Change and decay all around I
see, O thou who changest not, abide with me. Proverbs 5. I'm going to read
the first 14 verses and hopefully say just a few things about them. My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow
thine ear to mine understanding, that thou mayest regard discretion,
and that thy lips may keep knowledge. For the lips of a strange woman
drop as in honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil, but
her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her
feet go down to death, her steps take hold on hell. Lest thou
shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are immovable,
that thou canst not know them. 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,
lest thou give thine honor unto others. and thy years unto the
cruel. Lest strangers be filled with
thy wealth, and thy labors be in the house of a stranger. 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. I was almost in all evil in the
midst of the congregation and assembly. Look with me back here
in Proverbs chapter 5. Now this whole chapter is strong,
strong warnings against adultery. And I don't know how to deal
with it. I just don't know. And there's two ways to look
at this, literally. literally about adultery. And also spiritually as going
into false religion, leaving the gospel, going into false
religion. And you remember last week we talked about the two
paths. Well, here's, here's a path. If you start down this path,
the consequences is awful. The consequences is horrible.
And that's why he says, my son, attend unto my wisdom and bow
thine ear to mine understanding. You know, and he just keeps on
talking about wisdom and Christ, of course, is wisdom. If a man
has Christ as to his wisdom and the one he looks to for all of
his grace and strength, then the Lord will keep him. And that's
who we need. This wisdom personifies our Lord
Jesus Christ. And bow thine ear to my understanding. Bow down, listen to it. You know,
get down here to where I can talk to you, where you can hear
me and listen to what I've got to say. That thou mayest regard
discretion. And discretion means to plan.
is to plan ahead what your course of action will be in this particular
instance. It means also to have self-control,
use discretion, use self-control, and always be prepared for something
like this that may happen. And use your discretion, that
thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge. For as the lips of a strange
woman drop as a honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil."
Now he talks about a strange woman. She's strange and all
you know you got several things, strange flesh, strange doctrine,
strange things that we hear. But here it talks about a strange
woman. She's strange to God. strains
to Christ, strains to the grace of God, strains to anything that's
right, just, holy, and true. And her words are like honeycomb,
and her words are sweet, very enticing, and that's the way
religion is. Oh my, religion, their mouth
just drops with honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil. She just, her words just flow.
They just flow. So slick, so smooth. No slip
up from her. She knows exactly what to say,
what to do. But let me tell you something.
And look what it says here in verse four. But her end is bitter
as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Now I'm going to tell
you something. Solomon knew what he was talking
about. Look over here in 1 Kings chapter 11. Solomon knew what
he was talking about here. He knew what he was talking about.
First Kings chapter 11. And he said, oh, listen, listen
to me, son. Listen to the wisdom, bow your
ear to understanding. You pay attention to me. You
may regard discretion. And that thy lips keep knowledge.
You keep in your mind, keep in your brain that your lips, you
keep the knowledge that I've taught you. You know, and this
is what I'm teaching you about, the lips of a strange woman.
Look in 1 Kings 11, but King Solomon loved many strange women. Strange women. Together with
the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites,
Sidonians, and Hittites. It didn't make any difference
to him. That's what power does for you. That's what absolute
power and having all control and having anything you want
does to you. Of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the
children of Israel, You shall not go into them, neither shall
they come in unto you. For surely they will turn away
your heart after their gods. Solomon claimed unto these in
love. And he had seven hundred wives,
princesses, 300 concubines, and his wives turned away his heart. Now that's what Solomon's telling
his son, don't let this woman turn away your heart. You give
understanding to what I'm telling you. And oh, and it came to pass
that when Solomon was old, that his wife turned away his heart
after other gods. And his heart was not perfect
with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth,
the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination
of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight
of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord, as did David
his father. And then Solomon building a high place for Chemosh,
the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem.
He built a temple to a false god, because these strange women
turned his heart away. And Moloch, the abomination of
the children of Ammon, likewise did he for all his strange wife,
which burned incense and sacrificed unto their gods. Now Solomon
knows what he's talking about when he's warning about this.
And also, religion is strange. I mean, they're strange. They're
strange to God, strange to grace, and their mouth is as a honeycomb.
I mean, they'll entice you. They'll tell you the sweetest
things about yourself, the sweetest things about Jesus. You know,
you're not a sinner. You're just a good person. You
just need to be in the church. You need to be doing the best
you can. And her mouth is smoother than oil. Get a hold of something oily
and you can't hold on to it. And that's what she's saying
here. That's what he's saying. Her mouth is smoother than oil.
