Unfaithful Response

God's solution is more than dead men descending to hell.

produced by static force llc sometimes things don't change.

Transcript

There's an enticement listed in the Scriptures. Proverbs 7 talks about a loose woman on the prowl. 
It also talks about a young man's unfortunate response.

He becomes a victim by thinking he can be the hero outside of God's design. He doesn't just cross mankind's boundaries, he crosses God's.
Not man's labels. God's labels. She is married to another man.

Proverbs 7:22-23
Immediately he went after her, as an ox goes to the slaughter,
Or as a fool to the correction of the stocks,
23 Till an arrow struck his liver.
As a bird hastens to the snare,
He did not know it would cost his life.
Proverbs 7:22-23

THE CURE
Before I go on, I want to pray that my hearers and I follow God's deliverance from evil, and not the evil we say we want to be delivered from.

So let's pray, 

Father in Heaven in Jesus' name, 
Lord help us stop lying to ourselves and not imitate the ways of the adultress nor the ways of the adulterer. Let us confess our sin and turn to you. In Jesus' Name.

WHY DID I PICK THAT SCRIPTURE?
I picked it because it describes a lot of life today and a lot of the events in the Bible.

For instance, enticement worked pretty much the same way on Herod when he celebrated one of his birthdays. He didn't know what the cost would be when he made a public proposal toward a cute-looking relative:

Matthew 14
Verse 7 Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.
8 So she, having been prompted by her mother, said, “Give me John the Baptist’s head here on a platter.”
9 And the king was sorry; nevertheless, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he commanded it to be given to her. 
-- Matthew 14:7-9

Notice this pattern -- he didn't know the cost; she snared him; and he was eventually sorry.

That pattern has been reproduced on personal and national levels many times. In larger cases, the enticement is not just aimed toward an evil woman, but toward an evil way of worship. The theme of Israel being like an unfaithful wife comes up often in the Old Testament.

Here's what the Most High said back when Moses was on *Mount Sinai*:

Exodus 32:7-8
Verse 7 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’ ”

So, back to Proverbs 7. It ends with this warning about an adulterous woman:

Pr 7.
Verse 26 For she has cast down many wounded,
And all who were slain by her were strong men.
27 Her house is the way to hell,
Descending to the chambers of death.

God's solution is different than a vision of victims descending into the chambers of death. The city of God talked about in the book of Revelation comes down from heaven; not take captives down from earth. Notice that this city is referred to as female.

Rev 22
Verse 9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious *stone*, like a jasper *stone*, clear as crystal.

May we receive the life of God from heaven, and enjoy faithfulness toward Him.