In his sermon titled 'The Two Paths,' Peter Allison explores Proverbs 4, emphasizing the contrast between the path of righteousness and the path of wickedness. He underscores the importance of following the path of wisdom and truth, which leads to long life and blessings, as promised in the Bible. The sermon details the characteristics of the wicked path, including its addictive nature and the tendency of the wicked to proselytize, particularly targeting children. Allison warns of the dangers of denying absolute truth and the habitual nature of sin. He emphasizes the significance of modeling righteousness through example, particularly by parents and leaders, and highlights the relationship between sanctification and grace. The sermon concludes with the assertion that Jesus is the true path and light, and that following Him leads to spiritual fulfillment and preparation for the life to come.

Please turn with me in your Bible to Proverbs chapter 4. As you continue our look at this lecture. Proverbs 4, I'll begin reading at verse 10. Hear my son and receive my sayings, and the years of your life will be many. I have taught you in the way of wisdom.

I have led you in right paths. When you walk, your step will not be hindered, and when you run, you will not stumble. Take firm hold of instruction. Do not let go. Keep her for she is your life.

Do not enter the path of the wicked. And do not walk in the way of evil. Avoid it. Do not travel on it. Turn away from it and pass on, for they do not sleep unless they have done evil.

And their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is like darkness. They Do not know what makes them stumble.

Thus far the reading of God's Word. The grass weathers and the flower fades, and all flesh is as the grass of the field, but the Word of our God endures forever. Almighty Father in Heaven, please speak to us. We ask humbly, prostrate before You. Open our eyes and our ears that we might behold wonderful things in Your law, that we may see You as You are reflected and revealed in it.

In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Well, we are on the sixth lecture. You probably have picked up the pattern by now. Each one of these lectures, each one of these talks begins with the familiar refrain, hear my son. My son this.

My son, don't forget. My son, listen. We have now the sixth such talk. Hear my Son and receive my sayings. And the years of your life will be many.

This is the third time. The third time. And we're only in the fourth chapter. That Proverbs has told us, if we listen, if we follow, if we obey, if we walk in the way of truth, in the way of righteousness, in the way of justice, that there will be many blessings, but specifically the years of our life will be many. Not just the generic, it will be well, although it talks that way, but specifically I'm saying here a promise of a long life.

The very promise that was attached to the fifth commandment, that those who follow, those who honor their fathers and mothers would live long in the land that God is giving them. A promise that is expanded in the New Testament. That very promise here is added to those who hear the words of their Father. To the sons and daughters who honor their father and mother. And this is the third time.

You can go back to chapter 3, and it's mentioned in verse 2, and in 16 specifically. Long life. Many years. But this morning, I'm going to look at Another message that is also being presented in the Book of Proverbs, we might call it a meta-message in the Book of Proverbs, because The Proverbs are often written in two contrasting things, one way and another way. One type of person and another type of person.

The wise person is this, the foolish is that. And we have that in our text this morning. The Bible very clearly lays out two distinct paths, two distinct ways of walking. There aren't countless ways. There isn't just one way that everybody's on it, and we're all going to the same destination.

That's the socialist idea. That we're all on the same road, we all share in the same thing. We're all the brotherhood of all men. That's not in the sense of family. That's not the message of Proverbs.

The overarching message of Proverbs that's very clearly and crisply presented in our text is that there are two ways. There are two ways. There are two types of people, the wise and the foolish. And only two types. Every person is one or the other.

Every path that we're on is either the path of truth and righteousness or the path of wickedness. One of the first ways, characteristics of the path of wickedness is to simply deny this message that's clearly, this contrast that is clearly presented in this text. As we read it, two ways. We're to walk in one and we're to not walk in the other. The first characteristic that we'll look at this morning of the wicked way is to simply deny that there is such a thing as a wicked way.

It is a characteristic of the wicked way to say there is no wicked way, everything is relative. There are even commentators on the book of Proverbs who will say that. You have to wonder if they read the book. Everything is not relative. Truth is not relative.

