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Bless every aspect of it, Lord, and we pray this all in Jesus' name, amen. Okay, you're there in Proverbs chapter six, and look down at your Bibles at verse 23. It says, for the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life. To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman, lust not after her beauty in thine heart, neither let her take thee with her eyelids. For by means of a whorish woman, a man is brought to a piece of bread, and the adulterous will hunt for the precious life. On Sundays, I've been going over the proverbial personalities from the book of Proverbs, and last week we went over the strange woman. And, you know, there's so much to say about the strange woman in the book of Proverbs, we have to actually break it up into two parts. So we did part one last week, and I'm gonna cover the second half tonight. Of course, we were doing it on Sunday mornings, but I felt it necessary to preach against alcohol this morning, and so we're doing it tonight instead. Of course, a proverb, by definition, if you can, Brother Albert, a proverb, by definition, is just simply a short, effective statement that imparts wisdom, prudence, and or knowledge. Mainly the Proverbs describes a specific individual, and, excuse me, describes a specific individual who is characterized by certain good or bad attributes. So obviously, when you read the book of Proverbs, you see a lot of bad people, of course, as the one we're gonna notice tonight. And don't worry, we're gonna get into the good ones in the coming weeks, okay? We're gonna talk about the wise man, and the one who's disciplined, the diligent man, but we wanna get these bad characters out of the way first. And the first couple weeks, we talked about the simple and the fool, and of course, last week, as I mentioned, we began talking about the strange woman. And the strange woman, as I mentioned, is one of the most prominent characters in the book of Proverbs. I mean, she practically has entire chapters dedicated to her, okay? And she's even sprinkled about throughout different chapters of the book of Proverbs. So basically, this would indicate that we should give heed to this, right? It's not something we should take lightly. It's not something we think, well, this is just the strange woman. What do we have to worry about? Well, obviously, if God is emphasizing this particular individual, he's doing it for a reason, because this is an obvious danger in the life of a Christian, not just for a man to be tempted by the strange woman, but also for a Christian who's a woman to be tempted to be like unto a strange woman, okay? And so there's enough in the book of Proverbs to show us, to warn us about this strange woman, and to avoid her, and for women to avoid exemplifying her attributes. Now, we looked at the word strange because we asked ourselves, why does the Bible call her a strange woman? Well, it's because the word stranger simply means a foreigner, okay? Someone who is an alien, a foreigner, and a strange woman is basically a woman who intrudes upon an aspect of a man's life where she doesn't belong, okay? And the aspect being that physical relationship. We obviously understand that we should be able to commune with the opposite gender in an appropriate way, without arousing any suspicion of, oh man, what's this person's motive? We should be able to talk to his brothers and sisters in Christ in church in a normal way, treat the sisters with all purity, the Bible says, the older women as mothers, younger women as sisters with all purity, and so on and so forth, but it needs to stay appropriate, amen? And a lot of the times when we see the Bible mentioned in strange woman, it's often outside of the confines of a biblical gathering, a church gathering, okay? Let's talk about women who are out in the world. And I talked about how the fact that the reason this is important is because when you look at three specific characters in the Bible, Samson, David, and Solomon, all of them fell into sexual sin, all of them discovered a strange woman and that strange woman caused them to fall. And each of those men were strong in a certain area. David is very godly, he was a man after God's own heart. You have Solomon who was extremely wise. You have Samson who was physically strong, yet each and every one of them fell prey to the strange woman, destroyed their lives, made them make stupid decisions, destroyed their family's lives, and so those stories are obviously there for a reason, to admonish us, to instruct us, and to help us to avoid this person. Now you're in Proverbs six, let me read to you from Proverbs seven verse 25. It says, let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths, for she hath cast down many wounded. I mean, Delilah, I'm sure she couldn't lift as much as Samson, but she didn't need to. She cast down many wounded, yet many strong men have been slain by her, whether physically or spiritually, right? Her house is the way to hell, giving you the directions to her house. Going down to the chambers of death. And the reason that terminology is being used is because God wants us to understand that the consequences of messing with a strange woman are very severe. Now obviously, we know that a person is saved, doesn't matter what type of sin they commit, or the severity of their sin, they're never gonna lose their salvation, they're never gonna go to hell because of it. This is just showing us, as we're gonna look later on, is that a person who commits adultery, okay, a man who commits adultery, a woman who commits adultery, they can't come back from that. That's a reproach that basically lasts for an entire lifetime, okay? And we'll get into that in just a bit. So let me give you some of the characteristics from last week just by way of review. Number one, we said that she's a snare. What's a snare? It's a trap, okay? Actually, brother, you can turn them off. I think, is everyone cold in here? Yeah, nope, freezing. Freezing? Okay, yeah. Brother Alex said it, guys, so you guys can get on him afterwards, all right? It's freezing. I was like, man, I must be preaching so powerfully because everyone's trembling and stuff, you know? He was like, does he come peaceably? Yeah, yeah, that's it, yeah. So she's a snare. What does that mean? She's a trap. So this is not someone who is, you know, you wanna run into, it's gonna be a pleasant interaction or discovery. This is someone who will seek to trap you and destroy your life. The Bible says in Proverbs 2, verse 10, to deliver thee, when referring to getting wisdom, it says, to deliver thee from the strange women, okay? And a lot of young men, because they're void of understanding and wisdom, they want a strange woman, you know, because the strange woman is often associated with beauty and, you know, flattery and all these things that the carnal mind would like to seek after. But the Bible says here that you should actually flee from this person, okay? And so God's word can help you be delivered to be rescued to avoid the trap of the strange woman, the evil woman, as the Bible puts it, okay? She's a snare. She'll trap you and eventually destroy you. But not only that, she's not only a snare, she's not only a trap, but she also wields the weapon of flattery. And in today's terms, we would say she's a flirt, okay? The Bible says in Proverbs 2, 16, to deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger, which flattereth with her words, the Bible says. So the strongest weapon that the strange woman has against a man is her words. And the reason for that is because a man's ego is easily inflated, just as it's easily deflated as well. I mean, you make fun of a man's insecurity or something, that ego will shrink. But you get some strange woman to come and flatter. By the way, flattery is synonymous with deceit. You know, she tells you, you look handsome. She's being deceitful, you know what I mean? She starts lying to you, telling you you're handsome and all these things. You know, that ego will begin to inflate and he will entrust himself to that woman. And obviously, the reason she's flattering him is because she's spreading a net below his feet. The Bible talks about a net being spread before the feet of the person. You know, the person who's flattering that individual, it's like they're trying to trap them, okay? And this is not something that we should only apply to strange women. This is just in general. You know, beware of flattery. When someone comes to you and gives you an insincere praise or comment, this excessive praise, you know, they're trying to spread a net below your feet because they want something from you, okay? Nothing wrong with giving compliments and being kind to people and telling them that they do a good job or whatever it may be. But it's another thing when someone flatters you, they obviously have an underlying motive that does not have your best interest in mind. You understand? But in context of the strange woman, that's what she uses. She uses flattery, the flattery of her words, to trap a man. We also said, so she's a snare, she wields the weapon of flattery, she's not under authority. Proverbs 2, 17 says, which forsaketh the guide of her youth and forget the covenant of her God, okay? So she lacks the fear of God. This is often, you know, describing a young lady who maybe is not under her parents' authority. You know, her dad tells her to do one thing, she does the complete opposite, okay? And that's what it's referring to when it talks about the forsaking the guide of her youth. The guide of anyone's youth is their parents. Obviously it's the word of God, but you know what, no one's born into a Christian home. And so right off the bat, you already have a mom and a dad who are guiding you, giving you commandments, teaching you, and young people should be under their parents' authority, parental authority, okay? And it says that she forgetted the covenant of her God. Now this could be referring to the fact that she just completely disregarded in the Bible, or it's referring to the fact that she's married and she's forsaking the covenant that she made before God when she married this particular person, you understand? So she's a covenant breaker. We'll get into that later on in the sermon, but this is someone who obviously doesn't take promises lightly, you know, doesn't take, you know, making covenants and agreements with God lightly, or I'm sorry, she takes it lightly. She doesn't, she's not serious about it, and she's willing to just break her promise and not be serious about those things. Not only that, but she is unstable, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. The Bible says in Proverbs 5, 6, lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are movable, that thou canst not know them. There's no consistency in her life, okay? She's just kind of balancing back and forth. She's going from house to house, a busy body, a toddler, as the Bible says in 1 Timothy 5. And the last point that we left off on last week is that she is immodest in dress and in speech, okay? You know, it talks about the strange woman wearing the attire of a harlot. Now, a harlot, we don't use that term very frequently, you know, in today's world, but a harlot is simply a prostitute, okay? So she's dressed like a hoe. That's what the Bible's basically saying. Oh, I don't, you know, I don't think you should say that. Okay, well, let's just use the biblical term. She's dressed like a whore. That's what the Bible says. I mean, it says a whorish woman. So she's immodest not only in dress, but the Bible also says that she's immodest in her speech. In other words, she is not discreet with how she speaks. And I made a point to make sure that people understand in our church that this doesn't mean, like, you know, if you have a lively attitude or a lively spirit that you're some sort of loudmouth or something like that. When I talk, this isn't really referring to the decibels of your voice, okay? Because let's just be honest. Some ladies, you know, they're a little more lively than others. Some are very shy. Some say, like, two words in their lifetime, you know, and one of them you don't even hear. Others, you can hear what they're thinking, you know? But they're not disrespectful, you understand? They're not mean-spirited. They're not out from under authority. They're still pleasant to be around, you understand? Because they still use discretion in spite of the decibels of their voice. So this isn't referring to, now obviously it could be referring to a person who is indiscreet and loud, right? Someone who is just loud and obnoxious. The Bible refers to as being clamorous. That's referring to, like, a loudmouth person, whether male or female. But in context of what we're looking at, it's referring to a woman who just kind of runs her mouth, you understand? And so this is the strange woman, okay? She's a modest in her dress. She's a modest in her speech. She doesn't really watch how she talks. She just kind of lets it fly out of her mouth. She doesn't really filter what she says. She just kind of, you know, lets it fly and doesn't really care. The Bible says in Proverbs 11, 22, I love this verse because of how severe it is. It says, as a jewel of gold and a swine's snout, dang, so is a fair woman, which is without discretion. Amen. And God's like, how can I describe this? What's the best way to describe this? He goes, a swine, a snout, and putting gold on the swine's snout. That's perfect. And we talked, don't get mad at me, by the way, okay? Don't get mad. This is the Bible's description of it. Oh, you're reading out of context. I