At The Cross Roads

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with each one present this morning, that as His ways are higher than our ways. And when you talk about God's ways being higher than ours, it's not a little bit. [00:00:32] But he says, like the heavens are higher than the earth, so are his ways higher than ours. As I was thinking about that, I don't know how far you can gaze into the heavens. We say we look at the sun. They have calculated it's 93 million miles away. Does that mean we can see 93 million miles? I don't know at what point my gaze and the sun's rays connect. [00:01:04] They're coming from there and I'm looking that way. But that's immaterial. God's ways are higher than our ways. And by faith we look at Him. I'd like to turn to the book of Deuteronomy this morning. Deuteronomy chapter 29 we have a verse there that caught my attention some time ago I didn't think about the difference that he's talking about there until that particular time when I noticed this [00:01:34] I do know that the Bible speaks about covenants that God made with different people at different times but here he distinguishes between two different times that God made a covenant Chapter 29 in verse 1 These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab. Okay, God makes a covenant with the children of Israel in the land of Moab. That's significant where Moab is. [00:02:06] Then he says, in addition, which he made, pardon me, beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb. Here's the covenant God made with the children of Israel in Moab. In addition, or beside the one, he made with them in Horeb. As you look on a map, and if you read in scripture, you will find that Horeb is another name for Sinai. So when God met with the children of Israel at Sinai, he gave them the Ten Commandments. [00:02:40] He made a covenant with them. Where was Israel at at that time? Just recently, delivered from Egypt, they had just gone through the Passover experience, and were out across the Red Sea in the Sinai Desert, and God met Moses on the Mount Sinai, Mount Horeb. He made a covenant with them. Now we go fast forward to Deuteronomy 29, in verse 1, and we read these words. [00:03:12] These are the words of the covenant which he made with them in Horeb. If you follow the map, you will find now that you're just at the part of Jericho. Just ready to cross the Jordan to go into the promised land. And now God makes a covenant with his people. The interesting thing is, if you read the two covenants, they were almost identical. God made the same covenant over again [00:03:44] not sure what all we can learn from that but a couple things that stood out to me were that the covenant of God did not change it was the same he promised to be their God if they followed him he said I will do this providing you respond to me according to my covenant. So we can have confidence today. We can be at rest that God isn't going to change the covenant on us. [00:04:19] He's not going to change the rules, if you want to say it that way, or the promises. I will be your God all the way. I know we can make some applications here, and I'm not sure. I've heard different interpretations of this during my lifetime. I'm not sure what all this means. Like when you're delivered from Egypt, is that the new birth experience? A type or a symbol of the new birth experience. [00:04:51] Now you're set free from Egypt. You've crossed over the Red Sea. You've gone past the Passover experience where the blood stands between you and your old life. Then what is it when you're in the desert 40 years, wandering around? Is that just our, is that the normal Christian life? Well, it was pretty much down a lot of the time, so I hope our Christian life isn't like that. [00:05:23] But the reality is we still have our feet on a very earthy world during our sojourn in life. Now you get to the river. The river is often depicted as death. The promised land, in one sense, certainly is a fulfillment of the eternal reward. Some people think that's too shallow a description. We ought to go from new birth to some kind of a halfway defeated Christian life [00:05:54] and then sometime we're going to have a second work and we're going to be delivered and live in Canaan. But really when you look at Canaan, we will discover that whatever your interpretation, there are some limitations to examples. Because if Jericho is a type of heaven, there were some pretty ugly experiences in Jericho too. I don't know how that all is. But one thing I want to notice this morning is, if that would be a type of our passing from this life to the next life, [00:06:30] One of the things that we can count on, that whatever God gave the children of Israel as a direction to live by, was still good to die by. It was the same covenant. So, now let's go to chapter 30 and read a few more verses there. Beginning to read at verse 11. Israel moved from Sinai to Moab. Chapter 30 and verse 11 to the end of the chapter [00:07:02] For this commandment which I command thee this day it is not hidden from thee neither is it far off it is not in heaven that thou shouldst say who shall go up for us to heaven and bring it unto us that we may hear it and do it neither is it beyond the sea that thou shouldst say who shall go over the sea for us and bring it unto us that we may hear it and do it But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. And here's what we want to notice. [00:07:35] See, I have set before thee this day life and good, death and evil. In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. But if thine heart turn away so that thou wilt not hear but shalt be drawn away and worship other gods and serve them I denounce unto you this day [00:08:07] that ye shall surely perish and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing therefore choose life that both thou and thy seed may live that thou mayest love the Lord thy God and that thou mayest obey his voice and that thou mayest cleave unto him for he is thy life and the length of thy days [00:08:40] that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to give them There we go again with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God made a covenant. God is faithful to his covenant. God had a people that he chose because he said he knew that Abraham was going to follow him. Therefore, he chose him and gave him this blessing because not only was he going to follow him, he was going to teach his children after him to follow him. [00:09:13] He had a potential for this faith to go on down through the centuries. There were two ways placed before Israel. God made it very clear. He did not speak in veiled terms here. He said there's a way of life, there's a way of death. There's a way of blessing, there's a way of cursing. And he said what was going to be the outcome of those two choices that they might make. [00:09:45] We've chosen to call the message this morning at the crossroad. I don't know how many crossroads we passed this morning coming to church collectively. But there were numerous options that all of us had. There were numerous places you had to make a decision to get here. And the decision that you made influenced your getting here. If you would have done like I did a few weeks ago, you would have had greatly prolonged your journey. [00:10:17] Our decisions at the crossroads are of vital importance. So we find Israel here at the crossroads. We are at a crossroads. All people come to crossroads in life. In fact, life is really full of crossroads, of places that we make decisions. And he is giving us here the condition that the destination of these decisions, the destination of these crossroad decisions are clarified beforehand. [00:10:50] We don't have to guess that if I do this, then what will happen? Now I know that in real life there are some things we don't know ahead of time, all the results. But the pattern exists. We all know that we could get out here on State Road 5 and we could drive forever, as we say, and never get to Oregon. Because we know State Road 5 in Indiana does not go to Oregon. That's a clear condition. [00:11:23] We know the results before we start. And that's the way that God is to us. He is faithful to us to tell us that if we take this road, this will be the result and the destination. If we take this road, this will be the destination. There are some things that are very clear in life about that. Jesus said there are two ways in Matthew the 7th chapter. One has a little narrow gate, and it's a narrow way, and he said when you get into that gate, and into that way, what's the destination? Life. [00:12:06] There's another gate that's broad. It has a broad way. It's a superhighway, in one sense of the word. Where's that destination? Death. Jesus made that very clear. So, if we know ahead of time now today that we can never expect to enter the broad way and somehow find out that it leads to heaven after all, neither are we going to be disappointed that if we accept that if we enter the straight gate and the narrow way [00:12:44] that we're going to be disappointed and end up in destruction. We can have confidence. That's what I think God was saying to Israel. I'm setting before you two opportunities. These are the conditions. These are the results. But there's one thing God did not do. God did not decide for Israel. They had to decide on their own. Just like you and I have to make our own choices. But since God who is holy and just has told us the consequences or the destination ahead of time [00:13:22] No man can ever justly blame God for ending up at the wrong place He has made it all clear It is man's choice that leads to his destination It's my choice and your choice There are only two ways Sometimes it seems in this life in which we live, especially in the Christian profession, people are trying to make a third way, some other way, to get, to go the wrong way but to get to the right destination. [00:13:57] But I find no basis in scripture to give anybody such a hope. The fact is, it's very clear to the contrary. So, God is just, God is holy, God is loving, God has made all the provisions I've been thinking about the subject of being thankful As I noticed in scripture, that one of the reasons that the world deteriorated And Paul wrote to the Romans like he did in chapter 1 [00:14:29] He said that one of the reasons that people got to the place where they believed the falsehoods They falsely or wrongly convinced themselves about things, and they ended up in an entirely immoral condition. Things that we see happening in our surroundings right now, today, were the result of an unthankful life. Just being unthankful. [00:14:59] It doesn't say that they pursued ungodliness, but they recognized God, but they didn't glorify Him as God, and were unthankful. That's all it took to end up believing the wrong thing. It made me think, it made me desire to be a more thankful person. And when I started thinking about that, I started thinking about a lot of things that we won't go into this morning. [00:15:31] We have daily decisions that we face up with in life. That's nothing new. Back in the days of Elijah