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So Proverbs chapter 26, and as usual remember if you haven't got a pen then please grab one. I think the ushers usually have them if you need one, but we, you know, there's a few to get through here. And you could give this one a title, in fact, today. So this first part of Proverbs is The Fool. In fact, you could say, I pity the fool. That is pretty much the title of today. There's going to be a lot about the fool and the next one's going to be about the sluggard. But we're going to look at the fool in depth now. We're in Proverbs 26 and verse 1 said, As snow in summer and as rain in harvest, so honour is not seemly for a fool. I'm going to pray and then get going with this first part of Proverbs. Father, please bless this sermon, Lord, bless my preaching now and fill me with your spirit as I preach these first 12 verses of Proverbs chapter 26. And specifically really talking about this fool here and help me to preach it in the right way, Lord, in a way that people will be edified by this message. In Jesus' name, pray. Amen. OK, so he said, As snow in summer and as rain in harvest, so honour is not seemly for a fool. So apparently in northern Israel and also in Jerusalem, it is known to snow sometimes. I actually checked this. I was thinking, is it even snow over there? Well, apparently it does sometimes, but it never snows in the summer. OK, it never snows in the summer. But there are some higher regions there. Northern Israel being a bit more, a bit higher altitude, same with Jerusalem. Also, the average amount of days of rain each month from June through September, which is harvest time, is zero days. OK, so there's very little rain. The average amount is no days in any of those months. June, July, August, September. So snow in summer and rain in harvest just doesn't happen, basically. OK, it would be completely out of place. Well, in the same way, it's not seemly, it's not fitting, it's out of place. It's not suitable, maybe we'd say, for a fool to receive honour. And honour can mean a few things, but here I believe it's talking about steam, it's talking about glory, it's talking about respect. OK, and there are also different types of fall, with the worst type of fall being a reprobate. We looked at the sort of parallel psalm this morning. You don't have to stand up at Psalm 53-1, as opposed to Psalm 14-1. Psalm 53-1 says, The fool have said in his heart, there is no God corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity. There is none that doeth good. So there is that type of fall, OK? It also says, for example, in Psalm 55, The foolish shall not stand in thy sight, thou hatest all workers of iniquity. And we've seen before that works of iniquity is synonymous with being a reprobate. So there is that type of fall. But then there's falls in general, referring to stupid people, which can even be said of believers. So Jesus said to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24-25, says, And he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. So he's not calling them reprobates. Yeah, he's just calling them foolish, OK, as we would maybe use the word, just calling someone an idiot. Paul called the Galatians foolish in Galatians 3-1, where he said, O foolish Galatians, who have bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth, crucified among you. So ultimately, whether it's the worst type or the lesser type, it's someone with no wisdom. You know, depending on the situation, depending on the context, an idiot with some, it is a terminal problem. Yeah, but with others, it could be rectified. And we're going to be looking at a lot of falls in the first half of Proverbs chapter 26. OK, Proverbs 26 one said, This is snow and summer and as rain and harvest, so honour is not seemly for a fool. So if it's not suitable for a fool to receive honour, we shouldn't be the ones giving it to them, should we? So if a fool shouldn't get any honour, respect, esteem, then definitely we shouldn't be giving it to them. Yet many Christians will give so much honour, respect, glory, whatever you want to call it, to some worldly fool. Think about celebrities out there and how many Christians will give honour, give respect to just celebrity fools and hold them in high esteem, give them this respect that they shouldn't be given. They shouldn't be holding them in that high esteem. Some foolish, fornicating footballer with his rainbow laces and his superstitions before he comes on the pitch. And there are Christians, many Christians out there, for them this person's up here in their eyes. I mean, you know, the great respect they have for this guy because he's good at kicking balls. You know, sadly, that's the truth, isn't it? And someone who's, you know, when I say superstitions, doing all the cross signs and everything else, you know, doesn't have a clue about any of the rest of it. Or some foolish president selling Bibles and declaring unwavering support for the synagogue of Satan. Yeah, a lot of people will hold that, this latest president up there in their eyes. He's like, the respect they were given if he came in. Sadly, there are people, there are Christians, if the president walked in front of them, they might be even dropping to their knees at the least, showing them a load of respect. Which, should that fool be really receiving that respect? No, don't get me wrong, there's the offer. If we lived in America, then yeah, you'd respect the office, respect that position of leadership, but not here. You know, I don't think he's coming in, anyway. But what about some foolish, lowering it a bit, some foolish, worldly, neglectful, selfish mum down at the kids' club because she's better at pretending her whole life is rosy? Yeah, there's a lot of those out there. They're just good at pretending and then people hold them in high esteem, they give them this respect and start hanging off their words and respecting everything they say. And it's like, it's just another fool, OK? If you give these people that unseemly honour, you're more likely to be led astray by them, that's the problem though. OK, so you give the wrong people honour and respect in your life, and that's what you believe. So I'm not saying, oh, you've got to be rude to people, but I'm saying how you hold them in your eyes. If you give people undue respect, you're more likely to be led astray by them. He said, it's snowing summer and it's raining harvest, so honour is not seemingly for a fool. And I think the proverb is warning us to be selective about who we hold in high esteem in life. And we do have to check ourselves with that, because it's easy for work, for fleshly reasons to hold people in high respect when really they're just a fool, yeah? Verse two is, as a bird by wandering, as a swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come. So he's saying that like a bird won't come without wandering. Or we might say fluttering, flying, you know, it's shorter journeys, basically, it's talked about here, as opposed to the swallow, which is known for its long flights, its migrations. So like a swallow won't come without flying. So he's saying, you know, as a bird by wandering on short flights, as a swallow by longer flights, by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come. Basically, a curse won't come without a cause, without a reason. And the curse here, I believe, is talking about the chastisement, the curses of God upon a person or people. I think it's talking about those coming from God. For example, one of the reasons being that the birds wandering and swallows flying is ultimately of God too. For example, Luke 12 24 says, consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which neither have storehouse nor barn, and God feedeth them. How much more are you better than the fowls? How and why does a swallow migrate halfway across the world? Apparently, they travel, you know, thousands of miles from UK to South Africa, because God puts it in their hearts to do so, doesn't he? Really, I mean, people can't work this stuff out. They're looking at it going like, what even makes these birds do that in the first place? What drives them to do that? Ultimately, I think it's of God. He is, it's God that feeds them, isn't it? But in the same way that the fluttering, the flying as well here with the swallows is of God, I believe that this curse is also of God. In turn of Deuteronomy 11, it said, as a bird by wandering, as a swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come. And in Deuteronomy 11, God through Moses warns us of that curse that can come to his people. Says in Deuteronomy 11 26, Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse, verse 27 now of Deuteronomy 11, a blessing if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day, and a curse if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day to go after other gods which ye have not known. What's the cause? Well, we've just seen, not obeying the commandments of the Lord, turning aside out of the way that he's commanded, going after other gods. And today, let's see, I think it's pretty obvious how that applies, isn't it? Rejecting the clear teachings, the obvious sinful stuff, going for that, the clear way, there's a clear way, isn't there? As New Testament Christians, church, Bible, prayer, soul winning, that's all a clear way. And instead, the idols of today, which people go for, the money, the cars, the houses, the prestige, the looks, the popularity, all that different stuff, that they make gods in their lives, the result is curses. Turn over to Deuteronomy 28 to see some examples, though. So, go forward a few to Deuteronomy 28, we're going to see some examples of some curses. Because it is one of these subjects, it's not a pleasant subject, and, you know, yeah, God wants you to choose to serve him, but ultimately he does promise here to, and you go, well, that was Old Testament. Well, aren't they meant to be in samples? Aren't they meant to be in samples for us to live by, to apply in our lives as children of God? Are we not children of God? Have we not inherited those promises? Well, I think we've also inherited things like this as well, where he said this in Deuteronomy 28, And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I commanded thee to state to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. And like I said, there's many gods sadly in the Christian's life. But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe, to do all his commandments and his statutes, which I commanded this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee. Okay, let's see what some of these curses are then, and I'll do several, and then I'll eventually stop, because it's quite a long chapter, right. Cursed shalt thou be in a city, and cursed shalt thou be in a field. Cursed shalt be thy basket and thy store. Cursed shalt be the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kind and the flocks of thy sheep. So this is talking about your working life, your finances. Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out. The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation and rebuke, in all that thou set his fine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, until thou perish quickly, because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me. The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whether thou goest to possess it. The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew, and they shall pursue thee until thou perish. And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust, from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed. The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies. Thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them, and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. And thy carcass shall be meat unto all the fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away. The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emeralds, and with the scab, and with the itch whereof thou canst not be healed. The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart. And thou shalt grope at noonday, as a blind grope within darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways, and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore. No man shall save thee. Thou shalt betray the wife, and another man shall lie with her. Thou shalt build a house, and thou shalt not dwell therein. Thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof. Thine ox shall be stained before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof. Thine ash shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shalt not be restored to thee. Thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them. Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look and fail with longing for them all the day long. And there shall be no might in thine hand. The fruit of thy land and all thy labours shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up, and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway, so that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. The Lord shall smite thee in the knees and in the legs with a sore botch that cannot be healed. From the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head the Lord shall bring thee and thy king which thou shalt set over thee unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known. And there shalt thou serve other gods wood and stone, and thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations, whither the Lord shall lead thee. Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, shalt gather but little in, for the locust shall consume it. Thou shalt plant vineyards and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, and a worm shall eat them. Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil, for thy knowledge shall casteth through. Thou shalt beget sons of daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them, for they shall go into captivity. All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume. The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high, and thou shalt come down very low. He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him. Shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail. Moreover, all these coasts shall come upon thee and shall pursue thee and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed, because thou harkenest not unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes, which he commanded thee, and they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed forever. And it continues for the rest of the chapter. That is a serious warning, isn't it? Now, I know that was a bit of reading there, but there's even more. We could carry on, we could go to the end of the chapter. I mean, that's a big warning from God, isn't it? Oh yeah, that don't apply anymore. It's all all right. Yeah, it does. You know, you can apply that today, so much of that, and you can put it into today's currency, couldn't you? Said here in verse two, back in Proverbs, chapter 26, there's a bird by wandering, and there's a swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come. The proverb is a warning that the curses in life come for a reason. The answer is what? It's to respond appropriately. It's not because God hates you, it's not because God wants to harm you, it's because God wants to encourage you to live right. God wants to encourage you to live a fulfilling life. God wants to encourage you to live a life where you can be blessed, where you can draw close to God, where you can affect other people's lives. God wants to encourage you to lead a life where you can even earn rewards when you get into heaven. But with that, there has to be a negative to that, because that is how we respond, isn't it? We do respond to the threat of chastisement, or we should respond to the threat of chastisement. Sadly, so many, with what is liberal Christianity, and just complete lies out there, just want to discard all of that and act like none of that could ever happen to you. Because I'm a nice person, really. But we need that, we need that, and we need to appreciate that, we need to accept that. No, you don't need to