Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20110626.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Proverbs: Motivating Teens And Adults To Align With God's Fixed Moral Order
Part II: Explaining The Value Of Heeding God's Fixed Moral Order, Proverbs 1:8-9:18
M. Motivating Maturing Teens To Preserve Themselves From Immorality, Proverbs 6:20-7:27
1. Motivating Maturing Teens To Preserve Themselves From Adultery
(Proverbs 6:20-35)
  1. Introduction
    1. Adultery is a big problem today: a December 21, 1998 article in USA TODAY reported a national survey by the University of San Francisco found that 24% of the married men and 14% of the married women in America have had at least one extramarital affair. The web site, womansavers.com, that seeks to help women avoid deceptive male lovers, claims younger couples are more prone to adultery than older ones.
    2. Proverbs 6:20-35 directs the young prince in the Egyptian sboyet format on the great cost of committing adultery as motivation for him to avoid it. We apply the passage for our edification (as follows):
  2. Motivating Maturing Teens To Preserve Themselves From Adultery, Proverbs 6:20-35.
    1. Proverbs 6:20-35 directs one on preserving himself from the sin of adultery, B. K. C., O. T., p. 917.
    2. We view that insight, examining the details of the passage for maximum impact (as follows):
      1. One protects himself from adultery by heeding his heterosexual parents' words (Prov. 6:20-21), for the testimonies of both supportive male and female parents authoritatively counter the lure of an adulterous party in the mind of the youth especially how and when the lure for adultery is greatest, Proverbs 6:22:
        1. Solomon addressed his son here (Prov. 6:20), a young man, and (1) a young man's capacity or the capacity of any man for sexual function is promoted by walking, and (2) his desire for gratification is often greatest as he (a) reclines and (b) awakens, the actions named in Proverbs 6:22 NIV, ESV.
        2. Thus, Solomon implied his son would be protected from adultery under his most vulnerable of circumstances of temptation were he to recall the testimonies of his parents against adultery: (1) as he walked, they would guide him; (2) as he reclined, they would watch over him and (3) when he awoke from sleep, they would speak to him words of advice on avoiding adultery, Prov. 6:22 NIV.
        3. In application, though the physiology of a woman differs from a man's, she will also be kept from the lure of adultery in her most vulnerable times by recalling her parents' words against this sin.
      2. The heterosexual parents' authoritative input shields the youth from adultery this way as it acts as a lamp, a light and a way of life, disciplining him or her to be preserved from the adulterous party even in his or her most vulnerable circumstances of temptation, Proverbs 6:23 with Proverbs 6:22 ESV.
      3. Specifically, godly, authoritative heterosexual parental teaching directs us to beware of the smooth speech (Pr. 6:24), physical attraction (Pr. 6:25a) and manipulative eyes (Prov. 6:25b) of the adulterer.
      4. That invaluable, godly, heterosexual parental insight is identified in Proverbs 6:26-35 as follows:
        1. First, though a prostitute will reduce a man to poverty, pictured in one's having only a loaf of bread, an adulterous party by contrast will prey upon one's very life, Proverbs 6:26.
        2. The reason why adultery carries such bad, sure results (Pr. 6:27-28) is that, by the authoritative word of both parents, it bears the threat of retaliation from the adulterous one's innocent spouse, Pr. 6:29.
        3. This point is expanded in Proverbs 6:30-35: (1) If one steals to satisfy his hunger, he is not despised by those from whom he steals, but he still must repay sevenfold, even if it costs him all that he has, Prov. 6:30-31. (2) However, if one commits adultery, he lacks sense (Prov. 6:32a ESV), for (a) he destroys himself (Prov. 6:32b) by acquiring wounds and dishonor that are never wiped away (Prov. 6:33 NIV). This occurs because (b) the jealousy of the innocent spouse for his adulterous spouse's body, which by marriage is an extension of his own body (Matt. 19:4-6), infuriates him as if he had himself been raped (Pr. 6:34a), (c) so his fury will stay when he learns of the adultery, Pr. 6:34b-35.
Lesson: For preservation from adultery, one must heed the instruction of both godly parents who testify that adultery will incur the unappeasable wrath of the innocent spouse to one's irrevocable, severe loss!

Application: May we avoid adultery not only as we know it is sin, but by always recalling that, from the word of one's supportive mother, a woman, and of one's supportive father, a man, this sin will surely incur the great fury of the wronged spouse, man or woman, and all to the sinner's sure, great loss!