Proverbs 12:3-12 - Homilies By W. Clarkson

Strength and fruitfulness

Concerning the righteous man two things are here affirmed.

I. IN HIM IS STRENGTH . "The root of the righteous shall never be moved." The strong wind comes and blows down the tree which has not struck its roots far into the foil; it tears it up by the roots and stretches it prone upon the ground. It has no strength to stand because its root is easily moved. The righteous man is a tree of another kind; his root shall never be moved; he will stand against the storm. But he must be a man who deserves to be called and considered "righteous" because he is such in deed and in truth; for they are many who pass for such of whom no such affirmation as this can be made. The man of whom the text speaks:

1 . Is well rooted. He is rooted

2 . Is immovable . There may come against him the strong winds of bodily indulgence, or of pure affection, or of intellectual struggle and perplexity, or of worldly pressure; but they do not avail; he is immovable; his roots only strike deeper and spread further in the ground. He "stands fast in the Lord;" he is a conqueror through Christ who loves him. For:

3 . He is upheld by Divine power . While his own spiritual condition and his moral habits have much to do with his steadfastness, he will be the first to say that God is "upholding him in his integrity, and setting him before his face."

II. IN HIM IS FRUITLESSNESS . "The root of the righteous yieldeth fruit" ( Proverbs 12:12 ). The ungodly man cannot be said to bear fruit, for the product of his soul and of his life does not deserve that fair name.

1 . The forms of godly fruitfulness are these:

2 . The source and the security of such fruitfulness are: