Testing ladies and gentlemen welcome this morning. Let's get started. We'll sing a song here number 361 Would you please stand with me and take your nimble number three six one? Three sixty one we're going to sing the song that mrs. Roque over here says I don't like and I like criticize I don't think I ever did that but she said I did We'll see how it goes 361. I mean, how can you criticize the lily of the valley? I don't think you can here we go on the first and I have found a friend in Jesus, He's everything to me, He's the fairest of ten thousand to my soul. The lily of the valley, in Him alone I sing, All I need to cleanse and make me fully whole. In sorrow he's my comfort, in trouble he's my safe, he tells me every care on him to roam. He's the lily of the valley, the bright and morning star, he thousand to my soul on the last. He will never, never leave me, nor yet forsake me here, while I live by faith and do His blessed will. Oh, all of fire about me, I've nothing now to fear. With His manna, He my hungry soul shall fill. Then sweeping up to glory, to see His blessed face, where rivers of delight shall ever roll. He's the lily of the valley, the bright and morning star. He's the fairest of ten thousand to my soul. All God's people said, yes, that's what I thought. OK, Robert chapter one in verse twenty two. We begin back at the first chapter because we understand here is where he introduces for the main characters in the book in verse twenty two. How long you simple ones will you love simplicity and the scorners delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledge. Now we understand the very first person that's mentioned is over there in chapter one, verse number five, a wise man will hear. And, uh, well, you can see the simple in verse four as well, but I like to use verse 22 puts all three of the antagonists in one verse. Now you have to forgive me as I struggle through some of this, uh, uh, February in Ohio, uh, like brother Huber called it. That's what it is. It's winters in Ohio, amen? So hang on with me and forgive me if you would. So here we have the next person we're going to look at is the fool. The fool in scripture is not just a person that is slow-witted. It's not just a person that is simple. We say that person, he's just a fool. Sometimes we maybe take that because we think of a court jester. And that is one of the connotations that has been associated with it over the years, is someone who's just stupid. They don't get it. But really in scripture, the simple more fits that mindset. And the fool doesn't necessarily fit it in the same way, because the fool many times does know what he's doing. and perhaps makes the choice to continue doing what he is doing or she is doing regardless of the warnings or the education that they may have. But one of the best English words that would fit with the fool probably is the word senseless. Senseless. Someone who doesn't have good sense. When you say someone doesn't have good sense, you don't necessarily mean that they are stupid. You know, their elevator doesn't go all the way to the top. Cheese fell out of their sandwich, right? Too much yardage between the goal posts, whatever the case might be. That's not necessarily what we're, you know, one fry short of a happy meal. Like we could go on, amen. These are good. But that's not necessarily what we mean by saying you don't have good sense. What we mean when we say that is you ought to know better than what you're doing. And also, you do know better than what you're doing. Now let me give this, it comes from the Latin word phallus. F-O-L-L-I-S. You can write this down. Now what is that do you think? It's a bellows. A ball inflated with wind, cheeks puffed out with air. That's the idea. That's where the full English word came from. So it comes from that bellows. And do we not indeed have many bellows today around us? Most of them are on Facebook. That's where they are. Amen. Because we don't talk to people face to face as much maybe as we used to. We should, but maybe we don't because we know what they're going to say. We know what they're going to be like. But there are a lot of people on Facebook like that. Let's just say amen right there. And if you're not on Facebook, amen. Good. That's good. I'll tell you this. Condemning Facebook is not going to make it go away. And I'll tell you why I say that. Some of you, and I have close friends, who sometimes climb on a high horse about things like that. And they say, well, I don't do that. I don't get involved with that. I don't go there. And I understand why. There's a lot of foolishness on there, but the same people used to say that about television 25 years ago. I don't have a television. Well, we only have a monitor. Amen. Somebody said, you have a television? Well, we do, but it's very small. Amen. Well, that's good. That's good. We've got some control there, some restraint. Amen. And what's the point here? The point is not that Facebook and all of the social media and all the television and everything is good, but I will tell you this, a Christian is supposed to be salt and light. And wherever the culture is, if it's not blatant sin, a Christian ought to be able to go there and be salt and light in that area. All right, so in other words, there ought to be some folks out there that someone says something stupid and you say, hey, that was stupid. You say, well, I'm not saying face to face. Well, you are basically saying it face to face. And if you have the same, the right attitude, you would say it face to face. And I'll tell you why, because a lot of folks will say things online that never would say it in real life. Amen. So as Christians, what are we to do to write the whole thing off and say, oh, it's stupid. No, that's foolishness. That's foolishness. Why? Because, again, condemning it is not going to make it disappear. We can hide our head in the sand all we want to. What we ought to be doing is standing up and saying, this is what's right. This is what's wrong. And hey, guess what? It even applies on the Internet. Amen. It applies on the Internet. That's an amazing concept, isn't it? That what I say, God can even read what I say on the Internet. Who knew it? I didn't know he was on the Internet. I thought we were on our own there. That was the last frontier. The last place we can send anonymity. Amen. But no, he actually does know. Now let me give you some definitions here. One who is destitute of reason. Definitions for the word fool. The person who is a fool. One who is destitute of reason or the common powers of understanding. Semicolon. An idiot. Amen. That's good. Number two a person who is somewhat deficient in intellect And this is where a lot of times we think of a person who is a fool a person who acts absurdly Irrationally or unwisely one who does not exercise his reason one who acts or thinks in a manner not in accordance with the dictates of wisdom and Then one who counterfeits folly You ever heard of someone playing the fool? In fact, Saul said, I have played the fool in the Old Testament. And what does that mean? He acted like someone who didn't have reason. He acted like someone who was stupid, who was intellectually inferior. So it's possible not only to be a fool, it's possible to act like a fool. Anyone who has children, you understand that it is possible to act like a fool. Amen? And we'll talk about children. Now, I had an idea here, and you can take this for what it's worth. It may not be worth a whole lot, but it was an idea that kind of came to mind this past week. And think about the three temptations. 