Walker Cain (00:00)

Be ye followers of me, even as I am a follower of Christ. Paul wrote these words to the Corinthians. This was a people who faced division. They faced discord among themselves. They were biting and devouring one another with what they chose to do. They 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. When a brother was going out and sinning,

They were all puffed up too much to even do a thing about it, perhaps even proud of the sin that he was committing. This was a people who needed to follow Christ. They were Christians, but they were following something else entirely. Now 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. And sometimes the best way to learn

Who to be is to see the negative ex negative example of who not to be. To do this, let’s turn to Proverbs chapter 26. Proverbs, as many books of the Bible, is written by someone well prepared to write it. David wrote the Psalms, he was a man after God’s own heart. This was a man who he was obedient to God. This was a man who also had trials.

This was a man who wrote about the things of the heart as well. This was someone who was ready to talk about these things that took that emotional understanding. Then 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 argumentation. And Proverbs is no different. These are the Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel.

They are written by the wisest man to have walked the earth up until Christ came to this earth, who truly was the wisest man. Now what is it that this man shows us about who we are not to be? Three different individuals who will be seen in Proverbs twenty six are the fool, the sluggard, and the troublemaker. And as we go through these, we want to ask, are we imitating Christ or are we imitating these men?

Are we imitating these examples of whom we are not to be, or are we imitating their exact opposite?

As 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. Verses one through eleven are going to continue being focused on the fool. Now verse three a whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool’s back. This is a person who is

Who is going to go and do that which is going to hurt him. Just 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. Also, look at verses ten and eleven. ⁓

returns to his folly. This person is going out and doing that which is going to hurt him even when he has been taught differently. How often when growing up did parents say, don’t do that, don’t do this, and then what happens? It’s done. And then what happens? it’s the same thing over and over again. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different

result. This fool is a glutton for punishment. He’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. He’s going to go and do the same iniquity, and he’s going to get whipped again for it. There’s nothing that is going to change him. This foolish man is a glutton for punishment. Verse 11 As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returns to his folly. It’s nasty.

It’s gross. How often is it the dog does the best cleanup job after he makes a mess? It’s gross, but it’s true. With how gross it is, that shows us what sin is like in the eyes of God. Just as a dog is willing to go eat that which what in the world? Just 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. The fool is willing.

In God’s eyes, sin is as disgusting as vomit, and even more than that. But the fool thinks it’s pleasant. The fool thinks that this bottle is going to help him. This it’s going to bring him pleasure. There’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. But 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.

He’s going to be like one who is all dizzy, and he’s going to after that say, When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again. The fool is going to go do the same thing over and over. It 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. When 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 is going to hurt him.

And 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. The foolish man is a glutton for punishment. But moving forward the fool is also hard to handle. Verses four and five. Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit. ⁓

Let’s all go home. We just found a contradiction in Scripture. It can’t be God’s word anymore. Is that what this is? Is God going to so blatantly make a contradiction in Scripture? No. There is a lesson here for us to learn. You 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. You see, with the fool, he’s hard to handle.

You have to figure out, okay, how am I going to approach this this time? A fool, you’re not going and trying to change him. You’re trying to figure out, okay, how do I have to deal with this person now? It’s almost like a person on the interstate, you know, you’re not going to change the way they drive. You 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? You’re just trying to figure out how to handle this person. Same thing with a fool. Should I speak and ⁓ acknowledge what he has said?

L so that he is not wise in his own conceit? Should I let him think that he hasn’t won this battle? Or should I not answer him, so that I am not like him? This is not a contradiction in Scripture. It’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. And we simply must decide, or we must gain the experience through life to figure out when is it I should answer? When is it that I should not answer? And that’s something that

Comes with time and practice in life. The 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. Verses six and seven.

He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet and drinketh damage. The legs of the lame are not equal, so is a parable in the mouth of fools. As he that bindeth a stone in his sling, so is he that giveth honor to a fool. Yet again, we have more about this foolish man and what he is going to do. Verse six is about when someone gives responsibility to this foolish man. He’s given a job.

