Please turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Proverbs. We're in chapter 29. Proverbs chapter 29. Proverbs 29, verse 27, an unjust man is an abomination to the righteous, and he who is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked.

Well, let us ask God's help as we look to this passage.

Opening Prayer

Father, we thank you for the written word. We thank You for this book of Proverbs and the great wisdom it presents to us. Help us tonight to see Solomon's teaching here, not only in this place, but other places in Scripture, and cause us to reflect upon these realities. Lord God, we praise You for including us in the plan of God, for giving us that righteousness of Jesus Christ, received by faith alone, a faith that You gave to us.

God, certainly we're not righteous and upright or good in our own strength, but it's certainly because of what you've done for us in the gospel of our salvation. May we never forget this, may this always humble us, and may it always evoke from us praise and worship unto our great God. Again, fill us now with your Holy Spirit, and we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen. Well,

Introduction

this morning we had two instances where the wicked saw the righteous as abominations. We saw in our scripture reading in John chapter 12 where the religious leaders, the Pharisees specifically, wanted to kill Lazarus. They wanted to murder Lazarus. Remember, Lazarus had been raised from the dead by the Lord Jesus Christ.

But to try to neutralize the threat of Christ, they wanted to destroy Lazarus. Because as long as Lazarus was alive, he would no doubt tell people that I was dead and now I'm alive. I mean, if that happened in your life, you would probably go from person to person to tell them. If somebody said, what's new in your life?

Or what's been happening with you recently? You would no doubt say, well, I was dead, and then the Lord Jesus called me forth from the grave. So in order to try and silence them or keep persons from hearing about the power of Jesus Christ, it says that they wanted to kill Lazarus. And then, of course, in our studies in Acts chapter 7, we actually see them kill Stephen, a godly man, a man full of the Holy Spirit, a man who knew their scriptures better than them, a man who does refute the false charges, shows that they were the ones that were wrong, And in all of this is actually calling upon them to repent and believe the gospel.

Well, they gnash at him with their teeth, they close up their ears, they chase him out of the city, and they ultimately stone him to death. And what we find in this particular passage, in this verse, is what some have called the antithesis. There is an antithesis between the upright and the wicked. An antithesis simply means opposition or contrast.

Solomon says in verse 27, an unjust man is an abomination to the righteous. And he who is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked. So the righteous looks at the wicked as an abomination, but the wicked look at the righteous as an abomination. How do we explain that?

How do we account for that? And what ought we to think of that? That's the subject of our message this evening. In the first place,

The Origin of the Antithesis

I want to consider the origin of this antithesis. And then secondly, this affirmation by Solomon concerning this antithesis. But in terms of the origin, we need to turn back to the book of Genesis. Genesis chapter 3, we see the origin of the antithesis between the upright and the wicked.

Again, antithesis simply means the opposition or contrast, two parties on the opposite side of a particular thing. Notice the origin, Genesis chapter 3 at verse 15. The Lord God has come to deal with His creatures that have rebelled against Him. Remember, God gave a prohibition to Adam and Eve.

They were forbidden from eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in that theological construct called the covenant of works. They were promised life if they obeyed. They were promised death if they disobeyed. Of course, they disobey and then they run and they try to hide from God.

God then seeks after them. It's simply not the case that man in sin seeks after God. The reality is that God seeks after man, and that is precisely what we find here in Genesis 3. We'll see it later in Genesis chapter 12, in the call of Abraham.

That's the divine corrective to the tower builders at Babel. And then, of course, the coming of the Son of Man. He himself says to Zacchaeus, or in the hearing of Zacchaeus, the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. So God comes to deal graciously with Adam and Eve.

But before He gets into atoning for their sin, He gives this curse pronounced upon the serpent, and then He speaks to the woman, and then He speaks to the man. But notice with reference to the serpent in verse 14. It says, So the Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, you have cursed more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field. On your belly you shall go and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.

Now here's the antithesis.

Genesis 3:15 and the Two Seeds

God says, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. So that's the program for the rest of redemptive history. That sets out in a large swath what the rest of the Bible is going to flesh out in detail.

The rest of the Bible indicates or demonstrates how it is that this seed of the woman bruises the head of this serpent, or bruises the head of the devil. But specifically notice that God puts this enmity between you and the woman. There is divine initiative here. There are two seeds operative.

It's picked up already in Genesis chapter 4, between Cain and Abel, and then it's carried on in Genesis chapters 5 and 6. There's the godly Sethites and there's the ungodly Cainites. Now, some have taught that this operates according to racial or ethnic lines. That's not what's happening.

It is not racial. It is not ethnicity. It is rather those associated with the seed of the woman and those associated with the devil himself. Those are the two lines.

Those are the two seeds. Again, it's not mystical. It's not esoteric. There's been a lot of weird things developed over the years concerning this seed theology.

It's simply an identification of the people of Jesus Christ and then the people of the devil. That is the contour given to us here in Genesis chapter three at verse 15. So it's a God-wrought enmity, and then it's continuous. Notice, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed.

