I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me back to the book of Proverbs,
chapter 26. Proverbs, chapter 26. I'd like
to look at one verse. Verse 17, Proverbs 26, 17. He that passeth by and medleth
with strife, belonging not to him is like one that taketh a
dog by the ears. If I take the general idea and
understanding of this passage and Look at the general accepted
meaning of this verse of scripture. That understanding, that natural
understanding of this passage of scripture would be right. Here's what it means, generally
speaking. Just mind your own business.
Mind your own business. And I looked, I tried to, and
I pray that the Lord give me some understanding. I truly believe
that the Lord has given me some light on this passage of scripture. And let me say this, minding
your own business is good advice. If it's not your business, leave
it alone. But the meaning, I've tried to
look at these words and I've asked truly, I've asked the Lord
to give me some light on this passage of scripture. Because
if it's not the gospel, then it does us no good. Minding your
own business is good advice, but that's not the gospel. This
verse of scripture says, he that is passing by, and in his passing
sees a quarrel between two people and vexes or troubles himself
with the quarrel, takes a side in the dispute that he had nothing
to do with. He didn't contribute. It's like
one that takes a dog by the ears. What he's done is he's probably
gonna get bitten. He's probably gonna bring some
trouble on himself. And that's the natural heart
of what's being said here. Now, for a few minutes, I'd like
to just look at this and I pray that the Lord bless it to our
hearts and we see the glory of Almighty God. in the face and
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He that passeth by. Now, all that could be considered
talking about anybody that is passing by or passing over is
what it means. Crossing over. But I will say
this, no passing, no crossing over is even worth mentioning
except the crossing over or the passing by of the Lord Jesus
Christ, who according to God's eternal covenant of grace was
made flesh and came into this world and crossed over or passed
by. That's what the word means. He
that passes by, he that's crossing over, he that's going from here
to there. That's what it means. But for
him, who for 33 years was in this world as the federal head
and surety of his people, he's the one that I want to look at
that was passing by. He who in the fullness of time
was sent of the father and made of a woman, made under the law,
to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive
the adoption of sons. Now, his passing by is worthy
to be spoken of. I want to talk about his passing
by. His passing by that he made himself
of no reputation, took upon himself the form of a servant, servant
made in the likeness of men, and being found in the fashion
as a man, humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. But I want us to consider what
he did. He passed by. What a wonderful
thought. God was made flesh. God. But in his passing by, here's
what he did. He passed by and the scripture
said, and medleth, medleth with strife belonging not to him. Now, this is an amazing thing. You take your concordance, and
I've said I always encourage you, if you get, look, I'm gonna
do my best to try to tell you what these words mean, but look
them up, look them up. Passeth and medleth, those two
words, passeth and medleth, same word, same exact word. But if you have a concordance,
a marginal reading, mine in the middle of mine, it says, he that
passeth by in medleth. That word medleth there in my
marginal reading means enraged. To be raged. To have a zealousness. To be provoked. To be provoked
with zealousness is what it means. He that passeth by and medleth. Now this is talking about his
attitude. I'm talking about he who came
into this world and passed by and medleth with zealousness. He meddled with strife. Belonging not to Him. Now the strife or the controversy
spoken of here was between God and His people. All men in general. But He came for the strife that
was between God Almighty and His people. Strife that was caused
by our sin. We're the cause of the strife. But it was a strife, sin, that
didn't belong to Him. Didn't belong to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Why? The Scripture said He knew no
sin. He knew no sin. But that He might restore that
which He took not away, He, according to God's everlasting covenant
of grace, passeth by. And he meddleth with that strife. And he did it being vexed and
excited with the quarrel. That's the actual, the meaning
of that. He passeth by and meddleth. And he did it not in an indifferent
way. He came vexed or excited with
the quarry. He intervened to make peace. And he did it with passion. That's
what it's saying. He that passes by and meddles. He didn't come as a busybody. We talk about us, minding our
own business. We'd do something like this.
