1. The Counsel of a Father (verses 1-5)
2. The Carelessness of the Simple (verses 6-23)
3. The Counsel of a Father (verses 24-27)

About a month ago, I was summoned for jury duty. It is one of the great privileges of our society, outlined in the United States Bill of Rights, that criminal defendants have the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury.

I was summoned to appear at the courthouse at 8:30 on a Monday morning, along with about 150 other people. We sat and waited to see if the courts needed a jury. After about an hour of waiting, 50 random names were called and taken away to a courtroom. I was not one of them. I waited another 30 minutes, and then my name was called along with 49 other potential jurors. We were ushered into a courtroom and took our seats in the gallery. The judge explained a little about the case and what is required of a juror, and explained that they needed 14 jurors, 12 for the jury and 2 alternates. Then 14 potential jurors were called at random into the jury box and questioned by the judge, the prosecuting attorney, and the defense attorney. After the questioning, we were told to leave the courtroom while the prosecution and defense deliberated. After about an hour, we were called back in. Ten of those interviewed jurors were dismissed, which meant ten more needed to be questioned. Ten others were called at random, and I was one of them.

I sat down and faced the familiar questions from the judge. Do you know anyone involved in the case? I did not. Have you ever been in a courtroom before? I raised my hand and said, “Judge, I am a pastor of a church. I have been in a courtroom before, for an adoption.” I was there when Cora was adopted by the Browns. The judge said it was a wonderful occasion, but that this morning was a little different. Do you know any police officers? I raised my hand again and said, “Judge, there is a young man in our congregation who has just become a police officer. I see him every week and talk with him about once a month.” Do you have any reason why this particular case would be difficult for you to be impartial? I did not. The prosecuting attorney then questioned us one by one, including asking how we handle conflict. I said, “I am a pastor of a church, and I know plenty about conflict.” She also asked whether any of us did not drink alcohol. I raised my hand and said I do not, that I want to be above reproach and not a stumbling block to anyone in my congregation. The defense attorney also questioned us. Finally, we were dismissed while the lawyers and judge deliberated, and about 45 minutes later I was selected as a juror. I went home that evening around 8pm after a long day and returned the next morning.

Over the next two days, Tuesday and Wednesday, I heard the case. It was a case of sexual assault. A young man had gone to a bar with a few of his friends. Well after midnight, a woman walked into the bar with her friend. They danced a bit, drank a little, and soon it was closing time. This young man and his friends invited these women to a condominium where there was going to be an after-party. They were given the address and asked to come. The men drove away in a nice sports car.

The women were apprehensive about going. They had only just met these men. They stopped to think about it at a gas station, where one of them smoked a cigarette as they talked it over. Eventually they decided to go, but sensing the danger they developed a code word to say in the event that either of them became uncomfortable and wanted to leave. They went and found themselves at this condominium, the only two women among a handful of men. They were offered drinks. The music was loud. They danced a bit.

At one point, one of the women locked herself in the bathroom out of apprehension, and the other was lured upstairs into the bedroom, where she was sexually assaulted. She came downstairs sobbing uncontrollably, and soon afterwards they managed to leave. The victim went home, talked with her mother, called the police and gave them a report, and went to the hospital for an exam. A few days later she returned to the police and pressed charges. Eventually the man was arrested and brought to trial.

Throughout the trial, we heard the detailed accounts of what took place. We heard from the friend who went to the party with the victim. We heard from the police who went to her house for the initial report. We heard from the hospital staff, the nurse and doctor who examined her. We heard from the detective who followed up and eventually made the arrest. We heard from an expert in the DNA laboratory who examined the samples collected.

This woman’s life was forever changed because of the drama she experienced that night.

Well, this morning as we come to our text, Proverbs chapter 7, we will see a very similar story, only the roles are reversed. It is the man who is the victim, not the woman, and we see that it was not by force but through the power of persuasion and seduction. But we see the same end result: a life forever changed because of the drama experienced that night.

My message is entitled “A Deadly Drama,” because that is what we see: a drama played out in these verses that ends in death. Let’s read the entire chapter first.

