Its End is the Way to Death

Proverbs 14 Select verses

2 Whoever walks in uprightness fears the Lord,

    but he who is devious in his ways despises him.

5 A faithful witness does not lie,

    but a false witness breathes out lies.

6 A scoffer seeks wisdom in vain,

    but knowledge is easy for a man of understanding.

8 The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way,

    but the folly of fools is deceiving.

9 Fools mock at the guilt offering,

    but the upright enjoy acceptance.

10 The heart knows its own bitterness,

    and no stranger shares its joy.

11 The house of the wicked will be destroyed,

    but the tent of the upright will flourish.

12 There is a way that seems right to a man,

    but its end is the way to death.

14 The backslider in heart will be filled with the fruit of his ways,

    and a good man will be filled with the fruit of his ways.

16 One who is wise is cautious and turns away from evil,

    but a fool is reckless and careless.

27 The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life,

    that one may turn away from the snares of death.

Regardless of what you may be told at most funerals, at least here in America, not everyone goes to heaven. Not everyone who has died is now in heaven with God. According to the Scriptures, not even everyone who professes faith in Jesus Christ on this earth will have heaven as their eternal destiny when they leave this earth. And that is because genuine faith in Jesus Christ dies with Christ to sin, not just once, but in daily practice, and it follows our Lord in walks of obedience to his commands (Luke 9:23-26).

For it is whoever forsakes his sins and walks (in conduct, in practice) in uprightness who honors the Lord with his life, and who follows the Lord in obedience, and who has genuine faith in Jesus Christ resulting in salvation from sin and eternal life with God. But if someone professes faith in Jesus Christ but then does not forsake his sins, but continues in his devious ways, he is one who despises the Lord and his commands and thus he does not know the Lord, in truth, and thus he is not in true fellowship with God. 

Yet, here in America so many people are being lied to, and they are being told that all they have to do is just make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ or to “pray the prayer” or to acknowledge what Jesus did for us on that cross, and now all their sins are forgiven, and heaven is secured for them, and it can’t be taken away from them, regardless of how they live. But the Scriptures don’t include “regardless of how you live.” They teach us that how we live determines where we will spend eternity – in heaven or in hell.

And so we have many professers of faith in the Lord Jesus who have not had heart changes, but they are still walking according to the flesh in deliberate and in habitual sin against the Lord, presuming upon the Lord that all his promises to his faithful ones also apply to them who ignore his commandments and who reject the thought of dying to their sin so that they can now honor God with their bodies. And that is because they are deceiving themselves so that they can continue in their sinful practices.

But the Scriptures clearly teach that the evidence that we are of true faith in Jesus Christ is that we obey our Lord and his commandments (New Covenant), that we die daily to sin and to self, and that we now walk in holiness and righteousness, in walks of moral purity, honesty, faithfulness, and in self-control (under God’s control). For if sin is what we obey, and not obedience to our Lord, and not holy living, we will not inherit eternal life with God, regardless of what we profess with our lips.

[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Corinthians 5:15; Galatians 5:16-21; Galatians 6:7-8; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 10:23-31; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]   

So, the following song presents us with the idea of a person whose loved ones have gone on to heaven through death, and the person is missing those who he lost to death. And so the question is being posed to the person who is still on this earth that when that time comes for him to leave this earth, will he join them in heaven? And then the question is asked if he loves the hymns of heaven or are songs of earth his choice? Will he also go to heaven? Or will he die in his sins because he would not die to his sins?

And that really is a question for all of us. Do we love this world and our sins more? Or do we love God more? Are our lives surrendered over to the ways of the world and of the flesh, or are our lives surrendered to the will and purpose of God for our lives in walks of holiness and in obedience to our Lord’s commands? For Jesus said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING the will of God the Father who is in heaven (see Matthew 7:21-23; 1 John 3:4-10).

Will the Circle Be Unbroken 

By Ada R. Habershon, 1907 / Charles H. Gabriel, 1907

There are loved ones in the glory,

Whose dear forms you often miss;

When you close your earthly story,

Will you join them in their bliss?

In the joyous days of childhood,

Oft they told of wondrous love,

Pointed to the dying Savior;

Now they dwell with Him above.

You remember songs of heaven

Which you sang with childish voice,

Do you love the hymns they taught you,

Or are songs of earth your choice?

You can picture happy gath’rings

’Round the fireside long ago,

And you think of tearful partings,

When they left you here below.

One by one their seats were emptied,

One by one they went away;

Here the circle has been broken—

Will it be complete one day?

Will the circle be unbroken

By and by, by and by?—

In a better home awaiting

In the sky, in the sky.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yUxy-fd1FQ

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