Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Many kingdoms and empires have sought far reaching domination throughout history. Many.
[00:00:11] Some have attained it, many have lost it, all will ultimately lose it. Whether it is or was. The Assyrian Empire, the Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the British Empire, whatever it is. All empires fall at the end of the ages, if not before. And we've seen the end of all of those empires.
[00:00:36] But it is God's empire, His kingdom that stands in our lives. We may not be living within these historic empires, but we too, we like to build our own little empires. Think about how you might build your own empire. You might collect over your life as much money as you can.
[00:01:03] You might try to collect and gain power and status, popularity and whatever else you might desire. You want to accrue it and gain as much as you can. We want to make a name for ourselves and leave a mark on the world. These are normal things that people talk about and normal desires.
[00:01:23] But we know as Christians that ultimately Christ will rule all things and his name will endure forever, not ours. And since this is so, why then do we ignore God's power, God's sovereignty, in order to build up our own lives, to inflate our own pride and egos?
[00:01:48] The reality is we do this because it is in our nature, our sinful human nature. Our hearts because of sin, are little idle factories. It has been said we constantly are creating new false gods to worship, including worshiping ourselves.
[00:02:11] Like when all the people of the earth, you might recognize this, they got together to build a tower. You've probably heard this, it is called the Tower of Babel. They built this tower? Why? If you recall, they built it to make a name for themselves.
[00:02:26] That's what they did. But God thwarted their plans, confused the languages and scattered them. He toppled their tower, so to speak.
[00:02:36] This is what they did. They literally wanted to climb higher and higher. But God is king.
[00:02:43] So when we seek to build our own empires, when we want to climb higher and higher, we want to build a tower to make a name for ourselves. What we're doing is we're robbing God of his glory, glory that he deserves.
[00:03:00] Now tonight we want to study what Proverbs has to say about this. Namely what Proverbs has to say about God's ultimate sovereignty and our pride. Two things that don't quite mix, which is an understatement.
[00:03:19] Sovereignty, just to be clear, refers to ultimate power. It is to say that God has ultimate power and authority.
[00:03:29] That's what it means. And human pride is incompatible with this.
[00:03:35] It is incompatible. And it's not like, you know, that phrase an unstoppable object means an impenetrable force. It's not that type of clash. It's like God's sovereignty is the unstoppable object. And our pride and will is like a piece of paper that a Little League football team runs through.
[00:03:55] It just doesn't mix. And God's sovereignty will prevail over our pride.
[00:04:03] Tonight we're going to look and hang out in Proverbs 16. If you're not there, you can flip there now because it provides a good portrayal for what the whole Book of Proverbs teaches about these two topics. The main idea of this sermon is the Proverbs teach that our pride is confronted by God's sovereign plan.
[00:04:29] The Proverbs teach that our pride is confronted by God's sovereign plan. Therefore Christians must humbly submit to Christ the King.
[00:04:44] The Proverbs teach that our pride is confronted by God's sovereign plan. Therefore, Christians must humbly submit to Christ the King. There are four points. The first one we'll talk about is my plan or your plan. That's number one. Now let's read Proverbs 16:1 20.
[00:05:04] The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes. But the Lord weighs the spirit. Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble. Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Be assured he will not go unpunished. By steadfast love and faithfulness. Iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil. When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues with injustice.
[00:05:49] The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. An oracle is on the lips of a king. His mouth does not sin in judgment. A just balance and scales are the Lord's. All the weights in the bag are his work.
[00:06:06] It is an abomination to kings to do evil, for the throne is established by righteousness.
[00:06:14] Righteous lips are the delights of a king, and he loves him who speaks what is right. A king's wrath is a messenger of death, and a wise man will appease it. In the light of a king's face there is life, and his favor is like the clouds that bring the spring rain. How much better to get wisdom than Gold to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver. The highway of the upright turns aside from evil. Whoever guards his way preserves his life.
[00:06:44] Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud. Whoever gives thought to the Word will discover good, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.
