The Wise vs The Fool

[0:00] And tonight we're going to read Proverbs 26, 1-12, some very picturesque language about the fool.

[0:14] ! Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, honor is not fitting for a fool. Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest.

[0:32] A whip for the horse, a halter for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools. Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself.

[0:46] Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes. Like cutting off one's feet or drinking violence is the sending of a message by the hand of a fool.

[1:00] Like a lame man's legs that hang limp is a proverb in the mouth of a fool. Like tying a stone in a sling is the giving of honor to a fool.

[1:13] Like a thorn bush in a drunkard's hand is a proverb in the mouth of a fool. Like an archer who wounds at random is he who hires a fool or any passerby.

[1:28] As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly. Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

[1:42] Let's hear God's word preached. Well, last week we started to look at the book of Proverbs and the book of Proverbs portrait of a wise man.

[2:03] He's righteous and he's teachable, he's insightful, he's prudent, he's self-controlled, and he's a fountain of life to those who are all around him.

[2:16] So by his words and by his actions, he brings life to those people who are around him. It might be social life, it might be spiritual, it might be physical, but he brings them good.

[2:33] He does them good. And so the world and the church, they're better off for having the wise man in it.

[2:44] The family with a wise man or a wise woman is better for him or her being there. And then I said, if you think that's you, well, it's probably not.

[2:55] But the more I thought about that, that didn't sit right with me saying that because it is true that many people are wise in their own eyes.

[3:06] Many people think they're wise when they're not. No fool actually puts himself into the category of a fool. That's true. The sluggard can answer seven wise men.

[3:19] He has an answer for all of them. He's wiser than seven wise men who answer discreetly. That is all true. But there is another category. And it's a category that I think many, many of you belong to.

[3:31] And I should have mentioned. It's the category of men and women who can say, you know what? By the grace of God, though I used to be a fool, that's not really what I am anymore.

[3:44] By the grace of God, I am becoming wise. Now, every wise man realizes that they have a lot farther to go.

[3:55] They haven't arrived. They haven't, you know, they're not as wise as the Lord or anything like that. They see how far they fall short.

[4:06] But there is a way of looking at yourself with sober judgment and saying, with thanksgiving, with humility, with praise for God, with hope that I'm going to keep growing.

[4:25] Thank the Lord I am not what I used to be. Jesus has been teaching me. And I say that for your encouragement, because I think a lot of you fit into that category, where you know you're not as wise as you could be.

[4:41] But you also know that you are not the fool that you used to be. And so, again, think of yourself with sober judgment, Paul told the Romans.

[4:51] And according to the faith God has given you. And if you find wisdom there, you can praise the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you find folly there, well, you can come to the Lord Jesus and ask him to grow you and to turn you and to make you into a tree of life.

[5:10] So that's the wise man. Today we're going to look at the other side of the ledger. We're going to look at the other side of the paper. On the one side, we do have the wise man.

[5:21] And if we turn the page over and we look at who's on the opposite side, you see not one person, but you see three. You see the simple.

[5:32] You see the fool. And you see the mocker. The simple, the fool, and the mocker. They're all on the other side. And we're going to only look at the simple and the mocker very, very briefly tonight.

[5:43] And there's a reason for that because the simple, if he continues on his way, is going to become a fool. And the fool, if he continues on his way, he's going to become a mocker.

[5:59] But they have this in common. The simple is the direction that are the fool is the simple man's direction. And the mocker is just a fool now full grown.

[6:12] He's finally arrived at his destination. But they all belong on the same page. They all functionally don't live in the fear of the Lord. They don't trust in the Lord with all of their hearts.

[6:23] None of them have embraced wisdom. And so to one degree or another, they are living in folly. They are not wise men.

[6:33] And so, again, what I want to do today, tonight, is to hold up the picture of the fool primarily. And I want you to hold up the mirror. And I want you to look at yourself and with sober judgment say, is that me?

[6:49] Or maybe in some ways that's still me. Maybe I'm more or have some more foolish tendencies than I realized.

[7:00] How am I still like this and how do I need to grow? So we're going to talk about the simple very briefly. We're going to talk about the fool. And then we're going to end with the mocker very, very briefly as well. So the simple first.