already, he raised the question when he said, How long do you halt between two decisions? If God be God, follow Him. But if Baal be God, follow Him. That's a choice you have to make. But God had given the destination the consequences as well. Let's read a few verses in the book of Haggai. Just about the end of the Old Testament there. The words of Jim Yoder when he preached here for us go through my mind as I read this passage again. [00:16:17] You may remember he preached about this passage one time in chapter 1, verse 5. Now therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. There are two ways. Consider your ways. If there's ever a famine in this land, and a, what do you call it, a dry season, it's a famine of stopping and considering. Just going with the flow. Just not stopping to think, considering. Consider your ways. Here it says, your ways. Consider your ways. Consider right where you are at, where you are going, what you are doing. [00:17:05] Just stop and think. Consider. Ponder upon. Give thought to. You have so much, and bring in little. You eat, but you have not enough. You drink, but you are not filled with drink. You clothe you, but there is none warm. He that earneth wages, earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways. Now this is not a reprimand to anybody this morning. [00:17:38] This is simply a challenge from the scriptures that we stop and consider our ways. You know, the life that I'm living, the way that I'm living, the things that are happening in my life, are those the things that I really want to meet at the end of the road. Israel was coming to the Jordan River ready to cross over into the promised land that can be used as an illustration of death as we said what do we want to see [00:18:11] what do we want to hear what do we want to experience when we come up to this death now we've had quite a few deaths in our church and in our community the last few years And if you think of the little babies, you think of the adult people, and you think of other middle-aged people in our communities, every one of them came to the end of the road. There was a way. They were going that way. For some it was short. For some it was longer. [00:18:45] For some it was quite long. But for all who was the same, they came to the end of the way. Today we're thankful this morning that God can show us what's at the end of the road. We may not know all the experiences. We do not know all the experiences along the way. But we can today have confidence that when we get to the end, we'll be at the right place. If we choose the way God tells us to go. The first question, of course, is what will you do with Jesus? [00:19:20] That's the question. These people here, I don't know what all they experienced, but they were living a very active life apparently. They were sewing. They were making clothes. They were eating. They were earning wages. They were going to work every day, whatever their work was. But when the end came, when the conclusion was considered, Lord, where was the profit? Where was the benefit? That's the question. [00:19:54] What is there there when it comes to the question or the description that Jesus gave us that we should lay up treasures in heaven? You know, the people that come to the end of the road, they may excel. They may do well financially. But when you get to heaven, which is a contradiction, but if you could get to heaven and not lay up treasure there, how would it feel to be in heaven with no treasure? A beggar, a pauper, because heaven is a glorious place. [00:20:28] If we make our investments in the kingdom of God, we can look forward to heaven And the treasures are not going to be the kind that we think of here, I don't believe I don't expect to see a big bank account in heaven by anybody But rather, riches that exceed our understanding But you have to walk the right road to have those treasures, make the right decisions So it is imperative today [00:20:58] Life may be good Life may feel good But the real question is Which road am I on? Which road am I on? And that can apply not only to an original decision But that is daily choices that we make It's our way God has for us to walk How can we identify this way? Are there ways that we can really identify the road that we're on? [00:21:31] Sometimes I ask myself the question. There's been some activity in my life. But when it gets right down to the bottom, I ask the Lord, How much of this really is counting for your kingdom? How much of it has really counted for your kingdom? We want it to count for the kingdom of God. We want it to be profitable for His glory. and for the building of his kingdom because we need that in our own souls. How can we identify the way that we're walking on? [00:22:05] We're not talking just about identifying the way as the Bible describes it, but identifying whether I am on that way or not. How can I assure my heart before God where I am? Well, the name tells us a lot. If you drive down a highway, and it has a name every so far, that tells you whether you're on the way. If we're going the way that's called the way of holiness, our hearts are assured before God. [00:22:38] If we're walking a way that's narrow, not a way that is pleasing to man, not a way that is pleasing to self, but the way that pleases the Lord, our hearts are assured. Am I walking? Is the life I'm living pleasing to the Lord? That can help me identify the way that I'm on. A second thing is, as you look around, who's traveling this way with you? Who else is there? That'll tell you something about the way that you're on. If you