WWUTT 1439 The Righteous Are Delivered From Trouble (Proverbs 11:1-13)

Consider this, seeking the wisdom of God is loving your neighbor. Because we're saying, it's not about me and I'm emptying myself to be filled with more of God. And when we do that, even our neighbor is blessed when we understand the text.

WWUTT Thursday Introduction and Proverbs Reading

This is when we understand the text, teaching through a New Testament book on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and a Q &A on Friday. With our Old Testament study today, here's Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. The Proverbs is what we've been studying on Thursday. If you wanna open up your Bible to chapter 11, unless you're driving, just remain as you are and I'll read it to you. Two hands on the wheel, 10 o 'clock and two o 'clock, right?

In my Bible, I've got 12 verses right here on this page. So I'm gonna go ahead and read Proverbs 11, verses one through 12. A deceptive balance is an abomination to Yahweh, but a just weight is His delight.

When arrogance comes, then comes disgrace, but with the meek is wisdom. The integrity of the upright will lead them, but the crookedness of the treacherous will destroy them. Wealth will not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness will deliver from death.

The righteousness of the blameless will make his way straight, but the wicked will fall by his own wickedness. The righteousness of the upright will deliver them, but the treacherous will be captured by their own desire.

When a wicked man dies, his hope will perish and the expectation of vigorous men perishes. The righteous is rescued from distress, but the wicked takes his place. With his mouth, the godless man corrupts his neighbor, but through knowledge, the righteous will be rescued.

When it goes well with the righteous, the city exalts, and when the wicked perish, there is joyful shouting. By the blessing of the upright, a city is raised up, but by the mouth of the wicked, it is torn down.

He who despises his neighbor lacks a heart of wisdom, but a man of discernment keeps silent. And I'm gonna add verse 13, just because it keeps with the context. He who goes about as a slanderer reveals secrets, but he who is faithful in spirit conceals a matter.

Just Balances, Social Justice, and the Abomination of Favoritism

All right, let's go back to verse one. A deceptive balance is an abomination to Yahweh, but a just weight is his delight. You go back to the law, go back to Leviticus, and instructions are given there to Israel about having just balances, just weights and measures.

Leviticus 19, beginning in verse 35, you shall do no wrong in judgment, in measures of length or weight or quantity. You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah and a just hymn. I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and you shall observe all my statutes and all my rules and do them.

I am the Lord. So God has instructed Israel to deal with one another justly, even when it comes to weighing things out, that they have the same measure for every person, used for each person. The rich receive the same measure as the poor receive.

And when I say measure, I don't say the same amount. I mean that you're gonna use the same system of measurement for both. You're not gonna show favor to the rich or even defer to the poor as if to say, well, the rich already has a lot.

You know, he already has a lot going for them. So let's give more justice to the poor because he deserves it since he doesn't have as much. You're gonna use the same system of judgment for both, no matter what.

So Leviticus 19 .35, again, you shall do no wrong in judgment. Verse 36, you shall have just balances, just weights. And we see this come up again in Proverbs. Later on in Proverbs 16 .11, a just balance and scales are the Lord's.

All the weights in the bag are his work. So you don't have one system of weights and measures for the rich, another system of weights and measures for the poor, nor do you have a certain system of weight for Jews, but a different system of weight for Gentiles.

Everybody is to receive the same treatment. So deceptive balances, where you're trying to show favor to one person more than another, that's unjust. And that is not of God. It is an abomination to Yahweh.

A just weight is his delight. In our culture, even in Western society right now, amazingly enough, because this has not been the case in Western society for hundreds of years, but in Western society now, that which God would call unjust, our culture is calling justice.

Justice, the culture says, is that everybody needs to have the same. So if anybody is rich and anybody is poor, there's injustice. That's according to the secular mindset of justice, of social justice that exists in the culture right now.

That because there is rich and there is poor, there must be injustice. And we have to seize from the rich and redistribute to the poor. We're starting to see the effects of this in the culture right now.

I mean, the long-term effects of this have not been felt yet, but they will eventually as we continue this slow methodical move toward socialism. It's accelerated in recent years, but that's eventually where everything is headed, where the state seizes what rightfully belongs to one person and the state redistributes it as they see fit.

That's called stealing. But when the state does it, it's called socialism. We've seen some element of this happening for decades, like how there will be one system or one tax rate for the rich. They pay a certain amount in taxes.

The middle class pays a different amount in taxes and the lower class pays a different amount if they even pay taxes at all. And all of these numbers are completely arbitrary. It's just a group of people decides, well, this is what we determined to be fair for the rich and the middle class and the poor to eventually where we get to this thing where the rich are paying like 80 to 90 in taxes.

That's what Bernie Sanders wanted to do if he became president, and then the poor are paying nothing. So eventually everything kind of balances out, it equals out, everybody's getting the same amount.

And that's what a secular or godless culture determines fair. God calls that an abomination. He calls that deceptive. When you show favoritism toward one group and discriminate against another, a deceptive balance is an abomination to Yahweh.

