Archive for the ‘Under Gods Command’ Category


Under Gods Command

Romans 7:15 I do not understand what I do, For what I want to do I d not do, but what I hate I do.

Paul shares three lessons that he learned in trying to deal with his sinful desires.
1. Knowledge of the rules is not the answer (7:9) Paul felt fine as long as he did not understand what the law demanded. When he learned the truth, he knew he was doomed.
2. Self-determination (struggling in one’s own strength) doesn’t succeed (7:15), Paul found himself sinning in ways that weren’t even attractive to him.
3. Becoming a Christian does not stamp out all sin and temptation from a person’s life (7:22-25).

Being born again takes a moment of faith, but becoming like Christ is a lifelong process. Paul compares Christian growth to strenuous race or fight (1 Corinthians 9:24-27; 2 Timothy 4:7). Thus, as Paul has been emphasizing since the beginning of this letter, on one in the world is innocent; no one deserves to be saved-not the pagan who doesn’t know God’s laws, not the person who knows them and tries to keep them.

Lets Bring it Home: All of us must depend totally on the work of Christ for our salvation. We cannot earn it by our good behavior.


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 12:3 A man cannot be established through wickedness, but the righteous cannot be uprooted.   

To be established means to be successful.  Real success comes only to those who do what is right.  Their efforts stand the test of time.  Then, what kind of success does wickedness bring?  We all know people who cheated to pass the course or to get a larger tax refund-is this not success?  And what about the person who ignores his family commitments and mistreats his workers but gets ahead in business?

These apparent successes are only temporary.  They are bought at the expense of character. Cheaters grow more and more dishonest, and those who hurt others become callous and cruel.  In the long run, evil behavior does not lead to success; it leads only to more evil.  Real success maintains personal integrity.  If you are not a success by God’s standards, you have not achieved true success.

Life is full of change. Little is fixed and stable. Change can be disruptive and fearful. But godly men have deep roots to secure their family tree for the future. Wicked living is popular, but it will not work for long, since God will destroy such men and their families.

The lesson is simple: godly men and their families will outlast the wicked and theirs. It may not seem so for a time, but it will soon be true. God and Solomon gave you a rule as true as gravity, and they repeated it for emphasis (Pr 2:21-22; 10:25,30; 12:19; 24:3).

Every man, woman, and family wants to be settled and successful. They want to be securely planted and prosperous into the future. They want to increase and improve over time. But wickedness of any kind, continued in, will cause a person or family to decay and disappear. Only godliness can preserve and establish a man or family permanently.

Solomon saw it firsthand. Israel’s first king was Saul of Benjamin. Though a giant among men, with the nation behind him, and successful in war, God ripped the kingdom from him for disobedience and gave it to David of Judah. Saul and his family, even the princely Jonathan, disappeared forever. What about David’s family? His Son Jesus sits on David’s throne today, 3000 years after David died! Grasp this proverb and rejoice in it!

What is the outlook for you and your family? If there is sin in either, the Lord will root one or both out and destroy it. The righteous Lord blesses and honors righteousness, but He will be forward (Difficult to deal with) and terrible to the froward (Ps 18:20-26). The choice is yours, and it is a choice you make each day. What is your future? Your choices today determine it!

Abraham and Lot made choices. Lot chose financial advantage over holiness by pitching his tent toward Sodom. Abraham chose peace and the leftovers. But what happened? Lot lost everything and ended up in a cave with two profane and pregnant daughters; Abraham ended up the rich father of Israel and Jesus Christ! What a difference!

Eli was Israel’s high priest. His family could have been priests forever. But he would not stop his perverse sons. What did the Lord say? “For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not” (I Sam 3:13). See also I Samuel 2:27-36 and I Samuel 3:1-18. If you are not a proactive and strong father to command your family, you are going down.

David was the neglected eighth son, but the Lord rooted Saul out and established David and his sons as the dynasty in Israel. His Son sits on the throne of the universe today! God said to David, “And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever” (II Sam 7:16). Read II Samuel 7.

David wrote, “I have seen a wicked and ruthless man flourishing like a green tree in its native soil, but he soon passed away and was no more; though I looked for him, he could not be found” (Ps 37:35-36). Alexander the Great thought he was invincible, but he died at 32; in a few years every relative and descendant was dead. God rooted him out of the earth! Joseph Kennedy imagined a powerful political dynasty for his family. Where is it today?

