I have three texts of scripture
if you want to turn with me in the book of Proverbs, chapter
10, chapter 11, and chapter 12. Thank you, Pastor. Thank you,
Brother Todd. Proverbs chapter 10 and verse
2. Treasures of wickedness profiteth
nothing. Treasures of wickedness profit
nothing, but righteousness delivereth from death. Chapter 11 and verse
4. Riches profit not in the day
of wrath, but righteousness delivereth from death. Then in chapter 12
and verse 28, in the way of righteousness is
life, and in the pathway thereof there is no death. Now my subject
this afternoon, if the Lord will help me, is a righteousness that
delivers from death. a righteousness that delivers
from death. Treasures of wickedness profit
nothing. Now I have no idea what all,
if we were categorizing wickedness, I don't know what all you could
put under this category. A lot of things, a lot of things.
Certainly, money. Money is the root of all evil. That's a lot of people's treasures.
Their heart treasure is the money that they possess, which, while
some have coveted after, have pierced themselves through with
many sorrows. Power, influence, position, used
in a wicked way, are treasures of wickedness. Pleasures can
be wickedness. Lovers of pleasure more than
lovers of God. All that's in the world, the
lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of Wickedness. Wickedness. Wickedness never
profits long, may give pleasure for a while to the flesh, it
never profits the soul, never gives any spiritual profit, spiritual
joy, spiritual comfort. Wickedness profits nothing. Treasures of wickedness profits
nothing. I had a friend of mine was telling
me about his son and was in Iraq when Iraq fell and he went into
the palaces of Saddam Hussein and he said he'd never in his
life experienced such a place. The money that must have been
invested in those places, gotten on the backs of people he afflicted,
oppressed, and murdered. But you know something? Those
treasures profited him nothing. profit him nothing. And our text
says your treasures profit not in the day of death, in the day
of wrath. I remember seeing some videos
of Saddam Hussein when his own people finally captured him and
hang him. They were trying to put the noose
around his neck and he was fighting them and cussing them and they
hang him. And someone said his death was
so violent when he hit the end of the rope it literally decapitated
him. Riches, his treasures, profited him nothing in the day of his
death. Riches, wickedness, profit nothing. But you know, there are people
who use treasures of this life, gold, silver, positions, they
use that for God's glory. And it's not treasures of wickedness,
but it's a sacrifice and an odor well-pleasing to God. Isn't that
amazing? God can look upon what His children
give, they use it for His glory and honor, and instead of being
treasures of wickedness, it's a sweet odor, a sacrifice, well-pleasing
unto God. Treasures of wickedness won't
profit a man. Ahab coveted Naboth's vineyard. Profit was that to him when the
dogs licked his blood out of that chair. Profit is him nothing.
What will riches, what will treasures of wickedness profit any of us
in the day of our death? When we stand before God in the
judgment, what will they profit? Nothing. Treasures of wickedness
profit nothing. But that's not the way I want
to use my tax. That's obvious, isn't it? It's obvious these
treasures of money, power, influence, treasures of wickedness won't
profit. But there's treasures of wickedness that go beyond
money or abuse of power or influence or position. It extends to the
whole concept of false religion. There are people who have a hope
of acceptance with God. They have a hope of going to
heaven, but they can give you no reason for such a hope. And
yet they value that hope. It's a treasure to them. But
what does he say here? Treasures of wickedness will
not profit in that day. Let me give you two or three
examples. The Apostle Paul, before the Lord converted him, Here's
what he said, he said, I profited in the Jews religion above many
of my equal, being more exceeding zealous of the tradition of my
father. Now he didn't profit financially
as far as I know, didn't get rich financially, but he built
up a great chest of confidence in his religious privileges and
duties. Self-trust. There are religious
people who can tell you every penny they get. There are people
who can tell you how many chapters about the Bible that they've
read and how many times they've read it in a year. There's people
who can tell you how many conferences they've attended, how many church
services every week for the last few years they've gone to. They
keep track of these things because it's their treasures. They have
confidence in these things. Paul's treasures began when he
was eight days old and they took him and circumcised him. He put
that in his bank. He said, I was the tribe of Benjamin. My dad and my mother and my ancestors
were devout people, Hebrew of the Hebrew. He said, I set at
the feet of the greatest theologian of his day, Gamaliel. I learned
at his mouth. I was a Pharisee. After the strictest
set of our religion, I lived a Pharisee. That's treasure. That's treasure. I wonder if
the Lord Jesus wasn't speaking either about the Apostle Paul
or speaking to him when he told the parable about these two men
going up to the temple to pray. And he spake a parable to this
end to those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and
despised others. The reason I say that could have
been to Paul because Paul mentioned these two things. He said, I
hated people. I despised people. He told Titus
we were hateful and hating one another. And as far as trusting
in himself, he said, is there anybody that had more reason
