Proverbs 23, the part I want to focus on is there in verse 26, where the Bible reads,
My son, give me thine heart and let thine eyes observe my ways.
For a whore is a deep ditch, and a strange woman is a narrow pitch.
She also lieth in weight as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men.
The title of my sermon tonight is, The Strange Woman.
The Strange Woman.
What does it mean when it says, The Strange Woman?
Well, it doesn't mean that she's weird.
It doesn't mean she's strange, she's weird, she's different.
That's not what that means.
This is strange in the sense of foreign.
It would be as if I said, I'm a stranger in a strange land.
It just means that I don't belong there.
I'm from somewhere else.
That's not my country.
Well, the strange woman, in a nutshell, is the woman who is willing to go to bed with
men that she's not married to.
That's probably the best definition that you could give of the strange woman.
A woman who is willing and ready to go to bed with men that she's not married to.
Now, this is often used synonymously with the whorish woman, and you'll even see it
right here in verse 27 where it says, For a whore is a deep ditch, and a strange woman
is a narrow pit.
Now, if you would go back to Judges chapter 11, and in Judges chapter 11, we will also
see this used interchangeably in the story of Jephthah, where it talks about how Jephthah
is the son of a strange woman.
Look what the Bible says.
I'll start reading while you get there.
Judges chapter 11, verse 1, Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, and he
was the son of an harlot.
Harlot is a prostitute.
He was the son of a harlot, and Gilead begat Jephthah, and Gilead's wife bare him sons.
And his wife's sons grew up, and they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him, Thou shalt
not inherit in our father's house, for thou art the son of a strange woman, meaning the
son of a woman other than our dad's wife.
You're the son of a prostitute.
You're the son of a strange woman.
Now, if you would go to Proverbs chapter 5.
So often the term strange woman is used in regard to not just a whore or a harlot, but
also in regard to a whorish woman.
Now think about the difference between a whore and whorish.
Whore means that you actually are a whore, right?
You actually are a harlot, actually are a prostitute.
Whorish means that you are like a prostitute.
You are like a harlot, even though that is not your literal occupation.
And the Bible has a lot of things to say about this, and we need to understand that even
if you're not a harlot, even if you're not a whore, you better not act like one, you
better not dress like one, or you'll be considered whorish.
So look what the Bible says in Proverbs 5.
This is a major theme in the book of Proverbs warning us about the strange woman, because
the Bible said she lies in wait as for a prey.
She's like a hunter trying to trap victims and increase the transgressors among men.
Look what it says in Proverbs 5 verse 3.
For the lips of a strange woman drop as a honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than
oil.
That is the bait of the trap.
But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
So this is an illusion, a facade that looks good, but when you go there, you end up tasting
the bitterest taste imaginable.
So her lips are sweet, but the end is bitter.
The Bible says in verse 3 her end is bitter as wormwood.
Wormwood is poison that will literally kill you.
And then it says sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death.
Her steps take hold on hell.
Lest thou shouldst ponder the path of life, her ways are movable that thou canst not know
them.
What I'm saying there is that some men might think that they might be able to play around
with the strange woman, fool around with the strange woman, and not get burned, and not
get destroyed.
The Bible says, no, don't think that you can handle this, lest thou shouldst ponder the
path of life.
Like, I think I can be around the strange woman, spend time with her, flirt with her,
and I don't think it's going to do it.
But he says, no, no, no, her ways are movable.
You can't know them.
Don't think that you can play around with this and not be destroyed.
Look at verse 7.
Hear me now, therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
Remove thy way far from her.
Come not nigh or near the door of her house.
Lest thou give thine honor unto others and thy years unto the cruel.
Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth, and thy labors be in the house of a stranger,
and thou mourn at the last when thy flesh and thy body are consumed.
When your body is all filled with STDs, and you've got syphilis and gonorrhea and chlamydia
and AIDS and herpes and everything else, and you lament because your body and your flesh
are consumed, and you say, how have I hated instruction?
And my heart despised reproof.
I didn't like listening to preaching.
I didn't like reading the Bible.
I didn't like it when my friends told me, hey, that is one skanky ho that you're hanging
around with.
You know, I didn't like it when they said those things to me, but I should have listened.
I've not obeyed the voice of my teachers.
I didn't listen to mom.
I didn't listen to dad.
I didn't listen to the pastor.
