Proverbs 26–28

As we get into the 26th chapter of Proverbs, you're going to notice if you've had a chance to just browse through this chapter very quickly, you're going to see the word, fool many times. Fool and foolish. And this is just a real focus of this chapter. In the Proverbs, there's actually different words, different Hebrew words that are rendered, fool, but in this chapter, it is pretty much the same Hebrew word that is used over and over and over again. And it makes reference to an individual who makes consistently bad choices. I guess that's the best way to describe it. Somebody who is constantly making the wrong choice, and so, you're going to see a lot of that in this chapter. We’re going to start in verse 2 here which says,

(ESV) Honestly, I got to tell you, the language here in the ESV is a little cumbersome. I really prefer the way this is rendered in the NIV. Can I show you it on the screen? I just like it better. I'm sorry. It goes like this, Proverbs 26:2 (NIV)

Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest. And I remember the first time I really heard this verse. It was hugely comforting to me because I was a very young man and I was young in the Lord. I mean, I was in my early twenties and I think I just in the last couple of years really come and made Jesus Lord of my life. And there was a lot of things that didn't understand. And I was visiting a pastor in the town where we were living, which was Great Falls, Montana. And while we were talking, he and I, there was a knock on the door and it was it was a Moonie. You guys remember the Moonies? The followers of reverend Sung Myung Moon. We called them Moonies. Well, the Moonies are a cult and a weird cult and they go around selling things. They'll used to find them all the times at airports and malls and they were selling old candy or something, making money for reverend Moon. And this guy came and he came to the church and he was selling paintings. And he told us right out, I'm selling, we're raising money for the Unification Church of Reverend Sung Myung Moon. And so the pastor, thankfully, much older and more mature than I, began to witness to this guy. And I just sat back and watched while all of this was going on. And then the pastor said, well, I would like to pray for you before you leave. And I thought, yeah, this is great, we get to pray for this guy. And the Moonie said an interesting thing. He said, on one condition that I get to pray for you guys after that. And I was such a young believer, I was like, no stinking way, am I going to… And yet what am I going to do? Like, oh, look at the time. I was stuck. So this older pastor prays this beautiful prayer that God would reveal himself to this guy and then this young man who was part of the Unification Church began to pray over us in another language. I don't know what he said and I got to thinking afterwards, I got to thinking for all I know, he just called down the worst of the worst. Who knows what connection the guy has and I was shook to be completely honest. Because again, I was a young believer and I didn't really know where the enemy's power started and stopped back then. I really didn't. And that was an ongoing issue for quite a few years until the Lord brought me up with an understanding. But this is one of the verses the Lord used to bring comfort to my heart, that if there is an undeserved curse that is spoken over you, don't worry about it, it's not going to come to light. And I remember reading this verse and going, oh, thank you. It's like, I don't have to worry about this anymore so, praise the Lord. I was an idiot back then, that's just the way things were. Skip down to verse 4. We're going to deal with the little fool stuff. It says,

5

I have to tell you that these two verses in the Bible have caused a lot of people over the years a lot of consternation. Because some people have wondered if the Bible isn't maybe giving a contradiction. And I'm like, in back to back verses. I mean, that would be really strange.

But I understand the fact that these two verses are together and seem to say the opposite. What does it mean? People have wondered about this for a lot of years, and the answer is basically that they're both true. And that there are different situations and in different contexts where it might be appropriate and in fact even needful to answer a fool according to his folly. But there are other times when you don't. You don't answer a fool according to his folly. The real issue is knowing when. That's where wisdom comes in. Wisdom knows when to speak and when to hold its tongue. You'll remember two examples, Jesus was very good at holding His tongue. When He was taken to before Herod, right? Yeah. After His first interview with Pilate. You'll remember Pilate sent Him to Herod thinking maybe it's his problem and Herod was delighted to be able to talk to Jesus. And he began to ask Him all kinds of questions and ask Him to do miracles. What's interesting is that Jesus didn't give one single answer. Not one. It says He held his tongue the entire time. Because you don't answer a fool in that sort of a situation because he wasn't listening, right? That's really the key. It's like, are they listening? Now, then you have another biblical example where the apostle Paul actually took the role, if you will, of a fool in his letter to the Corinthians to make a point. Let me put this on the screen for you from 1 Corinthians 11. He writes and he says, 1 Corinthians 11:1, 16, I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! I repeat, let no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I may boast a little. I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! I repeat, let no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I may boast a little. And then he gives his argument at the very end of it in the next chapter, verse 11. He says, 1 Corinthians 12:11 I have been a fool! You guys forced me to it…

