Proverbs 11:21, There’s A Price to Pay
May 18, Proverbs 11:21
John 14:15-24; 21:15-17 “All such confederacies shall be broken”.
There’s A Price to Pay
d. Their Confusion: The most common ground broadcast for the coming together of theological liberals and conservative evangelicals is their love of God and love of neighbour. Is it not wickedness that seeks to bring together error and truth on the basis of love? The dangers inherent in this ecumenism are cleverly concealed under the slogan, “Let’s just love one another.” This is proof of the old saying, “Love is blind,” until, like puppies, its eyes are opened to the truth. “Infidelity,” said John Calvin, “is always blind.” “According to Christianity, the acid test of truth and goodness is scripturalness” (R.B. Kuiper). Love covers all, we are assured, but without truth there is no goodness to love! Would you trust your young lambs to the care of the Wolf unless you really wanted them destroyed? Yet this is the confusion that is in full swing today.
e. Their Condition: The word Wicked is singular and may refer primarily to the deed rather than the doer, but the one inevitably includes the other (Jn. 3:36). “The confederacies in sin shall certainly be broken, and shall not avail to protect sinners” (Henry). When good men join hands in trade-off alliances for the sake of the Gospel, it is even more tragic. They, of all people, should know better. “It is never right to do wrong to get a chance to do right!” That just compounds the wickedness. The same applies to all joint-efforts in Christian work that involves bargaining. They have accepted the dialectical argument that truth is found in the middle. This was just starting to surface in Spurgeon’s day. He quipped, “The middle of the road is where accidents happen!”
f. Their Condemnation: Not unpunished! Innocent, they are not! King Asa’s first years were glorious because he completely relied on God. Vastly outnumbered by his enemy, his prayer is precious. It is nothing with thee to help whether with many or with them that have no power: help us, O Lord our God (2 Chr. 14:11). Yet, 25 years later, Asa forged an unequal yoke with a pagan king instead of standing alone with God as at first. His final years were godless and full of grief for himself and Judah (16:1ff.). Good King Jehoshaphat tried to revive true worship, but without an unequivocal separation from prevailing apostasy. He had a heart for God and Judah prospered. Yet, when riches and honour increased, he joined affinity with Ahab. He became more entangled in family, political and commercial alliances that brought the judgment of God upon himself and Judah (2 Chr. 18-21). Faithfulness to God’s Word often weakens with age rather than growing stronger. It is an all too common occurrence that the most outspoken new evangelicals are those who came out of a separatist background, but have now clearly rejected it for ecumenical fame and favour. “No combination of men, however great in number, vast in wisdom, mighty in strength, affluent in resources, can prevent punishment from befalling the wicked. It must come” (Thomas).
Thought: “Truth oft oppresséd we may see; but quite suppress’d it cannot be.”
Prayer: That fundamental preachers would contend earnestly for the Faith.