The title of the lesson this
morning is Perfect Judgment. Proverbs 16, 10, a divine sentence
is in the lips of the king. His mouth transgresseth not in
judgment. Now there are several ways to
understand this verse, and we'll just eliminate one of them right
off the bat, which is obviously not something that could be true. One of the ways to understand
this is not that everyone who has ever been king or ever will
be king has had perfect judgment or will have perfect judgment.
We know that's not right. But what's important to understand
is we know that not because it's logical. We know that because
of what God said. The standard is not our human
logic. We understand that it can't be. No, we know from God's
word that it can't be that way. We know that kings are not perfect
from the word of God, and so we learn that from him. And that's
just not true, is it? That just because you have that
title of a king, that a divine sentence is in your lips, or
that your mouth transgresseth not in judgment. But there are
a few other ways to understand this. One way that this is true
is that once someone is king, if there is a king, his word
is law. The true concept of king, and
remember that God arranged that his people, Israel, his chosen
earthly people, be ruled by judges that he appointed like Samson
and Gideon and men like that. And Israel demanded a king. They
said, we want to be like all the other nations and have a
king. And they ended up with Saul. And the Lord told them
before he ever made Saul king that they would regret it. And
they did. Saul was a disaster. but that's
just remembering that, all of course in God's purpose, all
of it in God's purpose, good kings, bad kings, he sets up
one, he puts down another, and he accomplishes his divine will
in all of it. No question about that, and we're
comforted by that. But the true concept of king,
what it means to be king is that your word is law. Whatever you
say, there's no, in a kingdom, there's no checks and balances,
there's no democracy, there's no let's talk this out, let's
have a vote. It's whatever the king says,
that's the law now. And so in that sense, his mouth
transgresseth not in judgment because when what you say is
law, just because you said it, then how can you transgress?
The law is what you said. So the king is not accountable
to anyone. That's what that's teaching there. We know that's right from the
scripture. And the spiritual lesson in that is that when God
gives authority, it's to be obeyed. We know that from the scripture,
don't we? Romans, if you wanna turn to Romans chapter 13, I
wanna look at a passage of scripture that's fairly lengthy there,
but you're familiar with it, but I wanna remind us And I want
us to see, I've never seen our text this morning in light of
this passage and vice versa. It's amazing how scripture sheds
light on scripture as we study through the word of God. It just
is so, it's so revealing. Romans 13, one, let every soul
be subject unto the higher powers. Those that have more authority
than you in some area or another. And that's all. It's a complex
thing, isn't it? God gives authority to certain
men in certain areas, in certain realms. There are those who have
civil authority over me that have no authority whatsoever
in my home. You know what I'm saying? That's my home, by God's
decree. But they, in one realm or another,
we may have different degrees of power. I have no civil authority
over anybody. I think I have civil authority
to marry people under the law. That's about it, as far as that
goes. But look at what it said. Let
every soul be subject. There is no power but of God.
It might look like it's not of God. You might think, boy, this
is not of God, but it is. In a sense, it is. It doesn't
mean that person is godly or knows the Lord at all. It doesn't
mean he's not a reprobate. It just means God put him in
authority. You don't have any without God. Nobody does. Whosoever therefore resisteth
the authority, the power, resisteth the ordinance of God in that
sense. It doesn't mean that a ruler can't rule in an evil way, and
you'll be obligated to resist his authority in that. This is
talking generally. It's not identifying any particular
ruler or authority. In general, when God puts somebody
in authority, it's for a reason, and they're to be obeyed. It's
always for a reason. And that they that resist, the
last part of verse two there, the ordinance of God, they that
resist shall receive to themselves damnation. It doesn't mean you're
going to hell. It means condemnation. You're gonna be a foul under
the law. You're gonna be contrary to the
law. For rulers are not a terror to
good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid
of the authority? Will you not have respect for
the authority that God has ordained? Do that which is good, and thou
shalt have praise of the same. You won't have a problem. Don't run from the cops and you
won't get shot, generally speaking. That's pretty well true, isn't
it? Not always, but pretty well true. I'll tell you what, it's
this true. I'm not gonna run from them.
