Avoiding Sexual Temptation (Part Five)

18“Come, let us take our fill of love until morning;
Let us delight ourselves with love.
19For my husband is not at home;
He has gone on a long journey;
20He has taken a bag of money with him,
And will come home on the appointed day.”
21With her enticing speech she caused him to yield.
With her flattering lips she seduced him.
22Immediately he went after her, as an ox goes to the slaughter,
Or as a fool to the correction of the stocks,
23Till an arrow struck his liver.
As a bird hastens to the snare,
He did not know it would cost his life.
24Now therefore, listen to me, my children;
Pay attention to the words of my mouth:
25Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways,
Do not stray into her paths;
26For she has cast down many wounded,
And all who were slain by her were strong men.
27Her house is the way to hell,
Descending to the chambers of death.
(Proverbs 7:18–27)

• Consider the emptiness (v. 18). Though you take your “fill of love” all the night long, you will come up empty in the morning. There is no lasting satisfaction to any sin, and certainly none in the sexual sort. The delight is short-lived, while the trouble and sorrow may last a lifetime (or longer). Instead, delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the [true] desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4), i.e., delight yourself in passionate love for God (which always includes obedience to Him), since only He can provide that true satisfaction for which your soul is seeking.
• Consider the theft (v. 19). Lust desires what God has not promised; fornication and adultery take what God has not given to you but to another. Covetousness and theft are born of the same root sin: dissatisfaction with God and His gifts. If you lust for an unmarried woman or, worse, actually engage in some sort of sexual sin with her, remember, she belongs to others. For one, she has a father on earth, who has not given her to you or any man until the “I do” at the altar. For another, she has a future husband, whose precious lamb you rob and ruin before he even has sight of her. And lastly, she has a heavenly Father, who sees all and knows how to avenge. If your lust is for a married woman, it is all that, only far worse. “Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding;/He who does so destroys his own soul./Wounds and dishonor he will get,/And his reproach will not be wiped away” (Proverbs 6:32, 33)
• Consider the end (vv. 22–27). Ox to the slaughter, fool to the stocks, arrow in the liver, bird in the snare. Any way you cut it, the man who gives in to sexual temptation is on the downward slope and gaining speed. You may think you are strong enough, you may think “it won’t happen” to you; but every fool who found his way to her house thought the same fool thing. Take the warning of Solomon and the Holy Spirit: “Do not stray into her paths.” Do not go—do not start—down that road for anything—it leads to certain loss of some sort (damaged marriages, ruined reputations, etc.) and the possibility of apostasy and damnation to boot. Repent, guard your heart, discipline yourself to godliness. By God’s grace pursue blamelessness and holiness in this area as in all others. Not only your happiness (and that of others), but your very life and salvation could well depend on it.

“Great and sovereign and merciful God, have mercy on us and lead us in paths of righteousness. By Your Holy Spirit remind us continually of the folly of sexual sin and all sin, and keep us from all covetousness, adultery, and theft. Instead, dear God, fill us with Yourself, fill us with an overwhelming desire for You and Your will, and grant to us complete contentment with all the good gifts You have given us. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.”