He
layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous (Prov 2:7)
Proverbs Gives Us Direction To Avoid Evil: Prov 1:10-15
10) My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
11) If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for
blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
12) Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and
whole, as those that go down into the pit:
13) We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill
our houses with spoil:
14) Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one
purse:
15) My son, walk not thou in the way with them;
refrain thy foot from their path:
INTRODUCTION:
In this section of
Proverbs chapter 1, we find Solomon setting the groundwork for the study of
Proverbs by reminding his readers of the need to avoid evil…. this emphasizes
another important benefit of a study of the book of Proverbs.
EXPOSITION:
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
(This is speaking of
temptations to sin against God).
Solomon,
once again addresses his students giving them a very solemn warning… If you are invited, through deception, to
join those who live lives of rebellion against the Lord, do not let down your
guard and give into their desires. This is a theme throughout Proverbs and
within all the pages of the Word (Proverbs 7:21-23, Proverbs 13:20, Psalms 1:1,
Ephesians 5:11)
What is
deceptive about the invitation to join up with the lawless? Their promise is for gain and pleasure, but
these are only temporal in nature and soon come to an end. What they do not tell you is that for both
lost or saved, giving into their temptations carries with it a great eternal
price. For the lost it is increased
punishment in the Lake of Fire. For the
saved it is loss of eternal rewards.
Jer 14:10 Thus
saith the LORD unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not
refrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept them; he will now
remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.
If they say, Come with us,
The
rebellious invite you to join them in sinful activities.
let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without
cause:
These
activities will use deceit to harm those who are innocent.
Jer 5:26 For
among my people are found wicked [men]: they lay wait, as he that setteth
snares; they set a trap, they catch men.
Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go
down into the pit:
They
will harm the innocent by totally dominating and overwhelming them by using our
superior strength, riches, authority or abilities (all of which were given to
us as gifts of grace from God).
We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with
spoil:
They
are motivated out of selfishness, covetousness, greed, and a desire to control their
victims.
Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:
They
are expecting you to join them, take joint responsibility with them for their
actions, and share in both the worldly gain and just punishment that will come
upon them.
My son, walk not thou in the way with them;…
Solomon’s
clear instruction to them …. Do not join with them on their path by pursuing a
lifestyle of following them and sharing in their pursuits.
refrain thy foot from their path:
He
then goes further by teaching the
importance of avoiding every one of these sinful pursuits…do not allow one footstep
of your life (any individual action) touch the route upon which they travel.
Ps 119:101 I
have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.
SUMMARY:
As
followers of the Word of God and the living Word, the Lord Jesus, let us all
abstain from temptation to disobey of God through the selfish abuse of
others. One of the steps to learning how
to avoid these temptations can be found in a study of the Book of Proverbs.
By
God’s grace, let us all study these proverbs diligently, giving them the value
that they deserve.
May the
Lord bless us as we receive this sound wisdom and then “Think On These Things”.
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