MAIN HOMILETICS OF Proverbs 16:17
SOUL-PRESERVATION
I. The main object of an upright man’s care—his soul. Every human creature is possessed of an instinct to preserve his bodily life and well-being. An upright man has also a spiritual instinct which leads him to guard carefully his spiritual life—his soul. He is desirous of keeping a conscience purged from dead works—free from bruise or moral taint.
1. He seeks to preserve his soul because of the value he places upon its powers. We are wont to value material things according to the power they possess to fulfil certain ends. A skilful workman values a piece of mechanism in proportion to the complicated and various movements which it can execute. And in proportion to the value set upon it will be the care taken to preserve it. Human life is valued according to its abilities to do things which cannot be done by many. The life of a great statesman, of a skilful physician, is of more value to the race than the lives of a hundred ordinary men, because their power to minister to the welfare and health of their fellow-creatures so far surpasses the power of ordinary men. And the upright man values his soul because of its mighty and almost infinite capabilities and powers. In its present undeveloped condition it can suffer much and can enjoy much, it can become a partaker of the “Divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4.), and he knows that its powers will be mightily increased and multiplied after the death of the body.
2. He seeks to preserve it because of the value God sets upon it. If we come into possession of a precious gem and desire to know its value, we take it to one whom we are certain is qualified to judge in such matters, and our estimate of it is increased or lessened in proportion to his opinion. He who wants to know the value of his soul must go to the only Being in the universe who is certain not to err in the price he sets upon it. Jesus Christ Himself has given to men His estimate of the worth of the human soul, both in His word and in His deeds. He who is fully acquainted with all its powers and possibilities for good and evil—of suffering and of joy—has said, “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul, or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). And He has gone beyond words. To save men’s souls He, “being in the form of God, took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:6). The wise man values his soul according to the estimate of Gethsemane and Calvary, and therefore he counts it the chief business of his life to guard it.
II. There can be no preservation of the soul except by departure from evil. The human nature of even the best men in this world is duplex. The ruling power in a godly man is good, but there are also evil tendencies within him still. He subscribes to the apostolic confession, “evil is present with me” (Romans 8:21). But there must be a constant departure from evil by a constant effort to do good. The strengthening of holy affections will most effectually check the power of sinful desires. The dominion of sin will be weakened by the formation of holy habits. In other words, keeping the highway of the upright is in itself a departure from evil—“following after righteousness is fleeing from sin” (1 Timothy 6:11).
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
“The highway,” a way cast up. Such ways were convenient in the East;—first, for being found; second, for being travelled. “Departing from evil” is a way that opens itself as we press on. One evil cured, like the big coal lump in the digging, clears the way to another. So much
(1) for its being found; then
(2) as to its being travelled. Conceive of how a man could get to heaven except on such a “highway.” We cannot move nearer except on some sort of way. There is no sort of “way” except the discipline of wisdom. There is no discipline of wisdom except “the departing from evil.” The only thing a soul can do for itself under the grace of the Spirit is to exercise itself unto godliness (Numbers 4:7). And therefore the last clause is important, which intimates the fact that we cannot “guard our souls” directly,—that we watch our souls by watching our way—and that the plan to fit a lost spirit for Paradise is, under the grace of the Redeemer, to observe its steps—to see that one by one they are taken so as to depart from evil.—Miller.
The highway of the upright is to depart from evil. That is his road, his desire and endeavour, his general purpose, though sometimes (by mistake, or by the violence of temptation), he step out of the way, and turn aside to sin, yet there is no “way of wickedness in him” (Psalms 139:24). He that keepeth his way preserveth his soul. As if a man be out of God’s precincts he is out of His protection. “He shall keep thee in all thy ways” (Psalms 91:11), not in all thine outstrays. He that leaves the highway, and takes to byeways, travelling at unseasonable hours, etc., if he fall into foul hands, may go look his remedy, the law allows him none.—Trapp.
I should say that this last clause is a notabile; and the lesson that I should read and give forth from it is: “the reflex influence of the outward walk upon the inner man.—Chalmers.
Our English word highway doth well express the force of the original. And as we call it the highway, either because it is the king’s way, who is the highest, or else because it is made higher than the rest, for the more clearness of it, so the way of the upright is a highway, because it is the way of the King of Heaven; and because it is higher, and so cleaner from the dust of the world.… There is hardly any so perpetual follower of wickedness as that he doth not sometimes depart from evil. And this it is which many other times doth embolden him in the embracing of it. For if a wicked man once do well he conceiveth it so great a matter as that he imagineth that God ought to pardon his doing ill many times for it. But to depart from evil is the way of the upright. It is their common and ordinary course, wherein they go as frequently as passengers do go along the highway of the earth. All may see what they do, they care not who looks on, for their way being to depart from evil they walk as in the highway, where everyone may view them. And there they walk the rather that others also may follow them, and departing from evil may be joined to them in the highway to heaven.—Jermin.
Every man has a highway of his own. It is formed, as our forefathers formed their roads, simply by walking often on it and without a pre-determined plan. Foresight and wisdom might improve the moral path, as much as they have in our day improved the material. The highway of the covetous is to depart from poverty and make for riches with all his might. In his eagerness to take the shortest cut he often falls over a precipice, or loses his way in a wood. The highway of the vain is to depart from seriousness, and follow mirth on the trail of fools. The highway of the ambitious is a toilsome scramble up a mountain’s side towards its summit, which seems in the distance to be a paradise basking in sunlight above the clouds; but when attained is found to be colder and barer than the plain below. The upright has a highway too, and it is to “depart from evil.” The upright is not an unfallen angel, but a restored man. He has been in the miry pit, and the marks of the fall are upon him still.… The power of evil within him is not entirely subdued, the stain of evil is not entirely wiped away. He hates sin now in his heart, but he feels the yoke of it in his flesh still. His back is turned to the bondage that he loathes, his face to the liberty which he loves.… The preserving of your soul depends upon the keeping of your way.… It is in the way, the conduct, the life, that the breach occurs whereby a soul is lost that seemed to bid fair for a better land. It is probable that with nine people out of ten in this favoured land the enemy finds it easier to inject actual impurity into the life than speculative error into the creed. A shaken faith leads a life astray; but also a life going astray makes shipwreck of faith. I do not teach that any righteousness done by the fallen can either please God or justify a man; but I do teach on the authority of the Bible that a slipping from the way of righteousness and purity in actual life is the mainstay of Satan’s kingdom—the chief destroyer of souls.… The miners in the gold-fields of Australia, when they have gathered a large quantity of the dust, make for the city with the treasure. The mine is far in the interior. The country is wild: the bush is infested with robbers. The miners keep the road and the daylight. They march in company, and close to the guard sent to protect them. They do not stray from the path among the woods, for they bear with them a treasure which they value, and they are determined to run no risks. Do likewise, brother, for your treasure is of greater value—your enemies of greater power. Keep the way, lest you lose your soul.—Arnot.