Sermon Notes – Sex and the Wisdom of God, Part 1

Sex and the Wisdom of God, Part 1, Proverbs 5-7

J. Josh Smith, MacArthur Boulevard Baptist Church, attended August 8, 2010

The location of a fire is important. In the fireplace it is beautiful and warm. Outside the fireplace, the uncontained fire, it is dangerous and life-threatening.

The fireplace is marriage and the fire is sex. In the fireplace it can burn with passion and be glorifying to God. The minute it is removed from its proper place it has the ability to scar for a lifetime. We need a proper fear of fire. It will leave scars.

“Where is the fire?”

The presence of the danger

The forbidden, foreign or strange woman described beginning in Proverbs 5:3 is “strange” in that she is off the path of life and “foreign” in that she is not a part of the marriage covenant. What the father is trying to communicate here is that sex was created by God to enjoy with passion within marriage – anything outside of that is wrong. So, for men, this is who to watch out for. For women, this is who not to be.

He is communicating even more than that however. This woman is not just an example of an immoral woman, but someone who typifies the way in which all temptation takes place. The nature of all temptation and teaches us how to recognize the temptation and run away from it.

In John Bunyan’s book, The Holy War, he talks of the city of Mansoul that has five gates in the city wall: the “feel” gate, the “ear” gate, the “eye” gate, the “mouth” gate, and the “nose” gate. The enemy to Mansoul is Diabolis and anytime he wants to come in he must attack through the gates because the only way into Mansoul was through one of these gates. So it is with our heart. When we are tempted with temptation we are tempted through these gates.

If you are watching things or hearing things which have a tendency to lead you to sin, remove those things at once lest they enter your heart and cause you to fall into sin. Fear the devastating power of sin – and then embrace the greater power of God.

The eye gate: Her looks – Proverbs 7:10 describes her dress, her appearance. The father makes a connection between the way she is dressed and the condition of her heart. Her appearance demonstrates what she desires on the inside. She is drawing attention to her physical attributes to get to the heart of a man. What you wear demonstrates what you want. Attention should be drawn to our spiritual character (1 Timothy 2:9-10). You will get a man attracted to your spiritual character if you dress in such a way to draw attention to that. That dress involves your good works. You will get what you are asking for either way.

The feel gate: Her actions – Her actions work on this gate also in Proverbs 7:11-13. This is reminiscent of Genesis 39 where Joseph would rather run away naked than stay there a minute longer.

The ear gate: Her words – This is where the father spends the bulk of his time. Proverbs 5:3, 6:24, and 7:14 all point to her “smooth and sweet” words. She knows exactly how to talk to get attention.

In Proverbs 7:14 she says she has been to church. She is promising that she is a good girl. We know she doesn’t know the Lord from the father’s previous description. Then in Proverbs 7:15 he notes where she was looking for anyone before but now she says she was looking for him specifically. She is flattering him. She is deceiving. She is saying those things that should be said at home – not in the street. Proverbs 7:19-20 then assures him that all will be fine because no one will ever know – they will never get caught. This is parallel to Genesis 3 again where the deceiver says, “You will not surely die.”

The nose and mouth gate: Her enticements – Proverbs 7:13, 16-18 makes this obvious point.

The man stands there long enough to get persuaded and enticed. He is playing with fire. We know then that he is an idiot. Joseph knew to run, he is wise enough to know he is weak in the face of this temptation. The longer you stay the greater the temptation. The longer you expose your gates the greater the chance of breakthrough.

She is portrayed like a lion. Proverbs 6:25, “capture”; Proverbs 6:26, “hunts”; Proverbs 7:11, “can’t be tamed”; Proverbs 7:12, “lurking”; Proverbs 7:22, “devours”. Reminds us of 1 Peter 5:8 and how Satan takes advantage of open gates. Once again, the father is painting a picture of all temptation.

The man never sees the lion before the kill. Sin is crouching at the door waiting for an unguarded gate (Genesis 4:7).

The consequences of the danger

The reality is opposite, in all cases, of everything she says. She says she has satisfaction to offer but she really has none. This is the lie of the enemy trying to get through one of your gates to attack your heart.

The emotional cost of sexual immorality – Proverbs 5:4

In the end she is bitter. She may sound sweet but she isn’t. She wounds and scars for life. The opposite of honey is wormwood, the opposite of oil is sword. The wormwood is internal sorrow and pain. The sword cuts and wounds. Sexual immorality always leaves a scar. Proverbs 5:12-14 we see a man regretting the fact that he didn’t listen to his father.

The spiritual cost of sexual immorality – Proverbs 5:6, 7:24-25

She is on a different path. Choosing to be immoral is choosing the way of folly. You cannot be on two paths at the same time. You cannot be sexually immoral and intimate with Christ, because they are two different ways. Immorality is not just an activity; it is a way, a path – it is a way opposite the way of Christ.

The physical cost of sexual immorality – Proverbs 5:8-11

The father tells of exhaustion, pain and possibly disease with your vitality drained. This is similar to David describing his vitality being drained by hiding his sin in Psalm 32.

The social cost of sexual immorality – Proverbs 6:33

The social ramifications are beyond what we can even imagine. Everyone is affected. It doesn’t matter what you may accomplish, this sin will blot it out. You will always have an asterisk by your name. Your reputation is ruined.

The scars of an uncontained fire are forever. Feel the weight of this. Don’t be like the ox, going willingly and obliviously (Proverbs 7:22). Animals don’t see the consequences, do you? There are horrific consequences if you aren’t paying attention. The forgiveness is real but the scars remain forever. You don’t want these scars – many can testify to this.

NOTE: These are my notes, taken as I listened to the sermon live. Any errors, misunderstandings or misinterpretations are my responsibility entirely and not the fault of the preacher.