Please turn with me to Proverbs chapter 10, starting in verse 23, and we're going all the way to chapter 11, verse 31.
Proverbs chapter 10, verse 23 to chapter 11, verse 31.
Doing wrong is like a joke to a fool, but wisdom is pleasure to a man of understanding.
What the wicked dreads will come upon him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted.
When the tempest passes, the wicked is no more, but the righteous is established forever.
Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the slugger to those who send him.
The fear of the Lord prolongs life, but the ears of the wicked will be short.
The hope of the righteous brings joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish.
The way of the Lord is a stronghold to the blameless, but destruction to evildoers.
The righteous will never be removed, but the wicked will not dwell in the land.
The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut off.
The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked what is perverse.
A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight.
When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with a humble is wisdom.
The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.
Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.
The righteousness of the blameless keeps his way straight, but the wicked falls by his own wickedness.
The righteousness of the upright delivers them, but the treacherous are taken captive by their lust.
When the wicked dies, his hope will perish, and the expectation of wealth perishes too.
The righteous is delivered from trouble, and the wicked walks into it instead.
With his mouth the godless man would destroy his neighbor, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered.
When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish, there are shouts of gladness.
By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is overthrown.
Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding remains silent.
Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps the thing covered.
Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.
Whoever puts up security for a stranger will surely suffer harm, but he who hates striking hands and pledge is secure.
A gracious woman gets honor, and violent men get riches.
A man who is kind benefits himself, but a cruel man hurts himself.
The wicked earns deceptive wages, but one who sows righteousness gets a sure reward.
Whoever is steadfast in righteousness will live, but he who pursues evil will die.
Those of crooked heart are an abomination to the Lord, but those of blameless ways are his delight.
Be assured, an evil person will not go unpunished, but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered.
Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman without discretion.
The desire of the righteous ends only in good, the expectation of the wicked in wrath.
One gives freely yet grows all the richer.
Another withholds what he should give and only suffers want.
Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.
The people curse him who holds back grain, but a blessing is on the head of him who sells it.
Whoever diligently seeks good seeks favor, but evil comes to him who searches for it.
Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.
Whoever troubles his own household will inherit the wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise of heart.
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and whoever captures souls is wise.
If the righteous is repaid on earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner.
This is God's holy and authoritative word.
In this world, there is much sin and injustice, and sometimes the innocent are condemned and the guilty are acquitted.
Sometimes bribes blind the eyes of the judge.
Sometimes false witnesses rise up to imperil the falsely accused.
And if you have been the victim of such injustice, you've grown.
And if you've been an observer of such injustice, you've grown with the rest of creation under the weight of it all, as Romans 8 speaks of.
But Proverbs 10, 23 to 11, 31 reminds us that this is not the way it's supposed to be.
It gives us a picture of God's perfect order of justice, and teaches us that we should live righteously, trusting that God's justice will ultimately prevail.
That's the main point of this passage.
First, we're going to look at the permanence of the righteous versus the transience of the wicked.
Chapter 10, 23 to chapter 11, verse 8.
And then we'll look at the advantage of the selfless versus the disadvantage of the selfish in chapter 11, verses 9 to 31.
The whole section, this whole first collection of Solomon's Proverbs is divided into two subsections I mentioned last week.
And this first subsection goes to 1529, and is a series of contrasts between the righteous and the wicked, as we saw today as we were reading the passage.
And so he's emphasizing here the permanence of the righteous versus the transience of the wicked.
And that's trying to motivate us to live righteously, trusting in God's justice.
It says in verse 23,
Doing wrong is like a joke to a fool, but wisdom is pleasure to a man of understanding.
A joke, a laughing matter, a mockery.
To the fool, wrongdoing is like a joke.
It brings pleasure and amusement.
It's not only sociopaths who laugh at the expense of others' suffering.
People who advance themselves at the expense of others.
People who hate others.
They smirk and laugh at the downfall of others.
And their ghastly smiles reflect their foolish heart.