Most specifically, he’s given a message. He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet and drinketh damage. You trust a fool with something, do you expect it to be done? Well, if you have a trusted somebody, then usually that means you’ve trusted them to do it. But if you trust a fool with a job, you can actually trust he’s not going to do it. He that sends a message by the hand of a fool, he cuts off his own feet and he drinks damage.

If 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 the wrong way. This is someone who does not handle responsibility correctly. This is someone who does not handle information correctly either. This isn’t just a job, this is a message. Who knows what he did with that information? Did he just go to his own home and not do anything with it? Did he go and share it with somebody else?

Whatever the case, he’s not doing that which is proper. There are times that we have responsibilities given to us that we are to carry out. There’s times where a s a father might tell one son, Hey, go to give this message to your brother. And then that son, because he didn’t say it, this son didn’t then do what the father said to do. So what happens after that? Well, 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 son what to do.

The one who sends a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet and drinketh damage. It’s only going to lead to hurt. What are we? Are we the kind that we can be given responsibility and we can carry it out? Or is giving a job to us, just like setting a ticking time bomb? The fool Is a glutton for punishment. He is hard to handle, and finally he’s going to let you down hard.

Now we’ve just said that what we’re looking with at with this today is how does this kind of person compare to Christ? What is this kind of person in the light of who Christ was? Christ was not a glutton for punishment. Christ was one who, yes, He came to this earth, but the entire reason he came was so that he could suffer for us. He didn’t come to suffer punishment for what he did. In fact, Christ himself led a sinless life.

He was not a glutton for punishment, he was a bearer of punishment for us. Christ also was not hard to handle. In fact, he was the one who was handling other people who were hard to handle. Think about the Pharisees. There 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? Christ would say, Well, why are you transgressing the tradition of God?

And then there were other times where Christ, instead of answering, he would say, You know what? I’ll answer this if you answer me. Christ handled the Pharisees, realizing that they were fools. They were these people that lacked common sense. You know, there are those people in life who they’re the reason they stopped making pennies. That applied to the Pharisees. Their two cents were the reason they stopped making pennies. And we will meet people in our lives who are like that as well.

Christ dealt with people like that. We are going to deal with people like that. We must simply ask Am I the one that’s hard to handle? Or am I the one that is going to go and treat people with wisdom as Christ did? The fool is, as we mentioned, going to let people down. Christ came with the greatest responsibility ever imagined. The responsibility of dying for our sins, of not only dying for our sins, of living a life of existence.

Exemplifying who we are to be and then dying for us after that. Christ did not come and let us all down. Christ was one who did the work. While the f this fool, he is one who if he’s given a message, he’s going to let you down. The fool, he’s one where if you give him a parable, if you give him a wise saying, he’s going to misuse it. It’s interesting how you can have someone who does not have wisdom, but then they have a wise saying.

How do they end up using it? Well, you can have a fool who has Scripture itself. You 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 with it. As he that

Turning back to Proverbs twenty six, the legs of the lame are not equal, so is a parable in the mouth of fools. The one who has wis the fool who has wisdom in his mouth, it’s as though the lay legs are not equal. It’s not only going to hurt him, it’s not going to help anyone else. And then verse eight again, as he that bindeth a so stone in a sling, so is he that giveth honor to a fool. If you build him up, if you praise him, it’s only going to bring harm to

And hurt this person is not to be given this honor. Turning to verse one, as snow in summer and as rain in harvest, so honor is not seemly for a fool. He shouldn’t be given a task, but also he shouldn’t be given this honor. What happens when it snows in the summer? Well first all of the weathermen go crazy because now they have some really good material to talk about. But af also you have rain in harvest.

When you have rain, when you have hail and harvest, the farmers are thinking about how they’re going to feed their families. When you have this rain, it’s going to bring harm and hurt. It’s not supposed to happen in the first place. And then when it does, it only brings pain. The fool is going to let you down. And 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. Brethren, are we as Christ who came and he used wisdom

To 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? Who are we in our lives? We have discussed the fool, but also there is the lazy man in this passage, the sluggard. Turning to verses 13 through 16. The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way. A lion is in the streets. As the door turneth upon his hinges,

So doth the slothful upon his bed. The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom, it grieveth him to bring it to his mouth. The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that could render a reason. We’re going to call this sluggard a lump. He’s just a lump. Now what is he a lump of? First, he is a lump of excuses. Verse thirteen, as we read, he says there is a lion in the way, a lion is in the streets.

