Proverbs 7:25

Young man, you can defeat a whorish woman – one of the most difficult temptations in life – by keeping these rules: guard your heart, and live virtuously. Keep your heart above her sinful ways, and do not choose her immoral lifestyle. Be wise, and save yourself.

Solomon, as the wise father, warned his son and children of the grave danger of being seduced by the strange woman (Pr 7:5-23). A strange woman is any woman you have not married, but especially a loose one. The temptation to men by such a woman is very powerful. It is nearly irresistible, unless advance steps are taken to avoid her altogether.

Fornication and adultery are widespread and popular, with bolder and looser women than ever before. They are everywhere, and the various media promote them at all times in most attractive ways. A man cannot escape to the back forty every day, as in times past, for Potiphar’s wife is everywhere. The warning here is of utmost importance, for God will judge all whoremongers and adulterers (Heb 13:4). Be wise, and save yourself.

To wait until after you have met her, talked to her, or embraced her, in the hope you will be a Joseph, is foolish and guarantees your destruction. Joseph never entertained such thoughts, for he had carefully guarded his heart and stayed away from her as much as he could. You should not consider any sin (Pr 24:9), but especially sexual sins (Pr 6:25).

Consider the first rule – guard your heart. Keep it above her sensual approach to life. Sin begins in the heart (Jas 1:13-16). If you have not thought of a sin or desired it, you will hardly ever do it. But your heart wants to decline to her ways by its depraved nature from Adam (Jer 17:9). You must keep your heart with all diligence (Pr 4:23). Exercise your heart in spiritual and noble directions; do not let it slip to her carnal and lascivious ways.

Christian young man, your heart forms its thoughts and affections from inputs. If you feed it holy and noble material, you will have a holy and noble heart. If you feed it the television, websites, books, music, philosophy, images, and friends of this world, you will decline to her ways. You will think like her and be vulnerable to her sinful advances.

Thoughts of what she offers are delightful to the fleshly mind. Mental images of her are painted beautifully in a man’s thoughts. Due to your sin nature, you will never consider the horrible consequences of sex with her. You must reject any thoughts before they form; you must hate her and her sin; you must fear the God Who will judge her and you.

Do not let your heart decline – go down – to thoughts of stolen pleasures outside marriage. Hate her for using her beauty and wiles to destroy men; anything less than hatred will not work. Rise above her wicked ways to noble thoughts of God, wife, family, and home. If married, go hold your wife; if unmarried, go hold your mother. Love the virtuous women in your life, and hate this servant of Satan corrupted for your destruction.

Consider the second rule – walk virtuously. Reject her lifestyle and activities. Sin does not occur in noble places, while engaged in noble activities. How will you meet a whore and find an opportunity for sin in the assembly of the saints, with your family, in your home, diligently at work in your profession? Stay far away from her, her haunts, and her activities (Pr 4:14-15; 5:8; Rom 13:14; II Tim 2:22). She is far too strong to confront.

If David had been at battle, where he belonged, he would not have seen Bathsheba (II Sam 11:1-2). If he had then stayed that night in the domestic security of his palace, he would not have seen her. But he ventured out where he did not need to be. Samson could have avoided all his problems with Philistine whores, if he had but stayed at home.

It is foolish to visit bars, clubs, dances, coed gyms, pools, parties, schools, worldly dating services, and other places where the women are loose and evil. Her places and lifestyle will seduce and trap you with enormous temptations to sacrifice your virtue where you cannot escape her. You walked into hell yourself. Stay away from her and her activities.

Solomon’s father, David, wrote, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night” (Ps 1:1-2). David has the two rules in reverse order: stay away from her paths and feed your soul the Word of God. And David’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, did just that (Heb 7:26).