GOOD, VIRTUOUS AND RIGHT

Proverbs 12:2-10 (KJV)

A good man obtaineth favour of the LORD: but a man of wicked devices will he condemn.

A man shall not be established by wickedness: but the root of the righteous shall not be moved.

A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones.

The thoughts of the righteous are right: but the counsels of the wicked are deceit.

The words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood: but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them.

The wicked are overthrown, and are not: but the house of the righteous shall stand.

A man shall be commended according to his wisdom: but he that is of a perverse heart shall be despised.

He that is despised, and hath a servant, is better than he that honoureth himself, and lacketh bread.

A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.

We are looking at the different kinds of characters that are presented in Proverbs to see what we can learn from them.

I want to look at three persons I am going to call;

·   The good

·   The virtuous and

·   The right[1]

I. THE GOOD

Proverbs 12:2-3 (KJV)

A good man obtaineth favour of the LORD: but a man of wicked devices will he condemn.

A man shall not be established by wickedness: but the root of the righteous shall not be moved.

Good

It’s a great word.

It means to be, do or seem

Strong’s Concordance says this word should be taken in the widest sense and includes:

·   Beautiful

·   Best

·   Better

·   Bountiful

·   Cheerful

·   Glad

·   Fine

·   Gracious

·   Joyful

·   Kind

·   Loving

·   Merry

·   Pleasant

·   Pleasing

·   Sweet

·   Ready

You know, those people who just seem like really great people.

Seem is an important piece of this puzzle because all of us are sinners, even those who seem like such good people.

But there is something to be said for being “a really nice” person.

Why can’t all of us here tonight ask God to help us be really nice?

Why would anyone want to be known as:

·   Grumpy

·   Pessimistic

·   Negative

·   Crotchety

·   Gossipy

·   Mean

·   Cold

I know that there is something more important than being really nice.

I know that really nice people can go to hell as quickly as the meanest of people.[2]

But honestly, is there any possible harm in choosing to be really good?

If we connect goodness in the root word for good (which means doing well) I think I can easily imply that doing well is getting saved.

·   We don’t get saved by doing good things but

·   Getting saved is a good thing to do

Now notice the benefits that belong to “A good man.”

A. Favor of the Lord

Favor is just blessing.

While I am not sure I am always a really good man, I have, for the longest time, felt “favored of the Lord.”

·   I don’t pastor the biggest church of all time.

·   I have hopes that get dashed just like everybody else

·   Often something I would really like to see, just doesn’t come to pass

But I can also say that, God has been really good to me.

For the life of me, I don’t know why.

And I suspect that most Christians can say something very similar.

·   Everything has not gone our way but

·   We have been blessed more than we could have imagined

The best blessing is favor of the Lord

B. Which is salvation

We are not condemned.

·   We may not be rich

·   We may not be powerful

·   We may not be popular but

We are not condemned.

C. Established

The idea of being established is to be rooted, settled, on a solid footing so that we are not easily shaken.

Being established has to do with:

·   Faith in God

·   Sound doctrine we are confident it

·   A clear idea of the direction God has set for us

Certainly it would also have to do with our eternal security. Being saved, knowing we are saved and being sure we can never lose our salvation.

Notice next,

II. THE VIRTUOUS

Proverbs 12:4 (KJV)

A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones.[3]

As I pondered this passage I realized that the Lord is the husband and His church is the bride.

How terrible is it that so many churches these days “maketh ashamed” the Saviour!

The metaphor is different, but expresses my point,

Revelation 3:14-16 (KJV)

And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.

So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

There is such a thing as a kind of church that is like “rottenness in his bones.”

What would be a virtuous church?

The word virtue speaks of a force or a host of soldiers.[4]

Every one of us knows a woman who, once she has a thing in her brain, you can’t stop her.

She is a force to be reckoned with.

When that thing is good, she is a huge blessing to her husband.

A virtuous church is “a great force for good.”

·   It is unstoppable

·   It is unmovable and

·   It is as unchangeable as is the Lord

One stanza of Onward Christian Soldiers[5] goes,

“Like a mighty army moves the church of God;
Brothers, we are treading where the saints have trod.
We are not divided, all one body we,
One in hope and doctrine, one in charity.”

