Fire burns

Sunday service, Erlo Stegen, 20 Nov 2016

Proverbs 6:27
Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?

This question illustrates how sin brings about death. In this portion sin is likened to a fire and the question is, won’t you and your clothes be burned? Solomon is teaching us that you cannot hide sin within because if you do, it will bring about death. The Hebrew word says it will burn you in a bad way. It is used in the same sense as a house that is burnt down. In the Old Testament this word is used 120 times and it speaks of a fire in a negative sense where this fire will finish you off. Here Solomon is speaking of something you are covering up. It’s within you and you are covering it up. So here in this text the fire refers to sin. The most dominant sin here is that of immorality. Solomon is directing this to young people because it leads you into sin. It’s in your heart. You think about it. Solomon had a good upbringing and his parents warned him about immorality. Verses 20 to 29 warn about the evil woman. It speaks of that evil woman that is up to no good. The eyes of men follow her. She makes herself up and she tries to present herself in a way that men look at her. Don’t look at such a woman. She is a danger. She will tempt you to look at her. A woman paints herself so that men’s eyes will follow her. The man who speaks of this is Solomon. One could say he had a right to speak because he was married to 700 women and he had 300 concubines. In 1Kings 11:3 you can read about that. In this portion we are warned against immorality. He got married to one princess after another to form alliances with other nations. That is risky and dangerous. With that sin you will be punished and reap the rewards of it. That sin comes in many different ways. Some take the wife of their brother or their neighbour’s wife and that will put you at loggerheads with God. Here He asks if you can light a fire and not be burned? When that fire burns then the sin has entered you. It would be better to light a real fire than the fire of immorality inside you. That fire from hell is much worse than a literal fire. So don’t light that fire in your heart. If you saw someone light such a fire you would say he has gone off his mind. That fire will finish you in body, soul and spirit. Sin leads to death and it is eternal death.

When this fire is lit in your heart you will end in the bottomless pit. You will fall and fall for all eternity. Sin doesn’t always come as something evil. The devil can also present sin as very good; he will come as an angel of light. The devil can come in a subtle way – like in an underground way and no-one notices. He can enter through your thoughts and eventually destroy your whole life. Beware of it so that you don’t end up in hell. There are sins that don’t look dangerous. Some sins look so nice and good. It looks good yet it is evil.

Let me share a story. There was a family that had a little python, 1 meter long. They reared this python. Their son played with it and it grew to 3 or 4 meters long. The family went visiting. As they came back home and the car stopped the boy rushed upstairs to see his snake. He was very happy to play with the snake. After a while the children and the parents were at table for the meal but the eldest son was missing. Then the other brother remembered that he went to play with his snake and he went upstairs and found that the python had strangled the boy and swallowed him. The brother got a terrible shock and he had to tell the family that the python had killed his brother. The parents nearly fainted when they found that their pet snake had crushed their son to death. This pet snake had been his friend but this friend killed him in his own bedroom. You boys and men remember; this thing you are hiding in your bosom will burn you.

There are many ships that have suffered shipwreck. The most famous shipwreck is the Titanic. This ship was famous especially because someone said that not even God could sink this ship. In April 1912 it was published that this ship would go on its first voyage. The rich and famous booked to go on the maiden voyage. As they were crossing the sea they struck an iceberg. Before it happened there was a lot of partying and joking. It was an historic moment. There had not been a ship like this before. Then they struck an iceberg and the ship started tilting. As the ship was sinking everyone became quiet. Then they started singing hymns. There was no more laughter. Remember if you just laugh things off, it will one day stop. You just want to laugh all the time but God warns you that it will stop. That ship sank and many died. It was a huge ship, 900 ft long but that was its end. That was in April 1912. For many years they wondered why the ship sank and in 1985 they found the ship 2 miles down under the sea. They were out to find the real cause for the Titanic sinking. By this time the wreck was covered by a lot of mud. That prevented them from getting to the wreck. They especially wanted to see how the ice had cut into the steel of the ship. They wanted to see the 300 ft gash in the side. They had specialist equipment to see what the cause was. When they investigated they found that the hole was only 12 ft and from such a small hole, so many people drowned. They thought the cut was about 300 ft but it was small. It was only 12 ft. Don’t mess around with sin. You will end up in hell. Sin of any size will sink you forever. Your flirting and dancing will stop and you will enter hell with your girlfriend. Don’t comfort yourself and say that you don’t get involved in big things but by just committing small sins, you will wake up with a bump one day and God will damn you forever. You might say I didn’t rape a girl I was just chatting. It just begins with a few impure thoughts. That small thing grows and you die in your sin.

In 1982 there was a painting competition. When one of the artist’s painting was presented, it was a picture of a chair with someone sitting and looking down the barrel of a gun. Many came to look at this painting. That’s like gambling. You get away with it some of the time but most of the time you lose. So it is when you look down the barrel of a gun. You think that this gun only fires once in a hundred years so it’s safe. You may say it’s not dangerous but it could be that day when you are looking down the barrel. Woe to you, those bullets can shoot at any time. Another artist tried to depict temptation. So his painting was around temptation, sin and the world and making lots of money. The Bible teaches that you are not tempted by God but by your own flesh. Your own lusts drag you into it. Beware, because sin can look so attractive! It draws you. If you give into the lusts of the flesh, it will result in death. Remember, never say God tempted me. That is the path of the wicked. The lusts of the flesh will make you fall into gross sin. You will leave the righteous way. An important traffic rule is to stay your side of the road, else you will die. That is what sin is like. No matter how sweet or precious! It might be something you enjoy doing but it will bring about your death. Woe to you if you take sin lightly no matter how sweet sin is to you. Never defend it because in the end it will kill you. Every man is tempted by his own lust.

Never say that God has tempted you and you don’t know why it happened. It came so unexpectedly. It is because of your own lust and the hellish fire in you. Sin will always bring death. He who has an ear to hear let him hear. Watch and pray that it isn’t eternal death. James 1:14 says that you are tempted by your own evil desires. That temptation gives birth to sin and you end in death. If you give in to that temptation then there is sin in your life. Before Solomon died he realized how he had fallen because of these women. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines. At the end of his life he realized the vanity of what he had done. I don’t know if you all understand. I’d be glad if you had ears to hear. You can’t go to heaven if you don’t do what God tells you to do. Rather cry out to God and ask Him to forgive you. If you don’t repent you will regret it for all eternity. Sin leads you to hell no matter how harmless that sin looks.

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