It's Proverbs chapter 16, verses 1 to 15.
For its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.
Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord.
Be assured he will not go unpunished.
By steadfast love and faithfulness, iniquity is atoned for.
And by the fear of the Lord, one turns away from evil.
When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues with injustice.
The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
An oracle is on the lip of a king.
His mouth does not sin in judgment.
A just balance and scales are the Lord's.
All the weights in the bag are his work.
It is an abomination to kings to do evil.
For the throne is established by righteousness.
Righteous lips are the delight of a king.
And he loves him who speaks what is right.
A king's wrath is a messenger of death.
And a wise man will appease it.
In the light of a king's face there is life.
And his favor is like the clouds that bring the spring rain.
This is God's holy and authoritative word.
Is that better?
Yeah, that should be better.
Basically.
Oh no.
It's hot.
Whether it's schools canceled due to COVID-19 or wedding plans postponed.
Or a sudden move of a friend.
An unexpected job loss.
A surprising pregnancy.
Or a death of a loved one.
We've all experienced what it's like to have our carefully laid plans derailed.
By the unexpected circumstances of life.
And these experiences can be unsettling.
Because they remind us of just how little control we actually have over our lives.
But this passage reminds us that there's someone who does have control over our lives.
And by putting the Lord's sovereignty and the human responsibility side by side.
Solomon teaches us that we should live with a posture of humble submission under the sovereign Lord.
And this passage is divided into two main sections.
Which are clearly marked by the repetition of the word Lord in verses 1 to 9.
And the word King in verses 10 to 15.
So verses 1 to 9 is about the sovereign rule of the Lord.
And verses 10 to 15 are about the intermediate rule of a king.
So first let's look at the sovereign rule of the Lord in verses 1 to 9.
These verses are bracketed by verse 1 and verse 9.
Which sound a similar theme.
Verse 1 says,
The plans of the heart belong to man.
But the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
Verse 9 says,
The heart of man plans his way.
But the Lord establishes his steps.
So these verses relate and contrast divine sovereignty and human responsibility.
It is our responsibility as humans to make plans.
The plans of the heart belong to man.
The heart of man plans his way.
But though man gets the first word in these verses,
God gets the last word.
The answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
We might plan one thing, but the answer we get,
the outcome is determined by the Lord.
Men devise their plans, but God decides.
Man proposes, but God disposes.
The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
And the steps we take, the ways we walk,
they are not in ourselves, but in the God who directs our steps.
So the notion that we are masters of our own faith is ultimately an illusion.
And this truth is first of all humbling for us.
Being in Cambridge, many of you are, by the world standards, incredibly successful.
But it would be presumptuous to think that we are responsible for that success.
Even if you worked diligently to earn your degrees and land your jobs,
all that we have ultimately comes from God's hand.
We were all born with a certain genetic makeup.
We were all born in a certain zip code.
We were all born with certain parents.
We were all given certain opportunities.
In fact, there is nothing we have ever done for which we can take sole credit.
For this reason, we should live with a posture of humble submission
under the sovereignty of the Lord.
And this truth is not only humbling, it is also liberating.
Because we should expect the unexpected.
We should plan to have our plans fall through.
Uncertainty is certain.
We should not imagine that we are in control, that everything is up to us.
People who live with such delusions live harried and always hurried lives
like frantic mice scurrying about after their winter nest is destroyed.
The 18th century Scottish poet Robert Burns penned this famous line
after reflecting on such mice scurrying about after their winter nest was destroyed.
And he said,
The best late schemes of mice and men often go awry.
But if we live with a posture of humble submission under the sovereignty of the Lord,
we can rest.
We can trust.
We can have peace.
We can have, in the midst of uncertainty,
the certainty that God provides.
In the midst of our insecurities, we can know God's security.
We need not live with fear and anxiety.
We can live in the quietness of trust if we live with humble submission to God.
So verse 2 continues that theme of the Lord's sovereignty over the hearts of men.
It says,
All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,
but the Lord weighs the Spirit.
We think that we are justified in all that we do,
because if we didn't think so, then we wouldn't do it.
We think that we are right in all that we believe,
because if we didn't think so, we wouldn't believe them.
In this way, we are all self-justified.
The truth is, however, we do not see everything rightly,
because our knowledge is partial.
But God, on the other hand, sees everything and knows everything.
All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,
but the Lord weighs the Spirit.
The Spirit refers to a person's inner life,
the invisible center of one's motives.
And the image of weighing a Spirit,
which also is translated sometimes as wind,
is intentionally paradoxical.
Spirit, wind, it's weightless.
It is invisible.
We human beings cannot weigh the Spirit,
but the Lord weighs the Spirit.
We human beings cannot peer into the hearts of people,
but the Lord sees the invisible,
sees the hearts of men and women in the world.
And this reality should, again,
make us live with the posture of humble submission
under the sovereignty of the Lord.
So then, instead of becoming complacent in our delusion
that we are right and justified about everything,
we should regularly examine ourselves under the searching light of Scripture.
We should pay attention to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
We should invite rather than spurn the advice and accountability of the church community.
We should pray as it says in Psalm 139, 23-24,
Search me, O God, and know my heart.
Try me and know my thoughts.
And see if there be any grievous way in me.
And lead me in the way everlasting.
Knowing that all our ways are pure in our own eyes,
and knowing that only the Lord weighs the Spirit,
we should seek to align our plans with God's
and entrust our works to Him.
And that's what verse 3 is talking about.
Commit your work to the Lord,
and your plans will be established.
The word commit means literally to roll over.
It means to turn it over to God
and to leave it there.
To entrust it to Him.
Psalm 37, verse 5, conveys the same idea.
Commit your way to the Lord.
Trust in Him, and He will act.
To commit your work to the Lord
doesn't merely mean to do whatever you want
and then ask God to bless it.
Rather, it means to seek to do what God blesses.
It means to align our wills with the will of the Lord.
To lean toward Him.
To roll our ways over to Him.
And leave them there.
And when we do that, it says,
our plans will be established.
The word established is repeated in verse 9.
The heart of man plans his way,
but the Lord establishes His steps.
The way to make sure that our steps will be established then
is to plan the ways of the Lord.
To align our purposes and priorities with His.
This is how we should engage all of our endeavors.
Our summer internships.
Our jobs.
Our business.
Our marriage.
Our parenting.
Our studies.
We should commit our ways.
Our works.
To the Lord.
Lord, I want to do what You want me to do.
In the way You want me to do it.
Lord, Your will, not my will, be done.
And to commit our work to the Lord
is to pray what John Wesley once prayed.
Quote,
I am no longer my own, but Yours.
Put me to what You will.
Rank me with whom You will.
Put me to doing.
Put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for You,
or laid aside for You.
Exalted for You,
or brought low for You.
Let me be full.
Let me be empty.
Let me have all things,
and let me have nothing.
I freely and wholeheartedly
yield all things
to Your pleasure and disposal.
And now,
glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
You are mine,
and I am Yours.
So be it.
That's what it means
to commit our works to the Lord.
This doesn't mean, however,
that when we do that,
everything will go smoothly for us
from that point on.
As we have seen over and over again
throughout this book,
the book of Proverbs,
in this world,
we see both God's good order
and man's sinful subversion
of that order.
For this reason,
while it's generally true
that honest hard work
leads to prosperity,
sometimes the fruit of honest hard labor
is swept away by injustice.
Similarly, the plans of the righteous
do not always prevail,
but are sometimes spoiled
by the plans of the wicked.
But verses 4 to 5 teach us
that we need not fret
the presence of the wicked.
It says,
The Lord has made everything
for its purpose,
even the wicked
for the day of trouble.
Everyone who is arrogant in heart
is an abomination to the Lord.
Be assured,
he will not go unpunished.
The Lord has made everything
for its purpose.
The word purpose
is literally answer.
It's the same word
that was used in verse 1.
The answer of the tongue
is from the Lord.
So then everything in life,
without any exception,
has its answer
from the Lord.
God has a purpose,
an answer
to everything in the world,
including the things
that you find
the most difficult to explain,
including even the wicked
who appear to flaunt
the will of God.
