Proverbs chapter 29 and verse
1 for our text, it's short, it's pithy, it's to the point. He
being often reproved, hardening his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed,
and that without remedy. You know, if you look at the
Proverbs, I think that there's no part of the Holy Writ which
is richer in practical instruction everyday life and living than
that of the proverb. We look at this book and we see
that it treads both the depth and the width of our practical
duty as we walk before God and try to honor Him. In these proverbs
we find caution against behavior, it lists the awful consequences
of many sin, and it sends forth a threat to those who walk in
a way contrary under the scripture. And something else we notice
is that Proverbs especially addresses the youth as you read through
it. How often it speaks directly
to the mind and the action of such as are yet young in life. instructing them about the benefits
of a particular behavior, cautioning them against various pitfalls
that they might avoid them, and also the consequences thereof. So Proverbs is very practical
and very instructional. Now, in our tech, we have what
some has called an ethical proverb, general in its nature as we look
at it. That is, it treats in a certain
way from an ethical standpoint or ethical behavior, and in general,
in that it is applicable to anyone who is walking after this manner
of life, who behave in a way that is described by this particular
verse of the scripture. We'll find something else. Very
often a proverb will set forth a contrast of one sort or another. The ways of the wicked contrasted
from the way of the righteous, or the moral quality compared
with that of immoral righteousness and unethical living. Now, one of the proverbs, some
of them concentrate strictly upon things done by one person
or by one sort of a person. And we see that in a couple of
aspects in Proverbs. Number one, what they are guilty
of here in our text, and that is being stiff-necked, those
that are described in our text. are accused of resisting correction
and reproof. They refuse instruction, even
though it is based upon the Word of God, and even if it is right. And secondly, their faith, which
is expressed from a twofold standpoint here in verse 1 of chapter 29. A, they shall be destroyed, they
shall be cut off, they shall be brought to a quick and bad
end. And B, the terribleness of that
consequence and spiritual state in that it is without remedy. They shall suddenly be destroyed
and that is without remedy. We might see it with no healing
in some versions or margin. Now the subject of the verse
is set forth in the first word. He, that is the individual, the
man, the person, whoever he or she might be. That man, that
person, whatsoever person it be, not everyone without exception,
but He that acts in the way that is described in this verse of
Scripture. He is applicable to three things
that are stated here in the verse. Number one, he being reproved. He is heard reproved by and is
reproved. Secondly, he being often reproved,
needing them often, receiving them often. And then three, he
that being often reproved yet hardens his neck and stiffens
his heart shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy. So that
it is general, he, she, they, them, whosoever continues unrepentant
in this manner will meet a dreadful end. So let's look a little bit
closer at this sort of individual that we might see the nature
of their sin, that it is to be visited upon with severe judgment. His sin is he hardened his neck. It is aggravated by the fact
that he has been duly warned and often warned. being often
reproved, once and again, time after time, in many ways, from
several sources, perhaps from parents, from ministers, from
magistrate, from the conscience within, by spiritual judgments
from God, or whatever they might have been, being often reproved. being reproved, having been chastened. You may notice an alternate reading
in the margin. Let's look at it just a moment.
a man of reproof, we see, in the margin of some of the virgin. Now, this has caused some of
the expositors who have tried to open up the proverb to understand
this to be describing a particular person as the one giving the
reproach, that is, a man of reproaches. This would be a censurous person
if this were the meaning. a reprehender, someone has called
him, who though a rebuker and a censurer and the world's greatest
critic and an apprehender, a straightener out of everyone else that is
around them, will therefore himself not be corrected by the word
of God. The latter is usually right. For example, a person who is
always Rebuking others will seldom endure a rebuke themselves. A person who tells others what
to do will seldom receive instruction from another. A person who views
themselves as being right will not be told that they are wrong. and a person who has appointed
himself the critic of the world will not be criticized in return. We find a lot of time that the
most vocal and critical person do resist any criticism or exhortation
or rebuke that is directed in their direction. One described
a person as one who lets nothing be said to him and nothing be
shown to him but what contradicts all and everyone, that is, always
answering back no matter the correction. But it is more in
keeping, I think, with the latter part of the verse to understand
this of a person who, in spite of repeated reproof, hardens
him or herself against such correction. They have received many admonitions. They've heard many warnings.
