When someone is appointed or designated to ‘lead’, the general understanding is those who are going to be led will....follow. Did we not all play that game as children: ‘Follow the Leader’?

Have you ever quoted the beloved 23rd Psalm and then stopped to ask what it means when we say this Shepherd of ours ‘leads me in the paths of righteousness’? (23:3). What exactly is a ‘path of righteousness’? Some time back, I had a real ‘lightbulb moment’ when I gave some thought to this verse and what that phrase means.

We are fond of the idea to think of Jesus leading us beside ‘still waters’ and making us ‘lie down in green pastures’ (2) which speaks of peace and protection and provision; but in order to be ‘led’ there, we have to ‘follow’. And just showing up at church regularly and avoiding those ‘sinful places’ you once hung out at does not equate to ‘following’ Him. He is rather specific there in saying ‘He leads me in the paths of righteousness’. I can tell you already that those paths that Jesus came to lead us on will prove to be ‘narrow’ and not as well traveled as others. (Matt. 7:13-14)

So what is ‘righteousness’? How about a simple explanation found in our Bibles? Righteousness is ‘doing what is right in God’s eyes’. Moses even spelled it out for the people back in the wilderness when he told them: “It will be righteousness for us IF...we are careful to observe all these commandments before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us.” (Deut. 6:25)

We read in numerous places how God’s people had this tendency to do what was ‘right in their own eyes’...which never had a good outcome. Usually this was indicative of the absence of a ‘king’. (Judges 17:6; 21:25). Proverbs 12:15 says ‘the way of a fool is right in his own eyes’. And surely you have heard that ‘there is a way that seems right to man but the end thereof leads to death’. (Proverbs 14:12)

The problem I see with many of the ‘other gospels’ (2 Cor. 11:3-4) that are popular today are quick to point out that ‘our righteous acts are like filthy rags’ (Isa. 64:6), which in context is true. But the big leap that is made from that verse is that we could “never be righteous enough for a Holy God ...so professing our faith in Jesus makes us ‘righteous’ in His eyes”. We can sure hear/use a lot of nice ‘catch phrases’ while never really stopping to analyze what they are actually saying.

I bet you have heard this before, or something similar as to how we remain to be these wretched sinners that could never be holy enough for God, but if we claim to ‘trust Jesus’, then when God looks down on us, He doesn’t see us in our pitiful condition...He sees Jesus whose blood covers us as He is the ‘righteous One’. And we receive this ‘righteousness ...by faith’ as we align ourselves with Him. This is where we have to be careful because all deception has a thread of truth woven through it, which is what makes it so deceptive.

So let’s break this down for a moment using that illustration...how God doesn’t really see us, per say, but Jesus. This only works IF...we are following Him.

Yes...read that again.

Picture this where you are making your way through a crowded venue and you tell your child to stay on your heels, as in right behind you and holding on to your belt/clothing as you lead them through the chaos and confusion. Chances are that anyone in front of you will not see the child, just the one who is leading them. But if the child darts out from behind the parent, then all of a sudden they become visible. Or think about a soldier in old times traversing a battle field with a giant shield to ward off flaming arrows. As long as he stays behind the ‘shield’...he will be fine. It’s when he steps out from behind that shield that he becomes vulnerable to taking an arrow. So guess what? The ‘Lord is our shield’ (Ps. 28:7) and as long as we are staying close to Him, we are safe and protected. Do you know why? Because He is leading us in the path of righteousness, or ‘doing what is right in His eyes’.

But if you are continuing to practice sin...you are no longer staying on His heels because He is not going to lead you to sin. In fact, if/when you do step out and ‘go your own way’ (Matt. 22:5) you are opening yourself to being ‘touched by the wicked one’. (1 John 5:18). Did Jesus not tell that man whom He healed to ‘go and sin NO MORE or something worse will happen to you!” (John 5:14).