But in contrast, for a man of understanding,
it's not wrongdoing, but wisdom.
That is the object of his pleasure and enjoyment.
And the parallel between doing wrong and wisdom shows that wisdom is not merely theoretical,
but concrete and practical.
The wisdom that Proverbs offers is a skill of right doing or right living.
The wise person finds joy and delight in the wisdom of God, in obedience to God.
Though the fool finds pleasure in wrongdoing,
this doesn't mean that a sinner lives a life of pleasure without a care in the world.
Verse 24 tells us that there is a deep-seated insecurity in the fool and the sinner.
It says,
So God has given every human being a conscience,
a sense of right and wrong,
as well as a sense of divine justice.
And wrongdoers, even if they get away with wrongdoing,
live with the sense of foreboding and dread
that they will eventually get what is coming to them.
Notice the contrast in the language that is used to describe how these things come.
What the wicked dreads will come upon him.
It will overtake him.
It will catch up to him.
The phrase communicates this inevitability.
It will come upon him.
In contrast, the desire of the righteous will be granted.
It's like a gift from our God.
The graciousness of God rewards those who follow him.
And as verse 25 confirms,
verse 25 confirms his contrast.
This is,
When the tempest passes, the wicked is no more,
but the righteous is established forever.
However, the tempests of life, the troubles of life,
inevitably come,
and when they do, the wicked is no more.
They are like a house built on sand,
or a tree with a shallow root that is uprooted by the tempest.
However, the righteous is established forever,
like a house built on a rock,
like an oak tree with deep roots that fears not the tempests that come.
In God's ultimate justice,
the wicked sprout up for only a moment,
but the righteous flourish forever.
And because the wicked take pleasure in wrongdoing,
and their doom is sure,
because the wicked are transient,
they are unreliable,
and should not be trusted or employed.
That's what verse 26 is speaking of.
It says,
Like vinegar to the teeth,
and smoke to the eyes,
so is the slugger to those who send him.
In the ancient Near East,
the messengers who conveyed the words of the sender,
and represented the sender in negotiations,
had a very important role in society.
However,
the wicked sluggard should never be employed in such a role,
because they will surely bring trouble to their sender.
The vinegar in view here is the undiluted acidic form of vinegar
that's corrosive to your teeth.
It weakens the enamel on your teeth.
And without the benefit of the advanced dental care we now enjoy,
and people still have teeth trouble nowadays,
but imagine people back then,
what kind of teeth they would have had.
If you're drinking some acidic vinegar,
that would be a very unpleasant sensation.
That's what's in view in this imagery.
Be very sensitive to that.
Similarly,
smoke is an irritant to the eyes.
When you're camping out,
or you're barbecuing,
and you get smoke in your eyes,
it causes a burning,
itchy sensation,
and it can make you tear up.
And so in those ways,
like vinegar to the teeth,
and smoke to the eyes,
the sluggard cannot be tolerated for long.
He will corrode the reputation of his sender,
he will frustrate the interests of the sender,
and he will irritate the sensibilities of the sender.
And that's the warning.
And after that brief aside,
Solomon returns again to the theme of the permanence of the righteous
versus the transience of the wicked in verses 27 to 30.
The fear of the Lord prolongs life,
but the years of the wicked will be short.
The hope of the righteous brings joy,
but the expectation of the wicked will perish.
The way of the Lord is a stronghold to the blameless,
but destruction to evildoers.
The righteous will never be removed,
but the wicked will not dwell in the land.
So the hope of the righteous endure and it's fulfilled,
and for that reason it brings joy.
But the expectation of the wicked perish,
so they do not experience the joyful fulfillment of the righteous,
that the righteous do.
Even though at times it seems the wicked linger longer than we would want.
In truth, they are short-lived.
And this theme is continued with an emphasis on speech in verses 31 to 32.
The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom,
but the perverse tongue will be cut off.
The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable,
but the mouth of the wicked what is perverse.
The righteous speak what is appropriate or acceptable,
while the wicked speak what is inappropriate and perverse.
