Beware of the Dog - Stay out of her Bedroom

Well take your Bible turn back with me to Proverbs chapter 6. Like I said earlier, I said it last week, we will be in chapter 6 and in chapter 7. Last week we covered a smaller portion of scripture. We looked at verses 1 to 19. If you think back, we covered a wide variety of subjects and there were really only two that were connected. I'll briefly go over what we looked at. We looked at wealth, specifically one being irresponsible because he had assumed the responsibility of another's debt. Then we looked at work. We looked at the lazy man, the slugger who did not want to work.

And then we looked at the wicked or the worthless life of the wicked. Yeah, the scripture does call him worthless. He's worthless, he's wicked. And then we had another subject and these two were related. We looked at how God viewed that wicked behavior. Now I called verses 1 to 19 lessons in general studies. I felt like those were individual lessons. I thought that it was a wide variety of subjects. It was a broad education. It was being equipped in multiple areas in life. And I used that college analogy. I called it lessons in general studies. Now tonight we get into a big portion of scripture. It's over 40 verses.

Now I think you know my habit now when we're covering a big portion of scripture. I'm not going to read every scripture but that's okay. We're going to cover chapter 6 verses 20 to 35 and then all of chapter 7. And I warned you last week because I told you we were going to zoom through all this. It's a lot of material but it's really all about one particular subject. It's really all about one woman. There's one woman who's the main character. This is the adulterous woman. I called her the neighborhood harlot. I called her a smooth talking seductive sleep around and you might say pastor I can't believe you use the word sleep around.

We're going to see that's just what she was. I even said she's the woman with a red light in her window because we're going to see her window tonight. She's a homewrecker. That's a good way to put it. She's a man killer. We're going to learn tonight. She's a destroyer of many lives. She's the main character and then the young fool who chases after her he comes in right behind her. And I said last week these verses are really a degree in higher learning. What I mean by a degree of higher learning we have one subject and we're going deeper and deeper. We're covering more details.

This is all concerning sexual immorality, adultery, really sex outside of marriage. And I'm going to speak more about this degree of higher learning when we get to the end of the message, the conclusion of the message. Now I have divided all of these verses in four ways. I call them divisions or major truths in our outline. I put them here for you. I give them to you so that you can write them down. But they're easy for you to follow along. We're going to be looking at what I'm calling a call to his teaching. This is the end of chapter six and the beginning of chapter seven.

Then the consequences to sleeping around because that's what he gets into starting in verse 27 on down to verse 35. Now that finishes up chapter six. And then we see number three, the play. I'm using this term play. The play of this sleeping around verses six to 23 and then the path of this sleeping around. And this is verses 24 to 27. Now I said it already, I'll remind you, we will not cover every verse. And again, if I allude to a verse, if I don't read a verse, if I skip over a verse, I'm leaving that for you to go study. This is a very interesting subject. It's a sad subject. It's a serious subject.

And I believe after we zoom through this message that you will have some curiosity start up in you and I believe you can go and study and get more out of what is before us. So you see how we're going to start off. Number one, the first division, this is the call to his teaching. I'm calling verses 20 to 26 and then chapter seven verses one to five. I'm calling this a call or the call to his teaching. Now I don't do this very often, but I'm combining two different portions of scripture. These two blocks of scripture are very, very similar. What I mean by that is the verses in chapter six and then the beginning of chapter seven.

And I think that you'll see how, how, how similar they are as we go through the verses. Now I'm going to make three observations here. We're going to see a reminder. We're going to see his responsibility and then the reason there's a reminder from Solomon and then there's the son's responsibility. And then there's a reason for all of this. It's given in these verses. So notice first off the reminder. Look at verse 20. My son, keep your father's commandments or commandment and forsake not your mother's teaching. That is a reminder. Now go over to chapter seven verses one, two, and three.