He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. Now there is an individual seed here, the Lord Jesus Christ, the seed of the woman, but there's also that collective body of people identified with that seed, the Lord Christ. So as long as there is human history, there will be this antithesis. As long as there are those who are identified with the Messiah and those who are identified with the devil, there's going to be this opposition.

There's going to be this contrast. There's going to be what Solomon says in Proverbs 29, 27. As far as the righteous are concerned, the wicked are an abomination to them. But as far as the wicked are concerned, the upright are an abomination to them.

In fact, on Proverbs 29.27,

Commentators on the Antithesis

both Bridges and Henry identify Genesis 3.15. Charles Bridges says here is the oldest, the most rooted, the most universal quarrel in the world. It was the first fruit of the fall, Genesis 3.15. Again, That's his comment on Proverbs 29.27.

Matthew Henry says this, Proverbs 29.27, expresses not only the innate contrariety that there is between virtue and vice, as between light and darkness, fire and water, but the old enmity that has always been between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, Genesis 3.15. So when you come to Proverbs 29, 27, as we have tonight, you need to realize that it ought not to be interpreted out of context. There is an antithesis. There is opposing parties.

There is a real warfare going on. There is genuine enmity between the upright and the wicked. Now, I'll argue in the course of the sermon that both of these parties engage in that enmity, or they express that enmity, in two differing ways. Typically, the ungodly, as we see in the situation with Stephen and with Lazarus, want to kill people.

The righteous may be full of indignation, the righteous may be full of disgust, but the righteous ultimately want those persons to come out of darkness into marvelous light. The righteous realize that if God is able to save us, he's certainly able to save them. And while those things may be an abomination to us, it hopefully will promote in our hearts and provoke in our conduct prayers for them that the God of heaven and earth would open their eyes and open their hearts the way that he did with us, that he would show them grace, that he would show them mercy, that we would echo Stephen's prayer in Acts chapter 7 at verse 60. Lord, do not charge them with this sin.

No doubt the actions of his tormentors were an abomination to Stephen. But in terms of the persons, he wanted them to engage in that forgiveness. He wanted them to understand the joy of being found in Jesus Christ. He wanted them to come from the camp of the ungodly into the camp of the upright.

So the opposition, the antithesis, this contrast does exist. And this is what Solomon highlights. Proverbs 29, 27. An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous, and he who is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked.

Now,

Why the Unjust Are an Abomination

I want to look at the reasons for this as we sort of tease out what Solomon is saying here. Why is this the case? Why is it that, say, for instance, the unjust or the unrighteous would be abominable to the righteous? Turn one chapter over into Proverbs chapter 30.

Proverbs chapter 30. Now this, just in a compendium or summary version, gives us four reasons why the unjust are an abomination to the righteous. And in the first place, look at Proverbs 30 at verse 11. There is a generation that curses its father and does not bless its mother.

There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, yet is not washed from its filthiness. There is a generation, oh, how lofty are their eyes and their eyelids are lifted up. There is a generation whose teeth are like swords and whose fangs are like knives to devour the poor from off the earth and the needy from among men.

First: Rebelliousness

In the first place, they are rebellious. This is why the ungodly are an abomination to the righteous, is because they are rebellious. They reject God-ordained authority, and it is most vividly on display in their family structure. Notice where Solomon begins.

He begins in the family at verse 11. In fact, structurally, verse 11 and verse 14 in this small subset in Proverbs chapter 30, 11 and 14 are outward actions, one in the family and one in society. Verses 12 and 13 describe attitudes, describes dispositions, describes the internal state of these particular persons. And when he speaks of this generation, or there is a generation, it's every generation.

Any generation that is peopled with sinners is going to display characteristics consistent with what Solomon says here in Proverbs 30, verses 11 to 14. But as I said, notice they are rebellious. They're rebellious to their parents. There is a generation that curses its father and does not bless its mother.

I mean, that's just horrific, isn't it? The Lord God Most High, in His commandments, in the Decalogue, in the Ten Commandments, gives as a foundational statement the Fifth Commandment. Honor your father and your mother. Exodus chapter 20, Deuteronomy chapter 5, and Leviticus chapter 19 highlights this reality that persons are supposed to be subject to their parents.

They're supposed to honor them, they're supposed to obey them. This is a command given by Yahweh Himself for the good of people. As well, when we consider the seriousness of this particular commandment, we ought to consider the punishment involved in its violation. In fact, in the book of Proverbs, He highlights what happens to those who consistently rebel against their parents.

Notice in Proverbs 20 at verse 20. Proverbs chapter 20 at verse 20. Again, just sketching now the characteristics of the unrighteous, the characteristics of the ungodly, and why it is the case they are abominable to the just or upright. The penalty involved in dishonoring parents is very clearly stated here in Proverbs.

Notice in chapter 20 at verse 20. Whoever curses his father or his mother, his lamp will be put out in deep darkness. And then back in Proverbs chapter 30 at verse 17. Proverbs 30 verse 17, the eye that mocks his father and scorns obedience to his mother, the ravens of the valley will pick it out and the young eagles will eat it.

