Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).

Jesus died to provide the way to God. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

“He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (1 John 5:12).

Find the Way

The way to God is to believe in Jesus Christ, receive Him as Lord and Saviour of our lives, and obey Him.

“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36).

“He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).

“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

Walk in the Way

We must continue to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and find fellowship with faithful believers in Him.

“He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16).

“They continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2:42).

“If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31, 32).

The writer concluded that we are a nation of speeders and of excuses. He asked the question, “Why do we speed?” and proceeded to give five answers to that question. Interestingly enough, if you replace the word “speed” in his list of reasons with “sin,” it very well describes why people sin. It is serious to make up excuses for speeding on the highway. It is even more serious to make excuses for sinning and rebelling against the God of the universe.

1. Why do we speed (sin)? Because everyone else does, including our leaders.

The writer of the speeding article noted that a former governor of South Dakota is known as a speeder. He had received a dozen speeding tickets and had been involved in a half-dozen accidents. The writer noted that there is little or no stigma in speeding any more because “everybody does it.”

The Bible says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Yes, everybody does it, but that does not excuse us in the eyes of a righteous God. The Bible says, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20).

2. Why do we speed (sin)? Because we’re sure we won’t get hurt.

Just ask the people who have been in accidents and injured for life. They will say that they always thought it would be somebody else, not them. Officials can change the speed limits, but they cannot change the laws of physics which dictate that the force of a crash increases dramatically as the speed increases.

That is the way it is with sin against God? The wages of sin is death. The Proverbs writer notes that the way of the transgressors is hard. If we give in to sin, we become slaves to Satan. “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).

3. Why do we speed (sin)? Because we think we have a good excuse.

People make all kinds of excuses for speeding. “I was late to an important appointment. I had to meet the midnight curfew.” The article writer noted than many newer excuses are even flimsier. “I felt in the mood. It feels good to do it.” One speeder however said, “It feels good when you are doing it.” The implication was that the pleasure is only transient.

The Bible says that sinners are without excuse. “The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20, 21).

4. Why do we speed (sin)? Because we think we have the right to do it!

It used to be that people tried to deny that they were speeding. The speedometer was off or they were not really going the speed that the radar indicated that they were. More and more people today are denying that the state has a right to stop them.
One older man told the newspaper reporter that his trip home gets long. For years he has hit 100 mph on the freeway every day on his way home. He thinks he will keep getting away with it. He made it seem so “right.”

The Bible says about sin, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 16:25).

The Bible teaches that we are not our own. We are first of all accountable to God. Do we think about that when we are tempted to speed or to commit any other sin? “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19).

5. Why do we speed (sin)? Because nobody’s “gonna” stop us.

Policemen are very frustrated. As one officer noted, “If you stop a guy going 75 you’re going to miss one going 90 or 100.” In many areas where the speed limit is 60 or 65, significant enforcement does not begin until 80 miles per hour.

Sadly, many people think that no one will stop them from sinning either. However, the Bible says, “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14).

We cannot hide from God. He calls us to repent of our sins and turn in obedience to Him. It is the only way to find deliverance from the consequences of sin in this life and the life to come.

-by Roger L. Berry

Many are choosing Christ today,
Turning from all their sins away;
Heaven shall their happy portion be;
Where will you spend eternity?

Leaving the strait and narrow way,
Going the downward road today,
Sad will their final ending be,
Lost through a long eternity!

Repent, believe, this very hour,
Trust in the Saviour’s grace and power;
Then will you joyous answer be,
Saved through a long eternity!

Eternity! Eternity!
Where will you spend eternity?

-by Elisha A. Hoffman

Recently, I asked a few jail inmates for a one-word description of sin. Their answers: drugs, alcoholism, lust, sexual immorality. Not a bad description. I didn’t expect such a stark admission of sins that strike so close to home.

But there is a deeper reason for raising the issue. The Garden of Eden had every kind of good tree needed for food. Yet, through the tempter, Eve came up with three logical reasons to eat of the only forbidden tree in the whole place: 1. Good for food. 2. Pleasant to look at. 3. Desirable to make one wise. She bartered the wisdom of the Creator for the “better” offer of wisdom from fruit. (This sort of bad logic is on a par with atheists and evolutionary scientists who gaze deeply into old fossil bones in search of non-existent evidence that God doesn’t exist). Then, in a single act of disobedience, Eve (with her husband, Adam) forfeited not only divine wisdom, but the place of peace and security under the protective shadow of the Almighty.

Obedience would have saved them. Logic apart from God, could not and never will. God did not demand that they understand. He did ask that they obey. Thus the greater definition of sin: sin is the transgression of the law of God. It is the claim that I know better than God. This is arrogance on the level of a three-year-old demanding equality with his parents.

I suppose that many “Christians” give grudging assent to the concept that the Bible should be believed and obeyed, though there is little evidence that it actually happens on any wide scale. For many, who live in the darkened corridors of lying, cheating, or committing adultery, the transgression of Adam and Eve would hardly amount to a blip on the radar screen of conscience. Yet that single transgression brought sin into a perfect world and, death by sin, upon all men.

