--has the supreme wisdom, and if we were smart at all, we'd listen to it, so we don't have to go through the same stupid mistakes that other generations have had to go through. Unfortunately, growing old doesn't guarantee that you grow up. There are many old babies. They're out of the house, and they're still wimps. They still whine at life. They still complain all the time.

God gets a hold of their lives, and hopefully they submit to His principles, but there's no guarantee that even a Christian who spends months and years knowing God becomes a mature Christian. It takes the application of principles. And so we read, "My son, keep my words and treasure my commands within you."

God loves us enough. He loves us enough to touch upon every aspect of life in some way in His word and to tell us exactly what it is we ought to do in a given situation. He tells us concerning temptation, trials, death, life.

Now, when God tells us these things, when we hear them week by week in messages or on the radio or we read them in our quiet time, we can have one of two reactions. We can have the same reaction we had toward Mom and Dad when we were kids and think, right, I've heard it all before, God. Don't give me advice. Now, you probably wouldn't verbalize that. But by the very fact that you might disobey His commands or really not take heed to them shows that that's your attitude.

Or you can say, you know, I've never experienced these things. But I'm going to listen up, and I'm going to follow. Because I don't have to jump into a bonfire to know it's hot and I'm going to get burned. That can be your attitude, one of those two things-- either I will listen, or I will do it on my own.

The chapters we've been covering deal with sexual sin and sexual temptation. And there's not a one of us that can't relate to that. And we can have the right attitude of listening to the Lord's words and avoiding the path of death. Or we can get burned on our own.

Every time we deal with these issues, almost every single time, bar none, I'll have someone come up to me and say, you know what? Everything you just shared tonight out of the word, I can attest to by personal experience. And I'd be happy to share with those young kids in the church who are sleeping together or who don't see a real problem with having sexual relationships before marriage-- I can personally attest to them the heartache of these things.

Or I've had people say, if you ever have Christians who are dating unbelievers, just let them talk to me. Because I was one who was willing to disobey God's word in my situation. And I am suffering years of hardship because of it. Just let them talk to me. I can attest that everything you've shared out of the word is accurate.

That's learning it the hard way. That's called the school of hard knocks. Unfortunately, it happens to be one of the best schools around. It's a sure education.

But there is the school of just listening to the wisdom of God, believing that Father knows best and that when He gives a directive, He does not do it because He hates us but because He loves us and He wants the best for us.

You know, the best testimony to me is someone who says, I grew up in a Christian home. I never really strayed. Yeah, I had my rebellious moments, but I've always believed in the Lord. I've always prayed. I've always loved Jesus Christ. I haven't experienced the drug culture. I haven't slept with any girls or guys. I'm green when it comes to the experience of these things. I've just always followed the Lord.

I say, don't apologize for that. Don't you ever apologize for God's keeping power in your life. You've got a much better head start in your life than the person who's blown it most of their life and then come to know the Lord. If you've had a Christian upbringing and you have listened to God's wisdom throughout your life, then you are simply a testimony to the keeping power of God and that his promises are true and that they keep you from the wayward path, as these verses tell us.

Chapter 7 is a story or it's speaking about the foolish youth who are snared. And then chapter 8 is a contrast of wisdom and foolishness. It says, "My son, keep my words. Treasure my commands within you. Keep my commands and live. And my law is the apple or is the center of your eye. Bind them on your fingers. Write them on the tablet of your heart."

Beautiful, beautiful directive. Write them in your heart. Don't be content to just take notes. If you take notes, put them in your heart, like Paul the Apostle who said, "You are our letter written in the hearts of men. Say to wisdom, you're my sister. And call understanding your nearest kin. Be so familiar with wisdom as if it is your closest relative. Look at the principles of God--" and it says, treasure them up.

Treasure God's commands and His principles within you and turn toward His principles and say, I want such an intimate relationship with the wisdom and the word of God that I know what God expects in different areas of my life. Be so drenched, soaked in the scripture that you know what God says about marriage and dating, that you know what God says about handling money, that you know what God says about running a business, about going through trials, about being tempted and how to handle it, about preaching the Gospel.