Now, perhaps it was a scare tactic on my part, but we used to visit this particular proverb when our children were young. We used to tell them these are the sorts of things God says with reference to those who disobey their parents. It is a grievous and horrific thing. The abominable, the unrighteous, the unjust make a habit of that.

They curse father and they do not bless mother in direct contradiction of the law of God Most High. You go back to the Old Testament, to the law of God, you see the incorrigible son, Deuteronomy chapter 21. What happens to the adult rebel son that has not been able to be tamed or restrained by parental authority? He's delivered up to the elders of the city and he is stoned to death.

So the seriousness of the offense underscores, or the seriousness of the penalty underscores the seriousness of the offense. Bridges, again in his commentary, makes the observation. He speaks of a man by the name of Solon. Solon was an Athenian statesman and lawmaker.

He was born in 640 BC. You've heard of Athens and the Athenians and all that. Well, Solon was a lawmaker. And when Solon was asked why he had made no law against parasites.

Parasites are persons who kill their parents. Parasites are persons that murder their parents. Fratricide is the murder of a brother. Patricide, the murder of a parent.

Parasites are those who murder parents. He was asked why he had made no law against parasites. He replied that he could not conceive of anyone so impious and cruel. It was inconceivable to Solon, the Athenian statesman and lawmaker, that there would ever be a blot on creation so bad, so impious and cruel, that they would ever take up arms against parents.

Bridges goes on to say the divine lawgiver knew his creature better, that his heart was capable of wickedness beyond conception. God speaks to this particular calamity because the creature actually expresses it. Matthew Poole's comment on these persons in Proverbs 30, verse 11, he describes them as ungrateful and unnatural monsters. So why are the wicked an abomination to the upright?

Because we see them engaged in this sort of rebellion. This sort of contradiction of the Word and Law of God, raising their fist at their Maker, and disregarding the very persons that God has put in their life for their safety, security, and their blessing.

Second: Self-Righteousness

Notice, secondly, in terms of these characteristics. They are self-righteous. They are self-righteous. Notice in verse 12.

There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, yet is not washed from its filthiness. Doesn't self-righteousness bug you? It should. Yours should, too.

Not just everybody else's. Oh, I hate that self-righteousness that that guy. We don't always see it in ourselves. But just for a moment, this mindset, for instance, of one particular political party in the States, where they're lecturing persons on morality, and they're pro-infanticide.

You're not the person to be lecturing on morality. When you murder babies, not only in their mother's wombs, which is reprehensible and abominable in and of itself, a millisecond old baby conceived to murder it is criminal. It's disgusting. It's vile.

It's wretched. They've already been practicing that. Now babies come out, and they're open game for this particular party. And yet, they'll shake the finger at the rest of us, telling us how to be moral people.

It's self-righteousness, isn't it? And note the hypocrisy that even Solomon points out. Not even Solomon, like he stumbled on this, but it's very consistent with what we see. Verse 12, there is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, yet is not washed from its own excrement.

It's not washed from its own filthiness. They're vile and wretched and disgusting, and yet wagging the finger at us in their self-righteousness. From this, we glean that man has a delusion that he is actually righteous. Go back to 16.2 for a moment.

Proverbs 16 and verse 2. All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but Yahweh weighs the spirits. All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes. Now, brethren, we ought to be very thankful.

The last point of application tonight is going to be gratitude to God for having delivered us from this godless generation. Because this is us apart from Jesus Christ. And this man actually thinks that he's pure. This man actually thinks that he's okay.

Perhaps you've witnessed, you've taught or talked to people about the gospel, and you've said things like, you're a sinner and you stand in need of Christ. Well, I'm not a sinner. I'm not a bad guy. I've never killed anyone.

I've never committed adultery. I've only ever done what's right. I've only tried my best. Isn't that an expression of what Solomon says here in 16?

All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes. If any of us had but a glimpse of how wicked we really were, we would probably explode. We would probably disintegrate. being mindful or conscious of just how far short we have fallen, it would be disastrous for us. But back to chapter 30 and verse 12, they are self-righteous, they delude themselves that everything is good.

Bridges says, for everywhere it is the great work of Satan to delude the sinner into a good opinion of himself. See, the devil is all about self-righteousness. This is why I think, brethren, I can't prove this chapter and verse, though I think there's some implications in the gospel narratives, where the harlots and the tax collectors and the wretches were closer to the kingdom of God than were the scribes and the Pharisees. In fact, Jesus says that.

He says that the harlots and the Pharisees, or the harlots and the tax collectors, they enter in. But the Pharisees, those who are right in their own eyes, those who are pure in their own eyes, those who do not see their need for the Savior. Christ said the Son of Man didn't come to call sinners righteous, but sinners to repentance. And this is a detrimental thing to the life of a man is when he sees himself pure.

Waltke says, anyone who thinks that he is pure apart from God's divine cleansing conceals an unsuspected depth of depravity. Jesus condemned the self-righteous Pharisees of murder and of belonging to this generation. So he says in verse 12, there is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, yet is not washed from its own filthiness. Go back to chapter 20 at verse 9 to see Solomon's emphases here on total depravity.

Proverbs chapter 20 at verse 9. Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin. Who can say that? Well, the obvious answer is none, no one.

Solomon's not actually looking for any taker to this bet. He's not actually thinking there's somebody out there that says, well, it's me. I'm pure. I'm clean.

I'm good. I'm right. No. Self-righteousness is characteristic of the wicked.

Self-righteousness is an abomination to those justified freely by God's grace. Those who see how far short man falls recognize and realize that there is not a one of us who can attain to God in our own strength, in our own merit, in our own virtue. It is an offense to the people of God to see self-righteousness.

Third: Arrogance

Thirdly, back to the generation. Proverbs 13, verse 13. They are arrogant. So they're not only self-righteous, but they're arrogant.

This is consistent with what Jesus teaches in Luke's gospel in Luke 18. Remember those two men that went to the temple to pray? One was a Pharisee, and one was a tax collector. And the Pharisee prayed, and prayed thus with himself, Thank you, God, that I'm not like other men.

Thank you, God, that I'm a great guy. Thank you, God, that I'm so wonderful. Thank you, God. That's how the man actually prays.

Thank you, God, that I'm not like this tax collector. I mean, could you imagine that? How terrible it was for that tax collector to hear that? And the tax collector doesn't even look up into heaven, but he beats his breast and he prays, God, be merciful to me, the sinner.

Jesus says it's that man who goes to his house justified rather than the other. But what is the occasion for that parable? Jesus taught this parable because there were some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and they despised others. See, these things go hand in hand.

When you are feeling peculiarly self-righteous, I guarantee you, you're also condemnatory to others. When you are feeling particularly lofty, you are looking down on others. Those eyelids that are vaulted, those eyelids that sore, those eyelids that go over everybody else. This is what he says in verse 13.

There is a generation. Oh, how lofty are their eyes and their eyelids are lifted up. There is an arrogance about them. Go back to chapter four for just a moment to see the direction of the eyes as an indicator of the inner man.

Proverbs 4.25, let your eyes look straight ahead and your eyelids look right before you. Proverbs 6, verse 17, a proud look, a lying tongue. Proverbs chapter 30, this whole idea of eyes lifted up, this whole idea of loftiness, this is looking over others. So the sort of twin vice with reference to self-righteousness is this arrogance.

It is this disdain of others. It is to despise them. It is to somehow think that they've arrived and everybody else is miserable and wretched and destitute. That's what's characteristic of this generation.

Brethren, I would argue that what Solomon says here is absolutely appropriate to understanding the sorts of things we're dealing with. Rebels who are self-righteous and arrogant, and then

Fourth: Oppression of the Poor

notice it goes on finally to speak of their oppressiveness. Verse 14, there is a generation whose teeth are like swords and whose fangs are like knives to devour the poor from off the earth and the needy from among men. This is a grotesque description, isn't it? I mean, this is the language of the ability to tear people apart.

And notice that it's not wolf against wolf, it's wolf against sheep. It's the poor. It is the destitute. It is the lowly that fall victim and prey to this kind of a generation.

The sort of generation that rebels against parents. The sort of generation that touts its own self-righteousness. The sort of generation that is filled with arrogance. It's that generation that capitalizes off the backs of the downtrodden and poor.

That's what Solomon says. It wasn't only unique to Israel in this context, it is something operative throughout the history of man. And this is why it's an abomination to the upright, because as upright men and women, those saved by sovereign grace, those given the righteousness of Jesus Christ, we are hopefully not being conformed to the world, but rather we're being transformed by the renewing of our mind, such that rebelliousness now looks vile to us. such that self-righteousness now looks vile to us, such that arrogance looks vile to us, and this oppressive spirit where the downtrodden and poor are walked all over by those with stuff, those with prestige, those with power and position. This is why the unjust are an abomination to the upright.

They're disgusting. They're vile. They're wicked. And for the people of God, they want no truck with that.

And that is precisely the situation that we find ourselves in.

Why the Upright Are an Abomination

Now notice, in terms of the righteous, going back to 29-27, Solomon doesn't stop. He says an unjust man is an abomination to the righteous. Why? Well, Proverbs 30, verses 11-14 at least sketches that for us.

We're not thrilled with these sorts of people. Which, before we continue, this really ought to promote in us a desire to kill these things in our own hearts. These things may not reign in us, but they probably remain in us. There's that rebel spirit, if not toward parents, toward civil authority.

If not toward civil authority, toward others in our lives, bosses or spouses or persons that we are supposed to be subject to. If there's a rebel spirit in our hearts, we ought to seek by grace to mortify it. If there is self-righteousness in our hearts, we ought to seek by grace to mortify that. There ought to be no self-righteousness on the part of God's elect.

There ought to be no self-righteousness on the part of people who sing, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. There should be no self-righteousness. There shouldn't be arrogance.

Read the New Testament epistles. Read the apostle Paul in Romans chapter 12. Don't be high-minded. Don't be looking down on your fellow churchmen.

Philippians chapter 2, what does Paul say? Esteem others as better than yourselves. There ought not to be these sorts of things rampant in the elect or in the people of God. We ought to be seeking to crush that.

