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I’m sharing this here with you from my time of personal devotions with my Lord Jesus Christ, for your encouragement. Sue Love
Proverbs 23:26-28 ESV
A Prostitute is a Deep Pit
So, what is the biggest pit that husbands and wives and sons and daughters are being faced with today? What is the biggest draw? What is the sinful addiction most talked about which is a stumbling block for so many people and which is destroying marriages and families and the church? I think there are two, and that one facilitates the other, but there is a question of which came first, the sinful addiction or the sinful facilitator of the addiction.
Well, let’s deal first with the sinful addiction which has many and varied aspects to it. Its general category is sexual immorality or sensuality. Sexual immorality is like a prostitute and like an adulteress or an adulterer and it lies in wait like a robber, for sure, and it absolutely increases the traitors, for those who are addicted to sexual immorality will lie to cover up their sin and they will betray their spouses and their marital vows.
Sexual immorality comes in many different forms. It isn’t all about literal sexual adultery with a literal person. It can be inappropriate contentography addiction which has to do with fantasizing about sex with someone other than with one’s spouse, which includes the viewing of sexual acts, and it can include self-gratification which is really sex with oneself. Or it can be totally happening in one’s mind as he/she lusts after others to whom he/she is not married.
This can also include romantic affairs, sexual conversations with others, or the sharing of nudity with others. It can include watching romantic or sexually charged movies not usually categorized as inappropriate content but which can contain sexual situations and some nudity. There are so many different ways in which one can commit sexual immorality and adultery. Jesus said to lust after another is to commit adultery with her/him in one’s heart (Matt 5:28).
The Sinful Facilitator
The other prostitute and the other deep pit people who profess faith in Jesus Christ are being faced with today is what is often termed “the cheap grace gospel” because it cheapens God’s grace and it perverts the grace of God into sensuality and into a license for sexual immorality (Jude 1:4). For it teaches that all one has to do is believe (not defined) in Jesus once, and their sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), and now heaven is guaranteed them when they die regardless of how they live on this earth.
Some of those who teach this cheap grace gospel are even discouraging their adherents from forsaking their sinful lifestyles and from following the Lord in obedience and from honoring Christ as Lord of their lives, for they call that works salvation or Lordship salvation. So they vilify the truth of the gospel and then they glorify the lies disguised as the truth and so many people are following the lies and they are remaining in slavery to sin.
So, if it isn’t enough that we are born with sin natures with a propensity to sin, and that we are still tempted to sin even after we believe in Jesus, and that our flesh is at war with the Spirit and the Spirit is at war with the flesh, and there are all sorts of allurements everywhere to try to trap us in sin, we then have people professing faith in Jesus Christ who are pretending to be ministers of the gospel who are giving us permission to sin habitually.
And so the Lord is calling out to all those professing his name who have not yet surrendered their lives to him, and to all those who make no profession of faith in Jesus, and to all who are of genuine faith but who are being trapped in sin once more, and he is letting all people know that he wants us to give him our hearts in surrender to his will. And he wants us to open our eyes and to observe his ways and to walk in them by faith and in his power.
Proverbs 23:29-35 ESV
In the End it Bites
Alcohol addiction is another entrapment. But people can be intoxicated to many different things not just to strong drink. For when people are intoxicated to anything they lack common sense and good judgment and self-control and they are self-indulgent, having to have that “fix,” whatever it may be at whatever cost financially or to their health or to their marriages, and to their families, and to other relationships.
People can be intoxicated to what they call “love” but which has nothing to do with genuine love, for it is all based in self and in what that other person does for them or how that other person makes them feel. And they like that buzz or that tingling inside their bodies that they get just thinking about a relationship with someone to whom they are not married when they are married to someone else. And this usually ends in divorce.
In the end it all bites, for sure. It ruins lives and marriages and families and the church and communities, and when the buzz or the tingling goes away, then what are you left with? No matter where you go or who you are with you still take you with you. And eventually the excitement will wear off and reality will set in and you will realize that the grass is not greener on the other side but it is actually worse than you had before because now you destroyed a marriage (or two) and a family (or two) only to learn that marriage is hard and it takes work no matter who you are married to.
