RUN FROM FLATTERERS
MEMORISE: A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth worketh ruin. Proverbs 26:28
READ: Acts 12:20 -23
20 And Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Sidon: but they came with one accord to him, and, having made Blastus the king's chamberlain their friend, desired peace; because their country was nourished by the king's country.
21 And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them.
22 And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man.
23 And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.
MESSAGE
Flatterers are dangerous people. They come like friends, but they are really enemies, even though some of them don't know it. In the Bible reading for today, Herod was destroyed not because he said any proud words, but because he was being flattered and did not run from the flatterer or tell them to stop. These were people who hailed him because of what they could get from him, not because they really felt he was a great orator. Proverbs 26:28 says:
A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth worketh ruin.
Flatterers will ruin you if you don't run away from them. If you are being flattered and it feels good, you had better check yourself because the people flattering you are not your friends; they are trap-setters sent by the devil to you. Proverbs 29:5 says:
A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet.
Someone who only tells you that you are perfect and never tells you that you did anything wrong is not your friend. When you bring those who flatter you closer to you, that is like bushmeat going to play in front of the hunter's house, destruction is near. Psalm 5:9 says:
For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.
Their inward part is not 'ordinary wickedness' but described as "very wickedness". Their throat - from where the flattery comes, is an open grave. You are to run from such people. When they advise you, take their advice with a pinch of salt because they don't mean well for you at all. Psalm 62:4 says they advise you so as to bring you down from your exalted position.
Sweet as their tongue may be, don't take the advice of flatterers; run from them!
KEY POINT
If there is someone who is always praising you excessively, stay away from that fellow henceforth.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Acts 16-18
HYMN 13: MY HOPE IS BUILT ON NOTHING LESS
1 My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus Christ, my righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
2 When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.
3 His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.
4 When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
In Him, my righteousness, alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.
