“Wisdom of Turning Away from the Evil Path” - Proverbs 5:1-14
Opening: The path of evil is the path of destruction.
1. Knowing the characteristics of the evil path
a. It leads from sweetness to bitterness
“For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.” (v.3-4)
b. It leads from gain to loss
“Lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciless.” (v.9)
“Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets?” (v.16)
2. Having a clear boundary from the evil path
“Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house.” (v.8)
From absolute truth to relative truth
God is love vs. Love is God
“She seizes him and kisses him, and with bold face she says to him, ‘I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows; so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.’” (7:13-15)
“My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, have given your pledge for a stranger, if you are snared in the words of your mouth, caught in the words of your mouth.” (6:1-2)
“A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.” (6:10-11)
“A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech, winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, points with his finger, with perverted heart devises evil, continually sowing discord.” (6:12-14)
3. Understanding the ways to turn away from the evil path.
“Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths, for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng. Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.” (7:25-27)
a. Turning away through protecting heart.
“For a man’s ways are before the eyes of. The Lord, and he ponders all his paths.” (v.21)
b. Turning away through the power of the cross.
“Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.” (1 Corinthians 2:6-7)
Closing: The way of the cross is the only way of salvation from the evil path.