The wicked do estate planning, but God will destroy them. The righteous seems weak, but God will preserve his house and seed forever. Do you believe this law of life? “Surely he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD. His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he see his desire upon his enemies” (Ps 112:6-8).

 

 


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 11:29 – He who brings trouble on his family will inherit only wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise.

One of the greatest resources God gives us is the family. Families provide acceptance, encouragement, guidance, and counsel. Bringing trouble on your family, whether through anger or through an inflated desire for independence is foolish, because you cut yourself off from all they provide. In your family, strive for healing, communication, and understanding.

Here are two ways you can cause trouble and cost yourself dearly. You can abuse privileges, or neglect duties, in your family, and you will end up with nothing. Your future will disappear like wind through fingers. These and other foolish choices will also take you down: you will end up serving those who are prudent and wise in their choices.

Fathers can trouble their houses in many ways. Being greedy of gain is a clear one (Pr 15:27). They work too many hours, waste money in foolish ventures, deprive their family of personal attention, are stingy with money, compromise integrity, and are carnally minded, all in their vain pursuit of wealth. Lazy and foolish men also hurt their families by depriving them of needs and opportunities through sloth and ignorance.

Fathers can also be too overbearing, harsh, critical, and domineering, which may discourage wives and children, or provoke them to wrath (Eph 6:4; Col 3:21). On the other hand, a father who avoids decisions or being a leader troubles his house. The wife and children are at sea without a captain. They lack security and direction for their lives.

While fathers are mentioned here, everyone knows overbearing wives and mothers are also an evil (Pr 12:4; 19:13; 21:9,19; 25:24; 27:15-16; 30:21-23). They drive children to anger, bitterness, discouragement, frustration, and even hatred; though they whitewash their odious conduct by saying, “I was just trying to help.” They are full-time meddlers, always digging, nagging, and pressing suggestions about unimportant things of life.

What is the punishment for these selfish persons – foolish fathers and mothers? They lose their families. The children can hardly wait for marriage to get away. Some will run away before marriage. These children only come home under duress. They want so much to escape the vexation of living with selfish or critical parents. They want peace and quiet, with affection and happiness, where love reigns; they want to escape their cruel parents.

Troubling your family has consequences. Foolish parents, who selfishly neglect their children or odiously interfere in their lives, will lose them. They will die lonely, even if the children visit them out of obligation. Foolish choices will cost a man his standing; the prudent man will take dominion over him. These judgments are natural and appropriate.


Under Gods Command

Romans 7:9-12 Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, sizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.

Sin deceives people by misusing the law. The law was holy, expressing God’s nature and will for people. In the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3), the serpent deceived Eve by taking her focus off the freedom she had and putting it on the one restriction God had made. Ever since then, we have all been rebels. Sin looks good to us precisely because God has said it is wrong. When we are tempted to rebel, we need to look at the law from a wider perspective-in the light of God’s grace and mercy

Lets Bring it Home: If we focus on his great love for us, we will understand that he only restricts us from actions and attitudes that ultimately will harm us.


Under Gods Command

Romans 7:9-11 Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, sizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.

Where there is no law, there is no sin, because people cannot know that their actions are sinful unless a law forbids actions. God’s law makes people realize that they are sinners doomed to die; yet it offers no help. Sin is real, and it is dangerous. Imagine a sunny day at the beach. You plunge into the surf, and then you notice a sign on the pier. “No swimming. Sharks in water.” Your day is ruined. Is it the sign’s fault? Are you angry with the people who put it? The law is like the sign. It is essential, and we are grateful for it-but it doesn’t get rid of the sharks.

Lets Bring it Home: How many of us are swimming with the sharks due to not knowing Gods word which is a sign to stay away from sin? Yes, even Christians are swimming with the sharks, due to not reading the sign. It is very important that we spend time with the Lord Jesus Christ.


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 8:27 I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep

How important is wisdom? God had it when He created the heavens and the earth (Gen 1:1). Lady Wisdom here encourages you to value wisdom highly because God does.

The modern and weak concept of Intelligent Design does not do the LORD justice, for He is infinitely wise with perfect understanding and creative genius far beyond mere intelligence or intellectual capacity. He is wise, and He calls you to be wise.

Intelligence, or fact calculation and application, falls short of wisdom. The only true God arranged and ordained every aspect of the universe when there had never been such a thing before. He also has the power of right judgment to discretely and prudently interact with other rational creatures. He inspired Solomon to write for you to get wisdom.