It is not the case that nothing is always true. In fact, this is a good example of irrationality at its best. The way of the wicked is irrational. It is irrational. Because if that statement, that there is nothing that is always true, that everything must admit of some qualification, some exception, if that was the case, then the statement would refute itself.

Because if nothing is always true, like the Word of God, well then that statement would not always be true. And If that statement is not always true, then it refutes itself. That statement can't always be true, in which case there is something that is always true. You see, that is the irrationality of the way of the wicked, to deny that there is an absolute truth, to deny that there is a just way, to deny that the Word of God is always true and endures forever. But let's look also here at these characteristics, another characteristic of the wicked way.

The way of Goodness is addictive. It's habit forming. It says that these people drink the wine of violence. And they cannot sleep unless they make someone to fall. Now what would you say about somebody who could not sleep unless they took a sleeping pill?

Well we would say that they are addicted to sleeping pills. If they cannot sleep unless they take one, then they are addicted to a sleeping pill. Well, what about people who cannot sleep? That's what the Bible says. They cannot sleep.

They do not sleep unless they have done evil. And their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall. Someone who cannot sleep unless they engage in wickedness is somebody who is addicted to wickedness. Sin in the way of evil is habit forming. It's a habit that grows and grows.

The more one gives in to sin, the more one gives in to unrighteousness, the stronger the chains binding you to those sinful habits become. The longer that you walk on this way, the stronger its hold becomes on you. It's also true that the more that we mortify the deeds of the flesh, the weaker the hold they have on us, the less they control us. We are to put to death the deeds of the flesh. We are to not do them.

Because when we give in one time, then it becomes easier to give in the next time, and the next time, and the next time. And before we realize it, we are caught, we are ensnared. The people who live on Skid Row or in the jail didn't get there overnight. They got there because they followed an addictive path. It started out very minor.

When the wrong path deviates away, It doesn't look very far wrong. Bunyan illustrates this very clearly when Christian is walking on the path and it's rough and they see another green meadow And it's right over the ditch at the side of the path. And they think, well, what if we just got on here and walked on this other path? And it's right next to the path we're supposed to be on. It can't be that bad.

And it's a whole lot nicer over there. And so they did, and it just happened that there was a little bridge across the ditch that they were able to get over onto the pasture. And they were walking on it, and it just seemed fine. But they didn't realize that they were gradually diverging. Gradually diverging.

And all of a sudden they became aware that the path they were supposed to be on was nowhere near them. And they didn't know where it was. Sin is addictive. The path of the wicked is habit forming. Chapter 1 started out with people that ran to do evil.

They made haste to shed blood. But now, Solomon is describing somebody who is so addicted to doing evil. It's so ingrained in them. It's so much a part of their life that they cannot sleep. They cannot sleep.

They cannot function unless they do evil. But notice also that the wicked proselytize. They proselytize. They want to make others like themselves. And their sleep is taken away unless, notice here, it's not that they commit evil against somebody, but they can't sleep unless they make somebody else to fall.

They make somebody else to do evil. The wicked want to corrupt everyone else. Make no mistake about this. And one of The fiercest battles that we face today with the efforts of the wicked to proselytize is with our children. Because children are more easily proselytized.

They are more easily instructed and influenced. God made children that way. They are easily taught. They are easily led. They will believe what you tell them until they grow up and find out that what you were telling them is wrong.

Very important that we teach our children the truth. But the wicked proselytize. They aren't content with just teaching their own children. They want everybody else's children to be corrupt. They want everybody to be corrupt like they are.

That battle begins when our children are first born. The wicked today would like to have our children at birth. That was the ideal, the socialist ideal, a hundred years ago. They don't say it so loudly anymore. But they did back in that day.

They did back in that day. The ideal was to have children carted off to a care center to be provided for by professional caregivers from the moment of birth so that mother and father could go off and work in the factory. They wanted to proselytize children from the day they were born. This drive to proselytize is what drove Kinsey. He was a lifelong proselytizer to corrupt everyone and to pervert everyone, and to make the perversions that he followed to be the norm of society.