I didn't listen to godly influence in my life, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed
me.
I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
Here I am in the congregation.
I'm in church, and yet I was almost destroyed.
Verse 15, drink waters out of thine own cistern and running waters out of thine own well.
You say, well, the Bible's too hard to understand.
I don't know what a cistern is.
Well, it defines it in the second half of verse 15, right?
That's why it gives us these wonderful parallels.
Drink waters out of thine own cistern and running waters out of thine own well.
So what's a cistern?
Right.
So the Bible helps you actually increase your vocabulary, amen?
Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad and rivers of waters in the streets.
Let them be only thine own and not strangers with thee.
Let thy fountain be blessed and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
See, the wife is the opposite of the strange woman.
That is the woman that actually belongs to you, that you're actually familiar with, that
actually is your native land there, your native country, right?
Not like the strange woman.
Let thy fountain be blessed and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
Let her be as the loving hind, verse 19, in pleasant row.
Let her breast satisfy thee at all times and be thou ravished always with her love.
And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman and embrace the bosom of a
stranger?
For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord and he pondereth all his goings.
His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself and he shall be holding with the cords of
his sins.
He shall die without instruction and in the greatness of his folly, he shall go astray.
Go to chapter 6.
You can see the book of Proverbs devotes a lot of time to warning about the strange woman.
And he's speaking especially to children.
He's speaking especially to young men, teenagers, guys in their 20s.
Watch out for this type of woman.
And when you come across this type of woman, run screaming in the other direction.
Doesn't matter how pretty she is, doesn't matter how fun she is to be around, you need
to just get away from her and don't have the sad day, well, I can have a little fun
and then find the one that I actually want to marry and settle down with.
No, you have no business dating anyone unless there's at least a chance that you're going
to marry that person.
Once you know there's no way I'm going to marry this person, you don't need to be dating
that person.
Now, I'm not saying that you have to be willing to marry someone to date them, but I'm saying
it should at least be a possibility.
The whole purpose of dating is to find a wife.
And if you're not looking for a wife, you shouldn't be dating.
The purpose of dating is to find a wife.
And this kind of woman is not wife material.
This is the kind of woman you just need to get away from.
The Bible says don't even go near her house, don't even go near her path, don't think that
you can understand her, no, her ways are movable and you are going to be destroyed.
Look at chapter 6 verse 24, to keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue
of a strange woman.
Remember, the Bible is talking about a woman that is a literal predator.
She's out to commit adultery, she's out to fornicate, and she especially enjoys destroying
the lives of the pure and causing godly people to fall.
Bust not after her beauty in thine heart, neither let her take thee with her eyelids,
for by means of a whorish woman, notice the synonym with the strange woman, by means of
a whorish woman, a man is brought to a piece of bread and the adulterous will hunt for
the precious life.
She will hunt for the precious life.
Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned?
Can one go upon hot coals and his feet not be burned?
So he that goeth in to his neighbor's wife, whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.
See the strange woman or the whorish woman is often a married woman, imagine how horrible
that is, an actual married woman that would go around trolling for adultery and fornication
but these type of wicked women are out there.
The Bible says men do not despise a thief if he steal to satisfy his soul when he's
hungry but if he be found he shall restore sevenfold, he shall give all the substance
of his house but whoso committed adultery with a woman lacketh understanding.
He's saying people can sympathize with somebody if they're hungry and they steal because they're
hungry but yet even though people can sympathize with that when they get busted they're still
going to have to be punished, they're still going to get in trouble, it's not just going
to be oh that's okay you were hungry, go ahead steal my stuff.
They're still going to be punished even though men will not despise him or they will sympathize
with him but if he be found he shall restore sevenfold, he shall give all the substance
of his house, verse 32, but whoso committed adultery with a woman lacketh understanding.
He that doeth it destroyeth his own soul, what is he saying, there's no excuse.
See the guy who's hungry and he's stealing to satisfy his soul, what that's saying is
he has an excuse, it doesn't mean he's not going to be punished but there's an excuse
there.
Adultery, no excuse the Bible says, there is no excuse, whoso, whoever commits adultery
with a woman lacketh understanding, he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.
A wound and dishonor shall he get and his reproach shall not be wiped away for jealousy
is the rage of a man, therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance, he will not
regard any ransom, neither will he rest content though thou give us many gifts.
