Good morning. Today we are going to finish our series that takes a look at some of the road signs that God gives us through His word. Before we do that though, allow me to share with you a few more funny signs:
- Misspelled Stop sign
- Drive slow, see our village, drive fast see our judge, speed sign
- Friends don’t let friends go to Hell
- Don’t let worries kill you, let the church help
- Sign broke, message inside
As we get started this morning, let me open our time with a word of prayer. Let’s Pray!
The last couple of weeks, we have been talking about signs. Signs are everywhere. And that is true of most public places we go to. Think of all the signs that hang in Walmart, or in your schools. Now I’m convinced that our life would not only be more complicated but also more frustrating, if there were no signs.
The past couple of weeks, we have been talking about the road signs that God gives us in life to keep us on “the straight and narrow path” of following Him. Throughout the Old Testament, the nation of Israel had wandered away from God. And God told them through the prophet Jeremiah, in Jeremiah 31:21-22 that they needed to, “1”
One of the best ways in life not to get lost driving is to pay attention to and follow the road signs. And in the same way, one of the best ways to keep from wandering away from God is to heed the road signs that He has placed in His word.
Now we began by talking about heeding God’s STOP signs by controlling our tongue and repenting of sinful actions. We have talked about obeying God’s YIELD signs and yielding to His will and the working of the Holy Spirit in our life. We have looked at God’s MERGE sign and surrendering our wants so we can merge with God’s will.
Last week, we talked about being alert to and beware of those things that cause us to turn from God and slide into sinfulness as we looked at the BEWARE OF FALLING OBJECTS signs. And we have mentioned the importance of slowing down in life so we can not only wait on God but also minister to those who God puts in our path as we looked at the SLOW signs. And then finally, we looked at the ONE WAY sign, and realized that there is only one way to salvation and abundant life, and that is through Jesus Christ.
And as we wrap this series up this morning, I want us to take note of 4 more road signs you need to follow to prevent spiritual wandering in your own life. And the first is this:
The Keep Right Sign:
It is one thing to “get right” with God through Jesus Christ. It is quite another thing to “keep right.” In fact, it is harder to keep right. That’s the frontline, where the battle of the flesh and the spirit wages. But we need to understand that to “keep right” in your walk with God and before the eyes of the world is more important than you will ever realize. It is what keeps us “salty” and our “light” shining. And it only takes one or two slips for our witness to be neutralized before others.
As a minister, I hear people talk about the “hypocrites” down at the church. In the eyes of many people, all they see are our faults, which can be frustrating. We all know none of us are ever going to be perfect this side of Heaven. We all sin and still fall short of God’s glory. But we can’t use that to develop a Brittany Spears approach to our failures and sin. You know what a Brittany Spears approach to our failures and sin is? “Oops I did it again!”
Keeping right in our relationship with God has to do with honesty and integrity. And once we have lost that with people, we lose our testimony. If you want to know if you are in danger of losing that, consider these questions:
Does my public life and my private life match?
Am I worried that someone will ever see what I am doing?
Would I be comfortable with Jesus hearing what I just said?
Would I want everyone else in church to know I made this decision?
Proverbs 10:9-10 tell us that, “The man of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out. He who winks maliciously causes grief, and a chattering fool comes to ruin.”
Don’t buy into the Devil’s lie that we can make dishonest choices and get away with it. No one can plant seeds of sin today and not have a crop of heartache and trouble tomorrow. But just like driving on the wrong side of the road will eventually cause you to get hit, living lives where we have little concern about doing right will certainly bring our faith crashing down as well.
Galatians 6:7 warns us “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” Now listen, I’m not saying that we can’t ever sin. We will and God offers forgiveness through confession and repentance. What I’m saying is that we can’t wink at and excuse sin away without understanding that there are consequences to our decisions. If you have a heart to follow Jesus Christ all the days of your life, you will find out that it is hard work to “Keep Right.” But God does call us to live a steadfast life.
Have any of you ever been able to watch salmon swim upstream to spawn? Well, since I go to Michigan every year on a salmon fishing trip, I have been able to see this several times. These fish are fighting the current, they arrive at their spawning grounds beat up and cut up, and then, after they do what they are suppose to do, they die.
Well that is the same way that we as Christians are to be. You and I are to be swimming against the current of this world. And it will take it’s toll on us. But we still need to keep right to avoid areas that can get us into trouble. So, we need to “Keep Right.”
Another sign that we need to heed is:
The Do Not Enter Sign:
Listen to me, there are some places you and I don’t need to go, or even think about going. There are some “roads” that you and I need not travel down because we are children of God. There are some places in life that we need to just close ourselves off to because they lead to nothing but destruction. In Proverbs 4:11-15 God says, “2”
And in verses 18-19 of that same chapter God tells us why, because “2”
There are some places and activities that if we visit them they WILL cause us to stumble in our walk with God. In I Thessalonians 5:22 the Bible tells us to, “…abstain from, (or avoid) every appearance of evil.”
Listen to this story about going places that we should avoid. Another minister had this to write about a guy that he knew. He said, “Four years ago, a man I knew left and divorced his wife of 42 years. He started having innocent lunches with his secretary and working late with her, and eventually he had an affair with her.”
