Posted on 03/05/2022 9:41:18 PM PST by Pilgrim's Progress
“Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend” (Proverbs 6:3 KJV).
There is an old saying, “Engage brain, before putting mouth in gear,” think about what you are about to say or do, before you do it. Where we so often get into trouble is with impulse thinking or actions. Most retail establishments thrive on impulse purchases. They realize that 80-90% of the time, when you go to the store, you are going there for a specific object. Chances are, if they can, they want that object in the back of the store. That is why the milk and the bread will hardly ever be up front in the grocery store. They’ll be in the back because they want you to travel through the store because they realize that most people buy on impulse. How often we hear people say, “I just went in to buy one bag of groceries, and came out with three!”
“Do this now, my son,” here is good advice. If you get into a situation with a friend, as hard as it may be, go and humble thyself. You just have to go to that friend and admit that you made a mess of things and got myself into something I should have never gotten in to. We don’t like to admit that we made a mistake.
“humble thyself, and make sure thy friend,” you would be better off keeping your friends and getting out of the responsibility. Here is how you make sure a friend: “
This is when you got something against another Christian. Everybody knows where Matthew chapter 18 is in the Bible. Very few Bible believing Christians don’t know that they are supposed to go to another brother when they have a problem. If they are asked, “What are you supposed to do if you have a problem with another Christian?” “We are supposed to go to them alone, according to the 18th chapter of Matthew.” But I don’t think there are 1 or 2% of Christians that practice it. That’s the shame of it. We all know it’s there, but very few use it. The verse isn’t hard to find, but the wherewithal to do as it instructs.
Southerners are more like to go to another believer. Northern folks will just shun you. Southerners just don’t let things lie, they go after it until it’s settled.
“Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother” (Mat 18:15 KJV).
If your brother, or your friend, gets you involved in a responsibility that the Bible says you are not supposed to be involved in, then you’ve got to go to him and tell him. “When thou art come into the hand of thy friend,” if you’ve gotten under his power, that is, you’ve co-signed for a note or something—he’s got you—all he has to do is quit paying and then you are on the hook. “If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother,” and that is what you want him to do. It’s a hard thing to do, but we need to work it out. That is what keeps problems at a minimum. You are never going to eliminate all problems, and you can keep your molehills from becoming mountains.
“Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend.” There is an application here to salvation here. Have you made surety with the Devil? Have you made surety with sin? Yea, everybody has. We are all born into sin and the Devil is our father. You need to “deliver thyself.” How are you going to do that? “Go humble thyself,” just turn to the Lord—trust Him. That is the way that you deliver yourself from the surety of sin. What’s the surety of sin? “The wages of sin is death,” it’ll wind you up in hell, that’s the surety of it. You are, in a sense, a co-signer with the Devil—especially as you let that relationship continue. You are not responsible for being born into his family, but you are responsible for remaining in the Devil’s family once you are aware of it. Once you are awakened to sin, it is as though you have signed on the dotted line to continue in his family if you choose to stay there. There is pleasure in sin for a season, but the season always runs out.
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