Friends...we are not ‘declared to be righteous’ simply because we ‘say we believe in Jesus’. I mean, Jesus tells us plainly that “not everyone who says, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven but those who DO...the will of the Father in heaven”. (Matt. 7:21). Do you know what God’s will is for us? It’s to keep His commandments, and those who love Him will do just that! (John 14:15)

Now...go take a look at 1 John 3:4-7. Do we not read in vs. 4 that “whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness’? And why are those folks in Matt. 7:23 turned away by Jesus? Because they continued to practice lawlessness’.

John continues on...”Whoever abides in Him (stays on His heels...behind the shield) does not sin.” (6). But wait, there’s more: “Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.”

Did Jesus not say that ‘whoever commits sin is a ‘slave to sin...and a slave does not abide in the house forever’? (John 8:34)

So can we stop here for a moment and just take into consideration that the majority of the ‘church world’ today has been duped in to believing that we will always remain ‘sinners’...and sin on this side of heaven. We don’t even question that anymore- it’s a given. And this is what is taught from most pulpits today...not that we ‘were sinners’...but we continue to ‘be sinners...saved by grace’. We huddle weekly in our church pews and ‘humbly admit (or celebrate in some ways)  that we are nothing but a group of poor miserable sinners and imperfect people whom God loves’. This is why I make the case that the church has become the great ‘enabler’ as we coddle and comfort one another who remain slaves to sin. Who are we to judge one another, you ask? Yet, what should we be doing regularly, according to Heb. 3:12-13?

But wait! John has more to say and it comes in the form of a warning that we ‘be not deceived’! “He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.” (1 John 3:7). What are we doing to do with that one!?

If you continue to sin, which means you break God’s law, then you are opening yourself to needless suffering, as in ‘taking a flaming arrow from the enemy’. That’s what is most likely to happen when you step out from behind the protective shield of the One who is leading you...and Who you are supposed to be ‘following’. Why do you suppose Paul said: “Give no place to the enemy!” ? (Eph. 4:27) And we know what the enemy seeks to do...to ‘steal, kill, and destroy’. (John 10:10). Peter warns us in a similar manner. (1 Pet. 5:8-9)

Either most of us failed to get the ‘memo’ on this truth or we just don’t take it seriously enough and believe Him; which would explain why God’s people are ‘destroyed for a lack of knowledge’. (Hosea 4:6).

Granted, in the early days of learning how to actually ‘walk this walk of faith’, while we are still ‘babes in Christ’ and probably exhibiting some carnal traits (1 Cor. 3:1-3) we are likely to stumble and sin as we step out from His protective shield and disobey. But this I can promise you...IF...one is truly abiding in Him, they will learn quickly...that they better not do that again. God still ‘chastens those whom He loves’ and it can prove to be ‘unpleasant and even painful’. (Heb. 12:5-11).

And “IF (not 'when')...we sin, we do have an advocate with the Father and can truly find forgiveness’ from Him, (1 John 2:1) but the idea here is to learn quickly. I mean really, how many times do you need to put your tongue on a freezing cold pole or an electric cattle fence before you learn to change your behavior? And you will never be successful in doing so unless...you are abiding in Him; as in ‘following Him’ and being empowered by His grace! (Tit. 2:11-14)

And IF...you are following Him...you no longer will practice sin. To be ‘baptized into Christ’ means you have ‘died to sin’ and do not live any longer in it. (Rom. 6:1-6). Honestly...people get offended today to suggest we can actually live this way...free from sin. Someone posted a great quote recently that said: “It’s not a sin to stop sinning!” But for many professing ‘believers’ today...you would think it is to suggest such a crazy idea.

Would you care to guess why...many sincere believers today continue to ‘sin’? It’s because they have failed to follow the leading of God’s Spirit and deal with the flesh nature. (Rom. 8:13). And those who do ’belong to Christ have put to death that nature with its passions and desires.” (Gal. 5:24). It really is not enough to deal with just those ‘big areas’ of sin/flesh that most of us agree are not becoming for saints. King Saul learned the hard way that when God says ‘put them all to death’, He means every last one. (1 Sam. 15). And those who are following Jesus will do just that. How else could they ever succeed to ‘go and sin no more’?

Which takes me back to the passage in Exodus 23 that we had been looking at the past few days. I will pick up there tomorrow, Lord willing. ;-)