Think of it this way.
If I were foolhardy enough
to challenge Magnus Carlsen,
the current world chess champion,
to a chess match,
I will surely capture
some of his pieces,
thinking that my plan is working.
But in the end,
I will learn to my humiliation
that all of my moves,
in fact,
played right into his hands.
All the pieces I took
would have been sacrificed
by design,
all playing a part
in the Grand Master's plan.
Similarly,
in an infinitely more significant,
an infinitely more transcendent way,
all evildoers
who oppose God
play right into his hands.
They might think
that they are getting their way.
They might think
that they are defying God.
But in the end,
they are pawns
on His chessboard.
They are being prepared
for the day of trouble.
They will not go unpunished.
And verse 5 emphasizes
that God particularly despises
everyone who is arrogant in heart.
The word heart
is repeated three times
in this passage,
verse 1,
verse 5,
verse 9.
There is a focus
on the heart,
what man plans
in his own heart.
And it says,
everyone who is arrogant in heart,
literally high
or exalted in heart,
is an abomination
to the Lord.
Whoever has
an overweening heart,
a heart that contends
with God,
a heart that says,
I am in charge,
a heart that says,
I am the master
of my fate,
a heart that says,
God does not see,
a heart that says,
God will not hold me
to account.
Such a person
is an abomination
to the Lord
and will surely
be punished.
Verses 6 to 8
then give us a picture
of the righteous
that contrasts
with this portrait
of the sinful wicked,
the prideful wicked.
It says in verse 6,
by steadfast love
and faithfulness,
iniquity is atoned for,
and by the fear
of the Lord,
one turns away
from evil.
The first half
of verse 6
prescribes the remedy
for past sins,
and the second half
presents the preventative
for future sins.
Steadfast love
and faithfulness,
as we saw
in chapter 14,
verse 22,
they're two of the most
commonly mentioned
attributes of God
in Scripture.
And when describing
God as having
steadfast love
and faithfulness,
they're together
referring to God's
unmerited favor
and His unchanging,
unwavering commitment
toward His people.
But this particular verse
does not have
God's steadfast love
and faithfulness
in mind.
Instead,
it has our response
to God's steadfast love
and faithfulness
in view.
We know this
because it's paralleled
by the fear
of the Lord.
Then by our
steadfast love
and faithfulness,
iniquity is atoned for.
By our fear
of the Lord,
we turn away
from evil.
How is it
that our steadfast love
and faithfulness
leads to the atonement
or cleansing
or covering up
of our sins?
Our covenant loyalty
to God,
our repentance
and faith in Him,
our aligning ourselves,
pledging allegiance
to God,
to Christ,
that's what makes
God graciously
pardon our sins.
And likewise,
it's the fear
of the Lord
living in humble
submission
before the watchful
eyes of God
that makes us
turn away from evil.
Our love
and faithfulness
are the remedy
for sins.
Our fear of God
is the preventative
for sins.
And when we live
like this,
God's blessings
naturally follow.
It says in verse 7,
when a man's ways
please the Lord,
he makes even
his enemies
to be at peace
with him.
But as Proverbs
often does,
it juxtaposes
verses that
qualify one another.
So verse 8
qualifies
verses 5 to 7.
It says in verse 8,
Better is a little
with righteousness
than great revenues
with injustice.
Living in a manner
that pleases God
will lead to peace
and prosperity
and the wicked
will ultimately
be punished.
But this is not
guaranteed
in this life
because we live
in an upside down world.
Nevertheless,
verse 8
reminds us,
Better is a little
with righteousness
than great revenues
with injustice.
In this upside down world,
some wicked people
will enjoy
great revenues
with injustice.
And,
in contrast,
in this upside down world,
some righteous people
will have little.
But having little
with righteousness
is better
than having
great revenues
with injustice.
Interestingly,
verse 8
is the only verse
in this first section,
verses 1 to 9,
that does not mention
the Lord.
Perhaps to convey
the sense
of the seeming
absence of God
when the wicked
prosper.
