WWUTT 1624 The Wicked Hide When No One is Pursuing (Proverbs 28:1-20)

The scriptures tell us that the person who does wickedly hides in darkness, and he's constantly afraid that he's going to be found out.

But the person who does righteously has nothing to fear, for we have God on our side when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the

Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our

Q &A on Friday. Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. Coming to Proverbs chapter 28 this week.

If you want to open up your Bible and join with me there, we're going to read all 28 verses of this chapter,

Proverbs 28, 1 through 28, out of the Legacy Standard Bible. This is the

Word of the Lord. The wicked flee when there is no one pursuing, but the righteous are secure as a lion.

By the transgression of a land, many are its princes. But by a man who understands, who knows, so it endures.

A poor man who oppresses the lowly is a driving rain which leaves no food. Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law strive with them.

Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek Yahweh understand all things.

Better is the poor who walks in his integrity than he who is crooked, double -dealing, though he be rich.

He who observes the law is a son who understands, but he who befriends gluttons humiliates his father.

He who increases his wealth by interest and usury gathers it for him who is gracious to the lowly.

He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, even his prayer is an abomination.

He who leads the upright astray in an evil way will himself fall into his own pit, but the blameless will inherit good.

The rich man is wise in his own eyes, but the lowly who understands searches him.

When the righteous exalt, there is great honor, but when the wicked rise, man has to be sought out.

He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will receive compassion.

How blessed is the man who is always in dread, but he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.

Like a roaring lion and a rushing bear is a wicked ruler over a poor people. A leader who lacks discernment abounds in oppressions, but he who hates greedy gain will prolong his days.

A man oppressed with the blood guilt of life will flee until death, let no one uphold him.

He who walks blamelessly will be saved, but he who is crooked, double -dealing, will fall all at once.

He who cultivates his ground will be satisfied with food, but he who pursues empty things will be satisfied with poverty.

A faithful man will abound with blessings, but he who makes haste to be rich will not go unpunished.

To show partiality is not good, even for a piece of bread a man will transgress.

A man with evil eye hurries after wealth and does not know what want will come upon him.

He who reproves a man will afterward find more favor than he who flatters with the tongue.

He who robs his father or his mother and says it is not a transgression is the companion of a man who destroys.

An arrogant man stirs up strife, but he who trusts in Yahweh will be enriched.

He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but he who walks wisely will escape.

He who gives to the poor will never want, but he who shuts his eyes will have many curses. When the wicked rise, men hide themselves, but when they perish, the righteous increase.

Let's come back to the very beginning here, verse 1. The wicked flee when there is no one pursuing, but the righteous are secure as a lion.

This is to say that those who do wickedly, those who do evil, who do not do what is right in the eyes of the

Lord, they're constantly suspicious even of themselves. Like is somebody going to find out what it is that I have done?

How much do I have to hide, conceal what it is I've done that I can live comfortably? So it's kind of like they're running away from things even when no one is out there pursuing him.

But the righteous one is as secure as a lion. What's a lion? An apex predator.

There is no one above a lion. A lion is at the top of the food chain. So the person who loves righteousness, he doesn't have anything to fear of anyone else.

If God is for us, who can be against us, as Paul asks in Romans chapter 8. So if we do righteously, we know we are on the

Lord's side and the Lord is on ours. Verse two, by the transgression of a land, many are its princes, but by a man who understands who knows, so it endures.

So you're talking about a land or a nation that is very sinful. It's wicked. And you'll see rulers constantly changing.

When you look at this throughout human history, often that change of rulers is because a ruler got assassinated, right?

Or something like that. This guy is not giving us what it is that we want, so remove him, put somebody else in that place that will give us what we want.

So when a nation is craving in that way, you're going to see a constant change and shift in power.

But by a man who understands, who knows, a person who is established in truth, in righteousness, as we've seen consistently, even trailing from verse one, a person who remains consistent, a leader who leads in truth and by conviction and is not waffling, well, then that land is going to endure.

