Turn with me to Proverbs chapter
20. Proverbs 20. I'd like to look at verses 2
and 3 of Proverbs chapter 20. The fear of a king is as the
roaring of a lion. Whoso provoketh him to anger
sinneth against his own soul. It is an honor for a man to cease
from strife, but every fool will be meddling." It is the good pleasure and will
of Almighty God to set up in this world authority. All magistrates, all positions
of leadership, Almighty God has set this up for the good of God's
people. In fact, the Apostle Paul told
Timothy in Timothy 2, 1-3, I exhort, I desire. Therefore, that first of all
supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made
for all men, for kings, and for all that are in authority that
we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable
in the sight of God our Savior. All authority is set up as a
picture, as a type, as a shadow, an example of the Lord God Himself
who is all authority. Every time we consider authority,
a police officer, whoever, What that's saying is this, God Almighty
is in control. God is in authority. Now there's two things that I
want us to consider from this passage this morning. First of
all, the penalty for displeasing authority. The penalty. And obviously the
The king that's spoken of here, the fear of a king, is a picture
of Almighty God and the penalty of angering Him, being under
the wrath of the Lord Himself. And secondly, here's my second
consideration, the honor that is enjoyed for peace. where peace reigns and reconciliation
has been made and submissiveness is found to God's authority. Now, I want us to consider first
the fear or the respect that is due to authority. Hold your place right there.
Just turn with me to Romans 13. Romans 13. Verses 1 to 4, I'm sorry, Romans
13. Romans 13, 1, let every soul
be subject unto the higher powers. For there's no power but of God.
The powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth
the power, Resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist
shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to
good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid
of the power? Do that which is good, and thou
shalt have praise of the same. For he is the minister of God
to thee for good. But if thou do that which is
evil, be afraid. For he beareth not the sword
in vain, for he is the minister of God, a revenger, to execute
wrath upon him that doeth evil." Now, I want us to consider this
first point. Consider, ultimately, the penalty
of being under the wrath of God, of being Having God angry, let me say
it like that. The fear, Proverbs 2, 2, I'm
sorry, Proverbs 20, verse 2. The fear, the terror of the king
is as the roaring of a lion. Who so provoketh him to anger,
sinneth against his own soul. That is, is liable to the penalty
of his life. It's man's fault. If man angers God, It's man's
fault. Now, I realize that there's a
lot of instances that we can give, humanly speaking, about
things that we do and things that men do in this world and
anger the authorities, but let's just go right to the heart of
this passage of Scripture. If we don't see the Lord, if
we don't see Christ, if we don't see the glory of God in this,
then, again, we've missed it. Man, as he is born in Adam, has
provoked God to anger. That's the bottom line. Man has
crossed the line. When Almighty God told Adam,
in the day that you eat, you're going to die. Adam ate, and he
died spiritually. Here's the problem. All have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. I just, again,
you don't have to, just hold your place. I'm gonna just read
Genesis 6, Genesis 6, 5 again. Listen to the wording. Genesis
6, 5. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Now you listen to these next
words. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth,
and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy
man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man
and beast, the creeping things, the fowls of the air, for it
repenteth me that I have made them. Because of man's evil. Thoughts, evil. Actions, evil. Almighty God said, because of
man's evil, I'm going to destroy everything. Man, beasts, creeping
things, fowls of the air. There is a high cost in man's
rebellion. The penalty for angering God
is death. That's the bottom line. Man has angered God. And that anger is going to be
satisfied. Justice is going to be satisfied. Ezekiel 18, 4, Behold, all souls
are mine, as the soul of the Father, so also the soul of the
Son is mine. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. Every sin is going to have judgment
poured out upon it. Either in you or in a substitute. One or the other. One or the
other. But I'm telling you, God is just. Man thinks that God
is just going to sweep his sins under the rug and it's not a
big deal. It's a big deal. It is a big deal. But when it
comes to bringing man's offense to one point, Just coming down
to what is the point of offense. Here it is. It's the failure
to believe, to bow to the Lord Jesus Christ. 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. abided on Him. You know, the Lord commissioned
His disciples, Mark 16, 15 and 16, go ye into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved. And he that believeth not shall
be damned. It is offensive to Almighty God
The King of Kings has been provoked to anger because of man's rebellion
against the Son. To not honor the Son. John 5.23,
He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father that
hath sent him. And those that honor not the
Son. Now what does that mean? He that
honoreth not the Son. Let me tell you exactly what
it means. For a man to describe or ascribe, let me say it, not
describe, ascribe, his salvation to his own work, to his own will,
to his own power, in the attempt to usurp the honor and the glory
and the praise from the Lord Jesus Christ that is due him.
