We are back. Season 3 starts now on Liberty
at Home. Welcome friends.
We're back from our summer hiatus to begin Season 3 of
Liberty at Home. I'm your host, Adam Rivera,
pastor the Liberty Baptist Church that meets on Route 138
here in town. Today, as always, we're
broadcasting from the cutting edge ECAT studios here in
Easton, a town whose Five Corners has undergone a
construction boom over the last three months.
We've been gone now since we've been away for a while.
For those of you that aren't familiar with our program,
Liberty at Home is a weekly program produced by our church
and broadcast by ECAP. Each week we take around 5
minutes or so to explore biblical truth and engaging,
encouraging, and sometimes eccentric way.
Last season we spent many of our episodes exploring the Proverbs,
which means that today we'll resume that study in Proverbs
chapter 26. So read along with me Proverbs
26, beginning in verse one which says as snow in summer and as
rain and harvest. So honor is not seemly for a
fool. As the bird by wandering, as the
swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.
A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a Ron for the
fool's back. 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. Now I want to see if you were
really listening to what I just read.
Did it sound like a couple of verses maybe didn't make sense?
Like they didn't go together? Did you catch it?
OK, then let me read verses four and five again and see what you
think. Verse 4 says, Answer not a fool
according to his folly, lest thou be like also unto him.
Verse 5 says, Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he
be wise in his own conceit. Now you're definitely caught at
that time. At first glance, there's no way
these verses should go together. They're like oil and water,
ketchup and ice cream, pineapple and pizza, socks and sandals,
clowns and, well, everything. You get my point.
How can these verses go together?
One says to answer a fool according to their foolishness,
and the other says don't answer a fool according to his
foolishness. So which is right?
Listen, let's start with this thought.
There is neither a mistake nor contradiction in the Word of
God. The Bible is a holy book
inspired by the Holy Spirit and preserved through the ages.
So we can immediately discard any line of thinking that
suggests the Bible's mistaken Psalm.
Chapter 12. Verses 6 and seven say the words
of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in the furnace of
earth, purified 7 times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord,
Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever.
So if these verses are correct, and they are, then what does it
all mean? Well, in my humble opinion,
these two verses linked together in Proverbs 26 teach one
unmistakable truth. When you argue with a fool,
you'll never win. Think about it.
I mean, hasn't that been your experience in life?
When someone is acting the fool and you're forced to see them in
the next room, the next cubicle, the next locker, or maybe even
in the next Pew, you're quite unlikely to convince them to
stop their foolishness. In fact, in the next chapter,
first number 22 says, though thou should US Bray a fool in a
mortar amongst wheat with a pestle, yet will not as
foolishness depart from him. Now Solomon says in that verse
that if you were to grind down a fool to a powder with a mortar
and a pestle to teach them a lesson, they still wouldn't give
up their foolishness. So what's a person to do when
they deal with a fool? Well, the answer is that your
first and foremost appeal should be to the Father, not to the
fool. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5
verse 44 But I say unto you, love your enemies, and pray for
them, which despitefully use you, and persecute you.
James echoes the sentiment when he says in chapter 5 verse 16 of
his epistle, Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for
another, that he may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of
a righteous man availeth much. Make your first and most fervent
appeal to the Father, not the fool.
Trying on your own to get a fool to recognize their folly is as
much of A lost cause as trying to make a clown, well, less
creepy. I have to admit, it has been so
good to be back in the studio to record another episode of
Liberty at home. But it would be even better to
see you in church this Sunday. And not just any church,
preferably at Liberty Baptist Church.
We meet every Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night
on Route 138 right here in Easton.
You can find us on all the Socials podcast platforms as
well as at mylibertybaptist.org. Well, this Pastor Adam Rivero
signing off for this week's episode of Liberty at Home,
reminding you that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is
liberty. See you soon for our next
episode of Liberty at Home.