FORK IN THE ROAD

Introduction

-{Malachi 3}

-In his famous poem entitled THE ROAD NOT TAKEN, Robert Frost tells of a man who comes to a fork in the road on an autumn day. Regretting that he is unable to travel both roads in the fork, he waffles back and forth on which road to take. The man makes a choice, at first thinking that he’ll circle around and take the other road later in life. But then acknowledging that one road usually leads to another, it is unlikely that he will ever get that chance. And so he lives with the consequence of the choice he made at the fork in the road, knowing that the choice made all the difference in his life.

-As much as we could spiritually simplify the meaning of the poem to say that everyone has a choice at the fork to become a believer in Jesus Christ or remain an unbeliever, I believe that the pool of candidates at the fork in the road is much more narrow than that. I believe that it is those who claim some form of Christianity that have come to such a fork in the road—a true road and a false road. Jesus Himself described such a fork in the road, saying:

Matthew 7:13–14 NET 2nd ed.

13 “Enter through the narrow gate, because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 How narrow is the gate and difficult the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it!

-You see, the audience to whom Jesus was speaking in the Sermon on the Mount were religious people. They claimed a faith in God. And Jesus said that such claims are frivolous if you don’t enter the narrow gate and walk the difficult road of faith in Him. You can claim a faith of some sort and still miss the mark.

-And that is where Christianity is today in the 21st century—some are real and some are fake. And so all Christians come to the fork in the road—the narrow gate, or the wide gate. The spacious way, or the restricted difficult way. Unfortunately, there are many who claim Christ but have never truly believed—and they can put on a good show and they might even fool other humans for a time. But know this—God knows those who are truly His, those who have truly trusted in the sufficiency of Christ.

-During the days of Malachi, the Jews were in a similar situation. Many claimed faith in the God of Abraham and even went through all the motions of following the festivals and the sacrifices and the offerings. But God knows the heart. And what God proclaimed then is true today as well. God is calling the apostate (those who professed faith but then turned from the true faith) to repent, and He is calling the faithful to take courage. And I call you to choose you this day the road you will take as you meet this fork in the road.

Malachi 3:13–4:6 NET 2nd ed.

13 “You have criticized me sharply,” says the Lord, “but you ask, ‘How have we criticized you?’ 14 You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God. How have we been helped by keeping his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord of Heaven’s Armies? 15 So now we consider the arrogant to be blessed; indeed, those who practice evil are successful. In fact, those who challenge God escape!’ ” 16 Then those who respected the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord took notice. A scroll was prepared before him in which were recorded the names of those who respected the Lord and honored his name. 17 “They will belong to me,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “in the day when I prepare my own special property. I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 18 Then once more you will see that I make a distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God and the one who does not. 1 “For indeed the day is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant evildoers will be chaff. The coming day will burn them up,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “It will not leave even a root or branch. 2 But for you who respect my name, the sun of vindication will rise with healing wings, and you will skip about like calves released from the stall. 3 You will trample on the wicked, for they will be like ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, to whom at Horeb I gave rules and regulations for all Israel to obey. 5 Look, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord arrives. 6 He will encourage fathers and their children to return to me, so that I will not come and strike the earth with judgment.”

-{pray}

-Malachi was writing during the time when Israel has been restored after being in captivity. Even though you had leaders in Israel like Nehemiah and Ezra, and you had prophets like Haggai and Zechariah, who called the people to turn from the sins of their fathers that caused the captivity to begin with, the majority of people still became indifferent to God. So, God sent Malachi with one last appeal warning before He would go silent for 400 years until finally sending His Messiah.

-Sure, the people went through religious motions, and yet many if not most did not truly have a heart for God. They put on a show of being religious because it was the expected thing to do, but their heart was not there. And it finally came to a point where they decided that it might not be worth putting on the show any longer. So, the people of Israel were at a fork in the road—they could decide to faithfully follow God according to His Word, or they could just give up and live for the world. And Christianity is now also at such a crossroad. What do we find at such a fork in the road? First, we see that:

1) God distinguishes between the people (3:13-18)

-God says in v. 18 I MAKE A DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED, BETWEEN THE ONE WHO SERVES GOD AND THE ONE WHO DOES NOT. All the people claimed that they were faithful Jews, but God says He makes a distinction between those who are real and those who are faking it. And He wants the fake to become real and the real to become even more strong and courageous in the faith they have.

-But God is pressing people to make a decision because the fake can’t keep up the charade forever. He tells the fake religious folks that He knows what’s in their heart. What is in their hearts are criticisms toward God—what some translations call hard words or harsh words or strong words. And again, they deflect by saying WHAT DO YOU MEAN, HOW HAVE WE CRITICIZED YOU?