is to incur the wrath of God. That's the anger. So, that which
is said to provoke God to anger is He that honoreth, not the
Son. A man thinks, well, I'm saved
because I did so and so. I exercised my free will. Let
me tell you something. That angers Almighty God. And the great deception is that
man falsely thinks that somehow he's going to escape the justice
of Almighty God, the God that he's provoked. Now the scripture
sets forth, it says, the fear, the terror of a king, and ultimately
the terror of the king himself, is as the roaring of a lion. Now, when a lion roars, you know,
I got to thinking about that. I've seen, you know, these shows
about Africa and stuff like this and it'll show a lion roaring. I actually looked up on why lions
roar. I thought, you know, maybe do
they roar all the time? Well, there's a reason for it. Here's the first thing I found
out. When a lion roars, He's communicating. He's expressing himself. He's communicating. First of all, he's telling the
other lions within the pride, I'm here. I'm here. That's the first thing. Here's
the second thing. He's warning. of His presence
to any enemy that may be in His territory." I thought, that's
interesting. It's a warning. I'm here. Psalm 11. Psalm 11 verse 4. I'll read this before you turn.
Psalm 11 verse 4. The Lord is in His holy temple,
the Lord's throne is in heaven, His eyes behold, His eyelids
try the children of men." That is, they scrutinize, they test,
they prove. For all that have resisted Almighty
God's commandment to honor the Son and are subject to the terror,
the dread, the horror of God's justice in failing to bow to
the Son. And when I say bow to the Son,
I don't want to overqualify something, but I want you to understand
what I mean when I'm saying failure to bow to the Son. I'm not saying,
somebody says, well now, the Lord offered me salvation. And
I accepted it. And because I accepted it, therefore,
I have bowed to the Son. No, sir. We bow to the Son when
we say this, I cannot. I have no power in myself. I have no ability in myself.
And if Almighty God doesn't do something for me that I cannot
do for myself, I'm hopelessly lost. The Lord said, without me you
can do nothing. To bow to the Son is to say,
Lord, salvation is of you. That's what I'm talking about.
Almighty God sees and knows that the fear of a king is as the
roaring of a lion. Here's the terror of the king
God sees. A lion roars, warning of his
presence. to any enemy that's in his territory. Well, whose territory are we
in? The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Psalm 139,
David said, If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. If I
make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. Listen to Jeremiah
23, 24. Can any hide himself in secret
places that I shall not see him, saith the Lord? Do not I fill
heaven and earth, saith the Lord? God's Word has promised that
the king who has been provoked sees and knows the works of men. And Almighty God is just in dealing
with sin. But here's the second thing,
or third thing I found out about a lion's roar. It's a promise of death. When
a lion roars, has cornered his enemy, concluded that he is an
enemy, that lion is promising you something. Men ignorantly, now listen, hear
me well. Men ignorantly mock the sure
declaration of God's judgment. God's Word declares, in that
Word that shall never pass away, who may abide the day of His
coming, and who shall stand when He appeareth. Psalm 76 7, Thou,
even thou art to be feared, and who may stand in thy sight once
thou art angry. I'm telling you, Almighty God
is just and we treat Him and we think ignorantly so. Man by
nature, by God's grace, the Lord's people have been given a heart
to fear Him, respect Him. But man by nature thinks that
Almighty God is just going to sweep this under the table. It's
going to be okay. It's not going to be no big deal. How unwise! Would it be to quarrel
or to provoke a lion? Now you think about this. You're
out here in his territory. You're out here in Africa somewhere. And there's a lion. And you're
going to take a stick. I'm going to take a stick to
you and provoke you. And that lion looks at you and
roars. Now let me ask you something. What do you think is going to
happen? You think He's just going to understand and just say, well,
I know you didn't mean it. But when it comes to God Almighty
who is just and must deal justly, I'm a just God and a Savior. And those that provoke Him to
anger by refusing to bow to the Son? This is my beloved Son in
whom I'm well pleased. You hear Him. And for a man to
say, Jim, I'm not going to hear that. I'm not going to hear that
message. No. I don't believe that salvation
is all of grace. I think it takes me and the Lord. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,
and you perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but
a little." Kiss the Son. Bow to the Son. Hear me well. Listen. May the Lord give us
hearts this morning, you know. Those that provoke God Almighty,
do it to their own demise. The Scripture says they sin against
their own soul. But now I want you to look at
verse 3, that's the horror. But verse 3, it is an honor for
a man to cease from strife, but every fool will be meddling. It's an honor, it's glorious.