Who thought the earth was flat? The children of God have always known the earth was round. When the blessed and only Creator God formed the earth’s atmosphere, and when He wrapped it around the ball of water hanging in space, wisdom was there with Him. Lady Wisdom offers you wisdom today by this proverb and the rest of Gods scriptures. Will you accept her gracious offer (Pr 8:1-5,32-36; 9:1-12)?

How great is wisdom? After Lady Wisdom’s introduction and invitation (Pr 8:1-5), she described the excellence and truth of wisdom (Pr 8:6-11), the benefits that flow to those having it (Pr 8:12-21), and the presence and use of wisdom by God in the creation of the heavens and earth (Pr 8:22-31). She then concluded with a further invitation (Pr 8:32-36). Wisdom is the most precious thing you can obtain in life (Pr 3:13-20; 4:5-13; 8:10-11).

This proverb exalts wisdom by showing it was with God in the creation of the heavens and His arrangement of the heavens to circle and encompass the watery globe. God created the heavens, the earth, and light on the first day (Gen 1:1-5; Ex 20:11; 31:17). He created the earth’s atmosphere on the second day, which is the firmament of heaven that separated the water above the sky from the water covering the earth (Gen 1:6-8).

God created the universe. The interstellar and interplanetary spaces and the spherical globe of the earth were formed first (Gen 1:1). The earth was a formless ball covered with water hanging in the total darkness of space (Gen 1:2). God then added light, without light sources for three days, mind you, to complete the first day (Gen 1:3-5,14-19). The only big bang, if there was one, occurred when God said, “Let there be light:” – and there was light (Gen 1:3)! If God has given you faith, you understand it (Heb 11:3).

God created the earth’s atmosphere. He separated waters on the earth’s surface by an expanse called heaven, which we call atmosphere, in which birds and planes fly (Gen 1:6-8,20). He gathered the waters on the earth and under this atmosphere into seas on the third day (Gen 1:9). The waters above the atmosphere remained there for the 1,656 years before rain (Gen 2:5-6; 7:4; Heb 11:7). It was not until the Flood that rain appeared; it was not until after the Flood that rainbows appeared (Gen 7:11-12; 9:12-15).

The Lord compassed, or encircled, the earth with this atmospheric heaven as part of His creative work on the second day. Included in these first two days of creation was the ordination of gravity to hold the waters and the atmosphere around the earth. Though the earth spins at 1000 mph, the atmosphere that compasses the earth moves right along with the earth, so you are not blown away! From the vantage point of spacecraft, you can see the aqua blue ball suspended by nothing in the firmament of heaven. Give God the glory!

The word “compass” in this proverb describes the circle, circumference, curve, arc, ring, or round shape of the atmospheric heaven that God wrapped around the ball we call earth. He set a compass, or a circle, over the watery earth before there was land (Pr 8:29; Gen 1:3-5). Though Solomon wrote these words 1000 years before Christ, he knew the earth was round by God’s inspired revelation to him. Isaiah, writing by inspiration about 700 years before Christ, also referred to the circular or round shape of the earth (Is 40:22).

Eratosthenes (276-195 B.C.), a Greek mathematician who knew the earth was round, calculated its correct circumference and the tilt of its axis. Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543), who knew the earth was round, developed and promoted proofs for heliocentricism – the earth moves around the sun. Pope Urban VIII spanked Galileo (1564-1642) for endorsing such absurdities. But Newton (1643-1727) confirmed how a ball could keep us all feeling upright with gravity. But they were just refining old news!

What is the lesson of the proverb? If wisdom was with God in His creation of the heavens and the atmospheric curtain around the earth, then it is important enough for you! If God used wisdom to create the heavens and earth, then it would be a great thing to have for your decision-making! Are you committed to pursue wisdom? Is it more important to you than anything else? When was the last time you read the Bible? Heard a real sermon?

All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in the Lord Jesus Christ, for He is God in the flesh – the fullness of the Godhead in a human body (Col 2:3,9). He created all things, and without Him was not anything made that was made (John 1:3; Eph 3:9; Heb 1:2)! He has all wisdom and knowledge as a perfect King, Priest, Savior, and coming Judge. Humble yourself before Him this day! Beg Him for mercy and wisdom!


