Okay, Proverbs chapter 25, it's part two now, we're looking from verse 16 today, so it's
Proverbs 25 and from verse 16 which is, has thou found honey, eat so much is this sufficient
for thee, lest thou be filled with it and vomit it, I'd like to pray and then we're
going to get started.
Father, thank you for your word, thank you for these next Proverbs we're going to look
at tonight, please help everyone to just have attentive ears and really pay attention to
them, to apply them to their lives, Lord, help me to preach all of these accurately,
boldly, full of your spirit, Lord, in a way that people will be able to really think about
them and understand them and focus upon them as they need to, Jesus name we pray, Amen.
So he said, has thou found honey, eat so much is this sufficient for thee, lest thou be
filled with it and vomit it, now first up here we've got a command for self-control
and specifically here when it comes to eating sweet things, okay, because there's something
about sweet things, isn't there, you can always eat a bit more, can't you, okay, and even
when it's a natural sugar like honey, even without adding that combination of fat and
salt which is sometimes a winner, isn't it, the sweet, the fat, the salt, you know, and
many things out there, that sweet sugary taste does make you want more, doesn't it, sweet
things make you want to eat more and even however full up you are, there's always one
for pudding, isn't there, always one for pudding, you know, I've got a lot of people here just
nodding here, thinking, yep, you got it, okay, that's just the truth, isn't it, okay, and
honey itself is actually pretty good for you, isn't it, okay, especially natural honey,
which here it's saying, honey, how's that found honey, so this is as pretty much as
natural as you can get, you just found it, right, and I'm guessing they haven't like
broken into their neighbour's bee farm or something, I think, you know, they found this
natural honey, it is, it's anti-inflammatory, it's antioxidant, it's full of minerals and
amino acids, it apparently might even fight cancer, okay, so there's all these benefits
of honey, but you can still have too much of that good thing, can't you, okay, even
a good thing like that, you can still have too much, verse 27 said it is not good to
eat much honey, this is verse 27, so for men to search their own glory is not glory,
so you can overdo it, and here in verse 16 it says that you could be filled and vomited,
and you can apply this, I think, to many, many other things, you can just apply this
to many things in life, that having more than is, having more than is sufficient or we would
maybe say adequate or appropriate, okay, there are many foods that you could just have more
than you should have, right, and there are things that you focus on, I mean, I would
say it's probably a little bit of an exaggeration, but there's an old saying, my grandmother
used to say this, everything in moderation, well, maybe there are some things you should
just avoid completely, but however, you know, we should be moderate, shouldn't we, we
want to be careful with these things, there are drinks that you could just have too much
of, like I think I was preaching last week, you know, we should really treat sort of sweet
drinks, fruit juices as a luxury that they're meant to be, right, in moderation, you start
overdoing those things, it's going to be bad for you, so how do we know what is sufficient
is, I think, listen to your body, and with sweet things, you need to be careful with
that because it's easy to, it kind of tricks your body, a lot of times with sweet things,
you don't really need things, you eat them anyway, but listen to your body, and something
I remember preaching years, a while back on biblical health is that there are hormones
in your body, satiety hormones that tell you when you fill up, things like leptin and others
that show you when you fill up, the problem is they're overridden by like fake foods,
false foods, by Frankenstein foods and things like that, but if you try and eat generally
more natural, normal foods, you don't stuff things down in a rush, you're not eating on
the go, you sit down, concentrate, you know, dwell on your food a bit, eat it, and you
start to feel when you shouldn't be eating anymore when you're full, things like that,
but also, okay, as much as you can apply this to different foods and drinks, as much as
you can apply it to really anything or many things in life, I think you can also apply
this to the word of God, which is often compared to honey in scripture, for example, Psalm
119 and verse 103 says, how sweet are thy words unto my taste, yea, sweeter than honey
to my mouth.
Psalm 19 says, the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever, the judgments of the Lord
are true and righteous altogether, more to be desired are they than gold, yea, they're
much fine gold, sweeter also than honey in the honeycomb, okay, we see this time and
time again, in Proverbs 24 we saw, my son eat thy honey because it is good and the honeycomb
which is sweet for thy taste, so shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul when
thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward and thy expectation not be cut off,
so those words are good, aren't they, the words of God are good, those words are sweet,
those are sweet words of God, but here in verse 16 it said, hast thou found honey, eat
so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith and vomited, which I
suppose could be applied firstly to salvation, okay, there are those that want to dive into
hard truths without salvation, don't they, and that ain't sufficient for people, the
rest of it's not really what they need, they need salvation first, so a lot of people,
they want to dive into all these different areas of the Bible without getting saved first,
the unsaved aren't going to get their heads around, for example, genocide in the Old Testament,
they just can't get their heads around that, right, or the pictures of Christ and all these
prophecies and things, they just can't really get that, they don't really understand it,
they're not going to get it, what they need is what's sufficient, they need what's sufficient
for them, what's sufficient for them is a gospel, isn't it, okay, it's a gospel, but
for us we need to remember that, remember that with unsaved family, friends, things
like that, sometimes you can just start going down rabbit holes and trying to teach them
all these doctrines in the Bible, it's like they just need to get saved, they need to
get saved really, but also after salvation, we're supposed to start off with the milk
of the word before moving on to the strong meat, aren't we, that's what we're supposed
to do, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3, 2, I have fed you with milk and not with meat,
for hitherto you were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able, so he's saying
to the Corinthian church that I fed you with milk because you're not ready for the strong
meat yet, and I think it's a good reminder when discipling people to start with the simpler
truths to build that doctrine, you can chase people away, it's not always the same for,
like some people, they even need, some people need to replicate doctrine to get saved, because
they just say, what on earth, you know, and then, but other people, they can't cope with
that at the beginning, right, other people, it takes time to get there, you know, newly
saved people, we're trying to, we should be teaching them the simple truths first, shouldn't
we, and we kind of, what we do in this church is we want to individually disciple, so when
you get someone saved, and you should be trying to, if possible, get in contact if you can,
try and individually disciple them, no, not everyone wants to be a disciple, but when
you do that, try and give them those truths, try and teach them the simple truths, rather
than, right, okay, great, you're saved, let's say, right, now you need to listen to this
complex sermon, or to this Bible study, and listen, look, if they come in, great, if they
come in church, great, but we need to be discipling them at the same time, don't we, and also,
and it does happen, and someone gets saved, and maybe they come into the church, I would
still, if it's your salvation, carry on discipling them, because, you know, I was thinking of
it the other day, you know, we, you know, for example, we have people that maybe just
come to it on a Wednesday night, but they're fairly newly saved, and they're listening
to sort of Isaiah, you know, kind of quite, they're quite deep Bible study, some of them,
aren't they, and, but they're not getting all the rest of that milk of the word, and
they need that milk of the word, you know, from, they need personal discipleship still,
don't they, because it's hard to get that, you know, I'm preaching to a whole church,
I'm not just preaching to the new believers, right, but trying to get that balance right,
trying to disciple people right, or what could be, what might happen, they might end up rejecting
the Christian life altogether, if, if they're just straight into what's not sufficient for
them, and that does happen, doesn't it, people can't take the hard truths of the Bible, and
then they reject whether, you know, and often that could be after salvation.
Verse 16 said, has thou found honey, eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou
be filled, there was a vomit here.
The lesson is just not to do, overdo things in life, right, to get that balance in life,
to not overdo, have things in moderation.
Verse 17, withdraw thy foot from thy neighbor's house, lest ye be weary of thee, and so hate
thee.
Now there's a saying in life, okay, that is one of the truths in this proverb, which is
familiarity breeds contempt, okay, that's a truth from this proverb as well, familiarity
breeds contempt, so too much time with someone, seeing all their flaws, which we do just start
to see people's flaws the more time you spend with them, the weaker sides of their personality,
you just start to pick up on, don't you, the more time you're with someone, can at the
least reduce respect, but worse still, it can result in contempt, can't it, okay, that's
something that we want to avoid, because, and often that happens, and there's a sad
truth to this as well, is it can happen when, as a result of too much pride, because what
we should do is just accept, yeah, we're all, you know, we've all got failings, we've all
got lackings, okay, don't have to have contempt for someone because they're not as perfect
as you might consider yourself to be, because none of us are the complete product, we all
have many failings, we all have many downsides to our personalities and everything else,
but it does, familiarity can breed contempt, which is one of, for example, the challenges
of marriage, okay, especially in the early days of living together, you know, if you
haven't lived with someone and then suddenly you're living with them, you're living with
this person that you've married, maybe you've got to know them well before, maybe you haven't,
you know, so or whatever it is, okay, it's learning to accept each other's faults, and
just learning to, yeah, look, we've got faults and you're not going to make everyone perfect
in your life, you know, you're not going to make your wife perfect, wives, you're not
going to make your husbands perfect, you married them as they are, and praise God if they can
grow and change everything else, but you've got to accept those faults, right, okay, and,
but beyond just familiarity, there are those that aren't your family that do impose too
much in your life, aren't they?
So beyond that, verse 17 said, Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour's house lest ye be
weary of thee and so hate thee.
And there are a couple of ways to apply this, okay, spending too much time with people can
often end up in a falling out of sorts, can't it?
You notice how if you look back to kind of best friends of the past, not many people
still have them now, do they?
And of course, if you're saved and you will ultimately grow apart from someone who's unsaved,
but even before that, a lot of people just take salvation out of it, before that, a lot
of people will not end up still best friends with people they were best friends with many
years before, and it's not just that they just grow apart, a lot of the time there's
a fallout, a lot of the time there's then a problem, there is some sort of issue that
comes from that, someone gets wary and they start hating, but even if you think maybe
you found a really suited friend you could apply verse 16, has thou found honey eat
so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith and vomited?
So basically don't overdo it, if you found someone and you're like, yeah, look, we get
on well, we've got a lot in common, just don't overdo it, okay, you could apply it to obviously
removing the proverbial foot, okay, to not forcing yourself into someone else's business
as well, okay, that's another way you could apply this proverb, giving, you know, some
people just give unwanted advice, unsolicited advice, okay, can be a problem for many, forcing
your ways on others, a lot of people do that, don't they, get to know them a little bit,
suddenly they want you to do everything your way, parent your way, live your way, eat your
way, drink, you know, just people try and do that a lot, their latest health fad, get
people like that who just, they've got a new health fad, everyone else has to do the same
for them, you know, they're putting their foot into your house, the latest cure, telling
them what they're doing wrong in various areas of the life and they're not really asking
for it, some people want advice, look, come to a church, you're going to hear it, but
just in general in our relationships, in our personal time with people, you shouldn't just
be trying to find faults to tell them about, right, withdraw your foot from their house,
right, he said, withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour's house lest he be weary of thee
and so hate thee, so learn not to give unsolicited advice, not to overstep boundaries, not to
become over-familiar with people, okay, try and get that balance right with it, so the
lesson for me is to respect each other's autonomy in life, okay, as a kind of, in a nutshell.
