Dr Greg Bahnsen - Proverbs: Proverbs 14:19 (The Victory of the Righteous) (Part 63)

New Year at the victory of the righteous. We begin our readings at Proverbs 14 at the 19th verse. Hear now God's word. The evil bow before the good and the wicked at the gates of the righteous. Then, turning your bibles to chapter 16, verse 7, when a man's ways please Jehovah, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. Proverbs 21:22. A wise man scaleth the city of the mighty, and bringeth down the strength of the confidence thereof. Proverbs 22:12. The eyes of Jehovah preserve him that hath knowledge, but he overthroweth the words of the treacherous man. In Proverbs chapter 24, verses 5 and 6. A wise man is strong, yes, a man's his might. For by wise guidance thou shalt make thy war. And in the multitude of counselors there is victory. And then finally, the 15th and 16th verses of this same chapter. Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the habitation of the righteous. Destroy not his resting place. For a righteous man falleth seven times and riseth up again. But the wicked are overthrown by calamity. And thus far the reading of God's word, the Christian faith, gives a new perspective on the affairs and on the course of history. Something that I think of the year comes and reminds us that history is moving on. We need as Christians, to be mindful of how we should evaluate the course of history, how we should evaluate the things that take place in history. And remember, when I speak of history, I don't simply mean political history or the grand events that get reported on the news. History includes even the most minor details of your own lives, the events of your lives as well. And so everything that transpires in the course of time needs to be looked upon in a Christian way. For you see, the Christian faith is what I've told you before, a worldview, a way of looking at life, a way of looking at reality. It's a new way of seeing things. We could say that the Christian faith is a set of presuppositions about reality and about knowledge and about ethics, presuppositions or assumptions, in terms of which we evaluate and we interpret, interpret the events around us. Everything must be seen in light of the unfailing word of God. We interpret the evening news, and we interpret the course of our marriage and the course of our health and the course of our families and our economic situation. We interpret everything that happens in light of what God's word tells us. And we need for this the eyes of faith. We need the eyes of faith to look at history, to look at current events as well as the details in the direction of our individual lives. The reason we need the eyes of faith to do that is that faith discerns matters that are not always immediately apparent to the naked eye and certainly not apparent at all to the natural mind of man. For instance, from outward appearances, if you were to look at any of the television programs that rehearsed the year 1987, if you were to look at any of the news magazines that tried to capture the year and its main events and so forth, if you were to look at the sorts of things that happen to you individually or in your families and so forth, you might draw the conclusion that the cause of God's people on earth is not doing well. The natural mind and outward appearances surely do not see the cause of wisdom and righteousness presently prospering. We don't see it destined to triumph if we only look at the course of events that's seen by the naked eye. True wisdom, on the other hand, true insight that God gives by His Spirit and through His Word. True wisdom, that outlook that begins with the fear of the Lord and abides by his revealed word, has a new and a much more probing perspective on what is transpiring in history. That perspective of true wisdom, which is found in the book of Proverbs as we've read it this morning, teaches us that it is the wise or it is the righteous. The wise are the righteous who have genuine power in this world. It is the wise and the righteous who are protected in this world. It is the wise and the righteous who will ultimately prevail in this world. Power, protection and final prevailing triumph belong to the people of God. And we need the word of God to give us that assurance. Because, as I've said, we look all about us and we consider things that have happened to us individually. And we might not be willing to draw that conclusion. It requires the inspired word of God and faith given by the Holy Spirit to maintain that perspective. But if you do have that perspective, if you do believe that true power belongs to the wise, that God protects his people and gives them prevailing triumph, then your attitudes toward the events around you will be transformed. And your reactions to the things in life are going to be different. You're going to be a different person if you have that insight of faith that the righteous will ultimately be victorious. There are three ways in which we see the victory of the righteous. In our reading this morning, I'd like to look at each one of them. Individually, the first of which is the wise or the righteous have genuine power. And then we'll look at how the righteous enjoy God's protection, and finally, how the righteous ultimately prevails. Power, protection, and prevailing triumph belong to God's people. In Proverbs 24, 5, 6, we read these words. A wise man is strong. Yes, A man of knowledge increases