Full Speed ... in the Wrong Direction

Sanford Mills, a Jew who came to faith in Christ, wrote, Israel wanted to be the captain of her own soul, the master of her own ship, but Israel lost both her rudder and her compass. What would save her from being drawn into the vortex of hell?

He goes on to give the answer, of course. According to the Bible, the answer is not more speed. It isn't a better boat. It isn't better sailors around you saying, yeah, we're doing the right thing.

None of that matters when you are sailing toward Niagara Falls. Have you ever had the experience of making good progress, moving along quickly, but in the wrong direction? Today on Wisdom for the Heart, Stephen Davey continues his series entitled How to Get to Heaven from Earth. Today he examines the sad reality that many people in this world are moving full speed, but in the wrong direction.

Here's Stephen. Marcia and I were headed to Pennsylvania to take our twin boys to college a couple of hours into our trip, and I got a call on my cell phone, my daughter Charity, our 10-year-old, who asked me if I would give a message to the guys. And I said, well, sure, honey, what's the message? She said, well, tell them to make sure they leave a suitcase in my room.

And I said, what? She said, tell them to make sure they leave a suitcase in my room. And I turned and said, guys, you left a suitcase in her room. I had asked you to check before we left. And then I heard her say, no, no, no, Daddy, tell them to leave a suitcase in my room. And I finally got it. I said, honey, I don't remember what I preached, even though it's been two days.

Oh, my, well, touching moment. After a couple of days in Pennsylvania, Marcia and I headed back. It took us longer than usual. Part of the reason for that was that I was temporarily turned around, which is a nice way of saying I was lost. I never used a map.

I just used MapQuest and the map somewhere in the back underneath suitcases. And it wasn't long before I knew I was supposed to pick up 83 off 81. And I never or maybe it was 81 off of 83.

I can't remember. But somewhere in there, I was going to pick that up. And it just wasn't happening. And I knew I was in the vicinity. And so I knew I was lost. And immediately I pulled off to ask for directions. Eventually, I turned off to ask for directions.

And, you know, Marcia woke up, of course, and said, honey, what's up? I said, no, I've got to check the tires. No, I told her, we're lost, honey, I've got to ask for directions.

And I really didn't want her to miss the joy of this moment. And so we pulled over and the guy said, yeah, you've got to head back this way. You were going right the first time. He just hadn't gone far enough. In fact, if I'd just gone in the original direction one more exit, I would have seen the biggest signs that say Interstate 83.

So, you know, one of those things I thought as I was studying for this message, everything that happens in the life of a preacher has got to be an illustration somewhere. So here it comes. Imagine for a moment if Marcia had awakened and said, honey, what's wrong? And I would have said, well, you know, we're lost, but don't worry about it. I've got the solution.

What's that? Well, I'm going to go faster. I'm just going to apply a little more gas here. I'm going to stay alert and be more determined and I'm convinced we'll get home.

She would say, honey, let's switch places. You need the net more than I do. And that's probably, probably would be true. And the truth is speed when you're lost isn't the solution. No matter how determined you are, determined people don't necessarily make their destination, right? And if you're lost, going faster just simply means you're going to go further away from your destination that much faster. You have to get off that road and find your way back. And I'm sure you're aware of the fact as I am that all roads do not lead to Raleigh.

That's true in the physical world. It would be foolish for me to say, honey, it doesn't matter whether it's 83 South, 81 North, 58 West or East or 64. Undetermined, unconvinced, I'm passionate about driving. We're going to make it.

It would matter. Are you aware that there are millions of well-intentioned people who are driving as it were their spiritual SUVs believing that no matter what road they are on, if they are passionate, if they are committed, if they are dedicated, they will make it to God. They are determined travelers. We live around them. Our mission is to share the Gospel with them.

And it's not a new problem. In fact, in Romans chapter 10, if you'll look there again, Paul is writing about very disciplined, passionate, lost travelers. He says in verse 1, brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them, that is Israel, is for their salvation. That's my burden and my passion for them to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Now, Paul goes on to add in verse 2, I bear them witness. I testify on their behalf.

What, Paul? They have a zeal for God. You know, we could stop right here and preach this as a wonderful text for every one of us who believe in Christ. Wouldn't this be a wonderful attribute for those of us who follow him? The people would look at us and say, they have zeal for God.

They do, he writes of Israel. They have a zeal for God. But he goes on, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. Four characteristics, certainly illustrated by Israel, but illustrated in the lives of those who disbelieve, those who refuse to bow their knee. As we go out and share the Gospel with those who have yet to come to faith and we pray they will, here are characteristics of the unbeliever who refused Christ as their Messiah. It was true in Paul's day.

