Let's take our Bibles again and
turn with me to the book of Proverbs, chapter 12. Oh, how precious are these blessed
scriptures. In Proverbs 14.2, this is what
the scripture says. There is a way that seemeth right. unto a man, but the end thereof
are the ways of death." There's a way that seems perfectly right. There's a way that seems to make
sense. There's a way that seems to appeal
to man's understanding. But the Scripture says, the end
thereof are the ways of death. You know what I want to know?
What is God's way? That's what I want to know. If
the Scripture sets forth that there's a way that seems right unto man, then
I know that being born in Adam, being a frail creature, but for the grace of God, is
going to seem right to me too. And I see the end result. I don't want to walk that way.
I don't want to be found in that way. Not if the end of it is
the ways of death. I don't want that. That way of man that seems right
is that broad way that man naturally goes in rebellion. Now that makes perfect sense.
We know that soul. This is man's way. Let me just
go ahead and just be straight up about it. The way that seems
right unto a man is the way of trusting my own self-righteousness,
thinking that I've done something to merit salvation before God. It's the way that is associated
with me having in my fallen mind a free will to be able to choose
whether to do this or not to do this. The way that seems right to man
is always man-centered. It never abases a man. Man doesn't want to be put down.
You know, I listen to these fellas and they just, you know, heard
a man make a star. I didn't hear him. Somebody told
me, he said the other day. Somebody asked him about sin.
He says he's a preacher. And he said, well, men just have
so many problems. I just don't want to deal with
something that depresses people more. Don't want to deal with
sin. It's the way that despises sovereign
grace. It's the way that tramples under
and counts the blood of the covenant of God's grace to be an unholy
thing. That's the way of man. That's
how man thinks. Now, that way seems right. It seems to make sense. that God loves everybody. That seems to make sense to a
fallen creature. It seems to make sense that God
wants everybody to be saved. That seems to make sense. It
seems to make sense that God has made salvation possible for
all. And if they will just accept
what He's done and quit their meanness and turn over a new
leaf, And just be honest about wanting to be saved, that God
is going to somehow just sweep everything under the rug and
we're just going to forget about it. God is not going to forget
anything. God is not going to forget anything.
Let me tell you what God's going to do with sin. He's going to
judge it. Every sin is going to be judged. receiving the just
recompense. God Almighty is going to deal
with every sin. And it's either in a substitute
or in a man without a substitute. One of the two. The wages of sin is death. The
wages of sin is death. Now, I'd like for us to search
the Scriptures today and just consider God's way. And these three verses, Proverbs
12, 26, 27, 28, I'm going to consider God's way. There it is, God's way. You know,
there's Proverbs, I mean, Psalm 1830 said, as for God, His way
is perfect. I want to know God's way, God's
way, the way of the Lord. Here's the first thing I know,
verse 26, God's way is sought after. And it's a found way. God's way is a sought-after and
a found way. Verse 26, "...the righteous is
more excellent than his neighbor, but the way of the wicked seduceth
them." Now, the point is, God's way is a sought-after and a found
way. Now, I know this. I do know that man by nature,
what does the Scripture say about man by nature seeking God? It says no man seeks after God.
Doesn't it say that? No man seeks after God. That's
right. Man by nature. If you listen
to this verse, Jeremiah 29, verse 13, you shall seek Me and find
Me. And you shall search for Me with
all of your heart. I can tell you for a fact, I
know this, God's going to have to do something for me, for me
to seek after God, especially knowing that no man born in Adam
seeks after God. No man, no woman gets up one
day and says, you know what? I think, I think that I'm going
to seek God today before God Almighty does something for me.
If they've got an attitude, to seek after the Lord, I promise
you, you've been made willing in the day of His power. That's
a fact. The righteous is more excellent
than his neighbor. Now, I know for a fact that the
righteous is more excellent than his neighbor. When it says more
excellent, that word is abundant. More abundant. The righteous
is more abundant than his neighbor. in the sense of his character
being found in Christ, the righteous. Now look at it. The righteous
is more excellent than his neighbor. He's got a holy character, not
in himself, robed in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
is more excellent, more abundant, in his character? How about his
birth? His life? God has rebirthed him,
born from above. How about his inheritance? He
is an heir of God, a joint heir with Christ, found in the Lord
Jesus Christ, the righteous, more excellent. But that word
right there, excellent, the word excellent actually means to search
out, to seek, to follow an intricate course. That's what it means.