I mean, she is so slick, so confident and so smooth in how she goes
after people. But here's the end of it. Here
is the end of it. What happens to the end of this?
But her end, the end of doing this and going after her and
going after this stuff, Her end is bitter as wormwood. And you
find wormwood is one of the bitterest things that there was, and it's
bitter as wormwood. And not only that, but her, not
only is it bitter as wormwood, but it'll be like a two-edged
sword. It's gonna cut you coming and going. Can a man take fire
in his bosom and not be burned? Can a man walk upon coals and
not his feet not be burned? That's what Solomon asked. And
I tell you, our end is bitter and wormwood, sharp as a two-edged
sword. And I know people that's with
this route, and I tell you, it's awful, the consequences of what
happens. There's consequences to our actions.
We never sin by ourselves. We're never alone when we do
these kind of things. So he says, warning him, now
you watch this, you regard with discretion that your lips may
need calling. And look what he says, and if
you go her way, her feet, you follow her, go after her. Go
after this strange woman. She's strange. Strange to God,
to grace, to Christ. Strange to you. And her feet
go down to death. You follow her and her feet will
guide you right down to death, right down into her steps. Her
steps take hold on hell that you'll end up all the steps you
take in the death that you go on. He said, you'll end up in
hell. You know, David knew this experience
himself. And I know we say about him and
man after God's own heart, but after he took Bathsheba, And
after he killed Uriah, his life was miserable from that day on.
He suffered. Oh, how he suffered. He had a
son that, you know, that revolted on him. He had a daughter, a
brother that raped his own sister, his daughter. His wife despised
him. And I tell you, the people held
it against him forever. And oh, David loathed himself
after that. And oh, and look what on, and
I tell you this, what a person gives up going either after false
religion or going after a strange woman or a strange man. This
works two ways. This goes both ways. And then
he says, and you want to ponder, Ponder the path of life. You
want to ponder the path of life? Where should I go here? Which
path? Life. Life and the life that
I'm living. Ponder your life. Ponder your
direction. Ponder the life you've got. Ponder
the blessings you have. Ponder your life and the path
of life. Ponder it. Think about it. The old-timers used to say, I've
been studying about it. They'd say, well, you'd be talking
to them and say, well, I was studying about it. That means
they was thinking about something. They was pondering something.
And that's the way they'd always say, I was studying about this.
And that don't mean they're studying about it. It means that they're
thinking about it. And that's what he says. You think about
your life, the path of life, your own. Think about where you're
at. Think about who you're with.
Think about what the end of this thing's going to be. Think about
how life is going to happen, all the things that would happen
if you go this route, if you follow this woman, or you follow
this man, and you go after this person that with their words
is so sweet, and their words is so smooth. And then you end
up getting cut all to pieces. left to be a lamb to the slaughter.
So if you ponder life, then listen to this, because if you're going
to ponder her path, look what it says about her. Her ways are
movable. She has no direction. She don't
care about anybody or anything. If you're not there, somebody
else will be. Somebody else will. She's going to move here, yonder,
and about. She's movable. You can't so ponder
your life because she's got no stability about her. She's got
no character about her. She's got no help about her.
She's got no hope about her. And she just moves here and wonder,
this one, that one, another. It doesn't make any difference
to her. And you can't know them. You
can't know which way she's going to go. You can't know what she's
going to do. And that's what he's talking
about here. Oh my. They'll say and do and be whatever's
necessary to be where they want to be and to be with who they
want to be and what they want to do. Oh. I read all the rest of his stuff
on this and. And. It's not it's not a comfortable
subject. It's not a comfortable subject
at all. I've known too many that this has happened to, and seen
too many homes destroyed, too many ministries destroyed, and
oh, it ain't worth it. Oh, my soul. The glory of Christ
and the gospel. Oh, my. Listen to what he says
now in verse 7. So hear me now. Hear me now,
therefore. Hear me now, therefore. I've
told you what she is, what the end's gonna be, and where she'll
lead you if you follow her. Hear me now, therefore, all you
children, and that's what you are, you're children, and depart
not from the words of my mouth. Oh, don't depart from what I've
told you. Don't depart from the scriptures.
Don't depart. That's why the scripture said,
hide your word in your heart that you might not sin against
me. And that's why, you know, the
disciples, they said, Lord, to whom shall we go? All of them
turned away and they went this way and that way and everywhere.
He said, where are you all going to go? You going to go to? Lord,
who are we going to go to? You've got the words of life.
There's nothing in this world worth losing your soul over.