The books that he wrote that are so foundational to our corrupt laws today were introduced to the market with a fanfare that was only matched by JK Rowling's books about Harry Potter and her world of witchcraft. You remember the great fanfare that would introduce those books here, where people would wait in line for hours and hours in order to be the first one to get one of those books? Well, Kinsey's books on human sexuality were introduced with the same level of fanfare, the same marketing hype. And for that day, if you were to compare, maybe it was even greater. Massive amounts of money, the Rockefeller Foundation, were spent to market that book.

And what were those books? Those books were an attempt to proselytize the world to his perverted way of living. He would conduct interviews and probe into intimate areas of people's lives, especially women. He was trying to desensitize people. He wanted them to talk about their honeymoon, about their marriage, marital life.

He was trying to pervert, corrupt these people that he was interviewing. Everybody that worked for him, he proselytized. He tried to bring them into his, and did, bring them into his perversions. But what's most interesting about a lot of this is the great strides, the great effort that is made to proselytize children. These people don't sleep unless they can somehow corrupt your children.

The 1972 platform of homosexual fornicators called for the abolition of all the laws regarding the age of consent. They didn't make any secret of it. Their platform calls for the abolition of all the laws regarding the age of consent. Now they're at least consistent. If everything is relative, and if something is legal for two people who are 20 and 30, then why can't the same thing be legal between two people who are 20 and 10?

If you grant the logic of the wicked, what they are asking for is at least consistent. They want our children. The wicked want our children. That's why there is a compulsory attendance law. It was passed in this state in 1915.

So don't think that life was better 100 years ago. Actually, that's 100 years ago, exactly. I believe, I believe, I didn't check it, but I believe, if I remember correctly, that our compulsory attendance law is from 1915 that required children to go to school. Why is there a law requiring children to go to school? Is there a law that requires children to sleep in beds?

Is there a law that requires children to eat supper at 8am? No, there aren't laws on these things although those are necessary things. There's a law requiring all children between this age and that age to go to school because they want our children. They want to proselytize them. If they can get them away from the home and out from under the authority of their parents and they have a better chance of making someone fall, and they'll sleep better at night.

That's what the Bible says. Their sleep is taken away unless they make someone else fall. And did you know by the way that that law, just in the last year, I think it was last September, the ages were expanded now, younger and older. Why? Because it's easier to proselytize younger and younger people.

That should be great encouragement to you parents who have children, that you have them from the day they are born. You have a trust. They've been entrusted to you to proselytize, to evangelize, to teach the way of truth. And God has made children able to be taught, willing to be taught from a very young age. Even before they can speak, our children understand the words that we say to them.

And they can begin to obey them even before they can talk. They know what we are talking about. And they are following our example. The wicked want to proselytize, but the wicked also don't perceive themselves to be wicked. They are deceived.

They've deceived themselves. The way of the wicked, it says in verse 19, they do not know what makes them stumble. The way the wicked is like darkness, they do not know what makes them stumble. They are surprised when judgment comes on them. Who, me?

What have I done? Why should this calamity be falling upon me? See those who are in the way of righteousness, when God says, chastening, the Bible says don't despise that. The Lord is teaching us something. He sent it for a purpose.

He sent it to test us. He sent it to try us. He sent it to strengthen us, maybe to make us stronger. And possibly He sent it to us to chasten us for our sin but we know that He has sent it to us to perfect us because we need it but the wicked he doesn't know what makes him to stumble. They are said to walk in darkness.

But darkness is all they know. It's all they have around them. So they don't know that they are in darkness. Because they suppress that truth, they have deceived themselves and convinced themselves that they are not actually walking in darkness. That their way is the way of light and all those who don't follow it are bigots and fools.

The Bible describes such people like that in Isaiah 3. In Isaiah 3. And He describes the daughters of Zion as walking with outstretched necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, making a jingling with their feet. Therefore the Lord will strike with the scab, and the Lord will uncover the secret parts. In that day the Lord will take away the finery and the jingling anklets and the scarves and the crescents and the pendants and the bracelets and the veils and the headdresses and the leg ornaments and the headbands and the perfume boxes and the charms and the rings and the nose jewels, a festal of peril and the mantles and the outer garments and the purses and the mirrors and the fine linen and the turban and the robes, and instead of a sweet smell There will be a stench instead of a sash, a rope.

