So, I want to start this night by just looking at a couple different things here in Proverbs
chapter 14, and if you notice while I was reading, it talks a lot about fools in this
chapter.
You know, the book of Proverbs actually addresses fools quite a bit, but it says several different
things in here.
For instance, in verse 3 it says,
And the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride.
So it tells us a lot about the different characteristics about the foolish people, and one of them
is that they are very proud people.
And often when you find a very proud person, you know, you find somebody who's very proud.
And very proud people are people who really can't be told anything.
They're the type of people, you can't teach them anything, they already kind of know everything.
And it's unfortunate, especially when they are unsaved people, and we'll look at it here
in a minute, but even, it's even unfortunate that many saved people can even live as fools
or have a foolish mentality.
But it's especially sad when it's an unsaved person who is, you know, hardened and lifted
up in pride against the word of God, and they scorn and they mock the word of God.
And if you would look there in Proverbs chapter 14 verse 6, it says,
A scorner seeketh wisdom, and findeth it not.
So here you have somebody perhaps that wants to have wisdom, they're seeking wisdom, but
because they're a scorner, because they're somebody who mocks and ridicules, because
they're somebody who thinks they already kind of know everything, that you can't really
teach them anything, they're not going to find it.
You know, wisdom is found of people that have a humble attitude, people that are seeking
it for the right reason, people who are willing to accept the truth for what it is.
And scorners, you know, they don't even recognize the truth often when they see it.
We'll sometimes, you'll see this when we go out, you know, I'm talking to the evening
crowd, so I'm talking, you know, primarily here tonight to soul winners, you know, we'll
go out and we'll knock on these doors and we'll present the truth to somebody.
And you know, the truth's right in front of their face, they have an opportunity to
hear it, they're this close to hearing the gospel, but because they're scorners, because
they're mockers, they're not going to find it.
You know, their pride and their scorn is going to keep them from understanding and wisdom,
and especially from the knowledge and understanding that comes with salvation, the knowledge of
salvation.
It's unfortunate.
But here's the thing, you know, God doesn't give understanding to people who know it all.
And this is something we got to guard against in our life, is reaching this point in our
Christian life where we think, well, we've just got it all figured out now.
You know, we've been around long enough and we understand everything and you can't teach
us anything new.
You know, we get this know-it-all mentality, you know, God's not going to reveal any more
truth to a person like that, a person who thinks that they, I mean, what are you going
to teach the guy who knows it all, right?
And that's what scorners are.
They seek wisdom, but they find it not.
They can look and look and look, but because of their attitude, because of their pride,
because of the way they feel about how they know everything, they're not going to find
it.
And if you would, keep something Proverbs 14 and go over to Proverbs chapter one, Proverbs
chapter one, because here's the thing, God doesn't give understanding to people who know
it all.
And sometimes the people who act like they, you know, they've got it all figured out and
they know everything are some of the biggest fools you'll ever meet.
And look here in Proverbs chapter one and verse 24, it says, because I have called and
he refused, I stretched out my hand and no man regarded.
So it's, they don't find it.
It's the reason why the scorner does not find wisdom is not because it's hidden.
It's not because truth isn't available.
It's not because God isn't, you know, as he says, they're stretching out his hand.
It's because they have refused.
It's because they said, no, I don't need that.
And we know, it reminds us of, you know, the reprobates of Romans chapter one, where it
says that, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has showed
it under them.
You know, God reveals himself, because the Bible says that he lighteth every man that
cometh into the world.
And it says that for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and
Godhead, so that they are without excuse, you know, nobody's going to have the excuse
of, well, I didn't know.
I wasn't, I didn't know if there was a God.
The Bible says it's evident.
The Bible says that he is stretching out his hand.
The problem with the scorner is they don't regard.
They call, he calls, they refuse.
He stretched out, he stretched out their hand and they do not regard it.
They say, I already got this figured out.
They're proud, they're scorners.
The Bible says in Proverbs 19 verse one, the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament
showeth his handiwork.
I mean, we can look at the stars, we can look at the heavens and it's obvious that there's
a creator and people have to talk themselves out of that.
They have to go to some textbook.
They have to go to some, you know, a school or someplace where somebody can sit them down
and teach them a bunch of lies and try to, you know, convince them that there is no God.
But if we, in just a simple innocence, just a simple, humble faith, look at the stars,
how can there not be a creator when we consider, you know, the complexity of creation and so
on and so forth.