Nothing in this world worth losing your reputation, and your honor,
and your respect, and your self-respect, and a home, and a family. Nothing
in this world is worth that. Nothing. And look what his wife
says, so hear me now therefore. Oh children, children. And I've
taught you and I've taught you and I've put you where I've just
listened to my words. And don't never let you depart
from the words of my mouth. And oh, look what he says to
her now. Remove thy way far from her. Get just as far away from
her as you can. False religion or a woman, just
get as far away as you can. Remove yourself away from her. Just remove yourself away from
her. And don't even come near the door of her house. Don't
even get close to the door. She'll open it up, next thing
you know, she'll have you in the house with her. That's what
he said here. And I'll tell you, this is something
I've said for years and years. If a person has the temptation,
that's why we say, Lord, deliver me from temptation. Lead us not
into temptation. I know this, if you have the
desire to do something and God keeps you from ever crossing
the path of whatever's going on, but if your desire and providence
put you in the same place at the same time, there's no telling
what'll happen. You better hope that if you got
a desire, that God will keep, won't let
you get in a situation where you can fulfill it. And secondly,
that his providence will protect and keep you. But if he lets
both of them like he did David come together at the same time,
somebody said, well, I don't believe I'd ever do what David
did. If you ever run into your Bathsheba yet, that's the thing
about it. Ah, it's a scary business, I'm telling you. People say,
well, I wouldn't do that. Listen, if you don't, there's
four ways to be sorry and be mean and do this, but this is
what he's saying. And he says, get just as far
away from her door as you can. Just get as far away from her
doors. Don't lead me not into temptation, Lord. Keep me away
from that door. Don't let me get close to the
door. Don't let me come nigh to the door. And that's what
David, that's what Solomon's saying here. And here's what
happens. This is what happens. And some
of you have seen this happen to people over the years. You
have seen this your own self. Lest I give thine honor unto
others. If you go this route, you give
your honor to them people. You give your honor, if it's
false religion, you give your honor to a false God, like Solomon
did. You give your honor to somebody
else instead of your home, your wife, your family, your children,
God, Christ, the gospel. You give your honor under somebody
else. You're willing to let your honor
go and look here, in thy years under the cruel, thy years under
cruel mockery, under the cruel fact that you have made a mess
out of life and you can't go back and undo it. Can't go back and undo it. And
oh, listen. And they give you years under
the cruel, oh, cruel mockers. People that laugh at you and
mock you. I remember when I first come down here years and years
and years and years ago. Way on out past where the store
there is at Brewer's, at Brewer's, Brewer's, Phil's story. There was a little old church
right on out past it. Small church. And I had been
down here very long, and every time I'd go, you know, people
say, you know, they said the preacher that used to be there
said that why that church closed down is he took up with another
woman and left and he killed the whole church. And he gave
his honor unto somebody else. I'm going to tell you another
true story. True story. I know this to be fact. I know
the preacher years ago. He liked them strange women.
And it didn't make no difference how old they was or how young
they was. He took out after a 16-year-old girl. He's in his late 30s, early
40s. Slipping into his mom and dad's
house to be with this young girl. And the dad found out about it.
He put electric on his fence. And when that preacher grabbed
that fence and started over it, killed him, graveyard dead, just
like that. And his wife worked out at a
slaughterhouse. And she was embarrassed for years.
