37, 38 years ago, I was preaching for
a young friend. We were both young, down in Albany,
Georgia. And he had begun a path toward
heresy, suggesting that you have to have saving knowledge, he
called it, and talked about how much knowledge you must have. subverting the gospel of God's
grace, making salvation not the work of God's spirit, but rather
the work of your brain power, your intellect, your learning.
And I sat in his living room, he and his wife and some other
preachers, and I said to him, it doesn't matter what you put
between the sinner and Christ, it works. It doesn't matter if
we talk about experience, or knowledge, or baptism, or keeping
the law, whatever you put between the sinner and Christ is works,
and it's wrong, and it's damning. Sadly, he refused to hear the
counsel. Paul wrote to the Corinthians
and said, I'm concerned for you. lest Satan should beguile you,
as he did our mother Eve, from the simplicity that is in Christ
Jesus. That word simplicity is simplicity,
simplicity, simplicity, simple, simple. The gospel of God's grace
is the greatest mystery in the world. But it's proclaimed with
simplicity. It's embraced with simplicity.
It's believed with simplicity. The word simplicity also means
singleness, the singularity that is in Christ Jesus. I'm here
today to show you the way. That's my subject, the way. I
want you to take your Bible in your hand, turn to Isaiah chapter
35, and let me show you the way. When our grandson, Will, was
just a little shaver, just a little over a year old, first started
walking, we were all together on the beach one day, and about
the only reason I had to go to the beach is for their sake,
We were on the beach, and Faith got a picture of Will and I walking
down the beach. And after I saw the picture,
I thought, that's what I want to do for that boy all his life. It was just of our backside.
I was leaning way over the bigger man at that time and had him
by the hand. He was stretching as far as he could, and I was
guiding him along the coast of the beach, showing him the way
as we moved along. My business is to show you the
way. You'll find my text in Isaiah
35, verses eight, nine, and 10. Job cried, oh, that I knew where
I might find him, that I might come even to his seat. Thomas said, how can we know
the way? Are you interested? Do you desire to know the way
to God? The way to heaven, the way of
life, the way of salvation. Isaiah is here describing the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and salvation brought by him. He says in verse eight, and in
highway shall be there and the way, and it should be called
the way of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over
it. but it shall be for those the wayfaring men, pilgrims,
strangers, though fools, unlearned, ignorant, not smart, fools, fools
with regard to everything else, counted fools by the world. Wayfaring
men, though fools, shall not err in this way. No lion shall
be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up there on. It should
not be found there. But the redeemed of the Lord
shall walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and
come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads. They shall
obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee
away. blessed be God, there is a way
to God for sinners. There is a way to heaven for
sinners. There is a way of salvation for
sinners. Lindsay has been teaching us
with regard to the tabernacle on Sunday mornings for quite
some time. And that tabernacle, if you stood
out and looked at it, you'll see that there's a curtain there.
Going up to the curtain, there's an altar. Altar of sacrifice. Altar of cleansing. You go inside
and get in that first building, you see a table of showbread. Candlestick, there's still another
curtain there. Back yonder is the mercy seat
on top of the Ark of the Covenant where God said, I will meet you
there. Well, how can I get there? I've
got to go through that altar, that sacrifice. I've got to go
with that priest through that cleansing brazen altar and cleanse
myself. And I've got to go up through
the light and through the bread and through the veil into that
holy of holies to find acceptance with God. That's the only way. Christ said, I am the way. That's all talking about me.
It is with joy that I come here today to declare to you from
Holy Scripture, there is a way from the city of destruction
to the celestial city. There is a way from darkness
to light, from death to life. There is a way by which you and
I, separated from God by a great gulf of sin, may come to God
himself and live forever. I want to show you the way itself. That's going to take up the bulk
of my time, then we'll look at a couple of other things. The
way as it is described for us in Holy Scripture. This is what
you must know. Jesus Christ is the way. Jesus Christ is the way. Look at two texts of scripture,
Isaiah 62, and of course, John chapter 14, Isaiah 62. I've told you many times in the
Old Testament about the cities of refuge and the way had to
be maintained. They would send out a crew annually
to smooth out the rough places, to tear away any debris that
was in the way, to make the road level, picturing the preaching
of the gospel. Isaiah 62 verse 10, go through,
go through the gates, prepare ye the way of the people. Cast
up, cast up the highway, gather out the stones, lift up a standard
for the people. Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed
unto the end of the world, say ye to the daughter of Zion, behold,
thy salvation cometh. Behold, his reward is with him
and his work before him. John chapter 14, our Lord Jesus
speaks. He's about to depart from this
world. He's about to suffer and die in our stead. He said, it's
expedient for you that I go away. If I go not away, the Comforter
will not come. There's no salvation if I don't
go away. Then he says in verse one of chapter 14, let not your
heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself,
that where I am there you may be also. And whither I go you
know, and the way you know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord,
we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way?
