Mistakes Sinners Make

1. Rebelling against God given authority (1-9).

A. Solomon gives advice to those who serve the king.

In Solomon’s day the King had absolute authority.

There was no vote.

There was no Senate.

There was no House of Representatives.

What the King said was the law. Therefore, dealing with the King could be dangerous. Wisdom was needed.

Most of the kings were evil.

All of the Kings were sinners.

It was only natural for people to resent them or even hate them. Solomon says wisdom transforms the disposition of a person toward the king (1).

Why did that matter?

Look at how people respond to political rulers today. Let’s think about the President.

Jokes are made.

People hold up signs degrading him.

People make posts on social media degrading them.

People insult Presidents to their face.

I promise you those people would not have done that to a king in Solomon’s day. If they did, they would only do it once.

John the Baptist told Herod to quit committing adultery with his brother’s wife and Herod had his head cut off.

In Solomon’s day kings had advisors. That’s probably the context of this chapter. This would be a person who had made an oath before God toward the king. They promised to protect and serve the king.

The temptation would be when you disagreed with the king to take a stand. Solomon is giving practical advice about a situation like that. Let’s look at the advice:

1) Be patient on taking up causes against the King (3).

2) Remember your word does not have the same authority the king’s word does (4).

3) Wisdom will help you know the right time and manner to accomplish your goal (5-6).

If an advisor to the king goes into service with his own agenda and guns blazing, he could get fired, imprisoned, or even killed. If he has a goal he wants to accomplish he needs to use wisdom to accomplish that goal.

By the way, this is great life advice. We live in an age of angry people. If we disagree:

We want to fight

We want to name call

We want to get someone fired

B. Rebellion toward authority is not virtuous.

There are systems of authority in this world. These authorities are often God ordained.

The authority of the family.

God says the husband is the head of the family.

God says the woman is to be loved like Christ loves the church.

God says children are required to be in submission to their parents.

The authority of government.

God says the rulers are put in place by Him and we are to recognize that with our submission as long as they are not requiring us to sin (Romans 13:1-5).

The authority of the church.

God has given the church elders, deacons, and members who operate according to their gifting and abilities.

Ephesians 4:11–16, Hebrews 13:17, 1 Peter 5:1–11

The authority of employers

Scripture teaches we should submit to our boss and work as if we are working for the Lord (Colossians 3:22–4:1, I Peter 2:18.)

Oftentimes those who are rebellious toward one of those systems will be rebellious toward all of them. Our culture is constantly encouraging us to fight for our rights.

When I was a kid the Beastie Boys were telling us we had to fight for our right to party. I’m not suggesting there is not a proper way to stand against violations of human rights. There are. But much of what we see today is about sinful desires being normalized.

The right to kill a baby.

The right to call boys girls.

The right to redefine marriage.

Rebellion toward the systems of authority God has given us is not virtuous at all. It’s dangerous.

C. Rebellion toward King Jesus is foolish (8-9).

There is a King who is absolutely perfect.

His motive cannot be questioned.

His will cannot be thwarted.

His Word cannot be corrupted.

Everything He says is true.

Everything He does is good.

His name is Jesus. Yet there are those who still believe they can rebel against Him. Listen to me friend, it is foolish to rebel against God. We all have two choices when it comes to Jesus. We can join Him or we can be judged by Him.

He is the ultimate authority.

No one is going to take His place.

I want you to see two things in verse 8:

1) To rebel against God is to choose death over life.

2) Joining God’s enemies will not help you.

The end of verse 8 describes a person who in an attempt to defeat the King, joins the king’s enemies in a time of war. He is a traitor. He is a defector.

Listen folks, Jesus has all authority in heaven and earth. He’s not going to be defeated. His will is going to be done. He alone has power over life and death.

You can join those in rebellion to Him but it’s not going to end well for you. It’s our responsibility to bow our knee to Jesus. We must recognize Him as our Authority. He deserves our submission because He is Creator and Ruler of all.

2. Mistaking God’s common grace for His approval (10-13).

A. Wicked people may have wonderful lives (10).

Solomon describes an experience he had at the funeral of a wicked person.

He remembered how they frequented the Temple.

He remembered how people would praise him.

This was a man who was well known in the city and respected. Yet he was a wicked man.

It seems that the funeral of this man bothered Solomon. What did he hear that day?

How great the man was

How much the man accomplished

How the man was now being rewarded in heaven

Solomon probably sat their quietly. But the funeral bothered him. Listen to me folks:

You can be a “good” person but still be wicked. God measures goodness differently than we do.

You can help people and still be wicked.

You can be successful and prosperous and still be wicked.

You might ask “If was a wicked person how…”

Does he have good kids?

Did he accomplish so much?

Did he have favor with the community?

Because of God’s common grace! God’s common grace is given to the lost and the saved. He makes the rain fall on the just and the unjust! God is good even to the lost!

B. The unredeemed heart is a deceitful thing (11).

The reason some people don’t recognize evil is because God’s justice is seldom immediate. If God treated everyone like He did Ananais and Sapphira folks would probably act differently. They lied to the Lord and the church and the Lord took them out immediately.

