Latest / Collierville Radio Network / Admonition Podcast - What Kind of Man? - Walker Cain - October 18, 2026
Transcript
- 0:00Be ye followers of me, even as I am a follower of Christ.
- 0:06Paul wrote these words to the Corinthians.
- 0:09This was a people who faced division.
- 0:12They faced discord among themselves.
- 0:14They were biting and devouring one another with what they chose to do.
- 0:19They weren't able they were not even able to take of the Lord's supper properly without acting as though they were trying to have a contest of who had the most food.
- 0:28When a brother was going out and sinning,
- 0:31They were all puffed up too much to even do a thing about it, perhaps even proud of the sin that he was committing.
- 0:37This was a people who needed to follow Christ.
- 0:40They were Christians, but they were following something else entirely.
- 0:45Now the Lord in his word shows us how to be imitators of Christ, but not only does he show us how to imitate Christ, the Lord also shows us exactly who we are not to be.
- 0:57And sometimes the best way to learn
- 1:00Who to be is to see the negative ex negative example of who not to be.
- 1:06To do this, let's turn to Proverbs chapter 26.
- 1:10Proverbs, as many books of the Bible, is written by someone well prepared to write it.
- 1:20David wrote the Psalms, he was a man after God's own heart.
- 1:24This was a man who he was obedient to God.
- 1:27This was a man who also had trials.
- 1:30This was a man who wrote about the things of the heart as well.
- 1:34This was someone who was ready to talk about these things that took that emotional understanding.
- 1:39Then there was Paul who was able to discuss things that were of incredible logic and argumentation because he was prepared in that Greek rhetoric, all that reasoning and
- 1:48argumentation.
- 1:49And Proverbs is no different.
- 1:52These are the Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel.
- 1:58They are written by the wisest man to have walked the earth up until Christ came to this earth, who truly was the wisest man.
- 2:06Now what is it that this man shows us about who we are not to be?
- 2:10Three different individuals who will be seen in Proverbs twenty six are the fool, the sluggard, and the troublemaker.
- 2:19And as we go through these, we want to ask, are we imitating Christ or are we imitating these men?
- 2:27Are we imitating these examples of whom we are not to be, or are we imitating their exact opposite?
- 2:36As snow in summer and as rain in harvest, so honor is not seemly for a fool, as the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.
- 2:51Verses one through eleven are going to continue being focused on the fool.
- 2:57Now verse three a whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool's back.
- 3:03This is a person who is
- 3:05Who is going to go and do that which is going to hurt him.
- 3:09Just as a horse is going to be whipped, just as a donkey needs a bridle, a rod is what is deserved on the fool's back.
- 3:20Also, look at verses ten and eleven.
- 3:22uh
- 3:34returns to his folly.
- 3:36This person is going out and doing that which is going to hurt him even when he has been taught differently.
- 3:42How often when growing up did parents say, don't do that, don't do this, and then what happens?
- 3:50It's done.
- 3:52And then what happens?
- 3:53it's the same thing over and over again.
- 3:56The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different
- 4:03result.
- 4:05This fool is a glutton for punishment.
- 4:08He's going to go do that which is going to hurt him, and he's not going to c care about what it's going to do.
- 4:15He's going to go and do the same iniquity, and he's going to get whipped again for it.
- 4:20There's nothing that is going to change him.
- 4:23This foolish man is a glutton for punishment.
- 4:26Verse 11 As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returns to his folly.
- 4:31It's nasty.
- 4:33It's gross.
- 4:35How often is it the dog does the best cleanup job after he makes a mess?
- 4:39It's gross, but it's true.
- 4:43With how gross it is, that shows us what sin is like in the eyes of God.
- 4:48Just as a dog is willing to go eat that which what in the world?
- 4:52Just as a dog's willing to go and do that, A fool is willing to go back and do what's going to hurt him the most.
- 5:00The fool is willing.
- 5:01In God's eyes, sin is as disgusting as vomit, and even more than that.
- 5:06But the fool thinks it's pleasant.
- 5:08The fool thinks that this bottle is going to help him.
- 5:11This it's going to bring him pleasure.