And for that reason, the mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom.
That word literally means to bear fruit.
The mouth of the righteous are like trees that bear fruit, good fruit.
And they're like vines that grow sweet clusters of wisdom grapes.
But the mouth of the wicked, in contrast,
is like a vine that grows sour grapes
and will therefore be cut off.
It is useless.
And an acceptable speech of the righteous
is connected to the acceptable deeds of the righteous.
And that's the transition to chapter 11, verse 1.
It says,
A false balance is an abomination to the Lord,
but a just weight is His delight.
The word delight is the same Hebrew word
that's translated in chapter 10, verse 32 as acceptable.
So a just weight is acceptable to God.
The righteous say what is acceptable in their conversations.
And the righteous use an acceptable way
in their commercial activities.
Scales and weights were widely used in the ancient world.
And deceitful sellers and buyers
used tampered scales or forged weights
in order to take advantage of others,
to exploit others for unjust gain.
So for example, some merchants used a false balance,
a tampered scale that they would manipulate
to their advantage when they're negotiating.
And traders also used forged weights.
So people back then carried these stones
that weighed a certain amount.
It would be written on the stone that it weighs this much.
And that was used for commercial activities.
However, a deceitful trader,
when purchasing grain,
he would use a false weight
that is, for example, marked 15 pounds,
when in reality it was only 10 pounds.
So that he would receive payment
for 15 pounds of grain
while giving only 10 pounds of grain.
And of course, they would do the opposite
when they're buying grain.
And in doing these things,
they exploited others
and gained unjust wealth.
And the use of these false weights
is condemned repeatedly throughout Scripture.
And this is contrasted with using the just weight,
the full weight,
which is the Lord's delight.
It's acceptable to him.
And we might deceive our neighbor
through these practices.
And there's a number of ways we might do that,
whether it's the way we do taxes
or the way we present things in ads
or the way we talk to people
in negotiating on Craigslist
or whatever it might be.
We might defraud our neighbor,
but we can never fool God.
We can never deceive God.
And the Lord who hates a false balance
will surely punish the wicked.
And these exploitative practices,
it stems ultimately from pride.
And that's why it says in verse 2,
when pride comes,
then comes disgrace.
But with the humble is wisdom.
Why do these things come from pride?
Psalm chapter 94 verses 4 to 7
capture what this looks like.
It says,
They pour out their arrogant words,
all the evildoers boast.
They crush your people, O Lord,
and afflict your heritage.
They kill the widow and the sojourner
and murder the fatherless.
And they say,
The Lord does not see.
The God of Jacob does not perceive.
That's at the heart of all wickedness,
isn't it?
People believe that they could get away with it.
People believe that God does not see.
They believe that justice
will not catch up to them.
And that's the essence of their pride.
And so they use false balances and weights,
pridefully thinking that they could escape
God's judgment.
But when pride comes,
then comes disgrace.
This is the inevitable,
inescapable law of divine justice.
If you invite pride into your heart against God,
disgrace will soon come against you in your life.
The two are joined together at the hip.
They always come together.
In contrast with the humble is wisdom.
The humble recognize that they are under the authority
and governance of God.
They live under His watchful eyes.
They live in submission to His rule.
They know their place
and accept their limits.
The wicked may pride themselves in being shrewd
or being imagined that they're wiser than the righteous.
But in truth,
it's the humble who possess wisdom.
Submitting under the bounds of God's law.
And verses 3 to 8 tell us that this humility toward God
is what produces integrity toward men.
It says,
The integrity of the upright guides them,
but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.
Riches do not profit in the day of wrath,
but righteousness delivers from death.
The righteousness of the blameless keeps his way straight,
but the wicked falls by his own wickedness.
The righteousness of the upright delivers them,
but the treacherous are taken captive by their lust.
When the wicked dies,
his hope will perish,
and the expectation of wealth perishes too.
The righteous is delivered from trouble,
and the wicked walks into it instead.
There's a recurring contrast
between what is straight and upright
versus what is crooked and treacherous.
The straight or upright people,
they are guileless.
There's no deception in their ways,
unlike the crooked who are devious in their ways.
And this is the principle that this section of Proverbs
hammers home again and again,
that in the end,
there will be justice.
Even unjustly gained wealth do not profit in the day of wrath.
Only righteousness delivers from death.
And this is what Martin Luther King Jr. had in mind when he said,
the arc of the moral universe is long,
but it bends toward justice.
In the end,
cheats never prosper.
It's honest work that pays.
The arc of the moral universe is long,
but it bends toward justice.
We should live righteously,
trusting that God's justice will ultimately prevail.
In one sense,
then living righteously,
righteously is one of the most self-serving things that a person can do.
Because it ultimately is what is most beneficial to oneself.
And in verses 9 to 31,
Solomon then elaborates on that paradox
by contrasting the advantage of the selfless
versus the disadvantage of the selfish.
The righteous person,
according to Proverbs,
is someone who disadvantages himself
in order to serve the community.
But the wicked person is someone
who disadvantages the community
in order to serve himself.
However,
in the end,
it's the selfless,
not the selfish,
who gain the edge.
It says in verses 9 to 11,
This is pretty straightforward, right?
The wicked seek to destroy their neighbors.
And for that reason,
the neighbors don't applaud them,
are not happy about their prospering and their success.
But the righteous, however,
bless the people,
bless their city,
and they deliver their neighbors.
And for that reason,
when it goes well with them,
the city rejoices.
Because they serve others,
the righteous are celebrated by others.
And the wise not only benefit others by what they say,
but they also benefit others by what they don't say.
It says in verses 12 to 13,
Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense,
but a man of understanding remains silent.
Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets,
but he who is trustworthy in spirit
keeps the thing covered.
We should never yield to the temptation
of belittling a neighbor.
Even the neighbor that is closest to you
in your own family,
your household.
Every human being is created in the image of God.
And because of that,
has intrinsic worth and dignity,
no matter how debased they are
by their sins and by their environment.
So when we belittle other people,
it's a way of kind of exalting ourselves, isn't it?
We aggrandize ourselves.
We make ourselves seem bigger
by making others seem smaller.
We lift up ourselves by putting down others.
And that's such a subtle sin sometimes,
such an insidious sin.
And it can pass with a lot of,
it masquerades a lot of different things,
but it destroys community.
Instead of belittling a neighbor,
a man of understanding,
it says, remains silent.
It reminds me of James chapter 3,
verses 8 to 10,
which says,
no human being can tame the tongue.
It is a restless evil,
full of deadly poison.
With it, we bless our Lord and Father,
and with it, we curse people
who are made in the likeness of God.
From the same mouth come blessing and cursing,
my brother,
these things are not to be so.
If we have a proper respect for God,
we wouldn't dare to hold in contempt
people who are created in the image of God.
Every single one of our neighbors,
regardless of their educational attainment,
regardless of their socioeconomic status,
regardless of the complexion of their skin,
regardless of their history or background,
regardless of their political affiliation,
they bear the image of God Almighty,
and he who belittles his neighbor
can only be described as someone who lacks sense.
But we have to do this even when it's hard.
It's especially hard to be silent
when we are ourselves insulted
or reviled by our neighbor.
But even then,
out of respect and reverence for God,
we are to hold our tongue
rather than respond in kind.
So the wise person does not go about
slandering and revealing secrets.
He says,
What has been confided to you in secret
should not be broadcasted in public.
This too is a way that the wicked
disadvantage others
in order to advantage themselves.
By speaking ill of others,
they seek to speak well of themselves,
to present themselves in a better light
by comparison.
They seek to elevate their own standing
in their community
and improve the way others perceive them
by speaking ill of others.
In contrast,
he who is trustworthy in spirit
keeps the thing covered.
The trustworthy person restrains
rather than loosens his tongue,
rather than divulging a secret
to damage one's neighbor.
