Last Sunday we finished the 10th
chapter of Mark, so we are between chapters today. And I want us
to go away from Mark and look, if you will, in the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 10. In reading this chapter this
past week, several promises to the righteous stood out to me.
Several promises to the righteous. I'm not going to say much about
how a person who, like you and me, are born sinners, practice
sinners, practice sin and love sin, how it is that we are made
righteous, how a sinner is made righteous. I don't want to spend
a lot of time dealing with that this morning. God's testimony
of all a fallen mankind is there's none righteous, no not one. For
a person to be righteous, God must make that person righteous. That is salvation. That is salvation,
being made righteous. Listen to Romans 3 and verse
24, being justified, that is declared righteous, freely. A person's made righteous, declared
just, freely, not by works of righteousness, which we have
done, but according to his mercy, he saves us, being justified,
freely by His grace. Grace is free. It's not merited. If you merit grace, it's not
grace. Through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, that is through the person and work of the Lord
Jesus Christ, it is only through Him that men and women are made
righteous. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God. Being declared righteous, we
have peace with God through faith. So it is through the Lord Jesus
Christ, through his redemption, by faith, we receive him as our
Lord and Savior. Does that mean then that we are
without sin before God? It means we are without sin,
being made righteous, being declared just. We are before God without
sin. We are accepted in the beloved. But now I want us to look at
seven promises in this chapter, the 10th chapter of Proverbs,
to the righteous, to those who are saved, to those who are and
have been declared righteous. by the imputed righteousness
of Jesus Christ our Lord. First, the soul of the righteous
shall not famish. I want you to see that in verse
three. The soul of the righteous shall not famish. The Lord will not suffer the
soul of the righteous to famish. Now you and I, we recognize that
we have a mortal body and we have an immortal soul. That is all men do. In the scriptures,
the word soul is sometimes used for the body. Even though man
is made up of body and soul, sometimes in the scripture, the
English word soul has reference to the body. I want to give us
one example, and these are the words of Abraham. In Genesis
chapter 12, when he asked his wife, Sarah, to tell the people
there in Egypt that she was his sister, this is what he said. This was his reason for asking
her to tell them that she was his sister. that it might, and
I quote, that it might be well with me for thy sake, now listen,
and my soul shall live because of thee. Well, he certainly did
not believe that the Egyptians had the power to kill his soul
as well as his body. But there the word soul refers
to his body. He asked Sarah to say she was
his sister so they would not kill his body, kill him physically. The Lord Jesus Christ said, fear
not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the
soul. But rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul
and body in hell. Our text here tells us this is
a promise for the righteous, the soul of the righteous shall
not famish. So the question is, is this referring
to the body or to the soul? Well, if you look at the remainder
of the proverb, but he casteth away the substance of the wicked. When I looked at that at first,
I thought, well, this must especially refer to the body. The Lord will not suffer the
soul, that is the body of the righteous to famish. But then
when you look in the margin and you see the substance of the
wicked is their wickedness. And so yes, the wicked along
with their wickedness will suffer, will perish. but the soul of
the righteous. And I believe we can take this
to refer both to the body and the soul. The Lord will not suffer
the soul of the righteous to famish. If we look at it concerning
the body, we have these wonderful promises in the word of God concerning
God's provision for us, our physical needs. For instance, in Psalm
34 and verse 10, the young lions do lack and suffer hunger. And you've all seen pictures
of the young lions as they hunt to take down their prey. But
God said the young lions, they do lack and suffer hunger, but
they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. Yes, the Lord has given us promises
concerning the life that now is, as well as eternal life. In Matthew chapter 6, in verse
26, the Lord said, Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow
not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet It's not
just accidental that the fowls are fed, that the birds are fed.
They're God's birds. He takes care of them. He feeds
them. That's just so. He feeds all
the wild animals and beasts. Everything in this world looks
unto him, our creator, for our sustenance. Everything does. Yes, the birds, they do not sow,
they do not reap, they do not gather into barns, yet your Heavenly
Father feedeth them. I used to see in the square there
in Merida, Yucatan, where we lived for some time, about a
little before sundown, in the plaza, a shoeshine man, one I
remember, he would buy a small bag of corn, and at a certain
time, he'd just throw that stuff up into the air, and boy, the
birds would come. God was feeding, through that
man, those birds, his birds. God has promised to meet the
needs of his people. The apostle Paul, writing to
the believers, now listen, to the believers in the church at
Philippi, who had given unto him, who had been liberal in
giving unto the Apostle Paul, in supporting the ministry of
the gospel. Paul said, but my God shall supply
all your need, now listen, according to his riches in glory by Christ
Jesus. Now, you're not going to out
give God. That's just not going to happen.