1 John talks about all that is in the world, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father. And I try to make a correlation there between the different temptations and possibly the different characters in the Book of Proverbs, and I'll just throw this to you, and you can do what you want with it. The pride of life, to me, automatically has to go to the scorner, someone who's very proud of who they are and what they are. The lust of the flesh, to me, after studying and after this morning, you can make your own judgment, seems to fit better with the fool. Someone who is very addicted to pleasure. Someone who is drawn towards doing that which he desires to do. And that certainly characterizes the flesh in my mind. And then if you, by process of elimination, you would end up with the lust of the eyes, possibly the simple. Someone who believes everything that he sees and just goes towards it like an ox to the slaughter. But that's just something, I can't say that's, you know, doctrine or whatever, but it was interesting to me. Now I want to give you a little difference here between the Fool and the Scorner. We talked last week about the Scorner and I had a lot of you folks come up and try to help me with my pride and so forth and it didn't do any good. I told you I gave it up many years ago. Now the Fool is mainly motivated by how he feels. Selfishness. He's motivated by selfishness. The scorner is motivated more by what others think. He's motivated by pride, by being better than others. You realize that if you have a problem with pride, the only way you can have a problem with pride is by you having a problem with someone else. Because pride is simply a measuring stick. Pride says, I am better than someone else. See what I'm saying? So a scorner is constantly aware of other people, what they think, how they act, how they dress, and all that, and so he is constantly measuring himself. In Satan's case, Lucifer's case, he was measuring himself against Almighty God. But if you have a problem with pride, it's because you are always looking at what someone else is saying or doing or thinking. You have to always read what someone else says in their blog and read what someone says. You've got to find out what they're doing and then I can maybe make myself feel a little better today because I know that I'm not doing that or I haven't said that or I haven't gone there. and it helps you to go on another day in your existence. Amen? But a fool is not as much like that. The fool is self-conscious. He is self-aware in this sense. He knows what he wants and he wants it. Nothing will stand in his way. That's what he wants. He's going to get it. And you might say, oh, I can't believe he would do that. I can't believe that you would say that. And the scorner would say, come back at you and argue with you. But the fool will say, I don't care what you think. It doesn't matter to me, because I like it. If you're the kind of person, someone says something to you and says, I'm concerned about this area of your life, or why do you do that? And you say, I don't care what they think. You're probably more like a fool. If you argue with them and say, oh, you can't show me the Bible, or someone else says this, you start arguing with them, you're more like the scorner. Does that make sense? Amen. Now, the longer that they can hide, the scorner, the longer the scorner can hide, the better they look, because pride is priority number one. But more is said about the fool than others. More is said about the fool than the simple. In fact, the wise is said the most, talked about the most in Proverbs, and then the fool is right underneath that. And then the simple, and then the scorner. But with the full, selfishness is paramount and it doesn't matter how much you think they're spiritual. They don't care. They don't want instruction. They don't care about the Word of God. It doesn't matter to them because they want what they want. And that's why I think they have a problem with the flesh more than anything else. And there are more fools in churches today than ever before. Why? Because churches are bending over backwards to serve people's desires. Instead of saying, look, we're glad that you're here. We hope that you keep coming. But we're going to hold you to this book. And if the book says you shouldn't do it, then you shouldn't do it. And if it makes you feel badly, then take it up with the author of the book. Amen? And what that comes down to, see, that sounds like pride. That sounds like arrogance. But only if you don't want to get right with God. Only if you don't care about what God says. Because if you're a scorner, in fact a lot of these contemporary churches are run by scorners. They're run by people who want to look good. So if I walk up to them and I say, hey, do you realize that the music that you're playing is associated with and actually came from a very wicked, wicked lifestyle? We know what they would do. They would say, show me that in the Bible. Show me that in the Bible. Well, at least we get people to come to our church. At least we have love for people. We don't judge people. What are they going to do? They're going to argue with you. They will argue with you until you're blue in the face. Now, if we look in the New Testament, and we find 1 Corinthians 7, where someone is offended by what I do. Someone is legitimately offended by what I am doing as a Christian. What is the proper modus operandi? As a Christian, someone comes to me and says, I'm offended by what you do. What should I say to them? I don't care. Show me in the Bible. You can't prove to me that what I'm doing is wrong. Is that what God said? No. Isn't that crazy? That's a crazy thing, isn't it? And we are supposed to, by the way, if you don't know what we're supposed to do, we're supposed to submit to a weaker brother and say, look, you're right. You're right in this sense. I'm not going to do anything to weaken or make you stumble as a young Christian. You say, well, I like doing it. I think it's right. I think it's OK. Well, it may very well be OK. And Paul said that it was OK for them to eat that meat offered to idols. But if it caused my brother to stumble, I wasn't going to do it, even if I like doing it. And scripturally speaking, there was nothing wrong with it. Isn't that a crazy thing? That's a crazy thing. But yet, there it is. And so what am I saying? That we have bent over backwards, and I think it's the scorners who have bent over backwards, I'll be honest with you, and maybe the fools too, but we have done that so that we can now serve the desires of people that come in. It's not, let's change and fit according to the Word of God, it's let's change, let's not change, let's serve people where they are and we'll just become whatever they are. We'll all work together and unify and be, you know, one big happy church. Now the problem with that is, that is basically, if a person comes in, they are not submitted to the principles of the Word of God, and they're not ready to, they are a selfish person. Now if they start arguing with you, you know they're a scorner. What can you do with that person? You've got to cast them out. But if that person is willing to come to church and willing to sit there, and you can preach to them all, and you can tell them anything that the Bible says, and they're not going to change, then you understand now you're dealing with a fool, because that person does not care what the Word of God says. He simply comes because that's what he's always done, or he likes to see people, he likes to talk with people, and he comes to church. He has no intention of changing. That's a fool. Selfishness is their main motivation. Now let's take some time here and go through and talk about what the fool is, what the fool does. We've got lots of verses. I want you to start, if you would, in Proverbs chapter 12 and verse 15. The first characteristic of the fool is what we've been talking about here. He is mostly concerned with immediate gratification. Immediate gratification. I want what I want and I want it now. Proverbs 12, 15. The way of a fool... Did I tell you 12, 15? I did not want you to go to 12, 15. That's a good verse. Let's keep it. Let's read it. The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise. The way of a fool is right in his own eyes. His yardstick is himself. Well, how do you know that you're supposed to do that? How do you know that's okay? Well, they may invent all different kinds of reasons, but the bottom reason, underneath all of it, the common denominator is, I want to do it. It seems right to me, and so I'm going to do it. That's the common characteristic of a fool. Now, I want to go to a verse here, and it's going to throw me for a loop until I find it. OK, I'll tell you what, let's go to the book of Psalms, Psalm chapter 53, verse number one, Psalm 53, one. Psalm 53, one, and we're going to depart from Proverbs here because. Surprisingly, the fool is mentioned in many different books of the Bible. Chapter 53 and verse number one. 53-1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity. There is none that doeth good. God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Every one of them is gone back. They are all together become filthy. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. The person that says there is no God, is it an immoral person or a moral person, according to these verses? An immoral person. He said, the fool has said in his heart there's no God. Corrupt are they. And he begins to describe their doings, their actions. You can mark it down. A person who is an atheist is a person who is trying to get away from morals somewhere, somehow. They cannot give you a reason for morality. Can't do it. There is no reason for morality. If there is no God, there is no authority. There are no boundaries. There are no rules. There are no ways in which I should live my life. You say, well, we ought to because it's important. It helps us to grow together as a society. Well, what if I don't want to live with you in this society? Why can't I just kill you? Who's to say that's wrong? Ultimately speaking, when I am trying to do away with God, I am trying to do away with authority. I don't want authority. Why? What does authority represent? Well, I'll ask you. What does the police car in your rear-view mirror represent? Amen? I don't know about you, but when I see a police car, I just say, I'm so glad that he's there to remind me that I'm doing right. It's just, it comforts my soul in a way it's kind of like a pick-me-up. It helps me say, yep, you're on the right track. Keep going, doing what you're doing. No, that's not what the police car in the rear-view mirror does. You say, I wonder, I guess it was like five miles over. It wasn't like six. Did they pull you over for five? Or six? Or seven? Some of you, there's no doubt, if they don't pull you over, it's the grace of God. That's all it is. Amen? Right? Think about this. Why is it that we want to get rid of God? There are people out there, and you might have co-workers or friends, relatives, neighbors, so forth, that don't believe in God. And you say they're moral people. They are only moral to try to prove to you that they can be moral without God. That's the reason. There is no reason for them. You say, well, they just love people. There's no reason to love people. We love Him because He first loved us. We learn how to love other people because God loves us first. Your kids have good character because you put it into them somewhere along the line. The character that they have is a result of their parents or it's the exact opposite of their parents and they picked it up somewhere else along the line, right? But you know what I'm saying. What's the point? The point is that the fool here says it in his heart because he does not want to stand up against the authority. He does not want to stand up and yell and scream. He's not like the scorner. He's not going to challenge the authority. He is going to say it in his heart because ultimately he wants to do what he wants to do. Every one of them has gone back. Verse three. They are all together. They are all together. Become filthy. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. And I think it's a good a good phrase for us to get down because in the society in which we live, there's a lot of a lot of atheism, a lot of agnosticism and so forth. And we need to keep this in mind. We have higher, superior morals to other countries. With a person that is saying, I don't want God in my life, I don't believe in God, is there a higher, superior morality in their lives? No, there's not. And if there is, it's simply, many times, a way to prove that they are right. Now, let's go back to this. If you have someone that's struggling with that, you may have an agnostic friend and so forth, I encourage you to speak with them and help them, work with them, and show them, live a life in front of them that shows that there is a God and that you know Him. Woe be unto a Christian who doesn't live like a Christian and is used as an excuse to continue in sin. Isn't that a terrible thing? Alright, look at Proverbs chapter 24. So his main Motivation is selfishness, immediate gratification. Proverbs chapter 24 and verse number nine. We got to be careful. Don't be getting me on these sidetracks and these rabbit trails and things. I'm perfectly focused until I look up at you. Proverbs chapter 24 and verse number nine. Let's look at this verse here. It says the thought of foolishness is sin. And the scorner is an abomination to men. Go back to Proverbs 21. It says, there is treasure to be desired, and oil in the dwelling of the wise. 2120. 