Proverbs 18 verse 17 this morning Proverbs 18 17 he that is first
in his own calls seemeth just But his neighbor cometh and searcheth
him I May take a minute for this
one to sink in the I First part of this verse is referring to
the first one to present his case. He that is first, giving
his own cause, telling his own side of the story, if you will,
making his own case, seemeth just. But then the other side
is told, then different perspective is given when the when the neighbor
comes and examines him or examines what he said puts in a the light
of examination what was told by this first person Then it changes things When you
hear the first account of something from someone in a case where
maybe somebody is accused of something or where there are
two parties involved that, and it needs to be discerned who
was right and who was wrong in a certain case, there is a great
tendency often to believe that first account. And there's reasons
for that, especially if that person is in the wrong. And that
may seem counterintuitive, but if that first person to give
their story, if they're wrong, they're going to take the most
care to make it sound good from their perspective. They're going
to be the one that gives, that puts forth the most effort to
present themselves in the best possible light. The person that's
wronged just wants the truth to come out, right? But the one
who did the wrong, they don't want the truth out. They want
to give their side of the story with quite a bit of embellishment. That person who is in the wrong
naturally, and when I say naturally, I'm talking about our sin nature.
They're going to leave out parts that implicate them. We've all
probably experienced this at one time or another. Some maybe
not in a court of law, maybe just in the schoolyard or at school. But we've probably
all experienced this principle at one time or another, maybe
many times. but they're going to leave out
things that implicate them. What else are they going to do?
Well, they're going to give a distorted view of things that did happen.
They can't deny that they happened, but they're going to give a distorted
view that is favorable to them. And then, and we know this, we
know this about ourselves, don't we? They're just going to flat
make up stuff, aren't they? Nine times out of 10 now, that's
our nature. We're just going to make stuff
up. and then they're gonna misrepresent their intentions in things that
they can't deny. Well, I can't deny, you know,
I mean, they may not say that, they'll just have to admit it
because they can't deny it. I did say that, I did do that,
but I didn't mean for that to be, you know, for that to happen. And not having heard The other
side of the story, when you just hear that first case, you haven't
heard all the evidence that's going to be presented by the
other side. It's easy to make a hasty and wrong judgment on
the matter. Sounds good. And maybe you do
so based on emotion. Maybe the person that's wrong,
even though they're dead wrong, you like the way they look. Or
you like the way they talk, or you feel sorry for them, or whatever,
based on emotion. But the facts are the facts. You see where this is going in
the spiritual sense? People make judgments concerning
the truth based on a case given by somebody who has reason to
distort the truth. And that person who has reason
to distort the truth, what are they gonna do? They're gonna
make up stuff. They're gonna lie about things
that can't be denied. They're gonna give a different
spin on it, a different perspective. They're gonna give, they're gonna
put forth their intentions in the best possible light. They're gonna leave out things. that doesn't support their cause. And a lot of times, they will
persuade or convince based on emotion. They'll present it in
such a way, you know, with tears in their eyes and a tremor in
their voice to get people to believe what they say. When people have a reason to lie, they're
gonna lie. That's what we are, that's because
we're liars. We're liars. But when we're the one that's
hearing it, if you're just hearing that side of it, and here's another
classic strategy of those who are guilty. A classic strategy
is to admit to lesser evils. Oh yeah, I did that. I did that. I admit that. I was wrong about
that. But they admit to lesser evils
to give the impression that if they were guilty of the greater
evils, they'd tell you. Again. when people are estimating
themselves before God, they'll admit to a lot, won't they? Oh my goodness, I stole, how
many candy bars did I steal when I was young? I was a regular
Bonnie and Clyde when I was... I've done bad things, but they're
not gonna cop to being the bad thing. They'll admit to committing some
evil, but not to being the evil themselves. They'll misrepresent
their motives. I got caught up in bad things,
but my intentions were good. No, they weren't. No, they weren't. When people are sizing up their
own spiritual condition before God, they deliberately ignore
parts of the Bible that they don't like. when they're presenting their
case before me and they're gonna ignore a lot of thing, a lot
of truth, just sort of skate over it. I've
told you many times that I was invited to a Bible study one
time at work. Somebody that I worked with invited
me to a Bible study and they said, we're studying the book
of Romans, you should come study with us. And I said, when you
get to Romans nine, let me know and I'll be there. And a couple
of months went by and I asked him, I said, did
y'all get to Romans nine yet? And he said, well, we didn't
get that far. We studied Romans for a while and then we went
to another book. Yeah, I bet they did. I bet they
did. There's only so far you can stretch
the word of God before you're exposed. That's what that word
in our text is, examined. It says in the text, searcheth,
to be searched. Eventually, the word of God will
search you out. And they didn't want that. They
weren't interested in that. They exalt their own will and
power by avoiding truth, such as it's not of him that willeth.
That'd be a good place to start. If you wanted to talk about man's
will, man's will is impotent. Salvation doesn't happen like
that. It's not of him that willeth or of him that striveth, but
of God that showeth mercy. It's not of what you do, it's
what of he does. They lie to themselves. But they
don't just lie to themselves. In order to present themselves
in a good light spiritually, they lie to everybody that'll
listen to them. And they flat make up stuff, don't they? They
just flat make up stuff. Altar calls, indulgences, many
religious rituals, uncountable religious rituals, the idea that
salvation's a decision that man makes, that's just made up. Need
to get right with God? Make a visit down here to that
old time altar. It may be old time, but it ain't
old enough. It ain't as old as the truth. Need to be saved? Come down front
and repeat after me. You wanna be forgiven? Count
these beads. That's the stupidest thing. We'll swallow that hook, line,
and sinker, won't we? Without the grace of God. Just
making stuff up. And these things, they lie to
themselves and everybody else, and they raise a religious empire
built on those lies so that they can lie to a broader audience.