God does promise believers that the soul, he will not suffer
the soul of the righteous to famish. But let's refer to this,
to the soul, that is to the spirit. He has provided the best of food
for the soul of the righteous. In Isaiah chapter 25, we read,
in this mountain, this was a promise, a prophecy rather, when it was
given In this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all
people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees,
of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. It is Christ, it is the Lord
Jesus Christ who is the bread of life that feeds our soul. And there is such an abundance
in Christ There's such an abundance in him. And if you think of his
offices, feed upon his offices. He's a prophet. He's a priest.
He's our king. Upon his, he turned his person. I mean, just, there's so many
faucets when you think about Christ for us to feed upon. If we famish, it's because we
don't take the time to feed upon Christ. The Lord will not suffer
the soul of the righteous to famish. That's a promise that
he's given us. That is those of us who know
him as our Lord and Savior. He will provide for us. physically,
and he will provide for us spiritually. Now, the second promise, if you
look down to verse 11. Proverbs chapter 10 and verse
11. The mouth of a righteous man
is a well of life. Now I'm going to include with
this verses 21 and 32, because they also speak of the mouth. In verse 21, the lips of the
righteous feed many. And then in verse 32, the lips
of the righteous know what is acceptable. So the mouth of the
righteous is a well of life. The Lord Jesus said, for out
of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. You know,
you've all heard this old saying, what's in the well is what's
going to come up in the bucket. We used to have wells, you know,
where you drop the bucket down in and pull that rope and brought
the bucket up. Well, whatever's in the well,
that's going to come up in the bucket. And our Lord said basically
the same thing, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. Now this promise is the mouth
of the righteous. the mouth of the righteous, what's
going to come out of his mouth, her mouth, those who have been
made righteous by God? What's going to come out of the
well, out of the heart? The Apostle James wrote that
a fountain cannot yield both salt water and fresh. What is in the well? What is
in the heart of the righteous? Well, we know that which is good
and which is profitable unto others. I know every child of God at
times when we try to witness and I know this personally, preach,
we feel like we just can't say the right thing. We just made
a big mess of it, don't we? But you know the scripture tells
us what's in the heart is going to come out. And a word fitly
spoken is like apples of gold and pitchers of silver. You've
heard this before, but it's still true. What is witnessing? What is preaching? What is it
really? It's one beggar telling another
beggar where to find a piece of bread. That's really all it
is. is one beggar telling another
beggar, where you found bread, the bread of life, that is the
Lord Jesus Christ. The hymn writer said, I thirsted
in the barren land of sin and shame, nothing satisfying there
I found, but to the blessed cross of Christ I came, where springs
of living water did abound. The Lord Jesus told that woman
at the well, the water that I shall give unto you, the water that
I give unto you shall be in you a well of water springing up
unto everlasting life. And this is a promise that God
has given us. And we should open our mouths
and witness and testify and preach the gospel every time God gives
us an opportunity. And this is a promise he's given
us. The mouth of the righteous is
a well of life. Speak to others about Christ. Tell others what you have found
to be true. If you have found Christ to be
your Lord, to be your savior, if you were burdened with sin
and shame and, and turmoil in your life, and you look to Christ
and Christ took that burden away. then share that with others.
