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If you have your Bibles, I invite you to be turning to the book of Psalms in the 8th chapter. That's where we'll start this morning, or this evening. While you're turning in your Bibles to the book of Psalms in the 8th chapter, let me take just a moment to express my word of appreciation for the presence of each of you.

If you're here visiting, we thank you for coming, and pray that the services will be such that it will be uplifting to you and helpful. And if you're joining us online, we thank you for Making that effort to be with us this evening. In the book of Psalms, and the eighth chapter, and particularly verse 8, the writer says, The birds of the air and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the sea.

To understand this verse in its fullness, and what that passage is saying, really, you need to really go back and look at beginning in verse 4 of this context. And there we're told that the psalmist is asking what is man that you, talking about God, are mindful of him. And then he makes mention of the fact that God has made man a little lower than the angels, in verse 5.

Secondly, that he's crowned him with glory and honor. And third, that he's given him dominion over all the works of your hand. And then he talks about how that includes various things, including the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the sea. And then he ends by praising God and saying, How excellent is thy name.

I don't want you to lose sight of what this verse is really doing. It's praising God for His creation of man. But I wonder at the same time if you've ever noticed that phrase about the paths of the sea.

Matthew Morey was an oceanographer and he lived in The early 1800s to a little past the mid 1800s. And he is called the Pathfinder of the Sea. And the story goes this way. That one point in time that he was ill, and his daughter came over and to comfort him, was going to read to him from the scriptures.

And she picked Psalms 8 to read to him. And as she was reading it and came to this part about the paths of the sea, He repeated it. He said, the paths of the sea. He said, if the Lord said they're there, they must be there. He said, and if I get out of this bed, I'm going to discover what's meant by the paths of the sea.

And so he began to study the currents and the atmosphere and these kind of things. He discovered what we call the sea lanes today and many of the sea lanes today. In fact, there was a monument in Richmond, Virginia. It's been taken down like so many of our monuments now. But it is about Matthew Montaigne Murray, who's called the Pathfinder of the Sea.

And the description says, The genius who first snatched from the ocean and atmosphere. of their laws. And it says, his inspiration, writ of scripture. In other words, the Bible. As powerful and as neat as that thought is, I want us to look a little further at this word, path, for a few minutes. And if you were to look at this word, path, you'd find that it's a word that in Hebrew is, is used and is defined as a well trodden road road.

And can be used either literal or figurative. It's used some 59 times in the Old Testament, in 58 verses. And if you're reading King James, it's not always translated paths. Sometimes it's translated manner or path, and then Byways or highways or just ways at time the New Testament word that's Equivalent to it.

You'd find it in Matthew 3 and Mark 1:3 and Luke 3:4 all of those passages are quoting Old Testament passages from Isaiah and Micah and they're the passages that spoke of the messenger that would come and make straight the path of the Lord and And if you're noticing in your Bibles, most of them, that word Lord is capitalized, meaning it is really talking about Jehovah.

But it's also talking about Jesus, and that's just one place you might go to to show that. Jesus indeed is God. But the point being that here is this same Hebrew word that's used in these passages of Isaiah and Micah that's telling us about Jesus coming. And then the equivalent is used in Matthew and it's translated the word path there also.

Complete disclosure, there is also another Hebrew word that might be called a synonym to this word and it's used quite frequently also. But what I want to do in our study this evening is I want us to

talk about some different kinds of paths that the Bible talks about. In fact there are many paths that are mentioned by the Bible. And my question is, which of the paths are you on? And I hope that it'll be a lesson that's calling for introspection, that you will we'll talk about these paths, and you'll look to see, how does my life compare to that?

And does it compare to that? And then I hope in the end, We can encourage you to make right choices and make sure that we're on the right path. So, if you have your Bible, let me suggest to you, first of all, that there are those paths or the way of life talked about. And a lot of our passages will come from Proverbs or from Psalms.

But in the book of Proverbs in the 15th chapter, in verse 24, The writer talks about the way of life winds upward for the wise. He that may turn away, and, and that he may turn away from hell below. So you'll notice he talks about the paths of life, or the ways of life. Now, when he talks about the path of life, or the way of life, or as we use this, we're talking about our manner of life, or how we're conducting our life.

That's the path of life that he's talking about. And in this passage, he talks about those who are walking a path that winds upward. And they're the wives, he says, and it keeps them from going toward hell. There's another passage, Proverbs 5:6. It's really talking about an immoral woman. And the writer is not encouraging us to follow her ways, but still speaks of her life as the way or the path or her life.

That's because she's giving herself over to these things. And so that's her manner of life. But I want you just to see for the moment that the writer talks about a path that he calls the path of life. And all of us are on this path of life. We, we are living. And we're conducting our life in such a way, and whatever way we're conducting it in, that's where our path of life is, or that's what is making up our path of life.