The Bible says in Psalms 19 verse two, day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night
showeth knowledge.
There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.
Look, nobody has the excuse of saying, well, I didn't know.
Their line is going out through all the earth, their words unto the end of the world.
I mean, creation just testifies to everybody that there is a God.
I know before I got saved, and I've probably shared the story up here before, but I remember
I spent many nights and I was living in the Caribbean looking up at those magnificent
skies at night, just filled with stars, like, you know, because when you get away from all
the light pollution, man, it's just, it's breathtaking, right?
Is that not a word I'm supposed to use?
There I said it.
I saved your brother.
I used it right from the pulpit.
It's breathtaking.
Okay.
Because it is.
You know, it's something you, you, you step back and you're just, you behold those stars
and you're in wonder, you're in, you're in amazement and you feel very small, right?
And that's what the Bible is saying here in Psalms 19 is that the heavens declare the
glory of God, that nobody has this excuse, that anybody who wants to reject God and say,
there is no God, you know what they are, they're a scorner, they're a fool and they're full
of pride.
And here's the thing.
People reap from God, what they sow from God.
That's a very true statement.
The Bible says you reap what you sow, you know, if we sow to the flesh, we all the flesh
reap corruption.
But if we sow to the spirit, we shall have the spirit reap life everlasting.
You're there in Proverbs one still.
Uh, I'm sorry, you should be back in Proverbs.
Yeah.
Proverbs chapter.
Uh, is that right?
Let me, let me just double check.
I'm going to.
Yes.
Proverbs chapter one.
Let me just make sure that I didn't mess that up by notes.
Proverbs chapter one.
I'm going to be looking at, uh, verse 25, but he has set at not all my counsel and would
none of my reproof.
I also will laugh at your calamity.
God says, you want to reject me?
You want to mock me?
You want to scorn me?
Well, I'm going to, you know, you're going to reap what you sown.
I'm just going to do the same thing to you.
When your calamity comes, I will mock when your fear cometh.
When your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress
and anguish come upon you, then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer.
And they, and they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me for they hated knowledge.
They were scorners or mockers and did not choose the fear of the Lord.
They would none of my counsel.
It's not that God wasn't reaching out.
It wasn't that God had made it evident that he existed.
It wasn't that God wasn't stretching out his hand.
It's that they just refused and refused and refused and rejected and rejected and rejected.
But finally, God said, fine.
And when your fear and your calamity and your destruction comes, I'm going to do the same
thing right back to you.
And that's some, that's a, you know, that's a chilling, you know, it's a chilling aspect
of God's nature that a lot of people don't want to, want to pretend this isn't there
and that it's not, that's not how God works.
But that's what the Bible is saying here, that you can reach a point with God where
he just is not going to listen.
He said they would none of my counsel.
He was there to counsel.
He wanted, they despised all my proof.
He reproved, he worked, he ministered, but they rejected and rejected and rejected.
So people reap from God what they sow from God.
And you say, well, I don't know if that's right.
I don't think if I agree with that, that God would do that to somebody.
But here's the thing.
God is justified to keep the truth from fools.
I mean, what good is it going to do him anyway?
What good is it to give truth to a fool?
What's he going to do with it?
Nothing.
He's too proud.
He's too puffed up.
He's too much of a know-it-all to do anything good with it anyway.
So why would God give it to a person like that?
He giveth grace unto the humble, the Bible says.
And God is justified to keep the truth from fools.
And I would go even further than that and say that fools and mockers and scoffers, these
type of people, they all deserve what they have coming.
They deserve it.
When God does all these things, when he refuses to hear from them, when he laughs at their
calamity, say, man, that sure doesn't sound very nice of God.
But they deserve what they have coming.
They're reaping what they've sown.
If you're there in Proverbs chapter 14, I believe,
No, that's not right.
The Bible says somewhere in Proverbs, I'm not sure where I got this note, but it says
therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices
for the turning away of the simple shall slay them and the prosperity of fools shall destroy
them.
They deserve what they have coming.
But on the same token, in the same way, so do the meek, so do the humble, so do the believing.
They also deserve what they have coming, don't they?
He said, whosoever hearkeneth unto me, I believe this is Proverbs chapter 1, shall dwell safely
and shall be quiet from fear of evil.
Yes, that's where it was.
Proverbs 31, 1 verse 31.
Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices
for the turning of the way of the simple shall slay them and the prosperity of fools shall
destroy them.
Look, the fools, the mockers, the scoffers deserve what they have coming to them.
But so do those that hearkeneth unto me.
They shall dwell safely, it says in verse 33.
They shall be quiet from fear of evil.
Why?
Because they were the ones that when God reproved, when God stretched out his hand, when God
gave his counsel, they were the ones that were humble enough and meek enough to receive
it and to apply it to their lives.
They weren't scoffers, they weren't mockers, they weren't fools.
When God was willing to help and do all these things for them, they were willing to receive
it.
And so, this is all introduction, but what I'm leading up to is this, is that we should
not feel sorry for the fools of this world.
You know, sorry Mr. T, don't pity the fool.
I almost wrote that down, I was like, we shouldn't pity fools, and like instantly I
just saw that, and I'm like, man, some of that stuff just gets in there and it's ingrained,
you know, thanks a lot, you know, but it's true, you know, Mr. T was wrong.
Don't pity the fool, you know, we should not feel sorry for them.
They deserve what they have coming to them, whether it's, you want to talk about if somebody
rejecting God, rejecting Christ all the way to hell, God, they still deserve hell.
And that's the fact, we all do.
It's just that some of us are humble enough and meek enough to receive Christ as Savior.
Whether that's even a saved person who's just rejecting counsel, rejecting reproof, rejecting
all the help that's being offered to them through the preaching the Word of God and
so on and so forth, and they begin to reap what they've sown in their life, I'm not going
to sit back and feel sorry for that person.
They've reaped what they've sown.
And here's the title of the sermon tonight, is Flee from Fools.
Flee from Fools.
You know, people want to sit around too often and just get a soft spot for foolish people,
for scorners, for mockers, for scoffers when the Bible says we should flee from them.
You're there in Proverbs chapter 14, where we started tonight.
The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 14, let's go back to verse 6 again,
A scorner seeketh wisdom, and fineth it not.
Why? Why does he not find it?
Not because it's not there, it's because he can't receive it, or that God has hidden it from him.
But knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth.
Verse 7, Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips
of knowledge.
You know what that tells me?
One thing about this is that fools like to talk.
Fools like to run their mouth.
They like to tell everybody everything that they think they know.
There was another verse that came to mind, I'm trying to find it right now.
Fools like to talk.
That's why it says, again, to flee from him when thou perceivest not, go from the presence
of a foolish man when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge.
The lips of knowledge.
A mouth that's going to speak right things and teach true things and teach biblical things.
When the guy that is a fool is just spouting off foolishness and saying dumb, stupid things,
we're to flee from that person.
It's pointless to sit there and try to debate that individual.
To try and engage them in some kind of dialogue.
Because they're a fool.
And they are a know-it-all half the time.
That's what makes them so foolish.
The Bible says in verse 33, Wisdom resteth in the heart of him that hath understanding,
but that which is in the midst of fools is made known.
A fool can't keep it in.
They can't keep it in.
They have to let everybody know how much they think they know, or how much they've got figured
out and how much you don't know.
The Bible says that counsel in the heart of man is like deep water, but a man of understanding
will draw it out.
It's like going to a well and having to lower the bucket and get that water and pull it
up.
It takes effort.
You don't just walk by the well and it just spits water at you.
That's what understanding is like in a truly wise person.
They're not a lawn sprinkler.
Everybody that walks by is going to get some.
That's a fool.
The wise man, the wisdom's there, but if you want to find out what that guy knows or that
lady knows, you're going to have to go to them, talk to them, and draw that out.
And even then you might not get it because a lot of times that person is going to ask
themselves a wise person is going to say, is this even going to benefit them?
Am I just wasting my time even telling them what I know and what I've learned?
But it says to go from the presence of a foolish man when thou perceiveth not in him the lips
of knowledge.
Fools, they like to talk.
A perfect example of this is Facebook.
I'm not going to get up here and pound my chest and pontificate and act like I'm some
holy guy because I'm down on Facebook.
I have a Facebook account, people.
I'm on there.
Some of you are my friends on Facebook.
So here's the thing, I'm not against Facebook.
There's a lot of good things, but you know what?
There's a lot of foolishness on Facebook.
There's a lot of just fools just running their mouth, acting like they know everything.
They've got it all figured out and they just like to talk.
