Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20000430.htm

PROVERBS: ALIGNING TO GOD'S FIXED MORAL ORDER
Part II: Sparking The Reader's Motivation To Heed God's Fixed Moral Order
K. Motivating YOUNG MEN To Adhere To God's Fixed Moral Order To Avoid Harlots
(Proverbs 7:1-27)
  1. Introduction
    1. One of the most costly of life's moral pitfalls for a young man or a young woman for that matter is that of handling the allurements of female or male prostitutes: (a) such people make it their business to seduce, so they are greatly motivated to seduce out of greed; (b) also, Scripture reveals one has a sexual influence advantage over the opposite gender (1 Cor. 7:4), further escalating the innocent party's challenge.
    2. Solomon supplies information to help young men in particular avoid yielding to the lure of harlots:
  2. Motivating YOUNG MEN To Adhere To God's Fixed Moral Order To Avoid Harlots, Prov. 7:1-27.
    1. As we have noted before, Solomon structured the book of Proverbs after the Egyptian literary genre of a sboyet to train young princes to adhere to an observed fixed moral order for blessing.
    2. Solomon's concern for motivating his young prince to resist falling for the powerful allurements of harlots led to the following instructions. They work to demonstrate God's practical guide in avoiding harlots:
      1. Effort One - Place our parent's teaching on avoiding sinfully sexually seductive people on a higher priority than the sexually seductive person can ever get, Proverbs 7:1-3.
      2. Effort Two - View God's fixed moral order as a spousal "lover" in place of a sinfully sexually seductive person so the evil person does not have a chance to begin with his or her seductions, 7:4-5.
        1. The terms "sister" and "kinswoman" are here used for lovers in accord with Song of Sol. 4:9, 10.
        2. Thus, Solomon urged his son to view God's fixed moral order more dear than any seductive party.
      3. Effort Three - Solomon warned his young prince to avoid going into the geographical vicinity of a sinfully sexually seductive party, a helpful step toward avoiding seduction altogether, Prov 7:6-8.
      4. Effort Four - Solomon warned to watch out for vulnerable times for being open to seduction -- when few parties are around to restrict one's being influenced by seducers (evening empty street), Prov. 7:9.
      5. Effort Five - Solomon warned his son to avoid loud, defiant parties that roam outside of their areas or assignments of proper functioning: such signals are typical of sinfully seductive people, 7:10-12.
      6. Effort Six - He warned about parties that brazenly lie, another quality of the seducer, Prov. 7:13-14.
      7. Effort Seven - Solomon warned that sinfully sexually seductive people make their victims feel special, like they speak ego-teasing words only to that single party, Proverbs 7:15.
      8. Effort Eight - Solomon warned against extravagantly sensual talk, signals of immoral people, 7:16-18.
      9. Effort Nine - He warned about their lack of a sense of accountability, Proverbs 7:19-20.
      10. Effort Ten - Solomon warned about yielding to sudden moves toward sexual intimacy with parties, another sure sign one is being seduced by sinfully sexually seductive people, Proverbs 7:21-23.
      11. Effort Eleven - He warned about thinking one is invulnerable to such seductions by sinfully sexually seductive people: after all, many mighty men have fallen for their wiles and gone to an early grave. All are vulnerable to falling for this sin, so we all must stay clear from such evil people, Prov. 7:24-27.
Lesson: (1) Under the Holy Spirit's power (Gal. 5:16-23), we should take and teach the following steps to our children on avoiding sinfully sexually seductive people: (a) View our parents' and God's teachings as being more valuable than sinfully sexually seductive parties. (b) Avoid being in the wrong place at the wrong time to avoid succumbing to sin with such people. (c) Steer clear of those exhibiting loud, defiant actions, from those who roam outside of their proper roles in life, who brazenly deceive or who make you FEEL unusually SPECIAL all of a sudden, who use extravagantly sensual talk or gestures, who have a lack of a sense of accountability or who urge toward sudden, quick sexually intimate activities as they are usually sinfully sexually immoral and seductive people. (d) Never assume we are invulnerable to the wiles of such evil people, for their seductive power is great and to be dreaded. (2) Also, WE ourselves ought to avoid ACTING or DRESSING like sinfully sexually seductive people to avoid causing others to sin, and to avoid God's discipline, cf. 1 Cor. 6:12; 8:12-13; Eph. 5:1-6.