What's in the well? The mouth of the righteous is
a well of life. The lips of the righteous feed
many. And the lips of the righteous
know what is acceptable. Now look at the third down in
verse 16. The labor of the righteous tendeth
to life. The labor of the righteous tendeth
to life. The word tend means to move in
a certain direction. If the labor here is speaking
about physical life, our life in this world, then for the righteous,
his labor is to provide for his family and have to give to those
who have need. The righteous is not looking
for great things for himself. He's not looking for the wealth
of this world because he's been taught by the word of God that
these things perish. These things, they're here today
and gone tomorrow. He said, lay up treasures in
heaven, not here upon the earth. You know, in Ephesians, Chapter
4, the Apostle Paul writing concerning believers who are made new creatures
in Christ Jesus. He said, let him that stole,
steal no more. That's a lost man, right? Him that stole, steal no more,
but let him labor, working with his hands. And I know today most
of you men don't work with your hands. You work with your mind,
I understand that, but it's saying the same thing, right? Let him
labor, working with his hands, the thing which is good, now
listen, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Now, we've
taken up several special offerings, it seems like, recently, and
you have given abundantly. This congregation has given abundantly
above what we could have even imagined. But let me ask you
this, isn't it a blessing to give? Isn't it? Our Lord said
it's more blessing to give than to receive. It's such a blessing,
right, to be able to give. You know, there's people in this
world In their heart, they give, but they don't have any substance
to give. But God has blessed us so greatly. And it's just a blessing to be
able to give to others. It really is. As our Lord said,
it's more blessing to give than to receive. And the labor As
the scripture says, the labor of the righteous tends to life.
If we're talking about physical labor, this is true. But if we're
talking about spiritual things, spiritual life, then I remember
the words of the Lord in John 6 when he said, labor not for
the meat that perishes. But of that meat which endures
unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto
you, for him hath the Father sealed. Eternal life is a gift. We don't labor to obtain eternal
life. We don't labor to earn eternal
life. It is a gift. But that which
might be called labor in our relationship to God, We would
think of prayer, we think of the word of God, we think of
attending upon the word of God, of sharing the gospel with others.
The labor of the righteous tends to life. That's our whole purpose.
Now, when I thought about this, I want to say this. When a believer,
when a child of God neglects prayer, neglects the book, the word of
God, and neglects the worship services, when a child of God
does this, it doesn't tend to life. Our spiritual life suffers
for it when we neglect these things that God has given us.
And usually it's in the reverse order. You say, what do you mean? The
reverse order is usually believers begin to neglect the worship
services. You know, there's too much other
things that I need to do, too many other things that I need
to be involved in. And then when we neglect the
worship services, the next thing is the word of God. And the next thing is prayer.
Someone, one time, made this statement. Sin will keep you
from this book, or this book will keep you from sin. And for
a child of God, the righteous, we have this promise. The labor
of the righteous tendeth to life. And to have a robust spiritual
life, there are things that we must do. If we neglect them,
we will suffer the consequences. The fourth thing, if you look
in verse 24, the desire. The verse says, the fear of the
wicked, it shall come upon him, but the desire of the righteous
shall be granted. The desire of the righteous shall
be granted. Our Lord used this word desire
when speaking of prayer. He said, whatsoever you desire
when you pray, believe that you receive them and you shall have
them. Now, what do the righteous desire
when we pray? What do we desire? We desire
God's will to be done. As he taught us to pray, thy
will be done on earth even as it is in heaven, but one thing
that all the righteous desire." Now this says, the desire of
the righteous shall be granted. One thing that all the righteous
desire, you say, what is it? It's to be like Christ. It's
to be made like him. And this desire is certainly
going to be granted. In fact, the apostle John said,
beloved, Now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear
what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we
shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. The one desire
that every child of God has is to be like Christ. The desire
of the righteous shall be granted. In fact, the apostle Paul tells
us that we That is, the righteous are predestinated to be conformed
to the image of his son. That desire is going to be granted. And we look forward to that.
Now here's the fifth one. If you look in verse 25, and
that is the foundation of the righteous is everlasting. As the world went passive, so
is the wicked no more. But the righteous is or has an
everlasting foundation. The foundation of the righteous
is everlasting. You say, well, what is that?
That's the rock. That's the rock which cannot
be moved. That's our foundation. That is
Christ. He is the rock. Remember he told
at the end of his message in Matthew chapter five, six, and
seven, at the end of that message, he told that parable of the two
men who built their houses. One man built his house upon
the sand, and the other built his house upon the rock. Now
the righteous, our foundation is Christ, that is, He is the
rock. And our Lord said that the winds
came and the rains came, and they're going to come. You're
not going to go through this world, saved or lost. You're just not going to have
that happen without trials and tribulations and problems. Man
that is born of woman is born to trouble, the scripture says.
