Proverbs 26:18-28

It's 26 verses 18 through 28. Good evening, good evening. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. It's so good to have you here tonight. This is where every day we get together. We get into God's Word and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2021, we'll make it through all the wisdom literature. Well, I'm so glad that you are here to join me tonight, maybe right before dinnertime. I know we're about to have pizza and ping pong at the church. I'm excited about that, but I want to make sure I jump on here and get devotions done with you today while we have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into God's Word. Let's pray. Oh Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for your word. We thank you for your spirit and your love. We pray that you would teach us now in Jesus's name. Amen. Proverbs chapter 26 verses 18 through 28.
Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death. is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, I was only joking. You want to start a war really fast? You want to make enemies with your neighbor? You want to make people not like you? Do mean things. What does it say here? Is the man who deceives his neighbor, the one who says, oh yeah, I'm going to do such and such, or place tricks on his neighbor. You might as well shoot arrows across your fence. You might as well take firebrands and lob them over the fence at your neighbor. It's not loving your neighbor to deceive him. Verse 20. Well, 20 through 22, actually. Where there is no wood, the fire goes out. And where there is no tail-bearer, strife ceases.
As charcoal is to burning coals, and wood to fire, so a contentious man to kindle strife. The words of a tail-bearer are like tasty trifles. they go down into the inmost body. A tail bearer, a contentious person, you know, if you take them out of your midst, there's a lot less trouble. The tail bearer and the contentious person are always causing friction and fighting.
I am often, I try not to do it too much, but this is one of those things where in a small community, there's a lot of tail bearing. There's a lot of gossip. There's a lot of, you know, this person did this and that and whatever. And every once in a while, people will try to tell me the tidbits about what's going on and discuss one of those. I try to show I'm very disinterested. I have no desire for tidbits of gossip. But many people are, and the result of it is contention. The result of it is fighting. The result of hearing the gossip, the rumor on the street is that you're going to hurt people. There's going to be fights.
That's just a mind our own house as we looked at in one of the previous verses in verse 23 Fervent lips with a wicked heart are like earthenware covered with silver dross Fervent lips with a wicked heart are So lips that are quick to talk from a heart that's evil are like earthenware, so a piece of ceramic covered over with silver dross. So it's not actually really good silver, it's just the leftover silver. So you pick up a playhead you see it is shining with silver and you think oh this is gonna be a great plate but then what you realize is it's really just a piece of pottery covered over with silver it's not actually a silver plate and worse than that let down it's not even good silver that leaves a bad taste in your mouth Similar letdown and bad taste in your mouth that happens for somebody who is Has fervent lips as this says Fervent lips with a wicked heart someone who just likes to talk But their heart is wrong verse 24 and 25 He who hates disguises it with his lips and lays up deceit within himself. When he speaks kindly, do not believe him, for there are seven abominations in his heart. Though his hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness will be revealed before the assembly. So the person who hates people, what is it saying?
They'll often lie about it. They'll often disguise it. They'll often put it away. They'll often just let it simmer before too long, but it's going to come out. It's going to come out, and when he speaks kindly, do not believe him, for there are seven abominations in his heart. This is the idea of somebody who, even though they hate you, they'll flatter you with their mouth. Even though they are against you, they'll try to seem like they're buddy-buddy with you. But it's going to come out. It's going to be known.
The last two verses of the chapter here. Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him. Whoever digs a pit will fall into it. We've got this thing in our culture where people will talk about karma. It's going to come back on you or something like that. Sorry, one of the kids knocked on the door. There's no such thing as karma, but there is a such thing as God's providence, the holy God of the universe who is sovereign and over all things. is going to repay.
And it's often that those who, this is the idea of digging a pit, making a snare for someone that they might fall into it, get hurt and possibly die. This is the idea that happens to Haman in the book of Esther. If you've never read the book of Esther before, I'd encourage you to go there and see Haman builds the gallows to try to kill Mordecai on. And it's Haman who ends up being hung on his own gallows.
Verse 28. A lying tongue hates those who are crushed by it, and a flattering mouth works ruin. Liars hate those they like, or those they lie to, and flattery is going to ruin you. If you want to have contempt for someone, lie to them. If you want to show someone how much you don't love them, start talking falsehoods to them. See how quickly your relationship will erode.
Well, let's pray. Father, we thank you so much that you are a God of truth. We thank you that you are a God of justice. We thank you that you are a God who cares for us and teaches us the narrow path. Father, we confess to you how often we fall from this path, how often we go to the right and to the left, but we thank you that it is not our righteousness, but it is Jesus Christ. who has led us and loved us.
Lord, we pray that we might cling to his righteousness, be cleansed by his blood, that we might be brought into your presence. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, may you be honest with your heart. May you know your shortcomings and fallings. May you confess your sins. And may you cling to Jesus Christ. And as you abide in Christ, may you bear much good fruit. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye.