Isaiah 45:22New International Version (NIV)
22 “Turn to me and be saved,
all you ends of the earth;
for I am God, and there is no other.
Sometimes we, in life, have to make choices.
We do it all the time. This morning you made a choice to come and worship the Lord – Good choice! The scriptures say remember the sabbath and keep it holy. You may have chosen something different this morning but you couldn’t do both things at the same time.
The Zode in the Road
Did I ever tell you about the young Zode,
Who came to two signs at the fork in the road?
One said to Place One, and the other, Place Two.
So the Zode had to make up his mind what to do.
Well…the Zode scratched his head, and his chin and his pants.
And he said to himself, “I’ll be taking a chance
If I go to Place One. Now, that place may be hot!
And so, how do I know if I’ll like it or not?
On the other hand though, I’ll be sort of a fool
If I go to Place Two and find it too cool.
In that case I may catch a chill and turn blue!
So, maybe Place One is the best, not Place Two,
But then again, what if Place One is too high?
I may catch a terrible earache and die!
So Place Two may be best! On the other hand though…
What might happen to me if Place Two is too low?
I might get some very strange pain in my toe!
So Place One may be best,” and he started to go.
Then he stopped, and he said, “On the other hand
though….
On the other hand…other hand…other hand though…”
And for 36 hours and a half that poor Zode
Made starts and made stops at the fork in the road.
Saying, “Don’t take a chance. No! You may not be
right.”
Then he got an idea that was wonderfully bright!
“Play safe!” cried the Zode. “I’ll play safe. I’m no dunce!
I’ll simply start out for both places at once!”
And that’s how the Zode who would not take a chance
Got no place at all with a split in his pants.
Have you ever had trouble making a decision?
I have!
But if the decision is important enough… I eventually I make a choice.
In the Bible, God is constantly encouraging His people to make a decision
If you drive almost anywhere in New Zealand you have to make decisions all along the way. Crossroads or t junctions come up and we have to decide. The Christian life is like this and I think one of the great mistakes we make in Christianity is that we seem to think that we only have to make one decision.
That decision of course audits and dialogues with all the other decisions that we have to make. As Joshua says In Joshua 24:15 Joshua challenged the Israelites to“… choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve... But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."
Every person comes across the opportunity to decide for Christ or against him.
That decision can sometimes be decided on the most trivial data.
Some common reasons that people give for not following Christ are just weird.
Like -there are too many religions in the world – or everyone in the church is a hypocrite or– Some felt that religious wars years agoconsisted of mad crusaders mistakedly charging across history in the name of Jesus were the cause for their disbelief - Someone else told me that they had done enough for the church because they had baked for a church fair or the person who had been let down by a Christian – or the one who told me he was too busy for God or the one who left Christ for an affair or the one who was hunting down more wealth instead of God. All of these people had replaced God’s revelation with two things their own opinion and feelings.
All of them like the Zoad had come to a crossroad and gone in their own direction. Or they are still at the crossroads with a split in their pants!
But our scripture this morning offers us clear direction about what to do at every crossroad
And Christians come to crossroads all the time.
Isaiah 45:22New International Version (NIV)
22 “Turn to me and be saved,
all you ends of the earth;
for I am God, and there is no other.
This morning I would like to consider this passage and extract from it three things that will help you at the crossroads of life.
When you set out on a journey to anywhere your destination is very important. If you are journeying to the centre of death valley in the USA the chances are you will be very disappointed when you get there. Death Valley, the 3,000-square-mile sprawl of sand dunes and arid mountains along California’s southeastern border, is the hottest, driest place in North America.. Few venture into the valley during the summer, when the sun is at its most brutal.
On the afternoon of July 10, 1913, the temperature was recorded at (56.7 °C) at Furnace Creek) in Death Valley.[5] This temperature stands as the highest ambient air temperature ever recorded at the surface of the Earth.
Many people on earth decide that this temporal life we live with it’s unpleasant end destination is well worth living even though there is an incredible alternative.