-And here is what is really going on inside of them (according to vv. 14-15)—the criticism of their inner dialogue. They say in their hearts that there is no use worshipping God, following God, or serving God because it just doesn’t seem to benefit them. Instead, they think that those who live for the world seem to get the most out of life—the lives of unbelievers seem to be successful. The pagans seem to be happy and carefree. And since God doesn’t seem to be doing anything about it, that’s the direction that they want to take in life. They want the world and all its fleshly benefits, sprinkled with a little God here and there.

-In our day, people will claim Christ as long as they seem to get something out of it in the here and now, but then turn away from truth when it become uncomfortable for them. This can be seen in a couple of ways. First, you have those who, when they aren’t getting the benefits from Christ they think they deserve, they begin to find excuses about why they should back away from the faith. You’ve probably heard the word DECONSTRUCTION many times. This is where people begin questioning the faith, but they really don’t want to hear the answers because it doesn’t make them feel good about themselves.

-Now, it’s OK to put the tough questions to our faith in Christ so we can find the truth, and Christianity is more than capable of standing up to the scrutiny—but you have to be open to the answers, even if you don’t like the answers. But those who deconstruct don’t want truth, they want affirmation in their sin. They are being untruthful if they step away from biblical faith saying it didn’t give them the answers. It most certainly did, but they just didn’t like what it had to say.

-But there is second way that this is demonstrated in modern Christianity in that churches or denominations will change what Christ demands in Scripture in order to fit their preconceived notions and current lifestyles. Even when God is clear about His moral standards, they snake their way around it so that they are more in line with the world than with God.

-But God said there is another group walking a different road—in v. 16 there are those who RESPECTED THE LORD AND HONORED HIS NAME. And God says in v. 17 that these are the ones that belong to Him. These are the faithful who take God at His Word, and choose to honor God with a righteous life and through service all the days of their lives. God knows those who have truly believed and truly follow Him.

-And everyone has a choice at the fork in the road—follow the path of the world and the flesh with its large gate and broad road, or follow the path of faithfulness with its narrow gate and difficult road. And the choice has its consequences, because next in the passage we see that:

2) God delivers His final verdict (4:1-3)

-Just like the poem, the choice you make at the fork in the road leads to completely different destinations. For those who choose to continue in fake Christianity God warns:

Malachi 4:1 NET 2nd ed.

1 “For indeed the day is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant evildoers will be chaff. The coming day will burn them up,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “It will not leave even a root or branch.

-Those who decide to side with the world, who turn away from true faith in Jesus Christ, there is nothing but judgment that leads to God’s eternal wrath. If you choose for a faux Christianity that reflects the values of the world, this is your end. But for those who faithfully follow Christ and honor His name:

Malachi 4:2–3 (NET 2nd ed.)

2 ... the sun of vindication will rise with healing wings, and you will skip about like calves released from the stall.

3 You will trample on the wicked, for they will be like ashes under the soles of your feet ...

-These verses speak of joy and peace and hope and freedom and victory over our spiritual enemies. It speaks of the eternal bliss that is ours in Christ is we accept Christ for who He is and accept the Word that He gave.

-In 3:16 it says of these righteous that their names have been recorded in a special book, for God knows what is truly inside of them. You see, the Bible tells us that God is writing books on everyone’s lives, and we all will be judged by what is in that book. However, there is a second book that determines the outcome of the first book—it is called the Book of Life. If you have truly believed in Jesus and you have been made new and you live to honor His name, your name is in the Book of Life which lists everyone who belongs to Christ, and your judgment will be for reward. But if your name is not in the Book of Life, when you are judged from the other book about your life, it will be for eternal punishment. Revelation gives us a picture of that day.

Revelation 20:11–15 NET 2nd ed.

11 Then I saw a large white throne and the one who was seated on it; the earth and the heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne. Then books were opened, and another book was opened—the book of life. So the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each one was judged according to his deeds. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the lake of fire. 15 If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, that person was thrown into the lake of fire.

-You see, everyone is judged because everyone broke God’s law. The difference is whether you have trusted that Jesus paid your penalty or not. If you have trusted in Jesus, you are made new, and you live to honor Him. If you have not trusted in Jesus, no matter what profession you might make, you are not made new and you don’t want to honor Him. The faithful are covered by Christ and their sins are forgiven them. Those not covered by Christ stand naked before God and are judged by the fact that they did not live up to God’s standards.

-But those who live for the world, the deconstructionists, the worldly churches, they think God ought to meet their standard, but that’s not how it works, and that’s not what’s going to happen on judgment day.