My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you. Keep my commandments and live. Keep my teaching as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers. Write them on the tablet of your heart. This is the reminder. Solomon is doing what he's been doing all along. He is a master teacher. I've said numerous times, he introduces a subject. We know that he's already introduced this subject. When he revisits the subject, then he adds to what he has already taught. Now I'll stop right here and I ask us a question. Could this be a good pattern for us as parents?

Could we introduce a subject to our children and then come back to that subject and then add to that subject? I do that in my own home. Yes. We don't just teach a subject one time. No. We teach and then we reteach. We teach and then we reteach. I'm reminded of how often Jesus reminded the disciples of something over and over and over. We are far more like the disciples than we know and our children definitely are. This is a pattern for us right away in this reminder. Notice what I call the double barrel approach. Y'all know what a double barrel shotgun is?

It's two barrels right here because in verse 20 and 21 we see Solomon and the young son 's mother. Isn't that the truth? My son, keep your father's commandment and forsake not your mother's teaching. Both were teaching the son and both have been teaching the son concerning this subject. Both have been at this job. So here is a reminder but there's a whole lot here to this reminder. But then second, I want us to see the responsibility. We begin to see a responsibility for this young son. Verse 20, on down to verse 23, "When you walk," verse 22, "they will lead you," talking about the commandments.

"When you lie down, they will watch over you and when you wake, they will talk with you." Verse 23, "For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life to preserve you." And then in verses 1 to 4 of chapter 7, "My son, keep my words, treasure up my commandments." Verse 2, "Keep my commandments." Verse 2, "Keep my teaching, bind them on your fingers, write them on the tablet of your heart. Say to wisdom, 'You are my sister,' and call for insight like you would an intimate friend." Here we have really loads of responsibility.

All types of language here, all types of images that communicate a great responsibility. He's saying, "Remember it. Hide it in your heart. Tie it on your fingers. Put it around your neck." That language is all through those verses. And what do we see? He is calling his son to keep God's word. Now I'm going to give you some specifics here, and you'll see it in the verses. He's saying, "First, keep it in your heart," then he's saying, "Second, keep it in your eyes." Look at verse 2 of chapter 7, "Keep my commandments and live. Keep my teaching as the apple of your eye." That phrase there meant the center.

What he's saying is this, "You keep God's word in your heart, and then keep it very center of your eye. Don't let it be in your peripheral vision. Let it be the center of your eyes, center of your vision." And then he's saying, "Third, put it in your behavior, and then treat it as family." What does he talk about? A sister and even an intimate friend. So this is all responsibility. He's reminding, and now he's saying, "Son, you have a lot of responsibility." And all of this language and all of these examples communicate the responsibility that the son had. And then the third specific, the reason, we see the reason.

Right in verse 24, there's a transition, "To preserve you from," now here's the reason, "from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of this adulteress." And then in verse 5, verse 5 of chapter 7, "To keep you from the forbidden woman." Here we see Solomon go from the reminder to the responsibility to the reason for it all. Maybe he's saying, "Dad, why? Why do you keep saying this?" Well here's the reason. He wants God's Word to protect him from this particular adulteress woman. This is the reason for all of the teaching. I just singled a few verses out.

In chapter 6, verse 24, "To preserve you from the evil woman." And then in the same verse, "To preserve you from the smooth talking adulteress." In chapter 7, verse 5, "To keep you from the forbidden woman." To keep you from the adulteress, smooth talking woman. He's repeating himself over and over. Now this is quite a bit in these verses, but in summary what do we see here? Solomon is reminding his son to me. It's as if the mother is standing behind the father and as he is instructing, she is just agreeing. Maybe even not even opening her mouth. He is calling the young son to be responsible to keep God's Word. We can hear his voice.

We can hear the father's voice to the son. Don't forget my commandments. Keep them in your heart. Keep the Word of God at the center of your eyes, in your behavior. Keep the Word as close as you would a family. He gave him the very practical reason. He says because God's Word will preserve you from the trap of this smooth talking beautiful adulteress woman.