Under Gods Command

Romans 7:1-6 Do you not know, brothers-for I am speaking to men who know the law- that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. So then, if she marries another man, while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man. So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might be long to another, or him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released ferom the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

Paul uses marriage to illustrate our relationship to the law. When a spouse dies, the law of marriage no longer applies. Because we have died with Christ, the law can no longer condemn us. We rose again when Christ was resurrected and, as new people, we “belong” to Christ. His Spirit enables us to produce good fruit for God. We now serve not by obeying a set of rules, but out of renewed hearts and minds that overflow with love for God.

When a person dies to the old life and belongs to Christ, a new life begins. An unbeliever’s mind-set is centered on this or her own personal gratification. Those who don’t follow Christ have only their own self-determination as their source of power, By contrast, God is at the center of a Christian’s life. Go supplies the power for the Christian’s daily living. Believers find that their whole way of looking at that world changes when they come to Christ.

Some people try to earn their way to God by keeping a set of rules (obeying the Ten Commandments, attending church faithfully, or doing good deeds), but all they earn for their efforts is frustration and discouragement. However, because of Christ’s sacrifice, the way to God is already open, and we can become his children simply by putting our faith in him.

Keeping the rules, laws, and customs of Christianity doesn’t save us. Even if we could keep our actions pure, we would still be doomed because our hearts and minds are perverse and rebellious. Like Paul, we can find no relief in the synagogue or church until we look to Jesus Christ himself for our salvation – which he gives us freely. When we do come to Jesus, we are flooded with relief and gratitude. Will we keep the rules any better? Most likely but we will be motivated by love and gratitude, not by the desire to get God’s approval. We will not be merely submitting to an external code, but willingly and lovingly seeking to God’s will.

Lets Bring it Home: Are we trying to reach God by keeping rules or looking the part, going to Church, Bible Study and Sunday school, or are we trying to become more and more like Jesus as we live with him day by day. Don’t keep the rules because it’s the American Way, go to Church to gain that personal relationship Jesus and hear and put into action when He has to say.


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 7:9 At twilight, as the day was fading, as the dark of night set in.

Many sins occur at night, especially sex sins. God warns you about darkness and night. Here is a young man out at night looking for sin and is met by an adulteress. In a long parable, King Solomon described the ruin of a young fool by casual sex (Pr 7:6-27).

Young man, be careful and cautious. There is more temptation at night; the duties of the day that keep men occupied are over; you will foolishly think you can hide under the cover of darkness. Wise men go home early; godly men know to stay home after supper.

A young fool looking for a whore begins his search “in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night.” He does not go near her house in broad daylight, for he would be seen; and she is not as easily found then either, for she must also hide her activities.

Job described adulterers this way: “The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk, he thinks, No eye will see me, and he keeps his face concealed. ” (Job 24:15). In another place, Job goes much further to describe how various wicked men hate the light (Job 24:13-17).

Sin causes guilt and shame, and it brings punishment, so men hide sinful activities from view. Jesus said wicked men love darkness to hide their sins, lest the light reveal their evil (John 3:19-21). Adam and Eve tried to hide their nakedness with fig leaves and the trees of the garden (Gen 3:7-8). But darkness has always been the favorite cloak for sex.

During daylight, even bad sections of a city look free from sin and vice; but after dark, they are filled with wicked persons using the night to hide identities and activities. Drunkenness, fornication, prostitution, robbery, and murder all greatly increase at night.

Bars used to meet the opposite sex for fornication are called nightclubs for good reason – they would never work as dayclubs! Las Vegas, an American moral cesspool, does most of her business at night. Casinos are experts in human depravity and fulfill the proverb.

Restaurants and lounges at night turn the lights down and the music up, for any woman looks better in dull light after a few drinks with fleshly music. The boldness to pursue drunkenness, fornication, and other sins is greatly encouraged by the cover of darkness.

Television programming after 9:00, the watershed hour, is carefully designed for adult audiences with intense and immoral shows or movies. With legitimate and productive activities over, adults can put the children to bed and fill their minds with ungodly images and conduct to corrupt their souls and thoughts during the night. Movie theaters also are mostly attended at night, and well into the night, with sinful sex a primary theme of both.

Your grandparents had a better routine before electricity brought television, movies, and countless activities at night. They went to bed with the birds and got up with them; there was no time or opportunity for cruising, carousing, or clubbing at night. They started each day early and worked hard, and they ended each day not long after supper.

They kept a schedule that promoted that sober time of quietness and resolve in the morning that is now lost. Their emphasis was on how much they could get done in the morning rather than surviving the day to be able to play at night. Their sobriety condemns this generation, which is addicted to amusements and pleasure, and most of it at night.