They have often been corrected. and rebuffed and rebuked, but
it is not cured of stubborn self-will, it remains yet. In spite of reproof,
in spite of instruction, he hardens his neck against it and will
not receive it." In reading Gill, I like his comment. He said,
I'm quoting, the metaphor is taken from an oxen which kicks
and tosses about and will not suffer the yoke to be put upon
their necks, unquote. It pictures, therefore, an untamed
oxen. as it were, tossing and fighting
the yoke, wild and intractable. For sinners, you see, in the
Bible are actually likened in Jeremiah chapter 31 and verse
18 to a bullock unaccustomed unto the yoke, one who rejects
and despises the harness that puts him in restriction and guides
him in the way of another. Now the idea is stiff-necked
here, as it is one who bows the neck against and upon the yoke
of God, one who tosses his head that he might resist the yoke
or the bridle. who is stiff-necked so as to
continue in a way of self-will. And that's what it's all about.
One who is obstinate against authority, resisting and despising,
the halter. that leads them about and that
guides them and that restricts them. Some places, I think in
the scripture, it means hard in neck. Those that are hard
in neck. Stiff neck. I'll say it again.
Obdurate and recalcitrant. Stephen uses the word. in Acts
chapter 7 and verse 51. Ye stiff-necked, he said, and
uncircumcised in heart. How often was this applied to
the Jew under the old economy? In Exodus 32 and verse 9, the
Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, it is
a stiff-necked people. Rather, Exodus chapter 33 and
verse 3, For thou art a stiff-necked people. In Exodus 34 and verse
9, it is a stiff-necked people, God said, in describing Israel. You'll see that again in so many
places we'll not read, but like Deuteronomy 9.6, 9.13, 10.16, and on and on, God charging them
as having a stiff neck. Now the question is, have the
reproofs made his neck stiff? Is that what has brought him
to be stiff-necked, or is it his abstaining the cause of the
stiffness of the neck? The obstinance with which he
approached the things of God and the correction and the instruction
of they that are wiser than himself. Now, we can safely say that this
is a sure testimony to the invertebrate depravity of man. Without the special grace of
God, how stiff-necked we are, how hard-hearted, how self-willed
we are, we want our way and our way only. And such stubbornness
is born in the nursery. It is not learned later in life. It is born in the nursery. Such hard-headedness often appears
very early in the life of an individual, and sometimes the
neck becomes stiffer and stiffer. as they put on their age. If
it is not rooted out by the grace of God and the Word of God, either
naturally or spiritually, this must be rooted out of the heart,
for we are all self-willed by nature. So says Solomon, the
heart of a child is entangled with iniquity. Now, such reproofs,
therefore, ought to begin early. as early as the manifestation
of the updoer's behavior and resistance. That is why I think
Lamentation chapter 3 and verse 27, it is good for a man that
he bear the yoke in his youth. For once he is grown, he is hard
heart and set and settled. Submit to oversight, yield to
authority, be obedience to parents, and those that have authority. But alas, we read again in Proverbs
15 and 5, a fool despises a father's instruction. Proverbs 14 and
18, poverty and shame shall be to him that refuses instruction. those who are so self-willed
as to not to hear any correction. That is, a fool brings themselves
to misery and to destruction by stopping their ear against
any correction and rebuke, like the deaf adder that we read about
in the Holy Scripture. Only the wise one, Proverbs 1
and verse 5, will hear and will increase learning, and a man
of understanding shall attain unto wise counsel. But let us
note the next statement in our verse today. Such a person shall
suddenly be destroyed. You have a similar statement
in Proverbs 6 verse 15. His calamity will come suddenly,
suddenly shall he be broken. When God sends his judgment,
such destruction will be swift and will be sudden. Suddenly
shall be broken. like a potter's vessel, if we
might think of that in the scripture, broken by the iron rod that is
able to dash it to pieces where it can never be put back together
again, dashed without a remedy. Not only will such destruction
be sudden, such destruction will be Such security will be taken
away, but then it shall be without remedy. Almost legions are the
example of these truths to be found in the scripture. The old
world of Noah's day, eating, drinking, marrying, doing what
they want, taking their pleasure, going about their life, but the
flood came and destroyed them all. How about Pharaoh, often
reproved by Moses, pelted with judgment after judgment from
Almighty God, and yet his heart hardened and he was suddenly
destroyed, overthrown, and drowned in the Red Sea. Consider Ahab,
king. often reproved by the prophet
of God. Oh, how he chafed at the words
of the prophet of God. He hardened his heart. He sold
himself to work evil in the sight of the Lord, yet suddenly was
destroyed, as we mentioned in a sermon last Sunday. Now time would fail us to speak
individually of the sons of Aaron, the sons of Eli, Ananias, Sapphira,
Herod, and immediately the angel of the Lord smote him. And of
Asa, of Saul, King Saul. Of Haman, hanged on his own gallop. Of Absalom, of Abimelech, on