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way. I am the way. Well, what does
that mean? That's so simple, nobody has
to ask to do it. I am the way. Should I be asked
to tell you how to drive from here to Winston-Salem, North
Carolina? In old days, we would have got
a map out, an atlas, and I'd take a blue marker or a yellow
highlighter, and I would just mark the road. And when you open
the map up and look at it, you see that blue marker? Well, that's
the way. And how do you get out of this building? Where's the
way out? That's the way. That's the way. That's the way. The door marks the way. Nothing
could be simpler. The Lord Jesus says, I am the
way. Out of this building, there are
many ways. Going from Danville, Kentucky to Winston-Salem, North
Carolina, there are many ways. Going from hell to heaven, there's
one way. Going from darkness to light,
there's one way. Going from death to life, there's
one way. Going from Satan to God, there's
one way. Christ is the way. Be sure you
understand that at the start. To go wrong here, is to go to
hell. Salvation is by the grace of
God through faith in Jesus Christ alone. By grace are you saved
through faith. And that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. There's
no other way. Believing on the Lord Jesus,
the Son of God, we enter upon the way. Receiving His Spirit,
we stand in the way. Following our Redeemer's steps,
we walk in the way. The wayfaring men, though fools,
shall walk therein. What a description of the life
of faith. We walk. We walk. Don't run. We walk. We walk. Walk comfortably. as we follow
Christ in the way. Walk peaceably as we walk with
God in the way. We walk through this world as
wayfaring men. Pilgrims, wayfaring men, seldom
run. They only run when they're afraid.
They walk at a steady pace. And believers are many women
who walk in the way with God. Believing on the Savior, following
Him, we walk in the way and holding fast to Him, we will reach the
end of the way. When we find Christ, we find
the way. We find the way of truth and
we find the way of life. Our Savior said, I am the way.
Without me, there's no going. I am the way that was pointed
to in all the scriptures. I am the truth. I am the revelation
of God. I am the word of God. I am that
one who has come to make known the Father. I am the truth. I
am the life, the life, the gift of life, life everlasting. Without me, there's no living.
The only way of salvation is Christ Jesus the Lord. He is
our peace, He is our holiness, He is our salvation. Our Lord
Jesus Christ, His righteousness is the only righteousness that
God will accept. His blood, the only payment God
will accept. His grace, the only power that
can bring us to God. There is no other way. Many roads
lead to destruction. There is a way that seemeth right
unto a man, Solomon said, but the end thereof are the ways
of death. The way is the same. It doesn't
matter whether you're talking about Buddhist, or Papist, or
Baptist, or Islamic folks, or Jewish folks, Pentecostal folks,
or Presbyterian folks, Methodist folks, or Mormon folks. They
all pursue the same way. Some of them wear different costumes,
they play different games, but they pursue the same way. The
way of salvation for them all, the way of salvation for all
men by nature is their own doing. The work of their own hands,
something that hinges on them, something determined by them,
something dependent on them. That's the way to destruction. The end thereof are the ways
of death. For the believer, there's only
one way. Christ is the way. To direct
sinners to any other way than Christ, or to any way in addition
to Christ, is to direct them to hell. What are you saying,
pastor? Christ is the way. not legal
works, not Sabbath keeping, not sacrifices, not doing things. Christ is the way. Not religious
rituals, not baptism, not the Lord's Supper, not church membership,
not moral reformation. Christ is the way. Not going
down the Romans road, not walking down the aisle, not sending a
decision card, not saying a prayer that somebody recites for you.