I ran across a speculation this week by a Bible commentator and I'm quoting, and we don't know, this is just good for our imagination here, but he goes on to say about this young son and I'm quoting, "The young man has grown and has gone away to school, but he is reminded not to forget the things that were taught him by his father and mother." Now we don't know if he's moved away or if he's still at home, but he's old enough to, we're going to see, to be in the streets and to be tempted. So that helps us with our imagination. Now for application, I want to start off with a question and this question is directed for us as parents.

And my question is this, are we teaching our sons and daughters about immorality, sexual immorality, the sinfulness of sexual immorality and what God's Word says about it? Are we? Now I know it's a lot different if we have a three year old than if we have a 13 year old. I know. But my question is, are we teaching as we should? I cannot tell you how many times my wife and I have had young people come to us and say, you know, my parents never taught me anything. And they would go on to say they were susceptible. And so my question is, are we teaching our sons and daughters adequately?

If Solomon is our standard, we should be doing it every day, in the morning, in the evening, at lunchtime, at every opportunity we should be teaching and not just the father, but the mother, not just the mother, but the father. So I hope that this question is piercing to you and convicting to you and encouraging to you. Let Solomon be our pattern over and over with new illustration, with new stories. As they get older, we can go into greater detail. As they become adults, we can begin to treat them like adults. And if you need help there, that's what your pastors are here for.

That's what older women, more experienced women in the life of the church are here for why? Because it must be just like Solomon and Solomon's life. Now I thought about a good example. I try to give examples and stories because it does help, you know, turn on the light for us to understand these things. I will never forget there was a particular person in my family. It was one of my nephews to be specific. As he got older and his dad began to have those talks with him, he was beginning to be a young man. You know, his dad began to sit down and talk with him about what God's word says about adultery and sex and sex outside of marriage.

And he began to explain it to him from the scriptures. And lo and behold, one day my nephew was with some friends, so-called friends, and they began to talk about it outside of the context of the scriptures. And he stood up and said, "You are wrong. You are wrong. My dad has taught me. He has opened up the Bible. And my dad is an expert because he knows what God's word says. God invented it. He told me from the Bible, and you are wrong." That literally happened. And that's a good example.

And listen, young people, all kinds of voices are out there telling you what sex is supposed to be like, what it's supposed to look like, what's good and what's not good, but God's word is authoritative. And we're going to talk a little more about this as we go. So what do we have here? There's a whole lot here, a call to his teaching. This is Solomon to the son. He's calling over and over, reminding over and over, "Remember what your mother taught you. Remember what I've taught you." It's a call to that teaching. We've already seen that he's really just teaching around one of the commandments, the seven.

So let's move on to our second division. And that is number two, the consequences to this sleeping around. We see the consequences to this sleeping around. Now there's a transition in verse 27 of chapter six. Notice what he says. "Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned?" He starts off asking some questions. We see this in verse 27 and 28. These questions help the young son see the consequences of sleeping with this adulterous woman. But to me, verse 26 sets up the consequences. So let's go back to verse 26.

"For the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread, but a married woman hunts down a precious life." Then he turns into these questions. 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? You see those questions? These questions, and then all of the teaching down to verse 35, it's all about what's taking place in verse 26, the woman in verse 36 or 26. But notice what verse 26 says. She's a cheap prostitute. Go back to the verse. "For the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread." That's what he's calling her.

And then this woman here, she's also the adulterous married woman who hunts down a man. What does it say? "But a married woman hunts down a precious life." See that imagery? We see that imagery over into chapter 7 some more. So this imagery sets us up. Verse 26 sets us up for these consequences. Now there's some specifics here. Someone shows his son three consequences that he will pay for this cheap price. If he pays the cheap price for this woman, if he falls prey for this adulterous hunter, there are consequences. First notice, he says if you sleep with her, you're going to be burned.

