SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
1/15/2013 8:41 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Sexual Sin
is Ultimately Deadly PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Proverbs 7:1-9
Message of the
verses: In today’s SD we will begin
to look at the last main point from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on the fourth
chapter of His book. The chapter’s title
is “The Path of Folly and Death.” I
believe that after we finish this third main point that we will then look at
the 14th chapter of the Gospel of Mark. I have been trying to do one chapter of the
book of Mark each month until I reach the end of Mark’s Gospel. We began looking at Mark in December of 2011
and I will try and finish it next month even though there are sixteen chapters
in Mark I have chosen to do only the verses in the sixteenth chapter that are
in the most accurate manuscripts which are the first eight verses. As far as which book to begin after the
finish of Mark to look at a chapter a month I am leaning towards the book of
Daniel which has twelve chapters so if we begin in March of 2013 we should be
able to finish in February of 2014 Lord willing.
Introduction: (vv.1-5):
“1 My son, keep my words And treasure my commandments within you. 2
Keep my commandments and live, And my teaching as the apple of your eye. 3 Bind
them on your fingers; Write them on the tablet of your heart. 4 Say to wisdom,
"You are my sister," And call understanding your intimate friend; 5
That they may keep you from an adulteress, From the foreigner who flatters with
her words.”
As we begin to
look at these five verses in Proverbs seven we see that Solomon is again
reminding his son that he needs to stay close to the Word of God, for if he
knows well the Word of God and it’s commandments then he will live as long as
he follows them, but we will see that perhaps this young man will fall into the
trap of the adulteress. Dr. Wiersbe
explains the phrase “apple of your eye,” in his commentary, “The familiar
phrase ‘apple of your eye’ (v.2) refers to the pupil of the eye which the
ancients thought was a sphere like an apple.”
God refers to Israel as the apple of His eye and we know well that God
protects Israel as we should protect our eyes.
Remember what Job wrote about his eyes that have to do with sexual sin,
“"I made a solemn pact with myself never to undress a girl with my eyes
(Message).” Jesus said the following
from His sermon on the mount about your eyes, “27 "You have heard that it
was said, ’YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’; 28
but I say to you that everyone
who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her
in his heart. 29 “If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and
throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your
body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 "If your right hand makes you stumble,
cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the
parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.” Notice that Jesus also mentions the eyes and
the heart just as Solomon did in verses 2-3.
Dr. Wiersbe concludes his introduction with these words,
“This chapter vividly describes a naïve young man who falls into the trap of
the adulteress. Note the steps that lead
to his destruction.” We will begin by
looking at the first step.
He tempts himself (vv.
6-9): “6 For at the window of my
house I looked out through my lattice, 7 And I saw among the naive, And
discerned among the youths A young man lacking sense, 8 Passing through the
street near her corner; And he takes the way to her house, 9 In the twilight,
in the evening, In the middle of the night and in the darkness.”
The Bible talks about darkness and being in the darkness
a lot. We read about Judas when he left
the Passover meal with Jesus and the other disciples after Jesus said that he
would betray him that “he went out and it was night.” I mentioned in an earlier SD that one of our
Pastors gave a sermon a few weeks back and in that sermon he challenged us not
to get to close to sin, which is what the young man in this story is
doing. Dr. Wiersbe writes that he has
counseled many people who had committed sexual sins and almost all of the he states,
“put themselves into the place of temptation and danger.” Sexual temptation is all around us today, for
we have smart phones that we can see porn on, we have computers that do the
same, cable TV the same, we can’t even buy a newspaper without finding
someplace in it adds that provide sexual temptation. Knowing all of this we have to be so
committed to the Word of God just as Joseph was when he ran from the temptation
and it cost him dearly for his obedience, but when it was over he was greatly
rewarded. I have already mentioned Job
who made the covenant with his eyes not to look lustfully at a woman. Remember the devil acts quickly, like in the
case of David who failed, and Joseph who did not fail and so we have to be
ready at all times, and one thing for sure we do not want to walk in the
darkness. Dr. Wiersbe writes these wise
words “We can’t help being tempted, but we can certainly help tempting
ourselves.” When Jesus was teaching His
disciples how to pray in what we call the Lord’s prayer He said, “and lead us
not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,” so we learn for this and the
passage in James that God does not tempt us, but we can surely tempt ourselves
as we try to get as close to sin as we can without falling, but we will
eventually fall if we continue to tempt ourselves.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Psalm 119:33 says
“Establish my footsteps in Your Word, and do not let any iniquity have dominion
over me.” Jesus told His disciples to
watch with Him as He prayed His Father about His upcoming crucifixion. They all fell asleep right after they all
agreed with Peter that they would die for His sake, but they could not stay
awake. Jesus told them “"Keep
watching and praying that you
may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.’”
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to learn contentment and continue to
learn God’s Word, to hide it in my heart so that I will not sin against the
Lord, and that I will have the Word of God transform my mind.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 121:1-6
1 I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; from where
shall my help come? 2 My help comes from
the Lord who made heaven and earth. 3 He
will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold He who keeps Israel will neither
slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is shade on your
right hand. 6 The sun will not smite you
by day, nor the moon by night.
Turning Points Wisdom for
today: “To sin by silence when they
should protest makes cowards of men.”
(Abraham Lincoln) “Our God whom
we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will
deliver us from your hand, O king. But
if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor
will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” (Daniel 3:17-18)
1/15/2013 10:27 AM
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