It's founded on something sure, something steadfast, and so the nation remains steadfast.

Now, you could also translate man in the plural. So by a man who understands, so it endures, that could be with regards to a leader, one person who's leading the nation, or it could be in regards to all of the people of that nation.

Because remember, back at the start of the proverb, by the transgression of a land, many are its princes, but by a man who understands, who knows, so it endures.

That could be in reference to a leader, it could be in reference to a single person within that nation. And if everybody is thinking of the same mind, then so that land is going to endure, looking toward the righteousness, the truth of God, and not to a man's own appetites.

Oh, that we could have our own land in such a way where the people of this land fear

God, desire his word, uphold his statutes, that would be to the endurance of any nation.

But you can know with certainty that you will endure, you will stand even on the day of judgment if you have been fixed upon Christ, the way, the truth, and the life.

So you will endure in Christ Jesus forever. Verse three, a poor man who oppresses the lowly is a driving rain which leaves no food.

This is like a poor man who does not learn from his own poverty, and instead of sympathizing with others who are poor and helping one another out, he would take from a poor person to feed himself.

And so this is like a man who is a, he's like a driving rain. He's like a rain that causes flood, like a natural disaster rather than rain that nourishes the ground and produces a harvest.

Now in Romans chapter 12, the apostle Paul tells the church that we need to associate with the lowly.

So those who cannot give us anything in return, we need to humble ourselves and care for one another within the body of Christ.

So just as we all need, we all need from God. So we need to recognize that everybody else in the body of Christ is in need and we receive all that we need from Christ.

May we help one another in that process, not neglect each other, certainly not oppress one another, but we're helping to grow one another in this most holy faith that we have being fed by our savior,

Jesus Christ, the true bread from heaven. Verse four, those who forsake the law, praise the wicked.

Why would somebody praise a wicked person for wicked deeds? Well, because they don't really love the law of God, but those who keep the law, those who indeed love

God's law, they strive with the wicked, meaning that they're not going to elevate them, not going to praise them for their wicked deeds, but rather rebuke them and say, turn from your wickedness to the

Lord Jesus Christ and so live. Verse five, evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek

Yahweh understand all things. This is a proverb that I've used in the midst of the social justice movement that's been going on in our culture for the last, well, it's been over a decade.

It's been going on for a long time, but the height of this social justice movement has certainly been within the past few years.

Evil men don't understand justice. We're seeing this word justice being abused. The fact that somebody would use this expression, social justice, that's an abuse of justice because the

Bible does not give an adjective to justice. There's not different kinds of justice. Something is either just or it is unjust, but there are not kinds of justice.

So we know what is just, we know what is right and what is wrong because God's word tells us.

We love what is just because we love God and we obey what he says. Those who seek

Yahweh understand this, but those who do not seek the Lord, according to the counsel of his word, will abuse justice.

And thus we have these ridiculous godless movements like the social justice movement.

Verse six, better is the poor who walks in his integrity than he who is crooked, double dealing though he be rich.

We've seen many Proverbs like this talking about how a man of good character is wealthier than somebody who has the world's goods, but is a wicked and deceitful man.

And this same sort of proverb applies here. This proverb applies in that same way.

If you've been listening to my teaching on Ruth on Sunday, that's what I've been going through with my Sunday school class.

We've talked about how Boaz is a worthy man. He's described that way in Ruth two, one.

And this is not just in regards to what he possesses, it's in regards to his character.

And then Boaz says the same of Ruth in the next chapter. Everybody knows you are a worthy woman and that's a woman who is poor.

So it certainly doesn't have to do with what she possesses. It has to do with the character she has.

And both of these persons, Boaz and Ruth in the fear of God because they love and honor

Yahweh and keep his word. That's why they're described as a man and a woman who is worthy.

Verse seven, he who observes the law is a son who understands, but he who befriends gluttons humiliates his father.

Talking about a father who's passed wisdom on to his son. If he loves the law, well, they need to listen to what his father has told him.

