Proverbs on Speech
Part 6: Hypocrisy

Baxter T. Exum (#1776)
Four Lakes Church of Christ
Madison, Wisconsin
March 9, 2025

It is so good to be together this morning! If you are visiting with us today (either here in person or online or on the phone), we are especially happy to have you with us, and we’d like to ask that you fill out a visitor card – either online or on a card from the pew in front of you. And we also invite you to pass along any questions or prayer concerns in that way. In terms of our prayer concerns, Abe is doing much better, and he is tentatively planning on being able to go home tomorrow. He could use some help with a few things, and if you are able to help in some way, please let me know.

We are here this morning to celebrate the good news and to thank God for saving us. The good news is that the Son of God came to this earth to give his life for ours. He was buried. And he was raised up on the third day. We obey this good news by believing it, by turning away from sin, by confessing our faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, and by allowing ourselves to be buried with him in baptism. And, as usual, we do have several examples to share today, starting with an update from the Millington Church of Christ (just north of Memphis). They posted last Sunday, saying that, “We had 2 more baptisms today!! The first was Zach Stanifer [pictured with the epic beard, on the left] and the second one was Dee Halliburton!!” [pictured on the right] They say, “What an amazing way to start the week!! Angels are rejoicing and heaven and so are we!!”

This next one is another update from David Willis, a man we crossed paths with in Hawaii a number of years ago, a man who has dedicated his life to preaching the gospel in American Samoa. He posted a few days ago (from the Lupelele Church of Christ), and he says that, “We gathered at the Pala Lagoon after services to witness the baptism of Malae Sola. It was a time of great celebration.” As always, I am so impressed with brother David’s ability to baptize some people who are much larger than he is, but great news from the other side of the world this week!

This one comes to us from Bob Harper, from Betsy Layne, Kentucky. Betsy Layne is an old coal mining town in far eastern Kentucky (I’ve learned something about Kentucky geography this week). But Bob posted a few days ago and says that, “It was an honor to assist Steve Roberts in the baptism of Larry Tignor today. Angels are rejoicing.” Good to see it!

There are others, but this last one for today comes to us from a gospel preacher by the name of Benedict, who preaches in South Africa. He says, “Please help me welcome Dillon, Suzette Sr and Suzette Jr to the Family! Thato [one of their members] taught Suzette the gospel and she brought her daughter and son-in-law, Dillon. Suzette works in a rehab center. To God be the glory!” That is awesome! And, as always, we share these pictures as our invitation to you to obey the gospel just as these people have done. If we can help in any way, if you’d like to study together, please let us know. Pull me aside after worship, or give me a call or send a text to 608-224-0274.

This morning we are returning to our study of SPEECH in the book of Proverbs. In the big picture, we have now looked at 52% of the Proverbs. We’ve looked at the GOOD use of words over a period of three weeks, for the past two weeks we’ve looked at King Solomon’s advice to STOP TALKING! There are times when we just need to not talk. We are now moving into some NEGATIVE uses of speech, and today we come to a few verses grouped together with what I will summarize as a warning concerning HYPOCRISY. And I’ve put this in the speech category, because (as I understand it) hypocrisy is basically a difference between what we SAY and how we ACT, and Solomon does have something to say about this. And what is really amazing to me is that we have four verses right next to each other that are somewhat related! This is rare after the close of Chapter 9, but our text for today comes in Proverbs 26:23-26. So, as always, I want to encourage you to look these up in your own copy of the Bible, as there may be a benefit to seeing these four verses in your own translation. But let’s start by looking at all four of these. This is Proverbs 26:23-26, where King Solomon says,

23 	Like an earthen vessel overlaid with silver dross
	Are burning lips and a wicked heart.
24 	He who hates disguises it with his lips,
	But he lays up deceit in his heart.
25 	When he speaks graciously, do not believe him,
	For there are seven abominations in his heart.
26 	Though his hatred covers itself with guile,
	His wickedness will be revealed before the assembly. 

As we learn from King Solomon this morning, I want us to go back and look at these four Proverbs one at a time...

    1. ...starting with Proverbs 26:23, where we have an interesting description of WORDS NOT MATCHING THE HEART.