Verse 18, a man that beareth false witness against his neighbour is a maul and a sword
and a sharp arrow, now a maul is some sort of war hammer it seems, okay, sounds quite
cool, I always thought those were just things of movies, you know, because it just didn't
seem very practical, but apparently there is such thing as a sort of war hammer, yeah,
and basically the others, you know what they are, they're just all weapons, aren't they,
okay, these are all weapons, because bearing false witness is a weapon used to destroy
people, okay, it's a weapon, bearing false witness is lying about someone, being a false
witness, and that is a wicked thing to do, isn't it, to just purposely lie about someone,
to just basically say something happened that didn't, claim someone said something they
didn't say, that's bearing false witness, that's a wicked thing, right, and now some
might say, well do people really do this, it must be really rare, isn't it, it must
be a rare thing to do, no, it's really not, okay, we've had people stand up in this church
and just knowingly, wilfully bear false witness, full well, no full well, they're lying, stand
up, bear false witness, clear as you like, they knew, and praise God it got proved, right,
people do that stuff, right, people, we've had people sit in this church whilst anonymously
bearing false witness online, sit in the church, pretend they like the church whilst in the
background they're bearing false witness, we've had people get kicked out or leave this
church and then knowingly, wilfully bear false witness, either about me, my family, other
church members, the church as a whole, this is common, and you know what, it's common
the more you start, basically you're in the Christian life, you're doing things for God,
you're in the battle, this becomes more and more common, okay, and when it's so easily
disproven it should, okay, it should just expose these people for what they are, that's
what should happen, okay, because it's one thing to blurt something out in the heat of
the moment, and I'm just thinking about like the kind of online false witnesses, you get
all over the place, it's quite a more modern phenomenon, isn't it, right, but when you
sit there and type out lying and deceiving essays, that's just wicked, isn't it, I mean
how pathetic is that, and how wicked is that, how just obvious is that as well, it should
just be you should see stuff like that and go, wow, okay, that's pretty obvious, okay,
that's not normal, that's not like, that's just a bit of a fleshly thing, I just sort
of just like type out an essay of lies, you know, well we've also had people in the community
bear false witness about incidents about soul winning, so I've had that, you know, over
the years, emails come in and things, you know, contact forms claiming something happened
with our soul winners and other things, and then you talk to them, it's like, this is
a completely different story, and this is a common thing, right, and that's not to mention
all the many accounts of people bearing false witness against you in your personal lives,
in your jobs, in your families, it's common, right, it really is, sadly, and you will have
probably noticed, okay, that it did ramp up once you started living more for God, didn't
you? Once you started doing more for God, why? Because it's a weapon of the enemy, that's
what it's saying here, it's a weapon, it's a weapon used against us, but more specifically,
the person bearing false witness, it says here, is that weapon, notice that? A man that
beareth false witness against his neighbour is a maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow,
so false witnesses, okay, lying pieces of filth with no integrity are wielded by Satan
against God's people, that's the point here, they're the weapon being wielded in that spiritual
battle against us, to hinder us, to demoralise us, to turn the heads of the simple, so what
do we do? Well Matthew 5, 11, 12, 11 and 12 says to rejoice, it says, blessed are ye when
men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely
for my sake, said rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven for
so persecuted they the prophets which were before you, so rejoice, be exceeding glad
because your reward is great. You can leave that reminder sometimes, but that's what you've
got to focus on, yeah? When it happens to you and it's going to happen to you, whether
it's, you know, whether it's around a church, whether it's outside in your personal lives,
rejoice, rejoice because you will be getting rewarded or do you not trust that verse? And
sometimes it's hard, sometimes you forget, don't you, but try and rejoice, try and be
glad, be exceeding glad because you are getting rewarded by God for that, yeah? Great is your
reward in heaven, there's stuff waiting for you, you've been getting persecuted, you've
been thinking this is rough, like I've got people lying about and people saying that,
well, there's going to be rewards up there for you. It says a man that beareth false
witness against his neighbour is a maul and a sword and a sharp arrow, so the proverb
I think is a reminder of what these people are, weapons of the enemy and basically avoid
them at all costs as well, right? But when it does happen, like I said, you can rejoice,
right? Verse 19, confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth
and a foot out of joint, so this is a feeling that you get when you're let down by someone
that you were trusting to be faithful, okay? It's like toothache or a dislocated ankle,
basically very painful, okay? If you've had any of those things, they could be pretty
horrible pain, can't they? And it's something that you can't necessarily escape easily,
it's just very painful. And last week we looked at the blessings of someone faithful, Proverbs
25, 13 said, as the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to
them that sent him free, refreshest the soul of his masters. So now it's a curse of someone
unfaithful, okay? So rather than the blessings of a faithful person, it's a curse of the
unfaithful. And particularly if you trusted them, why is it so painful? Because you likely
didn't realise they were unfaithful, okay? Hence having confidence in them. So you put
confidence in them, otherwise why do you have confidence in them? You put confidence in
them because you didn't realise they were unfaithful, and now you're realising they're
unfaithful and, I mean, that's a bit disappointing. And then when the trouble, okay, the trouble,
maybe it's a slander from the previous verse, maybe it's self-induced. Maybe it's some
self-induced trouble of your own. Being let down, okay, that disloyalty by someone that
you did trust is like toothache or a dislocated ankle. Basically very painful. It's painful.
It hurts. You're like, what on earth? You know, I thought that person was sad. I had
some faith in that person. I thought they were loyal. And now look at them. So what's
the answer? Well, if like we looked at last week that faithful people are rare, Proverbs
20 verse 6 said, most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness, but a faithful man who can
find, you'd be silly to have your confidence in most people. Sadly, you'd be silly to
have utmost confidence in most people in life, because faithful people are rare. But if you're
sitting there thinking, for example, so first off, yeah, you could go, okay, well, I just
need to be careful having confidence, having, you know, kind of relying too much on most
people. But if you're sitting here thinking, yeah, but I can be a bit disloyal, right?
I can be a bit unfaithful. And the incentive of refreshing the soul of those that sent
you, like we saw last week, just isn't enough. It's not doing it for you. You're like,
yeah, well, whatever. Still, I don't find this easy. How about not wanting to be like
a broken tooth? Not wanting to be like a foot out of joint? How about not wanting
to hurt those that have put their trust in you? How about that? That's a good incentive,
isn't it? Not wanting to be some horrible pain to people that have put their trust and
faith in you. Just be loyal, just be faithful. He said, confidence in an unfaithful man in
time of trouble is like a broken tooth and a foot out of joint. So I think the Proverb
is a reminder to be careful about who you're relying on and be faithful to those that do
rely on you. Just be faithful, be loyal. Verse 20. As he that taketh away a garment
in cold weather, and as vinegar upon nitre, so is he that singeth songs to an heavy heart.
Now nitre seems to be a carbonate of soda. It's apparently from Lake Natron in Egypt
and is used for washing clothes, et cetera. And what happens is it fizzes up when vinegar
is poured on it. So you kind of get like that big fizzing up effect. So the Proverb is saying
that like someone taking away clothing from someone in the cold, like fizzing up that
nitre, which isn't a good thing, it's getting a bad reaction, right? So is someone that
sings songs to a heavy heart, which is basically someone, I think, rejoicing, glorying, celebrating
to someone who's sad. Okay, I think that's the point there. It's not that, oh, well,
they were trying to sing a sad melody or something, you know? It's someone singing, rejoicing,
usually you're singing to rejoice, to celebrate, you know, we sing to praise God, to rejoice
in God, to glory God. It's doing that to someone who's sad, who's maybe mourning,
who's not having a good time for whatever reason. And think about when you're in a sad,
sorrowful mood, you know? And I'm not saying like, oh, I'm just not in the best of moods.
I mean, when you're sad, when you have a heavy heart about something or maybe more than one
thing, when someone is all happy and in your face, it kind of makes things a bit worse,
can't it? Sometimes it kind of is not a good feeling. You're like, you're not in a good
mood and then someone's all like, woohoo! And everything else, you just, arrgh! You
know, just get away from me. You know, maybe you don't say it, right? Okay, it does make
things worse all the time. It's basically, it says here, it's like taking a piece of
clothing off someone outside in the cold. So you might even end up with them bubbling
up and flipping out on you, okay? And that can happen, can't it? So I believe that the
verses remind you to be considerate to people's moods and feelings. Sometimes someone doesn't
want cheering up, did you know that? Sometimes people don't want cheering up. And sometimes
they want you to understand, sometimes they want you to mourn with them, to appreciate
what they're going through. They don't just need, oh, if I could just find the right joke
or the right smile or the right thing to say. And the thing is, because for us the best
option is that they're smiling and joking and happy again. So often for us, it's just
like, if I could just get them happy again, that's going to be a bit easier, isn't it?
It's not always suitable. Romans 12.15 says, rejoice with them that do rejoice and weep
with them that weep. There's a time to weep with people, isn't there? There's a time to
be like, okay, yeah, that's a hard, I can see you're having a hard time. So it doesn't
mean, by the way, that someone's ungodly because they're not walking around saying, praise
God, everything's great. I think some people wonder that, you know, they think, I've just
got to put a brave face on. Look, you don't have to bear all to everyone, but you're not
ungodly if you're not happy. You're not ungodly if you're mourning. You're not ungodly if
you're sad about things. You're not ungodly if you have a heavy heart sometimes. That
is life. Sometimes people who have a heavy heart, and that's not the time to sing songs
to them, yeah? You might end up with them fizzing up into a frenzy, I think, maybe,
is what they're saying, okay? So verse 20, is he that taketh away a garment in cold weather
and is vinegar upon nitrous, so is he that singeth songs to an heavy heart. So I believe
that this proverb basically teaches us to be sensitive to people's emotions. Try and
be sensitive to people's emotions and to be appropriate with how we deal with people
who are of a heavy heart. Verse 21, if thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat, and
if he be thirsty, give him water to drink. For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his
head, and the Lord shall reward thee. Now the Apostle Paul was obviously referencing
these verses, and you will have heard them many times. I've gone to them regularly, actually.
Romans 12 20, or from verse 19, where it says, Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves,
but rather give place unto wrath, for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay saith
the Lord. And this is the very similar one. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him.
If he thirst, give him drink, for in so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
Well, here we see that the Lord will reward us too, okay? And verse 21 says in Romans
12, if thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat. If he be thirsty, give him water to
drink, for thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee.
So that's a pretty good incentive, isn't it? Sorry, that was not in the Romans, that was
in Proverbs 25, but it's a good incentive to be rewarded, isn't it? When dealing with
our personal enemies, those are haters, but aren't necessarily God haters, okay? So you'll
get rewarded, and you're putting the vengeance in God's hand, who's going to deal with it
much better than you can, isn't he? Yeah, God deals with things better than you can
deal with them. God knows what needs punishing, how much punishment is needed, or how much
punishment is needed. But as mentioned last week, this isn't talking about God's enemies.
Helping them resulted in Jehoshaphat, for example, being rebuked by God in 2 Chronicles
19, 2, which says, And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and said to
King Jehoshaphat, Shouldst thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord? Therefore
is wrath upon thee from before the Lord. So we don't really want the wrath of God either,
do we, right? So here, though, he said in verse 21 of Proverbs 25, If thine enemy be
hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink. For thou
shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee. And that can be
a challenge when it's those in our personal lives that seem to have a problem with us,
that causes trouble. That's a challenge, isn't it? To then give them, give them bread
to eat, to then give them water to drink. People that you know just hate you. People
that maybe, maybe you don't like too much either. Maybe, in fact, you feel like you
hate them as well. Okay. But you know what? It really does deflate people when you're
just kind to them anyhow. It really does. It is often just the best course of action.
Just be kind. But when you go over and just offer someone some sort of blessing when they
really don't like you, it's quite hard for them to deal with. Isn't it? You just go over
and just try and be nice and offer someone something and you know they hate you. The
eyes are like, ah. And you just go, oh, can I give you this or would you like this? Oh,
you know, it's just, it's hard for people to deal with, isn't it? And not only do you
leave it in God's hands, but he will also reward you as well. So this is a, this is
quite an important thing for us to try to do, isn't it? Yeah. We're in your work life,
in your personal life, you know, even out and about, even in your church life, whatever.
People that you feel like, I think that person is an enemy of mine. Well, he's telling
you here, give them bread to eat. Give them water to drink. Then your heaping coals are
firing ahead. Okay. The Lord will reward thee. So the proverb I think is, teach us to rise
above all of, you know, grudges, fallouts, vengeance stuff, and instead be kind to our
personal enemies. Yeah. Verse 23. The north wind driveth away rain. So does an angry
countenance, a backbiting tongue. So in the same way that localized rain can be driven
away by the wind, okay, a backbiting tongue can be driven away by an angry countenance.
So on one hand, perhaps this is to teach us how to deal with someone who's backbiting,
which is secret slander, lying about someone behind their back. And when someone's doing
that, okay, instead of entertaining it, considering the lies that sadly a lot of people do, you're
better off to just have an angry countenance. Yeah. Backbiters, okay, people that lie about
others behind their backs, they're looking for someone they can persuade, looking for
someone they can convince. That's the whole point, isn't it? They're looking for the weak,
for the simple, that are going to buy their stuff, that are going to take it in. And an
angry countenance can put stock to that, can't it? Okay. It can drive it away from you, and
you just, you know, really you just don't want those lies around you anyway. People
like that around you, right? But you could also apply this to God's enemies as well,
you could say, who slander him and his people, right? They will eventually be driven away
by what? By his angry countenance. Revelation 6 16 says of when he returns that these people
will be saying, and said to the mountains and the rocks, fallenness and hide us from
the face of him that sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. That angry countenance
is driving away those backbiters, right? Those slanderers of God. And yeah, I think you could
apply that as well. But ultimately, when it comes to people like that and angry countenance,
not taking it in, not being like, oh, really? Wow. Oh, I could never believe it. And anything else, just like,
why are you just secretly slandering someone to me? It should drive it away, right? The north wind
drives away rain, so does an angry countenance, a backbiting tongue. So I believe the proverb is just
basically a simple way of dealing with backbiters. Not as simple, you don't have to get in a row,
just to show you're not accepting that. Verse 24. It is better to dwell in the corner of
the housetop than with a brawling woman and in a wide house. Now Proverbs 21.9 was pretty much
identical. It said, it is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop than with a brawling woman
in a wide house. And this is an important proverb to be repeated, isn't it? This is important. This
is just like a kind of one-off one. Yeah, this might be a bit of good advice. This is repeated
there. And in fact, it's not just repeated there. It's written in a similar way in Proverbs 21.19,
which is, it is better to dwell in the wilderness and with a contentious and an angry woman. So he
is definitely trying to teach us something, isn't he? About when a woman is brawling, when she's
contentious, when she's angry, that you're better off being away from her when it gets to that
point. You're better off, in the corner of the housetop or even dwelling in the wilderness.
You're better off there than being around her when she's brawling, when she's contentious,
when she's angry. And for me, there are three clear take homes from this. Firstly, once the
emotions are running high, and a woman, and the obvious application is your wife, but you could
add any woman here, okay? Once a woman is angry, she's brawling, you're not going to achieve much
arguing it out. You're just not going to achieve anything. However much you want to achieve
something, you're not going to, okay? Screaming and shouting at each other. When did that last
achieve anything? Oh yeah, no, we really thrashed it out. Yeah, that was the time that we really
got, we really solved our problems. When my wife was, you know, angry and I was shouting it. Yeah,
that really solved it, right? It didn't solve it. That's not the time to deal with things. You're
not going to get anywhere dealing with things at that time. You're better off just not around
a woman when she's like that, okay? And if someone could tell me when that really worked for you.
I shouted louder and then she, oh yeah, I shouted really loud. And she's like, oh no, you're right
actually. I just wish you'd been louder earlier. Glad we solved it because you shouted louder than
me, okay? It just doesn't work. And look, we've all been there before. We've all had rows where
you've gone, you know, you've got angry, it doesn't work, it doesn't solve it. That's not the answer.
You need to wait until emotions aren't so high, okay? You're better off having some space, okay?
You're better off being wise. You'd be better off even in the housetop than in a big house once a
woman is brawling. And look, I'm not trying to disparage ladies here. This is what the Bible's
teaching. But the reality of it is, is that once they get to that point, often all logic and reason
most logic and reason goes out the window, okay? Sorry women, that's true. Once it gets to brawling,
and that's the same often, you know, I'll say the same with me once. If I go for it and I'm angry,
then I'm not kind of like planning and being logical about my thoughts now. No, I'm just angry,
you know? But it's the same. And here it's talking about when a woman's like that and she's brawling,
she's angry, she's contentious, you're not going to be like, I'm going to appeal to her logic now.
I'm going to appeal to reason. It is not happening, okay? And that's the way it is.
But another take home is that if we're leading our wives, if we're dwelling with them according
to knowledge, 1 Peter 3 says, likewise ye husbands dwell with them according to knowledge,
giving honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel as being heirs together with the grace
of life that your prayers be not hindered. With time you should then be better equipped
to avoid leading them to a point of brawling, to a point of anger and contention.
If you're doing what you're meant to be doing, it's not going to be automatic, you're going to
learn with time, it's not going to be perfect, but you should learn what's going to result in
brawling and contention and what's not. You will know what is likely to trigger her, how better to
deal with contentious situations, how your wife responds best to criticism, the times, the ways
you can do it, what will be better and how to do that in the right way that doesn't result in
brawling. Now someone will say things like, I'll just tell her I'm the boss, she'll just do as I
say, just like the kids, I'll just tell her, do as you're told. But it's not the same relationship,
your relationship with your wife is the same relationship as with your kids. Yes you're the
boss, yeah you're the boss, but 1 Peter 3 says, likewise ye husbands dwell with them according
to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel as being heirs together with the
grace of life that your prayers be not hindered. We're not commanded to honor our children,
okay, it's the other way around, it's a different relationship.
And it's much easier to give her that honor when she's not brawling, isn't it? It's much easier to
follow that command if she's not brawling, so it's good to avoid leading your wife to brawling.
But the last take home is for the women out there, okay, you're not absolved of responsibility
either. Now it's not suddenly, well I've got married now, I just do what I want, and it's
his fault, right? Okay, do you want your husband or really anyone else for that matter, I mean
obviously the first application is, you know, to marry couples clearly, yeah, but anyone really,
thinking for a period of time that they'd be better off anywhere but near you,
anywhere. World in the desert, up in the corner of the rooftop, you know, how that really taught
them, you know, and that's not what it's teaching, okay, it's teaching that you,
like, it's teaching to avoid that ultimately, right, because it's just a bad situation and
you're not really going to solve anything. But do you really want to feel like that? You want
people to feel like that about you? Proverbs 19, 13, you have to end there, it says, a foolish son
is a calamity of his father and the contentions of a wife will continue dropping. Like, they're
painful, they're, you know, they're uncomfortable. So don't be contentious, don't brawl, drop the
anger. And what's anger usually due to? Pride. That's what it usually comes down to, isn't it,
pride? So submit unto your husbands like God commands you to, honour your parents like God
commands you to, work on that meek and quiet spirit. And I say parents because, look, I'm
talking teenage girls here as well, I'm talking to women as they grow up, you know, we should just be
avoiding those situations. Work on that meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God at great
price. So it's not like, well, this is a get out, this is a buy, no, what it is, is, is, it's advice
to avoid those situations, to not, to try and not get in those situations when you are, to not think
you're going to suddenly solve anything when it gets to that point. But it's also, don't get to
that point yourself either, women out there, right? It is better to dwell in the corner of the house
stock than with a brawling woman and in a wide house. The lesson is to do your best to avoid
this eventuality, and when it comes, give some space if you want to achieve anything.
Verse 25. As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. So the comparison
here is with receiving good news from far away to being refreshed when thirsty, obviously, and I'm
sure that there's some news out there that would refresh you, you know, probably off the top of your
head you can think of things. I don't know, say a family member recovered from a serious illness.
I'm sure you heard that news, you're going to be refreshed, aren't you? Maybe, maybe a nation out
there suddenly instilled some righteous laws. That could be, you hear that? You're like, yeah, that
refreshed me, right? Or how about you heard of a revival somewhere? You know, you just heard people
are getting saved all over this place, right? All these people getting saved, left, right, and centre,
wherever it is. That would be some good news, wouldn't it? Well, which I believe is what this
verse is ultimately about, okay? It's the Gospel, the glad tidings of good news, which is often
linked to water too, by the way. In John 4-14, Jesus said, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I
shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of
water springing up into everlasting life. So, where verse 25 said, as cold waters to a thirsty soul,
so is good news from a far country. It's reminding us of the need to go far and wide with the good news,
okay? It's as cold waters to a thirsty soul, and there are many thirsty souls out there. Aren't there
people ready to receive salvation? You go to some places in the world and there are a lot of
thirsty souls. There are people just waiting, willing and ready to hear the Gospel. There are so many
receptive places, but do you know what it takes? It takes someone to get there with the Gospel.
Romans 10-14 says, how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed, and how shall they
believe in him of whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear without a preacher?
Are they going to hear it? They're not going to hear without a preacher. They need someone to go
to these places and preach the Gospel, but it's not as simple as just getting on a plane, because
it requires time, money, effort, doesn't it? Oh, I'll just get on a plane the next week. It needs planning.
There's a lot that goes into going around the world preaching the Gospel, but it shouldn't stop us trying,
should it? If every legitimate church out there organized just one mission strip, and when I say,
look, don't think that there's only a handful. There's churches all over the world, right?
There's people, there's saved churches all over the world. If every single one just did one mission
strip, somewhere receptive. Can you imagine how many people get saved?
So, verse 25 is cold waters to a thirsty soul, so it's good news from a far country. I think the
problem would be, slightly cryptic, Old Testament exhortation to get far and wide with the Gospel.
That's what it's saying. We should be getting far and wide with the Gospel. Verse 26, a righteous man
falling down before the wicked is as a troubled fountain and a corrupt spring. So, falling down
here is a sign of submission. It's often linked to worship. For example, okay, Luke 8 47, the woman
with the issue of blood, it says, and when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling
and falling down before him. She declared unto him before the people for what cause she touched him
and how she was healed immediately. So, it's kneeling down, it's humbling yourself, and here in
verse 26 and from verse 25, it's a saved guy kneeling down before a false prophet. That's what
it's talking about, and it makes me think of the many saved people out there who are still in their
false prophet churches, for example. I mean, the people that maybe got saved today or got saved on
the weekend in Colchester or got saved wherever before. In fact, I spoke to a saved person in
Colchester who was at a false prophet's church, you know, and there are people that are falling
down before the wicked, aren't they? They're in these places, they're all over these places, falling
down before a false prophet, basically. Or maybe those that get their heads turned by false prophets
online or elsewhere. It's not necessarily in their churches. People do say, just because
someone's saved doesn't mean, right, well, they're saved automatically, they're just going to turn up
at a proper and a decent church. It just doesn't happen. Many of them, they just won't leave that
false church. They've got family, friends, ties, connections. It doesn't mean they're going to
suddenly leave. Well, they're meant to be dispensers of that living water. John 7 38 says,
he that believeth in me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
But when they're falling down before the wicked, the ultimate result is that the fountain is troubled.
The spring is corrupt. They're not giving that cold water out like they should, basically. They get
hindered or troubled. The message is corrupted. Maybe they're not confident in explaining it.
Look, you've talked to people before, I'm sure you have, when you start asking them some
questions about salvation, it's a bit hazy, a bit hazy, and then eventually you get out of
them and say, actually, I think this person's saved. But can you imagine if they're explaining it how
they were first explained to someone, and then when you kind of, you press them like, no, you can't
lose it, actually, no, actually, it's, yeah, it is, it's faith like, you know, I do believe that, no, and then,
and then you, you kind of think, well, why does it just sound so hazy at the beginning? Because they're
just sitting in false prophet churches, hearing a load of nonsense, hearing a load of false doctrine
all the time, and they're just not clear, it muddies the water, it's, it's a troubled fountain,
it's corrupted, those people, and then you get, and then you get these false prophets,
and, and we were talking about this earlier, where, where their goal is just to claim to be saved,
to claim to believe the Gospel, but just to basically put just a dampener on soul winning,
in one way or another. Just constantly try and, you know, whether it's like, well,
let's hope they turn up to church, not like, and really what they're saying is, if they don't turn
up to church, it was all a waste of time. Like, really? Because what's, what's that got to do with
their salvation? Yeah, it'd be great if they turn up to church and learnt to go out and save someone else,
but they just got saved. How about a high five? How about a praise God? How about amen? Someone just
called the name of the Lord. No, well, see if they turn up to church then. Well, let's hope they find a
church near them, went all the way over there and got someone to save. It's like, what on earth? And
it's constantly just trying to demoralise you. Just make you think, oh, was it really worth it then?
Oh yeah, maybe, maybe it wasn't that worth it, because they didn't, you know, deep down you know
that's not the case, but that's the goal of these people, isn't it? And, and this is, I mean, this is
all over the place. There's a lot of these people like that, and then they're trying to just, just
throw a bit of shade on soul winning, trying to put you off soul winning. There's many ways these
guys do it, and what it does, if it's not just putting doubt in your mind about the Gospel, doubt
in how to explain it, etc., using, you know, just trying to use, like, verse that con is just, just
blatant false prophets to try and make you unsure, well, how would I deal with this? How would I deal
with that? And it just basically troubles the fountain and corrupts that spring of a saved person.
And these wicked false prophets, they come in various shapes and sizes, okay,
and some it's attacks on, of course, some it's attacks on the King James Bible, for example.
There are people out there whose sole ministry in life is to attack, or at least demoralize, to
shape people's faith in the preserved Word of God. I mean, what a funny old man, oh, I was called to
attack the King James Bible, that was my, that's my ministry in life. What's wrong with you? Why don't you go
out and get some people saved? Because, again, what's the goal, ultimately? It's to
to make that saved person's fountain troubled, their spring corrupted, and then they're like, oh, maybe,
you know, maybe I should preach them out of the easier to read one. And what's happened
across this nation with so-called easier to read Bibles in churches, they've probably had the Gospel,
some of them still seem to, to a degree, they've got the NIVs, they've got the ESVs, they've got
all these different, no one's getting saved, no one's getting saved, because they've got, they've
got a blunt sword in their hand. Well, the proverb, I think, is a reminder that the righteous
do fall down before the wicked, and we want to encourage those that we come across as well. So
when you come across righteous people that are falling down before the wicked, try and encourage
them, and not just say, oh great, it's a safe person to see later, but try and encourage them to get
involved, and to get out of their false church, get out of their false prophet church, get out
following their false prophets in one way or another, falling down before them, and to get
right, and get falling down before the Lord. A righteous man falling down before the wicked is
a troubled fountain and a corrupt spring, so the lesson is to be careful with who we follow in life,
and to not write people off that fall down before the wicked, I think. Verse 27, it is not good to
eat much honey, so for men to search their own glory is not glory. So remember that we saw earlier
although it's good for you, you can eat too much honey, it stops being a good thing. Well,
in the same way, the glory that people get when seeking it isn't really good glory.
Okay, so there are a lot of consistent themes in this chapter of Proverbs, and last week we saw
in verse 6, put not forth thyself in the presence of the king, and stand not in the place of great
men, for better it is that it be said unto thee, come up hither, than that thou shouldest be put
lower in the presence of the prince whom thine eyes have seen, which is someone searching their
own glory too, self-promoting. And with that, there are people that are constantly seeking
validation, and the problem is you just can't then trust the validation. If you're seeking it,
you're trying to get some of you, trying to like angle conversations, get some validation,
trying to like promote yourself and get something back, is the validation really genuine? Is it
really the glory that you really wanted? Is it really true glory? And then on top of that,
if your goal in life is your own glory, it's never going to be real glory, because that only
comes from lifting up God. That's where you're ultimately going to get glory, you're going to
get the glory from God, which comes from lifting up God and not lifting up yourself. And then if
the honey, which is so often the case like we saw earlier, represents the word of God too, it makes
you think of those whose goal of reading, of reading, sorry, studying, listening and learning
the Bible, is sadly their own glory. And there are people out there like that, where everything
they do with the Bible isn't to glorify God, it's not to serve God, it's not to do things with God,
it's to lift themselves up for their own glory, for them to be lifted up to be seen as knowledgeable,
to be respected. Well it is not good to eat much honey, so for men to search their own glory is not
glory. So if you're searching your own glory, it's not glory. And as believers, what should we be
glorying in the Lord, right? 2 Corinthians 10 17 says, but he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
So it is not good to eat much honey, so for men to search your own glory is not glory. I think the
problem is a reminder that as 1 Corinthians 10 31 says, whether therefore ye to drink or whatsoever
ye do, to order the glory of God, not your own. Verse 28, he that hath no rule over his own spirit
is like a city that is broken down and without walls. So the spirit here is referring here to
our temper, to our state of mind. There are those that just can't control themselves, and temper
being an obvious and problematic issue for many people. Yeah, here it's being compared to a city
that is broken down without walls, so basically it's even easy to overcome, it's easy to defeat.
Not having control over your temper and other moods and emotions will just result in you sinning.
Okay, that's going to be the knock-on effect of it. Last week, talking about mercy, we looked
at Ephesians 4, which said in verse 26, be ye angry and sin not, let not the sun go down upon your wrath,
neither give place to the devil. Because when you're walking around angry, you just end up
sinning more and giving the devil more of a foothold, don't you? If you're just angry all the
time, you're just going to sin more, you're going to just then give place to the devil. And there is
a time for anger, of course, okay, but if you're constantly angry, you're not able to control it,
or it's said in inappropriate times, if it's ruining your relationships, your work life,
your family, your friendships, you need to get some rule over it. You need to get some rule over your
anger. Because with anger, often comes sin in various ways, doesn't it? And that's what's going
to happen. You're angry, you're going to end up sinning, usually. Yeah, there's some times
for righteous anger, but if you're just walking around angry, what happens a lot of the time?
You're going to offend people, you're going to say things offensive to people, you're not going to be,
you know, careful not to upset people. A lot of people get angry, and what they end up doing,
they reach for the sin, don't they? They reach for something, it's like their excuse. I used to think
about it a lot with people giving up smoking, or anything that's like, you know, physical addictions
a lot of the time, is often the smoking's a response to being angry. They haven't smoked for
a couple of days, and then suddenly they're angry. And often it's almost kind of on purpose, it's
forced, because they know that now the excuse at the end of that is a cigarette. And you can
put that to drugs, drink, and many other things. So people then, they're kind of almost, it's almost
self-induced, because the reward at the end of it is whatever that sin is. And people do that with
non-physically addictive things as well. Well, I'm angry now, so now I'm going to do whatever it is, you
know, whatever that sin is, whatever that thing they shouldn't be doing is. And that can be, it's
almost like a crutch to it, it's a result of the anger. So how do you control it? Well, you could
find the root cause. So that, you know, some, you know, self-reflection is a good thing, isn't it?
Something we should be doing, we should be reflecting. Sometimes in prayer that's a good time,
sometimes things dawn on you in prayer, obviously, when you're reading your Bible as well.
But just some self-reflection, okay, finding what that root cause is, is a good thing to do.
And you can start to deal with that process a bit more, but also as, not as an excuse, not like, well,
I found a root cause, actually it's okay. But it's like, okay, well I need to deal with that. But also,
you know, you can focus on the good things in life as well. Something that I try to advise
people with as well, is if they're angry, they're getting upset a lot, you know, it's just to focus
on the positives in life. And one way you can do that really effectively is just make sure that
at least one of your prayer times, whether it's a whole thing or part of it, you're just
appreciating God, giving gratitude to God, thanking God, thanking him for the things you do have,
appreciating him for the things you do have, and you might be a little bit less angry in life
when you're accepting, yeah, I've been given a lot, like having some gratitude in life.
Getting in the spirit more though as well, okay, because there is righteous anger, but
hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, are all listed as and are usually works of the flesh,
aren't they? So all those things that we like to try and excuse and justify,
oh it's just this wicked world, it's the sodomites, it's the Jews, it's okay, of course I'm going to be
angry and everything, well they are, it's still, you're in the flesh, right? And look, there's some
righteous anger, but a lot of the time I think we try and justify our unrighteous anger as righteous
anger, right, and just being angry, walking around with hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife.
What fruits of the spirit? Peace and temperance are meant to be fruits of the spirit, aren't they?
Having peace, having temperance, self-control, you know.
So getting the spirit, how do you get in the spirit world? Sing to yourself in Psalms,
spiritual songs, singing, making melody in your heart to the Lord is one way as well, and
all the normal stuff, being in the things of God, being in the word, being in your prayer life,
being in church, doing all those things should help get anger out of your life.
And if it's something that you struggle with, then it should be a priority to get it sorted, shouldn't it?
Don't you think? Oh, I don't, I'm just an angry person. Well, no, look, I think you can get help
with this, I think God does want to help you with this. Verse 28 warns you that he that has no rule
over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls. So the lesson is to have
rule over our spirits or we could end up being destroyed. That's a bit worrying, isn't it? So
definitely something to think about to work on for those that struggle with this more than others.
And that was Proverbs chapter 25, and we're going to finish it away.
Thank you for the book of Proverbs, thank you for the practical wisdom that we can apply to our
lives, Lord. Help us to do that, help us to, you know, not balk at your word, Lord, to not reject,
you know, things that we should be trying to apply to our lives out of that, Lord, and help us to
to just get right in all those areas. Help us, Lord, to apply, you know, that wisdom to our
to our lives this week. And onwards, help us to get home safe and sound this evening, Lord. Help
those who got saved this week to, you know, be protected, to be strengthened, Lord, to be in the
word, to be kept away from falling down at the wicked's feet, Lord. Help us to get back on
Wednesday evening for the midweek prayer and Bible study service. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.