We are in Proverbs chapter 21.
We ended at verse 2 last week.
We're going to start there and go all the way to verse 31.
Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's Word.
Father, we confess that your wisdom often confounds our human wisdom.
Your grace, your lavish mercy confounds our sense of what should be.
Because your ways are not our ways.
As far as the heavens are higher than the earth, your ways are higher than our ways.
And so, Lord, we do not approach your Word arrogantly,
seeking to conform it to our own liking.
But, Lord, we approach it humbly,
wanting to submit ourselves to your will, to your kingship.
So please address us now in the reading and preaching of your Word.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Proverbs 21, verses 2 to 31.
Every way of a man is right in his own eyes,
but the Lord weighs the heart.
To do righteousness and justice
is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
Haughty eyes and a proud heart,
the lamp of the wicked are sin.
The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance,
but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.
The getting of treasures by a lying tongue
is a fleeting vapor and a snare of death.
The violence of the wicked will sweep them away
because they refuse to do what is just.
The way of the guilty is crooked,
but the conduct of the pure is upright.
It is better to live in a corner of the housetop
than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife.
The soul of the wicked desires evil.
His neighbor finds no mercy in his eyes.
When a scoffer is punished,
the simple becomes wise.
When a wise man is instructed,
he gains knowledge.
The righteous one observes the house of the wicked.
He throws the wicked down to ruin.
Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor
will himself call out and not be answered.
A gift in secret averts anger
and a concealed bribe strong wrath.
When justice is done,
it is a joy to the righteous,
but terror to evildoers.
One who wanders from the way of good sense
will rest in the assembly of the dead.
Whoever loves pleasure will be a poor man.
He who loves wine and oil will not be rich.
The wicked is a ransom for the righteous
and the traitor for the upright.
It is better to live in a desert land
than with the quarrelsome and fretful woman.
Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man's dwelling,
but a foolish man devours it.
Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness
will find life, righteousness, and honor.
A wise man scales the city of the mighty
and brings down the stronghold in which they trust.
Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue
keeps himself out of trouble.
Scoffer is the name of the arrogant,
haughty man who acts with arrogant pride.
The desire of the sluggard kills him,
for his hands refuse to labor.
All day long he craves and craves,
but the righteous gives and does not hold back.
The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination.
How much more when he brings it with evil intent?
A false witness will perish,
but the word of a man who hears will endure.
A wicked man puts on a bold face,
but the upright gives thought to his ways.
No wisdom, no understanding,
no counsel can avail against the Lord.
The horse is made ready for the day of battle,
but the victory belongs to the Lord.
God's holy and authoritative word.
Justice is a buzzword nowadays.
Using Google Books and Graham Viewer,
you can search for words or phrases
from over 25 million of their digitized books
to analyze trends.
And if you search for the phrase social justice,
you see steady growth in the use of the phrase
starting in the 20th century,
with sharp exponential growth happening
starting in around 2000, 2004.
And using LexisNexis,
that's the name of a company,
their database,
which has over 82 billion legal
and public records related documents,
you can do a similar search of popular publications
like the New York Times,
which yields very similar results.
Between 2000 and 2020,
the number of articles
mentioning the phrase social justice
spiked from about 170 a year
to 800 per year.
And you see the same exponential growth
with other often associated phrases
such as white privilege,
male privilege, etc.
Some pundits call this the great awokening.
Now, justice is undoubtedly a hot issue,
but what exactly is justice?
Everybody seems to agree
that justice is a good thing,
but people disagree vehemently
about what it should look like
and how it should be attained.
How should a Christian think about justice?
What does it look like for the Christian
as we are commanded to do
in Micah 6, verse 8,
to do justice and to love kindness
and to walk humbly with our God?
Our passage for today
answers some of those questions for us.
And its main point is this,
that we should do righteousness and justice
trusting that God will fight on our behalf.
First, we see the sacrifice of the righteous
in verses 2 to 8,
the ransom for the righteous
in verses 9 to 18,
and finally the reward of the righteous
in verses 19 to 31.
This passage begins with a twofold mention
of the Lord in verses 2 to 3
and verses 30 to 31.
The book ends the passage
showing God's sovereignty over this entire thing
of justice, of human society, over it.
And it says in verses 2 to 3,
every way of a man is right in his own eyes,
but the Lord weighs the heart.
To do righteousness and justice
is more acceptable to the Lord
than sacrifice.
Immediately, this sets off a sharp distinction
between the biblical understanding of justice
and our cultural understanding of justice.
Righteousness and justice
are not standards that are determined by man.
It's determined by God.
Why?
Because every way of a man
is right in his own eyes.
In our community group this past Friday,
we talked about how this proverb
reminded us of the refrain in the book of Judges,
that in those days,
there was no king in Israel.
Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
This is the consequence
whenever a sinful human being
refuses to submit to Christ the King.
Every man for himself.
A sinful human being
is incapable of correctly defining
righteousness and justice
because he is too prideful.
He is too self-righteous.
He is too biased toward himself.
Only the Lord who weighs the heart
can be the true judge.
Only he can be the arbiter of justice.
This reality runs contrary to popular opinion
because we live in a functionally atheistic society
that tries to untether
its ethical system from God's law.
Once you lose that vertical accountability to God,
what God says is right and just,
once you're untethered from that,
then all you have left
is horizontal accountability.
You should do no harm to other people.
So then, to give you an example,
the entire realm of sexual ethics, for example,
gets reduced to consent.
In this context,
there is no higher law
by which people can say
fornication
or homosexual relations
or adultery
or pornography
is immoral.
There's no basis for that.
No one can say
that that is sin
because God has been removed
from the picture.
All they can ask is,
was it consensual?
Did your boyfriend or girlfriend
consent to it?
Well then,
it's fine
even if you're not married.
Did the other man or woman
consent to the same-sex relationship?
Well then,
it's fine
because
you get to choose
whomever you want to love.
Did your husband or wife
consent to it?
Well then,
it's not adultery.
That's an open marriage.
Was the pornography marriage,
the pornography video rather,
legally produced
and distributed
with the consent
of all the individuals
involved in it?
Well then,
there's nothing wrong with it.
It's just business.
This is a woefully inadequate
and unreliable
standard of ethics.
It is the Lord,
not man,
that sets the standard
for righteousness
and justice.
Verse 3 says,
To do righteousness
and justice
is more acceptable
to the Lord
than sacrifice.
The words
righteousness
and justice
are often paired together
and have some
overlap in meaning.
But with the risk
of oversimplification,
one can say
that righteousness
refers to right living
and justice
refers to fair judgment.
Deuteronomy 6,
verse 25 says,
And it will be
righteousness for us
if we are careful
to do all this commandment
before the Lord our God
as He has commanded us.
So righteousness
entails living
in accordance
with God's commands.
Deuteronomy 16,
verses 19-20
defines the word
justice this way.
You shall not
pervert justice.
You shall not
show partiality.
And you shall not
accept a bribe,
for bribe blinds
the eyes of the wise
and subverts
the cause of the righteous.
Justice,
only justice,
you shall follow.
So justice entails
judging everyone,
whether they're rich
or poor,
man or a woman,
strong or weak,
white or black,
on their own merits
rather than
showing partiality.
It means to give people
what is their rightful due.
That's why in Genesis 18-25,
Abraham reasons with God
this way,
Far be from you
to do such a thing
to put the righteous
to death
with the wicked,
so that the righteous
fare as the wicked.
Far be that from you.
Shall not the judge
of all the earth
do what is just?
To do what is just
is to give people
what is their due.
To punish the righteous
along with the wicked
would be an injustice
because it's not
judging people
fairly based on their merits.
We'll unpack
these two terms further
in the following verses,
but these are
good working definitions
for now
to understand
what this means.