Instead of well-set hair, baldness. Instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth. And branding instead of beauty. And in that day, seven women will take hold of one man saying, We will eat our own food and wear our own apparel, only let us be called by your name. The wicked think that they are walking in beauty and finery.

And they don't know. They just don't know why they stumble or what makes them stumble. They are lastly walking in the way of darkness. The way of wickedness is a way of darkness. That means it's a way of confusion, a lack of direction.

When you're in the way of darkness, there's no perception about where you are. You're just groping, reaching for what's in front of you. There's no awareness of where you are. And hence, there is no planning for the future. When you're walking in darkness and you can't see the hand that's in front of you, you're not planning for the future.

You don't even know where you are at the moment, at the present. You certainly have no understanding with respect to the direction in which you are going and preparations for what you're going to do when you get there. The way of the wicked is a way of darkness, of confusion and of no future orientation. The way of the just, on the other hand, is contrasted to that, is the path of the just is like the shining sun. It's the way of light.

It's the way of truth. The day shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. Now how do we avoid the way of the wicked? How do we avoid this wicked way, this way of darkness, this way of confusion, this way of addiction, this way of hopelessness, this way of stumbling and not even knowing why you're stumbling, Not even knowing what the trouble is. Just that you're stumbling and in darkness.

What is the way to avoid this? Well we see in verse 11 that Solomon says, hear my Son and receive my sayings, and the years of your life will be many. I have taught you in the way of wisdom, and I have led you in right paths." Solomon is saying that he led his son in right paths. There was a modeling of the way of righteousness. There is the instruction in the way of wisdom, but also there is the example.

There is the example. Notice that word and example. I have taught you in the way of wisdom. I have led you in right paths. The idea of leading somebody is the idea that you're walking that path like they are.

That they are following you as you walk that path. You see, that is very important. It's necessary If we are going to have people who walk in the way of truth and not in the way of wickedness, that we as fathers and mothers we saw last week Model by example the way of righteousness that we lead our children and not just tell them what to do but that we do it for them and that we do it with them so that they can copy our example. But you remember fathers from last week. Fathers is a much bigger idea than just biological.

Fathers speaks to all areas of leadership, all authority. All are called fathers in the Scripture. Counselors. And so we see this same precept in the New Testament where we are instructed to follow the example of our elders as we see the outcome of their faith. We are to follow them.

We are to follow the example of our fathers who are leading in front of us, who are walking the way themselves that they are, the way that we ought to go. Now what happens if you don't have this modeling? What happens if you just have teaching? This is the way you should go. But we're not walking that way ourselves.

We're walking another way. What happens? Well, we've seen recently with the internet, great examples of what happens in those situations. Because the internet is like the second printing press, and it's served to publicize. It can publicize good, it can also publicize evil.

And one of the things that we've seen publicized is the great fallout, the great devastation that is wrought by people who say one thing and do another. You see it in homes. You have this home that looks wonderful. Father and mother sit in church all clean, with bright shiny faces. And The children are there clean with bright shiny faces.

Everything looks wonderful until the children grow up. Then it's like the pressure cooker blew up. The food is splattered all over the kitchen ceiling and the walls and the floor. And it's a mess as the home breaks up. And the first child rebels.

Doesn't want to have anything to do with the way that he was taught growing up. And they leave the home in rebellion. And they follow the path of wickedness. And the Father doesn't know what happened. Well the Bible tells us what happened.

And if you talk to that child, if you're willing to sit down and listen to them, what you'll find is in that home, is that they were taught one way, while their father and mother, or their father, went another way. There wasn't the modeling of the truth. There wasn't the following the path of righteousness, the path of justice by example. That's so very important. The same thing happens with church elders, who are saying one thing, teaching one way, but actually themselves walking another way.

And that's what the internet has brought out as well. The countless number of people who are not walking in the way of truth today because they were taught by somebody who said one thing and did another. Now those people who are not walking in the truth today are responsible for their own wickedness. They are responsible for themselves. But remember, Jesus said it's better that you put a millstone on somebody and cast them into the sea, then that they lead one of the little ones, one of God's people, one of His covenant children, you lead them astray.

