I Am the Way Pt.2
DEUTERONOMY 8:5-10
5 Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee. (A child of God doesn’t get away with things like a non-child of God)
6 Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.
7 For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;
8 A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; (look at the prosperity of the destination that the Lord has planned for us if we will only but walk in His ways)
9 A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.
10 ¶ When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.
JOHN 14:5-6
5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? (this is the same question that we have about life today – “how can we know the way”)
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
I Am the Way Pt.2 – Bible lesson cont.
Way = Greek word - hodos {hod-os'} 1b) a travellers way, journey, travelling, direction
2) a course of conduct, a way of thinking, feeling, deciding
Recap from last week..
If you have two dots on a page, and one dot represents where you are, and the other dot represents your destination of where you want to go, and you have to go there by a straight line, then how many ways are there to get to your destination? Only one way.
- There are 3 things that Jesus said of himself - that he is the “Way” and that he is the “Truth” and that he is the “Life”, and we know that he is also the straight path.
And we also know that he is the word, and therefore His word that is His way, His truth, and His life, for he is the word.
PSALM 119:105
105 ¶ Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
You need a lamp when it is dark – so from the cradle to the grave your life is filled with darkness because you cannot see what is ahead of you in the pathway of life, that is why you need the leadership of the word which will show by its light the way to go in life to get to your destination)
PSALM 32:8
8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
**His eyes are his prophet’s that come with the word for the age, that’s what gives you eyesight for the age that you live in, to see how to get to the Promised Land for your age. And so that is why God sent a Moses, God guided them with his eye, his seer, his prophet, and that is why God sent a William Branham in this age, to guide us by the word to our Promised Land.
Leadership and life come by the word.
JOHN 6:63b
63 … the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
- It is amazing how that most people will believe a lie a 100 times easier than they will believe the truth of God’s word.
They will believe that Eve ate apples and laugh in disbelief at the truth of the serpent seed.
From last week we found out that it is not that people don’t want to get to God, but what they struggle with is the Way.
- Cain’s problem was not that he didn’t want to worship God; his problem was that he wanted to do it by his own way, and even after he was told by God the correct way, he refused it because he was not willing to surrender his way to God’s way, that is the problem with every denomination today, they have their own way, but you will either come by God’s way of his revealed word for your age, or not at all.
- Queen Vashti wanted her own way – and she was dismissed from being queen.
- Naaman wanted to wash in the river of his own choice that he picked out.
- Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh as God commanded him, he wanted to go his own way by taking a ship to Tarshish, but he didn’t get there.
- Sampson wanted his own way by having the philistine girl Delilah as his girlfriend – and we all know what happened to him.
- Sarah believed in God, but she tried to bring His promise to pass by her own way of thinking when she introduced Hagar to be Abraham’s wife – but God had a much higher way, but she couldn’t wait.
- The Prodigal son, he thought his way would lead him to paradise, to the promised land of happiness and wealth, but his way led him to a pig pen.
PROVERBS 16:25
25 ¶ There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Man by his intellect thinks that his way is above the way of God, and so he is unwilling to trust in the leadership of the Lord by his word - it is a lack of surrender of self will to the will of God
PROVERBS 14:14a
14 ¶ The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways:
That is how you can easily identify a person that is backslidden - they will be filled with their own ways and ideas contrary to the word.
PSALM 119:9
9 ¶ Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.
It is the word that reveals to us the correct pathway as we travel along life’s journey to our destination, and we are all trusting that our destination will end in the Promised Land that is flowing with milk and honey, and that is actually God’s intention for us and for our lives – but it is always our own way that gets in the way and keeps us from getting there.
ISAIAH 55:9
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
- Notice how that ways and thoughts are connected together.
MATTHEW 6:33
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
But many don’t want to get there by the path of seeking God first in their lives. People want to get to prosperity or to health or to financial freedom, or whatever else by their own path of how we think it would be best to get there.
***So we want to look at how Moses in his natural life was on a journey to a promised land of milk and honey and prosperity – and that is what we all desire if we are honest, but because he did something along the journey by his own way that was contrary to the word, he failed to make it to his destination – so if this applied to Moses, then it will certainly apply to us as we walk down the pathway of our lives, because God does not change his mind about his word.
Opening scripture
DEUTERONOMY 8:5-8
5 Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee.
6 Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.
7 For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land (that is what the leadership of the word will do for you if you will follow it correctly – it will bring you to a good land), a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;
8 A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;
PSALM 119:105
105 ¶ Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
A light will guide you in darkness to let you see the correct way to travel ahead to guide you to your promised land.
**If you want to enter into the promise land of a good marriage – then there is a way set out by God to do that and to come into that Promised Land.
*If you want to come into a land of financial freedom, then there is a way set out by God in the scriptures for you to do that.
**If you want to be delivered, saved, or healed, then there is a way that God has made clear for us to come into the promised land of those things.
If you want to make the rapture, then there is the way of the shout, voice, and trump, these are the waypoints along the straight way, so you must first recognize the shout of the message and progress from there, that is the only way.
- So in our lives we must watch carefully how we come into things, that we come into things correctly by the word according to the scriptures.
God is no respecter of persons when it comes to the right way – that is why he said “I AM THE WAY”
Moses got into trouble along the journey, not because he brought water from the rock, but because he did it by his own way that was different to what God had instructed him to do.
NUMBERS 20:8-12
8 Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.
9 And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him.
10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?
11 And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. (Notice – in his anger he failed to do it by the way that God had told him to do it, and God called it unbelief)
12 And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.
Sanctify = to be honoured, so Moses also dishonoured the Lord by doing it the wrong way. The bible tells us that when Moses smote the rock the second time instead of speaking to the rock, that he disbelieved, he dishonoured the Lord, he rebelled against the Lord, and he trespassed against the Lord – he did all these four things in this one act of doing what God said, but doing it by his own way.
**Notice carefully, it was not the magnitude of Moses sin that kept him from entering the Promised Land, but it was the nature of his sin - you can’t do it your own way and make it.
***So the reason that many people fail to come into their promise lands along their pathways of life, is because of the same reason that Moses failed to enter into his promised land – you try to do it by your own leadership and way.
NUMBERS 27:12-14
12 ¶ And the LORD said unto Moses, Get thee up into this mount Abarim, and see the land which I have given unto the children of Israel.
13 And when thou hast seen it, thou also shalt be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother was gathered. (He looked over into it, but he never possessed it. Was he saved? Yes, was he still God’s prophet? Yes, will he be with God in eternity? Yes – but he failed in this life because of disobedience.
Jonah didn’t lose his salvation, but he got into big trouble along the way because of his disobedience)
14 For ye rebelled against my commandment in the desert of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at the water before their eyes: that is the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.
DEUTERONOMY 32:51-52
51 Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of MeribahKadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel.
52 Yet thou shalt see the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel.
*** If Moses was kept out of his promised land by doing things his own way contrary to the commandment of God, then doing things your own way will also keep you from possessing your Promised Land or God is not God.
JOHN 10:1
1 ¶ Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
The scripture is very strong on “coming into the things of God by the correct way”, which is by the correct door of the commandment of truth.
** In Luther’s day, the way was by the “Just shall live by Faith”, in Wesley’s day it was a further work of grace called sanctification, then in the Pentecostal age it was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, but in this age it is full obedience to the word.
I KINGS 13:7-13 ..this is the story of the young prophet and the old prophet.
7 And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward.
8 And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place:
9 For so was it charged me by the word of the LORD, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest.
10 So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel. (The whole point of this was about the way that he was to return – like the three wise men that came to see Jesus, they were told to go home by another way)
11 ¶ Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel: the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father.
12 And their father said unto them, What way went he? For his sons had seen what way the man of God went, which came from Judah.
13 And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they saddled him the ass: and he rode thereon,
What happens is that the old prophet tells the young prophet that an angel of the Lord told him that it was ok for him to come to his house to eat and drink, but he lied to him – because we know that God never changes his mind about his word.
I KINGS 13:20-21
20 And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came unto the prophet that brought him back:
21 And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and hast not kept the commandment which the LORD thy God commanded thee,
22 But camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the LORD did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers.
23 ¶ And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, to wit, for the prophet whom he had brought back.
24 And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase.
He never made it to his destination because of disobedience.
JOHN 10:9
9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
The truth is the door and the way. Christ is all three. “I am the way, the truth, and the life”
MATTHEW 22:10-13
10 So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. (Notice that this is referring to this end time age under the gathering of the bride unto the marriage – the marriage is the final destination of a relationship between a man and a woman, because it is when the two become one by their agreement by their word)
11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? (In other words – “What way did you come in; if you had come in the correct way at the correct door you would have been furnished with a wedding garment”) And he was speechless.
13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Notice that he wanted to be a part of that group, but he was disqualified because he came in by the wrong way and not by the word for the age)
- That is why we must be very careful to see that we come into the things of this hour by the right way that God has instructed us for this season, and that is by the word.
“I Am the Way” said Jesus
Notice – Not “I am a Way”, But “I am THE Way”. There is only one way in this hour, and that is the way of the revealed word of this hour.
People want to prosper in life in the natural, but they don’t want to come into it God’s way, they try to do it in their own way and that is why they fail to possess their personal promised lands.
We want to walk in God’s provided way for our lives, and that is by the truth of the revealed word of this hour.
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E-5 … There's always an approach, a provided approach to...
God has in two ways of all things, that's a right way and a wrong way. And your way and my way is the wrong way. God's way is always the right way. No matter how unright it seems to us, yet God's ways are true and right. They're past understanding...
*If we choose our own way contrary to the word, then it proves that we don’t really believe the word and accept God’s leadership in our lives
But if we do things the way of God according to his word by simple obedience to that word, then God is obligated to work it all out for us, and then he can lead us to all the good things of what he desires for us.
“a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;
8 A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;