I have been a fool! (but he says, you know what,) You guys forced me to it… This is one of those situations where Paul did respond. He answered these foolish things because it needed a response. And he was hopeful that as he taught the Corinthians that it was going to make a difference. In Herod's case, Jesus knew not to answer a fool, so it goes both ways. And that's what this passage is trying to say in the Proverbs. Skip down to verse 12. “Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.” Now, this is interesting because we've been talking about, I mean this whole chapter mentions fool over and over again, and yet it says this person's worse. What kind of a person are we talking about? He says a person who is wise in his own eyes. And that is a phrase that refers to someone who considers their opinion to be superior to anyone else's. Person who's wise in their own eyes. And so what we're being told here is that there is a great danger for anyone who is wise in their own eyes. Because that's an attitude of pride that basically makes that person unteachable. Okay? Which is interesting. Because we just, in the previous verse that we looked at, we talked about not, or answering a fool according to their folly. And the key difference is, is the person teachable? I've been asked a lot of foolish questions over the years by people who genuinely wanted to know an answer. And I've been asked questions that were very foolish where the person wasn't looking for an answer, they were looking to make me look foolish. And that's the huge difference that's going on there. Well, often, that kind of a question comes from someone who is wise in their own eyes, and that is that attitude of pride that makes them unteachable. And so that's one of the things that you and I have to discern. Skip down to verse 17. We're covering just the highlights here, because many of these verses are repeated throughout the Book of Proverbs. Verse 17 says, “Whoever meddles in a quarrel not his own is like one who takes a passing dog by the ears.” Now, that's an interesting proverb, isn't it? I can't say I've ever grabbed a passing dog by the ears, but it sounds like a dumb thing to do. I mean, it sounds like a fast track to getting bitten. But we're being told in this proverb that even dumber still is an individual who weighs in on a quarrel that is not his. Where he's not one of the parties who's even quarreling, but he jumps into someone else's quarrel. And it's interesting because this word, meddles. It says, “whoever meddles in a quarrel.” That word in the Hebrew means to excite oneself. Isn't that interesting? Essentially it's saying there's a great foolishness to getting all excited and upset over someone else's issues. Someone else's quarrel that's going on, and wisdom would have you take a step back. Verse 18. “Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death 19 is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, “I am only joking!” This may sound like a slightly humorous sort of a statement, but I assure you it's not. I am of the opinion, and call me a big stick in the mud if you want, but I am of the opinion that what passes today for practical jokes falls often under the category of what this passage is describing, a very, very dangerous thing. Because frankly, not only are most of the jokes that people play on one another today not funny, they're actually cruel. And you can see them. There's all kinds of videos online where you can watch people playing really what I consider to be very cruel jokes on people. And we always have to remember, I mean, I like to laugh with anybody else. I enjoy laughter. I enjoy funny things, but we have to remember it's never funny to make somebody else look stupid. That's just not funny. And as believers, I think we have to constantly keep in mind that we have a responsibility as believers, as ambassadors for Christ to speak the truth. We're told to speak the truth in love and that means that what passes our lips should be truthful. And let's not get into the habit of speaking things that aren't truthful because we want to make sure that when we do speak what's really important, people are going to listen. And they're going to think when this guy talks, it's worth listening to. And we're not looking at him like, are you joking? Was this a joke? Cause you're always doing that. That's just not the attitude I think that we want. And that's one of the reasons why the apostle Paul said what he did in his letter to the Ephesians. Let me show you this on the screen. He said, Ephesians 5:4 (ESV) Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.

