Grace Fellowship   6/1/08    The Righteous, the Wicked, and How to Recognize Them (Prov 10)

Chapter 10 of Proverbs begins a section of the book that extends all the way to chapter 22 and verse 16.  In this portion there are 375 sayings, usually containing two lines, which are presented in no apparent order.  These verses teach on a rather wide variety of subjects, but are generally held together by the overarching theme of living wisely.  There are two ways of approaching the truths presented in these chapters: one at a time, or topically.  We will be going along the topical route.

However, I do want to at least read through every chapter together.  So let’s look together at Proverbs 10.

The Proverbs of Solomon: A wise son makes a glad father, But a foolish son is the grief of his mother. 2 Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, But righteousness delivers from death. 3 The LORD will not allow the righteous soul to famish, But He casts away the desire of the wicked. 4 He who has a slack hand becomes poor, But the hand of the diligent makes rich. 5 He who gathers in summer is a wise son; He who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame. 6 Blessings are on the head of the righteous, But violence covers the mouth of the wicked. 7 The memory of the righteous is blessed, But the name of the wicked will rot. 8 The wise in heart will receive commands, But a prating fool will fall. 9 He who walks with integrity walks securely, But he who perverts his ways will become known. 10 He who winks with the eye causes trouble, But a prating fool will fall. 11 The mouth of the righteous is a well of life, But violence covers the mouth of the wicked. 12 Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers all sins. 13 Wisdom is found on the lips of him who has understanding, But a rod is for the back of him who is devoid of understanding. 14 Wise people store up knowledge, But the mouth of the foolish is near destruction. 15 The rich man's wealth is his strong city; The destruction of the poor is their poverty. 16 The labor of the righteous leads to life, The wages of the wicked to sin. 17 He who keeps instruction is in the way of life, But he who refuses correction goes astray. 18 Whoever hides hatred has lying lips, And whoever spreads slander is a fool. 19 In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, But he who restrains his lips is wise. 20 The tongue of the righteous is choice silver; The heart of the wicked is worth little. 21 The lips of the righteous feed many, But fools die for lack of wisdom. 22 The blessing of the LORD makes one rich, And He adds no sorrow with it. 23 To do evil is like sport to a fool, But a man of understanding has wisdom. 24 The fear of the wicked will come upon him, And the desire of the righteous will be granted. 25 When the whirlwind passes by, the wicked is no more, But the righteous has an everlasting foundation. 26 As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, So is the lazy man to those who send him. 27 The fear of the LORD prolongs days, But the years of the wicked will be shortened. 28 The hope of the righteous will be gladness, But the expectation of the wicked will perish. 29 The way of the LORD is strength for the upright, But destruction will come to the workers of iniquity. 30 The righteous will never be removed, But the wicked will not inhabit the earth. 31 The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, But the perverse tongue will be cut out. 32 The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, But the mouth of the wicked what is perverse. (Proverbs 10:1-32, NKJV).

Thanks to computer technology, I was able to search this text and quickly find certain words that repeat often, or that are related to one another in some significant way.  If you look carefully, you can see the juxtaposition of the words “righteous” and “wicked” or their equivalents, often.  There are 32 verses in this chapter.  Sixteen of those verses speak explicitly about the righteous person in contrast to the wicked person, and what those two kinds of persons look like.  

Righteousness and wickedness are not simply philosophical concepts.  All of us here understand that.  Righteousness and wickedness are the products of a good, or an evil heart.  But there are many people in very influential places today that ridicule such beliefs.  In fact, many of them believe that religion is itself evil.  

It may surprise you to hear me say that I agree with that statement.  Mere religion IS evil.  False religion and bad theology are the cause of much (and arguably, most) of the sin and evil in the world.  That is why true religion, based solely upon the truth of the word of God, is absolutely essential.  Error in theology breeds sin.  There is no question about that.  But biblical Christianity promotes genuine righteousness and holiness.  However, many critics of Christianity ignore any distinctions between religions and simply condemn everything of a religious nature as being nonsensical and ignorant.

