All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn to the book of Proverbs, chapter 28. Proverbs 28. I'm gonna try to deal with three
verses this morning. Verses 21, 23. Proverbs 28, 21. To have respect of persons is
not good, for for a piece of bread that man will transgress. He that hasteth to be rich hath
an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon
him. He that rebuketh a man afterwards
shall find more favor than he that flattereth with the tongue. Now, two of these verses, the
first two, are verses that set forth a thought that we've considered
before in the book of Proverbs. And we would do well to consider
why the Spirit of God would be pleased to repeat things in these
scriptures. You know why? Because we're prone
to forget. These three scriptures deal with
this one thought. It's the necessity of the faithfulness
of the preaching and the hearing of the gospel. Now here's a truth
that we need to remember. Brethren, we need to hear God's
word. We need to hear it. We need to
hear the truth of man's depravity. We need to be reminded often
of God's sovereignty. Sovereignty and creation sovereignty
and providence, sovereignty and salvation. And to compromise
the setting forth, the faithfulness of the setting forth of God's
truth is dangerous. It's dangerous. It's disobedience. The scripture says in verse 21,
something that is not good. To have respect of persons is
not good. Now, I'm going to remind us all,
we deal with the spirituality of these scriptures. And to have
respect of persons, to show favoritism to somebody because of something
that we think we might get from them, or how we might benefit
from them. to show respect to persons, that's
not good. That's not good. We've looked at this before,
like I said, in Proverbs 18, five, I'll just read this to
you. That first verse says this, to have respect to persons is
not good, for for a piece of bread, that man will transgress. If that man thinks he can get
something out of you, and he can sidestep, skirt, show favoritism
to somebody because of a benefit that he'll get from them. That's
not good. This is what Proverbs 18, 5 said.
It's not good to accept, that is, hold in honor the person
of the wicked, to overthrow or to thrust aside the righteous
in judgment, give that which is due or needful for them. Then again in Proverbs 24, 23,
it says, these things also belong to the wise. It's not good to
have respect, have regard of persons in judgment. Why? Because
the Lord himself is not a respect for persons. Philippians chapter three, I
want you to hold your place and turn over to Philippians three. While you're turning there, let
me just tell you how often it goes through my mind. I'm not
saying that this is praiseworthy. I'm not saying that at all. What
I'm saying is this shows you the hardness of a man's old nature,
the flesh, the wrestling. How many times have I stood in
this pulpit, other pulpits, and preached a passage of scripture. But how many times when you preach
out of different passages of scripture, the message is always
the same. And I've heard people say, make
comments to say, you know, I pretty well know what you're going to
say because you say the same thing every time. And after a
while, you start thinking about that. And you start kind of wrestling
with yourself and say to yourself, well, I know they've heard this
before. They've heard this so many times.
And then you start kind of struggling about it. That's not good. That's not good. That's not good. Because we have one message.
It is the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. and the redemption, salvation
of his people. That is the message of this book. It's the glory of God to show
mercy and compassion to needy sinners. Paul the Apostle, Philippians
3, 1. Finally, my brethren, rejoice
in the Lord to write the same things to you. To me, indeed,
is not grievous, but for you, It's safe. It's safe. All the need that we all have
to hear the same message over and over and over again. Back
in Proverbs 28, Chapter 21, to have respect of persons is not
good. You know, if we just think about
a natural judge, who's presiding over a case in a common court
of law. If you saw that judge showing
favoritism to somebody just because of something he thought he could
get out of that person, wasn't being just, he wasn't going according
to the evidence, it would appall you. You think, that's not fair.
I mean, we see that, we see that, we see it all the time. We see
it in government, and you think, this is horrible, horrible. But consider the judge of all
men, or Jesus Christ, who shall preside
in the day of judgment. What does he say about himself? Isaiah 45, 21, it's what he said. There is no God else beside me,
a just God, righteous, and a savior. There's none beside me. The Lord
himself, according to Exodus 34 7, will by no means clear
the guilty. Acts 10 34, then Peter opened
his mouth and said of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter
of persons. Consider this fact, the greatest
display of God's justice, the greatest display of God's justice
was shown on the day that our Lord laid down His life, laid
down His life for His church, His bride. We just considered
that whenever that high priest in the wilderness, when he went
in to minister before the Lord, He was not ministering for everybody
in this world. He was ministering to the children
of Israel. He had a people. And whenever
the Lord Jesus Christ, on the day of His crucifixion, the Holy
Lamb of God, He who obeyed God, His Father, in word and thought
and deed, He freely laid down his life. The scripture declares
he was wounded. He never sinned. He never sinned. He never sinned. He told the Pharisees, he said,
which of you convinces me of sin? He knew no sin. He knew no sin. But when he laid
down his life, the scripture says, he was wounded for our
transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities,
the chastisement of our peace. That which was needful for us
to obtain was upon him. And with his stripes, we are
healed. But why was he wounded? He knew
no sin. The wages of sin is death. Why
was he stricken, smitten of God? And we need to be honest here,
because he bore our griefs. He said, I've said this before
and I'll say it again. This is needful, this is needful.