He's saying here that if you fool around with someone else's wife you could make him so
mad that nothing will placate him, nothing will stop him from taking revenge, you can
get killed, you could be severely beaten or even killed if you tamper with someone else's
wife, the Bible's warning here.
You know I had a buddy that I used to work with and he came home one day and found his
wife in the act committing adultery with another man and he was in such a rage that he grabbed
this guy and he hurled him through the front window of the house, naked, through the front
window and so the guy got so lacerated and cut up from going through, you know this isn't
like a movie or something where you just fly through a window and you're fine, I mean this
guy got all cut up and lacerated and he had to go to the intensive care unit and he almost
died and it's a good thing that he didn't die because otherwise my buddy would have
been in big trouble for killing this guy but you know the guy ended up living and so he
got off the hook because just in a rage of finding his wife committing adultery he hurled
this naked man through a front window and he almost died.
You know think about that, what the Bible's saying is look, don't fool around with somebody
else's wife, not only is God going to punish you but you know what, her husband's going
to kill you or beat you or do something horrible to you because this is rage of a man and he's
not going to rest content, though that gave many gifts, you can try to placate him and
calm him down but you know what, in many cases it's not going to work.
Look at Proverbs chapter 7 and you say what if that guy would have died, the guy deserved
to die.
I mean the Bible teaches that somebody who commits adultery with someone else's wife
should be, if we actually had a justice system based on the Bible, should be put to death,
that's what the Bible says but in our legal system you know if you kill somebody like
that you're probably going to be the one that gets into trouble you know, you can just plead
temporary insanity right, use the Twinkie defense.
So anyway Proverbs chapter 7 verse 5 says that they may keep thee from the strange woman,
Proverbs 7 5, from the stranger which flattereth with her words and this is one of the number
one ways to identify bad people, they flatter you, they flatter you.
Now what's the difference between flattery and just giving you a compliment?
Compliments are natural, compliments make sense, compliments come from the heart, compliments
are appropriate.
Flattery is when it's not coming from the heart, it's not appropriate, it's over the
top, it's unreasonable, it doesn't make sense or it's not even true, that is flattery.
You know when people just come to you and they start buttering you up with all these
over the top compliments, giving you way more attention than you merit and I'm telling you
this is one of the best ways to find a very wicked person.
So just watch out for this in all areas of life.
When someone comes to you and just wants to butter you up and just go overboard, watch
out.
Now of course the strange woman flattereth with her words because men typically have
a big ego and so if this woman is going to seduce a man because remember she's hunting
for the precious life, she's hunting for that Christian young man, that godly young man.
So if she's going to win him over, one of the easiest ways is to use flattery because
most people are very susceptible to this, most people aren't wise to this and that's
why the Bible warns us over and over again flattery, flattery, flattery because most
people don't know this.
So when they're first confronted with it, they're just saying, she really likes me,
she really sees what I really am, you know, a stud.
She sees and appreciates my buffness.
She thinks I'm a handsome man.
She understands my vision, my talent, my artistic prowess.
She gets it and this is the number one tool of the strange woman to lead you like a sheep
to the slaughter is to start complimenting you, telling you how handsome you are, how
big and strong you are and just how talented you are, how good of a singer you are, how
good at playing music you are, how good at sports you are, how spiritual you are, you're
so godly, you're so amazing and boy this just goes right to the head of someone with an
ego that needs to be boosted and you know, all the defenses just go down and they are
just head over heels in love.
But what they don't understand is that she tells that to everybody.
You know, it's the reverse of the classic old, I bet you say that to all the girls,
you know, it's just the other way around.
She says that to all the guys.
She tells them all this.
You're not special.
You know, newsflash, if some woman is sitting on your lap less than an hour after you met
her, that's not the first lap that she ever sat on.
You understand what I'm saying?
If some woman is sidling up to you within an hour of meeting you, you're not the first
person that she's sidled up to, she has been whoring around a lot and that's why it's just
as natural as rain for her to just be all over a complete stranger.
Because that's what she's been doing and doing and doing and doing and doing and doing and
doing and that dirty whore is there to destroy your life and she's the one that the Bible
warned you about.
She flattered with her words, look at verse 6, for at the window of my house I looked
through my casement and beheld among the simple ones.
I love the image here.
The author of Proverbs, you know, he's up in his two-story house, right?