Now this fool, he was in the Middle East. He was not in North America. Yes, lions were actually a thing where they were. But lions did not come into the city. The 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 sending ⁓ sending punishment their way as he did with the Samaritans.

This fool is using something that is highly unlikely just to say, you know what, I shouldn’t get out of bed. It’s as though it’s like saying, you know what, I shouldn’t go drive my car to work. I might get in a wreck. Now, there’s times where people can be fearful of those things because of something that has happened in the past. We’re not talking about that whatsoever. We’re talking about the person who he’s never faced a wreck in his life. He’s never had this kind of experience, but he just wants to say, you know what, I think I might get in a wreck. I’m not going to go drive today.

Just because he wants to sleep in. This 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. This is a person who is a lump of excuses. It applies in more than just sleep. We must ask, do I use the work I already do as an excuse for not doing more work? What else do I what other excuses could I present? Could I say I’m not capable of going to do that? It’s not just

This job is too dangerous for me. It’s this job, I’m just not able to do it. This sluggard is going to find whatever reason he can for saying he cannot do it. Now again, we’re comparing these men with Christ. We compared the fool the fool to Christ. Now we compare the lazy man to Christ. How did he act in his life? Again, he took that great responsibility of coming to this earth for us. He didn’t make excuses. In fact, he had every right to say no to

But he still took that for us so that we could be with him. The Lord had no excuses when he ca was in heaven and decided to come down to this earth. And then Jesus had no excuse when he was on this earth before he went back up into heaven. Even 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. If it be thy will,

Let this cup pass from me. Notice that it was the Father’s will that Christ go to the cross, to the cross. But the Son did not want to go to the cross. Their wills were not the same. But Christ didn’t make an excuse there. Christ said, You know what? N let not my will, but thy will be done. Christ did not make any excuses. In fact, he was willing to submit anything that, all of his fear, to the Father, because he was going to carry out his command.

He did not make a single excuse, even when he had every right to say no. But the sluggard, he’s just a lump of excuses, but also he is a lump of uselessness. Verses fourteen and fifteen. As a turning versus fourteen and fifteen, as the door turneth upon his hinges, sl so doth the slothful upon his bed. The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom

It grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth.

As we grow older in our lives, we start with school, and then we go on to more and more complicated things. You start with basic arithmetic, one plus one, or two minus one. And 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. Or if we’re talking about the other things, you have you better learn your alphabet and then you carry things on after that. You start with the basics and move forward in life.

Can you ever get to any of these things that are greater if you never do what is basic? This sluggard can’t even get out of bed. This sluggard rolls around and doesn’t figure realize that there is a day ahead of him. Also, this sluggard, he is one who does not even bring his hand to his mouth while he is eating. It’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. bless his heart.

He can’t do this simple thing. He cannot do the simple thing of getting out of bed. He can’t do the simple thing of feeding himself. How in the world is he going to prepare for the winter? How in the world is he going to get anywhere in life besides his mama’s basement? He’s not going to move forward in life whatsoever because he can’t even get the basics down. The 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.

We had a Lord who was willing to traverse the Middle East preaching and teaching, or traverse Palestine to be more specific. He was willing to go out and he did not have a car like we did. He went out walking. Beautiful are the feet of them that preached the gospel. Well, Christ’s feet, they were shining. Because he was going out and he was always preaching. He was one who was not lazy. He was one who, when he went out to rest and the multitudes came, he still had compassion on them.