Christ is the way. You must come to God by faith
in Christ. Come to God right now. Right
where you are. Without saying anything. Without
doing anything. I don't even suggest that you
pray. Come to God right now. You don't move a muscle. You
come to God by faith in Christ with your heart. Come to it right
now. Right now. The way never changes. I know we live in modern times
and folks invent all kinds of things. I had no regard for common, conservative, fundamentalist
religion when I was a young man. I considered it idolatry then.
Free Will Works religion has always been idolatry. But the
religion has changed these days. I saw something just recent,
I forgot where I saw it, but I knew the former pastor of the
church. He was a well-dressed, sharp-looking, well-mannered
fellow. Sharp, I mean sharp. Armenian,
but sharp. He hated God, but he was sharp.
And he had things organized, and they did things in a respectful
way. Now, the pastor's got hair down
to his shoulders and wears bleached out t-shirts and blue jeans and
tennis shoes and plays the guitar and dances on stage. Things change. Things change. Nothing hasn't
changed yet, but things change. The way of life never changes. Christ is the way. The only way, thus saith the
Lord. Stand ye in the way and see and
ask for the old paths. Where is the good way? And walk
therein and you shall find rest for your souls. I'm talking about
that one who is the same yesterday and today and forever. Those
who pretend that God changes. that God changes with the times,
that the message of the gospel changes with the times, that
salvation changes with the times are idle dreamers. They know
nothing of the grace of God, nothing. We cannot be washed from sin,
but by the blood of Christ. We cannot be made righteous,
but by the righteousness of Christ. We cannot be made holy, but by
the holiness of Christ. We cannot have access to God
but by the intercession of Christ. The way to God is the way of
grace. Grace. If Christ is the way,
you must be in the way. You must walk in the way. But
you listen to me. The only way you're ever going
to be in that way is if God puts you in the way. if God puts you in the way. God
put his people in Christ before the world was. And God puts his
people in Christ by almighty, effectual, irresistible grace. I'm preaching to you grace. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. I believe on the Son of God.
by the grace of God. I will continue believing on
the Son of God by the grace of God. I walk with God by the grace
of God. I trust my Savior by the grace
of God. And if you come to trust Him
now, I call you again, come to Him now. Come to Him. If you
can. Oh, if you can, if you can come
to Him, if you can believe on the Son of God, God gave you
faith. God put you in the way. We believe in salvation by grace. Eternal, sovereign, electing
grace. Effectual, redeeming grace. Irresistible,
regenerating grace. The way described in our text,
The way described in the book of God is a costly way. It's called an highway, and highways
shall be there. I have a dear friend, Brother
Bill Hone. I haven't heard from him in so long. I presume he's
with the Lord now. Bill and his wife Anita were
here many times when they were younger. He worked for T.O. James
all his life. He was one of the big supervisors. And he built highways all over
the country. I called him one day, driving across the stretch
of road I knew they had built that had been rough ever since
the day it was built, Interstate 40, going out of West Memphis,
through West Memphis, Arkansas. And they were working on it again.
I called Bill, chatted with him a little bit, and I said, Bill,
it must have cost a lot to build this road here. He said, Brother
Dodd, now this is back some years ago. He said, I'll tell you what
it cost to build a four-lane highway. Doesn't matter whether
you're building it through a mountain, over a mountain, across a river,
or on flat land. You can bank on it. It's a million
dollars a mile. That was a long time ago. That's
costly road. This highway, oh, what a costly
road. God gave the treasure of his
heart. God gave his own dear son. God delivered up his son to sin
and death and condemnation, to suffer all the fury of his wrath. All the hell we deserve that
he might make us the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. That
we might walk this way with him to God. This is a highway. The word might be translated,
a call's way shall be there. A raised highway, one that's
lifted up and covers the deep ravines of this wilderness and
the shifting sands of this desert and tunnels through the mountains
of darkness and ungodliness. This is the greatest feat the
world has ever known. None but the God of love would
have done it. None but God in his infinite
wisdom could design it. None but God, the God of omnipotent
mercy and grace could perform it. This highway cost God his
son. It was designed by him in eternal
love. Its foundations laid in divine
predestination. built by the obedience of the
Son of God Himself in His life and in His death. This road,
this road has lasted now for thousands of years and it never
needs to be repaired. Untold millions have walked this
way and takes us from here to glory, from here to heaven, from
death to life. This is an open highway, built
by divine appointment, by the appointment of the King of Heaven.