- 5:13There's an entire passage in Proverbs that's dedicated to the fool who has redness of eyes, the one who tarries long at the wine who goes to seek mixed wine.
- 5:22But then he's going to be like the one who is he is like one at the top of a mast on a boat in the ocean.
- 5:30He's going to be like one who is all dizzy, and he's going to after that say, When shall I awake?
- 5:35I will seek it yet again.
- 5:37The fool is going to go do the same thing over and over.
- 5:40It applies with this alcohol, and it applies with anything else that he decides to do that is outside of what God has told him to do.
- 5:48When he goes and does that which is against God's commandments, he does that which is disgusting in the eyes of God and continues to go back to it, even though that sin itself
- 5:58is going to hurt him.
- 5:59And even though there is punishment for that sin afterward, a whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the fool's back.
- 6:08The foolish man is a glutton for punishment.
- 6:12But moving forward the fool is also hard to handle.
- 6:17Verses four and five.
- 6:19Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.
- 6:24Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.
- 6:28oh
- 6:29Let's all go home.
- 6:30We just found a contradiction in Scripture.
- 6:32It can't be God's word anymore.
- 6:34Is that what this is?
- 6:36Is God going to so blatantly make a contradiction in Scripture?
- 6:41No.
- 6:42There is a lesson here for us to learn.
- 6:45You answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit, or answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou be like unto him.
- 6:56You see, with the fool, he's hard to handle.
- 6:58You have to figure out, okay, how am I going to approach this this time?
- 7:03A fool, you're not going and trying to change him.
- 7:05You're trying to figure out, okay, how do I have to deal with this person now?
- 7:09It's almost like a person on the interstate, you know, you're not going to change the way they drive.
- 7:12You just got to figure out, okay, do I should I stay behind them or should I pass them and make sure they're not a danger?
- 7:18You're just trying to figure out how to handle this person.
- 7:21Same thing with a fool.
- 7:23Should I speak and uh acknowledge what he has said?
- 7:28L so that he is not wise in his own conceit?
- 7:31Should I let him think that he hasn't won this battle?
- 7:34Or should I not answer him, so that I am not like him?
- 7:39This is not a contradiction in Scripture.
- 7:41It's showing the fact that there's some times you have to answer a fool, there's other times you should not answer a fool.
- 7:46And we simply must decide, or we must gain the experience through life to figure out when is it I should answer?
- 7:54When is it that I should not answer?
- 7:56And that's something that
- 7:58Comes with time and practice in life.
- 8:01The foolish man is a glutton for punishment, the foolish man is hard to handle, and also the foolish man he's going to let you down hard.
- 8:11Verses six and seven.
- 8:16He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet and drinketh damage.
- 8:22The legs of the lame are not equal, so is a parable in the mouth of fools.
- 8:28As he that bindeth a stone in his sling, so is he that giveth honor to a fool.
- 8:34Yet again, we have more about this foolish man and what he is going to do.
- 8:38Verse six is about when someone gives responsibility to this foolish man.
- 8:43He's given a job.
- 8:44Most specifically, he's given a message.
- 8:47He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet and drinketh damage.
- 8:52You trust a fool with something, do you expect it to be done?
- 8:56Well, if you have a trusted somebody, then usually that means you've trusted them to do it.
- 9:02But if you trust a fool with a job, you can actually trust he's not going to do it.
- 9:07He that sends a message by the hand of a fool, he cuts off his own feet and he drinks damage.
- 9:13If we decide to take a fool and give him a job and say, hey, go carry out this, it's as though we've cut off our own feet, sat on the couch, and he's gone and done it and done it
- 9:22the wrong way.
- 9:24This is someone who does not handle responsibility correctly.
- 9:27This is someone who does not handle information correctly either.
- 9:31This isn't just a job, this is a message.
- 9:34Who knows what he did with that information?
- 9:36Did he just go to his own home and not do anything with it?
- 9:39Did he go and share it with somebody else?
- 9:41Whatever the case, he's not doing that which is proper.
- 9:44There are times that we have responsibilities given to us that we are to carry out.
