The Great Litmus Test Text: Proverbs 21:15
Introduction: Your Spiritual Heart Rate
Every man has a pulse. Every man has a heart, and that heart beats. The question is what it beats for. What quickens your pulse? What makes your heart leap? What brings a settled gladness to your soul? Conversely, what makes your blood run cold? What fills you with a sense of dread, of panic, of ruin? The world offers us a thousand different diagnostic tests for our health, our finances, our relationships. But the book of Proverbs, in its rugged, street-level wisdom, gives us a spiritual litmus test that is as profound as it is simple. It is a diagnostic question that cuts straight through all our pretense and religious posturing and tells us what we truly are.
This test has only one question, and it is this: what is your gut reaction to the concept of justice? Not your carefully constructed, Sunday-school answer. Not the pious sentiment you think you ought to have. But your deep, instinctual, emotional response. When you hear that God's scales are true, that His standards are absolute, and that a day is coming when every crooked thing will be made straight, what happens inside you? Does a quiet joy settle in your bones? Or does a knot of terror tighten in your stomach?
Our text today sets this before us with stark clarity. It presents two groups of people, the righteous and the workers of iniquity. And it shows us that the very same thing, the execution of justice, produces two diametrically opposite reactions in them. For one, it is pleasure. For the other, it is ruin. There is no middle ground, no third category. This is the great antithesis that runs through all of Scripture and all of human history. Your response to the law of God, to the justice of God, reveals which side of that line you are on. It tells you whether you are a son of God or a son of Adam in his rebellion.
We live in an age that despises this clarity. Our culture is dedicated to blurring every line God has drawn. They want a world where justice is a wax nose, to be twisted and shaped by the prevailing passions of the mob. They call this "social justice," but it is nothing more than institutionalized envy and vengeance, dressed up in academic jargon. It is a justice without a standard, a law without a lawgiver, and therefore, it is no justice at all. Into this confusion, the Word of God speaks with bracing, simple power. It tells us that true justice is not a feeling, but a fact. It is grounded in the unchanging character of God Himself. And how you feel about that fact is the most telling thing about you.
The Text
To do justice is pleasure for the righteous,
But is ruin to the workers of iniquity.
(Proverbs 21:15 LSB)
The Pleasure of the Righteous
Let's take the first half of the verse:
"To do justice is pleasure for the righteous..." (Proverbs 21:15a)
The word for pleasure here is simchah. It means joy, gladness, rejoicing. This is not a grim, dutiful satisfaction. This is delight. The righteous man does not merely tolerate justice; he loves it. He finds joy in it. Why? Because the righteous man has been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. He has been given a new heart, a heart that is no longer at war with God's law, but one that loves it. As Paul says, "For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man" (Romans 7:22). The righteous man loves God's law because he loves the God who gave the law.
This joy operates on several levels. First, there is a personal joy. When a righteous man acts justly in his own dealings, when he tells the truth, pays his debts, treats his neighbor fairly, he experiences the pleasure of a clear conscience. He is living in harmony with the grain of the universe as God designed it. Sin is cosmic treason; it is a declaration of war on reality. Righteousness is peace with reality, and that is a joyful thing.
Second, there is a civic joy. The righteous man rejoices to see justice done in the public square. When a righteous judge hands down a true verdict, when a thief is made to pay restitution, when the innocent are vindicated and the wicked are punished, the righteous man is glad. Why? Because he knows that justice is the foundation of a stable and prosperous society. "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when a wicked man rules, the people groan" (Proverbs 29:2). The righteous man loves his neighbor, and therefore he loves the justice that protects his neighbor from the predators.
But the deepest reason for this joy is theological. The righteous man loves justice because God loves justice. "For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and wrong" (Isaiah 61:8). Every act of true justice in this world is a tiny reflection, a little foretaste, of the perfect justice of God. It is a reminder that the universe is not a chaotic accident, but a moral order under the steady hand of a sovereign King. The righteous man knows that his own salvation is a profound act of divine justice. At the cross, God's justice and mercy met. God did not simply wave away our sin; He poured out the full measure of His just wrath against it upon His own Son. Because justice was served, mercy could be extended. Therefore, the righteous man is not afraid of God's justice; he is eternally grateful for it. It is the very foundation of his hope.
The Ruin of the Wicked
Now we turn to the second half of the verse, which presents the stark contrast.
"...But is ruin to the workers of iniquity." (Proverbs 21:15b)
The word for ruin here is mechittah. It means terror, destruction, dismay. For the workers of iniquity, the very thing that brings joy to the righteous is a source of absolute terror. The phrase "workers of iniquity" is important. It doesn't just mean people who occasionally sin. It describes those whose life, whose work, whose business, is iniquity. Their identity is wrapped up in their rebellion against God. They are defined by their lawlessness.
Why is justice terrifying to them? For the most obvious reason: justice means they will get what they deserve. The thief does not rejoice when the judge is impartial. The liar does not celebrate when the truth comes out. The murderer does not find pleasure in the hangman's noose. The worker of iniquity has built his life on a foundation of lies, theft, and rebellion. Justice is the wrecking ball that demolishes his entire world. It exposes his lies, confiscates his stolen goods, and holds him accountable for his crimes.
This is why the wicked hate God's law. They hate it because it is a mirror that shows them their own ugliness. They hate it because it is a plumb line that reveals how crooked they are. And so, they dedicate themselves to destroying the very concept of objective justice. They will argue that justice is relative. They will say it is a tool of oppression. They will call evil good and good evil. They do this because they are desperately trying to escape the terror of a guilty conscience and the coming judgment. They are like a child who closes his eyes and thinks no one can see him. They are trying to legislate their own rebellion into a virtue.
Paul describes this exact terror in Romans. The civil magistrate is appointed by God, and "he does not bear the sword for nothing; for he is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil" (Romans 13:4). Therefore, Paul says, if you do what is evil, "be afraid." That fear, that terror, is the natural and right response of a guilty man before the bar of justice. It is the ruin, the mechittah, that Proverbs speaks of. It is the beginning of the final ruin that awaits all who do not repent.
The Great Divide
So we see the great divide. The same event, the same principle, the same reality: the execution of justice. For one man, it is a symphony. For the other, it is a siren.
This proverb is a diagnostic tool for the soul. Ask yourself: when you see the moral fabric of our society unraveling, when you see wickedness celebrated in the streets, does it grieve you? And when you see a small victory for righteousness, a small pushback against the tide of lawlessness, does it gladden your heart? Your answer tells you where your treasure is.
The worker of iniquity finds his pleasure in lawlessness. He loves the shadows, the loopholes, the blurred lines. He feels most alive when he is getting away with something. His joy is the joy of the parasite, the vandal, the thief. But this joy is fleeting, because it is built on a lie. The coming of the light is ruin to him. The establishment of order is his destruction.
The righteous man, on the other hand, has been set free from this. He has been transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God's beloved Son. He now loves the light. He loves the law, not as a means of earning his salvation, but as the beautiful and wise instruction of his Heavenly Father. He finds pleasure in order, in truth, in fairness, in righteousness, because these are the things his Father loves.
Conclusion: The Coming Joy, The Coming Ruin
This proverb is not just a description of our present reality; it is a prophecy of the final reality. There is a day coming that the Bible calls the Day of the Lord. On that day, Jesus Christ will return to judge the living and the dead. On that day, justice will not be a rare occurrence; it will be the only thing left. Every account will be settled. Every wrong will be righted. Every secret sin will be shouted from the housetops. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
And on that day, this proverb will find its ultimate fulfillment. For all who are in Christ, for all who have been declared righteous through faith in Him, that day will be the ultimate simchah. It will be the greatest joy imaginable. It will be the final vindication of our faith, the final destruction of all evil, and the beginning of an eternity of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. We will see the King in His beauty, and we will rejoice in His perfect, glorious justice.
But for the workers of iniquity, for all who have persisted in their rebellion, that same day will be the ultimate mechittah. It will be ruin, terror, and destruction beyond all comprehension. They will call for the mountains to fall on them to hide them from the face of the Lamb. The very thing that is the greatest pleasure of the saints will be their everlasting ruin.
So the question comes back to you, this morning. What is justice to you? Is it a pleasure or is it a terror? Does the thought of God's perfect, unbending righteousness fill you with joy or with dread? If it is dread, then that is the Holy Spirit's warning siren in your soul. It is a call to flee from the wrath to come. And the only place to flee is to the cross of Jesus Christ. There, at the cross, the ultimate justice was done, so that you might be forgiven. Flee to Him, confess your lawlessness, and He will wash you clean. He will give you a new heart, a heart that loves His law. He will make you righteous, so that on that final day, the perfect execution of His justice will not be your ruin, but your everlasting pleasure.