Don't be the Christian who simply goes on, year to year in his walk, and always has to make excuses because he doesn't know the Bible. Well, you know, I just-- I don't-- I don't know where it says this or I just kind of read it every now and then and you know, I find a verse, and I look at it, and I don't know. Say to understanding, you're my kinsmen, to wisdom, you're my sister. I want to be close.

And this whole section in this first part speaks about the right attitude towards God's word, the right attitude. The attitude is this-- if you want to be a successful Christian, if you want the wisdom as we spoke about in the last few weeks, the [HEBREW], as the Hebrew says, of life, which means a skillful way to live godly. If you want that, then say, I am determined.

My attitude toward the scripture is that it is the only principle with which to guide my life. And I will not make moves nor decisions unless they are based upon the scripture, not upon fleeting emotions, but upon the scriptures. Have that kind of attitude toward the word of God, which is wisdom, God's wisdom, and then all of your activities will be right on. Because your activities are governed by your attitude toward the word of God.

And if your attitude is it is the inerrant, infallible, inspired word of God that contains all of the principles I need for a godly, successful, Christian life-- and I don't mean have a lot of bucks successful. I mean living a godly life. If that is your attitude, then all of your activities will be influenced by that attitude. And you'd be scared to do something until you prayed, sought God's face, and found principles in the scripture by which to direct to you.

Verse 5-- "That they may keep you from the immoral woman, from the seductress who flatters with her words." The word "flatter--" I looked it up in the dictionary-- means an insincere excessive praise. Insincere excessive praise that comes from wrong motivations. It's where you just turn on the juice of lovey dovey, wuvvy wuvvy, nice words, but you don't really mean them. It just would sound nice, and people will like you when you say that.

The Bible speaks very directly against that kind of flattery. It is not a Christian thing to do at all. It's not sweet at all. It's wrong unless it's meaningful. If it's sincere and there's no ulterior motives, it is an encouragement. And the Bible speaks greatly on the fact that we ought to encourage one another, stimulate each other to good works.

And you can see then if your affirmation is flattery or encouragement. Because encouragement will stimulate a person on to do good works. Flattery just boosts the ego. That's all.

I want you to turn for just a moment over to chapter 26. Look at just a few verses in this. Verse 28-- "A lying tongue hates those who are crushed by it. And a flattering mouth works ruin." Doesn't build up. It works ruin. How could it work ruin? Well, you can get a person's ego so high, that self love becomes predominant and out of order. You can boost a person's self esteem so much that the only one they love is themselves, and that's the standard by which they judge.

It's the opposite of what modern psychology would tell you. Don't get me wrong. We are not to go around saying, I'm a wretch. I'm a wretch. I'm a miserable wretch. I'm a worm. I can't do anything. I can't sing. I can't-- I can't do anything. That's not humility. That's sickness.

Humility is being known for who you are. And yet you can flatter someone with insincere, excessive praise. And you can ruin a person. Every time a person comes up to me and says, Skip, I have to tell you how wonderful you are, the Holy Spirit kind of nudges his way in there. And He says, don't you believe it.

[LAUGHTER]

Well, Lord, what should I believe? Your life verse, remember? Oh, yeah. God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. That's right. OK.

[LAUGHTER]

I know myself. And I know that the only reason that people get anything out of the Bible studies I teach, whether here at Calvary Chapel or in radio stations around the country or however is simply by God's grace, I marvel more than anyone. I sit back and go, I can't explain it, except what Peter said when he saw the great catch of fishes. It is the Lord. That's all.

And the danger of getting praise, although we need encouragement, and it's good sometimes, and it's good to appreciate that. When somebody gives you a word of encouragement, don't say, no, no, don't say that, don't say that. Thank you. Praise the Lord. You can receive it.