If they tell me to stop, I'm gonna stop. For he is the minister
of God to thee for good, but if thou do that which is evil,
be afraid. You should expect to be punished
for it. For he beareth not the sword
in vain. There's a reason God has put him in the place that
he's put him. For he's the minister of God, a revenger, not a minister
in the sense of the word, but a minister in that role. of God, a revenger to execute
wrath upon him that doeth evil." Thank God for authority. What
would this world be without any civil authority in it? I don't
even want to think about that. We've seen a little glimpse of
it here and there, haven't we? Not good. That's what this is
talking about. Wherefore you must needs be subject,
verse five, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
Not just because you'll get caught, even if you don't get caught.
It ought to just be from a sense of right and wrong. Do what God
has ordained. For this cause, pay you tribute
also. I don't like doing that because our government is so
corrupt, isn't it? The best government in the world
and horribly corrupt. Horribly corrupt. I don't like
people, I just, I don't mind being blunt with you. I don't
like people forcibly taking money from me and killing babies with
it. I don't like that. But I'm gonna
pay it. That's between them and God what
they do with it. And that's just one example.
There's a whole lot of real bad stuff that happens with our money
in the name of government. Wherefore you must needs be subject
of. For this cause pay you tribute for their God's ministers attending
continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their
dues tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom,
fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. You remember when the
disciples were asked, does your master pay tribute? And Simon
and the Lord had a conversation about that. Simon said, yeah,
we do, we pay. And then he went and asked the
Lord, do we pay tribute? And the Lord said, told him to go
catch a fish. The first fish you catch, you'll
find money in his mouth. Go pay our taxes with it. We'll
pay our taxes with it. Give to Caesar what's Caesar's
and give to God what's God's. And in both cases, you're doing
what God said. Not what Caesar said. You're
doing what God said, in both cases. Well, the spirit of this,
that's the same spirit of our text. The king, what he says
is right, generally speaking, because he's the king. That's
the way God has ordained it. It doesn't mean that always and
in every situation, rulers should be obeyed. Listen to Acts 4.18,
they called them the disciples and commanded them not to speak
at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John
answered and said unto them, whether it be right in the sight
of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For
we cannot but speak the things which we've seen and heard. The
civil authorities said, you're not gonna do this anymore, and
they said, we got no choice, because we're gonna obey God
and not you. If there's a conflict between God and men, God wins. Acts 5.26, then went the captain
with the officers and brought them without violence, for they
feared the people lest they should have been stoned. And when they
had brought them, they set them before the council, the Lord's
disciples. They set them before the council and the high priest.
Great authority given to the high priest. Asked him saying,
did not we straightly command you that you should not teach
in this name? And behold, you filled Jerusalem
with your doctrine. You did what we told you not
to do and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. You're accusing
us of killing the son of God. And then Peter and the other
apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than
men. That's pretty blunt, isn't it?
So it's not, but listen, the exception does not disprove or
make void the rule. As far as I know, I've never
had to disobey the law in order to honor God one time. Have you?
I'm pretty sure you haven't either. It may come to that, but not
yet. Thank God, it's not that way.
So the nature of authority is that it is to be obeyed. It's
of God. And there's another way to understand
this, and that is that a true king, now a true, true authority
is authority that does itself obey God. Just like a true man
is one that honors God. Christ is the only man that there
ever was in that sense, isn't that right? When Pilate said,
behold, the man, I'm sure he didn't know what he was saying.
But by God's grace, we understand a little bit. There's only one
man that's ever measured up to what it means to be a man. God
created man to glorify him, to honor him, to do his will, to
serve him. There's only one that's done
it. So in that sense, a true king now is one that submits
to God and rules in the fear of God, like a true parent. Children obey your parents in
the Lord. Well, there are some parents
that don't deserve to be obeyed and never should be, but that's
not the rule. That's not the rule. A true parent is one that will
raise their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. So
this is a way that our text can be understood. Our text tells
how it ought to be. Submit to God's authority and
rule under God. A true king knows that God has
put him on the throne and he'll rule as a servant of God. King David was a man after God's
own heart. And generally speaking, he did
that which was right in the sight of the Lord. Does that phrase
ring a bell? that which is right in the sight
of the Lord. Listen to 2 Kings 18.1. Now it came to pass in
the third year of Hoshea, son of Elah, king of Israel, that
Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. 20
and five years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned
20 and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Abby,
the daughter of Zechariah, and he did that which was right in
the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father
did. He removed the high places, he break the images, he cut down
the groves. It talks about how what a great
king he was. He did that which was right in
the sight of God. Does that mean he was sinless? Of course not. And again, I don't use logic
to deduce that. I just know from God's word that
he wasn't sinless. There's only one man who is sinless
and that's the son of God. So him doing that which was right
in the sight of God, it means relatively speaking. And in all
of these things, he did that which was right. He trusted in
the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among
all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him, for he
claimed to the Lord. That's a king. And his judgment
now, you can trust him. You can trust him. And then, of course, the third
way and the truest way to understand this. There is a truest way,
isn't there? Remember those, what do you call
those? The question, multiple choice
question, which one is most true? They're all, a couple of them
are true, but which one is most true? This is how our verse is
most true. It's Christ. It's the King, the
King. He is called the King of Kings
because all those in authority are under his authority. He is
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's not just called God, he's
called King of Kings because we understand something about
what a king is. All authority, all authority. His word is law. Demanding of
honor. The king demands to be honored.