But we can rest
assured that
God is not absent.
As verse 9 concludes,
The heart of man
plans his way,
but the Lord
establishes his steps.
As verse 4 says,
The Lord has made
everything
for its purposes,
even
the wicked
for the day
of trouble.
And this is why
we should live
in a posture
of humble submission
under the sovereignty
of the Lord.
Having addressed
the sovereign rule
of the Lord
in verses 1 to 9,
Solomon turns
to the intermediate
rule of a king
in verses 10 to 15.
God sovereignly
rules over all,
but in this world
he also rules
through an intermediary,
through a human king
or governing authorities.
That's what verses
10 to 15 are about.
Verse 10 begins,
An oracle
is on the lips
of a king.
His mouth
does not sin
in judgment.
An oracle
refers to
revelation
that a prophet
receives
from the Lord.
This doesn't mean
that the king
also has to be
a prophet,
but it's conveying
the truth
that the king's
judgments
should be consistent
with the Lord's
judgments.
The king
does not
rule by fiat.
He does not
get to pass
laws and sentences
according to
his whim
because he
is ultimately
accountable
to God.
He is
God's
mouthpiece,
God's
servant.
He is
no God.
This is why
Israel
never resorted
to the teaching
common among
their neighboring
nations that
kings are
divine.
Deuteronomy
17 verses
18 to 19
make clear
the fact that
king is
accountable
to the Lord.
It says,
And when he
sits on the
throne of his
kingdom,
referring to
a human king,
he shall
write for
himself in
a book a
copy of
this law,
that's the
scriptures,
approved by
the Levitical
priests,
and he
shall be
with him
and he
shall read
in it all
the days
of his
life,
that he
may learn
to fear
the Lord
his God
by keeping
all the
words of
this law
and these
statutes
and doing
them.
The kings
of Israel
ruled at
God's
behest,
and they
were God's
intermediaries
between God
and his
people.
If prophets
represented God
to the
people,
kings
represented the
people to
God.
And now
verse 10
is not saying
that the kings
are infallible,
that governing
authorities are
infallible.
If we look at
the history of
Israel's kings
in the Bible,
we learn that
invariably they
fail.
They sin in
judgment.
As verse 12
makes clear,
kings do at
times do evil
and it is an
abomination to
the Lord when
they do.
So then
verse 10
is expressing
God's
ideal,
his paradigm,
not the
pattern of
human kings.
This is
similar to
the exhortation
that we
receive in
the New
Testament
from Apostle
Paul in
Romans
chapter 13
verses 1
to 4.
It says,
Let every
person be
subject to
the governing
authorities,
for there is
no authority
except from
God, and
those that
exist have
been instituted
by God.
Therefore,
whoever resists
the authorities
resist what
God has
appointed, and
those who
resist will
incur judgment.
For rulers
are not a
terror to
good conduct
but to
bad.
Would you
have no fear
of the one
who is in
authority?
Then do
what is
good and
you will
receive his
approval, for
he is God's
servant for
your good.
But if you
do wrong, be
afraid, for he
does not bear
the sword in
vain, for he
is the servant
of God, an
avenger who
carries out God's
wrath on the
wrongdoer.
We'd be
wrong to
assume that
Paul must
have wrote
these verses
when there
was a very
benevolent Roman
ruler.
In fact, the
Roman ruler at
the time Paul
wrote this was
Emperor Nero,
the same
Nero notorious
for his
reckless
extravagance
and tyranny,
the one known
particularly for
his callousness
and cruelty
toward Christians.
Nonetheless, Paul
commands Christians
to be subject to
governing authorities
for there is no
authority except
from God and
those that exist
have been instituted
by God.
There are times,
yes, when we
must practice
civil disobedience
and say as the
apostles did in
Acts 5.29, we
must obey God
rather than men.
But the
apostles, even as
they did this,
were still subject
to the governing
authorities.
They still
preserved a sense
of deference
toward the
governing authorities.
For example, in
Acts chapter 21
verses 1 to 5,
when Paul is being
tried unfairly by
the Sanhedrin and
is ordered by the
high priest to be
struck on the
mouth, Paul responds
to them by saying,
God's going to
strike you, you
whitewashed wall.