Verse 27 and 28, "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?" Now think about it. Fire is good. Fire is good. If a fire is under control, we can use it for a lot of things. We can cook over food. Fire can warm us on a cold night. We all like a good bonfire, do we not? It can even generate power. Automatically think about those old-fashioned steam train engines. They ran off steam and the steam was generated by fire. There's a lot of good uses for fire, but here's the question. What happens when fire gets out of control? It's a catastrophe.

That which is good when it's out of control becomes very bad. Now think about this. Sex is good because God created sex to be between a married man and a woman, a married couple only. So if sex is controlled and only within the marriage, then it is clean and it is good. But a question. What happens when someone engages in sex outside of marriage? They're always burned, they'll always be pain, and there are always scars. And listen, those scars will last a lifetime. Just like fire. Fire will always burn, they'll always be pain, and there are always scars. And many times those scars will last a lifetime.

And so it is with sex outside of marriage. That's what he's saying here. Consequence number one, if you sleep with her, you're going to get burned, son. And then the second consequence. He says if you sleep with her, you're going to be dishonored. Verse 30, on down to verse 33, people do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry. But if he is caught, he will pay sevenfold. He will give all of the goods of his house. And then verse 32, he who commits adultery lacks sense, and he who does it destroys himself. He will get wounds and dishonor, and his disgrace will not be wiped away.

Here Solomon is using, he uses a good example for his son. He is saying a thief. If a thief is caught, he will still be punished if he steals for a so-called honorable reason. He is still punished, and he loses honor. So Solomon's son could understand this example. But then Solomon, he adds another layer. Look at verse 32. He who commits adultery lacks sense. What is he saying? He who commits adultery is stupid. That's literally what that means. Now we must see what Solomon is doing here. This is a comparison. And this comparison drives the point home. If Solomon is saying a thief who steals because he is hungry, he must be punished.

They will lose honor, but what he's saying is this, but some will give him grace. Why? Because this is a so-called honorable sin, but not the adulterer. He loses all honor. Look at verse 33 again. He will get wounds and dishonor, and his disgrace will not be wiped away. So he's saying, "If you sleep with her, you're going to be dishonored." Oh, one of the greatest Old Testament examples is King David. King David, what does it say? The Bible tells us that he was excellent in battle. He was a wise and great ruler as he sat on the throne of Israel.

But when he looked at another man's wife, and then he lusted after her, and then he coveted after her, and then he took her as if she was his own, he was completely stupid. Go back to verse 32. He who commits adultery lacks sense. So the great King David was stupid, and there were dire consequences. They were dire consequences. He lost tremendous honor. Even the pagan nation scoffed at God. Literally, they said, "Aha, you're supposed to be a man after God's own heart." They scoffed. So let's continue with these consequences. He says, "First, if you sleep with her, you'll be burned. Second, if you sleep with her, you'll be dishonored.

And third, if you sleep with her, you will suffer revenge." Verse 34 and 35, "For jealousy makes a man furious, and he will not spare when he takes revenge. He will accept no compensation. He will refuse, though you multiply gifts." Here we see the jealousy of this forbidden woman's husband. We see fury. We know what that word means. We see revenge and a refusal to receive any compensation. No amount of compensation. No apology. No repentance will be enough for this offended husband. This one who has committed adultery will surely have his sin made known by the spurned husband.

He will be shamed of the community, and he may even face physical consequences. So in summary, verses 27 to 35, what do we see? Solomon is pointing out the consequences of sleeping around with the verse 26 woman. Go back to verse 26. "For the price of a prostitute is only a cheap loaf of bread, but a married woman hunts down, chases down that precious life." He calls her a cheap prostitute and a ferocious woman. He says you'll get burned. You'll lose all honor. You will suffer revenge. And he says in verse 32, he is stupid. He's stupid. If he commits this sin after all of this teaching, think about this.

Solomon is repeating and repeating and repeating many examples. And if he commits this sin after all of these warnings, after all of this teaching, after all of this great illustration, he is double stupid. He is stupid, stupid. Let me put it like this. I'm a grown man, responsible, drive a car, own a home. I mentioned earlier that we have bonfires at our house when the weather is cool. We like to have our young people over. We enjoy those things.

Well, if you're at my house and I've got a big bonfire going, and if I sit down in one of my outside chairs and I grab one of those logs that are on fire and I put it in my lap, you're going to say, "Brother Chris is stupid." And then if I grab two of them and put them on me, you're going to say, "You're double stupid." And then after I get out of the hospital and I get my wounds treated and I do it again, you're going to say, "You're stupid, stupid." It's kind of what he's saying, isn't it? These are the consequences of being with this sleep around.

Now, an application, the best way that I can help us with an application is to tell you some examples of some that I know who've been burned, those who have lost honor, and then those who have suffered revenge. Now, there's some overlap here, okay? But you know, one of the sad things about ministry over a long period of time is helping people try to put their life back together because of the consequences of sin. And even sadder than that, one of the hard things is when you're trying to help adults who were once maybe in your youth ministry years ago and they had ignored your teaching and they come back around.

I never forget a particular girl that we ministered to years ago. She had parents who brought her to church, supposed to be a Christian kid. We ministered to her, but then she began to make these bad choices in the areas of sexual immorality. And you know, when you're asleep around, you know what kind of guy you end up marrying? You always marry the sleep around. And she was the sleep around. She was this verse 26 woman, and then she married that kind of a guy, and then what happens? Pain and scars, pain and scars, consequences. She's burned. Why? Because fire always creates pain and scars, pain and scars.

And as my wife administered to her, administered to her, it just got worse. And guess what? Even their kids suffered from that. I think back of another example. I never forget years ago a good friend of mine in the life of the church. He begins to leave his wife and he begins to leave his children. And he starts chasing after this verse 26 type of a woman. And you know this woman came from a prominent family in the community. The community where they lived, her family was prominent. She was well known. And they had businesses. And I watched that woman lose honor because people would turn from her. They refused to shop in her business.

The honor and respect that she once had, guess what? She lost it. They viewed her as a home wrecker. I've even known people who engaged in this kind of behavior, ended up having to go to court and lose possessions. Why? Revenge, revenge, legal revenge. Now I could go deeper and give you more details. What am I trying to show you? If you live long enough, you're going to see this. Young people, you don't see it. You're too young. But if you live long enough, you're going to see all of this, the consequences of engaging in this kind of behavior. You always get burned, you always lose honor, and there is always some type of revenge.

Now let's move on to our third major truth. There's a little bit of a transition here, but it's all centered around this young fool. We're going to call him a young fool in a minute. And we're all centered around this adulterous woman. So number three, I want us to see the play of this sleeping around. Now I'll call this a play because it seems that Solomon is describing a fictitious, a hypothetical scene for his son to hear. This is an illustration which would have come right out of life. No doubt Solomon has seen this before. Maybe even the young son had seen it. Now look at the verses starting in verse six.

"For at the window of my house I looked out and through my lattice and I have seen among the simple I have perceived among the youths," or young people, "a young man liking scents." Here's the stupid one. Here's the foolish one. "Passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house," remember I said she had a red light in her window? "In the twilight of the evening, at the time of night, and darkness." So what I see here is just a scene, a hypothetical, a fictitious situation. Now as in a play we have main characters and that's what we will focus on. In a play we also have a plot.

Now I'm going to focus on the main characters and then I'm going to come back to the plot of the play when we summarize the verses. So there are quite a few specifics I want us to see here. We do three observations but there are a lot of details in here. So first I want us to see the young fool. I want us to see the young fool. What does it say at the end of verse seven? "I perceived among the youths a young man liking scents." He was a fool. He was stupid. So the young man here, he's the first character in the play. And notice the first scene.

He was passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house and in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and in the time of darkness. So that's the first scene. He's passing down the street. This young fool is taking the road towards her home, toward the home of the wayward wife with that red light in her window. It's in the night. It's in the darkness. So we have the young fool. He's the first main character. We have the young fool and he is walking her way. This is scene number one. And then second, we have the wayward wife. We have this wayward wife starting in verse 10.