[00:07:03] Let's think about our plan or my plan. Point number one, verses one and nine are really what we want to focus on for this. And they reveal the trouble with trusting our own plans. Look at verse one. The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. Now, the way the language is constructed in its original Hebrew puts an emphasis that we might miss in English, and it's difficult to translate. The Hebrew text has that phrase, if you're looking to man at the very beginning, the sentence.
[00:07:40] Whereas from the Lord is. Is at the end in the original language. So what's happening is this strong juxtaposition between man's intentions at the front end and the Lord's doing on the back end.
[00:07:54] And the. The way it's constructed in Hebrew kind of emphasizes these two ends of a spectrum in conflict with one another.
[00:08:03] And when we see. We see that the tongue is from the Lord. Bit of an awkward phrase to refer to his words, but really what the message we're trying to get across, or proverbs, is getting across is this is God's works. What he does, what God does cannot be separated from his words.
[00:08:24] He created with his words, his son is the word. And along with that, the way it's being used is to emphasize something physical is happening. And again, that's contrasted with the verse beginning with what belongs to a man's heart, the inward intentions of a man compared to God's works on the outside.
[00:08:49] What you might plan or intend to do inwardly, whatever it is, it is God who actually makes things happen.
[00:09:00] That's what we're seeing here.
[00:09:02] And a version which I honestly had never heard of, called the International Standard Version, makes this clear, saying, people do the planning, but the end result is from the Lord. I think that captures it. People do the planning, but the end result is from the Lord.
[00:09:19] This verse nearly directly reflects then verse nine. If you would look there. The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. And this is an even clearer sentence, I think, to get the same point across.
[00:09:36] Now, the overlap of these verses was intentional. It tells us to look in between and really Focus on what is being said between these two sort of brackets and we will look at those. But I want us to first consider the plans. Your heart, your desires, your intentions.
[00:09:58] What do you want in the world?
[00:10:02] Do you want a relationship or relationships? Do you want to start on your team? Do you want a championship? Do you want a certain friend group to like you or accept you? Do you want to just be left alone to read or play a video game or do whatever you want or whatever it might be that I can't even imagine? What is your heart's desire? What do you plan and want to do? What is that strong desire that beckons to you now? I suppose you might expect me to say, too bad the Lord doesn't. Your plans don't matter.
[00:10:37] I actually won't say that I think our plans do matter in a sense. If I were to get up every day without a care in the world, no plans for what I'm going to do today, no plans to how to feed my daughter, get to work or do anything that would be reckless.
[00:10:58] I'm not encouraging you to never have a plan or a calendar or anything.
[00:11:04] What we want to emphasize, however, is that we need to be humble with our plans. We want to do what we can to make sure what we plan is open handed and is as the best we can in alignment with the Lord's. We want to seek God's agenda, not crammed through our own. We want to resist pride because pride is the reason that we would want to force our own agenda over God's. And this kind of brings us to our second point. My pride or your pride? Look at verse two.
[00:11:47] All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit.
[00:11:58] I didn't tell Katie I was going to tell this story, but leading up to the day that I proposed to her, I had made many plans. I'm sure most men who have proposed have made many plans and they are well planned. And I had help. And I think my plan went pretty well according to what I wanted.
[00:12:18] But even with as well planned as I was, there was at least one moment, and I think just one, where I was worried that it may have all been kind of for nothing. Not all for nothing, but it wouldn't have been quite perfect.
[00:12:34] So despite what I had done and prepared for and all the hoops I had jumped through, I can't control what other people do, what other people think. And poor Katie, she had been expecting this and her husband apparently is a very good actor.
[00:12:51] So I was cool she had no idea.
[00:12:56] I played it so cool all day. It was going to happen in the evenings, and I was with her all day, and she had no idea because I played it so cool. I still can't believe it. She had no clue. And so she was so convinced that it wasn't going to happen that day that she was discouraged because she wanted it to be that day. And she was like, I wanted it to be this way. We were about to go on this date, and she still wasn't suspicious. She was even wearing the dress that I knew she wanted to wear. I had convinced her to wear it somehow, but she was about to change because she didn't think it was going to be this day when it would really be in 30 seconds. She had no clue.