For whom did Christ die? John 10, 15. He said, I lay down
my life for the sheep. That's needful to hear. Why? Because to say that he laid down
his life for the sins of the whole world is a lie. That's
a lie. What you're doing is when you
say that, you're saying God's a failure. Because he does not
save everybody. You said, well, God's not fair. I'm gonna be honest with you.
Who are thou, old man, that replies against God? Does the potter have the right
over the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another
unto dishonor? It's not good to have respect
in person. He was made sin, 2 Corinthians
5.21. For us, and where the law found sin. He knew no sin in himself, but
he was made sin. Say, well, explain that to me.
I can't. I know it's true. I know what the scripture says
and we need to hear it. Why? Because we're going to be
at the day of judgment. Wasn't personally guilty. He
bore the griefs and sorrows of His people, made Himself answerable
for the sins of His people. God is a just God and He's not
a respecter of persons. You say, but that was His blessed
Son. I know it wasn't. And where sin was found, God
forsook Him. God forsaking God One of the old writers said,
God, forsaken God? He hung upon the tree bearing
the guilt of his bride, made sin, and God forsook him from
the cross. He cried, he cried, my God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Hundreds of years before that
actually took place, the Spirit of God moved upon the psalmist
to give the reason that the Father forsook him. Psalm 22, three,
but thou art Holy, Howard, holy. Proverbs 28, 27, to have respect
of persons is not good. It's not good. Spirit of God
moved James, the Apostle James. I'll just read this to you. You
can turn there. I'm gonna read James chapter two. James chapter
two, verse one. My brethren, have not the faith
of our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of Glory with respect of
persons. Now where did that truth come
from? Well, Deuteronomy 1. Deuteronomy
1. Scripture declares verses 16
and 17. Deuteronomy 1.16. And I charged your judges at that time saying,
hear the causes between your brethren and judge righteously
between every man and his brother and stranger that is with him.
You shall not respect persons in judgment, but you shall hear
the small as well as the great. You shall not be afraid of the
face of man for the judgment is God's and the cause is too
hard for you. Bring it unto me and I will hear
it. How needful that we need to be reminded that God is just. And when we are told not to have
respect of persons, God's teaching us something. He doesn't either. People are leaving this world. Gary was just telling me about
one of our friends, his dad passed away. The thing about it is,
here's the truth of it. We're dying creatures. We're
dying creatures. Everybody in this room's gonna
die. They're gonna die. And we're gonna stand before
God and let me express something to you. I wanna be truthful with
you. God Almighty is not a respecter
of persons. Leave this world without the
Lord Jesus Christ. Leave this world without having
cast yourself upon the mercy of God. Leave this world still
looking to yourself and your works and the date you think
that you were converted Leave this world resting in what you've
done. Leave this world in thinking
that you've done something to satisfy God. Leave this world
disrespecting this word right here, and I'm telling you right
now, listen to me, I'm gonna be honest with you, Almighty
God's gonna cast you out, and you will be in hell forever.
It is not good, it is not good to have respect of persons Somebody
said, well, you're just trying to scare me. No, I'm not trying
to scare you. I'm trying to be honest with you. That's what
I'm gonna be honest with you. I know, I'm gonna stand there
too. Verse 22, he that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye. You know, I said we dealt with
this before. You know when we dealt with this?
Last Sunday. Look at verse 20. A faithful
man shall abound with blessing, but he that make hath to be rich
shall not be innocent. Two verses later, the Spirit
of God moved the writer of Proverbs Solomon to write that down again.
