Proverbs 5:1-3, But for the Grace of God!
February 24, Proverbs 5:1-3
1 Cor. 6:7-14 “And leads us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Mt. 6:13).
But for the Grace of God!
A “Morality in the Media” booklet states, in part, “The traffic in pornography and obscenity has reached frightening proportions in this country. The smallest cities and towns have been invaded by it… It pours in through the mails, TV, the Internet.” This is “America, the good,” whose Presidents still refer to God and the Bible as its foundation!
- The Lustful Way is Morally Seductive (v.3). Physical adultery is compared to the sweetness of an honeycomb and the smoothness of oil. Wisdom’s solemn warning against sexual unchastity introduces two familiar figures of speech common to Oriental and Greek writers, namely, the lips and the tongue of the harlot, one who is outside of the true family bonds and relationships. What was true of Solomon’s day is equally true of ours. However sophisticated or simple the proposition may be, it is prostitution if it is outside the sanction of God’s Holy Word. Kidner (also M. Henry) notes that there is a contrast between thy lips (v.2) and her honeyed lips (v.3). Thy lips are to keep (preserve) knowledge, and thus be a protection against the lips of the strange woman (seductress). Honeyed words are a special danger to inexperienced young men, not to mention the experienced older ones! Have an answer ready based on the wisdom learned at a godly parent’s knee (Ps. 17:4). A deceitful talker will not get very far with a person whose speech is ordered aright by God’s Word. Who has not seen the honeyed and smooth enticements of sex appeal exploited in our promiscuous society today? So listen, be attentive, to this parent’s plea.
- The Lustful Way is Spiritually Seductive. Some have suggested, as we noted, that there might be a figurative application here to spiritual adultery. Certainly this is a familiar figure in the Bible. This, then, confronts us with the evil effects of false doctrine, which corrupts men’s minds and hearts from the truth. And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel (1 Kg. 11:9). It was true in the days of the Jeremiah (Jer. 9:2), and of Hosea (Hos. 7:4). It was still on the mind of Malachi as he brought the Old Testament period to a close (Mal. 3:5). The Lord Jesus faced it more than four hundred years later when dealing with the religious leaders of His day (Mt. 12:39). The dripping deceit of honeyed lips and palates (mouths) that swallow sophistries that are smoother than oil is also quite an apt portrait of the false teachers and the foolish hearers in most of the main-line churches today. As with physical adultery, so it is with spiritual adultery. There is only an apparent sweetness and an apparent smoothness, for the fact is merely concealed that they have taken away the Lord and we (the people) know not where they have laid Him. They no longer know, and much less believe, the truth as it is in Jesus (Eph. 4:21, Rom. 9:1). How can we talk of trusting the Person of Christ while not believing His Words? This is surely spiritual seduction.
Thought: Judas betrayed with a kiss. Apostates also give the death kiss.
Prayer: “Make me a captive, Lord, and then I shall be free” to love and serve Thee.