[00:13:37] I somehow was able to talk her out of changing out of the dress. And, you know, if. If it didn't work out that way, it would have been fine. But I talked her out of it, and she went outside and I asked her to marry me. And it worked. But what if I wasn't able to convince her? That's what I thought. What if I wasn't able to convince her? Yeah, again, it would have been fine, but it wouldn't have been perfect. It was a little plan that, you know, a little wrinkle would have gone awry. And I'm sure there are other men, maybe even in this room, that had worse luck with their plan than I did. I think I had it pretty easy, all things considered. But when it came down to it, I didn't really know what she was going to do. A million wrenches could have been thrown into it, and I had little power over it, despite all of my planning.
[00:14:26] Similarly, people love to make all sorts of plans, but at the end of it all, we can't really control anything. It is God who knows everything. His knowledge, in fact, is so extensive. Verse 2 says, the Lord even weighs the spirit.
[00:14:48] Absolutely nothing is out of his reach. Nothing is out of his control.
[00:14:56] Yet our pride so often grasps and clings to as much control as we can.
[00:15:05] What is it in your life that you're clutching with all your might?
[00:15:11] God calls you to obey him.
[00:15:13] But Proverbs 3, 6 says, in all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Your plans could be any number of things which I listed earlier, like relationships, successes, even college admissions or whatever. But perhaps most of all, the thing we clutch might even be sin, a particular sin itself.
[00:15:37] In pride we clutch the thing we love most. And for some of us, that is a sin what we are clutching. That's why pride is often referred to as the root of all sins. When we are prideful, our desires supersede God's.
[00:15:56] And look what Proverbs says about such pride. Look at verse five.
[00:16:02] Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Be assured he will not go unpunished. Verses 18 and 19 say, Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. It is better to be of lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud.
[00:16:22] Pride brings about destruction.
[00:16:27] Some of you might take great pride in your talents, in your beauty and your status, in your goodness, your scores and your reputation, whatever it might be.
[00:16:41] And some of you in your pride, long for and lust after what others have in those same areas.
[00:16:49] The warning here is to be careful what you love. Be careful what you desire and wish for.
[00:16:57] An old Christian wrote once his name was Charles Bridges. He said, better is an humble spirit than a high condition. But who believes this?
[00:17:10] Most men strive to rise, few desire to lie low.
[00:17:16] May thy example, blessed Savior, keep me low.
[00:17:20] When majesty, that is Jesus, humbled himself, shall the worm swell with pride.
[00:17:28] You are man or woman, you are sinners, yet you swell with pride.
[00:17:36] And you seek to build your own fame and to follow your own desires and your sins above God's perfect will.
[00:17:45] Another old Christian once said, I think so far as any man is proud, he is kin to the devil and a stranger to God.
[00:17:55] And in response, that same guy before Bridges, he wrote that the devil is always at hand to assist you in climbing higher and higher.
[00:18:04] And the greater the height, the more dreadful the fall.
[00:18:09] That's a warning for us as we climb higher and higher. But this dreadful fall, this eternal destruction, can be avoided if you would give up your pride, if you would open handedly hold your plans and let God rule your life.
[00:18:29] Proverbs 16:6 says, by steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for. And by the fear of the Lord, one turns away from evil.
[00:18:43] Point number three is God's plan.
[00:18:48] God's plan. Now, looking at this verse, we see a familiar phrase throughout Scripture, a very comforting phrase. You see, steadfast love and faithfulness.
[00:18:59] If you've read through the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, you have seen these words many times describing the Lord.
[00:19:08] Yet however, this phrase actually is applying in this context to the person, not to God. It is true of God, of course, but it's applying to the person. And it would even be appropriate for us to Understand this as a deep and loving loyalty. A deep and loving loyalty, a faithfulness that is built on the truth.
[00:19:29] That's kind of what those words are saying.
