Series “Are We There Yet” Sermon #4 “The Way”

Sermon Notes: The Way
Sunday March 6th, 2022
Impact Church London

Recap: Where is There? 

“There” is arrived at by us being his witnesses. 

Acts 1:8
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Need to know where there is, but  also have to know the way to get there. 

Intro: The Way 

Psalms 103:7
He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.

Isaiah 55:8-9
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.”

God’s ways can seem strange, counterintuitive, and even directly opposed to our ways of doing things and getting places. 

Proverbs 14:12
“There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.”

Isaiah 53:6 ESV
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Old Testament the people of God knew something was off. 

Psalm 86:11
Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.

Way: derek ( דֶּרֶךְ ): way, road, distance, journey, manner (and method) to get somewhere. 

Sermon: The Way

The early Church became known as those who were followers of “The Way.” 

Acts 9:1-2
Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way…”

In Paul we see the conflict of one view of Gods ways, verses God’s actual ways. Paul was not alone in this conflict. 

Acts 19:9
But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way…”

What was at stake here? The answer to the questions, what are God’s ways? How does he do what he does? What is the way that he wants us to live? What is the way in which he accomplishes his purpose in our lives? 

Acts 24:14
“But this I admit to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect I do serve the God of our fathers, believing everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets”

Israel had tradition, heritage, law, a system of worship given to them by God. They thought that what they had represented the fullness of God’s ways for them, not realizing they only saw in part.

John 1:17
For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 

Deuteronomy 31:9
So Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. 

1 Corinthians 9:9
For it is written in the Law of Moses…

Matthew 19:8
He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way.

Jesus seems to say that at the very least, some of what was written in the law came from what Moses allowed or permitted, not necessarily God.

Matthew 5:21-22
“You have heard that it was said to those of old…But I say to you…” 

Matthew 5:27-28
You have heard that it was said to those of old…But I say to you…”

Jesus changed the law, said it was inadequate, and let them know that something else was going on.

Zeal, volume, will power, conviction, none of these alone are evidence that you are walking God’s path. You can be seriously committed to error!

Romans 7:12,14
Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good…For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin”

1 Timothy 1:8
But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully…

John 5:46
For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me.

Matthew 11:13
“For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John…”

Luke 24:44
Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

John 5:39-40
You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.

The law, the prophets, the writings, and all that they prescribed and represented, were not God’s ways, not his path to get us to his destination for our lives. They were humanity’s religious path. 

Amos 5:21-24
“I hate, I despise your feast days, And I do not savor your sacred assemblies.  Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs, For I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments. But let justice run down like water, And righteousness like a mighty stream.

God’s not into the very things the law prescribes, not just in ritual, in sacrifice, in worship, all ceremonial laws as well as social and moral laws, but also in personal conduct.  No aspect of the law represented his way. 

Even if you do good according to the keeping of the moral law, you are still self-righteous, you are still acting out of the knowledge of good and evil, and your good deeds are originating in your flesh, your self, not his indwelling Spirit.  The law is applied by effort and personal willpower and strength. The life of the Spirit, and all its morality, is walked out by faith. 

Galatians 3:21-25
21 Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. 22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

JESUS ALONE IS GOD’S  WAY, NOT THE LAW!

That means not the moral law, the civil law of our governments, the ritualistic laws, the ceremonial law. None of it can produce God’s righteousness. 

John 14:6
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Isaiah 64:6
But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.

Galatians 3:3
Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?

Acts 13:38-41
Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.

Jesus, God’s path…

Lets’ repent, let’s think again about the path we are on and how to get to God’s best. 

Ezekiel 18:30 ESV
“Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways…”

Isaiah 55:7 ESV
Let the wicked forsake his way…”

We are called to forsake our ways characterized by trying to earn God’s best, his blessing, his salvation, answers to prayers, and by trying to walk our own path our own way. Its a call to see that Jesus is God’s way! 

This is what they missed in Isaiah! This is what they didn’t see about God’s ways being higher than our ways:

Isaiah 55:1
“Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price.

Romans 9:16
“So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.”

2 Corinthians 1:20
For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.

1 Corinthians 1:30
But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—

God has placed us in Him, and in Him the promises are yes and amen! 

Final word about the Way… we have arrived! 

Psalms 84:5-6
Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, Whose heart is set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, [weeping] They make it a spring; The rain also covers it with pools.

Summary:

Are we there yet? Jesus is God’s path, he is God’s way, so yes, we are there! Are we on a journey in life that will take us to new places like 1200 Commissioners? Yes! But we are on a journey of dispensing blessings not earning them. 

Colossians 2:10
“and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.”

Isaiah 55:1-3,8
Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you— The sure mercies of David… my ways are not your ways says the Lord. 

Sermon Notes – The Way PDF

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