You don't come in the king's presence popping off and saying
stupid things. He demands honor. Life and death
is in his hands. If he goes thumbs down on you,
you're a goner. But if he goes thumbs up, nobody
can touch you. You're protected. And the good
news is, The Lord Jesus Christ is all of this, but also he's
too good. He's too good to ever do wrong,
ever do wrong. He's too wise to ever make a
mistake. And he's too powerful to ever
fail. And that's a real good combination. Let me tell you
what you want. Whether you may not know you
want this, But you want whoever cannot mess up or do evil to
be able to do anything and everything he wants to do. That's what you
want. Whoever cannot mess up or do
anything evil, you want him to be God. You want him to do as
he pleases in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
this earth. That's what we want and that's what we need. And
listen, he doesn't just have good intentions that he can't
bring to fruition. When I say he's too good to do
evil, I don't just mean that. It's goodness combined with power. Religion would have men to believe
that he wants the best for you, but he can only go so far. King Jesus does not intend to
do anything. He just does it. And you know that, and I know
that. And it is always perfect and good what He doeth all things
well. And I hadn't even got to the
good part yet. You know I haven't. This ain't the good part. You
know what the best part of this is? Those over whom he rules
in his kingdom. Now we know there's a sense,
a great sense, an all-encompassing sense in which he rules over
everybody and everything, everywhere in the sense of dominion and
doing as he will with everybody and everything. But I'm talking
about those who are his subjects. Those who bow to him and pledge
their allegiance to him, who are in his kingdom by his grace
have entered in, except you'd be born again. You can't even
see his kingdom, much less enter into his kingdom. But if you
have, if you are one of his subjects, think about this. Not only is
he all good and all wise and all powerful, but he loves you
even more than you love you. That's the best part. Oh, he loves them with an everlasting
love. And with loving kindness, he
draws them to himself. In fact, all of this together,
think about all that it means for a moment. Think about everything that it
means to be the king. We've talked about some of it. All power, all judgment, all
authority, all glory and honor. Defeating enemies. Saul has slain
his thousands and David his 10,000s. We depend on authority to protect
us, don't we? Everything that it means. Keeping
his people safe and prosperous and devoted to him. What's a
king that the people won't follow? Not much of a king. But think
of all of that, everything that it means to be king. And it begins to come clear,
the significance of what was posted over his head as he hung
on Calvary. This is Jesus, the king. Why was all authority given to
him that he should give eternal life? by his precious blood to
as many as the father gave him. That's our king now. How did he defeat every enemy? By his sin atoning death, the
death that he accomplished at Calvary. Why is he deserving
of all honor and glory both now and forever? For he was slain
and has redeemed us unto God by his precious blood. How is
it that his people are inspired to constant devotion and service
unto him? Why do we so willingly and joyfully
submit and follow him in everything? Why do we do that? For the love
of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge. We don't think
like we used to. Here's how we think now by his
grace. by his wisdom. We thus judge that if one died
for all, then we're all dead, and that he died for all that
they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto
him which died for them and rose again. Christ, he is the king. He's the definition of what it
is. So, and so our text, his word, his judgments are not only
in reality, whether we like it or not, divine and perfect and
life-giving, but we like it. They're that way, whether you
like it or not, but by his grace, we like it. We esteem his words,
his judgments, his statutes, his gospel more than our necessary
food. There's really just one king.
And may God give us grace to bow and worship him with all
of our hearts. Let's pray.