Evil People Do Not Understand Justice

Proverbs 28 Select Verses

1 The wicked flee when no one pursues,

    but the righteous are bold as a lion.

4 Those who forsake the law praise the wicked,

    but those who keep the law strive against them.

5 Evil men do not understand justice,

    but those who seek the Lord understand it completely.

6 Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity

    than a rich man who is crooked in his ways.

7 The one who keeps the law is a son with understanding,

    but a companion of gluttons shames his father.

9 If one turns away his ear from hearing the law,

    even his prayer is an abomination.

13 Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper,

    but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.

Since we who believe in Jesus Christ are not under the Old Covenant law, but we are under grace, but which still requires that we obey the commandments of our Lord under the New Covenant, I am going to change the word “law” here to “commands” (of God). For to apply this to our lives today, we must teach it under the New Covenant and not under the Old Covenant. Yet what is taught here is still relevant to our lives today.

When I think of the wicked fleeing when no one pursues, I think of all those who are engaged in private sinful practices which they try to keep hidden from others, especially from their spouses or parents or bosses or employees or citizens of nations, etc. Although no one saw them sin, other than God, perhaps, they still run and hide what they do in hopes that no one will see and that no one will know, so that they can get away with their crimes.

But those who are living righteously, in walks of obedience to the Lord and to his commands (New Covenant), have no reason to hide what they are doing out of fear of getting caught. They are also those who are not afraid of sharing the truth of the gospel with others. They do not fear being hated, rejected, mocked, abandoned, forsaken, and forgotten. It doesn’t mean that they don’t feel sadness or pain over such, but they will not let fear overtake them. For they love other people more than they fear being mistreated.

Now when it says here that those who forsake our Lord’s commandments praise the wicked, what comes to mind is how so many people today have turned the message of the gospel upside down. They have turned God’s grace to us into a free license to continue in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord. And they will give glory to those who are still walking in sin while they will, perhaps, chastise those who are walking righteously, especially if we are teaching the true gospel of salvation and refuting lies.

And when it says here that evil men (women, too) do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand it completely, what comes to mind? How would you define “justice”? It is honesty, uprightness, integrity, fairness, morality, decency, righteousness, and judgment, etc. And it isn’t that evil people don’t understand what honesty and integrity and moral purity are, but they shun it, ignore it, and refuse it, while those who seek after the Lord desire it, and they appreciate it.

So, it is better to be poor with regard to worldly possessions and to live uprightly in honesty, honor, and trustworthiness, than it is to be wealthy and to have many possessions and to be crooked in your ways and in your dealings with others. Integrity is of much greater wealth than anything that this world has to offer us in the way of possessions. And this includes friends, too, i.e. it is better to be a person of integrity and to not have many friends, then to be a liar and a cheat and to have many friends.

So, if we are people of understanding, in the eyes of the Lord, then we are those whose lives are surrendered to Jesus Christ to do his will and who walk in obedience to his commands in holy living. We are not those who habitually and deliberately sin against God and against other humans. We are not companions (partners) with the ungodly who are morally impure and who are lazy gluttons who feed their own flesh rather than care for the needs of others and rather than show love to others.

Many people, though, profess faith in Jesus Christ, but they are living in opposition to his will and purpose for their lives. They are still engaged in deliberate and habitual sin and in feeding their own flesh, but while they will claim that they are in relationship with God, with Jesus Christ, that they believe in him, and that they pray to him, and even that they have times of personal devotions with him. But the Scriptures teach that if we walk in sin, and not in obedience to God, we don't know God, and we will not inherit eternal life with God.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2]

My Sheep  

An Original Work / June 24, 2012  

Based off John 10:1-30 NIV

My sheep hear me. They know me.

They listen to my voice and obey.

I call them and lead them.

They know my voice, so they follow me.

They will never follow strangers.

They will run away from them.

The voice of a stranger they know not;

They do not follow him.

So, I tell you the truth that

I am the gate, so you enter in.

Whoever does enter

Will find forgiveness and will be saved.

Nonetheless whoever enters

Not by the gate; other way,

He is the thief and a robber.

Listen not, the sheep to him.

Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,

Who laid his own life down for the sheep.

I know them. They know me.

They will live with me eternally.

The thief only comes to steal and

Kill and to destroy the church.

I have come to give you life that

You may have it to the full… 

They know my voice, so they follow me.

https://vimeo.com/114938263