Proverbs 24:16 - Homiletics

The fall of a good man

I. IT IS POSSIBLE FOR A GOOD MAN TO FALL .

1 . Here is a warning against presumption . "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" (lCo Proverbs 10:12 ). No one is so perfect as to be impeccable. Peter, who little expected it, failed in the moment of trial.

2 . He is a warning against wrong judgments . If a good man stumbles it is commonly thought that he proves himself to have been a hypocrite from the first. No notion could be more unwarrantable. It is possible that the former life was honest and true and up to its pretension, but that a sudden change for the worse has occurred through yielding to overpowering temptation. The citadel was honestly guarded; but in an unwary moment, when the custodian was sleeping, or careless, or weak, it fell before the assaults of the everwatchful foe. This may even be. repeated many times. We can scarcely think of a really good man lapsing utterly from the right way as many as seven times and as often returning to it. But some measure of sin is committed many times. There is not a Christian who does not fall into numerous sins.

II. IF A GOOD MAN FALLS HE IS LIKELY TO RISE UP AGAIN . We need not now discuss the thorny doctrine of "final perseverance." Without retreating into the tangled thicket of a priori dogmatics, we may discover certain plain and practical. considerations which will encourage us to believe in the recovery of the lapsed.

1 . The bent of a good man ' s life is towards goodness . He is a just man. Righteousness is characteristic of him. It is his habit. His fall is an event, his righteousness is his life. He is not the less guilty in his sin. He cannot shake it off and disown it, fortifying himself against the charge of it under the guise of his habitual righteousness. A long career of goodness is no excuse for a single wrong deed. Nevertheless, beneath and behind the sin into which the man has been surprised are the general tone and temper of his life. This will make his fall an agony. One look from Christ, and the shamefaced disciple goes out to weep bitterly ( Matthew 26:75 ). The Christian who has been surprised in an hour of weakness will be in the greatest distress afterwards. He can have no rest till he is forgiven and restored. Hence there is a hope for him which we cannot cherish on behalf of the bad man who has had no experience of the better way and who has no inclination to follow it.

2 . A good man may return . There is danger in despair. The miserable penitent fears that he may have committed the unpardonable sin, forgetting that his very grief is a proof that that dark eternity of guilt has not yet been reached. God is long-suffering and merciful. Seven times the poor man falls; seven times he is forgiven and restored by his compassionate Lord.

3 . The grace of God assists recovery . Indeed, without this it were impossible. But with it who shall despair? On the other hand, alter a sicked man has indulged in sin he refuses to open his heart to Divine grace. "The one means by which he might climb up out of his deep ruin is rejected by him.

In conclusion, we may gather from a consideration of this subject that the first essential is the character of a man's life, rather than that of isolated and perhaps exceptional deeds. God notes every deed, and not one can go unavenged. But the fundamental question is—How does a man live in the main? is the set of his life towards goodness? does he habitually face the light or the darkness? Though with many stumbles and shameful bruises, is he, on the whole, going up, not down? If so, he is one of God's sons.