In other words, what comes out of your mouth ought to be words of thanksgiving, not crude joking, not foolish talk, which I think is very foolish. When we're saying things that aren't true just to get a rise out of people or make them look dumb. It frankly shouldn't be part of the way we live again. Again, I'm not trying to be a stick in the mud. I'm not trying to say that every, everything that you might say to someone is always wrong if it's in jest, I'm not saying that. I'm just saying, be careful that what you're doing isn't meant to actually make someone look dumb. Verse 22, skip down there, please. It says, “The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body.” The word, whisperer here is what you and I would call a gossip. And it's figurative language that's used in the course of this verse but it's meant to convey certain things. For example, it says the words of a gossip are like “delicious morsels” and that phrase, “delicious morsels” is meant to paint for you and I a word picture of something that is irresistible. And you know, gossip is almost irresistible. When somebody begins their statement to you by, did you hear what so and so did or what so and so before they even tell you what it was, you are hooked. We all love the dirty details and so it's really interesting that the Bible uses this phrase, “delicious morsels” to describe what happens or how gossip grabs us. And then it begins to, and then it uses this language to describe what it does to us. Look what it says. It says, it goes down, the gossip goes down into the “inner parts.” Isn't that interesting? Now that speaks of how gossip actually enters into our heart and it takes up a permanent place there in the memory and actually can corrupt our hearts. There's actually a corrupting influence to gossip. But here's one thing I've learned about gossip. Gossip is something that everybody agrees is bad and nobody believes they ever do. And yet the Bible warns about it repeatedly. In fact, I've even had people say to me, and this wasn't all that long ago, someone said to me. They're telling me about a situation that, a struggle some situation they were dealing with someone and they said, now I don't want to, I don't want to speak bad of this individual or gossip or anything, and then proceeded to do exactly that. I mean, said that repeatedly in the conversation, I don't want to gossip, but, and then went on to gossip. It was just…, it was really amazing. It's one of those interesting things by saying, I don't want to gossip. He's admitting this is not a gossip is not a good thing, but then he went on to do it. We have to be very careful. We think we're passing things along. And we have to ask ourselves the question, is it necessary? Let me just say this, there are times when details need to be given, but it really comes down to motive. It really comes down to motive when everything is said and done. The question is, are you conveying this information because you're communicating to someone who can make a difference; a positive difference in the person's life that you're talking about. Are you saying something because some intervention needs to take place or some action of recovery or restoration needs to take place? There are times when those things need to be said so please understand not everything is gossip that is simply telling something that you know that somebody else doesn't know. Again, it's motive. What's your motive? Why are you telling this? Why are you telling me this? And if somebody starts to say something to you, and you realize, you ask yourself the question, can I do anything to help this person? No. I think it's appropriate then to say, listen, stop. This is not in my purview. This is not in my ability to make a difference here with this individual, so I don't think it's probably appropriate that you tell me. Maybe somebody who can really make a difference in their lives. I've had people come in the past and tell me things when there was something that I could do and you have to be careful of people saying, well, I told you so that you could be praying. You got to be careful because that sounds really good but it can be an excuse because I just really want to spill the beans. But let's be praying about this. We'll keep that in prayer. If we kept in prayer the things we said we were going to keep in prayer, we would be praying most of the day. Alright. Jumping off that soapbox. Let’s see. Verse 24.