The testimony of Scripture is clear. Apart from obedience, and thus the transmission of grace and peace from God, there is no relationship with God. The plea of Jesus is clear: Why do you call me Lord, and do not the things that I say? And in another place: If you love me, keep my commandments. What is the difference between the wise man who built his house upon a rock, versus the foolish man who built his house upon the sand? The foolish man heard the Word of God, but didn’t do it, while the wise man heard and did the will of the Father in heaven. Thus, hope of heaven is the exclusive domain of those who hear the Word of God and do it. To the many who profess to know God, yet have not submitted their lives to obedience, Jesus says, “depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

Perhaps we would concede that God is to be obeyed. But we tend to forget that the authority of God is over us every day in very practical ways. Father and mother are God’s authority. The husband is God’s authority over the wife. Presidents and kings are God’s authority over nations. The boss at work is God’s authority. The sheriff and the highway patrolman are God’s authority. Church leaders are God’s authority. By now, I suppose, many either cringe or mock. Or, maybe we could consider their authority so long as these authorities are of good character, and so long as the instructions given are reasonable, and are pleasant to the eyes (Genesis 3:6), good for food, or desired to make one wise. But submission is not based on whether authority is agreeable to us. It is measured on whether we are agreeable to authority.

Those who dwell in divine wisdom know when obedience to human authority would lead into sin. As a Jewish captive in Babylon, Daniel knew that King Nebuchadnezzar’s meat and wine would defile his conscience. Thus he refused it. Later under Darius, he knew full well that faithful worship of God was the path to the lion’s den. But in the very need to disobey, he did not reject the authority of his kings. Instead, we encounter Daniel building a truly caring, respectful relationship with both of these kings. There is no other way these pagan kings would have been led to worship and acknowledge the God of heaven. May we carry the same Biblical principles into our relationships to authority.

As a culture we are ever bombarded with the supposed wisdom of forbidden fruit. While the west is focused on the “rights” of democracy and freedom, the very institutions of democracy are being undermined. The greatness of a nation is not defined by voting rights and individualism, but by integrity, respect for others, and godliness In fact, democracy is more dependent on personal integrity and righteousness of her people, than is any other form of government. What we are seeing today is that the ideal conditions of our nation and culture are eroding and headed to collapse under the weight of moral failures, inherent in sin and disobedience.

Rebellion is always the path of sin. Its energy is wasted in confusion, destruction, and division. Subjection to authority is unifying and constructive. It reveals the Spirit of Jesus Christ and magnifies our God. Too many think of subjection as the function of weak character. The opposite is true. It is meek character. The lives of the greatest of men, such as Noah and Moses, were marked with following God’s instructions exactly.

God would spare us with repentance, and with a return to glory in the wisdom of His Word, obedience to His commands, and reverence and respect toward all authority.

-by Lester Troyer

I suppose most people had good intentions. But it seemed a bit ironic to my fourteen-year-old mind. I guess I never knew untill then how much Americans cared about God. I would never have known it if they hadn’t put out all those signs.

Think about it. Is God blessing America now that people have started asking Him to? Does saying it make it happen? Hasn’t God already blessed America and other places in many ways? Will God bless sin in the live sof those who say “God bless America”?

Let’s think about some events since 9-11 that have received national and worldwide attention.

After 9-11: (Evidences of sin among people who give lip service to God)

• The economy slumped
• Anthrax (remember that word?) killed a number of people.
• Civilians started dropping dead from a mysterious murderer’s bullet.
• Bullets again began whizzing, killing a woman and punching holes in glass and steel on 1-70
• Deranged people killed many at Virginia Tech and in an Amish school, among other places.

God has blessed America with many material things? But can God bless sinful living that plagues America? Think with me for a moment of a nation that . . .

• Removed the God of the Bible and prayers her schools.
• Removed the Ten Commandments from her courts.
• Uses His Name as a curse.
• Permits divorce and remarriage, adultery, and homosexual marriages.
• Teaches the lies of the religion of evolution.
• Has her hands covered with innocent blood from the slaughter of unborn babies.
• Is uncertain whether euthanasia is wrong.

This nation is asking a Holy God to bless her?

If it wasn’t real life, it would be incredible, even humorous. A nation or an individual just can’t do that. You can’t go act like a demon and ask God for His blessing. God is not a politician. He’s not going to be a liar and a hypocrite just to please some nation. He is serious when He says sin is a reproach to a nation. In God’s view, those who live in sin are as bad as murderers and harsh dictators the world condemns. It doesn’t mean God doesn’t love them — surely He does. But their sin and the place they’re headed is all alike to God. They will face the same judgement from God. If you doubt it, read Romans 1 in the Bible.

There’s not a doubt about it. If any nation is going to escape divine revenge for her dastardly conduct, it will need to change. Hollywood and other sinful organizations would go out of business for lack of customers. People are going to have to decide they are not going to condone godless, atheistic, and pagan teachings. They will need to abandon the idea that you can follow any religion, even the religion of evolution, and still wind up in heaven.

We wish the evils of Communism and terrorist organizations would be vanquished. Someday they will. But even history, from the Babylonians to the Romans to our own day, testifies that if we do not take God’s way, and change soon, we will certainly share the same tragic fate.

-by Kendall Miller