- 9:50There's times where a s a father might tell one son, Hey, go to give this message to your brother.
- 9:56And then that son, because he didn't say it, this son didn't then do what the father said to do.
- 10:01So what happens after that?
- 10:03Well, you have one son who's in trouble because he didn't do what God said or the father said to do, and then you have another son who he's in trouble because he didn't tell the
- 10:10son what to do.
- 10:12The one who sends a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet and drinketh damage.
- 10:17It's only going to lead to hurt.
- 10:19What are we?
- 10:20Are we the kind that we can be given responsibility and we can carry it out?
- 10:25Or is giving a job to us, just like setting a ticking time bomb?
- 10:32The fool Is a glutton for punishment.
- 10:35He is hard to handle, and finally he's going to let you down hard.
- 10:40Now we've just said that what we're looking with at with this today is how does this kind of person compare to Christ?
- 10:46What is this kind of person in the light of who Christ was?
- 10:50Christ was not a glutton for punishment.
- 10:53Christ was one who, yes, He came to this earth, but the entire reason he came was so that he could suffer for us.
- 11:00He didn't come to suffer punishment for what he did.
- 11:03In fact, Christ himself led a sinless life.
- 11:07He was not a glutton for punishment, he was a bearer of punishment for us.
- 11:11Christ also was not hard to handle.
- 11:14In fact, he was the one who was handling other people who were hard to handle.
- 11:18Think about the Pharisees.
- 11:20There were times that Christ answered what they said, where he was willing to answer and say, When they ask, Why are your disciples not doing the tradition of the elders?
- 11:31Christ would say, Well, why are you transgressing the tradition of God?
- 11:36And then there were other times where Christ, instead of answering, he would say, You know what?
- 11:40I'll answer this if you answer me.
- 11:43Christ handled the Pharisees, realizing that they were fools.
- 11:48They were these people that lacked common sense.
- 11:52You know, there are those people in life who they're the reason they stopped making pennies.
- 11:57That applied to the Pharisees.
- 11:58Their two cents were the reason they stopped making pennies.
- 12:02And we will meet people in our lives who are like that as well.
- 12:05Christ dealt with people like that.
- 12:07We are going to deal with people like that.
- 12:08We must simply ask Am I the one that's hard to handle?
- 12:12Or am I the one that is going to go and treat people with wisdom as Christ did?
- 12:18The fool is, as we mentioned, going to let people down.
- 12:21Christ came with the greatest responsibility ever imagined.
- 12:26The responsibility of dying for our sins, of not only dying for our sins, of living a life of existence.
- 12:33Exemplifying who we are to be and then dying for us after that.
- 12:39Christ did not come and let us all down.
- 12:42Christ was one who did the work.
- 12:44While the f this fool, he is one who if he's given a message, he's going to let you down.
- 12:50The fool, he's one where if you give him a parable, if you give him a wise saying, he's going to misuse it.
- 12:57It's interesting how you can have someone who does not have wisdom, but then they have a wise saying.
- 13:04How do they end up using it?
- 13:06Well, you can have a fool who has Scripture itself.
- 13:10You can have someone who does not respect God, but then he takes Scripture, all its parables, all of its wisdom, all of its teachings, and all he's going to do is teach error
- 13:20with it.
- 13:21As he that
- 13:25Turning back to Proverbs twenty six, the legs of the lame are not equal, so is a parable in the mouth of fools.
- 13:32The one who has wis the fool who has wisdom in his mouth, it's as though the lay legs are not equal.
- 13:39It's not only going to hurt him, it's not going to help anyone else.
- 13:44And then verse eight again, as he that bindeth a so stone in a sling, so is he that giveth honor to a fool.
- 13:50If you build him up, if you praise him, it's only going to bring harm to
- 13:54And hurt this person is not to be given this honor.
- 13:58Turning to verse one, as snow in summer and as rain in harvest, so honor is not seemly for a fool.
- 14:05He shouldn't be given a task, but also he shouldn't be given this honor.
- 14:10What happens when it snows in the summer?
- 14:13Well first all of the weathermen go crazy because now they have some really good material to talk about.
- 14:19But af also you have rain in harvest.
- 14:24When you have rain, when you have hail and harvest, the farmers are thinking about how they're going to feed their families.
- 14:30When you have this rain, it's going to bring harm and hurt.
- 14:33It's not supposed to happen in the first place.
- 14:35And then when it does, it only brings pain.
- 14:38The fool is going to let you down.
- 14:40And when he receives any kind of honor, when he see receives any kind of praise, he's only going to bring trouble for everybody else.
- 14:48Brethren, are we as Christ who came and he used wisdom
- 14:53To help everyone on this earth, or are we the ones who people are just trying to use wisdom to figure out how to get around us?
- 15:01Who are we in our lives?
- 15:04We have discussed the fool, but also there is the lazy man in this passage, the sluggard.
- 15:10Turning to verses 13 through 16.
- 15:13The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way.
- 15:17A lion is in the streets.
- 15:19As the door turneth upon his hinges,
- 15:22So doth the slothful upon his bed.
- 15:25The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom, it grieveth him to bring it to his mouth.
- 15:30The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that could render a reason.
- 15:36We're going to call this sluggard a lump.
- 15:39He's just a lump.
- 15:41Now what is he a lump of?
- 15:43First, he is a lump of excuses.
- 15:46Verse thirteen, as we read, he says there is a lion in the way, a lion is in the streets.
- 15:51Now this fool, he was in the Middle East.
- 15:54He was not in North America.
- 15:56Yes, lions were actually a thing where they were.
- 15:59But lions did not come into the city.
- 16:01The lions stayed out in the in their area, in in the rural regions, and if they came into the city, that was a sign that the people had left, that no one was there, unless God was
- 16:13sending uh sending punishment their way as he did with the Samaritans.
- 16:18This fool is using something that is highly unlikely just to say, you know what, I shouldn't get out of bed.
- 16:24It's as though it's like saying, you know what, I shouldn't go drive my car to work.
- 16:28I might get in a wreck.
- 16:30Now, there's times where people can be fearful of those things because of something that has happened in the past.
- 16:35We're not talking about that whatsoever.
- 16:37We're talking about the person who he's never faced a wreck in his life.
- 16:40He's never had this kind of experience, but he just wants to say, you know what, I think I might get in a wreck.
- 16:45I'm not going to go drive today.
- 16:47Just because he wants to sleep in.
- 16:50This is someone who's going to use what is highly unlikely, just so he can get a few extra hours and not go to work.
- 16:58This is a person who is a lump of excuses.
- 17:01It applies in more than just sleep.
- 17:04We must ask, do I use the work I already do as an excuse for not doing more work?
- 17:10What else do I what other excuses could I present?
- 17:13Could I say I'm not capable of going to do that?
- 17:16It's not just
- 17:17This job is too dangerous for me.
- 17:18It's this job, I'm just not able to do it.
- 17:21This sluggard is going to find whatever reason he can for saying he cannot do it.
- 17:27Now again, we're comparing these men with Christ.
- 17:30We compared the fool the fool to Christ.
- 17:32Now we compare the lazy man to Christ.
- 17:34How did he act in his life?
- 17:36Again, he took that great responsibility of coming to this earth for us.
- 17:41He didn't make excuses.
- 17:42In fact, he had every right to say no to
- 17:45But he still took that for us so that we could be with him.
- 17:50The Lord had no excuses when he ca was in heaven and decided to come down to this earth.
- 17:54And then Jesus had no excuse when he was on this earth before he went back up into heaven.
- 18:01Even when he had a disagreement with the Father, even when his will was not matched up with the Father, when he said, Father, if it be thy will, let this cup pass from me.
- 18:11If it be thy will,
- 18:13Let this cup pass from me.
- 18:14Notice that it was the Father's will that Christ go to the cross, to the cross.
- 18:20But the Son did not want to go to the cross.
- 18:23Their wills were not the same.
- 18:25But Christ didn't make an excuse there.
- 18:28Christ said, You know what?
- 18:29N let not my will, but thy will be done.
- 18:34Christ did not make any excuses.