But the danger of getting too much of it and the adulation of men is that you start believing what they're saying about you. That can be very dangerous. It can ruin a person.

28-- 23, look at chapter 28 for a moment. In verse 23-- "He who rebukes a man will find more favor afterward than he who flatters with his tongue." That doesn't mean that after the service you should go up and rebuke me.

[LAUGHTER]

The context of the proverb-- it's a contrast, saying if a person bears rebuke and needs rebuke, it's better to be honest with them than to excessively praise him when it's really not true. And there is sort of a sandwich philosophy that people have in dealing with other people. In other words, they sandwich the rebuke in between two pieces of bread of flattery.

Oh, you're so wonderful and nice, and you're great. And you know, there's so much I admire about you, and, and-- just a minute I'll think of a few more things about you. And you start going really great, and you go but one thing I do want to share with you is this, and-- and then here comes the other piece of bread of flattery on top of that.

That's why I love just honest communication. Don't beat around the bush. Just say it. And a person that you're going to read about as we go through our chapter tonight who is wise, who considers the source, and if it is a valid source of criticism, can receive it in the Lord. And that's wisdom.

Look over at chapter 29, verse 5-- "A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet." You can ruin a person. The more you flatter, the bigger than net is. A person can believe all of the things you say about him and become so puffed up that he's no good to anyone.

The context of chapter 7 is an immoral woman, a seductress, who flatters with her words. And you'll see what Solomon means as we go on. For the next several verses, from verse 6 to 23, is written like an eyewitness account of Solomon the news reporter.

And Solomon the news reporter has got his pen and paper in hand. And he's by his window, and he's looking down at the city streets. And the sun is about to set. And he notices one of these young youths kind of idle, roaming around the streets. And he kind of writes a little account of it for us.

He says, "For at the window of my house, I look through my lattice, and saw among the simple, I perceived among the youths, a man devoid of understanding, passing along the street near her corner and he took the path to her house."

The word "simple" means naive or gullible. That's what it means. It doesn't mean uncomplicated. It means naive. It means a person who isn't taught in certain things. It means gullible. It's important to distinguish that. He's not speaking here about an imbecile who can't comprehend facts. He's not speaking about a fool who refuses to hear truth. He speaks about a person who has been sheltered from life enough to hurt him.

He's been sheltered and kept and so that the circumstances of life have not taught that person enough so that he or she can cope with life on their own. They're too sheltered. And a person who is too sheltered and hasn't been taught is a gullible person. And any weird teaching can come along, and the person will just stray away and follow.

That's the danger in sheltering our kids too much. There are things they need to learn. And they need to learn things by doing dumb things sometimes. If you shelter a kid throughout his life and then at the end you think, you know, I've sheltered this kid, I better let him experience life. He'll flame out, man.

But if at a young age, you start exposing a person to life, telling the person the consequences in advance, they'll start listening to you. An example that's very simple-- my little boy when he was young, very, very young, we taught him the word "hot." We said, don't touch this coffee cup. Daddy's coffee is hot.

He didn't know what hot meant. Well, there has to come a day where he learns by experience what hot is. And so he touched the edge of the cup. And he'd get hot and he'd pull away. And so he understood what hot meant. There was a time when, although I had told him, don't touch the cup, it's hot, that he had to stick his hand inside the cup.

[LAUGHTER]

I saw it coming. I knew that it would not be physically destructive to his hand. It wasn't scalding hot. It wasn't boiling oil or anything like that. I know that it would hurt, that he'd cry, but that probably after that day, he'd understand hot. He did.

[LAUGHTER]

I said, Nathan, don't put your hand in that cup. It will burn you. You will cry. It is hot.

[LAUGHTER]

The explosion went off.

[LAUGHTER]

He started listening more and more to his mother and myself, until one time when I was out in Los Angeles speaking. I called Lenya late at night, and she said that Nathan had put his hand on the stove element while it was on. He has recovered. She didn't let him do that. He did it without her looking. He just reached up there and grabbed it.

