Bible Lesson 226
The Way (Psalms 1:6)
“For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish”
“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who heeds counsel is wise.”
Proverbs 12:15
This month we will open the Word of God and deal with the way, and I am speaking about the way that born-again Christians, live and walk as they remain here on the earth once they have been granted God’s Grace in rebirth and regeneration, that always takes place in salvation.
We are not sinners with a new paint job, not sinners but Saints, who live by the power of God in Christ. There is a separation and melding that takes place in true salvation, in which we are separated from death to life, from sin to holy living, and our ability to live above sin is assured by the presence and power of Jesus Christ. We no longer are slaves to Satan and Sin, we are slaves to the righteousness of God.
We are born to the flesh and dead in trespass and sin because of our grandfather Adam, who was created in innocence and walked with God in Paradise on earth. God had given Adam all, and more, that he would ever need to live a life that would never end here on the earth. He would never have to work and sweat to eat, or even have to pull weeds from the wonderful garden that was call Eden. God made Adam from the dirt of the earth and breathed life into him and even gave him a wife that had been taken from his rib cage. Adam had only, one law to obey, and that was that He was free to eat of every tree of the garden, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The tree of life was in the garden, and Adam could have eaten of it, but instead his wife Eve caused him to eat of the tree that was forbidden to them, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God had warned Adam that in the day that he ate of that tree, he would die, and Adam died spiritually that moment and he began the process of physical death at that time.
God allowed him to live but outside the Garden of Eden. Adam had violated the God man precept which calls for the creature to obey the Creator, and he had to pay the price. Adam lived to be 930 years. Now, some who are ignorant of the Bible, say, well he didn’t die the day that he sinned, but he did since a day in God’s sight “is as a day and a thousand years are as a day.” (2nd Peter 3:8).
God never changes, never forgets, and always judges His Creatures and His Creation. God had said to Adam that he was not to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, and had Adam obeyed and walked in that way (according to the Word of God), He would still be alive today and you and I would be here with him. That is the lesson that we must learn, that we are creatures, created by an Almighty God for an Almighty God’s purpose. We seem to have forgotten that because we have moved so far away from God and from His Way, that we think of ourselves as sovereign over our minute lives. Man, who is a worm before God, has imagined himself to be worthy of all things and thinks that he can manipulate the creation to change the Creator.
Let me ask you to do this today, right now, if you will. I would ask you to think for a while about what you do in this world. I am not talking about what kind of job you have, but what kind of life you live. What is the direction of your life, and what is the overriding thing that you make sure gets done as you live daily. How many times today have you thanked God (with a thankful heart), for the mercy and Grace He has shown to you. How many times have you said out loud the name of the One who took your place on the cross and suffered and died to redeem you from sin and hell’ Do you have a Church, and what do you do when you go to church’ Is the Way you are on lead to heaven or hell’ What are you willing to do for God’ Do you know enough about what the Bible has to say, to fill a complete sentence, and if you don’t why don’t you’
That is the major problem in our society today, that we are biblically illiterate, and we just cannot bring ourselves to study to show ourselves approved unto God. If you do no know your Bible, you are on shaky ground, because we are told in the book of Romans that Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. (Romans 10:17). What that says is that you must know the truth, or you will not be saved. About the only way that is available today is to read the Bible for yourself, because there are many ministers in our time and some may be unaware of the truth themselves. These are men who attended some seminary and left with a degree, but without the knowledge of God. We are saved, by Grace alone, through Faith alone, in Christ alone, according to the Scripture alone. (Ephesians 2:8-9; 2nd Timothy 3:16). I recommend that if you are not up to speed on what God has said to man in His Word the Bible, that you begin immediately to study for that test that we all must take at the Judgment seat of God. Begin in Genesis chapter one and study through Revelation 22: 20. Read and reread, and pray when you have questions and God will show you the answers as you continue to study. If that seems to big of a job for you then you may not ever be saved.
Think about it this way, if you want to learn how to play golf, you must buy clubs and balls and tees, then you must find a golf course and pay the fee and hire a pro to give you advice. You can’t learn it any other way. That is why you must know the Bible to be saved. The Bible shows us who God is and what He requires from His adopted children. We all begin at the same point and I can remember a time when I knew nothing about what The Bible teaches, and I was not inclined to even think about God and His Amazing Grace. Finally, God put me in a position that I had no recourse, except to turn to the Bible and begin an exhaustive study of it. God was faithful to keep my nose in His Word until I was convinced that it was true, every word and that I was a creature and was dealing with my Creator. Thank God for His Grace and Mercy, He put me in my place which was on my knees at the foot of the cross of Christ. I found that narrow gate, that was Jesus, and went to Him and found the narrow way that leads to eternal life. God kept my feet on His Way, past that broad gate that leads to destruction and I walk that narrow way every day. My day is not about me or anything except Christ and what He did for me, in me and on me. (Matthew 7:13-14).
It seems to me to be evident that we are pretty much like the people of Israel were as God dealt with them back in the time of the Patriarchs, we like them do not want to walk in God’s way. We have become comfortable in living like we want to and that points us to the way of Satan. Isaiah tells us that Gods prophet had said to Israel, “Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it”; but we learn Jeremiah chapter 6, that the Lord said, “Stand in the way and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls.” But they said, “we will not walk in it”. (Isaiah 30:21; Jeremiah 6:16).
That is a pretty good picture of America, and much of the rest of the world today! We have turned our backs to God and we want to think that we are capable of handling our lives for ourselves. Just look at the picture of the world today. We are bankrupt sinners, who have lost our connection to a Holy God and seem to be in a place where we want to act like life, as life is portrayed by Hollywood. Shame on us! We need to repent and turn back to God as we ask Him to teach us how to live. The way God would have us walk is clearly marked and it can be known by our reclaiming words like Obedience, repentance, Holiness, righteousness and Saint.
America is at a cross roads and we have been teetering there for a good while, and all we can do to save ourselves, our families, and our society is to recognize that we need God to work in our lives and bring us back from the precipice to follow close behind Him. May God have mercy on us.
Until next time,
may God bless and keep you
This is Bro. Bob