He goes on to say, “By the way, this wasn’t just any guy. He was a pillar in a church, a Sunday School teacher and a deacon in our church for 35 years. When he mentioned having these lunches and working late, many of us told him to be very careful. But in his pride, he blew us off and ignored us. He not only lost his wife, his family, and contact with his grandkids, but he lost his close walk with God as well. He doesn’t even attend church today.”
Now, after being a Christian all of his life, a deacon for 35 years, you would think he would have known better. It is one thing to “get right” with God through Jesus Christ. It is quite another thing to “keep right.” It is one thing to “know right” and another thing to be committed to “do right.” The way of the wicked is like this deep, dark abyss, where we cannot see the dangers, making it so easy to stumble. Haven’t you ever walked through your house in the middle of the night and hit your shin on a coffee table or stub your toe on something. Why is that? Well, it is because darkness hides danger, whether we are talking about physical or spiritual darkness. That’s why Proverbs 13:15 declares, “…the way of the unfaithful is hard.”
The paths that sinful people follow are difficult, troublesome, and can be very painful. Like the Psalmist prayed in Psalm 86:11, “Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.” We need to pray that prayer. “God, show me the way, lead me down the paths you want me to take. And stop me when I begin to wander into places I don’t need to be in.”
It is in avoiding the places God’s Spirit tells us to avoid and taking the paths God wants us to take that we find happiness and delight as children of God. It is in avoiding the places God’s Spirit tells us to avoid and taking the paths God wants us to take that we find joy and pleasure. We need to pay attention to the “Do Not Enter” signs that God puts before us in life. And we need to remember that we are people still being molded by God.
The next sign that we need to heed is this one:
The Under Construction Sign:
Philippians 1:6 says, “He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.” God is still in the process of shaping us and making us into the people and the vessels that He desires for us to be. In Jeremiah chapter 18, God told the prophet Jeremiah to go down to the potter’s house and watch the potter work the clay. And after Jeremiah watched the potter, God said to Jeremiah, “…my people are like the clay and I am the potter…” And we need to realize that we are still clay in the hands of God.
What is it that the old, hymn says?
Spirit of the Living God; Fall afresh on me.
Break me…Melt Me…Mold Me…Fill Me.
Spirit of the Living God; Fall afresh on me.
We are a work in progress. God is in the process of breaking some of the stubbornness and pride in some of us. In others, He is melting the hardness of the heart and the stiff, rigid, independent spirit we have. And after His Holy Spirit has convicted us, worked us over and we have been softened up through repentance, God begins the process of molding us, and filling in what’s missing in us so that He can use us in the way He desires to use us.
That’s what God is doing in every one of us. That’s what God is doing and has done in me, and He wants to do in you as well. He begins the process of Breaking us…Melting us…Molding us…and Filling us with what we need in order to accomplish His will. And that can be the testimony for all of us, if we will just begin to allow God to work in our lives. Every single Christians should be able to look at their life and say, “I’m not what I once was. And I am not yet what I will be. Because God is not finished with me yet.” And I am so thankful that as His children we are still Under Construction.
Now, as we begin to close today, there is one final sign I want to share with you, and that is:
The Four Way Crossroad/Intersection Sign:
This sign reminds us that all roads are coming together into one intersection. And when all the roads intersect like that, you have a choice to make. Which road will you take? Which direction do I go from here?
You know what I like about that sign? If you look at it, it is in the shape of the cross. And it ought to remind us that all the roads in life eventually lead to the cross of Christ. It doesn’t matter if you are a multimillionaire, or living on the streets. Whether you are a CEO for an oil company or you pump their gas in a filling station. Whether you are a butcher, a baker, or a candlestick maker. Eventually every road in life leads to the cross. And when we get there, we have to decide what road we will take. Will we choose to follow Jesus? Or will we continue to take our own way?
In Hebrews 9:27 the Bible says this, “…man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment…” And you know what that judgment will be based on? What you did with Jesus Christ, the one who died on the cross for you. If you have accepted Him and have tried to live a steadfast life, God grants you Heaven and eternity there. But if you have rejected Him, you receive Hell. Now you may think that that is straightforward and harsh. But the Bible is that plain and straightforward.
You see, it is kind of like this: if I had a bill for $10,000 and Sheila offered to pay it for me, and I accepted her offer and she paid it, how much do I owe? Nothing, because Sheila paid the bill. But if Sheila offered to pay it, and I refused to let her do it, how much do I owe? $10 grand still, even though Sheila offered to pay for it.
Well, it is the same way with God. On the cross, Jesus died for your sins and for mine. And He says that if you accept me, my dead can be the payment for your sin. If you refuse Jesus’ offer, YOU still stand accountable to pay the full price for your sin to God. And just as Jesus received the full wrath of God for the sins of mankind, God’s wrath will be poured out on you in an awful place that is separate from God. That’s why it is so important to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and really mean it.
By the way, if you have never done that before in your life, or if you have, and today you find yourself going in the wrong direction that God wants you to go, then I have one more sign for you today and that is the U-TURN sign. You see, you can make a U-Turn in life. In the church we call that repentance. Instead of going in this direction and going your own way, you can turn from your way, and turn to Jesus, and determine that you are going to follow His way.
If there is anything in your life right now that you need to turn from, God invites you to make a U-Turn today!
Let’s Pray!
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