Proverbs chapter 26 this evening, and we're going to take the first 12 verses. I think we'll preach three messages from this chapter, and verses 1 through 12 is dealing with the fool. And verses 13 through about 16, well at least maybe a little farther than that, is dealing with the sluggard or the sloth, and then verse 17 through 28 dealing with the tailbearer. Notice as we come here beginning in verse 1, I'm just going to title this The Fool's Folly, and next week I just will have just a few more things to say about this subject, but beginning in Proverbs 26 and in verse 1, he said, As snow in summer and as rain in harvest, so honor is not seemly for a fool. As the bird by wandering and as a swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come. A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool's back. Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be likened to him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit. Sounds like a contradiction, doesn't it? But it's not. He said, He that sendeth a messenger 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 the sling, so is he that giveth honor to a fool. As a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools. The great God that formed all things both rewardeth the fool and rewardeth transgressors. As a dog returneth to his own vomit, so a fool returneth to his own folly. Seeth thou a man wise in his own conceit, there is more hope of a fool than of him. Father, we do thank you for this day, for this week that you've given us. We thank you for this privilege tonight to assemble together. Father, we pray this evening that your will to be done, your blessings to be upon the service. And Lord, we ask all of these things in Christ Jesus' name we pray, amen. Last week we finished up in chapter 25 and just a variety of different subjects from verses 24 through 28. These first 12 verses in this chapter, I want to keep these together. And again, we'll come back and spend maybe 10 minutes or so making a few more comments. I'm going to give you a list of 12 things that God says about a fool in other passages. But we want to keep this section together, and like I say, probably three messages from this chapter total. By the way, tonight, when we finish tonight, it was just, my wife and I was talking about this in the last week, and I'd made a statement a few weeks ago, and I'd asked her, I said, how many sermons do we have now on Sermon Audio, and when did we go on there? And these are linked both with our website. And after tonight's sermon, we'll have 2,500 sermons on Sermon Audio since 2008. And that's just hard to believe. And this man sitting back here, Don Campbell, a friend of mine, a friend about 30 years or so, he was here in 2008 and we've seen each other at least three or four times each year normally. It's been about five years this time, hasn't it? But he was here and he said, I think you ought to consider going on sermon audio. I didn't even know what it was. And so we talked about it, and he said, you can sign up right now for a dollar and get started. And I said, I don't know. I don't think I want to do that. I was doing radio at the time, and he kind of pushed it. And so while he was here, we signed up. And so here we are 16 years later with 2,500 sermons on the website. And so I thank you, Don. Well, notice, let's just take these one verse at a time, and since we're doing 12, I'm not gonna be going to too many other passages. But he said, first of all, in verse one, as snow and summer, and as rain and harvest, so honor is not seemly for a fool. In other words, snow and rain, are out of place and they're not suitable in the time of harvest. Neither one is good in time of harvest. And so he's saying, as snow in summer and as rain in harvest, so honor is not seemly for a fool. In other words, honor, when given to a fool, it can be destructive as snow and rain out of season. And that's the thought that we find here in a passage, 1 Samuel 12, verse 16 and 17. When we think of honor, honor is the reward of virtue and dignity and it's not for fools or foolishness and that's the ideal here. Now every chapter I run into a few verses I'm not too sure about, and some of the things I settled a number of years ago in these, but still was not sure exactly what the verse is saying. When we come to verse 2, and I'm going to give some other passages on this, I'm not sure that I'll turn to any, but there's a comparison here that are given. We see that a lot in Proverbs. And by the way, let me just say this, the Bible, and we got a sermon a number of years ago just titled, I think, Fools. But in the Bible, the word fool is used 73 times, fools is used 42 times, I think foolish is used 52 times, and folly is used about 37 times. And so that's 204 times just dealing with that in the Bible. So there's much warning for you and I in the scriptures about this subject. In Proverbs alone, I think it's 41 verses on the