Exposition of Proverbs 11:1-31

The Righteous and The Wicked: Part Two

Proverbs 11:4-7

Introduction

A Proverb is a short saying. The book of Proverbs is a collection of those short sayings, inspired by God. Proverbs Chapter 11 is a group of related verses that approach the same subject in many different ways. Primarily, it's 31 verses in which God compares the advantages of a righteous life to the miseries of a wicked life in a very matter of fact manner. In the last message we studied the first three verses; at this time we pick up with verse four.

I. Verse 4

4Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death.

Riches do not profit a person in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivers a person from death.

A. In the Hebrew, riches means wealth and substance.

  1. This particular word is translated as riches ten times, 7 times as substance, and 5 times as wealth. It implies personal wealth and self-sufficiency.
  2. Proverbs 19:14 says: House and riches [are] the inheritance of fathers," so clearly we're talking about much more than just dollar signs.
  3. Riches refers to all your personal wealth and substance. Your bank account, livestock, land, vehicles, and businesses are included in the meaning of this word.

B. God does not say that riches do not profit at all, because there's nothing wrong with being rich. God may choose to bless you with millions of dollars or oil wells or herds of livestock. All of those things are profitable, but God wants us to realize that they are of no value in the day of wrath.

Illustration
Let's think about how that statement is true here on earth before we talk about the spiritual application. Last time we were on this subject I think I mentioned Saddam Hussein as an example, so I'll use him again. Mr. Hussein was the president of Iraq. He had all the wealth of Iraq at his disposal and he used it. He had palaces (plural) and the finest food and clothes. He had millions of dollars and things we'll never have. He had an entire army. Well the President of the United States said, "Enough is enough." All his riches didn't help him in the day of the wrath of the U.S. military.

The other day I heard on the news that Osama bin Laden is one of the world's richest men. That doesn't change the fact that he's hiding out somewhere, afraid of being killed. He's the main target of the so-called war on terrorism, and his riches haven't changed that one bit.

C. The wording of verse 4 lets us know that God was speaking of spiritual things. The day of wrath really refers to any day when God says, "Enough is enough," and He requires payment for sin.

  1. That happened to Israel when they went into Captivity.
  2. When Jesus comes back, it's going to happen to everyone who isn't saved (and those who are!).
  3. Between now and then, we're all appointed to die, and if we go out lost, we're going to face a wrathful God.
  4. Whether you're here and lost when Jesus comes back or whether you're lost and pass into eternity before then, you'll find yourself under God's wrath. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. John 3:36

D. God wants us to know what not to trust in, in the face of a day of wrath.

  1. Ezekiel 7:19 reads in part: They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD.
  2. Job 36:18 Because [there is] wrath, [beware] lest he take thee away with [his] stroke: then a great ransom cannot deliver thee.
  3. Since people tend to love money, they tend to trust in its ability to get things done for them, but it can't help them when they face God.
  4. 1 Tim. 6:10 goes so far as to say: the love of money is the root of all evil. We shouldn't love money, and we certainly shouldn't trust in it.
  5. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Matthew 16:26
  6. Riches do not profit in the day of wrath. That may be why God doesn't give all the riches we'd like to have: he doesn't want us trusting our money.

E. The contrast in verse 4 says: but righteousness delivereth from death. Don't trust in riches that won't profit in the day of wrath, but know instead that righteousness delivers - it saves you - from death. That has to be eternal death we're talking about, because it's appointed to man once to die.

  1. If you want to be saved from eternal death, be righteous.
  2. That's a problem, since the Bible says there is none righteous, no not one. The answer to that problem is that it's not your righteousness that delivers from death, it's the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
  3. John said, "And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." If you intend to be saved by righteousness, you better have the righteousness of of God.
  4. Romans 3:22 says this is "the righteousness of God [which is] by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: for there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
  5. What does that mean? It means you need to repent and believe the Gospel and God will add the righteousness of Christ to you, and you'll be saved forever. That's called imputed righteousness. Because Jesus is righteous and you trust Him, God will consider you righteous, too. That's why God can look at us and see children of God rather than wicked sinners - He has added the righteousness of Christ to us.
  6. Righteousness delivers us from eternal death.

II. Verses 5 & 6.

5The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way: but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness. 6The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but transgressors shall be taken in [their own] naughtiness.

A. These two verses compliment each other and need to be considered together.

  1. The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way.
  2. Perfect means, "mature" or complete. The word "way" means a road or a highway. It's symbolic of our journey through life.
  3. The righteousness of the mature shall direct him through life.
  4. Righteousness is pronounced on a person by God at the moment of faith in Christ. From that point on, a saved person can be and should be directed by the same righteous God who saved him and is willing to teach Him how to live righteously. Notice that it's the mature righteous person who is singled out as he who will be directed.
    -Why do some people get saved and they don't act like God is directing their life?
    -Because they have refused to become perfect, or mature Christians. I can't find a single verse in the Bible that says God will direct anybody who doesn't want to be directed.
    -If you become a mature, praying, Bible-believing, baptized, church going, disciple of Jesus Christ, you shall be directed.
  5. The key here is Christian maturity. You have to grow to be mature as a Christian just like you grew up to adulthood. If you're a childish Christian, God has to spend more time correcting than he does directing.
    -Have you ever seen people who claim to be saved but they don't learn the Bible and they don't come to church and they don't act like they're saved? Have you noticed they seem to have one problem after another? You may be seeing God the Father chastising those people.
    -The Bible says you can be an immature Christian: a baby. Paul had that trouble in the Corinthian church. 1 Cor. 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, [even] as unto babes in Christ. 2I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able [to bear it], neither yet now are ye able. 3For ye are yet carnal: for whereas [there is] among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
    -The writer of Hebrews, probably Paul, had the same problem with people. Hebrews 5:13 For every one that useth milk [is] unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 14But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, [even] those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. He had wanted to teach them about the Melchisedec priesthood, but he says he can't because they too childish to understand it. When you became a Christian, you became righteous in God's eyes. When you become a mature Christian, your entire life will be directed by righteousness.
  6. Verse 6 says the righteousness of the upright shall deliver them. Tie these two verses together and you have a life directed by righteousness followed by deliverance unto eternal life, all accomplished through the righteousness of Christ.