Right now what's been going on since COVID hit is you've got people who are not working and they're getting paid by the government. They're getting unemployment, they're getting stimulus checks. Stimulus checks is another politically correct term that means to rob from the rich and give to the poor.

But now since people are receiving money from the government at home, they're realizing, hey, these unemployment checks, that's more than I was getting when I was working. So I'm just not going to go back to work anymore.

And now there are not people working. There's plenty of jobs out there that need to be filled, but people don't want to go to work because then it means they won't be getting unemployment anymore. And my unemployment is more money than I was getting from my job.

And so when you go out to a restaurant, now it takes longer for you to get your food. Have you noticed that? It's not because of COVID regulations, it's because there's not enough employees there, not enough people working in the kitchen, not enough people working to get the food out to people at their tables.

Recently, Becky and I bought a washer and a dryer. It's the first time we've ever had to buy a washer and dryer in our marriage. We've always had somebody has been kind and willing to give us their old washer and dryer.

Worked just fine. We're not complaining about getting hand-me-downs. We don't have to buy it. But we have more children now and we have a fifth one on the way. So we needed a bigger washer and dryer to be able to wash more clothes.

We finally bought our own. I went to the store and I ordered it and I had to be put on a waiting list. Now I could have bought a different washer and dryer, but it wouldn't have been as reliable a model as this one that I wanted.

Plus there was a great deal on it. So in order to get the deal, I had to buy it now, but I was put on a waiting list for it to get to me. And it wasn't because there weren't enough washer and dryers. They existed somewhere, but there were not enough employees to get the washer and dryer from the warehouse, put it on a truck, get it delivered to the store, get it taken off the truck, get it put on the floor, get it moved up to the front so that I could come pick it up and take it to my house.

That's why things are moving so slow now is people are not going out and getting jobs when they realize I can just stay home and collect unemployment, but that's unsustainable. We can't keep doing that.

As it's often said about socialism, eventually you run out of other people's money. And so the culture will eventually collapse. Now this is just natural law. This is just the way that God has set things up.

It's common sense to recognize that we can't run an economy this way. Go figure that God's ways are better than our ways, right? So a deceptive balance is an abomination to Yahweh and the people even suffer when we deal with one another deceptively this way, when we say we're going to deal with this group of people like this, but this group of people with a different system of weights and balances.

A just weight is his delight. And all the people said, amen. Verse two, when arrogance comes, then comes disgrace, but with the meek is wisdom. And you can even pair this with verse one about deceptive balances and just weights.

It's arrogant to say that we can come up with a better system than what God has said is good. And when arrogance comes, then comes disgrace. It's going to be a disgrace for all the people. Now put this on a more individual level, not just talking about it as a culture, but talking about it as individuals.

The word here for the arrogant, and your translation may even say pride, with pride comes disgrace, but with the humble, there is wisdom. The word here for pride or the word for arrogance is a word that means to flow over.

When a person is just so full of themselves, that's literally where that expression comes from. It's the definition of pride. They're so full of themselves that they're flowing over. So when arrogance comes, a person is disgraced.

Other people suffer as a result of that as well. But with the meek, with the humble, there is wisdom because wisdom comes from outside of us. The wisdom that comes from God is objective. Whereas when we try to make ourselves wise, or we think that our own thoughts are better than everybody else's, well, that's subjective.

So with the meek is true wisdom because they're not full of themselves. They have emptied themselves and are looking for the wisdom that comes from God. Wisdom, true wisdom is with the meek. But those who are arrogant, what they have is disgraceful, foolishness.

The Integrity of the Upright and the Narrow Way

Verse three, the integrity of the upright will lead them, but the crookedness of the treacherous will destroy them. Still flowing from verse one, a deceptive balance is an abomination to Yahweh, but a just weight is his delight.

The integrity of the upright leads them, again, still something objective, something that is outside of themselves. They're not following their heart. They're not doing what they think is right. They are following what God has said is just and good, and it will lead them.

The crookedness of the treacherous will destroy them. They will be led down a path that will eventually go to their destruction. This is Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter seven saying, to enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the way and broad is that road that leads to destruction.

And many find it because that's the easy way, but narrow is the way and hard is the road that leads to life and few will find it. Verse four, wealth will not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness will deliver from death.

Once again, still same concept here. A person cannot save themselves. Salvation does not come from oneself. They cannot rely on what they possess or earthly treasures to save them. It does not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness will deliver from death.

Going back to the Sermon on the Mount again, Matthew 6, 33, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all the things you need will be added to you as well. It is only by the righteousness of Christ that we are saved on that day of trouble, the day of judgment.

Verse five, the righteousness of the blameless will make his way straight, but the wicked will fall by his own wickedness. The righteousness of the blameless. And again, this righteousness that we possess comes not from ourselves.

It is given to us by God. We wear his righteousness, and therefore we live in a righteous way when we have the righteousness of Christ. Our way is made straight. The Lord directs our paths. Consider back to Proverbs 3.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. But the wicked falls by his own wickedness. It will come back on him, and he will be judged in it on the day of judgment.