This is a great series of verses in the proverb because they remind you and I that, and again, this chapter is largely about foolishness. That there's great foolishness associated with harboring bad feelings toward someone who has injured you. And to be completely honest with you, as believers, the scripture is very straightforward to you and I about what to do when someone hurts us. When someone offends us. It doesn't play patty cake with us or beat around the bush. It simply says, you must forgive, bottom line. You and I must for forgive. We may not, we may not harbor unforgiveness. We may not. It defiles the heart, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit. And it is just one area where God will simply not tolerate His children having a different attitude than His own. I mean, we are told over and over in the scripture, you forgive the way I forgave you. You know how I forgave you completely, unconditionally? You forgive other people that way. There's no two ways about it. It's just, we're not given any other options. Having said that, I'll tell you, it's the hardest thing you'll ever do. It's the hardest thing you will ever do. In fact, I'll even go further than that. I'll say, for you, it may very well be impossible, and for me too, but it's not for God. And that's really the point, is that forgiveness really needs to spring from the heart of the Lord that resides in us. And our part, I think, is to simply be willing. It’s appropriate to say to someone, if they're spilling a little bit of venom your direction about their anger or hurt or something that someone else did, it's appropriate to ask this question. So are you willing to forgive? Are you willing to let the Lord work that in your heart? Because truth be told, there are times when we're just simply not. We're not we're just not ready and that's because of our own stubbornness or whatever. Sue and I, for years we've had a little phrase between the two of us when one of us does something dumb, the other one will come up, eventually say is it too early to say I'm sorry? Because, and it's a lighthearted way of saying, are you ready to forgive me? Are you ready to even entertain the idea that I need to be forgiven? Because sometimes we're just not ready and yet God speaks very seriously in the Word of God about hate that disguises itself as love. And this is one passage. And you'll notice that there's a statement here made about it at the end of verse 26. And he basically says, it will be exposed. It will be exposed. Now as a believer, I mean, of course that, that refers to every unbeliever. We know that there's coming a day of reckoning, but it's true of you too. God's not going to expose anything like that in your heart to condemn you. He's going to do it to save you. To save you from the consequences of holding on to that bitterness, which will just poison you and poison your heart. And I'm telling you, unforgiveness is the worst. It's the worst thing you can do. It's the worst thing you can do for your relationships. It's the worst thing you can do for your walk with God. It's the worst. It's the worst. It's the worst. It's the worst. And so just you've heard it said unforgiveness is like drinking poison and hoping the other person's going to die and really it's very true. It's you that it hurts, not the other person that you're not forgiving. Chapter 27, let's cover some of the verses there. Verse 1,

And isn't that the truth? Jesus told this in a in a parable form when He, remember He talked about the man who had a bumper crop and he started making all kinds of plans. I'm going to build bigger barns and I'm going to expand and make my business stretch. And the Lord spoke to him that very night and called him a fool. He said this very night, your life will be demanded of you. (Luke 12:20) Fact is, we don't know, those sorts of things. The simple exhortation to you and I is, don't boast. Don't boast. James told us don't even talk about doing business or getting a job or going places by saying, I'm going to do this. He said, your attitude should be, if the Lord wills, I'm going to go do work, make money or whatever. It all comes down to attitude. Verse 2.

That's pretty simple. It's just not smart to boast about your abilities. Let other people do it for you. Skip down to verse 6.