And then this oppressive spirit wherein we attack and we viciously destroy the downtrodden and poor, the weaker brother, the whoever. These things are vile, they're abominable. If they're an abomination to the upright, they're certainly an abomination to God, who is most upright. And for us to have these remaining, we ought to pray by God's or pursue God's grace to put these things to death by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Now, why are the upright an abomination to the wicked? I hope it's not because we're irritating. I hope it's not because we're meddlesome. I hope it's not because we're busy bodies.

I hope it's not because we're, you know, the sorts of people that just get under people's skin. In fact, there's an illustration of this in 1 Peter chapter 4.

Evaluating the Cause of Persecution

You can turn there before we get to why the upright are an abomination to the wicked. 1 Peter chapter 4. A little bit of a different context, but I think you'll see the point. 1 Peter chapter 4, attitudes for persecution. How ought we to deal with persecution? First of all, we ought to expect it.

Secondly, we ought to exult in it. Thirdly, we ought to evaluate its cause. In other words, if we're being persecuted, we ought to ask the question, why? This just seems like such a basic, fundamental piece of data that the people of God should get.

But for some reason, they don't always get it. I'm being persecuted because I'm a Christian. No, you're being persecuted because you're a pain. You're irritating.

You're not nice. We don't entertain that. We never, for a moment, ever think people don't like me because I'm not likable. It's them.

It's persecution for the cause of Jesus. Not always. And that's what Peter says. Look at 1 Peter 4.12.

See? You're supposed to expect persecution. As a believer, expect it. Make your peace with it. you're going to have troubles in the world.

Verse 13, exalt in it. Not exalt it, but exalt means to rejoice in something. But rejoice, verse 13, to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. And now verse 14, if you are reproached for the name of Christ, I'm sorry, not this one, but we'll keep reading.

Blessed are you for the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their party is blaspheme, but on your party is glorified. Now here's the evaluate its cause, verse 15. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters.

See, if you're a busybody in other people's matters and you're being persecuted, it's not because you're a Christian. It's because you're a busybody in other people's matters. You all see that? Because this happens, right?

Oh, they hate me because I'm a believer. That might be the case, but they might also hate you because you're really irritating. And you're really not nice and you're really unkind and you're not the kind of person that Jesus was. Jesus was winsome.

There are the instances where he throws tables over and he drives out money changers. There are instances where he reproves the. the scribes and the Pharisees, and he says, woe to you. He calls them bags of snakes, and he calls them hypocrites. There are certainly those instances, but for the most part, Jesus didn't wander around Galilee or the streets of Jerusalem just needlessly irritating people.

He just didn't do that. That was not his MO. That was not how he conducted himself. That was not the way he rolled.

And so Peter tells us we need to evaluate the cause. So brethren, you may be persecuted because you're a believer, but you may also be persecuted because you're a busybody in other people's matters. Yet if anyone suffers, verse 16, as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. And then the final thing, just if you want to round that out, it's entrust yourself to God.

So expect it, exult in it, evaluate its cause, and entrust yourself to God. Verse 19, therefore let those who suffer, notice this, according to the will of God, commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful creator. Why do you suffer? It's according to the will of God.

Why do you suffer? It's according to the will of God. That's the reality of Reformed theology. That's the reality of a Psalm 115 theology.

Our God is in the heavens. He does whatever He pleases. And there are times and instances where what He pleases is affliction for you so that you'll be further conformed unto the image of your beloved Savior. Now back to Solomon.

He says, an unjust man is an abomination to the righteous. He answers why in Proverbs 30, verses 11 to 14. But he goes on to say, he who is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked. Why?

Saved, Sanctified, and Identified with Christ

Well, first of all, they are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, not a self-righteousness. This is offensive to people. This bothers people, especially people that know you well. When you say something like, I'm going to go to heaven, and they actually know who you are and how you are.

It is very perplexing and at times very puzzling. And at times it provokes them to anger. Well, why would you get to go to heaven? Because my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.

What's the typical response from the unconverted when they hear of the way of salvation? Well, that's not fair. You have to be good. You have to be upright.

You have to be pure. They don't understand the reality that there is no one good, no one upright, no one pure. There's only the Lord Christ, and those by grace who believe are saved. That's offensive, and that's why the unjust hate the upright.

Secondly, they are sanctified by the Spirit, and they seek by God's grace to follow Jesus. Now, they don't do it perfectly, as you and I well know. They don't do it consistently, as you and I well know. But they do try.

They want to not rebel against parents. They want to not engage in self-righteousness or arrogance. And they certainly don't want to oppress people. Well, that bothers sinners.

Sinners like it when people sin together. It's the whole point of Romans 1.32. They not only practice those things, they also rejoice in those who do the same. What's Jesus teach in John chapter 3 with reference to the wicked coming to the light?

They don't like to come to the light. Why? Because when they come to the light, their evil deeds are exposed. If you are at least to some degree consistent as a believer, your unbelieving friends may feel uncomfortable around you.

They may not like you. They may find you to be abominable because you seek by grace to follow the Master. And then as well, they are believers in Christ. They identify with Jesus.