might. For by wise guidance thou shalt make thy war. And in the multitude of counselors there is victory. To put it very simply, wisdom is strength. Now, we don't grow up believing that. We don't grow up having that instilled in us. I certainly didn't. I grew up and went to high school and learned the macho attitudes of everyone else around me that brute power is strength, that those who are able to dominate other people, perhaps in an external, maybe even in a muscular way. I mean, brute power is strength. The Bible says you need to see through that, though. That though the world might understand that carnal weapons and external bodily force give dominance to people, the fact of the matter is that it's wisdom that ultimately is a person's strength. For you see, wisdom has the ability to formulate strategies. And how many stories have you seen? How many movies have you seen? You know, this is the plot where the weaker, maybe even wimpish character in the story is able to defeat the mighty foe because that person thought through an issue. That person was able to develop plans, logistics, strategy that was able to win. Sometimes it is the case that a football team that has less poundage on the line and less statistical marvels in the backfield can beat another football team because the coach has prepared better for the game. He knows the weaknesses and how to exploit them of his opponents. And so we understand in any number of ways, almost in a natural sense, that wisdom can be stronger than brute force. The word of God tells us that is the case categorically. Wisdom is true strength because wisdom gets all the advice it can. And wisdom can formulate strategies. Wisdom can overcome those who have brute power. In chapter 11, verse 14, a similar message is communicated. Where no wise guidance is, the people fall. But in the multitude of counselors, there is safety. The wise person takes counsel. The wise person is open to advice. And for that reason, the wise person is able to overcome his opponent. He finds true strength in that wisdom, or to put it in the way that the world would understand, brains are better than brawn. In the end, if you had to choose between the ability to think through an issue and develop a strategy, and you should choose the Brains that you could have to do that over the muscular or military might and strength. That might be the alternative. Brains will be better than brawn. That's illustrated in Proverbs 21:22, where we read, a wise man scales the city of the mighty and brings down the strength of the confidence thereof. Wisdom can conquer the mighty indeed. It can sometimes succeed where brute force would not and could not succeed. If you sometimes attack an opponent just trying to meet him head to head at the point of his strength, which might be just brute power, then you're going to be overcome. If you think through your strategy and exploit his weaknesses, on the other hand, you will be able to defeat him. Joab, who was David's general, if you remember your Old Testament history, Joab is a good illustration of this. We read in 2nd Samuel 5 of his ability through logistics to conquer a city that everyone considered impregnable. Wisdom scales the walls and brings down the strength of a city. And if that's true in outward events, as in Joab's life, then all the more is it true in things of the Spirit, especially in spiritual matters should we understand that wisdom is true might and wisdom overcomes those who in a worldly way seem to have in 2 Corinthians 10:4, Paul gives expression to this proverbial truth himself. 2nd Corinthians 4. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but rather are mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. That interesting. Paul says we don't walk by the flesh, we don't walk by outward material means. And the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly. The weapons of our warfare are not material. The weapons of our warfare are not the mighty bazookas and rockets and other forms of strength that the world respects. And so you might expect Paul to say, and so therefore we necessarily take a subordinate place in life. There's nothing we can do about it in this age. We're overwhelmed by the wicked. Paul says, no, don't you understand? That's our strength. That we don't depend upon carnal forms of warfare. That is exactly why we are so mighty in this world, because we have instead the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. We are able to defeat our opposition. We are able to see spiritual victories come because we don't depend upon outward external means of power and strength. We rather have we are mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds because every thought is brought captive to the obedience of Christ. When our minds are wise, because we fear the Lord, when our minds have been transformed by the renewing strength of the Holy Spirit, when our minds abide in the word of God and have the guidance that he provides there, then you see, we can cast down every high thing exalted against God. Then we can overcome in the spiritual realm because we don't rely upon external power. We don't rely upon the things that the world respects. We rather rely upon the power and the protection of God. And so the wise are the ones who have genuine power in this world. And we shouldn't listen to the evening news keep promoting the idea that those who have the most number of missiles, those who