Get the picture.
The author of Proverbs up in his two-story house, he kind of pulls back the curtain,
he looks down into the street and he doesn't need any dialogue.
He just looks down and he sees among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young
man void of understanding.
He just looks out the window and he's just sitting there observing.
He sees this bozo, this idiot, this young fool, young and dumb and ready to be sucked
in here and he sees the simple one, a man void of understanding, passing through the
street near her corner and he looks out the window and he says, you know what?
I know where that guy's heading.
I know exactly what's on that kid's mind and where he's going and what he's got in mind
because he passed through the street near her corner.
He went the way to her house in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night
and behold, there met him a woman with the attire of a harlot and subtle of heart.
Now ladies, again, you say, well, I'm not a whore.
I'm not a straight woman, but are you whorish?
Or maybe you're not whorish, but let me ask you this, do you wear the attire of a harlot?
I mean, apparently there's a certain attire, there's a certain clothing that harlots wear
that whores wear.
Is that what you wear?
Is that how you dress?
You say, what is the attire of a harlot?
Well, think about it.
If we were to just ask people, hey, what do you think prostitutes wear?
What do you think is the attire of a harlot?
You know what most of them would probably tell you?
What would they say?
A mini skirt.
Isn't that probably the first thing that would come to mind?
A short party dress, a mini skirt.
Okay, those type of things, and we can go on and on, all the things, but you need to
make sure that you're not dressed like a whore, ladies.
You need to dress in modest apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety.
Dress as a godly Christian lady.
Take some pride in your appearance and take some pride in yourself and don't just cheapen
yourself to just liken yourself onto a whore.
Well, but I saw that on TV.
That's what all the protagonists of every TV show and movie that I like, but you know
what, those women are actually whores.
Even if they're playing, let's say in the movie they're a wife.
Let's say in the movie they're a nice teenage girl.
Let's say in the movie they're a college student, but what are they in real life?
In real life they're a whore.
An actress in Hollywood is typically a whore because you'd be hard pressed to find any
actresses that haven't been in a movie where they're rolling around in bed naked with some
dude.
Now if they're being paid to roll around in bed naked with some dude, doesn't that make
them a whore?
That's what it makes them.
So when you watch these movies and you see these actresses, you're looking at whorish
women.
You're looking at whores.
So if you pattern your clothing after this actress and that actress and this singer and
that singer, you're patterning your clothing after literal whores in many cases.
How do they even get the parts in these movies?
They're probably going to bed with the director and the producer and the guy who's funding
it and everybody else in Hollywood.
That's what you say.
I can't believe you say that.
Look, it's not a godly place.
Don't try to sugarcoat it and whitewash it.
Like Hollywood is just this godly place where all of these women of integrity are just actresses
because they want to make the world a better place.
No, they want to be worshipped.
They want to be idolized.
They want to be lusted after and they want to make millions of dollars.
That's why they're there.
They're dirty.
On the screen, it looks so nice because you can't get a disease through the screen.
You can't get the stench of the uncleanness through the screen, but let me tell you something,
it's a filthy life that they live.
That's why there's so much suicide.
That's why there's so much drunkenness and drug abuse and eating disorders and shoplifting.
When you're a millionaire and you're shoplifting, something's wrong with you.
Something's wrong with you if you're shoplifting anyway, but I'm saying if you're a millionaire
and you're shoplifting, then there's something really wrong with you mentally.
She had an attire of a harlot, subtle of heart.
She's loud and stubborn.
The exact opposite of the meek and quiet spirit that God says is of great price in a woman.
She's loud and stubborn, her feet abide not in her house.
Now is she without, now in the streets and lies in wait at every corner.
You know why it says she lies in wait at every corner?
What he's saying is women like this are a dime a dozen.
He's saying she lies in wait at every corner, meaning she's not unique.
She's not special.
They're everywhere.
These kind of skanky women are just waiting and they're easy to find, he says.
You found that, you know, as opposed to what the virtuous woman, you know, who can find
the virtuous woman for a price as far above rubies?
Here it's like, oh, this one's at every corner.
You can get this one everywhere.
She caught him and kissed him just right out of the gate, just physical with him, right?
This is like what I was saying earlier, just immediately all over him physically.
She caught him and kissed him and with an impudent face said unto him, I have peace
offerings with me this day.
