Let's take our Bibles again and
turn to the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 4. Proverbs 4. I'd like to look at verses 14
to 19 this morning. Now you know that the written
Word of God is a book that is addressed to the objects of God's
mercy and compassion. This book is the revelation of
God's thoughts, His purpose, His will, His glory, His counsel,
Here is God's Word. Now that's a miracle that God
would send His Word and move upon men who down through
the ages have been divinely inspired. to write down what God Almighty
has said. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God. This is not a book that's written
to all men without distinction. That's why men will take this
book and they'll set it forth disrespectfully. They are not saying what this
book says. But those that God has called
out of darkness, those preachers, they preach it and God's people
hear it. And you that believe know the difference. Now, this book is written for
our instruction, our admonition, our correction in righteousness. And the Scripture that we'll
look at this morning, 14 to 19, it's a divine command. It's a word of instruction. You know, the Scripture speaks
often. He that hears my word. He that keeps my commandments. He that, you know, you say, Well,
what does that mean? What do you mean? He that keeps
my commandment. He that hears my word and keepeth
it. You know what? Well, let's look at it. This morning, let's listen because
the Word of God continuously is God speaking to His people. If you want to know what it is,
to hear the voice of God, He speaks through His Word. Here
it is. Now listen. Here's the Lord speaking
to His people. Enter not into the path of the
wicked. Now, what we just read is this Word
of instruction. Don't go from where you are now. Now the reason I said that, it's
not speaking to one who continuously walks in the path of unbelief,
but it's speaking to one that knows the difference between
belief in Christ and unbelief. You that believe know the difference
because within you there's two natures and you experience both
of them. Enter not into the path of the
wicked. The path of the wicked, the well-trodden
road of the unregenerate. Now, you say, yeah, but I thought
he's talking about to a believer. He is. But I will tell you this,
that path of unbelief that you once walked in totally before
the Lord called you out of darkness, that nature is still there. Paul said, O wretched man, not
that I was, but, O wretched man, that I am. I see in me, he says,
I see in my flesh, that is, in that old man that I struggle
against every day, I see in me there dwells no good thing. That old flesh that wars against
My new man, enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not
in the way of evil men." What way is that? Well, the easiest
way to establish what the way of evil men is, is to hear this
verse of Scripture that we just read just a few minutes ago,
John 14, 6. The Lord said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by Me. Well, if He is, or since He is
the way, the truth, and the life, then the only other way, or the
way of evil, If you look, men is in italics, so it's really,
it's actually read, go not in the way of evil. If Christ has
declared himself, which he has, to be the way to the Father,
then the only other way that a man could possibly conceive,
Daryl, would be, well then, I'm the way. That's the way of evil. The way of evil would be to attempt
to establish my own righteousness before God, and there is none
righteous, no, not one. The way of evil men would say
because of their so-called own ability and free will, I am the
way. I am the truth. I am the life. And I come to the Father by accepting
what has been offered to me. And therefore, I deserve some
recognition. But why are we commanded to not
enter into the path of the wicked and go into the way of evil men?
I'll tell you why, so we won't excuse ourselves. In our flesh, there's no excuse. I have no excuse, Neil, in my
flesh to rebel against God. I have no excuse. I have no excuse. Well, I had a tough upbringing. My environment wasn't, you know,
well, I, you know, there's no excuse. The rebellion against Almighty
God, there's no excuse for it. God's Word sets forth, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. And here, under the divine inspiration
of the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the Lord Himself speaking
and says, enter not into the path of the wicked and go not
into the way of evil. Now, I'll be honest with you.
He's speaking to me and tells me Marvin, don't disbelieve me. That's what
he's saying. And he says that to you that
believe also. Enter not. Don't disbelieve.
Do you not find within yourself in the midst of your daily walk that spirit of unbelief that's
still there? And here the Lord Himself says,
go not in the way of evil. How thankful I am that His blood
covers a multitude of sin. Lord, forgive me. I am so sorry. I am so sorry. I have His Word
on this. Don't do it. Lord, I've done
it. Would You forgive me? You that believe know something
of what I'm talking about. What must I do? Look at verse
15. Avoid it. Pass not by it. Turn from it. Pass away. Potiphar's wife, Scripture says,
cast her eyes upon Joseph. And she said, lie with me. And
he refused. Scripture says she spoke to Joseph
day by day, and he hearkened not unto her. And one day, the
Scripture says, no one was in the house but Joseph and the
woman, and she caught him by his garment. And she said, Lie
with me. And he left his garment in her
hand and fled and got him out. I think what honor. That was
honorable. That was honorable. But how can
I, a frail creature of dust, do that which seems impossible? Well, in my flesh, it is impossible. The Lord said, without me, you
can do nothing. I find myself so prone to not
believe Him. And He tells me, don't go that
way. Don't, don't do it. And I in
my two natures. Amazing how some men will say
that there's not two natures. How can you read the Word of
God and there not be two natures in a believer? I mean, go back
and read Romans 7. I'm not preaching on this this
morning, but I'm not going to avoid it either. There's two natures in a believer.