have the most money or have the best leverage on the international monetary exchange are those with power. Those who have power in this world are those who are wise before God. They are the ones who scale cities and bring down the confidence thereof. They are the ones that cast down every high thing exalted against the knowledge of God. Those who have their minds transformed, those who have minds that are wise, those who have minds submissive to Jesus Christ. The second thing we need to learn as we go into this new year is not just a lesson about where true power is found, but a lesson about where genuine protection is to be found. The righteous are the ones who enjoy God's protection. This is especially difficult for us to believe if we don't listen to the word of God. We look about us and we see the poor and the innocent oppressed. We see God's people struggling to get ahead in this world. I mean, how often is it that you have felt the depression that I feel over and over again that those who want to proclaim the whole council of God, those who want to have a Christianity that is vital and is true to all of the scriptures, those who don't want to cut corners and compromise, those who want to operate on principle seem not to get ahead in this world. They seem to struggle. They don't seem to have the monetary resources or the influence or the attention the world. And yet those who seem to cut those corners and compromise and don't really preach the whole counsel of God, those who water down the word of God, those who in some cases distort and even deny the word of God, seem to be doing so well. And we wonder about that. We say, is God's hand active in history? What's going on here? If we only looked on the external affairs of men. I think we would draw those conclusions and we would be hasty in doing so. The Bible teaches us that God is active in history, invisibly so. God's hand is not the sort of thing that comes down and people can watch it right upon a wall, as Belteshazzar had in the Old Testament. But God's hand is active in history, and his arm cannot be turned back. And he has a plan that he is pursuing. And the Bible assures us that the plan of history that God has set in motion, the plan of history that God is working out by his almighty power is a good plan, one that will bring victory to his people and will bring vindication to his cause, one that will be good for those who are called according to his purpose, knowing that all things work together for good to those who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose. Then we look at history in that light, rather than only in terms of what Dan Rather might tell us on the evening news. Proverbs 22:12 says that the invisible hand of God in history overthrows the work of the wicked. Proverbs 22 at the 12th verse. The eyes of Jehovah preserve knowledge, but he overthroweth the words of treacherous men. The wicked are overthrown by God's work. The eyes of the Lord. In that first stanza, by the way, the first phrase refer to his protective care. God looks down upon his children, and God's looking upon us. His seeing us is a biblical expression for his favor and his care, his love and his protection. Indeed, in Zechariah, the second chapter, the condemnation of God is pronounced against any who would try to touch his people. For he says, you are the apple of my eye. What is the apple of someone's eye? That's kind of an older expression, we don't use it much today. But the idiom refers to the pupil of the eye, or, if you will, what is the center of a person's gaze and attention. And God says, you're the apple of my eye. You're what I look upon. I love you and I protect you. And therefore a curse comes upon any who would dare raise their hand against you. And so the Bible tells us as well about the eyes of Jehovah, that they preserve knowledge and truth. On the other hand, God overthrows the words of treacherous men. While God is the watchman and the protector of the truth, he also is the one who frustrates the false and the destructive words of sinful men. And how many false and destructive words are there in this world? They aren't just the things that we know openly. They aren't just the things that some investigative reporter unearths and finally lays some dirty laundry before us on the evening news. The false and destructive words of men include the things that God go on in corporate headquarters, the things that are said behind your back at the water cooler at work, the things that your family despises you for. They're the things that people say against the righteous, against the wise, against God's people in this world. And God overthrows those words. The Bible assures us that someday all lies, and indeed the very father of lies, Satan himself, will suffer ultimate defense, feet and final judgment at the hands of God. In Revelation, the 20th chapter, verse 10, we read of Satan being cast into the lake of fire because he is the one who deceives the world, and the devil that deceives them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. Where are also the beast and false prophet? And they shall be tormented day and night, forever and ever. But it's not just the father of lies, not just the disciples, deceiver of the nations that is cast into hell. The Bible tells us that all who make a lie, all those who are not of the truth, will be cast into the same lake of torment. Revelation 21:8 says, but for the fearful and