This day have I paid my vows.
Oh yes, I'm a Christian too.
Yes, I'm a Christian.
Let's have a Bible study in my bedroom.
Do you see how she's pretending to be Christian, pretending to be religious, pretending to
be godly?
Don't fall for this.
Okay?
That, you know what this shows me?
That women like this would even creep into church to try to destroy men's lives and commit
adultery, fornication, what have you.
And so she comes in and says, you know, oh, I've paid my vows.
I came forth to meet thee.
What's your name again?
Dilatantly to seek thy face and I've found thee.
I've decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt.
I've perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.
Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning.
Let us solace ourselves with loves for the Goodman's not at home.
He's gone a long journey.
He'd taken a bag of money with him and will come home at the day point.
Now when it says here the Goodman of the house, this is talking about the man of the house.
So here's my question.
You know, is this her husband or is this her dad?
Who thinks it's her husband?
Who thinks it's her dad?
You know, I mean, whoever it is, if he was around, this wouldn't be allowed, would it?
She's saying, hey, let's do this while he's gone.
You know, oh, he's gone.
He's on a long journey.
He took a lot of money with him, so he doesn't need to come back for anything.
He's going to be gone.
He's got a lot to do.
And it says he'll come home at the day appointed.
He's not coming home early, don't worry.
With her much fair speech, she caused him to yield.
With the flattering of her lips, she forced him.
He goeth after her straightway as an ox goeth to the slaughter or as a fool to the correction
of the stocks till a dart striked through his liver as a bird hasteth to the snare and
knoweth not that it is for his life.
Now, let me ask you this.
When it says she forced him, I mean, is she really stronger than him?
I mean, is she really able to overpower him?
You know, I mean, obviously, in the Bible, you have situations where men overpower women
And obviously, this is one of the reasons, too, why we need to guard our daughters and
guard ladies from being in situations where they could be victims of this kind of violent
crime, what is called today rape.
The Bible calls it being forced.
But when the Bible says here that she forced him, what it's saying there is that basically,
at this point, he's so deep into this, okay?
You know, with her much fair speech, she caused him to yield.
With the flatter of her lips, she forced him.
Basically, he gets so emotionally sucked in, he gets so taken in, he gets so emotionally
invested, you could say, that it's just like he just can't say no.
He's not actually being forced, but he just is being pulled in like a magnet.
That's why the Bible said, don't go by her house.
Don't go near her.
Don't hang around with her.
Get away from her.
Why?
Because if you start hanging around her, talking to her, next thing you know, she's kissing
you and telling you all these things, and then you're just like, she forced me.
Bologna, because you know what?
You were the idiot who put yourself in that situation, and there's no excuse.
What did the Bible tell us earlier?
Hey, there's no excuse, right?
There is no excuse for this.
So the Bible says, in verse 24, hearken unto me now, therefore, ye children, and attend
unto the words of my mouth.
Let not thine heart decline to her ways.
Go not astray in her paths, for she hath cast down many wounded, yea, many strong men have
been slain by her.
Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.
Right?
So the Bible's saying, look, this woman is your ticket to death.
This woman is your ticket to destruction.
And a little bit of fun, the pleasures of sin for a season are not worth it.
It's not worth it to have some fun and just destroy your whole life.
Well, I'm not going to destroy your life, but what did the Bible say?
Bible said it's going to destroy your life.
The Bible said a dart is going to strike through your liver.
The Bible says that you will be wiped out.
So don't think that you can play with this.
Say, well, I'm the exception.
Probably not.
Because here's the thing about the exception.
The reason it's called the exception is because it's rare.
Because frequently, men are destroyed.
So don't think that you're going to be different.
No, you're going to get wiped out.
That's what the Bible's warning you about.
Go to chapter 9, chapter 9, verse 13.
Proverbs chapter 9, verse 13.
You can see this is a major theme in the book of Proverbs.
I mean, we've read quite a bit of scripture, haven't we?
I mean, really, the lion's share of chapter 5, the lion's share of chapter 6, 7, I mean,
this is a big subject.
Look at chapter 9.
A foolish woman is clamorous.
You know what clamorous means?
She makes a lot of noise.
Lot of noise.
Hey, everybody, look at me.
She gets your attention.
She makes a lot of noise.
She's simple and knoweth nothing, saying she's airheaded, stupid, loud, obnoxious.