- 18:35In fact, he was willing to submit anything that, all of his fear, to the Father, because he was going to carry out his command.
- 18:43He did not make a single excuse, even when he had every right to say no.
- 18:48But the sluggard, he's just a lump of excuses, but also he is a lump of uselessness.
- 18:57Verses fourteen and fifteen.
- 19:00As a turning versus fourteen and fifteen, as the door turneth upon his hinges, sl so doth the slothful upon his bed.
- 19:09The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom
- 19:12It grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth.
- 19:17As we grow older in our lives, we start with school, and then we go on to more and more complicated things.
- 19:23You start with basic arithmetic, one plus one, or two minus one.
- 19:28And then you build up and perhaps you get over to algebra and then you go into calculus or whatever if you're one of the crazy math people.
- 19:35Or if we're talking about the other things, you have you better learn your alphabet and then you carry things on after that.
- 19:42You start with the basics and move forward in life.
- 19:45Can you ever get to any of these things that are greater if you never do what is basic?
- 19:50This sluggard can't even get out of bed.
- 19:53This sluggard rolls around and doesn't figure realize that there is a day ahead of him.
- 19:58Also, this sluggard, he is one who does not even bring his hand to his mouth while he is eating.
- 20:03It's like he he has his Cheerios on the table, he has his spoon right there, and then it's just too much for him to pick it up and bring it to his mouth.
- 20:12bless his heart.
- 20:15He can't do this simple thing.
- 20:17He cannot do the simple thing of getting out of bed.
- 20:20He can't do the simple thing of feeding himself.
- 20:24How in the world is he going to prepare for the winter?
- 20:27How in the world is he going to get anywhere in life besides his mama's basement?
- 20:31He's not going to move forward in life whatsoever because he can't even get the basics down.
- 20:36The slugger is not going to use the effort it takes to do the simple things, and therefore he's never going to move forward to anything else.
- 20:45We had a Lord who was willing to traverse the Middle East preaching and teaching, or traverse Palestine to be more specific.
- 20:54He was willing to go out and he did not have a car like we did.
- 20:57He went out walking.
- 20:58Beautiful are the feet of them that preached the gospel.
- 21:01Well, Christ's feet, they were shining.
- 21:04Because he was going out and he was always preaching.
- 21:07He was one who was not lazy.
- 21:09He was one who, when he went out to rest and the multitudes came, he still had compassion on them.
- 21:14And he was willing to do what it took to fed feed them.
- 21:18He was not lazy.
- 21:19He did not have a sense of any kind of uselessness.
- 21:23He did everything he could to help humanity, help mankind.
- 21:27While this fool he can't even think about opening his front door.
- 21:32Who are we?
- 21:33Do we struggle to do the basic things in life, or are we moving forward, striving for the goals that are before us?
- 21:39The lazy man, he is a lump of excuses.
- 21:42He is a lump of
- 21:44of uselessness, and finally and most importantly, he is a lump of pridefulness.
- 21:50Looking at verse twelve once again, seeest thou a man wise in his own conceit?
- 21:55There is more hope of a fool than of him.
- 21:59This is a person who thinks that he has it all figured out.
- 22:03There is more hope of a fool than of this person.
- 22:05Remember, we just talked about all the things that a fool would do, all the things that a fool would do wrong.
- 22:12But this man
- 22:13Oh, th this fool might think he's wise, but this sluggard, he thinks he's even wiser than that.
- 22:19Looking at verse sixteen, the sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason.
- 22:25Seven men that actually have common sense, we might call it uncommon sense today because so few people have it.
- 22:32But seven people that have common sense, he thinks that he's wiser than them all put together.
- 22:38This is a person who thinks he has perfect wisdom.
- 22:42Listen, this is seven men that can render a reason.
- 22:44This is a perfect amount of reason.
- 22:47But he thinks he's wiser than that.
- 22:49When he, as we discussed earlier, can't even lift the spoon out of his Cheerios.
- 22:55This is a person who thinks he has it all figured out.
- 22:58He thinks he has all the wisdom, but he can't do the simple things.