The trustworthy person covers it
in order to protect his neighbor.
Like we saw last week in chapter 10, verse 12,
hatred stirs up strife,
but love covers all offenses.
And continuing this line of thought,
verses 14 to 15 contrast the way
the wise provide counsel and guidance
to their community
and benefit their community.
And the fool, however,
bring themselves under the authority
of a stranger
by putting up security for him.
It says,
Where there is no guidance,
the people falls,
but in an abundance of counselors
there is safety.
Whoever puts up security
for a stranger
will surely suffer harm,
but he who hates striking hands
in pledge is secure.
The wise speak words of wisdom
to guide their community.
The foolish speak words of folly
and get entangled
in the affairs of strangers
by becoming a surety for them.
And this talks about
how there's strength in numbers.
There's strength in numbers
in warfare, of course,
but there's also strength
in numbers in wisdom.
It says,
Where there is no guidance,
a people falls.
A people refers to a people group,
a nation.
Even nations fall
for the lack of guidance.
But in an abundance of counselors,
there is safety.
We have a similar proverb in English,
two heads are better than one.
It's saying,
Don't make important decisions
in your life by yourself.
If you're in the habit of
being the master of your own faith,
you only make decisions yourself
and don't listen to others,
then don't get out of that habit.
Consult with others.
Seek out many people's advice
because there's strength in numbers
and getting an abundance of counselors.
And the reason for that
is because it's in the interplay
between arguments
and counter arguments
in the weighing of competing ideas.
That's where truth is discovered
and winning strategies are formed.
This is why it's so important
to listen to people
who don't think exactly the way you do.
So let's not get used to
enjoying the sound of our own voices
and the logic of our own opinions
and listen to competing ideas.
Read conservative and liberal newspapers.
Talk to old people and young people.
Find fair-minded people of all stripes
who disagree with you.
And don't be consumed only with being heard.
Seek to listen.
And if we never leave our own echo chambers
and dig our heels into
our own confirmation biases,
we will falter.
That's inevitable.
It's in the abundance of counselors.
There's safety.
And verse 15 functions as a transition
from the topic of right speaking
to right living again.
And then verses 16 to 22
form a new subunit
bracketed by verses 16 and 22.
Very colorful proverbs
which speak of the woman who gets honor.
These verses continue to contrast
between the advantage of the selfless
and the disadvantage of the selfish.
But it says in verses 16 and 17,
A gracious woman gets honor
and violent men get riches.
A man who is kind benefits himself
but a cruel man hurts himself.
So look at the gender,
the number,
and the reward of these two verses,
how they all vary.
And I think intentionally.
First notice the contrast in gender and number
in verse 16.
Woman singular and men plural.
This shows the interplay
between individual responsibility
and collective responsibility
that we saw last week also.
Chapter 10 verses 45 taught us that
a slack hand causes poverty
but the hand of the diligent makes rich.
He who gathers in the summer
is a prudent son
but he who sleeps in harvest
is a son who brings shame.
So that's the message
of personal individual responsibility
that conservatives would embrace.
If you're poor, they say,
that's because you didn't work hard enough.
Now but that's qualified
by chapter 13 verse 23
which we also looked at last week.
The fallow ground of the poor
would yield much food
but it is swept away through injustice.
That's the message
about systemic injustice
and societal responsibility
that liberals would rally behind.
If you're poor,
that's because of a system
that is rigged against you.
According to Proverbs,
both aspects are true
and must not be neglected.
And we see a similar interplay here.
A gracious woman
because of her own virtue
gets honor.
That's the way it should be.
Unfortunately, it's also true
that violent men get riches.
Do they deserve it?
No, they don't.
But men who are generally stronger
and hold more systemic power
seize the riches
by their violence.
through injustice.
But make no mistake
that honor is the far better reward.
Proverbs chapter 22 verse 1 says,
A good name is to be chosen
rather than great riches.
And favor is better than silver or gold.
So the relatively powerless woman
that is in view here,
by her righteousness,
by her virtue of graciousness,
gets the greater reward.
And this is in stark contrast
to the woman at the end
of this subunit.
It forms a bracket,
these two proverbs.
Look at verse 22.
Like a gold ring in a pig's snout
is a beautiful woman
without discretion.
This is the worldly way.
I can't help but laugh
when I read that proverb.
It's such a colorful proverb.
This is the worldly way
of gaining honor and power
for women.
It's physical beauty
and external adornment.
Despite all the progress
touted by feminists,
women have become
more sexually objectified
now perhaps than ever before.
In the name of sexual revolution
and feminine liberation,
women have been told
to wield their sexuality
as a weapon to their liking
without the fear
of getting pregnant,
without the fear
of being condemned
by prudish crusaders.
But this is nothing new.
Women used beauty
and outward adornments
as instruments
for seducing and subduing men
in the ancient world as well.
And there's plenty
of ancient literature
that testify to that.
So they say,
do you want to be noticed?
Do you want to gain power?
Do you want to matter?
That's what the TV ads,
magazine covers,
and the movies
tell the women
of our generation.
Well then,
you have to wear tight pants,
short skirts,
low-cut shirts,
adorn yourself with makeup,
hairdo,
and shiny jewels.
But unfortunately,
and perhaps unsurprisingly,
this lack of chastity
and modesty
plays right into
the sinful desires
of lustful,
immature,
selfish,
and manipulative men.
That's because
these are the principles
and values
of a sinful world.
That's because,
and that's why the Bible
in both the Old
and New Testaments
consistently resists
the sexual objectification
of women.
Like a gold ring
in a pig's snout
is a beautiful woman
without discretion.
What good is a gold ring
that adorns a pig's snout?
The pigs rolling around
in the mud,
and in the ancient world,
they were usually fed swill.
That's kitchen compost,
waste.
That's what they grew up
and that's what they ate.
For these reasons,
they had a reputation
for being dirty.
What good is outward adornment,
outward beauty
for a woman
who for her lack
of inward graciousness
and judiciousness
rolls around
in the mud of sin
and eats the swill of sin?
What good is that?
Her outer beauty
forms a grotesque contrast
with her inner ugliness.
And while the gracious woman
of verse 16
forms a contrast
with the violent men,
she forms a complementary pair
with the man who is kind
in verse 17.
It says,
a gracious woman gets honor
and violent men get riches.
A man who is kind
benefits himself,
but a cruel man
hurts himself.
So then this parallel
between verse 16 and 17
invite a comparison
between the second halves
of these verses
that qualify one another.
Because verse 16
does concede
that violent men
get riches,
but then verse 17
qualifies that
by telling us
that in the end
a cruel man
hurts himself.
Those who do violence
to others
in the ultimate calculation
of things
are doing violence
to themselves.
If you want
any lasting benefit,
if you want
true honor,
then you must be
gracious
and kind.
because there will be
divine justice
for those who cause
the loss of others
for their selfish gain.
Verses 18 to 21
continue to reassure us
of this truth.
It says,
the wicked
earns deceptive wages,
but one
who sows righteousness
gets a sure reward.
Whoever is steadfast
in righteousness
will live,
but he who pursues evil
will die.
Those of crooked heart
are an abomination
to the Lord,
but those of blameless ways
are his delight.
Be assured,
an evil person
will not go unpunished,
but the offspring
of the righteous
will be delivered.
This illustrates
the principle taught
in many places
in scripture
and especially
Galatians chapter 6
verse 7
which says,
do not be deceived.
God is not mocked
for whatever one sows
that will he also reap.
You will reap
what you sow.
If you sow sin,
you will reap trouble.
If you sow righteousness,
you will reap a sure reward
from the Lord.
So don't be deceived
by the appearances
of things.
Yes,
for a little while
the wicked might appear
to prosper,
but there is injustice
in this world,
but none of it
escapes God's notice
and none of it
will escape God's
final judgment.
So be assured,
an evil person
will not go unpunished.
