Proverbs 1:10-19 My son, if sinners entice you, consent you not.… The text refers to another state of society than that in which we live. I. LIFE IS A SCENE OF REAL AND DAILY TEMPTATION. Whether a man wishes it or not, he will be enticed. The mistake of many is that they expect to pass through life without being tried. They are not forearmed. There is not any perfect escape to be expected. It is the necessary discipline through which man must pass. The knowledge and experience of evil is just as inevitable as the knowledge and experience of any of the ordinary affairs of human life. II. THERE IS ONE PERIOD OF LIFE MORE SPECIALLY EXPOSED TO TEMPTATION THAN OTHERS. At first sight the temptations of youth seem to be at variance with the general principle, that as a man's day is so shall his strength be. Youth's strength and youth's day often seem to be very disproportionate. It seems hard that youth should be so severely tried. 1. The generosity of youth is tried by the callousness and coldness of the world. 2. The guilelessness of youth is tried by severe lessons; friends fall off, and depart like swallows in the winter, when we seem to need them most. 3. The purity of youth is tried by having to go forth into the world of real and actual impurity, to make venture in its own strength against it all. III. IN SOCIETY WE FIND MANY PERSONS WHOSE CHIEF DELIGHT IT SEEMS TO BE TO THROW TEMPTATIONS IN THE WAY OF YOUTH. No sooner does a man go astray than he strives to drag others with him. It is done — 1. By ridicule. 2. By sly suggestions. 3. By lending bad books and indulging in bad conversation. To overcome these temptations great decision of character is required. To get on in life requires the steady, unbroken bent of a strong will. There is no guarantee for real decision of character except in the fear of God. (W. G. Barrett.) Parallel Verses KJV: My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. |
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