The Way of Righteousness Prov 8: 20 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
In Prov 8, wisdom is personified. She is a woman speaking of her great qualities, which are many. In Prov 8:20, she says, “I lead in the way of righteousness.” Then according to this verse, there is A WAY of righteousness and you need wisdom to guide into this way and to keep you on this way. You see, when you received Jesus as your Savior, you also received his righteousness [2 Cor 5:21]. And that righteousness is the way that wisdom wants to lead you. Wisdom then would be like a GPS or a compass or the navigation equipment in an airplane. It keeps you on track and keeps you from veering to the left hand or the right hand. It keeps you on course.
Through preaching about the way of righteousness, we hope that you find this way so desirable that you will want to get on it and stay on it. We’ll preach about the defining characteristics of this way of righteousness. The way of righteousness is:
A Narrow Way – Matt 7:14 – compared to the directions of a compass the way of righteousness is just one degree. All 359 of the other degrees are not the way of righteousness. And God is the only one who knows exactly how to lead you along this way since so few around you are on it. Everything in the world around you is off track. The Bible is the very best road map to keep you in the middle of the road every single day.
A High Way – Prov 16:17 – it keeps you out of the evil ditches on either side. Like God told Cain, “sin lieth at the door.” On this way you walk above the pools of filth in which the rest of the world is drowning. You get out of the pigpen. You will be like David in Ps 40:2, “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.” The trouble with many Christians today is that they are living in the ditches “along” the way of righteousness; they aren’t living “in” the way!!
A Peaceful Way – Is 32:17 – you will never know the fullness of peace in your life until you get on this way of righteousness. And once you are on it you will know a peace that is absolutely divine. Sin cannot molest you on this path. You aren’t worrying about whether God is mad at you over something bad you have done when you are on this way. And you aren’t presuming upon God’s goodness by thinking that now you are sinless, you are just enjoying Him to the fullest. You will never have this peace until you leave the ditch; until you get that other foot out of the ditch. You are trying to have his peace while still living in the ditch along the way of righteousness and that is not possible.
A Happy Way – 1 Pet 3:14 – you are so happy on the way of righteousness that even if you suffer for being on this way you are still happy. Now that’s the kind of happiness that only a Christian can have. There is never so much happiness when you have one foot on the way of righteousness and one foot in the ditch of sin. True happiness comes when you are right smack dab in the middle of the way of righteousness.
A Handy Way – Is 46:13 – in other words, it is close at hand. We used to say this about golf shots that were close to their mark. You may be stuck down in a nasty bog, but the way of righteousness is handy. All you must do is take the Savior like Peter did when he was sinking in the water and he will save you and put you on the right path!! Like the old hymn says, “I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore, very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more; but the Master of the sea heard my despairing cry, from the waters lifted me, now safe am I.”