Righteous lips are the delight
of kings and they love him that speaketh right Now if you look again at verses
10 and 12 of this chapter you see a theme and in also verse
14 Remember verse 10 a divine sentence is in the lips of the
king his mouth transgresseth not in judgment and Verse 12
it is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness for the
throne is established by righteousness Whatever throne it is. It may
not be a righteous throne in the sense of practical The behavior
of the king on this earth, but it was established by him who
is righteous And he'll use it for his righteousness and his
justice and his judgment And so you see now verse 13, righteous
lips are the delight of kings. So we see in verses 10 and 12
that kings themselves are to speak and to do righteously.
That's what they're given authority to do. And a true king will,
a true king will do that. But most importantly, we saw
that there's only one true king, just one. Now in our text we
see that not only does a true king do and speak righteousness,
but he loves those that do. He loves those that do. The earthly
application of all of these is pretty clear. We've seen in each
case, you know, the earthly application. And that's pretty clear here,
obviously if a king Gets bad information, then he's
gonna make bad judgments So he loves those that tell the truth
the Lord uses these clear principles that are true in everyday life
to teach us spiritual lessons spiritual Truths that can only
be rightly understood if he gives us light We can understand and
see in our head The the application of this in in
our lives, but We'll only see the spiritual truth of it if
the Lord does something that our hearts. He's got to reveal
it to our hearts an earthly king in all of his human limitations
all of his human fallibility Relies on good and accurate reporting
from his servants from his confidants from his advisors and Well as
he relies also on truthful accounts from witnesses in a potentially
criminal case or In disputes between the subjects of his kingdom
that he has to settle He needs the right information. He needs
to know what happened if he's gonna make a judgment on it if
he's gonna settle these matters with wisdom and justice He needs
that that accurate information, and that's the earthly Lesson
here, but but What's the end result of that and we'll ask
this question with regard to the spiritual application of
this? What is the end result of it?
Well, it's that all of the subjects of the king can be confident
that justice will be served for them and that law and order will
be maintained. And that's important, and I'm
thankful to the Lord for those who keep law and order. Even
with as much corruption as there is in the political circles of
our country and every country, and even in law enforcement,
there's some corruption. But though that be true, Where
would we be without law and order? You get little glimpses of it
now and then, don't you? It ain't good. I don't want that. I thank the Lord for them, generally
speaking, of course. And what a blessing it is. But
the Lord Jesus Christ, the one King of Kings, There's just one
of those but listen to what Paul called him in 1st Timothy 6 15
I remembered this this word and this verse and And he makes it
pretty clear here when I say there's just one true king. That's
what Paul said 1st Timothy 6 15 and He calls him the blessed
and only potentate the word potentate means a royal ruler With great authority a ruler
with great authority The blessed and only potentate
the king of kings and lord of lords, that's what Paul called
him 1st Timothy 615 he does not have any limitations He does
not have any fallibility. He does not have any shortcomings
he He is the perfect king, the all-wise king, the all-powerful
king, with all authority. He doesn't need any advisors
of any kind, no counselors. He asked the question, who's
going to be my counselor? He is the counselor himself. So how does our text apply to
Christ, then, if he has none of that? The Lord Jesus doesn't
need anyone to tell him the truth, but he uses men to tell his truth
to his subjects, and so the same truth in our text applies. He
delights in those that tell the truth for a different reason.
An earthly king delights in that because it's necessary in order
to make decisions, to make rulings on things, to make judgments
on things. The Lord Jesus sends these messengers because he has
made righteous judgments, and he wants everybody to know them.
And they're gonna know them. They're going to. He doesn't delight in those who
speak the truth because he needs to hear the truth, but because
you need to hear it. Think about that for a second.
Delights in those that tell the truth just like earthly kings
do But not because he needs to know it, but you need to know
it. I need to know it He doesn't receive truth he dispenses
truth But in both cases the one who tells it is a delight Whoever
tells it whether you need it, or you're the one telling it
the one who is the truth and who is Sending out the message
of truth the one who tells it is delight, and he'll be loved
by God and me Not very many men, but the ones that count The ones that count will love
him And as I always say this is not just preachers, but but
God does give preachers and teachers pastors and for this, but he
also gives parents for this. He raises up a mom and dad to
tell the truth and delights in that. He raises up witnesses
for his son, witnesses of his gospel, those who tell forth
the glories, the glorious gospel of the blessed God. He says he
committed to our trust. And when it's told now, he delights.
He loves those that tell it. And he raises them up that he
might delight in them. He doesn't find people like that.