[00:19:32] With a deep and loving loyalty to God, with faithfulness to God built on the truth of his word. Those things lead to sin or iniquity, being atoned for.
[00:19:45] Atonement basically refers to the act of God's wrath towards sin being satisfied. That is what atonement means. So if sin causes a debt to be owed toward God, which it does, atonement is the paying of that debt.
[00:20:02] Your sin and all sin we commit is against God. Your sin has put you in debt to God, and the payment is eternal punishment via God's wrath.
[00:20:18] It has to be paid.
[00:20:21] Romans 5, 8, 9 says, But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
[00:20:31] Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
[00:20:40] So Christ's death and his resurrection then satisfied God's wrath and made final and lasting atonement and payment for all who call on the name of the Lord.
[00:20:52] So as you put your faith in Christ, the debt is paid.
[00:20:57] The debt is paid by Jesus on the cross. So devote your loyal love, your faithfulness built on the truth that Christ died for sinners.
[00:21:09] That's where we must start to forsake our pride. And we must forsake our pride. We need to forget our plans and lean on the Lord's plan, lean on his guidance.
[00:21:23] Look at verse eight and I'll read several verses. Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues with injustice. The heart of man plans his ways, but the Lord establishes his steps. An oracle is on the lips of a king. His mouth does not sin in judgment. A just balance. And scales are the Lord's. All the weights in the bag are his work. It is an abomination to kings to do evil, for the throne is established by righteousness. Righteous lips are the delight of a king, and he loves him who speaks what is right. A king's wrath is a messenger of death, and a wise man will appease it. In the light of a king's face there is life, and his favor is like the clouds that bring the spring rain.
[00:22:10] Again we see at the beginning there the heart of man planning his ways, the Lord actually creating an effect. It's the Lord who actually does the thing. But did you also notice all those verses about a king? Why are all these successive verses about a king Here?
[00:22:27] Proverbs is Often understood as a bunch of random verses kind of strung about. But we see strands of this consistent thin theme, and we see it all throughout. But here we see several about a king.
[00:22:40] So what exactly are these proverbs conveying? Well, in context of God's sovereignty and our pride, which surrounds these verses and even is within them, he describes the ideal kingship.
[00:22:55] But notice that in verse 12 says that the throne is established by righteousness.
[00:23:01] That means a king's legitimacy comes from the righteous God. It is God who sets up kings and tears down kings. And this can be said of kings. It can be said of emperors, governors, presidents, mayors, dictators, whatever it might be, God gives all authority its authority. In the first place, it is derivative from Him.
[00:23:28] But if you just think, as I said, president, governor, dictator, whatever it might be, maybe people historically popped in your mind, it's because these kings or other authorities, they fail.
[00:23:42] In fact, if we just stick to the Bible and we compare the legacy of the Jewish kings with the standard written here, you'll quickly notice that there's a large chasm between the two, a big difference.
[00:23:58] And what this should point us to is the true king being described. It is true that kings should do these things. And if you are ever in authority, you should seek to obey these. But know that there is a true king being described, and he is Jesus. And this is what Solomon wanted us to know, to look forward to the perfect king of his people.
[00:24:24] And we know this is what is going to happen at the end. Because if we go to the end of the book, Revelation, we see it Revelation 19:13 16.
[00:24:34] Revelation 19:13 16.
[00:24:37] Jesus is clothed in a robe dipped in blood. And the name by which he is called is the word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them. With a rod of iron he will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written King of kings and Lord of lords.
[00:25:12] Jesus is the perfect king who will reign forever. Jesus is the sovereign king who slashes our pride. He's the king spoken of in this chapter.
[00:25:24] Verse 10 says, an oracle is on the lips of a king. His mouth does not sin in judgment. Jesus speaks in oracles, and that an oracle is an authoritative word from God. As God speaks, so he speaks.
[00:25:40] And he does not sin in judgment, as he is the righteous judge.