-There’s a story about an armed robber named Dennis Lee Curtis who was arrested in 1992 in Rapid City, South Dakota. Curtis apparently had scruples about his thievery. In his wallet the police found a sheet of paper on which was written the following code:

1. I will not kill anyone unless I have to.

2. I will take cash and food stamps—no checks.

3. I will rob only at night.

4. I will not wear a mask.

5. I will not rob mini-marts or 7-Eleven stores.

6. If I get chased by cops on foot, I will get away. If chased by vehicle, I will not put the lives of innocent civilians on the line.

7. I will rob only seven months out of the year.

8. I will enjoy robbing from the rich to give to the poor.

This thief had a sense of morality, but it was flawed. When he stood before the court, he was not judged by the standards he had set for himself but by the higher law of the state. Likewise when we stand before God, we will not be judged by the code of morality we have written for ourselves but by God’s perfect law.

-And if you have shunned Christ as He has revealed Himself, then you are on your own, and God’s final verdict will be forever settled. But if you embrace Christ, you are in Him, and in Him you are declared not guilty based on His sacrificial death, not because of anything you have done. So, finally today, to help people choose the right fork in the road, we see that:

3) God demands His Word be shared (4:4-6)

-Here’s the thing, as long as you are alive, unlike the person in Robert Frost’s poem, you have a chance to change your road. You may have previously chosen the road of living for the world, and your Christianity may have been merely cultural, but you can now choose to go to the other road of faithfulness—truly believing Christ and His Word.

-In 4:4 God points the people back to His Word. He reminds them that He gave Moses His Word for them to obey. And then in 4:5 He says that He is sending Elijah to preach the Word and to warn people before the great and terrible day of judgment comes. Elijah would point people back to the Word. And by doing so, it says in 4:6 that there would be repentance and restoration.

-Here is the great thing, God gives people ample warning to return to Him and His Word before they face the judgment—to change their mind about which fork they took in the road. And now God is looking to raise up Elijahs to declare the Word so that people would repent and be restored to God by faith in the gospel—Jesus saves.

-I speak of raising up Elijahs because it is interesting. Earlier in Malachi it talked about Elijah )who was God’s mouthpiece during a time of great apostasy) preparing people for God to come in the future. Fast forward to the New Testament, and Jesus says something interesting:

Matthew 17:10–13 NET 2nd ed.

10 The disciples asked him, “Why then do the experts in the law say that Elijah must come first?” 11 He answered, “Elijah does indeed come first and will restore all things. 12 And I tell you that Elijah has already come. Yet they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wanted. In the same way, the Son of Man will suffer at their hands.” 13 Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

-Jesus says that Elijah is going to come in the future, but also that He already came in the person of John the Baptist—meaning that John the Baptist came in the power and persuasion that Elijah had. But Elijah also is coming in the future from Jesus’ perspective. Could He mean that there will be others who come in the power and ministry of Elijah to prepare people for the Lord’s coming? I tell you what, our world needs Elijahs right now, who will unashamedly speak God’s Word to the people to give them a chance to repent and be restored. We need to pray that God raises up some Elijahs, and we need to be open to the possibility that God wants US to be those Elijahs, telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth of God’s Word.

Conclusion

-I’ll close with this story:

Several artists were asked to illustrate their concepts of temptation. When their paintings were unveiled, some of them depicted man's attempt to achieve fame and fortune at any cost. Others pictured mankind’s struggle against the alluring desires of the flesh.

The prize-winning canvas, however, was quite different. It portrayed a quiet country lane with a man walking among inviting shade trees and lovely wild flowers. In the distance the way divided into two roads, one leading to the right, the other to the left. The road that veered to the left seemed just as inviting as the one that kept to the right. But if the traveler chose to take it, he would soon become mired in the mud. The artist conveyed you can say that you have a form of Christianity, but if your Christianity is based on flesh and self and personal fulfillment, it leads to derailment while the other leads to life. One remains faithful to Christ and His Word, one remains faithful to the culture and the world.

-Here’s the thing, as long as you are alive, unlike the person in Robert Frost’s poem, you have a chance to change your road. You may have previously chosen the road of living for the world, and your Christianity may have been merely cultural, but you can now choose to go to the other road of faithfulness.

-So, I invite you today, if you have had a Christianity with a Christ that is not from the Bible, you don’t know the true Christ…come forward and commit yourself to the real deal.

-Christian, maybe you know someone who took the wrong road and you want to come to pray for them. I also invite you to come and pray that God raises up some Elijahs who will teach and preach the Word of God to bring about repentance and restoration.