Simon O'Grady - Unlocking the Proverbs - Class 3 - Deliverance from the Strange Woman

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

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   Good morning, brothers and sisters. Well, we come to this amazing subject here, the deliverance from the strange woman. And as we've been going through the book of Proverbs, we've discovered that one of the key objectives of the book that was set out in chapter two was to, when wisdom enters our heart and knowledge pleasant to our soul and discretion will preserve the understanding keep me to deliver thee from the strange woman, from the stranger that flatters with her words.

2. 0:28

   And we found that there's these two arch nemeses, these two arch enemies, if you like, that are presented by the father to the son in the book of Proverbs. One, the evil man that we looked at yesterday. And today we're going to look at the strange woman. Who is she? What is she?

3. 0:44

   Why is she an enemy and an arch nemesis? Why does the son need to be delivered? You know, this theme crops up a number of other times in Proverbs chapter six, verse 23 on screen. For the commandment is a lamp and the law is a light and reproofs of instruction are the way of life.

4. 1:01

   Why? To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. Or again, as we've read in Proverbs chapter seven, say to wisdom, you are my sister. Call understanding your kinswoman that they may keep thee from the strange woman, from a stranger who flatters with her words.

5. 1:19

   So today our objective is to work out who is the strange woman? Why do we need to be delivered from her? Why is this message set out in the book of Proverbs by the father to the son and to us as his children? You'll see there the key texts that we have. Chapter two, verse 16 to 19.

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   Chapter five, verse one to 23. Chapter six, verse 20 to 35. Chapter seven, verse one to 27. Chapter nine, verses 13 to 18. It's quite a major theme, isn't it? And those established first ten chapters of the book. And then the themes keep going through into the rest of the Proverbs. So it's an important one.

7. 1:56

   Now today you're going to need a worksheet. So hopefully everybody has a worksheet. So that is the key Proverbs text of a strange woman with a diagram and area for drawing the bottom. So hands up if you don't have one of those. All right, so there's a few down here. If we just get our door.

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   So there's a few down on the front here. So we'll be needing that as we go through this this morning. Right, so we're all now in front of you. A copy of all of those key texts on the strange woman. And there's a little bit missing because I couldn't fit it onto the sheet.

9. 2:42

   But we won't need those this morning. So those are all the key passages in the book of Proverbs that deal with, describe the strange woman. And deliverance from her. You'll also note at the bottom that there's a little diagram. We'll come to that in a moment. All right, so the first thing to note is that way back in the purpose statement of the book.

10. 3:04

    So remember we went back to the first eight verses of chapter one. And Nicely set out a five key purpose statements. This morning we're all going to be looking at statement number four. That's a purpose statement number four. And that reads, To give subtlety to the simple and to the young man knowledge and discretion.

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    Now we know that this is the purpose statement. Because when we come to Proverbs chapter seven, Wisdom says, I was in my house looking out through my window or casement. And I beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youth, a young man. So chapter seven is all about this young man, this simple one of Proverbs chapter one verse four.

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    And the purpose statement. So today we're going to be looking at that purpose statement. And what it means because it is the young man, the simple young man of Proverbs chapter seven. So let's just unpack this a little bit so we understand what it's saying. It's to give subtlety. So there's a giving here of something by wisdom, by the book of Proverbs, to somebody called the simple young man.

13. 4:11

    The thing is subtlety. Now that's an unusual word. It means trickery. It's normally translated trickery. In fact, it comes from a family of words that translate like this. Guile, trickery, subtlety, crafty. And in fact, one of the words is the term in Genesis, where the serpent was more subtle than any other beast.

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    Unusual little term, isn't it? That it's going to give the subtlety, this craftiness to the simple. The word simple simply means simple or silly from the term to be open or roomy or empty. So it's the idea of someone, you or I, there's nothing going on in our head. We have no knowledge, no understanding, no wisdom, according to Proverbs.

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    So we're a young man, a simple young man, nothing in our head, no knowledge, no understanding, no wisdom. And into us, we're going to be given this thing that's called subtlety. The term young man is the one who receives the correction instruction in the book of Proverbs. Come with me to chapter 22, verse 6, and you'll see that thematically in the book of Proverbs, he is the one who's receiving the wisdom, understanding, and knowledge.

