Jeff Schreve - A Fork In The Road
Do you let your feelings, emotions, and circumstances dictate your path in life? Sadly, many choose their own way over God’s way and they suffer the consequences. In today’s message, you’ll be encouraged to believe God’s Word and walk by faith and not by sight when you come to «A Fork In The Road».
We’re in a series called «Fake News: Exposing The Lies Of The Devil». And today we wanna talk about a fork in the road, a fork in the road of life. Hey, what do you do when you’re going your way and then you come to a situation, you come to a decision, you come to some kind of a fork in the road, and there’s a sign that says, «God’s Way» and there’s a sign that says «My Way»? Frank Sinatra said, «I did it my way». I go my way. What do you do when there’s a decision between God’s way and your way? We live in a world today where people have pretty much said phooey on God’s way, we’re gonna go our own way.
I want you to notice with me two truths from that idea of the two ways because the Bible says in Proverbs 14 verse 12, «There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death». It might seem right that you can blow past the sign that says road out, road closed. Might seem right that you can travel there and that you might be able to travel there for a little while, but eventually you’re gonna run out of road because the bridge is out going that way. And that might seem right to you, but what’s the end of that way? Death. The end of that way is death. So two truths. First truth, the devil wants you to think that God’s way is all wrong. «Yet you say the way of the Lord is not right. Hear now Oh, Israel, is my way not right.? Is it not your ways that are not right»?
Oh the lie from the devil is God’s way is all wrong. Now, where do we get that from? We get that from Genesis chapter 3, I mean, the people are saying it in Ezekiel chapter 18, but the whole concept of God’s ways are not right that comes from the devil in Genesis chapter 3 when he slithers onto the pages of scripture in Genesis 3 into the Garden of Eden, and he says to Eve, «Indeed as God said, you shall not eat from any tree of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, 'From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, but from the fruit that is in the middle of the garden, from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we can’t eat from it nor touch it lest we die.' And the serpent said to the woman, 'You shall not die! For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil».
«Hey, you don’t wanna go God’s way Eve. Let me tell you something. God’s a liar, Eve. God says you’re gonna die if you eat that fruit? No, you’re not gonna die, you’re not gonna die. There are no consequences for disobeying God. And actually, you gotta understand something. You can’t trust God because God’s holding out on you, babe. I mean, God said that the best is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And if you eat of that tree, you’re gonna be like God and you’ll know good and evil and God doesn’t want you to be like him. So God is keeping the best from you».
Remember this, God doesn’t keep the best from you, God keeps the best for you. Big, big difference. But the devil will say, «No, God’s keeping the best from you and the lie of the devil is this, God is restrictive, God is dated, God is unfair, and God is boring». That’s a big lie. All slamming the character of God and the personhood of God. I mean, God, he hems you in. God says that he makes all these trees and then says, «Uh, uh, uh, you can’t eat from any tree of the garden». That was his twisting of what God had said because God had said from any tree of the garden you may freely eat. But he says that, you know, God is really restrictive. He’s trying to hem you in and he’s so old fashioned this God. I mean, get with it.
We hear that today. I mean, you Christians, I mean, you need to get with it. You study this old ancient book. I mean, we’re in 2017 guys and you need to get with it. God is outdated and God is so unfair. That was the charge that they leveled against God. God’s a crooked scale at the grocery store at the deli counter. I mean, God, God just cheats you. He’s unfair. He’s unrighteous. His ways are unjust. And you know what? God is boring. He is lame-o. That’s the lie of the devil. And you know what? People believe that. You know why? Because lots of people have grown up in church and that church was so boring. It is a sin to be boring. It’s a sin to be bored, especially as a pastor if you’re boring.
And I’ve heard some guys, they’re pretty boring. And, you know, in a congregation like that where you have the boring preacher, the people are bored. Well, why are the people bored? 'Cause the preacher’s bored. Because in lots of instances, the preacher doesn’t really know the Lord. He hasn’t spent time with the Lord. He’s not sharing anything out of his heart. He’s just reading a script in his blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Who gets excited about that? I tell people all the time, hey, if you’re not, you’re up there teaching people and you’re not excited about what you’re saying, why should they get excited about it? So that’s the lie of the devil. I remember talking to a guy in college. He was in a fraternity. He was big on the party scene.