And if you sow righteousness,
that's to scatter
the seeds of righteousness,
it says in verse 21,
the offspring of the righteous,
that's literally
the seed of the righteous,
will be delivered.
You will bear much fruit
and plant,
I mean,
and reap
or reach a rich harvest.
And this principle
of divine retribution
should govern
the way we live
and also,
more specifically,
what we do
with our money.
It says in verses
24 to 26,
one gives freely,
yet grows all the richer.
Another withholds
what he should give
and only suffers want.
Whoever brings blessing
will be enriched
and one who waters
will himself be watered.
The people curse him
who holds back rain,
but a blessing is on
the head of him
who sells it.
This is paradoxical,
isn't it?
It's because
from a worldly,
just financial perspective,
the more money
you give away,
of course,
the poorer you become.
But because of God's justice,
one gives freely,
yet grows all the richer,
while another withholds
what he should give
and only suffers want.
I can witness this fact
that every Christian
that I've known
who has given generously
can corroborate this reality.
You cannot outgive God.
2 Corinthians 9,
verse 68 says,
Whoever sows sparingly
will also reap sparingly.
Whoever sows bountifully
will also reap bountifully.
Each one must give
as he has decided in his heart
and not reluctantly
or under compulsion,
for God loves
a cheerful giver.
And God is able
to make all grace
abound to you,
so that having all sufficiency
in all things,
at all times,
you may abound
in every good work.
To those who give generously
for the needs of others,
God makes all grace abound,
so that you have all sufficiency
in all things,
at all times.
Sometimes people illustrate
this principle
with the example
of the nursing mother.
The more the mother
nurses her child,
the more her milk supply grows.
It's counterintuitive.
But the more she withholds
her milk from the child,
the sooner her milk supply
runs dry.
Wealth is like that.
God gives it so you might
steward it
and give much of it away.
In his wisdom and justice,
God has embedded
a general principle
of reciprocity
to the order of the universe,
so that the generous
enjoy prosperity
while the stingy
are beset with scarcity.
Scarcity.
Verse 28 further develops
this idea.
It says,
Whoever trusts in his riches
will fall,
but the righteous
will flourish
like a green leaf.
Whoever trusts
in his riches
relies on his riches,
sets his hope
on his riches,
and for that reason
is tight-fisted
because money
is not a tool for him
but is God.
And that leads
to his downfall.
But those who are
open-handed
with his riches,
the righteous,
they flourish
like a green leaf.
Verses 29 to 31
keep driving this point home
and then verse 31
concludes,
If the righteous
is repaid on earth,
how much more
the wicked
and the sinner?
This can be misunderstood,
this verse.
It's an argument
from the lesser
to the greater.
So he's saying,
Even the relatively righteous
are repaid
for their misdeeds
on earth.
Do you think then
God will spare
the wicked
and the sinner?
Of course not.
That's the logic
of this last verse.
Even the righteous
will get what's coming
to them,
then how much more
the wicked
and the sinner
who have done
much more wickedness,
committed many more sins.
And so this is
what we're trying
to motivate.
We should live righteously,
trusting that God's justice
will ultimately prevail.
Let me ask you,
how does that make you feel
about your future prospects
in light of God's justice?
If you're like most people,
hopefully not in our church,
but if you're like most people,
including unbelievers,
you probably feel pretty good
about your future prospects.
There's an article entitled
The Illusion of Moral Superiorty
published in Social,
Psychological,
and Personality Science
a few years ago.
It documents the phenomenon
called the self-enhancement effect,
which is people's tendency
to overestimate
their own qualities
and abilities
in relation to
the same qualities
and abilities
in others.
We naturally think
more highly of ourselves
than we ought to.
And this study
shows,
it demonstrates
that actually
that self-enhancement effect
is most pronounced
when it comes to
assessments of our own morality.
We all tend to think
that we're especially,
when it comes to morality,
that we are better
than others,
that we're more righteous
than others.