unbelieving and abominable, and murderers and fornicators and sorcerers and idolaters, and all liars, their part shall be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. And Revelation 21, verse 27, speaking of those excluded from the new Jerusalem, the city of God, we read, and there shall in no wise enter into it anything unclean or he that makes an abomination and a lie, but only they that are written in the Lamb's book of life. God shall overthrow the words of treacherous men. He is in the course of overthrowing them now in history. And ultimately every lie will be dealt with, every liar and the very father of lies himself will be dealt with on the final day. We need to see history that way. That God protects his people and he overthrows the treacherous. He overthrows the wicked. Proverbs 24, verses 15 and 16 give beautiful expression to that where we read a command that is actually given to wicked men. This is in the imperative in the Hebrew, lay not wait, O wicked man, against the habitation of the righteous. Destroy not his resting place. Why? Why shouldn't wicked men rise up against us? Why shouldn't they plot against us? Why shouldn't they try to take away our peace of mind and our prosperity. Why shouldn't they try to destroy our resting place? Because a righteous man falls seven times and rises up again. But the wicked are overthrown by calamity. Unscrupulous men are ultimately fighting against God himself. And God will surely and suddenly destroy them. As it says at the end, the wicked are overthrown by calamity. God, you see, is working to trip up the wicked. God is working to bring them down, indeed to destroy and crush them. They will be overthrown by calamity. But what about God's people people? What about the wise who fear the Lord? What about the righteous who walk in his holy commandments? What will be their lot in life? The Bible tells us that the righteous have a resilience that cannot be comprehended in earthly terms. They can be cast down seven times over and over and over again. It might appear to the world that they are down and out, they're defeated, and yet they rise up again. And they rise up again. And they rise up again. You know, we say in a rather joking mood, sometimes you can't keep a good man down. But you see, that expression comes from the wisdom of proverbs, and it's true. You can't keep a good man down. The righteous are cast down repeatedly. The world beats upon them, and yet they have a resilience that no one would be able to understand. Because, you see, God is their strength and God is their stay. And founded upon his holy word, they rise up. And they rise up. And they rise up. Now, my friends, you need to hear that. Those of you that I counsel, you need to hear that. Those of you who are discouraged in this world, you need this encouragement. I need this encouragement. I have days when I say, do I have to take any more major catastrophes, any more problems, any more battles to get through? It just seems like it's been too much. You. The Bible says the righteous are cast down repeatedly. And yet they rise up. And they rise up. And they rise up. I've got to see the events of my life and I've got to see the course of history in that light. The righteous can't be kept down. The cause of God on earth cannot be defeated. It is going to continually press through all opposition and defeated. And so it's pointless, and indeed it's dangerous for lawless men to try and harm us. We need to let people know that. We need to say, don't rise up against God's chosen people. Don't fight against the righteous. You have to understand that when you try to bring them down, God will bring you down instead. In Psalm 37:22 24, David in the piety of the Psalms expresses the same confidence. Psalm 37, verses 22 to 24. For such as are blessed of him shall inherit the land, and they that are cursed of him shall be cut off. A man's goings are established of Jehovah, and he delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for Jehovah upholdeth him with his hand. Isn't that beautiful? The reason he will never be kept down and crushed is because God is holding him up. And you know that's true. Even when the world sees only us being trampled under their feet, when the world thinks that it's got us down, it nevertheless is losing because God is upholding us. The outward visible sign would be that of defeat. But because God's hand controls history, and because God's hand upholds us, we shall rise again. Now, what about the martyrs, though? Someone says, you know, throughout the history of the Christian church, people have withstood evil men, have been consistent in their Christian testimony. And what has happened is they've lost their lives. And so where is the truth here? How can this be the case? How can we trust the promise of God when we see that the wicked sometimes do defeat the righteous? They don't seem to rise again. Well, but they do, don't they? In the first place, have you ever heard this expression that comes from Church history? The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. It's absolutely true. It has never been the case, when martyrdom has come to the Church, that the blood of the martyrs did not seed the faith. Throughout the world, the Christian church has always risen above martyrdom, has always risen. In fact, perhaps in its strongest days has been. They have been days of persecution and opposition when people had to hold to their faith