2120. There is treasure to be desired, and oil in the dwelling of the wise, but a foolish man spendeth it up. A fool is one that when he gets an idea in his head, he acts on it right away. If he has money, he spends it. The Bible says that a person that's wise has treasure and oil. They have some kind of a stockpile in their home. They are not spending all that they make. They are trying to save some money. And they are trying to keep back, in other words, they have some self-control so that there is something good that they do not partake of. It's in their house, but they're able to control themselves and not use it. You could put a lot of things into that, couldn't you? Television, right? Well, it was there. I mean, I turned it on, it was there. I couldn't help myself, right? Honey, what are we going to do for our bills? Well, I don't know. I guess we shouldn't have gone on that shopping spree last night because now we don't have the money. Well, I mean, the Lord gave us the money. At least we didn't put it on a credit card. Well, that's true, sweetheart. That's a good point. That's a good point. That's a foolish person. Why? Because it is not just that they are spending things that they have. It is that they immediately act on any impulse they have whatsoever. They immediately act on it. Now, it's like this. I've seen a video of a hidden camera, you know, these hidden camera video type things, and they had these little kids, they put them on, some of you may have seen this, they put them in At a chair, in front of a table, on the table, it was this unbelievably gigantic chocolate cake or some type of a dessert that a kid would die for. And they put it in front of the kid and they said, now don't touch it. Don't touch it. We'll be back in a little bit. And they left. And then the camera was on while the kids, you know, the kids were just going crazy. Some were trying to lick it, you know, and they were staring at it like this with their eyes. It was great. And you know what it is with kids. You have to be that discipline and the control in their lives. They are not going to discipline themselves. Why? Because foolishness is bound in the heart of a child. A child is a fool by nature. They have, well maybe we could say this, a child comes tied up in foolishness. And you have to get rid of that foolishness. Otherwise they end up like you and I. Amen? you have to get rid of that foolishness. And so, a fool immediately thinks, and he does. You know the book of Luke, the rich man, remember the rich man and Lazarus? Not the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man with the bigger barns. He said this, Luke chapter 12. He said, soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. I've got everything I could possibly want. I'm just going to take care of my own desires and just sit here." And what did God say to him? Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Why? He said, then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? God says to this man, this rich man, what's going to happen when you're gone? Why? Because God's looking at the future. The fool is looking where? He's looking right now. I've got everything I possibly could want and I'm going to take care of myself and we're going to have a good time. And God said, you're not looking at the future. You're a fool. A fool immediately tries to gratify any impulse that he has. That's why it's so difficult when we're sitting in church, because we are used to gratifying our flesh most of the time, all the time. And we sit here and listen to the preaching for X amount of time. And all that while, your flesh, if you're not careful, your flesh is thinking about what I'm going to do next. what I'm going to buy next, what I'm going to eat next, where I'm going to go. I can't wait to get home and sleep. Our flesh has these immediate desires. They say, I need this now. I need it now. And if you don't give it to me, I'm going to throw a fit. And how do we throw fits? Well, sometimes we sleep. Sometimes we look at our watch. Sometimes we shake our watch to see if it's still working. Yes, it is. OK. We do sometimes we are bored sometimes we doodle sometimes we surf the internet on our phones We do all these things because our flesh wants to do something that will gratify it and we have to say no So if you don't want to be a fool, you need to learn to reap Reprove yourself parrot yourself say no if you have to slap yourself on the hand or on the face You know or backhand like I used to get With the ring, you know What a blessing. OK. Enough about that. Get some flashbacks here. Look at Psalm 73. Psalm 73. And this is a wonderful passage. Preachers preach on it many times. And Psalm 73. We could go down through and talk about it, but we won't. Obviously, we're leaving Proverbs here, so don't tell anyone. We're going over to Psalms. Psalm chapter 73. It says, verse one, truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. But as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped, for I was envious at the who. the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. And why is he envious? For there are no bands in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore, pride compasseth them about as a chain. Violence covereth them as a garment." He goes down through and he's talking about in verse 7, their eyes stand out with fatness. They're so fat, their eyes are coming out of their sockets. They have more than heart could wish. And he's going back and forth because he knows in his mind the truth. But in his heart, he's really jealous. It's like you know that your neighbor paid a dear price for that boat next door. You know that he put it on credit and he's going to be paying on it for the rest of his life until he can sell it on eBay somewhere. You know that in your heart. In your mind you know that, but in your heart you say, man, I sure wish I had one of those things. I tell you, I could do, Lord. You know I'd use it for you, Lord. Somehow, Lord, I'd figure out a way. Right? And those things that we'd like to have, we look at the lost world and we say, it's just not fair. Look at all the stuff that they have. They don't have the problems. They don't have the difficulties. They just live their lives. And we don't recognize this. Verse number 17. Verse 16, when I thought to know this, it was too painful for me, until I went into the sanctuary of God. Then understood I their end. You know why this building is not packed out? Because it's wise people that come to church, for the most part. It's wise people. And there's a whole lot more fools than there are wise people. You know, your neighbors and your friends and even Christians are not going to get up out of bed and come to church on Sunday morning. Why? Because immediate gratification. And when you're in sleep, when you're in your bed, the most immediate gratification is to continue sleeping. Amen? And just stay in bed. And a wise person says, I could stay in bed and sleep, but by the time Sunday is over with, I'm not going to, I'm going to hate myself for one thing. I know I'm going to. And I'm going to be a complete loser. I'm going to be yelling at everybody, screaming at everybody. And I'll just waste an entire day doing nothing because I wanted to gratify my flesh. So I'm going to get up and I'm going to go to church. And I'm going to sit under some instruction of the Word of God and learn something. And because of that, you not only made a wise decision, you become wiser as a result of that wise decision. Whereas the fool made a foolish decision and he becomes more of a fool. And then you talk to them and say, hey, you want to come to church? Oh, yeah, yeah, I want to come there. That's a good thing. But they can't do it. Why? Because they've never made a decision to say no to their flesh. That's a hard thing, isn't it? Now, to be honest with you, I would never have made that decision myself. That's where parents come in. Thank God. And some of you