Are you sitting to
judge me according
to the law and yet
contrary to the law,
you order me to be
struck?
It's a pretty
vigorous defense and
accusation.
But when onlookers
scold Paul saying,
would you revile
God's high priest?
Paul does not say,
he who disobeys
God's law is no
high priest.
Paul does not say
that.
Instead he says,
I did not know,
my brothers,
that he was the
high priest.
for it is written,
you shall not speak
evil of a ruler
of your people.
This is because
there is a sense
in which all
authority is
derived authority
from God.
This is why
David, even when
he was fleeing
from Saul who
had gone mad and
was trying to kill
him, even though
David knew that he
was supposed to be
king over Israel,
he refused to kill
Saul when he had the
opportunity saying
that Saul is
Lord's anointed.
Likewise, we
should preserve,
even when we
disagree with the
policies of the
governing authorities
instituted by God,
we should preserve
a sense of respect
for their office
because earthly
rulers teach us
that we are a
people under
authority,
that we should
live with a
posture of humble
submission under
the sovereignty of
the Lord ultimately.
And this is the
truth that Proverbs
16.10 is expressing
and the oracle is
on the lips of a
king.
His mouth does
not sin in judgment.
Verse 11 continues
this train of
thought,
A just balance and
scales are the
Lord's.
All the weights in
the bag are his
work.
The just balance and
scales refer to the
measuring equipment
for commercial
activity when you're
trading and buying
and selling.
And it's here used
to illustrate the
concept of justice.
Equal weights and
just scales are the
Lord's.
words.
They are his work.
This truth is very
emphatic here because
every verse in this
second half, in
verses 10 to 15,
has the word king
in it.
It's about the king,
the intermediate rule
of a king, except
verse 11.
It doesn't have the
word king in it.
It's the only verse in
this second half that
has the word Lord in
it.
In this passage about
kings, this verse about
the Lord stands out,
and it's intended to
emphasize that it is
not the human king's
prerogative to tilt the
scales of justice for
selfish gain.
The king is not, in the
ultimate sense, the
arbiter of justice.
He's merely the
administrator of God's
justice.
And verse 12 gives the
reason why justice is so
important.
It is an abomination to
kings to do evil, for the
throne is established by
righteousness.
The word establish is the
same word that's used in
verse 3.
Commit your work to the
Lord and your plans will
be established.
And verse 9, the heart of
man plans his way, but the
Lord establishes his steps.
So then, if the king wants
his plans and his steps to
be established, he should
make sure to eschew evil and
embrace righteousness.
He should make sure that his
works are committed to the
Lord.
And this is why even the
most depraved rulers try to
do some good during their
reign.
Because if they don't, and
all they encourage is
depravity and decadence,
society would crumble and
their rule itself would be
undermined.
Their throne would not be
established.
The human king rules at God's
behest and therefore he should
establish his throne by
righteousness.
Since, as Psalm 89 verse 14
says, righteousness and
justice are the foundation of
God's throne.
And when the king's throne is
established by righteousness, he
delights in righteousness and
detests wickedness.
Verses 13 to 14 say this,
Righteous lips are the delight of
a king and he loves him who
speaks what is right.
A king's wrath is a messenger of
death and a wise man will
appease it.
The king who rules in
accordance with God's law
rewards righteousness and
punishes wickedness.
However, a wise man knows how to
appease the king when his wrath is
provoked.
That's what verse 14 says and that
was the subject of chapter 14
verse 35.
Chapter 15 verse 1.
A servant who deals wisely has the
king's favor, but his wrath falls on
one who acts shamefully.
A soft answer turns away wrath, but a
harsh word stirs up anger.
By a soft, timely word, a wise person
placades the king's wrath.
And if the king's wrath is like a
messenger of death, verse 15
describes the king's favor this
way.
It says,
In the light of a king's face there
is life and his favor is like the
clouds that bring the spring rain.
The light of a king's face is a
metaphor for the king's favor.