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    So here's the same term, young man, but it's actually translated child, chapter 22, verse 6. Train up a child, same term, in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. You can connect that into the New Testament passages, where the same term is used in reference to the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

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    It's a key term, the child Jesus. All right, well, the young man's going to get knowledge, we know what that is, and discretion. Now, this is another unusual term. It means a plan, and it's normally an evil plan. So it's the term used of wicked or evil people where they put a strategy or a plan together, and it says that the young man is going to get a plan or a strategy.

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    The NET translates all of this to impart shrewdness to the morally naive and a discerning plan to the young person. So why does it use these unusual terms? Remember when Christ says, I send you out of sheep among wolves, and you must be as wise as serpents, but harmless as doves. The book of Proverbs is going to give the simple young man a comprehension about how the mind of wickedness and evil of the serpent works.

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    But of course, Christ's instructions were, and you're never to use that to cause damage or harm to anyone else. But you need to understand how all this works, says the book of Proverbs. So you have a strategy and a plan to deal with it. So that's the promise to the simple young man, to be given a plan, subtlety, and discretion.

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    As we said in Proverbs chapter 7, this simple young man crops up again. So here he is, and he needs that plan, and he needs that strategy, he needs that subtlety, but he doesn't. We can see the disastrous outcome that we've read in Proverbs chapter 7. So with that little background and introduction, this is what we're going to do this morning.

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    We're going to go through the relevant texts. We're going to draw a picture. So at the bottom of your sheet, you've got an area to draw detail and pictures. If it's too small, flip the page over, and you can draw on the back. You'll get your own piece of paper. We're going to draw a picture.

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    We're going to draw a picture, of course, because the scripture, which is the word of God, is actually a representation of something that originally, something you could see or hear or touch or something that was there in the real world, put into words. So we're going to unpack it and put it back into a picture so we can see what it's coding, what it's saying.

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    We're going to identify who this strange woman is. We're then going to put her into a biblical context so we understand her, and then we're going to have a look at the question of developing plan. So that's what we're going to do this morning. That's our agenda, and we're going to follow a process.

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    We've seen that there is a divine teaching and learning process. It's knowledge to understanding and comprehension and to wisdom, the practical application of that knowledge and understanding in a host of different ways in life. So we're going to follow that process. We're going to have three stages. We're going to develop a knowledge.

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    Then we're going to come to understanding and comprehension, and then we're going to put that into practice in understanding how it works in life and practice. Before I do that, I want to just share with you an interesting thing about the concept of understanding in the scriptures. So here's the Hebrew term and the Greek term, New Testament, Old Testament term for understanding.

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    So in the Greek, typically the term understanding will be translated from sunimi, which means to put together in order to comprehend. If you go to the Hebrew, it's the opposite. Bene means to mentally separate into pieces. So both the New and Old Testament, Greek and Hebrew, have got an idea that understanding is about putting things together, so the sub-pieces that are connected together, or if it's complexity to comprehend, you break it into the smaller parts and mentally separate.

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    Now we can see that process occurring here on the screen in Nehemiah 8 verse 8, where it says that they read in the book and the law of God distinctly, parash, to separate, to give the sense, and cause them to bene, separate, mentally understand the reading. So there's a process happening inside understanding that's breaking complexity down to smaller parts, putting them back together.

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    So we're going to follow that process as well, as we come to understand what's going on. Alright, well let's start with the first step, which is knowledge. So you've all got your sheet there, at the bottom of your sheet you should have something that looks like that, and we're going to start putting our facts, our knowledge, from the text as we go through them into this diagram.

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    So, here's a few things to notice. I've already gone through this for you, but you would be able to do this yourselves, in your own Bible study. I've coloured in a number of different themes, and they revolve around this particular diagram. So we've got coloured in her characteristics, we've got coloured in descriptions of her path and way, descriptions about her end or her house, and descriptions about her interaction with the simple young man who's void of understanding.

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    So we're going to pull out, strip out, the categories of different idea that revolve around those. There's a lot more detail that sits underneath it, but today our purpose is to abstract those ones, so we can run across the top and see the backbone of who and what she is, and maybe we can deal with a little bit of the detail as we come to understand the picture later.

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    So that's what we're going to do. So the first thing to note, on your handout, is that I've helpfully coloured in some things in blue. Right? And those are descriptions of her house. So let's just go through those, and you can write these in, down on the left-hand side, ideas associated with the house.