don't think we could read this out, as a jewel of gold and a swine's snout. It's basically saying like, you know, if you have a swine putting a piece of gold on that swine's snout, it's not gonna make any difference. Okay? And so is a fair woman, which is without discretion. The fair woman being compared to that gold, okay? It's like, it's not gonna make any difference if she's a loud mouth, if she's indiscreet, if she is immodest in speech and in dress. Doesn't matter how beautiful she is, how attractive she is, you know, her beauty will be overshadowed by her indiscretion. You understand? And so, we said a lot about that last week. So make sure you reference that sermon if you forgot that. Tonight I'm gonna give you the remaining points for the strange woman. I'm not sure how long I will be tonight. I'm assuming it's gonna be short, but I just messed up because every time I say that, I just end up going longer than usual. Now you're in Proverbs chapter six, point number six. She is often characterized as pursuing men, okay? She's characterized as pursuing men. Look at Proverbs six, verse 23. It gives us the solution to help us to avoid the strange woman. It says, for the commandment is a lamp and the law is light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life, to keep thee from the evil woman. So it says, I give you commandments, I give you the law, I give you reproofs, I give you the instructions of the ways of life, and one of the reasons I do that is to keep you from the evil woman. From the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman, lust not after her beauty in thine heart, neither let her take thee with her eyelids. As brother Ray described yesterday, some of those eyelids can get you from back there, okay? He says in verse 26, for by means of a whorish woman, a man is brought to a piece of bread. It's referring to the gold digger, right? It's like by means of a whorish woman, a man is brought to a piece of bread like where he doesn't have anything but a piece of bread. Look what it says here, and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life. That's a powerful statement, and it's a sad statement. Because what this is telling us is that the strange woman, the evil woman, is constantly seeking for that precious life. She's pursuing men, but more specifically, that precious life, okay? That's why moms, you know, moms and dads obviously, but moms especially, you know, you need to make sure that you protect your sons. Protect your sons, right? Why, because there's women out there who want to destroy that precious life. And look, if your son is saved, obviously just in general, but especially if he's saved, he's serving God, he has a bright future ahead of him, that's a precious life. Precious in the eyes of God, you know, precious in the eyes of a church. This is a person who God esteems greatly, and you know, Satan would love to send a strange woman into that young man's life to destroy him. You understand? And so why, because that's how wicked she is. She hunts, I mean, look at the terminology that it uses. She hunts for the precious life. You know she wants more than the E-boy out on the internet? She wants the church boy. Far more than the E-boy, she wants the church boy because the church boy actually has values and convictions, he's a person who is respectable, who loves the Lord, has character, knows how to treat a lady, and the strange woman would love to come and just defile that person. It's happened throughout history, we see it in the Bible, happens a lot. And so she's often characterized as pursuing men, and more specifically, she will hunt for that precious life. Go to Proverbs chapter seven. Proverbs chapter number seven. You say, well, what can I do to help my son avoid, you know, being trapped by the strange woman? Well, listen to the sermon, number one. But number two, you know, I think it's important for moms to compliment their sons throughout their lifetime. You understand? Because children, sons can be insecure sometimes, especially when they become teenagers. You know, they start getting pimples and start looking all ugly and everything, no, I'm just kidding. They just become insecure, right? They become insecure. So I believe it's important for both mom and dad, but especially mom, to really instill confidence and security into their sons, tell them that they're handsome, that they're strong, building that confidence in them so that they don't seek it anywhere else. You understand? They need that from their parents. And by the way, vice versa, dads should do that for their daughters. You know, instill confidence in their daughter, you know, take them out for daddy-daughter dates and spend time with them, let them know that they're beautiful, that you love them. Why? Because you don't want them seeking that out somewhere else out in the world by some strange man. You understand? And so I believe it's important for parents to instill confidence into their children so they're not blindsided by some strange woman. Or when some strange woman comes to them, they're just like, no, thank you. No, thank you, you know what I mean? Because a lot of times, you know, these men get caught up with strange women because they're insecure. And they have some strange woman flattering them, and they've never received a compliment before in their lives, and it's just like, I don't care if she's not saved, I'm going for her, because man, this is the only thing I got. They don't have any confidence, they're insecure. And so that's how she will hunt for them. Whereas, you know, a household that has parents, you know, praising their children, and I'm not saying praise only. Obviously, you need to, there's negative things that need to be said as well. But I'm saying, you know, you're praising them, you're building their confidence so they don't think that they're ugly, or, you know, they're just weak, or they have this deficiency in their body, or something like that. And instill confidence in your children so that they don't seek that out in the world by some strange person who has some underlying motive to destroy that person's life. Your son or your daughter's life. You understand? Look at Proverbs seven, verse 11. So she's often characterized as pursuing men. It says in verse 11, she is loud and stubborn. Her feet abide not in her house. Now is she without, now in the streets and lieth in weight at every corner. So she caught him. I mean, this sounds like a trap. She caught him. Hey, you're looking like a snack. Isn't that what Damien said there, right? Looking like a snack. She caught him. She kissed him. You taught me that, what do you mean? Oh, okay, yeah. Don't go back on that now. Yeah, hold up, man. She caught him, she kissed him, and with the impudent face said unto him, impudent means brazen. She's just brazen. She