multiple commandments. It is the seventh commandment, you shall not commit adultery, But how about the eighth commandment, you shall not steal. What is adultery but stealing that which does not belong to you. The ninth commandment about lying and bearing falseoo witness. Adultery is lying in very false false witness. And I'm not just talking about the lying to cover up the adultery. I'm talking about the lie that we engage in when we commit the adultery. It's always a lie because of one or both of you has said at some point, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, forsaking all others, cleaving only to you until we are until we are parted by death. Adultery says I lied, I lied. And so we're breaking the ninth commandment, And of course we're breaking the tenth commandment, the tenth commandment against coveting, specifically covering your neighbor's wife. So it's a multi layered sin, and that there are multiple commandments that are broken here. But it also so involves many subsets of sin. And here is why it is so often connected with our spiritual abandonment of God. It involves lust, discontentment, covenant breaking, selfishness, a lack of self control, short sightedness, and idolatry. All of these things. Are at the heart of Israel forsaking its covenant with God, but also at the heart of all who forsake their covenant with God. Not only does sin deliver or does wisdom rather deliver us from our own weakness and sin, but it also delivers us from our adversaries the world, the flesh, and the devil. And here those things are personified by the adulteress, and wisdom does deliver us from the other ultrs. Look at verse sixteen, who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God. Again, the sin of adultery is not just about a sexual sin. It goes much deeper than that. Note how the text uses parallelism here, and there's parallels throughout this text. Each line is a parallel, and here the parallel shows us that this woman not only forsakes the companion of her youth. This is not only a sin against her husband, but it is also a sin against her God, before whom she made this covenant. There is a spiritual reality here and in a very real sense, the one who calls us away to forsake God in this particular sin, it's calling us away to forsake God in general, to say that God is not enough, to say that God can't satisfy, to say that we have needs that God cannot or will not fulfill. And this is why, David says in Psalm fifty one, beginning verse three again, Psalm fifty one is the psalm that comes out of this relationship with Bathsheba. This is him and his repentance over his adultery. And he says, for I know my transgression, and my sin is ever before me against you, and you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. David says, I committed this sin physically with bath Sheba, and physically I violated my vows and my covenant, but ultimately my sin was against you Proverbs twenty three, twenty six to twenty eight, My son, give me your heart and let your eyes observe my ways. For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well, she lies in wait like a robber and increases the traitors among mankind. This is a very real issue, both in the spiritual and the physical sense, and it has tremendous consequences. When the text here talks about delivering us from the adulteress, it's saying far more than this. Let me just give you in the physical sense what this means, just the physical consequences of sin, the layers of people involved in adultery. First of all, there's you, Then there's the other woman or man. Then there's your spouse, and there's their spouse, Your children who are impacted by this, and their children who are impacted by this. Also, any children who are produced through the adulterous act are impacted by this for their entire lives. The generations to follow are impacted by this. You know, one of the things that's been interesting. You know they're there. They are these new genetic tests now and you can do the genetic testing, and they can tell you where your come where you come from, and you can you can follow your ancestry. And a lot of people are doing this for various reasons. A lot of people want to know a lot of a lot of people a lot of black people in the US are doing this. Some of you have asked me, you know, we've been here for four years now, and people kind of ask me, where exactly where are you from? Like where part of Africa are you from? And they look at me strangely when I say, I have no idea, How. Can you have no idea? I'm you know, when they take you away and put you on a ship with no papers, send you to a plantation and give you a made up name, make you a slave, your descendants generally don't get a note that says, oh, by the way, we were stolen from this country. And so a lot of people are going in there. They're doing this this genetic testing in order to find out and it's intriguing. It's intriguing, be wonderful to know, right, what if? What if my ancestors were originally from Zambia. But here's one of the things that's been happening. Commonly, people go and they do the genetic testing, and