But I tell you what. He knows what hot is now. There is no-- there is one word in the vocabulary he knows the definition of. He probably knows all the antonyms and synonyms to that word by his experience of touching a few things like that.

It's not that we set him up and tried to get him hurt so that he'd learn it. But if we shelter our kids too much, by the time they learn what hot means, they could be in a burn unit. They have to experience it young.

That's what the word "simple" means-- someone who has been so sheltered that by the time he gets out in life, he's just gullible for anything. His parents hadn't explained things to him. Parents were too afraid to mention those things in the house, to talk about those delicate subjects. And so he was sheltered.

I don't want Johnny to be exposed to that or see that. Why not? He's going to be exposed to it someday anyway. Expose him and then explain it to him and explain God's directives to him with some good, godly counsel and some discipline. He could grow up unsheltered and not be so simple. The simple man has another word describing him. It says, "a young man who is devoid of understanding."

Now look up at verse 32 of chapter 6-- "Whoever commits adultery--" and that's the context here-- "with a woman, lacks understanding." A person who commits sexual sin is stupid, is devoid of understanding-- and actually that is one of the translations of the word devoid of understanding in a certain translation-- because he does not understand the consequences. He is looking at something like a child would look at something and sees only the immediate pleasure, immediate fulfillment, immediate gratification, like a kid.

Can you explain to a 3-year-old that someday he will have cavities if he eats candy all of his life? That doesn't work with a 3-year-old. You're not going to weigh out the consequences. No, I'm not eating candy the rest of my life. My mother explained in detail all of the dangers of cavity-prone kids, and she read me last night a little pamphlet about dental care while I was being tucked into bed. Not going to work. All he cares about is I want candy. It's sweet, and it's going to taste good. Give it to me.

The unfortunate reality is that people become adults with the same mentality as a child, only wanting immediate gratification, not thinking of the consequences. And that is a simple person, a person devoid of understanding, looks at something and without thinking of consequence, says, that road looks good. And I'm going to be fulfilled now, and so I'm going to walk down that road. And I don't care where it ends. That's stupidity.

A wise person will consider the choice and ask, where does this road lead? Are there bumps in the road? Are there pitfalls? Is there a cliff that separates one part of the road from another? How long will it take to get there? What will the end result be when I travel this road and get to its end? That's wisdom.

Simplicity, gullibility, naivete-- a person devoid of understanding is one who only wants immediate gratification, does not consider the result of his action. I saw among the simple, a young man devoid of understanding, passing along the street near her corner. And he took the path to her house.

Someone said, if you want to avoid the devil, stay away from his neighborhood. Don't put yourself in a temptable position. If you're weak in an area-- and we discussed this a few weeks ago-- don't place yourself in a temptable position. Remove yourself from the obstacles or the sources of temptation. You know your weak spots.

The Bible says to flee temptation. And that means flee and don't leave a forwarding address. Don't sail so close to the lake of fire that your sails get singed a little bit. Just steer clear of it. Oh, this guy is on his path. And Solomon the reporter is looking out the window and sees this man walking closer and closer to her house, perhaps knowing that there is this loose woman around the corner. And I'm just kind of out for a walk, but I'm just going to go by her house a little bit.

You know what it's like? You turn on the television. It's late at night. Perhaps your parents have certain kind of programming into their house. And you think, I'm just going to see what's on, click all the channels. But of course, I'd never look at anything. But see, in the back of your mind, you're knowing that your eye might catch something that's wrong and play with it.

I'm going to go into that store and, well, I know they have magazines there, but I'm not going to buy one. But you just kind of walk by the stand as you're going over to get the milk. You know what you're doing, don't you?

[INAUDIBLE]

You do? Well, you said Amen. And he took the path to her house in the twilight in the evening in the black in the dark night. Listen to the poetic language. Verse 10-- there a woman met him with the attire of a harlot and a crafty heart. Outwardly, she looked loose. Inwardly, she was deceptive.