I was talking to him about his relationship with the Lord. He didn’t have one and he didn’t want one. And we began to talk about and I knew how his mind was thinking. You’re talking to me about giving my life to Jesus? Well, then I would be saying no, to fun, no, to pleasure, no, to thrills. I mean, what do I do if I gave my life to Jesus? I come to Bible study and I sit around in a circle with a bunch of losers and we sing «Kumbaya». Well, who wants to do that? I don’t wanna do that. I mean, what does Billy Joel say? I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints. Sinners are much more fun. And we have this idea that oh, it’s so much more fun to go the devil’s way because God’s way is just stiff and stodgy and boring and yawner.
And there’s just no excitement in it. Jesus said, «I came that you might have life and you might have it abundantly». And here’s what the devil does and this is how he works. Not only does he say that God is restrictive and dated and unfair and boring, but he says this, you know, when it comes to the forbidden, if it looks good and feels good, it is good and it is right. The prodigal son is a good example. When he took his father’s inheritance and he went and he wasted his wealth on Harlots, he was having fun. He was partying it up, it was fun. But then the money ran out and the fun ran out and the famine hit and he ends up in the pigsty. That’s where sin always goes. You blow past the sign that says, «Road is closed,» and you go and everything is good for a while until you hit no bridge, nowhere to go, and now I’m in trouble.
So that is the devil’s lie. He wants you to think God, God’s way is all wrong. But the second truth, the Lord wants you to know that His way is always right. It’s always right. In Psalm 19, we read these words in the ERV, The Easy-to-Read Version. «The Lord’s teachings are perfect. They give strength to his people. The Lord’s rules can be trusted. They help even the foolish become wise. The Lord’s laws are right. They make people happy. The Lord’s commands are good. They show people the right way to live. Learning respect for the Lord is good. It will last forever. The Lord’s judgments are right. They are completely fair». That’s the Lord’s law, the Lord’s commands. They’re good, they’re right, they’re perfect. And you wanna be happy?
Then do what the Lord says to do because His way is always right, always right. Now you mark it down. You are blessed and happy when you stop debating and start obeying. When you stop debating and start obeying. You say, stop debating. What do you mean stop debating? Well, so many people debate in their hearts as it relates to what God says to do. As they hit the fork in the road and they say, «Well, I can go this way this way seems right to me». But God says, go this way and they’re like, I just don’t know. I don’t know if that’s right. Maybe that’s not right. And they deliberate and debate in their hearts whether the Word of God is right or not. Have you ever had this experience where you’re maybe praying and spending some time with the Lord and the Lord says to you, «You need to confess this sin in your heart to your wife».
You’re like, «Well, Lord, I don’t wanna do that. That wouldn’t be good. We don’t wanna do that, Lord». I mean, that’s happened to me before. It’s like, «Jeff, you need to talk to Debbie about this». «Well, Lord, I don’t wanna talk to her about that. She wouldn’t understand that. Let’s just keep that between you and me». «No, talk to her about it». «Well, Lord, I just don’t think that’s the right way to go. I mean, Lord, let’s be real here». You know, we do that and we argue with the Lord about things because going His way is always right, but it can be very, very difficult to go that way and we don’t wanna go that way. So we deliberate and we kind of well, I’m not sure not thinking I should do this.
Let me give you a scripture verse. Psalm 119 verses 47 and 48. «I shall delight in your commandments, which I love. And I shall lift up my hands to your commandments, which I love and I will meditate on your statues». Lift up my hands to your commandments which I love. Now, in the Old Testament, when you would lift up your hands, you did that to pray and to praise. And Solomon, when he prayed the great prayer of dedication, he lifted his hands, he got on his knees and lifted his hands to the Lord. And so I’m gonna lift up my hands to thy commandments, which I love. Well, I’m praising you Lord for your commandments. But now I want you to think about this too. 'Cause we know universal sign for surrender is this, is this. So I lift up my hands to your commandments and I praise you for those Lord and I surrender myself to your commandments because your way is right concerning everything. We don’t do that so much of the time. We definitely don’t do that in America. We don’t do that in our world today. We don’t surrender to God’s commandments.