And as Jesus was treated, so they'll be treated. You can turn to John's gospel, John chapter 15. Jesus certainly endorses the concept of the antithesis. Jesus certainly receives the teaching of Proverbs 29, 27.

In John 15 at verse 18, Christ said, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master.

If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for my name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin.

But now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin. But now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.

But this happened, that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, they hated Me without a cause."

The Antithesis in 1 John 3

Turn over to John's first epistle, 1 John chapter 3. 1 John 3, he speaks concerning the antithesis and even includes Cain's enmity toward Abel. Notice in 1 John 3, beginning in verse 10. In this, the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.

For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain, who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brothers righteous. Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you.

We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. Notice what he says in verse 13.

Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. There is this reality that not only do the unjust provide occasion to be an abomination to the righteous, but the righteous or the upright are an abomination to the wicked. There's an antithesis. There's a God-wrought enmity.

There is opposition, and we see it fleshed out in history.

The Manifestation of the Antithesis

Now, quickly and finally, the manifestation of it. the manifestation of it. How does this come to be? In other words, if the righteous are an abomination to the wicked, what do the wicked typically tend toward with the righteous? Well, as we see in the case of John 12, they want to kill Lazarus because Lazarus is living proof that Jesus Christ is Messiah.

We see in Acts chapter 7 that they want to kill Stephen. They want to murder him. They want to stone him to death because they perceive that he is a blasphemer of the highest sort. They reject his interpretation of the scripture.

As far as they are concerned, Stephen is an abomination to them, and they must drive him out of the city, and they must stone him to death. That's the same way they treated the Master, the same way they treated the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I'm not suggesting that everyone described in Proverbs 30, verses 11 to 14 will always murder every righteous person. I'm not suggesting that at all, but I am suggesting that with this kind of a disposition, with this kind of, I was gonna point up there, but it should be down here, that kind of a master, that sort of violence, that sort of expression of enmity is really what the history of martyrdom is all about.

It is the antithesis that explains or gives the rationale for the murder of Stephen, for the murder of Thomas Hawkes, for the murder of Chrysostom, for the murder of all those who named the name of Jesus Christ. The enmity looms large in the hearts of the ungodly, and at times they take it into their own hands to destroy the righteous. It's a terrifying prospect and one that ought to cause us to exercise a great deal of concern. If we are increasingly growing in secularism in the Western world, if Christianity is continually being marginalized as we see that it is, There may be terrible persecution for us, our children, and our grandchildren.

I'm not a dispensationalist. I'm not a doomsayer. I'm not somebody who has the prophetic gift, but I am somebody who sees what Paul says in 2 Timothy chapter 3. All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

Brethren, in an increasingly secular state, in an increasingly secularized version of heaven on earth, when Christianity is marginalized, when it is actually driven out, we need to be aware of the realities that face us as God's people. I mean, according to Proverbs 30, verses 11 to 14, we're dealing with the sorts of people who have knives for teeth. We're dealing with the sorts of people that have butcher knives in their mouths and they're not afraid to use them. We need to be on our guard.

I'm not suggesting we don't speak of Jesus. On the contrary, we speak of Jesus. We preach Christ and Him crucified. We don't shrink back with reference to the fear of man, but rather we need to be aware of the sort of situation that we are facing.

Bridges makes the observation, gladly would the wicked were not their enmity restrained, root them out of the face of the earth as they never rested till they had nailed the son of God to the tree. He goes on to say here, however, is the main difference. The enmity of the just. the righteous, is against the sins, not the persons of the wicked. You've heard that before.

God loves the sinner, but he hates the sin. That's not altogether accurate. According to Psalm 55, God hates the sinner and the sin. But with reference to us, we are called not to inflict violence on the unjust.

We're never, ever called to take up arms against the ungodly and do horrible things to them unless they convert. Now, I think that Bridge's distinction here is a necessary one for us to appreciate. The enmity of the just is against the sins, not the persons of the wicked. He goes on to say, the enmity of the wicked is against the persons, the ways of the upright, all that belongs to them.

There's no ability to disagree on religion or theology or politics without a despising and a hating and a wanting to silence them. Brethren, we shouldn't conduct ourselves that way. The truth has nothing to fear. Have you ever had a Jehovah's Witness show up at your door and want to hand you his literature, and you say, okay, but I want you to read this.

Oh, no, I can't take that. I'll take your stuff, because the truth has nothing to fear. You see, those who are engaged in falsehood, deceit, and lies live in constant fear, so they have to silence the opposition. And they do it by not only murder, not only by physical violence, character assassination, destroying reputations, doing things that ruin the lives of their opponents.

We shouldn't do that. We ought to be able to argue against heresy, against false doctrine, against bad political theory, without wanting to burn people's houses to the ground. Come on! Who's actually right in that scenario?

It's the people who have the truth. They're not about murdering those who disagree. This is increasingly happening. I don't know if you all see this, but it's happening.

The political machinations out there want to silence anything that isn't lockstep with it. And more often than not, Christians are not lockstep with it because they want to murder people, babies. They want to murder old people. They want to murder sick people.

They want to engage in that kind of immorality. Of course, we don't continue lockstep with that. Of course, we voice our opposition. Of course, we voice our concern.