Interesting that there seems to be an attire that looks as if it's sexually loose. She brings up the whole idea of modesty, doesn't it? If you were a Christian woman, and when you dress, consider not only what you like to wear, but consider that men-- most men-- are visually oriented. And if there was a need to be modest back in the days of Israel 3,000 years ago, there is a great need today.

Watch the tightness of your clothes. Watch how short the shorts are and the dresses. Watch what you expose and how you present yourself. Because you could be giving an occasion to a brother to stumble. Just consider that men are visually oriented. It is the makeup of man, the way God created him. So don't give any guy the excuse to be enticed by you. Be modest. Dress is something that would represent the glory of Jesus Christ in a godly fashion.

He goes on to say, she's loud, and she's rebellious. And she's married, too, by the way. Look at the language. Her feet would not stay at home. At times, she was outside, at times in the open square, lurking at every corner. So she caught him and kissed him. Really a forward gal.

And with an impudent face, she said to him, I have peace offerings with me. Today, I paid my vows. So I came out to meet you, diligently to seek your face. And I have found you. I have spread my bed with tapestry colored coverings of Egyptian linen. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh and aloes and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until morning.

I find it really interesting that even back in those days they called lust love, that they misnamed love. Come, let us make love, people say today. How do you describe a movie? Well it was kind of a bad movie. They had a couple love scenes. OK. Let's start orienting our thinking correctly. That is a real unfortunate term toward an illicit sexual relationship. It is making lust, not love.

Love isn't something you make. You can't make love. You can demonstrate love. But in the shows that you get today, people are making lust. They're just-- it's hormonal gymnastics they're after, no love. They want to exercise their hormones with no commitment and say, well you know, whatever is right. You know, it felt so right. And you know, for the time being, it doesn't matter. Let's not have any strings attached to this thing. That's just called making lust. There's no commitment. There's no love.

For my husband is not home. He has gone on a long journey. He has taken a bag of money with him and will come home on the appointed day. A married woman, probably the victim of a traveling husband, who even while he was home didn't pay much attention to her, was only interested in the financial estate. Plight of many young ladies.

But it says that she was loud and she was rebellious. She was rebellious. She was rebellious against God's law, number one, obviously, because she's ready to go out and commit adultery. And number two, she's rebellious against the vows she made to her husband at marriage.

Now, something follows here. If a person is rebellious in their relationship with God, they will be rebellious in other relationships where authority comes into play, man or woman. And when you see a person who is rebellious against authority, whether spiritual authority or social authority, it is always an indication that the person is rebellious against God's authority.

I would like you to turn for just a moment to the fifth chapter of Ephesians, please. It gives the roles of relationships and marriage. It speaks about husbands and wives and their relationship to each other in the roles before the Lord that they are to follow.

Verse 22 says, "Wives, submit to your own husbands." Ooh, those are fighting words these days. Dukes go up, man. Walls ascend when you talk about submission. In many ceremonies, submission is even removed from the wedding ceremony these days. People don't want to talk about it.

And many times when I do a wedding ceremony and I go through the roles of relationship, when I'm speaking, I just kind of glance over the people who are at the wedding to get their body language. Wives submit--

[LAUGHTER]

--unto the Lord. Did you hear what he said? Husband's going, yeah, I did hear what he said.

[LAUGHTER]

Did you hear what he said? Unfortunately, many husbands take this out of context. They take submit as if it's a whip, a club to beat their wives into doing any stupid thing they say. And whenever the wife disagrees with the husband, his favorite verse, in fact, probably the only one he knows by memory, is "Wives, submit to your own husbands as unto the Lord," Ephesians 5:22. That's been my quiet time verse for the last 13 years, honey.

The context is mutual submission. Let's go back to verse 15-- "See, then, that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be unwise but understand what the will of the Lord is, and do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation, but be filled or controlled by the spirit. Speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God, the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God."