fool. 18 verses on fools, plural, I believe, if I'm not mistaken, and then folly 13 times, and then foolish eight times. So this book, as well as the whole Bible, speaks a lot and gives lots of warning concerning being foolish and to the fools. Now, as we come to verse two, He says, as the bird by wandering and the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come. This is one of the difficult verses for me. And the difficulty is not as much in the truth spoken here, but the difficulty is in the precise point and the comparisons that he's given here. And I'll give you my opinion on this. When he says here, the curse causeless shall not come, the meaning of this is that the child of God cannot be cursed without a divine cause. In other words, God must approve of any curse or any chastisement that would come on the children of God. And there's a lot of examples of this. Notice that if a curse is not of God, we do not have to worry about it. Now think about that. We find that the curse pronounced by men cannot harm us unless God allows that to take place. We know that a lot of bad things can happen to Christian people, but that is not curses upon us. Give an example. Job, what came upon him, God allowed it, but God never allowed the devil to curse him. He allowed some infirmities. We find Joseph, think about all that Joseph went through with his brothers, but they couldn't destroy him. We find out that he became second in rank in Egypt and saved his brothers, saved their lives. We also find that Jeremiah, was cursed by his enemies and it didn't stick, it didn't work. Jesus, we find all that he went through and the Apostle Paul, but God's hands was upon his people. The word causeless here means undeserved and without good reason. And here's a quote, this kind of sums it up for me. And the writer says, never fear a curse that does not have a divine basis for it. I wanna say that again. Never fear a curse that does not have a divine basis for it. No one can curse us and pass judgment and it come to pass unless God were to allow it. And so some of the verses I'll give you in Romans chapter 8 verse 31 through 39. It tells us who can condemn us when God is for us. That chapter starts off in verse one with no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus who walk after the Spirit and not the flesh. And it ends with the fact that there is no separation. We cannot be separated from God Almighty. And he gives a list of tribulations and persecution and all sorts of things. So man cannot pronounce a curse upon it and it come to pass. And there's only way that we can be chastened or cursed if God were to allow it. So again, one more time, the quote, and I like this, never fear a curse that does not have a divine basis for it. I'd spent, I think it was nearly 12, maybe 12 trips to Honduras. And our missionary that was there, he took me to a village, there were a number of witch doctors in the area, took me to a village and showed me one and showed me his house and all of that. And he had, at least one of those witch doctors had pronounced a curse upon our missionary. Well, it didn't work. This verse tells us that. So he says, as the bird by wandering, and as a swallow by flying, so the curse costless shall not come. Now again, there's a little difficulty in the precise point in these comparisons. Now let me give you a couple examples. In Numbers 23, eight and nine. The king of Moab wanted Balak, I believe his name, wanted Balaam to curse the children of Israel. And God would not allow it. In other words, he had blessed his people and he would not allow this false prophet or this king to curse his covenant people. Now, when you come to Numbers 25, you will find that Israel rebelled against God in idolatry, And they were punished, but it was divine. It was from God's hand. 24,000 died from a plague. I think 23,000 died in one day. 1 Samuel 17, 43, Goliath cursed David, and Goliath died by David's hand. The curse didn't work. In 2 Samuel 16, Shimei walked along as David was traveling and cursing him, and David let it go. And that curse that he put upon David meant nothing. Nothing ever happened to David. Elisha was cursed by this 40, 42 young people that had cursed Elisha and Elisha pronounced a curse on them and two she bears came out of the woods and destroyed all 42 of them. Jeremiah, again, was cursed by his persecutors, but he survived. They were destroyed, and he, even through the captivity and the Babylonian captivity, Jeremiah was actually left in Jerusalem. And so, let me read this one more time. You say, what is this with birds wandering and the swallow flying? What is all this? I don't know, but here's my opinion. As birds fly high over our heads and never light on us, so the curse will go over us and shall never touch us. Now, I just made that up, but I think it's true. And that's what I get out of this passage, but I could be wrong. So again, the comparison here, the precise point has not been easy to try to understand this. So he said, in verse two, he said, as the bird by wandering and as a swallow by flying, so the curse calls us. In other words, God will not judge us without a cause. And no man can put a curse upon us unless God allows it. Even Satan could only do certain things in Job's life. He could not take his life. He had limitations. He couldn't pass that. And of course, we know the things Job went through, but God's hand was up on him and blessed him tremendously after that he had went through that. I think that's what this is saying here in the passage. Here's two other verses, 2 Timothy 1.7. God is not given a spirit of fear, but of what? Power, love, and of a sound mind. And then Proverbs 1.24-33 is dealing with those that are believers, that they will have specially, verse 33, But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from the fear of evil. But, verse 24 through 32, he speaks of the fool that despises God's word and that he will be judged. So that would be my opinion of this passage. Now notice in verse 3 and 4, almost sounds like a contradiction. He said in verse 3 and 4, well, no, let me go to verse 3 first of all, verse 4 and 5 is what sounds like a contradiction, but it's not. He says here in verse 3, a whip for the horse and a bridle for the ass and a rod for the fool's back. Notice we find here that the fool is compared to a horse and an ass and cannot be controlled by reason and must be restrained and dealt with. The rod for a fool. Write down Psalms 32 and in verse nine and also Proverbs chapter 10 and in verse 13. In the book of Psalms, Psalms 32 and in verse 9 said, Be you not as the horse, now a horse will just rush into battle with no fear whatsoever. He said be not as the horse or as the mule. We know that a mule is a little stubborn. I've plowed with them many, many times as I was growing up, and they can be stubborn. Be not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held with a bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. So the warning here, a whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool's back. They will be restrained and must be restrained by God. Now, let's read verse four and five together. He said in verse four and five, answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be likened to him. Then he said in verse five, answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit, that is in his own eyes. Point here I think in the passage is that there's a time to answer a fool and there's a time not to answer. Ecclesiastes 3 7 said there's a time to keep silent and there's a time to speak. And the Lord Jesus when we read about his ministry He dealt with the Pharisees, scribes, Sadducees, lawyers. He also was before Caiaphas, Pilate, Herod, and there's times when he spoke boldly. There's time that he never even gave an answer. Of course, he's God in flesh. He knows exactly how to do this. We got to pray and plead with God that we know when to speak and not to speak. So in verse four, he said, answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be likened to him. In other words, it's unwise to argue with a fool at the level of his intelligence. And because if you do that, both of you gonna look like fools. Just arguing with a fool based upon his intelligence. In other words, as I heard years ago, don't wrestle with a pig, both will get dirty and the pig will love it. And so that's the ideal here. Okay, now notice verse 5. In verse 5 he says this, Now answer Afu according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit, that is in his own eyes. So there is a time to answer Afu, there's occasions when it's best to refute him lest his foolishness influence other people. So again, you can't plan for this. You've just got to pray for it and ask God to help whenever we're dealing. And there's been times I've just walked away from There's been other times that I would not, and we just got to pray. And no, I believe that Moses knew this. Moses was very, very meek. And there was times Moses did not even defend himself, but when it come to the glory of God and God's integrity, Moses would speak up. And so it's just something that you have to pray about daily that we know how to speak. Now, verse six. He that sendeth him a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet and drinketh damage. In other words, he drinketh her violence. We find here that a foolish messenger will disable the sender and defeat rather his purposes. He's unreliable in his words and his works. And so to send a foolish messenger would be like cutting off the feet and drinketh damage, that's destruction or violence. Notice in verse 7, he said in verse 7, the legs of the lame, of the lame rather, are not equal. Now we know that to be true, don't we? In other words, he cannot hide his lameness. It's very obvious when you look at him. The legs of the lame are not equal, so is a parable in the mouth of fools. A fool cannot hide his folly when he speaks, as a lame man cannot hide his disability. Notice with me in verse eight. He says in verse eight, and while we've come across the fool several times, this'll probably be the first sermon just only here in Proverbs, but we've got one about 12, 14 years ago on this. Notice verse eight. He said, as he that bindeth a stone and a sling, so is he that giveth honor to a fool. In other words, a fool will throw away honor. He'll destroy honor as a sling will throw away a stone. I have a marginal note here, may be correct. In my Bible here says, as he that putteth a precious stone in a heap of stones. In other words, take something precious and throw it in with just the old stones, rocks, or whatever. And so that's probably the ideal here. Verse 10. verse 9 rather, he said, As a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools. We find that again a fool will speak to wound others. as a drunk will be hurt by a thorn. In other words, he'll be wounded. If you want, if you're taking notes, chapter 23, verse 34 and 35, the drunk gets sick, he gets injured, and then when he gets over that, he seeks it yet again. And that's the ideal, a fool will seek again his folly. In verse 10, He said, the great God that formed all things, both rewardeth the fool and rewardeth transgressors. In other words, God will render to every man according to his deeds. Romans 2, verse 5 and 6, and then in Luke 12, verse 47 and 48. Notice in verse 11, As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly. Now, this verse is mentioned in 2 Peter 2, verse 22, in reference to apostates. Here, he's talking about fools, but in Peter, it's referenced to apostates. It's referenced to false teachers. The whole chapter from the beginning to end of 2 Peter 2 is dealing with false prophets and apostates. Here, he says, Verse 11, as a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly. In other words, the sinner, this is a quote, the sinner vomits up his sin and seems to detest it and yet returns and licks up what made him sick. And so that's the ideal here. And dogs will do that, by the way. And a fool will return to his sin and his wickedness, and the things that may make him sick or make her sick, they will return to it again after that it's over. One other verse, notice with me in verse 12. And again, I'm going to come back in the first few minutes of the sermon next week, and I'm going to give you 10 characteristics of a fool. And one passage, I'll give it to you again next week, but in Psalms 1-7, It says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Now listen to this, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. The fool is unteachable. They're unteachable. They despise God's word. So now notice, let's close in verse 12. He says here in verse 12, it says, seeth thou a man wise in his own conceit, that is in his own eyes. Seeth thou a man wise in his own conceit, there is more hope of a fool than of him. Wise in his own conceit, wise in his own eyes, he thinketh himself to be wise. This is a climax after discussing fools. And this is dealing with the attitude of pride. and it is repeatedly denounced throughout the Holy Scripture. One writer put it this way, he says, The natural fool has only one hindrance, ignorance. The conceited fool has two, ignorance and self-delusion. And that's really true. Just a natural fool out here, he has one great hindrance, and that's ignorance, but the conceited fool, he has two, he's ignorant and he's self-deceived, and how true that this is. And this is something we find throughout the scripture, again, in verse five, answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit. We also, if you wanna write down chapter three, And in verse 7, we spent a lot of time in this chapter. Chapter 3 and verse 7, it's encouraging us to trust in the Lord with all of our heart. It said, verse 7, be not wise in thine own eyes, fear the Lord and depart from evil. We see this statement again in chapter 28 and in verse 11. So reading this one more time, verse 12, Seeth thou a man wise in his own conceit, there is more hope. In other words, he's worse than the fool. It says, there is more hope of a fool than of him. The word conceit has the idea of conception, that which is conceived or imagined or formed in the mind and conceited. One writer says, entertaining a flattering opinion of oneself, having a vain or high conception of one's own person or accomplishments. That was just dealing really with a subject of pride. Would you stand with me this evening? Father, we do thank you tonight for your love and mercy to us. We thank you for your word, the indwelling Holy Spirit, Lord, we thank you for the warning that you've given us as your word. We thank you for the encouragement you've given us in your word. We now ask your blessings upon the remaining of the service tonight. For it's in Christ Jesus' name we pray, amen.