Jesus warns teachers, let not many of you, or James did, let not many of you, but it is the words of Jesus, let not many of you be masters, knowing that you have a stricter judgment. Why do you have a stricter judgment? Because teachers, teachers especially, bear a responsibility for their example. And for the devastation that they cause if they teach one thing and do another. Solomon says, I have taught you in the way of wisdom, I have led you in right paths.

In right paths. That is absolutely necessary. Absolutely necessary. If we want to see our children, our biological children and our spiritual sons and daughters walking in the way of truth. But on the negative side, we are commanded to not in the path of the wicked and not be burned by it.

Solomon will say in a couple chapters, can a man put fire in his bosom and not get burned? The answer is of course, no. Can you take a little bit of fire and stick it right on your chest and not get burned? No, you can't. You can't.

So, Solomon says in verse 14, Do not enter the path of the wicked. Do not walk in the way of evil. Avoid it. Do not travel on it. Turn away from it.

Pass on. Warning after warning after warning. Do not enter it. Do not walk in it. Avoid it.

Do not travel on it. Turn away from it. Pass on. Warning after warning after warning. Do not enter it.

Do not walk in it. Avoid it. Do not travel on it. It's an addictive way. And you take one step on it.

And you're going to take a second step, and a third step. Before you know it, you won't know that you're off the path of justice and righteousness. That word avoid is an interesting word. Avoid it. Avoid it.

Avoid it. Avoid it. It means to cast off, to not be restrained. To not be restrained. To be loosed.

We're going to talk a little bit more about that word. I'm going to introduce it here and leave it there. Because we're going to come back to it later in Proverbs. Where In the Proverb that says, where there is no vision, the people perish. It's the same concept that When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, remember the people.

The Bible actually translates it as naked, but what they were is they had cast off restraint. They had cast off restraint. And he's saying the same thing about this path of the wicked. We have to cast it away. Not put it away from us.

Cast it off. Don't travel on it. Don't walk in it. Don't enter it. Don't think about it.

Don't go near it. Think of it like the interchange on the freeway. You know, If you have a regular intersection, you have a stop light. You have to stop and let the other side go. You actually have to cross over that road and mingle a little bit with the traffic there.

But in a freeway, you don't have to do that. You can completely cross over the road without ever any interaction with the traffic on the other road. And that's really what Solomon is saying. Take the overpass over that path. And don't get on it.

Don't enter it. Don't walk in it. Avoid it. Don't travel on it. Don't go near it.

Don't play with it. Don't play with it. You'll get burned. Now some of this sometimes sounds like sanctification by works. That we'll be saved If we can do the right things and we'll go to hell, and I'm not talking about the word sheol or Hades, but rather the abode, the place of everlasting punishment, if we don't do these things.

And it's true that while we are not saved by works, we cannot be saved without them. We have to remember that sanctification is a work of grace. Sanctification is a work of grace. It's a work in that it's an ongoing process, but it's of grace in that it is not accomplished on our own strength. It's not like God saves us by grace and expects us to sanctify ourselves by our own efforts, in our own power.

We are saved by grace and we are sanctified by grace. And so when we read about the path of the just as the shining sun, that shines ever brighter that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day, we need to remember that it is Jesus that is the way. It is Jesus that is the way. Jesus is the path that we are to follow. I actually wanted to talk a minute about that path.

The Bible talks about the word path in a very technical way. This analogy here, where we're not to walk on the path of the wicked, but we are to follow the path of the just. It's picked up in the New Testament. And John the Baptist came saying, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, the path of the Lord. Jesus talked about entering in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there be many that go in, but straight is the gate, and narrow is the way that leads to life.

But this word, this word way, is used in Acts to refer specifically to Christ and following Christ and being a Christian. It's used to describe the church. Paul asked letters from the Pharisees, the chief priests and so on, that he might go to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way he could put him in prison. What was he talking about? Those who were walking in the way of truth, those who were Christians.