But that is not the worst of it. The bite in the end that will hurt the most is when Jesus says, “Depart from me you workers of iniquity. I never knew you.” And then you will be thrown out into utter darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth for eternity (Matt 7:21-23; Matt 8:12; Matt 13:42-50; Matt 22:13; Matt 24:51; Matt 25:30).
Living Water
An Original Work / November 21, 2013
Based off Various Scriptures
My people have forsaken Me,
Their Savior, who died on a tree;
Made idols, and they worshipped them;
So empty, they will ne’er fulfill.
Lord, You are the hope of Your chosen ones.
Those who turn away from You will be shamed;
The Spring of Living Water left behind.
Living Water satisfies.
The thirsty, let them come and drink;
Believe in Jesus as their King;
The gift of Jesus given them,
So they will never thirst again.
Indeed, the Living Water flows within.
It springs up like a fountain cleansing sin.
Eternal life in heaven promised them.
Living Water glorifies.
Oh people, won’t you come to Him?
Obey Him and repent of sin.
Let Jesus come and live within.
Surrender all your life to Him.
My people, won’t you turn your hearts to Me?
Forsake your idols and then you’ll be free.
Won’t you come now to Me on bended knee?
Living Water sanctifies.
[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:21-25; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-10; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Ac 26:18; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
Proverbs 23:26-28 ESV
“My son, give me your heart,
and let your eyes observe my ways.
For a prostitute is a deep pit;
an adulteress is a narrow well.
She lies in wait like a robber
and increases the traitors among mankind.”
and let your eyes observe my ways.
For a prostitute is a deep pit;
an adulteress is a narrow well.
She lies in wait like a robber
and increases the traitors among mankind.”
A Prostitute is a Deep Pit
So, what is the biggest pit that husbands and wives and sons and daughters are being faced with today? What is the biggest draw? What is the sinful addiction most talked about which is a stumbling block for so many people and which is destroying marriages and families and the church? I think there are two, and that one facilitates the other, but there is a question of which came first, the sinful addiction or the sinful facilitator of the addiction.
Well, let’s deal first with the sinful addiction which has many and varied aspects to it. Its general category is sexual immorality or sensuality. Sexual immorality is like a prostitute and like an adulteress or an adulterer and it lies in wait like a robber, for sure, and it absolutely increases the traitors, for those who are addicted to sexual immorality will lie to cover up their sin and they will betray their spouses and their marital vows.
Sexual immorality comes in many different forms. It isn’t all about literal sexual adultery with a literal person. It can be inappropriate contentography addiction which has to do with fantasizing about sex with someone other than with one’s spouse, which includes the viewing of sexual acts, and it can include self-gratification which is really sex with oneself. Or it can be totally happening in one’s mind as he/she lusts after others to whom he/she is not married.
This can also include romantic affairs, sexual conversations with others, or the sharing of nudity with others. It can include watching romantic or sexually charged movies not usually categorized as inappropriate content but which can contain sexual situations and some nudity. There are so many different ways in which one can commit sexual immorality and adultery. Jesus said to lust after another is to commit adultery with her/him in one’s heart (Matt 5:28).
The Sinful Facilitator
The other prostitute and the other deep pit people who profess faith in Jesus Christ are being faced with today is what is often termed “the cheap grace gospel” because it cheapens God’s grace and it perverts the grace of God into sensuality and into a license for sexual immorality (Jude 1:4). For it teaches that all one has to do is believe (not defined) in Jesus once, and their sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), and now heaven is guaranteed them when they die regardless of how they live on this earth.
Some of those who teach this cheap grace gospel are even discouraging their adherents from forsaking their sinful lifestyles and from following the Lord in obedience and from honoring Christ as Lord of their lives, for they call that works salvation or Lordship salvation. So they vilify the truth of the gospel and then they glorify the lies disguised as the truth and so many people are following the lies and they are remaining in slavery to sin.