The excellent. You know, that's why it's so
important that we look at words. This is why men will take, kneel
and rest the Scriptures. They'll just... But it says there,
you know, well, yeah, but what does it mean? Find out what God
Almighty has got to say. The righteous search out, seek
after, they follow after. Who? The Lord Jesus Christ. Before regeneration, no man sought
after God, but life imparted. as a change. God's people, here's
the evidence of a believer. They seek the Lord. They long
for Him. They hunger for Him. Seek Him. How do you seek God? How do you
follow? My sheep hear my voice. I know
them and they follow me. Let me just say this concerning
following the Lord. God has given means. Almighty
God has given means to know Him, to follow after Him, to know
His will. Stay under the sound of the gospel.
Has God Almighty given the preaching of the gospel This is not something
that we came up with, the assembling of ourselves together. No. Follow after Him by reading His
Word. Read the Scriptures. Search the
Scriptures. Make much of the Scriptures. Start your day with the Scriptures.
Start your day with it. End your day with the Scriptures.
Seek Him in prayer. He said you don't have because
you don't ask. When you pray, that's what He
said. Not if. I'm going to tell you something.
Believers seek the Lord in prayer. It might be in an early morning
time of seeking Him, but a believer is going to go through the day
with a spirit about Him of prayer. God's people, you'd be driving
down the road and the Spirit of God will bring something to
your memory. God's people, they want to commune with the Lord.
They want to talk with Him. God's people seek after and find
Him. The righteous is more excellent
He's a seeking person. He's a desiring person. He's
a longing person for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
righteous seek Him earnestly and they will find Him. He said, You shall seek Me and
find Me when you seek for Me. with a sincere heart. When it
says, with all your heart, a sincere heart. I mean, here's a seeking
after God. Lord, help me. Lord, forgive
me. What are you doing? You're appealing
to His mercy, appealing to His strength, appealing to His goodness. Help me. Have you ever found
yourself desiring Him like the bride in Song of Solomon 3.1?
I sought Him whom my soul loved. Lord, just the privilege just
to be able to talk to you right now. What a joy. What a privilege
just to be able to talk to you. Thank you. Thank you for hearing
me. Lord, thank you for causing this
frail creature to have a desire. Seek me and I'll be found of
you. What a promise that he is. Ask,
knock. It's going to be opened. The
righteous is more excellent than his neighbor. He seeks the Lord
in the only way, by Christ. The Lord speak to my heart. But the way of the wicked, Scripture
says, seduces them. Causes them to stray. That's
what it means. The way of the wicked, the way
of the of a harlot, the spiritual adulteress, the way of the wicked. The Scripture says in Proverbs
7, 27 concerning the way of that false, freewill, religious man-centered
harlot, it says her house is the way to hell, going down to
the chambers of death. We know this, man's way, man's
efforts. that they're not going to be
accepted. I know that. Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the
washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. God's way
is a way for the righteous that sought after and found God's
way. They seek Christ. Here's the
second thing. God's way, God's purpose, God's
will, God's counsel is going to stand. God's will, purpose,
counsel is going to stand. Verse 27, the slothful man roasteth
not that which he took in hunting, but the substance of a diligent
man is precious. Now, you know, when you look
at that, the first thing you think about is someone out in
the woods and he's caught something. He caught something. He killed
something. This has absolutely nothing to do with eating, Lord, why do you speak in parables? Because it's given unto you to
know the mystery of the kingdom of God, and to them it's not
given. As I said before, if all we ever see is what the natural
mind can understand, we didn't see it. We didn't see it. Here's the point. God's way,
God's purpose, God's will, God's counsel shall stand. Here is
the Scripture. The slothful man roasteth not,
which he took in hunting. It has to do with a lazy man,
I can tell you this. That is what sloth was talking
about, lazy, wicked. The word roasteth. Now to understand
what is being said, the word roast right there, roasteth,
it means to entangle to catch or to snare. That's what the
word roast is. It doesn't have anything to do
with cooking. It means to catch or to snare. The lazy, wicked man will not
catch. It will not ensnare. It will
not entangle that which he hunted after, which he took in hunting. The deceived shall not capture,
shall not catch, shall not have that which he chased and thought
that he had. Salvation. Acceptance with God. acceptance before God's throne. The slothful, deceitful, lazy,
remissed man is one that is ignorant of God's righteousness and the
Scripture says is going about to establish his own righteousness. The Scripture says he does not
submit himself. to the righteousness of God.