In verse 3,
to do righteousness
and justice
is more acceptable
to the Lord
than sacrifice.
This comparative construction
takes something
that is otherwise
considered good,
in this case sacrifice,
and compares it
to something
that is even better,
righteousness
and justice,
in order to emphasize
just how important
that really is.
Sacrifice is not unimportant.
It is commanded by God,
as we see clearly
in Leviticus chapters 1-7.
But to do righteousness
and justice
is more acceptable
to the Lord
than even sacrifice.
And this truth,
this is not an isolated incident,
this truth echoes
again and again
throughout many pages
of Scripture.
God does not care
for empty rituals
devoid of sincere devotion.
God does not care
for worship
without obedience.
That you are joining us
this Sunday,
whether here in person
or virtually,
is a good thing.
It is commendable.
God commands it.
And it's indispensable
for your perseverance
and faith.
But is the rest
of your life,
Monday through Saturday,
consistent with the faith
that you profess?
Does your day-to-day life
bear out the truth
that you sing
on Sunday morning
during the worship service?
If people were to observe
your life,
would they conclude
that you love God
with your whole heart?
Would they even know
that you are a Christian?
Verse 27 escalates this further.
The sacrifice of the wicked
is an abomination.
How much more
when he brings it
with evil intent?
Why do you,
it's helpful to ask,
why do the wicked
even bother
to bring a sacrifice
to God?
They do it
to preserve
a sense,
a semblance
of piety
and respectability.
They do it
to maintain
their own credibility
in order to advance
further their evil agenda.
But the Lord
abominates
such sacrifice.
He rejects
hypocritical worship.
God cannot be
any more emphatic
than Amos chapter 5
verses 21 to 24.
I hate,
I despise
your feasts
and I take no delight
in your solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer me
your burnt offerings
and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
And the peace offerings
of your fat animals,
I will not look upon them.
Take away from me
the noise of your songs
to the melody
of your harps,
I will not listen.
But let justice
roll down like waters
and righteousness
like an ever-flowing stream.
Are you living rightly
in your relationship
with God and man?
Are you judging fairly
and giving people
what is their rightful due?
According to Jesus,
even in the New Testament,
Mark chapter 12 verse 33,
to love God
with all of your heart,
with all the understanding
and with all the strength
and to love one's neighbor
as oneself
is much more
than all whole burnt offerings
and sacrifices.
You may have
a faith, sure,
but is there love
and good works
to accompany it?
Do you love your neighbors
enough to serve them,
to share the gospel
of Jesus Christ
with them?
Is your work
characterized by integrity?
Is your spending
characterized by generosity?
Are your relationships
characterized by selflessness?
God cares intensely
about how you live.
God is jealous
that you love Him
with your whole heart.
God insists
on your total allegiance.
The sacrifice
of the righteous
is not merely
a cultic thing.
It entails
an ethic.
That's why Romans 12 verse 1
says,
I appeal to you,
therefore,
brothers,
by the mercies of God
to present your bodies
as a living sacrifice,
holy and acceptable
to God,
which is your
spiritual worship.
Then,
Solomon gives
some specific examples
of this in verses 4 to 8.
Verse 4 says,
Haughty eyes
and a proud heart,
the lamp of the wicked,
are sin.
Like verse 2,
this verse also mentions
the eyes and the heart.
And earlier,
in Proverbs 20,
verse 17,
it mentioned
the spirit of man
as the lamp
of the Lord.
That God,
to God,
even the inner,
the hidden inner person,
the spirit of man
is illuminated.
He uses it
to search
our innermost parts.
So this verse
is continuing
that imagery.
It's saying that
the God who exposes
the spirit of the wicked,
the God who weighs
the proud heart,
the God who sees
the haughty eyes,
denounces them
altogether as sin.
Something that misses
the mark,
the standard that He
has set for us
to meet.
Those with haughty eyes
and a proud heart
forsake righteousness
and justice.
This is evident
in their greed.
Look at verses 5 to 6
with me.
The plans of the diligent
lead surely to abundance,
but everyone who is hasty
comes only to poverty.
The getting of treasures
by a lying tongue
is a fleeting vapor
and a snare of death.
Here we see
that the righteous
are diligent
and that the wicked
are hasty
in their attempt
to gain wealth,
which reveals
their greed.
They are willing
to take shortcuts.
They are willing
to cheat others.
They are because
they believe
that the end
justifies the means.
So they get treasures
by a lying tongue,
but this is ultimately,
this passage teaches us,
futile
because of God's justice.
Whoever is quick
to breathe out lies
in order to gain
an advantage over others
will learn that
their wealth
is but a breath,
a fleeting vapor
that vanishes
in a moment.
He comes only
to poverty
and gets caught
in a snare of death
in contrast
to the righteous
who,
through patient
diligence,
not hasty schemes,
arrives at wealth.
Verses 7 to 8
continue this theme
of divine retribution.
The violence
of the wicked
will sweep them away
because they refuse
to do what is just.
The way of the guilty
is crooked,
but the conduct
of the pure
is upright.
Though the wicked
do violence
to others,
in order to get
their way,
in God's poetic justice,
they will be undone
by their own violence.
As all of you know,
the shortest distance
between two points
is a straight line.
Though the guilty
try to take shortcuts,
their way is crooked,
so they end up
going the long way around
and in fact
never arrive
at their destination.
In contrast,
the conduct
of the pure
is upright.
It's literally
straight.
They are the ones
who will prosper
in the end.
And then in verses
9 to 18,
Solomon talks about
the ruin of the wicked
and how they will become
the ransom
for the righteous.
But between these sections,
we find an unexpected verse.
Verse 9 says,
It is better to live
in a corner
of the housetop
than in a house
shared with
a quarrelsome wife.
This same surprising thing
happens between
the next two sections
of this passage as well.
It says in verse 19,
It is better
to live in a desert land
than with a quarrelsome
and fretful woman.
And these verses,
if you're like me
and you're just reading
through it,
come out of the blue,
don't they?
Like, what in the world
is going on?
What does this have to do
with righteousness
and justice?
That's the theme
of this passage.
One of the most
prominent metaphors
in this book,
in the book of Proverbs,
is that of the woman
or the wife
as a personification
of either
wisdom or folly.
So, for example,
in Proverbs 8.35,
Lady Wisdom says,
Whoever finds me
finds life
and obtains favor
from the Lord.
And this was paralleled
as we saw
in chapter 18,
verse 22.
He who finds a wife
finds a good thing
and obtains favor
from the Lord.
So often,
literary units
within Proverbs
begin with an exhortation
to listen to
or find wisdom.
And sometimes,
that's substituted
by Proverbs
about the wife
as the organizing principle.
Solomon's doing
the same thing here.
The comparison format
of verses 9 and 19
bring to mind
the comparison
of verse 3,
which began
the first section
of this chapter.
To do righteousness
and justice
is better,
is more acceptable
to the Lord
than sacrifice.
It is better
to live
in a corner
of a housetop
than in a house
shared with a quarrelsome wife.
It is better
to live
in a desert land
than with a quarrelsome
and fretful woman.
Even though Proverbs
speaks repeatedly
of the fact
that it is a good thing
to find a wife,
a wise wife,
just that it's a good thing
to find wisdom
and that both things
are a gift
from the Lord.
Having no wife
is better
than having a quarrelsome
and foolish one.
Living in a corner
of the housetop
like living
in the desert land
is a lonesome
and tiresome experience.
It means being exposed
to the harsh elements,
to the beating rain,
to the scorching sun,
and yet,
the Proverbs tell us,
such a life
is better
than sharing a house
with a quarrelsome wife.
This makes
the obvious point
that a wife
should strive
to cultivate
the gentle
and quiet spirit
that 1 Peter 3,
verse 4 tells us
is very precious
in God's sight,
but it makes
another less obvious
point.
Having the semblance
of respectability
by having a wife
to share a home with,
having the appearance
of wisdom,
being a scoffer
who acts like
he already has
all the wisdom
he needs
is worse
than being unmarried
and unsheltered,
is worse
than being known
as a simpleton
who lacks wisdom.
It is better
not to offer
sacrifices at all
than to offer
disingenuous sacrifices.
It is better
not to worship
than to worship
hypocritically
without doing
righteousness
and justice.
Verses 10 to 12
continue,
The soul of the wicked
desires evil.
His neighbor
finds no mercy
in his eyes.
When a scoffer
is punished,
the simple
becomes wise.
When a wise man
is instructed,
he gains knowledge.
The righteous one
observes the house
of the wicked.
He throws the wicked
down to ruin.
Verses 10 and 12
repeat the words
wicked and evil
to bracket these verses.
And the word ruin
in verse 12
is the same Hebrew word
that is translated
evil in verse 10.
And this repetition
highlights once again
God's poetic justice.
The soul of the wicked
desires evil
to bring evil
upon others.
But God overthrows
the wicked
down to evil.
In other words,
they get what
was coming to them.
And since righteousness
includes obeying
and imitating
the righteous one,
it requires mercy
toward our neighbors.
But the wicked person
finds no mercy
in his eyes
for his neighbor.
And once again,
here we see
three types of people
that appear
again and again
throughout the book
of Proverbs.
The scoffer,
the simple,
and the wise.
As we saw in 1925,
the scoffer
is the close-minded person,
the proud.
The simple
is empty-minded,
and the wise person
is open-minded.
The scoffer,
as verse 24 says,
is a haughty man
who acts
with arrogant pride.
He is brazen.
He's fixed
in his sinful,
erroneous ways.
And for this reason,
the scoffer
never learns,
even when he is punished.
But if justice
is executed,
it's upheld,
and the wicked
are punished.
The simple
who sees that
and learn,
sees the wicked
punished,
sees the scoffer
punished,
will learn
and become wise.
In contrast,
both the scoffer
and the simple,
a wise man
only needs
a word of instruction,
and he gets
wiser still.
That's the hallmark
of wisdom,
humility,
the receptiveness
toward the word of God.
The wisest among men
is the most teachable
before God,
while the foolish scoffer
is incorrigible.
And it's better
to be a simpleton
whose ignorance
is exposed
than a scoffer
whose folly
is hidden,
just as it is better
to live in the corner
of the housetop
than in a house
shared with the quarrelsome way.
Then in verses 13-15,
Solomon gives us
more details
about the demands
of justice.
Whoever closes
his ear
to the cry
of the poor
will himself
call out
and not be answered.
A gift in secret
averts anger
and a concealed bribe
strong wrath.
When justice is done,
it is a joy
to the righteous
but terror
to evildoers.
In order to do justice,
and this is expanding
our working definition
of justice,
we must not close
our ears
to the cry
of the poor.
Why?
Because as we saw
earlier in chapter 17,
verse 5,
whoever mocks
the poor
insults his maker.
Because every human being,
no matter how downtrodden
and poor they are,
is created in the image
of Almighty God.
There is a basic decency,
basic respect
that is owed to them,
that is due to them,
and that is not
merely a matter
of charity,
it is a matter
of justice.
And for that reason,
even though
bribes are often
effective
in this sinful world,
we must never
receive or take
bribes,
because doing so
subverts justice
for the poor
who cannot afford
to pay a bribe.
And when justice
is done,
it is a joy
to the righteous,
but terror
to evildoers,
because the righteous
know and can live
confidently
that their integrity
will be vindicated
in the end,
while the evildoers
will learn
that they will be punished
for their wickedness.
Deuteronomy chapter 10,
17 to 19
says this,
The Lord your God
is God of gods
and Lord of lords,
the great,
the mighty,
and the awesome God
who is not partial
and takes no bribe.