just kind of like no shame. Whereas the Bible says that the virtuous woman has shame facing this, right? She has an impudent face. She's brazen. I have peace offerings with me. This day have I paid my vows. Therefore, came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. Isn't that interesting? So she obviously placed herself in a position where she knew he was gonna find her so she can catch him, kiss him, tempt him, and it says here, I came forth to meet thee diligently to seek thy face, the Bible says. So what do we see here? We see that she's pursuing this young man. Now go to Genesis 39, if you will, Genesis chapter 39. We're gonna look at an example of this. Genesis chapter 39. And I want you to notice the similarities in the language that we just read here in Proverbs 7 in the story that we're gonna read in Genesis 39. Because what do we see? She caught him, she kissed him with an impudent face, said, I have peace offerings with me. I came forth diligently to seek thy face and found thee. Look at Genesis 39, the story of Joseph. Says in verse four, and Joseph found grace in his sight referring to Potiphar, and he served him and made him overseer over his house and all that he put into his hand. And it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptians' house for Joseph's sake. So what do we see here? Joseph is in a foreign land, he's been kidnapped, but all things work together for good, so he ends up working for Potiphar, he was sold to Potiphar, but God is blessing Potiphar's house because of Joseph. And he's such an industrious person that Potiphar just puts him in charge of everything. You know, he's just like, look, I got a bunch of possessions, I just need you to be the accountant and just know what I got and take care of my stuff. And it says, and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house and in the field. And he left all that he had in Joseph's hand and he knew not ought he had, saved the bread which he did eat, and Joseph was a goodly person and well favored. Joseph is a strapling young man. He's industrious, he's godly, he's a hard worker, God's hand is upon him. I mean, this is a good young man, okay? Very rare today, unfortunately, right? For a young person. It says, and it came to pass after these things that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph and she said, lie with me. It's not like, hi. She didn't say, so did you watch the game last night or something or you know, what's your Instagram? You have a Facebook. Well, what did she do? She had an impudent face, brazen. Just came up and said, lie with me. Now, I might be speculating but I'm assuming that Potiphar probably has a beautiful wife. I mean, the guy's a leader, right? He probably has a beautiful wife, she's probably an attractive woman, okay? And so, you know, this might be tempting for Joseph, right? I mean, he's a young man and he might be tempted with this. Look at verse eight. But he refused and said unto his master's wife, behold, my master wadeth not what is with me in the house and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand. There is none greater in this house than I. Neither hath he kept back anything from me but thee. He's like, look, I have free reign over everything that your husband has but you're the only thing I can't take because you're his wife. This is a young man of conviction. This is a godly young man. And by the way, he's like in a different country, different nation, right? He's like in a different part of the world, his parents are there, you know. He understands that, you know, the only authority really that he has is God. And look what it says. He says, neither hath he kept back anything from me but thee because thou art his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against Potiphar? No, sin against God. So this shows you where his heart is. He fears God. He's like, I can't do this great sin and sin against God. I gotta be sinning against God. Because even though he's the God of Israel, God is with me here. And it came to pass as she spake to Joseph day by day, what do we see in Proverbs 7? Diligently to seek thy face. That he hearken not unto her to lie by her or to be with her. So she's constantly tempting him, constantly trying to get him to lie with her. Verse 11, by the way, lie with her doesn't mean like they're just gonna take a nap together or something. Obviously there's fornite or adultery is what she's referring to, okay? And it came to pass, verse 11, about this time that Joseph went into the house to do his business and there was none of the men of the house there within. And she caught him by his garment. Isn't that the same terminology we see in Proverbs 7? She caught him and kissed him and with the impudent face said into him, et cetera. It says she caught him by his garment saying, lie with me. This guy's crazy, look. And he left his garment in her hand and fled and got him out. This guy, the Bible says flee youthful lusts. I mean he took that verse seriously. Obviously it wasn't even written by the time, you know, in those days, but he obviously knew about it. He fled so fast that his, you remember those cartoons? Where someone would run so fast they would leave like the cloud or their hat, it's all spinning or something? That's what he did, he's just like, keep my garment. And it came to pass when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and was fled forth that she called into the men of her house and spake unto them saying, see, he hath brought in a Hebrew unto us to mock us. He came in unto me to lie with me and I cried with a loud voice. She's basically calling rape. And it came to pass when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried that he left his garment with me and fled and got him out. So obviously she's ashamed because he didn't want her. You know, he's not willing to commit this wickedness with her. He fears God, he fled. So Joseph is a great picture, is the counter picture of what we see in Proverbs 7. Because the young man in Proverbs 7, because he's simple, went in and he ended up destroying his life. Whereas Joseph here, what did he do? He fled from that temptation, even to the point where he left his garment. You know, I'm sure if he had some friends during that time, like, oh man, why do you have to like leave your garment? Couldn't you just say no again? But obviously this sin was very serious. He understood the severity of the crime and said, man, I don't want to do this. You know, take my garment, I will not do this. And obviously God vindicated him thereafter and blessed him because of it. Go to Proverbs chapter 20, Proverbs chapter 20. So obviously Potiphar had a bunch of servants. We don't see anything in the Bible of her going after them. Why, because she's hunting for the precious life. And the precious life is