B. The contrast in verse 5 says: the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness. We'll also look at the contrast in verse 6 which says: transgressors shall be taken in [their own] naughtiness.

  1. The wicked shall fall by his own wickedness. In the book of Esther, a wicked government official named Haman built a huge gallows for a man named Mordecai, Esther's uncle. Haman intended to execute Mordecai, but Haman himself ended up being hanged on the very same gallows. He fell by his own wickedness.
  2. When a lost person passes into the next world and finds Himself condemned by the Almighty God, he has fallen by his own wickedness. It's no one's fault but his own.

C. Verse 6 speaks of transgressors that shall be taken in their own naughtiness. The Old English language is amusing, sometimes, isn't it? "Naughtiness" sounds kind of silly, but I imagine it was a very severe word when this was translated.

  1. In other places, the word is translated as mischievousness, but it has a deeper, darker meaning. It really has two main meanings. First of all it means to desire something [as in some sin] enough to rush to it, no matter what. It also means to fall into ruin.
  2. It seems like both definition apply here: the transgressor in question desires to sin enough to do it immediately, and as he does so he falls into ruin.
  3. It means to be caught in the very act of sin, and to be punished for it as the result. Dr. John Gill said it's like they've been taken in a net, that they have spread to catch somebody else, or like falling into a pit they dug to catch someone.

D. Remember, all this is in contrast to a righteous person. A righteous person is or should be God-directed. God will guide his life and deliver him. Just the opposite is true with the unrighteous. They'll guide themselves in a life of wickedness, and finally they'll perish because of it.

III. Verse 7

7When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish: and the hope of unjust men perisheth.

A. Here's a declaration that does not contrast the righteous and the unrighteous. It's devoted to wicked and unjust men, which are one and the same.

  1. Who is a wicked man? Ultimately, whether someone is finally judged to be wicked in God's eyes depends on whether he repents of sin and believes the Gospel. If he does, he's righteous. If he doesn't, he's wicked. He dies and he stands condemned before God, without the righteousness of Christ, dead in trespasses and sins.
  2. Here on earth we think of degrees of wickedness. A serial killer is extremely wicked. A person who breaks the speed limit and gets a ticket hasn't really done anything. The results of those sins are the same. The wages of any sin at all is death, and even if you don't do anything terribly bad you still have a dead, sin nature.

Illustration
Now, having explained that, let me give a lesson on degrees of sin. It's true that the wages of sin is death and God is angry with any sin. It's true that any sin brings death, but it's also true that God reacts to some sins more so than others. Some people have a hard time understanding this, but it's in the Bible.

When David committed adultery with Bathsheba and covered it up by killing her husband, 2 Samuel 11:27 says, "The thing that David had done displeased the LORD." In Mark 10, some women wanted to bring their little children to see Jesus. These mamas brought their little old dirty faced kids up, and the disciples were horrified. Those women actually wanted their kids to come in their and sit on the king's lap and touch Him.

Mark 10:14 says: But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Much displeased means to be extremely angry, enraged, full of wrath - He was terribly angry with them for denying those little souls to come to see Him.

Okay...David committed adultery and killed a man. God was displeased. The disciples wouldn't let children come to Jesus. God was enraged. You see the difference in the response to two different sins? We don't get angry when kids lay out of church, but we're upset at murder and adultery.

It's true that any and all sins will take you to hell, but it's also true that God gets angrier at some things than He does others. God is real, and His reactions are just as real as everyone else.

B. When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish. Expectation means the things to which he is attached and the things he longs for: all the things he wants to achieve. Listen to the words of Christ:

16And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
17And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
18And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
19And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, [and] be merry.
20But God said unto him, [Thou] fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? Luke 12:16-20

C. The second half of the verse says: the hope of unjust men perisheth. When an unjust man dies, all hope dies with him.

  1. There is no hope in hell, and you can learn this in Luke 16.
  2. When the rich man died, he opened his eyes in hell and he was a hopeless case.
  3. There was no way to leave and nobody could come to help him even if they wanted to.
  4. He asked for water. He was told, "No."
  5. He asked for someone to go witness to his brothers. He was told no.
  6. No request was granted and there was no comfort to be had. All hope had perished. When the unjust man dies, his hope perishes.

D. What's the solution to that problem? Either don't die or die as a just man.

Conclusion

Since we're appointed once to die, we only have one more choice unless Jesus comes back first: die being considered just in God's eyes, and your hope won't die with you.

Thank God that those of us who are saved will never know the hopelessness of opening our eyes in hell. Now we need to tell everybody else how not to go there.

Page Added: 9/24/2007 Last Updated:9/24/2007