Proverbs 5:7–14 • God speaks before the ruin falls. Always. The question is whether you're listening now — or confessing later when it's already done.

⛪ Preached at Pilgrim Baptist Church • Cookeville, TN • May 10, 2026.

The strange woman doesn't ask for partial payment. She takes your honor first. Then your years. Then your wealth. Then your health. Proverbs 5 lists exactly what she collects — and the list is more specific, and more devastating, than most men expect when they're standing at her door.

This sermon through Proverbs 5:7–14 doesn't just name the cost. It draws a line between remorse and repentance that most men in the ruins of sexual sin never see clearly. There are two kinds of sorrow in 2 Corinthians 7:10 — one that works life, and one that works death. Crying over what sin cost you is not repentance. It's remorse. And the man who stops at remorse stays in the ruins. The man who turns toward God walks out of them.

Proverbs 5:14 is the verse nobody expects. This man wasn't in the alley when he fell. He was in the congregation. In the assembly. Proximity to God's people didn't protect David either. He wasn't in exile when he fell. He was on the roof of his own palace. Position doesn't protect you. Obedience does.

This verse-by-verse study covers:

• Proverbs 5:7 — why God says "hear me now" and not "hear me when it gets bad enough"

• Why parents must plant warning in their children before the temptation arrives

• Proverbs 5:8 — remove thy way far from her: why careful distance is not enough and the door must close

• Joseph and Potiphar's wife — what it looks like to do the proverb principle

• Technology application: when the thought crosses your mind, what to do with the device

• Proverbs 5:9 — honor is the first thing the strange woman takes, not money

• David and Bathsheba — repentance doesn't erase the story from the record

• The cruel: the lawyer, the doctor, the judge, the bank — she never comes alone

• Proverbs 5:10–11 — four things lost: honor, years, wealth, health

• Why youth is a line of credit and not a gift — and what it means when the body calls in the loan

• Proverbs 5:12–13 — "How have I hated instruction" — the confession that comes too late

• 2 Corinthians 7:10 — the difference between remorse and repentance

• Remorse looks at the wreckage; repentance turns and runs toward God

• Proverbs 5:14 — almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation

• Why proximity to God's people doesn't protect you — only obedience does

• Hear it now before the fall, or confess it later after it

🌐 Learn More: pilgrimbaptist.church

✉️ Contact Pastor Fortunato: jimmy@pilgrimbaptist.church

📞 Call: 931-219-2224

Plan your visit: pilgrimbaptist.church/plan-your-visit

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.