And you that believe know this two natures and you know you
struggle just like I do. You war within yourself and you
believe Him and you find that old nature of unbelief. Avoid it. How can I? Well, in yourself,
like I said, you can't. Matthew 19.26 says, With God
all things are possible. Listen to this, 1 Corinthians
10.13, There hath no temptation taken you, but such is as common
to man. But God is faithful, who will
not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will
with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may
be able to bear it. Lord, sustain me. The Lord Jesus Christ
who loves His people without measure will not allow any temptation
to be brought upon His people except that which He shall minister
to His glory, to their good. And He will support them and
bring them to Himself. by His grace. Hebrews 2, 17 and 18, Wherefore,
in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren,
that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For
in that He Himself has suffered being tempted, He is able to
succor, to help, to aid them that are tempted. This is real. I know this is
real. Enter not into the path of the
wicked. If he was talking to the wicked,
what sense would that Scripture make? Enter not into the path
of the wicked. They're in the path of the wicked. Go not in the way of evil. He's
talking to His people. Weak and frail creatures who
realize and know, I need Thee every hour, every minute, every
second. I need You right now. Lord, help me. Help me as I preach. Help me as I think. Lord, bring
to my mind those things that You've taught me. Bless them.
Bless them to the comfort of Your people. Bless them to me.
I need to hear this. Why are we reminded continually
to avoid them? Why are we reminded continually,
continually, continually? And the older you get, it doesn't
get easier. I think it gets harder. You see
more of the frailty of what you are by nature in Adam and how
desperately God's people This is the mark of a believer. An
unbeliever, he doesn't want to talk about anything really of
significance. He wants to talk about the rapture,
he wants to talk about the sowing of faith to seed, or seed faith,
or faith seed, or whatever you call it. He wants to talk about
that. He wants to talk about all the
multiple blessings. He wants to talk about all the
things that God's going to give him in this life. Just insignificant
nothing. He wants to talk about how faithful
he's been in his church. You know, this is what a believer
wants to talk about. He wants to be honest. He wants
to talk about all of his hope that is in Christ, who in spite
of himself, God has been merciful to him. And how thankful he is
that he keeps him. Lord, help me. As I've said before,
tell me one more time how the Lord put away my guilt. Tell
me about that everlasting love. And a believer is so concerned
with God's honor, he's concerned with God's glory, He does not
want to do anything disrespectful. He will take God's side against
Himself, God's Word against Himself. Why do we need to continually
be reminded to avoid Him? Look at verse 16 and 17. Here
is the way of evil. I'm talking about the way that
in my flesh is still here. For they sleep not, except they
have done mischief. And their sleep is taken away,
unless they cause some to fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence." You say, oh, I don't see that
nature in me. Well, that's amazing. Every believer does. Do you ever see the way of evil? That old man,
do you ever see it sleeping? Do you? Do you ever find yourself
having a break from yourself? You know, the amazing thing about
it is I'm always with me. Everywhere I go, I find me. They can't sleep. Unless there's harm done, unless
there's disrespect before Almighty God, unless there's cause to
stumble, that old man does not rest in
Christ. That old man is enmity against
God. The carnal man, the carnal mind,
is enmity against God. Paul said, Who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? Do you ever find yourself getting
tired of yourself? They eat the bread of wickedness,
drink the wine of violence. Job said it like this. They drink iniquity like water. Why should I not enter into the
path of the wicked and go into the way of evil men? It's because
that way is disrespectful to God. Truly, by the grace of God, by
the new heart, by the new man, by that regenerated creature
created in righteousness, I don't want to do that. There's one
side of me that doesn't want to do anything but that, and
there's another side that does not want to do that. I would
desire you that believe know what I'm talking about. Wouldn't
you desire just to be able to commune with Him and walk with
Him, think respectfully of Him, pray without ceasing, say only
that which is honorable to Him, think only that which is honorable
to Him, do that which is only honorable to Him? There was one that did that. He said, I do always only those
things that please Him. Oh, blessed Lord Jesus Christ,
that I may know You, that I may know You. Have mercy on this
frail creature. Help me. Lord, teach me. The
more I see of myself, the more I see of Him and my need of Him.