And he was willing to do what it took to fed feed them. He was not lazy. He did not have a sense of any kind of uselessness. He did everything he could to help humanity, help mankind. While this fool he can’t even think about opening his front door. Who are we? Do we struggle to do the basic things in life, or are we moving forward, striving for the goals that are before us? The lazy man, he is a lump of excuses. He is a lump of

of uselessness, and finally and most importantly, he is a lump of pridefulness. Looking at verse twelve once again, seeest thou a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool than of him. This is a person who thinks that he has it all figured out. There is more hope of a fool than of this person. Remember, we just talked about all the things that a fool would do, all the things that a fool would do wrong. But this man

⁓ th this fool might think he’s wise, but this sluggard, he thinks he’s even wiser than that. Looking at verse sixteen, the sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason. Seven men that actually have common sense, we might call it uncommon sense today because so few people have it. But seven people that have common sense, he thinks that he’s wiser than them all put together. This is a person who thinks he has perfect wisdom.

Listen, this is seven men that can render a reason. This is a perfect amount of reason. But he thinks he’s wiser than that. When he, as we discussed earlier, can’t even lift the spoon out of his Cheerios. This is a person who thinks he has it all figured out. He thinks he has all the wisdom, but he can’t do the simple things. So often it can be easy that we can justify what we are doing by thinking, you know what? I’m really doing more than I’m doing it all. I have it all figured out.

And by doing that, we say we justify us not moving any further in life. That’s what this sluggard does. He 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. This sluggard is just a lump on a log. He is a lump of uselessness, a lump of pridefulness, a lump of excuses. We’re comparing these people to Christ. Was Christ prideful?

He 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. Christ 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. This 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 is.

Christ, being God, was willing to come down and say, You are worth me dying on the cross for you. That 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. When we we need to decide if we are too prideful to help anyone at all. Of course, we are not required to be prideful. That’s not what we mean by saying this is a part of who man is. But this is something that man must fight.

The devil himself wanted Christ to fall to pridefulness. He 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. The 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. His eyes were open. He was not blinded by this pride. We must ensure that we are not blinded by pride either.

And this pride can certainly be a part of laziness if we suspect that to be in our lives. We have seen the foolish man, the lazy man, and finally the troublemaker. This troublemaker is going to light fires. He’s not a firefighter, he’s a fire lighter. Looking 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.

We have already seen a proverb that has been about a dog. As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly. But now we come to this metaphor. The one who meddles in a conversation not his own is as he that taketh a dog by the ears. We need to remember these Palestinian dogs, they aren’t little chihuahuas. They aren’t little cute dogs that you could just go and pet. You’re not going to keep these in your purse, you’re not going to have a crate out for them.

These are the kind of dogs that are scavengers. They 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. It 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. Now, 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 a little toddler out at night.

In the same way, these dogs, they’re not going to be good to have around. It’s like a coyote, but worse. And 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. He that meddleth in a conversation not his own. This 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. There are times where there is a fight that needs to be broken up.

Where these two people are fighting and you know, hey guys, we need to cool this down. But it’s not this isn’t about when things are being cooled down. This is about adding fuel to the fire. And 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. Hopefully not a rabid one, but a vicious dog by the ears. And it’s only going to hurt us. We’re not going to help anybody when we do that.

The troublemaker is going to light this fire of strife, and this fire is going to hurt himself. But also verses twenty and twenty-one, where no wood is, there the fire goeth out. So where there is no tail bearer, the strife ceaseth. As coals are to burning coals, and as wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife. When 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.

But as long as the boss keeps him on, we’re going to continue dealing with strife. We’re going to continue dealing with contention every single day. This is a person who is only going to bring strife to the situation. We must ask, am I the kind of person who, when I am around, am I helping everyone else? Or am I making everything tougher? Am I bringing strife and reproach or am I bringing peace and a cool head?

Verse twenty four He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him. When 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 congregation.

This is a man who is a troublemaker. This is a man who is divisive. Now we discussed Christ coming down to save us before. He came down to save us. The Hebrews writer shows he did that so he could call us brethren, so that he could make us one with him again. Now compare that with this fool. He that hateth dissembleth with his lips. The one who hates, the one who has this strife within him.

