Avoid Sexual Sin

For she has cast down many wounded, and all who were slain by her were strong men. Proverbs 7:26

Here in Proverbs 7, King Solomon writes as a minister and a prophet (who is by office a watchman) to give warning of the approach of the enemies, so that we may not be ignorant of Satan’s devices, but may know where to double our guard. He gives an account of a person who laid himself open to the temptations of a prostitute. This subsequently led to his destruction. The glory of young men is their strength (Prov. 20:29). Yet we read here about a young man who had fallen into sexual sin. What were the mistakes of this young man?

1. He was a young man void of understanding (7:7). A man who lacks understanding does not know how to depart from evil (Job 28:28). He becomes an easy prey for Satan. So how do we get “understanding”? The psalmist says, “Through Your precepts I get understanding” (Ps. 119:104). Therefore to gain understanding, we need to live our life according to the Word of God.
2. He kept company among the simple ones (Prov. 7:7). “He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed” (13:20). This young man should have associated himself with those who were upright and wise. Then he would not have fallen into the snare of the evil one.
3. He was sauntering and strolling along the streets aimlessly (7:8). One of the sins of Sodom was the abundance of idleness (Ezek. 16:49). An idle mind is the devil’s playground. Remember in the parable of the workers in the vineyard, there was a group of people standing idle in the marketplace (Matt. 20:3-6)? What was the solution for their idleness? WORK! Churches are not growing because Christians are spiritually unemployed. Let us stop idling and start getting down to He was awork for the kingdom of God.
   
4. He was a night-walker (Prov. 7:9). He was a man who despised truth and was living in darkness and hypocrisy. He could possibly have been living in secret sin and thought no one would know. Isaiah proclaimed, “Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the LORD, and their works are in the dark; they say, ‘Who sees us?’ and, ‘Who knows us?’” (Is. 29:15) So what must we do to stay away from sexual sin? Let’s hold on dearly to the Word of God; keep company with the wise; live everyday in the light and serve God with purpose. “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).