1. The fool’s mouth is characterized by PRIDE…

a. This is a different term for pride than is most often used.

b. Meaning: majesty, a rising up; swelling (of the sea); majesty (of Israel); pride, haughtiness.

c. It is translated variously; excellency; haughtiness; swelling; highness; arrogance…

d. It is used here in the sense of arrogance and pride—a spirit that is lifted up or a head that swelled up… puffed up…

2. Actually, pride exists in the heart… not the mouth.

a. Prov. 16:5 – a proud heart is an abomination to God.

b. Prov. 21:4 – pride in the heart is sin.
• It is sinful and God hates it.
• Even if it is never acted upon, it is sinful and wrong.
• BUT—it is much WORSE to act upon it…

c. Prov. 28:25 – pride in the heart is manifested in stirring up trouble.

d. Prov. 13:10 – only by pride cometh contention.

e. Pride is at the root of all controversy and contention.
• Thus, WISDOM has the good sense to suppress pride.
• A wise man will.
• Where there is pride in the heart and NO WISDOM to suppress it, it WILL manifest itself in all kinds of ugly ways…
• Wisdom will “keep a lid” on pride… and eventually will DEAL with it…

3. The fool has pride in his heart—AND lets it all out through his big mouth.

a. Pride manifests itself in the mouth through BOASTING.
• This is overt pride… nothing subtle about this.
• This is the man who lets everyone know about HIMSELF… because frankly, he can’t think of a more fascinating topic!
• He speaks about how well he does at his job… at all of his hobbies… how much money he makes…
• He drops names of important people he hob-knobs with
• The Christian who has a mouth full of spiritual pride is worse.

1. He lets everyone know how long he prays;

2. He drops hints as to how much money he gives.

3. He makes sure everyone knows how many tracts he passed out; how many people he has witnessed to;

4. He, like the proud Pharisee, blows a trumpet every time he does a good deed…

5. And like the Pharisee, he gloats over the fact that he is not as sinful as others…

6. He likes everyone to know how holy he is… and rest assured, he is truly holier than thou!

7. God hates this kind of proud boasting.

b. Pride manifests itself in the mouth through CRITICIZING.
• Pride is demonstrated in a round about way at other times.
• This man may not boast overtly of himself, but he does the same thing by constantly criticizing others and pointing out their faults.
• The implication each time is: “I am better than he is” even though it is never stated as such.
• He tears down others to make himself look good… to exalt himself.
• Now there are times when faults NEED to be pointed out… where error must be exposed. Jesus did so often.
• BUT—when we do so, we need to be extremely careful about our MOTIVE.
• Our motive ought to be a love for the truth—not a love for self… not a desire to make US look good.

c. Pride manifests itself in the mouth through RIDICULING.
• Pride sometimes pokes fun at others in order to make self look good… just like pointing out faults.
• There is of course, good clean fun.
• But there is also a kind of poking fun that has as its source PRIDE and arrogance…
• Little kids do this all the time. They poke fun at someone who might look different or might be a little slow. (Na, na na na na!)
• Adults do the same thing—but with much more sophistication.
• God hates the pride behind it all—regardless of how cleverly we disguise it!

d. Pride manifests itself in the mouth through proud COMMANDING.
• Some demonstrate a proud mouth by taking authority to themselves that does not belong to them.
• They make commands and tell others what to do—when in fact, they are not in charge!
• Pride blinds that person into thinking that he or she is the head of everything…
• When we present God’s Word we are to speak with all authority.
• But when we speak on other issues—perhaps a little humility would help.
• Our way of doing things isn’t necessarily the only way.
• We are not in charge of everything. We should not try to speak authoritatively on all subjects under the sun!
• This is the know-it-all… and the one who THINKS he is the boss… and enjoys telling others what to do…
• God hates this kind of pride when it spews out of our mouths.
• A wise man will learn to control that tongue.

4. A ROD.

a. The fool who says proud, arrogant, and foolish things needs to be punished with a rod…
• Some understand the rod of pride as a stick that the proud man uses to hurt others… by what comes out of his mouth: criticism, ridicule, etc.
• Others see this rod as a rod that is needed to DEAL with the pride and arrogance that comes out of the mouths of fools.
• Ps. 64:8 – it may be that the rod is BOTH… the proud man’s words that HURT like a rod… and that CORRECT like a rod—because they hurt HIM… they come back to bite him!

b. Prov. 10:13 – a rod is for the back of a fool… for beating some sense into him! To knock some sense into him.

c. Prov. 26:3 – just as animals need to pulled and whipped and beaten into submission—so does the fool. Like a dumb animal, he doesn’t seem to learn any other way.

d. Parents would LOVE to not have to spank their children. Kids—here’s a way to avoid it: do what is right! Don’t talk or behave foolishly… rebelliously… SUBMIT!

e. Elders would LOVE never to have to discipline a church member—and here’s the way to do it—don’t talk foolishly… humble yourself… don’t be proud or arrogant… submit to the God-given authority in the local church… and there is no need for it!

f. But there are times when the rod is needed.

g. As adults, no one is going to spank us… but the rod should speak to us ALL of DEALING with this kind of pride…

h. We should learn to chasten ourselves… examine our own hearts… MORTIFY the deeds of the body that are not pleasing to God.

i. Let’s face it. We are ALL guilty of having PRIDE flow out of our mouths… rather than pretend it’s not there, let’s be honest and deal with it!

j. And when you hear pride coming out of the mouth of a brother, show love: love covers a multitude of sins.

k. Don’t make a big deal out of HIS pride. Let’s rather attack the pride in our OWN heart. There’s plenty there to keep us busy.