He’s not content with this strife being within himself. His satisfaction in life comes from tearing people apart. When 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. Perhaps you have people who are making trouble and not trying to make amends. You have people who are lighting fires, they’re not trying to put them out because there’s no love there. Love

First Corinthians thirteen is going to do everything it can to help others, everything it can to be a blessing. But 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, it’s going to tear everyone else down. If we see division, division comes from pride. Division comes from a lack of

being able to say, you know what, I love you, and we’re going to do this together. Now of course there’s times people don’t work well together. There’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 well together. There’s times that that is the case. Well we’re talking about when people simply cannot stand one another just out of who they are, out of who they are as people.

There is always a way to work around this division, this contention, if we truly try, if we strive to do it. And as Christians, it is our duty to be one body, to be one under Christ. If we are divided, it’s as though there is a cancer and infection within the body. It’s as though there is something that’s only going to heart and h h harm and hurt us. Are we strife within the body?

Or we striving for unity? Are we causes of division? But also are we causes of harm? Verses eighteen and nineteen. As a madman who casteth firebrands, arrows in death, so is he that deceiveth his neighbor in saith, and not I in sport? I’m just playing around. As 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,

You know what, it’s no big deal that I was lying to you. I was just playing around. There’s times that we joke one another, there’s times that we jest with one another. But dishonesty is something entirely different. And there’s no way to shove off dishonesty and just say, I was just playing around, I was just being funny. The troublemaker does not acknowledge the kind of harm he can do. The troublemaker is not willing to say, you know what, what I do can hurt people.

Instead, he says, you know what, what I was doing was just playing around. It was just a little bit of fun. We need to be willing to acknowledge when we’ve hurt people. Otherwise, we’re just saying, you know what, I was only joking. it’s no big deal. Are we willing to acknowledge it? Christ, as we compare these men with Christ, he never hurt anyone. And he could not have hurt anyone because if he did, he was going to have sinned. There were times he of course said what was not comfortable, but he did that for bit.

though their pe their benefit. He never did anything just to harm someone else. But 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. There’s not going to be this trying to cover up what was done. He that confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall have mercy. But the one who hides them he’s not going to prosper. We cannot hide them any under any cloak.

This man is one who’s going to bring harm. He’s not going to acknowledge it when he should. And also he’s going to continue doing it, even though he knows what’s happening. As coals are to burning coals, and as wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife. He doesn’t care about anyone else. The words of a tailbearer are his wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. This man is only hurting others. He does it with his actions, and he does it with

His words.

Anything he says is just for his own benefit and pleasure. Christ says that every idle word is going to be taken under judgment. As Christians, we must ensure that what we say has a purpose. What we say is based on trying to help others follow God’s way and encouragement toward others. But if we do not have a mindset like that, we might find ourselves just having words that are wounds instead. Are our words focused on Christ?

Or are our words focused on whatever I want to say that comes next? This man, this troublemaker brings harm, and he’s going to harm himself. Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein, and he that rolleth a stone it will return upon him. Wiley Coyote, Roadrunner. He gets his rocket shoes out.

He gets whatever else he can find, and he’s going to go get Wiley Coyote. He might even roll a stone himself just to get it. And what happens to Wiley Coyote each time? He’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. Even though he wanted that snack, he wanted that roadrunner, he’s only hurting himself. Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein.

He’s only going to hurt himself. Now, he might hurt others in the process, but his plan ultimately is only going to bring harm to himself. If it’s not in this life, it will be in the next. This troublemaker is going to bring himself trouble. But Christ, what is he going to do? He never brought trouble. He never brought harm to anyone else. And yes, he suffered pain for us. But Christ did not just bring harm upon himself.

He did that which was wise all his days, and may we do the same, not bringing harm to others, not bringing harm to ourselves. Brethren, we must ask, do I follow the example of Christ? Or do I follow the example of those the Lord tells me not to act like? The example of these who are going to have their wickedness shown before the whole congregation, as Proverbs would also say. We must ask, who are we?

What kind of men and women will we be for Christ? If 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 the work for the Lord, or the troublemaker who is not worried about anyone else, worried about unity. If 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.

If 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 discuss that with you. If you are in need of the forgiveness Christ offers to you today, would you come forward as we stand and as we sing?