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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 the strange woman. Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids (Proverbs 6:23 – 25, KJV).
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 [immoral] woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil (Proverbs 5:1 – 3, KJV).

Men are sexual beings with a very potent sex drive that is easily aroused and hard to keep in check. That is why a man must avoid anything that stimulates him sexually outside the bond of matrimony. Solomon intimately understood how powerful sexual temptation can be — especially for a young man. It is with this in mind that he wrote the fifth chapter of Proverbs. Verses 1 – 3 perfectly describe the power of sexual temptation. Notice how Solomon personifies it as a seductress whose lips of honey offer the prospect of the ultimate pleasure and gratification of a forbidden treat. The pursuit of the ultimate sexual experience makes it all the harder to resist. The voice of conscience is ignored and forgotten as you become entrapped in the snare of the enemy, whose deviousness is represented by the smooth oil of the seductress' mouth. Fully camouflaged and extremely calculating the enemy presents the perfect illusion — timing each consecutive attack to destroy us spiritually.

The wise King Solomon understood that if a young man is to withstand the charms of the temptress successfully, he must be prepared ahead of time. How is that possible?

Proverbs 5:1 contains the antidote to the poison of sexual temptation. Solomon writes, “My son, attend to my wisdom, and bow thy ear to my understanding.” In other words, one must study God's Word and apply it to one's life. Time spent in God's Word every day builds up a man's immune system against the poison of pornography and all other sexual immorality. The Scriptures are the thinking and perspectives of the Lord. As a man continually immerses himself in the Bible he will gradually take on God’s mind-set toward the sin of sexual immorality. A man who devotes daily time to God's Word is given spiritual insight into the power of temptation, how it works, and where to find strength to resist it. James 4:7 tells us, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” The power and strength to do this comes from the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Picture credits:
© Flynt. Image from BigStockPhoto.com.
© keeweeboy. Image from BigStockPhoto.com.