Man trieth many things, and many things in man are tried by man. The silver of a man’s word is tried by a wise care: the gold of a man’s deeds is tried by the fruit of them: the silver of a man’s wit is tried by dangers and distresses, the gold of a man’s understanding is tried by weighty and important business; the gold of a man’s strength is tried by hard and burdensome labour; the gold of his knowledge by hard and difficult questions; the silver of a man’s diligence is tried by the haste of affairs: the gold of a man’s faithfulness by trust reposed in him: the silver of a man’s estate is tried by a careful account, the gold of his virtues by troubles and temptations. Thus there is a fining-pot for the silver, and a furnace for the gold: and the heart of man trieth other things, but the trier of the heart is the Lord alone. The fine silver, the pure gold that lie in that, can be proved by nothing but by His touch. Whoever else taketh upon him to search the secrets of the heart, layeth open his own sin and folly. The heart itself cannot try itself; God is the goldsmith for it. Or else the original will bear well this sense, that God, by troubles, trieth the heart of man. Wherefore Tertullian saith, When we are burned in the heat of persecution then are we tried in the hold-fast of our faith. . . . And surely if Seneca could say, “I give thanks unto fortune because she would try how much I esteemed honesty, so great a thing ought not to stand me in a little,” then certainly the servants of God ought to thank God when He, by troubles, trieth how well they love Him.—Jermin.
main homiletics of verse 4.
The Evil Speaker and the Listener.
I. That which men give heed to reveals their character. If a man will listen to another who he knows to be false—if he permits him to be continually pouring into his ear that which he knows to be untrue—he is a liar himself. He could not make himself a receiver of lies if he were not of a kindred spirit with the liar. We classify animals according to the food which they eat, and we can classify men when we know upon what mental and moral food they love to feed. He who gives heed to falsehood and lying lips is a false man himself.
II. Delight in wicked speech leads to wicked actions. Those who use ungodly language never stop there. There is but a step between wicked words and wicked deeds. Neither do those who begin by giving heed to men whose speech is prompted by him who is the father of lies (John viii. 44) stop with the mere listening. The listening, as we have seen, implies a certain degree of sympathy with the listener; this sympathy leads to imitation, and he who gives heed to false lips not only becomes himself a man of wicked speech but a “wicked doer.”
III. The liar and he who listens to him divide the responsibility of the sin between them. These two characters help to increase each other’s guilt by strengthening each other in their ungodliness. The liar is encouraged to go on in his lying by those who give heed to his lies; if there were none willing to listen to him he would soon cease to sin in this direction. So that the receiver of falsehood will have to share the punishment of him who propagates it. Then the liar increases the wickedness of the wicked doer by his false words, which help to make his heart yet more ungodly and his doings yet more wicked. Thus ungodly men exert a reciprocal influence upon each other for evil.
outlines and suggestive comments.
Wicked men have a great treasure of evil in their hearts, and yet have not enough to satisfy their own corrupt dispositions. They are like covetous men, in whom their large possessions only increase their lust of having, and therefore they carry on a trade with other wicked men, who are able to add to their store of iniquity, by flattering and counselling them in sin.—Lawson.
“A liar” is of essential use to the evil-doer. He can suborn him. He can get him to bear witness in his favour—to perjure himself to get him off, when in danger of being convicted. Such characters, too, it may be noticed, are fond of the lies of false teachers. They keep their ear greedily open to these. They are smoothed, and flattered, and encouraged by them in their evil courses. They cannot but like the doctrine that allays their fears; that palliates sin; that makes light of future punishment; that tells them of a God all mercy; that assures them of ultimate universal salvation. Thus it was of old; and thus it is still (Isa. xxx. 9–11).—Wardlaw.
A man most mischievous himself yields most mischievously to the mischief of other sinners. “A lie” is the most weakly credulous. This is often noticed among the earthly. The biter is often most bitten, the tyrant most tortured. The cunning is often most caught, and what is singularly the fact, the sceptic is often the most believing. It is not a complete proverb, thought, for earth, because it is not universal. It is spiritually, as with all these other texts, that the truth has no exception. The greatest harm-doer is Satan, and so the greatest harm is done to Satan. He is the father of lies, and has been the most lied to. He was more deceived in Eden than his victim, and on Calvary than the men who crucified our Lord. And all his followers take from the world equal mischief with that which they inflict upon it.—Miller.