The Right Path
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Introduction
Introduction
When a person gets saved, that person is taken off of the path of death and destruction, and put on to a new path.
The change of direction, and the new experience that comes with salvation is a dramatic contrast. Like from Black to white, or utter darkness to light, or death to life.
The Bible puts it this way:
John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death
1 Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
If we are not careful however, we may be tempted to return to the old path, or the old way before we were saved. I want to challenge you to stay on THE RIGHT PATH.
I. Directed Path
I. Directed Path
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; And lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, And he shall direct thy paths.
Thou wilt shew me the path of life: In thy presence is fulness of joy; At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
God has a Plan for You
God has a Plan for You
The purpose of salvation is not only to save you from the penalty of Sin (Death and Hell), but to give you a greater purpose in life.
Before, when we were lost, we didn’t have God’s Plan and Purpose for our life, but now as believers we have to discover God’s plan and follow it.
God’s plan comes from God’s Word
NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, And a light unto my path.
God’s Plan Requires Faith
God’s Plan Requires Faith
In order to follow God’s plan and path, it requires us to trust God. It requires FAITH.
Turn to:
10 And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites.
11 Behold, the ark of the covenant, even the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan.
12 Now therefore take ye twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man.
13 And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon a heap.
And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.
French Tight Rope Walker at Niagara Falls
Back in the 1800s, there was a great acrobat. His name was Blondin. He was a tightrope walker. He actually walked more than a thousand feet across Niagara Falls without any safety net, hundreds of feet above the roaring falls.
A fall would have been devastating. It would have been deadly.
Blondin was so good; he had so much confidence that he walked across Niagara Falls on stilts.
There were some twenty thousand who were watching.
Blondin said, “How many of you believe I could do this with a man in the wheelbarrow?” They all put up their hands. He pointed to one man who had his hand up and said, “All right, you come get in the wheelbarrow.”
But he nor anyone else would volunteer to get in the barrel.
It’s one thing to have an intellectual belief; it’s another thing to give your heart to Jesus Christ
131 Christians Everyone Should Know Subjective Truth
faith is not a mental conviction about doctrine, nor positive religious feelings, but a passionate commitment to God in the face of uncertainty. Faith is a risk (the “leap of faith”), an adventure that requires the denial of oneself. To choose faith is what brings authentic human existence.
Review: The Path God gives us is a Directed Path
II. Delightful Path
II. Delightful Path
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
Lead by God Himself
Lead by God Himself
Thou wilt shew me the path of life: In thy presence is fulness of joy; At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
God rewards Faith
God rewards Faith
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
The Christian life is a delight when you are doing it the Bible way.
Review: Directed Path, Delightful Path
III. Devoted Path
III. Devoted Path
As we follow God, we will continue on the Path he has for us.
Shew me thy ways, O Lord; Teach me thy paths.
Teach me thy way, O Lord, And lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.
In the Pilgrim’s Progress - the Protagonist, Christian, listens to Worldly Wise Man and next thing you know he is way off track.
The take away from this is that we need to be careful who we make friends with, and who we allow to influence us. Or we may end up somewhere we shouldn’t be, and wonder how did I get here in my life?
The Path of devotion leads to righteousness and not to regret. When people make foolish decisions, it is because they left the path God gave them.
Righteous Path
Righteous Path
He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
A righteous path is a path that brings honor to God.
Are you on the path of righteousness?
Personal Path
Personal Path
The journey of faith you have with God, is a personal one. No one can walk with God for you, it is a personal decision.
Notice the personal relationship that is described:
Turn to:
1 O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: My soul thirsteth for thee, My flesh longeth for thee, In a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;
2 To see thy power and thy glory, So as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.
3 Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise thee.
4 Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.
5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; And my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:
6 When I remember thee upon my bed, And meditate on thee in the night watches.
How is your personal relationship with God?
Review: Directed Path, Delightful Path, Devoted Path
WARNING!
IV. Dangerous Path
IV. Dangerous Path
The Right Path, the path that God has for you is straight, but the Dangerous Path is a crooked one. Proverbs 2:10-22 describes it well.
Notice in the passage that the word “paths” is mentioned five times.
Turn to:
10 When wisdom entereth into thine heart, And knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;
11 Discretion shall preserve thee, Understanding shall keep thee:
12 To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, From the man that speaketh froward things;
13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, To walk in the ways of darkness;
14 Who rejoice to do evil, And delight in the frowardness of the wicked;
15 Whose ways are crooked, And they froward in their paths:
16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, Even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;
17 Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, And forgetteth the covenant of her God.
18 For her house inclineth unto death, And her paths unto the dead.
19 None that go unto her return again, Neither take they hold of the paths of life.
20 That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, And keep the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, And the perfect shall remain in it.
22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, And the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.
Yikes, there is Dangerous Path that needs to be avoided
There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, But the end thereof are the ways of death.
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Follow the Right Path!
Follow God and enjoy the life of faith that God has prepared for you. The choice is yours.