"And behold, the woman meets him dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart." And then it goes on to talk about how she is loud in her speech. Her feet do not stay home. And now in the street, now in the market, in every corner she lies and she waits. Verse 13, she seizes him and then she goes on. And we'll touch on the rest of the verses. Now we are seeing the second character in this play. Notice verse 10, "That the wayward wife steps out to meet him," and that's what it says? "Now the woman meets him." The young fool is walking her way. She is coming out to meet him. Now notice a few specifics about the wayward wife real quickly.

She's dressed as a prostitute in verse 10. She is wily of heart in verse 10. Now this speaks about schemes. She is scheming in her heart to seduce the young, naive fool. He lacks wisdom and good judgment, but she knows her plans and she acts on her desires. And then notice, she does not stay at home, but she goes out. We see that in verse 11 and 12. John MacArthur puts it like this. He's talking about this woman. He talks about her mode of operation is leading to her successful seduction of this naive young man. So she doesn't stay home. She goes out to seduce. Then notice she makes advances towards him.

Verse 13, "She seizes him and kisses him." Then notice verse 14, "She claims to be godly." Look at verse 14. "I had to offer sacrifices. And today I have paid my vows." This would have been peace offerings, the commentators tell us. She is trying to make this young fool believe that she is right with God even in this behavior. And then notice she has prepared her bed. Verse 17, "I have perfumed my bed." And this is talking about sweet smelling aromas. And then verse 18, "Come, let us take our field of love till the morning." So she has prepared her bed. And here she moves to direct action.

She is calling the young fool into her bedroom to engage in adultery. And then notice she assures him that her husband is away. For my husband, verse 19, he's not at home. He's gone on a long journey. He took a lot of money with him, verse 20. And it will be a while before he comes home. Here she is telling this young naive fool that they have plenty of time to enjoy their sin. She is saying we have the freedom of time to enjoy this sin. This is scene number two. The home of the wayward wife. Scene number one was the young fool walking down the dark street to her house. But the scene changes when she meets him in verse 10.

And then she brings him into her bedroom. And then the third observation, we've seen the young fool. We've seen the wayward wife. And then the third observation is the senseless slaughter. This is a senseless slaughter, verse 21. With much seductive speech, she persuades him. With her smooth talk, she compels him. All at once he follows her as an ox goes to the slaughter. An ox is a cow. Or as a stag or a deer is caught fast. Till an arrow pierces its liver. As a bird rushes into a snare or a net, he, this is talking about the young fool. He does not know it will cost him his life. Solomon again visits the consequences of this sin.

He shows the young son that this woman will seduce him into a senseless slaughter. He is telling him that she is a seductive, smooth speaking, sleep around that will lead to a senseless slaughter. Notice the pictures. If he falls through this trap, he'll be like a dead cow, a dumb dead cow in verse 22. If he follows into this trap, he will be like a deer that is snagged or caught in a trap. If he falls into this trap, he will be like a bird that rushes into a trap or a snare. And at the end of verse 23, he says that all of this leads to ultimate destruction. Notice the end of verse 23. It will cost him his life.

So in summary, what do we see here? This is quite a few verses. The play, I'm calling it a play, the play of this sleeping around. Solomon gives an illustration that could have come straight out of life. To me, this is a hypothetical, but I call it a play. The main characters, the young naive fool and this wily, wayward wife. He is walking down the dark street to her door. She rushes out to finish her seductive work. No doubt she had been seducing him all along. We see the play, we see the main characters, but what's the plot? Verse 18, that's the plot. What does she say? "Come, let us take our field of love till the morning.