to trust in themselves than I did? And all the way you can tell,
a man who is rich in these treasures of self-righteousness, he despises
the poor and brokenhearted sinner. He looks down at him and says,
I'm not like that. I'm not like that. I'm better
than that man. I'm not like that. This man had built up a huge
war chest of human merit and that was his treasure. We know
it was his treasure because when the Lord showed him that his
treasures was wickedness, what did he say? Everything that was
gain to me, gain to me, I counted loss for Christ. for whom I have
suffered the loss of everything, and count it done, that I may
win Christ, and be found in him, not having my own righteousness. The Lord Jesus brought Paul to
see and acknowledge that all his religion, before the Lord
revealed himself to him, was a treasure of wickedness, and
would not profit him anything. I would say, brothers and sisters,
really, really, as far as the sinfulness of wickedness is concerned,
religious wickedness is probably worse than open and profound
wickedness. The Lord speaks of it more when He was here, doesn't
He? Another example of this treasure of wickedness, a man talks about
it a lot. If a man has trust in himself
that he's righteous, he despises the poor and broken-hearted children
of God. He's got his own confidence,
his own treasures, his own merits, his own righteousness. He talks
about it when he gets in a pinch. He'll trust it. If you've got
money in the bank, you trust it. If you've got a lot of money,
you trust it. You can't have it. Just get in a pinch. What
do you think? I don't have to worry about it. I've got money
in the bank. When men get in a pinch, they run to these treasures
and put their trust in them. The Lord Jesus told about when
we stood before Him at the judgment. And many will say to me in that
day, have we not cast out devils? Have we not preached in your
name? Have we not done many wonderful miracles, works in your name? Why were they saying that? They
were in a pinch. They were in a pinch, boy, in that day. Boy,
there's coming a day that's going to reveal what a man's trusting
in, who a man's trusting in. That was the great day when God
called everybody up to give account of themselves. I mean, now. It's
come you blessed of my father or depart from me you cursed.
Now it's heaven or hell. Now it's life eternal or death
forevermore. They were in a pinch and where
did they run? To the treasures. The treasures,
but it was treasures of wickedness. You workers of iniquity, depart
from me. Can you imagine the surprise?
They went to write a check and it bounced. They went to the
teller and they say, ìYou have no treasures here.î They profit
men nothing in the day of wrath. Treasures that profit men nothing. ìI will declare thy righteousness,î
the Lord said, ìin thy works.î ìIíll declare it.î ìFor they
shall not profit thee.î So thatís my first point. Sure, people
trust in riches. Sure, people trust in power in
their position. Sure, they use it for wicked
ends. It won't profit them. But I tell you, there's a religious
self-confidence that men store up and they trust in it. And
it won't profit them either, not in the dead. We see from
our text that if one is delivered from death, then righteousness
is required. But righteousness delivereth
from death. And nothing is said about anything
else but righteousness will deliver from death. Righteousness is
required if we are to be delivered from death. There are many deaths
in the Scripture. There is a death, a spiritual
death. Dead in trespasses and sins. Boy, that's an awful death, ain't
it? Man dies like he's born and dies like he lives. Death will
swallow him up. Dead and trespasses in sin. There's
a physical death. In Adam all die. It's appointed
unto men once to die. That's an awful death. We all
have that appointment. And here's the most terrible
death, brothers and sisters. There's that second death. Death
and hell. were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death from
which there's no deliverance, there is no remedy from this
death. I tell you, I want this righteousness,
don't you? Nothing but righteousness will
deliver us from death. The Bible says the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God, so it's obvious that
God requires righteousness if a person is going to be delivered
from death. If righteousness is required,
then that eliminates the open and profane. You've got atheists
and you've got men who live an open and profane life and they
say, well, at least I'm not like those hypocrites up there at
the church. What's that going to help you? If their religion
won't save them, you think your open and profane-ness is going
to save you? Go ahead and brag if you will,
but you're just as damned as the hypocrite. If righteousness
is required of God, it's awful. Your filthy mouth don't possess
it. Your atheistic heart doesn't possess it. There are whole families
who live and die who have never called upon the Lord. You go
to the cemeteries and sometimes you see whole families. There's
the grandpa, there's the sons, and there's the grandsons. And
every one of them died an open and profane sin. And Jeremiah
said, Lord, pour out your fury upon the heathen that know thee
not and upon the families of those who call not upon thy name. The open and profane sin, the
sinner. I tell you somebody else, this
cuts off too. If God requires righteousness delivered from
death, this cuts off the mere religionist to have a form of
righteousness, but they deny the power of God. They profess
to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable and
disobedient, and to every good work, reprobate. And the Lord Jesus identified
these people. He said they're talkers. They
draw near to me with their lips, with their mouth, their words.
They talk about God. They talk about Jesus. They talk
about heaven. But their hearts are far from
me. They're full of talk, but they
have no heart faith. They have no heart reverence.
They have no heart repentance. They have no heart love. It's
a show. It's a put on. They don't have
the righteousness required to deliver from death. We see them
all around us, don't we? And they can deceive us. They
can deceive us, but they can't deceive the Lord, the wise Lord. He said, I know you. I know your
hearts. I know you don't have the love
of God there. You're putting on a show. You're talkers. You've
deceived others, and you've deceived yourself. But he said, you ain't
going to deceive me. I tell you, people can flatter us. Things
flatter me. Boy, people start flattering
me and it just shuts my mouth. I just can't help it. I'm just
that way. Nicodemus came to the Lord Jesus and he said, Lord,
he said, Master, we know that your teacher come from God. Boy,
that just exposed those Pharisees to him. We know that you come
from God. No man can do these miracles
that you're doing except God be with him. Boy, if I stepped
out of this pulpit and some false religions come up to me and say,
Bruce, I know God is with you. Boy, I know God has sent you.
You know what I say? Boy, I appreciate that. Man,
I'm just so glad you recognize me for what I am, who I am. You
know, you can't flatter Jesus Christ. Nicodemus tried to flatter
him. He looked right at the eye of
Nicodemus and he said, listen, Except you're born again, you
cannot see and you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Don't
flatter me. Don't draw near to me with your
lips. Your heart is far from me. And until you're born again,
you cannot worship me. You cannot love me. You cannot
possess this righteousness that will deliver you from Well, if
this righteousness is required to deliver from death, this cuts
off that group of people that we were just talking about, these
scribes and these pharisees. Those people that live the strictest
lifestyle of their day. If you had to think of a denomination
or a group of people who lived the strictest lifestyle of anybody
you know today, who would it be? We have a lot of pilgrim
holiness up where I'm from. They do appear holy. I appreciate
the way they dress. I appreciate their separated
lifestyle. But you know something? These
Pharisees would put them to shame. And yet the Lord Jesus said,
if your righteousness does not exceed the righteousness of the
scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no wise enter the kingdom
of heaven. God requires a righteousness that delivers from death, but
that's not it. That's not it. The majority of
the people go through this life and they give no thought to the
fact that God requires us to have righteousness before He
will accept us. They give no thought to the fact
that they cannot enter heaven without a righteousness which
God requires. They profess a hope of heaven,
but it's a hope without reason. And a hope without reason is
nothing but presumption. Our Lord Jesus talked about a
king who made a marriage for his son and sent his servant
out and said, ìAll things are ready. Come to this marriage.î
Some of them made light. Some of them got mad, despitefully
used the servant. Some killed the servant. The
Lord was angry with them and slew them and said, ìYou go out
into the highways. You go out and invite the good
and the bad and bring them in.î And the wedding was furnished. And the most amazing thing happened.
Everything was going fine until the king come in to see the guests.
And the first one he saw was a man who did not have a wedding
garment on. Now, I don't think we should
be naive enough to think that man was naked. I imagine he had
on a garment, probably a nice garment in his own eyes, but
it was not a wedding garment. He should have given some thought,
brothers and sisters. Not just that I'm going to the
wedding, but how must I be dressed when I get there? He didn't think
this thing through. And the king came in and said,
why are you in here without having this wedding garment? He was found out. And you know
what happened to him? They bound him hand and foot
and cast him into outer darkness and he began to weep and gnash
his teeth. God requires a righteousness. And only righteousness delivers
us from death. Now, what is this righteousness?
What is it? Riches profiteth not in the day
of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. I want to make this
just as easy as I can. I want to make this where a baby,
a little child tonight, who has some understanding in his mind,
can at least lay hold of this. This righteousness which delivers
from death resides in one person outside of ourselves. Now I want to show you that.
Look in Isaiah chapter 45. Isaiah chapter 45. Look in verse 21.