He executes justice
for the fatherless
and the widow
and loves the sojourner,
giving him food
and clothing.
This is a wonderful passage
because it juxtaposes
how high and mighty
God is,
God of gods
and Lord of lords,
the great,
mighty,
awesome God,
and it juxtaposes that
with people
who are most powerless
in society,
the fatherless,
the widow,
the sojourner,
the immigrant,
the most vulnerable
members of society,
whose rights
were often
disregarded by people,
by people
who were more empowered
and better resourced.
Giving them
what is their due,
these poor people,
as God defines it,
giving them legal protection,
giving them basic provision,
this is not a matter
of charity,
it's a matter of justice,
giving them
what is their due.
This shows us
how nuanced
God's wisdom is,
how nuanced
the biblical picture
of justice is.
You can't
fit it neatly
into our conservative
or liberal
political categories.
On the one hand,
conservative economic
theorists
generally emphasize
individual responsibility
and believe
that the root
causes of poverty
are broken families,
character defects,
like lack of self-control
and laziness,
and bad habits
and lifestyles.
They would applaud
verses like
verse 5,
The plans of the diligent
lead surely to abundance,
but everyone who is hasty
comes only to poverty.
It's the lack
of diligence
and falling
forget-rich-quick schemes
that brings poverty.
Or verse 17,
Whoever loves pleasure
will be a poor man.
He who loves wine and oil
will not be rich.
It's the love of pleasure,
a taste for luxury
that leads to poverty.
Or verse 20,
Precious treasure and oil
are in a wise man's dwelling,
but a foolish man
devours it.
It's undisciplined spending,
devouring one's goods
too quickly
that leads to poverty.
Or verse 25,
The desire of the slugger
kills him,
for his hand refuses to labor.
It's sluggishness,
indolence,
the unwillingness to work
that leads to poverty.
And they would be right.
And it's for this reason
they argue
that there being
prosperity for some
and poverty for some
they argue is just.
Because people are different.
Their work ethic
is different.
Their intelligence
is different.
Their character
is different.
So then engineering
equal outcomes
for different people
is to treat them
unequally,
which is inverted
injustice,
they argue.
On the other hand,
liberal economic theorists
generally emphasize
societal responsibility
and believe
that root causes
of poverty
are systemic injustices
beyond people's control,
such as racial prejudice,
joblessness,
educational deprivation,
mass incarceration,
redlining,
etc.
They would applaud
verses like
Proverbs 13, 23.
The fellow ground
of the poor
would yield much food,
but it is swept away
through injustice.
It's the injustice
of the wicked
that wipes out
the gains
of the hardworking poor.
Or chapter 21,
verse 14,
in our passage,
a gift in secret
avert's anger
and a concealed bribe
strong wrath.
The judicial system
and the economic system
are both weighted
toward the powerful
and the wealthy,
keeping others
trapped in poverty.
And they, too,
would be right.
And for this reason,
they argue that
income inequality
is fundamentally unjust.
But they both
miss a part
of the picture
because Scripture
highlights both
individual responsibility
and societal responsibility.
Both individual sins
and systemic injustices.
The Christian
who seeks to do
righteousness
and justice
must recognize both.
And Proverbs
carefully makes
this distinction
consistently.
As I've said
several times
throughout this series,
while the word
poverty
is used
consistently
in a negative way
in Proverbs,
the word
poor
is used
consistently
in a positive way.
Poverty
in wisdom literature
is a result
of divine judgment
for sins
such as laziness,
stinginess,
love of luxury,
carelessness.
But the poor
are so
because of circumstances
that are outside
of their control,
such as
societal injustice.
and therefore
they receive
God's special
compassion and care.
Chapter 21,
verse 17
is not an exception
to this rule.
Even though the ESV
obfuscates this
by translating it
poor man,
that expression
is literally
in the Hebrew
man of poverty.
Whoever loves pleasure
will be a man
of poverty.