He that hasteth, and here's a verse that is a continuation of the
warning against showing partiality, partiality to someone over respect
of what they might be able to gain. He that hasteth to be rich,
he that's hurrying his riches by showing partiality hath an
evil eye. I had a friend, he was a friend,
we didn't agree, but he was a friend. He stood in a pulpit in an assembly
that I used to attend. when I was in Louisiana. You
don't know who they are, you don't know who he is. I went to this assembly and the
Lord in his infinite mercy and grace was pleased to pluck this
brand out of the fire and to reveal to me the fallacy that I was walking in
and the error of my ways. It's very humbling when you stood
and you made such dogmatic statements and you realize later by the
grace of God, but it's liberating. It's liberating. If you've ever
sat in false religion, free will, false religion, thinking that
you've done something for God and then all of a sudden, well,
humanly speaking, whenever the Lord's pleased to reveal himself
to you and show you who you are, who he is. God knows how to bring
you down. Believe me. Well, this man that
pastoring this church, that I could not, I couldn't sit there any
longer. I couldn't sit there. And I left and he made this statement
to me. He said, I believe, I wrote this
down, make sure I say it right. He said, I believe what you're
preaching. I believe what you're preaching. Preaching now. But if I preach that to my congregation,
I'd lose my job. That's a quote. That's what he
told me. I believe what you're preaching.
I know you're preaching that God's sovereign and man's unable
and man's totally depraved. I believe that, I believe that.
He said, I truly, I truly am. I believe the doctrine of grace. I believe that. But I can't preach
that where I am. It'd run me off. To have respect of persons because
you want to keep your job? It's not good. Not be truthful. making merchandise. The Lord
said something to Ezekiel. I've read this before, but while
I was driving back, I went to pick up Glenda a few minutes
ago, and I thought about this passage of scripture, about the responsibility
to be honest with people. Ezekiel 3, 15 to 18. The scripture
says, then I came to them of the captivity of Tel-Aviv that
dwelt by the river Kibar. And I sat there where they sat,
and remained there astonished among them seven days. And it
came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the Lord
came unto me, saying, Son of man, this is Ezekiel, Son of
man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore,
hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When
I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die, and thou givest him
not warning. nor speakest to warn the wicked
from his wicked way, to save his life. The same wicked man
shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thine
hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked,
and he turn not from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall
die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul. I've
told you before, I don't know the depth of that scripture right
there, but it has a sound to me that moves my heart to want
to be honest with you. I might say, well, this man that
didn't want to preach what I was preaching because he's going
to be afraid of losing his job. To my knowledge, that man passed
away. Years ago, I'm almost positive
somebody told me he died. And the very thought of what
he said to me rang to my heart immediately. And I thought, you're
going to face God. It's not good. It is not good
to have respective persons. Verse 23, and I'll end right
here. He that rebuketh a man afterwards
shall find more favor than he that flattereth with the tongue. Too often, humanly speaking,
the flatterer, the one that does the flattering, finds more favor
than the one who rebukes. But spiritually speaking, when
the Lord sends a faithful friend with the proclamation of the
gospel, the gospel of God's grace, to a spiritually erring sinner,
When God blesses, if God be pleased to bless that word from that
faithful friend. Though it was a rebuke, it's
a rebuke against the flesh. It's a rebuke against somebody's
pride. It's a rebuke. But if God's pleased
to bless it, do you realize the glory of God that's been shown?
And the mercy of God that's been shown Someone, again, that's
gonna stand before God. I told you this morning, I woke
up heavy. This right here, this is where the heaviness was, right
here. You stand before people that you love, you love. Many
times, some that know God and some that don't. But you love
them. And you wanna be faithful. And
you don't wanna be a respecter of persons. You wanna be honorable
before the Lord. If that message of the gospel
is blessed to the salvation of a soul, you thank and praise
God. He that rebuketh a man afterwards
shall find more favor when the Lord has called us out
of the darkness of sin and unbelief. Don't you rejoice that God sent
a faithful friend to tell you the truth? Proverbs 29.5 said,
a man that flattereth his neighbor spreadeth a net for his feet. Proverbs 27.6 says, faithful
are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy, they're
deceitful. How thankful every believer in
the Lord Jesus Christ is. when he does consider that the
Lord caused his path to cross with the truth of who he is and
who God is. That somebody loved him enough
to be faithful to tell him the truth. I know this is the struggle. I know that man by nature will
hear this and he'll say, that's hard. That's hard, that's hard. You know who they said that to? The Lord. He said, no man can
come to me. You don't have the ability to
come to me, except it were given unto him of my Father. And this
is what the people said. That's a hard saying. Say something
softer. Flatter me. Come on, flatter
me. Show me a little respect. It's
not good to show respect to persons. Oh, that God would bless us today
and teach us the truth of himself and the mercy that he shows unto
unworthy sinners for Christ's sake and our good.