in Chapter 13 of Proverbs verse 15 Solomon gives us a proverb that good understanding gives favor but in contrast the way of the transgressors is hard and then over in the 14th chapter the 12th verse another proverb there is a way that seeth right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death each of us choose the path that we will walk through life but if we are wise we will look down the road to see where the path is leading us now you may take off in your car for New York if you're wise you'll get a map to find out which road to take that will get you to New York if you take off on the 405 and say my nice wide freeway I think I'll head off on the 405 well you follow the 405 it's not going to get you to your desired destination there are a lot of people that are just going aimless LLY through life they're not really looking down the road to see where the path is taking them to continue this path where will I end up you know the wise person looks down the road to see if it's taking him to his desired destination in Proverbs 4: 26 we are told to Ponder the path of our feet consider it the path that I'm taking where is it leading me now ultimately there are only two destinations you are on the path that leads you to heaven or you are on the path that leads you to hell when you get to the end of the path that you're on you will either find yourself in heaven or you'll find yourself in hell now the proverb tells us there is a path that seems right to a man but if you look down that path to the end of the path it's death Jesus spoke of the two paths he said straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to eternal life few there be that find it but broad is the gate and Broad is the path that leads to destruction and there are many that go in there at quite often as we walk this path with Jesus Christ people say you're too narrow and there are always those who seek to broaden the path there are those who say well all roads ultimately lead to God that's a lie of Satan all roads will lead no doubt to some God but not to the true and the Living God there are paths that are the path of death and to follow them you will end up alienated from God forever whenever the world throws that taunt at me oh you're too narrow I actually find comfort in the taunt because Jesus said narrow is the way that leads to eternal life and if I'm on a narrow path then the chances are I'm on the right path narrow is the way that leads to eternal life in the context of the Narrow Path Jesus said Beware of false prophets they will come to you as wolves in sheep's clothing they may even have backward collars and the Garb of a minister but they keep trying to broaden the path they keep preaching Toleration we ought to be more tolerant of other people's beliefs you can't be sure that you are right and they become proud of the things that they allow Jesus said I am the gate to the Sheepfold straight is the gate Jesus said I am the way no man comes to the father but by me that's narrow he is the Narrow Path he is the gate to the Sheepfold and if you want to come to the father you must come by Jesus Christ you see his death upon the cross declares there's no other way to God Jesus in the garden prayed father if it's possible let this cup pass from me what is possible if it's possible for man to be saved by good works by sincerity by religion let this cup pass but the fact that he went to the cross and drank the cup testifies to us that there is no other way by which a man can come to the Eternal Living God but by Jesus Christ The Straight Gate the narrow way that leads to eternal life there is a way that seems right unto man through the years the philosophers have sought to interpret what is right and what is wrong and there were those philosophers that said if the majority of the people are doing it then it is right in that society and they talk about the mores of a society what most of the people accept or what most of the people do and they say that the majority rules in other words the broader the path the more correct it is the mores whoever is in the majority as far as Concepts ideas and they point out that in some societies there are some things that are accepted that are not accepted in another Society but the majority of these people accept it therefore it's acceptable but in this other Society the majority of people do not accept that so it's not acceptable so that there is no absolute right or wrong it is really all relative then there were those philosophers that said if it brings you pleasure it is right for the chief good and goal of man is happiness and so whatever brings you pleasure is right for you so pleasure is your guide for life and the path that brings you the greatest pleasure is the path that you should follow but Paul the Apostle tells us that if a person lives only for pleasure they're dead while they're still alive there is a path that seems right to man but the end of it is death currently the philosophy of extensis rules in our Educational Systems in our literature in our society and it is that philosophy of relativism they say that there are no absolutes and of that they are absolutely sure they say that each person must determine for himself what is right and if it seems right to you it is right for you and that every man has his own interpretation of what is Right thus I am not to impose upon you my standards what I believe to be right nor should you seek to impose upon me what you feel to be right that if it's right to you then it is right for you do it and leave me alone as I'm doing what I think is right and what I feel to be right for me now this philosophy of relativism brings this full circle back to the days of Noah for in the days of Noah it says that God saw the Earth and that wickedness and violence covered the Earth because every man was doing that which was right in his own eyes you see it was existentialism it was relativism and God saw that the wickedness on the Earth was great and the thoughts and the imagination of man's heart was only evil continually because he was doing that which was right in his own eyes it should be noted that when they got to that stage where everyone was doing what was right in his own eyes that God saw fit to judge and to destroy and Jesus speaking about his coming again and the preceding Judgment of God upon the Earth said and as it was in the days of Noah so shall it be at the coming of the son of man and this EX extenal philosophy that is current in our world today is the philosophy that was current in the days of Noah it was the philosophy that brought on the Judgment of God upon that generation and it is the same philosophy that will bring the Judgment of God on this generation a way that seeth right unto man but the end of it is death now there is that path that we know to be wrong the path of the transgressor it is that deliberate choosing of the path that I know is in violation to God's command and in violation of God's way but it is my choice and surely God has given us the choice of the path that we are to walk and if I