Proverbs 28

CHAPTER 28

Proverbs 28:1

Sin, regardless of the viewpoint of men toward it, puts a person into a state of continual fear and self-condemnation. I was speaking to a group of young people about sin, just sin in general. A young fellow and girl in the group were living together. I had never even mentioned that as a sin, but it was interesting to hear how that young man began to defend himselfit would have been amusing if it had not been so serious. When sin was being discussed, his conscience began to prick him, and then he began defending himself. “The wicked flee when no man pursueth.” No one had pointed a finger at him. I would not have known of his sin if he had kept quiet. The discussion was about sin, not his particular sin. There is a psychological term that is used: a guilt complex. We all have a guilt complex. A Christian psychologist, who was on the faculty of the University of Southern California, said to me, “We all have a guilt complex. It is as much a part of us as our right arm. No one can get rid of a guilt complex just by wishful thinking.” Many people try to do that. He went on with an even more interesting statement: “We psychologists can shift the guilt complex from one place to another, but we cannot eliminate it.” “The righteous are bold as a lion.” If a man is not guilty, he can stand up and speak out. If his own mind is free from guilt, he is not afraid of the thoughts and minds of other men.

Proverbs 28:9

“The Law” means the Word of God. It includes everything that had been written up to the time of Solomon: the Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, and many of the Psalms. The thing that God is saying here is very important. If you want God to hear you, you must hear Him first. He has made it very clear that He does not listen to the prayer of the godless man. It is just sentimental twaddle to talk about the prayers of the godless man being answered in time of trouble. Tearjerking stories tell of a sick little daughter whose father in a very sentimental way calls upon God to raise her up. I would suggest that he call a godly friend to pray to the Lord for his little girl, because God will not hear the prayer of the ungodly man.

He says he won’t. “For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil” (1Pe_3:12). Here in Proverbs it says that his prayer is actually an abomination to God.

Proverbs 28:10

This is a law of God that is operative in this world. You can find this again and again as you go through the Word of God. For example, David by his sin brought scandal into his own family and his own home.

Proverbs 28:11

Riches will minister to pride and conceit. They seem to go along together. You hear of rich people giving testimonies at banquets, especially prominent banquets. You hear that the great men of this world give their testimony at the president’s prayer breakfast. Did you ever hear of them reaching down and asking some poor little vegetable variety Christian to give his testimony? But notice what God says, “The rich man is wise in his own conceit; but the poor that hath understanding searcheth him out.” The poor man, poor in this world’s goods but rich in faith, can listen to the testimony of the rich and know that it is hollow, that it lacks reality.

Even if it is real, it will often lack the ring of discernment and of understanding of spiritual things. I have been present at banquets where they have called upon a prominent businessman or a so-called Hollywood convert to give a testimony. I have noted the people who have real spiritual discernment bowing their heads in embarrassment at the things which were being said. This is a very practical proverb, and one that is often passed over.

Proverbs 28:13

This is a great proverb. It seems a common practice today for Christians to try to cover their sins. You will find in the average church that there is a Band-Aid of silence wrapped over the cancer of sin. People don’t like to talk about it; in fact, they don’t admit its existence. They like to think they are very good. But we are told here, “But whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” And we have the New Testament version of this in 1Jn_1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This does not refer to a public confession of sin; confession is between you and the Lord, and sin should be dealt with.

Trying to appear sinless before your little group of friends is a big mistake. If you confess and forsake your sin, you shall have mercy. How wonderful!

Proverbs 28:14

This is what it means to walk in the fear of the Lord. Remember that “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom …(Pro_9:10).” It means that our hearts are open toward God all the time. It is the opposite of “he that hardeneth his heart.” The man who fears God is one who is listening to God. He is one who is trying to walk in a way that is pleasing to God. He is walking in humility before the Lord. He walks in recognition of his weakness and of his utter dependence upon God. This is the meaning of “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.” I must pause here to say that I have received letters that read: “You have pointed out the faults of the church members, and you have given the criticism of the Christians who are in the churches today. Don’t you have a word of encouragement for them?” May I say that I attempt to teach the Word of God. We are living in days of apostasypastors in our churches across the land and missionaries on the foreign field are quick to acknowledge the present-day apostasy of the church. I recognize that we need encouragement, and the Bible has much to say that is encouraging to the true believer. I call attention to the local church when the Word of God makes it very clear that reference is being made to folk who are making only a profession of being Christian. I feel that to be forewarned is to be forearmed. A great many folk in and out of the church are tremendously discouraged by what they see in the lives of some Christians, and it is causing them to turn away from religion.

A rebellious young man told me, “I’ve turned off religion.” Well, knowing something of the boy’s background, I almost felt like saying, I don’t blame you. I couldn’t say that to the young man, so I tried to point out to him that there are many wonderful saints in the church. Often they are in the background, and he hadn’t noticed them. They are folk with whom he could have wonderful fellowship. I felt that I should pause in our study to insert this explanation in case you may be thinking that I am too critical of the contemporary church. Actually, the one who wrote these proverbs didn’t spare any of us. Many of the proverbs fit us just like a garment!

Proverbs 28:17

A man who is consciously guilty of having committed a horrible crime must bear a fearful load on his conscience. Often it will finally drive him to suicide. There are many cases like that today. The prime example from the Bible is Judas Iscariot who was driven to suicide because of the awful, dastardly crime which he had committed. An FBI man told me that sometimes a crime will go unsolved for years. They will have no inkling at all of evidence nor any way to trace the guilty one. Then a man or woman pops up who has to talk, who feels impelled to make a confession. Sometimes the person is already in prison for another crime. He will confess the unsolved crime that the police are still working on. Why does he do that? Because the crime is on the mind and heart of the guilty one. There is no escape from it. God has made us that way as a means of bringing us back to Himself.

Proverbs 28:24

A young person may think, I’m going to inherit what my dad owns, so I’ll just take a little of it now. God says that that is a crime. The Lord Jesus rebuked the religious rulers of His day because they taught that as soon as a person had said to his father or mother, “It is Corban” or “I have dedicated to God that which would relieve your need” (see Mat_15:5-6; Mar_7:11), he thereby consecrated all to God and was freed from using it for his parents. This, Jesus declared to be contradictory to the command of God. You see, it is so easy because of a relationship to deny support or to take something that does not belong to us. That is what our Lord condemned. Incidentally, if you are a parent, you should not ignore acts of theft in the home.