Proverbs 9. Wisdom has builded her house. She
has hewn out her seven pillars. She has killed
her beasts. She has mingled her wine. She has
also furnished her table. She has sent forth
her maidens. She cried upon the highest places
of the city. Whoso is simple, let him turn and
hither. As for him that wanteth understanding,
she sayeth to him, Come, eat of my bread, and
drink of the wine which I have mingled. Forsake
the foolish and live, and go in the way of understanding.
He that reproveth a scornor geteth to himself
shame, and he that rebuketh a wicked man geteth
himself a blot. Reprove not a scornor, lest he
hate thee. Rebuke a wise man, and he will love
thee. Give instruction to a wise man, and he
will be yet wiser. Teach a just man, and he will
increase in learning. The fear of the Lord is
the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of
the Holy is understanding. For by me thy days
shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life
shall be increased. If thou be wise, thou shalt
be wise for thyself. But if thou scornest, thou
alone shall bear it. A foolish woman is clamorous,
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, and as for him that wanteth understanding,
she sayeth 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. Choosing wisdom is
forsaking the foolish. Verse six says, forsake
the foolish and live and go in the way of understanding.
We've been studying chapter nine comparing the
house of the wise woman and the foolish woman.
We know that wisdom prepared her table, mingled
her wine, furnished her table, made her meat
or her bread, and she has bread she owns. She
cries at the high places. She calls to the simple
who wants understanding. We know that the foolish
woman has stolen waters or secret bread and she
has a seat at the high places and calls to the
simple who want understanding. Wisdom has built
her house. She's killed the animal, prepared
the food, set the table. Wisdom is diligently
and daily built. When we hear wise things, it's
important that we understand it must be put into
practice. We must also understand that it is
consistency over time that brings the life we're
looking for. It is not always easy to apply wise
things to our lives. We can't occasionally make
good food choices and expect to be healthy. We
can't occasionally exercise and expect to be
fit. Wisdom says, come and eat of my bread. She
owns the bread because it is her preparation
and hard work that has brought forth the bread.
There are no shortcuts to Wisdom's house, to
building our own house. It is brought about by
getting up in the morning and doing the basics
each day. You know the work that must be done
to prepare spiritual and physical food for yourself
and your family. In contrast, the foolish woman
doesn't prepare or make her own bread. She says
bread that is stolen is better than bread obtained
by diligence. Secret bread is better than bread
that was honestly obtained. We know that she
is clamorous or attention seeking. This woman
is appealing to our senses, to our sensual nature.
When she says that bread that is stolen or secret,
better, she's saying it's better because it will
give you a thrill. Stolen waters, secret bread.
One of the things that makes sexuality so exciting
is because it can be bad when outside of marriage.
It is thrilling because you're getting away with
something you should not do. You kinda get a
rush because it's dangerous or not permitted.
The problem is that once you've crossed a barrier,
it doesn't hold the same thrill that it used
to hold. That's why people watch increasingly
scarier movies, increasingly violent video games
or books or movies. It is also why once you cross
a barrier physically with someone in a sexual
way, you go further the next time. If you watch
pornography, it gets increasingly explicit and
violent because you're trying to get the thrill
that you had before. The Call of the Foolish
Woman says that the things built in the consistent,
faithful way are actually boring and unfulfilling,
and this argument is appealing to our senses.
If it wasn't, they wouldn't advertise our shampoo
socks and shoes and chocolate with an emphasis
on the sexy. I remember seeing a burger commercial
and the person was making out with his hamburger
and I'm like, this is so weird. It's so gross.
But the sexual appeal is an effective way to
get attention. It's very important that you can
identify the foolish woman and that you have
an answer prepared for her call. First, you need
to be able to identify when something is appealing
to your sensual nature. You need to ask yourself,
what is appealing to me about this brand? What
is the story this brand is telling? What is the
appeal of what I'm putting in front of my eyes?
Are there sexual cues that I'm glossing over
that I'm not looking at? Secondly, a prepared
answer does a lot toward helping us turn away
from the foolish woman. You need to set up some
boundaries. If I read a post that has swearing,
I'm going to stop reading that post. I'm not
going to follow people that post using swear
words. If I see a funny video of a man dressed
as a woman, I'm not going to watch it. I'm not
going to like it. I'm not going to pass it on.
I'm not going to watch influencers that make
fun of sexual things or dress in a sensual way.
These are examples of boundaries. The great thing
is if we ask God for wisdom He will show us some
boundaries He will unveil the foolish call and
we'll be like, wow, I never noticed that before
because all we have to do is ask for God to show
us wisdom and he will So I'm going to set boundaries
for myself sexually. I'm gonna find someone who
will keep me accountable for the dates I go on,
for the men that I date, keeping in mind that
I will probably go several steps beyond the boundary
I set. You need to prepare yourself before you
get there. You need to have a plan and the character
before you are in the situation. I'm going to
set up boundaries for myself as a married woman.
I'm going to purposefully include my husband
in my electronics. I'm going to have shared accounts,
shared passwords. I'm going to be on guard against
relationships with men at work as friends. I
am going to not be alone with a man that's not
my family. We are going to have a boundary so
that when we're invited out, we already have
an answer. When we notice we're being drawn close,
we cross a boundary and then an alarm bell rings
and we're like, oh wait, I wasn't going to do
this. The foolish woman advertises their sexual
appeal. That's why there are hookup apps and
apps to sell your body. All parts of your body
can be sold, which side note is prostitution.
A girl is selling her body for sexual gratification
of someone else. Maybe not as drastic as that
is how we can use our sexual appeal to flirt
with men. We need to be careful about the messages
we're sending as women of God. We need to make
sure that the people are attracted to our heart
more than they're attracted to our outfit or
our flirting. The foolish woman uses her body
to increase her followers. She reveals more of
her body to increase her appeal to the opposite
sex or alters her body through makeup, jewelry,
surgery, tattoos. So many things that can be
done to alter the body that God created. People
are infinitely creative. How do you think it
would go over? If someone wanted to change the
outside of the tabernacle that was in the wilderness
to make it more appealing to the surrounding
nations, what if they added a little paint, they
added a sign, dyed the skins a different color?
Or let's look at it this way. If you're angry
with someone, what do you want to do with what
they made? Scribble it? Crinkle it up? Wreck
it. This is what Satan wants to do to us. We
are the creation of God. We bear his image. We
are the temple of the Holy Spirit. So the enemy
wants to destroy that, mar that, wreck the beauty
that God built into each one of us. Isaiah 55
2 says, why do you spend your money on that which
is not bread? Why do you work for things that
don't satisfy? Part of listening to the wise
woman is deciding what is fulfilling or eternal
and what is empty or temporary. So then we need
to exercise self -control and self -discipline.
Preparing yourself to meet these challenges cultivating
godly desires and appetites through what you
consume is how we're going to overcome. the foolish
woman. And there is a great thing about the Holy
Ghost. We can ask God to grow things in our lives,
to teach us to hate things that we don't want
to grow, that we don't want in our life. Ask
the Lord to teach you to be modest, to love holy
living, to be a godly woman. Ask him to teach
teach you to hate evil and the wicked way. Proverbs
16, 6b says, by the fear of the Lord, men depart
from evil. You will find that wisdom has the
same root, the fear of the Lord. What is the
fear of the Lord? It is the recognition that
God has all power and he's made everything. Because
he made everything, He owns everything and as
the creator and owner he gets to say how things
run. He made the rules to the game and when we
recognize that and respect that we will learn
his ways and follow his ways, that's where wisdom
starts. That's where wisdom begins. The fear
of the Lord teaches us to depart from evil. Proverbs
9 -6 says, forsake the foolish and live and go
in the way of understanding.