not out of convenience, but out of principle, and live consistently in terms of it. Opposition, you see, does not destroy Christianity. Opposition brings out its strength. And so even if individual Christians may fall, the cause of righteousness does not. Those who are God's people yet rise again. And you know, even those individual people shall rise again in the most literal way, not just in the metaphorical sense we've been talking about that. They are cast down, and then God picks them up, cast down and picked up. But even though they are cast down into the grave, the day is coming when God's people will rise from the grave, when even the last enemy Death has been defeated. And they will know resurrection strength that will go on forever and ever. God is true to his word. In fact, God is better than the promises might even appear in his word. The righteous shall rise again and rise again and rise again. And the reason for that and the confidence that I have in this message is seen in the person of Jesus Christ himself. You know, if you were to look at the life of Jesus in terms of outward earthly terms, you'd have to conclude that it was a defeat. It was a grand loss, a waste. There was this man who never had international political connections. He didn't have great public relations. People did not cover him well in the press. People told stories about him and rumored about him all the way from such crass things as that he was born of an impure woman to the point that he was filled with demons. They said things about this man. He didn't have great persuasive power as the world would account it. And in fact, his life seems to have ended in a tragedy. False charges brought against him, no one to stand up for him, and he is unjustly put to death. My friends, I hope you see in the life of Jesus something of an analogy of what God does in his church. The very body of Jesus, where you see Jesus was destroyed as the world sees it. He was put to death. He was laid in a grave. But what happened? Jesus says, don't be fearful, don't be anxious, don't be distressed. I've overcome the world. He said that before he went to the cross. The world will not destroy the cause of God on earth. It will not destroy the Son of God. And so, as Hebrews, the second chapter says that through his death he destroyed the one who had the power of death. And the grand irony of history, when it seemed that Satan finally had the upper hand over the Son of God, when it seemed that Satan had finally destroyed the plans and the destiny of the Messiah, he rises from the grave victorious over death and over Satan and over the world. Don't be distressed. Jesus says, I've overcome the world. And in First John, chapter five, John, who heard that message as though it were words of life to him, repeats that to us too. He says, don't you know this, that it is your faith that overcomes the world? So your faith, not your military might, not your good public relations, not your worldly strength, but your faith that overcomes the world. As Jesus was defeated apparently, and yet rose to victory, though he went through humiliation, he reached glory. So we too might be humiliated individually and corporately as God's people. And yet we shall rise again. You can't keep a good man down. Though the righteous be cast down seven times, repeatedly and perfectly seven times, yet he shall rise again. Romans, the eighth chapter. Paul again, knowing this strength of the book of Proverbs that we're preaching about this morning, tells us at verse 31, what shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things? If God gave Jesus over to death, if he had him go to the cross for your sake, what will God not give you now? What will he not provide for your needs now? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemns? It is Christ Jesus that died, yes, rather, that was raised from the dead. Who is at the right hand of God? Who is making intercession for us? What can we say to that? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation. Does that cast down the righteous? Shall anguish, does that destroy the righteous? Shall persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? Shall any of these things destroy the cause of righteousness on earth? No. Even as it stands written for thy sake we are killed all day long. We are counted as nothing more but sheep for slaughter. Yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. My friends, in 1988, you need that perspective. That though we are sheep for slaughter in the eyes of the world, we are conquerors in Jesus Christ, more than conquerors, we're even better than those who triumphed over their opposition in some marvelous way. God has a much better plan. You can't keep a good man down. And God's people shall not be kept down. They will enjoy his protection. They will show a resilience the world cannot understand. Though the wicked will be tripped up by God's work in history, the righteous shall be raised up. And finally, the book of Proverbs tells us in a very beautiful way that the righteous will ultimately prevail in history. In Proverbs 16:7, we read that God disarms our opponents, and in Proverbs 14:19, that God defeats our opponents, he disarms them, and he defeats them. First of all, Proverbs 16:7. When a man's ways please Jehovah, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. When we live lives that are wise and Fear the Lord when we walk in paths of righteousness