The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 10 verse 19, it says, in the multitude of words there
wanteth not sin.
In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin.
You know the dangerous things about just letting your mouth just start to run, just getting
on there and just clickety-clack, clickety-clickety-clack, post, post, post, and just getting in a conversation
with somebody and just letting whatever comes to mind just start to flow out is eventually
sinful things will start to come.
If you listen to a fool long enough, they're going to tell you all that's in their heart
and you're going to hear the sin come out.
You're going to hear everything that's in their heart just come flowing out of their mouth.
Because again, because why?
Because that which is in the midst of a fool is made known.
They can't keep it in.
Earther.
Flat Earther is what I said.
So you got Flat Earthers in your church?
I don't know, but I guarantee you it won't be long before you find out because they're
like people who run marathons or they're like vegans.
They got to tell somebody.
They just can't keep it in.
That's what a fool is.
And you know, of course, we'd apply this a lot to the unsaved, the foolishness of the
unsaved to reject God or reject the Bible, but even saved people can be fools.
And that's really unfortunate because a saved person who's indwelt by the Holy Spirit, maybe
is even a member of a good local church, has the Bible, has the ability to read these things
and to understand them.
They have, you know, wisdom is just right there at their fingertips.
So it's so unfortunate when you see a saved person just become a fool and just say foolish
things and just live their life like a fool.
The Bible says in Ecclesiastes chapter five, it says, keep thy foot when thou goest to
the house of God and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools.
So that tells me right there that it's possible to go to the house of God and give the sacrifice
of a fool.
For they consider not that they do evil.
Be not rash with thy mouth.
So what's he addressing here?
He's talking about the mouth.
Be not rash with thy mouth.
Let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything before God.
For God is in heaven and thou upon the earth, let thy words be few.
Now, I love sermons like this because after the church service, everyone's just going
to be quiet and go home.
Everyone's just going to get real stoic and just be like, I'm too wise to speak.
I'm not saying we can't have fellowship and talk and joke and get to know each other and
ask everyone how it's, you know, that kind of talk, but we don't want to just go to church
and just start running our mouth about things that we think we know we don't know anything.
Because there's a lot of this, you know, people want to just put themselves out there
as some, you know, a wise one and it just becomes evident very quickly that this person
is a fool.
And here's the thing about wisdom, you know, truly wise people, they don't have to tell
you that they're wise.
They don't have to wear a, you know, a name tag that says, hello, my name is a wise guy
or whatever.
You know, they don't have to go around making a show of it, letting everyone know if you
need any advice on any area of life, I'm your guy.
You know, I've been saved so many years, I've been in church so many years, I read the Bible
so many times.
So if there's anything you need help with, you know, just come see me, you know, I'll
pencil you in.
You know, that's a very arrogant, puffed up attitude.
But that's sometimes the attitude that you'll find is that even among saved people, you
know, it's like the guy who wants to tell you how humble he is, right?
You know, I wrote a book, The World's Three Most Humble Men and How I Met the Other Two.
You know, I highly suggest it, you know, it'd be a great help to your spiritual walk.
But truly wise people, they don't even have to tell you, you know, we can just look at
that person, at their life, you know, we can consider the end of their conversation and
say, this person has wisdom, or this person, you know, is lacking wisdom in an area.
And look, nobody's perfect.
Nobody in this room is, you know, couldn't stand more wisdom in some area or another.
And we all need that.
We all need to constantly growing, you know, constantly having to be even reminded of things
that we might have once known.
You know, we were wise about something at one point, but you know, the years went by,
that situations changed.
And those things, you know, escape us.
And we have to be reminded once again with be put in remembrance of those things, though
we once knew them, as Paul said.
So truly wise people, they don't have to tell you that they are, you know, true wisdom.
Because here's the thing about a wise person, you only know that about a person, when that
wisdom has been put to the test, when you actually see them have to exercise that wisdom
in life.
You know, it's, the Bible says in James chapter three, who is a wise man and a dude with knowledge
among you, let him stand up and raise his hand and tell the whole church that he is
that man.
Is that what it says?
In James three, it says, let him show out of a good conversation, his works with meekness
of wisdom.
We should be able to look at a person's life and see, you know, their works that they do
meekly for the right motives and say, this person has wisdom in this area.
You know, soul winning is just an example that just keeps coming up.
But I think it's just, it's a great one with, you know, we could go to, you know, a person
who's been soul winning and see what, you know, learn from that person.