Jesus himself holds open this offer of eternity to each one of us through his death on the cross in fact it is on that very cross that he shows the importance of setting our spiritual compass in the direction of God – Heaven is available to each one of us.
Listen to the encounter with Jesus with the criminals hanging on the crosses flanking him…
Luke 23:33-43One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Two people at the literal crossroads of life and death one mocking Jesus – the other pleading for mercy – Both headed for death valley the one who acknowledges his guilt and pleads for mercy gets it – the other dies with only death valley as his apparent destination.
There is a turning to Jesus that is so important as The Prophet Isaiah says of God:
Isaiah 45:22New International Version (NIV)
22 “Turn to me and be saved,
The first crossroad we come to the first place of turning is turning to Jesus for salvation.
Jesus once said Matthew chapter 11 28Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.…
This crossroad of giving ones life to Christ is so important if we are to avoid death valley and it’s searing heat. So many people suffer unnecessarily in this world because they fail at the crossroads of Jesus.
A young Muslim missionary in Indonesia gave his life to Christ – sadly he died at age about 33 His friend Ravi Zacharias says of him
Nabeel held dear the gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Old and New Testaments and carried the message of salvation. He said that for years as a young man, he labored and struggled to gain “righteousness before God” only to find out that righteousness was already found in the cross through Jesus. That was his message in his best-selling book, “Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus.”
His grandparents were Muslim missionaries in Indonesia. His conversion to Christianity took place after he seriously examined the historicity of the gospels and the unique claims of Jesus. The conversion was very hard on his family and probably the greatest heartache he carried because he loved them.
Yes, his conversion stirred many questions, but his gracious and clear responses touched many in the Islamic world. He met numerous people who had read his book and made their own journeys to faith in Jesus.
He was not just an evangelical; he was passionately evangelistic. He desired to cover the globe with that good news: that God’s forgiveness was available to all. When he spoke, he held audiences captive.
Nabeel is only one of billions who have made it through that first crossroads of giving their lives to Christ. Incredibly many more push on like the wagon trains that took on death valley and lost in the terrible heats of the 1840’s
1.We need to ensure that we have turned in the right direction at that first crossroad.
Going on from there
Isaiah 45:22New International Version (NIV)
22 “Turn to me and be saved,
all you ends of the earth;
By adding all you ends of the earth to this passage of course Isaiah is intimidating that no one is exempt. This becomes an interesting fact until we realise from the gospel that we are all involved – invested – in helping others to come to salvation.
In the book of acts we read Acts 1:8 as “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Immediately we are all involved and it involves many many crossroads. As soon as you read the book of Acts you come across the need to make crossroads,decisions that will be life changing for many. The Great Commission is enabled by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are to be Christ's witnesses, fulfilling the Great Commission in our cities (Jerusalem), in our states and countries (Judea and Samaria), and anywhere else God sends us (to the ends of the earth).
In terms of the title of this sermon it struck me we are not only to take the right turns we are to be the signpost for many showing them which way to turn to God.
During February I was in North East India in a Pastors home in a small village. The Pastor had several visitors coming and going to meet with me for both prayer and encouragement. It was a time of great tension in the village with stories of riots and a curfew. I met a man who had been a Hindu but could not ignore the promises and truths about Christ. I was told that when he was converted his family had him tied to a chair and beaten but he decided to continue following Christ. There were of course many crossroads for him after that time but his family saw the changes in him – he had stopped drinking and had become a better husband and family member. So their attitude softened towards him The crossroads he faced could easily have led to his death but he did not waiver and when you meet with people like this you know you are meeting with greatness.
This week you will come to crossroads you will sometimes succeed and probably fail at times. But we need to keep in mind that we are in partnership with God in making the gospel known to the ends of the earth.