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    Chapter 2, verse 18. Her house inclineth unto death. In verse 27, chapter 7, her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death. Chapter 9, verse 14. She sits at the door of her house, which inclines to death, and which goes to hell, and is the chambers of death.

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    And chapter 9, verse 18. The dead are there, that is in her house, and her guests are in the depths of hell. That's a pretty good Airbnb advertisement, isn't it? Yeah, I'd like to spend a night there. So that's a description of her house, as we go through those passages and texts. Okay, what about her path or way?

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    Well, I've coloured those ones in red. It's about her path and her way, and just notice, and maybe put these into the categories, there are terms to do about the direction of her path and way, and about the destination. So the direction and the destination of her path and way. Chapter 2, verse 18.

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    Her paths are unto the dead. Chapter 5, verse 4. Her end, the end of her path, is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death. Her steps take hold on hell. Or verse 7. Her ways are movable. You cannot know them. So that path or way, it moves all around the place.

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    It's different next time. It's different the time after that. You can never predict it. It moves around. Chapter 7, verse 8. There's a picture, this is all happening in a city. Someone passing a street, and there is a corner, and it's her corner on that street. Chapter 7, verse 12. Her path and way, she's outside.

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    She's in the streets, and she's lying and waiting at every corner. And that will do. Oh no, we've got one more. Verse 26. At the end of her path, she's cast down many wounded, and many strong have been slain by her. So you might like to draw a little picture of little stick men and women who have been cast down, wounded, and slammed by her at the end of her path.

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    All right, so a very vivid picture, as Britain said. It's very, very vivid, isn't it, in terms of this imagery that's being created. Am I going too quick for everyone? Nope? Good. See, everyone's got those in there. Okay, so the next one. We've got the path and the way. We've got her house.

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    What about her interactions with the young man? Here they are. They're in purple. So in verse 16 of chapter 2, she is a stranger who flattereth with her words. Chapter 5, verse 3, she has a lips that drop as honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil. Chapter 6, verse 24, there is a flattery of the tongue of the strange woman.

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    Verse 25, she takes him with her eyelids. Chapter 7, verse 5, there is a stranger who flatters with her words. Chapter 7, verse 10, she's subtle of heart. Verse 11 of chapter 7, she's loud and stubborn. Verse 13, she catches him. She kisses him. She has an impudent face. Verse 21 of chapter 7, she has much fierce speech.

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    And she has a flattering of her lips by which she forces him. And finally, she says in chapter 9, verse 17, stolen waters are sweet and bread eaten in secret. It's pleasant. So there's a bit of a picture here, isn't there? There's something about her lips. They're flattering. They speak. They're her tool of deceit is the theme that's coming out here.

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    All right, and the final one here is the one that's all in bold. These are her characteristics, her other attributes. So let's just quickly go through those. She's called the strange woman. We'll come to that in a moment. Verse 17, she forsakes the guide of her youth, forgets the covenant of her God.

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    So she wasn't always strange. At some point, she was in a covenant with her God, but she's forsaken it. Chapter 6, verse 24, she's called an evil woman. Chapter 6, verse 26, she's called a whorish woman and an adulteress that will hunt. Again, in verse 5, she's called a strange woman. In chapter 7, verse 10, she has the attire of a harlot.

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    Verse 11, chapter 7, her feet do not abide in her house. In chapter 7, verse 21, she has a skill and ability that causes to yield, that forces. In chapter 9, verse 13, she's called a foolish woman and clamorous and simple and knowing nothing. Verse 14, she sits on a seat, that's Kisa, it's a throne in the high places of the city.

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    In verse 15, she calls the passengers to go right in her way. It's a vivid picture, there's a lot of information, isn't it, that's starting to come out. So, hopefully you've got that captured a bit on your sheet there. Alright, well we've got all these pieces. Here's a woman with all these characteristics, particularly around the use of her tongue and her flattering and her deceit and her beguiling nature for this young man.

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    He's turned up and she has a path or a way that's crooked. You can't tell where it goes, it's changeable and it goes down and it ends up in her house which is all associated with death and destruction and hell and the grave. Alright, well that's enough detail information. So let's start trying to put all these bits and pieces together.