He doesn't submit himself to Christ. He doesn't submit himself
to God's righteousness. He's ignorant of the holiness
and purity of God's law and justice. And he tries to merit acceptance
with God based upon his own strength and ability and will and works
and religious duties and things and mess and stuff. You ask an unbeliever, Whatever
denomination it is. Are you right before God? Yes,
I am. The reason I am is because I. And whatever happens to be. That
niche. That they have been lied to concerning. And believe. I know I'm right
before God because I did so and so. Or I'm a member of this place. Or I'm a member of that place.
What they've done. Oh, they've sought after salvation. They'll tell you, I am a Christian. Haggai 6.1 says that the wicked,
the slothful has sown much but brings in little and earns wages
to put it into a bag of holes. Can you imagine everything you
thought you had and you dropped it into a bag and the whole bottom
is just holes? And everything that you thought
you had, when it comes time to reach in there and grasp hold
of what you got, there's nothing there. He hunts and he seeks and desires
to catch A right standing before God based upon His own ability. Lord, we've prophesied in Your name.
We've done many mighty works in Your name. Lord, all these
things that we've done, this is what we were told to do. Depart from me. I never knew
you. Workers of iniquity. The slothful,
the wicked man is not going to catch. He's not
going to obtain. He's not going to have ensnared
that which he took in hunting. But the substance of a diligent
man is precious. That substance of that diligent
man is Christ. Unto you, therefore, that believe,
Christ is precious. This is all of my hope. This
is all of my salvation. This is all of my standing before
God that when God Almighty sent His Son into this world, He came
into this world to redeem me. That when He died, He died for
me. When He was raised, He was raised for me. This is all of
my hope that He hath made, David said with me, an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things ensured. This is all my hope. My hope, that song says, is built
on nothing less than Jesus' blood and His righteousness. I don't
have anything to say. Except, Lord, be merciful to
me, a sinner." The substance. The substance of the diligent
man. In reality, Christ Himself is
the only diligent man. The substance. And if you want
to look at that Scripture and us being the substance that He
came into this world. He thought it not robbery. He
would not rob God of God's will and God's honor. He wouldn't
rob God of God's people's purpose of redemption. He would not rob. He would not rob to remain in
that state. He came to this world to seek
and to save that which was lost. The slothful man roasteth not
that which he took in hunting, but the substance of a diligent
man is precious. And thirdly and lastly, God's
way is life. In the way of righteousness is
life. In the pathway thereof, there
is no death. Verse 26 talks about the way
of the wicked. And that word way, these are
two different words, two different words may, a way, I'm sorry.
In verse 26, the way of the wicked. That word way means the manner
of conduct. The way, the manner of conduct
of the wicked. The way in which they are. In
verse 28, the word way, the way of the righteous. That word there
sets forth a race course And the definition says, rather than
a snake-laden path, a race course, a way that leads straight to
the end, a course that one will absolutely
arrive at its end kept by the power of God. The Lord says, I give my sheep
eternal life and they will never perish. This is God's way. The way of the righteousness
is life. There is but one way. And it
is Christ who is the way. In the way of righteousness,
in Christ, who is our righteousness is life. And I love this in the
pathway thereof. And here we are today walking
in Him, walking in Christ. There is no death. What comfort
that I can rest today and realize, though I behold a body of death,
that Paul says, Who shall separate me from Him? I know this. I hath not seen, neither hath
not heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man that which
God has prepared for them that love Him. Lord, by Your grace,
keep me. Keep me for Christ's sake. Amen.