It is true in our day, not only of Jew or Gentile, and I hope this will help you as you prepare yourself and your life and your testimony in reaching the lost with the Gospel. Number one, the unbelieving are unwavering in their religious passion. If you go back to verse 2, you notice their solid conviction. Paul says, they have zeal for God. They are defenders of God, mentioned God, and they will defend him, passionate and dedicated about God and the law of God.

In fact, they are so committed to him that even his name is something they will not utter out of absolute respect. Now, you need to understand that when we say they were zealous for God, that we're also finding within that phrase the implication of, of course, being zealous for the things of God, the law of God, the people of God, the place of God, the temple of God, all of that was bound up in the passion of the Jew. It's interesting that the word zealous, zealous in the original language means passionate commitment, enthusiasm, dedication. They were zealous, they were enthusiastic, they were dedicated to God and the law and the temple and all of their tradition, all bound up in one. In fact, the word was used to refer to a fanatical group of Jews that grows up among the Israelites who believe that the only way to handle a Roman was to cut their throat. They became known as zealots. So passionate were they that they would kill to uphold what they believe to be the name of God. Trouble was they turned God into somebody he wasn't and they added regulation upon regulation so that the law meant what it was never intended to mean.

It became a wearisome burden. Paul said the law to the Galatian believers was a tutor to lead you to Christ, a private instructor to show you that you needed savings so that he writes that we might be justified by faith. The law is something that shows us our depravity, our sinfulness, and our need for someone outside of ourselves, someone perfect who is able to keep all of God's law, who can rescue us. You want to know how zealous they were for the way they believed? A way they believed would take them directly into the presence of God, their zeal for the law, their zeal for their tradition, the minutia of the law, the prohibitions they'd added. And though God had referenced a number of things, the law was not to do, overturning them in the New Testament, in this new covenant, they were so passionate they felt that even some of the minutia was worth dying for.

Listen to this one illustration. Dr. Barkley provided a historical incident about a Jewish priest named Eliezer. Eliezer was brought before Antiochus Epiphanes. Antiochus Epiphanes was a second century Adolf Hitler. He hated the Jew. He wanted to exterminate them from the earth. He despised Judaism.

He installed a statue of Zeus inside the temple. He desecrated the temple. And now he brought, according to this historical record, an old priest before him and ordered him to eat a piece of pork. The old priest, of course, refused and said these words, quote, if you were to pluck out my eyes, we who live under the law will die rather than violate it.

He went on to say this, which is insightful. He said, if he was put to death, the fathers would receive him holy and pure because he didn't violate the law. He was ordered to be beaten and history recorded his flesh was torn by the whips he streamed down with blood. He fell and soldiers kicked him. However, near the end of his life, the soldiers so pitied him that they brought him dressed meat, which was not pork, and told him to eat it and say that he had eaten pork. He refused even that and was finally killed and as he died, he said, I am dying for the sake of the law. If you listen carefully there, you might have caught Eliezer's comment that by not violating the law, he believed he would be received into eternity as a holy man, holy and pure. What unbelievable zeal.

So much of it is admirable. What passion, what great commitment in the wrong direction. In fact, that's Paul's next statement as he adds to the comment about the zeal of the unbeliever. Not only are they unwavering in their religious passion, they are secondly unteachable in their spiritual position. Notice verse 2 again. I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge, for not knowing about God's righteousness. Now, does this mean the Jews were ignorant of God, the righteousness of God, the attributes of God? Does this mean they were ignorant of the law of God?

No, they knew much about God. They knew much about the word of God. They revered the law. They revered the Torah. They revered those Old Testament writings. In fact, their scribes who had given and dedicated their lives to commenting and writing and teaching the law were the most venerated men within their culture. In fact, their graves were held with superstitious awe. One author noted these scribes were given the prestigious titles of rabbi and master. They always sat in the places of highest honor in banquets and religious feasts. In the synagogues, which was the place of education, they would sit with their backs to the cupboards that contained the scrolls of the Torah, indicating their unique positions as its sole interpreters that people were almost completely reliant on these leaders for any knowledge of God's word.

Because the people, for the most part, in Paul's days, spoke Aramaic, scriptures written in Hebrew. They relied on these men to teach them, and then they simply added upon the word of God. They heaped upon it prohibitions.

They heaped upon it regulations. It was to these leaders that Jesus Christ, of course, gave his strongest words. He said, go to you, for you have taken away the key of knowledge.

You've taken away the key of knowledge, which would, of course, be the person of Jesus Christ. To another group of these leaders, he said, you are in error, not understanding the scriptures or the power of God. Oftentimes, Jesus would say to the religious leaders, have you never what? Have you never read? Have you never read the scriptures? Of course, they'd read it.

