Proverbs 1:10-12
If Sinners Entice Thee
10 My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
1. The enticement in this passage is to a life of crime.
2. He addresses “my son”… fatherly advice.
a. Any father would fear that his son would be enticed by the troublemakers… lured into the wrong crowd…
b. Solomon feared that for his own son… even though his son was not brought up in a ghetto, but in the royal court!
c. There are wrong crowds everywhere!
d. Every father should warn his sons about this potential problem. Daughters should be warned too!
3. The author EXPECTS that the young man WILL be enticed.
a. Perhaps we could understand this to be saying WHEN sinners entice thee—because it WILL happen.
• Evil men are quite industrious in their endeavors to entice!
• Misery loves company! Sinners love company in their wicked ways.
• It makes them feel good—to entice an otherwise “good kid” into their evil fold makes them look good… that “good kid” becomes a sort of trophy to them!
b. Entice: to be simple, entice, deceive, persuade…
• The wrong crowd will prey upon a young boy’s inexperience.
• They will deceive him into thinking that crime is a breeze—that crime pays!
• It looks pretty attractive to young boys… young men… especially if they live in poverty and feel trapped.
• They look at the drug pusher, driving a fancy new car, wearing gold necklaces, with wads of money in their wallets. It IS an enticing lifestyle!
• But the application is not just towards the drug pusher. The wrong crowd does not necessarily have to be gangsters… just ungodly kids… rebels… the bad crowd at school…
c. Consent: to be willing; to consent, yield to, accept…
• The command is “don’t yield”! Don’t give in! Don’t accept their offer!
• Life is FULL of enticements. Kids need to be taught to have enough backbone to say NO!
• Remember, they can entice you, but they cannot force you!
• There are enough people in the world so that you can afford to be picky with your friends!
• Too often the excuse is used: “ I just got in with the wrong crowd.” Here is the warning to stay away!
• You have been warned!!!—Have NO fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness!
11If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause: 12 Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
1. Here the enticement seems to be to join the band of hoodlums for the sheer pleasure of hurting others!
2. “Come with us!” (vs.11) (Cf. vs.14 a)
a. There is an attractiveness to belonging…
b. The bad crowd here entices the young man by offering him “membership”—“with us”! You can belong somewhere… you can be a part of our gang… the in crowd… the cool crowd…
c. Sociologists say that that is one of the main attractions to the gang—a sense of belonging—a family—to young people who never had any strong family ties.
d. You young people will also be enticed by the wrong crowd—maybe not a gang, but the wrong crowd nonetheless.
e. That is why it is so important that you get your sense of belonging from your real family—and from the local church!
f. And to the young people today who do not have a mother or the father has left you: God says, “I will be a father to the fatherless!”
g. There is a clear line being drawn in the Bible on this issue.
• The evil crowd cries to the young man: “Come with us”!
• God’s Word says: “Come out from among them and be ye separate!” (II Cor. 6:14-18)
• Whose fellowship and companionship do you want?
3. Let us lay wait for BLOOD: The “draw” here appears to the SPORT of shedding blood!
a. They seem to LOVE it—they RUN to evil; and make HASTE to shed blood! (vs.16)
b. Lay wait = ambush; lie in the bushes waiting for your victim!
c. As sick and depraved as it sounds, there is a sport to crime… even to murder!
d. Stealing becomes a game—killing gives the murderer a “rush”!
e. In Littleton CO, there was a whole club of young boys called the black trench-coat club. This club glorified blood and violence and murder!
• MANY were lured into this club—perhaps never imagining that the club leaders would ever carry out their twisted plans… but they did!
f. Television has as one of its main enticements this same attraction: blood, violence, and murder!
g. If your sons are watching TV all day long—or every night—they are being indoctrinated —- and they very well may be seduced! Who knows where it might lead? Are you willing to take the chance?
h. On TV, they are watching blood and violence glorified…
• There is a lot of blood and violence and sex in the Bible too. But there is a BIG difference.
• TV glorifies sin. (alcohol—young healthy, tan beautiful people) The Bible exposes it and warns of its real life consequences! (What a different picture we have of alcohol in Prov. 23!)
• Lately TV not only glorifies sin but it also vilifies righteousness!
4. Let us lurk privily for the innocent without a cause!
a. Note that these ungodly criminals especially hate the innocent…
b. They hate the innocent and want to rob them because the innocence of the upright puts the criminal in a bad light!
c. The innocent are innocent because they worked hard and exerted much labor and effort to acquire their goods.
d. The diligence of the innocent makes the criminal look bad! It shames them and condemns them…
e. Darkness hates the light! (John 3:20 – “Everyone that doeth evil hateth the light!”)
5. Let us swallow them up alive — and whole! (vs.12)
a. Leave no clues behind so we won’t get caught!
b. The implication seems to be that there are no consequences to crime! You won’t get caught if you join with us! We’re smarter than the authorities! They will never catch us!
c. This is part of the “enticement”—the deception—the lie: there are no consequences to sin and crime… crime pays! It will make you happy! You can lead the “good life”!!!
d. The implication is that sin is liberating—you can do whatever you want and not get caught. The opposite is true. Sin does not liberate. It enslaves!
e. Prov. 5:22 – the “cords” of sin!
6. The crime that is described here seems so foolish… pointless… to harm other human beings… maim… wound… even kill—as a sport!
a. One would think that such warnings are not needed—but they are!
b. These kinds of senseless crimes happen every day. Check your local newspaper for recent illustrations!
7. We have a serious warning to all young people—choose your friends well! Avoid evil companions!
a. The Bible has a lot to say about this too…
b. I Cor. 15:33 – evil communications (fellowships) corrupt good manners!
c. Prov. 9:6 – forsake the foolish and live!
• A life of crime does not pay. It does NOT improve life.
• Take your son on a tour of the state penitentiary—to show them how much fun a life of crime is!
d. Prov. 13:20 – choose your friends carefully. You BECOME one of the crowd you join!