[00:25:45] Verse 12 we read about kings. It's an abomination to kings to do evil, for the throne is established by righteousness. It is an abomination to do evil to the Lord Christ, and his throne is forever established by his righteousness. His perfection on earth establishes his kingship forever.
[00:26:08] Verse 13.
[00:26:10] Righteous lips are the delight of a king, and he loves him who speaks what is right. The Lord delights in righteous words.
[00:26:19] Verse 14. A king's wrath is a messenger of death, and a wise man will appease it. The wrath of God brings death to sinners.
[00:26:29] These are all true of King Jesus, ultimately. But verse 15 reveals that to look into his face is to find life in him. It says, in the light of a king's face, there is life, and his favor is like the clouds that bring the spring rain.
[00:26:50] To look into King Jesus face life, something I think we commonly overlook is the goal of God's plan for the Christian.
[00:27:05] If you were to try to answer, what is God's ultimate plan for the Christian? You might say salvation, you might say worship. And these are true in part.
[00:27:14] But I think the final goal of the Christian historically is something called the beatific vision. It's a historic phrase which means we see God face to face. We look in the face of God, something that man on earth is unable to do.
[00:27:32] God tells Moses, if you are to see my face, you would die. Yet one day we will see him face to face. This is why at the very end of the Bible, Revelation 22:3 5, we read, no longer will there be any anything accused. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face and his name will be written on their foreheads, and night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
[00:28:11] Likewise, when Jesus was transfigured in Matthew, Mark and Luke, in Matthew 17:2, it says, he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.
[00:28:28] When he was transfigured, he was seen by Peter, James and John in his glorified state. Those apostles saw how we will see the Lord one day if we are found in Christ. This beautified form of the Savior is what we behold in eternity.
[00:28:47] This is the goal of the Christian life. This is God's plan of salvation. We will get to see this perfect king described here face to face.
[00:28:59] This perfect king, who is sovereign, whose image ought to humble us. He is also deserving of our praise.
[00:29:11] So that's our fourth point, God's praise.
[00:29:16] Look at verse 16.
[00:29:21] How much better to get wisdom than gold. To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver. The highway of the upright turns aside from evil. Whoever guards his way preserves his life.
[00:29:35] In verse 20, whoever gives thought to the Word will discover good. And blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.
[00:29:46] Blessed or happy is another translation. Happy is he who trusts in the Lord.
[00:29:54] God is sovereign over our paths. He, he is sovereign over kings and rulers. He is in total control of every atom and molecule in the universe.
[00:30:07] You might make all the plans you want, and I'd be willing to bet you will make all the plans you want.
[00:30:15] But you cannot thwart God's plan. You can't change it one iota. It will come to pass. Are your plans going to try to stop it in futility or you going to try to align your plan with that direction?
[00:30:34] Die to your sin, Die to your pride. God is worthy of your praise and adoration.
[00:30:41] Look to Jesus for wisdom. He is the wisdom of God, and he will make straight your paths. If you trust in Him, His Spirit will give you wisdom and grace to live a life which is pleasing to him. You just need to trust the Lord. And when you trust the Lord, you can, as verse three says, commit your work to him and your plans will be established.
[00:31:08] These plans are not the plans of your pride. So we shouldn't take this as saying, if I just work for the Lord, all my plans will come true.
[00:31:17] These are the plans of God which you want to come into alignment with if you truly trust him by faith.
[00:31:27] The Proverbs teach that our pride is confronted by God's sovereign plan. Therefore, Christians must humbly submit to Christ the King. And if you do not know Christ, die to your pride and your sin. Today turn to him. He has his arms open and he is the King, worthy of your praise. Let's pray.
[00:31:52] Father God, we praise you for your word again tonight and that your son Christ is the wisdom of God. And that if we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, we will be saved. He will make our paths straight. God, help us to die, to pride. Help us to see your will in our lives. Help us to align our plans in a way that honors you and help us to keep our hands humbly open in case you want to change what we might have so carefully planned. God, grant us this humility in Christ, and we pray this in his name. Amen.