A virtuous church would reflect:

·   The glory

·   The majesty

·   The honor

·   The power

of the Lord Jesus Christ.

·   It would not stoop to petty squabbles

·   It would remained focused on the objectives established by it Commander in Chief

A virtuous church would be the same church it was when it began and would remain that way until Jesus calls it into heaven.

A virtuous church would not be self-seeking or glorifying.

Its one desire would be to adorn the Saviour, Jesus Christ.

We’ve seen:

·   The Good

·   The Virtuous

And now,

III. THE RIGHT

Proverbs 12:10 (KJV)

A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.

I’ve tried to remind you of this every time we have seen this term, righteous, that we should not read it as the same thing as good.

Biblical righteousness is not a human quality.

·   It is supernatural

·   It is a good and perfect gift from above[6]

Biblical righteousness is to be saved by grace and through faith in Jesus Christ.[7]

We are speaking about a saved person.

The Bible says that he “…regardeth the life of his beast.”

Of course in those days this beast could have been:

·   A mule for riding on

·   An ox for plowing fields

·   A sheep or goat for wool, milk and meat

The point is that he wasn’t abusive to his animals.

Anyone who owns animals knows:

·   You feed your animals before you feed yourself

·   You tend to the needs of your animals before you tend to the needs of yourself

Even the Pharisees had that much sense.

·   They thought it was wrong of Christ to heal a crippled man on the Sabbath but

·   Any one of them would have saved his animal on the Sabbath.[8]

We have captured and exercised dominion over these animals. It would be inhuman to be cruel to them.

Though times have changed and we don’t use animals to earn our living much any more, there is, I think, an application:

Christians ought not squander and waste our world resources.

I am not an environmentalist wacko.

·   I don’t believe we have to campaign to save the whales. But

·   I don’t think we have to exterminate them either

I do not believe in the global warming scare.

Thirty years ago they preached there was a coming new Ice Age

·   I am not concerned about greenhouse gases or the hazards of carbon fuel emissions. but

·   Neither do I think we should pour the poisonous byproducts of our factories into the oceans.

·   There is nothing wrong with harvesting trees from America’s great forest lands. but

·   There is nothing wrong with planting new ones in their place

Having dominion over God’s creation doesn’t mean ruining it.

It means:

·   Conserving it

·   Tilling it

·   Improving it

All the while we are:

·   Using it and

·   Enjoying it

Conclusion

The good, the virtuous and the right

·   Be nice

·   Be strong and virtuous but

·   Be caring and conservative too

---

[1] In my head I am thinking the opposite of Clint Eastwood’s “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”

[2] Although I really doubt that really mean people will go to heaven as quickly as really good people. Being really mean is potential evidence of not being really saved.

[3] Immediately when I read this I thought of the hymn, Will there be any stars in my crown?

I am thinking today of that beautiful land
I shall reach when the sun goeth down;
When through wonderful grace by my Savior I stand,
Will there be any stars in my crown?

Will there be any stars, any stars in my crown
When at evening the sun goeth down?
When I wake with the blest in the mansions of rest
Will there be any stars in my crown?

In the strength of the Lord let me labor and pray,
Let me watch as a winner of souls,
That bright stars may be mine in the glorious day,
When His praise like the sea billow rolls.

O what joy it will be when His face I behold,
Living gems at His feet to lay down!
It would sweeten my bliss in the city of gold,
Should there be any stars in my crown.

[4] From Strong’s Concordance, “probably a force, whether of men, means or other resources; an army, wealth, virtue, valor, strength: - able, activity, army, band of men (soldiers), company, (great) forces, goods, host, might, power, riches, strength, strong, substance, train, (+) valiant (-ly), valour, virtuous (-ly), war, worthy (-ily)”

[5] Words: Sa­bine Bar­ing-Gould, in Church Times, 1865.

Music: St. Ger­trude, Ar­thur S. Sul­li­van, 1871

[6] James 1:17 (KJV)

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

[7] Ephesians 2:8 (KJV)

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

[8] Matthew 12:11-12 (KJV)

And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?

How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.