Cancer Blog #61
By Brian Zimmerman
Begun on July 31, 2021
Email: dyingman1@yahoo.com
My Dying Words
Entry #61– The Greater Treasure
November 3, 2022
[Proverbs 10:2 NASB95] 2 Ill-gotten gains do not profit, But righteousness delivers from death
Here we have another warning – one among many – about the problem of wealth. It’s amazing with so many warnings about wealth in the Bible we still yearn for it! Even when legally and morally obtained, the Scriptures warn often about the dangerous nature of money. The warning here is somewhat different from others about the trouble of wealth. Here we have a caution about obtaining wealth by wicked means probably such as stealing, cheating, lying murder, etc. (I would surmise). Though the possessors of such wealth may believe it to have been worth the means to gain the treasure, the writer of Proverbs states that (generally) wealth gained by those means eventually does not profit, even though it may immediately. Wicked men may certainly prosper, as the psalmist laments, but to echo the more important concern Jesus raises: “what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?” In this passage we see what may have been the germ of Jesus’ remark.
Which leads us to the second part of the verse, viz., “but righteousness delivers from death.” While the treasure gained wickedly is profitable literally, spiritually it is unprofitable. A life lived in submission and obedience to God’s law, a life of righteousness, delivers a greater treasure, one that is truly and lastingly profitable: a deliverance from death. The message of Scriptures as a whole is that we can no more escape from death on our own than we can escape from our sins and guilt. Only Jesus’ death and resurrection, His righteousness, can deliver us. Nonetheless, as I’ve mentioned before, the gospel of the kingdom in the NT isn’t simply to believe. In fact, in Luke 24:46-47, when the risen Jesus commissions His disciples for their mission, He says: “…Thus, it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead on the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations…” Here Jesus describes the gospel in a way more in line with this verse in Proverbs and less like the “easy believism” we often hear today. Righteousness of obedience is an absolutely necessary result of our faith. Faith without works is a corpse, as I’ve quoted before (from James 2). Professed faith without works may be described in other ways: hypocrisy, or self-delusion. Walk in humble obedience that you may receive the greater treasure: deliverance from eternal death.
Next: Our Refuge