Proverbs 5:14
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I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
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Hypocrisy! Holding sins while pretending to worship God. Hypocrisy! Privately loving sin while publicly pretending religion. Hypocrisy! Singing and praying to God with the lips, while playing with lusts in the heart. Hypocrisy! Approaching the holy presence of God with sin staining your soul. Hypocrisy! Being tormented with the knowledge of God and the pleasure of sin that He hates. The soul pain of the religious fornicator is horrible!
Solomon in this chapter warned his son and children of the horror of adultery (5:1-2,7). From the desirable, and seemingly innocent, enticement of a strange woman (5:3), a foolish man is brought down to destruction and misery (5:4-10). When the sin has worked its course, he cannot believe his folly at rejecting so many warnings (5:11-13). In the words before us, he described maybe the greatest agony of all - religious hypocrisy!
In the place that should have been for his comfort and peace - the house of God, he was tortured with fear, guilt, and shame. With the knowledge of the Most Holy and His hatred for sin pounding his stricken conscience, he tried to worship, while bound by the cords of his enslaving sin (5:22). The internal conflict was too great to bear - his new man crying against the old man - the Holy Spirit convicting against the lustful thoughts of the devil! O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
At such times, a sinning saint can wish he had never known the way of truth. The unregenerate have no such pains. They sin with abandon. Their conscience is so seared as to be quite silent. But yet he knows such thoughts are those of an atheist, which he cannot be, no matter how hard he might try. The praise of the righteous, the joy of the faithful, and the reading of Scripture are goading pains. This is the agony of a religious hypocrite!
How did it begin? Playing with a little attractive sin. He allowed exposure to the most alluring temptation for a man - another woman. Her flattery enticed him (5:3). Then his lusts conceived the idea that taking her offer of intimacy would bring great pleasure (Jas 1:14-15). But as quickly as the thought of pleasure came, it disappeared just as quickly, after he had damned his soul with the hated act. His conscience was now condemned!
Reader, keep your heart with all diligence (4:23)! God hates hypocrisy! He wants your heart, all of it! He does not care about your lips, if your heart is not all His first. He does not care about your attendance, if you are thinking approvingly about sin. Men who pray in public with eyes full of adultery are marked for the darker regions of hell (II Pet 2:13-19). God seeks the sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart (Ps 51:17). Forsake your sins!
Self-righteous woman! Have you read this warning with disdain for such foolish men and with joy at the tormenting consequences of their sin? Your wickedness is worse, for you have no conscience, nor is there much hope of your recovery. You have already drowned in the self-flattering deceit and pride of your wicked heart and simple mind. If you can find even a twinge of conscience, confess your arrogant presumption before it is gone.
Monogamous man and virtuous woman! Do not think this warning has no value for you. Hypocrisy can occur with any sin - and there is no difference in the sight of God. Neglecting or defrauding your spouse is at least as bad as adultery! Backbiting and whispering are just variations on murder! Negative murmuring and lack of thankfulness are sins that God hates! James warned his readers that offending in one sin is to be guilty of all before God (Jas 2:10). Any form of hypocrisy is a horrible sin. Be warned!
This proverb has warning words for young men. You will face this horrible agony and misery of conscience, if you play at all with other women, whether by pictures, words, activities, or thoughts. Get away from her! There is no greater temptation than the strange woman, and she will take you all the way down to death and hell (2:18; 5:5; 7:27; 9:18).
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