And so it's a pretty important concept, our path of life. But next of all, let me suggest to you that the book also talks about the path of the wicked and the way of the evil. We'll read the passage in just a moment. But There are a number of, of other passages that talk about paths that might be considered kind of a subset of this path of wicked or, or the path of the evil.

You could certainly put that immoral woman out of Proverbs 5:5 in there and say she was on this path of wickedness or path of evil. Proverbs, the first chapter in verse 19, the writer talks about the path of those that are greedy. And they're greedy for gain. Obviously, greed is not something good.

And so, though he's talking about this is their path of life, they are greedy people, it would fit under this category of those that are on the path of wickedness or the path of evil. Proverbs, the second chapter, in verse 15, he talks about those whose paths are crooked and they're devious in their paths, he says.

So they're, again, people that, they're walking the path of life. But if you get more specific, he says, their path is crooked. They're not straightforward with people and things. And, and they're devious. They're mysterious, or mischievous. And, and are doing evil things. But, go back for a moment, if you would, to this Proverbs 4:14.

And, notice what he says about the wicked. The wicked. Evil. He says, A path of wickedness and a path of evil. He says, do not enter the path of the wicked and do not walk in the path of the evil. So he's telling us there is such a thing as a path of wickedness and the path of evil. But his exhortation to us is, make sure that we're not on that path.

And it wouldn't make any difference which evil you're talking about, whether you're talking about the immoral woman, or if you're talking about greed, or if you're talking about the crookedness and deviousness. There are others that talk about anger and the fierce man. Any of those. His exhortation to us is, let's make sure that we are not walking on that path of evil.

or that path of weakness. I don't imagine you have to be told why you shouldn't do that but Just go back just for a moment if you would to what we talked about in The other passage in talking about the path of life and notice the difference in those two The one that was the path of life that winds up what he says.

He says he's not going toward hell But the woman that was immoral He says, her feet goes down to death, and her feet lays hold of hell. That's the reason we don't need to be on that path of wickedness, or path of evilness. The end of it is not good. And then, consider that despite this warning of, of here's the end of this path of wickedness, and the end of this path of, of evil.

That Proverbs 2 and 13 warns us that some leave the path of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness. There are people that have actually been on the path of uprightness, and have turned from that, begun to walk the path of evilness, he says. There's a passage also in the book of Job, in the 8th chapter, verse 13, that I found interesting.

He talked about the path of those that forget God. You have evil people that still are mindful of God. But Job talked about some that he said, they are people that actually forget God. They just have no thought of God. And I think about our world today, and I think, How close we're coming to that, that every thought of God is being erased out of the thoughts of many.

And if you look at Job, he points out, he said, this person that forgets God, he said, it's like a papyrus that's in the water still or in the marsh, but it just withers. And it reminded me of the book of Psalm in the first chapter when I read it, when I noticed the contrast, he said, Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly.

nor stands in the path of the sinner, nor sits in the seats of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And his law, he meditates day and night. And I notice how he describes this man. He says, he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bring forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf shall not wither, and whatsoever ever.

And whatsoever he does shall prosper. But then he comes back to this, this wicked person. Says, the ungodly are not so. Here's this righteous person and they're flourishing. Says, like, the tree that's planted by the river. But then he talks about this unrighteous. One that might forget God. And he says, that one's not like this.

They're not flourishing. They rather are beginning just kind of to.

There's yet another path that I want to call to your attention. It's the way of the young. In the book of Proverbs, or the book of Psalms, in the 119th chapter, in verse 9, it talks about this path of the young. But do you know what the concept of much of our world is as being the path of the young? It's this sow your wild oaks, if you want to.

And they seem to indicate this is a freedom given to the young. You don't have to be concerned about how you live, just go ahead and sow your wild oaks. But when you go back to the book of Psalms in the 119th chapter in verse 9, the writer of Psalms is not in any way trying to encourage us to sow our oaks to the wild.

In fact, his words are, For how can a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed according to your word. Your word is of course God's word in that passage and what he's encouraging the path for young people to be is to be following God's way, looking at God's word. And we need to understand there's a lot of passages in the Bible that are specifically addressing young and giving young people advice.

In fact if you were to turn over to the book of Proverbs in the first chapter You would see that, right off, that the writer of Proverbs is telling his son to listen to these things. That this is, in verse 8, my son, hear the instructions of, of the Father. And so, much of what Proverbs is talking to, he's trying to also include that, or the young into that.

Saying, listen to this. But you can find other passages in the, in the scriptures that are address particularly to the young also. Look over for a minute to the book of Ecclesiastes and notice if you would, first of all, chapter 11 and drop down to verse 9. The writer says, Rejoice, O young man, in your youth.

Notice he doesn't tell him he can't rejoice, but he's got further instructions. He says, And let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes But know that for all these God will bring you into judgment Therefore remove sorrow from your heart and put evil away from the flesh And then he reminds us childhood and youth or vanity.

They're not going to last now Notice that he's not telling you can't have any fun. You can't have happiness But he is reminding us that we ought to find our heart Happiness and our joy in the judgments of the Lord and and by walking in the ways of the Lord That way when we stand before the Lord, we don't have to worry about that chapter 12 and verse 1 Remember we put the chapter breaks there But maybe that's a continuation when he goes on it says Remember now your creator in the days of your youth and then says before the difficult days come and the years grow Now when you shall say I have no pleasure in them He understands that youth is a time of rejoicing.

He just wants to make sure that we're walking in the right path where we can have the joy and not have the sorrow or stand before God and have to give an answer for the wrongs that we've done in our youth. And so young people, listen to the advice and take heed to the path that you're walking on. Look at 2 Timothy the 2nd chapter in verse 22, if you would.

Here's another passage that is a warning to young. He says, flee also youthful lusts, but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. So again, here's, here's instructions. He understands that you're young, that you're going to walk the path of the youth. But he's telling us something about how we need to walk as young people.

And he says, you don't just do what you want, or walk in evilness, you rejoice doing what's right. And those things that are wrong, like, that just mentioned, useful lust, and so forth, don't follow that. But as he said, pursue righteousness, if you will. Well, there's yet another path that I want to call your attention to.

And that's the way of the Lord. Just like when we talked about the evilness and wickedness, we pointed out there were other passages that would be, I guess, math terms, a subset of this. And there's plenty of passages that would be a, perhaps a part of this, the way of the Lord. First of all, let me just point out to you that this phrase, the way of the Lord, to It reminds me kind of our, our phrase the way of, or the righteousness of, of God.

You know, we read in passages, particularly I think about Romans, and we read the phrase the righteousness of God. And that can mean either one or two things according to the scriptures. It can be talking about the character of God. You know, you can look back even in Nehemiah 9, for instance, and he talks about how God kept his promises to Israel all those years.

And he, he calls God, he says, You're righteous. That's the righteousness of God. That's the character of God. He's going to always keep His Word. He's going to always keep His promise. But then we use the phrase righteousness and find it in passages like Romans 1 where He's talking about the Gospel. The Gospel is the power of God and salvation to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

For therein is revealed the righteousness of God. He's not saying that the Gospel reveals the character of God. It does that, but that's not His point. He's trying to tell us it reveals to us a plan by which we become righteous. And you can look over in Philippians the third chapter, verse 9, perhaps one of the places that is clearest.

When Paul says, I don't want mine own righteousness, which is by the law, but that which is by faith, the righteousness of God. We're the ones that's getting that righteousness. And it's not by our works, that is the works of the law, But it is through faith, he's saying. So you have that phrase, the righteousness of God, and it can mean one of two things.

And it seems to me like this phrase, the way of the Lord, or the path of the Lord, that it can mean one of two things also. If you were to go back to those New Testament passages that we mentioned, like Matthew and Mark and Luke, It's a prophecy that's being quoted and it's telling us basically, John the Baptist is going to come and make straight or prepare the way of the Lord.

Well, he's not talking about a plan. He's talking about John the Baptist is going to come and preach and proceed what Jesus has come to do. Trying to make it easier for Jesus to do His work. It's talking about the path of the Lord, or the way of the Lord. He's talking about the way of Jesus Christ Himself.

But in our passage that we're talking about, particularly passages like the 18th chapter in verse 30 or 25 in verse 10, it's talking about the path that we walk. And it's suggesting to us that we need to walk in the way of the Lord. That is in the way that he prescribes and, and tells us about. And so that's what we mean by the path of the Lord in our lesson this evening.

We're talking about walking in the way that the Lord wants you to do so. Let me give you a few passages that will one, confirm to you, I think, that the Bible does talk about the way of the Lord, or the path of the Lord, and is talking about how we live. And secondly, it will show us some things that are required if we're going to really be on the path of the Lord.

Proverbs 18, chapter and verse 30. Or, excuse me, Psalms 13, or 18, verse 13. As for the Lord, His way is perfect. The word of the Lord is proven. He is a shield to all who trust Him. So here it talks about, as for God, His way is perfect. He's talking about, that's the way that, the path is that He wants us to walk.

And perfect is a word here that means entire or complete. If you look at some other ways that that same word is translated, you'd see it translated without blemish, without spot, undefiled, upright, whole, the idea is, it is a good way. And so he's telling us, here's what you can know about the path of God or the way of God.

It's perfect. It's good. It's something we ought to delight to walk in. And then if you look at chapter 25 of Psalms, in verse 10, the psalmist says, All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth, to such as keep His covenant and His testimonies. And so here again, he's describing this path of the Lord. The path that, when you're following the Lord, what's on it?