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    So we're going to mentally separate, so that's what we've been doing, we've been pulling out the pieces and separating them out and we've got four main categories. Now we're going to start putting them together. So here's a bit of a summary. Let's have a look at the summary of it. She's a stranger, that's the term loose, it means literally to turn aside because strangers when they came to the town or village would turn aside into the accommodation which would typically be at the entrance of the town or city and so a stranger turned aside.

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    but has a bit more information detail around that a little bit later in another slide. So this is one who doesn't belong to the place. She's come in from outside, although she's dwelling there, she didn't belong there, she came from somewhere else. She's forsaken the guide of her youth and forgotten the covenant of her God.

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    Her words are flattery and smooth and honeycomb and smooth in oil and fair speech. She's subtle, she's loud and stubborn and impudent. She has a path but it goes down, it's inclining, it's moving. She has a house and it's called a door of death, the way to hell, chambers of death, guests there are in hell or the grave.

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    She has an end of hell, of death, of being as bitter as wormwood, a sharp two-edged sword. And we haven't looked at this but in chapter 9 she's a rival because she says similar things to similar people as the woman wisdom. So those are her defining characteristics. Hopefully now we're starting to vaguely see them connect together to create a bit of a package or a bit of a picture.

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    There's a few extra facts. Come with me to 1 Kings 11 verse 1 to 9 which tells us something about Solomon and his wisdom and how he failed in the end to apply that wisdom in his life. But it uses terms and a framework of the strange woman. So 1 Kings 11 verse 1 to 9.

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    So 1 Kings 11 we're going to be reading a passage about King Solomon. So this is the one who right at the very beginning and the foundation of the book of Proverbs was asked by God tell me whatever you want and he says I want wisdom. I want the ability to know good and evil to discern good and evil so I can judge my people.

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    And God said because you haven't asked for riches or wealth or power etc. I will give you this ability and the book of Proverbs is a record that sets out the wisdom knowledge understanding the principles of good and evil so you can discern the two and judge and choose the good and not the evil.

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    And we read passages about how Solomon was the wisest in the whole world. Everybody came to hear the wisdom of Solomon because he was so wise. Well here we're going to read the end of Solomon and his wisdom. King Solomon loved many strange women. Well there's the same statement isn't it? Together with the daughter of Pharaoh women are the Moabites Ammonites Edomites Zidonians and Hittites so a strange woman means a woman of these nations the string of nations that were idolatrous that were in the land and that the nation was instructed to remove.

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    Verse 2 Of the nations concerning which Yahweh said to the children of Israel you shall not go unto them neither shall they come unto you for surely and here's the point they will turn away your heart after their gods. That's what this strange woman will do. You'll be turned to idolatry after their worship.

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    But Solomon claved to these in love. Verse 4 When it came to pass when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods and his heart was not perfect with Yahweh as God as was the heart of David his father and this is almost unbelievable isn't it to read verse 5 The man given the wisdom knowledge and understanding of the almighty God about the principles and good and evil does this in verse 5 He went after Ashtaroth the goddess of the Zidonians and milked on the abomination the disgusting thing in God's eyes of the Ammonites and Solomon did evil and not good in the sight of Yahweh and went not fully after Yahweh as to David his father But he went further verse 7 and built a high place for Chemosh an abomination of Moab and the hill before Jerusalem and for Molech and an abomination of the children of Abbon and likewise he did for all his strange wives and burnt incense and sacrificed for their gods and Yahweh was angry with Solomon because his heart had turned from Yahweh God of Israel who had appeared to him twice appeared to him twice the first was of course ask what I will give thee give me the wisdom knowledge and understanding good and evil which God gave him the second when it was one he appeared to him and said if you stay with me if you are in my law if you reject idolatry and don't do all of those wicked things then I will give you the Davidic covenant so those are the two appearances of the garden of Israel

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    and despite those says the record the wisest man failed miserably when it came to being delivered from the strange woman Nehemiah chapter 13 verse 26 to 27 picks up the same theme when it says if Solomon couldn't handle this and it's in the context of the people of Israel having married strange wives women of the nations around about because they lead to idolatry alright well that's the biblical context and idea of the strange woman it's the thing which is not of the nation that which is of the other nations and will lead you to idolatry forsake and forget we notice that she forsook she forgot her covenants they happen to be the two key terms used throughout the prophetical record to describe the nation of Israel who forgot their gods forgot their god and forsook his commandments and his law used throughout the book of proverbs by wisdom to say do not forsake do not forget the knowledge and understanding and wisdom that the woman wisdom can provide there's a few more facts we're starting to fill in the picture now of what this woman might represent if that hasn't done it for you maybe this one will james chapter one verse 14 describes the process begins in a certain place and it goes down and ends in death does this look like the process of proverbs 7 everyone is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed then when lusts conceived it brings forth sin and sin when it's finished brings forth death do not err my beloved brethren so what's proverbs chapter 7 about well it's about a lot isn't

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    it proverbs chapter 7 is the painting of a concept of an archetype of a picture or a stamp leaving the covenant of their god a pseudo pretend truth and rival to wisdom the seeking out of the simple who have no understanding a persuading and beguiling nature of sin active while the good man of the house is away and she's operating in the night did you see that with stolen waters and secret bread she represents the process of sin and death that's what's being painted by the father for the son in proverbs chapter 7 that's what the strange woman is representing for the son and for us his children it's not a picture is it at all of the heavenly father explaining to the lord jesus christ that you shouldn't get involved with married women of course he shouldn't but that's not what proverbs 7 is really about it's a vivid picture known amongst all societies in mankind that's being used by the father in chapter 7 to instruct jesus christ about the process of sin and for us his children to see in it the process by which sin destroys her victims she's the process of sin in the garden of eden she's the process of sin when the nation followed into idolatry she's the process of sin when any individual turns from their faith painted as the wife of their youth in chapter 5 verse 18 she's the picture of what happens when an ecclesia declines into apostasy with the greatest example being babylon the great she's a picture of the trap both literal and spiritual into which the wisest of all solomon himself

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    was snared and it's the same old process brothers and sisters from the beginning in 2nd corinthians chapter 11 verse 3 paul says to the corinthians i fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled eve through his subtlety ! your minds will be corrupted from the simplicity singleness that is in christ it's the same process in the garden in the beginning you know when you come to the new testament and look at all the passages that talk about a growing era that was coming into the truth the growing apostasy the iniquity that already mystery of iniquity that was already working which all the apostles in all of the epistles warn that this falling away was going to come just look at the terminology they use colossians 2 7 to 8 and 18 philosophy and vain deceit 2 Peter 3 17 they led away let's look at this one 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 18 22 swelling words and allurement 2 Peter chapter 2 as he describes this falling away this apostasy of the truth this error that was to come in 2 Peter chapter 2 and verse 18 and he's speaking of a group who have in verse 15 forsaken the way and gone astray in verse 14 their eyes are full of adultery and they cannot cease from sin and they beguile unstable souls and in verse 8 they speak great swelling words of vanity they allure through the lusts of the flesh through much wantonness those who are clean escape from them who live in error or in verse 22 it's happened as it was according to the true proverb and he quotes

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    the proverb the dog is turned to his own vomit again and the sow that was washed to the wallowing in the mind you see where the mind of the apostles is all the description of the apostasy and the falling away there's evil men and seducers in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 13 the two representations of the falling away of the truth taken from the book of Proverbs the evil man and the strange woman there's a wise versus fool there are false apostles and workers of deceit there's a serpent who beguards with subtlety and there's a great Babylon finally who is a heart who corrupts the earth through fornication see Proverbs chapter 7 is the archetype that all this language is taken from in the New Testament describing apostasy and falling away okay well at about this time we should now have put the pieces together and we've got comprehension we've got understanding of what the book of Proverbs is about now I want to think about this for a moment we began that with having no knowledge or little knowledge and understanding we set out the pieces from the text of the scripture and connected them together and at some point there you would have gone ah I'm beginning to understand it's making sense but just think about how that happened what was it like intellectually or mentally as we move to comprehension what's it like emotionally and I know I've talked to many brothers and sisters and I know that as we transition from knowledge to comprehension it's intellectually satisfying it's complex things that we've put together and we get it and our brain