He makes people like that. He's not looking around for somebody
truthful so he can use them. He raises up those who are truthful
and gives them his truth and holds them up in the telling
of it. He said, Lord, I'm with you always. You go tell everybody
everything I've told you, and I'm with you. They're not holy in themselves,
but they're given a holy message. They're not reliable in themselves,
but they have a message upon which you can rest your eternal
soul. They have no authority of their
own. but they have a message straight
from the throne of God. And what is the end result? All of the subjects of the king
know that God is just and justifies sinners. They all know that. All of his subjects do. If they
don't, they're going to. They know that the Lord is absolutely
sovereign And he doeth according to his will in the armies of
heaven and among the inhabitants of this earth, and that none
can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? And all
of his subjects know that because he sent his messengers with that
message and they tell it like that. They all do. What's the end result of his
message going out and him having Men that tell the truth, that
speak rightly, as our text puts it, all of his servants know
that he does all things well. Because they speak right, everybody
that hears them with ears of faith know that God is right,
that he's God. And beside him, there's none
else. They know who God is. when his servants speak right,
because those he sends do speak right, and they know that his
gospel of his son is faithful and true. They know that they
can trust him. When he says, I will, I will,
I will, they know that he will. When he says, I did, they know
he did. When he says he obtained eternal
redemption for his people, they know that he did. They know that God sent his son
to be the propitiation for our sins. And so they know that the
lies of anti-Christ religion are just that, lies. They know
lies when they hear them, don't they? Why? Because God's messengers
speak that which is right. And they, just as God who sends
them, they delight in them that speak right. They know that they
can safely delight in the successful Savior, because God himself delights
in him. You know, it's hard to even,
with men anymore, you start liking somebody, you know, you start
delighting in somebody, in the words of our text, you say, boy,
that's a great person, and then you find out they're not. Real
quick. Well. You can delight in him
and not worry about that because God delights in him. The king
delights in him. And those who tell his gospel,
they delight in them too. Compare our text to this passage
I'm about to read. Listen to the text again. Let
me read it to you. Righteous lips are the delight
of kings. And they love him that speaks
right. And remember all of these proverbs right here together
that speak concerning kings. They're talking about earthly
matters, but so that we will understand spiritual truth about
the king. Notice that these kings are,
boy, they're righteous, aren't they? Well, we know that's not
true of earthly kings. It's talking about the king of
kings, ultimately. Though there's earthly application
to these things. We know who it's talking about.
So think about that. Those who speak right. are the
delight of kings and the kings love them listen to this second
corinthians two fourteen now thanks be unto god which always
causes us to triumph in christ now as we read on in this passage
you're going to know that what paul is talking about is is the
preaching of the gospel when paul and others who preach the
gospel when they did It's a win, he said. It's always a win. It's
a triumph. It's a victory. So I want you
to notice these key words. Why don't you turn over there?
We've got 10 minutes. 2 Corinthians 2, verse 14. I think this will stay with you
better if we look at it. 2 Corinthians 2, 14. 2nd Corinthians 2 14 now thanks
be unto God which always causes us To triumph we don't win because
we're better than other men or other So-called preachers or
any of that? We don't win because we're well
prepared though. We ought to be and I hope I am
we don't win because we're strong in the faith or no more than
other people know and We win because he causes it. Never miss
just the simple key words in scripture that just boil the
truth down now. He causes us to triumph and so
we triumph. Here's what a win is. What does
it mean to win? Well, we make manifest the savor
of his knowledge by us in every place. He makes his knowledge
manifest by us. That's how he does it. He's not
gonna speak to you in a dream or a vision. The Ethiopian eunuch
said, how can I understand what God wrote unless some man should
guide me? Because that's how God does it. Look, here's what a win is. Verse
15, for we are unto God, the King delights. We're unto God,
a sweet savor of Christ. We are, that's why he loves us.
And we're a sweet savor of Christ, unto him because he loves us. He loves us, so he makes us a
sweet savor of Christ when we preach. And when we do that,
he loves us because we did it. That's my God now. His love is
both the cause and the effect. You name me one other thing in
this world that is both cause and effect, but the love of God. To the one, we are the saver
of death unto death, and to the other, the saver of life unto
life. We know that. We know not everybody's gonna
believe. And who is sufficient for these
things? Life and death hangs in the balance this morning. Your soul hangs in the balance
and mine too. For we are not as many which
corrupt the word of God, but as of Here's our text again. We tell it right. We tell it
right. Sincerity. By God's grace, we
don't use enticing words of man's wisdom, but we speak by the power
of God. Because he speaks through his
servants, but as of God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ. He causes it. Everybody wins
that knows him and loves him and believes on him and It's
a triumph whether you do or not because to God It's a sweet-smelling
savor when Christ is preached That's just clear isn't it That's
our text I Didn't even have to expound it that I God did it
for us. I The Lord preached it for us,
didn't he? And what a happy, happy arrangement this is. What
a happy arrangement, when the king sends a messenger, and by
the grace and power of that king, that messenger tells it right,
and everybody delights, you and God, and me. What a happy arrangement. God causes it, God delights in
it, And Christ is the subject of it. And may it ever be so
in this place. Amen.