Now, I wanna give you some areas where there are things that God clearly says that people today are saying, «Well, that’s not right». The way of the Lord is not right. This isn’t right. Let me give you the first area that’s really big in the news today. We hear about it all the time. It has to do with sexual immorality. What God says concerning sexual immorality is right, is right. God wrote the book on morality. God is the law giver. He’s the one that says this is right and this is wrong. And when it comes to sexual immorality, God is the one that says this is right and this is wrong. Let me tell you, fornication which is having sex and you’re not married is wrong. And how many times is it wrong? Every single time? It’s wrong 100% of the time. Adultery is wrong.
What is adultery? That’s being married to someone and having sex outside your marriage? That’s wrong. One hundred percent of the time that’s wrong. It’s never gonna be right. Adultery is wrong. Fornication is wrong. Homosexuality, wrong. Is wrong. I don’t care who says what about it, it is wrong because that’s what God says. I want you to look at a scripture come on the screens. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verses 9 through 11. See, we’re talking about what does God say? This is what he says. «Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived». Don’t let somebody tell you that this way, the way of the Lord is wrong and this way is right. «Do not be deceived; neither fornicators,» those who have sex and they’re not married. «Nor adulterers, fornicators, nor idolaters,» those who worship the false God of money, let’s say. «Nor adulterers,» those who are married and having sex outside of their marriage.
«Nor effeminate». That’s a soft male. «Nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God». Black print on white paper. That’s what God says. And then he goes on to say, «And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our Lord». Listen, when you read that list, you say, «Well, man, that nails me to the wall». Yeah, that nailed some Corinthians to the wall too because they were fornicators and adulterers and some were homosexual and some were idolaters and some were thieves. Hey, a litany of sins, I read that list and say, I’m guilty of this. I’m guilty of this. I’m guilty of this.
But you know what? I brought all my sin to Jesus. I didn’t hold on to it and say, «Well, Lord, this is the way I am and this is the way I’m gonna be and you’re just gonna have to accept me this way». I didn’t do that. I brought my sin to Jesus and I said, «Lord, forgive me of all this». Turn from that and then you’re washed and you’re sanctified and you’re justified in the name of the Lord. Hey, what God says, concerning sexual immorality is right. What God says about the sanctity of human life is right. That’s big in the news, isn’t it? I mean, every election cycle, what do we talk about? We talk about the right to life and you have one political party that has sold its soul and says, you can’t even run for office under our banner unless you adhere to a woman’s right to choose to murder her baby. They leave that out. A woman’s right to choose, to choose what? To choose to brutally murder her baby in the womb. Nobody has a right to do that.
The Lord says in Psalm 139, «For you formed my inward parts; you wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to you, for I’m fearfully and wonderfully made: Wonderful are your works. And my soul knows it very well». You know who’s into abortion up to his eyeballs? The devil. The devil. What did the devil do in the Old Testament with Pharaoh? Kill the babies. Kill those Jewish babies. What happened in the New Testament with King Herod when Jesus was born in Bethlehem? Go into Bethlehem and kill all the children two years old and under. Kill the babies. What did they do in the Old Testament in Israel when they began to worship the false gods of Chemosh and Molech and the the gods of Moab? They would take their babies and they would offer them in the fire. Kill the babies. God says human life is sacred. You protect that little one.
John the Baptist was six months in his mother’s womb when Mary came to see Elizabeth and the baby leaped in her womb when Mary came because Jesus was in her womb. And that little baby John, the Baptist, God was knitting him together and forming him together. It was a person. Jeremiah in Jeremiah chapter 1, the Lord says, «Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you». When does life begin? It begins at conception. That’s what God says. Let me just say this, anybody, now this is gonna tick some people off, but you probably already mad. So it doesn’t matter. Anybody who says that I’m a Christian and I believe the Bible and I am for abortion, is a liar. Is a liar. You cannot say you believe the Bible and be for abortion. That is totally opposite of the scripture.