They had the books of the prophets memorized. They'd missed the key. Paul writes, they had zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. The word he uses is significant. It isn't the usual word for knowledge, gnosis, which refers to what we could call intellectual facts, head knowledge. Instead of that word, Paul used the compound word, epignosis, which means recognition, spiritual insight, perception. That's why Paul wrote to Timothy saying, they all are always learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. They'd memorized a set of rules, but they had no relationship with God through Christ. They'd chosen facts over fellowship, activity over authentic personal relationship with God. Jesus Christ, however, said this, if you abide in my word, if you dwell in my word, if you live in my word, if you are surrounded as it were by the truth of my word, you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you what?

Free. Do you know what the message of the church is? It is the truth of God's liberating word.

Jesus said that the truth would set people free and the religious scholars and leaders and rabbis would not however be taught and they led the people who then picked up by their own human nature and depravity. Surely the way that we go must be our own way. Let's do it ourselves.

Let's keep the law. That makes sense. I've told people so often, look, if I told you there are 10 things you have to do to get saved, you'd say I'll do them.

I'll do them. But for me to say it's free, you just have to receive this gift, you can't do that. That's so much harder. Going full speed in the wrong direction. I was in the store and I was for some reason the only person being dealt with by this one young man and nobody else was around and so I inquired if he ever was able to get away for the weekend and go to church. He responded, oh, I've got major problems with organized religion. And I said, well, I can't stand it either. And I can't.

You know what I mean? He said, yeah, I've got philosophical problems with organized religion. And I said, well, just what do you believe? And he said, well, it's kind of complicated.

But I have developed my own religion. Now, whether that bright young man knew it or not, he happened to believe in his own organized thoughts, born out of his own philosophical opinion and he had created his own organized what? Religion, where he was God. He was confident. He was bright. He was committed. He was unmovable and unteachable. God says there is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is what?

Death. How different from that story of unbelief was a note I received two or three days ago from a young woman that I had shared Christ with sometime earlier. At the time she didn't accept Christ and I had left her with the challenge to just read God's word. You know, for those of us who believe, we believe and take seriously the words of David, who under inspiration of the Holy Spirit said in Psalm 119, 130, the entrance of thy word giveth light. It's the truth of God's word the Holy Spirit uses anyway. So it was such a great delight to just a couple of days ago when I got back from Pennsylvania, look over all of my email and find this particular note and she wrote this kind note which included these words. In fact, they so clearly applied to this text you're probably going to think I'm making it up. Here's what she wrote.

I have always thought that seeking out literature was the best way to find a solution, to be prepared and knowledgeable about a wide variety of subjects, to feel good about knowing the facts. But guess what? The best source of knowledge was right there in front of me all along in the Scriptures. How wrong I have been and I have, and she capitalized every letter, I have accepted the gift of salvation from God.

Three exclamation points. That isn't gnosis. That isn't head knowledge. It isn't more facts. It is epignosis, which God's Spirit brings to bear, which turns on the light.

And there is understanding and teachability. But Paul is agonizing here over his fellow kinsmen because they are unwavering in their religious passion. They are unteachable in their spiritual position.

Let me give you a third. They are uninhibited in their spiritual performance. Notice further along in verse 3, they are seeking to establish their own righteousness.

That's what they want to do. They refuse to acknowledge their sin. They refuse to acknowledge their need of a Savior.

They refuse to accept God who might judge sin and condemn sinners. So we're left with nothing to believe in but ourselves. We believe in us. So we establish our own righteousness. Isn't that the message of our culture?

I don't know if I can take one more of those little Disney movies where they give you that same theme to the little kids. Just believe in who? Yourself. I don't want to believe in myself. I have nothing to offer me.

I can offer me no security, no hope. Pull aside the layers of my heart and you find a sinner. But they were trying to establish their own righteousness. They were seeking. The verb tense indicates they were constantly, persistently, continually seeking another way to make themselves feel better about themselves.

Why? They had to. They've got to believe in something worth believing in. Matthew 6, of course, catalogs their public performances before men. They prayed in public and they made sure that they reached an intersection at the point when the call to prayer would be given in the Holy City so that they could be seen praying in all four directions or from all four directions. When they fasted, they put dust on their heads and a mournful look on their faces until somebody said, wow, you know, is something wrong? Well, you know, I'm fasting. Have you found in your own life that when you're praying, you want somebody to know about it?

When you fast, you want to make sure somebody knows? It is our nature to want to perform. And they had built a religion out of their performances. They gave money as well in Matthew 6 in such an ostentatious manner. They sounded the trumpet.

The Lord referred to the sounding of the trumpet, those trumpet shaped trumpet flared receptacles in the temple. And they would drop their money in it and make it clang. And people would look and, oh, and ah, wow.

