Proverbs 11:19 (Mini Sermon)

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19. Pro 11:19 – "As righteousness tendeth to life: so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death." A. As righteousness tendeth to life: i. Definitions a. Righteousness n. – 1. Justice, uprightness, rectitude; conformity of life to the requirements of the divine or moral law; virtue, integrity. b. Tend v. – 1. intr. To direct one's course, make one's way, move or proceed towards something. 3. a. intr. To have a specified result, if allowed to act; to lead or conduce to some state or condition. 1560 Bible (Genev.) Prov. x. 16 The labour of the righteous tendeth to life. c. Life n. – I. The condition or attribute of living or being alive; animate existence. Opposed to death. 1. a. Primarily, the condition, quality, or fact of being a living person or animal. d. Animate existence viewed as dependent on sustenance or favourable physical conditions. (For necessary of life, staff of life, see those words.) Hence, that which is necessary to sustain life; a livelihood, one's living. 5. a. The cause or source of living; the vivifying or animating principle; he who or that which makes or keeps a thing alive (in various senses); ‘soul’; ‘essence’. Hence (poet. nonce-use) = ‘life-blood’. d. In other words, possessing uprightness, virtue, and integrity, and conforming one's life to the requirements of God's law directs one's course toward a blessed and thriving existence. ii. Righteousness tends (leads or directs) to life (Pro 11:19). a. The fear of the LORD tends to life (Pro 19:23). b. The labor of the righteous tends to life (Pro 10:16). c. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life (Pro 11:30). iii. Righteousness is keeping God's commandments (Luk 1:6). a. Keeping God's commandments directs men toward an abundant life. b. Consider how keeping God's commandments in the following areas tends to life. (i) Waiting to have sex until marriage, getting married, staying married, having children, and training them in the way they should go tends to an abundant life of better health, happiness, and fulfillment. (ii) Being moderate in the consumption of food and drink tends to better health which tends to life. (iii) Staying out of debt leads to a comfortable life, less stress, and less anxiety which tends to life. (iv) Controlling one's temper leads to better relationships and opens up opportunities, both of which tend to life. (v) Resisting sinful temptations affords inner peace and reduces self-condemnation which tends to a blessed life. B. so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death. i. Definitions a. Pursue v. – 1. To follow with hostility or enmity; to seek to injure (a person); to persecute; to harass, worry torment. Now rare or Obs. 5. To sue for, to seek after; to try to obtain or accomplish, to aim at. 1611 Bible Ps. Xxxiv. 14 Seeke peace and peruse it. b. To make it one's aim or endeavour, to try (to do something). b. Evil n. – 1. a. In the widest sense: That which is the reverse of good; whatever is censurable, mischievous, or undesirable. Also with adj.: moral, physical evil. b. What is morally evil; sin, wickedness. c. What is mischievous, painful, or disastrous. c. Death n. – 1. The act or fact of dying; the end of life; the final cessation of the vital functions of an animal or plant. d. In other words, when a man makes it his aim to seek after sin and wickedness in his life, his sin will lead him to death. ii. The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23). iii. Those who are overmuch wicked will die before their time (Ecc 7:17). iv. Those who pursue evil will be pursued and overtaken by it (Deut 28:15, 45; Pro 13:21; Psa 140:11). v. Those who live contrary to God's commandments and therefore pursue evil will do so to their own deaths. a. Pursuing a sinful lifestyle of fornication, adultery, or sodomy leads to death by disease, depression, and the judgment of God. b. Pursuing intoxication through drug use or overuse of alcohol leads to death. c. Pursuing violence or strife and contention with neighbors or police officers leads to death. d. Overindulging in food leads to death through obesity, diabetes, and other health problems. e. Pursuing idolatry and false religion leads to death via the judgment of God.