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    goes I like that but it's emotional too right we feel wow there's an emotional response particularly because we come and understand the father's words to the son we understand how the father thinks about sin as he talks to us through the book of prophets and said this my children is how sin operates in your life I'm going to give you the tools he says to be delivered from her because her end is destruction and death and hell and the grave so it's an emotional experience it's also a physiological one there's adrenaline there's chemicals that go off in our brain there's heart rate increases there might be even a slight temperature rise as we come to comprehend so the process the father's created for us of knowledge to understanding to wisdom is the way that he's created and presented his word and his scriptures all right well now that we have understanding I want to just do one slide of dropping down another level into the detail just one because as we went through proverbs chapter seven you would have seen this verse the good man is not at home he's gone on a long journey he's taken a bag of money with him and he will come home at the day appointed what why is that in there because Christ will pick up the concept of the good man of the house in Matthew 20 verse 11 24 verse 43 Mark 14 verse 14 to refer to himself he will pick up the concept of going on a long journey in Mark chapter 13 verse 34 and other places as an aspect of his parables

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    that idea of taking a bag of money with him literally means a package or a bag of silver the idea of redemption when Christ left to go to his father having accomplished his work the redemptive price the silver he'll come home into the day appointed well that's a thematic isn't it about Christ and his return and the day of his coming just packed in there and nestled into the record four key points that Christ picks up and weaves into his parables and into his teaching and of course there's a lot more of that we need to move now to wisdom we've got knowledge we understand what it's about how do we apply it in life if this is the process being painted for us of sin in our lives in other people's lives in aggregations of people and collectives in society in systems then how does this apply what's the wisdom for us so what we're going to do now we're going to do something a bit practical and I want you to think about a temptation a sin that's particular for you now it's probably true this I remember someone else saying this many years ago and I went that's really good I remember that and they said for each of us we will find that there's one or two things that stand about everything else that are a problem for us in life right there's lots of sins there's all sorts of things but each of us is going to be different where we're confronted with one or two things particularly and here's a list this isn't my list so the things we've got

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    here are actually an aggregate from other sessions we've done this is probably I think the fifth time that we've done this particular exercise so there's probably 200 250 people sitting behind these suggestions anger that might be our problem in life we're an angry person short fuse and it keeps coming up over and over again for us and that's the thing we have to grapple with this side of the kingdom or violence associated gambling some might have a gambling addiction lying we might have a problem with honesty we might just be compulsive gossipers might have a hurtful tongue it's very quick to hurt people might be we're terrible procrastinators and sorry brethren it's a sin proverb sets it out calls it the sloth and the sluggard we don't have time this we look at that but it is procrastination bad language swear all the time can't help it can't stop it might be greedy of game envy struggle with alcohol sexual immorality dishonesty control of others hate and addiction I don't know why I put it there but and coffee drinking is not an addiction so no one choose that praise of men there'll be others all right so I want you to think maybe one of those is or whatever it is for you I've got my one but I'm not telling you what it is I'm too embarrassed right so what's the particular temptation you'll know what it is it's been there most of your life and it just keeps cropping up at the most inobtune times right so think of what that is now we're going to go through Proverbs chapter seven I'm going to

64. 35:55

    see that it's a process every time we fall into that again Proverbs chapter seven describes the process now you have this in front of you on your sheets so I'll just quickly turn it up and we'll just go through Proverbs seven and we'll see that yes indeed this is exactly what happens every time we fall back into the trap of that sin that thing we struggle with so it all begins in verse seven I behold among the simple ones I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding so here we are in our lives nothing going on we haven't been doing our daily bible readings we've been away from the truth for a while we haven't been around brethren and sisters we've been into other stuff and our reservoir of the word of God's going down and it's got empty and here we are we're now the simple young man void of understanding and we're passing through the street and we're coming close to the corner of where that problem is and then we go the way to her house see in verse nine the progression there's always a progression it's twilight then it's evening then there's a black and dark night it's the progression of our sin and behold there meets us in the most inopportune time the time of our weakness when we've been neglecting the scriptures and the word or whether there's our circumstance in life are making us vulnerable and there our sin is behold there meets us our sin in the attire of a harlot and subtle of harlot she's loud and stubborn and her feet abide not in