Let us delight ourselves in love." The bedroom scene shows us the plot. That's just what that is. The plot is immorality and listen, that immorality, that adultery, slaughters the young fool like a dumb cow. When I was finishing up today, I automatically thought about some memories that I have as a kid. Growing up, we spent quite a bit of time on my granddad's property, my granddad's farm. He always had a few cows and he was old school. That meant that every year he was going to fatten up a young half-furry and butcher that thing. I have fond memories of my dad and my uncle and my grandfather butchering a cow. That's what we were raised on.

Fresh ground beef, steaks, all that kind of good stuff. My granddad always had one or two that he would pick out the slaughter and he would fatten them up, but he didn't have a catch pen like a lot of smart cattlemen do today. He just let them roam free. There were many times I would get on the tractor with him, his old four to eight inch tractor, and we'd go find those cows. They knew him. He fed them. He would take his 22 rifle. He always used a short. I don't know why he used a short instead of a long rifle, other than the fact that it was cheaper.

He would put that 22 rifle right between their eyes and when he pulled the trigger, the first thing that would hit the ground would be their knees. You know that cow would just stand there and look at him while he shot him? That's a dumb cow, isn't it? But I've got memories of that. That dumb cow would look right at him when he shot him right between the eyes. Now, that might be gruesome to you, but that's reality and that's exactly what he's describing here. But you know, this happens all the time. This might have been a hypothetical for Solomon, but this is real life.

I'll never forget years ago, there was a successful man in the community where I served. He was a successful businessman and he was well known. He had a little more money than most. You know, sometimes when somebody has money in possessions, it can attract the wrong type of people. He had gotten a little older and his wife was a little older and all of a sudden a younger woman comes along and you know what she was? A wily, wayward wife. Oh, and she was real religious.

I saw her go to church and lo and behold, this businessman, respected man, leaves his wife, takes up with this younger woman, a wily, wayward wife and they just get all involved in the life of the church. And there are people that just accepted that. That's exactly what she was saying here. She's saying, come on in to my adultery. I've already gone to the church house. I'm right with God. And I watched that happen and it led him and his family to the slaughter like a dumb cow. But you know what happened when difficult times came? What happened to the wily wayward wife? She moved on because the wily wayward wife always moves on.

And what happened? He was slaughtered like a dumb cow. I mean like a stag caught in a trout for the arrows to pierce his body and like a bird who is caught in a snare. So what do we see? It's a senseless slaughter. And I say to all of us, it's senseless. Young people, it's senseless and it'll always destroy. And then our fourth division, our fourth major observation or truth in our outline is the path of this sleeping around. I've already given us the play. I called it the play of this sleeping around. Now we see the path of this sleeping around. And this will be much shorter. Verses 24 to 27. And now, O sons, what does he say?

Listen to me and be attentive to my words, the words of my mouth. Let not your heart turn aside to her ways. Do not stray into her paths, for many a victim has she laid low. And all her slain are a mighty throng. And then verse 27. Her house, remember the house with the red light, it is the way of she-old going down to the chambers of death. Here we see Solomon pleading with his son again. Look at verse 25, 24. And now, O sons, listen to me. What is he saying? Listen, listen again. I'm telling you again. Verse 25. Don't let your heart turn aside to her way. I think about it. I can almost feel Solomon urging his son.

Maybe with tears, great passion, great feeling, great urgency. Don't go that way. He says, don't let your heart turn. Don't let your heart turn to her. Remember he deals with the mind, he deals with the heart, he deals with the thinking. He says, don't stray to her path. Remember Solomon and taught his son that there are only two paths. There are only two paths in life. First, the path of wisdom, the path of right living. And then second, the path of foolishness and sinful living. Now quickly, there are two specifics I want to point out here concerning the path.

First in verse 26, notice the path of this wayward, wily wife is littered with many victims. Verse 26, for many a victim has she laid low. Listen to that. For many a victim has she laid low and all of her slain are a mighty throne. And then notice her path is going the way of sorrow and death. Her house is the way of sheol and going down to the chambers of death. Now in summary, what are we seeing here? He is urging his young son to stay on the path of righteousness and not to stray to her path. Her path is littered with dead bodies. What a senseless slaughter.

