Proverbs 16:17, Are You On The Highway Of Life?

October 28, Proverbs 16:17

James 2:14-26; 1 Pet. 2:9-12 “Not too Strict Creed but too loose practice is the greatest blight on the Gospel.”

Are You On The Highway Of Life?

There are By-ways where all travel occasionally, but the Highway is the road on which a person is most commonly found. We all are travelers, pilgrims, on this Road, but in which direction are you moving, to Life or to Death?

1. The Sin-Departing Way: The highway of the righteous is to depart from evil. We do not need to be reminded that beneath all the veneer of progress, the world is a very wicked place. Sin takes a thousand forms and knows no mercy. We live amidst a veritable Babylon of humanity. Only in the Bible does man find the rule to determine what is right or wrong, and only in the Bible do we learn the way of escape. Paul sums up its message beautifully. It is, Repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21). Here is the upright man. He, too, was once an inhabitant, like Lot, of the cities of the plain. He too saw and knew their corruption. Yet, he has been taken from that pit. His goings have been set on a new road. Now restored to life from the dead, ransomed from the slave-markets of sin, he is set on the Highway that takes him from it all to the City of God. He hates sin in his heart, but still daily feels its yoke, the down-drag of the flesh. He is not yet perfect, but his whole mind-set and direction has been turned around. This Road is still sometimes rough, but his back is toward “the city of destruction” and his eye is fixed on “yonder shining light.” Isaiah says this Highway is the way of Holiness: the unclean shall not pass over it…; but the redeemed shall walk there (35:8-9). Yes, his goal is certain!

2. The Soul-Preserving Way: He that keepeth his way preserveth his soul. Man has or is a soul, that something which survives even the Last Enemy. Every tribe testifies to this fact in theory, but in practice most ignore it. Their interests are on material things. Matter not Spirit controls. A sentimental experience of “something” is all that is necessary to save souls, so we are assured. Much evangelicalism today delights in playing down the importance of doctrine. This is true of the older isms, and certainly of the newest isms like Vineyardism and Promise-Keeperism. Doctrine is swept aside as unimportant, even as a hindrance, but how, then, does one preserve his soul? Does not soul-preservation depend on right conduct, keeping his way? “The enemy finds it easier to inject impurity into the life than speculative error into the creed. A life going astray makes shipwreck of the faith. When conduct becomes impure, your belief will not continue sound” (Arnot). A strict creed is only valid when it produces straight practice. But, by the same token, a loose creed can only result in a loose life. “Count nothing small that hinders the completeness or consistency of profession” (Bridges). Let the holiness of your conduct be the proof of the worthiness of your creed. “True doctrine is necessary to salvation, because it is the only way of reaching righteousness” (Arnot). Since the soul is the man, “if the soul be lost, the man is lost” (Flavel). Therefore, keep the way, and you will keep your soul.

Thought: “Live your own life, and you will die your own death” (Anon.).

Prayer: Lord, help me make my conduct support my creed.