before him and keep his commandments when our ways please Jehovah, when he is happy with us, when he says, well done, good and faithful servant, God disarms those who would oppose us. He makes even our enemies to be at peace with us. And, you know, I think you can see that, though I know that right now you're probably struggling with that as well. You're probably saying, but I know people who are really giving me a hard time. I know the unrighteous who are not at peace with me. And we don't see the immediate fulfillment of this. We don't see the one for one fulfillment of this in every individual case right away. But I think you can still see this principle being true. For instance, you know, even hardened sinners find it hard to hate the kindness and the virtues of true Christian character. I don't say it's impossible. And we are dealing in proverbial generalizations. We don't want to forget that. But the fact is, I think you know that when true Christian character shines forth, even sinners find it hard to hate that. They really do. I think of the Roman soldiers who early on in the days of the Church, were just miserable at the thought of having to execute one of the church fathers. And they begged him, they said, look, just cross your fingers. Just say, caesar is Lord, don't make us kill you. They had such respect for him that they were on his side. They didn't want to be his executioner. Or think of that Roman general Maurice, that we know of through history, who, when commanded to persecute the Christians and to execute them, laid down his sword and put off his Roman garb and stood with the Christians instead. There are such dramatic cases as that in history, but there are little victories in history, too, ones that never get written up, that don't get into the history books that maybe no one else knows about. Perhaps you're the only one who can see that. How sometimes on one of your better days, one of my better days, I really acted like a Christian in a trying situation. And amazingly, the opposition respected that. Amazingly, they were brought to peace. Consider what we learned from hypocrisy. Have you ever thought about. Hypocrisy has been humorously defined as the price that vice pays or the tribute that vice pays to virtue. I want you to reflect, reflect on that. Vice pays tribute to virtue because hypocrisy is a vice. Hypocrisy is a sin. But you notice the tribute it pays to virtue. The hypocrite wants to be hypocrite in favor of what? Righteous and good causes. We don't usually speak of people being hypocritically evil. We speak of them being hypocritically good. The hypocrite, though he doesn't want to be good, realizes that there is nonetheless a stage power and a respectability to goodness. And so the most evil Wall street greedy tyrant nevertheless tries to appear to be a philanthropist in the face of men. The biggest liar you know does not want to be known as a liar, wants to be known as somebody who tells the truth. The person who gossips behind another behind another person's back never wants to say, look, I'm trying to get a reputation as a gossip. No, they rather are a prayer warrior. They want to be able to pray for people's needs, and that's why they talk about them behind their back. You see, hypocrisy pays tribute to virtue, not to vice. God makes even our enemies to be at peace with us because it is hard to oppose true righteousness and virtue, hard to oppose true wisdom and the following after God. And we know that the power of the gospel is there to turn enemies into friends. You know, there was a man who once lived who knew that truth perhaps better than any of us. Because I don't think any of us in this room today know what it is like to have been a persecutor of the Christian church. None of us know what it is to actually have warrants of arrest for Christians in our hands and to go and to drag Christians to another city where they might be held before a tribunal and persecuted even may be put to death for their Christian faith. But there was a man once by the name of Saul from the city of Tarsus who was advanced in the Jewish faith, a Pharisee of Pharisees, and a man who was offended by the Gospel. A man who outwardly physically persecuted the church and was responsible for the death of Christians. And yet God took that life lion and turned him into a lamb. God reached down and changed the heart of Saul and made him into Paul the Apostle. The power of the Gospel prevails because the power of the Holy Spirit changes wicked hearts. Even the hardened hearts of sinners. The most wicked of men can be turned into saints because of God's power. And so we need not fear wicked men. God can handle them. God can handle a Saul. And God can handle whoever he's put into your life to give you a hard time and persecute you. Proverbs 29:25 reassures us of that. The fear of man brings a snare. But whoso puts his trust in Jehovah shall be safe. Don't fear men, fear the Lord. Because God can turn our enemies into friends. God can make our enemies be at peace with us. God can make virtue and righteousness prevail where it seems so impossible to us. And finally, not only does God disarm our opponents, the Bible says he defeats them. Proverbs 14:19. Our lead off verse from our reading this morning says, the evil bow down before the good and the wicked at the gates of the righteous. Boy, if you ever needed the eyes of faith, you need it here, don't you? Do you see the evil