Isaiah chapter 45 and verse 21. I want you to look here who's
speaking. Isaiah 45, 21. Tell ye and bring them near,
yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time?
Have not I the Lord, and there is no God else beside me, a just
God and a Savior? There is none beside me. Look
unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I
am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word's
gone out of my mouth, in righteousness. And shall not return void that
unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely
shall one say, And the Lord have I righteousness and strength. And even to him shall men come,
and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. And the
Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory. Now we know from this text who
is speaking. because he's called here a just
God and a Savior. Now, who is the Savior? If you
go over to the New Testament, there's no doubt, time and time
again, that's Jesus of Nazareth. That's the Son of Mary, the Son
of God. Unto you is born a Savior. Jesus the Savior is the Incarnate
God. God, our Savior. And here in verse 23, we know
this is talking about the Lord Jesus because he said, I've sworn
by myself, the word has gone out of my mouth and righteousness
that unto me, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess. Now, who is that? If we go to
Philippians chapter two, we read this, being found in fashion
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death,
even the death of the cross. Wherefore God has highly exalted
him, and given him a name that is above every name. At the name
of Jesus every knee shall bow." This is Jesus speaking! Jesus
the Incarnate God! And He said, surely they are
going to say, In the Lord! have our righteousness and strength. He is speaking of Himself. He
is speaking of Himself. Christ the Lord in the Lord have
our righteousness and strength. Every tongue is going to bow
and say He is Lord to the glory of God. Jesus of Nazareth is
the Lord. He was Lord when He was conceived
and He was Lord when He was born. Unto you is born in the city
of David a Savior which is Christ The Lord. And after living 33
and a half years in this world, never sinning, going about doing
all that was good, perfectly obedient to His Father in everything,
satisfying law and satisfying justice, and when He says it's
finished upon the cross, who did Paul say that was? That's
the Lord of glory. That's the Lord of glory. That's
God the Savior. The first man is of the earth
earthy, the second man is the Lord from heaven. And brothers and sisters, what
I'm saying is this, this righteousness that delivers from death resides
alone in this Lord. It's not based upon anything.
It's His doing, His perfect obedience from the cradle to the grave.
That is the righteousness that delivers from death. You'll find it no place else
but in Him. Jesus Christ, the Son of Mary,
the Son of God, He brought it in. He worked it out. He established
it. It is His own obedience. By one man's disobedience, many
were made sinners. So by the obedience of one, shall
many be made righteousness. This righteousness resides in
Him to this very day. But it's in Him alone. It's in
Him alone. He didn't work it out, He didn't
establish it for Himself, but for poor bankrupt sinners who
are filling the shame of their own nakedness. And they look
for Him, and they look to Him to be saved by this righteous. There's no merit in anybody but
Jesus Christ. But there's enough merit in Him
and more. to save wretches like us, then
there is sin in us to damn us. I feel it, don't you? But you
know what I do? The same thing you do. I look
out of myself to one who has merit to save me. I look to Him. And this word look means you
turn. You turn from self. From self-salvation. Whatever
treasures you turn from it is done. And when you turn, you
turn to Him. And as soon as you turn to Him,
you have this righteousness. It means to believe. Abraham
believed God and so do I. It means to trust in whom you
also trusted. And as soon as you look, turn
your guilty soul, turn the eyes of your guilty soul to Him. And
as soon as you do, You'll see merit in Him. You'll see obedience
in Him. You'll see a righteousness in
Him to clothe your shame. And you won't find this merit
in fallen angels or holy angels. You won't find it in sinners,
saved or lost, or in heaven, the spirits of just men made
holy. You won't find it in anybody but Jesus Christ, the Son of
God. It resides in Him alone. And when you have this righteousness,
you'll be subject to no death. It not only delivers from death,
but in the pathway thereof, there is no death. There is no death. No death can abide with this
righteousness. He gives you this righteousness.
And when you have this righteousness, you have life. You say, Bruce,
I'm going to die. Really? Yeah, God's ordained
the dead, I should lie. Are you really going to die?
The Lord Jesus preferred sleep, didn't he? Our friend Lazarus
sleepeth. Lord, if he sleepeth, he's dead. If I have to speak
your language to make you understand, he's dead. But he that liveth
and believeth in me shall never die. Why? In the pathway of this
righteousness, there is no death. You have this righteousness,
brothers and sisters. You don't need to fear death.
There is no death in the pathway of this righteousness. Only life.
Only life. We can't merit it. We can't pray
it down. We can't read enough, serve enough.