Proverbs 7:1-27
My son, keep my words
    and treasure up my commandments with you;
keep my commandments and live;
    keep my teaching as the apple of your eye;
bind them on your fingers;
    write them on the tablet of your heart.
Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
    and call insight your intimate friend,
to keep you from the forbidden woman,
    from the adulteress with her smooth words.

For at the window of my house
    I have looked out through my lattice,
and I have seen among the simple,
    I have perceived among the youths,
    a young man lacking sense,
passing along the street near her corner,
    taking the road to her house
in the twilight, in the evening,
    at the time of night and darkness.

And behold, the woman meets him,
    dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.
She is loud and wayward;
    her feet do not stay at home;
now in the street, now in the market,
    and at every corner she lies in wait.
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.
I have spread my couch with coverings,
    colored linens from Egyptian linen;
I have perfumed my bed with myrrh,
    aloes, and cinnamon.
Come, let us take our fill of love till morning;
    let us delight ourselves with love.
For my husband is not at home;
    he has gone on a long journey;
he took a bag of money with him;
    at full moon he will come home.”

With much seductive speech she persuades him;
    with her smooth talk she compels him.
All at once he follows her,
    as an ox goes to the slaughter,
or as a stag is caught fast
    till an arrow pierces its liver;
as a bird rushes into a snare;
    he does not know that it will cost him his life.

And now, O sons, listen to me,
    and be attentive to the words of my mouth.
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.

This is a sad tale. It is a tale of a man being seduced by a woman: being where he shouldn’t be, listening to what he shouldn’t hear, following to where he shouldn’t go, doing what he shouldn’t do. In the end, it cost him his life. Look again at verse 27: “Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.” That is why I have entitled my message “A Deadly Drama.” We see the drama unfold and we see death at the end. Not necessarily physical death, but emotional death and spiritual death all around.

This chapter begins and ends with an exhortation to a son to listen to a father’s wisdom. This is our first point: 

1. The Counsel of a Father (verses 1-5)

Look at verses 1-4. We have seen this sort of counsel countless times in Proverbs.

Proverbs 1:8
Hear, my son, your father’s instruction,
    and forsake not your mother’s teaching.

Proverbs 3:1
My son, do not forget my teaching,
    but let your heart keep my commandments.

Proverbs 4:1
Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction,
    and be attentive, that you may gain insight.

Proverbs 5:1
My son, be attentive to my wisdom;
    incline your ear to my understanding.

These are but a few of the times Solomon has pleaded with his son to heed his counsel. I count 11 times he has done so thus far through chapter 6. Here in chapter 7 we see the twelfth. They are the sort of pleas that any father should give his son: follow after the ways of the LORD by following after the counsel of his father. Children, you need to know that your father’s instruction is the path to life. “My son, keep my commandments and live” (verse 2). This is the promise of the Fifth Commandment, to honor your father and your mother. As Paul writes, "Honor your father and your mother, that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land" (Ephesians 6:2-3)."

We see here in Proverbs 7 an example of death. We see an example of a son not following after the counsel of his father.

Solomon tells his son to keep his teaching “as the apple of your eye” (verse 2): that which is forefront in your mind, precious in your sight, and will protect you. In Deuteronomy 32:10 we read of how the LORD cared for Israel “as the apple of his eye.” In Psalm 17:8, David prays: “Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.” The idea is protection: watch over me, keep close to me. That is the thrust of these words in Proverbs 7. The son is to keep the words of his father close: “bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart” (verse 3). This counsel should be readily accessible at all times, ready to pull into your thought process at any moment.

You should be as familiar with this counsel as you are with your siblings.

Proverbs 7:4
Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
    and call insight your intimate friend,

Your father’s counsel should not be locked up on a dusty bookshelf. It should be close and intimate, not like something you have to Google, taking a minute to look up. It should be near and dear to you, recalled in any moment. The reason comes in verse 5: “to keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words.”

This is not the first time we have heard about this woman. The first time was in Proverbs chapter 2, where the argument was the same: treasure God’s word within you, so that “you will be delivered from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words” (Proverbs 2:16). We heard about this woman in Proverbs 5.

Proverbs 5:3-5
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.
Her feet go down to death;
    her steps follow the path to Sheol.

We heard about her again in Proverbs 6.

Proverbs 6:25-26
Do not desire her beauty in your heart,
    and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes;
for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread,
    but a married woman hunts down a precious life.

