Proverbs 25:4 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Proverbs 25:4

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A vessel comes forth for ‘the finer’, that is for the silversmith in this case, and the initial illustration is very clear. The dross or the impurities that float to the surface of the molten silver as it is being refined – if you leave them in, and you deliver a bar of that material to the silversmith, then whatever he makes will be marred. It will be flawed internally where the purities have gathered together, and, if he can make anything from it, it will be fragile and spoiled in appearance. So ‘take away the dross,’ float it off, clear it, ‘and there shall come forth’ an ingot or block of silver which is fit for the silversmith. But similarly, ‘Take away the wicked from before the king, and his throne shall be established.’ The Hebrew word means, it will stand up nobly; it will be vindicated, have a sound reputation; it will stand in righteousness.Well, we know this only too well. How many lands have there been historically and even today, where if it is not the king or the ruler, his lieutenants may be corrupt, and found to be siphoning off millions to stash away in overseas bank accounts, or lands and estates. Or else there may be those in his administration who are ruthless and cunning and lawless, and as a result his administration, his country, gets a reputation for corruption. There are countries that have a reputation for fraud and corruption and bribery, and there are countries that have a reputation for being consistent supporters of international terrorism. And so the proverb simply says, you have got to take away the corruption and the corrupt people in the regime if you want a country which stands and which can be respected. The implication of the parable seems to be that there may be a righteous king or ruler. The trouble lies in his underlings, his lieutenants, his officers of state, and they will bring a bad reputation on his kingdom and bring it to ruin.But this is given to us all by way of illustration. It is true of the church, it is true of a family, it is true of any unit of people. There are certain people who are unchanged, who are out for their own pleasure or for their own power, and they spoil the reputation of the whole so that it cannot stand in righteousness. You think of this in churches and in movements. Truth has to be established with purity, not just with outward numerical success. It is no good saying, ‘He must have done a good work. He had so many people in his churches.’

Application

Think of the seeker-sensitive movement that started in the United States in the late 1980s. Various people decided that the way to build a church was to ask the question, ‘What do people want? If they do not want standing up and singing serious and deep hymns and much praying and preaching, well, find out what they want. If they want lightening up and worldly music and big bands in church, well, give them that. We will be seeker sensitive. We will get people in by yielding to what they want. We are Christians, we preach the gospel, justification by faith. We appeal to people to come and be saved.’ Yes, but you have departed from purity. And truth needs purity, and it needs holiness and righteousness, and separation from worldliness, and the law of God which is our rule for life once we are converted, and we must keep these things. As soon as you lose that then you cannot stand certainly before God and even before the world.

It is Satan’s craft today. Antinomianism is back with us today but it denies that it is antinomian. There is a movement and it is very big and it really is against the law of God. Only it is hard to identify it because Satan has changed the colour of the coat of antinomianism. Antinomians today say, ‘No, we are for holiness, we are for the law of God’, but when you look at what they are doing, they are not. You say, ‘But you should not be doing this, this is worldly. You should not be doing that; that is sinful.’ And they say to you, ‘Oh you are a legalist.’ And they are giving the game away, they are antinomian really. They are secret, clandestine antinomians. And there are lots of them in London, and new churches are being opened by such people and the whole thing is dominated by an antinomian spirit. No rule of holiness, no rule of separation from the world. No rule of honouring God and his standards. So they will only have just one service a week, they will run it in the way they want to which is congenial to the flesh and their worldly tastes. They will not have very much Bible study. They make it all convivial and get together like a great club.

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Proverbs 25:4 Commentary and Bible Study