had to go down a really long, hard road to learn that lesson that I learned when I was six, seven years old. And God had to beat you up and spank you out in this world to show you the reality and show you the wisdom of this word. And that's not a good thing. That's why it's so important for you and I as parents to train our children so they don't have to go out there and learn that lesson with God as their teacher. They get to have stupid me as a teacher. And I make a whole lot of mistakes, but I'm not, you know, I'm not quite as harsh sometimes as God is. God can teach you a lesson. You'll never forget it. My kids forget a lot of my lessons, I'll tell you that. But God gives me a lot of time to go over with them. Amen? A lot of time. And in a way, it's helpful, more helpful to them now. And at the end, they all learn the same lesson anyhow. But I'll tell you the truth, I don't want to go to summer school. Amen? I'd rather learn this stuff in class. Alright, so we're talking about this fool, and he goes into the sanctuary of God and he understands. Now let's go on here. Let's go to chapter... Man alive, I had so many good verses and now they just seem to be unraveling on me. I know what it was. This week I decided to kind of step outside of Proverbs. That's what it was. I keep looking for a proverb. I want you to look at Joshua chapter 7. I want to show you a fool and what a fool does. Joshua chapter 7. The next characteristic that we're going to talk about is is this one. A fool does not think about consequences. And it goes somewhat hand-in-glove with the previous point. A fool is interested in immediate gratification But a fool, to take it even further, is not thinking about the consequences. Joshua 7, verse 1. It says this, "...but the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing. For Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdiah, the son of Zerah, the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing..." In case you're wondering who exactly it was, the Lord lays it out immediately, all the way down, and gives his grandparents for you. "...took of the accursed thing, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel." Look at verse 20. And Achan answered Joshua and said, Indeed, I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done. When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them, and behold, they are hid in the earth, in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it." Now, go back to Joshua chapter 7 verse 15. 715 here is what God said is going to happen and it shall be that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire he and all that he hath because he hath transgressed the covenant of the Lord and because he hath wrought what folly in Israel that's foolishness that's the actions of a fool is folly he wrought folly in Israel It doesn't say he wrought iniquity in Israel, and truly he did sin against God and trespassed what God had said to them. And yet it wasn't as if Achan got up in the morning and said, you know what guys, I don't care what y'all are doing. I know what I'm doing. I know what God said. He said, don't touch it. But I'll be honest with you, I'm sick and tired of this wilderness and my kids having nothing and my wife having nothing. She's really sick and tired of us having nothing. And I'm going to go out and I'm going to get something today. That is not the attitude that Achan woke up with. He woke up with the attitude of serving his God, of going out to fight these battles, but somewhere in his heart there was that foolish notion. He had not restrained the foolish actions and desires in his heart. So when he saw the wedge of gold and so forth, he immediately acted on it. He did not think, you know what, I'd sure like to see my whole family sizzle. Just absolutely have their skin melt off their bones. I think that would be great. But that's exactly what happened. That's exactly what happened. Why? Because he was a fool. He did not think of the consequences. See, you wonder sometimes, I'm amazed sometimes at young people. I'll have young people that'll say, you know, I just didn't, I just didn't, I didn't mean for it to go this far. I didn't mean for it to go down this road. I mean, I met this guy, and this guy was so nice, and we just hit it off. And it was like before we knew it, you know, we were doing things we shouldn't be doing. That's a fool. It's a fool. It's not the strange woman of the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 7. It's not the strange woman. It's not a harlot. It's a girl that wants to do right, or it's a guy that wants to do right. And yet, because they don't consider the consequences of their actions, they don't see into the future. If I do this, that's going to happen. Why? Because a foolish person is thinking about today, right now. Today, what are we going to do? What are we going to say? I don't know. What do you want to do? Where do you want to go? I don't know. Where do you want to go? That's a fool. Because without thinking of the future, they don't see. The Bible says a prudent man foresees the evil and hideth himself. A prudent person looks into the future and says, if I do this, that's going to happen. You say, well, how do I learn that? The biggest way is by getting into the scripture, by listening to the counsel of other people. Young couples, you need to listen to the counsel of older couples. And not only listen to it, you need to seek it. You need to ask for it. Now, what's going to happen? You can't trust any man 100%. So that one person might say, hey, you need to, don't ever do this, don't ever do that. Well, that might be good advice, might not be. You need to weigh that out. But there's some people here that I doubt they're going to give you bad advice. I seriously doubt it. And you're going to end up being better off when you get to their age. You're gonna be better off not having made the same mistakes. Why? Because you were prudent and you looked forward. You ever heard someone called a prude before? We don't like being called a prude because that means you're out of step. But really, a prude is someone who is prudent. They are thinking about consequences. Something about the future and not just about right now. So, there's Akin. What a great example he was. And you know, sometimes you look at that and you say, that's just harsh. That's harsh. God told him, this is what's going to happen. And then he went ahead and did it, and it happened. I guess that's harsh, right? Because we all know that the law says, this is what happens if you break this law, here's the punishment you get. But we're going to plea bargain. So no one ever gets the full punishment of the law. It never happens. So we get this idea that, you know, I can do whatever I want because forgiveness is easier to get than permission. I'm going to go to God, and God's not going to let me do it. But if I do this sin, And I come to God with a contrite heart, God's going to say, you know what? You're right. I'm going to commute your sentence. You don't have the same sentence, the same consequences that you would have had. That's not really the way it works. Does God have grace and mercy? Absolutely, He does. He does. The only reason why God has grace and mercy on your life is because He didn't have grace and mercy on Jesus