This is a great verse because it exposes what you and I guess, would refer to as true and false love. And it basically begins by talking about the wounds that we receive from a friend or from those who love us. Those wounds are often uncomfortable and painful, but they are inflicted for our good. I mean it happens, sometimes you have to confront a brother or sister in the Lord and say, what are you doing? That's just, that's wrong. We need to pray right now and you need to repent and so forth. And that you may wound your friend by saying that, but you're telling them the truth. We are to speak the truth in love, even when it wounds. (Ephesians 4:15) But yet it goes on to say that profuse are the kisses of an enemy. And that means that many of us would frankly, rather be smothered in the kisses of those who really care nothing for what's best for us. It's like, just kiss me. Just tell me I'm good, tell me you love me, tell me you like me. I don't care if it's true or not. Just lie to me. Something's a little twisted about that. And frankly, the Bible says that one of the characteristics of the last days is that people are no longer going to put up with sound teaching. Aren't we seeing that one come to play today? But what does it say they will do? It says they're going to gather around themselves a multitude of counselors and teachers who are going to tell them what they want to hear. Just tell them what they want to hear. You're the best. God wants you happy. It's locked inside of you, let God bring out the best. And they're going to, oh yeah. You can draw a crowd saying really dumb things like that and you probably even become a millionaire, but they're the kisses of an enemy, ultimately. Verse 7, one who, this is interesting. “One who is full loathes (or hates) honey, but to one who is hungry everything bitter is sweet.” Isn't that interesting? I mean, that isn't, it's just an incredible observation. In other words, what they're saying here is that when you're in need, you have a greater appreciation for the things that you have. And even if it's bitter, it's sweet to you because you're in great need. But the person over here who has everything he wants and he's completely satisfied, he hates honey. He hates even that which is sweet. And it's just an interesting sort of a deal. Verse 12. Skip down, please. Verse 12. It says, “The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.” We've seen several verses that were very similar to this, but it is worth repeating that the ability to see danger from afar is something that is high on the Bible's list of good things. And the reason for that is that so much pain in life is avoidable if we could see down the road. And I know that we don't have the ability to see the future, but to at least consider the consequences. We could just and just apply biblical wisdom to recognize danger and so forth. We would save our self a great deal of unnecessary heartache. Skip down to verse 14. I love this one. “Whoever blesses his neighbor with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, will be counted as cursing.” There you go. Don't go over to your neighbor's house and go really early in the morning and say good morning in a loud voice because he's not going to take it as a blessing, he's going to take it as a curse. And basically what this proverb is simply saying is, timing is everything. Right? When the timing is wrong, a blessing will be thought of a curse. Verse 17, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” I've seen this verse used many times, particularly in churches for men's ministry. I've seen it used elsewhere. And typically we apply this on a spiritual sort of a plane, you know what I mean? When you read this verse. But frankly, the principle that's being laid out here could apply to any area. Business or just behavior, anything. The bottom line is we need each other, that's the bottom line. That's what it's saying here. We need each other. We need to sharpen one another. We need to sharpen our abilities and we do that together. Verse 19, “As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man.” Jesus said this very same thing. Let me show you on the screen. Matthew chapter 12, verse 34 out of the NIV. I like this.

…out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. And that's one of those really convicting verses. But it's essentially telling you that what comes out of our mouths is a reflection of what's in our hearts. And so don't try to justify what came out of your mouth when it's nasty by saying, I don't know where that came from, because you do. You do. The Bible told you where it came from and so just deal with it. Deal with it at the cross. Go right to the cross. Lord, look what's in my heart. And by the way, if you're surprised what's in your heart, you need to read the Bible more because the Bible makes no bones about the fact that the heart of man is deceitfully wicked. And sometimes we read that verse and we think it doesn't apply to us. It's like, yeah, people aren't they? No, my heart is deceitfully wicked. My human heart is deceitfully wicked. And so that's one of the reasons I don't, I'm not a big advocate of looking deeply into your heart because it's really dark in there and you're liable to get lost in the darkness. Honestly, I think we need to look at the light. Look into the face of Christ. That's what we're exhorted to do in the Word. Keep your eyes set on heavenly things, not on things below, but on things above we're told in the Word. (Colossians 3:2) And that's not my heart, my heart is so from below. And so it when something comes gushing out of my mouth that is ugly and caustic and toxic, I have to recognize that is what is in my heart. Right? At that time, I say, Lord, forgive me, that's what's there. And then this chapter ends with some principles that speak to our priorities. Look at verse 23 and following. It says,