There first must be mutual submission. And there must be submission to Jesus Christ, filled or controlled by the spirit. That's the context. Husbands, you be filled with a spirit. And you defer to your wife's needs. And when you see needs, you submit yourself as a servant to meeting those needs. And then you lead your wife, and you make decisions. And you pray about those decisions. And you have every right for you to expect submission from her. But that's the context.

Your role, husband, is to love your wife unconditionally. If you mean unconditionally, whether she submits or not, you still have to love her. You are responsible, not for her role, but for your role. Now, we are usually worried about our spouse's role, about the fact that they haven't fulfilled their role toward us.

When it comes to marriage counseling, the husband usually says, it's my wife. She won't submit. And the wife will say, it's my husband. He doesn't love me like Christ loved the church. [INAUDIBLE] you just go home and submit to him, as unto the Lord. And you go home to your wife, and you just love her unconditionally.

You just be concerned about fulfilling your role, because two roles are tough to fulfill. And I have a hunch that you're having problems fulfilling one role. And that's all God expects you to fulfill. Just do that one. Just love unconditionally, husband. Just submit to your husband, wives, as unto the Lord.

Wives submit, which is a military term of filing under rank in an army, literally, in an infantry, to your own husbands-- but what's the goal of the role?-- as to the Lord. A wife who has problems submitting to her husband indicates that she has problems submitting to her Lord. Because earthly relationships always reflect heavenly relationships. Always. And husbands who have problems loving their wives indicate that they have problems in their love and obedience to Jesus Christ. Because again, the earthly relationship is a reflection of the heavenly.

Look at your life on two axes. You have a vertical and a horizontal. God, self, you, down here. And there's the axis. It's vertical. There's the line. You have a horizontal axis. And that is your relationship with everyone, everyone else.

When your vertical relationship with God is tilted, it's not balanced, it's off kilter, your relationship with everyone else will also be off. When your relationship with God is centered, you're submitted unto the Lord, you want to do His will, you read the scripture, you are actively involved in obeying the principles, you find that relationships are wonderful around you.

Doesn't mean everyone's wonderful to you, but there's a wonder about your relationship. There's a beauty about it. There's a joy in it, even when it's going through some tough, rotten times. There's a joy that underlies the whole thing.

Wives and husbands loving one another. Note, back in Proverbs, chapter 7, that it begins in the heart. For it says that she has the attire of a harlot and a crafty heart. Sin begins in the heart. Her sin began in the heart. It ended up in the streets. Started within, where no one could see. It ended up where everybody could see.

Verse 20 says, my husband's gone. Verse 19, verse 20-- he's taken a bag of money with him. He's gone. He'll come home on an appointed day. It's interesting she says, I have paid my vows. I've gone to the temple. I've sacrificed the animal. And I've brought back the portion of the meal offering, which we can now eat at home and have a sumptuous feast.

Interesting that she is a religious person-- not a godly person, but a religious person. That's like going up to a man and being forward with him and said, yeah, I just got back from church. Come on over. Which means it's possible to be in a place of worship where your heart is still not right with God.

Verse 21-- notice the speech again. "With enticing speech, she caused him to yield. With her flattering lips, she seduced him. Immediately, he went after her." See, she's building up his ego. She's rebellious against God's law, rebellious against her husband's authority. He's gone. She's after him. And she uses all the speech she can to entice him and to bait him.

By the way, just a side note on this issue of submission-- we're not speaking about dictatorship, nor are we speaking about the fact that husbands are always right. My wife will tell you they're not. We're not right. And you know what, wives? You are not responsible for the wrong decisions your husband makes.

Isn't that nice to know? God is not going to hold you accountable if he does something stupid. But you are responsible before God if you fail to submit to that choice. Not that that choice is right or wrong. You're not responsible for his choice. He is before the Lord. But you're responsible for that role of submitting as unto the Lord.

She's out on the street. She uses her speech. She seduces him. Immediately, he went after her as an ox goes to the slaughter, like a dumb animal led to the slaughter, not knowing that he's going to get his head chopped off, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks. In other words, he's going into bondage. He's going to be bound by a sin that will ruin his life like a fool who is being taken to a correctional institution. He did not know that it would take his life.