In other words,
this is something
the Bible has been saying
for thousands of years,
we're all self-righteous.
Now,
but the Bible presents us
with a more
sobering and accurate assessment
than our own
personal assessment.
Romans 3 verse 10
tells us,
none is righteous.
No,
not one.
And this is a problem
because Proverbs 11 chapter,
1131 told us
that if the righteous
is repaid on earth,
how much more
the wicked
and the sinner?
Even the righteous
get what's coming to them
for this little sense
here and there perhaps,
but we are not
in the righteous
category
as much as we would like.
in the ultimate sense,
in light of God's
perfect standard,
we are all in the wicked
and sinner category.
And how then
can we be saved?
As the psalmist says
in Psalm 130,
if you,
O Lord,
should mark iniquities,
O Lord,
who could stand?
No one could stand
before God.
No one could stand
and be acquitted
at the court
of God's justice.
And this is how
the book of Proverbs
points to
and finds this fulfillment
in Jesus Christ
because that same
chapter in Romans,
Romans 3,
which told us
that no one is righteous
continues in verses
21 and 24,
but now the righteousness
of God
has been made
and has been manifested
apart from the law,
the righteousness of God
through faith
in Jesus Christ
for all who believe,
for there is no distinction,
for all have sinned
and fall short
of the glory of God
and are justified
by His grace
as a gift
through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus.
Jesus,
the righteous one,
died on the cross
to pay the penalty
of sin
that we should have paid,
that we should have died for.
And through His death
and resurrection,
we are justified.
That means we are counted
righteous.
Not as a wage
that we ourselves
must earn
by our hard work,
but by His grace
as a gift
freely given.
We were not righteous,
but nonetheless,
God counts us
as righteous
on account
of the life
and death
and resurrection
of Jesus Christ.
And that's how
we come to inherit
the eternal life
that this passage
speaks of.
Return with me
one last time
to Proverbs chapter 11.
Look at verse 30.
He says,
The fruit of the righteous
is a tree of life
and whoever captures
souls is wise.
The outcome of a righteous life
is a tree of life,
a symbol of healing
and eternal life
that goes all the way back
to the beginning of creation
in Genesis 2.
And it's the righteous person,
the wise person
in a biblical sense
that captures souls
and shares with them
this eternal life.
The phrase
capture souls,
it's a startling image
because that phrase
occurs six other times
in the Old Testament
and every single one
of those other occurrences
it is translated
to take away life.
It refers to killing someone,
to capture souls.
But here,
it's used in an ironic,
subversive sense
to mean precisely the opposite.
To capture souls
in order to rescue them,
to save them.
It's very similar
to the way Jesus
told His disciples
who are fishermen
in Luke 5, verse 10.
He told them,
from now on,
you will be catching men.
Think about it.
Fishermen usually catch fish
in order to kill them.
It's not an encouraging image
if you think about that.
They're trying to go around
and catch men.
And the imagery of catching
is normally used
in the Old Testament
to refer to divine judgment,
catching someone
in one's net.
But Jesus transforms that image
as this proverb does.
Jesus transformed the imagery
in a surprising way
that He said,
those who would follow Him,
those who would be wise,
those who are called
to find those who deserve
to be,
our calling is to find
those who are deserving
of being captured and killed.
That's our calling.
We were all of those
who deserve to be captured
and killed,
but instead,
Jesus says,
you capture now to save.
At the hands of Jesus,
the instrument of death,
the cross,
becomes the instrument
of life and salvation.
We should have been captured
and killed.
That's every single one of us.
But instead,
God turns that around
and says,
capture those souls,
not for death,
but for eternal life
so that they might be saved.
And that's what Jesus did
for He is the righteous one,
the wise one
who captures souls.
That's in view in this verse.
He did it on the cross for us
and now that is our calling
to receive it,
to follow Him
and likewise
become catchers
of men and women
sharing this wisdom
with the world.
Please take a moment
to think about that,
of the reality
of what Christ has done
for us
in spite of our
lack of righteousness.