The Fake Currency of Hell Text: Proverbs 10:2
Introduction: Two Ways to Live
The book of Proverbs is intensely practical, but it is not a book of moralistic platitudes for becoming a slightly better version of yourself. It is not a collection of fortune cookie inserts for the religiously inclined. No, the book of Proverbs lays before us the two great, antithetical paths that a man can walk. There is the way of wisdom, which is the fear of the Lord, and there is the way of the fool, which is every other way. There are no third options, no neutral territories, no demilitarized zones between these two kingdoms.
And here, in this tenth chapter, Solomon begins a long series of sharp, contrasting couplets. He holds up two ways of handling your money, two ways of building a life, two ultimate outcomes, and he forces you to choose. He is setting before us a fundamental law of spiritual economics. There is a currency that spends in the kingdom of God, and there is a currency that is worthless there. Our text today is about the difference between true and false wealth, between a portfolio that endures and one that is destined for eternal bankruptcy.
We live in a world that is drunk on the pursuit of treasure. Our entire civilization is geared toward acquisition. Get the grade, get the job, get the promotion, get the house, get the 401k, get the boat. And the world tells you that the means by which you get it are secondary to the getting of it. A little corner-cutting here, a little ethical shading there, a little dishonesty on a tax form, a little exploitation of a neighbor, it is all just part of the game. The world's proverb is, "He who dies with the most toys wins." But the Word of God crashes into this flimsy philosophy with the force of a locomotive. God has a different accounting system. He tells us that certain kinds of treasure are not just unprofitable; they are poison.
The Text
Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit, But righteousness delivers from death.
(Proverbs 10:2 LSB)
The Balance Sheet of Wickedness (v. 2a)
Let us look at the first half of this divine audit.
"Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit..." (Proverbs 10:2a)
The Hebrew is direct: "treasures of wickedness." This is not just talking about a pirate's chest of stolen doubloons. It refers to any wealth, any asset, any advantage, acquired through unrighteous means. This is the profit margin from a lie. This is the bonus check from a crooked deal. This is the inheritance gained through manipulation. This is the business built on exploiting the poor or deceiving the simple. It is the quiet life purchased with loud compromises. It is any form of wealth that has the stain of sin upon it.
And what is God's verdict on this portfolio? It does not profit. This seems, at first glance, to be empirically false. We look around and see wicked men prospering. The drug lord has a mansion. The corrupt politician has a life of ease. The swindler retires to a tropical island. They certainly seem to be profiting. David wrestled with this in Psalm 73, seeing the wicked with their smooth lives and bulging waistlines, and his feet almost slipped.
But God is not using the world's balance sheet. The word "profit" here is not about quarterly earnings. It is about ultimate, final, eternal value. When does it not profit? It does not profit when you lie awake at night with a guilty conscience gnawing at your soul. It does not profit when your family is built on a foundation of lies and disintegrates before your eyes. It does not profit when your ill-gotten gains attract sharks who are more wicked than you are. And most importantly, as Proverbs 11:4 says, "Riches do not profit in the day of wrath."
There is a final audit coming for every man, a day when the books of your life will be opened before the judgment seat of God. And on that day, the treasures of wickedness will be revealed for what they are: Monopoly money. Counterfeit bills. You may have a truckload of it, but you cannot use it to bribe the judge. You cannot use it to buy a single drop of water to cool your tongue. On that day, all the treasures of wickedness will be piled up and set ablaze, and they will become part of your eternal torment, a monument to a wasted life.
This is a fundamental law of God's world. Sin does not, and cannot, ultimately pay. It promises pleasure, but delivers addiction. It promises power, but delivers slavery. It promises wealth, but delivers a bankrupt soul. Every dollar gained through wickedness is a dollar borrowed from a loan shark who will demand repayment with your very life.
The True Currency (v. 2b)
In stark contrast to the fool's gold of wickedness, Solomon presents the true and enduring currency of God's kingdom.
"...But righteousness delivers from death." (Proverbs 10:2b LSB)
Here is the other side of the ledger. If treasures of wickedness lead to a final, catastrophic loss, then righteousness leads to the ultimate profit: deliverance from death. The contrast could not be more absolute. One path offers what looks like life but ends in death. The other path offers what looks like a constraint on life but delivers you from death itself.
Now, what is this "righteousness"? In the context of Proverbs, it certainly has a practical, ethical dimension. It is honesty in business dealings. It is integrity in your speech. It is generosity to the poor. It is faithfulness to your spouse and your covenants. It is living a life that is straight and true according to the plumb line of God's law. This kind of practical righteousness often does deliver from death in a temporal sense. An honest man is less likely to be ruined by lawsuits. A faithful husband is less likely to die from a disease contracted in a brothel. A man who is fair to his neighbors is less likely to get a brick thrown through his window. God's law is for our good, and obedience generally leads to blessing and a longer life.
But we must go deeper. If we stop here, we are left with mere moralism. We are left with the idea that if we can just be good enough, we can save ourselves from death. But the whole testimony of Scripture cries out against this. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). "All our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment" (Isaiah 64:6). Our own, self-generated righteousness is not nearly enough to deliver us from the finality and penalty of death. Our righteousness is itself a treasure of wickedness, because we try to use it to bribe God and make Him our debtor.
So, what is the righteousness that truly delivers from death? It is a righteousness from outside of ourselves. It is a perfect righteousness that is given, not earned. It is the righteousness of Jesus Christ, the only truly righteous man who ever lived. He lived the life of perfect righteousness that we have failed to live, and then He died the death that our unrighteousness deserved. On the cross, a great exchange took place. He took our sin, and we, by faith, receive His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). This is the only righteousness in the universe that has the power to stare death in the face and conquer it.
This is the gospel in Proverbs. The ultimate treasure is not something we acquire through wickedness, nor is it something we can build through our own feeble attempts at goodness. The ultimate treasure is the gift of a perfect righteousness, credited to our account through faith in Jesus Christ. This righteousness delivers us from the second death, the eternal death of separation from God in hell. It swallows up death in victory.
Conclusion: Your Eternal Portfolio
So, this proverb forces a question upon every one of us. What kind of treasure are you accumulating? What is your life's portfolio built upon? Are you chasing the treasures of wickedness, thinking they will profit you? Are you cutting corners, telling lies, nursing greed, and building a life that looks impressive to the world but is spiritually rotten to the core? If so, you need to know that you are building on sand. You are accumulating a currency that will not spend on the other side of the grave. You are heading for a catastrophic audit.
Or are you pursuing the righteousness that delivers from death? This pursuit begins at the foot of the cross, where you abandon all trust in your own goodness and your own treasures. It begins when you confess that your personal balance sheet is deep in the red and that you need a Savior to bail you out. It begins when you, by faith, receive the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, the only treasure that can purchase eternal life.
And once you have received that gift, it changes how you live. You begin to live out that righteousness. You become honest, not because honesty is the best policy, but because you serve an honest God. You become generous, not to earn points with God, but because you have received the ultimate generosity from God. You pursue integrity, not as a means of saving yourself, but as a joyful response to the One who has already saved you.
The treasures of wickedness are a mirage; they promise everything and deliver nothing. But the righteousness of God in Christ is the pearl of great price. It is the treasure hidden in a field. It is worth selling everything else to acquire. For it, and it alone, delivers from death.