The Folly of Foolhardiness
Proverbs 29:1
03/15/01
The Folly of Foolhardiness
Pr. 29:1
"He, that being often reproved, hardenenth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy."

Most of last week I was studying and meditating on the story of Absalom, Solomon's brother, in preparation to preach at a local juvenile delinquent home. Then last night at church, Dr. Andy Simpson preached on the rebellion of Samson. As I considered these two young men, and as I considered their rebellion, my mind returned to this verse which seems so relevant to both young men, as well as so relevant to a prevalent problem in my generation--that of rebellion.

I have often wondered in the last two weeks whether or not Solomon thought of his brother Absalom, as he wrote this verse. Certainly his brother's sudden and violent death, at the hands of Joab, in the midst of a battle of his own doing, left a lasting imprint on the life the then young Solomon.

There is a lot we can learn from this verse:

We see the REPROOF--"He that being often reproved". There is some things we can see in these words about this reproof. It is a PERSONAL reproof. Notice the word "HE", not "THEY". It is in the singular second person pronoun. HE is often reproved and as a result HE hardeneth his neck. We also see that it is a PERSISTENT reproof. He was not reprooved once, or twice or even a few times, but rather OFTEN. God never reprooves our heart once, instead that Still Small Voice is also a Persistant Still Small Voice. It is a PATIENT reproof. God is not beholden to any man. He is under no obligation to give us more than one warning. Anything above that is the mere mercy and patience of God. It is a PASSIONATE reproof. When I see the word OFTEN I understand that God does not reprove us simply because He is God, and we must obey Him, but rather because He loves us and wants the best for us. It is also a PURPOSEFUL reproof. I see two things: (1) There is always a purpose for a rebuke. We cannot pretend to be innocent, for He knows our hearts. We cannot pretend to have no guilt, otherwise He would not rebuke us. (2) He does not reproove for the mere sake of reproval. He wants to see a change, He wants to see results to his reproof.

We see the REBELLION--"hardeneth his neck". Before we go any further, note the grammer of this verse. "He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck". We often misquote this as "He that being often reproved AND hardeneth his neck". The difference is that adding the AND implies that "HE" could or could not harden his neck. In the grammer of this verse we understand that it is inevitable for him to harden his neck. Repeated reproof will always result in a hardened neck. This is a mental picture of the oxen that were used to plow the fields. Day after day they would pull against the yoke that bound them to their labor. As they pulled against it day after day, they would form callouses on their necks, that would make their hide tough, and their neck stiff. Eventually, they would get so stiff that they could hardly move their heads. In this same manner, we often pull against the chains of mercy that tie us to what must never cease to be our labor of love. We see three things from these three words, "hardeneth his neck". We see that it is a DECISION. The decision is not whether to harden his neck, that is an inevitable result of being often reproved. The decision is whether or not you will continue to not heed the reproof. We see that it is DUMB. Look who we are bucking--The God of Heaven. The Omnipotent One that created the worlds with the Word of His mouth! Is that dumb, or is it just me!?!? We see that it is DEADLY. Note the part of the anatomy that is being hardened--the neck! With a snap of that hardened neck, the unpenitent soul would pass on into eternity!

We see the RETRIBUTION--"shall suddenly be destroyed". We see the SURETY of this retribution. It says SHALL not MIGHT BE, COULD BE or MAYBE. I remember my mom often telling me, "I don't make threats, I make promises". That is what God does, He does not make empty threats, if He promises judgement, than rest assured, there SHALL be judgement. We see the SUDDENESS of this retribution. It does not comes without warning--the warning has already been sounded, repeatedly, the listner has merely hardened his neck, and ignored the warning. No further warning is required, when judgement comes, God says, it will come suddenly. We see the SEVERITY of the retribution. Notice the word "destroyed". It means to be, "broken, maimed, crippled, wrecked and crushed." It is desperately severe, this judgement comes suddenly and comes severly. It is the just execution of divine judgement.

We see the REMEDY--"and that without remedy". There is no remedy, there is no help, there is no second chance. All second chances have been given, all patience has expired, all mercy has been neglected and rejected, all grace has been wasted; all that remains is a flaming sword and a wrathful hand. If God will not have your loyalty, submission and obedience, then rest assured He will have His justice. The word remedy means "healing". In other words the punishment will be so sever, that there will be scars left, for which there will be no healing.

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