THINGS THAT DESTROY THE GLORY OF THE
YOUTHS
Lesson Reading: Proverb 31:1-6
Proverb
31:1-6
1 The
words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him.
2 What,
my son? and what, the son of my womb? and what, the son of my vows?
3 Give
not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which
destroyeth kings.
4 It
is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to
drink wine; nor for princes strong drink:
5 Lest
they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the
afflicted.
6 Give
strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of
heavy hearts.
Memory Verse: Proverb 31:3
3 Give
not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth
kings.
Introduction
Our text above talks about a man,
supposedly a youth, that became a king and whom his mother advised afterwards on
how to succeed as a king. The centrality of the king’s mother’s advice was for
her son not to give his ways to those things that destroy kings. King Lemuel’s
mother, not assuming her son knew those things that destroyed a king,
immediately mentioned few of them which includes giving one’s strengths to
women and taking strong drinks.
King Lemuel’s mother went a step
further by stating how going against her counsel would bring the destruction;
by making them to forget the law and perverting the judgment.
However, we are not immediately
told from the scripture that the king was a youth but we can infer that he was
a youth based on the followings.
-1. He still
had a mother.
-2. His
mother acknowledged that he had strength, and having strength is the glory and
the hallmark of the Youths
-3. With
the way and manner his mother counseled him, it showed that man was unlearned
about things which could destroy kings.
If our assumptions above are
right that the king was a youth, and the glory of a youth is his strength
according to Proverbs 20:29a
Proverbs 20:29a
29 The glory of young men is their
strength.
Then what the
mother of the king was counseling his son to preserve was his glory.
In a similar
way, Christian youths, seeing that they have spiritual qualities that can be
likened to that of the young king described above, should be instructed,
counseled, and guided on how to preserve their glories, as well, by avoiding those
things that can destroy them.
Spiritual Parallel between King Lemuel and Christian Youths
|
|
LEMUEL |
CHRISTIAN
YOUTHS |
|
1. |
Lemuel was a king |
A Christian youth is a king in the Spiritual realm Revelation 1:6a
6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his
Father; |
|
2. |
As a king, Lemuel had authorities |
A Christian youth also has spiritual authority. 2 Corinthians 10:8 8 For though I should boast somewhat more
of our authority, which the Lord hath given us for edification, and
not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed: |
|
3. |
As a king, Lemuel had powers |
A Christian youth also has spiritual power. John 1:12 12 But as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to
them that believe on his name: Luke 10:19 19 Behold, I give
unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power
of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. |
|
4. |
As a king, Lemuel had subjects and servants to minister to him |
A Christian youth also has angels ministering to him Hebrews 1:13-14 13 But to which of the angels said he at any time,
Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? 14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth
to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? |
|
5. |
Lemuel had a physical throne |
A Christian youth has a spiritual throne Jeremiah
17:12 12 A
glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our
sanctuary. Ephesian
2:5-6 5 Even when we were dead in sins,
hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us
sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: |
|
-6. |
All the glories of Lemuel as a King could be preserved or
destroyed depending on what He does |
A Christian youth could also preserve or lose all his attributes
depending on what he does with his/her salvation. |
Things that Can destroy the glories of Christian Youths
Before we discuss how to preserve
the glory of the youths, it is very important to highlight those things that
can destroy the glory of a Christian Youth. We will mention some of them as
follows.
-1. Strange women/men
The instructions of God for His
Children not to marry or go the way of strange women/men transcends the old
testament into the new testament. Many children of God have had their hearts
pierced through darts of many sorrows in the hands of strange women and men.
Let us look at some of them.
Proverbs 2:16-19
16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even
from the stranger which flattereth with her words;
17 Which
forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.
18 For her house inclineth unto
death, and her paths unto the dead.
19 None that go unto her return again, neither take they
hold of the paths of life.
Proverbs 2:
16-19 tells us some very stringent consequences of going after strange women/men,
these include:
-i.
Her house inclines to death
-ii.
Her paths unto the dead
-iii.
No one that goes her way return alive.
The following
categories are those that fall under strange women in bible’s reckoning:
·
Marrying
unbelievers
·
Having
sexual intercourse with whomever is not your wife; that is fornication and adultery
Before
we look at few examples of bible personalities who messed up brilliant glories
through the marriage of unbelievers, let us see who an unbeliever is.
Who is an unbeliever?
-i. An
unbeliever is a person who does not believe in what you believe in. For
instance
·
You
believe in Jesus Christ as the saviour of mankind but he/she does not believe
in Jesus as the saviour of mankind. This include all non-Christians e.g. atheist,
herbalist, muslim, buddhist.
-ii. An unbeliever
is a person who claims to believe in what you believe in, but not the way you
believe it. For instance, he/she claims to believes in Christ like you but
·
You
believe there is hell. He/she believes there is no hell
·
You
believe in trinity. He/she does not believe.