Well, we shouldn't have our lives ruined and our houses burned down and our livelihoods taken from us. I think that distinction is noteworthy, and I think we ought to appreciate it. The enmity of the wicked is against the persons, the ways of the upright, all that belongs to them. However, the enmity of the just is against the sins, not the persons of the wicked.

Now, in terms of the righteous expression of this abomination that the ungodly evokes from him, that was actually an accurate statement. You probably didn't get it, but that's actually what I meant to say. the expression of the righteousness or the righteous one of the upright ones, abomination to the wicked. Go back to chapter 11 for just a moment in Proverbs. I think there's some misunderstanding on this stuff as well.

We may not burn down the house of those who engage in wickedness, But God, in his judgment, may bring them to an end. And according to Solomon in Proverbs 11, 10, he says, when it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices. And when the wicked perish, there is jubilation. In other words, when there's a wicked man taken out under God, through his providence, however he may choose to exercise that, there is and ought to be jubilation in the heart of God's people.

It's a good thing. It's a good thing when somebody will no longer continue to murder babies or murder old people or murder, you know, infirm people or continue with legislation that is absolutely atrocious. Now, one other passage that I think helps believers with reference to their sort of attitude toward the unbeliever is in Psalm 119. I have preached this material specifically long ago, but I think it needs to be revisited here with reference to Proverbs 29, 27, and how the righteous navigates in a world filled with unrighteousness.

We don't burn their houses down. We don't destroy their reputations. We don't firebomb their children. We don't do that sort of thing.

But what ought to be our attitude when it is the case that the unrighteous are an abomination to us?

The Righteous Response: Indignation and Tears

Notice in Psalm 119 at verse 53. Psalm 119 at verse 53. Indignation has taken hold of me because of the wicked who forsake your law. That's a legit expression from the people of God toward the abominations of the God bless.

Indignation, anger, you're upset about something. We're not, you know, in nirvana. We're not, you know, some Eastern mystic that's able to just, find or achieve this absolute position no there's unrighteousness in this world and and Indignation will fill the hearts of God's people when they hear the sorts of things that they hear that that's a reality And you ought not to say well, I just that's terrible. I shouldn't be upset about that.

Why not you image God? God is angry with the wicked every day according to Psalm 7 and It's not unrighteous for you to image God in that particular way and be angry with the wicked. Notice as well Psalm 119 verse 158. Psalm 119 verse 158.

He says, I see the treacherous and am disgusted because they do not keep your word. That's a reality too, isn't it? It's a disgusting thing to see the sorts of things that are happening. It evokes from the hearts of God's people from the upright, a spirit of disgust when they see the abominations of the ungodly.

But now there's one other passage in Psalm 119 that we ought to consider. And that's found in verse 136. I refer to this as the attitude of the psalmist with reference to the wicked. And some might say, well, how do we do this?

I'm not here to tell you how. I'm simply here to tell you that these are the realities. How you balance this, how you pursue this, how you capture this in your life is probably going to be a lifelong endeavor. But indignation, disgust, those aren't untoward in the blood-bought children of God.

Those are legit expressions toward the wicked. What's David say in Psalm 139? Do I not hate those who hate thee, O Lord? David says that.

David in the imprecatory Psalms, I mean, read the imprecatory Psalms sometime, brethren. See how David treats the enemies, not of David, but of God. It's good to sing the imprecatory Psalm. That's the way, a means by which we give way to or place to the wrath of God.

But notice in Psalm 136, we've got indignation, we've got disgust, but we've got this as well. Rivers of water run down from my eyes because men do not keep your law. Rivers of water run down from my eyes because men do not keep your law." There has to be that element that tempers the indignation and the disgust. There has to be that in the people of God, wherein we legitimately express anger over the sorts of abominations that occur regularly.

But it also ought to affect us in such a way that we genuinely want people to be saved. We want them to move from that darkness into marvelous light. That's what was indicative of Stephen this morning. Well, it was a couple thousand years ago, but in our study this morning.

Stephen wasn't simply name-calling. You stiff-necked, uncircumcised of heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. The fact that he prays, Lord, do not charge them with this sin, shows his disposition toward them. He wants them saved.

He wants them converted. He wants them to come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if that means having to rebuke them and tell them hard things so that they'll be convicted and seek out God's mercy, that's precisely what Stephen will do. So yeah, indignation, disgust, the rivers of water run down from my eyes because men do not keep your law.

In Psalm, we ought to be like Jesus. Jesus shows anger when he goes into the temple and he drives out the money changers. Jesus shows compassion when He weeps over the very city that's going to crucify Him. When He laments and He says, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how many times I wanted to gather you the way that a hen gathers her chicks.

So he had that anger, he cleanses the temple, but it's also seasoned with this compassionate spirit that is determined to seek good come as a result. So how you capture all that, I don't have five ways to do it, but if you get it, please send me an email and tell me how you mastered it.

Application: Responding to a Godless Generation

In conclusion, we ought to recognize this antithesis and we ought to respond accordingly. Going back to Proverbs 30 for just a quick moment, we ought to respond accordingly to a godless generation. Just three things real quick here with reference to the remedy for a godless generation. In the spirit of full disclosure, I was going to preach just Proverbs 30, verses 11 to 14, but I thought it sounded a bit too close to home to at least certain political parties.

And I didn't want this to be a political sermon, not suggesting that persons in the other parties can't manifest or demonstrate these sorts of attitudes. I thought, let's address the antithesis, the whole contrast that does obtain between the righteous and the unrighteous. But in terms of Proverbs chapter 30, brethren, we ought to exercise parental authority. over our children. I don't think it's accidental the way that Solomon constructs this particular subset concerning a generation that is wicked.

It starts in the nursery. It starts in the home. The mess out there can be directly traced back to the messes in homes where parents do not take their God-given authority and exercise it responsibly. We need to do that as parents, as grandparents.

You younger folks with younger kids, read Proverbs, read Scripture, learn how to deal with your kids. If you do not, you may be bringing them up into this generation that is further described. He starts in the home. He ends in the society, but in between he describes their internal disposition.

I do not think it's accidental whatsoever that verse 11 heads the list. Rebelliousness to parents, men who curse fathers, men who do not bless their mothers are the sorts of people that go out and rob banks. They go out and sell fentanyl. They go out and murder people.

They go out and advocate for abortion. They engage in that sort of godlessness because they were never taught by their parents. I've often thought and often said, if you hand a monkey a gun and the monkey shoots somebody, you don't blame the monkey, you blame the person that handed it the gun. Parents, are you handing guns to your children in that sort of an analogy?

If you are not responsibly parenting them, if you are not seeking to govern them, to rule over them, and to restrain their godless passions, then you are contributing to the very problem that we face in society. Solomon is right on when he begins here. bridges, says once and again, let us remember before it be too late, discipline, wise, tender, early discipline, prayer, pleading, patient, believing prayer, diligence, active, direct, prudently applied. We have to take this seriously. There's no more noble calling than to raise human beings.

And God has called us and given us a mandate on how to raise human beings. If we reject that information, If we do not deal with our children the way that God says, we're going to promote a bunch of self-righteous, arrogant, oppressive wretches that are going to be an abomination to every righteous person they ever meet in their future. As well, the remedy for a godless generation, preaching the law of God as a restraint. Carl F.H.

Henry said, even where there is no saving faith, the law serves to restrain sin and to preserve the order of creation by proclaiming the will of God, by its judgments and its threats of condemnation and punishment. The written law, along with the law of conscience, hinders sin among the unregenerate. It has the role of a magistrate who is a terror to evildoers. It fulfills a political function, therefore, by its constraining influence in the unregenerate world.

We would refer to this as the first use of the law, the political or civil use, wherein the law of God serves to restrain the lawlessness of man. Pulpits need to preach God's law. We are not antinomians. We are not those who disregard the Old Testament, but rather these things ought to be proclaimed.

They ought to be heralded. The people of God ought to know the law of God and sinners that come in among us ought to know that law as well, because God not only uses it to exercise restraint, but he uses it as uses it as a child tutor to provoke them to come. unto the Lord Jesus. And of course, the preaching of the gospel of Christ as the means of salvation. That's what this generation desperately needs, doesn't it?

What's going to free them? What's going to liberate them? What's going to deliver them from this rebellious, self-righteous, arrogant, and oppressive attitude? It isn't more politics.

It isn't money. It isn't, you know, some sort of secular education. It is the cross of Jesus Christ, our Lord. And as those who have been saved, we ought to thank the Lord God Most High that He freed us from this nightmare.

Such were some of you, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6. But you were washed, you were justified, you were sanctified, you were delivered by the power of the Christian gospel. And in that, we ought to rejoice. Well, let us close in a word of prayer.

Closing Prayer

Our Father, we thank you for the Scriptures. We thank you for Solomon's school of wisdom, the book of Proverbs, and all the good things that it teaches us about life in this world. We do pray for the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, in our lives. We pray that we'd have wisdom to navigate according to your law, according to your will, according to the things revealed to us in the Scriptures in this world.

Help us as individuals, help us as families, help us as a church, help us to function properly in society. And God, we do long for and we pray to you concerning our children and our young people. Our heart's desire is what the preacher says in Ecclesiastes, that children would remember their Creator in their youth. May you do this for your glory, may you do this for their well-being.

Go with us now, help us to have a good week, to bring glory and honor and praise unto you, and we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Scripture References

• Genesis 3:15; 4; 5; 6; 12
• Exodus 20; 20:12
• Leviticus 19
• Deuteronomy 5; 21
• Psalm 7; 115; 119:53; 119:136; 119:158; 139
• Proverbs 4:25; 6:17; 11:10; 16:2; 20:9; 20:20; 29:27; 30:11-14; 30:17
• Ecclesiastes 12:1
• Luke 18
• John 3; 12; 15:18
• Acts 7; 7:60
• Romans 1:32; 12
• 1 Corinthians 6
• Philippians 2
• 2 Timothy 3
• 1 Peter 4:12-19
• 1 John 3:10-13