The Highway

The Highway

Isaiah 35; 8 “And a highway will be there, it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it.

Vs 9 No lion will be there nor any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there. (10) And the ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”

Who here would like more gladness and joy in their life? Amen? As we read the words of this Old Testament prophet, we can gain insight into what the walk with God is like. As Isaiah looks into the future he sees a picture of a highway. This highway is straight and narrow but very secure. He sees that there is no lion there and that the wild beasts can’t get on the highway to disturb your journey. Those beasts will disturb your journey. Won’t they. Even those mild mannered deer! Isaiah also sees the people traveling on this road. They are a victorious people who are living above the world. A people who as he puts it are “overtaken with joy and gladness.” He also notes that sorrow and sadness will flee away from these people. Wouldn’t you love to be one of these people traveling this highway? Today I want to tell you how to get on the Highway of Holiness, and how to stay on the highway.

First let’s talk about the Highway itself. The Highway that Isaiah was seeing as he looked into the future was the way of those who have received and believe in Jesus. In John 14: 6 Jesus tells us, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” We are told in the book of Hebrews chapter 10 beginning in verse 19, “Therefore brothers since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain that is His body…” Through the teachings of Christ we know that the way is straight and narrow, but because it’s light is the Glory of God it is easily navigated, unlike the broad way of the world, which is covered in the darkness of sin. Another thing we are taught is that, although this Highway is uphill, it is possible for all to climb because Jesus has promised to help us. He said that He would never leave us nor forsake us. He has promised to help us carry our load. So what we have is a Highway that God himself has prepared for us, He has illuminated it with His glory, and He stands waiting to walk by our side. I don’t know about but that sounds to me like a proposition that is too good to turn down. How about you? Are you suffering today, don’t know which way to turn; feel like the world is spinning and you are about to fall off of it. Make the decision today to turn your life over to God and get on the Highway, the Highway of “Abundant Life”, and the Highway of victorious living!

This highway is like an interstate it is fenced in and the only way you can get on it is at the interchange. Just as the different types of interchanges, cloverleaf, access lanes, and merge lanes gently move you into the flow of traffic God has prepared an interchange to get you onto the road to a victorious life. That interchange is an old hill called Calvary. You notice that as Isaiah looked at the highway he said that no unclean person could travel the road. Sin is dirty. We were born dirty and if we haven’t bathed we are pretty rotten now. I remember when I was a child. I was a lot different than the children of today and I bet that if you are my age you were too! We went outside to play. No one had to make us we wanted to. Why would we want to be right up under our parents? We would have to behave there, instead we wanted the freedom to play and play we did. It was either sitting on the ground playing cars in the dirt, playing football, or “rassling with the next door neighbor. Now, I would get pretty dirty. Sweatin and rolling in the dirt will do that to a fellow. I did not intend to get dirty it just happened as I chose to play certain games. That is the way life works. We start out in innocence as a child, but as we grow the sinful nature in us causes us to choose the broad way. Now this way is broad but it is also dark. Have you ever been out on a night when it was pitch dark? You couldn’t even see your hand in front of your face! You might know your way around but OOPs who put that wagon there, OOPs who put that bike there. When you can’t see you stumble and fall and each time you fall you get a little dirtier. Now as a child when I would come in from playing mom or dad would make me take off my dirty clothes and take a bath. Well our Father God is the same way. He has prepared this Highway for us. He wants us to be victorious but before we can come onto the Highway we need a bath. We need to climb up the hill called Calvary and take a bath in the blood of Jesus. This blood cleanses us from all unrighteousness. After we come to the cross and are washed in the blood then we can enter onto the highway. But wait there is one thing else, the door through the cross is small and to get through it we have to be broken. You ask, “Now what is that preacher talking about, how can I be broken.” Actually this happens before we get a bath. Go back to the illustration of when I was a boy. We kids would play and play and play, sometimes even after dark but eventually I would hear a sharp whistle. That was the way my dad summoned me he whistled it worked great cause I could hear it wherever I was. When I heard that whistle I knew that, no matter how bad I wanted to play, I had to go inside. I had to submit to dad’s will to come inside and be cleaned up. John the Baptist referred to this, as Paul the apostle did, as repenting. Turning away, leaving the old way and entering into the new way are what they are talking about. This is what being broken means: To submit ourselves to the will of God. It means, realizing that the only right we have is the right of repentance. It means accepting the gift of grace that God has prepared for us. So now is the time for you to submit your life to God’s will, to climb up Calvary and receive the life cleansing blood of Jesus Christ and enter onto the highway of victorious life.