The only way to have it is to look. Spurgeon said a baby can
look. I'm seeing every one of you without
any effort at all. Maybe when we look without any
effort of trying to look, maybe that's when we'll see. Oh, I'm
trying hard to look and you can't see, can you? Look! Look just as you're looking to
me. Look to Him coming down from heaven. There's righteousness
coming down from heaven. There's righteousness living
in this world of sin and devil, being tempted and suffering.
There's righteousness hanging on the cross saying, My God,
My God, why have you forsaken me? There's righteousness in
the tomb. There's righteousness risen and exalted at the right
hand of God. This is They that receive abundance of
grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus
Christ. There's no death in the pathway
of this righteousness. Surely shall one say in the Lord
by righteousness and strength. Boy, some of you have been going
through some tough trials, haven't you? Some of you have been on
the way for a long time. Man, you've been tried sore.
You've bore some crosses and you've had some losses. You know
what it is to dwell in this wretched, sorry, weak, vile flesh. It's giving you more trouble
than hell itself has. Why hasn't it overcome you? Why
hasn't it got you down? In the Lord, I have righteousness
and strength. Man, you've faced a frowning
world that hates you because you love Him, but it hasn't got
you down, has it? You've faced the very gates of
hell, temptations from Satan, and here you are! Aren't you
amazed at yourself? I tell you what else you faced.
You faced God sometime that you perceive He's forsaken you, and
you trust Him anyway. You think He's going to slay
me, but I'll trust Him even though He does. His chastened hand has
almost crushed you, brought you to nothing, and yet here you
are, still on the way, still trusting Him. Why? In the Lord
Jesus Christ, I have righteousness and strength. Boy, when you believe
in Him for your righteousness, it not only clothes you and justifies
you, remits all your sins, gives you life, but you live in the
strength of it. That's why you're still on the
way. That's why you're called the strong people. Be strong
in the Lord. I hear the Savior say, Thy strength
indeed is small. That's a good song, but it could
be better. He should have said, Thy strength indeed is ought.
without strength, child of weakness, watch and pray. Find in me thine
all in all. That's when we're strong. We
sing about it, don't we? Jesus, thy blood and righteousness,
my beauty art, my glorious dress. Oh, that makes me strong. Let
death come. It doesn't matter. Death has
nothing to do with me. Jesus thy blood and righteousness
my beauty are, my glorious dress, misflaming worlds, in these arrayed
with joy shall I lift up my head. Let the world be set on fire
and let God do it and burn everything up and melt the elements with
joy shall I lift up. Why? I am dressed in beauty,
not my own. Faultless to stand before the
throne. He is righteousness. He is righteousness. He shall present you faultless.
He is not only able to keep you from falling, but He will present
you faultless. before the presence of His glory. He gave Himself for the church.
He loved her and gave Himself that He might present her to
Himself, a glorious church. And listen to this, not having
fault, not having spot, not having wrinkle or any such thing. How
holy do you have to be to go to heaven? How holy do we have
to be to stand before God to be accepted without any fault? When God looks at us with all
seeing eyes, He said, I see nothing in them but righteousness. Where do we get that righteousness?
His Son, His Son, the King. He's worked it out. He's established
it, not for Himself, but for the ungodly. And I love what
he says here in our text that we just took. He says, surely
shall one say, and he says this, he says, I swear to it, I have
sworn by myself, surely shall one say, in the Lord have I righteous. In the Lord have I strength.
In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and they
shall glory. It would have been enough if
God said, this is what they're going to say. They're going to
be justified and they're going to glory. They'll never be ashamed.
He could have said that, but he condescends to our poor weakness,
even our unbelief. And he said, listen, y'all, I
swear by myself, you're going to say this. You're going to
say in the Lord Jesus I have right and I'm going to bear witness
to it. And you're going to be justified. And you're never going
to be ashamed and put to shame. I swear to it. Is that enough? And the word's gone out of my
mouth. Boy, he's done said it now. I wish he hadn't said that.
If he ever come to that point, just for the sake of argument,
it's too late now. It's gone out of his mouth in
righteousness. And it's never going to return.
Never going to return. What? They're going to say, in
the Lord Jesus, I have righteousness. And brothers and sisters, having
that, you're delivered from all kinds of death. Death has nothing
else to do with you. And in the pathway of this righteousness,
not only life, but there is no death. No death. Oh, that's wonderful. Good preaching, Bruce. That is
good preaching. Man, I thought you did a good
job preaching. Oh, the Lord bless. Thank you,
Todd. Thank you, Lantana Grace Church.
God bless you. Thank you, Pastor.