There is a kind of man who curses his father And does not bless his mother. There is a kind who is pure in his own eyes, Yet is not washed from his filthiness. There is a kind—oh how lofty are his eyes! And his eyelids are raised in arrogance. There is a kind of man whose teeth are like swords And his jaw teeth like knives, To devour the afflicted from the earth And the needy from among men. Proverbs 30:11-14

Today's proverb is a four verse description of the hateful, wicked man.  The way this passage refers to this is with the phrase, "There is a kind."  The word "kind" is actually the Hebrew word for generation.  When you have a generation of people who are like this - you have a very difficult time coming upon the earth.  It is an interesting list of things that make for a wicked generation.

Verse 11 describes the first godless characteristic - which is having graceless, ungrateful children who dishonor their parents.  This generation curses their fathers and does not bless their mothers.  They disobey the one commandment with a promise - Honor your father and mother.  The bedrock of any generation is their ability to learn from their parents.  When the family goes awry there will be a basic disfunction and rebellion that will pervade the entire structure of the society.  The basic unit for passing on wisdom is the family.  Proverbs makes it clear again and again in the first 9 chapters of this book that it is through a father and mother that wisdom flows to the next generation.  So, when they have basic disdain for their parents that wisdom is lost to an entire generation.  We watched this in the late 1950's and 60's as almost an entire generation cast off the morals and the wisdom of their parents and decided to start their own revolution.  They decided that their's would be a generation of love and peace.  They tuned out on drugs, turned their ears from hearing and honoring their parents, and did whatever they wanted.  It was a disastrous generation - and those who embraced this kind of lifestyle and living continue to wreak havoc on society today. 

The second godless characteristic of this generation is that they are pure in their own eyes.  The Bible considered this particular sin one that is very damaging.  Those who consider themselves pure in their own eyes are blind to the truth that they are fallen and sinful.  They will justify themselves no matter who disgusting and disobedient their behavior becomes.  It is as if they are deaf to anything God says - and decide that whatever their flesh wants is true and good.  Those who fall into this trap will find themselves hopelessly bound in their sin and wickedness - and will only be delivered by the sovereign goodness of God as He draws them and illumines them to truth that is outside of themselves.  The Word tells us that even though they are pure in their own eyes, they are still unwashed from their filthiness.  Just because we decide we are going to redefine sin in our own minds does not mean that we are not guilty of it in God's sight.  No matter how many times the world tries to redefine sin, God's Word stands as ultimate and absolute truth.  When the wicked disobey God's Word - and decide that their own thinking is what defines pure - they still wind up standing before God as sinners.  But the world in which they live is upside down - and as such it is a difficult place for believers and those who desire to lead holy lives to live. 

The third evil characteristic is that they are arrogant.  This is described as having "lofty" eyes.  This simply means that they look down upon everyone else.  They consider themselves awesome and wonderful, while everyone else is lower than them.  This makes them arrogant.  Arrogance is defined in the Bible as primarily a sin agaisnt God.  Psalm 119:21 speaks of the arrogant as those who wander from God's commandments.  They ignore and look down upon God Himself - and therefore think far higher of themselves and what they want to do than they do of the commandments of God.  Proverbs says this makes them embrace sin and be careless (Prov 14:16) as well as those who stir up strife (Prov 28:25).  An arrogant heart ultimately disregards God.  Such a generation will exalt their own thinking and reasoning above God's.  If anyone tries to instruct them or correct them - up will go their eyes and eyelids as they look down on the poor fool who has decided to oppose their perfect wisdom.  Problem is the fool is the one whose eyelids are lifted in arrogance against God and against those who walk in His wisdom.

Disregard for parents, purity in our own eyes, and arrogance will lead to a society where gentility is gone.  The last of these four evil characteristics is that this generation is one where their mouths are out of control.  Their teeth are like swords - their jaw teeth are like knives - to devour the needy and afflicted among men.  They have no regard for the poor and needy.  They only see them as someone to exploit for their own ends.  There is a complete lack of civility because there was never other characteristics built into their lives to encourage it.  They do not regard parents - who would have taught them obedience and selflessness.  They do not see anything as sin - because they justify their own actions - and would even justify treating the afflicted and needy badly.  Finally, they are arrogant - and view all others as beneath themselves.  This makes it far easier to have little or no conscience at all as long as they get what they want in the end. 

There is a generation that lives this way.  Before you think I am going to refer to a specific generation - think about what the Bible says about the heart condition of mankind.  This is actually what happens in every generation of men.  It happens because of the fall of man into sin.  It happens because we are in rebellion against God - and want to do our own thing.  The generation of which Solomon speaks is any generation from the fall to the end of the age.  Unless God intervenes with the gospel and the saving of mankind by His grace - we would all eventually gravitate in these four directions.  These verses teach us wisdom by helping us to understand where the sinful nature and the flesh will take us.  If anything these verses should make us very open to running to God for his grace and His transformation.  Because if we don't - this is most likely what life will look like.  A world filled with a disregard for parents, filth being called purity, arrogance, and a society filled with harmful and vicious words.  This is a generation to be avoided at all costs.  But the only way out is through the gospel of Jesus Christ - and the regeneration in Him that changes us from the inside out. 

"For my husband is not at home, He has gone on a long journey; He has taken a bag of money with him, At the full moon he will come home." Proverbs 7:19-20

Once the adulteress has caught the fool in the trap of his own ungodly sexual desires - she then informs him of his soon-to-be-committed adultery.  At this point, the man is so entrapped, that he is no longer considering sin - but the ability to not get caught. 

