Sermon Tone Analysis

| *TEXT* |   |

| *SERIES ** * | Wise Up |

| *TITLE ** * | Don’t Drink the Water |

| *Exegetical Idea* |   |

| *Homiletical Idea* |   |

| *Want them to Know?* |   |

| *Want them to do?* |   |

| *BIG IDEA** * |   |

| *PREACHING IDEA** * |   |

| *What’s Different?*

|   |

| *What difference does it make?

* |   |

| *DATE & PLACE DELIVERED** * |   |

* *

 

| What do they need to know? (Information) |   |

| Why do they need to know it?

(Motivation) |   |

| What do they need to do? (Application) |   |

| Why do they need to do it?

(Inspiration) |   |

| How can I help them remember?

(Reiteration) |   |

* *

\\ *Outline*

Introduction

·         Last week we talked about the fact that sometimes we end up in places we did not expect to go and we wonder how we got there.

The answer was that our heart is what led s there and the heart is directed by the desires that we deposit into it.

·         This week I want to start out with maybe a similar sounding question for us.

Have you ever made a decision or known someone who made a decision, knowing that there were going to be negative consequences to the decision, but you did it anyway?

Let me go even further with it, have you made a decision that you knew was wrong, and by wrong I mean either morally, legally, or ethically, wrong and you knew there was no chance you would get away with it, so you would just be willing to receive the consequences?

You say to yourself if I do “this” then “that” is going to happen, and “that” is not good, but I am going to do it anyway.

·         I am not talking about things people do and they think there is a chance they can get away with them like speeding down the highway or robbing a bank, they both think there is at least a chance they will not get caught.

But, I am talking about a time when you know that you will get caught, the consequences will find you and yet you go ahead with it anyway.

·         Isaac last week went down this road of thinking.

I had told him not to do something and I honestly can’t remember what then…

·         He was willing to accept the consequences.

Forgiveness is easier than permission.

·         It’s funny when it is a two year old and the consequence is a few minutes of solitude, but it gets a little less funny when we start talking about adults and the consequences are people, relationships, and families.

·         The passage we are going to look at this morning involves a decision that some people make and it is a decision that has definite consequences and I want us this morning to briefly look at why people make that decision.

Scripture

 

Turn to Proverbs 9:13 with me this morning.

We are actually going to spend most of our time in chapter 5 of Proverbs, but I want us to look at one passage in chapter 9 as we get started.

My title this morning is “Don’t drink the water” and it comes from verse 17.

To know what water is a metaphor for here you have to know how it has been used in the Proverbs at other places.

Flip back to chapter 5:15.

In both places water is being used as an image for the intimate love of a woman.

In chapter 5 it is referring to the blessed and sanctified love of a wife and experiencing intimacy in the confines of marriage.

In chapter 9 the writer is referring to a love that is “stolen” it does not belong to the man it is intimacy with a woman outside of the marital relationship.

So I guess this message could be entitled “Drink the right kind of water.”

Why do people make this decision?

I mean maybe it is because it is glorified in the movies, television, and music and they don’t portray all of the real life mess to it all.

Well all except country music songs, for some reason country music songs as they search for more topics to bring them down latch on to this idea of an affair and they sometimes portray some of the real world consequences of it, like this song by Tim McGraw called “You want Fries with That”

 

I thought that was your voice \\ I thought that was my car \\ Now we ain't ever met before \\ But I know who you are \\ You're living in my house \\ And I'm living in a tent \\ And don't laugh, this second job of mine \\ Is paying both our rents \\ You're out here buying Happy Meals \\ And I'm eating rice and pintos \\ You so much as crack a smile at me, man \\ I'll come through this here window \\ \\ Well you took my wife \\ And you took my kids \\ And you took that life \\ That I used to live \\ My pride, the pool, the boat, my tools, my dreams, the dog, the cat \\ Yeah I think that's just about everything \\ Oh I almost forgot \\ Do you want fries with that?

Transition

 

But, back to my original question, why would someone make a decision to do something when there are definite and tangible negative consequences that will result from that decision?

As I prepared this sermon and prayed and mediated on this passage it just seems to me that is the kind of decision a person is making in these situations.

I took a couple of minutes and I thought about every person I knew that had made a decision to cheat on his or her spouse.

I’ll bet you can do the same thing, we all know people who for one reason or another thought the water would taste better outside of marriage.

As I thought about those people and for me I could think of about 5 people who I personally knew that made this decision.

As I thought about where their families are now and the state of their life and the lives of the people they loved, and in my case all 5 were men who cheated on their wife, I couldn’t think of a single situation where life was better after the affair than before for the family or for the person who committed the affair.

You might say, “well good of course it is not.”