- 23:02So often it can be easy that we can justify what we are doing by thinking, you know what?
- 23:07I'm really doing more than I'm doing it all.
- 23:10I have it all figured out.
- 23:12And by doing that, we say we justify us not moving any further in life.
- 23:17That's what this sluggard does.
- 23:18He thinks he is wise, he thinks he knows the dangers that are out there, and he knows all the reasons for everything he does, but he doesn't do anything.
- 23:28This sluggard is just a lump on a log.
- 23:31He is a lump of uselessness, a lump of pridefulness, a lump of excuses.
- 23:37We're comparing these people to Christ.
- 23:39Was Christ prideful?
- 23:42He certainly looked forward to the joy that was set before him, Hebrews twelve, and that joy was having the glory of being by the Father once again, but also of us being with him.
- 23:51Christ certainly looked forward to being glorified, but he did not come to this earth, and nor is he in heaven with this kind of pridefulness.
- 23:59This is a pridefulness that is a part of who man is, when we decide that we are greater than those around us, when we decide that who I am is more valuable than who anyone else
- 24:12is.
- 24:12Christ, being God, was willing to come down and say, You are worth me dying on the cross for you.
- 24:18That is him recognizing he is God and he has the power and the worth to die for us, but also that is the humility to do that for us in the first place.
- 24:29When we we need to decide if we are too prideful to help anyone at all.
- 24:34Of course, we are not required to be prideful.
- 24:36That's not what we mean by saying this is a part of who man is.
- 24:40But this is something that man must fight.
- 24:42The devil himself wanted Christ to fall to pridefulness.
- 24:46He wanted Christ to fall to pridefulness when he took him up onto the temple and said, If you be the Son of God, well the angels, they're supposed to come down and pick you up.
- 24:56The devil wanted Christ to fall to that temptation, that test to prove that he was the Son of God, but Christ did not fall to it.
- 25:04His eyes were open.
- 25:05He was not blinded by this pride.
- 25:08We must ensure that we are not blinded by pride either.
- 25:11And this pride can certainly be a part of laziness if we suspect that to be in our lives.
- 25:17We have seen the foolish man, the lazy man, and finally the troublemaker.
- 25:23This troublemaker is going to light fires.
- 25:25He's not a firefighter, he's a fire lighter.
- 25:29Looking at verse seventeen, he that passeth by and meddleth with strife belonging not to him is as he that taketh a dog by the ears.
- 25:40We have already seen a proverb that has been about a dog.
- 25:43As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.
- 25:47But now we come to this metaphor.
- 25:50The one who meddles in a conversation not his own is as he that taketh a dog by the ears.
- 25:55We need to remember these Palestinian dogs, they aren't little chihuahuas.
- 26:00They aren't little cute dogs that you could just go and pet.
- 26:03You're not going to keep these in your purse, you're not going to have a crate out for them.
- 26:07These are the kind of dogs that are scavengers.
- 26:10They are going out and they are eating whatever they can find, and you don't leave your children out because you don't want them around.
- 26:18It was it's interesting, back at our grandparents' house, my grandparents' house, they live on a sixty acre place and you have coyotes out there.
- 26:25Now, after you ru reached any age at all, they weren't a trouble, but you didn't let your children out way late at night because you know that that can be prey for them if you let
- 26:34a little toddler out at night.
- 26:36In the same way, these dogs, they're not going to be good to have around.
- 26:40It's like a coyote, but worse.
- 26:42And you don't want one of these to take you by the head, because that's what happens if you take them by the ears.
- 26:50He that meddleth in a conversation not his own.
- 26:53This is when two people are having a disagreement, a discussion, a fight, and you come in and try to put your own two cents in.
- 27:00There are times where there is a fight that needs to be broken up.
- 27:04Where these two people are fighting and you know, hey guys, we need to cool this down.
- 27:08But it's not this isn't about when things are being cooled down.
- 27:11This is about adding fuel to the fire.
- 27:13And when we come into a discussion and we just add fuel to the fire, it's as though we've taken a rabid dog by the ears or a vicious dog by the ears.
- 27:22Hopefully not a rabid one, but a vicious dog by the ears.
