TEXT: Proverbs 5:1-23

SUBJECT: Exposition of Proverbs #10: Unchastity

Proverbs 5 is a highly repetitious chapter. One point is made four times over. Its repetition, however, is not designed to fill space, but to stress the importance of learning its lesson. The subject was relevant to young people of the day; it remains so. And not only the young, everyone can profit from its teaching. The topic is unchastity or sexual impurity. Solomon addresses it in four ways: its deceit, its regrets, its wholesome alternative, and its Observer.

The deceit of immorality, vv.1-6.

He opens his lesson in the usual way: "My son". Solomon has a personal stake in his pupil; he yearns for his welfare; he desperately hopes his teaching will be retained. God's interest in His children is even deeper; He wants the best for us; He wants us to learn our lessons, to learn them well. The reason is obvious: He loves us. He loves us more dearly than the most devoted father loves his son. Our love for our children is, at best, limited. His love is infinite; it "passes understanding".

Our Father wants us to "lend [our] ears to [His] understanding". He makes no apology for claiming to know better than we do. Why should He? He is "the only wise God". The word "lend" means to "bow". Not only must we listen to Him or respect His teaching; we must submit to the Divine wisdom. If we do, we'll be the better for it. We'll become wise in the serpentine ways of seduction. We'll not lead others on by innocent--or not so innocent--flirtations.

Immorality always promises happiness, fulfillment, and freedom. Its "mouth is smoother than oil"; its "lips drip honey". But the promises aren't kept. In the end, its honey becomes "wormwood"--the bitterest taste known to man; its oil becomes "as sharp as a two-edged sword". Its good life becomes a slow and painful descent into death.

Unchastity has its advocates in every age. Philosophers, novelists, singers, and others, have been recruited to make its case. Some of them have done it in a highly creative way. Illicit affairs have been made into an art form. But study the lives of its practitioners. If their's is the true way, why hasn't it brought them happiness? Why do the love affairs they celebrate end with such squalor? Why must one be succeeded by another? And then another?

The reason is clear: immorality is a cheat; it promises fair but delivers foul. It was true in Solomon's day; it's true today. The historian, J.A. Froude (who was not a believer) observed: "One lesson, and one lesson only, history may be said to repeat with distinctness--that the world is built somehow on moral foundations".

To be taken in by a con-artist is sad; to be taken in by him after one has been warned is shameful. We've been put on notice.

The young man of vv.1-6 did not heed his father. He paid for it. Frightfully. He began by trifling with sin. He came "near the door of her house". One thing led to another. Before he knew it, he was enmeshed in fornication. Did he intend it? Not directly. But he did nothing to prevent it. Like gravity, the pull of sin began to drag him down. Till at last he succumbed to it.

Sexual uncleanness is rarely an isolated act. It begins that way, of course, but it soon becomes a lifestyle. The choices become fixed; the results are ruinous. Negatively, it is wasteful. The time and energy spent in the affair might have been more wisely invested. The wise investments would pay dividends in the long term. Positively, it is hurtful to both body and soul. The physical dangers are enumerated in your daily newspaper--the rising tide of AIDS, unwed pregnancies, and so on. The spiritual dangers are less documented, but every bit as sure. Lifelong regrets are the sure consequence of fornication; and sometimes, mortifying disclosures crop up in the unseen future.

Pre-marital and extra-marital affairs are hurtful to others--even if they remain secret or are sincerely forgiven. An unregenerate man may well boast of his sexual conquests. A man who fears God, however, will rue them with every fiber of his being.

Thirdly, we have the wholesome alternative to unchastity, vv.15-20.

Solomon is no monk! His Song is deeply erotic; so is this paragraph. It celebrates the wonder of marriage! Its special intimacy and passion. Adultery, therefore, is not merely wrong, it is inferior to the romantic joys of marriage. In v.20, the word "enraptured" or "ravished" means "intoxicated". It begs the question: Why would anyone prefer the "rot-gut" of adultery to the "vintage wine" of marriage?

A bad marriage is often a prelude to an affair. When a wife is unresponsive sexually to her husband, she contributes to his adultery. When a husband takes no time for romance, he makes other men look mighty good by comparison. A cruel husband has driven many a wife to the arms of another man. A contemptuous wife has sent more than a few husbands into the embrace of a mistress. There is no excuse for straying, of course. But let every husband and wife look in the mirror and ask: "Am I contributing to my spouse's marital happiness or not?" If not, repent of your coldness, your isolation, your disdain. And may the Lord grant healing to your wounded marriage.

The most carefully concealed affair is open to His vision. He sees the most secret lust in the light of midday. But more than seeing the affairs or fantasies, He's setting a trap for those engaged in them. In due time, they'll step into it. When they do, they'll "die for lack of instruction".

Peter tells us "the pollutions of the world [come] through lust". Lust is easier to excite than to calm. If therefore, we're to "escape the pollutions of the world" we must begin--not by picketing adult bookstores or passing laws to forbid sodomy, but by examining our own hearts, by finding the lusts that have wound their way into them, by praying for grace, and by pulling them out by the roots. How?

By avoiding the things which excite lust (v.7); by seeking a spouse or improving the relationship you have with one (v.19); by thinking long and hard on the inevitable consequences of sexual misbehavior--even if no one ever catches you (v.4); and--above all--by cultivating a deep and lasting fear of God (v.21).

God help us, for Christ's sake. Amen.