And it's open, a freeway to all. It's not a toll road, but a free
road. The way of grace is a high and
holy way. Our text calls it a highway because
the way in which we walk is above the low, groveling paths of this
world. Those who walk this way have
been raised together with Christ, raised up from the dead with
Him, made set down with Him in heavenly places. It's called
the way of holiness. The way of holiness is founded
upon holy truth, holy justice, and holy grace. God never alters. God never changes. God never bends his law, his
holiness, his justice, and his truth, not even to save sinners. Eternal holiness will not allow
God to wink at sin. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. There's only one way by which
sinners can both die and live, and that's in the doing and dying
of our substitute and his resurrection from the dead. Our faith is a
holy faith. We're called to walk in a holy
calling, and we're saints of God called a holy nation, a peculiar
people, zealous of good works. Walking in this way of grace
and faith is walking in the way of holiness. Now, let me tell
you what that means, a holy way. People say the grace of God produces
holiness, and they mean by that the grace of God will cause you,
enable you to become a holy person, and you will live in holiness.
And people will look at you and say, my, isn't he a holy man? He's so holy. He's such a fool who thinks so.
Grace produces holiness, but grace doesn't enable you to produce
holiness. Grace produces holiness, making
us new creatures in Christ, making us partakers of the divine nature,
giving us that new man created in righteousness and in true
holiness so that the believer walks in this world with this
constant struggle with sin and self and flesh and godliness. This thing called Don Fortner,
that's born of the devil, this thing that commits sin, born
of Adam, this thing that's vile and ugly and mean and God-hating
and repugnant to God and repugnant to man and repugnant to me, this
thing. but in me another man, a new
man, a man that cannot sin because he's born of God, a man called
Christ in you, the hope of glory. And the believer walks with God
in this way, dragging this carcass until at last he is delivered
from the bondage of sin and death by the grace of God into the
glorious liberty of the sons of God. Yes, the way of holiness,
is a way of holiness, and it's a straight and narrow way. Straight
is the gate, narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few
there be that go in thereat. Wide is the gate, and broad is
the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are which go in
thereat. Many, many years ago, Brother
Maurice Montgomery stood in this pulpit and made this statement. He said, the gate is so straight,
you can't take anything in with you. And the way is so narrow,
you can't pick up any baggage along the way. Christ is the
straight gate. Christ is the narrow way. The
way of life is not your experience, not your knowledge, not your
baptism, not your works, not your Bible reading, not your
Sabbath keeping, not your change of life, not your moral reformation,
not you quit drinking and quit cussing and quit smoking and
quit doing other stuff and started acting funny. The way of life
is Christ alone. Can you? Oh, can you? Can you cast the whole weight
of your soul? The whole weight of your being,
the whole weight of life, the whole weight of God's demands
of righteousness and justice and holiness and truth. Can you
cast everything on the doing and dying of a substitute man? Jesus Christ the Lord. If you
can, God has put you in the way. Look at the text again and see
how this way is described as being reserved for a specific
people. Our text says, the unclean shall not pass over it. The unclean
shall not pass over it. But pastor, I thought you said
we come to Christ only as sinners, that's the only way you come.
God, I thought you said we're sinners as long as we live in
this world. That's right, but this sinner, this vile wretch
of a man is going to perish as he must. Now this new man walks
with God in the way. Clean, being cleansed from all
sin by the precious blood of Christ. Being washed with the
renewing of the Holy Ghost and the washing of regeneration.