She says to him that her husband is not at home - but is gone on a long journey.  Evidently her marriage means nothing to her.  Long gone are the words of her covenant to God - or any real love for her husband.  Instead she is interested in her next sexual escapade or conquest.  Her words betray her husband - and also betray that she cares nothing for her own spiritual condition, or that of her sexual prey.  Her focus is on neither of them getting caught - in this world.  In verse 19 she even knows the approximate time he is coming home.  Therefore she can sin unfettered until that time.  She even uses her treachery to lure the fool in closer.  She is utterly blind to the fact that God sees all this - and they are caught - NOW!

Think for a moment of David.  He thought no one saw him lusting for Bathsheba on his rooftop.  He thought that only a few knew of her coming to his chambers - and none of them actually knew if they committed adultery.  Then, when she became pregnant, he thought that no one knew of his treachery of bringing Uriah from the midst of a battle to cover his tracks.  When that did not work, he thought only a few knew of his plan to kill Uriah - and try to legitimize his adultery by marrying his widow after murdering him with an enemy army.  But the fact was David was caught the moment he sinned in his heart.  It was along the way that more people knew - and if you understand the nature of gossip - far more knew than he thought.

Covering our sin does not work.  David said after his sin that he who covers his sins will not prosper.  He spoke of how he suffered when he hid his sin - how the work of the Holy Spirit convicting him and sapping his very strength as he tried to keep things hidden was strong.  Sin will try to deceive us of its very existance in our lives.  It will tell us that we have NOT sinned.  It will tell us that we are FINE.  But all along the way are lies.  The wise man is the one who knows that trying to hide sin is the most foolish act in which a person can engage.  God is omniscient and sovereign - that is absolute fact.  This means that there is nothing we can hide from Him - even for a second.  It also means that all our attempts to maintain our sin are superceded by His sovereignty.  Man may plan his steps - but God ordains his way.  While that does not mean that God makes us sin - it does mean that His discipline WILL prevail when we do - no matter what we think we are doing to stop it.

"Come, let us drink our fill of love until morning; Let us delight ourselves with caresses. Proverbs 7:18

As we continue our look at overcoming sexual temptation, we come to the direct statement of the harlot.  We need to look at this statement to see the deception and the encouragement of sin in it. 

She makes the fool an offer of sex - but the way she states it is having his fill of love until the morning.  The word she uses for love here is the one that is usually used in the Hebrew for "lover."  But what she offers is not love in the truest sense.  She offers a fullness of love - at least until the morning.  She offers fullness of love - at least until her husband gets home - or she finds someone else to be her sexual dupe.  But all the fool hears is that he has a lover for the evening. 

That is the problem with sexual temptation - it offers an immediate pleasure - but says nothing of the long-term cost.  Sexual tempation (and actually any temptation for that matter) always focuses on immediate gratification.  Our flesh wants immediate gratification - and calls out for it every day we live.  But immediate gratification may leave a wake of incredible destruction.  Therefore, the more we allow oursevles to be deceived into thinking there are no consequences for our actions - the more likely we are going to fall for the lies being fed to us. 

The adulteress says that a night of wonderful love-making awaits us.  But let's be perfectly honest about this.  That promise is for about 10 to 15 minutes.  Drinking our fill of love until morning is a euphamism for little more than 30 minutes of our time.  The destruction had in that brief period of time - lasts far longer - and I would submit the pain involved is far worse than the intensity of the pleasure promised.  I've walked with people through divorce proceedings that last months.  I've walked with men who made this fatal mistake - and even years later they were still paying a price when their wives struggled with trusting them when they were late from work.  But sin never talks to us in these terms - sin only speaks of the "now" moment of pleasure.  Wisdom considers the moments after - the days after - the months and years after.

Delighting oursevles with caresses is another call to live for our flesh, and the adulteress uses it craftily.  The word "delight" here is interesting.  It means to rejoice in something - finding pleasure in it - and delighting in pleasure by expressing that pleasure above all other things.  What is interesting about this word is that the Bible uses it of the pleasure that is found in the sexual relationship in marriage.  God actually blesses this delight in pleasure - but He does so with the boundaries of marriage fully in place.  We read in multiple places in the Bible that God fully desires for us to experience the joy of married sexual love.  God did not give us sexual organs, desires, and the ability to feel pleasure only to forbid it.  But He knows that when we do so outside the bounds of a committed marriage relationship, it will turn destructive.  Just delighting ourselves with caresses can lead to the idea of multiple sexual partners - which we know leads to sexually transmitted diseases.  It leads to a shallow love based on physical attraction and physical pleasure alone.  In its more perverted forms - this leads to homosexualtiy - and in its worst forms to things like incest and rape.  Living for the physical pleasure of anything alone will lead to a complete abandonment of wisdom.  Sins like gluttony, drunkenness, and drug abuse are all ways that we start with a desire for the physical pleasure of something alone.  They all end in a bondage to sin that is very difficult to break.

The call to sexual temptation is a call to live for our flesh - and for a rejoicing in pleasure alone.  It does not think at all beyond the moment - and misses altogether the bondage that awaits in the future.  The fool does not think ahead - he only thinks of now.  He wants his pleasure now and is deaf to any consequences that await him.  The way to defeat sexual temptation is to use something other than your physical organs to make your decisions.  It is to use God's Word as wisdom guiding your mind as you encounter various things - various people in life.  That way you do not wind up a slave to your senses.  Biblically Romans 6 reminds us that in life we are going to be either a slave to sin or a slave to righteousness.  Sin will destroy us.  The wise man submits himself to God - to His Word - and to a life that promises pleasure and blessing beyond the next 30 minutes.