You know, we could, we could see their conversation, how do they do what they do out there?
And we could learn from them and every, you know, that goes for everybody, you know, and
it's not just, you know, how does, how does brother Corbin do it or whatever, you know,
there's lots of things that I go soloing with people.
I was just telling my, you know, brother Andrew, we were out soloing today and I was just telling
him, he said, Hey, I liked what you said there on that part of your, your gospel presentation
or something like that.
And I said, yeah, I got that from somebody else.
It was a verse I've been using and then I heard somebody else use that.
I said, man, I'm going to use that.
You know, so we can get that kind of wisdom from anybody, you know, anybody that has been
out there doing what?
The work, you know, and has the meekness.
Because here's the thing, fools, you know, who have no wisdom, they're often the people
that like to give advice in all areas of life, especially the areas that they have failed
at.
You know, the one, the ones that have just made a complete mess of their life in some
area, you know, they're going to go around and tell everybody else how to do it right.
And this is, this is classic.
You see this all the time.
People have failed at marriage.
Let me give you marriage advice.
People that have failed at child rearing.
Let me give you child rearing advice.
People who don't go soul winning.
You guys aren't doing it right.
Let me tell you how to do it.
You know, people who don't preach.
Let me tell you how you ought to be preaching.
You know, you see that on the YouTube comments and things like that.
People want to give wisdom, you know, that one, isn't asked for, and two, really isn't
even wisdom.
It's just them and their pride and their arrogance and being puffed up, just spouting, whatever.
You know, usually it's about areas that they themselves have failed at.
And when you see that, when you see a person who's just, you know, insisting that they've
got this area all figured out that they're the expert, that they know how to do it, that
they're, you know, nobody else can do it better.
I'm the, you know, I'm the guy to talk to about this.
That usually comes from what's called a need to persuade.
Why is it that people have to just go to somebody and say, oh, you're raising your kids all
wrong.
Let me show you.
Let me tell you all about it, how to actually raise children, you know, and their kids are
running around like, you know, devils or whatever, or they completely failed in this area.
It's because they have a need to persuade themselves that they haven't failed.
And what is that?
It's pride.
It's arrogance.
You know, the best time, sometimes the best thing to do is to just keep quiet.
Sometimes the best thing to do is just to lay your hand upon your mouth.
If you're in Proverbs, go to Proverbs chapter 17.
I'm going to shut down all the fellowship after church tonight.
No one's going to say nothing.
All you're going to hear after the service is just cars starting, right?
Proverbs chapter 17 verse 28, even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise.
Because again, it's his lips, it's his mouth that gives him away.
So even if a fool, if he learns to just be quiet, you know, he could fly under the radar
and can people, you ever hear that saying, you know, still waters run deep, you know,
quiet people are usually very, you know, they're always, people say, oh, there must be very
wise, you know, very contemplative, maybe they just haven't figured out what to say.
I don't know that I really believe that one.
You know, I heard one guy say, I don't trust anybody that doesn't talk.
Well, you got to kind of be wondering what's going on up there, you know, but he's saying
here, look, when he holdeth his peace, he is counted wise.
And he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.
Go to Proverbs chapter 30, Proverbs chapter 30, verse 32.
You know, I don't want to, I guess I just kind of, I wrote this and I didn't really,
you know, didn't really have anything in particular mind, but kind of the light of some things
that have taken place, you know, online the last couple days, you know, and just keep
thinking about Facebook, how much this would just apply to social media today.
And the Bible says, if thou hath done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or thou hast thought
evil, lay thine hand upon thy mouth.
You know, sometimes people just need to stop talking.
They just need to stop.
They just, you know, if people find themselves where they've, they've, they've, they've said
something stupid, you know, they've given bad advice.
They've kind of gotten themselves into a corner with their mouth.
They painted themselves in a corner.
What's he saying here?
If thou has done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or thou hast thought evil, lay thine hand
upon thy mouth.
I mean, that's, that's a real gentle way of saying, shut up.
You know, it's a real, you know, poetic saying of, you know, shut it, basically lay thine
hand upon thy mouth.
Sometimes the best thing to do is to just keep quiet.
And that's why we don't have to go around trying to right every wrong, you know, especially
in this area, you know, of social media.
And you know, I don't want to harp on it.
But it's, it's just a fact of, it's a major part of our lives now that we didn't ask for
social media.
