When the Lord Jesus returns in glory His splendor will have an irreversible effect on sin: it will judge unrepentant sin and purify the sin of those who have fled to Him for grace. But the Lord Jesus has already come once in the flesh and is presently purifying His Church, even as He warns unbelievers of the coming judgment. How happy are those who know His cleansing grace in this life and give Him all the glory!
In our last Topical Proverbs sermon, we saw the power of words to do good. We noted that two characteristics of wise speech are restraint and gentleness. Continuing to follow Paul’s “Put Off/Put On” principle, today we’ll look at a third virtue that should characterize our powerful speech: discernment. Solomon is driving home to us that it is imperative to master the skill of knowing what to say, when to say it, when not to say it, and how to say it.
When Jacob asked Joseph, his favorite son, to bury him in Canaan rather than in Egypt, he was expressing his faith and confidence in the God whom he had followed all his life. In a culture that tends to marginalize the elderly and dying, and often denies our mortality, how ought Christians think about and prepare for the one event that we shall all face—our deaths?
Since the Garden of Eden, marriage has been identified as a strategic blessing from God and thus has been under siege by the enemy. He relentlessly seeks to marginalize, redefine, poison, and destroy it. Worst of all, our own faithlessness toward one another proceeds from, and contributes to, our faithlessness toward God. We need a Savior who can break the siege and have one in Jesus Christ. God’s prefect Bridegroom is able to redeem His faithless bride for His Father’s glory and our eternal good.
Anything we encounter frequently runs the risk of becoming undervalued, taken for granted, and even disrespected. From good health to material blessings to long-time spouses, familiarity breeds complacency. Sadly, our relationship with God is not exempt. The priests in Malachi’s day had grown indifferent to God’s majesty and thus negligent in their responsibilities. We face the same danger and are presented with the same hope: redemption through the perfect Priest whose lips preserved knowledge, whose feet walked in righteousness, and whose blood atoned for all who trust in Him.
Our words have tremendous potential for good or ill. If you have ever been on the receiving end of a harsh invective, you know how powerful they can be. The book of Proverbs recognized this power and our potential to misuse it, so Solomon gives us a number of important norms that must govern our use of words.
Immediate departures from the faith are rare. Far more often, we experience a gradual decline, or slipping, that we barely notice. Over time, we find ourselves far from the Lord, having forgotten our first love. But God seeks us in our apathy and draws us back to Himself through His steadfast love, centered in Christ.
World War I was called “the war to end all wars” yet human strife and misery have continued ever since. The reason is because our ultimate enemies are sin and death, and they can only be defeated by God Himself. Zechariah 14 gives us a glorious picture of the future when God will vanquish evil and save His people to sin no more through our sinless Savior, Jesus Christ.
The death of a leader sends shockwaves through a community. How much more so the death of God’s own Son? Yet God had a purpose in striking His Shepherd and scattering His people: so that His Church might be purified and used for His greater glory. By His grace, God’s striking and scattering always leads to a greater reunion in Christ.