And in his testimony later on he said, I persecuted this way unto death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. What was Paul saying when he said he persecuted this way? He wasn't out beating a path. He was out persecuting Christians, persecuting those people who were on the way of justice and righteousness. When Felix heard these things after Paul's testimony, having more perfect knowledge of the way, he deferred them.

What did he know? He knew about Christianity. He understood about the way of truth a little bit more. Romans 3 says that we are all gone out of the way. We haven't followed the way.

We have all gone astray. We've followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness. Peter says, describing apostates, they have forsaken the right way and gone astray. He said It would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than for them to have known it and turned from it. Jude says, woe to them, for they have gone the way of Cain and ran greedily from the error of Balaam.

The New Testament continues this use of the word way to describe those who are following Christ. And so when Jesus came and said, I am the way. To follow the way of justice, of righteousness, of truth is to follow Christ. It's to be in Christ. The path of the just is like the shining sun.

Jesus is also the light of the world. But you know, He also said that we are the light of the world. Jesus said, I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life. But He said, you are the light of the world. You are the salt of the earth.

We are the light as we follow the light of Jesus Christ, as we follow the light of the world, as we are in Christ. We are light. We are a reflector of his light. And it is as we follow him in the way of truth. He is the way.

And so this is not here an instruction on how we, by our own strength, pull ourselves up by our bootstraps to stay upon the way of righteousness. When it teaches us here to receive instruction, and when you run you will not stumble, It's saying that when we are in Christ, when we follow Christ, when His Spirit dwells in us, when He works through us, then We won't stumble. We will mount up with wings as an eagle. We will run and not grow weary. We will walk and not faint.

When you run, you will not stumble. Take firm hold of instruction. Do not let her go. Keep her for she is your life." See, this wisdom, this instruction that we are to lay hold of is in Christ. And in being told to lay hold of it, we are to lay hold of Christ.

We are not saved by works, but without them we cannot be saved. That means those whom Christ has justified, in them He will also work good works. He also sanctifies us. And we can examine ourselves and look at ourselves. Are we walking on the way of truth?

Then that is the evidence of Christ's work in us. And if we're not walking on the way of truth, then we need to repent and cry out to Christ to save us and to sanctify us and to forgive us and to fill us with his Spirit and that he might lead us in the way of truth. This world is preparation for the next world. We won't need marriage in the next world, because we're going to have something better. Jesus said that we don't marry nor are given in marriage in heaven, but are as the angels.

That's not a retrograde. That's not a downgrade from life on earth. That's an upgrade. That's a state far better and far more desirable than the state of marriage that we have now. And the point of marriage now is to show us how wonderful this is.

We're going to sit down one day at the marriage feast with the lamb. But we're not going to be eating mere human food. In the same way, there's no marriage in heaven Because heaven is better. It's far more wonderful, far more glorious. And this stuff on earth is just a foretaste, a foretaste of heaven.

The Lord's Day, the rest we have, the enjoyment of the fellowship of one another is a foretaste of the rest and the fellowship that God is preparing for us in heaven. Marriage is a picture of how Christ relates to the church and the joy and the wonder of it is just a little foretaste of heaven. And the path that we are walking here, the path of righteousness. The path that when we run we won't stumble. The path that is like the shining sun that shines ever brighter under the perfect day.

The works that we have been saved to do. These are just a foretaste, just a foretaste of the fullness that we will know in heaven. The fullness of this path that is in Christ that we will know in heaven. May God give us grace to walk in the path of righteousness this week. Let's pray.

Almighty Father in Heaven, we thank You for Your grace. For apart from it we have no hope. For we cannot justify ourselves. We cannot regenerate ourselves, for we are dead in our sins. And we cannot sanctify ourselves, we cannot by our own strength and our own power walk in the path.

You are that path, You are the light of that path. We ask that by Your grace, You might work in us to will and to do Your good pleasure. Enable us, Lord, to rest in You and to do those works of faith. To walk in the light that you give us, to be led by your Spirit and instructed in the path of righteousness. Father, may we be sensitive to the leading of your spirit and quick to repent where we fall off the path.

We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.