Well, it wasn't the first time, but it embarrassed her. She was
just ashamed. But what I'm saying is there's
just too much to lose, too much to lose. Too much to lose. And look what he says, and then
look what else he says in verse 10. Less strangers be filled
with thy wealth. Oh my, you've got a good job
and you've got some wealth, you've got some money, you've got it
put back, and next thing you know, you've wasted your wealth. You're going after these strange
women, going after this strange woman and going after
this awful, going this drought, going down this path. Strangers
end up, you end up, all your money gets spent and all your
money's gone and then you're left standing there and you ain't
got nothing left. And that's what a stranger's
got your money now. Strangers got your money now. And then what you're going to
do, you're going to have to go to work because you've wasted all
your money. Wine, women, and song, you've
wasted all your money. And now you're going to have
to go labor in a strange person's house. You're going to have to
go back to work. You're going to have to work
in a stranger's house. And then, oh, he said, and then
you get to the very last. Oh, Spurgeon's got a real message
out of this, verse 11, at the last, at the last. And you ought
to read it if you got any Spurgeon. And then he says, you know, you
labors will be in the house of a stranger, and thou mourn at
the last. When you end up, when it's all
said and done, you get to the last, you get to the last of
your life, get to the last of your time, get to the last of
your money, get to the last of your age. And when you get to
the last, when your flesh and your body are consumed, you're
just withered away, you've wasted your strength, you've wasted
your energy, you've wasted your life, and now you're mourning. You're mourning over it. And,
oh, what am I going to do? Oh, what a mess I've made out
of my life. And then they'll end up saying
this, that, oh, how I hated instruction. I must have hated the instruction
that I was given. How I hated instruction. And
my heart despised reproof. And look where it got me. That's
what he's saying. Oh, I hated instruction and my
heart despised reproof. Oh my, don't ever do that. You
young people, you young folks here. Don't despise instruction. And when you're reproved, don't
get upset. Because like he said back up
there in verse 7, hear me now therefore you children, there's
not a parent that when they saw their child on the edge of a
precipice, fixing to fall off for danger, that they wouldn't
run and try to save them. And that's what Solomon is doing
here. You're on the edge of a precipice. You're on the verge of doing
something that's going to destroy your life and everybody's lives
you're involved with. It's going to destroy you. It's
going to destroy your health, your wealth, your labor, your body,
your mind. It's going to destroy you and
you're going to get down where your body and your flesh are
consumed and you're going to say, oh, I hated instruction
and my heart despised reproof. And I've not, I've not obeyed
the voice of my teachers. I didn't obey the voice of my
teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them
that instructed me. People tried to tell me, and
that's what folks can end up saying when they get in a situation.
Folks tried to tell me. People told me. But I wouldn't
listen. I wouldn't pay any attention.
I just didn't believe them. I just didn't think it could
possibly happen to me. And then look what he says right
here. This is a very strange thing. I was almost in all evil
in the midst of the congregation and assembly. Is he saying that
the congregation and the assembly was evil? No, he said I was all
evil even when I was in the midst of the congregation and the assembly.
I brought evil into it. I brought shame into it. I brought
evil into it. And I'll show you what I'm talking
about. Look over in 1 Corinthians 5. This is exactly what happened
here. 1 Corinthians 5. And I was almost in all evil
in the midst of the congregation. I'll tell you this, you know,
a person A person can fool a lot of people, but just as sure as
God's on his throne, our sins will be found out. They certainly
will. Look what he said here in 1 Corinthians
5 verse 1. It is reported commonly that
there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not
so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's
wife. took his father's wife. And how
did they react to it? Was they ashamed? Was they embarrassed? Did they pray for him? Did they
go talk to him? Did they say, oh, please don't
do this. Ask God to save you. Ask God
to forgive you. Ask God to help you. No, don't
do this. Oh, Lord, have mercy on you.
No, no, they got puffed up. They got proud. Instead of humbling
them and humiliating them and making them hurt for this person,
wanting to restore this person and deal with this person, they
got puffed up. They didn't mourn. They didn't
get down and weep and cry and say, this is an awful thing.
You didn't mourn over he that hath done this seed, that he
might be taken away from among you. Oh, listen, you didn't mourn.
For I verily are truly as absent in body, but I'm present in spirit. And I have judged already as
though I were present. I've made judgment concerning
this situation as if I was there with him, concerning him that
hath so done this deed. Now listen to how he deals with
it. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, When you are gathered
together and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
it's what's gonna happen. To deliver such in one unto Satan,
for the destruction of the flesh, God gonna deal with them, that
the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. Gotta deal with
it. And then he says in your glory,
it's not good. Your glorying about this, Gloring about you didn't do it.
Gloring about you, I wouldn't have done this and that. No,
you're not. That went in the church, a little
leaven, a little evil in the church, a little leaven, leaveneth
the whole lot. And that's what he's saying over
here about this, I was almost all evil in the congregation.
That's an uncomfortable subject, not a good subject, but it's
a necessary subject. And I wish we had a house full
that I could have dealt with it. And I hope I dealt with it
honestly, and kindly, and graciously, and rightly. I certainly hope
I did. Our Father, in the blessed name
of Christ our Lord, thank you for abundant mercy and grace
given us in Christ. Lord, your word is sharp. Oh, it's so sharp. Sharper than
any two-edged sword. Divides asunder our thoughts
and intents of our hearts. Oh God, it cuts us deep. And
Lord, we ask that you would please preserve us, keep us. You told
us in your word, Lord, that you would sanctify us through thy
truth and your word is truth. So sanctify us through your truth.
Sanctify us through your word. Preserve us and keep us. Help
us not to dishonor you and publicly shame you and bring dishonor
to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and especially not dishonor
to our children and our families and those we love. Oh God, help
us please for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen.