Posted on 04/25/2022 11:37:31 PM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress
“As he that bindeth a stone in a sling, so is he that giveth honour to a fool. As a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools. The great God that formed all things both rewardeth the fool, and rewardeth transgressors. As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly. Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him” (Proverbs 26:8-12).
It's of no value. You don't bind a stone in a sling. You lay it in a sling. You bind it in a sling, go ahead and try it. I mean, you're just wasting effort. It’s vanity.
“. . . so is he that giveth honour to a fool,” It's useless. It's vain. It’s of no consequence.
Verses 7 and 9 go together. Well, “a thorn going up into the hand of a drunkard,” probably doesn't feel it, “so is a parable in the mouth of fools” has no feeling, it doesn’t have the right interpretation.
The fool is to be rewarded in this life with a rod, verse 3, and he'll be rewarded in the next life with the judgment in hell, in Revelation 11:18 and Revelation 20:11-15. In chapter 18, it talks about the time of judgment to give out rewards.
I can't imagine a dog throwing something up and then going back to eat it, but he will. I've seen him do it. “So a fool returneth to his folly.” The thing that made a mess, he’ll go right back to it and make another mess, and then he'll eat the mess. That’s the fool! What a descriptive passage! If you didn't know that all men were sinners, you would know it by the fact that man's best friend is a thing that'll return to his own vomit. If that's man's best friend, man is in trouble.
The best friend man has ever had is Jesus Christ. I'm not against dogs. I'm not a dog hater. I've got a dog. I don't shoot dogs or kick dogs and all that. I mean, you don't want to pattern your life after a dog, and yet a lot of men are like that. They are just as uncouth, they are just as filthy and dirty, and in fact in Second Peter 2:22 an unsaved man and unsaved false prophet is likened to a dog. The false prophetess is likened to a pig. Hence, a bad woman is called a pig out in the streets. The Bible knows what men relate to.
“Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit?” he thinks he’s somebody, “there is more hope of a fool than of him.” That's true. A fool is hard to deal with. He’s hard to straighten out, but a guy that is even harder to straighten out as a self-righteous, proud individual. “There is more hope of a fool than of him.”
The devil is the proudest one going; there's no hope in him.
“Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise” (I Corinthians 3:18).
“For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself” (Galatians 6:3).
The only way that you will ever really be wise is to realize you're not very smart. You need to get it from God.
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