It's part of our life, whether we like it or not.
And we can limit it and things like that.
But it can really have a lot, it can have a very negative impact on us if we let it.
But let's move on here.
It says, you know, the point of the sermon tonight is to flee from fools.
Don't bother wasting your time with some bozo on the internet.
You know, I've said it before, and I'll say it again, you know, I appreciate it, but I
don't need anybody coming to my defense on, on, you know, social media.
And I get, I've seen people do it, and I've done it myself in the past, when people have
attacked my past, you know, Pastor Anderson, God, who do you know, blah, blah, blah, try
and correct him.
And then I realized pastors probably just, he's probably okay.
You know, he's probably all right with the criticism.
You know, if somebody is going to attack me over, I don't know what, you know, it's probably
my weight, if anything.
Actually, actually, what they go after the most, right?
We just chalk it up as little guy syndrome, that's what us big guys do.
But, you know, I don't need everybody going on there, hey, you need to leave brother Corbin
alone or this or that, you know, it's, a lot of times we're not even, you know, listening
to these people.
And it really is just a waste of time.
It's just a waste of time to try and go and, you know, argue with the fool, argue with
somebody who's not going to receive correction, because it'll just waste your time.
You know, the Bible says in Proverbs 14, 23, in all labor there is profit, but the talk
of the lips tendeth only to penury, you know, being poor.
You miss out on a lot.
Well, you know, you know, you're not a profitable person if all we're doing is just talking
and arguing, especially when you're just arguing with fools.
You know, I delete a lot of emails and voicemails that come into the church and say, why do
you do that?
Because a lot of it's coming from people who are just fools, that just want to argue over
dumb things, that would just want to say stupid things, you know, and it would be a real waste
of time.
It'd be a real misappropriation of church funds for me to sit there and respond to every
dumb email and every stupid voicemail that people, and I'm not saying there aren't ones
that come in that are legitimate and you want to help and we respond and all of that,
but I'm telling you there's a lot of people out there that are fools, you know, and modern
technology, as wonderful as it is, has unfortunately also given a platform to a lot of people that
would otherwise just have to be, the only people who would know how stupid they are
are their immediate family and their whatever friends they have and whatever people that
are unfortunate enough to work with them.
So you're being harsh.
It's the truth though.
But now that they, you know, now that there's the internet and everything else, now every
fool can just get on there and just, you know, let, you know, what does it say again?
That which is in the midst of a fool is made known.
They can just go out there and just make it known to the world.
I am a fool.
You know, don't listen to fools.
Don't waste your time with them.
All fools want to do is strive.
They love to just strive with people because again, you have to remember, a fool thinks
that they're right and you're wrong and they're so proud and they're scoffers and they cannot
be corrected that, you know, they think they've got it all figured out.
They would love to just get it in, get in with you, get into it with you so they can
just show everybody how much smarter they are in their mind.
Okay.
Go to Proverbs 18 verse six, you say you're being hard on the fools, not nearly as hard
as the Bible is.
The Bible's got a lot of negative things about, say about foolish people and people who are
fools.
Look at Proverbs 18 verse six, a fool's lips enter into contention.
You know, contention, strife, arguing, debate.
That's what a fool's lips do.
It's all he wanted to talk about.
And what is the Bible's remedy?
And his mouth call it for strokes.
And he's not talking about, you know, joining the rowing team, stroke, stroke, no one gets
that.
Okay.
He's talking about, you know, he needs to get smacked in the mouth.
That's what he's saying there.
A fool's lip enter into contention as mouth call it for strokes.
A fool's mouth is his destruction and his lips are the snare of his soul.
That's some harsh language about fools, but it's the truth that their lips enter only
into contention.
So it doesn't make any sense to sit there and argue with fools to get in debate with
people.
I'm not saying you can't have, you know, a conversation with somebody that has a different
opinion than you or a different point of view and, and, and have a discussion where you
both, you know, you profit from it where it's not just as heated, you know, arguing or it's
not just a bunch of name calling or something where people who have two different points
of view can talk and actually, you know, at least make the other person understand where
they're coming from.
You know, I'm not saying you can't have profitable discussions with somebody you disagree with,
but do you think that's, I'll tell you what, that is not the majority of what's taking
place on Facebook and everywhere else.
You know, I say Facebook the most because I'm, I guess I'm old now and only old people
use Facebook.
So that's why I keep using that one.
That's not the majority of what's going on in social media.
People having just, you know, deep, meaningful conversations where, you know, though they
might have different opinions, they're both, you know, coming to a place of understanding
with one another.
A lot of it is just fools entering into contention with their mouth or with their fingertips.
You know, in another place, again, that, that we, you know, it says a fool's mouth is his
destruction and his lips are the snare of his soul.
You know, that just makes me think about, you know, the person that we see out soul-winning,
the person who's, you know, just so proud at the door.
You know, we ran, we ran, you know, we ran into that guy last week who wanted to, he
would listen, but he, you remember that?
Oh yeah, go ahead and tell me, tell me what you know, and he just wants to start arguing.
You know, his whole demeanor was just, let me talk, and he let me talk just long enough
to where he could like, all right, I'm going to jump in now and tell you everything that
I know and how I made all these other Christians look foolish and when, you know, attempting
to do that to me as well, but he failed.
But because I didn't get upset, I was able to just walk away and say, have a nice day.
Right.
But you know what, that dummy at the door, that, that foolish, proud person, he's his
own destruction and it's unfortunate.
And rather than entering the contention with them and saying, well, let me tell you why
you're wrong and, you know, explain all that.
You know, they're, they are their own worst enemy.
Their, their, their mouth is their destruction and their lips are the snare of their soul.
Oh, I already know it.
I already read it.
I already know what the Bible says.
No, no, thanks.
You know, I already got that figured out.
I don't believe that, but you know, they're just scoffing, mocking, and you know, in the
flesh we go, well, let me just prove you wrong and why the Bible is right and let me get
into it with you.
Because you're not doing it, you're not accomplishing anything, whether it's at the door or online
or wherever, you're not going to accomplish anything except enter into contention with
somebody who cannot be corrected.
Go over to 2 Timothy chapter 2.
The Bible says in 2 Timothy chapter 2, I'll begin reading verse 23, but foolish and unlearned
questions avoid.
Foolish and unlearned questions avoid.
It doesn't say, you know, when you come across a foolish and unlearned question, sit down
and try and straighten that person out and show them the error of their ways.
That says avoid them.
Depart from a fool when thou perceiveth not and hand the lips of understanding.
Avoid foolish questions, foolish and unlearned questions, knowing they do gender strife.
A fool's lips, you know, enter into contention.
You see how it's all tying together?
It's just over and over again.
He's saying, look, it's unlearned questions.
Avoid them.
They just gender strife.
That's all they're there to do.
They just want to ask these questions or put these arguments out there.
You know, if you misquote the word of God, is it still the word of God?
Oh, man, that's deep.
It's so deep I can't even understand what you're getting at.
Well, if you misquote the word of God, is it the word of God anymore?
Oh, man, I mean, my faith was shaken.
I had to go home and pray and read my whole Bible cover to cover in one sitting and just
really, you know, question things.
No, it's a foolish, unlearned question that's all the only point of the being asked that
question at the door by that fool, quite frankly, was to gender strife to enter into
contention with me.
And the servant of the Lord, verse 24, must not strive.
He'll be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient.
He must be gentle unto all men, even the fool.
I mean, it says all men.
So how do you be gentle unto a fool?
You just leave him to his foolishness.
Just let him be a fool.
Let him let his lips be his own destruction.
Let his lips be his own snare to his soul.
You know, beating him up is not going to accomplish anything.
You know, harping on him, getting after him.
It's not going to accomplish anything.
Go over to Proverbs chapter 27, Proverbs chapter 27.
I woke up with this verse on my mind this morning.
And after having written a sermon and not really knowing where it would fit in, but
now it's kind of making sense to me, is that, you know, we shouldn't,
we should avoid foolish, unlearning questions.
We shouldn't get into contentions with these fools wherever we find them in life.
Online, at the door, wherever.
Some fool just wants to enter into contention.
The Bible says to avoid them because they gender stripes and to be gentle unto all men.
And the best way you can be gentle unto a fool is to avoid them.
Because we think, well, if we get after, if we find a fool, maybe we could correct them,
and we can instruct them, and we could show them, and we could teach them something,
and they could stop being a fool.
That's not the case.
You can't, a lot of fools, I mean, I mean, you could work on a child when foolishness
is bound in the heart of a child with the rod of correction to still drive it far from him.