And then area number four, what God says concerning anything is right. Anything. It’s just a catch all anything that the Lord says is right. It says in the book of Psalm, Psalm 119 verse 128. «Therefore I esteem right all your precepts concerning everything». All your precepts, all your laws, all your commandments concerning everything. Why? 'Cause you’re God. You created it all. You are judge the judge of all the earth. You’re the one who says this is right and this is wrong. And as I told you before, God’s not willy nilly with that. The things that are right, they’re right because they come from a Holy God. They wash with his nature. And the things that are wrong, they don’t wash with his nature.
That’s why the devil when he said to Eve, «When you eat of that fruit, your eyes would be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil». They don’t have the capacity that God has to be able to reflect things off of them because they’re not holy, holy, holy God. How does God know what is good and evil? If it doesn’t mesh with his nature, it’s evil. Adam and Eve couldn’t do that. Only God can do that because only God is holy, holy, holy. Hey, you’re blessed when you stop debating and start obeying and you’re blessed when you get yourself right with the Lord. So let’s finish out Ezekiel chapter 18. Hear what the Lord says. Verse 26. «When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity, and dies because of it, for his iniquity which he has committed he will die.
Again, when a wicked man turns away from his wickedness, which he has committed and practices justice and righteousness, he will save his life»? Why? «Because,» verse 28, «He considered and turned away from all his transgressions which he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. But the house of Israel says, 'The way of the Lord is not right.' 'Are my ways not right O house of Israel? Is it not your ways that are not right? Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, each according to his conduct, ' declares the Lord God. Repent and turn away from all your transgressions, so that iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you. Cast away from you all your transgressions which you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! For why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies, declares the Lord God. Therefore, repent and live».
So I hear this message and I see that there are two ways to go. And God says, go his way and my flesh and the devil and everything in me says, well, this way seems right to me and this way seems too hard, Lord. So I want to go this way. And the Lord says, if you go that way, I will judge you for going that way because that way is wrong. So maybe you’re here and you’re down the road of the wrong way. You know what you can do? You can consider your ways just as that verse said in verse 28. You can turn from those ways. You can get yourself back on the Lord’s path. You can get yourself right with God. God wants to save. God wants to forgive. «For you, Lord, are good and ready to forgive and abundant and loving kindness to all who call upon you».
That is God, that’s the heart of God. And it breaks God’s heart to see so many people travel down the wrong road and he sends prophets and he sends people and he sends messages, turn around, turn around, turn around and people blow him off. You know the idea that people have that, «Well, if everybody’s doing it can’t be wrong if it feels so right. Everybody’s doing it». You know what? Everyone was doing in Noah’s day, the thoughts of their hearts were only evil continually. Everyone was sinning big time in Noah’s day except Noah and Mrs. Noah and Noah’s three sons, Ham, Shem, and Japheth, and their three wives. And God says, I’m gonna bring destruction on the earth, but I’m gonna build a big boat.
Noah build a big boat and it’s got room on the boat. There’s room at the cross for you, there’s room for you in the ark of safety. And if you don’t turn around, the rain’s gonna come and carry you away. And you say, «Well, God wouldn’t do that. That’s not in the heart of God». He has no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies, therefore repent and live. And Noah preached for 100 years of repentance. He was a preacher of righteousness. God’s way is right. The way you people are going is wrong. And they blew him off and they laughed at him. And one day, God says, «Noah, come into the ark». And Noah came into the ark and God closed the door behind him. And seven days later, you know what? It started to rain and it didn’t stop.
And no doubt there were people in Noah’s day as the water started to rise and as great fissures of the earth started opening up and just belching forth oceans of water, the people waded up to the ark and they were beating on the ark and they were saying, «Noah, let us in». And Noah couldn’t let them in because God had shut the door and the day of grace was over. Listen, this is a wake up call for you, for me, for all of us. That God is a good God. God is a patient God, but God’s patience doesn’t last, it doesn’t last forever. And if you’re going down the wrong road, you need to stop and consider your ways and turn around and go the way God wants you to go because God is not lame. God is not born. God is not a pleasure killer. In him, is life and the life was the light of men. And if you’ll go God’s way, you will be blessed, you will be happy and one day you’ll enter into the kingdom of heaven.