Now, therefore, listen to me, my children, and pay attention to the words of my mouth. Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways. Do not stray into her paths. For she has cast down many wounded. And all who were slain by her were strong men. Were-- past tense-- strong men. Think of Samson's example. Her house is the way to hell, descending to the chambers of death.

And I'm looking back at verse 22 or verses 13 through 20. Here's a guy who has real problems controlling his lust. And here's a wife who is a lonely housewife saying, let's make love together. I've prepared my bed. I thought this whole thing through. I've gone to church. My husband's not at home. I need someone. I need you. At last, I've found you.

I think, in our present society, especially among the youth, among anyone, I have found that it is usually the male who has this line. I'm not trying to pick on you, men. But I have heard more girls say, I've been lied to. He said he loved me, that he's waited for me all his life, that he wanted to commit himself to me. Then we had sexual relationships, and he dumped me. He used me. But he made such wonderful commitments to me before that time and even during that, and now he's gone.

That is because the male of our species will use love to get sex. The female of our species want love, that feeling of security, and unfortunately, will lower their standards and give sex in order that they might feel secure and get love.

Gals, just a word of admonition to you-- if you've got a guy who can't keep his hands off you until you're married, dump him. Just dump him. Don't feel like that's going to be ungodly to say, I don't ever want to see you again until you repent. That'll shape him up.

[LAUGHTER]

You know why? Because the Bible says love is patient. And if he gives you this line-- I love you. I love you. It's only because I love you. Love is patient. Love will wait for the enactment of the ceremony, when it's right before God, when it's right before man, and God can bless it. God won't bless that union otherwise.

And if he gives you the line, and he says, well, you know, if you don't and we don't, then this relationship may never work. Then say, I'll risk it.

[LAUGHTER]

And let him go. Think of Jacob, who waited 14 years to marry his wife. And it says, they were but a day to him because of the love he had for her. That's real love. Love is patient. And it's the other way around. People say, you know, after two weeks, they went to bed because of the lust that they had one for another. But true love will wait. It's patient.

And all who were slain by her-- mark that-- were strong men. Her house is the way to hell, descending to the chambers of death. The next two chapters is a poetic, beautiful poetic section on a contrast between folly and wisdom. The section on adultery is sort of faded, except for the end of chapter 9. He speaks about the excellences of wisdom.

Verses 1 through 5 of chapter 8 is the call of wisdom. In verses 6 through 11 is the virtues of wisdom. Wisdom is personified, calling out, saying, come, listen to me. I'm giving you the way of life. Verse 12 says, I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence now.

This is what submitting yourself to the wisdom of God, the word of God-- these are the results that you can expect. If you have wisdom, you're going to have discernment or discretion because it says in verse 12, and find out knowledge and discretion.

Verse 13-- the fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride, and arrogance, and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate. Counsel is mind and sound wisdom. That's another reward. You'll have the ability to give sound counsel to people when they ask your advice. You've applied yourself to the word of God. You know His principles. You've said to wisdom, you are my sister, to understanding, you are my kinsman.

You are saturated in the truths of God, and somebody asked you about a relationship, asks you about a trial, a tribulation. You know the principles of scripture, and you can give them to them. You'll be sound in your counsel. I am understanding. I have strength.

Verse 15-- "By me kings reign and rulers decree justice. In other words, you will be as courageous as a soldier." That's another reward. Verse 22 says, "The Lord possessed me that His wisdom at the beginning of His way before His works of old I have been established from everlasting. From the beginning before there was an earth, when there were no deaths, I was brought forth. When there were no fountains abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth." And the rest speak about the value of wisdom in God's creating the world.

Verse 32-- "Now, therefore, listen to me, my children. For blessed are those who keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise. And do not disdain it. Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoever finds me, finds life and obtains favor from the Lord."