If his father has guided him in the ways of Yahweh. But the one who befriends gluttons, those who are greedy, those who are after the world's things and not after the things of God.

He humiliates his father, does not listen to what his father has taught him, but has become united with the world and will perish with those things that are perishing.

It's on that note. We get to this next verse, verse eight. He who increases his wealth by interest and usury gathers it for him who is gracious to the lowly.

So usury is to accumulate interest in a very shady or dishonest way.

So you've lent money to somebody, but then you just jack up the interest rate so that you can get rich off of that.

Well, that's praying off of the poor man who needed to borrow the money. So what's being said here is the person who will pray off of the poor, we've kind of seen that theme as we've been going through these

Proverbs, he'll have everything that he possesses taken from him and given to the person who is gracious to the lowly.

So the person who deals graciously with his fellow man is the one who has the favor of God. The one who deals dishonestly or praise upon the poor is the one who will come into judgment.

Verse nine. He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, even his prayer is an abomination.

Psalm 66, 18 says something similar. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the

Lord would not have heard my prayer. So you can't be a person who's living in sin and then pray unto

God and expect that he's going to receive your prayer from a humble and contrite heart.

If you've not asked forgiveness for your sins and yet you continue to walk in unrighteousness, the

Lord doesn't receive your prayer. You love your iniquity instead of loving

God. And there's other places, you know, Amos 5, Isaiah chapter one, where it talks about,

I cannot stand your prayers. It's noise to me because you love your sin instead of loving

God. Verse 10. He who leads the upright astray in an evil way will himself fall into his own pit, but the blameless will inherit good.

So you walk in wickedness, the upright walks in goodness. You lead the upright astray, well, you'll fall into your own pit.

There will be consequences for that behavior. The man who goes astray, he's going to have to answer for his own actions, but you have to answer for yours, that you not only walked in your own wickedness, but led others into it as well.

You'll fall into your own pit. The blameless will inherit good, will receive all good things from God.

Verse 11. The rich man is wise in his own eyes, but the lowly who understands searches him.

So a lowly person here is one who is humble and contrite in spirit. The rich man thinks more highly of himself than he ought to think.

So he thinks he's wise. The lowly not only understands himself, but he understands the heart of the rich man.

And how do we have such wisdom about what's in the heart of man? We know it according to God's word.

Verse 12. When the righteous exalt, there is great honor, but when the wicked rise, man has to be sought out.

I think that makes sense for the most part. I mean, it's pretty straightforward until you get to that last line, then it might get a little confusing.

So when the righteous exalt, there's great honor. When the righteous are exalted, when they're the ones that kind of have the highest places of honor, everybody benefits from that.

But when the wicked rise, man has to be sought out. In other words, they hide themselves.

They run away and hide. There is not the open showing of righteousness in the land.

It goes back to what was stated back in verse one. The wicked flee when there's no one pursuing. But the righteous are as secure as a lion.

The righteous have nothing to hide from, but the wicked run away and hide. Jesus talked about this in John chapter three.

The light has come into the world and men love the darkness rather than the light for their deeds were evil.

This is John 3 20. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light lest his deeds be exposed.

But he who practices the truth comes to the light so that his deeds may be manifested as having been done by God.

We go on to verse 13. Same sort of a theme. He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them who comes into the light will receive compassion.

We have the greatest compassion, the compassion of Yahweh. Verse 14.

How blessed is the man who is always in dread, but he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.

And talk about a person who's always in dread is the person who watches his steps, who doesn't walk in a way of evil, but keeps himself on the path of righteousness, who fears

God and does good. But he who hardens his heart against the Lord and against his way falls into calamity.

Verse 15. Like a roaring lion and a rushing bear is a wicked ruler over a poor people.

He devours them. He preys upon the poor instead of caring for those that the

Lord has entrusted to his care. Verse 16. We still talk about leadership here.

A leader who lacks discernment abounds in oppressions, oppresses his people.

But he who hates greedy gain. He's not thinking about himself, but how he can use his possession to help those who are in need.