And the pedestal would just get higher. They were seeking to establish their own righteousness. It's interesting. The Greek word translated to establish. It's a word that actually referred in Paul's day to the building of a monument.

That's so good because that's what they were doing. Seeking to build a shrine, not to the glory of God but to themselves. Hey, look, everybody, look how magnificent what I have established looks.

Isn't this wonderful? I saw illustration after illustration of the hope that people would put in their own shrine in England and Scotland this past summer. We entered one cathedral after another and saw the shrines, the elaborate tombs inside the cathedral walls.

In fact, the massive cathedrals were nothing more than mausoleums. We visited the most famous indoor graveyard known as Westminster Abbey and were struck by its beautiful corridors, its famous halls, its massive arches. And, of course, as we walked along, every stone just about we stepped on was marked with the name of someone who was fortunate enough or well connected enough or wealthy enough to be buried in Westminster Abbey. If you know enough of church history, as you walked along, you would see names of people who hated the Gospel, people who denied Christ, people who put believers to death, people who opposed the Reformation, people who lived immoral lives to the very end, people who spent their lives supposing God. What irony it was to walk across one large stone and carved into it was the name Charles Darwin.

I thought, imagine spending your life shaking your fist at the face of the Creator God. But then we were told by the guide the family paid enough money and was well connected enough to make sure that his grave was in the church, you know, that supposedly acknowledges the existence of God the Creator. Doesn't matter how I've lived at that point, just get my bones inside the sanctuary that will help me as I travel along the path that I am convinced will lead to God. I'll tell you one grave that I saw that I'll never forget. It housed the bones of John Knox, a reformer who led the Reformation in Scotland, who thundered the truth of God's Word for years at St. Giles Cathedral.

In fact, who so carefully led and taught the followers of that Reformation that even to this day a church is Presbyterian, it's not even part of the Church of England, refused to join. If you want to see his grave as I asked to see it, you've got to go outside and you walk around the back of the church and there it is, an asphalt parking lot. And you're directed to parking space number 23 and there's a little yellow block of paint marking, no name, nothing, just a little splash of yellow paint marking the grave of John Knox.

But he doesn't care. It hasn't bothered him for one moment because he has been established in the righteousness of Jesus Christ and all of the shrines with their statues fashioned to show the likenesses of people buried beneath with their hands clasped and Bibles on their chest even though they denied God. We've got our hands folded. We're buried in church. God will let us in.

And here this great Christian leader who is enjoying the magnificence of heaven is buried in parking lot space number 23. Well, the unbeliever is unwavering in his passion apart from the illuminating redemptive work of God. He is unteachable in his spiritual position, uninhibited in his spiritual performance.

One more thing. The unbelieving are unyielding in their spiritual pride. Look at the last part of verse 3. Paul says they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. What that means is they did not. They were unwilling to place themselves under the order of God.

They didn't subject themselves. They didn't yield to the sovereign righteousness of God through Christ. They liked their own better. They liked their own cathedral better, as it were.

They liked their own monument, their own shrine. We'd rather have this than the righteousness of God. Sanford Mills, a Jew who came to faith in Christ, wrote Israel wanted to be the captain of her own soul, the master of her own ship, but Israel lost both her rudder and her compass. What would save her from being drawn into the vortex of hell?

He goes on to give the answer, of course. According to the Bible, the answer is not more speed. It isn't more wind in the sails. It isn't a better boat. It isn't better sailors around you saying, yeah, we're doing the right thing. None of that matters when you are sailing toward Niagara Falls. Get out of the boat.

Get out of that lane. The solution is humbling, but much simpler than any shrine we could ever build. And all our best efforts, and I think it was best put in the email from this new believer who said, I was wrong. It wasn't about finding my own solution, feeling good about knowing certain facts, even she had written earlier, feeling worthy to approach God. I have simply accepted the gift of salvation that comes from God.

That's it. If you're going at full speed in the wrong direction, I invite you to stop. The further you race down the path of your own making, the further away from home you're going to travel.

Perhaps today is the day you simply humbly accept the Word of God through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, who even now might be moving in your heart, and you accept the gift of salvation that comes freely from God. Friend, if you're one of those whose life right now is moving in the wrong direction, change directions today and respond in faith to Jesus Christ. Steven's message is entitled Full Speed in the Wrong Direction.

When we come back next time, Steven will continue through this series. But for now, we'd love to hear from you. Take a moment and introduce yourself to us. We have a gift that we send whenever someone makes their first contact with our ministry. We'll send you the next three issues of Steven's magazine, Heart to Heart. Call us today at 866-48-BIBLE and then join us tomorrow for more wisdom for the heart. We'll see you next time.