And that’s what hypocrisy is: Saying one thing and doing another, “Like an earthen vessel overlaid with silver dross are burning lips and a wicked heart.” We know what an “earthen vessel” is, and then we have are reference to this earthen vessel being “overlaid with silver dross.” An overlay is a thin coating or a glaze. I think of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. It’s in the name! We don’t have a Krispy Kreme in these parts. Here, we are more familiar with the Glazers from Kwik Trip, but they do have a Krispy Kreme near the cemetery where my grandparents are buried down in Nashville. When I visit their graves, I usually console myself with a visit to Krispy Kreme. I know my grandmother would approve! And sometimes, you can see the doughnuts being made. You have these naked doughnuts coming down the conveyor belt, and there is a sheet of what is basically melted sugar coming down almost like a waterfall and the doughnuts get coated as they pass through it. That glaze just slightly hardens, and you can eat those doughnuts while they are still warm. A glaze, then, is a thin coating or a veneer. We have a veneer on these pews. The wood underneath barely qualifies as wood. I would describe much of it as “wood in a blender, mixed with glue, and pressed out into boards.” And sometimes, the veneer fails, and we can see what’s underneath. On this pew up here, somebody has peeled that veneer away. It’s been that way since we bought this building, so I’m imagining a particularly long sermon where a kid sees a flaw and starts picking at it, and suddenly that cheap wood underneath has been exposed.

Solomon, though, speaks of an “earthen vessel overlaid with silver dross.” An earthen vessel is a clay pot, very inexpensive. Silver dross would be a low-quality silver, silver mixed with impurities. Several days ago, I found an old clay pot out in our garage, and I happened to also have some silver spray paint. So, what we have up here is a beautiful silver pot. I weighed this yesterday, and it came out to 13.76 ounces. As of this past Friday, silver is going for $32.49/ounce. The way I see it, this pot up here should go for $447.06. There was some labor involved, but I think I’d be willing to let it go for an even $500. We could even donate that to the building fund!

But we understand what Solomon is saying here: Nothing is adequate for covering up a wicked heart! We may speak smooth and flattering words (that glaze on the surface), but if the heart is wicked, who cares? And so, as I see this, the lips and heart do not match. As I see this, King Solomon is just starting to warn us about the danger of fakery (when the words and heart do not match).

I think of Paul’s warning to the church in Rome concerning “...those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which [they had] learned.” Paul commands the church in Rome to “turn away from them. For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.” When it comes to what is taught in the name of religion, do not trust the glaze. Do not trust the shiny exterior. Or, as The Message paraphrases King Solomon, “Smooth talk from an evil heart is like glaze on cracked pottery.” Be aware that some people are faking it.

    2. We continue with Proverbs 26:24, where King Solomon addresses the DECEITFUL INTENT by saying that, “He who hates disguises it with his lips, but he lays up deceit in his heart.”

So, this isn’t a matter of “Oops, I said the wrong thing,” but what we are talking about here is intentional deception motivated by hate. Once again, The Message (a paraphrase) has Solomon saying, “Your enemy shakes hands and greets you like an old friend, all the while conniving against you.” Half those words are not in the text, but that’s the gist of it. Solomon describes somebody who hates another human being, but he “disguises it with his lips.” He’s faking being nice to this person through the things that he says, but he hates the guy. He is stockpiling deceit in his heart. This is malicious, insidious deception. We might think of Judas making plans to betray the Lord. Here is this guy eating dinner with Jesus, pretending to get along, all while already having made plans to betray the Lord with a kiss. The kiss was just the icing on the cake. He could have said, “There he is!” But instead, Judas betrays him with a kiss. That’s the thin silver overlay on a clay pot; that’s the glaze on the doughnut; that’s the fake oak veneer on a cheap pressed wood pew. But here we find that it is intentional.