So, if it isn’t enough that we are born with sin natures with a propensity to sin, and that we are still tempted to sin even after we believe in Jesus, and that our flesh is at war with the Spirit and the Spirit is at war with the flesh, and there are all sorts of allurements everywhere to try to trap us in sin, we then have people professing faith in Jesus Christ who are pretending to be ministers of the gospel who are giving us permission to sin habitually.
And so the Lord is calling out to all those professing his name who have not yet surrendered their lives to him, and to all those who make no profession of faith in Jesus, and to all who are of genuine faith but who are being trapped in sin once more, and he is letting all people know that he wants us to give him our hearts in surrender to his will. And he wants us to open our eyes and to observe his ways and to walk in them by faith and in his power.
Proverbs 23:29-35 ESV
“Who has redness of eyes?
Those who tarry long over wine;
those who go to try mixed wine.
Do not look at wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup
and goes down smoothly.
In the end it bites like a serpent
and stings like an adder.
Your eyes will see strange things,
and your heart utter perverse things.
You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,
like one who lies on the top of a mast.
‘They struck me,’ you will say, ‘but I was not hurt;
they beat me, but I did not feel it.
When shall I awake?
I must have another drink.’”
Those who tarry long over wine;
those who go to try mixed wine.
Do not look at wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup
and goes down smoothly.
In the end it bites like a serpent
and stings like an adder.
Your eyes will see strange things,
and your heart utter perverse things.
You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,
like one who lies on the top of a mast.
‘They struck me,’ you will say, ‘but I was not hurt;
they beat me, but I did not feel it.
When shall I awake?
I must have another drink.’”
In the End it Bites
Alcohol addiction is another entrapment. But people can be intoxicated to many different things not just to strong drink. For when people are intoxicated to anything they lack common sense and good judgment and self-control and they are self-indulgent, having to have that “fix,” whatever it may be at whatever cost financially or to their health or to their marriages, and to their families, and to other relationships.
People can be intoxicated to what they call “love” but which has nothing to do with genuine love, for it is all based in self and in what that other person does for them or how that other person makes them feel. And they like that buzz or that tingling inside their bodies that they get just thinking about a relationship with someone to whom they are not married when they are married to someone else. And this usually ends in divorce.
In the end it all bites, for sure. It ruins lives and marriages and families and the church and communities, and when the buzz or the tingling goes away, then what are you left with? No matter where you go or who you are with you still take you with you. And eventually the excitement will wear off and reality will set in and you will realize that the grass is not greener on the other side but it is actually worse than you had before because now you destroyed a marriage (or two) and a family (or two) only to learn that marriage is hard and it takes work no matter who you are married to.
But that is not the worst of it. The bite in the end that will hurt the most is when Jesus says, “Depart from me you workers of iniquity. I never knew you.” And then you will be thrown out into utter darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth for eternity (Matt 7:21-23; Matt 8:12; Matt 13:42-50; Matt 22:13; Matt 24:51; Matt 25:30).
Living Water
An Original Work / November 21, 2013
Based off Various Scriptures
My people have forsaken Me,
Their Savior, who died on a tree;
Made idols, and they worshipped them;
So empty, they will ne’er fulfill.
Lord, You are the hope of Your chosen ones.
Those who turn away from You will be shamed;
The Spring of Living Water left behind.
Living Water satisfies.
The thirsty, let them come and drink;
Believe in Jesus as their King;
The gift of Jesus given them,
So they will never thirst again.
Indeed, the Living Water flows within.
It springs up like a fountain cleansing sin.
Eternal life in heaven promised them.
Living Water glorifies.
Oh people, won’t you come to Him?
Obey Him and repent of sin.
Let Jesus come and live within.
Surrender all your life to Him.
My people, won’t you turn your hearts to Me?
Forsake your idols and then you’ll be free.
Won’t you come now to Me on bended knee?
Living Water sanctifies.
[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:21-25; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-10; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Ac 26:18; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