Their motives are, of course, money, notoriety, the respect
and applause of men, Legitimacy, they find legitimacy in numbers,
don't they? How can we be wrong if God is
blessing it? What they mean by God blessing
it is a lot of people show up. But the problem with that is
the reason a lot of people show up is a lot of people like to
be lied to when it comes to the things of God. God's not blessing it. And we be right there with them, but
God in mercy has kept us. What did he say? You remember
when Elijah said, Israel's a lost cause. Your people are all worshiping
idols. It's over. Just take me and let's
end it right here. And God said, I have reserved
7,000. What did that what did he mean
by that? I've reserved him he tells us what he means by that
He said and of course in in the New Testament. He tells us according
to the election of grace. There's a remnant according to
God's choosing of grace There's a remnant What did he say about
him? I've kept him from bowing down
to an idol And I've kept him from kissing
his mouth I That's true today. Just like
today, even now, also there is a remnant. You can identify them
the same way. They haven't bowed to the false
god of religion, to the god of free will, man-centered religion. They haven't kissed his mouth. The reason a lot of people show
up for that is that a lot of people like the idea that they're
in charge. Adam liked that idea, didn't
he? You don't have to do what God
says, you can decide that for yourself. You can decide what's
good and evil. They like the idea that they're
just poor old victims of the devil, you know, and they just
need to give God a chance. You're not a victim, you're the
instigator. Me too. We're sinners by choice, by our
own will. Well, there's a lot to say about
all of that, but what people who have deceived themselves
or being deceived by that man-exalting fabric of lies in religion today,
what they need and what we need is a neighbor. You know what
that word neighbor is? I don't know why they translated
it neighbor, because the very first definition, number one
A, is what? A friend. You need a friend. Faithful are the wounds of a
friend, but the kisses of an enemy are
deceitful. Faithful are the wounds of a
friend. The Lord sent me a friend. when
I was lost. I didn't know up from down, right
from wrong, black from white. I did not. The Lord sent me a
friend. His name was Jack Shank. And
E.W. Cunningham, my dad, taught me
some truth before I met Jack, but a friend, faithful are the
wounds. Christ is that friend. Ultimately,
Christ is that friend. He's the one that sins. Somebody
to tell you the truth. He'll send men after his own
heart To tell you the truth and that's your friend now We don't always see it that way
I was bad about that I didn't always see it that way But the Lord sends men after
his own heart Men that love his people and love his word Jealous
for his glory We know something about God's
heart, don't we? Because he's revealed it to us
from the scriptures. And he sends people like that to tell sinners the truth. And
all of the self-aggrandizing tactics of the sinner giving
their cases before God are swept away by the clear truth of God's
word. When it's told just as it is,
thus saith the Lord. A true friend will not hold anything
back. They're not gonna skip parts
of it. Paul said, I've not shunned to declare unto you the whole
counsel of God. That's your friend right there. He'll search out all of your
lies about yourself and he'll expose them. all of your lies
about God, and he will search them out and examine and expose
them. How God saves sinners, you've
been lying to yourself maybe about that. Unless God has revealed
the truth to you, you've been lying to yourself. You thought,
well, I've walked the Roman road, I've said the sinner's prayer.
If anybody's going to heaven, I am. If anybody's going to hell,
Somebody that's trusted in what they did before God to be saved Your friend will leave you hanging
up on the mercy of God in Christ with nothing to answer for yourself
He will shut you up to the Son of God and that's the best place
a sinner can ever find themselves and shut up to the mercy of God
in Christ. What do we mean by shut up? No
options, no decision, no debate, no choice. Like the woman with
the issue of blood, she was shut up, wasn't she? She had spent
everything she had and was worse. And then a friend came her way,
the friend. And she said, if I can just touch
the hem of his garment, I'll be made whole. Religion is all about what you
need to do in order to get saved. The truth is, the more you do,
the more you sin. You need God to do something
for you. And I do too. You need God to draw you to the
one that you cannot come to any other way. That's what he said
in John six, isn't it? You're not coming unless God
draws you. You need God to draw you to him,
to whom you cannot come any other
way. Then the eternal love with a
loving kindness, we're drawn to Christ. You need Christ to do everything
for you. like the good Samaritan. Nobody else would even look at
him, give a good look at him. The one that did look at him,
examined him, couldn't do anything for him, he went on the other
side of the road and ignored him. That's the law, the law can't
help you. It'll examine you, it'll look at you, at least. It can't help you. But the good Samaritan, you know
what the Lord Jesus Christ does for sinners like us? He lives
for them. He lives for them. He died for them. He prays for them. And the Father
always hears him. And he'll hold you fast. He'll
hold you to himself. When and if God reveals Christ
to you, that truth will set you free. Religion sounds great. They make a good case, don't
they? So sentimental, very godly sounding and very, you know,
wanting the best for everybody. They make a good first case. if you're blind. Until you read
the Bible, they make a good case, don't they? The Ethiopian eunuch read the
Bible and didn't understand what he read. And then the Lord sent him a
neighbor. Because you see, Christ himself,
he's the friend that sticks closer than a brother. And he sent a
friend to that man, to tell him the truth. You remember what
the misunderstanding was? Philip asked him, do you understand
what you're reading? You remember what he didn't understand
specifically? He didn't understand, he said,
who is the prophet talking about? The misunderstanding was what,
who? You know what the answer was, the truth was, the saving? Revelation was who? He began
at that very scripture and preached unto him the Lord Jesus. May God do that for all of us.
God give us faith as he did that man to believe that Jesus Christ
is the son of God. Amen.