spend your whole life just quivering in fear of everything, but you know what, God wants your heart right with him. And Christians all over the world, they get saved, they know what the word of God says, and they choose to. So I just can't work out why I'm alive. Oh God, why are you not blessing me? Oh, I just can't believe, I just can't, well, you know what, the curse causes us shall not come. There's a cause, and we do well to try and recognise what the cause is for the curses going on in our life. Verse three, a whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool's back. Now, the first two are tools used to control animals, okay, the whip used to control a horse, the bridle, which I think is a whole lot, the headstool, the bit for the mouth, the reins, which can be used on an ass, or we might say donkey, and obviously a horse as well. But in the same way that the rod is what is used to control a fool, and the rod being used to chastise. And the point is that there needs to be chastisement in life. And I think there are a couple of truths here, okay. Obviously, the suggested liberal type utopia out there of educating offenders and no real punishment is a nonsense. Okay, that's just not reality, that doesn't work. A functioning society needs to have some serious punishments to break into law, doesn't it? It has to, because you know what, a lot of people just wanna do all sorts of wickedness, and there needs to be some serious punishments to deter people. Now, prison might dissuade most people, normal people. I suppose most people in this room, prison is quite, should put you off a lot of stuff, right. But the problem is, is that many, once they're desensitized to it, it's not always that much of a deterrent, is it? So once people have kind of got over the hurdle of being there in the first place, and being in prison or something else, then a lot of the time it doesn't act as a deterrent, even like first time offenders and stuff. A lot of the time, it's not that deterrent that maybe for some it should be, okay. God's law included lashes, restitution and death, and punishment was pretty swift, okay. So whether the fool here is at worst type or not, that we've just read about, without punishment and the threat of it, there would be mayhem, there really would. Without punishment and the threat of punishment, and that being something to put people off committing crime, there would be mayhem out there. And this obviously applies to children too, okay, where that foolishness is bound in their heart. Proverbs 22, 15 says, foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but erotic correction shall drive it far from him. Look, kids often do crazy dangerous things, and chastisement helps drive that foolishness far away. But then us as adults still do foolish things, and aside from the repercussions for breaking the laws of the land, or for maybe doing foolish things at work, or church discipline type stuff, we still sometimes need the threat of chastisement for sin, which is why Hebrews 12, six says, for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth, okay. So he does chasten his children, he scourges his children, like we've just seen in the proverb before. So if you're a child of God, he's going to have to chastise you sometimes, but it's for our own good. Okay, it's for our own good. Yeah, the blessings of God are also an incentive, okay, knowing that Christ died for that sin. It should help us to see it for what it is, to think, yeah, I don't want to commit that stuff. But the flesh is still weak, and God's chastisement is for our own good, but use it to improve. Don't be a fool and keep needy like a dumb animal, basically, yeah. A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool's back. We want to accept these truths and understand these things, and obviously, if you bring things to God, so you don't think, I'm just going to spend my whole life getting chastised, he wants you to recognize, he wants you to assess, he wants you to have the right heart for things, he wants you to confess your sins to him, and he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all our righteousness. He wants that repentant heart about sin, not just people who just go through, like, oh, well, whatever. He wants us to see it for what it is. Yeah, we're all going to sin, we're all going to get things wrong, but he wants us to take it seriously and not be the fool that constantly needs that rod. A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool's back. I think the proverb's a reminder that chastisement is just a part of life. Verse four. Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit. So there are two seemingly contrasting instructions here, aren't there, okay? One says to answer not a fool according to his folly, one says to answer a fool according to his folly. And the answer, like so much of life, I think, is to apply wisdom to a situation. Okay, so many people, they just want a black and white a yes and no to everything, don't they? Okay, and the thing is, we're not robots. We're not, it's not like, well, if you can just do that black and white, you know, living where it's just like this, this is right, this is wrong, this is wrong, this is right. But life just isn't simple like that, okay? If you go forward several pages to Ecclesiastes three, so Ecclesiastes in chapter three, it says this, Ecclesiastes three one says, to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build up, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to get and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to cast away, a time to render, a time to sow, a time to keep silence, a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time of war and a time of peace. Well, there's a time as well to answer a fool according to his folly and a time not to answer a fool according to his folly. Verse four, back in Proverbs said this, answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him, answer a fool according to his folly lest he be wise in his own conceit. So, on one hand, you can get pulled into the folly, but then you also want to prevent a fool being wise in his own conceit, which is his own opinion, notion, thoughts, imagination. And here's an example that I can think of, OK? When I made these notes, your work colleagues are talking about, I don't know... And sadly, this is life, OK? Your work colleagues are talking about getting drunk or high at the weekend, OK? And you're going to hear that in, sadly, many places of work, pretty open conversation about this sort of stuff often, right? They're talking about this sort of stuff, what their plans are, and maybe you used to previously live like that. Maybe, like, you had a past like that, so you find some common ground. You're like, well, you know, I could talk about this from experience and stuff and chat to them and talk about these sort of things. But verse four is saying just don't get involved, OK? You're better off just leaving them to it, OK? Why get involved? Why talk about that sort of stuff? Just leave them to it. However, the conversation moves on, the spiritual things, and the work pseudo-Christian is telling people about some false salvation, you know, about the Ten Commandments getting you to heaven or something else, right? And what are you going to do then? You're going to want to get involved, aren't you? OK, that's the time. You don't want to leave that fool to be wise in his own conceit, do you? For example, right? And I suppose, look, that's one way of gauging it as well, is how important is it for you to answer the false folly? So you go, well, how do we work out? When do we, when don't we? Well, how important is it? And eternal things I don't think is the only qualifier. So maybe someone you know is telling you all about their latest get-rich-quick scheme. You know, you get people like that out there. They're telling you about their latest kind of harebrained scheme to get some quick money, to get rich, to whatever it is. It's probably going to fizzle out without hurting them so much. So there's not really anything to say, is there? You don't want to start getting involved with it. You don't want to, you know, start getting involved with that folly and going through the pros and cons. But now they're telling you about some illegal enterprise, some immoral practice, the right thing to do would be to stop them thinking it's a good idea, yeah? So that would be, now you're answering a fool according to his folly, saying he's not wise in his own conceit. You get the idea, right? So it's not just a, well, it's folly so ignore them or it's folly so rebuke them. There's a time and a place for things, right? There's times when it needs rebuking, there's times when it doesn't. There's times when it needs to be answered, there's times when it doesn't. And life is all about constantly judging situation. And here's a good start. If you're thinking, well, OK, I've got to make this split-second decision. Yeah, but you don't. Here's a good solution or a good helping point for that is just keep your mouth shut at first. So if you're listening to something, you're thinking, do I get involved, don't I? And look, we get these all the time. I get these a lot, right? Do I get involved? Do I kind of, do I get reproved of this person? Do I not? Do I answer this fool? Don't I? Just keep your mouth shut and think about it. Dwell on things a bit more. It's something that, you know, we want to try not to just be spontaneous with everything, not just fire off something that comes in our head. Just take your time. Think. Dwell upon something because usually it's not urgent. Sometimes it is, right? Maybe someone's thinking about going and playing chicken in the road, you know? That'd be a time to go, okay, yeah, yeah. It's not that fool being wise in his own conceit. But usually it's not urgent, right? Most things aren't as urgent as we think, and usually you can deal with it at a later point, yeah? So if you're a bit unsure, dwell on it. And that's something I try and remind myself, you know, often people want immediate answers or, you know, talk about this or talk about that. And it's good just to take some time to think about things. So answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit. So the lesson is to be wise, engage the importance of what and when to answer folly. Verse 6. He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet and drinketh damage. So sending a message was a big and important task if you're thinking, what's this about, okay? It's a bit different to nowadays where I don't think you really need to even type anymore if you're kind of up with the times. You just say, I mean, if they got to the point you just think it and then the AI does it. No, we haven't got to that, have we? Okay. But at least, you know, a lot of people could just say something, a message gets sent. Well, a message then included travelling some distance, obviously going the right way, not getting sidetracked. And if it was a verbal message, it would have included delivering the right message faithfully. A written message would need to be not damaged, would not need to be lost. Not something that you want some fool doing, yeah? Okay, especially if it's an important message. So he said, he that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet and drinketh damage. So I believe that he's saying that giving important things to a fool to do is just doing harm to yourself, but not just a bit of harm. It's like cutting off your feet or drinking poison. So crippling, disabling, it's disastrous. And in the last chapter, we saw the results of having confidence in someone untrustworthy or disloyal. Proverbs 25 and 19 said, confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth and a foot out of joint. So basically very painful. Well, getting a fool to do important things will cripple you, it will harm you. And you could apply this to employing fools, couldn't you? Giving important jobs to fools. I think how many businesses have been wrecked by the fools in employment. And I mean, I've thought about it with restaurants and things like that. I remember a while back, because we have events here sometimes, don't we? Sometimes all the food in, we have things. I went to a place a while back at night, it was a Chinese place around the corner from here. Really rude. Just a fool serving. It was a foolish woman who tried to rip us off, gave us a set meal, there were three of us, and then it was like this tiny little thimble of rice. And I was like, would you mind getting us some more rice? It's meant to be a set meal for three, and you clearly bought out enough for two. It came out at the end of the meal, there's a bill and another something extortionate for the second thimble of rice. So I just said to that person, well, you know what, we'll pay you, here you go, here's your money, but I'll never come back here. I run a church up the road and we do events, we get food in, we order food, the food is good, but that's foolish service. You've been a fool to try and rip us off for the sake of a few quid. And think how much that goes on a bigger scale, right? How many businesses in all areas, service, all sorts of things are just destroyed because of fools, because they were employing a fool. And whether she was the owner, she claimed she wasn't the owner, if she wasn't, well, what a shame for the owner to employ fools like that. And they're all over the place, you know, rude people. I mean, nowadays service industry is horrendous, isn't it? How rude people are, how there's just little to no serving, to know the attitudes horrendous. And I think a lot of businesses are destroyed because of that, and because they're basically putting confidence, sorry, not putting confidence, they're getting a fool, sorry, to do important things. And like I said, you can employ it to employ fools, and you can also think about it in another angle as well. How many homeowners have regretted getting some fool in to do like building works or something like that? And you might know people, I've known people over the years who have got in just some fools to come and do some work, they listen, they went for the cheap option and now suddenly there's this ongoing nightmare that they're, you know, and things are wrecked. And I've been, you know, even to like where just the front driver, the back guy, where they've paid out £1,000 to just have it trashed basically, it's wrecked, left him with a mess. Because they've got a fool, and they've got that important thing to be done by a fool, and it can be really painful, it can be, you know, the anger, the stress and stuff like that when you've relied, when you've put some importance, something important into the hand of a fool. But also how many times have you asked someone to do something important in your life and then just regretted it? Yeah, it happens a lot, doesn't it? You feel like you've asked someone to do something important and you've regretted it because you basically try to send a message or give something important to do to a fool. He said, he that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet and drinketh damage. Firstly, be diligent when getting people to do important things. Because sometimes we're like, well, I like that person. Or sometimes it might be, well, it'd be a bit awkward not to ask them, or sometimes whatever the reasons are, well, you know, be diligent because you'll end up hurting yourself because of it. The pain will be a lot worse. But also you can apply this as well to ourselves and say, look, we don't want to be that fool, do we? Don't be that fool either. Put effort into things. Don't be flippant and half-hearted with jobs that you're asked to do, whether it's whether you're employed or whether someone has asked you to do a favour or whatever it is, just put you all into it. Don't be a fool because you don't want that person to feel like they've cut off their feet and drunk poison and you can make people feel, if you just ruin something, you wreck something, we should just put effort in, maximum effort in. But lastly, I think you could apply this to the Gospel because we've all been given a message to send, haven't we? Don't be a fool about it. We don't want the Lord to suffer damage basically because of us, do we? We've all been given a message and when I say that, I'm not saying just about whether you're soul-winning or not, just when we do as well. Because so often, what happens, what can get in the way when we're soul-winning, whether it's family, whether it's friends, when it's out in the street, sometimes we can be foolish, our pride and egos get in the way. When we're trying to soul-win, when we're trying to preach to someone, our laziness can get in the way, not being wise with how we approach people, etc. We can be foolish about that and then we can destroy the hopes of someone getting saved maybe this time or maybe in the future as well. So he that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet and drinketh damage. I think the proverbs are reminded to be selective when getting important things done but also to be careful not to be that fool and you can apply that also to the most important job in the world there, which is getting people saved. Number seven, the legs of the lame are not equal, so is a parable in the mouth of fools. So often someone lame has an issue with just one of their legs, it's not that they, it's always both, often it's just one, they're unequal but just one lame leg makes someone lame. So in the same way, the fool's mouth and the non-fool's mouth isn't equal when dealing with a parable. So a parable is a comparison, it's a representation of something, usually fictional to then draw a truth. That's where you get the moral instruction from, right? So the Lord uses a lot of parables in his preaching and there are many in the Bible, so you know a famous one is a lie, the Good Samaritan, the Sower, the Prodigal Son, yeah, there were famous parables, there are many more. Or just those three alone have been used by many fools to teach fools truths, haven't they? Have been used by many fools to teach a fool's plan of salvation, with people claiming, for example, you have to be like the Samaritan to get saved, I've heard people come out with stuff like that. Well, you just have to be like the Good Samaritan, don't you? Be a good, love your neighbour like the Good Samaritan did. Or the unfruitful and stony grounds in the Sower didn't get saved, or maybe they didn't keep their salvation, you know, they'll use that with both, they'll claim that the stony ground, sorry, the unfruitful one, they just didn't get saved because they chose the deceitfulness of riches, or they claim that the stony ground lost their salvation. That's a parable in the mouth of a fool, okay, they've got that wrong. Or that the Prodigal Son lost his salvation until he came back, they'll claim that as well, like it's a picture of salvation, ultimately it's a picture of Israel, right? Okay, and the Gentiles. But parables are often used to teach all sorts of false doctrine, okay, I've noticed this a lot when you're out preaching or trying to talk to the unsaved, and sadly, you know, the worst types of those as well, the false prophets. And I'll tell you why, because they're easier to teach a false doctrine from, because they're parables. Because they're not clear scripture, they're parables, so they're easy to teach false doctrine from. It's easier to take a parable, then add your own interpretation and teach false doctrine from there. And a good rule of thumb is that doctrine is built on clear scripture. So the doctrines that you hold, you know, that you really stand firm on, they need to be built on clear scripture, okay? Clear scripture is the foundation of the doctrine. And then the parables might help to expand, explain and back up the clear scripture, right? Parables can support doctrine, but they're not our primary source for the doctrine, yeah? Well verse 7 says, the legs of the lame are not equal, so is a parable in the mouth of fools. And like that damaged leg can make you lame, okay, so can that foolish mouth make a parable lame. It can make it the least unusable, at the worst it can make it a damage to people. Turn to Matthew 13, Matthew 13. So why the parables then? Why parables if they're dangerous? Why parables if they can be used by fools to teach falsehoods? Well, in Matthew 13, Jesus is asked that question. Matthew 13, 10, Matthew chapter 13, verse 10, it says, and the disciples came and said unto him, why speak his soul unto them in parables? The answer said unto them, because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance. But whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables, because they sing, see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, by hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive, for this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, that many prophets are righteous men, who desire to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them, and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. So what's the difference, right? Why can we understand the parables? Because they're built upon that rock, faith in Christ alone. You need the foundation first, and everything else builds nicely upon it. But without understanding salvation, without the rock of salvation, you could easily misunderstand parables, couldn't you? So it needs to start with faith in Christ, you need the foundation. But without that foundation, and of course the indwelling Holy Spirit as well, they can't understand it. But that's the way that God has it. Ultimately, it takes humility to listen to someone explain salvation to you, and you need to accept your need for a Saviour. And like I said, the humility is not a work, it's not like, well I'm just so humble, that's what I got saved. But there's a point in your life where you at least need to have been humble enough to let someone preach you the Gospel, right? To hear the Gospel, to hear that, and basically want to hear what it's saying, and not hear it like I had a guy today who claimed to pretend that he wanted to hear, but he didn't want to hear anything. He just wanted to find gaps to be able to talk some more, and show me how knowledgeable and everything else is. No, but there comes a point with salvation where you need to have heard the Gospel, right? Well without that salvation, the parables are there to let these people choose death. And they do, you know, they can take a parable and go, well, that looks like it teaches work salvation or that teaches, you know, the unprofitable servant is cast into hell, I'll go with that. Because that's really, they want their heart to discover itself. That's what they want. And God gives you enough in the Bible if you want to choose that. Yeah, with faith, with salvation, you understand those parables, don't you? But without it, life is full of choices, and the choice to choose life or death is even there in a way in the Word of God, in that you can take things out of context, you can take things without understanding, and then you can run with it, can't you? So the legs of the lame are not equal, so is a parable in the mouth of fools. And I think the proverb is a reminder to be careful about those teaching from parables, basically, yeah? Be careful about people that teach from parables and not from clear scripture. Verse 8, And he that bindeth a stone in the sling, so is he that giveth honour to a fool. So binding a stone in a sling is loading it, it's turning it into a dangerous weapon. A sling without a stone isn't dangerous, is it? Well, when you give honour, when you give esteem, respect, glory to a fool, you're making them dangerous. And of course, there's a knock-on effect to others, okay? You can give too much respect to a fool that would then make them dangerous to other people as well. But I think first and foremost, they're going to be dangerous to you. So like we saw earlier, giving the wrong people honour, giving fools respect, lifts them up in your mind and puts you more at risk of harm by the fool, okay? For example, giving respect to some false prophet and now you're listening to the poison they're teaching. You've given them respect, you've put them up here, you've put them up here in your life and now you're just getting that poison, it's just getting poured down your throat because you've put them in a position where you're trusting everything they're saying. Giving honour to some celebrity influencer means that you're more likely to be negatively influenced, doesn't it, right? You put them up here, you give them respect, then you're more likely to be influenced by the influencer, right? Putting some foolish friend or family member up here in your life and you're more likely to copy their foolish ways, aren't you? Whoever it is. You give them too much respect in your heart and you're more likely to then copy the foolishness that they're doing because you respect them, because you give them honour. And this makes me think, one thing I was thinking about with this is those that give so much honour to the latest medical community fools. People can go too far with this, those same fools that used to wash their hands in communal basins before and after surgery, you know, those fools. And that same industry that gave honour, that people gave honour to when they were pushing thalidomide onto mums with morning sickness who ended up with horrific birth defects on the back of it. That same community that people gave a load of honour to when pushing 30-odd vaccines in the first year of life, you know that industry out there, yeah, that pushed that first Covid vaccine about how the, in like the record timing, having never had any reasonable testing done or anything, then with five or so follow-up boosters claiming that it might just reduce the symptoms, I mean it was laughable really, wasn't it? But so many people gave honour to that because, well it's the medical community, I mean they're so highly trained, they're so clever, aren't they, these people, right? Well these same fools, okay, still give all sorts of other bizarre health advice and people still give them so much honour and, again, you've got to get the balance right with this, okay? Don't get me wrong, you can go the other way and claim that you know it all because you've done your internet research, you know, and you get those out there who are like, I don't listen to the doctor, they don't know anything because I've got the internet, right? And okay, you can go really far with this and refuse treatment for like dangerous and life-threatening conditions because, well you know, I Googled it, right, and they said that you know it's all of the devil or something else and you know I'd be better off rubbing some herbs on it or something, you know? Okay, yeah, you can go too far but a lot of it is common sense, okay, especially when it comes to drug pushing for childhood illnesses, symptom treatment, yeah that stuff, it should just be, we should use some common sense of this stuff because there is ultimately a lot of drug pushing, isn't there? A lot of it is based on profit, a lot of it's based on money and when these same drug pushers who were pushing Covid-Vaxxers, they were pushing Thalidomide, they were pushing, they've been pushing all this stuff, tons and tons of vaccines in the first year of a precious little baby's life, you know, it might be worth just considering, well, you know, maybe when they're telling me to like give my baby this medicine full of who knows what because this will help treat the symptom of like the child, not even a child, of a cold or something else, maybe, maybe I should assess that, you know, okay, and like actually think it through, think well what, did I not just heal from a cold without shoving a load of Lemsip and everything else down me, I seem to get better, in fact, do I need to shove a load of stuff down my bed? And I understand sometimes the one is you want to make them better and you want to believe like this over the counter medicine or this, oh the doctor said just give them a load of Calpol, the doctor said give them Calpol, give them Calpol, give them Calpol, when they've got a fever just keep giving them Calpol, but it's like, yeah, but what's the Calpol doing? It doesn't, it's not making them healthy, it's not making them well, the Calpol's just masking the symptoms, you know, you talk to people that worked in nurseries and things like that and like childcare places and they'll go, oh yeah, what a lot of parents do, they'll be like, kid's sick, can't take the day off work again, Calpol, and they'll be like, oh the kid looked alright when they came in, halfway through the day they were even more, they were like worse sick, because it wore it off, you get what I'm saying, right, and the thing is that's the same though, like so often we just want to reach for the drugs and give them this, give them that, and it's like, yeah, but is that treating an illness or is that just treating a symptom, are you getting a fever down, to just get a fever down and the fever just keeps going like this, you know, maybe they could have just had the fever and be better. So don't get me wrong, there are illnesses, there are things that, yeah, they do need antibiotics for, right, there are things where that garlic oil ain't necessarily going to solve it, you know, whatever else it is that you might be trying to reach for, or maybe riding it out ain't a good idea and you're trying to ride it out and it's like, ok, no, they don't seem to be getting over it, but a lot of the time there's a lot of drug pushing and ultimately what does it come from, a lot of the time it's coming from fools. It's the same fools that have been killing people and who have the massive horrendous stats of accidental deaths, you know, I mean the medical community is like a mass murderer, yet we're still like, just tell me what to do, I've lost all reason, all logic, just tell me what to do. So I see that by and for some of these things I see that give honour to a fool, be careful you give honour to him in life, it can be dangerous to you, is my point, yeah. Verse 9, as a thorn goes up into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools. So we saw in verse 7 how that parable isn't equal in the fool's mouth, ok, verse 8, that giving them honour is dangerous to you, ok, and here how those parables are dangerous to them. So the thorn going up into the hand of a drunkard is a picture of that stumbling drunkard like sort of clumsily hurting themselves grabbing hold of a thorn. Saw a guy stumbling up the road at 9.30 this morning and you can imagine it, there'd been a big thorn bush in the middle of the road, he would have stumbled and grabbed hold of it. In fact he had this big wide pavement and then he had this lamp post right on the side and a car there, it was Adam's car, just pulled up and the drunkard stumbled down and then he went for the gap in between Adam's car whilst leaning all over it and the lamp post. The other gap was about 5 metres long, maybe not quite 5, 3, 4 metres wide and then he had this like kind of 12 inch gap that he was trying to squeeze through. Well had there been a thorn bush there I don't think there would have been any difference, so it's just like it's giving that picture of just this drunkard just grabbing hold of some thorns because he's a stupid drunkard here, ok, that's the point here. Well when that spiritually stumbling fool grabs hold of that parable it's dangerous to them, ok, and like I said earlier they will grab a parable and choose to trust their false interpretation and that will harm them spiritually. And someone told me recently about arguing with some Pentecostal type, and this was someone who was like, you know, giving out some flowers somewhere in the town centre, about the parable of the servants and the talents, if you know the parable. And they used the one talent guide to prove that you could lose your salvation. It's like forget all the verses, forget like John 5.24, you know, he's trying to show a verse, it's verily, verily, I say to you, he that heareth my word and believeth in him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is past the death of the life. Yeah but a parable of the talents? What about a parable? Well it's dangerous, right, that's a dangerous parable for that