bowing down at your gates when you go home today? Do you even metaphorically see those who are unbelievers around you and those who have persecuted you are ridiculing you, laying down their faces to the ground before you, bowing in subservience to you? No, you don't. Not outwardly. And yet it's interesting. The perfect tense in Hebrew is used in this particular verse, interestingly enough, expressing something that has already taken place, it's accomplished, it's as good as done. As a way of saying this is certain, the wicked shall bow down to the righteous. Yes, they shall. Pre Millennial and all millennial commentators have quite a hard time dealing with this verse. And I had quite a good time chuckling at their attempts to deal with it because they can't. Let me explain for a minute. You know what premillennialism is? That's the view. Well, there are three views on history that Christians hold. Three views as to the course of history. All three views believe that history is a struggle. We need to remember that. We need not oversimplify and misrepresent these different positions. All three believe there are ups and downs. There's a real struggle going on between the city of God and the city of man in history, to use Augustine's terms. But the premillennialist believes that through that struggle, eventually righteousness decreases. The cause of God on earth cannot prevail until Jesus comes back and establishes an earthly and military kingdom of might. Premillennialism says that God's wisdom, God's righteousness, the power of the Holy Spirit and the preaching of the gospel will not ultimately be victorious. That through the struggles and the ups and downs of history, God's people will be defeated. Amillennialism, on the other hand, says it's going to be something of A stalemate, at least to the very end. And then there's going to be defeat in history. But the amillennialist does not see the power of righteousness prevailing in history. The amillennialist says good and evil tend to grow pretty much in proportion with one another throughout history. Now these are very broad, very basic and very influential views of history. Do you see history as basically going downhill for God's people? History as being a stalemate, just kind of like a Mexican standoff in history for the most part. Or the post millennial view says no. Through all the struggles, through all the ups and downs, you can't keep a good man down. In fact, the righteous will be put down to the earth. I mean the unrighteous before the righteous. They shall be subordinated. The post millennial confidence sees that struggle leading to the subordination of the wicked. And we have the confidence that because God has promised that it will happen. I don't care what Dan Rather says on the evening news. I don't care what the statistics are for the missionary output of the church in 1987. I know that ultimately the wicked shall bow down at the gates of the righteous because God says so. And God's word cannot be found false. God will never break a promise. His prophecies always are true. And we've seen it in history, haven't we? Who could ever have thought that the Egyptians would bow down to one Jewish boy named Joseph? After all, Joseph had a dream that his brothers would bow down to him and his brothers hated him for it. His brothers put him in the pit for that and sold him into slavery. And what did God do? From the pit of humiliation and rejection, Joseph rose up to the highest position in Egypt. So that all bowed before Joseph when he rode in his chariot and his very brothers came before him and bowed down to have their lives spared. God can raise his people up from humiliation to glory, even as he raised up his son from the grave to sit on the throne at his right hand. Pharaoh and his people bowed down before Moses. Though they were a slave people, they bowed down and gave them their silver and gold and granted them their freedom. Broken by the power of God. Saul wanted to destroy the Lord's anointed David and he bowed down to David. Eventually Naaman came, the great Syrian general and bowed down to the man of God, Elisha. Haman wanted to destroy the Jews and he bowed down to Esther. Eventually the magistrates wanted to destroy the apostles. In Acts 16 they threw them at into jail. But they came and humiliated themselves before the apostles. Granting that their cause was righteous, the Bible repeatedly tells us that God will bring his people into a position of power over their opponents. Look at Isaiah, the 49th chapter, verse 23, and consider the imagery that Isaiah uses, similar to that of Proverbs. Isaiah 49:23. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers. They shall bow down to thee with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of thy feet. And thou shalt know that I am Jehovah, and they that wait for me shall not be put to shame. What a marvelous prophecy. One that encouraged the puritans. You should see how the puritans deal with that verse, their expositions. They got excited about that kind of thing, not because they were greedy for their own individual vindication and power, but because the cause of God on earth would be vindicated, and the glory of Jesus Christ would shine to the nations when the kings of this earth lick our feet, because Jehovah will not put us to shame. Look at Isaiah, chapter 60, verse 14. And the sons of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee. And all they that despised thee shall bow down themselves down at the soles of thy feet. And they shall call thee the city of Jehovah, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. They will put their face to the ground before you. They shall be subordinated before the cause, God's holy city, and before his people. Psalm 72 gives the same confidence to God's people. Psalm72.7. In his days, the days of God's king, the Messiah. In his days shall the righteous Father flourish, and abundance of peace to the moon be no more. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river, unto the ends of the earth. And in that day of the Messiah's power, what will take place? They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him, and his enemies shall lick the dust repeatedly. The Old Testament promises that in the days of the Messiah, in the glorious days of God's kingdom, God's people, indeed God's Son, will be vindicated and their opponents subordinated. They will bow down at their gates. They will lick their feet, they will eat the dust. Revelation 3, verse 9 promises that that is yet true. But that is not simply for some future day of military might when Jesus returns. But it's for the here and now, as John writes to the seven churches of Asia Minor in his own day. And notice this promise at Revelation 3. 9. Behold, I give of the synagogue of Satan of them that say they are Jews, and They are not but do lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet and to know that I have loved thee. God says, you are the apple of my eye. I love you, and I will raise you up no matter how many times you are cast down. And I will vindicate you on earth, because I will vindicate my son and vindicate my cause. And they will know that I love you. They will come and worship at your feet. Even those of the synagogue of Satan will be subordinated to you. Revelation 2, verses 25 to 27. Another promise to the Church. Jesus says, nevertheless, that which you have, hold fast till I come. And he that overcomes, and he that keeps my works unto the end, to him will I give authority over the nations. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to shivers, as I also have received of my father. In Psalm 2, Jehovah promised to the Messiah, to his own Son, that he would sit him upon a throne over all the nations, and he will break all opposition like a man takes an iron rod and breaks a potter's vessel when they oppose him. And Jesus says, and if you overcome, and if you are faithful to me to the end, I too will set you on my throne, and you will rule over the nations, and you will break all opposition underneath you. Indeed, in Revelation chapters two and three, every promise spoken to the Church is there is a promise spoken to those who will overcome. Come. Who will be triumphant? Who will be victorious in Jesus name? Jesus overcame the world, and he says, your faith shall overcome the world as well. The gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church of Jesus Christ. We shall, in the power of the Holy Spirit and with the purity of the Gospel, go right to the gates of hell and breakthrough and take. Take prisoners. Take those who are in the grasp of Satan and set them free. Take those who are in the clutches of death and see to it that they have eternal life. The gates of hell will not prevail against the outward march of God's Church in history. And so, friends, that's what I want you to see. As 1988 begins, as every new year begins, I want you to see that the course of history must be seen according to Christian presuppositions, must be evaluated in light of the word of God and not just what you hear on the evening news. You need to know that power in history belongs to the wise. You need to know that God's protection and resilience belongs to the righteous. And you need to Know that the righteous will ultimately prevail. 1988 is Arnold Domini 1988, which in Latin means the year of our Lord. And because it is the year of our Lord, the righteous are reminded that they shall for that very reason be victorious. For every year is just one more year set in in the conquering might of Jesus Christ, when God will bring the wicked to bow down at the gates of the righteous for the sake of his Son and to show that we are beloved. Let's pray. Father, do hasten that day when what we believe with the eyes of faith will be sheen by all the eyes of men. The day when the nations of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and our Savior, your Messiah, Jesus Christ. We do pray that you would give us faith to see that we can overcome the world because Jesus overcame the world. Because your sovereign protection is ours. That you will raise us up though we are cast down seven times. Give us faith to believe that, Lord. Give us confidence that we get ahead in this world and we get ahead in your eyes. Not through the schemes of men and not through might, not through money, but through wisdom and righteousness and walking in your paths. And Lord, give us perseverance that we might endure to the end, confident that the righteous shall prevail because you will vindicate the cause of your Son on earth. That the wicked will bow down at the gates of the righteous and the gates of hell will be broken down will not prevail against your church. Lord, help us to see our lives and to see all of history in the right perspective. Give us the eyes of the faith for this another year of our Lord. For we pray in Jesus name, Amen.