Here again in chapter 7, that is four times in seven chapters that Solomon warns his son of the doom that will come from following after the forbidden woman. Do you think this is important? Solomon did. More than thirty percent of his time in these seven chapters has been spent on this topic. His wisdom is timeless. It is remarkable that 3,000 years ago Solomon wrote about an issue that has taken down men for centuries and continues to take men down today. Do you think it is important today? When the forbidden woman is at your desk and in your pocket, ready and accessible whenever you want to visit her? Solomon says, “Stay away!” That is "The Counsel of a Father (verses 1-5, 24-27)."

Solomon teaches this to his son because he has seen it. He has witnessed this deadly drama play out. This is what he begins to describe in verse 6: looking out through his lattice, he witnesses, 

2. The Carelessness of the Simple (verses 6-23)

In Solomon’s day, the lattice was the only screen he had. He was watching his screen, through the screen, down onto the street below. Today, we look at our screens in a different way, but the drama is the same.

This is where sexual sin finds its fertile ground: carelessness. In fact, this is where all sin finds its fertile ground. Yet Scripture calls us to be alert in our fight against sin. Peter tells us, "Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith" (1 Peter 5:8-9a). Paul tells Timothy, "Flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart" (2 Timothy 2:22).We should fight for our sanctification (1 Timothy 6:12).

We should not be careless about our sin, like the one that Solomon saw. Solomon calls this young man “simple”: naïve, unthinking, the one who makes bad choices. The first bad choice he makes is this.

1. He goes where he shouldn’t be (verses 6-12).

He is outside late at night, loitering in the streets where nothing good happens. Children, if you would learn any piece of advice, learn this: it is not wise to be out late at night. My father used to tell me, “Nothing good happens after midnight.” George Whitefield said nothing good happens after 10pm. Of course, that was before electricity was widely available. But midnight is a good standard. We see nothing good coming this young man’s way in verses 10-12, as the woman meets him in the street, dressed as a prostitute, loud and wayward, lying in wait at every corner. This is the first step in a bad direction.

This is where David’s problems began. Rather than going out to war, where he should have been, he stayed at home. Rather than staying inside that evening, he went out to the balcony and gazed at the beautiful woman bathing. That is where David’s downfall began (2 Samuel 11).

In the trial I heard as a juror, it all began when these women entered a bar late at night. They shouldn’t have been there after midnight. The disaster of that evening could have been prevented if she and her friend hadn’t gone where they shouldn’t have been.

Returning to Proverbs, we see the next bad choice this man makes in verse 13, when she begins her seductive ways.

2. He listens to what he shouldn’t hear (verses 13-20).

Here is the enticement to sin. She makes it look so good. She says she is a good woman who has just made things right with the LORD (verse 14). She says she was lucky because she found him, making him feel special (verse 15). She promises a nice evening on soft couches with Egyptian linens (verse 16). It smells nice (verse 17). It will be delightful (verse 18). No one will find out; her husband has been gone and won’t return for a month (verses 19-20). This is true of all sin: it is made to look nice and fine, when in reality it is not. Nobody walks into sin seeing the evil. We walk into sin seeing only the good.

When James speaks of temptation, he describes it like a fisherman. A lure is designed to attract the fish. The fish doesn’t see the hook until it is too late. That is exactly how James describes sin. "Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death" (James 1:14-15).

Children, adults, you will be tempted. Sin will make it sound so nice, so pleasant, so good. But in the end it will catch you. It will bring you to death. "The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23).

The only rescue for us is the gift of God that comes through Jesus Christ. In sin there is death, but in Jesus there is life. He is the way and the truth and the life (John 14:6).. If you want any hope in your temptation, if you want any hope in your sin, Jesus is the one who gives us life. Church family, seek him. Pursue Christ. Listen to Jesus and not to the sinful temptation. If the counsel of your father is on your fingertips, the apple of your eye, written on your heart, it will come to mind in the moment of temptation and there will be this battle. Listen to Jesus. Don’t listen to the sin.

