Proverbs 17:4,9-11 ESV
4An evildoer listens to wicked lips,
and a liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue.
9 Whoever covers an offense seeks love,
but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.
10 A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding
than a hundred blows into a fool.
11 An evil man seeks only rebellion,
and a cruel messenger will be sent against him.
An Evildoer
An evildoer is a person who makes a practice of doing evil
to others. He is mean, hateful, vicious and malicious, and often spiteful. He
is despicable, morally corrupt, someone who takes advantage of others, a user,
an abuser, and someone who is sneaky and underhanded, who makes a practice of
deception and telling lies. He is manipulative, egocentric, not trustworthy, and
a fake, and if he professes faith in Jesus, his profession is false.
He is also a spiritual predator, someone who preys upon the naïve
and the unlearned and who feeds off others. He is spiritually unclean and
impure, although he will profess that he is a believer in Jesus and that he is
listening to and following the Lord. And if he is in a position of pastor,
elder, or Bible teacher, he is often a master at smooth talk and flattery in
order to deceive and to manipulate the naïve and the unsuspecting.
He can come across as harmless as a puppy but with a snake’s
bite. And even if he does teach a semblance of the true gospel, he is truly an
opponent of the true gospel of Christ and so he lives the life of someone who
believes in a false gospel and he will teach a false gospel, too, or
exclusively. And he will oppose those who are teaching the truth of the gospel
and who are calling out sin for what it is and who are calling people to repent
of their sins and to follow Jesus Christ in obedience to his commands.
He is spiritually and morally unclean, greedy, sexually
addicted, lustful, and seductive. And he tells lies as just part of his nature.
His speech is full of nonsense. He is often inhumanly or outrageously evil,
rude and crude and disrespectful in his behaviors. He is boastful and proud. He
is not fair in his dealings with those he opposes and he will respond in anger
and even rage if he does not get his way. He is foolish, stubborn, headstrong,
and territorial, and if he at all feels threatened, he will claim his
dominance.
Now, all of these character traits don’t describe every
evildoer. Evil comes in all kinds of shapes and sizes, but this is
representative of much of the evil that we are seeing today in our society, in
our governments, and in our churches, at least here in America. And those who
are teaching an altered half-truth (lie) gospel are giving their adherents free
reign to continue to be evildoers, only now without conscience, guilt, or consequence.
So, yes, they are listening to wicked lips who are giving them permission to
keep sinning.
Dealing with Evildoers
Now, this next part here about covering offenses or
repeating them can be interpreted many different ways, but I believe what it is
talking about here is forgiving those who sin against us and not gossiping
about that person to others. But it is not talking about ignoring sin or
pretending that sin does not exist, especially if it is habitual sin. Sin needs
to be addressed biblically, and repentance called for, as well as walks of
obedience to the Lord called for.
And this is apparent here in the next two verses that “covering
an offense” is not about ignoring sin or giving people carte blanche to continue
living in sin. For we read here that a rebuke goes deeper into a man of
understanding than a hundred blows to a fool (those evildoers described in the
previous section). And this is absolutely true! Those who are foolish and
stubborn and headstrong and full of pride and moral corruption are not going to
be open to being rebuked for their evil, so they may engage in backlash.
For those who are evildoers, who make a practice of doing
evil to others, are rebellious in heart and mind, and unless something happens
to finally bring them to their knees in true humility and in surrender of their
hearts to Jesus, they will go on doing evil, and nothing you say to them in the
way of correction or warning will ever move them to change. For they are set in
their wicked ways and they will not budge. But God will judge them for their
evil deeds, if not now, when Jesus returns to judge the people of the earth.
Proverbs 17:13,15,19-20 ESV
13 If anyone returns evil for good,
evil will not depart from his house.
15 He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous
are both alike an abomination to the Lord.
19 Whoever loves transgression loves strife;
he who makes his door high seeks destruction.
20 A man of crooked heart does not discover good,
and one with a dishonest tongue falls into calamity.
Returning Evil for Good
Evildoers, who make it their practice to do evil to others,
don’t usually have a conscience about the evil they do or about who gets hurt
in the process. It is all about them and what they want, and it is about
fulfilling the lusts of their own flesh regardless of who gets hurt in the
process. And so even if others do good to them, they will sometimes or often
return evil for the good done to them. For they have no compassion. They are
merciless.
Now this next verse which talks against justifying the
wicked and condemning the righteous is even more evidence that verse 9 is not
talking about overlooking evil or pretending that it does not exist and thus
refusing to confront the evil in evil human beings. We are to give no
justification or permission for or tolerance of evil deeds, especially those
evil deeds which cause injury to others, especially to the innocent (the not
guilty).
But this is what most churches in America are doing today,
i.e. they are giving permission for evildoers to continue in their evil
practices without guilt or conscience, and they are not generally reaching out
to those who are being hurt by the evildoers, and so they are condemning the
righteous to being mistreated by these evildoers because they don’t want to
offend the evildoers, but they don’t mind offending the innocent who are hurt
by them.
And they do this by teaching them that repentance and
obedience to the Lord are not required for salvation and for eternal life with
God. But when we read the Scriptures in context, we see that repentance and
obedience to the Lord are indeed required of God for salvation from sin and for
eternal life with God. And so many of their adherents feel at liberty to keep
on in deliberate and habitual sin, in working evil against other people. But
Jesus will judge these evildoers when he comes to judge.
[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom
6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal
5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col
3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb
3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
My
Heart’s Desire
An
Original Work / June 29, 2013
Based
off Rm. 10; Lu. 9:23-26; Ep. 4:20-24
Loved Ones, Oh, my heart’s desire
Is that you might come to Jesus.
Many appear zealous for God,
But they do not trust in Him.
They have not submitted to the One
Who saved them from their sins;
Not forsaken their sins,
Nor have they obeyed their King.
The word of the Lord is near you:
The word of faith we’re proclaiming:
That you must confess your faith
In Jesus as your Lord and King:
Believe in Him as your Lord,
And follow Him where’er He leads.
Share the gospel; be a witness,
And meet others’ needs.
Beautiful are the feet of those
Who bring the good news of Jesus:
Anyone who would come to Him
Must deny himself today;
Die to sin and self, and
Let the Spirit transform you in heart;
Put on your new self in Jesus,
Yielding to the cross.
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