TEXT: Proverbs 7:1-27

SUBJECT: Exposition of Proverbs #14: The Young Fool

The substance of this chapter is a familiar one; we've read it before, in chapters 5 and 6. Its presentation, however, is different than what we've read; and more vivid. After an opening appeal, Solomon turns to an anecdote to illustrate his lesson. The story is not made up, but factual; he's reporting what his own eyes have seen. With the hope his son will be warned by it. But not only his son, all of God's children should profit from the warning. Warnings are of great value; no one could survive without them. But warnings are of no value unless they're heeded. Has the LORD opened your ears to hear it? I hope He has. For Christ's sake.

The first five verses contain the opening appeal. Solomon is deeply concerned for his son. He wants him to avoid the sexual misconduct that has ruined so many others. How will he do it? By heeding God's Word. He's to "treasure" it; to "make it the apple of [his] eye"; to "bind it on his fingers"; to "write it on the tablet of his heart". These images evoke the study of Scripture and meditation upon it. It's been said: "Empty hands are the devil's workshop". So is an empty head. Strong temptations are rebuffed as the Word is brought to mind. In the wilderness, our Lord Jesus was sorely tempted by the devil. He met each enticement with a quote from Scripture. Eve, on the other hand, failed the test because she did not recall what God had said.

Overcoming temptation, however, is not a purely mental exercise. Sacred emotions are needed too. "Say to wisdom, `You are my sister' and call understanding your nearest kin". To the Hebrew poet, "sister" meant girlfriend or fiancee'. Thus, one overcomes sexual temptations by falling in love with wisdom. "Nearest kin" stands for a brother, cousin, or some other family member to whom you're especially close. Strike up a close and permanent relationship with Understanding, and "the one night stand" will seem cheap and repugnant by comparison.

Solomon is pleading with his son. God is imploring His children. Sexual fidelity is a branch of Wisdom. Until we make "Wisdom the principal thing" in our lives, we'll never become the wholesome people God would have us to be.

One moonlit night the king strolling his balcony, spotted a young man up to no good. While others were home with their families, he was loafing about the streets on his own. And more than loafing, he was making his way toward the bad part of town. It wasn't' long till he met a woman--a very attractive one. She invited him to her home where they spent the night making love. And where he lost his soul.

Solomon tells the story--not to incite lust in his son--but to increase his wisdom. In one way, the young man blundered into the arms of a prostitute. In another, the affair was inevitable. The young man lacked character. The king spells it out for us.

Stupidity, idleness, vanity, and recklessness are character flaws which must--not may--lead to ruin. Let's look at each in turn:

The young man's folly ruins him. He is compared to a criminal sent to the stocks for flogging and to an ox going to the slaughter and to a bird flying into a net and to a man shot by an arrow. All of the above suffer for lack of wisdom; so does the young man who chooses sexual impurity to the wisdom of God.

A warning closes the chapter, vv.24ff. This kind of sin is not easily overcome. To do it, we must not "let [our] hearts turn aside to her ways". In other words, we must flee, not only fornication--but sexual thoughts which lead to it. We must, moreover, not "stray into her paths". We must stay away from those things which excite the lust which leads to fornication which ends in death. We must respect the power of lust--"All who were slain by her were strong men". We have to mind the consequences of sin: "death and hell".

This is not the most enjoyable chapter to expound; but it's needed. And not only by young people, but middle-aged and older people too. Our world, like the Roman Empire, is awash in cynical and meaningless sex. The more it is pursued, the less it provides. The Romans sought answers: Stoicism was the noblest

But there is no answer to "the pollutions of the world through lust" but one: the Gospel. For only the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ puts these tawdry affairs in their proper light. Only as we see Him suffering for our lusts do we feel their ugliness. And only as we see Him risen do we find the power to live lives of moral beauty.