they come back and they have to have a discussion because they say, you know, mom, my genetic test says that I'm definitely related to you, but not to dad. There are thousands of such stories, thousands of them, and adultery that is being uncovered after twenty thirty forty fifty years and has tremendous implications. This impacts your good name, their good name, your family's good name, their family's good name. It impacts the institution of marriage. Do you know how many people look disparaging upon the institution of marriage because of the prevalence of adultery? The broader community not to mention God, the name of Christ, the image of Christ and his sacrificial love for his bride, the Church which is pictured in the union of marriage, and the reputation of the Christian community, just to name eighteen things. This is a serious sin with serious implications. How dare we not warn the young people about it? How often have I had conversations with people who felt pregnant when they were fourteen, fifteen, sixteen years old and wished that someone had warned them before this time instead of waiting until who knows when to have a discussion about it. Isn't that interesting? The Bible talks about it from Genesis to maps, but we won't talk about it with the children whom we are raising to walk in godliness. And yet the implications are so great. Finally, we see in the text that wisdom delivers us from death. Can you remember what I was saying about the fact that there is this double led sword here, that we're talking about both the physical reality and the spiritual reality. And you see that here in verses eighteen nineteen, for her house sinks down to death. Is that physically No, We're now talking about the spiritu reality. This is why you need to be delivered. For her house sinks down to death and her path to the departed. None who go to her come back, nor do they regain the paths of life. Here we're not talking about physical adultery, but spiritual adultery. We see here that the father is using this very prevalent physical reality to teach his son a deeper spiritual truth about the consequences of faithlessness to God, about the consequences of forsaking our covenant with God. And here again we're not talking about the idea that somehow we're keeping ourselves saved. We're talking here about the idea of clinging to legalism or clinging to moralism, as opposed to clinging to Christ as our only hope for salvation. The end of adultery is the end of all sin death, and the text here is absolutely explicit. Proverbs Chap. Five, Verses twenty to twenty three gives us another picture of this. Why should you be intoxicated, my son with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress. For a man's ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and he ponders all his paths. The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast to the cords of his sin. He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he has led astray death Proverb six twenty three. He who commits adultery lacks sense. He who does it destroys himself. This is true in a physical and a spiritual sense. Under the Old Covenant. In Leviticus, Chapter twenty and verse ten, we read if a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. It was a capital crime in the Levitical law. It's just that serious to God, especially because of the spiritual significance. So what do we do? I'm glad you asked. Let me do this first from the side of parents or mentors disciples, and then from the side of young people. What should what should this do to us? As we are working our way through Proverbs, working our way through the Gospel according to Proverbs, understanding the Gospel in Proverbs, understanding that Christ is the wise son of Proverbs, and that coming to Christ means that this wise son of Proverbs will be formed in us. What do we do with this particular paragraph and its particular warnings about adultery? From both sides? Parents, do this Number one, Pray for purity. Pray for purity. This is absolutely prevalent. This is a real issue. Our need and our desire for sex is as real as our need and desire for food and water. It's how God created us. Sex is a necessary, beautiful, good, God glorifying thing, and yet it's only appropriate in certain contexts. In many ways, sex is like fire. You put fire in a fireplace, or you put fire on a barbecue, and it's good. It will warm you. Not today, it will warm you. You just need to understand. I've spent the last several weeks in the US and in the UK where it is winter. I'm dying right now. But you put fire in its right context, and it will warm you. It will give you heat, It will give you warmth, warmth, it will cook your food. Fire is good, Amen, But if you let it outside of that context, it will consume and destroy everything in its path. The same is true for sex. Hear me, young people, the same is true for sex, good, glorious, beautiful, and dangerous. Pray for purity. Pray for purity. Young people have this need and they have this desire, and it is natural and it is normal. Secondly, model purity, model purity. Don't just demand purity and pray