He will prolong his days. And indeed the scriptures say to us that as God has loved us, so we must love one another.

Verse 17. A man oppressed with the blood guilt of life will flee until death.

Let no one uphold him. Now, as I've served as a pastor in a military church before,

I've had soldiers who have come to me with exactly this verse in mind. Like it may be something among soldiers where this gets passed around.

If you've killed somebody in combat, well, you're not supposed to be given any place of rest. And you're just going to be running around all your days until eventually you die and you fall into judgment.

But that's not what's being said here. We're talking about a person who has killed unjustly, a man who oppressed a man oppressed with the blood guilt of life.

So he's killed someone unjustly, not a person who is a soldier who has followed orders or a police officer who had to put somebody down while in the line of duty because he was trying to protect people around them.

That was a just killing. But somebody who kills somebody unjustly has blood guilt upon himself and he'll flee until death.

We go back again to verse one, the wicked flee when there is no one pursuing. He's shifty.

He's constantly wondering if he's ever going to be found out. Let no one uphold him.

In other words, let nobody give him sanctuary that he might come into a place of rest and think to himself,

I've done good. I have nothing to be afraid of. If he has done wickedly, he should be convicted for his sin and confess so that he may be forgiven.

Verse 18, he who walks blamelessly will be saved. You have no reason to fear of anybody finding you out because you've not done anything wickedly.

You continue in righteousness according to the instruction that God has given to us that we may know the way that we should walk.

But he who is crooked, who is double dealing will fall all at once.

A person who's a hypocrite, a person who says one thing and does another, or a person who walks in unrighteousness, he will fall.

He will not sustain himself. Verse 19, he who cultivates his ground will be satisfied with food.

He who works hard, labors over his ground, he's going to produce a harvest. But he who pursues empty things, really who does nothing, will be satisfied with poverty.

He gets nothing. And so the same applies to us in our spiritual lives.

If we continue to pursue those things that are godly, we will grow in godliness.

But if you say that you have faith and you have no works that demonstrate the genuineness of that faith, then you don't really have faith and you find yourself completely empty and spiritually impoverished.

So may we be constantly in pursuit of God every day. Draw near to God, as James says in James 4, and he will draw near to you.

Verse 20, a faithful man will abound with blessings. God will give abundantly to the faithful.

But he who makes haste to be rich, who does not work, tries to get it by easy ways, will not go unpunished.

And spiritually, as we apply this, we need to understand and be aware of the ways of easy believism.

All you have to do is this, and then you're saved. You just need to jump in the baptismal pool, write the date in your

Bible, say this prayer, and that's all you need to do to be saved. But if we have made that confession once, and then with your life, you never show yourself to be a servant of God.

You've never been in pursuit of Christ. You've never been walking in the righteousness that he requires of us, that we've received in Christ Jesus.

Because if you believe in Jesus, your sins are forgiven, and he has clothed you in his righteousness.

Well, therefore, you should demonstrate in your life that you walk in righteousness. You do righteous things.

But if you never show that with your life, you just made a confession once upon a time, and then there's nothing to show for it after that, you're not really saved.

You said some magic words that you think were a spell that unlocked salvation for you, but you do not really know the

Lord Jesus Christ, and worst of all, he does not know you. And on that day of judgment, as he says in Matthew 7, there are many who will say to me,

Lord, Lord, on that day, and I will say to them, depart from me, you worker of lawlessness. I never knew you.

Be in pursuit of God. Demonstrate with your life. If you truly believe in God, he will uphold you and he will sustain you.

Let's finish there. We didn't get all the way through the chapter, but we'll pick up in verse 21 next week. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your good words.

And even as we read words of wisdom here, may we know how these things may even apply to our lives that we may live them out.

There's a principle here in these verses that applies to us in our walk of righteousness.

And may we do what is pleasing in your sight, that we may be worthy sons and daughters of God.

Teach us these things all the more according to your word. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

This has been When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt

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