Sovereignty of the Lord Over Human Justice

We are in Proverbs chapter 21.

Proverbs 21 · chapter mention

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.

Proverbs 21:2–31

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,

Micah 6:8

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,

Deuteronomy 6:25

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,

Deuteronomy 16:19–20

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.

Leviticus 1 · chapter mention

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

Amos 5:21–24

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,

Mark 12:33

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

Romans 12:1

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,

Proverbs 20:17

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,

1 Peter 3:4

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,

Deuteronomy 10 · chapter mention

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.

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

Jeremiah 9 · chapter mention

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.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.