Proverbs 30:5-6 - Homiletics

The purity of God's words

I. THE REFUGE FROM VAIN SPECULATION IS PRACTICAL REVELATION . The search for God in thought and nature has ended in weariness. But Agur does not subside into agnosticism, much less does he renounce all higher thinking as "vanity of vanities," and plunge into Sadducean worldliness and Epicurean materialism. On the contrary, though he gives up his ambitious quest with a sigh of disappointment, he learns to take a humbler path, on which he finds that God has shed light. The mysteries of pure theology are wrapped in clouds, but the path of man's duty and the way of practical religion are illumined by the light of God's revealed truth. This truth consists in more than those "regulative ideas," which are all that Mansel would have us expect to know, for it corresponds to the actual; it is fact and law of God's real spiritual world. The Word of God is with us in the Bible and in Christ. In this Word the weary seeker after light may not find a star-spangled heaven, but he will see "a lamp to his feet" ( Psalms 119:105 ).

II. THE REVELATION OF GOD IS PURE .

1 . It is free from error . This is not a matter of the language of the Bible, which is but the case that enshrines the holy revelation. The frame is not the picture. When we crack the nut we find that the kernel is sound and flawless. The spiritual contents of revelation are infallible.

2 . It is free from moral corruption . Prurient minds have affected to be shocked at immoral stories in the Bible. But what is most wonderful about the Scripture writers in respect to such matters is that, though they are bold enough to touch the most repulsive subjects, they never soil their fingers, nor do they ever soil the minds of their readers. Only impure minds draw impure suggestions from the Bible, and such minds may find them anywhere. The Bible reveals man to himself, and declares God's estimate of sin. It cannot cover over the foulest evil with a cloak of social propriety. The horrible things must be exposed in the interest of purity, that they may be denounced, and the doers of them put to shame.

III. THE PURITY OF GOD 'S WORD SHOULD INSPIRE TRUST AND REVERENCE .

1 . It should inspire trust. For "he is a Shield to them that put their trust in him." We cannot understand all mysteries; the deep counsels of God must ever lie beneath our most searching inquiry; but we have light in God's words for our help and guidance. The purity of this light is a security against danger. It will not allure us into error, and it will not permit us to live in sin unrebuked and unwarned. Therefore the light is guiding, healing, saving. With such a revelation we can afford to endure the insoluble character of great mysteries of theology. When vexed, perplexed, and wearied out, we can turn to the God who has thus made himself known to us, and quietly rest in his sheltering care.

2 . It should also inspire reverere . "And not thou unto his words." The truth of God is too sacred for man to be permitted to tamper with it. This is a great warning that men have rarely heeded. We may think and utter our thoughts. But the fatal mistake is when we put forth our speculations as though they were a part of God's revelation. This is a common sin of authoritative theology. Men's opinions—harmless enough in themselves, perhaps—have been added to the Scripture truths, and set before the world as unquestionable and Divine. The interpretation of Scripture has been made as sacred as the text. Church dogma has claimed Divine authority. This is adding to God's words, and the danger of it is