look around and you see that Christ is close to you. [00:23:11] As you travel this way, you find that you're in fellowship and harmony with God. That's reassuring. But if it seems like Christ is far off, it's best to stop and see, which way am I really going right now? Because Christ travels the highway of holiness. He travels the way that is not popular to the world, but it's popular to the kingdom of heaven. He is not out to please man, he's out to please God. Jesus said that was his pleasure in being on this earth. [00:23:45] was to do the will of him that sent me. It tells you much when you see who else is traveling there. And as you look down this way and you have read the directions and you've looked at your map quest as it were and that map directs you right to the address you wanted to go. When you look at the destination is the life that I am living today Is that the life that leads to the place I want to go? [00:24:16] Or do we have perhaps a desire, an idea that somewhere down the road we want to get off of this detour and get onto another road? Maybe we'll see a little more about that. What do the signs say? What do the signs say along the road? I'd refer to the experience I had a few weeks ago with a couple of my grandsons. We were on this nice highway. I'm not sure what happened. Pretty soon we were on another nice highway. But after a while, things didn't seem right. The signs didn't say the right thing. It didn't say anymore what I was supposed to come up to. [00:24:59] I don't remember. I think maybe we drove about 70 miles out of the way. We were on a nice road. But the signs didn't say the right thing. And that was my clue. Something was not right. There are lots of signs along the way. One of the signs is do we invest our labors? We try so hard in life and things just don't turn out. The emptiness in my heart doesn't get filled up. There is no witness that I am on the right way. [00:25:33] It is a good time to stop and consider my way. What is the destination of this way? What are the results that are found here? David was a man that considered his ways. He says in Psalm 119, I thought on my ways, I thought on my ways. Just stop and think on your way. And then he said, when I thought on my ways, I turned my feet. [00:26:05] David discovered some things. I suppose most people, if they're really honest and serious and stop and consider their ways, will find times when we say, Lord, you know, I could have done better. And we make a turn. But if we don't stop and consider Life goes on, we go to bed, we get up, we go to work Our minds are occupied in things in the hurry and blurry of life We just don't ever stop and consider [00:26:37] We may not turn our feet We may travel a long time I tried to convince myself That I was just missing something on that road Even though the signs didn't say the right thing But it's not the way it worked out The signs have something to tell us David considered his ways and he turned his feet We've given this illustration here before, I'm sure Of the good old railroad signs and years going by [00:27:09] I see the signs are still out there But they don't have the same message anymore Today we have automated gates and crossings and so on But sometimes you still see that cross board At the railroad, they don't say what they used to. They used to say, stop, look, listen. Stop, look, listen. Today, everything is automated. Something else does our stopping and looking and listening for us. [00:27:40] Those blinking lights. You know, they say if it's safe or not. What if they malfunction? What if something doesn't work? Those same blinking lights can deceive a person if they malfunction. When you drove up there, you looked. You stopped. You looked. Down this road. Down this road. Where is it coming from? Where is it going? And you listened. You listened. [00:28:13] You could hear the train coming. You could hear the whistle sounding. There are lots of whistles going today that people don't hear. There is spiritual deafness in the land. Because hearts become dull of hearing sometimes. Eyes become dim of sight. We need today to stop, look, and listen. What does history tell us? What does the Bible tell us? What does experience tell us? [00:28:44] They are ways to not only at the moment be at a certain place, but they are ways to make choices that lead us on to a good destination. In this passage that we read, it tells the people, God told the people of Israel, he said, here's life, here's death, here's blessing, here's curse. And if you take the way of life, not only will it bless you, what else will it bless? [00:29:17] Your children after you. When people make right choices, or let's say it the other way around, choices have such broad effects. My choice does not only affect me, my choice affects those around me. My choice can make a difference generations down the road. It does make a difference in our families. Right choices can be a tremendous blessing in a family. It is stabilizing. It gives direction. It brings togetherness. It brings blessing. [00:29:54] Wrong choices are just the contrary. But one thing you can know, if I go the right way at the crossroad, I can count on the blessing. or if I go the wrong way, I simply choose to accept the curse. It is my choice. It's not only me. Often times, older children in a family, their choices influence their siblings. Many times that is. Each is still accountable for himself, but nevertheless, consider your ways. [00:30:30] What you do does not only affect you, it affects those around you. It happens in churches. People have all kinds of things that they make decisions by. But it's not only me. It's not only what I do that's important to me. It not only affects me, but the choices I make can impact other people's lives. Many times in church settings, innocent people have suffered severely because some people made wrong choices. [00:31:07] Especially children and young people have suffered when moms and dads make wrong choices. Many a time. Who in the end is going to be accountable for those things? That's the question. Now decisions are inevitable. Sometimes people say, well, I'm just not going to choose. When you say, I'm not going to choose, you have already chosen. Not to choose is to make a choice. People can say, I just won't do this or this. [00:31:43] I'll just be neutral. Well, there are some things that perhaps we can be neutral about. But to say that I will not choose really isn't quite true. We do make choices by silence or by commitment sometimes. We can take a look at some examples in the scripture. I think quickly of four examples in the scripture. There was this man Felix who Paul reasoned with about sin and righteousness and judgment. [00:32:14] And Felix trembled, the Bible says. And then he said, go thy way, I'll hear you again sometime. That was a delayed decision that Felix made. But you have probably heard people say, and as far as I can tell in the scripture, you don't read that Felix ever dealt with that decision. A delayed choice. Think about the prodigal son. That was another delayed choice. It was a wrong choice in the beginning. [00:32:45] The prodigal didn't really stop to think. He just knew what he wanted. He wanted a good time in life. He wanted his inheritance. He went out and lived it up. But that day when he woke up to reality and he came to himself out there in the pig pen, what all do you think went through the prodigal's mind? I don't know. But I wonder if the prodigal at least didn't think this. And he thought, if only, think of all my inheritance is all gone. [00:33:19] All those opportunities I had at home, they have been wasted. But not only that, all those wrong things that I did have accumulated. Here is this pile of sin heaped on top of me. If only, if only the prodigal would have stopped to think beforehand. He wouldn't have had to have that remorse and that grief. Well, I'm glad the prodigal stopped and thought later on. He came to himself and we find that the quickest way out of the deepest wrong decision is to make the right choice. [00:33:58] As soon as the prodigal considered his ways and he made his decision, grace was poured in. And he came home with a certain amount of trepidation saying, I'll just tell dad I'm not worthy to be his son, but could I be his servant? I don't know if he ever got that whole thing discussed with his father or not because all we see is that the father came and he forgave him, he pardoned him, he took him back in, he had a new beginning. [00:34:32] The quickest way to correct the wrong is to make a right choice. to choose God's way for us. Moses was a man that made a choice. Moses was in the king's house. Moses had all the delicacies to eat that were available in Egypt. What could Moses have desired that Egypt offered that he couldn't have? Being an adopted son of the princess, I can't imagine that there was anything denied him of all the pleasures that they had to offer. [00:35:13] Moses, perhaps even had a title to the throne, we're not told. There were many comforts in life that he could have had, but Moses looked at the way, he considered the way. He could see all around him how Egyptians lived, if he just stopped and thought. Egyptians were hard men. They wielded a long lash. They were cruel. You didn't know at what moment that kind of a nature would turn against you instead of in your favor. [00:35:51] It was a jeopardized life. It was an uncertain life. Moses looked down that road and he saw the reality of what was around him but he saw also the people of God I don't know what his mother had taught him in those first infant days of his life somewhere Moses picked up some of the truth of God's word and he saw the blessing promised on God's people and he chose rather to assert, to experience affliction with the people of God [00:36:24] than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. What we can tell you this morning is the pleasure of sin is short-lived if it's a hundred years long. But the glories of heaven are worth it all. And that's not all. The blessings of the godly walk in this life far exceeds the pleasures of sin. Moses made the right choice. The rich young ruler was a man Jesus talked to. He said, sell everything you have, come follow me. [00:36:57] And he went away sad. He may have thought a bit on the cost of the way, but he didn't stop to consider long enough. And he went away sorrowful, the Bible says. He chose rather to experience, to serve the pursuits of this world than to follow Jesus. He was sad. It's sad. It's a sad life. It's a sorrowing life when we make the wrong choices. [00:37:30] But when we walk the highway of God, we have a promise for this life and the life to come. At the crossroads. We come to the crossroads many times. We choose when we face injustice. We choose either to forgive or hold a grudge. We choose. It's a road. It's a crossroad. We choose many times in life to lay down our life and to take up the life of Christ. [00:38:10] Or we choose to pursue my interests and neglect the weightier things. We choose. The consequences are all before us today. The people of God think seriously. about the ways.