It'd be like we were just walking by and just happened to come
up on somebody arguing. No, no, no, no, no, no. He knew of this strife before
the foundation of the world. And for the ultimate good, of
both parties. Now listen to this. He passeth
by and medleth with strife, that strife that belongeth not to
him. He came into this world as the mediator. Here's how he
meddleth, and did it with zealousness. He did it as the God-man mediator,
the one that could touch both parties. We come up on an argument
or something, and we find out somebody's arguing about something,
and I'll tell you what we're prone to do. We're prone to take
one side or the other. He had both sides at heart. Here's
the great high priest, the God-man mediator who made peace, who
reconciled God and his people. The scripture
says, the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. and the reproaches
of them that reproach thee are fallen upon me. Psalm 119, Psalm
119, verse 139. Now listen to this passage of
scripture. Psalm 119, 130. My zeal hath
consumed me because mine enemies have forgotten thy words. glowed
according to this scripture. Those words, I mean, look at
that marginal reading. Anger, zealousness. Anger at
what had happened concerning his people, that holy anger.
And his heart with zeal for God's glory was this, that God's law
might be honored. That justice be satisfied. God had been offended. And with
zealousness, zealousness, he came that sin be punished, but
that his people go free. He bore it. He passeth by and
medleth with strife, with sin, belonging not to him. He vexed. himself and gloriously, as I
said a moment ago, he stood for both sides. Not like me, not
like you. We're gonna take one side or
the other. Somebody's wrong, somebody's right. You know how
we are. Listen, yeah, God's right and
we're wrong, but he took both sides. The glory of God and the
good of his people. He brought trouble. upon himself because of the strife
that didn't belong to him. As the scriptures spiritually
speak, he's like a man taking a dog by the ears and made himself
just. I looked this up to find out
what happens when you grab a dog by the ears and pick him up.
I get mad. I know Lyndon Johnson did it with his dog. You take
a wild dog And you grab a dog by the ears,
it says the nerve endings of a dog. Some of y'all know a whole
lot more about dogs than I do. And all the weight of that dog
is on his ears when you pick him up. And he's not going to
be happy. Unless you figure out a way to
get rid of him, when you turn him loose, now he's right there. More than likely, you're going
to get bitten. Justice according to that dog is gonna be satisfied.
And he, the scripture bearing this out, he that passeth by
and medleth with strife belong not to him is like one taking
the dog by the ears. There's gonna be a price. There's gonna be a price that's
gonna be paid to settle that strife. And there was a price
to be paid. all the pain that he suffered
for being our surety. He passeth by and he meddleth
suffering and he bore the sin of his people. I tell you what
the scripture says. This is what he suffered. Isaiah chapter 53, verses three
to six, he is despised. and rejected of men, a man of
sorrows, acquainted with grief. We hid, as it were, our faces
from him. He was despised, and we esteemed
him not. Surely he's borne our griefs,
carried our sorrows, and we did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted." Why? Because he passeth by and medleth
with strife. That was not his. He was wounded
for our transgression. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes
we're healed. Why was he stricken? He meddled.
He meddled with strife that was not his own, but he made it his
own according to God's everlasting covenant. We get into somebody
else's business that's not ours, This was his business. This was
his business. He entered zealously into the
strife, into the work that the father had given him. Why? His
bride's life and eternal security was at stake because of his love
for her. Go back and read the book of
Song of Solomon. He said, you've ravished me.
with one of your eyes, you've stolen my heart. She was separated
from God with no hope in herself of ever being reconciled, dead
in trespasses and sins. His bride had one hope, that
he passed by, like he passed by that child. and saw her navel
wasn't cut. He said, I saw you in your own
blood. And what did he say? He said,
live. He took her, washed her, clothed her. He entered in. He took that which
was the cause of her strife. He made himself sin. God the Father made him sin.
He bowed to the will of the Father. Hazard himself zealously for
her. bore the shame at Calvary, forsaken
of the Father, bore that plunging sword of His
justice, and died as her absolute substitute, was made what she
is, made her. Oh, the mercy of God, to save
a people from their sins. How do you save them? God himself was made flesh. I'll be made
what she is. She's made flesh, made the form
of sinful flesh. I'll be made what she is by nature,
made sin. He meddled. Well, I tell you
what, that's one thing we don't need to do is meddle in somebody
else's business. But as I said a moment ago, this
was his business. He loved her and he gave himself
for her. I pray God bless this to our
hearts for God's glory and our good. Amen. All right.