Proverbs 10:24-32 (KJV)
The fear of the wicked,
it shall come upon him: but the desire of the righteous shall be granted.
As the whirlwind
passeth, so is the wicked no more: but the righteous is an everlasting
foundation.
As vinegar to the teeth,
and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him.
The fear of the LORD
prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.
The hope of the
righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.
The way of the LORD is
strength to the upright: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.
The righteous shall
never be removed: but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth.
The mouth of the just
bringeth forth wisdom: but the froward tongue shall be cut out.
The lips of the
righteous know what is acceptable: but the mouth of the wicked speaketh
frowardness.
Please notice that, in
this passage of Scripture, there are a series of contrasts between the
righteous and the wicked.
- · Sometimes the righteous is called the just
- · Sometimes the wicked is called the forward or another name
But for our purposes, I
will just call them the righteous and the wicked right now.
It’s a little bit of an
extended passage; nine verses.
I am going to break it
into two messages, preaching on the
righteous tonight and then, from verses 27-32[1],
on the wicked next week.[2]
The righteous,
especially as you find the term in the Old Testament, is referring to a
specific group of people;
· Not those who live clean lives
· But those whose faith has hidden them in the Saviour
Religion attempts to get people to do right.
It is based upon the
same false premise as that of humanism and even atheism - that all men are
basically good and only have to be given opportunities for their goodness to
come out.
Christianity is built on the opposite premise.
Christianity accepts
that, because of the sin nature, all men are capable of evil. It is only the
saving work of Jesus Christ that makes us right.
Does this explain in any
way to you, the anger that the world seems to have against Christianity?
The Bible attacks the
very heart of the world system.
· They say they can be as gods, knowing good and evil
· We say that have fallen prey to doctrines of devil and can
only know evil
With that, look with me
first at,
I. THE
FOUNDATION OF THE RIGHTEOUS
Proverbs 10:24-27 (KJV)
The fear of the wicked,
it shall come upon him: but the desire of the righteous shall be granted.
As the whirlwind
passeth, so is the wicked no more: but the righteous is an everlasting
foundation.
As vinegar to the teeth,
and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him.
The fear of the LORD
prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.
A. I want to build this point around verse 25,
“the righteous is an everlasting
foundation.”
The word foundation
means “base.”
The root, the ground
upon which everything that is a Christian is eternity.
The righteous live with eternity in view.
They understand that
nothing temporary is of any real value.
They choose to place
their expectations in things of an everlasting nature.
It’s why we choose
Christ
Now notice,
B. They have their desire
Proverbs 10:24-27 (KJV)
The fear of the wicked,
it shall come upon him: but the desire of the righteous shall be granted.
What is it that the
righteous desire?
· Reconciliation with God
· Forgiveness of sins
· Restoration of their fellowship with the Lord
· Eternal home in heaven
· Joint heirs with Jesus Christ
Of course there are some
earthly temporal things that we desire as human beings.
· We would like enough to eat
· We would like a home to live in
· We would like to dwell safely
· We would like to enjoy living
But all of those desires
are secondary to the eternal/foundational ones.
C. Concerning their desire, their days are
prolonged
Proverbs 10:24-27 (KJV)
The fear of the LORD
prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.
This cannot refer to
earthly days because the righteous have not always prolonged their days on
earth.
For the better part of
1500 years, being a Christian was a sure way to cut short how long you lived on
the earth.
Virtually millions of
Christians have been killed for no other reason than that they were Christians.
But the Bible guarantee
is that the righteous, the saved, have an eternal home in heaven.
Jesus promised it in
John 14:1-3 (KJV)
Let not your heart be
troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father's house are
many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a
place for you.
And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I
am, there ye may be also.
Jesus said John 10:27-29
(KJV)
My sheep hear my voice,
and I know them, and they follow me:
And I give unto them
eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out
of my hand.
My Father, which gave
them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my
Father's hand.
Romans 10:8-13 (KJV)
But what saith it? The
word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of
faith, which we preach;
That if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that
God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man
believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation.
For the scripture saith,
Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
For there is no
difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich
unto all that call upon him.
For whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
For these verses and so
many others, we who are Christians know we have eternal life.
Paul said he was persuaded.
Consider secondly,
II. THE HOPE
OF THE RIGHTEOUS
Proverbs 10:28-30 (KJV)
The hope of the
righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.
The way of the LORD is
strength to the upright: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.
The righteous shall
never be removed: but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth.
I want to define the
word hope from within the passage.
The hope of the
righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.
Hope is our expectation.
The righteous can expect
gladness.
They can expect that:
· God’s promises for them are true
· God’s love for them is sure
· God’s eyes are upon them for good
They have every reason
to be glad.
I did not say that
everything always goes the way they wish it would. I said that, because of
their hope in God, they can rejoice and give thanks in everything.
There are two unique
hopes that give Christians joy:
A. The God will give us strength
This strength comes in
the power of the Holy Spirit
Acts 1:8 (KJV)
But ye shall receive
power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses
unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the
uttermost part of the earth.
The power of the Holy
Spirit serves two purposes:
First, it is power to be witnesses
Second it is power to overcome sin
Galatians 5:18-23 (KJV)
But if ye be led of the
Spirit, ye are not under the law.
Now the works of the
flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness,
Idolatry, witchcraft,
hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Envyings, murders,
drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I
have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not
inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit
is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Meekness, temperance:
against such there is no law.
The way to win over sin
is to yield to the Holy Spirit
The other thing that
brings Christians joy is the knowledge
B. That our salvation will never be removed
Proverbs 10:30 (KJV)
The righteous shall
never be removed: but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth.
Christians will be
removed from the earth.
· We will be removed through death unless that rapture happens
first or else,
· We will be removed to heaven through rapture before the
beginning of the Tribulation.
But I’ll tell you what
can’t happen to the Christian.
· God’s Holy Spirit can never be removed from us
· God’s love can never be separated from us
· God’s salvation can never be taken from us and
· God’s home for us in heaven can never be replaced with hell
That’s a good reason to
be happy.
We have considered
· The foundation of the righteous and
· The hope of the righteous
Our final thought
tonight is called,
III. THE
KNOWLEDGE OF THE RIGHTEOUS
Proverbs 10:31-32 (KJV)
The mouth of the just
bringeth forth wisdom: but the froward tongue shall be cut out.
The lips of the
righteous know what is acceptable: but the mouth of the wicked speaketh
frowardness.
I see three key words in
these two verses:
· Mouth
· Tongue
· Lips
What a person knows is
pretty much useless unless they have a means of communicating it.
Christians know
something that the Bible calls “acceptable.”
It was as if the Holy
Spirit immediately drew me to,
2 Corinthians 6:2 (KJV)
(For he saith, I have
heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured
thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)
Christians know a
message of salvation.
Not everybody accepts it
But any time is
acceptable to tell it.
Conclusion
· The foundation of the righteous
· The hope of the righteous and
· The knowledge of the righteous
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