That's the meaning of the Aaronic
blessing in number 625 when it says
the Lord make his face shine upon
you.
It's saying,
May the Lord look upon you with
favor.
And when the king's face lights upon
you with favor, it says it brings
life.
Similarly, his favor, he says, is like
the clouds that bring the spring
rain.
The summer harvest depended on the
spring rain.
So the clouds that bring the spring
rain were a welcome sight.
The king's favor then is likened to
the sun and to the rain clouds, both
of which were vital sources of life
in the ancient Near East, in this
agrarian society.
So then the Lord, the king of kings,
rules and gives life to people through
kings who are his intermediaries.
And so the logic of the passage is
that we ought to relate to governing
authorities with the posture of humble
submission under the sovereignty, the
ultimate sovereignty of the Lord.
But as we know from the Bible's
history, Israel's kings were by and
large all disappointments.
Even the wise king Solomon, who wrote
this book, the Proverbs, did not live up
to his own teaching in the end.
1 Kings 11 recounts the tragic fall of
Solomon.
It says he loved foreign women and had
700 wives and 300 concubines who turned
away his heart from the Lord and turned
his heart after other gods.
Solomon fell into idolatry and for this
reason the Lord raised up an adversary to
oppose Solomon and decreed that the kingdom
would be torn away from him and his son in
the next generation.
The vast majority of subsequent kings after
Solomon were no better.
They perverted justice and perpetrated evil.
They produced misery and suffering for their
subjects.
And for that reason the Israelites were an
oppressed people.
They were conquered first by the Assyrians, then
by the Babylonians, then by the Persians, then by
the Greeks under Alexander the Great, and then
again finally by the Romans.
And after over 700 years of subjugation, the
long-awaited messianic king, Jesus Christ, came.
The king on whose lips will be the oracles of God.
The king who does not sin in judgment.
The king whose throne is established by
righteousness.
The king whose favor, whose grace brings us life.
Unlike the kings who abused and took advantage of
their subjects, Jesus gave his life for his people.
We were all disloyal subjects.
We had all rebelled against God.
We had all rejected God as our king.
And his wrath had to be appeased.
His justice had to be satisfied.
We were destined to be hounded by the messenger of death
that is the king's wrath.
But the king, out of his love for us,
out of love for his subjects,
sent his only son, the heir to the throne,
his son Jesus Christ,
in order to reconcile us to himself.
And Jesus made atonement for us.
The word atone in verse 6
and the word appease in verse 14
are different translations of the same Hebrew word.
It means to cover.
It means to cleanse.
And Jesus, the heir,
the son who should have ruled in glory,
humbled himself and died on that hideous cross
to save filthy, feckless traitors like us.
We were alienated from God by our sins
and he reconciled us to God
by making atonement for our sins.
God was alienated from us
by his wrath toward our sins.
But the son averted his wrath
by bearing the penalty for our treason.
And Jesus didn't stay dead.
It says in Ephesians 1, 20-23
that God the Father raised him from the dead
and seated him at his right hand
in the heavenly places,
far above all rule and authority
and power and dominion
and above every name that is named,
not only in this age
but also in the one to come.
And he put all things under his feet
and gave him as head over all things
to the church,
which is his body,
the fullness of him
who fills all in all.
Jesus is now at the right hand
of God the Father
above all other rulers and authorities.
He is reigning over all.
And this truth is our greatest hope.
As citizens of God's kingdom,
we have a generous,
benevolent king,
a just king.
It's this truth that enables us
to live with a posture of humble submission
under the sovereignty of the Lord.
When the nations rage,
when peoples plot,
Jesus is on the throne.
When the kings of the earth
set themselves against the Lord
and against his anointed,
Jesus is on the throne.
When the greatest superpower
of the last century
appears to be imploding,
Jesus is still on the throne.
When the pandemic rages,
Jesus is on the throne.
When your life seems to be
spiraling out of control,
Jesus is on the throne.
He is in control.
And that's the hope for believers,
that we have a king who reigns.
And I pray that God will make us a church
in these unusual circumstances
that lives with faith-filled dependence
and humble submission
under the sovereignty of our king.