In the trial I heard as a juror, it was when the men enticed the women to come to their place. I don’t know exactly what was promised, but certainly there was persuasion: “Come over! It will be fun! We have music! More drinks! We will dance the night away! Come and have a good time!” The disaster of that evening could have been prevented if she and her friend hadn’t listened to what they heard. What made matters worse was that they thought about it. There was a moment, like a fish seeing the lure and thinking, there is something fishy about that. Should I? They hesitated, then went anyway. They should have said no, and let it go.

Returning to Proverbs, we see the next bad choice this man makes in verse 21.

3. He follows where he shouldn’t go (verses 21-23).

Her seductive speech overcame him. He felt compelled to go (verse 21). He went, not knowing that it would cost him his life (verse 23). The picture Solomon uses is of an ox going to the slaughter: corralled into a stall with nowhere to go, the butcher comes and it is over. He went, not knowing what awaited him. If only we could see the devastating consequences of our sin, perhaps we might be able to escape the perils that come and not follow where we shouldn’t go. He only felt compelled to go because first he went where he shouldn’t be, and second he listened to what he shouldn’t hear. When you go where you shouldn’t be and listen to what you shouldn’t hear, sooner or later you are going to follow where you shouldn’t go.

In the trial I heard as a juror, it was when the women stopped at the gas station, thought about it, and continued on to the condominium where trouble awaited them. Sin has a blinding effect upon us all. When we are captivated by the allure of sin, we can easily walk down the wrong road. As these women rolled into that driveway, they were like oxen headed to the slaughter. The rest of the evening played out just like the men had planned.

We see the death coming in verses 24-27, as the father draws the lesson he wants to impress upon his son: 

3. The Counsel of a Father (verses 24-27)

Proverbs 7:24-27
And now, O sons, listen to me,
    and be attentive to the words of my mouth.
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.

In the trial I heard as a juror, this woman could barely look at the man when giving her testimony. The prosecuting attorney asked her to describe what he was wearing, and it took everything within her, over a minute of struggle, just to look up briefly enough to describe a gray sweater. Such was the trauma in her life.

We found the man guilty.

The judge came in afterward to thank us for our service as jurors, and of course our question was: what is going to happen to him? He is going to spend eight to thirty years in prison. For two hours of pleasure. It is not worth it. If only he could have seen the end, I do not think he would have done what he did.

Now let me close with some gospel hope. This message has been largely a message of “Stay away, stay away.” But where can hope come for those who have already fallen? Perhaps hope can come from David, the one who went where he shouldn’t have been, and saw what he shouldn’t have seen, and summoned what he shouldn’t have summoned when he called Bathsheba to his house. They committed adultery. A child was born and died. Problems cascaded through his kingdom. But David came to repentance, and we see that repentance in Psalm 51. If you have fallen into sexual sin, if you are tempted by sexual sin, there is hope. The hope is only found in the mercy of God.

Psalm 51 was written to the choir master, a psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him after he had gone into Bathsheba. Here is David pleading for the mercy of God.

Psalm 51:1-2
Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
    blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
    and cleanse me from my sin.

There is where you find hope: coming to God penitent, on your knees, pleading for mercy, pleading that God would wash you and make you clean. The promise of Scripture is that if you confess your sin, God is faithful and just to forgive your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

Notice that David does not deny his sin. He says, “I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.” He fully owned it. He says, “Against you and you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.” He called it high-handed rebellion against the Lord. And then in the next breath, he asks for a clean heart.

Psalm 51:10-13
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
    and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and uphold me with a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
    and sinners will return to you.

Sin can sap your joy. David prayed that it would be restored. Then look at what he does once it is restored: he extends God’s glory. He says, "I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you." Those who have failed according to Proverbs 7 are the very sinners he is talking about instructing, directing back to God to seek his mercy and grace. That is what enjoying God’s grace leads to: extending his glory.

And the heart of the matter comes in verse 17.

Psalm 51:17
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

That is what God does not despise. That is what God wants: a broken heart, a contrite heart. So find hope in David's example if that is where you have been. But also know this: Proverbs 7 is serious. This brings death. It is a deadly drama of sexual sin. God counsels us. Our fathers counsel us. Stay away. Do not be like this careless, simple man, sucked into the snare of sin.

This sermon was delivered to Rock Valley Bible Church on February 23, 2020 by Steve Brandon.
For more information see www.rockvalleybiblechurch.org.