March 11, 2025 -- Proverbs 11:5-8 -- Can you really tell the difference between the wicked and the righteous?

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit’s power: Sh’ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

The righteousness of the blameless keeps his way straight,
    but the wicked falls by his own wickedness.
6 The righteousness of the upright delivers them,
    but the treacherous are taken captive by their lust.
7 When the wicked dies, his hope will perish,
    and the expectation of wealth perishes too.
8 The righteous is delivered from trouble,
    and the wicked walks into it instead.
Proverbs 11:5-8 ESV
 
A careful reading of this passage quickly reveals that sinfulness makes a man stupid. It would be too easy to say this applies to unbelievers and the ‘unwashed masses’ outside the church. To that I’d say, not so fast! Who reads the Bible? Christians. Do non-Christians and non-believers rush to their devotions each day? Nope. They do not. Let that sink in. By these words God is warning His people so that they will not be deceived into thinking they’re fine.
 
Listen carefully to the words of Jesus “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’.” Matthew 7:21-23 ESV. Be shocked. Jesus will not dispute that they did great things. But he will convict them for doing such things in deceitful pride. They used the precious name of Jesus for their own ends, not for His glory.
 
It is important to note that it is not my words, but the Bible, which proves wickedness and sin make a man foolish to the point of blindness that leads to hell. At verse 5, the righteous and the wicked may both appear to be good, but one day, or perhaps not until the at the judgment seat of Jesus, the wickedness of the wicked will be exposed and appropriately and ruinously punished in hell. The righteous and the wicked, verse 6, both struggle with lust (desires of the flesh, desires for the worldly things, desires for power and money and so on). But the righteous are delivered from these by their righteousness. It is the righteousness that comes from Jesus Christ. His work at the cross and His reconciling blood are all the righteousness of the believer. The wicked man faces the same lusts and temptations and is stupid. He falls, over and again into the very same pit of his desires and will not recognize his sin, nor genuinely leave it. No, he will bring it as a stench unto the judgment seat where from he will be thrown into hell, never to rise again.
 
Verse 7 is clear, ultimately wicked people, who seemed to get away with all their sins, either in among the community of the saints, or those who appear virtuous in the eyes of the world, will be so horrifically exposed, that their death dashes all their plans. All their vile schemes are proved to be empty and worthless. The righteous are not even mentioned in this verse because they, protected by the fear of the LORD, have been kept safe from all of this. Presented with the very same sins and lusts and brokenness of the wicked, they have recognized sin, hated it, and turned away from it. Not so the wicked. The self-deceived wicked will be found out. They face eternal damnation.
 
What a direct verse 8 is, the righteous and the wicked face trouble. In fact, the blasé word trouble means distress, vexation. In the Old Testament the same word is applied to the constant nagging of a rival wife who knows she is unloved and makes the life of her husband and the other woman to be misery. Dear believer, vexations and hounding troubles afflict both the righteous and the wicked. A righteous man is given clarity. He will learn from the word of God, be guided by the Spirit so that he can walk through the valley of the shadow of death. He knows of, and he holds to, the promises that God will deliver him from his deep distress. The wicked, even those who seem to be holy and good and in church, will foolishly, stupidly, walk right into the same heartbreak and wretchedness repeatedly.
 
I urge you to consider the word of the LORD with all self-searching seriousness. Do not toy with Christianity and play at the edges of faith in Jesus. For today, or at the judgment seat of Jesus the righteous and the wicked will be judged and what shock and surprise and horror await the self-deceived wicked person who thought and acted and lived as though he were righteous. He was merely proud of himself and his achievements. Such pride will lead to the fall from which he can never recover.
 
God, by Your Spirit shine the light of the word so that it penetrates the depths of my mind and my motives. Expose whatever is wicked. Enable me to see all my wickedness, hate it, turn from it and confess it. Father, thank You for the righteousness that is mine through Jesus Christ, for He alone is my boast and my life. Raise up in my life a Christian who will be unrelenting, joining me in this pursuit of righteousness, so that no sin, no cloying evil that masquerades as good will be allowed to take root in us. Lead us, ever deeper and more gloriously, into the deliverance that is ours in Christ. Amen.
 
https://youtu.be/-44GH3NhdIA?si=8BHn3IUbidsNJYNV I Asked the Lord that I Might Grow
 

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