- 27:25And it's only going to hurt us.
- 27:27We're not going to help anybody when we do that.
- 27:31The troublemaker is going to light this fire of strife, and this fire is going to hurt himself.
- 27:36But also verses twenty and twenty-one, where no wood is, there the fire goeth out.
- 27:42So where there is no tail bearer, the strife ceaseth.
- 27:46As coals are to burning coals, and as wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife.
- 27:52When this kind of man he leaves the scenario, when he's finally off of the job, when he finally gets fired, then there's no more strife.
- 28:00But as long as the boss keeps him on, we're going to continue dealing with strife.
- 28:05We're going to continue dealing with contention every single day.
- 28:10This is a person who is only going to bring strife to the situation.
- 28:15We must ask, am I the kind of person who, when I am around, am I helping everyone else?
- 28:20Or am I making everything tougher?
- 28:23Am I bringing strife and reproach or am I bringing peace and a cool head?
- 28:29Verse twenty four He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him.
- 28:36When he speaketh fair, believe him not, for there are seven abominations in his heart, whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be showed before the whole
- 28:46congregation.
- 28:49This is a man who is a troublemaker.
- 28:51This is a man who is divisive.
- 28:54Now we discussed Christ coming down to save us before.
- 28:58He came down to save us.
- 29:00The Hebrews writer shows he did that so he could call us brethren, so that he could make us one with him again.
- 29:06Now compare that with this fool.
- 29:09He that hateth dissembleth with his lips.
- 29:14The one who hates, the one who has this strife within him.
- 29:18He's not content with this strife being within himself.
- 29:21His satisfaction in life comes from tearing people apart.
- 29:26When you have a family and no one can agree and no one cares about agreeing, and it ends up with divorces and what have you, you have and you have this strife.
- 29:37Perhaps you have people who are making trouble and not trying to make amends.
- 29:42You have people who are lighting fires, they're not trying to put them out because there's no love there.
- 29:47Love
- 29:48First Corinthians thirteen is going to do everything it can to help others, everything it can to be a blessing.
- 29:54But this kind of hatred, this kind of deceit, this this pridefulness, this selfishness, it's only going to hurt, it's only going to harm, and as it tries to climb up the ladder,
- 30:07it's going to tear everyone else down.
- 30:09If we see division, division comes from pride.
- 30:14Division comes from a lack of
- 30:16being able to say, you know what, I love you, and we're going to do this together.
- 30:20Now of course there's times people don't work well together.
- 30:23There's times where this person is going to be better going and doing this job and this person doing their job over here because their personalities and methods just don't work
- 30:32well together.
- 30:33There's times that that is the case.
- 30:35Well we're talking about when people simply cannot stand one another just out of who they are, out of who they are as people.
- 30:43There is always a way to work around this division, this contention, if we truly try, if we strive to do it.
- 30:50And as Christians, it is our duty to be one body, to be one under Christ.
- 30:57If we are divided, it's as though there is a cancer and infection within the body.
- 31:02It's as though there is something that's only going to heart and h h harm and hurt us.
- 31:09Are we strife within the body?
- 31:11Or we striving for unity?
- 31:14Are we causes of division?
- 31:16But also are we causes of harm?
- 31:19Verses eighteen and nineteen.
- 31:21As a madman who casteth firebrands, arrows in death, so is he that deceiveth his neighbor in saith, and not I in sport?
- 31:30I'm just playing around.
- 31:31As a man who casts arrows that have fire on the tips, and just lets that shoot in his neighbour's backyard for a little bit, so is the one who says,
- 31:41You know what, it's no big deal that I was lying to you.
- 31:43I was just playing around.
- 31:45There's times that we joke one another, there's times that we jest with one another.
- 31:49But dishonesty is something entirely different.
- 31:52And there's no way to shove off dishonesty and just say, I was just playing around, I was just being funny.
- 31:58The troublemaker does not acknowledge the kind of harm he can do.
- 32:03The troublemaker is not willing to say, you know what, what I do can hurt people.
- 32:06Instead, he says, you know what, what I was doing was just playing around.