person, right, it's like that thorn going into their hand of the drunkard. And obviously there are many, many other verses, clear verses on salvation, not lose your salvation. So the fool instead, he grabs the parable but it harms them. And really it's because their heart wants to justify itself, like I said earlier. They grab a parable, they make their stance sound biblical. That sounds biblical, didn't it? Well, and the parable of the talents, you know, so it's biblical and it's that much harder to then accept that they had it all wrong though, isn't it? So once you start trying to, so here's the thing, when you knock on someone's door and they go, I don't know, it'd be good, well you've got a chance there, if they want to hear it you've got a good chance of getting them saved, haven't you? But when you knock on the door and someone goes, whoa, in the parable of the talents, blah, blah, blah, already you know this is going to be a harder salvation, isn't it? Even if they are claiming to want to listen because they're trying to give you a so-called biblical stance, so it's that much harder for them to accept that they were wrong, right? So basically, even if you explain the parable to someone, don't expect the unsaved to keep that interpretation, okay? Even if you show them that that's wrong, that's what it is, it doesn't mean they're going to get that because they need salvation to really get it. As the thorn goes up into the hand of a drunkard, so is the parable in the mouth of fools. I think the proverb is a reminder to base our truths on clear scripture, which is another reminder, okay? Base your truths on clear scripture, show clear scripture to people, that parable isn't going to help them. Verse 10, the great God that formed all things both rewardeth the fool and rewardeth the transgressors. So first off, okay, it's a reminder that God is the only creator, okay, he formed all things, which I suppose is a reminder of his qualification then for the second part of the proverb. So the great God that formed all things both rewardeth the fool and rewardeth transgressors. He rewards fools, he rewards transgressors. Now reward can be applied to being given something good or bad, okay? So for example, in 1 Samuel 24 17, David has a chance to kill Saul but doesn't, and he said to David, this is Saul, thou art more righteous than I, for thou hast rewarded me good whereas I have rewarded thee evil, okay? So it can be used either way. God can reward you good things but he can also reward you or we might say punish you with evil things. So the great God that formed all things both rewardeth the fool and rewardeth transgressors. So we're looking at all of these proverbs about fools, and Solomon is reminding us, I think, that the fool will be punished along with all transgressors. And this could be a reminder maybe that ignorance isn't an excuse. You can willfully transgress, you can transgress because you're ignorant, can't you? You can transgress because you don't really know, you're not really sure, but either way it's going to get rewarded, okay? For the saved it might be God's chastisement, in life for the unsaved it's during that eternity in hell. So claiming ignorance when God made great efforts to preserve his inspired words isn't an excuse, is it? God made great, to claim ignorance go well, to go well, yeah, but in the NIV, you know, when you go back to the Greek, and if you go back to the time of the day, it's like, look, God preserved it, it's here, he makes it clear what, like, a lot of sin, a lot of commandments are pretty clear. Yeah, I know there's some grey area stuff, yeah, I know there's some ambiguous stuff, but the vast majority of what people do, they either know it's wrong or they're willfully ignorant. Really. That's what it comes down to, because you can find out, can't you? I mean, you could open the Bible and just read through the Ten Commandments, for example, and yeah, okay, what about the Sabbath? Well, okay, it's fulfilled by Christ, but there's some pretty clear stuff there that people still choose to break, let alone so many other things in the Word of God. You could read through, you could read through the Gospels and have them expand on certain stuff and be like, yeah, I'm messing up on a lot of that stuff, right? The great God that formed all things both rewardeth the fool and rewardeth transgressors, so I think whatever the reason sin has repercussions, I think, would be the message for that problem. Okay, verse 11, nearly done. As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly. So just a quick one here for all those dog smugglers out there. Okay, I know there's a few out here, okay? Kissing them, letting them lick your face, it's disgusting. It's disgusting. They're filthy animals. They return to their vomit. Yeah, dogs eat vomit. I don't want a dog licking my hand. I don't want a dog licking, it's disgusting. I don't want them licking my kids. They eat their own vomit. Yeah, so when, like, when, you know, whoever goes past and they got their dog and they start bounding up to your kids and jumping up and trying to lick their face, it's disgusting. Your dog eats vomit. I don't want your dog licking my kid's face. It's vile. It's a beast. Look, yeah, they can be cute, yeah, they can be fun, they can be nice pets, right? You like dogs, great. They can actually be quite useful, okay? And for me, you know, I think if you're going to get a dog, you might as well get something that's useful. Some little, like, lap dog thing, it's just bizarre, okay, unless you're ratting or something with it and it's only good at that and most of them have been, that's been bred out of them. But whatever, right? But they don't just eat their own vomit as well, just by the way, as well. We were at the park recently, and I'm not going to go too graphic with this, but these dogs just running around picking up, you can imagine, what off the floor and just munching on it. It was disgusting. I was with my kids and we were just like, what on earth, I was going, can you see what that dog's doing? And the woman's just like, put it down, put it down, oh no, and she just couldn't stop it, couldn't control it, hadn't managed to train this vile, whatever you want to call it out of it, right? And that little dog, probably then, the little world after, ran up to some poor, unsuspecting child and started licking his face. Seriously. But anyway, let's move on for that part of it, okay? They can be fun and cute, but they're dirty animals, alright? And amongst all of the venerating of dogs to god-like status, don't forget that, okay? Don't forget that they're filthy animals. Well, like a dog returning to his vomit, okay, so is it when a form returns to his folly. Firstly, I suppose it's pretty inevitable, okay? This is quite inevitable for dogs, okay? If your dog pukes, you need to clear it up, because the dog's going to return and start eating it. Oh, they're just so clever, so clever, it opened a door. I just can't believe it. Yeah, he eats his own vomit. He ain't that clever, alright? But, you know, it is inevitable, okay? But secondly, I think that a fool returning to his folly can be as repulsive as well, okay? It's as repulsive as that dog returning to his vomit. If you turn over to 2 Peter 2, though, where this proverb, 2 Peter 2, is alluded to by Peter when describing the false prophets amongst us. In 2 Peter 2, he shows that process of reprobation. Verse 20 of 2 Peter 2, verse 20 says this, For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Didn't say the faith, the belief, okay, didn't say they put their trust in, but the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. So they've had the opportunity through the knowledge, and although that could be the Gospel, Romans 1.20 says, Like we saw earlier, 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 say that they are without excuse. Well 2 Peter 2.20 says that it's going to be worse for them to reject, okay, after they've had that knowledge. Verse 21 says, For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, and after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. What's