The rains are going to come. Believer, the child of God, the
rains are going to come. The wind's going to blow. The
flood's going to come up. And if your house is not built
upon the foundation, then it's going to tumble, it's going to
go down. But the foundation of the righteous,
it is everlasting. He is everlasting. All right, number six, verse
28. The hope of the righteous shall
be gladness. See that in verse 28, the hope
of the righteous shall be gladness. What is the hope of the righteous? Well, it's called a blessed hope,
isn't it, in the word of God? It's called the blessed hope.
I know Christ is our hope, but the blessed hope is the return
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's going to come again. As
we read at the beginning of the service there in 1 Corinthians
15, we shall not all sleep. Not all believers are going to
die before the Lord Jesus Christ comes again. But as the Apostle
Paul said, we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye. Think about what's been on the
news this past week. That condo collapsing over there
in Florida. Those people, my friends, I assume
most of them were asleep. They had their plans for the
next day to go to work, whatever. And in the middle of the night,
they were ushered out into eternity. Brother Ralph Barnard used to
say, without time to pack a suitcase or grab your toothbrush, men
are taken away. But the righteous, the righteous,
we have a hope. We have a hope. and its gladness. The Lord is going to come again.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed in a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye. When I mentioned that condo,
I thought about the moment, just in a moment, just a few minutes,
and those people were in eternity, forever, forever. We know that the Day's going
to come, the trump's going to sound, the Lord Jesus Christ
is going to descend, and in a moment, really, in the twinkling of an
eye, maybe less time than a moment, those who are alive, those who
are saved and alive are going to be changed. We're going to
receive a glorified body like unto his body. And the dead,
those who have died through the centuries, their bodies are going
to be raised, reunited with their souls that he's going to bring
with him. And so shall we enjoy the Lord
forever. That's the hope of the righteous.
It's gladness. The scriptures tells us this,
in thy presence, that is in the presence of the Lord, is fullness
of joy. Now we know joy, don't we? We
have joy. We experience joy. The joy of
the Lord is our strength. But none of us have ever probably
had fullness of joy. I mean, fullness of joy. The
cup's just running over. No more can be put in. No, that's reserved. That's at
His right hand. In His presence is fullness of
joy. At Thy right hand, are pleasures
forevermore. Pleasures forevermore. The hope of the righteous shall
be gladness. And then this is the last one,
the seventh one in verse 30. The non-removal of the righteous. Notice that in verse 30. The
non-removal of the righteous. The righteous shall never be
removed. Now the righteous may be moved.
In fact, God may take us as he took the nation of Israel and
pour us from vessel to vessel. Yeah, the righteous may be moved,
but the righteous will not be removed. That's what the promise
is. The righteous shall never be
removed. The righteous will never be removed
from the hand of the shepherd. Lord Jesus Christ said, my sheep
hear my voice, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall
never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. If you this morning are in the
hand of Christ, you'll never be removed from his hand. There's
no power in heaven, earth, or hell that is able to take you
out of his hand. His sheep are in his hand, And
we're in the Father's hand. The righteous will never be removed
from the hand of the shepherd. The righteous will never be removed
from God's providential care. The scripture tells us that he
keeps him as the apple of his eye. You know how your body has
been created that something, objects is flying towards your
eye. You've got your eyelid, you've got your eyelash, you've
got your hand to protect that eye, and you're going to protect
it the best you can. Well, listen, God keeps his people
as the apple of his eye. That's what the word of God teaches
us. And we can't see it all the time.
We think something bad has happened to us. But in the end, when we
are with the Lord and we're able to look back upon our life in
this world, we're going to see that what we thought was bad,
what we call bad, was really good. It was really good. We couldn't see it at the time,
but God is not, the righteous will not be removed from God's
providential care. He cares for his people. He provides
for his people. He loves his people. and the
righteous will never be removed from the love of God. The Apostle
Paul said, for I'm persuaded that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord. I trust the Lord bless these
promises that we have in this chapter to the righteous, to
those here today, those of us who know the Lord Jesus Christ.
This was a blessing to me. I hope it is to you. Meditate
over these seven things that you see in this chapter concerning
the righteous. And remember how it is that you
are made righteous. It's only through the Lord Jesus
Christ, His person at work. We're going to sing a hymn.