I think it's possible to read this verse and go, well, I don't have any goats or I'm not even a farmer what is this really doesn't apply to me. Let's just keep reading. Well, here's the deal. There are some principles here that are speaking to you and I about being smart about monitoring our investments. Number one, but the exhortation, the main exhortation in this group of verses is for you and I to attend to the things that are absolutely necessary. And I get this one messed up from time to time. I'll just tell you. Deal with the things the Proverbs say that are absolutely necessary rather than focusing on the things that are not necessary. Because if you take care of the things that are a priority, give attention where attention needs to be given, there's wisdom in that. Looking down the road and saying if I take care of my herd and again, you don't have to be a farmer to use this illustration but the farmer would say, if I take care of my herd, they're going to provide me with all kinds of things. I'll have meat, I'll have milk I'll have the ability to sell some, perhaps even down the road and buy a field that I can plant things for my family. The point is, sometimes we get so focused on all this over here, and we're not dealing with the basics of just life, and that's really what this proverb is about. Chapter 28, and then skip down to verse 5, it says,

I find that a very interesting statement in the Proverbs, because you would think that we would all understand justice, but justice comes from God. He is just. I mean, that's part of His essential nature. God is just. What does that mean? It means he's fair. God can't be other. When we say God is just, we're not saying that He acts justly. He certainly does, but that's not what we're saying because you could say that of a human, you could say he acts justly. We're saying God is just. You can't say that about a human being. Human beings can act justly, but we can act with a lack of justice. But God is just. To know Him is to know justice. Up close and personal and that's why it says, evil men don't understand it because they don't know the one who is just but the believer, the one who seeks the Lord knows it. Skip all the way down to verse 13.

We obviously already touched on this concept, but it's very important. This is a statement of wisdom that guides you and I in all relationships, whether it's your relationship with God or your relationship with others. Confess your sins, confess your sins. The Bible says in the New Testament, confess your sins to one another so that you may be healed. (James 5:16) There is a wisdom to bringing things out into the light because sins like mold thrive in darkness and when we hide or cover up our sins, it just makes it worse and it brings such incredible misery. But what's really interesting about this whole idea of hiding our sin, this has been going on since the garden. We've been running from our sin ever since Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, and the Lord came walking in the cool of the day calling out for Adam, and it says that they hid themselves. (Genesis 3:8) They hid themselves as if you can hide from God, but they did because it was part of their sin nature now and we see it played out in the news. We see it in our own lives over and over again. People are trying to hide from their sin, but it really does bring misery. Skip down to verse 21. It says, “To show partiality is not good, but for a piece of bread a man will do wrong.” And that is unfortunately a sad commentary on human nature. And it's frankly exactly what the Lord accused the Jews of doing when He spoke through the prophet Ezekiel. Let me put this on the screen for you. From Ezekiel chapter 13, it says,

Wow, so don't show partiality. And then we'll end with verse 26 again. “Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.” This verse might be, I don't know, a little more applicable to our generation. Although I think mind works just fine but if you put the word heart in there, whoever trusts in his own heart is a fool. “Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool.” This is going on in our day and that's why people are saying today, this is how I identify. That's what's in their mind. And what they're doing is they're trusting their own mind to say, this is who I am. This is what I am. They're not even trusting what they see in the mirror. They're not even they're not even trusting nature. They're trusting their mind above all else, this is who I am. This is what I am. And the Lord says, whoever does that is a fool and it's a serious thing. And one of the reasons it's going on at such a rampant level today is because of the buildup of what the enemy is trying to accomplish in our world. Because the enemy knows that you and I were created in the image of God, and he hates the image of God, and he is doing everything he can to mar the image of God and twist it and pervert it as best he can. Even to the point where women will call themselves men and men will call themselves women. Used to be when you signed up for something, you had the choice of 2 genders. Now there's about 36 that are accepted genders. Well that's really interesting, but my Bible says whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool. And yet, there's a world waiting out there, an atheistic world waiting out there, that is just primed and cocked to cheer people down that path of, you just decide what you are, and we'll say, hooray, good for you! And what's going on? It's marring the image of God. It's distorting the very simple image of God that He created in man and in woman, the only creation. That is made in the image of God and Satan, believe me, is out to destroy it, to distort it in the minds of our current generation. And it's nonsense is what it is, but it's a reality that we have to deal with from the standpoint of life. We're going to stop there. Let's pray.