Christ's life. That's the only reason. You think you're getting away with something? I don't think you're getting away with something, because Jesus Christ didn't get away with it. If you got away with it, He had to pay for it. Isn't that crazy? Somebody's paying for your sin. Somebody's paying for my sin. Whether I pay for it here on this earth or whether Jesus Christ had paid for it already. You say, we're talking about two different things, obviously, the physical consequences and the spiritual. But the fact is, God is a righteous judge. He's not a judge that says, hey, you know, you're right, you're right, you're right, you're right. I see your point. Good thought. I hadn't seen you in such a good light before. Do what you want. That's not God. A fool has to recognize that there are consequences of my actions. And the good thing is, whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. That depends on your vantage point, whether you're doing good or bad, whether that's a good verse, right? If you're doing right, that's a great verse. If you're doing wrong, that's a horrible verse. whatsoever man soweth. You remember Nabal. Nabal was called, in fact that's what his name means. Nabal was the man that refused to feed David and his men when they were out in the wilderness fleeing from Saul. His name is Nabal. And it says, Nabal is his name and folly is with him. For as his name is, so is he. That's the kind of guy he was. He was a foolish man. I don't know if I want to have that name, fool, but he had it. Shechem, remember, committed fornication with Dinah, the daughter of Jacob. And the Bible says that he loved her. And his love was serious. And you go and find out what he consented to, I think he really loved her. Amen? That's a pretty serious deal. And he must have been a pretty smooth talker, too, to convince everybody in town to undergo the circumcision like he did. He's a pretty good guy. It's pretty nice, pretty well-liked guy in town, pretty smooth talker. He's a good negotiator, you know. And what happened? He ended up getting killed and all the men in the city got killed. Why? Because he was a fool. He was a fool. He saw this girl and maybe his intentions were good as far as, I want to have this woman as my wife. But his actions were not good. he committed fornication with this woman and as a result not only he lost his life but everyone else all the other men in town as a result of his foolishness and the brothers of Dinah said he wrought folly in Israel he acted like a fool why? because all he had to do was ask and dad would have probably given him given Dinah to him as a wife but no he didn't he didn't do that he took and did what he wanted to right now Amnon same situation Amnon And if you were to read that a couple times, Tamar, his half-sister, Amnon, desired to have her, and so he raped her. And she said, Nay, my brother, do not force me, for no such thing ought to be done in Israel. Do not vow this folly, and I, whither shall I cause my shame to go? And as for thee, thou shalt be as one of the fools in Israel. And he was. And he was. Folly. What is it? It's thinking only about now, not thinking about the future and the consequences. Let's go now to the book of Proverbs, chapter 10. Proverbs 10. Let's get back on track here. Proverbs chapter 10. Now let's go to 10.23 and let's look at another characteristic of the fool. 10.23. It is as sport to a fool. to do mischief. But a man of understanding hath wisdom. Look at chapter 14. Chapter 14, verse number 9. 14. 9. Fools make a mock at sin, but among the righteous there is favor. Look at chapter 15, verse 14. The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh what? Knowledge. What does that mean? Seeketh knowledge? Is that knowledge that you already have? If it was, why would you be looking for it? Unless, well, you know, there's some things you look for that you already have. I understand. The older we get, right? There's three elderly ladies sitting together. She said, you know, it's getting to be the point now where she said, I'll get up and I'm in the bathtub. I've got one foot out in the floor, one foot in the bathtub, and I can't remember if I'm getting in or if I'm getting out. The other said, oh, that's nothing. She said, I'll tell you when I go down to fix something. She said, I'll go up to the refrigerator. I'll have something in my hand. And she said, I don't know whether I just ate or whether I'm getting ready to eat." She said, it's bad. The other woman said, oh, I'll tell you the truth. I'm thankful to God that I haven't had that problem, knock on wood. Is that somebody at the door? Amen. Yes, yes. They're seeking knowledge, right? Lord, make my way clear. Make my path clear today. Help me to know what in the world I'm doing. But it says in the last part of that verse, but the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness. So a person that has understanding is looking for knowledge, looking to learn something. But a fool is feeding on foolishness. We could clear out a spot and preach right there. Amen? Why? Because is it not true that a fool is looking for immediate gratification and it's just easier to consume something that is consumable, really easy to consume, as opposed to having to chew something up and think about it for a while and work on it and figure it out? Isn't it easier to just stop by the 7-Eleven and buy a hot dog and a pop, then go home and fix a meal? Isn't it? It is. It's just easier. The mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness. Their main sustenance is just foolishness. Fools make a mock at sin. It is a sport to a fool to do mischief. These foolish things that are happening around him, he's just taking it all in. Whatever works, it doesn't matter to me. Look at chapter 15, verse 21. Folly is joy to him that is destitute of wisdom. But a man of understanding walketh up rightly. Remember, stand up straight, keep your shoulders back, don't slouch. It takes work, doesn't it? You don't just do that automatically. You have to have someone in your face telling you that over and over again. Why? Because we naturally want to lean over. We naturally have terrible posture. We need to stand up straight. It takes work to live in this world and not be a fool. Because there are so many people out there peddling foolishness. You can watch it 24 hours a day. You ever find yourself watching something and saying, what in the world am I watching? This is absolutely ridiculous. This is stupid. It is making me, forgive me, it is making me stupider as I sit here. I can feel myself losing very vital brain cells and things that I need. I need these things and I'm losing them, right? You ever find yourself eating things that you know are just horrible? I know Brother Ed, Brother Ed, Lawson, he never eats anything horrible. He eats meat and potatoes and that's it. That's all. But the rest of us, we eat things that are bad. Deep fried Twinkies and things like this. Now this is actually not too bad with a little grape jelly on the top. Hey man, not bad at all. I'm telling you. But a fool, a fool just constantly is taking an end. And you know what the fact is? Our country is run by people who are fools themselves. And you can say, well, there's the great conspiracy. They're trying to make us dumb and stupid. Are you telling