Let me give you some good news here. You know, isn't it always
wonderful? You hear the bad news because
God Almighty has declared the bad news. And we're responsible
as preachers of the gospel. You be honest with me. Don't
lie to people. Don't tell them that everything's
okay and it's all going to be fine and we're all working for
the same thing and we're all going to be in heaven and God
is too loving to put anybody in hell. I'm telling you, God's
just. But it is glorious, it's an honor
for a man to cease to rest from strife, from controversy. Man
by nature has provoked God. There's no doubt about it. But
it is glorious to be able to rest from that strife. Man's born in a state of strife. A state of terror, dread, horror. And that state of alienation
because of rebellion before God, God outside of a mediator is
going to deal with it. And the end result of that strife
is going to be man's destruction. Woe unto him that striveth with
his maker. The amazing thing, the latter
part of that right there, every fool, every fool. It's an honor
for a man to cease from strife, but every fool will be meddling. What that word meddling right
there means? Gonna have the last word. Gonna
have the last word. I'm not gonna tell you which
one of my kids it was. I got four. But I can tell you
this, I was there. I watched this. One of my kids
one day, I kind of walked in on it and
realized that Linda was dealing with one of them. She spanked
one of the kids. And after she spanked him, as
she was spanking him, the child was screaming. And so she said,
now I want you to stop. You can cry, but you're going
to cry softly. you're not going to cry in rebellion against me
punishing you. So after she spanked him again
because they wouldn't quit crying loudly and then after the second
spanking and here's where this word meddling comes in to get
the last word in. After the second spanking she
said now you go in here and wash your face straighten up and That
child got up off that bed and was walking in there and mumbled
something. She said, come here. Lay down
here. And whipped that child again.
She said, now I'm going to tell you something. You're not going
to have the last word. You're going to do what I say,
when I say, and you're going to be submissive to it. And buddy,
after that third whipping, they didn't say another word. I thought,
good for you. Maybe you picked up something
this time. It's an honor for a man to cease
from strife. But every fool is going to try
to get the last word in. Do you think that Almighty God
is going to let a rebel have the last word? When Almighty God says, depart
from Me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you, bind them hand
and foot and cast them out. Almighty God is going to have
mercy on whom He will have mercy. John 17.1, consider it's an honor,
it's glorious for a man to cease from strife. But let me tell
you who's going to get the glory for it. It's glorious. But let
me tell you who's going to get the honor. It's an honor for
a man. It's glorious for a man. Who's going to get the honor
and the glory? John 17.1, these words spake Jesus and lifted
up His eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify
Thy Son. that thy son may also glorify
thee." Now, as God Almighty, the Lord Jesus Christ, there
was no glory given unto the Lord Jesus Christ as God, but as being
the mediator between God and men, the Lord Himself asked the
Father in submission to Him who was the servant of Jehovah, who
humbled himself and made himself of no reputation, and prayed
unto the Father and said, Glorify thy Son, that thy Son may glorify
thee. Glorify me now. He was going
to the cross, and here was the mediator himself saying, Father,
sustain me, keep me. endure me through that which
I shall do, obediently, and in that which I do, glorifying You, may I be found to be that which
You have sent me into this world to accomplish." He prayed that
the Father would be glorified. for the Father's virtues of His
love and righteousness and mercy and truth to His people. Psalm
85 10 says, Mercy and truth are kissed, I'm sorry, are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Where did mercy and truth, righteousness
and peace kiss each other? At the cross. Where Almighty
God was glorified. where the Father and the Son
were both glorified and the sheep were gloriously, graciously,
mercifully redeemed. There, at the cross, strife ceased. Almighty God foresaw the ceasing
of that strife eternally. He saw the Lamb eternally slain,
but He was going to have to die. He had to lay down His life.
Colossians 1. I'll wrap this up. Colossians
chapter 1, verses 19 to 23. Colossians 1,
19. For it pleased the Father that
in Him should all fullness dwell. And having made peace through
the blood of His cross by Him to reconcile all things unto
Himself, by Him I say, whether they be things in earth or things
in heaven, and you that were sometime alienated and enemies
in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in
the body of His flesh through death to present you holy, unblameable,
unreprovable in his sight. If you continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope
of the gospel, which ye have heard, which was preached to
every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, have
made a minister." The ceasing of strife is never attributed
to the glory of man. It didn't start with man. It's
not due man. He was eternally purposed by
God Almighty before the foundation of the world. God purposed to
have mercy and compassion on whomsoever He would. He chose
a people before a sinner ever fell, before a sinner was ever
created, before man was created. God Almighty chose a people and
place them in the safest place that they would ever be, the
Lord Jesus Christ, the surety of the sheep, who eternally betrothed
Himself to them, their husband, they being His wife, and concerning
the evidence that the Lord has caused the strife. Because of
sin, to cease between himself and his people, here is the evidence
that God has caused the strife to cease, he died. He laid down his life for the
sheep. And then according to God's everlasting
covenant of grace, the Holy Spirit, in power, when it pleases God,
comes, has them under the sound of the gospel, They hear of man's
rebellion, they hear of Almighty God who is just, but they hear
of Almighty God who is pleased to save sinners, to show mercy
and compassion on whomsoever He will, and the God who has
caused the strife to cease, and the honor The glory of the ceasing
of that strife. And they realized only God could
cause strife between Himself and a rebel to cease. He did
it in the person of His Son. And Almighty God, the Holy Spirit,
gives them a new heart. And they believe it. They believe
it. He gives them faith to believe. And they realize of themselves,
I couldn't have done this. God had to do something for me.
The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion. The terror
of a king is as a roar. It's a sure promise of judgment. But it is an honor, it's glorious
for a man to cease from strife. That is to have reconciliation
with God wrought by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. May
the Lord bless these words to our heart. May they be a comfort
to God's people for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's take a break.