Verse six, the righteousness of the upright will deliver them, but the treacherous will be captured in their own desire, by their own desire. You see the theme going on in all six of these first verses here of Proverbs chapter 11.

The treacherous captured by their own desire. I talked earlier this week when we were reading from Titus chapter three, that we ourselves, before we came to Christ, we were once enslaved to our own passions and pleasures.

Passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when God, our savior appeared, he saved us, not by works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy. So it's in the righteousness that has been given to us by God will be delivered.

But the treacherous who continue in their way, who are still enslaved to their own passions and pleasures, they're captured. They're captured by their own desires and will perish in them as well. Verse seven, when a wicked man dies, his hope will perish.

And the expectation of vigorous men perishes. What does that last part mean? Well, it's the desire for wealth. So when a wicked man dies, whatever his hope was in goes with him. Whatever we're putting our hope and trust in, our desires in here on this earth, well, it's gonna perish along with everything else that perishes in the judgment that comes by fire.

Everything that is transient, that is wasting away, is eventually gonna come to nothing. So a wicked man puts his trust in that, which is not gonna last. We need to put our hope and trust in that, which lasts forever.

And that is Jesus Christ. Put your faith in Jesus and you will live forever. Put your hope in the things of this world, you're gonna die, and all that other stuff comes to nothing as well. The expectation of riches, that perishes along with the wicked.

The Righteous Are Rescued and the Wicked Reap Their Own Destruction

Verse eight, the righteous is rescued from distress, but the wicked takes his place. In other words, the wicked gets what he gets. The righteous is rescued from distress, the wicked gets distress. That's really what the verse is saying there.

Verse nine, with his mouth, the godless man corrupts his neighbor, but through knowledge, the righteous will be rescued. The wicked man has no consideration for his neighbor. We're still talking about pride here, right?

He's just full of himself. He has no consideration for anyone else. So it doesn't matter what he says. He's not thinking about edifying or encouraging anyone else with his words. Whereas isn't that how we are supposed to be speaking with one another?

In Ephesians chapter four, it says in several places in Ephesians four, that we need to be speaking the truth in love, and we need to speak in such a way that it may give grace to those who hear. That is how we are to subject our tongues, even to the ways of the Lord, that every word we would say to our neighbor would be honoring to God.

But the godless man corrupts his neighbor with his words. He's not interested in encouraging his neighbor, building him up. He speaks lies to his neighbor that maybe his neighbor follows to his own destruction, or he just tears his neighbor down with his words.

But through knowledge, the righteous will be rescued. And here we're talking about an objective knowledge that comes from God. The humble, meek man seeks not his own ways and his own ideas, but the knowledge of God.

And those who are righteous, who receive the knowledge of God, are rescued by the knowledge that we possess. Ultimately, the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and believing in him, following him, worshiping him.

He is our rescue. He is our savior and our deliverer. Verse 10, when it goes well with the righteous, the city exalts, and when the wicked perish, there is joyful shouting. So we see joyful shouting on both sides, right?

It goes well with the righteous when the righteous are thriving, when they are doing good, when righteousness is in the land, people rejoice. There is shouts of joy. There's also shouts of joy when the wicked perish.

When the wicked perish, there's joyful shouting because the corruption that was in the land has been taken away. Verse 11, by the blessing of the upright, a city is raised up, but by the mouth of the wicked, it is torn down.

Don't you want a city that is governed by righteous men and not by wicked men? Most definitely. You want people in governing positions who seek an objective truth outside of themselves, righteousness that is given by God.

The whole city benefits when you have leaders that are leading in that way. Verse 12, he who despises his neighbor lacks a heart of wisdom, but a man of discernment keeps silent. Once again, you've got a expression of humility going on here, that the person who is humble doesn't belittle his neighbor.

The person who is full of pride despises his neighbor and tears his neighbor down. The humble have a heart of wisdom and they are discerning and they keep silent, not letting their emotions get the better of them and tearing others down.

But once again, we should have, as Christians, tongues that have been taken captive and submitted unto Christ, that we make every member of our bodies servants of Christ. Let me do verse 13. We'll wrap up with this.

He who goes about as a slanderer reveals secrets, but he who is faithful in spirit conceals a matter. There are some things that are nobody else's business. Speak truth, speak kindness, and know what needs to be public knowledge and what needs to be private, okay?

That's all what we get from the kindness and love and wisdom that God gives to us through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And then next week, when we pick up, we've got verse 14, very popular proverb and very often taken out of context.

I'll let you go look that up and then we'll come back to it next week. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this good word. May it be written upon our hearts and we exercise it every day. Living our lives in service to our God and King and in love to our neighbor.

Loving our neighbors as we love ourselves, as Jesus instructed us to do. And we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.

Closing Benediction and Ministry Information

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 .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email, whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com and let your friends know about our ministry.

Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's word when we understand the text.