- 32:09It was just a little bit of fun.
- 32:11We need to be willing to acknowledge when we've hurt people.
- 32:15Otherwise, we're just saying, you know what, I was only joking.
- 32:18it's no big deal.
- 32:19Are we willing to acknowledge it?
- 32:21Christ, as we compare these men with Christ, he never hurt anyone.
- 32:27And he could not have hurt anyone because if he did, he was going to have sinned.
- 32:31There were times he of course said what was not comfortable, but he did that for bit.
- 32:36though their pe their benefit.
- 32:38He never did anything just to harm someone else.
- 32:42But someone who has a Christ like attitude, even when they do harm someone else, they're going to come and try to make amends for it.
- 32:49There's not going to be this trying to cover up what was done.
- 32:53He that confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall have mercy.
- 32:58But the one who hides them he's not going to prosper.
- 33:01We cannot hide them any under any cloak.
- 33:05This man is one who's going to bring harm.
- 33:07He's not going to acknowledge it when he should.
- 33:11And also he's going to continue doing it, even though he knows what's happening.
- 33:17As coals are to burning coals, and as wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife.
- 33:21He doesn't care about anyone else.
- 33:24The words of a tailbearer are his wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.
- 33:30This man is only hurting others.
- 33:32He does it with his actions, and he does it with
- 33:35His words.
- 33:38Anything he says is just for his own benefit and pleasure.
- 33:44Christ says that every idle word is going to be taken under judgment.
- 33:47As Christians, we must ensure that what we say has a purpose.
- 33:51What we say is based on trying to help others follow God's way and encouragement toward others.
- 33:57But if we do not have a mindset like that, we might find ourselves just having words that are wounds instead.
- 34:04Are our words focused on Christ?
- 34:06Or are our words focused on whatever I want to say that comes next?
- 34:10This man, this troublemaker brings harm, and he's going to harm himself.
- 34:15Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein, and he that rolleth a stone it will return upon him.
- 34:23Wiley Coyote, Roadrunner.
- 34:28He gets his rocket shoes out.
- 34:30He gets whatever else he can find, and he's going to go get Wiley Coyote.
- 34:33He might even roll a stone himself just to get it.
- 34:36And what happens to Wiley Coyote each time?
- 34:40He's going to crash into a rock, he's going to find another way to hurt himself, whatever it is, it's only going to bring him pain and hurt.
- 34:47Even though he wanted that snack, he wanted that roadrunner, he's only hurting himself.
- 34:53Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein.
- 34:56He's only going to hurt himself.
- 34:59Now, he might hurt others in the process, but his plan ultimately is only going to bring harm to himself.
- 35:07If it's not in this life, it will be in the next.
- 35:11This troublemaker is going to bring himself trouble.
- 35:14But Christ, what is he going to do?
- 35:17He never brought trouble.
- 35:18He never brought harm to anyone else.
- 35:21And yes, he suffered pain for us.
- 35:23But Christ did not just bring harm upon himself.
- 35:27He did that which was wise all his days, and may we do the same, not bringing harm to others, not bringing harm to ourselves.
- 35:35Brethren, we must ask, do I follow the example of Christ?
- 35:39Or do I follow the example of those the Lord tells me not to act like?
- 35:44The example of these who are going to have their wickedness shown before the whole congregation, as Proverbs would also say.
- 35:52We must ask, who are we?
- 35:54What kind of men and women will we be for Christ?
- 35:57If you have not followed the example of who Christ is, but have instead followed the path of perhaps the fool who does not look for wisdom, perhaps the sluggard who has not done
- 36:08the work for the Lord, or the troublemaker who is not worried about anyone else, worried about unity.
- 36:15If you have found yourself being like one of these, the Lord desires your repentance, and he wants you to come back to him so you can follow the example of Christ.
- 36:23If you are not a Christian at all, if you have not submitted to the Lord in baptism or are unsure if you have done so, the Lord wants you to follow his way, and we would love to
- 36:33discuss that with you.
- 36:35If you are in need of the forgiveness Christ offers to you today, would you come forward as we stand and as we sing?