You can have a good life in this world without Jesus. You live in a free nation. If you work hard and are disciplined, you can have a good life.

You can have a good marriage.

You can own a home.

You can get a good job.

You can go on vacation.

You can retire.

You don’t have to go to church to prosper.

You don’t have to give of your finances to prosper.

You don’t have to serve the Lord to prosper.

You can adopt a sinful lifestyle and prosper.

You can be a drunk

You can cuss like a sailor

You can shack up

Lot’s of sinful people prosper in our country.

Beware of the deception of the heart. It will say:

“Look at you! You’re doing good! If you were not pleasing God, why would you be doing so well?”

An unredeemed heart will always justify sin. There have been many who claim their life is better without Christ. They are settled in their sin and because life is going so well for them they assume all is well.

Your life may be well without Christ but your eternity will not be.

C. Those who fear God have saving grace (12-13).

The experiences of Solomon does not affect his theology. He says though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his days, it will not be well with the wicked.

Solomon has seen wicked men live long.

Solomon has seen beautiful funerals for the wicked.

Solomon has heard the wicked praised.

Yet he says, “It will not be well with the wicked because the wicked do not fear God.” (13)

He was a good man- But did he fear God?

He was a giving man- But did he fear God?

He was a nice man- But did he fear God?

He was a good dad- But did he fear God?

He was a hard worker- But did he fear God?

Solomon says eternity will be well for those who fear God (12).

Do you fear God folks?

God has blessed you. Do you fear Him?

God has been good to you. Do you fear Him?

Does a reverence for God impact the way you live? Fearing God is the requirement. It’s revealed by coming in repentance through faith in the work of Christ to God. If you fear God, you will:

Repent of your sin

Believe in the work of Christ on the cross

Call out to God for forgiveness

There is no common grace after you die. There is only saving grace. If all you have is the common grace of God eternity for you will be unbearable.

3. Believing people can fix the world (14-16).

A. Injustice will exist until Christ returns (14).

Solomon says sometimes the righteous will get what the wicked deserve and the wicked will get what the righteous deserve in this world. Many people want to fix this. I understand that.

We want to save the whales.

We want to save the planet.

We want to right every wrong.

There are injustices we should strive against.

Babies should not be murdered.

Human rights should not be violated.

The planet should not be trashed.

We should keep in mind what we know though:

This world is going to pass away

People are going to become more sinful

Injustice is not going to vanish while sinful people live in the world.

I’m honestly surprised that more injustice does not exist. If you’re upset about the injustice in USA go and look at some other countries. By the grace of God we have less injustice than most of the world. The USA is about as good as it gets in this world when it comes to battling injustice.

We had a WNBA player who said the National Anthem should not be played at games. She went to Russia to play in the off season and she’s still sitting in a Russian jail because of some cannabis oil she had in her suitcase. In the USA that would have never happened.

Solomon says injustice is here and it’s going to be here.

B. If you are looking for all injustice to be erased in this present world you will be discouraged (16-17).

Solomon mentions people so overwhelmed with the injustice the world that they can’t sleep. They look for a way to correct the injustice, but they can’t. They offer solutions but the solutions fail.

Listen folks, there is only one Savior and none of us are Him. We can’t fix everything. Seeking to rid this world of all injustice is like bailing water out of a boat with a hole in the bottom.

You can march all you want

You can shout all you want

When you think you have fixed something you’ll see something else is broken.

What is our job as Christians?

Our job is to preach the gospel!

Jesus didn’t march in the streets of Jerusalem, He preached.

Paul didn’t march in Rome, he preached.

Peter didn’t picket at the Temple, he preached.

One of the biggest problems with the Social Justice movement in Christianity today is it is replacing:

Preaching with programs

The Bible with political ideologies

God has ordained that through the preaching of the gospel He will create a people for Himself, and they will inherit a new earth for His glory.

C. God has given us the privilege of enjoying the world, not fixing it (15).

Solomon says you can worry yourself to death about all the injustice in this world or you can enjoy the life God has given you. Solomon says, “I commend joy!”

You say “I can’t be happy unless (until)…”

I can’t be happy until every hungry child is fed

I can’t be happy while there is a puppy without a home

You’re never going to be happy then. Solomon says rather than living in depression because of the injustices in this world enjoy the life God has given you.

Somebody says: How can you eat that steak knowing there are starving people in this world? How? With a fork and knife, that’s how.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful. I praise God for the steak. But God has given it to me and I’m going to eat it. I don’t have to live in depression because I have it better than some people. I can be happy even with the injustices in this world.

God is happy and He knows more than we do. You know why God is happy? He knows how all this ends. God is going to correct everything. When He is finished there will be no injustice.

You and I can enjoy life when we trust that God is going to fix it all. It’s not they we don’t care. We do care and we do what we can to show the love and character of God to the world. But at the same time we can be happy because we know Christ will bring justice for all when He returns. Now if I didn’t believe in Christ I don’t think I could be happy. I think I’d be depressed about all the injustice. But I do believe in Christ, and I know how all of this will end. God will fix it.

Let’s not make these mistakes in life. Let’s not:

Rebel against God given authority

Mistake God’s common grace for His approval

Believe that we can fix this world.