Radical atheist, evolutionist, Oxford scientist, and New York Times Best-Selling author of The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins says this:

“Religion teaches the dangerous nonsense that death is not the end.” ¹

“Over the centuries, we've moved on from Scripture to accumulate precepts of ethical, legal and moral philosophy.  We've evolved a liberal consensus of what we regard as underpinnings of decent society, such as the idea that we don't approve of slavery, or discrimination on the grounds of race or sex, that we respect free speech and the rights of the individual.  All of these things that have become second nature to our morals today owe very little to religion, and mostly have been won in opposition to the teeth of religion.” ²

"The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully." ³

I would submit to you that true wickedness is quite alive and well.  Righteousness and wickedness can be seen and heard in one’s own life, and the lives of others.  Those two words describe the spiritual condition of the hearts of everyone.  It is our righteousness or our wickedness which governs our thinking, our words, and our actions.  People are righteous or wicked because their hearts are either righteous or wicked, and those two conditions of the human heart are dependent upon one’s perception of God, and one’s relationship to God.  The fear of God which Proverbs promotes, produces righteousness.  The lack of fear of God promotes the foolish, wicked blasphemy that Richard Dawkins sells in his books.

The wicked live for what they can see, for the here and now, for those things that are valued by the world.  The righteous have an eye on eternity and understand that “without holiness, no one will see the Lord.”  The wicked have no concept of the surpassing value of their own soul.  “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” (Matt 16:26, NKJV)  Richard Dawkins is a multi-millionaire.  But his soul is impoverished.

It is the soul, the heart of a righteous man that God will satisfy forever.  But the longings of the wicked will never be met.  It is the wicked man who says to himself,`. . . "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry."'  "But God [says] to him, `Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?' (Luke 12:19-20, NKJV). 

This speaks of the rewards of God toward the righteous and the wicked.  The righteous, according to Ephesians 1, have already received every spiritual blessing in Christ.  But the evil mouth and the wicked voice of the ungodly will be silenced by the violence of Hell.  "Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit"; "The poison of asps is under their lips"; (Romans 3:13, NKJV).  And God will repay accordingly.  Vengeance is Mine, and recompense; Their foot shall slip in due time; For the day of their calamity is at hand, And the things to come hasten upon them.' (Deuteronomy 32:35, NKJV).

The righteous have an inheritance in heaven because they bear the name of Christ.  They have been given His righteousness.  They are adopted as the children of God.  How could our Heavenly Father who has given us birth forget His own?  His remembrance of them will result in infinite blessing.  But the wicked have a reputation for doing and being everything God hates.  They bear the name of their father the Devil.  Therefore, they will spend their eternity where the worm does not die.  But, "He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.” (Revelation 3:5, NKJV).  He cannot forget His own.

What do the righteous work for in this life?  The next life?  "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal." (Matthew 6:19-20, NKJV).  The eyes of the righteous are on eternity, their goals are for Heaven, their labors are not in vain when they are done in the name of the Lord.

“It is the little things which all of us can do in Christ's name, which in the end leave the largest aggregate of blessing in the world. We need not wait to do great and conspicuous things. A life that every day gives its blessing to another, and adds to the happiness of some fellow being, by only a word of kindness, a thoughtful act, a cheering look, or a hearty hand grasp--does more for the world than he who but once in a lifetime does some great thing which fills a land with his praise. Nothing which is done for Christ is lost! The smallest acts, the quietest words, the gentlest inspirations which touch human souls, leave their impress for eternity!”  "If you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of My followers, you will surely be rewarded."  Matt 10:42 ⁴

By this point, I assume all of you here in this room at least hope, if you don’t already assume you are counted among the righteous and not among the wicked.  Well, let me ask you a question: Is what typically comes from your mouth, from your lips, and from your tongue valuable?  Here, the words of the righteous are compared with fine, choice silver, or like food that sustains many people.  What do you talk about?  

Let me ask a more blunt question: Why is it so difficult for this congregation to gather around the dinner table after this service and talk about what was said in the service?  What kinds of topics occupy your thoughts most of the time?  If it is a strain to talk with your brethren about holy things on a Sunday afternoon, then I think it is safe to assume that not much of a holy nature comes out in casual conversation with the rest of the world the rest of the week.

If the tongue of the righteous is choice silver, and if the lips of the righteous feed many, how many are you feeding with the wise words from your mouth?  How pure is your speech?  Is what we talk about worth much or little?  Is it wise or foolish?

What is the desire of the righteous?  What things do the wicked crave?  "Therefore do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?' 32 "For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." (Matthew 6:31-33, NKJV).

Does this remind you of anything Jesus said?  "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock." (Matthew 7:24-25, NKJV).  I had someone tell me this week that had they not been a Christian, they would have committed suicide.  The believer is not immune to the storms of this life.  But the righteous have a foundation which the wicked do not have, which cannot be moved.

This is a Proverb that is repeated often.  It was generally understood by the Jews that the Lord preserved the lives of His people, but shortened the lives of those who hated Him.  Regardless of what Billy Joel might say, the good generally speaking, do not die young.  Long life is associated with righteousness, and a brief life with foolishness.  The promise of God to Israel was that they would enjoy the Promised Land and live long lives there IF they continued in His ways.  But He would curse them if they did not. 

What is the expectation of the vast majority of non-Christian, or nominally Christian people in America?  Most people in this country expect to go to Heaven when they die.  Somehow, God will overlook their sinfulness, and somehow He will let them in.  That is their expectation.  "Then they also will answer Him, saying, `Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?'  "Then He will answer them, saying, `Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'  "And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." (Matthew 25:44-46, NKJV).

The way of the LORD is strength for the upright?  What does that mean?  Does not the Lord choose the weak things of the world, like you and me, to show His strength in us?  Did not the Lord tell Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness."  Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10, NKJV).  The way of the Lord actually takes us into places where our weakness is evident, and His strength in us is proven.

Those who know the Lord Jesus, who love Him, who have been redeemed by Him, whose sins have all been forgiven based upon His sacrifice on their behalf, who have been granted the perfect righteousness of Christ Himself, who have the sure hope of the resurrection unto life, - those people are indestructible.  “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,  nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39, NKJV).  The righteous shall never be moved.

To be perverse means to be twisted or deformed.  Peter said there are those false teachers among us who twist, who pervert the Scriptures.  Richard Dawkins, the Oxford biologist, has said he believes that life here on our planet may have originated from some highly advanced, highly evolved race of aliens who perfected space travel, came here billions of years ago, and seeded this planet with everything necessary for life to begin and evolve here.  But it is not possible that God created this world.  That is a fine example of someone who is perverse.  He has taken the doctrine of creation and twisted it into a form that bears no resemblance to the truth whatsoever.  And he is lauded as a wise man, a scientist.  God will put an end to such perverseness.

1 Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), 2 that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, 3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation." (2 Peter 3:1-4, NKJV).

I said earlier that righteousness and wickedness can be observed.  They are real and can be seen.  How do we measure someone’s morality?  By what is said by them, and consequently, by what is done by them.  Deeds follow thoughts.  Our actions reveal our thoughts.  They put on display what we believe.  Our acts, our works, the things we do physically, and in particular the words we use, project out into real life the things rolling around in our heads and in our hearts.

Jesus summed up much of what we have seen here in this chapter in just a few verses.  He told us exactly how to distinguish between the righteous and the wicked:

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 "You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 "Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 "Therefore by their fruits you will know them. 21 "Not everyone who says to Me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 "Many will say to Me in that day, `Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 "And then I will declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' (Matthew 7:15-23, NKJV).

What kind of fruit do you bear?  The fruit of a righteous life, or a wicked life?

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¹ Richard Dawkins, "Religion's Misguided Missiles" (September 15, 2001).  This was said in the context of the destruction of the World Trade Center by Muslim extremists, and not directly addressed to Christians, although Mr. Dawkins’ feelings regarding anyone of faith can rightly be described as far less than complimentary.  In the same context as stated above, Mr. Dawkins also said, “If death is final, a rational agent can be expected to value his life highly and be reluctant to risk it. This makes the world a safer place, just as a plane is safer if its hijacker wants to survive. At the other extreme, if a significant number of people convince themselves, or are convinced by their priests, that a martyr's death is equivalent to pressing the hyperspace button and zooming through a wormhole to another universe, it can make the world a very dangerous place. Especially if they also believe that that other universe is a paradisical escape from the tribulations of the real world. Top it off with sincerely believed, if ludicrous and degrading to women, sexual promises, and is it any wonder that naïve and frustrated young men are clamouring to be selected for suicide missions?"

² Richard Dawkins, quoted in Natalie Angier, "Confessions of a Lonely Atheist," New York Times Magazine, January 14, 2001.

³ Taken from http://www.conservapedia.com/The_God_Delusion.  This is also quoted in the recent movie, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.

⁴ From a Grace Gems quote dated May 25th, 2008 - J. R. Miller, "In His Steps" 1897.

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Related Scriptures

8 But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. 10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? 12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh. 13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. 16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. 18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. (James 3:8-18, NKJV).

14 When He had called all the multitude to Himself, He said to them, "Hear Me, everyone, and understand: 15 "There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man. 16 "If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!" 17 When He had entered a house away from the crowd, His disciples asked Him concerning the parable. 18 So He said to them, "Are you thus without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, 19 "because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods?" 20 And He said, "What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. 21 "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 "thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. 23 "All these evil things come from within and defile a man." (Mark 7:14-23, NKJV).