The passage in Acts is interesting because what follows in the lives of the disciples is a myriad of crossroads as they carry the message of Christs salvation to an extremely hostile world – They never hesitated. Consider Paul for example some years later, he recalled the hardships he had endured for the Gospel's sake, he says:
Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. (2 Corinthians 11:25 NASB)
"Once I was stoned"--refers to this occasion in Lystra. And when, writing to Christians in the cities of Galatia, Paul says:
From now on let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the brand-marks of Jesus. (Galatians 6:17 NASB)
You can bet that those marks certainly included the indelible scars left by the stones at Lystra.
. Notice also the great lengths that the Jews went to to persecute the Christians. They followed Paul 100 miles on foot just to persecute him. But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having won over the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. (Acts 14:19 NASB)
Pauls understanding of being a signpost for his generation at the crossroads of their lives is incredibly profound and brave:-
But while the disciples stood around him, he arose and entered the city. And the next day he went away with Barnabas to Derbe. 21 And after they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, "Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God." (Acts 14:20-22 NASB)
Paul never misses a beat, he gets up and goes right on preaching! He even goes back to Lystra and encourages the believers to continue in the faith. Picture it! Paul must have been badly bruised and bloodied.
There are incredible crossroads ahead for every Christian.
Crossroads that lead to great blessing and we are blessed to be agents of God’s blessing to a hungry world bound for death valley with out Christ.
Christ stands at every Crossroad and we should not forget it – Jesus says in the Great commission in Matthew chapter 28 Lo I am with you always even to the end of the age. Paul was not some superman, he was though, accompanied by the Holy Spirit and the presence of Christ through a grand adventure of faith with many crossroads. If we don’t come to the crossroads via Jesus we are pitiful indeed as
GK Chesterton comments “The wild worship of lawlessness and the materialist worship of law end in the same void. Nietzsche scales staggering mountains, but he turns up ultimately in Tibet. He sits down beside Tolstoy in the land of nothing and Nirvana. They are both helpless—one because he must not grasp anything, and the other because he must not let go of anything. The Tolstoyan’s will is frozen by a Buddhist instinct that all special actions are evil. But the Nietzscheite’s will is quite equally frozen by his view that all special actions are good; for if all special actions are good, none of them are special. They stand at the crossroads, and one hates all the roads and the other likes all the roads. The result is—well, some things are not hard to calculate. They stand at the cross-roads.”
But we as Christians are compelled to move on – we dare not stand here because we are called
Thirdly Isaiah 45:22New International Version (NIV)
22 “Turn to me and be saved,
all you ends of the earth;
for I am God, and there is no other.
What is it that compels us to travel on to trek on in the power and love of Christ?
I think these words of Isaiah are for me compelling. for I am God, and there is no other.
In John chapter 6 verse 68 the disciples are faced with a diminishing crowd of followers around Jesus – they too find themselves at a crossroads …67So Jesus asked the Twelve, “Do you want to leave too?” 68Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69We believe and know that You are the Holy One of God.”…
You see the philosopher or the pursuer of false religion can sit at the crossroads and speculate but not the Christian we are propelled on by love and by faith. – For God is God and there is no other. The reality of God propels us on despite our fraility and our clumsy mistakes we push on.Johnathon Goforth a man who faced crossroads at every turn and suffered greatly for Christ in China proclaimed
Seek each day to do or say something to further Christianity among the heathen.
Let us not glide through this world and then slip quietly into heaven, without having blown the trumpet loud and long for our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Let us see to it that the devil will hold a thanksgiving service in hell, when he gets the news of our departure from the field of battle.
Charles Studd
Crossroads everywhere – Everyday we face them.
CS Lewis once said. “Progress means getting nearer to the place you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning, then to go forward does not get you any nearer.
If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man.”
What does God want us to know about crossroads and what should we do.
1 – Make sure we have turned to Christ at the crossroads and takien the via Delarosa – that is in English the way of the cross.
2. Understand that we are partners with God in helping the whole world come to the crossroads of faith we are on this exciting adventure. We not only need to take the correct turns we too are a signpost at the crossroads othat others face.
3. We need to understand that God alone has the answer to this worlds view and our task is to hold closely not just to God’s truths but to God himself and he will help us through every crossroad we come to in life and point us in the correct and heavenly direction.