If I walk around telling everybody how much I hate another person, people may very well think poorly of me (and they should). Solomon observes, then, that many will speak well of others, all while harboring this secret hatred in their hearts. One is more outwardly acceptable than the other, but hatred is hatred, and to cover it with deceit makes it even worse. It’s hypocrisy: Speaking in one way but acting out in another. We see it with Simeon and Levi talking so kindly about arranging a wedding, but all the while planning a massacre in their hearts (in Genesis 34). We see it with King Saul flattering David and offering David his daughters in marriage, all while trying to have David killed (in 1 Samuel 18). We see it with Absalom pretending to be fine with Amnon, but making plans to kill him all along (in 2 Samuel 20). We see it with King Herod talking to the wise men about worshiping the Lord, all while plotting the murder of Jesus as well as thousands of children in his heart (in Matthew 2). Solomon, then, warns about this, as he reminds his sons that some people will say nice things to your face all while plotting your demise.

    3. The next aspect of verbal hypocrisy comes in the form of a WARNING. Concerning this hypocritical love-talking hater, King Solomon says, “When he speaks graciously, do not believe him, for there are seven abominations in his heart.”

In a sense, this is the “So what?” section of this series of Proverbs: Sometimes words don’t match the heart, and sometimes people do this on purpose; therefore, when a faker praises you for some reason, “Do not believe him.” And the reason is: There are “seven abominations in his heart.” There has been discussion on this. People want to know: What are these seven abominations? Maybe these are the seven things the Lord hates (from Proverbs 6:16-18), where Solomon says that, “There are six things which the Lord hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers.” So, maybe that’s it. Some have suggested a connection to the seven (or eight) “woes” Jesus pronounces upon the Pharisees in Matthew 23. We aren’t told. So maybe it’s just seven in terms of a complete number (this guy is really, really bad).  But the application is: Don’t believe everything people say! And this is in the context of hypocrisy. Sometimes people are faking it; therefore, don’t believe everything you hear.

    4. This brings us to the last of these four Proverbs, where King Solomon explains the outcome, “Though his hatred covers itself with guile, his wickedness will be revealed before the assembly.”

When somebody hates you and covers that hate with a silver veneer, God says that that kind of hatred has a way of being revealed over time. Or to put it another way, hypocrisy certainly does not last forever. Over time, hypocrisy gets exposed. On one hand, this is a warning for hypocrites; but on the other hand, this is encouragement for those of us who get lied to: These lies, this fakery, cannot go on forever. Fakery has an expiration date!

King David took advantage of Bathsheba and murdered her husband to cover it up, but God sent the prophet Nathan with a message (in 2 Samuel 12:12), “Indeed you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and under the sun.” So also today. According to Hebrews 4:13, “...there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” And often, the one who hates and tries to cover it up gets caught in the trap he laid for others. We think of Haman hanging on the gallows he built for Mordecai. We think of Daniel’s enemies being eaten by the lions they hoped would eat Daniel. Hate and hypocrisy has a way of being revealed.

Conclusion:

This brings us to the end of this little island of context in a sea of random Proverbs. We’ve learned that some people are faking it, they cover their hatred with lies, but we are not to believe them, and there’s comfort in knowing that such hypocrisy will be revealed over time. Or to put it another way: In verse 23, if fakers gonna fake, and in verse 24 if haters gonna hate, then in verses 25-26 is when we shake it off. I hope you will forgive me for that! In the big picture, we have two very practical applications. When it comes to answering the “So what?” question, 1.) Let’s be honest and straightforward with people – we are not to be the kid of person Solomon describes here, but 2.) All of us know people like this, so let’s be careful, and let’s also realize that this kind of behavior has a way of taking care of itself in the end. God hates this kind of thing.

Next week, we hope to continue with another category of very negative speech, a kind of speech we are to avoid. But, let’s close today’s study in prayer:

Our Father in Heaven,

We praise you as the God of all creation. You made us and you know us, so we ask that you cleanse us from all hypocrisy. We pray for the strength to practice what we preach, to be honest with the things that we say. Help us to be holy as you would have us to be. Keep us from secret sin.

Today, we are thankful for the good news that Abe seems to be getting stronger every day. We pray that he would have a smooth transition home if it is your will. We continue to pray for all of those who are recovering from various surgeries and illnesses. Help us to be Jesus to the world around us.

We ask all of this in Jesus’ name. AMEN.

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