Avoiding Sexual Temptation (Part One)

1My son, keep my words,
And treasure my commands within you.
2Keep my commands and live,
And my law as the apple of your eye.
3Bind them on your fingers;
Write them on the tablet of your heart.
4Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
And call understanding your nearest kin,
5That they may keep you from the immoral woman,
From the seductress who flatters with her words.
6For at the window of my house
I looked through my lattice,
7And saw among the simple,
I perceived among the youths,
A young man devoid of understanding,
8Passing along the street near her corner;
And he took the path to her house
9In the twilight, in the evening,
In the black and dark night.
(Proverbs 7:1–9)

• Be wise—don’t be a fool! (vv. 1, 2) The way of wisdom leads to life. The greatest men who ever fell into this sin were playing the part of a fool when they did. Choose to live wisely at every turn.

• Keep yourself immersed in the Word of God and prayer. (v. 3) “How can a young man cleanse his way?/By taking heed according to Your word. . . . Your word I have hidden in my heart,/That I might not sin against You.” (Psalm 119:9, 11)

• Remember the Law of God at all times. (vv. 2, 3) “You shall not commit adultery. . . . You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.” (Exod. 20:14, 17) “Whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28)

• Don’t hang out with “fools,” whether they have this “problem” or not (foolishness breeds foolishness). (v. 7) “He who walks with wise men will be wise./But the companion of fools will be destroyed.” (Proverbs 13:20) “Bad company corrupts good morals.” (1 Cor. 15:33)

• Learn to recognize immorality in other people. (v. 5) Look beyond the lipstick. What is in the heart?

• Don’t place yourself in the way of temptation (avoid the “path of the sinner”). (v. 8) If you want to miss the home of sin, don’t go down her street! This often means: turn off the TV; miss the movie; avoid certain bookstores or certain parts of the bookstore; keep somebody with you who will hold you accountable or “keep you safe”; don’t get alone with somebody of the opposite sex (to whom you are not married or closely kin, of course); literally, don’t meet with her at her house (esp. if no one else is around or there are rooms you can sneak off to); get a filter or monitor for the Internet, or get rid of it altogether; don’t talk on the cell phone without accountability; avoid the mall or certain sections of the mall, etc.

• Avoid secrecy—live an open, honest life of integrity. (v. 9) Determine not to do anything that you would not be comfortable having your wife, husband, parents, or someone you respect looking in on it. God is always looking in on it. This is not an exhortation to air all of our dirty laundry for everyone to see—that is not helpful most of the time. But someone should know where we are, what we are doing, and even to a certain extent the state of our thought life, pretty much all of the time. If you are looking at things on the Internet that you would not want your wife to see, you have a problem with secrecy and you are opening yourself up to sexual temptation and sin. If you are having conversations with people you would not want your husband to hear, likewise, you are in danger. Live in the light. Live in such a way that were your entire life—every moment—exposed for all, you would not be ashamed.

“Dear God, our minds, our affections, our hearts, our bodies—all of these belong to You, O God, for You have made us and redeemed us—we have been bought at a great price, the price of Your own Son’s blood. Keep us from sin, we pray, dear God; guard us from immorality of any shade, shape, or form. Fill our hearts and lives with Your Holy Spirit that we might be holy as You are holy, pure as our Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.”