For she sitteth at the door of her house on a seat in the high places of the city to call
passengers who go right on their ways.
Whoso is simple, let him turn and hither.
And as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, stolen waters are sweet
and bread eaten in secret is pleasant, but he knoweth not that the dead are there and
that her guests are in the depths of hell.
So I think the best way to illustrate this is like, say, some kind of a trap for insects.
You know one of those traps for insects where there's like a sweet liquid in the bottom
and they climb in and then they fall in and they can't get out because of the way the
thing is shaped?
Who knows what I'm talking about?
And here's the thing about those kind of traps.
The dead bodies will tend to accumulate in the bottom, right?
So if you have a trap like that for a while, pretty soon the thing is just filled with
cadavers of all the dead insects that have come before.
So basically the fly is buzzing along and it's like, ooh, what's that sweet smell?
What is that sweet taste?
Stolen waters are sweet, bread eaten in secret is pleasant, but that fly doesn't know that
the dead are there, that the guests of that little roach hotel are in the depths of insect
hell.
I wasn't even trying to make that into a poem.
I'm a poet and don't even know it.
He knows not that the dead are there and that her guests are in the depths of hell.
So the Bible is warning you over and over again, stay away from the strange woman.
Stolen waters are sweet.
Okay, but you want to drink sweet water that's going to kill you?
It's not worth it.
Stolen waters are sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.
It reminds me of when I used to sneak food in school.
You're not supposed to be eating in class.
That was usually one of the rules, no eating in class.
And you know, your sandwich at lunchtime doesn't taste as good as it does during class.
You know what I mean?
At lunchtime, it's just a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, like ho-hum, here we go again.
But in class, every bite is so tasty and precious.
It's just like your taste buds just come alive with every bite.
That's what the Bible is saying here.
You know, bread eaten in secret is pleasant.
Okay, but if it kills you, but if it incurs the wrath of God, if it removes the blessing of God, if it ruins your life, it doesn't matter how good it tastes.
It is not worth it.
I'm not going to get up and lie to you and say, sin isn't fun.
The Bible says there are the pleasures of sin for a season.
But let me tell you something.
I will say this.
There's a lot more fun to be had serving God.
Even though sin has its appeal, sin has its pleasure, sin has its flavor of goodness for a season, there's a lot of pleasure to be had doing the right thing.
And in fact, the Bible says, in thy presence is fullness of joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore.
So if you serve God, you can have fun, you can enjoy.
There's pleasure in serving God.
Joy unspeakable and full of glory.
And here's the good thing, he addeth no sorrow with it.
It's forever, it lasts.
Whereas sin provides this fleeting momentary enjoyment, followed by pain, suffering, guilt, punishment, consequences, disease, judgment, wrath, affliction.
It's not worth it.
Don't do it.
Don't be fooled.
Don't be that simple, void of understanding, young guy who goes at this.
And listen, you ladies out there, don't be this person.
You know, I'm mainly preaching to the men tonight saying, hey, watch out for this type of woman.
This is the type of woman that you don't want to be.
And you say, well, I would never be a woman like that.
Okay, don't emulate women like that.
Don't feel like you have to act like them and dress like them and be like them.
You want to be different.
You want to be the virtuous woman of Proverbs 31 so that you can be someone that a godly young man would want to marry.
So that you can someday have a family and live a godly life and be a wife and a mother and allow God to bless you.
But the strange woman is abounding today in the United States of America.
There's no shortage of these type of women.
They're out there.
And so this warning that was given in Proverbs is probably a lot more relevant today than when it was written.
I mean, when it was written it was somewhat relevant.
It was like, oh, that woman.
Now it's like those women.
But even back then there were multiple.
You know, every corner.
Here it's like, yeah, here there's just more corners.
Here it's like every intersection is an octagon here.
So there's just a lot more of these strange women.
So, you know, you young men, the temptations are strong.
The advertising is powerful.
And the images are constantly being put in front of us.
Magazines, video, just everywhere, billboards, everywhere we look.
We need to keep our mind stayed on the things of God and set no wicked thing before our eyes.
Keep our heart perfect and right before the Lord.
Let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word and for these warnings, Lord.
Help us all to take heed and to avoid the strange woman.
And, Lord, help the ladies here to not become whorish in any way, shape, or form or to wear the attire of a harlot.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.