[7:12] You meet the simple person really very early in the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 1, 4. The book is written to give prudence, discretion to the simple.

[7:25] And knowledge and discretion to the young. That word simple is petit. It means something like gullible or naive. They're open. They're open to ideas.

[7:38] The word petit in the Bible has a good sense and a bad sense. Psalm 116, David uses it in the good sense. There is a good way that someone can be simple.

[7:50] David says, the Lord protects the simple hearted. When I was in great need, he saved me. Now, I don't think anyone could ever put David in the simple category of the book of Proverbs.

[8:04] He's not simple like that. Nathaniel. Remember the Lord's disciple Nathaniel when he walked up to Jesus? Do you remember how Jesus greeted him? He said, Nathaniel, there's a there's an Israelite.

[8:17] In whom there's no guile. He's without guile. That's the good kind of simplicity. That's the biblical kind.

[8:28] You're not deceitful. You're not cunning. You're not tricky in an evil way. But Proverbs doesn't use that word petit, simple, in that sense.

[8:39] The simple in Proverbs is the gullible. They're easily led astray. They're open to ideas and they don't seem to have much of a filter for judging what's true and what's not.

[8:52] They're vulnerable. And that really is a theme in the book of Proverbs. The simple is they're vulnerable. They're vulnerable to temptation. They're vulnerable to themselves, to endangering themselves.

[9:04] So in this simple person's heart, truth hasn't hardened into conviction. Where you can put this person in a situation and they have some sort of interior principle of wisdom, of godliness, of knowledge that can say, No, I know what is right.

[9:26] I know the right thing to do. I understand this situation. The simple person has not developed that. The simple are too trusting. Proverbs 14, 15. The simple man believes anything.

[9:39] They believe anything. They lack judgment. Chapter 7, verse 7. I saw among the simple a youth who lacked judgment. The simple person doesn't have the prudence to see that they're in danger.

[9:52] They always think things are going to work out. They'll be safe. They don't see danger when it's right in front of them. Everything is very surfacy with the simple.

[10:03] They don't have deep understanding of why people are doing what they're doing. They just accept it. They functionally don't live in the fear of the Lord. And so his wisdom hasn't disciplined them, subdued their minds and their hearts, or trained them in wisdom.

[10:21] And so I want you to imagine that recruit who's now he's signed up to become a Marine and he's getting off the bus at boot camp. Is he functionally a Marine yet?

[10:37] No. He's not going to do any better than any other common Joe if you put him in battle. He's not ready. He hasn't been trained.

[10:47] He hasn't been hardened. He hasn't been prepared for what he is going to face. And until the simple young lady or the simple young man commits to wisdom, they suffer the fate of fools.

[11:02] They live in folly and they experience what folly brings them. And so, again, we already looked at Proverbs 7 or I quoted it. And it shows this picture of this simple man and he's just wandering and he falls into the trap of a shrewd, a cunning woman, this guarded woman.

[11:23] We're going to meet her whenever we get to chapter 7. She's guarded her heart. She has a smile on her face. She has words that are as smooth as oil. And yet her heart is guarded.

[11:36] No one can see what she's thinking. And she takes him, finally, this simple man down into the chambers of death. He suffers the same fate as the fool, even though he's called the simple.

[11:50] And so he suffers from his folly as much as any fool does. But here's the good news for the simple. They're generally young. They're impressionable.

[12:02] They're in danger. But here's some good news. If you are simple, you don't have to be. Proverbs will teach you prudence. That's what it's for.

[12:13] It will teach prudence to the simple if they're willing to learn. They're still teachable. They're still approachable. Their wisdom can still get its hands on them.

[12:24] Proverbs 21, 11. When a mocker is punished, the simple gain wisdom. Now, we're going to hear about the mocker. This punishment isn't going to do them any good. But when the simple person sees what's happening to that mocker, they actually can gain wisdom.

[12:38] And in chapter 9, wisdom and folly, these two ladies, are competing. And they're competing over this simple person, this simple man.

[12:48] So the simple man, the simple woman, the simple young boy or young girl, this is the good news. They can become wise. They're not destined to become fools.

[13:00] They can become wise. But it's very clear that you have to turn. You have to turn away from your foolish ways and you have to turn in order toward wisdom.

[13:15] You have to repent of those foolish, surfacy, unconsidered thoughts. In some ways, you have to grow up and choose.

[13:28] Because you're not going to accidentally stumble into wisdom school. You just can't keep wandering through life, wandering on the hills of life.

[13:41] Proverbs 1, 32. For the waywardness. The waywardness. They just wander around. They go off stray. They don't have a path in front of them. The waywardness of the simple will kill them.

[13:54] And Proverbs is saying, don't kill yourself. Don't just continue being simple. Have some wisdom. Make a choice. March into wisdom school.

[14:05] She's offering. She has the feast. She has the education. She's ready to teach. And so there's hope for the simple. But they need to stop what they're doing.

[14:16] And they need to turn and make a concerted effort. I want to grow in wisdom. And so the simple. They need to listen to what the book of Proverbs is saying. They need to listen to what their parents are saying.

[14:28] They need to listen to what the wise men in the community are saying. They need to make a choice to be wise and give up their simple ways.

[14:42] And so that's the simple. They're not neutral. But they're still teachable. There's still hope for them.

[14:55] But the fool. And now we're going to look at the fool. There's some hope for the simple. But there's very little hope for the fool. The simple has now grown into the fool.

[15:09] And remember this is how we began this series. This book Proverbs matters because one, our life matters. And two, we are becoming something.

[15:22] We are all becoming something. We're all becoming either more wise or more foolish. And so some of these simple people, some of these young people are going to grow.

[15:32] And they're going to become wise. They're going to turn from their simple ways and embrace wisdom. And become more wise step by step, choice by choice. And some of them, though, are going to become fools step by step, choice by choice, thought by thought.

[15:55] See, we're always at a crossroads of either approaching life with folly or approaching it with wisdom. And the more we choose folly, the bigger and bigger of a fool we become.

[16:09] So what is the fool like? What's the fool like? As you look at the whole book of Proverbs, it says a whole bunch of things about what this fool is like. It might help to just, for me to give you a flavor of what some different commentators, how they describe them.

[16:25] The fool is obtuse. That's not a very common word. It's obtuse. It means they're unlearnable. They're thick-headed.

[16:37] They're blockheads. What the world is showing them, what people are telling them, the information coming in is not getting in.

[16:50] God's wisdom is now run into a roadblock. They're obtuse. They're unlearnable. I think of, maybe you know that Brian Regan, the comedian, when he's talking about people who are going through the airport, and there's that, the moving escalator, and there's the, you can walk on this side or you can stand on this side.

[17:13] And there's signs. Walk. Stand. And then there's flashing lights, and there's footprints on the escalator. You can walk here, or you can stand here.

[17:24] And the person is just standing in the walking section and blocking the whole thing up. And he's saying, they're unlearnable. All the signs are coming in, and it's not getting through. That's something of what the fool is like.

[17:37] Reality is constantly pushing on them, saying, you need to do something different. That's not how you do that. That's not how you approach this.

[17:48] And they don't get it. The fool is dull. They get described as being boorish. They're insensitive to people.

[18:00] Maybe not even on purpose. They're just insensitive. Unconcerned about others, all wrapped up in themselves. You think of Gaston and Beauty and the Beast, the Disney version.

[18:12] He's insensitive. He's so wrapped up with himself. And my favorite line, Gaston sings, I've been thinking a dangerous pastime, I know.

[18:24] It's not good when Gaston uses his brain. Well, the fool isn't simply intellectually deficient. That's not the main point.

[18:34] He lacks insight into what's going on. He's insensitive to others. He lacks prudence or knowledge because of something that's going on in his heart.

[18:47] He's spiritually dark. And that's really, that's our first point. The fool lives in spiritual darkness. It's not just intellectual inferiority or something like that.

[19:02] This is a problem with how people think that comes from the heart, from a spiritual darkness. We saw this last week.

[19:13] We saw the emphasis on righteousness in the wise man's life. We saw the emphasis in chapters 10, 11, and 12. Again and again and again. It said the wise man is righteous.

[19:24] He lives this righteous life. But the other side of all of those proverbs, sort of the bottom half of all of those proverbs, or the top half, whichever one, is the fool. The first, you know, 16 chapters, or the chapters 10 through 16, almost all the proverbs are contrasting.

[19:45] There's the word but in between. And it's showing the case of the wise man and the case of the fool. And in chapters 10, 11, and 12, there's this major emphasis on righteousness but wickedness.

[19:58] And the fool lives in this wickedness. The fool doesn't live in the fear of the Lord. The fool says in his heart there is no God. Now, he might believe in God, but functionally in this moment, in this situation, in this case, I can't trust him.

[20:12] He's not available to me. The fool doesn't obey his commands. The wise in heart accept commands. But the chattering fool comes to ruin.

[20:25] So the fool is more interested in talking about obedience or talking around obedience or talking about how they're going to obey in some situation. But for all of his talk, he never gets around to doing it.

[20:39] And the reason he never gets around to doing it is he doesn't have a heart to do it. And so all he does is talk for reasons he doesn't need to or reasons he will someday or whatever.

[20:50] But he's not connected to the Lord. He's not living in acknowledgement of who the Lord is. And so he lives his life in darkness. Darkness. The way of the wicked is like deep darkness.

[21:05] He doesn't trust the Lord. His heart doesn't go out to the Lord. The Lord isn't shining upon his life, available to believe, to hear, to learn from. And so this fool has to lean on his own understanding.

[21:20] And so what does someone do when all they have is themselves? They come up with, the fool comes up with his short, short-sighted, limited plans that get him into trouble.

[21:36] So why does this fool make such dumb decisions? Why do they hurt things that they're trying to work on?

[21:48] Why do they get into such trouble? Why do they want to work on the Lord? Why do they want to submit to the Lord? And so when you're not trusting the Lord to work for you, you have to scheme and plot and plan your own way.

[22:03] And even if this fool wants something good and right, and they can, they can want something good and right. They go about it in a way that is wrong.

[22:16] And so, I mean, this is an example of that. But so the fool, he cheats on his taxes because he doesn't fear the Lord.

[22:29] You can get away with it. I mean, the IRS isn't hardly, you know, auditing anyone. And so he can get away with it. He doesn't fear the Lord. And he spends his money stupidly because he isn't satisfied with what the Lord has given him.

[22:45] And so he's always looking for something else. He's not satisfied with the Lord. The foolish woman fights with her husband constantly because she's desperately trying to get her way to be her God, to get to manipulate this man into doing what she wants.

[22:59] Or vice versa. The husband is doing that to the wife. The fool brings all kinds of ruin into his own life. And it's not, again, not just because he's dumb.

[23:09] That's not the, it's not the intellectual capability of the fool. It's, he's foolish because his heart is dark and he's disconnected from God.

[23:20] And so all he has are his own limited resources. And that leaves you in a desperate, bad situation. So imagine the teenage girl running away from home.

[23:33] No job, nowhere to go. She's all on her own. She's trying to make it. Why doesn't that ever end up good? That kind of situation can't end up good.

[23:47] You were meant to live with your parents. You were meant to get help from them and learn from them and all that. You weren't ever meant to be on your own. But the fool lives his life on his own.

[23:59] And it never ends up good. The fool needs new life. He needs light from heaven. He needs salvation. And thank the Lord, Jesus is saving fools.

[24:14] He's saving fools. People are just all trapped in themselves. The spiritual darkness, he comes and he shines in their life. Second, the fool is unteachable.

[24:25] Kind of already talked about this. They're unteachable. They're unteachable because they hate knowledge. Which is such a strange thing to say. But the fool actually hates knowing the truth.

[24:39] 122. How long will the mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? Why do fools hate to know the truth? Wouldn't that set you free?

[24:50] Wouldn't that help you to know what's actually out there and what's real? Well, yeah, it would. But fools hate it because, again, they don't like the light shining in.

[25:02] They don't like the light exposing their folly or their stupidity or their simplicity or their wrongness. And so they hate knowledge. They would rather be wrong and feel like, okay, I'm right, than actually be right.

[25:20] And so instead of being honest with themselves and looking at their lives in the light of God's word, in the light of actually reality, they hate knowledge.

[25:34] So you can think of the lost husband, and I'm talking about driving, and he's lost, and he's going the wrong way. He does not want to stop. He does. And this used to happen a lot more.

[25:45] It doesn't happen anymore. But he doesn't want to hear, I'm going the wrong way. Or you made a wrong turn. That irritates him. Why? Because that exposes, I was wrong.

[25:56] I didn't know what I was doing. Well, we can hate knowledge sometimes, and fools hate knowing. 18.2, a fool finds no pleasure in understanding, but delights in airing his own opinions.

[26:10] So if it's a choice between learning and listening to you and talking about what the fool wants to talk about, what the fool enjoys, the fool enjoys.

[26:23] Fool finds pleasure in hearing him self-talk and hearing her self-talk. She loves her opinions, and he loves his evaluations.

[26:35] And the understanding, but understanding what's real and what's there and what happened, no taste for that. There are cooks that don't like to eat other people's food. They just like to eat their own. They like to eat what they've made.

[26:47] And so they won't learn. Because they, again, did you notice they don't have any pleasure in this? This is a heart problem. They don't have any delight in what is true.

[27:00] They don't have any delight in understanding. And so they won't learn. And so they keep repeating their folly. Why do people keep doing that?

[27:12] Well, because they don't like to learn something new. And so Proverbs 26, like a dog returns to his vomit. That's what they do. Jesus said the pig returns to the mire.

[27:26] So they get out of it, and then they go right back to it. And they get out of it, and they go right back to it. Because they're unteachable. They don't want to hear what you have to say.

[27:38] And it's not just what you have to say. It's what maybe the whole world is saying to them. What the Word of God is saying to them. Three, the fool lacks self-control.

[27:52] He lacks self-control. Emotionally, he's not in control of his own emotions. 2911, a fool gives full vent to his anger.

[28:04] 1216, a fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult. The fool doesn't understand people. And so he's impatient with them.

[28:17] He doesn't have patience. A man's understanding gives him patience. The mother who understands her two-year-old little girl has patience with the two-year-old little girl.

[28:29] And maybe the 60-year-old grandpa that's forgotten what it's like to have a two-year-old might be impatient. Because it's a man's understanding that gives him patience.

[28:42] The fool just can't see anything other than what they think they see. The fool just can't see anything that's not right on the surface. And so they can't think of a better way of handling this.

[28:55] They can't think of a different way of handling this situation. And so they're impatient. And they act like an impatient person. They're barking. They're mad. They're angry.

[29:05] They're all agitated. Because they don't have understanding. And so they're emotionally out of control. The fool doesn't control his words. Too many words.

[29:18] Reckless words. Chapter 15-2, the mouth of the fool gushes folly. You know, you've got a gusher. And they just talk. He doesn't control his mouth.

[29:31] 12-23, a prudent man keeps his knowledge to himself. Again, remember we talked about last week, there is a certain way that the wise man plays his cards close to his chest.

[29:43] He doesn't tell everything that he knows and everything that he's thinking. But the heart of the fool blurts out folly. So a prudent man keeps his knowledge to himself, but the heart of the fool blurts out folly. And again, do you notice the connection?

[29:55] Or maybe not again. But do you notice the connection again between heart and the heart and the mouth? Jesus makes a big deal out of that. And that comes from the book of Proverbs.

[30:06] Where the book of Proverbs will talk a lot about the heart and the mouth being connected. And so this fool has a heart that's just bursting out folly.

[30:17] And out it comes, out of his mouth, uncontrolled. And so, 18-6, a fool's mouth invites a beating. This is one of my favorite Proverbs. A fool's mouth invites a beating.

[30:29] All their words as they're talking to you just say, hit me. Because they drive you crazy. They don't control their emotions, their words, or themselves. Remember the young man in Proverbs 7?

[30:42] He has no control. He is met with this temptress. And like an ox to the slaughter, he follows her. He wants what he wants.

[30:53] And it doesn't matter if it's going to kill him. He doesn't have control of himself. He who lacks self-control is like a city without walls. Enemies don't have to fight.

[31:06] All they have to do is show up at the fool's city. And in they come. A city without walls. So no self-control.

[31:18] And we saw this last week. If you can control yourself, you can rule and lead others. This fool cannot control himself. His words, his emotions, his actions, himself. And so he doesn't get to lead others.

[31:32] Instead, he is enslaved. And that's fourth. The fool is enslaved. Now, he's not just enslaved to other people. Sometimes that is the case.

[31:43] But he's enslaved to all sorts of things that end up destroying him. He's enslaved to his appetites. 2120. In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil.

[31:55] Do you have the picture? You go down into his cellar and he's got plenty of good stuff there. But a foolish man devours all he has. Now, on the one hand, that means he just doesn't ever keep anything back.

[32:11] He has no savings. He has no backup. He has no margin. He's just money in, money out. Food in, food out. But he's a slave to his appetites.

[32:22] He devours everything because he just wants more and more of it. A fool is enslaved to his creditors financially. The borrower is slave to the lender.

[32:34] 22.7. He ends up serving others instead of taking the lead. 11.29. He who brings trouble to his family will inherit only when, and the fool will be servant to the wise.

[32:45] So, again, we saw this last week of the wise servant ruling over the foolish son. The foolish son has everything going for him.

[32:57] He has power. He has his dad helping him. He has the name, the reputation. He has finances. And yet he still ends up being led and being ruled by the wise man.

[33:10] He's enslaved to his poverty. 28.19. He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty. Your wisdom will fill you with good food, or your wisdom will fill you with poverty.

[33:30] The fool is always chasing fantasies. The get-rich-quick schemes. Whatever. Lottery.

[33:40] Any scheme that comes by. Or just some other fantasy. Maybe that's not the thing that this fool goes for, but some other fantasy.

[33:51] Some little happy job that they thought they would be good at and they weren't. Or they thought it was a good idea when they were young and naive and idealistic in high school.

[34:02] And they never got around to coming to the scene. The world doesn't want that from you. It's a fantasy.

[34:13] It's not going to happen in the real world out there. Or maybe you're just the wrong person for it. You don't have the talent. You don't have the opportunity. The gifts or whatever.

[34:24] See, again, it feels good to fantasize. To live in a fantasy is to have this pseudo-freedom. You can do whatever you want in your fantasy job.

[34:37] But it's slavery. And it's slavery to poverty. The fool is also enslaved to their sin. Proverbs 5.

[34:48] The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him fast. So the fool is enslaved to their sin.

[35:03] What a sad thing to be enslaved to. The thing that's going to destroy you. They're enslaved to the sin itself. And so despite how self-destructive it is.

[35:15] And you know and you can think of people in your life. They are enslaved to the sin. And it's destroying them. And yet they cannot stop. They do not stop. And they are also enslaved to the consequences of their sin.

[35:30] As much as they would like to sin and have no consequences. They are enslaved to the sin. And then they are chained to the consequences. Proverbs 5 and 6 and 7 talk about sexual sin reaping consequences.

[35:47] And they just have their fill of it. They're chained to it. The darkness trips them. They are trapped. And destruction comes upon them. And lady wisdom laughs.

[35:57] So fifth. What marks the fool is destruction. The wise man brings life.

[36:09] And the fool brings destruction. So we said the church. The company. The family. Wherever you put the wise man. It's. They're better off for them being there.

[36:22] The company that has a wise man ruling it. Or leading it. Or even like you're in the factory. And the line there. You got a wise man there. The whole line is better off.

[36:33] Because that one man. But it's the exact opposite for the fool. They're worse off. He brings destruction.

[36:44] At best he is annoying. Now this is at best. The fool is just simply annoying. 27.3 stone is heavy and sand a burden. But provocation by a fool is heavier than both.

[36:57] You get what that's saying? It is just hard to put up with the fool. When they're being foolish. Annoying people. Can be fools.

[37:08] Generally are fools. And fools are annoying. They're a bother. That's a best. At worst. He's dangerous. He's hurtful.

[37:21] We read Proverbs 26. Look at verses 9 and 10. Like a thorn bush in a drunkard's hand. It is a proverb in the mouth of a fool. So here we have.

[37:33] A drunk man. Waving around. A thorn bush. What good is going to happen. From that situation. No. No. Nothing good is going to come of that.

[37:44] Well here's this man. This drunkard with a thorn bush. Waving it around. And he's saying. That is what it's like. When a fool. Is trying to be wise. When they have a proverb.

[37:56] And they're ready to share it. And that proverb ends up hurting people. Rather than helping them. So like a thorn bush in a drunkard's hand. Is a proverb in the mouth of the fool.

[38:08] And they just wave it around. And they hurt people with it. Or like an archer. Who wounds at random. Is he who hires a fool. Or any passerby. Why? So.

[38:20] If you hire a fool. You know what you are. You're like that. Some archer. That's in the battle. And he just shoots an arrow. And he hits whoever. And he's not even pointing in the right direction.

[38:33] He's just shooting at random. Or if you hire a fool. Another way we could. I think. What this is getting across. Is. You're like this demented crazy person. Who's climbing on top of your building.

[38:44] And as the workers. Are coming into the work. You're just shooting an arrow at random. Right into the group of them. You're going to hurt someone. And that's what it's like to hire a fool. You are shooting an arrow.

[38:55] Into the random group of people. And you're going to hurt your company. You're going to hurt your business. And so. Don't hire a fool. Don't hire a fool.

[39:09] The fool brings trouble on his family. 11-29. 19-13. A foolish son is his father's ruin. It's his ruin.

[39:20] Ruins him. It makes him miserable. It ruins his life. A foolish son is his father's ruin. And a quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping. So we have a foolish son.

[39:31] And we have a foolish woman. Ruins. Families. The fool destroys his own city. His own community. 11-11.

[39:41] By the mouth of the wicked. The city is destroyed. You're not talking about some other city. You're talking about the city. That that man is living in. He undermines justice. A corrupt witness mocks at justice.

[39:54] And the mouth of the wicked gulps down evil. And so. Wherever. Wherever you have this fool in charge. The city. The church. The family.

[40:07] It comes to ruin. The fool is like a termite. It's like a nest of termites. Just eating the lumber right out of the house. That everyone's living in. Ceaselessly.

[40:18] Gnawing. At the pillars. That hold up. Society. And finally. He destroys himself. The fool.

[40:31] Destroys his family. Destroys his friends. We could talk about that. Chapter one. Talks about. A whole bunch of fools getting together. And they don't know that they're lying in wait for their own blood.

[40:42] But finally. He destroys himself. 18-6. Again. His mouth invites a beating. He brings on himself. Constant. Punishment. 17-10.

[40:52] A rebuke. Impresses a man of discernment. More than a hundred lashes. Is a fool. It's like you just have to keep. Hitting him. And hitting him. And he's still not getting it. Well that hurts.

[41:03] He needs rebuked. He gets rebuked. But he won't learn. And so the beatings. Whatever. Metaphorical. Or physical. Or real. They continue. 26-3.

[41:14] A whip for the horse. A halter for the donkey. And a rod for the back of fools. 26-1 and 2. Talk about two things that are not fitting.

[41:24] An undeserved curse. In chapter. Or in verse 2. And snow in the summer. Or rain in the harvest. Those things just don't belong. Curse.

[41:35] Honor to a fool. Here's something that belongs to a fool. That a fool has coming. That a fool deserves. That it's fitting to them. It's a rod. And so that's the life.

[41:47] Of the fool. Ruin and misery mark their way. They make others miserable. And they themselves become miserable.

[41:57] By their own folly. They hurt others. They hurt themselves. They won't learn. They won't grow. So. These poor fools.

[42:10] They need. Rescued. They need Jesus. They need salvation. And they. And they desperately need wisdom. To.

[42:22] They need rescued. Before it's too late. And. There comes a time. When it. It. Does become too late. And the fool.

[42:34] Becomes. A mocker. I. Don't have. Time here. But the. The mocker. Is the fool. Now full grown. He's reached his end. This is where. The. The.

[42:45] All the folly. Takes you. The mocker. Is now so proud. He despises everything. And everyone. As underneath him. He sees through everything. And he. Sees through everyone.

[42:57] And you know. If you see through everyone. Pretty soon. You don't see anything. And. He doesn't see anything. And. Proverbs. Is clear. The only way to handle.

[43:07] The mocker. Is. Is with some force. 1925. Flog a mocker. And the simple. Will learn prudence. Again. The mocker.

[43:17] Is not going to learn. That's the sad thing. About it. But. There's hope. That the simple. Will learn. From his. Experience. 2210. Drive out a mocker. And out goes strife.

[43:28] Quarrels and insults. Are ended. You can't talk to them. And all you can do. Is drive them away. That's the only way. To have peace. You can't talk to them. Sensibly.

[43:39] God is against them. 146. The mocker. Seeks wisdom. And finds none. They didn't want it. They don't want it. But now. When they get into a situation.

[43:49] When they desperately need it. They go looking for it. And now. They can't find it. God withholds it. They have become so. Warped in their own minds. That they can't see wisdom.

[44:00] Right in front of them. God opposes the proud. He mocks. The mockers. But he gives grace. To the humble. And that really is the fearful. End of. Of the mocker.

[44:13] God is against you. And you are now too proud. To humble yourself. And. To come to your senses. And see that you actually. Need saved.

[44:25] You need help. The brook of Proverbs. Holds out some hope. For the simple. A little hope. For the fool. And I looked.

[44:36] And. And maybe you can find it. And if. If you can find it. Please send it my way. But. I didn't see any place. Where there's. Any hope. For the mocker. There's no place.

[44:48] Where. There's. This glimmer. This room. This open door. Where. Maybe. This mocker. Will come to his senses. It's consistently. Against him.

[45:01] Again. Maybe you can correct me. The. The point. Is. This is the warning. You don't know.

[45:12] When. You're on this. On this spectrum. And you're taking these steps. And you don't know. When. You. Turn. Into a person. That now. God is opposed to.

[45:23] And. Wisdom is beyond you. And now. What can anyone do? And so the warning is. Wherever you find yourself.

[45:35] You turn. From it. And whatever you do. Don't become a mocker. So that's the picture. Of the simple. The fool. And the mocker. Again.

[45:46] If you see anything like that. In yourself. You know. We have a savior. We have a savior. And so you can run to Jesus.

[45:58] And if you can say. Oh I see something like me. In that picture. Well. You know what. Get to this book. Get to the book of Proverbs. Solomon. And his sages.

[46:08] Are glad. To teach you. Jesus himself. Is glad. To teach you. To make the foolish wise. To teach the simple prudence. And so there's grace. There's help. There's good news. And. But.

[46:18] But. You have to do something. About it. Haven't we been seeing that. In Proverbs 1 through 9. You just can't. Wait for it to happen. You have to apply yourself.

[46:29] To it. And you have to want it. You have to seek it. And it's not going to fall. Into your laps. And so. If you see something. Like yourself. In the simple. Where you say. I think I'm kind of naive.

[46:40] And gullible. And I'm not really hardened. Into the fear of the Lord. And I'm not disciplined. And trained. And I'm not a wise man yet. Well. You know what. If you see something. Of the simple. The fool.

[46:50] The mocker. You don't just grieve. You don't just mope. You don't complain. Or anything like that. What you do. Is you set yourself. To learn. You repent. You turn away. From your foolish thoughts.

[47:01] And you. You give yourself. To wisdom. Proverbs is a whole book. To memorize. To treasure. To keep.

[47:12] To think about. To apply. And it's here. And God's spirit. Is not going to. Put it on for you. It's not going to. Put it in your head for you.

[47:23] But he will sit. And teach you. He'll sit with you. He is the spirit. Of counsel. And wisdom. And understanding. And the fear of the Lord. He is those. Those things. He'll help.

[47:37] And he'll give you. Understanding. And he'll put his finger. On some things. But Proverbs is. Crystal clear. You have to give yourself. To learning. Wisdom.

[47:48] Or you will. Become a fool. Well let's pray. Heavenly Father. Father. Thank you for. This word.

[47:59] From. Your mouth. We know that you are the Father. That's ultimately behind all of these. Exhortations. And these commands.

[48:10] You are the Father that is sitting with us. And saying learn. Thank you so much for listening, B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B