CROSS ROADS
PSALM 1
Introduction:
· This summer, while on vacation, we were looking for a lake that we had seen on the map. We took a well graveled road for about 10 miles and then came upon a sign that showed the lake only being two miles away. While sitting at this cross road, I noticed that the road to the lake was very narrow, steep, and rocky. We had to decide if we were going to just go back or take this road. Being adventurous, I decided we could make this little 2 mile drive, so we began our new journey in our 4 wheeling mini-van.
This road continued to become narrower, steeper, and more rocky as we traveled very slowly. There came a point that I had no idea as to what we should do. After about 25 minutes of driving, we came upon a jeep with four people in it. I asked them how much farther to the lake, and the woman laughed and said, it is only about another 1/2 of a mile, but the drive is harder than it has been to this point for you. With this information I decided we better turn around and give up, but guess what? There was no way for me to turn around and I sure could not back down this mountain. So I had no choice but to continue on. After about 20 minutes more of driving and frazzled nerves, we reached the lake and there I saw one of the most beautiful scenes I have ever seen. There sat the lake surrounded by beautiful mountains. If we had given up, I would have never seen this lake.
· In many ways, life is this way. The easy road is usually not the correct road. Many times in life, we will come to a cross roads and we have to choose one or the other.
The text this evening shows us two paths and where they both lead.
Let’s read our text: Psalm 1
I. Man’s Road
Matthew 7:13-14 (NKJV)
13"Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it."
14"Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."
A. This road is easier to travel.
1. God has shown us what is right and wrong, but it is
easier to go the same way everyone else is going.
2. Most people do what is acceptable to man, not God.
3. This road is wide and highly traveled, it is popular.
a. Remember Moses sending out the 12 spies to
look into the Promised Land, and what did they say when they returned.
b. 10 of them said, "This road is too dangerous,
there are too many road blocks and things that
we cannot handle."
4. Just look at your papers or watch the news.
a. Watch a couple of popular television shows or
movies and see if I am not right.
b. Hey, what’s the use of a little profanity or a
little nudity going to hurt?
c. Remember when those things were unheard of?
d. But now they are acceptable!
e. Why? Simply because this road is becoming
easier and easier to travel.
f. As our road sign says, "Trouble often starts out
as fun".
g. There is also something else we must notice
though, every road has its final destination.
h. Where does this road lead to?
B. It leads to destruction.
Psalm 1:4-6 (NKJV)
4"The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away."
5"Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous."
6"For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish."
1. The ungodly are blown away like chaff.
a. Chaff is the waste, the useless part of the grain
after it is harvested.
b. Chaff just lays there until the wind blows it
somewhere or it decomposes.
2. The ungodly will be judged in the end, but they will
not be able to stand through it.
a. The lost man will live eternally in hell, in torment and pain.
Luke 13:24-30
24"Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able."
25"When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ’Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ’I do not know you, where you are from’,"
26"then you will begin to say, ’We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’"
27"But He will say, ’I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’"
28"There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out."
29"They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God."
30"And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last."
b. The road that refuses to recognize Jesus as the
only way, will end up in hell.
3. There are no second chances in the end.
4. I pray tonight that if you are on this road, that you
will carefully listen to your options and get on the
correct road before it is too late.
II. God’s Road
Matthew 7:13-14 (NKJV)
13"Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it."
14"Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."
A. This road is harder to travel.
The text shows us the way of the righteous.
1. “Blessed” or happy is the man who does not follow
the counsel of the world.
a. The phrase “who walks not” is referring to
walking along side or sitting beside.
b. The Christian is in this world but not affected
by it.
c. This is difficult to do isn’t it?
2. The righteous person does not try to stand in the road with the unrighteous.
a. We can only serve one God.
b. We cannot try to walk with one leg on each
road.
c. This is also difficult to do.
3. The righteous person does not sit in the seat of the
scornful.
a. God’s road is a road of love and as His
children we must not treat others as a lost
person would but as Christ would.
b. We are to love the sinner and hate the sin.
c. We often try to do both.
d. Again this is difficult.
4. Even the apostle Paul had difficulty with this.
Romans 7:15 (NKJV)
“For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.”
B. The things the righteous do.
1. The righteous delight in God’s Word.
a. They hunger for God’s Word.
b. They find their enjoyment in God, not this
world.
2. The righteous meditates, focuses their life on God’s
Word.
a. The word meditates actually means to talk to
yourself.
b. When faced with a trial or temptation in your
life, what wisdom do you search for in your
mind.
c. The righteous uses the Scripture that God has
given him in his daily life’s situations.
d. You can only call to mind something you have
heard or read.
e. If you are not in God’s Word often, your
references for help are limited.
f. Notice this meditation is all the time, both day
and night.
C. This road although hard, leads to life.
Look at the wonderful promises for those who walk on
this road of righteousness.
1. “He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of
water.”
a. A well watered tree has deep roots and is stable
in the midst of storms.
b. Unlike the chaff, when the winds of life blow,
the tree does not fall.
c. A well watered tree also produces fruit and is
healthy.
d. The only way to be a healthy Christian is to
walk along side Jesus Christ.
2. The passage also tells us that whatever the righteous
person does will prosper.
a. Now this is not talking of worldly prosperity,
but of spiritual prosperity.
b. We that travel God’s road will prosper for all
eternity in Heaven.
3. This is not to say that if the Christian gets off
the path sometimes that he will lose his salvation.
a. We all try to get off the path and go our own
direction, and God has to set us straight and
put us back on the path.
b. But the passage here is referring to two paths,
the world’s path or God’s path and one leads
to hell and the other Heaven.
c. Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
Conclusion:
· The rich man and Lazarus both had to choose a road. The
rich man chose the road of the world and Lazarus chose the road of God. In the end, after they both had died we see Lazarus in the Bosom of Abraham, while the rich man was suffering in torment. The rich man finally realized that the road he had taken had led him to destruction, but it was too late.
· What road are you on?
Christians how many detours have you taken?