It was once an adage of America, “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” Christians could rightly add godliness to that formula, for it is generally God-approved activities that take place from morning until afternoon. Today’s Americans foolishly make fun of any “old fogey” that would go to bed before 9:00 P.M.

If David had stayed in bed with one of his beautiful and eager wives, he would never have seen Bathsheba using the cover of darkness for a bath (II Sam 11:2). What a foolish choice to leave his bedroom and go out at night from the safety of his house. The consequences of just one night out wandering around haunted him for the rest of his life.

Not all night activities are wrong, as Paul once preached to midnight and beyond (Acts 20:7-11). The Lord Jesus prayed all night on occasion, due to the demands of the crowds during the day (Luke 6:12). Shepherds were abiding in the field at night when they heard the announcement of the Lord’s birth. But these were exceptions and for godly purposes.

Curfews for youth are excellent rules, for the minds of foolish teenagers are more prone to the lusts of the flesh after dark, when their actions will be hid and their consciences emboldened to try things they might otherwise avoid. Getting them up early and requiring them to work hard will leave them tired and craving bed when night finally arrives.

Let this short proverb affect you two ways. First, be more aware of the sexual temptations at night. Second, consider adjusting your schedule toward mornings with a reduction of plans at night. Limit children’s activities after supper and teach them habits to reduce the temptations of darkness. May the Light of the world save you and your children.

Throughout the New Testament, Christians are described as the children of the day, not of the darkness. They are to live and walk as children of light in this dark world – the lesson of the proverb being used extensively by the Lord and His apostles (Luke 16:8; John 1:4-9; 3:19-21; 11:9-10; 12:35-36,46; Acts 26:18; Rom 13:11-14; I Cor 4:5; II Cor 4:6; 6:14; Eph 5:8-14; 6:12; Col 1:13; I Thess 5:1-8; I Pet 2:9; I John 1:5-6; 2:8-11).

If you are a child of God, you should remember and consider there will be no darkness or night in heaven at all, for the Lamb of God will be the perpetual and glorious light of that place (Rev 21:23,25; 22:5). But the wicked will howl in the black mist of impenetrable darkness forever, for there will be no light or day in hell at all (II Pet 2:4,17; Jude 1:13). They who loved darkness and night will have their fill of both, and then some, forever!


Under Gods Command
Dead to sin, Alive in Christ

Romans 6:20-23 when you were slaves to sins, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at the time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

You are free to choose between two masters, but you are not free to adjust the consequences of your choice. Each of the two masters pays with his own kind of currency. The currency of sin is eternal death, That is all you can expect or hope for in life without God. Christ’s currency is eternal life-new life with God that begins on earth and continues forever with God.

Lets Bring it Home: What choice have you made?

Eternal life is a free gift from God, if it is a gift, then it is not something that we earn, nor something that must be paid back. Consider the foolishness of someone who receives a gift given out of love and then offers to pay for it. A gift cannot be purchased by the recipient. A more appropriate response to a loved one who offers a gift is graceful acceptance with gratitude. Our salvation is a gift of God, not something of our own doing (Ephesians 2:8,9). He saved us because of his mercy, not because of any righteous things that we have done (Titus 3:5). How much more we should accept with thanksgiving the gift that God has freely given to us.


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 5:3-11 The lips of a seductive woman are oh so sweet, her soft words are oh so smooth. But it won’t be long before she’ gravel in your mouth, a pain in your gut, a wound in your heart. She’s dancing down the primrose path to Death; she’s headed straight for Hell and taking you with her, She hasn’t a clue about Real Life, about who she is or where she’s going. So, my friend, listen closely; don’t treat my words casually, Keep your distance from such a woman; absolutely stay out of her neighborhood. You don’t want to squander your wonderful life, to waste your precious life among the hardhearted, why should you allow strangers to take advantage of you? Why be exploited by those who care nothing for you? You don’t want to end your life full of regrets, nothing but sin and bones, Saying, “Oh, why didn’t I do what they told me?

Whores are expensive! At best, they want you and your money; at worst, they want your money without you. Even when they do not take your assets or income directly, they are expensive to entertain and support. If you needed another reason to avoid them, here it is.

King Solomon in this proverb gave his son another reason to stay away from the strange woman (Pr 5:3), which is any woman he had not married – whether prostitute, whore, or adulteress. It costs a lot to buy their favors or keep them happy; his assets and income would go to those outside his family, even though they do not provide any lasting benefit.

Here is the wisdom of God! To combat the powerful lusts in a young man and warn him thoroughly of the folly of fornication and adultery, you need to say more than, “Flee fornication,” (I Cor 6:18) and, “Thou shalt not commit adultery” (Ex 20:14). There are many other threats and warnings you can give to help him defeat this powerful lust.

You would hope and wish a young man could be kept sexually pure simply by knowing God has forbidden such sins, like Joseph was with Potiphar’s wife (Gen 39:9). But that is neither realistic nor wise. Many young men are not even born again to have a heart that fears God, and those that are may not be at Joseph’s level of spiritual maturity and zeal.

Most of Proverbs shows the natural consequences of sins. While some of God’s laws are stated and applied, much of the book is observations of pain and suffering caused by sin. Wise parents will take note. They can do a much more thorough job of training their children, if they follow Solomon’s lead and explain all the painful consequences of sin.

Fornication and adultery have painful consequences, no matter what the world may say positively about casual sex. Solomon knew about the costs: he had witnessed them in his father’s life after adultery with Bathsheba. He warned often against this destroyer of young men (2:16-19; 5:1-23; 6:23-35; 7:1-27; 9:13-18; 22:14; 23:27-28; Eccl 7:26-29).

Whores are expensive! If a young man foolishly visits a prostitute, the price is very high for mere seconds of pleasure. She gives no discount for guilt, a grieved conscience, or an STD! His hard earned money is split between a woman who does not care about him and her pimp, who is the lowest scum of the race. Wake up, young man! Marry a godly woman and make love freely every night with your best friend and perpetual companion.

Whores are expensive! If a young man foolishly takes an adulteress, he must give gifts, since she expects liaisons that flatter her, or he must outdo her husband. Caught in the deceitful trap of imagined and feigned love, the young fool will do all he can to pamper this wicked and unfaithful wife, forgetting that she is taking his living with no commitment, while staying married to another man! Wake up, young man! Marry a godly woman and make love freely every night with your best friend and perpetual companion.

Whores are expensive! Other young men choose the party scene of clubs and bars, where they must maintain a successful image or lose popularity and draw. Expensive cars, clothes, accessories, housing, entertainment, and lifestyle – all for merely an appearance of prosperity and power to seduce women with a soul no deeper than a dollar bill – will eventually put a man in the poor house. Wake up, young man! Marry a godly woman and make love freely every night with your best friend and perpetual companion.

Think, young man! What if your wife, friend, and lover worked with you to build a family estate of children and property, instead of taking your assets and income for the estates of others? What a difference! Solomon wrote you about it in the context (Pr 5:15-19). Think how much faster you would get ahead, how much farther you would get ahead, and how much more secure you would have. Wake up, young man! Marry a godly woman and make love freely every night with your best friend and perpetual companion.

Whores are expensive! Even pornography can rob a man, for whores and publishers, whether in magazines or the Internet, want a return for their destructive wickedness. Many visual and mental adulterers have squandered money and time, let alone peace and happiness, by funneling money to whores at a distance and/or losing their professional zeal and productivity by the distraction of the addicting and consuming iniquity.

Build your own estate, young man, rather than another’s. Love the wife you have, and be satisfied with her breasts and ravished by her love (Pr 5:19). Do not even think about dipping into a sexual cistern or well that does not belong to you (Pr 5:16). Have children, legitimate children, and a lot of them, and rejoice with your wife, as your family tree becomes a happy and powerful influence in the earth (Pr 5:17-18; Ps 127:3-5; 128:1-6).

For the man who has already fallen like a fool to a Delilah, save your life, and revive your soul, by running far from her and repenting like David did (II Sam 11:13; Ps 51:1-19; 32:5). There is mercy with the Lord of heaven, even for men foolish and wicked enough to chase whores of any variety. Repent! God is faithful and just to forgive those who truly repent, no matter the greatness of the crime (Pr 28:13; I Jn 1:9; Job 33:27-28).

Let every reader consider the application of this proverb to spiritual adultery. Any man or woman commits spiritual adultery when they befriend false religion or the world. Your affection, attention, time, energy, emotion, and/or money are then given to another god or entity that is an enemy of the true God of heaven and His Son Jesus Christ. The Bible is full of warnings about God’s great jealousy and His severe judgment of those who take what belongs to Him and give it to others (Jas 4:4; Ezek 16:1-59; II Cor 11:1-4; etc.).