Joseph. Young man, doesn't matter if you're not popular with your friends or you feel like you're not a good looking person or you're not, you know, you don't have the status, you don't have the drip. You know, it's a term that young people, I'm young so you know, okay. You don't have the drip, all right? Your life is still precious, especially if you're saved. You're saved, you love God, you love the Bible, you love souls, you're precious and Satan knows that and he wants to destroy your life and you'll send an evil woman, a strange woman to cause you to stumble and to fall. And not just young men, I mean married men as well. And so she pursues the strange woman according to the Bible will pursue the man. But not only that, along with that, she targets the simple. Look at Proverbs 20 verse 16. It says, take his garment that is surety for a stranger and take a pledge of him for a strange woman. Bread of the seed is sweet to a man but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel. What is this talking about? Well obviously the Bible condemns doing suretyship, right? Basically striking hands, getting loans. The Bible condemns that and struggling recommends against it and here it says in verse 16, take his garment that is surety for a stranger. In other words, you know, this person is willing to give it all up, okay? Someone who is striking hands, you might as well just take their garment because that's probably part of their life. That's what they're characterized by. And it says here, and take a pledge of him for a strange woman. What this is referring to is the fact that this unknown person that we see in Proverbs 20 is so simple minded, is so stupid, is so simple that he's probably gonna give a pledge for some woman he's never met before in his life. He will pay a harsh price for some one night stand, in other words, okay? Because the guy who's giving his garment for a stranger, I mean basically he's striking hands, he's making a deal with a person he doesn't even know. I mean if you ever make some deal with someone, you at least wanna know the person, right? Like okay, I know this person, I know they're a person of character, I know they're noble, whatever it may be, but here it says take his garment that is surety for a stranger. This is an individual who's obviously not wise, not smart, they're simple minded, and like manner, take a pledge of him for a strange woman. Someone who's willing to be with a strange woman is obviously a simple minded person, you might as well take a pledge from him. Go to Genesis chapter 38, let's look at a story that's likened to this. The Bible says in Proverbs 27, you're going to Genesis, Proverbs 27 verse 11 says, My son, be wise and make my heart glad that I may answer him that reproacheth me. A prudent man foreseeeth evil and hideth himself, but the simple pass on are punished. Take his garment that is surety for a stranger and take a pledge of him for a strange woman. Basically the connection that the Bible's making here is that the man who goes for the strange woman is the simple who are passed on and are punished. This is a simple minded person, void of knowledge. So the Bible says in Proverbs nine, verse 13, a foolish woman is clamorous, loud mouth. She is simple and knoweth nothing, 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 in hither. As for him that wantseth understanding, she sayeth to him, stolen waters are sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. Hey, if any woman tries to get you to establish some sort of relationship and secret with you, red flag. Red flag, folks. This is the same woman who says, stolen waters are sweet, bread eaten in secret is pleasant. Yeah, but afterwards thy mouth shall be filled with gravel. That's what the Bible says. And the bread probably tastes disgusting anyways. It's rotten, it's got mold, the waters are probably bitter. Just know this, the strange woman will never deliver on her promises. Just like Satan never delivers on his promises. Look at Genesis 38, verse 12. It says, in the process of time, the daughter of Shewa, Judah's wife, died and Judah was comforted and went up unto his sheep shearers to Timnath, he and his friends, Hira the Adulamite. And it was told Tamar, saying behold thy father-in-law goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep. So Tamar is the wife of Shewa. Okay, Shewa at this point has already passed away and so she's a widow, okay. And so they told Tamar, hey Judah, who is Shewa's father is coming down to basically to be in this area, they tell this to Tamar. Look at verse 14, and she put her widow's garment off from her and covered her with a veil and wrapped herself and sat in an open place which is by the way of to Timnath, for she saw that Shela was grown and she was not given unto him to wife. So let me explain what's going on here. Judah, his son passed away, but he told Tamar, hey when my other son is grown then you could marry him and you'll have someone to take care of you, you'll be married, everything will be fine. But the thing is, is that Shela grew up and Judah did not give him to Tamar. So he basically went back on his promise. So she's a little upset about that, okay. And so now she's conspiring, she's doing this deceitful thing where she's gonna take off her widow's garment and put on the garment of a harlot. It says to Timnath, for she saw that Shela was grown and she was not given unto him to wife, when Judah saw her, he thought her to be in harlot. Now to the previous point, obviously what she was wearing made her look like a harlot, okay. So that means some women who can look like a prostitute and not be a prostitute, but they just dress like a prostitute. When Judah saw her, he thought her to be a harlot, now she wanted to look like a harlot though, because she had covered her face and he turned unto her by the way and said, go to I pray thee, let me come in unto thee, for he knew not that she was his daughter-in-law and she said, what would thou give me that thou mayest come in unto me? And he said, I will send thee a kid from the flock, and she said, wilt thou give me a pledge till thou send it? And he said, what pledge shall I give thee? And she said, thy signet, thy bracelets, and thy staff that is in thine hand, and he gave it her and came in unto her and she conceived by him. Now, the reason she's doing this is because she's basically gonna trick him, okay. So that when news comes back to Judah, that his daughter-in-law is playing the harlot, he overreacts, it's like, oh man, we need to burn her. Because this is like, hey, she's conceived by, she's having a child by whoredoms, and Judah's like, death! Kinda like the way David reacted when Nathan the prophet came to him, and he's just like, burn her! And then she comes, and then she's like, the person who basically I'm gonna have a baby by is the owner of these things. The bracelet, the signet, and the staff. And she's like, she's more righteous than I. Which is such a stupid statement, because they're both not righteous at all. She was just more cunning than he was, and conspired more in an evil way to basically, and he understood at the end, he's like, oh, it's because I didn't give Sheila for her to wipe. But the point is, the point that I'm trying to make is the fact that he was willing to give a pledge for this harlot. This harlot who he thought he didn't know. Obviously, a stupid individual. And by the way, anybody who goes around sleeping with prostitutes is a stupid individual. Okay, there was a pastor a couple years ago who was doing that, he's a foolish person, he's a wicked person, you know, using church money, by the way, to go sleep with prostitutes. I mean, how wicked is that? But anybody who goes around sleeping with prostitutes is obviously a simple, stupid, idiotic individual. Why, because they don't know that person. They don't know how many diseases that person has, they don't know if that person has HIV, or what kind of STDs that they have, or diseases, or you know, maybe her pimp is waiting in that hotel room or whatever, and shoots him, and kills him, and robs him. But you know what, take a pledge of him for a strange woman, because only simple, stupid people do that. Only an idiot will go around sleeping with prostitutes. Oh, like Judah. Right, who's a complete idiot. And how shameful is that, that he literally slept with his daughter-in-law. I mean, this is a shameful story, and it's there for a reason, to show us the stupidity of people who think it's okay to go around with harlots, okay? Go to Proverbs 7, I know that's an uncomfortable story, but it's in the Bible, okay? Hey, it's okay to get uncomfortable every once in a while, folks, okay? You know, it's still PG-13, because it's in the Bible, folks, okay? This is what the Bible says, and it's there for a reason. And by the way, when you read the book of Genesis, and you come across the story, it's just kind of plopped in the middle of Joseph's story, it's like, okay, that was weird. Whoa, what an intercession there. You know, all right, you know? It's just like, that story's there, but it's obviously there for a reason, to show us that only the lowest of the lowest go around sleeping with prostitutes. Okay? What's the next thing that we see here regarding the strange woman? Well, number eight, she is disloyal and unfaithful, okay? The Bible says in Proverbs 7, look at verse 16, again, talking about the simple who passed on into this woman's house, she says in verse 16, I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt, I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love into the morning. Let us soulless ourselves with loves. Now, the word soulless simply means comfort, okay? So there could be a variety of things that we can actually learn from this. One in particular is the fact that, obviously we know that the good man has gone away, and we see that later on, and she's lonely, and therefore, she's tempted to commit adultery, you understand? Because she's saying, let us soulless ourselves with love, let us comfort ourselves with loves, and obviously, this is not love. Okay, it's adultery, it's wicked, it's lust. She says in verse 19, for the good man is not at home, he has gone a long journey. He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed. This is so wicked. He's like, oh, don't worry if anybody's gonna come home, because the good man, the good man, by the way. That's sad. This poor fellow, who even she knows, is a good man. All right, she's like, the good man, because you know, he provides for her, he gave her all this money for this tapestry, and aloes, and cinnamon, and this should be for him. The coverings of tapestry, carved works, and fine linen of Egypt. He's the one probably paying for all this stuff. And she says, the good man is not home. What does that tell you? That she's just a disloyal woman? She's wicked, she's unfaithful, she's ungrateful? The good man is not at home, he has gone a long journey, he hath taken a bag of money with him. What does that mean? He's not gonna be back for a while, because he took a lot of money with him, because wherever he's going, he's lodging there for quite some time. With her much fairer speech, verse 21, she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips, she forced him. He goeth after her straight way, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stalks, till a dark stripe through his liver, as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life. Harken unto me now therefore, you children, and attend to the words of my mouth. So we see that this woman is very unfaithful, she's disloyal, she's not a person that you would want as a companion, young men. And you know why? You're like, well, you know, we fell in love. You know, she committed adultery, we committed adultery, we fell in love. You know what? You're gonna be suspicious of her for the rest of your marriage, if you ever marry a person like that. There's always gonna be conflict in the marriage because of that, because of that baggage that she brings into the relationship, you know? And there's stories like that, folks. I know of stories of people of times past, who, you know, they committed adultery, and that's how they found each other. And thank God, you know, they got saved and everything, and you know, they got into church. But you know, there's always this constant matter of jealousy, there's constant conflict going on with them, because of the fact that that relationship was built upon adultery. You understand? And so, you know, he's thinking, how did I know she's not gonna do this again? Well yeah, we don't know. Right. You're absolutely right. You understand? Now obviously, if that's ever a case of anybody in this building, which I don't think it is, but even if it is, obviously by the grace of God, all things work together for good to them to love God. You understand? And I am of the strong opinion that if that's your situation, you know, you should set up some major safeguards to remove any type of suspicion. To not cause your spouse to question, to wonder, to be suspicious, you know, set up some standards and some safeguards that will help you to basically trust your spouse, you know? Because you know, people, they do stuff like this unfortunately in the world, and you know, maybe they get saved, they get right with God, and they get into church, and they wanna live for the Lord, but then they have that baggage that they bring with them. A good way to counter that is making sure you have the right standards, these right safeguards, in order to protect your marriage from here on out. You understand? And so, we don't see this with the strange woman though. She obviously does not, can care less about her covenant that she made with her God, okay? Young men, get your young lady that, you know, loves the Lord, loves loyalty, loves being faithful, and you know, wants to get married, wants to bear children and guide the house. This is a good, this is, you should, by the way, obviously you should find someone in church, or in a church that preaches the right gospel or whatever it may be, you know? That's where you should find your spouse, okay? Oh, no, man, I think I'm gonna look for a girl in a club. You know, maybe I could convert a strange woman, you know what I mean? Maybe she's a strange woman, I could just get her into church, and you know, make her holy and pure, and stuff, it's not gonna work. I'm not saying it's impossible, I'm just saying, it's not gonna work. I've never seen it work, okay? It's better to just serve the Lord without distraction, you know, and find a good woman in church who loves the Lord, who's serving God, who wants to fulfill her biblical role in life, and then get married, and then you can live happily ever after, okay? All right, go to Proverbs chapter six, if you would. Proverbs chapter six, this is my last point here. Wow, I might be short tonight, I might actually finish. Psych. Because I got a lot of verses on this, man. Talk about the strange woman here, and by the way, the same goes for the young ladies. Get yourself a guy who's in church. You know, obviously don't pursue them, but your desire, your goal should be, I want to marry a Christian man who's in church, who loves the Lord, you know, this is what I want for my life, that's a good goal, understand? And obviously, that's not always the case, you might find someone out in the world, and you're in a relationship, and then they get saved later, and praise God for that. I'm not saying that that's impossible, that does happen as well, but you know, it's best for you to just find someone in church, though. And you know what, if that's not your case, and that didn't happen to you, then you should have that goal for your children, right? Shouldn't we want for our children better than what we had, right? Whatever we had, thank God for it, but we should desire a greater life for our children. You know, I hope my children, you know, get married to someone with your kids. I don't know, I think that'd be great. Or some of the kids, you know, in the churches that are friends with us, why, because I want my kids to get married to a Christian, you know, who loves the Lord, and loves their church, and loves their pastor, and loves their parents, and that's my desire, you understand? And so I think that's a good goal for you to have. You know, be involved in your children's life. And by the way, pray for their future spouses. Yeah, but they're only like two, yeah, pray for them. Folks, I prayed for Bruce years before, years, years before he was ever born, I even dated my wife, Sarah. I have a prayer book, and I can pull it up, and there's, pray for my firstborn to be a boy, I prayed for that every single day of my life. Once, right when I got saved, I made a prayer list, and one of the first things I was like, I want my firstborn to be a boy, and this is, Bruce is gonna be his name. And by the way, don't, I mean, don't follow my example, because it might not happen for you, obviously. You know, it's a 50-50 chance, okay? You know, you could have boy or girl. But I prayed for him every single day. And by the way, I prayed specifically, I said, Lord, let me have at least nine children, at least, okay? Right now we're at four, okay? So we got a couple more to go. But I think it's gonna happen, I believe it is, why not? Stop doubting, you know? But I prayed for my son, even prior to being married, I prayed for my son. And you know, I believe the Lord gave me the desires of my heart, because I sincerely wanted a boy, I wanted a godly wife, and God gave me those things. And so I think it's important that you pray for your children's, I pray for my children's spouses. I pray for Bruce's future wife. You know, I pray for Kyla's husband. You know, my daughter's gonna, freaking guy, whoever that is. Just kidding. All right, here's the last point. Regarding the strange woman. Let me just move on from that. I'm in a bad mood now, I'm just kidding. Her end is bitter, and you will regret it. So whatever the result is of that relationship you have with the strange woman, just know this, the end of that relationship is always gonna be bitter. And you're always gonna regret it. So it's no matter how much fun you had initially in the beginning, the heartache and the bitterness that comes after will always overshadow the good memories. Always will. Why, because that's what the Bible tells us. Look at Proverbs 6 23. But whoso committeth adultery with the woman lacketh understanding. He that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. A wound and a dishonor shall he get, and his reproach shall not be wiped away. What is he saying? He's basically saying, you know, when the Bible talks about her steps go down into hell, you think of someone who dies without Christ, they go to hell and they never come back, right? Well, the comparison that he's making is that a man who commits adultery with another man's wife, his reproach shall never be wiped away. It's like you're not literally going to hell, but it's like you never come back from that. There's always gonna be problems. You're always gonna have that reproach upon your life. He says in verse 34, for jealousy is the rage of a man. Therefore, he will not spare in the day of vengeance. Now that's kinda like God saying like, hey man, if that husband decides to take vengeance upon you for what you did, you know, he's already prophesied of it. Jealousy is the rage of a man. And there's many cases throughout the years in history where men have killed their spouse and the dude because, you know, he caught him in the act or whatever it may be, or even if he didn't catch him in the act, because jealousy is the rage of a man. 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. It's just like, you know, no matter how much money you give him or how many gifts you give him, or, you know, he's the one that got you saved, you got him saved, no matter what you did, it will never be the same again. And you say, well, man, well, what if I do this? Well, why don't you just not commit adultery? Why, that's a better option, right? Why not just like stay away from this bitter and sad ending of this person, right? That's the answer. Well, what if I gave him a million dollars, though? He will not rest content. A wound and a dishonor, I mean, your approach shall never be wiped away, okay? Go to Proverbs chapter five. Proverbs chapter five, verse number one, look what the Bible reads. My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding, that thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge. For the lips of a strange woman drop as a honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil, but her end is bitter as worm wood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death, her steps take hold on hell. So you may think that that lip gloss might taste all delicious and fruity and peachy, but you know what? Her end is as bitter as worm wood. It's like poison. Look at verse eight. Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh to 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. He said, what does that mean? Well, you know, what if you get with a strange woman, you have a bastard child, as the Bible puts it, and then you're stuck paying child support, and she gets up with some other guy, and you know what? She's using your child support to buy gifts for that man. Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth, and thy labors be in the house of a stranger. The only person I want to have my wealth is my wife. My kids and my wife and the people that I decided to distribute it to to be a blessing to, I don't want to be forced, right? I don't want my wealth to be forced upon someone who is just like, ugh, it's a heartache. And I have family members who are struggling with this. Made stupid decisions, had a bunch of kids out of wedlock, from different mamas. You know what? Their life can be just characterized by child support. That's literally their life. They cannot have a job for more than like a couple months without the government coming and just snatching all their money and giving it to them, which is, obviously, that's his responsibility, but you know what? That person's not happy. Oh, but what about, so how are those memories now? How are those memories now? I guarantee you that person doesn't even care about those memories, probably forgot about all this because he wants to forget about that woman. But it's impossible, why? Because of the fact that reproach shall not be wiped away. Young men, you know what awaits you? A bastard child awaits you. And I'm not saying it's the child's fault because obviously it's not, okay? And hopefully things work out and maybe, you know, you guys could get married or the person, it's a person to save, you could get married, not only these things, but it typically doesn't even work out like that, okay? Thy labors be in the house of a stranger and thou mourn at last when thy flesh and thy body are consumed. I mean, think about that. Thy flesh and thy body is like, I got a headache. I got stress, I'm depressed. By the way, if flesh and body are consumed, that can be because of stress or it can be because of some venereal disease, too, by the way. And say, how have I hated instruction and my heart despised reproof, and have not obeyed the voice of my teachers nor inclined my ear to them that instructed me. You don't want to be this person. Hey, listen to me now. Listen to the instructor now. Don't listen to me, don't listen to the sermon after you've done this stupid deed, right? And then you're gonna be repeating what this guy said. Verse 14, I was almost an all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly. Drink waters out of thine own cisterns and running waters out of thine own well. Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad and rivers of water in the streets. Let them be only thine own and not strangers with thee. Let thy fountains be blessed and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. You say, I don't have a wife. Well, get one. What you want me to tell you? This guy. Get a wife then. Let her be as the loving hind in pleasant row. Let her breast satisfy thee at all times and be thou ravished always with her love. What does that talk about when it says, let her breast satisfy thee at all times? It's referring to embracing your wife. Because when you embrace your wife, her breasts are pressing against your chest as well. So it's basically saying, let the embracement of your wife satisfy you at all times. You should be only satisfied with embracing your spouse. Amen. He says, and be thou ravished always with her love. Be crazy about your spouse. That's kind of corny. Well, why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman and embrace the bosom of a stranger? For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord and he pondereth all his goings. His own iniquity shall take the wicked himself and he shall be holden with the cords of his sin. You know, like Samson. He shall die without instruction and in the greatness of his folly, he shall go astray. So what's the answer? The answer is this, young men, get married to the right woman and be faithful to your spouse. Be thou ravished always with her love and give heed to these instructions and stay away from this whore. Stay away from this strange woman. Stay away from this evil woman who can destroy your life. Sin is pleasurable for a season, but just know this, it's only for a season. Season does not last that long because it's pleasurable for a season, but then you have a lifetime of anguish and sorrow and you shall mourn at the last, the Bible says. So, you know, if you get anything from this sermon, get this, just stay away from this woman. Don't put yourself in a precarious situation where you're dealing with this woman, you know, at your job, at your school, online. Stay away from them because they will destroy your life if you give them the opportunity to do so. Young men, get married. And men who are married, love your wives. Be ravished with your wife. Like, oh man, this is kind of boring now, you know. Then do something that's not boring. Dance with your wife or something. Ballroom dance with your wife or something. Do some quebraditas or something, I don't know. Do whatever it takes to keep your marriage lively. That's kind of embarrassing. Well, you know what, that's why your marriage is boring then. That's why your marriage is boring because you think, oh man, I don't wanna do those things. Do whatever it takes. It's the most important person in your life. And so, that's it, let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Thank you for your admonishments and your instructions, Lord. Help us to avoid the strange woman, the strange women who may present themselves in our personal lives, Lord, who may come to us via the internet, via school, via our jobs, Lord, in public. Lord, help us to have a discernment, not to be a simpleton. Help us to be like Joseph, who fled youthful lusts, and he followed after righteousness. And I pray, God, that you'd help us, Lord, as men to avoid the strange woman, but also help the women in our church to avoid ever exemplifying her attributes, Lord. And I pray that you bless the fellowship to follow. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.