me it takes a conspiracy to make you dumb and stupid? I don't think so. I don't think so. They're foolish. And so you and I are foolish. Why? And we like to complain about them being foolish. But we keep doing foolish things. And we are fools because we are constantly consuming foolish things. We have to stop and say, no more of that. Bring on the greens. I'm going to take the greens. I'm going to eat something mentally, spiritually, that's going to help me. It's going to help me. Some of you come to church for the feeling, for the emotions. And you just can't wait. And if you haven't been to church until you felt emotion, well, that's fine. But be careful that it's not just junk food. Sometimes you have to think about things. Sometimes you have to work and labor and strive in your heart before God will give you something. It's not just pop open the bag and you can't stop eating until they're all gone. That's easy. But somebody had to make that stuff. Somebody had to go out and make that stuff. Somebody had to work. And the stuff that's worth eating is going to take some work. The stuff that's worth doing, anything worth doing basically boils down to hard work. Basically does. And that's why we call them the greatest generation because they just had to work hard. They had to work hard. And you think, well, they were just, no, if you and I were in the same situation, at some point, given the same influences, we'd have those same advantages in our character. If you had to go to prison, you'd shape up. Or you'd die. Amen? What does that mean? If you had pressures in your society and in your life around you that would make you do things that you didn't want to do, you'd have the character that you were supposed to have to get through it. That's the way they did in the old days. What's the difference? Were they just godlier back there? No. They were made to do these things. They had to do them in order to survive. You and I don't have to do them to survive. We don't have to have good character. We can survive without it. And so nowadays, we have to make ourselves have good character. We have to discipline ourselves. You don't have to start a fire in the morning, most of you. Amen? Some of you did for a while this past week. But you don't have to do that. You don't have to go out and milk the cow. You don't have to go and plant the crops and water them and weed them and all of that and then harvest them and can them. You don't have to do that. You just go down to the supermarket. And what does that mean? That means that you and I have to work extra hard to not be foolish in this world. We have to know the consequences of our actions and of our lifestyle. We have to look at the future and say, if I keep doing this until I am dead, where am I going to be? What kind of a thing are they going to write on my tombstone? What are the kids going to say at my funeral about me? What are my friends? Is anybody going to be there? Why? Because I have to make myself think about the consequences. A fool doesn't take anything seriously. Now let's go to Proverbs chapter 10, and here's the real big one of the most easily discernible characteristics of the fool. Proverbs chapter 10. We'll read several verses here. Proverbs 10, 8. 10a it says, the wise in heart will receive commandments, but a prating fool shall fall. Prating is a person that is just constantly talking. Talking, talking, talking. Chapter 18, I'm sorry, Chapter 10, verse 18. 10, 18. He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander is a fool. Look at Chapter 14. No, I tell you one too many. 12, 12. 12, 23. A prudent man concealeth knowledge, but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness. Chapter 14. Chapter 14, verse 33. 1433 Wisdom resteth in the heart of him that hath understanding, but that which is in the midst of fools is made known. Where is wisdom in this verse? It's in the heart. And what is it doing down there? Resting. It's resting in the heart. It's in a relaxed position. It's not bouncing all over the place. But that which is in the midst of fools is made known. In other words, whatever is in that guy, in his mind, I'm going to know about it. You ever come to people like that? How are you doing this morning? And they're going to tell you. Amen. They're going to tell all the gory details of things that you... Well, that was interesting, but I... That's not exactly what I had. I was just kind of shooting the breeze, more or less. I want you to go to Ecclesiastes chapter 10. I'm going to show you this verse here that is my favorite. Ecclesiastes 10. Favorite about concerning a fool. 10.3. Ecclesiastes 10.3. Now who is Ecclesiastes written by? Solomon. Same guy that wrote Proverbs. 10.3. It says, yea, also, when he that is a fool walketh by the way, his wisdom faileth him, and he saith to every one that he is a fool. He's walking down the street, people are walking with him, and all of a sudden he doesn't know what else to say, so he turns to his friends and says, guys, I'm a fool. Now obviously he doesn't say that, but he says that in so many words, and a lot of words, a multitude of words. In other words, I don't know what I'm talking about, but I have to say something. And as soon as I open my mouth to say it, you know that I don't know what I'm talking about. You ever felt compelled to be involved in a conversation that you had no idea what to say? You know, it's like this. People giving advice, you know, to older people. Young people giving advice to older people. They have no idea what they're talking about, but they're natural advice givers. And they just say things, and you sit there and listen to them, and you think, and you know what's really scary? It's the older people listening to them. Isn't that scary? That's a fool. A fool is a person that doesn't know what he's saying or what he's talking about, but he just says it. Look at chapter 10, verse 12. Ecclesiastes 10, 12. The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious. But the lips of a fool will swallow up himself. That's an interesting picture right there. Swallow up yourself with your words. And yet I've seen people do it before. I've seen them absolutely disappear into a cloud of foolishness. I don't know where they went to, but they went there. And how do they do it? With their words. With their mouth. Someone said it's better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. Right? So just be quiet. Now let's go back to Proverbs chapter 12. Proverbs chapter 12. Verse 23. Proverbs 12, 23. We'll get down here and there's a whole lot that we could say about it, but we're going to skip over and hit one other area. Proverbs 12, 23. A prudent man concealeth knowledge, but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness. Foolishness. Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. In a multitude of words, there wanteth not sin. If you continue to talk and continue to talk, you're going to say something sinful eventually. What does that mean? That means that we should say less, think more. Instead of say more and think less. That's what most of us do. Why? Because it's easy to talk and that's what a fool is all about. Whatever is easy. I can say anything I want, but am I really saying anything? If we're to take your words and boil them down to their most essential elements, do they help anyone? Were they an asset to anyone other than your own interest? Now, we could talk about a fool that can't control his temper. A fool can't be properly educated. A fool is always thinking about his great destiny, you know, and it's interesting. He doesn't think about the consequences of his actions today. He thinks that someday his ship is going to come in. Someday he's, you know, somewhere out there. beneath the pale moonlight. Right. Somewhere it's going to happen. The Bible says a wise man's heart is at his right hand but a fool's heart is at his left. And the Bible says in Proverbs 17 the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth. Wisdom is before him that hath understanding. It's right in front of him. But the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth. What does that mean. That means instead of doing what I know I'm supposed to do today I'm going to dream about what I might do someday. And it's going to be great, I'll tell you. It's going to be really wonderful. But I haven't yet done anything that I'm supposed to do today. A fool is constantly corrected, and a fool is a fool because it's in his nature. It's just, that's who he is. Again, that verse, foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. Now that verse is in chapter 22, and I want to show you several verses here, three verses, and then we'll finish up today. Proverbs 22 is where the foolishness is bound in the heart of a child. That's the verse for that. Proverbs 22, 15. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child. But the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. Look at 26, 11. Now, I hope this doesn't drive you crazy, this verse here, and I hope it doesn't cause any problems. As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly. You've watched the dog before. Why in the world would they do that? Can I tell you that they're not thinking about what they're doing? They're not going, I wonder how I can gross my owner out today. I know this does it every time. That's not what he's thinking. He doesn't think about it. It is in his nature, in his DNA to do it, and he does it. He goes back. Why? He says, hey, you never know. Might be something worth, you know, eating. He goes back to it. But what you say, that's disgusting. And truly it is. And then look at the rest of the verse. So a fool returneth to his folly. How is that not disgusting? Well, it's what I like. That's why it's not disgusting. If someone were to look in your life and see the things that you continue to do and go back to and go back to, they would be disgusted. They would say, that is disgusting. How can you do that? You're not thinking about it. You're doing it because it's in your nature to do it. I can't help myself. I can't help myself. No one ever said that you had to help yourself. You need to let God help you. This is what He said. Don't do it. Don't do it. But you see why it's so important for your kids to have the right path and start in life? To have the right character when they're kids? Why? Because it's harder as an adult to say no to myself. Especially when I'm a fool and I want to do it and no one is going to say no to me. I have to say no to myself. A dog, who's going to say... I'll tell you who's going to say no. Hey, dog, get away from that. That's disgusting. The dog doesn't care. It doesn't bother him a bit. And you know what's scary? It's that it doesn't bother you. Your foolishness doesn't bother you. You go back to it, and go back to it, and go back to it. And the Word of God is here to say, stop that. That is disgusting. Do not do that anymore. Hey, slap your jaws. Right? That's what the Holy Spirit does to us. That's what we need. But you watch, the kid has foolishness bound. What drives it from him? The rod of correction. The rod of correction. That gets it read, but if he keeps going, he still has that in his nature. And I want you to look at chapter 27, verse 22. And we'll close out here. Chapter 27 and verse 22. It says, Thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle. What does that mean? That's basically, you go to the Rx, you go to the Rite Aid, you see that bowl and the little stick they have in there? All right. That is the pestle is the thing you hold and the mortar is that bowl You could take this the fool put him in there and grind him grind him grind him grind him grind him grind him And nothing's going to happen. He's going to continue being a fool There are some people in this world that keep going. They never got corrected as kids. They never had any correction as young people and young adults. They never got it. They never got it in midlife. They keep going and going. It doesn't matter how much stuff happens in their life, how many bad things befall them, how many of their kids get pregnant or go to jail, or how many wrecks they get in for drunk driving. They just keep going and going and going and you can't get the foolishness out of them. It's not going to happen. And to me, that's a very fearful thing to think about the future. Unless I control myself, oh I've got it all right, I can handle it, no problem at all. There's coming a day when you will not be able to disconnect your foolishness from you if you continue down that trail. Now I know you've got the remote right now, but there's coming a day when you will not use the remote. You will not use that button that says off about anything in your life that's foolish. You won't say it. You won't do it. You won't say, get away. Why? Because it's connected to you. It is who you are. It is who you are. And if you ever stopped doing it, you would die. You'd be done. That's why, Lord, break my heart. Lord, judge me. See if there be any wicked way in me. Because I know, amen, Brother Truby? I know. There's things in my heart and my life that are wrong. I know there are. And you know what also I know? I know that I lie to myself about those things. And so therefore, how am I going to get this thing fixed if I know it's wrong, but I also know I'm not going to do anything about it? How am I going to fix this thing? I've got to come to God and say, God, I'm a fool. I am a straight up fool, and I need your help. Lord, if I'm not willing to get rid of this thing, I ask you to make me willing to get rid of this thing. and just have 9-1-1 on speed dial. Be ready. God will help you. God will help you. You don't have to live like a fool. I encourage you as we end this whole session here to look in your own heart and see who you are, where you are, what you are. Think about it. Are you a fool? Are you a simple person? Are you a wise person? Are you a scorner? In your relationships, in your habits that you have in your work, place, all these things. Where are you? And ask God. And again, you might be a little bit of this and a little bit of that. We need to go to the Lord and say, Lord, I need your help. You are made unto me wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. I need the life of Jesus Christ. My life is not worth a whole lot. Amen? And I believe the Lord will help you with that. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Father, we're grateful to you today for this scripture again to remind us and correct us and bring us back again. I pray that you'd bless the service to follow, help us to be