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    her house and we get confronted right in the face with our problem the thing we struggle with but she just doesn't wait there she's without she's in the street she's lying at wait at every corner that thing we struggle with is always out there at every corner of our life just really waiting for us verse 13 and it catches us kisses us and with an impudent face says I have peace offerings with me this day I've paid my vows I'm innocent and pure there's nothing really wrong and I've come forth to meet thee diligently to seek your face and I've found you and I've dipped my bed with cap and coverings of tapestry and there's this beautiful picture of the sin is going to be wonderful their carved works fine linen of Egypt a perfume bed with myrrh and aloes and cinnamon come indulge with that problem that sin you have let us take our love to the morning and our solace ourselves with loves because Christ's away the good man's not a come home he's gone on a long journey taking a bag with money with him to come home in the day appointed there's low risk here you're never going to be held to account nobody's going to find out and she keeps persisting our particular sin our particular issue we struggle with with fair speech he causes us to yield with a flattering ellipse we're forced and then our break point occurs and there's no recovery after that he goes after her straight away and we give up resisting an ox goes to the slaughter as a fool to the correction of the stocks

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    and a dart strikes through our liver the bird hastes to the snare knowing not it is for our life and wisdom says listen to me oh you children listen to my mouth don't let your heart decline into the way of your sin or go astray in her paths because you're not the first one over thousands of years from the beginning she's cast down many wounded many strong or mighty men have been slammed by her and the way of that way or that path of sin is hell the grave going down to the chambers of death it's a description isn't it of our problem out there waiting for us at every corner lurking when our guard's down when we haven't got the word of god in our head and she gets us and takes us down the path to death it's a description of our struggle with sin alright well that's the picture of Proverbs 7 and of the strange one of the book of Proverbs but it's said in chapter one that one of the purposes one of the promises is it would give us an ability to plan to put a strategy around dealing to it it would give us subtlety to the simple and the young man knowledge and discretion it would explain to us how sin works in these passages the father explains the lord jesus christ this is how sin will operate in the people that you're coming to save this is how sin will operate in the people that you want to judge and provide righteous judgment to this is how the principles of good and evil operate in terms

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    of sin Proverbs chapter 22 verse 3 it says a prudent man foresees the evil hides himself but the simple pass on and are punished so we need to create a plan and that's our task for the remainder of this morning but we're going to do it in a particular way see one of the themes of the book of Proverbs is that wise people develop an ability to seek counsel from others they also develop the ability to give counsel to others and we're going to look at this in some detail in another session later in the week but we're going to just introduce this idea and we're going to use this concept of wise counsel so in Proverbs chapter 11 verse 14 on the screen it says where no counsel is the people fall but in a multitude of counsellors there is safety so today I don't know how many people in this tent 120 people we've got 120 counsellors 120 people different experiences in life at different points in life 120 people have made stuff up in life learnt lessons done some great things and made right decisions and good things in life and we can share that as counsellors and why wouldn't we want to do that tap into the wisdom collectively of 120 150 other people so that's one of the principles of the book of Proverbs the ability to seek wise counsel so we're going to just tap a little bit in that today we've got knowledge of the strange woman we understand what she is and how she operates sin in every context but what we want to do now is seek

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    some wisdom by getting a little bit of collective counsel so what we're going to do I'll give you 5 to 10 minutes you're going to talk in groups of 2 or 3 so it doesn't matter which so people next to you if you don't particularly like the person next to you feel free to stand up and find someone else oh that might be too obvious so in groups of 2 or 3 and this is our task what would the important elements be in a plan or strategy to avoid sin you don't have to share what your particular one is but that's what we want to do so you might be able to generalize it what are the important elements in a plan or strategy to deal with our sin now there are green words on the sheet okay so they're really important because that's where wisdom explains to us as she goes through and explains the strange woman which gives us some really great salient advice about what should go into the plan you'd also like to read proverbs chapter 4 verse 13 to 15 which is not on your sheet but it's some really good advice around a plan or strategy and proverbs chapter 6 verse 20 to 25 so that's our task does everybody understand what we're going to do okay so just in the groups of 2 or 3 and I'll give you 5 to 10 minutes alright we're going to have to bring all that conversation in there's a lot going on I can see some listen to instructions really well groups of 2 or 3 there's a group of 9 in the

