Smelling Your Own Smell

Having no place else to go, the old bum stretched out on the park bench that afternoon. It was a beautiful day in late spring and he was content. The sun was warm and he was soon fast asleep.

A couple of boys came by and spotted the old man and decided they would have some fun. Popping into a corner market they purchased some limburger cheese and carefully smeared some of it on the old hobo's mustache. He stirred and wrinkled his nose, but did not wake up. The boys watched him for a while, but soon got bored and went off down the street.

The old man slept on for about thirty minutes and then stirred and set up. He wrinkled his nose and looked around him with a puzzled look on his face.

He got up and crossed the grass to the sidewalk. Just then a pretty girl walked past him. He sniffed, wrinkled his face in disgust, and muttered something. There were some beautiful flowers growing in a flowerbed next to the sidewalk. He reached down, picked one, and put it to his nose. He threw it away and swore under his breath.

He crossed the street to his favorite bar. Few people were in there at that early afternoon hour and he plopped down on a stool. "A beer," he said to the bartender. The bartender knew he didn't have any money, but once in a while he would give him one on the house. Something about the old bum appealed to him. He poured the beer and slid it down the counter.

The old man lifted the beer to his mouth, wrinkled his nose, and set the beer down.

"Ain't it awful?" he said.

"What's awful?" said the bartender.

"The whole world smells rotten!"

Moral: If everything stinks, you are probably smelling your own smell.


"Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge." (Jas 4:11)

The Hearing of Babylon

Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection. --Acts 17:18

Have you ever studied the idolatry of the Greeks? Have you ever read the stories of the gods like Zeus, Aphrodite, Hermes, Artemis, Aris, Hestia? And Jesus seemed strange?

Nowadays to a great many of the elites in this great nation, educated in elite universities, the Christian faith seems strange also. They can accept the stupidity of evolution, man-made global warming, political correctness, green politics, etc., but forgiveness of sins through the blood of Christ seems like babbling.

It isn't the message, though. It's the ears. The babbling is in the ears.

1Co 1:21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

John 10:26, 27 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

John 8:47 He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

You must believe Moses.

Jesus said it plainly, "For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?" John 5:46, 47

God created the reality, the "isness" of the world, so that there would be something into which His appointed Redeemer would come. You don't get to watch the play if you don't go to the theater.

Creation and history are the stage upon which the drama of redemption in Jesus Christ is performed. But this is where man's problem emerges.

The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." He refuses to acknowledge or submit to the God who created the world and all that is in it. He imagines the world as something very different than it is: a world that just "is," that has no purpose, no end, and no Owner. Because of this man dreams that he can impose his own reality on the world, and mold it into an instrument for his wickedness and wicked desires. Paul puts it this way,

"This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness." --Ephesians 4:17-19

Sinful man is blind to the reality of the world. He denies that man as a part of Creation exists and moves by the decree of God like all the rest, so sinful man tries to turn the world into an instrument of sinful desires, doing his business with all uncleanness with greediness. He comes short of the glory of God by refusing to live and use God's world for God's glory.

This is the reason for the Ten Commandments, the Law of God. They define man's sinful rebellion, and show that the world is under the rule of God.

1. Thou shalt have no other gods. If we do not start with the God of Moses, we are blind to reality and living in a dream world.
2. Thou shalt not make any graven image. Only a person who is religiously perverted would bow down or offer worship to a god he created himself. Strange!
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord Thy God in Vain. If the world exists by the word of God and for the glory of God, He will certainly hold us accountable for everything we say.
4. Remember the Sabbath Day to Keep it Holy. If all things and people belong to God and live and move in Him, then man can find his peace only in God. All other searches for peace are futile and illusionary.
5. Honor thy Father and Thy Mother. God is the creator of all reality and used my mother and my father to create my reality. A person who does not honor and love his mother and father cannot love himself, his family, or the God who created him. This is the reason that under the law, cursing or striking mother or father was a crime punished by death.
6. Thou Shalt Not Kill. Man is the image of god, and the unlawful violence against man is blasphemy against God.
7. Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery. Adultery, Fornication, Fornication, and other sexual sins cheapens the life that has been given us by God. Human life and its generation is not a plaything or a toy to satisfy the wicked lusts of men.
8. Thou Shalt Not Steal. Every man has a fiduciary responsibility for everything that he possesses, even his own life and body. All is to be used for the glory of God. Theft usurps that responsibility, for anyone who steals deprives his victim of the right and privilege to use God's gifts for the glory of God.
9. Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness. Our words and the testimony of our lives are to be in tune with reality, not some dream. Liars of all sorts attempt to impose some strange imagination on reality and do great harm. God hates liars, for every lie is an assault upon Him and His creation.
10. Thou shalt not covet. We are to be at peace with God's creation and His providence for us. This is the only true Sabbath of rest for man, and can be achieved only through Christ: "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," are the words of Christ.