Help me. But oh, consider the path of
that sinner that's been called out of darkness versus the wicked
that has not. The last two verses. But the
path of the just 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. The way of the wicked. I want
to deal with that 19th verse first because I want to end with
the 18th. The way of the wicked. Darkness. They walk in darkness. The darkness
of sin, ignorance, unbelief. They speak that way. They don't
speak respectfully of Christ. They do not speak of Him receiving
all honor and glory and praise for salvation, being sovereign
in creation and providence. They don't. They talk about religious
stuff that doesn't matter. All men are religious. They're
all religious. They stumble ignorantly. is stumble
at God's Word. It's not clear as crystals then.
I think about that Scripture that I quote so often, 2 Thessalonians
2.13. I love this Scripture. We're
bound to give thanks to you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification, setting apart of the Spirit and belief of the
truth And men will say, I don't see that. A believer says, that's clear
as crystal. I see that. They stumble. They stumble at
the message of Christ and redemption. They stumble at Him being made
sin. They say, no, He wasn't made
sin. God said He was. God Almighty said that I made
the righteousness of Christ in Him. The righteousness of God
in Him. God said I am. They stumble like
that. I was going home the other day
and I read a license plate. Somebody passed me by and it
said, I love Jesus, do you? And I drove about 40 feet. I
got to thinking about it. And I thought, well, if you mean
the Lord Jesus Christ, if you mean the Lord Himself, the Master,
the Lord of glory, the Lord Jesus of this Bible,
the eternal surety of the sheep, if you mean the Lord Jesus Christ
that assumed flesh and walked as a representative of his elect
and died as their substitute and put away their guilt and
was buried with them and they with him and they were raised
with him and that God justified him or declared him absolutely
righteous, free from sin and us with him. If you're talking
about the Lord Jesus Christ, whoever liveth to make intercession
for his people, the great high priest who intercedes now for
his people, if you're talking about the sovereign Lord Jesus
Christ who lived and died for God's elect only and satisfied
Almighty God for them, Yeah, that's the one I love.
If that's not the one you're talking about, we're not talking
about the same person. No. But the path of the just, the path of those who have been
justified, that is declared righteous by the washing of the water,
that is, the blood of Christ Himself, the justified ones,
those that Almighty God will not impute sin to. If you're talking about those
that the law looks at in Christ and says, no record. If you're talking about those
who have been adopted By Almighty God, adopted in Christ, brand new birth certificates.
New birth certificates. No record. Just before God. The path of the just is as the
shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. I read a little illustration
the other day that Mr. Spurgeon, I shared this with
Carl and Iblew. Years ago, Mr. Spurgeon said
there was a woman that the Lord had given a heart to want to
do what she could. Somebody needed something. She
gave them what she had. She tried to be an encouragement. She'd go around and if she didn't
have anything, Kind words. Somebody gave her something.
She tried to find somebody that needed it more than she did.
Gave what she could. This sweet lady, she got sick. Someone came to visit her there
in the hospital. Fanny was her name, I think Mr.
Spurgeon said. This person said, well, Fanny,
if you For years, you're just always so vibrant. You're just
always going around just visiting and giving and helping and doing.
And now you're not able to do that anymore. She said, oh, well,
no, I'm all right. She said for years
the Lord said, Fanny, go minister to this one. Fanny, go talk to
this one. Fanny, just give them what you
can. Fanny, do this. And she said,
now, She said, what the Lord says to me is, Fanny, you lay
on this bed and cough. So she said, I just lay here
and cough. That's what I do. The way, the path of the just
is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the
perfect day. John 11 and 9 says, If any man
walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light
of this world. Christ is the light. That just
man made righteous by the righteousness of Christ imputed to him. He walks in Christ. His walk shineth more and more unto that perfect day, that perfect
day that is soon to come. It just, there they are, just
sinners saved by the grace of God. Just sinners saved by the
grace of God. It was the objects of God's mercy. And the older they get and the
more frail they get, the weaker they get, the tighter they get,
it becomes clearer and clearer. what the Lord's done for them. They're just stars. Scripture says that they've suffered. Scripture says this of them.
It says this world wasn't worthy of them. What is all of their
merit? Him. We see Jesus. Oh, the wonder
to have Him teach us. I needed to hear this this morning.
Marvin, don't walk in the path of evil.
Don't disbelieve me. Hear my voice. You that believe. This is a word of comfort He's
quite aware of where we are. He knows that we are dust. Lord,
teach me of thyself. Keep me by your power and grace
for your honor and for my good. Amen.