Yes,
the wicked
should come
to poverty.
That is just.
But we cannot
assume,
therefore,
that all poor
are wicked.
Instead,
our disposition
must be one
of mercy
because we serve
a God
who has been
merciful to us
even though
we were all
spiritually
impoverished.
God is described
as the defender
of the poor,
orphans,
widows,
and immigrants.
God will not
listen to the cries
of those who
refuse to listen
to the cry
of the poor.
The one who
wanders from
the way
of good sense,
though it might
seem like they're
doing just fine
for a while,
will ultimately
rest in the
assembly of the
dead,
as verse 16
says.
Because as
verse 18
says,
the wicked
is a ransom
for the righteous
and the traitor
for the upright.
The wicked
seek to sacrifice
the righteous
for their own
enrichment.
They seek to
use the righteous
as stepping
stones to
climb the
ladder of
society.
But in the
end,
they will be
reduced to a
ransom for
the righteous,
paying the
price for the
freedom,
the vindication,
and prosperity
of the righteous.
Having spoken
of the ruin of
the wicked,
how they become
the ransom for
the righteous,
Solomon finally
speaks of the
reward of the
righteous in
verses 19 to
29,
which is again
introduced by a
better than proverb
about the
quarrelsome wife.
And then it
says in verse
21,
whoever pursues
righteousness and
kindness will
find life,
righteousness,
and honor.
Once again,
the theme of
righteousness and
justice predominate
this passage.
And here,
righteousness is
paired with
kindness.
This is a
wonderful verse
with a pun on
the word
righteousness,
which depending
on the context
can also mean
vindication or
salvation.
So it says,
whoever pursues
righteousness and
kindness will
find life,
righteousness or
salvation,
vindication,
and honor.
It's teaching us
this, don't be
fixated on the
pursuit of honor,
on the pursuit of
health, on the
pursuit of wealth,
on the pursuit of
the worldly good
life.
Aim higher than
that.
Pursue instead
righteousness and
kindness.
Pursue instead
justice.
And then to
your surprise
and delight,
you will find
life, salvation,
and honor.
Look at verses
25 to 26.
The desire of
the slugger kills
him.
The desire of the
slugger kills
him, for his
hands refuse to
labor.
All day long he
craves and
craves, but the
righteous gives
and does not
hold back.
The wicked are
defined by their
cravings.
The righteous
are defined by
their giving.
This is so
counterintuitive, but
it is wonderfully
true.
If you are
driven by your
cravings, if you
are concerned
primarily with
pursuing wealth
and pleasure,
then you will
hoard.
But if you are
primarily concerned
with doing
righteousness and
justice, then you
will give and not
hold back.
look and you
will learn that
you cannot
outgive God.
And you will
find life,
salvation, and
honor.
As Proverbs
11, 24 said,
one gives
freely, yet
grows all the
richer.
Another withholds
what he should
give and only
suffers want.
Generosity, not
stinginess, is the
principle of
prosperity.
This paradox is
seen in verses
22 to 23 as
well.
A wise man
scales the city
of the mighty
and brings down
the stronghold in
which they trust.
Whoever keeps
his mouth and
his tongue keeps
himself out of
trouble.
This is not
another way of
saying simply
that brain is
better than
brawn.
It's not talking
about human
intelligence or
worldly wisdom.
It's saying
something much
deeper than that,
and it's a
shocking image.
A single
wise man, a
solitary wise
man, scales the
city of the
mighty.
And after having
climbed up, he
single-handedly
brings down the
stronghold in
which they trust.
The stronghold of
the world's
mighty, fortified
with their ungodly
riches, connections,
and power, is
no match against
a single wise
man who is
backed by the
wisdom of
the almighty
God.
It is better to
be alone on
God's side than
to be with the
millions arrayed
against God.
And verse 23 is
linked to verse 22
by the military
metaphor.
The word keep is
the same word that
refers to guarding
or defending a
fortress.
