The Two Paths.

"The path of the just (righteous) is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day; the way of the wicked is as darkness, they know not at what they stumble" (Prov. 4. 18, 19).

Is Life a Labyrinth or a Maze?

The best known example of labyrinth is embedded in the stone pavement of Chartres Cathedral near Paris. Built around 1230, as the Cathedral was being built. It is forty feet across and is set with blue and white stones inlaid into the floor of the nave of the church.

Labyrinths are different from mazes. Labyrinths are unicursal. They have one well-defined path that leads us into the center and back out again. There are no tricks to it, no dead ends or cul-de-sacs, no intersecting paths.

A maze is like a puzzle to be solved. It has twists, turns, and blind alleys & dead ends. In all mazes - the object is to find your way through the elaborately twisted paths to reach a specific goal. When you walk a labyrinth, you meander back and forth, turning 180 degrees each time you enter a different circuit.

I. The Path of the Righteous.

1. WHO ARE THE RIGHTEOUS?

The law saith, "There is none righteous, no, not one" (Rom. 3. 10). Righteousness is imputed where there is faith (Rom. 4. 23, 24). "All that believe are justified from all things" (Acts 13. 39).

2. WHERE DO THEY WALK?

Their way is narrow; it is a path. This path is—

(1) A Path of Light.

- It is the awakening of a new day.

Ps 119:105 - Thy word is a lamp unto my feet & a light unto my path

(2) A Path of Growing Light.

"It shineth more and more."

- It is going from strength to strength;

- A growing in grace and in knowledge of God.

(3) A Path That Leads to the Perfect Day.

- We can sing every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before

- To the perfect day of a glorious resurrection,

- To His eternal and unclouded presence.

II. The Path of the Wicked.

Prov. 14:12; Prov 16:25

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death

- Take warning this is the—

1. WAY OF REBELLION. Thinking their own thoughts, they choose their own way, rejecting the Word and will of God.

2. WAY OF DARKNESS. They have no light but the sparks of their own kindling, uncertain, treacherous.

3. THE WAY OF IGNORANCE.

Job 24. 13- "They know not the ways."

- A blind man led by a blind dog.

- They know not where they are going, the future is all uncertain

4. THE WAY OF DISAPPOINTMENT

Isaiah 59:10 (KJV)

10 We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.

Jn 3:19 Men loved darkness rather than light

Is Life a Labyrinth or a Maze?

- For the unbeliever it is a maze but for one who knows Christ mysteries are reveled and the center is Christ

Is 45:2

I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: ...

Ps 16:11

Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Which will it be — Maze or Amaze

Maze - Bewilderment

Amaze - Overwhelm with wonder