The spirit of harlotry spoken of in Proverbs 7 is a highway to the grave for both men and women. The fog of hormones, pleasure, and excitement feel like life. This cannot change the immutable law of reaping and sowing and that the wages of sin is death. It matters not whether your sexual sin is digital, in person with single strangers, or in person with those married to others. If you are stuck in ongoing, unrepentant sexual sin, you are on a highway to the grave, leading down to the chambers of death, and death will be followed by hell. 

More mature believers in Jesus may think we have “aged out” of the sinful desires of youth. But the traps and temptations are still there – sometimes to try and recapture the excitement of youth. At other times, older believers are tempted not to seem too “square” or “holier than thou” so we are tempted to give explicit or tacit approval to the ongoing sexual sin of younger people who claim to follow Jesus. If we fail to give younger people the same frank warnings Pastor Franklin gave us Sunday from Proverbs 7, we are the voice of folly in their ears. Jesus wants, Jesus expects, and Jesus has commissioned us to be the voice of wisdom in their ears – just as Proverbs 7 and Pastor Franklin was the voice of wisdom in our ears last Sunday.

If by the grace of God, Jesus has helped us remove the log of sexual sin from our own eye, we can then assist our brothers and sisters in removing the speck from theirs.

Dear Heavenly Father,

O Lord Jesus! I confess that I am not yet free of sexual sin. Help me see that the spirit of prostitution preys on my very life. Help me hate even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. I confess that my strength and effort are not enough to defeat the power of this sin. I confess that I have sinned against You and I have sinned against my own body. What a wretched sinner I am! Shine the light of Jesus upon me. Make me new by the blood of Jesus. Help me not to hide or pretend any longer. Take away my shame and make me worthy of the name of Jesus by rescuing and changing me. In the Name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank You for the blood of Jesus that has rescued me. I confess I am still subject to temptation, and I pray that You would show me the way out so that I can stand up under it. Help me keep a path far from sexual sin and temptations – both a digital path in my online activities as well as a physical path as I go about daily life. Give me a new anointing and the gift of prophecy I pray. I deeply lament the hold sexual sin has on so many. Help me not to be ashamed or to mince words, but to gently preach and pray and bring people to Jesus for cleansing and healing and the gift or repentance. And help me to be mindful to watch myself, lest I also be tempted. In the Name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Linger a while longer with God today on the prayer that expresses where you are right now and welcome the Holy Spirit’s work in you. Grace, truth, freedom, and yes, pleasure, are found in the path of wisdom.