But it comes a point where if that hasn't happened in a person's life,
if they go on and there's God's grace and God's mercy and all that,
I understand that, but a lot of people, they've never had that foolishness dealt with from a child.
And it's, I'm telling you, it's just ingrained in who they are.
They're not going to change.
They're too foolish to change.
Look at Proverbs chapter 27 verse 22.
Though thou shouldest bray a fool in mortar among wheat with a pestle,
yet his foolishness will not depart from him.
Now a mortar among, it says bray him with a mortar with a pestle, right?
We all know what mortar and pestle is.
You ever seen a little bowl with the thing where you can grind,
you know, grains and powders and things like that?
He's saying, look, if you could take a fool somehow,
and you could put that fool in there and grind him to powder,
and then maybe you could go, well, here's the foolishness and just, you can't.
Because I believe what that's showing us is that you cannot correct a fool.
Because it reaches a point with some people, they've become so foolish,
and it's just so ingrained, it's the very fiber of their being.
It's just, you just went from having a whole fool to a powdered fool.
You know, it's fool, just add water now.
You know, just pour this fool in your drink and down it.
That's what it's showing us here, I believe,
is that, look, you could grind them down to just the most base form,
and you still can't separate that foolishness out of them.
That's why the best thing, the best way a servant of the Lord should treat a fool
is to just leave them alone, to just depart.
Just leave them to their foolishness and let them run their mouth.
You know, and I keep bringing it up with the social media thing,
you know, and YouTube comments.
You should just drive me crazy when I would see these scoffers and these mockers come on,
you know, Pastor Anderson's channel just start railing
and running their mouth and saying stupid things.
And it's like they, and here's the thing, they come in like waves.
Then I realized there would be like, you'd get to know certain avatars and certain names,
you'd know who they were online, and eventually, you know, they'd fade away.
Like, because now I'm going back through sermons that are six years old, seven years old,
and making the clips, and I'm going back, sometimes I'll look at the comments,
I'll be like, I remember that fool.
Man, I haven't heard from him in a few years.
Oh, I remember that, that scoffer.
Where are they now?
You know, they just disappear, and then a whole other wave comes through.
And they think, oh, we're the first ones to do this, but they've never heard this one before.
You know, oh, got them now.
And then after a few years, they're gone, and the next wave comes in.
So what good would it do to sit there and just beat your head against the wall,
trying to fix a fool who can't be fixed, just to have him disappear and a brand new one come in.
You got to start all over again.
Look, the servant Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men.
Now, apt to teach, pacing, and meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves,
if God, pre-adventure, will give them repentance, the acknowledging of the truth.
Look, there's some people that you can instruct in meekness.
You know, but it's not the fools.
There are some people that you can reach that, you know,
they're opposing themselves, but they're just lost people.
You know, they want to hear, they want to know the truth.
They're open to it.
They're not foolish, they're not scoffers, they're not full of pride.
You know, and you can teach those people.
You know, even save people.
You know, Christians that, you know, they've come to a place in their life where they realized,
hey, I don't know everything.
I don't have it all figured out.
You know, and then they can receive instruction.
They can receive it.
So don't waste your time with fools.
Flee from fools, the Bible says.
That's the title of the sermon is to flee from them.
The Bible says,
where are we? Proverbs chapter 14.
We'll close it here.
I told you I was going to have a short sermon last week, and I think it was not.
So I'll try it.
I'm not, I don't know how long it's going to be tonight, but it will be a shorter one.
Proverbs chapter 14.
I don't know where it's at, but I lost my notes for sloppy.
But the Bible says in Proverbs, okay, it's in there.
You know, get your phone out after service if you don't believe me.
But it says the wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way.
The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way, but the folly of fools is deceit.
You should just leave these people alone.
They want to deceive.
They want to enter into contention.
That's their folly.
That's what makes them fools.
You know, we have enough on our plate as Christians.
We have enough on our plate as God-fearing people who want to raise our families,
win souls, serve in the local church.
We've got enough to do.
Look, we've all got enough to figure out for ourselves what's right, what's wrong.
You know, enough, we've got enough, how do I put this nicely?
We're all in need of wisdom ourselves.
We have enough to try and gain and learn and understand for our own life to sit there and
try to figure out how to get some fool to quit doing what they're doing or saying what they're
saying.
So just don't strive with them.
Just leave them meekly and just leave them there.
So let's just close it right there.
You know, let's flee from fools.