What are you going to be seeing? Well, you're going to be experiencing, he says, you're going to be experiencing mercy and truth. He doesn't want mercy and truth.

One commentary said that he's talking about it's compassionate and truthful about promises, and I would put, and right in every way. It's truth. In fact, there's a passage that talks about all his ways are right, he says. And so that's the way of the Lord. If you get on that way, there's compassion there for you.

And it's right, he says. And so let me just ask you, shouldn't our attitude, when you talk about the way of the Lord, and see that this is the path that we can walk, and that it's righteous, and, or, as he says merciful and true? Shouldn't our attitude be like the psalmist, in Psalms 24:4? When he says, Show me your way, O Lord.

Teach me your path. Shouldn't that be our desire? When you see how good the path or the way of the Lord is, shouldn't I just be crying out within me, and maybe allowed to Lord teach me your path. Let me know how to walk on this path that's full of mercy and truth. Psalms 119:128. The writer said, Therefore I esteem my precepts concerning all things to be Therefore I esteem thy precept concerning all things to be right.

Everything about God's path. He says it's right. You don't have to worry about getting on it and then finding out that that's not a good path. Everything on that path is right, he says. Or look at Psalms 119:15. The writer said, I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways. Gonna have respect unto thy ways.

In other words, they're going to honor his ways, and keep his ways. And then, Psalms 119:104, he says, Through thy precepts I get understanding, therefore I hate every false way. This is something about the person that is on the right way or who has traveled the path of the Lord and understands what it is.

There's mercy and truth. He doesn't want those things that are false. He hates every false way, he says, and he tries to put them away from you. So let me come back for just a moment and point out to you, I told you this would be a lesson, hopefully, of introspection. Which path are you on?

Are you walking an evil path as you walk the path of life? All of us right now are on this path of life. I did see a passage that talked about a path that you won't return from. I think he's talking about death and just saying, we don't get to come back to this. We walk this life now and then we die, and you don't get a second chance at life.

The path that we're walking now, that's the only path that we're going to experience and get to experience, if, if that's where we stay. And so we ask the question, what is the path that you own in your path of life? Are you walking a wicked way and, and the way of a wicked, evil way? Even as a young person, what's your path?

You're like the, please ask the writer said, remembering your creator, the days of your youth, learning to rejoice, but rejoicing in the things that are right, not in the things that are wrong.

You know, God knows everything about us. The psalmist in Psalms 139, maybe, that talks about everything God knows about. And we use that passage oftentimes to try and point out to people, and kind of like I'm doing now, remember, God knows everything about you. He's not in doubt as to which path you're on.

He knows clearly. The one thing I've noticed about Psalms, though, is that, that passage, though he says God knows everything, he's, he's really trying to encourage us, and telling us if we're on the right path, whatever comes up, God knows about it. He's there to help us. But just think a moment, God knows everything about us.

You know, you remember the Psalms talk about the cleansing of secret sins. Make known your secret sins. You know, I don't have any secret sins to God. He already knows about my sins. Some people don't want to confess their sins to God. What are we going to do telling Him about our sins? Well, God already knows.

He's not going to be surprised when you make confession of sins. He knows everything about us. And we're going to be brought into judgment. And judgment, our judgment will be made according to the deeds and things we do. 2 Corinthians 5:10. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one of us may receive the things done in the body according to what has been done, whether good or bad.

God knows. And we're going to give an account, and I presume on that occasion we give an account. We'll either tell the truth or God will correct us at that time and say no. That's not the way it really is, but he knows and then based upon what path we've been on He's going to tell us our eternal destiny and those that are evil Their path is going toward hell, but the others those that are righteous their path lines There's another passage in the book of Matthew in the seventh chapter in verse It talks about the narrow way and the broad way.

It's not the same word that we've been looking at, but it has a great concept for us. It talks about there's a path that's restricted and narrow, and it leads to life. And then there's the broad way. You don't have to worry much about it. You know, the narrow way, you, you're restricted. You can't just put anything and everything on that and drive that path.

But there's the broad way that you can just load up just anything you want to. But it doesn't lead to life. It leads to damnation, destruction. And so the question again, the Bible talks about many paths. But what path are you on? You know that you can change paths even in this moment. At least you can change in heart and say, I'm getting off the path of wickedness.

Lord, I'm coming to you. And He will accept you as doing that. If you repent of your sins and do whatever else it is you need to do, whether it's as a Christian, pray and tell Him you've been walking paths of evilness and you want to get back on the straight and narrow. Or if you've never been on it, you can tell Him that you want to get on it and you can repent of your sins and be buried in baptism and that old man will be dead.

You'll have a new life ahead of you. And you can start walking a new kind of life. So what kind of path are you on and does it lead you where you really want to spend eternity? If you're hearing subject to the invitation in any way, we can assist you and we'd invite you to come as together we stand and sing.