and on. There are examples in the scripture
of the judgment of God. Suddenly destroyed in the midst
of their endeavor, taken in death. Many of them horrible deaths
they were. They were divine judgment visited
upon them. For you see, Though God is long-suffering,
he suffereth long. He allows much to pass through
his forbearance, and yet divine patience does have its limits
or have its end. When divine patience, like the
sand in the hourglass, has run out, then God shoots his deadly
arrows and how deadly they are. When death and destruction come
so suddenly, it catches the wicked unprepared, often taking them
in their very acts of sin and disobedience. No time to reform,
no time to repent, no time to seek God or to hear the gospel
remedy, for no time to consider, no time to consider the heed
of the reproofs that have gone by them in the past. Maybe when
the least expected, when they feel secure in what and who and
where they are caught It caught Herod sitting on his throne in
his royal robe. It caught Ahab in the thick and
the commotion of battle that an arrow did pierce him. It caught
Aaron's sons at the altar when fire came out and destroyed them. Pharaoh leading the charge of
his soldiers after the children of Israel yet how suddenly cast
down in the sea. Be not deceived, they that are
young. Youth is no guaranteed immunity
from the grim reaper. Every day Hundreds and hundreds
of young meet their death in the world. Every day, many who
go forth in the morning do not come back at night. They have
been seized, and that suddenly ends by death. for the last awful
thing that is said of them in this passage of the scripture,
that without remedy. Their sudden destruction will
come without remedy. Proverbs 6 and verse 15, broken
without remedy. Some say the expression without
remedy is and no healing. no healing whatsoever for their
state or their condition, no cure, no antidote, nothing that
any can or will do to reverse their coming and impending meeting
of the judgment of God and the sad condition. As the tree falls,
so shall it lay, saith the scripture, no recovery from their immediate
or from their miserable estate. Their condition therefore fixed
forever and forever. In looking at the Geneva Bible,
I saw that it rendered it this way. Shall suddenly be destroyed
and cannot be cured. That is one of the versions of
the Geneva Bible. Cannot be cured. Let me illustrate
this. By the rich man in Luke chapter
16. He died in his sin, and he opened
his eyes, the scripture said, in torment. And Christ gives
us a glimpse over into that world. It illustrates that there is
no remedy. Davies was in misery. Remember,
he prayed for so much as a drop of water to be put upon his tongue. It was refused. God refused. Nothing was done to ease his
misery or his torment. Nothing was to ever be done to
remedy the case. A great gulf was fixed between
he Abraham between the wicked and between the righteous and
none could pass between the one and the other in that parable
Psalms 9 verse 17 said the wicked shall be turned in the hell and
all the nations that forget God we live in a generation who practically
denies eternal punishment in many of the churches you won't
hear a a word about it. But a passage from Solomon in
Proverbs chapter 5, and I would like to turn there just for the
sake of verse 12 and verse 13, that'd be Proverbs the fifth
chapter verse 12 and verse 13. and say, how have I hated instruction,
and my heart despised reproof, and have not obeyed the voice
of my teacher, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me."
What an awful, awful situation. What our text said, he that being
often reproved and hardeneth his neck will meet a doom that
has no remedy. Be not deceived, dear friend,
God is not mocked. Whatsoever one soweth, that shall
they also reap. They have no blood to cover their
sin. They have no mediator to plead their case. They have no
advocate to intercede for them. And their case, therefore, is
without remedy. And how sad. And death puts the
finality upon that, seals them up in a state from which they
can never escape, for which there is no remedy, and from which
none can rescue them, the wicked suddenly destroyed, and that
without remedy. Now, two or three practical applications,
and we're done. Number one. What misery some
have heaped upon their head because they refused correction and instruction. How miserable have they made
themselves. They may cry, oh, if I had only
listened. If I had only done it different. What heartache. What endless
trouble. all for refusing to hear correction,
instruction, and in righteousness. And secondly, I'll say it again,
God is not mocked. If one lives in sin, He will
treat you as a sinner in the hour of death. Whatsoever a man
sows, that shall he also reap. And then I'll say this in closing.
Thirdly, the most profitable reproofs are not upon the psychologist's
couch. but in the scripture, the word
of God. The most profitable direction,
the most profitable instruction, the most profitable learning
is to be found in the scripture, in the word of God. And that's
why in Proverbs it said, hear old young man wisdom as she speaks. Wisdom, speaking unto the young. Remember our text, he that being
often reproved and hardeneth his heart, shall suddenly be
destroyed, and that without remedy." I think it was Jonathan Edwards
said, be not concerned that the destroyer is not in sight, for
God had many errors in his quiver, many ways, many errors.