that holy commandment? Acts 17.30 says, And the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. Okay, and that's talking about getting saved. So it's to get so, to turn from their false way to faith in Christ alone. But it has happened, verse 22, But it has happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. So Peter is using the proverb as an example for those that have rejected salvation and gone back to their vomitus works, basically. Their vomitus works salvation, to the mire of works salvation. The filth, the, you know, and mire, if you think about with pigs, it can be the worst type of filth there, can't it? Which I suppose is, for me then, the primary application of Proverbs 26.11, which said, There's a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly. That fool that has the chance of true salvation and returns to their works-based salvation. I mean, how foolish is that? How foolish is that? People that have had that chance, that have, some people, they hear the clear gospel, don't they? Sometimes you preach someone the clear gospel, you've shown them the truth from the Word of God, and then what happens? They end up just going back to their false works salvation. They reject it, they've had it shown to them, and they go, no, I'm going to go with works. No, you've got to be good. No, no, you must repent of your sins, whatever they want to add to salvation, which is, I think, and that's what it's saying here, as a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly. That's how vile the false religions really are, really. Is it vile, really? Especially false religions that claim to be based upon the Bible, that are claiming some sort of works is somehow going to earn you heaven, keep you saved, get you saved in the first place. I mean, it's pretty vile, really, to think about it. The Lord Jesus Christ came and did all that for us, came and died on a cross, he shed his precious blood, he went to hell, he resurrected, and it's like, I've got to add something to it. I've got to take some credit. I've got to be good enough somehow. It's vile. As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly. I think the lesson is that however horrible it is to see, don't be surprised when it happens. I think that's the lesson. It's horrible. It's vile to see. You're like, what on earth? I've shown you it. Clear. How on earth have you clung to your works, have actually gone back to your works. How on earth does like the, and you'll get them, you know, we'll get them out with time as well. You know, the person that's come in, that's claimed to be saved and everything else, which is what 2 Peter 2 is talking about. And then eventually, you know, really they were fakes, really they were liars, and they're back in their works. I mean, it's like, what on earth? Back to work salvation? Well, as a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly. Verse 12. Last one. Since thou a man wise in his own conceit, there is more hope of a fool than of him. So we looked at being wise in your own conceit earlier in verse 5. Remember, it said, answer the fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit. Well, being wise in your own conceit, your own ideas, take a thing's opinion, whatever, you know, have a, you know, you want to look at it, is not a good thing, okay? Here he said that there's more hope of a fool than someone that's wise in their own conceit. Verse 12 said, seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool than of him. So Proverbs 28 11, Proverbs 28 11 says, the rich man is wise in his own conceit, but the poor that hath understanding searcheth him out. So how much hope is there usually of getting the rich man saved? It's pretty slim, isn't it? Yeah, and when we say rich, you know, I suppose if you're looking by comparison, someone who's rich by our world standards is going to be pretty rich, right? Okay, that's usually pretty rare. They have too much pride, too much confidence in their own, in themselves, in their own understanding of life and everything else, or look how successful, look how wealthier, or even just look how successful my parents and my grandparents or whatever were. So therefore, I'm all right, yeah, I must be okay. But we can also apply this to ourselves, okay? We often get wise in our own opinions, our own understanding of things, okay? In Proverbs 12 16, you don't have to turn there, but we're commanded to be of the same mind one to another, mind not high things, but condescend to men of a lower state. Be not wise in your own conceits. So we as Christians, we as believers, can also be wise in our own conceits. We can convince ourselves that we're right about a lot of things, can't we? Our opinion of someone, for example, we can often be wise in our own conceits. Our opinions of a situation, a motive of someone, oh, they definitely said that for this reason or they definitely did that, they definitely asked it in this way for that. We can often be wise in our own conceits, can't we? Now look, okay, the problem here, the problem though is that our own conceits don't always match up to God's truths, okay? So God's got some truths, and our ideas, our opinions, our things don't always match up. So don't be wise in them when they don't. But the thing is that we all have opinions, we all have perspectives. And he's not saying, right, don't have those, just don't be wise in them. Don't put them up here and the truth of God may be down here or put them up here and just be convinced by them. You've got to accept, you've got to realize that, okay, that's my opinion, that's my idea, that's what I think, but I don't know that. And we've got to remember that in life because it's very easy to just therefore make wrong judgments and other things because we've been wise in our own conceits. So the problem is, if you do that, you become worse than that stubborn fool who can't change their mind. Worse than the fool that Proverbs 18 2 said, a fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself. And that's what he cares about. And the problem with being wise in our own conceits is that we stop caring about the truth. And you can do that, can't you? You can make an opinion, make a judgment, decide something about someone about something about a situation, about whatever it is, and then you kind of don't even want the truth because you want your heart to discover itself. You want to be right, you want to prove yourself right. And that's something that we shouldn't do. Since our man wise in his own conceit, there is more hope of a fool than of him. So after all that about fools, it's like he finishes off going, you might not be a fool in your eyes, but if you're wise in your own conceit, your own ideas, and this can be in any area, right? And this can be, of course, when it comes to just things of God and, you know, things of the spiritual life and stuff, where we get wise in our own ideas, our own preconceived notions, our own ideas of how we should and shouldn't do things, well, there's more hope of a fool than you, if you like that. So like I said, all those judgments about fools, and it's a warning not to be worse than that fool. And that's one way we can do that. So that was, like I said, Proverbs 26, but you could have said that was the fool. And on that, we're going to finish in a word of prayer. Thank you for your word, Lord. Thank you for the Book of Proverbs, thank you for the advice, the guidance, thank you particularly there about, you know, all the lessons we've learned about being a fool and not being a fool and, you know, how fools behave and how we shouldn't behave, Lord, help us to apply that to our lives, help us be wise, Lord, but not wise in our own conceits. Help us to get home safe and sound this evening, help us, Lord, to return on Wednesday for the midweek service, Lord, and for everyone to just have a good week, a healthy week, help those that are unwell, that are away, to recover, Lord, fully, to be able to get back into church and, Lord, help us to do all these things in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.