·
You
believe in the Holy Spirit but he/she does not believe.
In other
words, all those who claim to be Christians but hold sharp doctrinal contrast
like those mentioned above.
-iii.
An unbeliever is a person who believes everything you believe, the way you
believe it, but does not practice those things. In other words, he/she is an
unbelieving believer. Though, He/she goes to church but all his/her characters
are exactly like those of who never believes in Christ.
Now
let us look at some examples of some Bible personalities that went the way of
strange women or committed fornication/adultery and what negative consequence
they got.
Abraham
Gen 12:1-2
1 Now the LORD had
said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and
from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee.
2 And I will make of
thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou
shalt be a blessing:
In the
scripture above, God had called Abraham out of his idolatrous background into a
land flowing in milk and honey and through the lineage of Abraham, God had
planned to raise the Messiah, Jesus Christ, to be a blessing of salvation to
the world.
Gen 12: 3c
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that
curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
However,
because Sarah delayed to conceive, Abraham yielded to His wife’s, Sarah’s advice
to marry Hagar, his wife’s maid, a native of egypt, - egypt is another
idolatrous background. This action in a way goes contrary to God’s calling of
Abraham out of idolatrous background.
Consequences
of Abraham’s action
i. Abraham became entangled again to
idolatrous background.
ii. The
children of the bond woman (Ishmael) together with the people of his mother,
the hagarenes (the egyptians) are, today, the leading people who want to cut
off the children of the promise (Israel and the church) till date.
Psalm
83:3-6
3 They have
taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden
ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut
them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no
more in remembrance.
5 For they
have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against
thee:
6 The
tabernacles of Edom, and
the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
iii. God
abandoned Abraham for 13 years.
Genesis
16:16 and Genesis 17: 1 is only one verse apart but 13 years in time apart.
Gen
16:16 told us that Abraham was 83 years when He gave birth to Ishmael and since
then there was no record of God talking to, or interacting with Abraham, again,
until Abraham became 99 years in the next verse and what God told him was a sterning
warning to be perfect. It was as if that act of imperfection of Abraham’s not
waiting for God’s promise but rather having a son through a strange woman was
what led to God’s breaking of communication with Abraham for 13 years.
Solomon
God’s
instruction to the Israelites and by extension to His children (Christians) not
to marry unbeliever is a standing one from both testaments with the reason
being that they will turn His people and the children of God unto idols.
Deuteronomy
7:3-4
3 Neither
shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto
his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.
4 For they will turn away thy son from following me, that
they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against
you, and destroy thee suddenly.
However, Solomon despised this
warning. 1 King 11:1-2
Consequences of Solomon’s Action
i. His heat was turned away from God. 1
King 11 : 4
ii. His heart was not perfect before God
1King 11:4
iii. The kingdom was divided into two (2)
because of his action. 1King 11:11
SAMSON
Samson was
another man that went after a strange woman and the consequence was very grievous.
Judge 16:4
(quote)
Consequences of Samson’s Action
i. His strength went away Judges 16:19c
ii. The spirit of the Lord departed him
iii. His eyes were plucked out. Judges 16:21
iv. He lost his life. Judges 16:30
REUBEN
Reuben is a
classical example of a youth that had an excellent glory destroyed through an
unusual type of fornication cum youthful exuberant - Fornicating with his
father’s wife.
Genesis 35:22
22 And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in
that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine:
and Israel heard it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:
Consequences
of Reuben’s Action
Genesis 49:3-4
3 Reuben, thou art my
firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of
dignity, and the excellency of power:
4 Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou
wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it: he
went up to my couch.
The single
act of fornication with his father’s wife turned Reuben’s glory from excellency
of dignity, might, strength and power into curse of not excelling and
instability.
Apostle Paul
in 1 Corinthians 5:1
1 Corinthians 5:1
It
is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such
fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have
his father's wife.
Clearly
stated that this type of weird fornication and youthful exuberance that ruined
Reuben was discovered among the youths of Corinthians. Even today, the destiny
and glory of many youths have been destroyed through fornication.
JUDAH
Judah’s glory
was that of scepter; ruler ship of Israel will not depart from his linage. Gen
49:10 and that Jesus would come from that linage. However, Judah almost lost
that glory, much earlier through prostitution even before his father proclaimed
the blessing on him.
He used his
staff as a pledge unto a prostitute. Had it been Judah was not able to redeem
that staff from the prostitution, he would have missed that wonderful glory of
the Lord, ‘Jesus Christ’, being referred to as “The Lion of the Tribe of
Judah”.
Even today,
many Christian youths have had wonderful futures and destinies destroyed
through prostitutions and fornications.