This is wisdom addressing us. You can look at this another way, since wisdom embodies the principles of God and His word. If your little Bible that you're holding tonight could speak like a human being, could rise up in front of you and had little arms and mouth like [INAUDIBLE] the Psalm Book, these are the words that Bible would say to you. He would say, blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my door.

Do you spend time with the Lord daily, waiting and watching, meditating on His word, getting up early or staying up late or finding time in the day where you shut everything else out and you're just listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit through His word and praying about the things God speaks to your heart? That's what your Bible would say. If you got up in the morning and you combed your hair and you go into the kitchen and you have your Bible there, if your Bible could speak, that's what it would say.

It would go, hey, you. Don't forget me. Open me up and read me. Wait before the Lord. Watch, today, right now. Oh, but I got to go to work, Bible. Well, you want to find life and find wisdom and know how to live life correctly? Soak yourself in me. That's what it would say.

And isn't Jesus Christ the perfect, perfect example? It says, "And Jesus, rising up a great while before the day, went out to a solitary place. And there He prayed." Strength for each day. Spending time contemplating, meditating on the word of God, for whoever finds me, finds life.

It's amazing. We organize our lives so meticulously in every other area. How many of you-- just curious-- have Day Timers or some kind of little account book, or some kind of little book that organizes your life? I'm just curious. Raise your hand. I have one. That's all? Come on. Raise your hand. Be proud of it. OK. The rest of you must be totally disorganized. I don't how you live.

My week is organized. And you know we schedule appointments. We schedule lunches. We schedule when we're going to wake up, when we're going to have breakfast, what we're going to do before lunch, what we'll do at lunch, what we'll do in the evening, our recreation time on weekends. Isn't it amazing how many Christians schedule everything except the needs of their soul? They let them take care of themselves, and they wonder how come I'm not growing?

A person, any human being, who can schedule three meals a day, has no excuse by saying, I just don't have time to spend time daily with the Lord. What you're saying in that statement is that I don't deem it necessary that I spend any time with God. You say how do you figure? I figure this. Because a writer in scripture said, "Job, I have esteemed the words of your mouth more than my necessary food." Watching daily at my gates. But he who sins against me, verse 36, wrongs his own soul. All those who hate me love death. Love death.

We'll do chapter 9 and 10 next week, continuing with the way of wisdom in poetic form. And then chapter 10 begins all of these little isolated pithy sayings, all of these are compiled Proverbs that don't necessarily have context one with another. They're just tidbits of truth compacted into a little nugget. And we'll soak on a few. We'll take apart a few. We'll go over others.

If we were to take one proverb a week, you know, we'd be here for 30 years. So we won't do that. But read the next few chapters on your own. Make little notes in your Bible. In fact, perhaps use the next two chapters of Proverbs. If you don't have a daily reading, schedule in quiet time for that daily reading. You're going to pick it apart and you're going to soak and you're going to break through and just meditate on some of these principles and write notes down as God reveals His truth to your heart and pray over them.

Let's pray now. Lord, we come and we conclude this time together with a prayer, not because it is the traditional thing to do, but because we now need the work of your spirit in our lives to take the principles that we've heard and really break them through so that they're written on our hearts, the tablets of our hearts.

We need to, therefore, submit ourselves to you, Lord, be filled or controlled by your spirit and submit, first of all, to you. And if there has been rebellion in our lives, in any of these areas, quickly bring us to repentance, oh, Lord, that we might live and that we might enjoy your presence and your favor.

Lord, how thankful I am, how thankful, that you have cared enough to warn us about evil ways and the results of them. And Father, we pay heed to your words tonight as your children. Thank you for the freedom that we share in this country, the beautiful facility you've given to us to listen to the Holy Spirit speak through the word.

Thank you, Lord, for the person that is sitting next to us. Lord, thank you for Kenny and for his family. Thank you for the hope that he has given to us tonight. And before you do anything else, would you grab the hand of the person, perhaps behind you tonight. Turn around.