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    middle of the hall there probably all saw it just started glow with the collective wisdom that was coming so hopefully there will be some really good points now what I would have liked to do is got a big white board up here and then get the collective wisdom up there summarise it and have it all ready for us but we don't have time to do that so instead what I'm going to do is this I'm going to give you a page which is the collective views and wisdom and inputs of maybe 200 250 brethren and sisters it includes Canadians and Australians and Kiwis and Americans and Californiasts which are a subbreed of Americans so there's a range of collective wisdom and counsel that's sitting in this slide so these are all suggestions and ideas so what I would like is rather than get it all from here if you have something that's not on here and you think it really should be come to me tell me what it is and we'll get it included here so the next time I can say it's not 250 people it's sort of like 400 odd people and we can build collective wisdom you'll see the fonts getting smaller and smaller every time I do this so we'll probably have to put it onto two pages but here you go here's some of the top ideas to include in a plan for sin first acknowledge it you have to come to the light you have to perceive what the evil is and accept that you have a personal problem and issue with that sin biblical concept as we

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    confess it what are my particular temptations or struggles and they're different for different people work out why why is that an issue for you what's sitting behind it so there needs to be an acknowledgement we've got to stop denying that we actually have an issue so that's the first step second one be motivated think about the harm that it causes you to the people around you think about the breaches of trust that might be involved think about the guilt you hold think about the resources or time it takes and denies from others or other things what would it be like to be freed of it to not have the guilt to not have the bad feeling about that sin or that issue so be motivated stop be aware about it and avoid it this was a really good session you would have seen these throughout the Proverbs passages you looked at it's be aware what the triggers are what place does it happen who does it happen with what state are you in mentally or emotionally when you're vulnerable to that thing work out what the circumstances are and do what Proverbs says avoid it the key terms in scripture around it are flee avoid don't go there this is a good one turn up Matthew chapter 5 verse 29 work out what you're going to have to sacrifice because it's going to involve sacrificing something because you do it because there's something good about it Matthew chapter 5 verse 29 the Lord gives us some very powerful advice about something that should be in our plan our strategy for dealing with sin and he puts

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    it in the context same context as Proverbs chapter 7 of the strange woman he says you've heard it was said by them of old time you shall not commit adultery but I say to you that whoever looks on a woman to lust after who has committed adultery with her already in his heart and here's his instructions here's his input to our plan if thy right I offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not thy whole body be cast into hell and to death and if thy right hand offend thee cut it off so our singing and our actions associated with that sin for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell so Christ is telling us you're going to have to take drastic action and what's the thing you're going to have to sacrifice in order to overcome that sin that should be in our plan and in our strategy don't start don't go there the biblical terms are avoid flee depart protect guard you can see the ideas saying just work out what it is in your plan and strategy that means you don't even go there you're not that young man going the way to her house you won't be on the corner she's in you won't be out there in the dark and black night you won't be vulnerable work out what it is that you need to do in life so you don't even go there replace it so the other

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    wise counsel from these brethren and sisters find another good habit to replace it develop your sense of good and evil right and wrong from the bible the bible does work read it and make it a daily diet we know that don't we think about the days where we do our readings we do our study we go to work and we're much better mindset aren't we much better equipped to deal with whatever temptations but we haven't done our daily bible readings we haven't really been in it for a week or two we're much more vulnerable so replace it with something positive with the scriptures and we would have seen that theme throughout those proverbs passages and get help pray to the heavenly father to help us avail of the forgiveness in christ because he gets it don't surrender it's a fight christ also gets there and if you can access positive peer pressure if possible james 5 16 says confess your faults one to another pray for each other so there's some good collective wisdom about some top ideas that should go into our strategy our plan in order to deal or tackle sin if you have any others that aren't there or some suggestions come and tell me and we'll include them and make it even wiser as our wise counsel becomes more and more wise i'd like to finish by this great passage in the epistle john we're looking at the epistle of john in the first session so i've got this fantastic passage because it takes all the ideas that we've seen in the book of proverbs and now that we're thinking the way the

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    father thinks about sin the way he's expressed the idea and the process to the son and to us as children in the book of proverbs this is what he has to do about say about knowledge understanding wisdom in the epistle of john first john chapter 5 verse 17 all unrighteousness unrighteousness is sin there is a sin not unto death we know that whosoever is born of god my son sinneth not but he that is begotten of god my son keepeth himself and that wicked one touches him not and we know that we are of god and the whole world lies in wickedness and we know that the son of god has come and has given us understanding that we may know him that is true we're in him that is true even the son jesus christ that is the true god and eternal life little children young men keep yourselves from idols this is true because