The bodies of her seduced, discarded fools litter her path and her path is a way of death and sorrow. Now in application, I speak to us adults. As we get older, we see more and more of this reality being fleshed out in life. I go back to Solomon. Remember the play. It might have been hypothetical. It might have been fictitious, but he had seen that. Maybe the son had not because of his youth. We're old enough. We know what this path does. And we must always say to our young people, the path always leads to where sorrow and death, sorrow and death. Every immorality, sorrow and death. And there are many victims along her path.

Now in conclusion, we have quite a bit, if we're honest, more teaching on this adulterous woman. I use different terms that might help us. It helps us get it in our mind. I called her a neighborhood harlot. Remember her house was down a dark road. I called her to smooth talking seductive sleep around. That's what she was. I called her the woman with a red light in her window. Everybody knew what her house was like. I called her a homewrecker, a man killer, a destroyer of young fools. And in her path, there's fool after fool after fool. Now last week I said that these verses offer us a degree in higher learning.

This is all around one subject and it gets very specific. This is all about sexual immorality, adultery, all sex outside of marriage. Now I want to make a few comments about my approach and I'm going to show you where we're going with all of this. You know, every preacher prepares different. I know some preachers that read and study well in advance and maybe they outline and they have it all planned and prepared six months a year in advance. I know men to do that. But it really doesn't work that way for me. Now I might study ahead, to be honest with you, in preparation for our Sunday morning sermon on the Mount study.

I studied three, four, five months in advance. Just reading material, studying the scriptures, just getting it into my mind. But to me, I can't prepare ahead but so much. Truthfully, I prepare each sermon, one sermon at a time. I don't have any pre-done outlines. It has to be fresh the week before or fresh the two or three weeks before. I have to just develop it right up to when I'm going to deliver it. I have felt kind of strange about my approach in the past until I heard a rather famous pastor explain how he did his sermons. He said his sermons were like sausages. He said he prepared them and he just chopped them off.

He just chopped them off. And I thought, "That's kind of what I do." Sometimes I don't know how many verses I'm going to take. I don't know what we're going to do in chapter eight. I'll find that out this week and then next week. So what am I trying to show you? We are going through these chapters and through these verses and we're learning all about this calling to a higher degree of learning with this subject. And listen, we must become experts in this subject. It is too important. And we're going to revisit this subject. We're going to come back.

But you know what, to be honest with you, I feel like when we get all the way through the book of Proverbs, we need to circle back around with this subject. Why? Because Solomon spends so much time on the adulterous woman, the seductive woman. There's so much here. And last week, we got a general studies degree. Proverbs is full of general studies degrees. But this is a specific area where God wants us to have a degree in higher learning. And I want us to all be like my nephew. Remember what he said? "Oh, I know. My dad's an expert because he told me what God's word says and you don't know what you're talking about. I know. I know.

And we need to all be experts with this subject because why? We know what God's word says. And that goes for us parents. It goes for our teenagers. And then it goes into where? It goes into our homes and with our children. And they become experts according to what God's word says. Now I haven't given us the title of the message. I borrowed a title that we have used before, but I added to it. And it might sound harsh, but it's true. I'm calling this "Beware of the Dog, Stay Out of Her Bedroom." You know what he says? You might say, "Pastor, how can you use language like that?" That's what the text says. Look at verse 18. What is she saying?

This wily, wayward wife to this young, naive fool. "Come, let us take our fill of love." She's already described her bed and the coverings and the smells. That's the plot. That's her goal. And that's what he's saying. He's saying, "Son, beware of the dog. She will destroy you. Stay out." Go back to verse 23 and 24 of chapter 6. "For the commandment is a lamp, and the teaching a light and the reproves of discipline are the way of life." He's saying, "Let what I teach you be a lamp for your path. Stay out of the clutches of this wayward, wily wife, because she will destroy you and you will be just like a dumb cow. Beware of the dog.

Stay out of her bedroom."