Proverbs 11:21 Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered. Reckonest thou this, O man, who doest such things, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? (Romans 2:3). No doubt men do indulge the thought that they will do wrong things with impunity; that, though others suffer, yet will they succeed in eluding justice; that they will have shrewdness enough to stop at the right point and to save themselves from the penalty of indiscretion. Sin is deceitful, and it imposes on its victims with strong and fatal delusions. I. THE CERTAINTY THAT SIN WILL SUFFER. "Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished." 1. How impotent must mere numbers be against the decision and the action of the Almighty! There is a certain sense of security that men have in being a part of a large multitude. But it is a false sense. What do numbers avail against the action of the elements of nature, or against the outworking of the laws which determine the well being and ill-being of the soul? 2. Confederacies of evil men are confessedly insecure. "Hand may join in hand;" the covetous, the dishonest, the violent, may combine; but in the heart of evil there are the seeds of unfaithfulness and treachery; and the alliance will break down in time. Sin carries in its folds the germ of its own undoing. 3. Against the continued success of sin many forces are combining. (1) All honest and true men have a direct and strong interest in deposing and dishonoring it. (2) It usually inflicts on some one man, or family, or city, an injury which calls forth an intense and invincible resentment. (3) It has within it the elements of physical and moral weakness, which are sure to be developed in time. (4) It is always open to the accusation of conscience and to consequent exposure. (5) It must move and even hasten towards utter demoralization and the loss of all that is most worth keeping. (6) It has against it the decree and the overruling action of the Holy One (Psalm 34:16; and text). Sin never is absolutely unpunished, even when it imagines that it is; and it never remains unpunished, though it may seem to have excellent chances of escape. The judgment of God will overtake it in time. II. THE HOPE OF THE RIGHTEOUS. "The seed of the righteous shall be delivered." "The generation of the upright shall be blessed" (Psalm 112:2). Even if God allows a men to go on long without the proof of his Divine favour, yet will he not withhold his blessing. It will come upon the children, if not upon the upright man himself. And who is there that would not be more than willing that God should bless him through his offspring? To clothe them with honour, to satisfy them with substance, to deliver them in their time of trouble, to make them citizens of the kingdom of Christ, to employ them as ambassadors of Christ, - is not this a meet ample and rich reward for ill our personal fidelity? If God blesses us in our children, we fire blessed indeed. - C. Parallel Verses KJV: Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered. |
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