choose to live a life transgressing the laws of God I must need to realize and wisdom will tell me that to follow that path is going to be hard I'm going to come down the road to some real hard places the way of the transgressor or the path of the transgressor is hard the dissolute life of dissipation will finally catch up with you it will show on your countenance and the lines on your face will read like a history book years ago when we were pastoring a little church out in Corona we had a lady who started coming to the church who had a Ranch in Norco that she opened up as an alcoholic Rehabilitation Center this lady would go down to Main Street in Los Angeles and pick up these men on Main Street who were alcoholics bring them out to the fresh country air and she bought some shop equipment and she got a contract with some um uh construction companies to cut post and she made these post and uh different things for construction companies and so she had these men working in the shop making these posts so that they could feel that they were um making their own way and uh and they were indeed they by the money they got for the work they were able to support the ranch and they had this alcoholic rehabilitation program as a part of the alcoholic rehabilitation program she felt that they needed spiritual input so she started bringing them to church and so we'd have a couple of rows of men sitting in church and uh we had a very small church and so it was quite obvious the the men far outnumbered the ladies with these two rows of men within the church now I have a friend who has well we've been very close buddies for years over 40 years and we have such a close deep friendship that we don't have to affirm it every day I don't have to call him up every day and say hey Georgie you're still my friend uh um he is and I talk to him maybe once a year and I see him maybe once every five years or so but every time I see him it's like we just left 10 minutes ago I mean we're just that close and we have a great time together and call him every once in a while on the phone and we always say we've got to get together yeah we've got to get together and all but he's busy he owns a large industry in Downey and and I of course I'm busy here but he comes to church every once while he was here a few weeks ago and we went out for lunch and oh what a time we had just laughing and remembering all the years of great times that we've shared together he came to this church that I was at in Crona we went out for dinner afterwards and he was saying I've noticed you've got a lot of men in your church and I said yeah and I you know I he said two rows of just men sitting there he said I was really impressed I said yeah well there's this alcoholic rehabilitation program I said the lady you know goes into Los Angeles picks these guys up and has this Ranch and all he says yeah always said I was wondering why all of them seem to have these large bulbous noses you know well you see the way of the transgressor is hard you drink enough long enough the capillaries in your nose begin to break your nose begins to swell turns red is part of the alcoholism your liver begins to rot and uh your brain cells are destroyed it's just just a part of it the way of the transgressor is hard you end up on skro sleeping in a gutter the way of the transgressor is hard now when I was young they used to call the homosexuals fairies or quar they didn't like those names and so they decided that they would change their whole image rather than walking around like fairies they would uh walk around like men and uh they started calling themselves gay and and they wanted to create a whole new view of thems by the public by the name Gay and what they actually did was ruin a perfectly good word because the word gay used to mean wonderful happy pleasant good but if you today would say oh man we went out the other night and we had a gay time people would look at you rather queerly but they're they're trying to they're trying to give off an impression that this is a happy this is a pleasant desirable lifestyle calling it The Gay lifestyle taking a name that used to mean that in our minds and using it to describe their lifestyle trying to give off the impression that this path is a pleasant path a enjoyable desirable path but if you see the emaciated bodies the ulcerated sores the hollow eyes as they are dying of AIDS you will recognize that the way of the transgressor is hard milikin was riding high in the junk bond market making over a100 million a year but he wasn't satisfied now if you made $100 million a year do you think you'd be satisfied I mean couldn't you get by on that so he started manipulating stocks blowing them up artificially and then selling out when they came to an artificial high and by manipulating of the stocks was able to make even more money and everybody was looking at milikin with his millions upon Millions upon millions of dollars living this very high opulent Life Style and envying him for all that he had the way of the transgressor you say it's great it's exciting it's easy man it's the way of riches Bible says it's hard and as we saw him this past week weeping in court as he was assessed a fine of $600 million now they find me that much I couldn't pay it and he is going to have to serve a yet undetermined period of his life in jail now believe me when he's sitting there rather than in his Rolls-Royce and his palacial Mansions he's going to realize the way of the transgressor is hard it may be you know pretty exciting for a while it may look very desirable for a time it may be very appealing that life of the transgressor but be wise look down the road see where it's leading you and as you look down the road there is a way that seems right to man but the end thereof the end of that path are the ways of death and only the foolish walk in that path what are some of the ways that seem right to man well there are those who are walking the path of the golden rule I believe in not doing anything to others that I would not want them to do to me I believe that you should be honest and that you should be moral that you should live by high principles now that's a good path nothing wrong with that path except that that path will lead to death the end of the way is death because your good works your honesty your integrity can't save you Jesus is the only way that leads to life and many people are deceived thinking that if they just are honest and just are good and when they get to the lord they're going to say look Lord this little ribbon here I got it I was awarded the citizen of the year and you may be considered a leader in the community and they might say of you oh that man is as honest as the day is long but morality honesty or whatever cannot save you there's only one thing that can save you from your sin and that's Jesus Christ there's only one way that will get you to heaven and that's Jesus Christ I am the way he said the truth and the life and no man will come to the father but by me narrow you say yes it is narrow few there be that find it but oh how blessed are those who do find it there is that path of Mr Good Works and the person who is always trying to sort of keep his life in Balance oh I know that I cheated him but I'll give the excess to the poor um the Jewish Community God established a holiday through the law called yum kapor it was the day of atonement when the high priest would go into the holy of holies into the presence of God to offer sacrifices for the sins of the nation and thus make a covering for their sins Through The Years traditions have replaced the law of God and now yum yum kapor by tradition is the day of reflection where they sit in holy meditation reflecting over the past year the Good Deeds that they have done and the wrong Deeds that they have done seeking and hoping in their minds to be able to overbalance the wrong Deeds with the good that's why the week before yapor they're screwing around trying to do a lot of good deeds because you're going to have to sit next week and think about your life and uh you're going to have to be able to balance things but one of their own prophets Jeremiah said that your righteousness is as filthy rags in the eyes of God Jesus said unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees you're not going to enter the kingdom of heaven now it's a way that seems right to man but the end of it is death because the only way you can have eternal life is by being born again through Jesus Christ the way the truth the life a young man came up to me a few years ago I had known him when he was in high school he attended a church that I pastored and was active in the high school department and he came up to me and he said well Chuck I'm a Mormon now I converted to the Mormon religion I said well why would you ever do a thing like that and he said well I married this Mormon girl and she took me to the Mormon church and I studied and I like it and I've converted to Mormonism I said well then as a Mormon tell me what are you basing your hope for eternal life you used to base it on your faith in Jesus Christ what are you basing it on now he said well I'm basing My Hope for eternal life on my faith in Jesus Christ and my continued membership in the Mormon church I said well what if you don't continue your membership in the Mormon church WIll you then be lost he said well I can't really know for sure until I die I said you mean you're telling me that you don't really know for sure that you're saved now and you won't know for sure until you die he said yes that's right I said isn't that sort of a bad time to find out there is a way that seems right to man but the end of it is dead but I don't want to wait till I get to the end of the road to find out if this was the right Road or not I would hate to get to the end of my path of life and find out that I was on the wrong path and thank God I don't have to wait for we know that we have passed from death into life the scripture tells us John said these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the son of God that ye may know that you have eternal life and it's not something that you have to wait till you die to find out that's too late if you're on the wrong path it's better to make sure now and put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ in the Cross of Christ and In Christ Alone my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus name on Christ the solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand every one of us should have a goal in mind for our lives what I hope to achieve or attain in my lifetime where I hope to be when I come to the end of the path of life my goal is to stand before my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and they hear him say to me well done good and faithful servant enter into the joy of the Lord that's my goal now there are things that could impede my progress towards that goal they're not bad they're not wrong but I don't get involved with them because they would impede my progress toward the goal I mentioned a while back my desire to restore an old vintage car I'd love to do that I love to pound out the dents I'd love to rechrome the bumpers reupholster it just to just to I I love working with my hands and just to get out and with my hands take something that is a wreck and and make it look like it just came off of the of the showroom floor like it was brand new that to me would be a thrill I I suppose that that is there because God called me to deal with wrecks put them back together and it's a joy it's a delight it's a thrill to see God take a life that's been wrecked ruined by sin and see God restore that life like they just came off brand new no sin nothing you know like that just if any man is in Christ New Creation old things pass away and it's glorious to see that work of God's spirit and and and I suppose that carries over in my own heart to cars I'd like to do that to a car Someday I'm sure I never will not that it would be wrong I I think it would be a lot of fun it would be great but I just don't have the time you see see I'm busy towards the main goal of my life I don't want to get detoured into something that would take me away from the main goal so all things are lawful for me but all things are not necessary and you can get your life so cluttered with unnecessary things that you're impeded in your progress all things are lawful for me but all things are not expedient there are some things that are imp impediments they they don't expedite you along the true goal that you're seeking and so not only do I have the goal in mind but I have the scripture to guide me in the path that will get me to that goal and wisdom dictates to me to achieve this goal take this path it will lead you where you want to go Paul the Apostle said examine yourself to see if you be in the faith take a look at your life examine your life examine that path as as Solomon said Ponder the path of your feet is the path that you have chosen is it leading you to eternal life are you sure what Assurance do you have the word of some man or the word of God shall we pray father we ask that your Holy Spirit would guide us in the path of Life the path of eternal life the PA path that leads to your Abode and we're so thankful Lord that Jesus made the way that Jesus is the way and may we walk in his way in his truth in his light in his name we pray amen you may say Chuck I'm all messed up I'm all mixed up but I do know the way of the transgressor is hard my life is a mess and I need help and I want help and I want to get off of this path I'd like to start over again the Glorious thing about the gospel is you can and I'd encourage you go back to the prayer room the pastors will be back there to help you get on the right path today you might walk in fellowship with Jesus Christ your sins forgiven the past set aside behold God said I make all things new he'll make your life new he'll put you on the path that leads to eternal life may the Lord be with you this week as you walk with him may he take you by the hand to lead you into that path of life eternal life with him in Jesus name