Proverbs 28:1 - Homiletics

The cowardice of guilt and the courage of righteousness

I. THE COWARDICE OF GUILT . "The wicked flee when no man pursueth."

1 . This cowardice springs from a natural feeling of ill desert . "Conscience doth make cowards of us all." Apart from all authoritative revelation, when no prophet of God is charging a man with his sin, an awful voice within clamours against his guilt and shakes the very foundations of his confidence. Though he has never breathed a word of his misdeed in the ear of a fellow man, though all the world is deceived into believing him to be innocent, he cannot silence that dread inner voice. In many cases it utterly unnerves a man, though outwardly he dwells in perfect security.

2 . This cowardice is nourished by a perception of Divine justice . A person who knows the revealed will of God, and his wrath against sin, must be prepared to expect judgments of condemnation on guilt. Though the avenging hand is stayed, it may fall at any moment. The miserable guilty man is like one in the condemned cell under sentence of death, who does not know the day or hour of execution, but who trembles at every footfall lest it should be that of the messenger who summons him to his doom.

3 . This cowardice gives rise to needless alarms . The murderer starts at the fall of a leaf—so utterly unstrung is he under the tremendous consciousness of guilt. Can any condition be more dreadful? Rather than endure this agony of apprehension, men, who were in no danger of being arrested, have confessed their crimes and given themselves up to justice. When we consider the relation of sin to God and to his judgments, it is foolish indeed to live in the cowardly shame of guilt. For there are peace and pardon for the penitent.

II. THE COURAGE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS .

1 . This courage is based on a clean conscience .

2 . This courage is justified by experience . The true man does not find his boldness fail him. He is as safe as he feels himself. The first guarantee of success in any cause is a clear consciousness that we are in the right. In the end, right and truth must triumph. But if they meet with temporary defeat, their champion need fear no real evil. He now gives his life, as he has before given his strength, to the good cause. Whether be serves it by life or by death, he does nobly, and he need not fear that he will be deserted by God.