And so this verse
teaches that the
security of the
wise comes from
guarding, defending
his mouth by being
judicious in his
speech and refusing
to speak evil
unlike the
blabbering fool
who gets himself
into trouble.
And this military
metaphor is
continued and
brought to a
climax in verses
30 to 31 at the
end of this
chapter.
No wisdom, no
understanding, no
counsel can avail
against the Lord.
The horse is made
ready for the day
of battle, but the
victory belongs to
the Lord.
verses 30 to 31
form a powerful
poetic pair in
Hebrew.
The words wisdom,
understanding,
counsel, battle,
victory, they all
end with the same
vowel sound.
And word no is
repeated three times
at the beginning of
each phrase in the
verse 30.
And these poetic
devices, this
alliteration,
anaphorah, they
build toward this
halting, this
interrupting,
climactic declaration
that nothing can
avail against the
Lord, which is the
last word of verse
30.
Words wisdom and
counsel are often
used in the context
of waging warfare.
Proverbs 20, 18
says plans are
established by
counsel.
By wise guidance
wage war.
Proverbs 24, 6
says for by wise
guidance you can
wage your war.
In abundance of
counselors there is
victory.
But this proverb
assures us that no
amount of counselors
and worldly
wisdom can prevail
against the
Lord.
There is an
insurmountable gap
between the Lord
and man.
Like a biker
that comes to a
splattering halt
as he sprints
headlong into an
immovable wall
thinking he can
crush it.
Human wisdom,
understanding,
counsel have no
chance against the
Lord.
And this is why
those who pursue
righteousness and
justice can rest
assured in their
ultimate victory,
on their ultimate
vindication.
The horse is made
ready for the day of
battle but the
victory belongs to
the Lord.
As Jeremiah chapter
9, 23-24 says,
let not the wise man
boast in his
wisdom, let not
the mighty man
boast in his
might, let not
the rich man
boast in his
riches, but let
him who boasts
boast in this,
that he understands
and knows me,
that I am the
Lord who practices
steadfast love,
justice, and
righteousness in the
earth.
For in these
things I delight,
declares the
Lord.
As Emily shared
during the
prophecy, we live
in a really
broken world.
We live in a
sinful world and
we lament that,
we mourn that.
Wouldn't it be
nice to live in a
world where God's
perfect justice
reigns?
Wouldn't it be
nice to live in a
world where all the
wicked are punished
justly and all the
righteous thrive and
flourish?
But that's not the
world we live in.
And this points to
something that is
most important for
us to understand.
Do we always like to
think of ourselves as
being on the right
side of history?
Do we always like to
think of ourselves as
being righteous?
Scripture tells us,
God's infallible
word tells us,
that there is no
one righteous,
no, not one.
We think that
those wicked people
should be sacrificed
for our flourishing,
that they should be
the ransom for the
righteous.
But in reality,
we are like the
rat that Lauren
saw in her prophecy.
We are the scums of
the earth,
spiritually speaking.
we are the rats,
the filth of society
that pollutes our
streets,
that should be
exterminated.
We are the ones who
should be the ransom
for the righteous one,
Jesus Christ,
the Son of God.
that is what justice
looks like.
But instead,
the righteous one,
instead,
Jesus Christ,
for whom we should
have been sacrificed,
the righteous one
gives his life
and dies on the cross
for our sins,
for our vindication,
for our salvation,
so that we
might live.
brothers and sisters,
that's not
justice.
That's mercy.
Jesus satisfies
God's justice
so that God
might show
mercy
to undeserving
people like us.
if you want
to live
a life
of righteousness
and justice,
the only way
is to be
gripped
by the God
whose steadfast
love,
whose faithfulness,
whose righteousness
and justice
has made way
for our salvation.
please take a moment
to reflect on that.
How is God
speaking to you
this morning
through this passage,
comforting you,
convicting you?
And after you've
reflected for a moment,
we're going to respond
corporately together
by praying as a church.
Amen.