But it shall be for those wayfaring men, pilgrims. It shall be for those that are
redeemed, the redeemed of the Lord. It shall be for those that
are ransomed, the ransomed of the Lord. Those words used here,
this word redeemed particularly, refers to several things. First it means next of kin. And
then it means purchased. And it means ransomed, delivered. And it means loosed. The believer,
the heaven-born soul, is made clean by the circumcision of
the heart. by the circumcision of the spirit
in the new birth. He is next of kin to the kinsman
redeemer, Jesus Christ the Lord. He has been redeemed. The Lord
Jesus bought him. This is particular effectual
redemption. He bought him with his own blood,
and in time he comes and looses him, sets him free. You, being
justified by his grace, are freed from sin. Reckon yourselves also
to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God. We are the circumcision,
Paul says. Circumcised in heart. That's what the Old Testament
circumcision was about. The cutting away of the foreskin of the flesh,
separating the foreskin of the flesh, the filth of the flesh
from the man. Now we be born again, circumcised
in heart, made clean by the Spirit of God. Who are they who are
circumcised? Those who worship God in spirit
and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Redeemed, redeemed with the precious
blood of God's own dear son. And we walk here as wayfaring
men, pilgrims. The hymn writer put it this way,
this world is not my home. I'm just a passing through. My
savior pardoned me and now onward I must go. Upon the highway of
his grace to heaven's blissful shore, My soul will yet, my savior
will yet lead me there, though I am weak and poor. The way spoken
of here in Isaiah 35 is a safe and secure way. If you have a
marginal translation in your Bible, you'll notice the words
in verse eight might be added, for he shall be with him. We walk in this way, the Lord
God walks with us. Our Savior walks with us. Near
at hand, always present to protect the sheep, to care for his own,
to deliver his child. And the way is simple. Wayfaring men, no fools shall
not err therein. Simple. So simple, so plain,
little children can understand it. What is this way? God's children hear the shepherd's
voice. Do you know how smart sheep are?
Do you have any idea how smart sheep are? Did any of you ever
go see a sheep do a trick in a circus? Anybody ever see a sheep obey
a command? Anybody? Did you ever see anybody
try to train a sheep to show off? Anybody? They are the dumbest
critters. I mean dumb. Dumb. Stupid critters. I'll tell you
how smart they are. They hear the shepherd's voice
and they know what nobody else does. And they follow the shepherd. How simple is this way? If you
hear his voice, you'll follow him. If you hear his voice, you'll
follow him. They received God's revelation.
This is God's book. They believe it. God said it. I believe it, that makes it so.
No, God said it, that makes it so. They believe it. You need to catch up with the
times, I know. You need some education, I know. You need to read some other things,
I know. They receive God's revelation. They believe and bow to God's
word. They obey God's command. They
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. They follow the shepherd's lead.
And I'll tell you something else they'll do. You can go up to
a field full of sheep. And I've got two in there. And
Lindsey's got 98. And I can go up there and call
those sheep. And call those sheep. And call
those sheep. Till I'm blue in the face. And
there'll be two of them come after me. Just two. Two I own,
that's all. Lindsey go up there, he said,
psst. And here come the old 98 sheep. Follow him. Smart? No, no. They hear the shepherd's
voice. and they won't follow a stranger.
Following Christ in the way, they go to glory. Now, let me
show you something about the happiness of those who walk in
this way. Happy art thou, O Israel, who
is like unto thee, O people of the Lord, the shield of thy help,
the sword of thy excellency. Look at verse nine. No lion shall
be there. No lion shall be there. Satan
walks as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. But the text says no lion shall
be there. Pilgrim describes the child of
God making his way up to the celestial city, to the house
beautiful. And he's found the way. The evangelist
has shown him the way. And he goes and he comes to a
dark, dark, dark place in the path. But this is the way. And he's got to go this way. And he hears suddenly the sound
of a roaring lion. And he's terrified. That lion
roars. Who wouldn't be terrified? But
he's got that, that's the only way. He can't get, he can't get
home any other way. He got to stay in this way. And
so he goes on. and he moves on and he hears
that lion roar and he gets closer and he sees the black lion on
either side of the path roaring and jumping at him and pawing
at him, roaring! And he's terrified but he's There's
no other way to go. He's got to stay on the path,
and so he goes on in the way, and he gets a little closer,
and he sees that the lion is on a long, strong chain held
in the hands of his omnipotent savior. And he's got no fangs,
and he's got no claws. All he can do is roar. There
shall be no lion there to harm you in the way, no ravenous beast. Those who would accuse you, those
who would condemn you, those who would destroy you, they'll
not be found in this way. No lion shall be there, nor any
ravenous beast shall go up their own. It shall not be found there,
but the redeemed of the Lord shall walk there. and the ransom to the Lord shall
return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon
their heads. They'll come singing, amazing
grace. Redeemed, how I love to proclaim. There is a fountain filled with
blood. Everlasting joy on their heads. And they shall obtain joy and
gladness. Only joy and gladness and sorrow
and sighing shall be no more. shall flee away. Come to God
by faith in Christ right now, right where you are, and walk
peaceably to glory, trusting Jesus Christ with songs of gladness
in your heart and bursting from your soul. Amen.