The Highway of the Upright Prov.16 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
This sermon is on How to depart from evil. To depart from evil you must recognize what evil is [Bible definition] and make a conscious decision to depart from it. You depart from evil on the highway of the upright, just like you depart from Corpus Christi to go to Victoria on Hwy 77. If you don’t want to depart from evil, you surely do not want to be on this road.
To depart from evil you must:
Get on the highway of the upright – it is a straight road pointing right to heaven and right away from evil [Bob Jones, Sr. said, “The right road leads out at the right place”] – it is THE highway of the upright – there are not many different highways – and when you get on it you must drive the right way – it’s one way – there are those who want to depart from evil but they never get on the road to depart from evil – they never get past the “want to” – they live on a roundabout.
Be upright on the highway of the upright – to be upright is to be strictly honorable and honest. The highway you need to travel is the highway of the upright. But if you get on this highway and you are not upright, you will not depart from evil. In other words, you can come to church, give, work in the church and do all that you are told to do but if you are not upright you will not depart from evil.
Travel on the highway of the upright – it is not a showroom floor. You cannot idle in neutral on this highway [I was bored as a kid and I was far too idle]. You get on this highway and you GO. Don’t get off the highway at any exit, particularly those with billboards offering sin. Remember that there are no detours on this road [a detour is an alternate route that leads you back to the road you need to be on – what may look like a detour on this highway is a clever deception by sin, the world or the devil to get you off the highway altogether].
Keep your eyes on the highway of the upright – keep your eyes on the road – don’t look to the left or the right – you can’t sit in the back seat staring at the evil from which you are departing [like the Jews did when they left Egypt – they ended up in Canaan and brought Egypt with them].
Follow the upright on the highway of the upright – Dr. Jim Binney gave us good advice and you can follow him on this highway – other pastors who have been immoral are bad examples that you cannot follow – you must remember that there are others following you on this highway and you definitely do not want to mislead them.
Travel the speed limit on the highway of the upright – too many people have gotten on this highway in a mad dash only to crash in the ditch.
Refuel on the highway of the upright – you refuel with Bible reading, Bible preaching and teaching – you will never make it to the end if you don’t stay refueled.
Conclusion: Today you must determine where you are in relation to evil and in relation to the highway of the upright – you must make the necessary correction to get back on the road – be honest with the others in your car about where you are so they can help you.