for purity. Purity, model fidelity. Sir. If you're a. Husband who flirts with every woman in your path and that's the model that you're setting for your sons and your daughters, repent, Madam. If you are a woman who does the same and that's what you're modeling for your sons and your daughters, repent. Model purity. We're teaching, and much more is caught than talked. Amen. Thirdly, teach purity. Teach purity. Don't just assume that it will be caught by osmosis. Teach purity. We have an example here in Proverbs, what does Solomon do. He teaches. We see it in chapter two, and chapter five and chapter seven, Chapter twenty two. All throughout the Book of Proverbs, he goes to this issue again and again and again. He teaches a He teaches it, and he doesn't just wait until just before the child's about to get married to say, Okay, here's some lessons. Again. If you can't say amen, you got to say ouch. He offers this warning and this instruction early enough. And then expect it expected. Expected, not because our children are strong enough, but because wisdom delivers. Amen to the young people. Number one is the same. Pray for purity. Pray that God will grant you purity, that he would protect you, that he will keep you. There are people all over this room today whose lives have been impact it forever because of decisions that they made when they were your age or just a little older that changed their lives forever forever. There are people who are no longer with us because of sexual decisions that they made when they were just a little older than you. Some who contracted HIV and it took their lives because of a sexual decision that they made when they were in their teens. Pray for purity. Pray that God will protect you in this regard. And don't just pray for this sexual purity physically, but for the spiritual purity that it represents, because we are prone to wonder from God himself, and it is the same adultery. Secondly, guard your heart. Guard your heart, watch what you feed yourself, Watch where you spend your time. Because the woman who is personified here as the adulteress comes in many forms and she entices in many ways. Guard yourself. She would love nothing more than for you to become a legalist or a moralist who says that I'm okay because I do ABC and I don't do X y Z. Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. Finally, don't trust your own strength. Don't trust your own strength. I can't tell you how many conversations I've had with young people who thought, well, well, we thought that we would just go this far and no further. That's a lie from the pit of hell. Don't trust your own strength. Don't trust your own strength. This goes back to the first point. Wisdom delivers. We don't deliver ourselves. We are dependent upon God for this deliverance, and Finally, for parents and for young people, remember that the one who delivers in this is Christ, and that the deliverance that comes is the deliverance that comes because we are found in the wise son of Proverbs, who is Christ himself. He is the one who guards our hearts. He is the one who keeps us, who rescues us, who delivers us. And finally, let me say this to anyone under the sound of my voice who hears what I've said today and says, oh, that I would have heard this, Then anyone who hears these words of mine today and says, oh, brother, yes, but it's too late for me, listen to me. Jesus saves to the uttermost. There is no sin too great. Jesus saves. I don't know what you've done. I don't need to know what you've done. I know this, Whatever it is that you've done, it's not bigger than a dead Jesus. Christ died for sin, once for all, the just, for the unjust, in order that he might bring us back to God. God made him who knew no sin, to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. For some reason, we have a tendency to believe that because this sin can become so public and its implications so great, that somehow this sin disqualifies in ways that other sins do not, that somehow we can never get back, That somehow this sin makes us outside of the purview and the reach of God's goodness and his grace and his mercy. That is blasphemy against the blood of Christ. Jesus says to the uttermost, the only one who is outside of the reach of his saving is the one who does not come in repentance and faith. This is not the unpardonable sin faithlessness, the refusal to repent and to flee to Christ, that is unpardonable. Adulteres. Not flee to Christ. Find in him. You're all in all, finding him your only hope. And then, remember you are still prone to wander, probably more so so, flee to Christ, and don't stop fleeing to Christ, because He will never stop being your answer and your only hope. Let's pray, God, you are good better to us than we could or would be to ourselves. Grant by yourself, Grant by your grace, that we might rest in that goodness and in that goodness alone. Grant that wisdom might deliver us, the wisdom that is found in the person and work of Christ. Grant that we might be found in Him, in clothed in his righteousness alone. And grant as we pray in Christ's name and for his sake. Amen,