Which is my response as well, but that is what is driving my question this morning, that by the end of this sermon we will answer, if we all know and expect there to be negative consequences then why do people continue to as Kenny Rogers once put it,  “look for love in all the wrong places?”

A look at the consequences

 

Maybe it is because the consequences are not severe enough.

Maybe people like Isaac and throwing his food just weigh out the pleasures and the pain and believe that the consequences are not that bad so they go ahead with it.

The writer in chapter 5 of Proverbs lists some consequences let’s look at them for a minute:

.

*The price you pay* (5:4–14, 21–23)

·         “/Her feet go down to death/” (5:5) : “Her steps lead straight to the grave.”

·         /The loss of one/’/s reputation/ (5:7–9): She will take your honor.

·         /The loss of one/’/s self-respect/ (5:12–14): You come to the brink of utter ruin.

·         /The loss of one/’/s wealth/ (5:10) : Others will enjoy the fruit of your labor.

·         /The loss of one/’/s health/ (5:11) : Disease consumes your body.

·         /The loss of one/’/s very soul/ (5:21–23)

 

In addition to these there are a couple of others that I would add.

* The loss of friends in your life is a very real price.

Your friends thought you were one person and now you are forcing them to pick between being friends with a person who was hurt and deceived in the spouse and the person who deceived and hurt him or her. 

* If there are kids involved this changes the offenders relationship with them forever.

If the marriage cannot be salvaged then the family dynamic will certainly be changed forever for the children.

Depending on the age and how much they understand this can get very messy.

*Who's That Man*

\\ \\ Turn left at the old hotel \\ I know this boulevard much too well \\ It hasn't changed since I've been gone \\ Oh, this use to be my way home.

\\ \\ They paved the road thru the neighborhood \\ I guess the county finally fixed it good \\ It was gettin’ rough \\ Someone finally complained enough \\ \\ Fight the tears back with a smile \\ Stop and look for a little while \\ Oh it's plain to see \\ The only thing missin’ is me \\ \\ That's my house & that's my car \\ That's my dog in my back yard \\ There's the window to the room \\ Where she lays her pretty head \\ I planted that tree out by the fence \\ Not long after we moved in \\ That's my kids and that's my wife \\ Whose that man, runnin’ my life \\ \\ If I pulled in would it cause a scene?

(misspelled plus ?) \\ \\ They're not really expectin’ me \\ \\ Those kids have been through hell (kids not kida) \\ \\ I hear they've adusted well \\ \\ Turn around in the nieghbor's drive \\ I'd be hard to recognize \\ In this pick-up truck \\ It's just an old fixerup (fixerup one word) \\ \\ Drive away one more time \\ \\ Lots of things go thru my mind (thru is known as a Tribune abbrev.

s~/b through) \\ \\ I guess the less things change \\ The more they never semm the same (seem, not semm) \\ \\ That's my house & that's my car \\ That's my dog in my back yard \\ There's the window to the room \\ Where she lays her pretty head \\ I planted that tree out by the fence \\ Not long after we moved in \\ That's my kids and that's my wife \\ \\ Whose that man, runnin' my life

 

 

* Finally, and one of the largest consequences of an affair is the affect on a person’s relationship with God.

Have you ever stopped to wonder why God hates adultery so much?

I mean sure it involves lying, deceit, and pain to other people, but I think there is a more fundamental reason why God hates the act of a sex outside of the marriage covenant.

For that turn with me to a book called Hosea.

Let’s read Hosea 1:2,3.

Hosea was a prophet who God called to marry a prostitute as an object lesson to the people.

I believe that a major reason that God hates the sin of adultery is because it is an affront on the character of God.

A few weeks ago I talked about the image of God that is in all of us.

Follower of Christ or not as a part of the creation of God I believe that every person that walks this earth has the image of God stamped on them.

Part of God’s image, part of who God is and who he has revealed himself to be at his very core is the covenant keeping God.

From the very beginning of when God reveled himself to Abraham and Moses the terminology used was covenant language, language of promise and commitment.

God is at the very core of who he is faithful and a covenant keeper.

Remember Jesus when he was sitting down to that Passover meal with his disciples and he began to pass the cup his words were this cup is the “new covenant” of my blood.

He was saying I am the covenant keeping God and in the past people violated the covenant again and again, but this is the new covenant and it is one that I will seal with my own blood.

When a person Christian or not has an affair that is an affront to the image of God that resides in that person.

When a Christian has an affair it is also a huge mark against the testimony of someone who claims to serve the covenant keeping God.

Jesus also recognized and pointed out the consequences to a person committing adultery.

Turn to Matthew chapter 5:27 with me.

Jesus recognized that the sin of adultery was an affront on who God is and would lead a person down a path to an eternity in hell apart from God.